Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Martin, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, School of Biomedical Sciences, Pathology and Laboratory Science, The University of Western Australia
It’s a cold, crisp evening and the air carries a chill that bites. As temperatures drop and houses get colder, we turn to trusted sources of warmth such as wood fires, heaters, hot water bottles and warm drinks.
But these winter comforts come with the risk of burns.
Staying warm in winter is important, but so is staying safe. So, a little caution can go a long way to prevent serious injury.
Let’s start with children
Young children are naturally curious, and in winter, their explorations often take them dangerously close to sources of heat. One common scenario involves toddlers reaching out to touch a glowing wood-fired heater.
These are attractive to curious children because they are bright, warm and often within reach. Tragically, these burns can cause significant injuries to small hands and fingers, often requiring long recovery times and specialist care.
Scalds from hot drinks are also very common in young children. These accidents tend to happen during everyday moments, such as when a parent is trying to juggle a hot drink with a sick, unsettled child on their lap.
Seasonal colds and viruses mean children often need more comfort and physical contact, increasing the likelihood of accidents. A hot drink, even one that has cooled slightly, can cause deep burns to a child’s skin if spilled.
In many parts of Australia at this time of year, bonfires, fire pits and campfires become common. Extinguishing a fire with sand may seem safe, but embers underneath can retain enough heat to burn skin hours later.
Children running in light shoes can be unaware of where a fire has been and step directly onto it, resulting in severe burns to their feet.
Hot water bottles can cause scald burns from spills when being filled, can leak or burst if cuddled or rolled on, or cause contact burns if placed directly on the skin. Always check the bottle for wear, use hot tap water instead of boiling water, and keep a layer between the bottle and the skin.
Wheat bags can also cause burns over winter, particularly when overheated or applied directly to skin without a cover. Rarely, wheat bags have caught fire, especially when overheated or re-heated repeatedly without allowing them to fully cool between use.
Older people can also be at risk
Elderly people face a unique set of risks in winter. For some, underlying health issues, such as diabetes or poor circulation, can reduce sensitivity to heat, making them unaware they have been burnt.
A classic example is burns to the lower legs caused by sitting too close to a bar heater for extended periods. These burns may go unnoticed until they become painful or infected.
In some cases, financial strain plays a role. Many older adults live on fixed incomes and may hesitate to heat their entire home to save on energy bills. Instead, they may rely on small portable heaters in closed rooms or heated blankets and hot water bottles. These workarounds are cost-effective, but can increase the risk of burns.
How can I stay safe?
Burns are preventable injuries. Here’s how to reduce the risk:
use a barrier around heaters to protect exploring hands
keep hot drinks out of reach when holding a child, and consider using mugs with lids for added safety
supervise young children closely around campfires, bonfires and fire pits, and extinguish with water not sand
ensure hot water bottles are in good condition. Never fill a hot water bottle with boiling water, use the hot tap, and do not use if there are signs of wear or damage. Don’t overheat wheat bags
regularly check your heater is safe and is working as it should. Sit at least a metre away.
When should I seek medical care?
If a burn happens, run the burn under cool running water for at least 20 minutes, while keeping the person warm. Don’t apply ice, creams or ointments, as they can cause more damage by trapping in the heat. Remove tight clothing or jewellery. Cover the burn with a loose, clean cloth or non-stick dressing.
looks leathery, or there are patches of brown, black or white
if the person has trouble breathing.
Lisa Martin receives funding from Perth Children’s Hospital Foundation, Perron Foundation, The Kids Research Institute, and is employed by The Fiona Wood Foundation.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samara McPhedran, Principal Research Fellow, Violence Research and Prevention Program, Griffith University
Almost every day, it seems we read or hear reports another family is grieving the murder of a loved one in a street brawl, another business owner is hospitalised after trying to fend off armed robbers, or shoppers simply going about their business are confronted by knife-wielding thugs.
The way media and politicians talk, it seems as if we are in the middle of an unprecedented violent crime crisis.
But are we?
The short answer is: no.
Comparing today with the past
Although the numbers fluctuate from year to year, Australia is less violent today than in previous years.
It is difficult to make direct comparisons over decades, because the way crimes are defined and recorded changes (especially for assault).
Weapons and violence are rarely out of the media cycle in Australia, leading many to fear this country is becoming less safe for everyday people. Is that really the case, though? This is the first story in a four-part series.
For crimes like domestic violence, the statistics are extremely hard to compare over time but even so, prevalence appears to have declined (although only about half of all women who experience physical and/or sexual violence from their partners seek advice or support).
However, if we consider homicide and robbery (which have been categorised much the same way over time), the numbers have been falling for decades.
Interestingly, this seems to have nothing to do with the weapons themselves. For instance, armed robbery and unarmed robbery both rise and fall in about the same way, at about the same time. Homicide follows a similar pattern.
Relative to ten years ago, Australians now are less likely to say they have experienced physical or threatened face-to-face assault in the previous 12 months.
Places with greater socioeconomic disadvantage typically experience more violence. In Queensland, for instance, Mt Isa has higher violent crime rates than affluent areas of Brisbane.
Despite differences between places, there is generally less violence than there used to be.
Why is violence declining?
Nobody knows quite why violence is decreasing. This is not just happening in Australia butacross many developednations.
Suggestions include better social welfare, strong economies, improved education, low unemployment, women’s rights and stable governance. Also, new avenues have opened up that carry less risk than violent crime – such as cyberfraud instead of robbing a bank.
Evidence shows these types of reactions achieve little, but in an environment of endless “crisis” it is almost impossible to make good decisions. This is made even harder in circumstances where victims and activists push politicians to implement “feel-good” policies, regardless of how ultimately fruitless those will be.
Who are the people being violent?
One thing remains the same: violent crime is primarily committed by younger men (who are also likely to be victims).
Ethnicity/migration history data is not always recorded in crime statistics, but the information we do have suggests a more complex picture.
Factors such as exposure to warfare and civil strife can certainly play a role in people’s use of violence.
However, unemployment, poverty, poor education and involvement with drugs and/or gangs tend to play a much larger part.
Reactions versus reality
If society is less violent, why are public reactions to violence seemingly becoming more intense?
Incidents that would have received little attention a decade ago now dominate public debate and single incidents – no matter how rare or isolated – are enough to provoke sweeping legislative and policy changes.
This is also about psychology: the better things get, the more sensitive people tend to be to whatever ills remain and resilience can crumble when something bad does happen.
Pandering to this by rushing to make people feel safer – while politically irresistible – has unintended consequences. When another incident occurs, as it always does, people feel even more vulnerable because they were led to believe the problem had been “fixed”.
This creates a never-ending cycle of superficial responses while underlying issues are ignored.
We cannot legislate or politicise our way out of violence. The best responses are ones that identify and address actual root causes and look at the circumstances that surround violence – rather than fixating on the violence itself.
This means moving away from emotional reactions and taking a clear look at why violence occurs in the first place.
Until this happens, any further reductions in violence are more likely to be good luck than good management.
Samara McPhedran has received funding from various Australian and international government grant programs, including the Australian Research Council and Criminology Research Council, for a number of projects relating to violence. She has been appointed to various advisory panels and committees, including as a member of the Queensland Ministerial Advisory Panel on Weapons. She does not receive any financial remuneration or other reward for these activities. She is the Executive Director (Analysis, Policy and Strategy) of the Violence Prevention Institute Australia. She is not, and has never been, a member of any political party. The views expressed are those of the author alone.
Among the 138 recommendations of the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry’s final report to parliament was a clear call: remove the legal time limits that prevent survivors of historic abuse from seeking justice in civil court.
Without that reform, survivors of historic abuse remain vulnerable to being turned away by the legal system – not because their experiences aren’t credible, but because the law still treats them as being out of time.
The royal commission heard from thousands of survivors of childhood abuse in the care of state and faith-based institutions between 1950 and 1999. What stood out was how often that harm was made worse by silence, disbelief and legal systems that failed to respond.
Limitation periods in abuse cases
Under New Zealand law, people generally have six years from the time a harm occurs to bring a civil claim. That limit is set out in the Limitation Act 2010 for events after 2011, and in the Limitation Act 1950 for events before that.
For survivors of historic abuse, particularly childhood abuse, that six-year window rarely reflects how trauma actually works. Survivors often take decades to feel sufficiently safe and supported to come forward and name what happened to them.
The 1950 law allowed limitation periods to be paused if a claimant was under a “disability” – a legal term meaning they were either a child or, in the language of the time, of “unsound mind”. In practice, this meant the six-year clock usually didn’t start for children until they reached adulthood.
The 2010 law clarified this by explicitly saying the limitation period for children begins at 18. It also introduced a new “incapacitated” exception, allowing the clock to pause for adults who are unable to make decisions or take legal action because of trauma or other conditions.
But in practice it’s a narrow doorway. Courts require survivors to prove not just trauma, but a high legal incapacity threshold.
This means that even when the abuse is acknowledged, and even when survivors have strong evidence, civil cases are often barred. The bar is not that the harm didn’t happen, but that it happened “too long ago”.
How civil time limits deny justice
In 2019, former Air Force servicewoman Mariya Taylor brought a civil claim against the sergeant who had sexually abused her in the 1980s while both were stationed at the Whenuapai base.
The court accepted the abuse had occurred. But because Taylor was not legally considered “disabled” by trauma, and the six-year window had closed, her case was struck out under the Limitation Act 1950. Adding insult to injury, she was ordered to pay costs to her abuser.
At 18, Taylor had entered a rigid military hierarchy where power and discipline made reporting abuse nearly impossible.
Her case shows how limitation periods can block even well-evidenced claims, and how institutional dynamics such as silence, shame and obedience often delay disclosure.
These same patterns were pivotal to the royal commission’s findings.
Survivors can now bring civil claims regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred. In landmark case in 2023, GLJ v. The Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of Lismore, the High Court of Australia rejected a request to shut down proceedings even though the alleged abuser and other witnesses had died. The court said the case could still go ahead using available evidence.
The GLJ decision is important for New Zealand courts. It shows that while removing time bars doesn’t guarantee victory for survivors, it does give them the chance to be heard.
Delayed but not denied
Removing time limits for civil claims involving historic abuse, as the royal commission recommended, is now overdue.
A first step would be for the government to clearly commit to amending the Limitation Act 2010 to exclude claims of historic abuse – especially child sexual abuse – from the six-year deadline.
This would bring New Zealand into line with Australia and recognise what we now know about the delayed nature of disclosure, trauma and institutional silence. It would also honour the spirit of the royal commission’s work.
As courts and commissions have recognised, removing limitation periods doesn’t guarantee a win for survivors. But it does mean they’re at least allowed to try.
For years, survivors have been told they’ve spoken too late. Reforming limitation laws won’t undo the harm they suffered. But it will show their testimony matters, and that justice delayed does not have to mean justice denied.
Zoë Prebble 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.
In 2024, the problem of deepfakes became a crisis in South Korea: more than 500 schools and universities were targeted in a coordinated wave of deepfake sexual abuse.
AI-generated sexualised images of students — mostly girls — were circulated in encrypted Telegram groups. The perpetrators were often classmates of the victims.
A new report from global child-protection group ECPAT with funding from the UK-based Churchill Fellowship takes a close look at what happened in Korea, so other countries can understand and avoid similar crises. Here’s what Australia can learn.
A glimpse into our future?
The events in South Korea were not just about deepfake technology. They were about how the technology was used.
Perpetrators created groups on the Telegram messaging platform to identify mutual acquaintances in local schools or universities. They then formed “Humiliation Rooms” to gather victims’ photos and personal information so they could create deepfake sexual images.
Rooms for more than 500 schools and universities have been identified, often with thousands of members. The rooms were filled with deepfake imagery, created from photos on social media and the school yearbook.
Bots within the app allowed users to generate AI nudes in seconds. One such bot had more than 220,000 subscribers. The bot gave users two deepfake images for free, with additional images available for the equivalent of one Australian dollar.
Telegram screenshots show an automated deepfake bot that charges users to produce images. Telegram
This wasn’t the dark web. It was happening on a mainstream platform, used by millions.
And it wasn’t just adult predators. More than 80% of those arrested were teenagers. Many were described as “normal boys” by their teachers — students who had never shown signs of violent behaviour before.
The abuse was gamified. Users earned rewards for inviting friends, sharing images, and escalating the harm. It was social, yet anonymous.
Could this happen in Australia?
We have already seen smaller, less organised deepfake incidents in Australian schools. However, the huge scale and ease of use of the Korean abuse system should be cause for alarm.
The Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation recorded 58,503 reports of pictures and videos of online child abuse in the 2023–24 financial year. This is an average of 160 reports per day (4,875 reports a month), a 45% increase from the previous year.
This increase is likely to continue. In response to these risks, the Australian government, through the eSafety Commissioner, is applying the existing Basic Online Safety Expectations to generative AI services. This creates a clear expectation these services must work proactively to prevent the creation of harmful deepfake content.
Internationally, the European Union’s AI Act has set a precedent for regulating high-risk AI applications, including those that affect children. In the United States, the proposed Take It Down Act aims to criminalise the publication of non-consensual intimate images, including AI-generated deepfakes.
These are a start, but a lot more work remains to be done to provide a safe online environment for young people. The Korean experience shows how easily things can escalate when these tools are used at scale, especially in peer-to-peer abuse among adolescents.
5 lessons from Korea
The South Korean crisis holds several lessons for Australia.
1. Prevention must start early. Korea’s crisis involved children as young as 12 (and even younger in some primary schools targeted). We need comprehensive digital ethics and consent education in primary schools, not just in high schools.
2. Law enforcement needs AI tools of their own to keep up. Just as offenders are using AI to scale up abuse, police must be equipped with AI to detect and investigate it. This may include facial recognition, content detection, and automated triage systems, all governed by strict privacy protocols.
3. Platforms must also be held accountable. Telegram only began cooperating with South Korean authorities after immense public pressure. Australia must enforce safety-by-design principles and ensure encrypted platforms are not safe havens for abuse.
4. Support services must be scaled up. Korea’s crisis caused trauma for entire communities. Victims often had to continuing going to school with perpetrators in the same classrooms. Australia must invest in trauma-informed support systems that can respond to both individual and collective harm.
5. We must listen to victims and survivors. Policy must be shaped by those who have experienced digital abuse. Their insights are crucial to designing effective and compassionate responses.
Joel Scanlan 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.
Imagine an area larger than the Australian Capital Territory, nearly twice the size of London and four times that of New York City covered in coca plantations.
Colombia produces an estimated 2,664 metric tonnes of cocaine annually. That is enough to fill 20 Boeing 747 cargo planes per year.
Not even during the darkest days of Pablo Escobar’s infamous empire did Colombia cultivate as much coca or produce as much cocaine as it does today.
In the past year alone, coca crops expanded by 10% and production capacity soared more than 50%.
So how did it come to this?
A worrying mix
Colombia did not arrive at this point overnight, nor by chance. A complex mix of radical and failed policy shifts, scientific innovation and global demand, among other factors, has shaped this trajectory.
For example, in 2015, Colombia’s Constitutional Court suspended aerial fumigation and banned the use of glyphosate. Despite the herbicide’s effectiveness in killing coca plants, the court cited concerns over its health risks and environmental impact.
Aerial spraying had allowed the government to reduce the risk that manual eradication brigades were exposed to over large areas.
In 2016, then-president Juan Manuel Santos introduced a scheme to substitute coca with non-illicit plants. Incentives were offered to farmers. However, it ended up encouraging many peasants who had never grown coca before to begin cultivating it, simply to qualify for the new subsidies.
It is no surprise that during Santos’ second term (2014–18), Colombia’s coca crops nearly doubled, from 96,000 hectares to more than 170,000.
More recently, in 2022, President Gustavo Petro announced his Paz Total (Total Peace) policy. This was designed to bring trafficking organisations – including Colombia’s second largest narco-terrorist group, the National Liberation Army (ELN) – to the negotiation table.
What happens in Colombia matters to Australia because criminal innovation is fuelling greater cocaine volumes and higher purity. This means more is flowing towards Australian shores.
Colombia’s coca production is being reshaped by enhanced cultivation techniques, more secure and autonomous smuggling methods, and an increasingly fragmented criminal landscape.
Production is now more efficient and profitable than ever. Growers are planting improved coca leaf varieties and achieve more harvest cycles per year with higher alkaloid yields per kilo.
Some networks are also transitioning from manned to unmanned operations.
Also, the growing presence and operational influence of Mexican cartels in Colombia has amplified the scope and scale of alliances between transnational organised crime groups across Europe, Asia and Oceania. International police investigations are even more complex.
Despite record-high seizure numbers and total volumes intercepted, Australia is still among the most attractive destination markets for drug trafficking organisations because of the high price users pay for the drugs.
Unless something radically changes in Colombia, Australia continues to face growing risks from maritime trafficking routes. There is also an increased threat of being used as a transit and money laundering hub in the global drug economy.
Some possible solutions
Even if conditions in Colombia were to change swiftly and drastically, supply-focused strategies alone are insufficient to mitigate the risks facing Australia.
After all, Colombia cannot simply fumigate its way out of this cocaine crisis, just as Australia cannot arrest its way out of it.
However, continued collaboration between the Australian Federal Police and the National Police of Colombia remains essential to keep drugs at bay.
The appointment of Colombia’s first police attaché to Australia will be a welcome and meaningful step forward. (While not yet formally announced, the Colombian embassy in Australia has informed me and several other experts the country is appointing the attaché.)
Both countries must deepen this relationship and collectively engage meaningfully and frequently to help solve the problem.
Cesar Alvarez 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.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marlee Bower, Senior Research Fellow, Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney
Without even realising it, your world sometimes gradually gets smaller: less walking, fewer days in the office, cancelling on friends. Watching plans disintegrate on the chat as friends struggle to settle on a date or place for a catch-up.
You might start to feel a bit flat or disconnected. Subtle changes in habit and mood take hold. Could you be … lonely?
It’s not a label many of us identify with easily, especially if you know you’ve got friends, or are in a happy relationship.
But loneliness can happen to us all from time to time – and identifying it is the first step to fixing it.
So, what is loneliness?
Loneliness is the distress we feel when our relationships don’t meet our needs – in quality or quantity.
It’s not the same as being objectively alone (otherwise known as “social isolation”).
You can feel deeply lonely even while surrounded by friends, or totally content on your own.
Loneliness is subjective; many people don’t realise they’re lonely until the feeling becomes persistent.
What are some of the signs to look for?
You may feel a physicalcoldness, emptiness or hollowness (I’ve heard it described as feeling like you are missing an organ). Some research shows social pain is experienced similarly in the brain to physical pain.
In the past, being separated from your tribe meant danger and risk from predators, so our brains developed a way to push us back towards connection.
The pain of loneliness is designed to keep us connected and safe.
Why is it often hard to recognise loneliness?
Sadly, there’s still a lot of stigma around admitting loneliness, especially for men.
Many people resist identifying as lonely, or feel this marks them as a “loser”.
But this silence can make the problem worse.
When no one talks about it, it becomes harder to break the cycle of loneliness, and the stigma remains.
While passing loneliness is normal, chronic or persistent loneliness can hurt our health.
Research shows chronic loneliness is associated with:
depression
anxiety
weakened immunity
heart disease
earlier death.
Loneliness can also become self-reinforcing. When loneliness feels normal, it can start to shape how you see the world: you expect rejection, withdraw more and the cycle deepens.
The earlier you notice you’re lonely, the easier it is to break.
But I’m in a relationship, have loads of friends and a rewarding job
Yes, but you can still be lonely.
Most of us need different kinds of relationships to thrive. It’s not about how many people you know, but whether you feel connected and have a meaningful role in these relationships.
You may feel lonely even with strong friendships if you are lacking deeper connection, shared identity or a sense of community.
This doesn’t mean you’re ungrateful, or a bad friend.
It just means you need more or different kinds of connection.
OK, I’ve realised I am lonely. Now what?
Start by asking yourself: what kind of connection am I missing?
Is it one-to-one friendships? A partner? Casual social interactions? A shared purpose or community?
Then reflect on what’s helped you feel more connected in the past. For some, it’s joining a choir, a book club or a sports group. For others, it may be volunteering or just saying “yes” to small social moments, like chatting with your local barista or learning the name of the local butcher.
If you’re still struggling, a psychologist can help with tailored strategies for building connection.
The structural causes of loneliness
It’s also important to remember loneliness is often not because of personal failings or overall mental health.
We are also learning more about how climate change can disrupt social connection and worsen loneliness due to, for example, higher temperatures or bushfires.
Loneliness is normal, common, human and completely solvable.
Start by noticing it in yourself and reach out if you can.
Let’s start talking about it more, so others can feel less alone too.
Marlee Bower receives funding from the Henry Halloran Urban and Regional Research Initiative, the BHP Foundation, AHURI and NHMRC. She is affiliated with the University of Sydney Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use and Australia’s Mental Health Think Tank.
Late in the evening, the Antarctic sky flushes pink. The male leopard seal wakes and slips from the ice into the water. There, he’ll spend the night singing underwater amongst the floating ice floes.
For the next two months he sings every night. He will sing so loudly, the ice around him vibrates. Each song is a sequence of trills and hoots, performed in a particular pattern.
In a world first, we analysed leopard seal songs and found the predictability of their patterns was remarkably similar to the nursery rhymes humans sing.
We think this is a deliberate strategy. While leopard seals are solitary animals, the males need their call to carry clearly across vast stretches of icy ocean, to woo a mate.
Solitary leopard seals want their call to carry. Ozge Elif Kizil/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Leopard seals are especially vocal during breeding season, which lasts from late October to early January. A female leopard seal sings for a few hours on the days she is in heat. But the males are the real showstoppers.
Each night, the males perform underwater solos for up to 13 hours. They dive into the sea, singing underwater for about two minutes before returning to the water’s surface to breathe and rest. This demanding routine continues for weeks.
Within a leopard seal population, the sounds themselves don’t vary much in pitch or duration. But the order and pattern in which the sounds are produced varies considerably between individuals.
Our research examined these individual songs. We compared them to that of other vocal animals, and to human music.
Listening to songs from the sea
The data used in the study was collected by one author of this article, Tracey Rogers, in the 1990s.
Rogers rode her quad bike across the Antarctic ice to the edge of the sea and marked 26 individual male seals with dye as they slept. Then she returned to record their songs at night.
The new research involved analysing these recordings, to better understand their structure and patterns. We did this by measuring the “entropy” of their sequences. Entropy measures how predictable or random a sequence is.
What stood out was the similarity between the predictability of human nursery rhymes and leopard seal calls. Nursery rhymes are simple, repetitive and easy to remember — and that’s what we heard in the leopard seal songs.
The range of “entropy” was similar to the 39 nursery rhymes from the Golden Song Book, a collection of words and sheet music for classic children’s songs, which was first published in 1945. It includes classics such:
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Frère Jacques
Ring Around a Rosy
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep
Humpty Dumpty
Three Blind Mice
Rockabye Baby.
For humans, the predictable structure of a nursery rhyme melody helps make it simple enough for a child to learn. For a leopard seal, this predictability may enable the individual to learn its song and keep singing it over multiple days. This consistency is important, because changes in pitch or frequency can create miscommunication.
Like sperm whales, leopard seals may also use song to set themselves apart from others and signal their fitness to reproduce. The greater structure in the songs helps ensure listeners accurately receive the message and identify who is singing.
Male leopard seals produce high-pitched cricket-like trills.
An evolving song?
Leopard seals sound very different to humans. But our research shows the complexity and structure of their songs is remarkably similar to our own nursery rhymes.
Communication through song is a very common animal behaviour. However, structure and predictability in mammal song has only been studied in a handful of species. We know very little about what drives it.
Understanding animal communication is important. It can improve conservation efforts and animal welfare, and provide important information about animal cognition and evolution.
Technology has advanced rapidly since our recordings were made in the 1990s. In future, we hope to revisit Antarctica to record and study further, to better understand if new call types have emerged, and if patterns of leopard seal song evolve from generation to generation.
Tracey Rogers receives funding from ARC.
Lucinda Chambers 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.
As the cool nights continue, it’s the perfect time to cozy up with a new batch of captivating films and series.
This month’s streaming highlights bring a little bit of everything, from gripping true crime, to thought-provoking political drama, and a nostalgic music documentary on the life and times of piano man Billy Joel.
So grab a blanket (and maybe a snack or two). Your next binge-watch awaits.
One Night in Idaho: The College Murders
Prime Video
I remember seeing the gruesome 2022 murder of four college students in Moscow, Idaho, splashed all over the news in Australia. The world seemed momentarily gripped by the brutality of the killings, which happened in off-campus housing, while two other roommates slept downstairs.
The ensuing investigation was given significantly less attention, though. So when Prime Video dropped this four-episode limited series, well, that was my weekend sorted.
The docuseries features exclusive interviews with the friends and families of the victims, so it doesn’t feel gratuitous. It respectfully recounts the tragedy and explores its continued impact, while honouring the victims. It also builds the kind of tension and disquiet that is so beloved in the true crime genre, but not in a way that makes you feel gross watching it.
Notably, legal proceedings for the case were still underway when One Night in Idaho was released. And the series made it clear there was more to the story which couldn’t be shared with, or by, the producers.
However, the trial has since concluded, with more information now available for anyone wanting to dive deeper into the case. This makes the series an absorbing watch.
– Alexa Scarlata
The Night of the Hunter
Various platforms
In 1955, director Charles Laughton crafted The Night of the Hunter: one of the darkest, strangest fairy tales ever to come out of Hollywood.
Shortly before Ben Harper is hanged for robbing a bank and killing two men, he hides the $10,000 loot in the toy doll of his young daughter Pearl. Only Pearl and her brother John know the secret – until the deranged serial killer-priest Harry Powell hears about the money and sets out to recover it.
Harry marries Willa, Harper’s widow, and then, after killing her, pursues John and Pearl relentlessly across West Virginia.
Robert Mitchum’s depiction of pure evil is one of cinema’s most vivid creations, with LOVE and HATE tattooed on the fingers of each hand.
The film did not align with the mainstream tastes of the era. Audiences and reviewers didn’t know what to make of this abnormal mix of fairy tale logic, nightmarish imagery and biblical allegory.
Successive generations of critics and filmmakers have caught on to its brilliance. Critic Roger Ebert said it was “one of the greatest of all American films”. In 2008, French film magazine Cahiers du cinémavoted it as the second-best film of all time, behind only Citizen Kane (1941).
The Night of the Hunter remains unsettlingly modern, 70 years on.
The highest point in Denmark, Mollehoj, is 171 metres above sea level, so it is plausible to imagine the whole country being overrun by water due to rising sea levels, leading to mass evacuation. This is the basic premise of the Danish series Families Like Ours.
The cleverness of this premise is that it turns comfortable middle-class Danes into refugees, facing hostility, poverty and violence as they seek to resettle. Given Denmark’s hard line on refugees, this makes the series politically powerful, equally so for us in Australia.
The central figure is a young woman, Laura (Amaryllis August), who creates disaster for her family through what she believes is an act of huge empathy. The same is true of Henrik (Magnus Millang), who shoots an innocent man in what he believes is an act of self-defence.
Families Like Ours is not a comfortable series to watch, but it manages to raise central issues of our time, without ever seeming didactic or preachy. It succeeds in combining the personal and the political in a six-part show that is powerful – and leaves enough loose ends for a potential second season.
– Dennis Altman
The Man from Hong Kong
Various platforms
A cinematic firecracker of a film exploded onto international screens 50 years ago, blending martial arts mayhem, Bond-esque set pieces, casual racism – and a distinctly Australian swagger.
From its audacious visual style; to its complex, life-threatening stunts; to its pioneering status as an international co-production, Brian Trenchard-Smith’s The Man from Hong Kong has solidified its place as a cult classic.
A Sydney-based crime lord’s activities come under the scrutiny of a determined Hong Kong detective, Inspector Fang Sing Leng. A fiery East-meets-West martial arts showdown explodes across the Australian landscape, pushing both sides to their limits.
The movie is a playful pastiche that confidently combines martial arts action, police procedurals, spy thrillers, and Westerns, all filtered through a distinctly Australian “crash-zoom” lens.
The film was an influence to Quentin Tarantino and paved the way for films such as Mad Max (1979), particularly in what Trenchard-Smith and his partner in film, stunt legend Grant Page, might call its “cunning stunts”.
The elaborate car chases and explosive stunt setups in The Man from Hong Kong served as prototypes for iconic sequences that would inspire the Mad Max films, among others, a testament to a bygone era of practical effects and thrill seeking audacity.
The Man from Hong Kong remains an exhilarating piece of pure cinema, despite its relatively small budget. It’s an exemplar (and occasional cautionary tale) for filmmakers in terms of international co-production, its cunning stunts, and genre blending.
Based on the book series by Jussi Adler-Olsen, Dept Q is a gripping television adaptation for fans of Nordic noir and British crime drama.
In Edinburgh, Scotland, Detective Chief Inspector Carl Morck (Matthew Goode) has returned to work after a shooting which left him physically and psychologically wounded, his colleague partially paralysed, and another colleague dead.
With the dregs of a budget assigned to cold cases, and a team of misfit officers, Morck sets out to solve the four-year-old case of missing Crown prosecutor, Merritt Lingard (Chloe Pirrie).
We follow Merritt’s story across various stages of her life. We see her as a teenager in the lead-up to a devastating crime that left her brother with a traumatic brain injury, as well as later in life, when she loses a major case involving a wealthy man on trial for his wife’s death.
Shortly after the devastating verdict, Merritt went missing on a ferry ride to her childhood home, on the fictionalised island of Mhòr. Returning to the present, we see she has been held captive inside a hyperbaric chamber for the past four years.
The pressure under which Merritt is kept makes Morck’s investigation high stakes from the start, while the movement between past and present highlights the impacts of past traumatic events on both characters.
Dept Q is a fast-paced, breathless thriller which will leave viewers craving its rumoured second season.
– Jessica Gildersleeve
Billy Joel: And So It Goes
HBO Max
Produced by Tom Hanks, this two-part documentary about singer/songwriter Billy Joel covers more than five decades of music. Created very much from Joel’s perspective, who is also the main narrator, the archival content is fascinating, and the music difficult to deny.
Discussion of Joel’s early suicide attempts are a shocking and terrible reminder of how different things might have been. From here, the role of the women in his life – his wives, daughters, and mother (“his champion”) – becomes vital. Beyond the headlines (particularly with his second wife Christie Brinkley), are partners who were muses, business supporters and emotional support pillars – some of whom gave Joel ultimatums when the time came to battle his alcohol addiction.
Brinkley, as well as Joel’s first wife, Elizabeth Weber, are particularly moving interviewees. They would wait at home, or stand nervously backstage as Joel “went to work” to earn, repair and rebuild against the odds. No spoilers, but let’s just say Joel ended up in trouble more than once.
On the other hand, the men in Joel’s life are often distant: Jewish grandparents who escaped Nazi Germany; a father who left when Joel was small; a half-brother discovered later in life. These losses are never really healed.
Billy Joel: And So It Goes is a five-hour epic, a story of survival and ultimately, of peace. It is, of course, also a reminder of an incredible catalogue of music – joyful, ordinary and wonderful – and the extraordinary life behind it.
– Liz Giuffre
If you or someone you know needs help, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14
Gardening Australia, season 36
ABC iView
Since it first aired in 1990, Gardening Australia has offered tips and inspiration from every state and territory on a weekly basis. A perennial favourite, the show seems to possess perpetual appeal for world-weary viewers open to slowing down by growing plants.
The no-nonsense host Peter Cundall helmed the series until 2008 (Cundall died in 2021 at the age of 94). The honour of “King of Compost” now rests with the gregarious Costa Georgiadis, and a wider cast of presenters that has expanded to be more diverse and engaging. One stalwart from the start, Jane Edmanson, is still flourishing in season 36: her episode 4 segment titled “Fronds with Benefits” certainly caught my eye.
Topics covered this season range from small-space innovation and passion projects, to Indigenous knowledge and bush foods, through to permaculture and climate change. Episodes 6 and 20 – specials on native plants and NAIDOC Week, respectively – are both worth a watch.
While the series can distance renters, and might not be edgy enough for younger audiences, it has managed to stake out ground in the digital realm – with a blooming online presence for budding green thumbs.
One of the longest-running Australian shows still on air, it doesn’t look as though Gardening Australia will be pulling up roots anytime soon.
– Phoebe Hart
The Buccaneers, season two
Apple TV
Loosen your corsets, The Buccaneers is back for a second season of feminist sisterhood and fabulous gowns.
Adapted from Edith Wharton’s unfinished final novel, the series follows a group of outspoken young American women navigating the marriage market in 1870s Victorian England. Gleefully anachronistic with feisty girl power speeches and a contemporary pop music soundtrack, The Buccaneers is equal parts Bridgerton and Gossip Girl (complete with a character played by Leighton Meester).
Season two picks up where the first left off, with Jinny (Imogen Waterhouse) and Guy (Matthew Broome) fleeing the country to escape Jinny’s violent husband Lord James Seadown (Barney Fishwick).
Meanwhile, sister Nan (Kristine Froseth) is busy back home leveraging her position as Duchess of Tintagel to help facilitate Jinny’s return – a campaign that includes wearing a showstopping red gown to a black and white ball. In keeping with the series’ M.O., this might be narrative nonsense, but it looks exquisite.
While trysts and love triangles continue to provide escapist entertainment, Jinny’s abusive marriage dominates later episodes. If season one sought to expose the isolation and entrapment Jinny endured in her marriage, season two foregrounds her resistance in the face of it, intent on highlighting how perpetrators of violence manipulate legal and medical systems to tighten the noose around victims’ necks.
Season two’s veering between frothy excess and melodrama arguably results in some tonal patchiness. Nonetheless, it should be commended for its careful treatment of the corrosive impacts and dangers of coercive control. This – more than the downloadable soundtrack and dazzling costumes – makes it good viewing.
– Rachel Williamson
Dangerous Animals
Prime Video
Dangerous Animals is perhaps the most original and entertaining shark horror film we have seen since Jaws – incorporating traditional elements of the shark thriller genre, while challenging them at the same time.
The film starts with the primal fear of being eaten alive by monstrous sharks, with gruesome shock-thrill scenes of tourists being torn apart in a blood red ocean.
But later, the narrative reminds us it is the boat captain, not the great white, who is the real sadistic killer. Predictably, we see a young bikini-clad woman who gets horribly dismembered (just like the first unforgettable victim in Jaws).
However, it is also a fearless bikini-clad woman, Zephyr (Hassie Harrison) who turns the tables on the boat captain, outwits him, rescues her boyfriend and even makes friends with the shark.
Dangerous Animals includes some interesting subtext and commentary, such as when it compares women to fish – creatures hunted for sport – and when it highlights the inherent cruelty of fishing, and the hook that impales the prey.
The film delivers sophisticated special effects and gruesome eco-horror entertainment. It is a fun, self-aware and postmodern watch that will leave you thinking.
The Australian influence is delightfully evident in the irreverent humour. And for anyone who has been to the Gold Coast, there is much pleasure in seeing the film play out across its iconic locations.
This film will trigger your childhood fear of Jaws – but with a twist.
– Susan Hopkins
Shark Whisperer
Netflix
In Shark Whisperer, the great white shark gets an image makeover – from Jaws villain to misunderstood friend and admirer.
However the star of the documentary is not so much the shark, but the model and marine conservationist Ocean Ramsey (yes, that’s her real name).
The film centres on Ramsey’s self-growth journey, with the shark co-starring as a quasi-spiritual medium for finding meaning and purpose (not to mention celebrity status).
Whisperer and the Ocean Ramsey website tap into the collective fascination with dangerous sharks fuelled by popular culture. Many online images show Ramsey in a bikini or touching sharks – she’s small, and vulnerable in the face of great whites. As with forms of celebrity humanitarianism, what I have dubbed “sexy conservationism” leaves itself open to criticism about its methods – even if its intentions are good.
Globally at least 80 million sharks are killed every year. Thanks in part to the hashtag activism of Ocean Ramsey and her millions of fans and followers, Hawaii was the first state in the United States to outlaw shark fishing.
So, Ramsey may be right to argue her ends justify the means.
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.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Duncan Caillard, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Communication Studies, Auckland University of Technology
Jason Momoa’s historical epic Chief of War, launching August 1 on Apple TV+, is a triumph of Hawaiians telling their own stories – despite the fact their film and TV production industry now struggles to be viable.
The series stars Momoa (Aquaman, Game of Thrones) as Kaʻaina, an ali’i (chief) who fights for – and later rises against – King Kamehameha I during the bloody reunification of Hawaii.
Already receiving advance praise, the nine-episode first season co-stars New Zealand actors Temeura Morrison, Cliff Curtis and Luciane Buchanan, alongside Hawaiian actors Kaina Makua, Brandon Finn and Moses Goods.
A passion project for Momoa, the Hawaiian star co-created the series with writer Thomas Pa’a Sibbett after years in development. With a reported budget of US$340 million, it is one of the most expensive television series ever produced.
It is also a milestone in Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) representation onscreen. Controversially, however, the production only spent a month in Hawaiʻi, and was mostly shot in New Zealand with non-Hawaiian crews.
Momoa has even expressed an interest in New Zealand citizenship, but the choice of location is more a reflection of the troubled state of the film industry in Hawaiʻi. On the other hand, it is a measure of the success of the New Zealand screen industry, with potential lessons for other countries in the Pacific.
Ea o Moʻolelo – story sovereignty
Set at the turn of the 19th century, Chief of War tells the moʻolelo (story, history) of King Kamehameha I’s conquest of the archipelago.
Hawaiʻi was historically governed by aliʻi nui (high chiefs), and each island was ruled independently. Motivated by the threat of European colonisation and empowered by Western weaponry, Kamehameha established the Hawaiian Kingdom, culminating in full unification in 1810.
The series is an important example of what authors Dean Hamer and Kumu Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu have called “Ea o Moʻolelo”, or story sovereignty, which emphasises Indigenous peoples’ right to control their own narrative by respecting the “the inalienable right of a story to its own unique contents, style and purpose”.
Chief of War is also the biggest Hawaiian television series ever produced. Although Hawaiʻi remains a popular setting onscreen, these productions have rarely involved Hawaiians in key decision-making roles.
Sea of troubles
The series hits screens at a time of major disruption in Hollywood, with streaming services upending established business models.
“Linear” network television faces declining viewership and advertising revenue. Movie studios struggle to draw audiences to theatres. The consequences for workers in the the industry have been severe, as the 2023 writers strike showed.
Those changes have had a catastrophic impact on the Hawaiʻi film industry, too.
Long a popular location – Hawaii Five-O (1968-1980, 2010-2020), Magnum P.I. (1980-1988, 2018-2024) and Lost (2004-2010) were all shot on location in Hawaiʻi – it is an expensive place to film.
Actors, crew and production equipment often have to be flown in from the continental United States, and producers compete with tourism for costly accommodation.
Kaina Makua as King Kamehameha and New Zealand actor Luciane Buchanan as Ka’ahumanu in Chief of War. Apple TV+
An industry in transition
These are not uncommon problems in distant locations, and many governments try to attract screen productions through tax incentives and rebates on portions of the production costs.
New Zealand, for example, offers a 20-25% rebate for international productions and 40% for local productions. Hawaiʻi offers a 22-27% rebate.
But this is less than other US states offer, such as Georgia (30%), Louisiana (40%) and New Mexico (40%). Hawaiʻi also has an annual cap of US$50 million on rebates.
To make things even harder, Hawaiʻi offers only limited support for Indigenous filmmakers. Governments in Australia and New Zealand provide targeted funding and support for Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Māori filmmakers.
By contrast, the Hawaiʻi Film Commission doesn’t provide direct grants to local filmmakers or producers (Indigenous or otherwise). Small amounts of government funding have been administered through the Public Broadcasting Service, but this is now in jeopardy after US President Donald Trump recently cut federal funding.
The Hawaiʻi screen industry faces a perfect storm. For the first time since 2004, film and TV production has ground to a halt. Many workers now doubt the long-term sustainability of their careers.
Lessons from Aotearoa NZ
While there are lessons Hawaiʻi legislators and industry leaders could learn from New Zealand’s example, there should also be a measure of caution.
The Hawaiʻi tax credit system is out of date. But despite industry lobbying, legislation to update it failed to reach the floor of the legislature earlier this year. New tax settings would help make local production viable again.
Secondly, decades of investment in Māori cinema have seen it become diverse, engaging and creatively accomplished. Hawaiʻi could benefit from greater direct investment in Hawaiian storytelling, respecting its cultural value even if it doesn’t turn a commercial profit.
On the other hand, New Zealand has a favourable currency exchange rate with the US which can’t be replicated in Hawaiʻi. And New Zealand film production workers have seen their rights to unionise watered down compared to their American peers.
But if Hawaiʻi can get its settings right, a possible second season of Chief of War may yet be filmed there, which could mark a genuine rejuvenation of its own film industry.
Duncan Caillard 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.
Protesters demonstrated outside several major US media outlets in Washington this week condemning their coverage of the genocide in Gaza, claiming they were to blame over misinformation and the worsening catastrophe.
Banging pots and pans to spotlight the starvation crisis, they accused the media of “complicity in genocide”.
Banners and placards proclaimed “Stop media complicity in genocide” and “US media manufactures consent for Israel’s crimes”, as the protesters demonstrated outside media offices that included NBC News and Fox News.
But the irony was that while the protests appeared to have been ignored or overlooked by national media in the US – and certainly in New Zealand, they were strongly reported by at least one global news agency, Turkey’s Anadolu Agensi.
The protests echoed a series of statements by various news media organisations, such as Agence France-Presse concerned about the safety of their journalists from both under fire and the risk of starvation, and media freedom advocacy groups.
The Doha-based global television news network Al Jazeera, that has been producing arguably the best and most honest news coverage of Gaza and the occupied West Bank – which earned it being banned last year by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority from reporting inside their territory — called for global action to protect Gaza’s journalists.
It said in a statement that Isael’s forced starvation of the besieged enclave that threatened Gaza’s entire population, including those “risking their lives to shed light on Israel’s atrocities”.
Death toll passes 60,000 On Tuesday this week, the world noted a grim milestone in Gaza, with the Health Ministry announcing that the death toll had surpassed 60,000 (this does not include the tens of thousands of people buried under the rubble and missing, presumed dead).
Put in perspective, that is one in every 36 people in Gaza killed, and more than 90 people on average slaughtered every day.
Also, 1157 people have been killed near the notorious Israel and US-backed Gaza “Humanitarian” Foundation food depots condemned as “death traps”, while 154 people have died from starvation, 89 of them children with the numbers rising.
Israel’s genocide – ‘Everyone in Gaza is starving’ Video: Al Jazeera
An episode of the weekly media watch programme, The Listening Post, took up the theme as well, criticising the failure of many high profile Western news services from adequately reporting the horror of Israel’s devastating and cruel policies.
“When trying to stave off starvation becomes part of the job. What it means to be a Palestinian journalist in Gaza. The stories they are determined to tell, the incredible risks they are prepared to take,” said host Richard Gizbert when introducing the programme. He wasted no time firing a few caustic shots.
Metropolitan police on watch for the pro-Palestinian protesters outside Fox News offices in Washington DC this week. Image: AA screenshot APR
“What is unfolding in Gaza now has the appearance of a final solution, orchestrated by Israel and the United States, Israel’s other ally: The transformation of parts of the Gaza strip into starvation and concentration camps, a place where famine has been turned into a weapon of war,” he said.
“Reporting on the reality of this genocide can amount to a death sentence. Palestinian journalists can easily identify with the suffering they are documenting since they too are going hungry.
“They have been targeted because for [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu, like other genocidal leaders before him, starving a population is much easier to do when no one is watching.
An Al Jazeera reporter ducks for cover as bombs hit a building behind her in a live broadcast from Gaza . . . featured in The Listening Post’s starvation report. Image: AA screenshot APR
Perpetrator ‘left out’ “Across Western mainstream media, news outlets have been unable to ignore this story of mass starvation in Gaza. But in report after report, they have made a habit of leaving out a key detail – naming the perpetrators of the famine, Israel.
“The missing actors, the sanitised language, the use of the passive grammatical voice, it is all part of the playbook for far too many international news outlets and that is exactly what the few Palestinian journalists still standing are out to tell the world.”
Gizbert explained that “journalists in Gaza already have the world’s toughest assignment”: “Job one for almost 22 months now has been survival; job two, telling heartbreaking stories; documenting a genocide while under fire.”
Hossam Shabat reports on his colleague Anas al-Sharif’s experience at Al Shifa hospital and the starvation of babies in Gaza. Image: Instagram/@hossam_shbat
Like, for example, Al Jazeera Arabic’s Anas al-Sharif who was reporting live from outside Al Shifa medical complex when a woman behind him collapsed at the hospital’s gate.
Al-Sharif, who had reported on the genocide of his own people for more than 650 days without rest or complaint, through Israeli occupation airstrikes, drone attacks, and countless “scenes resembling hell”, suddenly could not take it anymore.
He broke down: “People are falling to the ground from the severity of hunger,” al-Sharif said through his tears. “They need one sip of water. They need one loaf of bread.”
Al-Sharif has also been threatened by the Israeli military, accusing him of being a “Hamas militant”, an accusation strongly denied by Al Jazeera, denouncing what it called Tel Aviv’s “campaign of incitement” against its reporters in the Gaza Strip.
Discredited for bias Many Western mainstream media – including BBC, CNN, Sky, ITN, and Australia’s public broadcaster ABC — have been repeatedly discredited for their “pro-Israel bias” by scores of journalists who have acted as whistleblowers about the actions of their own news organisations.
According to a Declassified UK report, for example, the journalists working for a range of outlets from across the political spectrum have “painted a consistent picture of the obstacles faced by reporters who want to humanise Palestinians or scrutinise Israeli government narratives”. The US media is also under attack and has been putting up a lame defence.
Last week, more than 100 aid groups warned of “mass starvation” throughout Gaza — predictably denied by Israeli government in the face of overwhelming evidence — with their staff severely impacted by shortages and serious implications for journalists already being threatened with targeting by the Israeli military.
Israel faces growing global pressure over the enclave’s dire humanitarian crisis, where more than two million people have endured 22 months of war. UN Security Council member France has led a group of countries announcing that they plan to recognise the Palestinian state at the UN in September, with United Kingdom, Canada, Malta and Finland among those following with the total number now almost 150 of the 193 UN member states.
A statement with 111 signatories, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Save the Children and Oxfam, warned that “our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away”. The groups called for an immediate negotiated ceasefire, the opening of all land crossings and the free flow of aid through UN-led mechanisms.
Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh reported from Amman that the Israeli government had accused the UK of supporting the establishment of a “jihadi” state and of derailing efforts to reach a ceasefire.
“But really,” she said, “the Israeli media, for example, is describing this as a political tsunami, a realisation of how significant the tide is, and how improbable it is to turn it back to countries withholding recognition because Israel said it doesn’t want it.”
Calling for sanctions She also noted how 31 high-profile Israelis, including the former speaker of the Knesset, a former attorney general, and several recipients of Israel’s highest cultural award, were calling on world governments to impose crippling sanctions on Israel to stop the starvation of Palestinians in Gaza and their expulsion
“This was taboo just a few days ago and has never really been done before, certainly not at this level of prominence of the signatories,” Odeh added.
“Israel is starving Gazan journalists into silence,” says the CPJ. Image: CPJ screenshot APR
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) added its voice to the appeal by aid agencies to call for an end to Israel’s starvation of journalists and other civilians in Gaza, backing the plea for states to “save lives before there are none left to save.”
In a statement on its website, the CPJ accused Israel of “starving journalists into silence”.
“Israel is starving Gazan journalists into silence. They are not just reporters, they are frontline witnesses, abandoned as international media were pulled out and denied entry,” said CPJ regional director Sara Qudah.
“The world must act now: protect them, feed them, and allow them to recover while other journalists step in to help report. Our response to their courageous 650 plus-days of war reporting cannot simply be to let them starve to death.”
As Israel partially eased its 11-week total blockade of Gaza that began in May, CPJ published the testimony of six journalists who described how “starvation, dizziness, brain fog, and sickness” had threatened their ability to report.
Among highlights cited by the CPJ: • On June 20, Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al Sharif — the journalist cited earlier in this article — posted online: “I am drowning in hunger, trembling in exhaustion, and resisting the fainting that follows me every moment . . . Gaza is dying. And we die with it.” • Sally Thabet, correspondent for Al-Kofiya satellite channel, told CPJ that she fainted consciousness after doing a live broadcast on July 20 because she had not eaten all day. She regained consciousness in Al-Shifa hospital, where doctors gave her an intravenous drip for rehydration and nutrition. In an online video, she described how she and her three daughters were starving. • Another Palestinian journalist, Shuruq As’ad said Thabet had been the third journalist to collapse on air from starvation that week, and posted a photograph of Thabet with the drip in her hand. • During a live broadcast on July 20, Al-Araby TV correspondent Saleh Al-Natour said: “We have no choice but to write and speak; otherwise, we will all die.”
Little of this horrendous state of affairs has made it onto the pages of newspapers, websites of the television screens in the New Zealand mainstream media which seems to have a pro-Israel slant and rarely interviews Palestinian journalists or analysts for balance.
“Stop media complicity in genocide” says the protest banner in Washington DC. Image: AA screenshot APR
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Robson, Deputy Chair, Productivity Commission, and Adjunct Professor, Queensland University of Technology
Productivity growth is a key driver of improvements in living standards. But in Australia over the last decade, output per hour worked grew by less than a quarter of its 60-year average.
We urgently need to turn this around.
That’s why the government has asked the Productivity Commission – where I am deputy chair – to conduct five inquiries and identify priority reforms.
As a first step to boost productivity growth, we need business to expand and invest in the tools and technology that help us get the most out of our work.
Unfortunately, some of our most important policy settings are holding us back.
Business investment has slumped
Capital expenditure by all non-mining firms is down 3.2 percentage points as a share of the economy since the end of the global financial crisis in 2009.
And the ever-growing thicket of rules and regulations faced by business is a significant handbrake on growth.
Lower company tax rates are likely to attract more overseas firms to invest in Australia and help people start and grow businesses. They may strengthen the ability of smaller firms, which contribute the bulk of capital investment, to compete with larger ones.
Our draft recommendations include:
Cutting the company tax rate to 20% from 25% or 30% for businesses with revenue under A$1 billion – the vast majority of companies
Introducing a new 5% net cash-flow tax on all firms. This supports companies’ capital expenditure by allowing them to immediately deduct the full value of their investments.
The company tax rate would remain at 30% for firms earning over $1 billion. This would affect about 500 companies.
In line with other developed nations
The reduction in Australia’s headline company tax rate would move Australia from having one of the highest to one of the lowest rates for small and medium-sized firms among developed economies.
And if the net cashflow tax is effective, it could be expanded over time and fund broader reductions in company income tax.
Our modelling indicates these two changes would increase investment in the economy by $8 billion and boost Australia’s GDP by $14 billion, with no net cost to the budget over the medium term.
An abundance of red tape
The interim report also notes regulation can enhance productivity and protect against harms. But too much, or inappropriate, regulation can disproportionately inhibit economic dynamism and resilience.
Australia’s regulatory burden has grown. Businesses report spending more and more on regulatory compliance.
Regulators and policymakers have a broad mandate to further the public interest. But they can face incentives to be overly risk-averse and to downplay the burden that regulations place on businesses. They may pursue narrow goals at the expense of broader economy-wide goals.
There are many practical examples that illustrate the problem.
In the Australian Capital Territory, for example, the average time a house builder must wait for a planning decision is nearly six months. In New South Wales, it takes an average of nine years to get approval to build a wind farm.
This kind of unnecessary and costly over-regulation ultimately benefits nobody.
More scrutiny needed
Simply put: Australia’s regulatory culture needs to change. And cultural change starts at the top.
As a first step, the government needs to make a clear, whole-of-government public commitment to reducing regulatory burdens, and ensure new regulatory proposals face greater cabinet and parliamentary scrutiny.
Regulators need to look for ways to promote economic growth, while continuing to ensure Australians are protected against avoidable harms.
Ministers could issue statements of expectations to regulators and regulatory policymakers that clearly indicate how much risk they should tolerate in pursuit of business dynamism.
To improve the evaluation of cumulative regulatory burdens, the Productivity Commission should be tasked with a regular and systematic stream of reviews. These would focus on sectors or regulatory systems where complex and enduring thickets of regulation have emerged.
The draft recommendations on tax and regulation set out in the interim report are clear, actionable and ambitious reforms. They will support governments in delivering a meaningful and measurable boost to Australia’s lagging productivity.
Alex Robson is deputy chair of the Productivity Commission.
As any leader of a political party knows, when you demote people they can become difficult, or worse.
Among Opposition Leader Sussan Ley’s multiple problems are two very unhappy former frontbenchers. Sarah Henderson, who was opposition education spokeswoman last term, and Jane Hume, who had a high profile in finance, were dumped to the backbench in Ley’s reshuffle.
There were mixed views about Ley’s judgement. But it was clear neither would take the relegation lying down.
Henderson at the time declared she found it regrettable that “a number of high-performing Liberal women have been overlooked or demoted”. Hume said, ominously, “there is something very liberating about being on the backbench and being able to speak without having to stick to the party line and without having to stick to talking points”.
This week, both women used their freedom to freelance.
On the government’s student debt legislation, Henderson made her presence felt by moving an amendment designed to cap indexation. It got only a handful of votes from the crossbench. The opposition abstained.
Also in the Senate, Hume put down her marker, on a motion moved by One Nation repudiating the net zero target. Predictably, Matt Canavan (Nationals) and Alex Antic (right-wing South Australian Liberal) voted for the motion. The Liberals’ official position – given they’re in no-man’s land, reviewing their policy – was to abstain. But Hume and Andrew McLachlan (a moderate from South Australia), voted against the motion.
Hume has kept a regular spot on Sky News Australia, an opportunity to use her “liberated” voice.
Then there’s Andrew Hastie who, despite being a frontbencher, doesn’t feel under collective discipline. Hastie, whom some see as a possible future leader, didn’t get his wish for a non-security portfolio in the reshuffle. Instead, the former defence spokesman was moved to home affairs, a broad job that presents many opportunities.
When the Western Australian Liberal council passed a motion rejecting net zero at the weekend, Hastie gave his enthusiastic backing.
He then got stuck into state Liberal leader Basil Zempilas, who had said the WA parliamentary party supported “the status quo on the net zero targets”.
Hastie fired off a newsletter to supporters declaring, “This motion – moved and supported by my division of Canning – reflects a growing concern from mainstream Australians about our expensive energy bills, unreliable supply, and the erosion of our national sovereignty.
“I was therefore disappointed to see [Zempilas] publicly dismiss those concerns.”
The government was quick to exploit this, with Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen telling parliament on Thursday Hastie “will undermine any opposition leader he can find. He’s taking a practice run in Perth for what he intends to do in Canberra, some time in the next 12 months as we all know. He loves undermining leaders of the opposition.”
Peter Dutton was a disaster for the Liberals, as the election drubbing showed. But he was (mostly) able to impose substantial unity on the parliamentary party.
That was seen as a big achievement. But it had two downsides. At the time, it stifled what might have been useful internal debate, or warnings, that could have helped the opposition. And now it has left some Liberals who felt they held their tongues last time determined not to do so again. Even those not aggrieved for specific reasons are likely to be more inclined to be outspoken this term.
Ley will not be able to impose the degree of discipline that Dutton did.
Meanwhile, as the aggrieved Liberals were stamping their feet, their colleague James Paterson, new to his post of finance spokesman, was seeking to repair some of the political damage the opposition did by its attacks on the public service.
The hostility to the public service goes back a long way – some might argue it’s ingrained in the Liberals’ DNA. It was strong during Scott Morrison’s prime ministership.
Dutton promised massive cuts to the Canberra-based public service, which even the Liberals admit would have been unattainable. Hume’s plan to force public servants back into the office five days a week, a policy the opposition had to drop midway through the election campaign, has also left deep suspicion.
For the Liberals, attacking the public service has always appeared a ready road to savings. But the political dangers are obvious. It is not the seats directly affected – the ACT always votes Labor. But assaults on the public service can be readily segued by the Coalition’s opponents into code for attacks on government services.
Paterson, who’s also shadow minister for the public service, told an Australian Financial Review summit on government services, “It is not lost on me that promising significant cuts to the size of the APS or changing the way public servants work from home was poorly received and not just here in Canberra.”
Paterson said, “I have great respect for public servants, and I recognise the significant contributions they make to our democracy.
“The Coalition aspires to have a respectful, constructive relationship with the APS. We want a motivated, high-performing public service that works in genuine partnership with government to deliver the services Australians rely on. And we want it to do so as a trusted steward of taxpayer dollars.”
On the basis of history, the public servants will remain suspicious of the Liberals; Paterson’s aim will be to mitigate that as much as possible.
In a twist on the working-from-home debate, the secretary of the health department, Blair Comley, this week expressed some concern about the implications of the trend.
“I don’t think anyone is suggesting we go back to a rigid five days a week and no flexibility,” Comley told the AFR summit. But he was worried about what was happening to “learning, development, mentoring, and what’s happening to the social capital”.
Knowing the sensitivities of the issue, Comley was extremely careful with his words. Hume, having been burned once, was not putting her hand into this particular fire again. “That is not a policy that the Coalition has now, not a policy that we took to the election”, she said. There is a limit to being liberated.
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.
Espionage cost Australia $12.5 billion in 2023-24, according to a study by ASIO and the Australian Institute of Criminology.
The figure includes the direct costs of known espionage incidents, including state-sponsored theft of intellectual property, as well as the indirect costs of countering and responding.
Details of the Cost of Espionage report were released by the head of ASIO, Mike Burgess, in delivering the annual Hawke Lecture on Thursday night. Espionage is defined as “the theft of Australian information by another country that is seeking an advantage over Australia”.
Burgess said the Institute estimated foreign cyber spies stole nearly $2 billion from Australian companies and businesses in trade secrets and intellectual property in 2023-24.
In one instance, spies hacked into a major Australian exporters computer network, stealing commercially sensitive information.
“The theft gave the foreign country a significant advantage in subsequent contract negotiations, costing Australia hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Burgess pointed to another espionage incident several years ago when an overseas delegation visited a sensitive Australian horticultural facility.
A delegation member entered a restricted area and photographed a rare, valuable variety of fruit tree. A staff member intervened and deleted the image but it later turned out several of the tree’s branches had been stolen and smuggled out of Australia.
“Almost certainly, the stolen plant material allowed scientists in the other country to reverse engineer and replicate two decades of Australian research and development.”
In another instance, an Australian defence contractor invented and sold a world-leading innovation.
At first sales boomed but then they collapsed, and “customers began flooding the company’s repair centre with faulty products. While the returns looked genuine, closer examination revealed they were cheap and nasty knock offs.
“An investigation uncovered what happened.
“One year earlier, a company representative attended a defence industry event overseas and was approached by an enthusiastic local. She insisted on sharing some content via a USB, which was inserted into a company laptop. The USB infected the system with malware allowing hackers to steal the blueprints for the product.
“Almost certainly, the ‘enthusiastic local’ worked for a foreign intelligence service. The blueprints were given to a state-owned enterprise which mass-produced the knock-offs and deprived the Australian company millions of dollars in lost revenue – the tangible cost of espionage.”
Burgess said many entities do not realise their secrets have been stolen by espionage.
He stressed the institute was deliberately conservative, only modelling costs it could confirm and calculate.
“That means many of the most serious, significant and cascading costs of espionage are not included in the 12.5 billion dollar figure. The potential loss of strategic advantage, sovereign decision-making and warfighting capacity hold immense value, but not a quantifiable dollar value.”
“The Institute estimates Australia prevented tens of billions of dollars of additional costs by stopping or deterring spying,” Burgess said.
He said ASIO estimated the espionage threat “will only intensify. It is already more serious and sophisticated than ever before, so our response must also be more serious and sophisticated than ever before.”
Russian spies booted out in 2022
Burgess confirmed that in 2022 a number of “undeclared Russian intelligence officers” were removed from Australia.
“The decision followed a lengthy ASIO investigation that found the Russians recruiting proxies and agents to obtain sensitive information, and employing sophisticated tradecraft to disguise their activities.”
Last year, two Russian born Australian citizens were charged with an espionage related offence.
Russian remained a persistent and aggressive espionage threat, Burgess said. “But Russia is by no means the only country we have to deal with.
“You would be genuinely shocked by the number and names of countries trying to steal our secrets.
“The obvious candidates are very active – I’ve previously named China, Russia and Iran – but many other countries are also targeting anyone and anything that could give them a strategic or tactical advantage, including sensitive but unclassified information.”
Burgess said increasingly foreign intelligence services were broadening their collection efforts beyond traditional categories. They were aggressively targeting science and technology, and public and private sector projects, negotiations and investments. This includes Antarctic research, green technology, critical minerals and rare earths extraction and processing.
‘A very unhealthy’ interest in AUKUS
Burgess said foreign intelligence services were “taking a very unhealthy interest in AUKUS and its associated capabilities.”
“Australia’s defence sector is a top intelligence collection priority for foreign governments seeking to blunt our operational edge, gain insights into our operational readiness and tactics, and better understand our allies’ capabilities.
“Targets include maritime and aviation-related military capabilities, but also innovations with both commercial and military applications.
“And with AUKUS, we are not just defending our sovereign capability. We are also defending critical capability shared by and with our partners.”
He said foreign intelligence services were “proactive, creative and opportunistic” in targeting present and former defence employees.
There was relentless cyber espionage, in-person targeting and technical collection.
“In recent years, for example, defence employees travelling overseas have been subjected to covert room searches, been approached at conferences by spies in disguise and given gifts containing surveillance devices.”
Two dozen major disruptions in the last three years
Burgess said that ASIO had detected and disrupted 24 major cases of foreign interference in the last three years alone.
This was more than in the previous eight years combined. They were just the major disruptions – there were many other cases. Among the examples he gave were:
spies recruited a security clearance holder who handed over official documents on free trade negotiations
foreign companies connected to intelligence services sought to buy access to personal data sets; sought to buy land near sensitive military sites, and sought to collaborate with researchers developing sensitive technologies
foreign intelligence services tried to get someone employed as a researcher in a media outlet, aiming to shape reporting and receive early warning of critical stories
spies convinced a state bureaucrat to login to a database to obtain details of people considered dissidents by a foreign regime
nation state hackers compromised a peak industry body’s network getting sensitive information
a foreign intelligence service had multiple agents and their family members apply for Australian government jobs to get access to classified information.
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.
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
Labor is well-placed to win three seats in the electorate of Bass at the Tasmanian election, although its party totals imply it deserves only two. This would give left-leaning MPs a total of 20 of 35 seats. Interstate, New South Wales Labor has surged to a large lead in a Resolve poll.
The postal receipt deadline for the July 19 Tasmanian state election passed at 10am Tuesday. Final statewide vote shares
were 39.9% Liberals (up 3.2% since the March 2024 election), 25.9% Labor (down 3.2%), 14.4% Greens (up 0.5%), 2.9% Shooters, Fishers and Farmers (up 0.6%), 1.6% Nationals (new) and 15.3% independents (up 5.7%).
Tasmania uses the proportional Hare-Clark system to elect its lower house. There are five electorates corresponding to Tasmania’s five federal seats, and each electorate returns seven members, for a total of 35 lower house MPs.
Under this system, a quota for election is one-eighth of the vote or 12.5%, but half of this (6.2%) is usually enough to give a reasonable chance of election. There’s no above the line section like for the federal Senate. Instead, people vote for candidates not parties, with at least seven preferences required for a formal vote.
Robson rotation means that candidates for each party are randomised across ballot papers for that electorate, so that on some ballot papers a candidate will appear at the top of their party’s ticket and on others at the bottom.
This means parties can’t control the ordering of their candidates. Independents can be listed in single-candidate columns.
Leakage occurs when party candidates with more than one quota are elected and their surplus distributed, or when minor candidates are excluded and their preferences distributed. In the federal Senate, the large majority of votes are cast above the line, and these votes cannot leak from the party that received a first preference vote.
The consequence of leakage is that parties will lose votes from their totals during the distribution of preferences when their own candidates are elected or excluded. Single-candidate tickets can’t lose votes, and will only gain as other candidates are excluded.
Unlike other states and federally, the Tasmanian distribution of preferences is done manually. Before the distributions, analyst Kevin Bonham had called 14 of the 35 seats for the Liberals, ten for Labor, five for the Greens and four for left-leaning independents, leaving two undecided (the final seats in Bass and Lyons).
Labor well-placed to win three seats in Bass
Final primary votes in Bass gave the Liberals 3.34 quotas, Labor 2.20, the Greens 1.32, the Shooters 0.32 and independent George Razay 0.27. The Shooters and Razay had single-candidate tickets that can’t leak votes.
After three days of preference distributions, vote shares in Bass are 3.30 quotas for the Liberals, 2.25 for Labor, 1.31 for the Greens, 0.40 for the Shooters and 0.37 for Razay.
On quota fractions, the final seat in Bass looks as if it should go to the Shooters or Razay. However, with one Labor candidate already elected, the two leading Labor candidates (Jess Greene and Geoff Lyons) each have about 0.37 quotas with two Labor candidates still to be excluded.
If the remaining Labor votes divide roughly evenly between Greene and Lyons, they would each have about 0.62 quotas. Greens preferences will then favour Labor whether their final opponent is the Shooters or the Liberals. So Labor is well-placed to win three seats in Bass despite their party total implying they only deserve two.
If Labor wins the final Bass seat, Labor, the Greens and left-leaning independents would have a total of 20 of the 35 seats, making any Labor attempt to form government easier.
In Lyons, final primary votes gave the Liberals 3.36 quotas, Labor 2.27, the Greens 1.08, the Shooters 0.53 and the Nationals 0.33. The Shooters had a single-candidate ticket.
The Liberals now have 3.36 quotas, Labor 2.44, the Greens one, the Shooters 0.68 and the Nationals 0.34. Neither Labor nor the Liberals have any chance of pulling off an even split across candidates, so the Shooters will win the final Lyons seat.
NSW Resolve poll: Labor surges to large lead
A New South Wales state Resolve poll for The Sydney Morning Herald, conducted July 13–18 from a sample of 1,054, gave Labor 38% of the primary vote (up five since April), the Coalition 32% (down four), the Greens 13% (up two), independents 8% (down six) and others 10% (up four).
Resolve does not usually give a two-party estimate for its state polls, but The Poll Bludger estimated a Labor lead by 57–43. Despite the strong voting intentions for Labor, Labor incumbent Chris Minns’ lead over Liberal Mark Speakman as preferred premier narrowed from 40–15 to 35–16. This indicates that Labor’s surge is due to the federal election result.
Resolve polls taken well before an election have overstated the independent vote as they give independent as an option in all seats, when many seats don’t have viable independents. The six-point drop for independents in this poll suggests a different method is now being used.
By 32–25, respondents expected their personal outlook in the next year to get better rather than worse, but by 25–21 they expected the NSW state outlook to get worse.
Additional questions from federal Resolve poll
I previously covered a national Resolve poll for Nine newspapers that gave Labor a 56–44 lead. On reforms, 36% thought the government should take the opportunity from its landslide re-election to undertake reforms, while 32% thought it should restrict itself to policies put forward at the election.
By 47–20, respondents opposed raising the GST rate even if it would reduce other taxes. By 31–26, they supported reducing or ditching negative gearing concessions. By 36–27, they supported reducing or ditching capital gains tax concessions on properties.
By 57–18, respondents thought the opposition should work with the government to negotiate changes, rather than just oppose major reforms.
By 53–18, respondents thought Donald Trump’s election as United States president last November a bad outcome for Australia (68–11 bad in April, after Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs).
By 46–22, they thought Australia becoming more independent from the US on foreign policy and national security would be good. By 38–26, voters blamed Trump more than Albanese for the lack of a meeting.
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.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University; and Vice Chancellor’s Strategic Fellow, Australian National University
When it comes to dealing with two of the biggest current crises in the Muslim world – the devastation of Gaza and the Taliban’s draconian rule in Afghanistan – Arab and Muslim states have been staggeringly ineffective.
Their chief body, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in particular, has been strong on rhetoric but very short on serious, tangible action.
The OIC, headquartered in Saudi Arabia, is composed of 57 predominantly Muslim states. It is supposed to act as a representative and consultative body and make decisions and recommendations on the major issues that affect Muslims globally. It calls itself the “collective voice of the Muslim world”.
Yet the body has proved to be toothless in the face of Israel’s relentless assault on Gaza, triggered in response to the Hamas attacks of October 7 2023.
The OIC has equally failed to act against the Taliban’s reign of terror in the name of Islam in ethnically diverse Afghanistan.
Many strong statements
Despite its projection of a united umma (the global Islamic community, as defined in my coauthored book Islam Beyond Borders), the OIC has ignominiously been divided on Gaza and Afghanistan.
True, it has condemned Israel’s Gaza operations. It’s also called for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian aid to the starving population of the strip.
It has also rejected any Israeli move to depopulate and annex the enclave, as well as the West Bank. These moves would render the two-state solution to the long-running Israeli–Palestinian conflict essentially defunct.
Further, the OIC has welcomed the recent joint statement by the foreign ministers of 28 countries (including the United Kingdom, many European Union members and Japan) calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as well as France’s decision to recognise the state of Palestine.
The OIC is good at putting out statements. However, this approach hasn’t varied much from that of the wider global community. It is largely verbal, and void of any practical measures.
What the group could do for Gaza
Surely, Muslim states can and should be doing more.
For example, the OIC has failed to persuade Israel’s neighbouring states – Egypt and Jordan, in particular – to open their border crossings to allow humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza, the West Bank or Israel, in defiance of Israeli leaders.
Nor has it been able to compel Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco to suspend their relations with the Jewish state until it agrees to a two-state solution.
Further, the OIC has not adopted a call by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the United Nations special rapporteur on Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, for Israel to be suspended from the UN.
Nor has it urged its oil-rich Arab members, in particular Saudi Arabia and the UAE, to harness their resources to prompt US President Donald Trump to halt the supply of arms to Israel and pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war.
Stronger action on Afghanistan, too
In a similar vein, the OIC has failed to exert maximum pressure on the ultra-extremist and erstwhile terrorist Taliban government in Afghanistan.
Since sweeping back into power in 2021, the Taliban has ruled in a highly repressive, misogynist and draconian fashion in the name of Islam. This is not practised anywhere else in the Muslim world.
In December 2022, OIC Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha called for a global campaign to unite Islamic scholars and religious authorities against the Taliban’s decision to ban girls from education.
But this was superseded a month later, when the OIC expressed concern over the Taliban’s “restrictions on women”, but asked the international community not to “interfere in Afghanistan’s internal affairs”. This was warmly welcomed by the Taliban.
In effect, the OIC – and therefore most Muslim countries – have adopted no practical measures to penalise the Taliban for its behaviour.
It has not censured the Taliban nor imposed crippling sanctions on the group. And while no Muslim country has officially recognised the Taliban government (only Russia has), most OIC members have nonetheless engaged with the Taliban at political, economic, financial and trade levels.
Why is it so divided?
There are many reasons for the OIC’s ineffectiveness.
For one, the group is composed of a politically, socially, culturally and economically diverse assortment of members.
But more importantly, it has not functioned as a “bridge builder” by developing a common strategy of purpose and action that can overcome the geopolitical and sectarian differences of its members.
In the current polarised international environment, the rivalry among its member states – and with major global powers such as the United States and China – has rendered the organisation a mere talking shop.
This has allowed extremist governments in both Israel and Afghanistan to act with impunity.
It is time to look at the OIC’s functionality and determine how it can more effectively unite the umma.
This may also be an opportunity for its member states to develop an effective common strategy that could help the cause of peace and stability in the Muslim domain and its relations with the outside world.
Amin Saikal 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.
A survey from the Australian Dental Association out this week shows about three in four children never floss their teeth, or have adults do it for them. Many of the survey respondents thought it wasn’t worthwhile for baby teeth.
As anyone who cares for kids knows, it can be hard enough to get them to brush twice daily, let alone floss.
So how do you actually get kids to floss? Why do they need to anyway?
Do kids really need to floss?
Flossing can reach between the teeth where toothbrushes can’t. It removes the soft food debris and biofilm, a slimy layer on teeth that harbours microbes, and so reduces the risk of dental decay and gum disease.
So flossing is essential as soon as children’s teeth erupt and are in contact with the next one. This is typically at the age of six to eight months when the lower front teeth start to emerge through their gums.
But they’re just baby teeth, right?
You may be thinking flossing is not worth the time or trouble, especially for younger children who’ll lose their baby teeth in a few years anyway.
However, baby teeth play a vital role in how children’s jaw bones develop and their face appears. And losing baby teeth early – due to the dental decay that can arise from not flossing – can have several effects.
As a child, it can change their speech and appearance. These can affect a child’s self-esteem and impact their wellbeing, depending on their age.
Losing baby teeth early can also affect them as a teenager or adult. Baby teeth act as a guide to where permanent teeth should erupt so losing them early can lead to crowding of teeth, needing orthodontic treatment (braces). In fact, premature loss of baby teeth can increase the risk of “malocclusion” or problems in the position of permanent teeth by more than 2.5 times.
Cleaning between the teeth is also vital for teens to reduce the risk of gingivitis (inflammation of the gums). This is very common in this age group due to changes in hormone levels.
Yes, it can be challenging
Setting up a regular flossing routine may be challenging for many families. It’s one more thing to squeeze into the early morning rush to get to school or work. It can be hard to motivate tired children to floss at the end of the day too.
The technique itself also needs a level of manual dexterity for the kids themselves or for the parents who floss younger kids’ teeth.
You or your kids may have some form of dental anxiety due to previous negative experiences with dental visits. This may affect dental hygiene, or your likelihood to floss.
All of these factors can lead to lack of motivation or reluctance to floss, and so increases the risk of dental decay and gum disease in children.
But there are ways to help you and your kids develop and stick to a flossing regime.
OK, you’ve convinced me. What next?
First, gather your equipment.
Interdental brushes look like mini bottle brushes. These are more effective for larger spaces between adjacent teeth, or if your child has braces.
Floss or floss picks are only effective for areas with smaller or no spaces between adjacent teeth. Kid-friendly designs, such as animal-shaped and colourful floss and floss picks, can be an excellent option to make this routine more enjoyable. Flavoured floss, or floss that smells like fruit or chocolate can be appealing. Involving kids in the choice of floss or floss picks can boost their motivation to floss.
Alternatively, a waterjet flosser can make cleaning between the teeth more engaging. It’s as effective as regular dental floss.
For toddlers and preschoolers, using rewards and positive reinforcements, such as sticker charts or gold stars, can keep kids motivated to floss. So stock up.
Then choose your timing. Flossing is best done once a day, either in the morning or before bedtime. That’s because flossing can effectively remove biofilm between the teeth for 24 hours. You can floss before or after brushing.
Parents will need to brush and floss the teeth of infants and children up to five years old, until the children develop their own manual dexterity.
For infants, it’s easier if one adult holds them upright or sits them on their lap while the other does the flossing. For toddlers and preschoolers it may be easier to floss if they are sitting on the toilet, or standing at the basin with their head tilted back.
see a dentist or oral health professional well before their first tooth erupts so they can get used to the idea of a dental appointment.
Dileep Sharma receives funding from the Dental Council of NSW, International Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research, Australian government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, International College of Dentists and Tropical Australian Academic Health Centre for his dental research projects. He is affiliated with The International Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research and Australian Dental Association.
The idea of the titular Crow in Ted Hughes’ poems is wild, untameable and irreducible to words. In an early poem in the sequence, words come at Crow from all angles but he just ignores them. Finally, “Words retreated, suddenly afraid / Into the skull of a dead jester / Taking the whole world with them”.
Crow just yawns: “long ago / He had picked that skull empty”. A figure that is ancient and beyond the reach of gods or human belief systems, Hughes’ Crow resists ever being pinned down or fully understood.
In Max Porter’s 2015 novella, Grief is the Thing with Feathers, a version of Hughes’ Crow enters the life of a bereaved Dad, newly left to look after his two sons after the death of his wife.
Dad is a literary scholar, writing a book about Ted Hughes, and Crow is a metaphor come to life, some version of the endless grief through which he is living.
But Porter’s Crow is not quite the same thing as Hughes’ irredeemable half-myth/half-beast. This crow cares: “I do eat baby rabbits, plunder nests, swallow filth, cheat death […] But I care, deeply. I find humans dull except in grief”. And he is self-aware, too – aware that Hughes’ mythical beast image can also just be a performance, a piece of schtick: “I do this, perform some unbound crow stuff, for him”.
Now, a new adaptation of the novella brings the story to the Belvoir stage.
Devastation and renewal
Toby Schmitz as both Dad and Crow is just brilliant. He exactly captures the messy contradictions of this situation, shifting between the quiet melancholy and stifled rage of the widower and the restless, contradictory energies of Crow.
The latter he performs in recognisable Schmitz fashion: a leery and mischievous outsider, challenging the audience and holding their attention just as much as he teases, taunts and cajoles both Dad and his two sons.
His performance brings out the humour of Porter’s book, the sense of its own absurdity that shadows his story of devastation and tentative renewal.
Toby Schmitz as both Dad and Crow is just brilliant. Brett Boardman/Belvoir
Also on stage are Philip Lynch and Fraser Morrison as the two boys, doing a great job (as the characters do in Porter’s book) of providing an emotional antidote to the wheeling terror that sometimes spins off Dad’s encounter with Crow.
Schmitz adapted the book with director, Simon Phillips, and designer, Nick Schlieper. They have only very subtly altered the text in ways that enable a dynamic live performance, conversations between Dad, Crow and Boys.
Tying the piece together are compelling video direction and live music. The former is genuinely exciting, as it etches the presence of Crow’s mythology across the stage, aided by Craig Wilkinson’s work as illustrator, clearly taking inspiration from Hughes’ original illustrator, Leonard Baskin. Composer and cellist, Freya Schack-Arnott provides a stunning and emotional soundtrack throughout, at times improvising to the action.
An intensity of purpose
Porter’s novel is ten years old this year. It has been ridiculously successful for a slender (114 pages) and apparently unconventional book.
Seeming to imitate some of the conventions of 20th century modernism (non-linear narratives; stream-of-consciousness; an interplay of myth and reality; shifting perspectives from miniscule detail to grand narrative), it should not have been destined to occupy the best-seller list.
And, yet, multiple awards later, it remains in regular rotation on the central displays of high street bookstores around the world. It has been adapted for the stage before, in a successful production in London starring Cillian Murphy in 2019, and in a less well-received 2025 film starrring Benedict Cumberbatch.
Philip Lynch and Fraser Morrison as the two boys provide an emotional antidote. Brett Boardman/Belvoir
It would be easy to dismiss this success as something to do with the aesthetic world within which it situates itself. Careful to use Faber and Faber’s classic font, Albertus (something it shares with the Belvoir production when passages are projected above the stage), the book is an elegant product that advertises its own self-conscious literariness.
But this assessment would miss the brilliance, the sophistication and the tender power of Porter’s writing, as well as the way that the book has already got there before you.
Porter plays with his own contemporary taming of older and wilder literary traditions. If Hughes’ Crow has been domesticated in Porter’s use of him (I can’t imagine Hughes’ Crow leaving us with the line, “Just be kind and look out for your brother”), he knows that this sentimentality is now hard-earned and not to be ignored.
What this production adds to Porter’s beautiful book is an intensity of purpose. This is a gloriously collaborative effort, from theatre makers at the height of their powers, to communicate the beauty that persists through the pain and degradation that life throws at us.
Grief is the Thing with Feathers is at Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney, until August 24.
Huw Griffiths 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.
With parliament now finished its first fortnight’s session, attention will soon be on the government’s August 19-21 economic reform roundtable, bringing together business, unions, experts and community representatives to pursue consensus on ways to lift Australia’s flagging productivity.
Independent member for Wentworth Allegra Spender is one of the 25 participants invited to the roundtable. She’s particularly focused on tax reform and last week held a tax roundtable of her own.
Spender joined the podcast to talk about making tax fairer, the need for greater economic reform, climate policy, the social media ban for under 16s, a ceasefire in Gaza, and more.
On her ambitions on tax policy, Spender says income tax indexation is something that would benefit younger, working Australians:
Myself and actually another number of crossbenchers […] wrote to both the government and the opposition last term, really pushing for tax indexation. And really the heart of this is startling statistics from last term. The [Reserve Bank of Australia] put out some information that showed that bracket creep was a bigger impost on average households’ budgets than the RBA increases in the interest rate.
[…] Just to give you two statistics about young working people: households over the age of 65, in the last 10 odd years, have grown their wealth by around 50%. Households under the age of 35 have not grown their worth at all, pretty much. So they are going backwards relative to the rest of the country. A household, two households, both on a $100,000, sitting next to each other. If [one] household is retired, they have to pay on average half the tax of a working age household.
Spender says the system is stacked against young people, who “are really struggling economically compared to previous generations”.
It’s in your early and midlife that you need money for housing, to raise kids and everything else. So we don’t have a tax system that works for younger people. We have a tax system that burdens younger people strongly and then actually gives people more tax breaks when they’re older, and normally wealthier.
On climate targets, Spender says while she’ll be guided by the yet-to-be-provided Climate Change Authority’s advice, she wants to see Australia “try and lead other countries” – pointing to the United Kingdom, which has set a target to cut emissions by at least 81% by 2035.
The Climate Change Authority put out their interim guidance to say that a target within 65 to 75% [emissions reduction on 2005 levels] was both achievable from an economic point of view and also appropriate towards a scientific point of view.
My view is that we should be at the very top end of that. Now, if the Climate Change Authority significantly reviews, you know, revises down their targets, I will reconsider. But I think really what we should be doing is to say how can we be as ambitious as possible. And the reason I think that is important is actually, you know, from a business point of view, ambition and certainty is what they need to make the big investments that will actually achieve it.
Ambition is needed from a scientific point of view, because if we took, say, less than 75% [emissions reduction], and the rest of the world did too, we would be looking at outcomes that are catastrophic for Australia. Regular days in Sydney and Melbourne that are above 50 degrees. A huge loss of coral reef. Continued adverse weather events.
On the news that the government will include YouTube in its social media ban for under 16s, Spender says it’s now up to social media companies to make their websites safer to lift the bans.
My eldest daughter [who’s 12] has a strong view on this. And she’s actually a big fan of the ban. She was like, ‘I just don’t understand how it makes sense to leave YouTube in and TikTok out’. […] She’s not on social media, but other people are, and she finds it sometimes frustrating.
But I think the challenge on this is always going to be the implementation. I think it’s fiendishly complicated to implement. I think genuinely the most valuable part of this ban is actually the signal to families and parents about what is expected and what isn’t.
[…] I think the ball’s in the social media companies’ courts. If they want to move to a life beyond the ban, they need to show how they can make their platforms safe for younger Australians, because I don’t think they have delivered that to date. So I’d be open if they can provide the evidence of how they can change things. I’m always open minded to reversing or changing those bans. But at the moment, [social media] isn’t safe.
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.
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on July 31, 2025.
5 reasons why wind farms are costing more in Australia – and what to do about it Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magnus Söderberg, Professor and Director, Centre for Applied Energy Economics and Policy Research, Griffith University Saeed Khan/Getty Building a solar farm in Australia is getting about 8% cheaper each year as panel prices fall and technology improves, according to an official new report. Battery storage costs are
Sporty spice: how romance fiction is adding a new dynamic to sports fandom Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kasey Symons, Lecturer of Communication, Sports Media, Deakin University Sports fans might love their teams, cheer or curse each game’s result and admire their favourite athletes, but we rarely associate sports with romance. However, that may be slowly changing thanks to the recent spike in the popularity
Just as NZ began collecting meaningful data on rainbow communities, census changes threaten their visibility Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lori Leigh, Research Fellow in Public Health, University of Otago Getty Images New Zealand’s 2023 census was the first to collect data on gender identity and sexual orientation, showing one in 20 adults identify as LGBTQIA+. But just as reports from this more inclusive census are being
Big tech says AI could boost Australia’s economy by $115 billion a year. Does the evidence stack up? Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Uri Gal, Professor in Business Information Systems, University of Sydney Imaginima / Getty Images AI is on the agenda in Canberra. In August, the Productivity Commission will release an interim report on harnessing data and digital technology such as AI “to boost productivity growth, accelerate innovation and
Progress on Closing the Gap is stagnant or going backwards. Here are 3 things to help fix it Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Madeleine Pugin, Research Fellow, School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University The Productivity Commission’s latest data on Closing the Gap progress represents an unsurprisingly grim overview of the socioeconomic inequalities experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Closing the Gap is the plan federal and
More than 2 in 5 young Australians are lonely, our new report shows. This is what could help Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle H. Lim, Associate Professor, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney Oliver Rossi/Getty Images Loneliness is not a word often associated with young people. We tend to think of our youth as a time spent with family, friends and being engaged with school and work
How migrant business owners turn their identity into an asset, despite some bumps along the way Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shea X. Fan, Associate Professor, Human Resource Management, Deakin University Odua Images/Shutterstock Too often, it’s anti-immigration sentiment dominating headlines in Australia. But a quieter story is going untold. Migrants are not just fitting into Australian society, they’re actively reshaping it through entrepreneurship. Starting a business is difficult
The Man from Hong Kong at 50: how the first ever Australian–Hong Kong co-production became a cult classic Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Ferris, Senior Lecturer, Media Arts & Production, University of Technology Sydney LMPC via Getty Images A cinematic firecracker of a film exploded onto international screens 50 years ago this week, blending martial arts mayhem, Bond-esque set pieces, casual racism – and a distinctly Australian swagger. From
Rules for calculating climate risk in financial reporting by NZ businesses need revisiting – new research Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martien Lubberink, Associate Professor of Accounting and Capital, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Andrew MacDonald/Getty Images The recent International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision on climate action marked a significant step forward in formalising an idea many already accept: climate inaction is not merely
Climate justice victory at the ICJ – the student journey from USP lectures to The Hague By Vahefonua Tupola in Suva The University of the South Pacific (USP) is at the heart of a global legal victory with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivering a historic opinion last week affirming that states have binding legal obligations to protect the environment from human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. The case, hailed as a
Climate justice victory at the ICJ – the student journey from USP lectures to The Hague By Vahefonua Tupola in Suva The University of the South Pacific (USP) is at the heart of a global legal victory with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivering a historic opinion last week affirming that states have binding legal obligations to protect the environment from human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. The case, hailed as a
Kamchatka earthquake is among top 10 strongest ever recorded. Here’s what they have in common Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dee Ninis, Earthquake Scientist, Monash University Today at about 11:30am local time, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula in the country’s far east. Originating at a depth of roughly 20 kilometres, today’s powerful earthquake – among the ten strongest in recorded
Kamchatka earthquake is among top 10 strongest ever recorded. Here’s what they have in common Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dee Ninis, Earthquake Scientist, Monash University Today at about 11:30am local time, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula in the country’s far east. Originating at a depth of roughly 20 kilometres, today’s powerful earthquake – among the ten strongest in recorded
Tsunami warnings are triggering mass evacuations across the Pacific – even though the waves look small. Here’s why Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milad Haghani, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow in Urban Risk and Resilience, The University of Melbourne Last night, one of the ten largest earthquakes ever recorded struck Kamchatka, the sparsely populated Russian peninsula facing the Pacific. The magnitude 8.8 quake had its epicentre in the sea just
NAPLAN is just one test. Here’s what to do if your child’s results were in the bottom bands Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sally Larsen, Senior Lecturer in Education, University of New England Rawpixel/ Getty Images The latest round of NAPLAN results are out, along with a string of news reports about “students falling behind” and “failing”, and experts sounding the “alarm” about school progress. In March, all Australian students
Inflation slows again — but is it enough for the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates? Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stella Huangfu, Associate Professor, School of Economics, University of Sydney Doublelee/Shutterstock Inflation is moving in the right direction, but new figures released today may not be soft enough to trigger a cut in official interest rates in August. The Australian Bureau of Statistics released the June quarter
With the UK and France moving toward recognising Palestine, will Australia now follow suit? Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Donald Rothwell, Professor of International Law, Australian National University One of the smallest and most exclusive clubs in the world belongs to states. The US Department of State puts the number of independent recognised states at 197, while others count 200. The United Nations, meanwhile, has 193
With the UK and France moving toward recognising Palestine, will Australia follow suit? Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Donald Rothwell, Professor of International Law, Australian National University One of the smallest and most exclusive clubs in the world belongs to states. The US Department of State puts the number of independent recognised states at 197, while others count 200. The United Nations, meanwhile, has 193
An underwater observatory keeping the pulse of the Southern Ocean for nearly 30 years yields fresh results Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Traill, PhD Candidate Southern Ocean biogeochemistry, University of Tasmania Elizabeth Shadwick In a world affected by climate change, the Southern Ocean plays an outsized role. It absorbs up to 40% of the human-caused emissions taken up by the oceans while also being home to some of
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magnus Söderberg, Professor and Director, Centre for Applied Energy Economics and Policy Research, Griffith University
Building a solar farm in Australia is getting about 8% cheaper each year as panel prices fall and technology improves, according to an official new report. Battery storage costs are falling even more sharply, dropping 20% over the past year alone.
But the same can’t be said for wind farms, the second-largest source of renewable energy in Australia. Onshore wind costs actually rose about 8% in 2023–24 and another 6% in 2024–25.
The findings are contained in the GenCost 2024–25 report by CSIRO and the Australian Energy Market Operator, released this week.
Rising costs are putting real pressure on the wind industry, undermining investor confidence. Developers of offshore wind projects are walking away, and even cheaper on-shore wind projects are under strain. Even as wind energy becomes a mainstay in China, the United States and Germany, the industry faces real headwinds in Australia.
This is surprising. Wind, like solar, was projected to get steadily cheaper. The fuel is free and turbines are getting better and better. Instead, wind in Australia has remained stubbornly expensive. Solving the problem will be challenging. But solutions have to be found fast if Australia is to reach the goal of 82% renewable power in the grid by 2030 – now less than five years away.
Australia has no offshore wind projects up and running – and cost spikes may put planned projects at risk. Obatala-photography/Shutterstock
Five reasons why this is happening
Here’s what’s going on:
1. Global supply chains have been disrupted
The cost of steel, copper, fibreglass and other materials vital for wind turbines shot up during the pandemic. As a result, turbine prices rose almost 40% between 2020 and 2022. While input costs have fallen, turbine prices remain high. Solar panels can be churned out in factories, but modern wind turbines are massive, complex structures that require specialised manufacturing and logistics. That makes them more sensitive to global price fluctuations.
2. Good wind is often in remote places
Australia’s best wind resources are typically far from cities and existing grid infrastructure. Connecting far-flung wind farms such as Tasmania’s Robbins Island to the grid can require new and very expensive transmission lines. Remote sites mean extra costs such as temporary worker accommodation. The GenCost report notes this has added about 4% to wind project budgets in 2024–25 compared with the year before.
Many other countries rely heavily on offshore wind, because wind blows more strongly and reliably over oceans. Unfortunately, spiking costs are likely to further delay the arrival of offshore wind in Australia. GenCost projects the first offshore wind projects in Australia will face even steeper costs.
3. Local construction and labour costs have soared
Australia faces a shortage of workers with the skills to build and maintain wind farms, resulting in higher wages and recruitment costs. Wind developers say construction costs have become a real issue. Wind farms are more labour-intensive than solar.
4. Interest rates have raised financing costs
Wind farms require large upfront investments and lengthy construction periods. Even a small increase in interest rates can make them unviable – and interest rates have been high for some time.
5. Reliability concerns, regulatory delay and community opposition
According to US researchers, technical issues have emerged for some new wind turbines, creating unexpected costs for developers. The long, complex process of getting permits, carrying out environmental assessments and building community support is pushing out project timelines, increasing costs and uncertainty for developers.
Will solar take over?
Solar faces far fewer challenges. Solar panels are mass-produced, meaning costs are steadily driven down through economies of scale. Panels can be deployed quickly and solar farms tend to face less community opposition.
Wind turbines have to spin to function, while solar panels have no moving parts (though systems that track the Sun do). As a result, solar farms require less maintenance and are more reliable.
It’s no surprise large-scale solar has been on a record-breaking run, growing 20-fold between 2018 and 2023.
Solar panels make electricity during daylight hours, especially in summer. By contrast, wind tends to produce more power at night and during winter months. This is why wind is so useful to a green grid.
Generating power from both wind and sunshine can slash how much storage is needed to ensure grid reliability, lowering overall system costs. A balanced mix of wind, solar and storage will meet Australia’s electricity needs more efficiently and reliably than just solar and storage, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency and independent researchers.
Could wind come back?
Making wind more viable will take work. Potential solutions do exist, such as expanding the skilled workforce and investing in specialised ships and equipment to install turbines offshore.
Shipping large turbines from Denmark or China is expensive. To avoid these costs, it could make sense to encourage local manufacturing of large and heavy parts such as the main tower.
Rising material and labour costs have driven up the cost of wind turbines. Pictured: turbine blades in China’s Jiangsu province in 2022 about to be shipped to Australia. Xu Congjun/Future Publishing via Getty Images
The newly announced expansion of the government’s Capacity Investment Scheme could help reduce risks and give certainty, alongside public investment in new transmission lines.
If nothing is done or if new measures don’t help, wind is likely to stall while solar and storage race ahead.
That’s not the worst outcome. Australia could get a long way by relying on batteries and pumped hydro to store power from solar during the day and release it in the evenings, as California is doing. But this strategy involves trade offs, such as higher storage-capacity needs and the risk of insufficient power during long cloudy periods.
For Australia to optimise its mix of renewables and storage, policymakers will have to tackle wind’s cost challenges. Effective action could lower costs, accelerate project timelines and bolster flagging investor confidence.
Magnus Söderberg 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.
Sports fans might love their teams, cheer or curse each game’s result and admire their favourite athletes, but we rarely associate sports with romance.
However, that may be slowly changing thanks to the recent spike in the popularity of romance fiction, which has created an unlikely sub-genre.
Dedicated romance bookstores are popping all over the world thanks to the visibility of social media communities such as “BookTok” and “Bookstagram” and the avenues digital and self-publishing are creating.
Sports romance titles are contributing to the growing romance numbers and are helping to attract new and non-traditional fans to sport.
Sports bringing the spice
Sports romance fiction is not a new phenomenon. But it has gained popularity in the past few years, predominantly through ice hockey titles.
Ice hockey romance has a growing, passionate following. Authors such as Elle Kennedy, Hannah Grace, Tessa Bailey and Emily Rath – all New York Times-bestselling writers – bring a wide-reaching visibility to the sub-genre.
Kennedy’s Off Campus series is currently being developed as a TV series.
Formula 1 romance fiction also has a strong following, while football (soccer) is popular too. Meryl Wilsner’s soccer-based romance Cleat Cute is also getting the TV treatment through sporting legends Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird’s production company A Touch More.
You name the sport and there will be a title for you: golf, chess, lacrosse, tennis, basketball, pickleball, Australian rules football, swimming, ballet, baseball and e-sports, the list goes on.
Something for everyone
While a majority of sports romance texts reflect heteronormative relationships and depict some of the more stereotypical, idealised body types and aesthetics often associated with the romance genre and athletic bodies, there are also diverse titles. These explore relationships across genders, sexualities, ethnicities, body shapes and different sports.
The ability to self-publish and reach an audience through social media allows sports romance authors and the creator community to be responsive and representative.
Authors are motivated to create narratives that reflect their own experiences and identity or contribute perspectives they feel are missing in the sporting landscape.
Happily ever after?
What makes these diverse contributions significant is how the authors present their sporting narratives within the romance genre storytelling structure. This means the majority of texts conform to what romance readers call, the “HEA”: the happily ever after.
While some narratives will have drama, tension and tragedy, the “happily ever after” framework allows for stories and relationships to end on a happy note.
In sports romance, there are many authors using this approach to challenge social norms, restrictive sporting environments and advocate for inclusion by presenting narratives where these tensions are resolved and everything works out.
Examples include K.T. Hoffman’s The Prospects, which features a trans man as the protagonist who makes it onto a Major League Baseball team and finds true love. Esha Patel’s Offtrack presents a Middle Eastern woman as the first woman driver for a Formula 1 team this century — who also finds true love. Australian author Abra Pressler’s Love and Other Scores shares the coming out journey of a professional male tennis player while competing at the Australian Open — after he finds true love. You get it.
The romance genre allows these fictional stories to play out with the authors placing love and care for diverse communities at their centre, showing us a world where the inclusion for these diverse lived experiences are possible in sport.
Risks and rewards
There are opportunities for sports organisations to think more creatively about connecting with fans who may be interested in different elements of sporting culture and fandom.
That could be through sports romance, new forms of narrative storytelling such as docuseries like Netflix’s Drive to Survive, or intersections with pop culture such as Taylor Swift’s recent impact on NFL fandom.
What is important is understanding the community and serving that community rather than trying to retrofit diverse fans into preexisting fan engagement strategies.
Sports should understand fans are not a homogeneous group, and not all diverse fans will respond to and connect with this content.
There are also risks for sports that try to shoehorn non-traditional fans into their space without fully understanding the community, such as when the National Hockey League’s Seattle Kraken targeted the sports romance audience in 2023. The initiative went horribly wrong when the organisation misguidedly promoted social media engagement which led to some users crossing the line and allegedly harassing players.
But there are rewards when it is done right. Australian Ice Hockey League discovered this after developing a genuine connection with author Emily Rath and facilitating welcoming and safe spaces for romance readers at games. The result? A surge in attendances and fan connection.
The sports romance genre is a space for sport to pay attention to, and with the second annual Sports Romance Convention taking place in Minneapolis next year, its community will continue to grow.
Kasey Symons has received funding from the Victorian Government, and national and state sport governing bodies, including the Australian Football League and the National Rugby League. She is also one of the co-founders of Siren: A Women in Sport Collective.
Currently, there are no sources of administrative data that include adequate rainbow demographic markers such as sexual orientation, gender, transgender experience or variations of sex characteristics.
Without high-quality data, the policy reforms needed to address underserved and historically marginalised populations become harder to make. How can we create evidence-based policy with no evidence?
Rainbow communities had been invisible in the census since its inception in 1851. The 2023 Census was a watershed moment, born out of decades of determined activism and advocacy from the community.
For us, as housing and homelessness researchers, it was particularly important to finally have whole-of-population data about rates of homelessness among LGBTQIA+ communities. Data on housing showed rainbow communities pay higher rents, live in mouldier housing and move more frequently than non-rainbow communities.
Adding LGBTQIA+ data to the census meant we were the first country in the world to have such data on the housing experiences of these communities. We were applauded internationally by colleagues who have long been wanting similar homelessness and rainbow data from their own national censuses.
This data will be a great advocacy tool, but it is bittersweet that we will never have such information again.
History of advocacy
There is a nearly 50-year history of various community movements, from boycotts to activism, chronicling the queer struggle to be appropriately counted in the census.
In 1981, a group of Wellington lesbians held a “dykecott” of the New Zealand census to protest their exclusion. This included sending blank census forms to the Human Rights Commission with various explanations essentially saying “no rights, no responsibilities.”
Then, in the 1990s, the Wellington City Council’s lesbian and gay advisory group came together to lobby Stats NZ about the need for inclusive census data. In 1996, census forms were changed to be able to count same-sex partners.
In 2002, the former editor of the New Zealand LGBTQIA+ magazine Express Victor van Wetering went so far as to lodge a formal complaint against Stats NZ, stating the agency was in clear breach of the Human Rights Act. He alleged it was failing to meet its statutory requirements.
Stats NZ’s present and historical stance towards sexual orientation data amounts to a consistent denial that any imperative exists for it to develop a statistical picture of our queer communities. This statistical invisibility deprives queer communities of knowledge and power.
Advocacy continued throughout the 2000s and 2010s, and in 2018, Stats NZ released their statistical standards for measuring sexual orientation. The possibility of inclusive census data started to become more of a reality.
The decision to halt the census as we know it means there will be no longitudinal comparative data for rainbow communities. Just as the community has been allowed out of the statistical closet, people will be put back in.
It had long been argued that accuracy of rainbow data would improve over subsequent censuses. Now we will never know what developments might have emerged.
In 2020, the Human Rights Commission released a report which found New Zealand’s data collection processes fail to accurately count the country’s rainbow community members.
Stats NZ had already started significant work to evaluate and update their sex and gender identity standards. Weeks after the report, the agency committed to what would become the 2023 census. Rainbow community groups applauded, felt finally listened to and called the shift a major win.
This sense of pride continues as reports and data are released from the census.
Research and survey data consistently show rainbow communities in Aotearoa New Zealand experience multiple forms of discrimination. This includes violence, family rejection, bullying and social exclusion.
These experiences contribute to disproportionately high rates of serious negative outcomes such as suicidality, health inequities, homelessness and substance use. Despite this, we continue to lack data comparing the experiences of rainbow communities with those of the general population.
As a result, health and social disparities affecting LGBTQIA+ people are systematically under-recognised in government strategies and across health and social service systems. Efforts to address these inequities are also frequently under-resourced and inadequately prioritised.
There is no time over the past 50 years when the scope and quality of population statistics has been of such importance in public life in Aotearoa New Zealand as now.
Scrapping the census is a cost-cutting exercise. But what is the real cost of losing data and which communities will disproportionately bear this cost? The decision renders LGBTQIA+ people, once again, invisible.
Lori Leigh is affiliated with the Trans Health Research Network, Kawe Mahara Queer Archives Aotearoa and receives funding from MBIE’s Endeavour Fund programme as part of their work for the University of Otago, Wellington.
Brodie Fraser is affiliated with the Trans Health Research Network and currently funded by two MBIE Endeavour Fund programmes, and has previously been funded by the Health Research Council and the University of Otago.
AI is on the agenda in Canberra. In August, the Productivity Commission will release an interim report on harnessing data and digital technology such as AI “to boost productivity growth, accelerate innovation and improve government services”. Shortly afterward, the government will host an Economic Reform Roundtable where AI policy will be up for discussion.
AI developers are aggressively pursuing influence over the new rules. The Chinese government wants to include AI in trade deals. Meanwhile, as the US government seeks to “win the AI race”, US-based tech companies are making their own overtures.
OpenAI’s AI Economic Blueprint for Australia makes bold projections about the new technology’s impact on the country’s economy, accompanied by a host of policy proposals. However, these claims warrant careful scrutiny, particularly given the company’s clear commercial interests in shaping Australian regulation.
The gap between promise and evidence
OpenAI claims AI could boost Australia’s economy by A$115 billion annually by 2030. It attributes most of this to productivity gains in business, education and government. However, the supporting evidence is thin.
For instance, the report notes Australian workers have lower productivity than their US counterparts and then claims (without evidence) this is because Australia has invested less in digital technologies such as AI. However, it ignores numerous other factors affecting productivity, from industrial structure to regulatory environments.
The report also describes supposed AI-driven productivity gains in companies such as Moderna and Canva. However, these narratives lack any data about improved organisational or individual performance.
Perhaps more concerning is the report’s uniformly optimistic tone, which overlooks significant risks. These include organisations struggling with costly AI projects, massive job displacements, worsening labour conditions, and concentrating wealth.
Most problematically, OpenAI’s blueprint assumes AI adoption and its economic benefits will materialise rapidly across the economy. However, evidence suggests a different reality.
Economic impact from AI will unfold gradually
Recent evidence suggests AI’s economic impact may take decades to fully materialise. Studies report some 40% of US adults use generative AI yet this translates to less than 5% of work hours and an increase of less than 1% in labour productivity.
AI may not spread much faster than past technologies. The limiting factor will be how quickly individuals, organisations and institutions can adapt.
Even when AI tools are available, meaningful adoption requires time. People must develop new skills, change the way they work, and integrate the new technologies into complex organisations. The economic impacts of earlier general-purpose technologies such as computers and the internet took decades to fully materialise, and there’s little reason to believe AI will be fundamentally different.
The push for AI tutoring and automated educational tools raises profound concerns about human development and learning.
Early evidence suggests over-reliance on AI tools may condition people to depend on them. When students routinely turn to AI, they risk avoiding the mental effort required to build critical thinking skills, creativity and independent inquiry. These capacities form the foundation of a thriving democracy and innovative economy.
Students who become accustomed to AI-assisted thinking may struggle to develop intellectual independence. This is needed for innovation, ethical reasoning and creative problem-solving.
AI applications that help teachers personalise instruction or identify learning gaps may be useful. But systems that substitute for students’ own cognitive effort and development should be avoided.
A multi-partner infrastructure strategy
Australia’s digital strategy will undoubtedly include significant investment in AI infrastructure such as data centres. One challenge for Australia is to avoid concentrating our investment around a single technology provider. Doing so would be a mistake that could compromise both economic competitiveness and national sovereignty.
Amazon plans to spend $20 billion on local data centres. Microsoft Azure already has significant local capacity, as does Australian company NextDC. This diversity provides a foundation, but maintaining and expanding it requires deliberate policy choices.
Maintaining multiple data centre suppliers helps keep computing power that is independent of foreign governments or single companies. This approach will give Australia more bargaining power to ensure lower prices, greener power and local skills quotas.
Diversification provides regulatory leverage as well. Australia can enforce common security standards knowing no single supplier can threaten an investment strike.
Australia’s AI future
AI technology is developing rapidly, driven by large corporations wielding vast amounts of capital and political influence. It presents real opportunities for economic growth and social benefit that Australia can’t afford to squander.
However, if the government uncritically accepts corporate advocacy, these opportunities may be captured by foreign interests.
Australia’s approach to AI policy should maintain human-centred values alongside technological advancement. This balance requires resisting the siren call of corporate promises.
The decisions made today will shape Australia’s future for decades. These choices should be guided by independent analysis, empirical evidence, and a commitment to outcomes for all Australians.
The Australian government must resist the temptation to let Silicon Valley write our digital future, no matter how persuasive their lobbyists or how impressive their promises. The stakes are simply too high to get this wrong.
Uri Gal 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.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Madeleine Pugin, Research Fellow, School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University
The Productivity Commission’s latest data on Closing the Gap progress represents an unsurprisingly grim overview of the socioeconomic inequalities experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Closing the Gap is the plan federal and state governments have to address Indigenous socioeconomic disadvantage. It sets specific targets across a range of areas.
This edition annual data report paints a concerning picture of Indigenous peoples’ quality of life across the states and territories. Despite 17 years of Closing the Gap policy, First Nations communities continue to face significant disadvantage. Of the 19 targets, 16 have been assessed, with four targets worsening. They are:
adult imprisonment
children in out-of-home care
suicide
children developmentally on track.
There have been some successes. Four targets are on track to be met: preschool enrolment, employment, and land and water rights. Although the latter targets are likely to be achieved, the Queensland and Northern Territory governments are walking away from plans for Treaty. This could undercut efforts for increased Indigenous rights recognition.
There is also improvement in six other target areas, but they are still not on track to be met by 2031:
life expectancy
healthy birthweights
year 12 or equivalent qualifications
youth engagement
appropriately sized housing.
Time for change
Year after year, Closing the Gap reporting offers little hope for meaningful change. It also falls short of providing crucial insights into what is working, what isn’t, and where resources and expertise should be directed to address unmet targets.
We must ask ourselves: when is it time to pursue a different approach?
These are complex issues with no simple solutions, but that must not deter us from pursuing every possible avenue for change. As the worsening suicide target shows, lives depend on it.
Nonetheless, there is little evidence to suggest governments are being impelled to act on the transformational changes required to implement the four priority reforms.
Since the failed Voice referendum, there has been little will from all levels of government to radically transform their way of working with First Nations communities. The gaps in outcomes are unlikely to close with this business-as-usual approach.
So what could be changed to help improve the lives of Indigenous people? Here are three ideas.
1. A national action plan, driven by human rights
Australia has no comprehensive Indigenous rights framework. Currently, recognition of Indigenous rights in existing Australian laws is “piecemeal” and inconsistent across jurisdictions.
Adopting a rights-based approach to the Closing the Gap framework could provide one way forward. The realisation of rights is central to genuine self-determination for Indigenous peoples.
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which Australia endorsed in 2009, outlines the minimum standards of human rights relating to Indigenous peoples.
A 2023 report looking at how UNDRIP works in Australia contains a list of recommendations, with the first being:
that the Commonwealth Government ensure its approach to developing legislation and policy on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (including, but not limited to, Closing the Gap initiatives) be consistent with the Articles outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
UNDRIP’s core principals of self-determination and participation in decision-making directly align with what communities and experts have been calling for on Closing the Gap reform. At a minimum, the federal government should meaningfully negotiate a national action plan to implement the declaration.
Such a plan would help drive community-led solutions, empowering Indigenous peoples at local and regional levels. Bottom-up grassroots approaches are vital to Closing the Gap.
2. An independent oversight body
Despite the failure of the Voice referendum, an independent representative body is still needed at the national level. It would provide strategic oversight and accountability for implementation of the Closing the Gap policy at the local and regional levels.
This body could also provide much-needed political and policy advocacy to hold governments to their commitments.
There is the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, which Commonwealth, state, territory governments are a party to, as well as the Coalition of Peak Indigenous bodies and the Australian Local Government Association.
Yet some governments are enacting policies and laws which are inconsistent with the agreement. Queensland and the Northern Territory, for instance, have ceased involvement in Treaty processes and turned toward stricterpenalties in response to youth offending – movescriticised by human rights commissions.
An independent representative body would help shed light on these inconsistencies and better hold governments accountable.
3. A bigger role for local government
What is often missing from the conversation is the crucial role local governments play in implementing policies that shape outcomes on the ground.
As frontline service providers, local governments are positioned to engage with communities on a direct, day-to-day basis, which can be responsive to the everyday needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
In a first for local implementation of Closing the Gap, Tamworth Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations and Tamworth Regional Council entered an agreement to work together towards addressing key aspects of initiative.
There are strong reasons for local governments to take a more central leadership role in trying to meet the Closing the Gap targets. To do so effectively, however, they require adequate resourcing and sustained funding to support community-driven programs.
Additionally, embedding Indigenous rights and interests in local government planning and policy would significantly enhance their capacity to contribute meaningfully.
Bartholomew Stanford receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC).
Madeleine Pugin 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.
Loneliness is not a word often associated with young people. We tend to think of our youth as a time spent with family, friends and being engaged with school and work activities. Loneliness is an experience we may be more likely to associate with older people.
In a new report looking at loneliness in young Australians, we found 43% of people aged 15 to 25 feel lonely. That’s more than two in five young people.
While one in four felt lonely when asked, one in seven had felt lonely for at least two years (what we call persistent loneliness).
There’s more we should be doing in Australia to address loneliness among young people and more broadly.
What else did we find?
In this report, we analysed data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey from 2022–23. This helped us understand what sort of factors increase the risk of loneliness among young people.
We found having poor physical health and mental health can double (or more) the likelihood of persistent loneliness among young people.
Life circumstances, as well as socioeconomic and behavioural factors, also play a role, as shown below.
Worryingly, young people who report persistent loneliness are over seven times more likely to experience high or very high psychological distress compared to those who aren’t lonely.
But loneliness in young people should not be seen just as a mental health issue. Research shows it can have consequences for physical health too. For example, a study published in 2024 found loneliness is linked to early signs of vascular dysfunction (functional changes to the arteries) in adults as young as 22.
Why does loneliness persist?
As well as analysing data, we also interviewed young people aged 16 to 25 from diverse backgrounds about what helps them make healthy social connections, and what hinders them.
One of the things they flagged was a need for safe community spaces. A male participant from metro New South Wales, aged between 22 and 25, said:
After lectures, someone’s hungry, you go to eat together. We used to go to [Name of restaurant] after almost every lecture. Talk or discuss somethings so it gave us that extra opportunity to mingle amongst each other and take that next step towards building a good friendship.
We found technology could both help and hinder social connections. A female from regional Victoria, aged 22 to 25, who identified as LGBTIQ+, told us:
If you’re in school or something like that and you don’t really have […] many people within your community to look to, it’s really nice being able to connect with people and make those friends online.
On the flip side, a female participant from metropolitan Victoria, aged between 16 and 18, said:
a lot of maybe like mean stuff or like bullying and stuff happens over the Internet […] there’s a big group chat and like everyone’s texting on it or something. And then a lot of the time, people will break off into a smaller chat […] or they’ll break off into one on one and be like, ohh, do you see what she said?
The high cost of living was also regarded as a hindrance to maintaining social connections. As a male aged 22 to 25 from metro NSW told us:
you’ll go on [a] drive [with friends] or whatever […] but that is so like incredibly expensive. Having to pay for your own car and like petrol and insurance and maintenance. Sometimes it’s hard to […] even like […] sit down in peace and have a chat. All the cafes will close at 2 and by the time everyone gets out of their jobs, you’re having to go to a restaurant and [you’re] spending 50 dollars.
So what can we do?
Loneliness has long been treated as a personal issue but it’s increasingly clear we have to shift our approach to include community-wide and systemic solutions.
The World Health Organization’s Commission on Social Connection recently released a report pointing to loneliness as a public health, social, community and economic issue.
In Australia, the economic burden of loneliness stands at A$2.7 billion each year for associated health-care costs including GP and hospital visits.
And there are additional costs including lower workforce productivity and educational outcomes that have yet to be accounted for.
Some countries have already developed and implemented strategies to address loneliness. In 2023, Denmark, for example, commissioned the development of a national loneliness action plan led by a consortium of organisations. This was underpinned by an investment of around 21 million Danish kroner (roughly A$5 million) over 2023–25.
Australia now stands at a crossroads.
Australia needs a national loneliness strategy
A national strategy underpinned by evidence and by lived experience is crucial to effectively address loneliness. This approach would:
coordinate efforts across sectors: health, education, social services and business
identify effective strategies that should be included in a comprehensive response, and the principles to guide their delivery in communities and other settings
highlight sub-groups at risk of persistent loneliness who should be prioritised within population-wide strategies
commit to the delivery of a national awareness campaign that can educate the public and reduce stigma around loneliness.
With the right national strategy, we will be able to increase our capacity to help all Australians, not just young people, connect in meaningful ways.
If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. You can learn more about youth loneliness and how to help at Ending Loneliness Together.
Michelle H. Lim is the CEO and Scientific Chair of Ending Loneliness Together. She is also the Vice-Chair of the International Scientific Board of the Global Initiative on Loneliness and Connection, and is part of the Technical Advisory Group – Social Connection at the World Health Organization.
Ben Smith is a member of the Management Committee and Scientific Advisory Board of Ending Loneliness Together. He is also the Conjoint Chair of Public Health with the Western Sydney Local Health District.
Too often, it’s anti-immigration sentiment dominating headlines in Australia. But a quieter story is going untold. Migrants are not just fitting into Australian society, they’re actively reshaping it through entrepreneurship.
Starting a business is difficult for anyone. But migrant entrepreneurs often do so without the networks, credit history, or local knowledge many Australian-born business owners take for granted.
Our new research drew on interviews with 38 migrant business owners from 25 different countries, who had all lived in Australia for at least five years.
We found many are able to turn everyday exclusion into entrepreneurial fuel.
Many have been able to survive – even thrive – by turning their identity into an asset.
Yet there is still more we can do to take migrant entrepreneurship seriously and make it a core part of our economic and social planning.
Key challenges
Our research reveals migrant business owners face many forms of marginalisation. Some of these are well-understood among the public, others less so.
One of the biggest is social. Arriving in a new country without established relationships in the community or financial sector, many struggle to gain customer trust or secure loans. It can also mean having less of a safety net.
As one interviewee put it:
I don’t have networks built up over the generations to sustain me and give me time to jump back out [of financial difficulties] […] For migrant entrepreneurs, we often do not have such a structure to absorb risks.
Cultural stereotypes also hinder migrant entrepreneurs, and negative media portrayals can reinforce these biases. Even with local qualifications, they are often perceived as less professional or competent due to race, religion, accent or appearance.
Many interviewees spoke of constantly having to prove their legitimacy – being overlooked, second-guessed or treated as representatives of their ethnic group rather than as individual business people.
While the lack of networks and cultural acceptance undermines confidence and connection, structural barriers directly constrain access to the resources needed to survive and expand.
Without a local credit history or collateral, many are ineligible for loans, yet need those very funds to build their credit standing. Even long-settled migrants found Australia’s legal, bureaucratic and financial systems difficult to navigate.
Language barriers and unfamiliar regulations can add layers of complexity to this problem. While government support programs exist, they are often inaccessible, or the availability of those programs are poorly communicated to culturally diverse communities.
These social and systemic disadvantages can push migrant business owners into informal markets or ethnic enclaves, where opportunities are fewer and risks higher.
Turning identity into an asset
Despite these barriers, migrant entrepreneurs often find ways to survive. One key strategy is to turn marginalised identities into business strengths.
Our research found some migrants begin by serving customers from their own ethnic communities, leveraging shared language, culture and trust. Once established, they expand to other migrant groups or the broader public.
In sectors such as food, fashion and wellness, cultural authenticity can be a competitive advantage.
One hairdresser from Korea, for example, drew clients by offering Korean styling techniques popularised by the global rise of the Korean popular music style K-pop. She said this gave her work appeal among other migrant groups:
Korean hairdressers are actually attractive to other Asian countries because Korean hairstyles are considered fashionable and detailed. It’s getting popular here too. This is like free marketing for me.
And rather than simply competing on price, many migrant businesses offer something different: handmade, ethical, sustainable or culturally-rooted products. An Indian small business owner started her business by selling curry pastes made from her own family recipes, telling us:
I use my family’s traditional Indian recipes to create small spice packs, making it easy for Australians, mostly non-Indian customers, to cook authentic dishes at home.
Such ventures create not only economic value, but also spaces of cultural exchange and community belonging.
There’s more we can do
The most recent figures show migrant entrepreneurs make up one in three small business owners in Australia. Research conducted in 2017 found the vast majority of migrant entrepreneurs had not owned a business before migration.
With fewer systemic barriers and better support, their potential to contribute would be even greater. There are a range of actions policymakers, local councils, support organisations and local businesses could take.
First, access could be expanded to small business grants by removing overly complex eligibility and documentation barriers.
We should also support migrants to navigate collectively “gatekeeping” practices that lock them out of lending, investment and business certification.
That could include developing alternative credit assessment tools for migrants without a local credit history. There are already some microloan schemes tailored to new migrants or visa holders, including Thrive Refugee Enterprise.
At the same time, we need to ensure such schemes are being effectively communicated to the communities they’re intended to serve.
And we need media narratives and public campaigns that highlight successful migrant businesses. Crucially, both policy and practice must be informed by the voices and experiences of migrant entrepreneurs themselves, not just as case studies, but as co-designers of better systems.
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.
A cinematic firecracker of a film exploded onto international screens 50 years ago this week, blending martial arts mayhem, Bond-esque set pieces, casual racism – and a distinctly Australian swagger.
From its audacious visual style; to its complex, life-threatening stunts; to its pioneering status as an international co-production, Brian Trenchard-Smith’s The Man from Hong Kong has solidified its place as a cult classic.
The plot is deceptively simple. A Sydney-based crime lord’s activities come under the scrutiny of a determined Hong Kong detective, Inspector Fang Sing Leng. A fiery East-meets-West martial arts showdown explodes across the Australian landscape, pushing both sides to their limits.
Jimmy Wang Yu (known at the time as Asia’s Steve McQueen) plays Inspector Fang Sing Leng. Fang delivers justice with his fists and uses his wits navigating greater Sydney, with help from the local constabulary and its adoring female population.
The movie is a playful pastiche that confidently combines martial arts action, police procedurals, spy thrillers, and Westerns, all filtered through a distinctly Australian “crash-zoom” lens.
An Australia–Hong Kong co-production
The Man from Hong Kong was the first official Australia–Hong Kong co-production, uniting Hong Kong’s Golden Harvest studio with Australian producer John Fraser.
This model would pave the way for numerous future collaborations – the film demonstrating that Australia was open for international (film) business, albeit with some constraints, such as shooting locales.
In The Man from Hong Kong’s case, the financial arrangement was 50/50. As a result, half of the film had to be shot in Hong Kong, despite 85% of the storyline being set in Australia. Many of the interiors were filmed in Hong Kong studios to meet this production requirement.
An example of this is the interrogation scene, which alternates between its Sydney exteriors and a fight scene taking place in the interior film set shot thousands of miles away at the Golden Harvest studios.
In a genius bit of montage, the scene jumps from a shot of a kick in the crotch to a close-up of pool balls breaking on a table.
A film of cunning stunts
The Man from Hong Kong served as a reunion of sorts for many of the cast and crew, either starring in Stone (1974) or featuring in Trenchard-Smith’s documentary about martial arts films, Kung Fu Killers (1974).
The film was an influence to Quentin Tarantino and paved the way for films such as Mad Max (1979), particularly in what Trenchard-Smith and his partner in film, stunt legend Grant Page, might call its “cunning stunts”.
The elaborate car chases and explosive stunt setups in The Man from Hong Kong served as prototypes for iconic sequences that would inspire the Mad Max films, among others, a testament to a bygone era of practical effects and thrill seeking audacity.
Car crashes and other explosive stunts were executed without permits or road closures. This sense of chaos is heightened by the stunts being performed by the actors themselves, adding a sense of immediacy and peril.
An example of this is set on the cliffs at Stanwell Park. Wang Yu drives at speed towards the waiting Caroline, executing a precision gravel slide that misses Caroline’s car by under a metre, the shot continuing as he exits the car to greet her.
Part character, and part tourism advert
Trenchard-Smith’s script wasn’t shy in its depiction of culture clash, especially when it came to the racist attitudes of the Australian characters.
But as Trenchard-Smith recalls:
Our lead character, a Chinese Dirty Harry/James Bond upends these racial stereotypes by being smarter, sexier, and tougher than his opponents.
Cinematographer Russell Boyd brings a sharp, dynamic (did I mention the crash-zooms?) visual style to the film that deftly matches the on-screen action.
The film’s Australian setting is part character and part tourism advert – from the “Ayers Rock” (Uluru) cold opener, to the cafe scene on the Opera House forecourt.
Pure cinema
Stunt legend Grant Page appears in multiple villainous roles throughout the film, with the martial arts choreography handled by the legendary director Sammo Hung, who also played the role of Win Chan.
The cast was a fascinating mix of talent and personality. Wang Yu, a martial arts icon, was also an established film director, leading to creative clashes on set with Trenchard-Smith.
Playing the film’s villain is George Lazenby, whose casting added another layer of meta-textual intrigue, positioning him as an antagonist to a character who was explicitly a Bond villain archetype.
The Man from Hong Kong remains an exhilarating piece of pure cinema, despite its relatively small budget. It’s an exemplar (and occasional cautionary tale) for filmmakers in terms of international co-production, its cunning stunts, and genre blending.
The film is a testament to a moment when Australian cinema was confidently looking outwards, ready to take on the world, one explosive car crash at a time.
Gregory Ferris 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.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martien Lubberink, Associate Professor of Accounting and Capital, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
The recent International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision on climate action marked a significant step forward in formalising an idea many already accept: climate inaction is not merely a policy failure, but potentially a breach of legal duty by governments.
The court’s opinion is not legally binding but establishes global expectations. Crucially, the court confirmed environmental protection includes a duty to regulate private businesses and organisations.
In New Zealand, large organisations already have to list climate-related risks in their annual reports and regulatory filings under the External Reporting Board’s Climate Standards.
But our latest research suggests the benefits of mandatory climate reporting regulation in New Zealand may not be as straightforward as they appear.
Extreme weather, limited financial impact
We analysed how New Zealand’s stock market responds to extreme weather events (heavy rain, windstorms, snow, temperature spikes and thunderstorms) using data curated by Earth Sciences New Zealand.
Climate risk is widely assumed to have an impact on markets. So, we expected investors would respond to damaging weather with selloffs or price adjustments.
Instead, we found most extreme weather events had little to no impact on the share prices of New Zealand’s 50 largest listed companies, those on the NZX50.
Even firms directly exposed to these events – airlines, utilities, logistics companies – showed only muted reactions, if any.
It may be that markets already price in these risks. Or that firms have managed them effectively through infrastructure investment and planning.
What is more, the location and severity of extreme weather in New Zealand have remained relatively stable over the past three decades.
Using a statistical analysis, we found no evidence of accelerating trends typically attributed to global warming. This technique assessed whether a particular extreme weather event can be linked to human-induced climate change.
New Zealand’s extreme weather events tend to involve cold, rain and wind – unlike the heatwaves, wildfires and droughts that dominate international headlines.
What this means for disclosure mandates
If markets are already efficiently pricing in these risks – or if the risks are genuinely immaterial for the company – the benefits of mandatory disclosure may be overstated.
Our study suggests the case for universal, mandatory disclosure of extreme weather events under the climate board’s standards may not be strong. If financial impacts are already reflected in stock prices, the current voluntary framework may suffice for many firms.
This is not an argument against disclosure broadly. While our study did not assess other climate-related risks – such as supply chain disruption or chronic sea level rises – these may well be material for some organisations, especially unlisted or regionally exposed firms.
But for the NZX50, where climate regulation is currently focused, the value of standardised extreme weather events disclosures seems limited.
Global principles, local realities
None of this contradicts the ICJ’s opinion.
The court emphasised that states must act, not only to reduce emissions but to protect against climate-related harm. That includes harm caused by private actors, who must be subject to effective regulation.
But the ICJ also recognises the importance of national circumstances. While bound by international obligations, each country still needs to tailor its climate policies to the actual risks it faces.
To do otherwise risks shifting government energy and private capital towards compliance that offers little benefit to investors, the public or the climate.
New Zealand at a crossroads
The ICJ decision comes as New Zealand’s climate ambition appears to be softening.
The government recently released an updated emissions pledge that barely improves on its predecessor. At the same time, it is also reviving offshore oil and gas exploration, expanding coal production and backing legislation to shield carbon-intensive firms from environmental, suitability and governance aligned lending decisions by banks.
Such moves may be politically popular in some quarters, but they sit uneasily with both the ICJ’s vision and New Zealand’s obligations under the Paris Agreement and various trade deals.
If New Zealand wants to avoid being seen as lagging – or worse, a bad-faith actor – it must reconcile its domestic policies with international decision-making.
That does not mean copying regulation from other countries. But it does mean being honest about what is material, what is symbolic and what actually helps reduce emissions or build resilience.
Regulation needs to be smart, not just visible
The ICJ opinion should not be used to justify every climate policy proposal. Rather, it should encourage governments to develop regulation that is meaningful, proportionate and based on evidence.
Our study offers one such piece of evidence. In terms of financial market impacts, New Zealand’s extreme weather may not justify the same disclosure obligations as those in countries where the physical risks are more severe or more clearly linked to climate change.
This is not a reason to do less. It is a reason to do better. Policy needs to target disclosure where it matters, to focus adaptation spending where it is needed and to measure the impact of climate policies not only by their intentions, but by their outcomes.
In short, the ICJ has spoken. Now it is up to each country to act wisely.
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.
The University of the South Pacific (USP) is at the heart of a global legal victory with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivering a historic opinion last week affirming that states have binding legal obligations to protect the environment from human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.
The case, hailed as a triumph for climate justice, was driven by a student-led movement that began within USP’s own regional classrooms.
In 2021, the government of Vanuatu took a bold step by announcing its intention to seek an advisory opinion from the ICJ on climate change. But what many may not have realised is that the inspiration behind this unprecedented move came from a group of determined young Pacific Islanders — students from USP who formed the Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC).
According to the United Nations background information, these USP students led the charge, campaigning for years to bring the voices of vulnerable island nations to the highest court in the world.
Their call for accountability resonated across the globe, eventually leading to the adoption of a UN resolution in March 2023 that asked the ICJ two critical legal questions:
What obligations do states have under international law to protect the environment?
What are the legal consequences when they fail?
Students from the University of the South Pacific who formed the Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC). Image: Wansolwara News
The result A sweeping opinion from the ICJ affirming that climate change treaties place binding duties on countries to prevent environmental harm.
As the ICJ President, Judge Iwasawa Yuji, stated in the official delivery the court was: “Unanimously of the opinion that the climate change treaties set forth binding obligations for States parties to ensure the protection of the climate system and other parts of the environment from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.”
USP alumni lead the celebration USP alumna Cynthia Houniuhi, president of the PISFCC, shared her pride in a statement to USP’s official news that this landmark opinion must guide not only courtrooms but also global climate negotiations and policy decisions and it’s a call to action.
“The law is on our side. I’m proud to be on the right side of history.”
Her words reflect the essence of USP’s regional identity, a university built not just to educate, but to empower Pacific Islanders to lead solutions to the region’s most pressing challenges.
Why is the ICJ’s climate ruling such a big deal? Video: Almost
Students in action, backed by global leaders UN Secretary-General Antόnio Guterres, in a video message released by the UN, gave credit where it was due.
“This is a victory for our planet, for climate change and for the power of young people to make a difference. Young Pacific Islanders initiated this call for humanity to the world, and the world must respond.”
Vishal Prasad, director of PISFCC, in a video reel of the SPC (Secretariat of the Pacific Community), also credited youth activism rooted in the Pacific education system as six years ago young people from the Pacific decided to take climate change to the highest court and today the ICJ has responded.
“The ICJ has made it clear, it cemented the consensus on the science of climate change and formed the heart of all the arguments that many Pacific Island States made.”
USP’s influence is evident in the regional unity that drove this case forward showing that youth educated in the Pacific are capable of reshaping global narratives.
Residents wade through flooding caused by high ocean tides in low-lying parts of Majuro Atoll, the capital of the Marshall Islands. In 2011, the Marshall Islands warned that the clock was ticking on climate change and the world needed to act urgently to stop low-lying Pacific nations disappearing beneath the waves. Image: PHYS ORG/Wansolwara
A win for the Pacific From coastal erosion and rising sea levels to the legacy of nuclear testing, the Pacific lives with the frontline effects of climate change daily.
Coral Pasisi, SPC Director of Climate Change & Sustainability, highlighted in a video message, the long-term importance of the ruling:
“Climate change is already impacting them (Pacific people) and every increment that happens is creating more and more harm, not just for the generations now but those into the future. I think this marks a real moment for our kids.”
Additionally, as Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu’s Minister for Climate Change, noted to SPC, science was the cornerstone of the court’s reasoning.
“The opinion really used that science as the basis for its definitions of accountability, responsibility, and duty.”
Among the proud USP student voices is Siosiua Veikune, who told Tonga’s national broadcaster that this is not only a win for the students but for the Pacific islands also.
What now? With 91 written statements and 97 countries participating in oral proceedings, this was the largest case ever seen by the ICJ and it all began with a movement sparked at USP.
Now, the challenge moves from the courtroom to the global stage and will see how nations implement this legal opinion.
Though advisory, the ICJ ruling carries immense moral and legal weight. It will likely shape global climate negotiations, strengthen lawsuits against polluting states, and empower developing nations especially vulnerable Pacific Islands to demand justice on the international stage.
For the students who dreamed it into motion, it’s only the beginning.
“Now, we have to make sure this ruling leads to real action — in parliaments, at climate summits, and in every space where our future is at stake,” said Veikune.
Vahefonua Tupola is a second-year student journalist at University of the South Pacific’s Laucala Campus. Republshed from Wansolwara News, the USP student journalism newspaper and website in partnership with Asia Pacific Report.
Today at about 11:30am local time, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula in the country’s far east.
Originating at a depth of roughly 20 kilometres, today’s powerful earthquake – among the ten strongest in recorded history and the largest worldwide since 2011 – has caused building damage and injuries in the largest nearby city, Petropavlosk-Kamchatsky, just 119 kilometres from the epicentre.
Tsunami warnings and evacuations have reverberated through Russia, Japan and Hawaii, with advisories issued for the Philippines, Indonesia, and as far away as New Zealand and Peru.
The Pacific region is highly prone to powerful earthquakes and resulting tsunamis because it’s located in the so-called Ring of Fire, a region of heightened seismic and volcanic activity. All ten most powerful earthquakes recorded in modern history were located on the Ring of Fire.
Here’s why the underlying structure of our planet makes this part of the world so volatile.
Why does Kamchatka get such strong earthquakes?
Immediately offshore the Kamchatka Peninsula is the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench, a tectonic plate boundary where the Pacific Plate is being thrust beneath the Okhotsk Plate.
While tectonic plates move continuously relative to one another, the interface at tectonic plates is often “stuck”. The strain related to plate motion builds up until it exceeds the strength of the plate interface, at which point it is released as a sudden rupture – an earthquake.
Because of the large areas of interface at plate boundaries, both in length and depth, the rupture can span large areas of the plate boundary. This results in some of the largest and potentially most damaging earthquakes on earth.
Another factor that affects the rates and sizes of subduction zone earthquakes is the speed at which the two plates are moving relative to each other.
In the case of Kamchatka, the Pacific Plate is moving at approximately 75 millimetres per year relative to the Okhotsk plate. This is a relatively high speed by tectonic standards, and causes large earthquakes to happen more frequently here than in some other subduction zones. In 1952, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake occurred in the same subduction zone, only about 30 kilometres away from today’s magnitude 8.8 earthquake.
Other examples of subduction plate boundary earthquakes include the 2011 magnitude 9.1 Tohoku-Oki Japan earthquake, and the 2004 magnitude 9.3 Sumatra-Andaman Indonesia “Boxing Day” earthquake. Both of these initiated at a relatively shallow depth and ruptured the plate boundary right to the surface.
They uplifted one side of the sea floor relative to the other, displacing the ocean above it and resulting in devastating tsunamis. In the case of the Boxing Day earthquake, the sea floor rupture happened along a length spanning roughly 1,400km.
What is likely to happen next?
At time of writing, approximately six hours after the earthquake struck, there have already been 35 aftershocks larger than magnitude 5.0, according to the United States Geological Survey.
Aftershocks happen when stress within Earth’s crust is redistributed following the mainshock. They are often as large as one magnitude unit smaller than the mainshock. In the case of today’s earthquake, that means aftershocks larger than magnitude 7.5 are possible.
For an earthquake of this size, aftershocks can continue for weeks to months or longer, but they typically will reduce in both magnitude and frequency over time.
Today’s earthquake also produced a tsunami, which has already affected coastal communities on the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kurile Islands, and Hokkaido, Japan.
Over the coming hours, the tsunami will propagate across the Pacific, reaching Hawaii approximately six hours after the earthquake struck and continuing as far as Chile and Peru.
Tsunami scientists will continue to refine their models of the tsunami’s effects as it propagates, and civil defence authorities will provide authoritative advice on the expected local effects.
What are the lessons from this earthquake for other parts of the world?
Fortunately, earthquakes as large as today’s occur infrequently. However, their effects locally and across the globe can be devastating.
Apart from its magnitude, several aspects of today’s Kamchatka earthquake will make it a particularly important focus of research.
For instance, the area has been seismically very active in recent months, and a magnitude 7.4 earthquake occurred on 20 July. How this previous activity affected the location and timing of today’s earthquake will be a crucial focus of that research.
Like Kamchatka and northern Japan, New Zealand also sits above a subduction zone – in fact, above two subduction zones. The larger of these, the Hikurangi subduction zone, extends offshore along the east coast of the North Island.
Based on the characteristics of this plate interface, and geological records of past earthquakes, it is likely the Hikurangi subduction zone is capable of producing earthquakes at magnitude 9. It hasn’t done so in historic times, but if that happened it would produce a tsunami.
The threat of a major subduction zone earthquake never goes away. Today’s earthquake in Kamchatka is an important reminder to everyone living in such earthquake-prone areas to stay safe and heed warnings from civil defence authorities.
Dee Ninis works at the Seismology Research Centre, is Vice-President of the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society, and a Committee Member for the Geological Society of Australia – Victoria Division.
John Townend receives funding from the Marsden and Catalyst Funds of the Royal Society Te Apārangi, the Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake, and the NZ Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. He is a former president and director of the Seismological Society of America and president of the New Zealand Geophysical Society.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milad Haghani, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow in Urban Risk and Resilience, The University of Melbourne
Last night, one of the ten largest earthquakes ever recorded struck Kamchatka, the sparsely populated Russian peninsula facing the Pacific. The magnitude 8.8 quake had its epicentre in the sea just off the Kamchatka coast.
Huge quakes such as these can cause devastating tsunamis. It’s no surprise this quake has triggered mass evacuations in Russia, Japan and Hawaii.
But despite the enormous strength of the quake, the waves expected from the resulting tsunami are projected to be remarkably small. Four metre-high waves have been reported in Russia. But the waves are projected to be far smaller elsewhere, ranging from 30 centimetres to 1 metre in China, and between 1 and 3 metres in parts of Japan, Hawaii and the Solomon Islands, as well as Ecuador and Chile on the other side of the Pacific.
This map shows the estimated time in hours for tsunami waves from an earthquake in Kamchatka to reach different nations. NOAA, CC BY-NC-ND
So why have authorities in Japan and parts of the United States announced evacuation orders? For one thing, tsunami waves can suddenly escalate, and even the smaller tsunami waves can pack surprising force. But the main reason is that late evacuation orders can cause panic and chaos. It’s far better to err on the side of caution.
This video shows tsunami waves hitting Severo-Kurilsk, a town on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia.
Too early is far better than too late
When tsunami monitoring centres issue early warnings about waves, there’s often a wide range given. That represents the significant uncertainty about what the final wave size will be.
As earthquake scientists Judith Hubbard and Kyle Bradley write:
the actual wave height at the shore depends on the specific bathymetry [underwater topography] of the ocean floor and shape of the coastline. Furthermore, how that wave impacts the coast depends on the topography on land. Do not second-guess a tsunami warning: evacuate to higher ground and wait for the all-clear.
If the decision was left to ordinary people to decide whether to evacuate, many might look at the projected wave heights and think “what’s the problem?”. This is why evacuation is usually a job for experts.
Behavioural scientists have found people are more likely to follow evacuation advice if they perceive the risk is real, if they trust the authorities and if there are social cues such as friends, family or neighbours evacuating.
If evacuations are done well, authorities will direct people down safe roads to shelters or safe zones located high enough above the ocean.
When people outside official evacuation zones flee on their own, this is known as a shadow evacuation. It often happens when people misunderstand warnings, don’t trust official boundaries, or feel safer leaving “just in case”.
While understandable, shadow evacuations can overload roads, clog evacuation routes, and strain shelters and resources intended for those at greatest risk.
Vulnerable groups such as older people and those with a disability often evacuate more slowly or not at all, putting them at much greater risk.
Japan also has designated vertical shelters – buildings to which people can flee – as well as coastal sirens and signs pointing to tsunami “safe zones”.
By contrast, most developing nations affected by tsunamis don’t have these systems or infrastructure in place. Death tolls are inevitably higher as a result.
More accurate warnings, fewer false alarms
A false alarm occurs when a tsunami warning is issued, but no hazardous waves arrive. False alarms often stem from the need to act fast. Because tsunamis can reach coastlines within minutes of an undersea earthquake, early warnings are based on limited and imprecise data — mainly the quake’s location and magnitude — before the tsunami’s actual size or impact is known.
In the past, tsunami alerts were issued using worst-case estimates based on simple tables linking quake size and location to fixed alert levels. These did not account for complex uncertainties in how the seafloor moved or how energy translated into how much water was displaced.
Even when waves are small at sea, they can behave unpredictably near shore. Tide gauge readings are easily distorted by nearby bays, seafloor shape and water depth. This approach often came at the cost of frequent false alarms.
A stark example came in 1986, when Hawaii undertook a major evacuation following an earthquake off the Aleutian Islands. While the tsunami did arrive on time, the waves didn’t cause any flooding. The evacuation triggered massive gridlock, halted businesses and cost the state an estimated A$63 million.
In 1987, the United States launched the DART program. This network of deep-sea buoys across the Pacific and, later, globally, measure changes in ocean pressure in real time, allowing scientists to verify whether a tsunami has actually been generated and to estimate its size far more accurately.
When there’s a tsunami false alarm, it makes people more sceptical of evacuation orders and compliance drops. Some people want to see the threat with their own eyes. But this delays action – and heightens the danger.
Shifting from simple tables and inferences to observational data has significantly reduced false alarms and improved public confidence. Today’s tsunami warnings combine quake analysis with real-time ocean data.
What have we learned from past tsunamis?
In 2004, a huge 9.1 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Aceh in Indonesia triggered the Indian Ocean tsunami, the deadliest in recorded history. Waves up to 30 metres high inundated entire cities and towns.
More than 227,000 people died throughout the region, primarily in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. All these countries had low tsunami preparedness. At the time, there were no tsunami warning systems in the Indian Ocean.
The even stronger 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan killed just under 20,000 people. It was a terrible toll, but far fewer than the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Evacuations took place and many people got to higher ground or into a high building.
In 2018, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit central Sulawesi in Indonesia, triggering tsunami waves up to 7 metres high. Citizen disbelief and a lack of clear communication meant many people did not evacuate in time. More than 4,000 people died.
These examples show the importance of warning systems and evacuations. But they also show their limitations. Even with warning systems in place, major loss of life can still ensue due to public scepticism and communication failures.
What should people do?
At their worst, tsunamis can devastate swathes of coastline and kill hundreds of thousands of people. They should not be underestimated.
If authorities issue an evacuation order, it is absolutely worth following. It’s far better to evacuate early and find a safe space in an orderly way, than to leave it too late and try to escape a city or town amid traffic jams, flooded roads and and widespread disruption.
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.
The latest round of NAPLAN results are out, along with a string of news reports about “students falling behind” and “failing”, and experts sounding the “alarm” about school progress.
In March, all Australian students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sat tests in literacy and numeracy. There are four broad bands of achievement, from “needs additional support” to “developing”, “strong” and “exceeding”. The national results, released on Wednesday, show once again that about 10% of students need additional support and about 20% developing towards expectations.
Individual reports have also been going home to families over the past week.
Amid the dire headlines, however, how should parents and students be thinking about their individual results?
It’s just one test
NAPLAN tests important literacy and numeracy skills and these are foundational to other parts of the curriculum. For example, students need literacy skills for history and numeracy skills for science.
But while NAPLAN results can highlight an issue that may have been missed in a child’s schooling, the tests are not very precise individual-level assessments.
Other school-based assessments provide teachers with more detailed information on students’ progress across a range of outcomes across the full school year.
NAPLAN also does not test everything in the school curriculum. It can’t tell you how well students are developing their knowledge in other subject areas (such as history and science). It does not say anything about the creative arts, physical education and social skills. These are also really important components of a well-rounded education.
Parents may also not appreciate that the tests get relatively harder as students get older. Expectations go up. So if your child was in the “developing” band in Year 3 and then in the same “developing” band in Year 5, they have made progress.
Tests this year were completed primarily online – younger children, particularly those in Year 3, may still be getting used to the technology. This is all part of the learning process at school.
Sometimes individual NAPLAN results may simply be a reflection of how a child interacted with the assessment on the day.
Teachers are always assessing kids
Another key thing to note is teachers are likely already aware if there are particular issues for any student. They are constantly assessing students in their classrooms – indeed, schools are awash with data these days.
NAPLAN results are designed to be interpreted alongside other school-based assessments. Results are supposed to provide “additional information to support teachers’ professional judgement about students’ levels of literacy and numeracy attainment and progress”.
Teachers will therefore already be providing support in their classrooms to students at all different stages of progress – albeit often in environments impacted by teacher shortages and funding limitations.
Families can talk to their child’s teacher to understand what the school is already doing to support progress and how they can support their child at home.
Families will have also recently received their child’s half-yearly school report. Parents can use this, together with NAPLAN and their own perceptions of how their child is faring, to talk to teacher(s).
It’s not a ‘failure’
There is often a lot of emphasis on standarised tests in education – governments and the media seize on them because they provide lots of data and easy comparisons.
If the results are not what you or your child hoped for, try not to catastrophise them. For one thing, NAPLAN was done about four months ago – kids will have made progress since then.
Schooling itself is also a developmental process. It’s not just about getting certain results in standardised tests. If you do identify an issue, put the emphasis on “I can progress, I can improve”. It’s not a failure.
Sally Larsen 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.
Inflation is moving in the right direction, but new figures released today may not be soft enough to trigger a cut in official interest rates in August.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics released the June quarter consumer price index (CPI) data, providing a timely update on how price pressures are tracking as the Reserve Bank of Australia weighs further interest rate cuts.
With the next policy-setting meeting scheduled for August 11-12, today’s inflation report will offer important input into the decision.
Headline CPI rose by 0.7% in the June quarter, easing from 0.9% in March. The annual inflation rate slowed from 2.4% to 2.1%, a four-year low.
The figures indicate inflation is continuing to moderate and is settling within the Reserve Bank’s 2–3% target band.
But headline inflation is only part of the story. The Reserve Bank focuses more on underlying inflation, which strips out volatile price moves.
Its preferred underlying measure, the trimmed mean CPI, rose by 0.6% in the June quarter. The annual rate fell from 2.9% to 2.7%. That’s slightly higher than the Reserve Bank’s forecast of 2.6%.
Jump in clothing and footwear
Among the 11 groups of goods and services that make up the CPI, clothing and footwear recorded the largest rise in the June quarter, up 2.6%. Health costs followed with a 1.5% increase, while housing rose 1.2%.
Housing remains among the top three contributors to inflation, driven by persistent increases in rents and insurance premiums. These pressures weigh heavily on household budgets and feed directly into core inflation. But the Reserve Bank recognises this challenge cannot be easily addressed through interest rates alone.
The biggest offset came from transport (-0.7%), due to a slide in petrol prices and discounted public transport fares in Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart, Perth and Canberra.
Does the data support further rate cuts?
The Reserve Bank unexpectedly held interest rates steady at 3.85% at its July meeting, surprising economists and financial markets and earning a sharp response from Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
Explaining the decision, Governor Michele Bullock warned inflation pressures were proving stickier than desired and the bank wanted to see further inflation data. After the board meeting on July 8, the governor said:
We just want to confirm with a full quarterly CPI that we’re still on track to deliver inflation continuing down to the middle of the [2-3% target] band over time. That’s the reason we’re waiting.
Today’s figures confirm inflation is easing, but not as quickly as the bank would like. With the underlying rate still above forecast, the Reserve Bank board may prefer to wait for the September quarter data before cutting interest rates, giving it greater confidence the slowdown is durable.
For his part, Chalmers described the inflation report on Wednesday as “pretty stunning numbers” and added:
No doubt the Reserve Bank board will weigh that up.
How close is the RBA to its inflation target?
This is the second straight quarter with underlying inflation below 3%, a marked improvement from 2023 when inflation was far above target. The headline rate, now at 2.1%, sits comfortably within the 2–3% target band.
But the Reserve Bank wants more than a couple of good quarters. It is looking for sustained evidence that underlying inflation is drifting lower and likely to stay there. At 2.7%, the underlying measure remains near the top of the band. More subdued results would help build the case for cutting rates again and reassure policymakers that inflation is firmly under control.
“Provided we are still on top of inflation, which is what we intend to be, and we’re getting confirmation that we are, then yes, there is an easing cycle coming,” Bullock noted.
She was signalling that rate cuts are on the table, but not yet guaranteed.
What’s the rate outlook for the rest of the year?
Among the big four banks, Westpac expects the first cut in August but says it could slip to November if inflation proves stickier than expected. ANZ and NAB both forecast cuts in August and November, with NAB pencilling in another for early 2026. Commonwealth Bank also sees two cuts this year but warns the timing could change if inflation eases more slowly.
The split in forecasts highlights the uncertainty ahead. Much will hinge on the September quarter CPI, which will reveal whether today’s trend continues or stalls.
The broader economy remains soft. Retail spending is subdued, construction is slowing, and businesses are cautious about investing. Households are under pressure from high mortgage repayments and rising rents, leaving little room for discretionary spending.
Unemployment has ticked up to 4.3%, but jobs are still relatively tight. Wage growth has eased, though labour costs remain high, keeping pressure on services inflation. Elevated rents, insurance and other essentials are also squeezing households, creating a difficult environment for consumers and policymakers alike.
The Reserve Bank faces a delicate balancing act: bringing inflation back to the middle of the target without tipping the economy into a sharper downturn.
Today’s data is another step in the right direction, but it may not yet give the bank the confidence to act. Rate cuts are coming — just not until inflation shows a steadier decline.
Stella Huangfu 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.
One of the smallest and most exclusive clubs in the world belongs to states. The US Department of State puts the number of independent recognised states at 197, while others count 200.
The United Nations, meanwhile, has 193 member states. This number has grown rapidly since the second world war, from the 51 original members, to 99 by 1960, and then 189 by 2000.
But UN membership is not determinative of statehood. Switzerland famously held out on joining the UN until 2002, due to concerns over compromising its neutrality.
States have come and gone in recent decades. Some, like Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, have splintered into numerous new independent states. Nearly all have international recognition, but Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, has only been recognised by just over half of UN members.
Becoming a recognised state is, therefore, dynamic and involves complicated political, legal and diplomatic processes. All of these are currently at play in the case of recognising Palestine.
Major powers signal a shift
Approximately 147 states currently recognise the state of Palestine. The exceptions include the United States and many of its allies, such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan.
However, the past week has seen a significant shift among these holdouts. First, France announced it would recognise Palestine at the UN General Assembly meetings in September.
Then, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer took a major step by saying his country would do the same unless Israel agrees to a number of conditions.
Starmer says statehood is the “inalienable right” of the Palestinian people.
Highlighting how political the act of recognition is, these conditions included:
the capacity to enter into international relations.
Those criteria have been interpreted and applied flexibly. For example, there has been debate about how governments of newly formed states come to power: should those resulting from military might have the same legitimacy as those established by democratic processes?
Over the past week, a clearer picture has emerged as to the additional conditions Australia is setting for the recognition of Palestine.
These include the release of the remaining Israeli hostages captured in Hamas’ attack in October 2023, the demilitarisation of Hamas, and the reform of the Palestinian Authority, which currently governs the West Bank.
Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since elections in 2006, is central to two of these requirements. While the hostages may eventually be released, the demilitarisation of Hamas appears unlikely in the short term.
In addition, how the Palestinian Authority could be reformed to Australia’s satisfaction is very unclear. Elections would certainly be a step forward. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has indicated he is prepared to hold presidential and parliamentary elections by the end of 2025, yet it is difficult to see free and fair elections being held in Gaza while it is under Israeli assault.
With these preconditions, Australia has set a high bar for recognition. It seems unlikely all would be met by the time the UN General Assembly meets in September.
What would Australian recognition mean?
History shows that once Australia bestows recognition on a state, it will not be revoked. Irrespective of how distasteful a foreign government or regime may be, including how a leader or party comes to power, Australia will continue to recognise the existence of the state.
The multiple changes in government in Afghanistan since 2001 and the eventual return to power of the Taliban in 2021 is a case in point. The military coup that overthrew Myanmar’s democratically elected government in 2021 is another.
While diplomatic relations have proven challenging with these new governing regimes, Australia continues to recognise the existence of these states.
The domestic and international momentum suggests that Australian recognition of Palestine is now inevitable. When it occurs there will be immediate consequences. Recognition isn’t just symbolic – it has real, practical effects.
First, Palestine and Australia would establish formal diplomatic relations. The existing Palestinian Authority representative office in Canberra would become the country’s official embassy. Australian aid and assistance would also be able to flow directly to Palestine without having to pass through UN agencies. This would be crucial for the eventual rebuilding of Gaza.
In short, Palestine will move out of the shadows and be treated as any other state that Australia has recognised and has relations with.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he does not want Australian recognition of Palestine to be a “gesture”. It is unclear what is meant by this. Legally and politically, that could never be the case.
Australia’s position is probably more one of caution. Albanese wants to ensure recognition from Canberra is meaningful and Australia is able to fully support an independent Palestine freed from Israeli military occupation.
Donald Rothwell receives funding from Australian Research Council
One of the smallest and most exclusive clubs in the world belongs to states. The US Department of State puts the number of independent recognised states at 197, while others count 200.
The United Nations, meanwhile, has 193 member states. This number has grown rapidly since the second world war, from the 51 original members, to 99 by 1960, and then 189 by 2000.
But UN membership is not determinative of statehood. Switzerland famously held out on joining the UN until 2002, due to concerns over compromising its neutrality.
States have come and gone in recent decades. Some, like Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, have splintered into numerous new independent states. Nearly all have international recognition, but Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, has only been recognised by just over half of UN members.
Becoming a recognised state is, therefore, dynamic and involves complicated political, legal and diplomatic processes. All of these are currently at play in the case of recognising Palestine.
Major powers signal a shift
Approximately 147 states currently recognise the state of Palestine. The exceptions include the United States and many of its allies, such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan.
However, the past week has seen a significant shift among these holdouts. First, France announced it would recognise Palestine at the UN General Assembly meetings in September.
Then, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer took a major step by saying his country would do the same unless Israel agrees to a number of conditions.
Starmer says statehood is the “inalienable right” of the Palestinian people.
Highlighting how political the act of recognition is, these conditions included:
the capacity to enter into international relations.
Those criteria have been interpreted and applied flexibly. For example, there has been debate about how governments of newly formed states come to power: should those resulting from military might have the same legitimacy as those established by democratic processes?
Over the past week, a clearer picture has emerged as to the additional conditions Australia is setting for the recognition of Palestine.
These include the release of the remaining Israeli hostages captured in Hamas’ attack in October 2023, the demilitarisation of Hamas, and the reform of the Palestinian Authority, which currently governs the West Bank.
Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since elections in 2006, is central to two of these requirements. While the hostages may eventually be released, the demilitarisation of Hamas appears unlikely in the short term.
In addition, how the Palestinian Authority could be reformed to Australia’s satisfaction is very unclear. Elections would certainly be a step forward. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has indicated he is prepared to hold presidential and parliamentary elections by the end of 2025, yet it is difficult to see free and fair elections being held in Gaza while it is under Israeli assault.
With these preconditions, Australia has set a high bar for recognition. It seems unlikely all would be met by the time the UN General Assembly meets in September.
What would Australian recognition mean?
History shows that once Australia bestows recognition on a state, it will not be revoked. Irrespective of how distasteful a foreign government or regime may be, including how a leader or party comes to power, Australia will continue to recognise the existence of the state.
The multiple changes in government in Afghanistan since 2001 and the eventual return to power of the Taliban in 2021 is a case in point. The military coup that overthrew Myanmar’s democratically elected government in 2021 is another.
While diplomatic relations have proven challenging with these new governing regimes, Australia continues to recognise the existence of these states.
The domestic and international momentum suggests that Australian recognition of Palestine is now inevitable. When it occurs there will be immediate consequences. Recognition isn’t just symbolic – it has real, practical effects.
First, Palestine and Australia would establish formal diplomatic relations. The existing Palestinian Authority representative office in Canberra would become the country’s official embassy. Australian aid and assistance would also be able to flow directly to Palestine without having to pass through UN agencies. This would be crucial for the eventual rebuilding of Gaza.
In short, Palestine will move out of the shadows and be treated as any other state that Australia has recognised and has relations with.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he does not want Australian recognition of Palestine to be a “gesture”. It is unclear what is meant by this. Legally and politically, that could never be the case.
Australia’s position is probably more one of caution. Albanese wants to ensure recognition from Canberra is meaningful and Australia is able to fully support an independent Palestine freed from Israeli military occupation.
Donald Rothwell receives funding from Australian Research Council
Understanding these ecosystems and how they’re changing is crucial – but challenging. Patterns and trends in this remote, chaotic ocean are often obscured by short-term variation.
The only way to see through the noise is to make sustained measurements, year after year, for decades.
In the heart of the Southern Ocean there is a car-sized yellow and blue structure floating on the surface. It may not look like much, but this is the tip of a vast underwater observatory that has monitored the pulse of this region for nearly three decades.
Known as the Southern Ocean Time Series (SOTS), this observatory endures cyclone-strength winds and waves up to 18 metres high. The knowledge it provides has been collected in several recent studies, including one just published in Ocean Science.
From the surface to the seafloor
Established in 1997 by CSIRO researcher Tom Trull, the observatory consists of two automated deep-water moorings about 500 kilometres southwest of Tasmania.
Anchored to the seafloor 4,500 metres below, these moorings are maintained by annual voyages of the CSIRO research vessel Investigator from Hobart.
Together, they observe the entire water column, from the wave-lashed surface to the deep. Now in its 28th year, the SOTS program is the longest-running observation program in the open Southern Ocean.
The only actual sign of the observatory is the yellow mooring on the surface, known as the Southern Ocean Flux Station. It has an array of 30 different atmospheric and weather sensors. These transmit near-real time weather data used in Bureau of Meteorology forecasts.
Below the surface is an automated water sampler and some 40 sensors mounted along the 4,500m mooring lines down to the deep sea. Joining the floating laboratory is another mooring made of three large funnels that intercept sinking marine particles on their journey to the seafloor.
A satellite map showing the location of SOTS. Christopher Traill, CC BY-ND
What data has the observatory provided?
The newly published study uses the observatory’s data from 1997 to 2022 to quantify how heat and carbon enter the ocean, and how ecosystem structure changes over seasons.
These results show just how important are the tiny marine plants known as phytoplankton.
At the same time, we’ve been figuring out what controls phytoplankton populations and their ability to help this part of the ocean absorb more carbon. Other research from the SOTS site published earlier this year shows exactly how marine life in this region is inextricably linked to an essential yet sparse trace metal in seawater – iron.
The SOTS program has also been helping scientists detect changes in the chemistry of the Southern Ocean, such as ocean acidification from rising atmospheric carbon dioxide.
The observatory has even been the site of discovery of a new marine species.
The key to success
All these results are only possible thanks to the longevity and sustained funding of the SOTS program. It yields sufficient data far enough back in time, and fills gaps that can’t be provided by satellites.
Without dedicated, long-term monitoring, we would have no baseline to track climate change and a poor understanding of the weather systems and ecosystems in this important part of the world. It also contributes to our ability to forecast daily weather in Australia and long-term climate.
But the value of SOTS reaches far beyond the Southern Ocean. Our national monitoring program contributes to global networks in an international, coordinated effort to observe, understand and predict weather and climate. It helps us prepare for extreme events that are set to become more frequent.
This example is timely. Funding cuts to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have resulted in staff layoffs, with 17% of NOAA’s workforce to be cut next year and the risk of extreme weather monitoring stations shutting down.
As ocean and climate monitoring systems abroad face the fallout from potential loss of observing systems, Australia’s Southern Ocean Time Series continues on – and its importance is only increasing.
Christopher Traill receives funding from the Australian government through a Research Training Scholarship, the CSIRO Quantitative Marine Science Scholarship, and the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership.
Elizabeth Shadwick receives funding from Australian Government’s Antarctic Science Collaboration Initiative, and Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) enabled by the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).
Tyler Rohr receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the ICONIC Impact Ocean Co-Lab, which is managed by the National Philanthropic Trust. Tyler Rohr has previously consulted for carbon offset registry Isometric.
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on July 30, 2025.
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How China’s pandas became its most valuable diplomats – and its vulnerable children Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Smith, Associate Professor in American Politics and Foreign Policy, US Studies Centre, University of Sydney Anthony Albanese’s recent visit to Chengdu’s panda breeding base showed the enduring power of China’s panda diplomacy. China has been sending pandas to other countries, sometimes for obviously political reasons, since
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Take fish, salt in vats, leave in sun for months: why ancient Romans loved fermented fish sauces like garum Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tamara Lewit, Honorary Fellow, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne Photo by Engin Akyurt/Pexels If you slipped back through time to taste a dish from the Roman Empire, you’d likely be sampling some fermented fish sauce. Surviving Roman recipes add this to anything
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Should YouTube be included in Australia’s social media ban for kids under 16? We asked 5 experts Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Jane Archer, Senior Lecturer, Communication, Edith Cowan University Narong Khueankaew/Shutterstock The Austalian government has confirmed video-sharing platform YouTube will be included in the upcoming social media ban for children aged 16 and under. In recent days, the platform – owned by Google – attempted to persuade
How conspiracy theories about COVID’s origins are hampering our ability to prevent the next pandemic Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward C. Holmes, NHMRC Leadership Fellow and Professor of Virology, University of Sydney peterschreiber.media/Getty Images In late June, the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), a group of independent experts convened by the World Health Organization (WHO), published an assessment of the origins
We used tiny sensors in backpacks to discover the extraordinary ways birds migrate to find water Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Heather McGinness, Senior Research Scientist, CSIRO Heather McGinness/CSIRO, CC BY-NC-ND Every year, nomadic Australian waterbirds fly vast distances to find food and the perfect nesting site. They have to be good at finding not just water, but the right kind of water. But across much of Australia,
The new childcare bill relies on something going wrong to keep kids ‘safe’. Here’s what else we should do Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marianne Fenech, Professor, Early Childhood Governance, University of Sydney Pancake Pictures/ Getty Images Federal parliament is debating the Albanese government’s bill to strip funding from childcare centres if they are unsafe. It follows a string of recent reports and allegations of significant safety and abuse problems in
Women’s rights in the US are in real danger of going back to 1965 – so Jessie Murph’s new song is no laughing matter Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Prudence Flowers, Senior Lecturer in US History, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Stagecoach 1965, a trending new song by TikTok sensation and country music rebel Jessie Murph, is prompting heated online conversation about the status of women in the
NZ is prepared to take ‘further action’ over the Gaza crisis – here are 5 options Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Treasa Dunworth, Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Bashar Taleb / Getty Images Is the tide turning over the crisis in Gaza? International pressure and condemnation of Israel’s actions has been increasing, with news and images of malnourished and starving Palestinians now hard to
‘Darkening’ cities is as important for wildlife as greening them Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Dunn, Professor of Urban Design, Lancaster University Nighttime in Jakarta, Indonesia. Akhnaffauzi/Shutterstock For billions of years, life has depended on Earth’s rhythm of day and night. DNA codifies body clocks in all animals and plants, which helps their cells act according to this cycle of light
Albanese government to include YouTube in social media ban for under-16s Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government has decided to include YouTube accounts in its ban on access to social media for those under the age of 16. The decision will be controversial with many social media users, especially young people, and face resistance
How Pacific students took their climate fight to the world’s highest court. And won Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – Yet it was here in this Dutch city that Prasad and a small group of Pacific islanders in their bright shirts and shell necklaces last week gathered before the UN’s top court to witness an opinion they had dreamt up when they were at university in
Fiji ‘failing’ the Gaza genocide and humanity test, says rights group Asia Pacific Report The NGO Coalition on Human Rights in Fiji has sharply criticised the Fiji government’s stance over Israel’s genocide in Gaza, saying it “starkly contrasts” with the United Nations and international community’s condemnation as a violation of international law and an impediment to peace. In a statement today, the NGO Coalition said that
View from The Hill: Albanese wants international cover before Australia recognises Palestine as a state Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Anthony Albanese will recall well when another Labor prime minister was feeling the heat over Palestinian status. It was 2012 and then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard was forced into a corner over the stand Australia should take on a motion to
From futuristic design icon to environmental villain – the 80-year history of the plastic chair Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoff Isaac, Research Fellow, Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney The Magis Bell Chair, made from recycled plastic, saves energy during production and transport and produces less waste for recycling or disposal at end of life. Magis What springs to mind when you’re asked to
Air-dropping food into Gaza is a ‘smokescreen’ – this is what must be done to prevent mass starvation Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amra Lee, PhD candidate in Protection of Civilians, Australian National University Israel partially lifted its aid blockade of Gaza this week in response to intensifying international pressure over the man-made famine in the devastated coastal strip. The United Arab Emirates and Jordan airdropped 25 tonnes of food
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Fuller, Clinical Trials Director, Department of Endocrinology, RPA Hospital, University of Sydney
Parents are often told fruit is “bad” because it contains sugar, prompting concerns about how much fruit they should allow their child to eat.
This message has been fuelled by the “sugar-free” movement, which demonises sugar with claims it’s fattening and causes diabetes. The movement promotes arbitrary lists of foods to avoid, which often include kids’ favourites such as bananas and berries.
But like many claims made by the diet industry, this one isn’t backed by evidence.
Naturally occurring versus added sugars
Sugar itself isn’t inherently harmful, but the type of sugar kids eat can be.
The good news is whole fruits contain naturally occurring sugars that are healthy and provide kids with energy. Whole fruits are packed with vitamins and minerals needed for good health. This includes vitamins A, C, E, magnesium, zinc and folic acid. All fruits are suitable – bananas, berries, mandarins, apples and mangoes, to name just a few.
The insoluble fibre in fruit skins also helps kids stay regular, and the soluble fibre in fruit flesh helps keep their cholesterol in a healthy range, absorbing “bad” cholesterol to reduce their long-term risk of stroke and heart disease.
Added sugars – which add calories but no nutritional value to kids’ diets – are the “bad” sugars and the ones to avoid. They’re found in processed and ultra-processed foods kids crave, such as lollies, chocolates, cakes and soft drinks.
Added sugars are often added to seemingly healthy packaged foods, such as muesli bars. They’re also hidden under 60-plus different names in ingredient lists, making them hard to spot.
Sugar, weight and diabetes risk
There’s no evidence backing claims that sugar directly causes diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that can’t be prevented or cured and has no connection to sugar consumption. Type 2 diabetes is typically caused when we carry excess body weight, which stops the body from working efficiently, not sugar intake.
However, a diet high in added sugars – found in many processed, ultra-processed foods (for example, sweet and savoury packaged snacks) – can mean kids consume excess calories and gain unnecessary weight, which may increase their chance of developing type 2 diabetes as they get older.
On the other hand, research shows that kids who eat more fruit have less abdominal fat.
Research also shows fruit can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, with one study finding kids who ate 1.5 servings of fruit daily had a 36% lower risk of developing the disease.
Many processed foods offer low-to-no nutrition, which is why dietary guidelines recommend limiting them.
Kids filling up on these foods are less likely to eat vegetables, fruits, whole grains and lean meats, producing a diet lacking in fibre and other key nutrients needed for growth and development.
But these “discretionary foods” make up one-third of Aussie kids’ daily energy intake.
My advice? Give kids fruit in abundance
There’s no need to limit how much whole fruit kids eat – it’s nutritious, filling and can protect their health. It’s also going to fill them up and reduce their desire to scream out for the processed, packet food that is low in nutrition, and calorie-rich.
Just go easy on juiced and dried fruits because juicing leaves the goodness (the fibre) behind in the juicer, and drying strips fruits of their water content, making them easy to overconsume.
The nutritional guidelines recommend just two serves of fruit a day for those nine years of age and older, 1.5 serves from 4-8, one serve from 2–3, and half a serve from 1–2 years. But these guidelines are dated and need to be changed.
We do need to reduce kids’ sugar consumption. But this needs to be achieved by reducing their intake of processed foods that contain added sugars, rather than fruit.
Added sugars aren’t always easy to spot, so we should focus on reducing kids’ consumption of processed and packet foods and teaching them to rely on fruit – “nature’s treats” – as a way to keep unhealthy sugars out of their diets.
A/Professor Nick Fuller works for the University of Sydney and RPA Hospital and has received external funding for projects relating to the treatment of overweight and obesity. He is the author and founder of the Interval Weight Loss program, and the author of Healthy Parents, Healthy Kids with Penguin Books.
The clip of Andy Byron embracing his colleague Kristin Cabot generated millions of views within minutes. It drew international attention first to the couple, then to the company they both worked for.
For Astronomer, a traditional crisis communication response might have involved a swift reprimand of the staff involved, followed by a sanitised statement expressing disappointment and reaffirming company values.
But in the social media age, such statements struggle to gain traction. The days of press conferences, pre-prepared statements and carefully worded question and answer sessions are long gone. A single tweet from an ordinary user can inflict damage standard public relations tactics may fail to contain.
In Astronomer’s case, the company issued a statement – then followed it with a video featuring Gwyneth Paltrow, the ex-wife of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. This appeared to be an attempt to turn the massive surge in website traffic generated by the scandal into profit.
It was a clever response to a potentially damaging viral moment. And a good guide for businesses responding to scandals playing out online – something supported by our research examining crisis communication in the age of social media.
We found that while traditional responses remain advisable in the majority of scandals – they are still the safest option – a more targeted and nuanced approach can be worth the risk.
When a controversy does not involve product safety, breach brand values or harm core stakeholders, it can evolve into a moment of cultural relevance.
With the right tone, timing and distance, brands can co-opt virality to their advantage, transforming risk into recognition.
Tone matters
By analysing hundreds of thousands of tweets across several viral scandals between 2016 and 2022, we identified key ways social media scandals differ from their offline counterparts.
The scandals we looked at involved differing subject matter, moral judgements and purpose. But every one went viral online when they happened.
We found the tone of the initial posts sharing the scandal significantly influences how far and fast it spreads. The same is true for a company’s response.
An aggressive or defensive tone from the organisation tends to trigger a stronger negative emotional response from the public. Typically, attempts to rebut a scandal gain little traction and rarely generate goodwill.
In our data, the only scenario where a defensive strategy worked was when a single individual, not the organisation, was at fault; and when the organisation was a not-for-profit with a strong track record of doing good, and was defended by a known influencer.
Leveraging controversy
In a media landscape dominated by social platforms, the line between crisis and opportunity has blurred. Increasingly, brands are attempting to capture public attention by leaning into controversy rather than hiding from it.
According to “situational crisis communication” theory, the safest way to rebuild trust is to acknowledge the scandal and apologise. Doing so with humour or mockery would once have been unthinkable.
But if irreverence is in keeping with the brand – and with the tone of the community sharing the content – then it may be appropriate.
The future of online scandal response remains uncertain. But what is clear is that scandals are harder than ever to hide. And that having a plan to address them is increasingly essential.
Tone must match the audience and an organisation’s response must align with its brand. But when the public is responding with humour and levity, a response that is stern, sombre or sterile is unlikely to land.
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.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Smith, Associate Professor in American Politics and Foreign Policy, US Studies Centre, University of Sydney
In a new paper published in The Pacific Review, we explain the importance of panda diplomacy for the Chinese state. This importance persists during times of high political tension between China and other countries that host pandas, such as the United States. And it persists despite growing concerns about it in China.
But the flipside of cuteness is vulnerability. Pandas are seen as “national treasures” in China, and nationalist netizens are becoming upset about the practice of entrusting them to foreign powers. This is not the only case where Chinese popular nationalism has been at odds with the official nationalism of Chinese foreign policy.
In our article, we explore these issues by looking at the Chinese government’s response to the death of a panda in an American zoo. And we examine how the panda came to be such an emotionally charged and politically powerful symbol in the first place.
The Memphis Zoo controversy
In February 2023, the 25-year-old giant panda Lele died of heart disease in Memphis Zoo, shortly before he was due to return to China at the end of his 20-year loan. His female companion, Yaya, went back to China soon after.
Yaya had suffered from a skin condition for many years, and in 2020 American animal rights groups In Defense of Animals and Panda Voices began posting photos of the pandas appearing dirty and emaciated, with missing fur.
These photos generated rumours on Chinese social media that the pandas were being fed substandard bamboo and contaminated water. Much of the outrage and concern, expressed across millions of social media posts, was couched in nationalist terms.
One Weibo user commented:
our national treasure panda begging for food while kneeling is the same as us 1.4 billion Chinese people begging for food while kneeling!
Another complained:
pandas are claimed to be national treasures, but they are more like princesses in diplomatic marriages. In the face of national interests, whether a panda is doing well or dying is fundamentally unimportant.
The Memphis Zoo controversy happened at one of the lowest points in the recent history of relations between the US and China.
Former president Joe Biden had just ordered the destruction of a Chinese surveillance balloon that had spent weeks in American airspace. Planned diplomatic talks had been cancelled, and both sides were accusing each other of infringing their sovereignty.
Under these circumstances, we might expect the Chinese government to exploit popular nationalist outrage directed at the United States. Instead, its response to the death and illness of the Memphis pandas was measured and conciliatory.
good care from the zoo and great affection from the American people […]. China stands ready to continue to work with cooperation partners including the US to play our part in protecting endangered species.
Chinese zoological authorities confirmed Lele and Yaya’s conditions were normal for pandas “in the geriatric phase of their lives”. They declared that Memphis Zoo’s care of the pandas was “excellent”.
The hawkish state-owned newspaper Global Times ran editorials exonerating the Americans, even while acknowledging nationalist concerns. It would also exonerate a zoo in Thailand where a panda died a few months later. Other newspapers ran stories about the broader benefits to China of panda diplomacy.
How the panda became a symbol with many meanings
Both the online nationalist outrage and the calming state response to the Memphis controversy show the emotional weight and political importance of pandas in China.
How did they get to be so important? Historians have documented that pandas were virtually absent from Chinese art, literature and culture until the 20th century.
In historical terms, the panda is an unusual political symbol. Many national animal symbols are chosen for their ferocity, such as lions, eagles, and the dragons that long symbolised Imperial China.
Pandas, on the other hand, are loved for their roundness, innocence and clumsiness. If a dragon can be seen as a nation’s protective parent, a panda is more like its vulnerable child.
Our search for mentions of xiongmao (panda) in China’s People’s Daily newspaper shows a developing consciousness of pandas as a rare national animal from the 1950s onwards. This was accelerated in the 1970s by the popularity of pandas gifted to other countries, and the widespread commercialisation of panda images.
This incident enshrined the language of pandas as “national treasures”. It also elevated the panda as a global icon of wildlife conservation. Today, conservation research is China’s main public reason for sending pandas abroad.
The 21st century panda has many layers of accumulated symbolism. It is a symbol of China, a symbol of international friendship, a symbol of global environmental consciousness, and a symbol of the universal power of cute.
These symbolic layers have generated complex and contradictory political emotions around pandas in China.
In 2023 there was widespread speculation that pandas would not be returning to the United States and Australia because of their poor relationships with China. That speculation turned out to be premature.
But the question of whether “national treasure” pandas should be diplomats will remain a difficult one in a world defined by both environmental and human vulnerability.
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.
