Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Ekberg, Senior Lecturer, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University

For many people, Christmas can be the most social time of the year. The holiday period is often filled with parties, lunches, dinners and celebrations of all kinds with family, friends and colleagues.

For adults with hearing loss, however, these social gatherings can bring unique challenges. Communicating with others can be difficult, particularly in group conversations. And the more background noise there is (for example, Christmas music or children playing), the harder it is.

For age-related or acquired hearing loss, hearing ability typically starts to decline from age 50 onwards. One in six Australians experience some hearing loss, so it’s possible someone around your Christmas dinner table will be struggling to hear.

Unfortunately, many adults with hearing loss suffer these challenges in silence. Our research shows adults with hearing loss often hide their hearing loss from others, even close family members and friends, because of feeling shame due to stigma.

But there are some things you can do to ensure a loved one with hearing loss is included this Christmas.

Read more:
‘I keep away from people’ – combined vision and hearing loss is isolating more and more older Australians

Stigma and stereotypes

Stigma is when someone is treated differently by others due to a particular physical or social attribute.

Across a series of studies, we conducted surveys and interviews with adults with hearing loss, their families and hearing care professionals to explore experiences of stigma for adults with hearing loss. Our research also included video recordings of real-life conversations between adults with hearing loss and their families and friends.

The results suggested people often associate hearing loss with negative stereotypes of ageing, disability, reduced intelligence, having a problem or weakness, and difference. For example, one participant with hearing loss told us:

Once they are aware that you can’t really comprehend or hear what they’re saying, they treat you different. And it’s not always positive, it’s quite often negative […] Even people who are familiar with you, my twin brother, he thinks that there’s something wrong with me because I can’t hear him properly.

Old age was the most common stereotype associated with hearing loss. For example, one adult with hearing loss commented:

I guess it’s just a sign of ageing. Like wearing glasses and grey hair.

But as hearing can start declining from middle age, many adults experiencing hearing difficulties do not fit this stereotype.

We see this stereotype appear in popular media as well. For example, in the TV show Bluey, the character Bingo dresses up as a “Can’t-Hear-Anything granny” in a number of episodes.

In our research, people with hearing loss reported feeling embarrassment, shame, frustration, sadness and fatigue from trying to manage their hearing difficulties during everyday conversations.

In the results of a survey currently under peer review, almost two-thirds felt other people laughed about or treated their hearing loss as a joke, often making them feel uncomfortable.

An example of this teasing can be seen in a real-life conversation we recorded with a grandfather with hearing loss and his extended family while having afternoon tea.

After the older man has ongoing trouble hearing his granddaughters, his wife teases him with the question “You got your hearing aids in Grandpa?”, which receives laughter from his son and granddaughters.

While this sort of teasing might seem light-hearted, it can cause someone with hearing loss to feel embarrassed when they have trouble hearing.

A key finding from our interview research was that adults with hearing loss respond to experiences of stigma by not telling others about their hearing loss.

Similarly, in an international survey of 331 adults with hearing loss, the results of which are yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, one in four had not told anyone about their hearing loss. Others only told certain people in specific circumstances.

There might, therefore, be family and friends at your Christmas gatherings facing the challenges of hearing loss without anyone knowing.

Supporting loved ones with hearing loss this Christmas

For adults with hearing loss, experiences of stigma can cause them to start to withdraw from social situations, participate less in conversations, and become more socially isolated and lonely.

But a greater awareness about hearing loss and inclusive communication can help tackle the stigma. Here are some simple ways you can be more inclusive of people with hearing loss this festive season:

1. Think about the location of your event – how noisy is it? When possible, choose restaurants and social settings that are quieter. Outdoor settings will generally be less noisy than indoor ones (apps such as The Ambient Menu can help you choose).

2. Turn down background noise if you can (for example, TV, radio, music).

3. Speak face-to-face as much as possible. This allows for lip-reading so that people are not just reliant on their hearing. If you know someone has difficulty hearing, move closer to them and talk clearly and slightly more slowly.

4. Arrange seating in a way that allows everyone to face each other. Round tables are best.

5. Give people the opportunity to choose where they are seated around a table or in a restaurant. Adults with hearing loss may position themselves in the middle of a table or next to specific people they need to hear.

6. If you are at an event with speeches, use a microphone when possible.

7. If you notice a person not joining in the conversation you could ask them if they can hear OK and, if not, what you can do to help.

Katie Ekberg received funding for this research from The Hearing Industry Research Consortium.

Louise Hickson receives funding from the Hearing Industry Research Consortium for the research reported in this article.

– ref. Christmas can be challenging for people with hearing loss. Here are 7 ways you can help – https://theconversation.com/christmas-can-be-challenging-for-people-with-hearing-loss-here-are-7-ways-you-can-help-245943

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra

After two successive surpluses, the federal budget will be back in deficit in 2024–25, according to the much-anticipated budget update released on Wednesday.

Known as the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO), the update shows the budget is forecast to stay in deficit in years to come.

The MYEFO is a little more downbeat than at budget time with lower growth and wage forecasts in the current financial year, but only by a quarter of one percent.

Overall, there has been little change in the economic forecasts. There is new spending, which increases deficits in the forward years, but again, this is small in percentage terms.

The path back to surpluses by 2034-35 remains much the same as previously forecast.

Heading back to the red

This year’s deficit was budgeted at A$28.3 billion (1% of gross domestic product) in the budget handed down in May. Treasury now expects the deficit to be $26.9 billion, a small decrease.

The deficit is forecast to increase further next year to $46.9 billion, compared with $42.8 billion forecast in the budget.

Treasury now expects $8.5 billion less company tax to be collected over the four years to 2027-28 than it thought at budget time. This is because it now expects mining exports to be more than $100 billion weaker than forecast.

The price of iron ore has fallen since the beginning of 2024 as the Chinese economy has slowed. China has long been Australia’s biggest importer of iron ore by a huge margin.

The falling price contrasts with most recent years when commodity prices turned out to be higher than Treasury’s cautious budget assumptions.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers had foreshadowed this impact in his recent ministerial statement on the economy and at a press conference on Monday.

Read more:
More spending and weaker revenue hits budget bottom line in some years: Chalmers

Government spending this year is now forecast to be $731.1 billion, $4.4 billion higher than in the budget. Numerous new payment measures in Wednesday’s statement including childcare, aged care, a remote employment service, and a raft of smaller initiatives.

Early childhood education is one of the highlighted areas. The government is investing $5 billion over five years – the biggest component of which is $3.6 billion for wage increases.

The government had foreshadowed an extra $1.8 billion in payments to veterans, and more spending on recovery funding for areas affected by disasters. But the budget update’s numbers could come unstuck depending on the nature of any future disasters.

The update includes a reconciliation table showing how much change since the last update is due to policy decisions and how much to “parameter variations”, that is, things outside government control.

In most updates, policy is outweighed by parameter changes. That is true for receipts in this economic outlook, but on payments the impact of policy is higher than parameters in 2024-25 and 2025-26.

The government’s critics have pointed out, in nominal dollar terms, this $42.7 billion deterioration from last year’s surplus to this year’s deficit, is the largest outside the COVID-affected years of 2019-20 and 2020-21.

Read more:
Deloitte predicts December budget update will show bottom line has worsened since May, in fiscal ‘thud’

But inflation and economic growth mean almost everything is larger now than it once was. A more meaningful comparison is to look at movements in the underlying cash balance relative to GDP.

A swing from a balance of 0.6% of GDP in 2023-24 to -1.0% in 2024-25 represents a drop of 1.6% of GDP. This would still be a smaller deterioration than occurred in 1975-76, 1982-83, 1991-92, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2013-14, 2019-20 and 2020-21 and comparable to those in 1983-84 and 1990-91.

It is nowhere as exceptional as some breathless commentary suggests.

A pre-election war chest

The mid-year outlook includes payments of $218.6 million in 2024-25 and $828.1 million in 2025-26 for “decisions taken but not yet announced”.

Read more:
$16 billion of the MYEFO budget update is ‘decisions taken but not yet announced’. Why budget for the unannounced?

This provision allows ministers to make new policy announcements after a budget or budget update without affecting the bottom line, because monies have already been allocated.

It’s incorrect to claim these are “already paid for”. These figures are merely estimates and future spending still needs authorisation.

It is reasonable for some spending decisions included in the contingency reserve not to be published for national security or commercial reasons. More troubling for honesty in budgeting is the use of this for political reasons.

Effectively, it means the government is holding off making announcements to maximise their political impact. Better practice, if a decision has been made, is to make it public.

There is no way to tell how much of the $828 million next year is commercial or security decisions, and how much is unannounced promises to be rolled out during the election campaign.

Economic activity outlook

Treasury has also updated the economic growth forecasts from the budget.

Real gross domestic product is now expected to grow by 1¾% (down from 2% in the May budget) this year and 2¼% (unchanged) next year. Donald Trump’s election in the United States will have created more uncertainty around these forecasts.

Read more:
What would a second Trump presidency mean for the global economy?

Inflation and interest rates

Inflation is forecast by Treasury to fall to 2¾% by mid-2025, and then stay within the Reserve Bank’s 2-3% inflation target band.

But much of the fall in inflation is due to temporary measures such as the electricity rebates, so there is a risk of inflation rising when these expire.

Will there be a budget before the election?

The government’s current parliamentary sitting program has a budget scheduled for March 25, 2025. This would be consistent with an election in May.

But the government is keeping open the option of calling an election for April and deferring the budget until after.

Either way, there will be a further budget update before we go to the polls. Treasury and the Department of Finance are required to release a Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook after an election is called.

John Hawkins was formerly a senior economist at the Reserve Bank and the Treasury.

Stephen Bartos is a former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Finance

– ref. If Treasury forecasts are right, it could be a decade before Australia is ‘back in black’ – https://theconversation.com/if-treasury-forecasts-are-right-it-could-be-a-decade-before-australia-is-back-in-black-245043

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Peden, NHMRC Research Fellow, School of Population Health & co-founder UNSW Beach Safety Research Group, UNSW Sydney

Australia is a nation of boaters, with one of the world’s highest rates of boat ownership. There are about one million registered vessels in Australia and one in ten Australians has a boat licence.

While an estimated 18% of the Australian population go boating each year, 29% of boaters say they are weak swimmers or cannot swim in the ocean. This makes wearing a lifejacket and avoiding alcohol when boating even more important.

While we often hear about the dangers of combining alcohol and swimming, it can also be dangerous to have a few drinks on the water.

If you’re taking the boat out this summer, or going to a Christmas or New Year’s Eve party on a boat, here’s what to know if you plan to drink alcohol.

There are alcohol limits, but not everywhere

Almost all Australian jurisdictions set a blood alcohol concentration limit of 0.05 for a skipper operating a recreational boat (the same as for a car driver on a full licence).

However, the Northern Territory doesn’t have an alcohol limit for recreational skippers. This is concerning given the NT, in particular the Top End, has Australia’s highest drowning rates for all activities and second highest for boating-related drowning.

Nationally, 9% of the 323 drowning deaths last financial year in Australia were due to boating. Men are ten times more likely to drown in boating and watercraft-related incidents than women. Older age groups are typically more at risk, peaking among 65-74 year-olds.

Men and women were just as likely to drown where alcohol was involved in a boating incident. But men had significantly higher blood alcohol concentrations – an average 0.134 or almost three times the upper legal limit.

Along our coast, surfers and jetski riders are among those who died by drowning at our beaches, most commonly after drug and/or alcohol use.

At our rivers, 41% of boating and watercraft-related drowning deaths involved alcohol. In more than half of these deaths, there was a blood alcohol concentration of at least 0.05.

‘Boater’s hypnosis’ is risky

Our survey at rivers shows people think it’s riskier to drink alcohol and drive on the road than it is to drink and operate a boat.

This is despite researchers suggesting there are added challenges on the water, including direct exposure to sun, wind, glare, vibration, noise and wave motion. This can produce a kind of “boater’s hypnosis”, which can reduce reaction times and increase errors in how people change course (change direction on the water).

Boaters who are drunk make ten times more errors when changing course than those who are sober.

How about passengers?

There’s no rule saying passengers need to be sober on board. But alcohol can lead to risk-taking behaviour and is regularly implicated in drowning deaths after falling or jumping from party boats and houseboats.

Drinking two standard drinks – for instance a large glass of wine or a can of craft beer – almost doubles the risk of most types of injuries.

Alcohol can make people overconfident in their capabilities, when objectively they are psychologically and physically impaired and less able to perform any activity.

Not knowing how alcohol can affect how well you swim, and thinking combining alcohol with water activities is normal and “Australian” can also fuel these behaviours.

Don’t forget your lifejacket

People who drink alcohol while boating are also less likely to wear a lifejacket.

Where alcohol is involved in drownings on our waterways, there is a greater likelihood of intoxication with other drugs. This combination increases the potential for impaired decision making, reaction times and swimming ability, increasing the risk of drowning and injury.

Young people are also susceptible to risk-taking and peer pressure in and around the water, particularly if alcohol is involved.

Why aren’t more people aware of this?

Australia has drowning prevention campaigns about the dangers of alcohol and aquatic activity. But these campaigns aren’t specific to boating and most haven’t been evaluated.

So aside from legislation and enforcement, such as breath-testing skippers, we don’t know what works to create sustained change in people’s behaviour specific to drinking and boating.

Tips to stay safe

If you plan to drink while boating, here are our top five tips:

1. Know the limit: in most states and territories skippers must have a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05 or below

2. Skippers beware: skippers are responsible for the safety of all on board, so it’s safer to avoid alcohol altogether while operating a boat

3. Passengers are at risk too: even drinking relatively small amounts of alcohol (for instance, a large glass of wine or can of craft beer) can make people overconfident, lead to risk taking, and doubles the risk of most types of injuries. If drinking heavily, these risks increase

4. Look out for your friends: encourage your friends to avoid drinking until back on shore, and keep an eye on those who are under the influence

5. Watch for children or other vulnerable people: stay sober if you have caring responsibilities, for instance being responsible for children or have elderly family or friends onboard.

Over the past five years, Amy Peden has received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Meta, Surf Life Saving Australia, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and NSW Government Office of Sport. Dr Peden is affiliated with Royal Life Saving Society – Australia as an honorary senior research fellow.

In the past five years, Emmanuel Kuntsche has received funding from La Trobe University, National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Research Council, Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, University of Bayreuth Centre of International Excellence ‘Alexander von Humboldt’, Veski Foundation, University of New South Wales, Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, Healthy Canberra, Swiss National Science Foundation, Queensland Mental Health Commission, and New South Wales Department of Family and Community Services.

Hannah Calverley works for Life Saving Victoria. In the past five years she has received funding from Royal Life Saving Society Australia and Surf Life Saving Australia. She also sits on the Play It Safe By The Water Committee, which receives Victorian state government funding. She is affiliated with the International Drowning Researchers Alliance as a collaborator.

– ref. Let’s take the boat out! 5 tips on staying safe on the water if you fancy a drink – https://theconversation.com/lets-take-the-boat-out-5-tips-on-staying-safe-on-the-water-if-you-fancy-a-drink-243796

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University

The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria has opened a new front for geopolitical competition in the Middle East.

Now, however, instead of Iran and Russia playing the most influential roles in Syria, Israel and Turkey see an opportunity to advance their conflicting national and regional security interests.

Under their respective leaders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, relations between the two countries have deteriorated sharply in recent years. This sets the stage for a bitter showdown over Syria.

A new rivalry is emerging

Turkey is widely reported to have backed the offensive led by the Sunni rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), to drive Assad from power, thus backstabbing Syria’s traditional allies, Iran and Russia.

Tehran has intimated that without Turkey’s support, HTS would have been unable to achieve its blistering takeover.

Now, with Assad gone, Erdoğan is believed to be positioning himself as de facto leader of the Sunni Muslim world. He also wants Turkey to be one of the dominant powers in the region.

Erdoğan has said if the Ottoman Empire had been divided in a different way following its defeat in the First World war, several Syrian cities, including Aleppo and Damascus, would have likely been part of modern-day Turkey.

Turkey immediately reopened its embassy in Damascus after Assad’s fall and offered help to HTS in shaping the country’s new Islamist order.

As part of this, Erdoğan has opposed any concession by HTS to the US-backed Kurdish minority in Syria’s northeast, which he regards as supporters of the Kurdish separatists in Turkey.

Meanwhile, Israel has taken advantage of the power vacuum in Syria to advance its territorial and security ambitions. It has launched a land incursion into the Syrian side of the strategic Golan Heights and has executed a massive bombardment of Syria’s military assets across the country.

Israel’s foreign minister said destroying these assets – which included ammunition depots, fighter jets, missiles and chemical weapons storage facilities – was necessary to ensure they didn’t fall into the “hands of extremists” that could pose a threat to the Jewish state.

Turkey sees Israel’s recent actions in Syria and the occupied Golan Heights as a land grab. Israel’s actions have also been denounced by Arab countries, who demand Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity be respected.

Israel is clearly concerned about the rise to power of an Islamist group and the transformation of Syria into a jihadist state.

This is despite the fact that HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa (also known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani) has signalled he does not want conflict with Israel. He’s also pledged not to allow any groups to use Syria for attacks on Israel.

At the same time, al-Sharaa has called for the withdrawal of Israel from Syrian territory according to a 1974 agreement that followed the 1973 Yom Kippur war.

Bitter foes

Erdoğan, Turkey’s moderate Islamist president, has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause and a fierce critic of Israel. But tensions have significantly escalated between the two sides since the start of the Gaza war.

Erdoğan has called for an Arab-Islamic front to stop what he’s called Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza. He has equally berated Israel’s invasion of Lebanon earlier this year.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, has lashed out at Erdoğan over the years. He has called him a “joke” and “dictator” whose jails are full journalists and political prisoners. He has also accused of Erdoğan of committing a “genocide” of the Kurdish people.

Washington, which is allied to both Turkey and Israel, has launched intense diplomatic efforts to ensure that HTS moves Syria in a favourable direction. It is keen to see a post-Assad system of governance aligned with America’s interests.

These interests include HTS’ support for America’s Kurdish allies in northeast Syria and the continued presence of 1,000 American troops in the country. The US also wants HTS to continue to prevent the Islamic State terror group from regaining strength.

The US will also have to manage the emerging geopolitical rivalry between Israel and Turkey in Syria.

Some observers have not ruled out the possibility of an Israeli-Turkish military showdown, should Israel turn what it calls its temporary occupation of the demilitarised zone on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights into a permanent territorial acquisition.

This is not to say a war between them is imminent. But their clashing interests and the breadth of mutual hostility has certainly reached a new level.

Iran’s loss could be costly

For Iran, Assad’s ouster means the loss of a critical ally in its predominantly Shia “axis of resistance” against Israel and the United States.

The Iranian regime had worked hard to build this network over the last 45 years as a fundamental part of its national and wider security. It had propped up Assad’s minority Alawite dictatorship over the Sunni majority population in Syria at the cost of some US$30 billion (A$47 billion) since the popular uprising against Assad began in 2011.

And with Assad now gone, Iran is deprived of a vital land and air bridge to one of its key proxies – Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The Assad regime’s sudden demise is now causing soul searching in Tehran about the wisdom of its regional strategy – and whether it will have any significant role at all in the new Syria. This seems unlikely, as al-Sharaa (the leader of HTS) has declared his disdain for both Iran and Hezbollah.

Al-Sharaa has prioritised the establishment of a publicly mandated Islamist government and Syria’s reconstruction and national unity over a conflict with Israel, Iran’s arch enemy. This will no doubt lead to contention with the hardliners and reformists in Iran.

Only time will tell how all of this will play out. At this stage, the future of Syria and the region hangs in the balance. And much depends on whether HTS leaders will move to set up an all-inclusive political system and unite a Balkanised Syria.

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.

– ref. A bitter rivalry is emerging in the Middle East between two old adversaries over the future of Syria – https://theconversation.com/a-bitter-rivalry-is-emerging-in-the-middle-east-between-two-old-adversaries-over-the-future-of-syria-246035

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milad Haghani, Senior Lecturer of Urban Risk & Resilience, UNSW Sydney

The holidays are coming, airports are packed and emotions are running high. You’ve probably seen it or even been part of it: that tense moment when a passenger snaps at a flight attendant, or a near-meltdown over a seat reclining too far. Why does flying seem to bring out the worst in us?

Airplanes are, quite literally, a pressure cooker for emotions. For many, airports and airplanes are synonymous with anxiety, which often begins well before they step into the terminal.

These environments combine stress, discomfort and a loss of control, often leaving even the calmest travellers feeling on edge.

Planes also make inequalities bleedingly obvious. We’ve all experienced the envy of walking through first-class cabins to reach economy.

It’s easy to see why air rage has become so common. In fact, reported incidents have skyrocketed in recent years, exacerbated by pandemic-related anxieties.

So, let’s have a look at the science behind why we get so cranky when we fly. But more importantly, what we can do about it.

Air rage is getting worse

In recent years, reports of unruly passenger behaviour around the world have surged. Perhaps the most comprehensive indicator is the data compiled by the United States’ Federal Aviation Administration, which show a clear connection to the pandemic effect.

In 2021, the administration recorded 5,973 incidents of unruly passenger behaviour. This is a staggering 492% increase compared to the year before.

To put this in perspective, the four-year average of such incidents for the period 2017–2020 was 901.75 (2017: 544, 2018: 889, 2019: 1,161, 2020: 1,009).

While the numbers have decreased since their peak in 2021, they remain significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels.

In 2022, the administration reported 2,455 incidents, followed by 2,076 in 2023, and 1,954 so far in 2024 (with final numbers for the year still pending).

These incidents in the US alone have led to 402 enforcement actions initiated in 2023, compared to a pre-pandemic high of 83 in a single year. Since 2021, fines totalling more than US$21 million (A$32 million) have been levied as a result of such incidents.

The issue is not limited to the United States (although the US seems to have a higher share of such cases).

The International Air Transport Association reported an increase in unruly passenger incidents globally, with one incident per 568 flights in 2022 – up from one per 835 flights in 2021.

The most common types of incidents include non-compliance, verbally abusive behaviour and intoxication. Notably, while non-compliance incidents initially fell after mask mandates were removed on most flights, the frequency began to rise again in 2022, ending the year 37% higher than in 2021.

Examples of non-compliance include:

• smoking cigarettes, e-cigarettes, or vapes in the cabin or lavatories

• failing to fasten seatbelts when instructed

• exceeding carry-on baggage allowances or failing to store when required

• consuming personal alcohol on board.

What’s behind the air rage phenomenon

Scholarly research has highlighted that the phenomenon arises from an interplay of stressors unique to aviation.

Environmental stressors

Research consistently identifies the physical environment of airplanes as a significant contributor to passenger frustration and antisocial behaviour.

Factors such as cramped seating, limited personal space and high-density cabin configurations exacerbate discomfort and feelings of confinement.

Psychological factors such as anxiety, claustrophobia and aviophobia (fear of flying) can also trigger an unusual behaviour that the passenger may not show in other social contexts.

In some studies, physical discomfort, such as encroachments into personal space, has been found the leading trigger for anger among passengers.

Emotional triggers such as frustration over delays, long queues at the security check or unmet service expectations, can escalate minor grievances into disruptive outbursts.

Noise and hunger could further compound the situation. It can create a volatile atmosphere even before passengers acted out.

Research has also suggested that low-cost carriers, while not directly responsible for air rage, create environments conducive to disruptive behaviour due to reduced service levels, inadequate facilities and passenger stress from automation and cost-cutting measures.

Social stressors

The role of inequality within the cabin environment is another potent factor.

Research shows that airplanes serve as a microcosm of class-based society, with physical inequality (the presence of first-class cabins) and situational inequality (boarding through first-class sections) increasing the sense of frustration.

Interestingly, situational inequality can even affect first-class passengers, by highlighting their privileges, sometimes fostering a sense of entitlement that may lead to antisocial behaviour.

Alcohol use and nicotine withdrawal

Alcohol is a dominant precipitant of air rage incidents. Some studies have found that more than half of reported air rage cases involved alcohol intoxication, often fuelled by liberal airport alcohol policies and in-flight consumption.

Similarly, nicotine withdrawal was another factor, with nearly 9% of incidents attributed to smokers unable to satisfy their cravings during long flights.

Sociodemographic influences

Empirical data suggest sociodemographic factors play a significant role in air rage incidents.

One study examining 228 air rage cases found nearly 90% of incidents involved male passengers, with younger adults, particularly those aged 30–39, being the most frequently implicated.

Cultural norms and expectations around air travel also influence behaviour. They shape how passengers respond to delays, discomfort, breaches of etiquette or perceived inequities.

What can be done?

In the UK, airlines and airport authorities have implemented measures, such as Edinburgh’s “No Excuse for Abuse” campaign, to address the rise in disruptive behaviour. Such initiatives remind passengers to treat staff and fellow travellers with respect, while emphasising a zero-tolerance approach to aggression.

But tackling air rage requires more than just slogans.

De-escalation techniques and early recognition of disruptive behaviour can help diffuse situations before they escalate. Studies suggest experienced and well-trained crew members are better equipped to handle such incidents.

There are also simple things you can do to improve the flying experience.

1. You may choose to avoid overindulging in alcohol before or during the flight, even if it feels like a way to relax. Staying hydrated and opting for non-alcoholic beverages can help keep emotions in check.

2. Be mindful of others when reclining your seat, storing baggage, or navigating the aisle. A little courtesy can go a long way.

3. Reduce stress by arriving early, ensuring your documents are in order. Avoid rushing through the airport, which is often a recipe for heightened anxiety and irritability.

4. Travel can be stressful for everyone. Showing empathy and being polite, even in frustrating situations, can help de-escalate potential conflicts.

Ultimately, it may be helpful to remember that air travel isn’t always glamorous. Acknowledge that delays, discomfort and inconveniences are often part of the experience and accepting this reality can help reduce frustration.

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

– ref. Flying this holiday season? Here’s why air travel makes us so cranky – and what to do about it – https://theconversation.com/flying-this-holiday-season-heres-why-air-travel-makes-us-so-cranky-and-what-to-do-about-it-246021

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

The federal budget is headed for a deficit of $26.9 billion this financial year – $1.3 billion better than the estimate in May – but in the following three years the budget is forecast to be deeper in the red than earlier forecast.

The budget update, released by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher on Wednesday, shows a sluggish Australian economy and a cumulative deficit of $143.9 billion across the four years of the forward estimates. This compares to $122.1 billion in the May budget.

The update predicts a return to budget balance only in 2034-2035.

The Mid-year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) shows a comparatively modest potential election war chest of up to $218.6 million this financial year and $828.1 million in 2025-26. These are labelled in the update “decisions taken but not yet announced”.

But these annual figures are deceptive in relation to what will be actually promised for next year’s election, because much of the cost of promises would also be pushed into the outer years. Over four years the figure is $5.6 billion in payments.

A portion of the unannounced decisions would be for confidential commercial payments and the like.

The government has flagged more cost-of-living relief to be announced in coming months.

Average real spending growth is estimated to be 1.5% over the six years to 2027-28, which would be under the 30-year average.

The update includes gross savings of $14.6 billion.

The update says: “In the face of significant economic headwinds, the Australian economy is on track for a soft landing”.

Despite difficult circumstances, “there has been encouraging progress on a number of fronts. The economy has continued to grow, inflation has moderated substantially, over a million jobs have been created since the middle of 2022, the participation rate is near record highs, real wage and disposable income growth has returned, the gender pay gap is at record lows and business investment is at near decades highs.”

The update shows inflation of 2.75% in 2024-25, within the Reserve Bank’s target range of 2-3%. But this will still include the effect of government cost-of living relief, which the bank discounts when considering interest rate movements.

Unemployment, at 3.9% currently, is forecast to rise to 4.5% this financial year.

Economic growth is forecast to be 1.75% this financial year, up from 1.4% in 2023-24, and 2.75% in 2025-26. The improvement in growth is “expected to be supported by a gradual recovery in household consumption”.

Wages are forecast to grow 3%, down from the outcome for the 2023-24 year of 4.1%.

“Government’s cost-of-living tax cuts, together with the anticipated easing in inflationary pressures and continuing employment and wage growth are expected to drive growth in real household disposable incomes in 2024–25,” the update says.

The upgrades in tax receipts are much more modest this year than the $80 billion upgrades on average in the last four budget updates.

Excluding GST and policy decisions, tax receipts have been revised up by $7.3 billion over the years to 2027-28. For the first time since the 2020-21 budget company receipts have been revised down, reflecting weaker commodity volumes as a result of the weakness of the Chinese economy.

Net debt in 2024-25 is $540 billion, a decrease of $12.5 billion from the budget.

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

– ref. A return to balanced budgets is a decade away, mid-year update says – https://theconversation.com/a-return-to-balanced-budgets-is-a-decade-away-mid-year-update-says-246152

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

A national Essential poll
, conducted December 11–15 from a sample of 1,151, gave the Coalition a 48–47 lead including undecided, unchanged from the late November Essential poll. Primary votes were 35% Coalition (steady), 30% Labor (down two), 13% Greens (up two), 6% One Nation (down two), 1% UAP (steady), 11% for all Others (up two) and 5% undecided (steady).

Essential uses respondent preferences. By 2022 election preference flows, Labor would lead by about 52–48 from these primary votes.

Analyst Kevin Bonham’s aggregate of national polls has the Coalition leading by 50.3–49.7 by 2022 preference flows, the worst for Labor this term. Respondent preference polls from Essential and Morgan have been worse for Labor than the 2022 method, and Bonham is adjusting for a likely pro-Coalition shift of One Nation preferences.

By the assumption of greater One Nation preference flows to the Coalition, the Coalition leads by 50.8–49.2. With the next election due by May 2025, Labor’s position is recoverable, but currently poor.

Anthony Albanese’s net approval slumped six points in Essential since November to -11, with 50% disapproving and 39% approving. This is his worst net approval in this poll, beating a -10 net approval in August. Peter Dutton’s net approval improved two points to +3.

A simple average of the four December polls that have asked for leaders’ ratings has Albanese at -17 net approval while Dutton is at -3.5. These polls include last week’s Newspoll and Resolve and this week’s Essential and Freshwater. The Poll Bludger’s BludgerTrack graphs show the continued drop in Albanese’s net approval.

I believe the bad polls for Labor are partly due to the very negative media commentary on the September quarter GDP figures, which were released December 4. Morgan’s consumer confidence index has dropped 4.5 points in the last two weeks to 83.9, the lowest it has been since early October.

More on Essential

By 51–31, voters thought Australia was on the wrong track (48–35 in November). By 40–25, voters said they were worse off than three years ago, rather than better off. This is better than the 59–13 for worse off in Resolve, but Resolve asked for a comparison to the last election, not three years ago.

By 68–32, respondents said who would make them better off in three years was more important to their vote than whether they were better off in the last three years.

2024 was seen as a better year than 2023 on most measures considered, with “you and your family” at net zero on whether 2024 was a good or bad year, up 12 points on 2023. But the Australian economy was at net -36, up five points.

Respondents were optimistic about 2025, with 37% expecting it to be better for Australia than 2024, 21% worse and 25% saying there would be no difference.

Freshwater poll: Coalition retains narrow lead

A national Freshwater poll for The Financial Review, conducted December 13–15 from a sample of 1,051, had the Coalition ahead by 51–49, unchanged from the November Freshwater poll. Primary votes were also unchanged, with the Coalition on 40%, Labor 30%, the Greens 14% and all Others 16%.

After the previous Freshwater poll, I said rounding probably contributed to the Coalition’s lead, and this still holds in the current poll.

Albanese’s net approval was steady at -17 with 51% unfavourable and 34% favourable. Dutton’s net approval was up one point to -3. Albanese led Dutton as preferred PM by 46–43 (43–42 in November).

There was an improvement for Labor in perceptions of which party would be best to handle various issues. The Coalition led Labor by ten points on the cost of living, down from 12 points in November. On managing the economy, the Coalition led by 13 poins, down from 17.

Morgan poll Labor’s worst this term

A national Morgan poll, conducted December 9–15 from a sample of 1,672, gave the Coalition a 52–48 lead, unchanged since the December 2–8 Morgan poll.

Primary votes were 41% Coalition (up three), 27.5% Labor (down 0.5), 12.5% Greens (down 0.5), 5% One Nation (down 1.5), 10.5% independents (steady) and 3.5% others (down 0.5).

The headline figure uses respondent preferences. By 2022 election preference flows, the Coalition led by 51.5–48.5, a 1.5-point gain for the Coalition. By this measure, this poll is Labor’s worst this term. Better preference flows for Labor this week disguised ugly primary vote figures that gave the Coalition their two-party gain by 2022 flows.

The previous Morgan poll gave the Coalition a 52–48 lead, a one-point gain for the Coalition since the late November Morgan poll. This was the Coalition’s largest lead in five months.

Primary votes were 38% Coalition (down 0.5), 28% Labor (down two), 13% Greens (up 0.5), 6.5% One Nation (steady), 10.5% independents (up two) and 4% others (steady). By 2022 election preference flows, there was an unchanged 50–50 tie.

Additional Resolve questions

The national December Resolve poll for Nine newspapers was Labor’s worst from Resolve this term. In additional questions, respondents strongly favoured four immigration law changes, with the weakest support for immigration detainees being sent to a third country if they would be endangered by returning to their source country (44–23 support).

On nuclear power, 34% supported it (up two since June), 28% were opposed (steady), 24% said they didn’t have a strong view but were open to the government investigating its use (down six) and 14% were undecided (up four).

On taxpayer subsidies for power sources, 45% supported subsidising rooftop solar, 33% renewables in general, 21% nuclear-powered electricity, 20% natural gas-powered electricity and 13% coal-fired electricity.

By 58–18, respondents supported the under-16 social media ban, but by 67–25 they were not confident the ban would work. By 45–42, respondents said it was unlikely they would provide their ID to the platforms they use.

Unemployment rate drops to 3.9%

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said last Thursday that the unemployment rate was 3.9% in November, down 0.2% since October and the lowest unemployment rate since March. The employment population ratio (the share of eligible Australians that are employed) was up 0.1% to 64.4%, an equal record high.

The ABC’s report indicated that the strong jobs data decreased the probability of the Reserve Bank cutting interest rates in early 2025.

NSW Resolve poll and upcoming Victorian byelection

A New South Wales state Resolve poll for The Sydney Morning Herald, conducted with the federal November and December Resolve polls from a sample of over 1,000, gave the Coalition 37% of the primary vote (steady since October), Labor 33% (up one), the Greens 11% (steady), independents 13% (down one) and others 7% (up one).

Resolve doesn’t usually give a two-party estimate, but Labor would retain their slight lead from October. Labor incumbent Chris Minns led the Liberals’ Mark Speakman as preferred premier by 35–17 (37–14 in October).

A byelection will be needed in the Victorian Labor-held state seat of Werribee after Treasurer Tim Pallas resigned on Monday. At the 2022 state election, Pallas defeated the Liberals in Werribee by a 60.9–39.1 margin.

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

– ref. Labor and Albanese end 2024 in worst poll position this term – https://theconversation.com/labor-and-albanese-end-2024-in-worst-poll-position-this-term-245846

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elianne Albath, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Social Psychology, University of Basel

Conspiracy theories have always been a part of society, offering explanations – sometimes simple, often elaborate – for complex events.

Some have uncovered genuine conspiracies, such as the Watergate scandal. Most lack substance but are nevertheless widely believed. For instance, the idea that the moon landing was staged has persisted for decades despite substantial evidence to the contrary.

What drives people to adopt these beliefs? Researchers have been investigating the underlying mechanisms that foster conspiracy beliefs and our new study adds another piece to this puzzle.

Using data from more than 55,000 people who participated in the longitudinal New Zealand attitudes and values study, we found certain core psychological needs attract people to conspiracy theories. When these needs go unmet over long periods of time, people are more likely to turn to conspiracy beliefs, possibly as a way to fulfil these needs.

Why conspiracy beliefs hold such appeal

Past research suggests three core motivations that can underlie conspiracy belief.

First, people have an epistemic motive (relating to knowledge) to restore understanding and clarity about the world. Second, people’s existential motive captures the need for control and security, particularly in unpredictable situations. Finally, people have a social motive to belong and maintain a sense of shared identity.

Together, these motives help explain why some people turn to conspiracy theories to make sense of situations in which they feel powerless or disconnected. Events such as the COVID pandemic provide fertile ground for these beliefs to take hold.

However, there are clear negative consequences of conspiracy beliefs. They often foster distrust in authorities, encourage the spread of misinformation and, in some cases, make people take actions that harm society as a whole.

By understanding the psychological needs behind these beliefs, we can start to address them at their root.

Core needs linked to conspiracy beliefs

Our research focused on four key psychological needs closely linked to the three motives above: control, belonging, self-esteem and meaning in life.

We initially thought all these needs would drive conspiracy belief, but our findings reveal that unmet needs for control and belonging are the strongest predictors. Here are our main findings:

1. The need for control: People turn to conspiracy beliefs when they feel powerless in their lives. Closely linked to the existential motive, conspiracy theories allow people to explain events as part of a hidden plot, giving them a sense of control – albeit a misplaced one.

Our data show control had the strongest link to conspiracy belief among the four needs we studied. Thus, when people feel powerless, they are more inclined to believe in forces working behind the scenes.

2. The need to belong: Feeling connected to others is essential for our wellbeing. For those who feel isolated or marginalised, conspiracy groups can provide a community that validates their views.

Our data reveal that a lack of belonging significantly increased the likelihood of believing in conspiracy theories. People who struggle to feel accepted may be drawn to groups that share alternative explanations, providing a sense of identity and mutual understanding.

3. Self-esteem and meaning in life: Surprisingly, these needs didn’t play as big a role as we expected. However, among people who experienced increases in their sense of meaning in life over time, we found they were slightly more likely to believe conspiracies at later time points. This finding goes against the idea that only unmet needs foster conspiracy belief and raises important questions for future research.

4. Conspiracy belief can worsen unmet needs: We also tracked changes in conspiracy belief and their impact on psychological needs over time. When individuals held stronger conspiracy beliefs, they were less likely to experience control and belonging in subsequent years.

Thus, although unmet needs can drive people toward conspiracy belief, conspiracy beliefs can further erode these same needs, potentially creating a self-reinforcing cycle of mistrust and disconnection.

Learning from longitudinal data

Unlike most studies which provide only a snapshot in time, our research followed participants over several years. This approach allowed us to examine how changes in psychological needs precede shifts in conspiracy belief.

By taking this broader perspective, our results reveal that, although conspiracy beliefs are relatively stable, they can be influenced by feelings of disconnection or loss of control.

Conspiracy belief stems, in part, from unmet needs to belong and feel a sense of control. This helps us understand who may be most likely to believe in conspiracy theories in the future.

Recognising who is most at risk then allows us to develop targeted tools to reduce the allure of conspiracy theories and foster a society grounded in trust and open dialogue. Grasping the “why” behind these beliefs is the first step in building resilience against misinformation in our communities.

The New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study is funded by a grant from the Templeton Religion Trust.

John Kerr works for the Public Health Communication Centre, which is funded by a philanthropic endowment from the Gama Foundation.

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

– ref. How feelings of disconnection and lack of control fuel conspiracy beliefs – new research – https://theconversation.com/how-feelings-of-disconnection-and-lack-of-control-fuel-conspiracy-beliefs-new-research-242387

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa J. Hackett, Lecturer, Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, University of New England

As we prepare our Christmas fare – a hot roast with all the trimmings, a seafood smorgasbord or a beach-side barbecue – it is timely to think about what others have on their Christmas menus.

We’ve been questioning: do the British royals eat what we do?

Mostly, they probably do today, but in the past not so much.

Medieval and Georgian Christmas fare

While the Victorian era is the one most associated with modern Christmas traditions, Christmas was celebrated by earlier monarchs too.

During the medieval period in England, Christmas was time for reflection rather than fun and the Catholic Church banned gift giving. But mince pies emerged in this period. The addition of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to meat pies was meant to symbolise the gifts bestowed by the three wise men on Jesus. By the late Victorian period, the meat was replaced by dried fruit dressed in the traditional spice combination, which continues today.

Game pies were also popular in the era for Christmas, with goose and venison the preferred filling of royals.

In 17th century England, Oliver Cromwell’s Puritanical government banned Christmas. In 1647, Christmas feasting, alcohol and singing was banned – but many continued Christmas traditions in secret. King Charles II, on his restoration, reinstated Christmas in 1660.

Under the Georgians, Christmas celebrations reached new heights with feasts typically lasting for 12 nights.

The 12th Night Cake, a fruit cake with frosting and sugar paste embellishments, likely stemmed from the tradition of both Christmas and wedding cake.

A typical Georgian-era royal Christmas feast consisted of cheeses, soups, turkey, goose, duck, and mince pies. George I’s love of the Christmas plum pudding earned himself the nickname “Pudding King”.

Celebrating 12th Night was later banned by Queen Victoria in 1860 due to its association with paganism.

Queen Victoria’s 1894 Christmas dinner

In 1894, Queen Victoria hosted Christmas at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Dinner started at 9pm, the menu written in French.

The tradition of composing menus in French for royal occasions has its origins in the Norman Conquest of the 11th century, which established French as the official language of the English court. This practice continues by the royal family today, particularly for formal dinners and state occasions.

On the menu in 1894 was a calf’s head consommé garnished with truffle quenelles, cockscombs and mushrooms, followed by carrot soup flavoured with celery and ham, then salmon steaks dressed with hollandaise sauce.

Next served were crumbed fried fillets of sole and moulds of puréed pheasant meat, macaroni with tomato sauce, cheese, ham, pickled tongue, mushrooms, and truffles.

Also served were roast beef with Yorkshire puddings and roast turkey served with braised chestnuts, glazed pearl onions, mushrooms, bacon and chipolata sausage, and a chine (backbone) of pork. Asparagus spears dressed in a white sauce accompanied the meat.

Mince pies, plum puddings and jellied orange flavoured custards served with cream were served for dessert.

As was the custom in historical royal courts, a sideboard of assorted meats was also available. The sideboard included a baron of beef (sirloins joined at the backbone) and a wild boar’s head, a gift from the Emperor of Germany Wilhelm II, the eldest of Victoria’s 42 grandchildren.

The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Cadogan gave a gift of a woodcock pie, accompanied by a game pie, brawn (a terrine made of pork or veal) and a terrine of foie gras.

The meal was served with 12 bottles of wine – a gift from the Emperor of Austria, from his personal vineyards.

Dinner concluded with Stilton cheese and plates of fruit, in case anyone was still hungry.

The meal was prepared at Windsor Castle and then transported by royal yacht to Osborne, arriving on Christmas Eve. The menu for Victoria’s New Year’s Day meal likely featured remnants from the Christmas lunch – something we can relate to, if not the eating of cockscombs or calf’s head consommé.

Modern royal Christmas menus

Today’s royal family have a more familiar Christmas menu.

On Queen Elizabeth II’s 2014 dinner menu was roast turkey with sage and chestnut stuffing, Brussels sprouts, buttered carrots, roast parsnips and potatoes. Iced gingerbread with oranges in syrup was served for dessert.

Under King Charles III in 2023, the family ate a typical roast turkey lunch, followed by afternoon tea of cake, scones, mince pies, sandwiches and Christmas fruit cake with royal icing and marzipan.

The final meal of today’s Christmas is the evening buffet, more elaborate than Christmas lunch. It includes Stilton cheese and decorated York ham. It is also the only time the head chef will go into the dining room to carve the meat. One thing missing from the table today is foie gras: on becoming king, Charles banned foie gras at all royal residences.

Despite the menu, which may seem more common to us, the royal family do have some unusual habits. On Christmas day, the royal men and women have breakfast separately. The royal men are served a full English breakfast. The royal women are served fruit, toast and coffee in their rooms. Royal children eat in the nursery with their nannies, which they will continue to do each year until they are considered “old enough to conduct themselves properly at the dining table”.

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

– ref. Calf’s head consommé with truffle quenelles: a history of what the royals ate for Christmas, from the exotic to the everyday – https://theconversation.com/calfs-head-consomme-with-truffle-quenelles-a-history-of-what-the-royals-ate-for-christmas-from-the-exotic-to-the-everyday-245474

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

Are you hanging up your stocking on your wall?
It’s the time that every Santa has a ball!

You’ve probably just heard the 1973 Slade classic at the mall or supermarket. Merry Xmas Everybody is one of the most enduring Christmas singles of all time: three-and-a-half minutes of festive rock n’ roll, it’s infectiously joyful, raucous – and, most of all, Christmassy.

Written by band members Noddy Holder and Jim Lea, Merry Xmas Everybody celebrates the exuberance of a working-class Christmas Day: waiting for family to arrive, wishing for snow, whizzing down the hill in a homemade buggy and falling off, drinking and dancing.

Even granny is “up and rock ‘n’ rolling with the rest”. Santa not only rides a red-nosed reindeer, he does “ton-ups on his sleigh”.

With its Beatles-esque refrain and harmonies, the ring of a harmonium organ and singalong chorus, Merry Xmas Everybody is far from your traditional White Christmas or Jingle Bells. It’s Slade’s Christmas, and we’re all invited:

So here it is, Merry Christmas, everybody’s having fun
Look to the future now, it’s only just begun.

And back in the British winter of 1973, people really did need some fun, and reason to look to the future with hope. Wage freezes, rising inflation, strikes and general discontent had made for anything but a merry Christmas.

The glam and the grim

Slade were one of the top British glam rock bands of the 1970s. With a stomping rock n’ roll sound and the high-energy, raspy vocals of Noddy Holder, they embodied no-frills party rock, tinged with a good dose of humour.

With six number one singles and 24 top tens – including glam standards like Look Wot U Dun, Mama Weer All Crazee Now, Take Me Back ‘Ome and Cum on Feel the Noize – Slade’s appeal lay in their marriage of glitter-rock sparkle and rowdy, working-class attitude.

And there was good reason for Slade’s – and glam rock’s – popularity when Merry Xmas Everybody hit big: escapism.

1973 was a tough year in Britain. Conservative prime minister Edward Heath had used the Industrial Relations Act to try to curb the trade unions’ power, triggering widespread strike action, including 1.6 million workers taking part in a one-day strike on May 1.

By November, winter was approaching. Electricity supplies relied on coal, which was now limited. A state of emergency was declared. In the cold of winter, people were instructed to switch off their heaters. Television broadcasts ended by 10.30pm.

The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree reportedly remained unlit that year, except for Christmas Day.

Just two weeks before Christmas, a three-day working week was announced, to come into effect at midnight on December 31. This would force businesses to close to conserve electricity, meaning many workers either went part-time or simply lost their jobs.

Noddy Holder has described writing Merry Xmas Everybody to give people something to enjoy in those tough times. It might not be quite the same, but after 2024’s cost-of-living pressures and plenty of political instability, the song still feels relevant today.

A half-century hit

Noddy Holder knew what he was doing. The product of a Wolverhampton council estate, he was proud of his working-class background but never took himself too seriously. He wore tartan stage costumes and an exaggerated top hat decorated with silver discs that caught the TV lights.

Guitarist Dave Hill – the most flamboyant band member – styled himself as “Super Yob”, a working-class superhero decked out in more glitter than a department store Christmas tree. They were brash, brightly costumed, and they were here to party.

Glam rock dominated the music charts in 1973, including The Sweet’s Block Buster! and Ballroom Blitz, Suzi Quatro’s Can the Can and 48 Crash, and T. Rex’s 20th Century Boy. David Bowie released Life on Mars? and The Jean Genie. And Wizzard’s See My Baby Jive went to number one – as did Slade’s Cum on Feel the Noize.

By December, Slade’s closest competition was Wizzard’s Christmas single, I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day, a merry, 1960s-style romp punctuated with the ironic ring of cash registers. Vocalist Roy Wood appeared on TV dressed as a bizarre glam rock Santa.

In the end, Slade won out, taking the vaunted Christmas number one slot and staying there for nine weeks. The music was a reworked psychedelic tune Holder had begun writing in 1967, with bassist Jim Lea adding the verses. The band borrowed the harmonium from John Lennon who was recording in the studio next door.

At the end of the song, Noddy screams, “It’s Chrissstmasss!”. It was an expression of joy in the face of everyday troubles, but also of solidarity and resilience. The band’s television performances of the song were euphoric.

Now, 51 years later, the song has spent over 120 weeks in the charts, often returning for several Christmases in a row. Noddy Holder, now 78, often jokes about the royalties providing his pension.

And Merry Xmas Everybody is back in the charts again this year. That’s testament to the song’s own resilience, and its timeless appeal to having a good time, even when times are tough.

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

– ref. Glam tidings of joy: how Slade made Merry Xmas Everybody a seasonal hit for the ages – https://theconversation.com/glam-tidings-of-joy-how-slade-made-merry-xmas-everybody-a-seasonal-hit-for-the-ages-245469

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism, The University of Melbourne

Aspects of Hugh Marks’s record as chief executive of the Nine Entertainment Company raise questions about his suitability for the position of managing director of the ABC, to which he has just been appointed.

Those aspects concern political independence, internal culture and news leadership, all issues of pressing concern at the ABC.

On political independence, during Marks’s tenure as chief of Nine he hosted a $10,000-a-head fundraising dinner for the Liberal Party at which the guests of honour were the then prime minister, Scott Morrison, and communications minister Paul Fletcher. The event was organised by the Liberal Party’s fundraising arm, the Australian Business Network.

This came as a shock to journalists at the three major newspapers owned by Nine: The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review. They protested, and Marks admitted hosting the dinner was a mistake.

On culture, in May 2024 allegations came to light that Nine’s long-time news director, Darren Wick, had for decades got away with drunkenly groping women. This unleashed a cascade of allegations by women about the culture inside Nine that had existed for many years, including the period when Marks was chief executive. He has said he didn’t know anything about it and was shocked by what was revealed.

By the time these allegations emerged, Marks had been gone for four years, having abruptly left the company after The Australian newspaper reported that as chief executive he was in a sexual relationship with a subordinate.

Now he is to find himself leading an organisation that is in the midst of developing a response to an external review of its own culture, which found systemic racism across the ABC.

On news leadership, like his predecessors David Anderson and Michelle Guthrie, Marks does not have a background in journalism, yet becomes ex officio editor-in-chief of the ABC.

That has proved a weakness in the past – Guthrie once said publicly she was not responsible for every story that appeared on the ABC.

The appointment of Marks seems unlikely to remedy this weakness, which has laid the ABC open to accusations it fails to adequately protect its journalists from external attack.

Other aspects of Marks’s career, however, clearly carried decisive weight with the ABC board.

A graduate in law and finance from the University of New South Wales, Marks joined Nine as legal counsel in 1995. Two years later, he became director of film and television for the network and was recognised internally for his work on audience measurement.

In 2003 he left Nine to head a television distribution company, Southern Star Group. Under his leadership it produced hit shows such as Big Brother for Ten and Deal or No Deal for Seven.

A decade later he returned to the Nine network as a non-executive director, and was appointed chief executive in 2015.

In 2018, he engineered Nine’s takeover of the Fairfax media empire, creating Australia’s largest commercial media group with major interests in newspapers, radio, television and streaming services.

Nine’s takeover of Fairfax provided a lifeline for those three big mastheads, which had been caught utterly unprepared by the onslaught on their advertising revenues from internet platforms in areas such as real estate, employment and motor vehicles.

Those mastheads have continued to assert their editorial independence despite Nine’s questionable corporate-level management of political relationships and internal culture. However, the editorial content of the Herald and The Age, taken as a whole, has drifted downstream since the takeover.

Excellent pockets of public interest journalism remain, notably in their political analysis and the incomparable work of their investigative teams. However, soft news and lifestyle content have grown at the expense of broader coverage of political issues, leaving that territory more open to the propagandising of News Corp than is good for Australian democracy.

Given the repeated assertions by the ABC chair, Kim Williams, that the ABC needs to strike a better balance between lifestyle content and public-interest journalism, it is an open question how well-equipped Marks is to achieve this shift.

After his departure from Nine in 2020, Marks founded Dreamchaser, a successful television content production and distribution studio.

It is these business credentials that are clearly attractive to the ABC. In a statement announcing his appointment, the ABC said he was a standout candidate with a strong track record of leading media organisations and driving substantial and sustained audience engagement.

This might indicate a desire on the part of the ABC board to inject a more popularising approach to its entertainment content.

Williams has shown himself to be an activist chair, particularly in editorial matters, so perhaps there is an understanding that Marks will focus primarily on wider content strategy and corporate management. But the fact remains that when he takes over in March 2025, Marks will become the ABC’s editor-in-chief.

From the outside it looks like an odd appointment. But Williams is a change agent, and it may be safely assumed this is part of the new direction he has sketched out for the ABC, the ultimate destination of which remains difficult to discern.

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

– ref. Hugh Marks is the new managing director of the ABC. Is he the right person for the job? – https://theconversation.com/hugh-marks-is-the-new-managing-director-of-the-abc-is-he-the-right-person-for-the-job-246124

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ailie Gallant, Associate Professor, ARC Centre of Excellence for Weather of the 21st Century, Monash University

As a dome of heat developed over north and central Australia last weekend, parts of the country braced themselves for their first taste of summer temperatures well in excess of 40°C. Some areas expected their hottest temperatures since the Black Summer of 2019–20.

The southeast was on high alert, with searing heat and gusty winds expected, bringing the threat of extreme fire conditions through South Australia and Victoria on Monday and into New South Wales on Tuesday. The north and central parts of Australia were expected to swelter through the week.

But as the furnace drew closer, many people who kept a watchful eye on the forecast would have noticed something. In some parts of the country, the forecast bounced around in the lead up to the event.

For example, in the week leading up to the day of extreme heat on Monday, the forecast for Melbourne flip-flopped between approximately 35°C and 42°C, settling on 41°C for a couple of days before the event.

So what was it going to be? Just a very warm, but manageable day? Or the kind of highly unusual heat not experienced for several years?

Weather forecasting is a science, not an art

Predicting anything about the future, with accuracy, is hard.

Think about a forecast for your day tomorrow. You might predict that you will get up, eat breakfast, get the kids ready, go to work, finish a report, have a meeting, do some Christmas shopping, pick up the kids, and cook dinner.

But reality might differ from what you predicted. Your meeting might run late, causing you to skip the shopping, for example.

Forecasting your day a week ahead of time is even harder, because there are more things that will change because of decisions you make in the next couple of days (like whether or not you’ll have a spare hour to get that Christmas shopping done on the weekend).

Weather forecasts work the same way. For an accurate forecast, we need to know (as best we can) what is happening in the atmosphere right now, based on millions of observations taken around the world. We then use computer models that take the state of the weather now and use physical equations to project that state forward in time, which gives us a weather forecast.

Like our personal plans for this time next week, weather forecasts 7–10 days ahead provide only a rough guide of what to expect. Small, seemingly insignificant errors in atmospheric measurements grow over time, leading to big changes in the forecast, known as the “butterfly effect”.

The further ahead we predict, the more these errors accumulate.

To counter this, forecasters run models multiple times based on slightly different versions of the current atmosphere. This creates an ensemble of forecasts showing a range of possible outcomes. The more these forecasts agree, the more certain we are about the upcoming weather.

Prediction ping-pong

So why do weather forecasts change? It happens because of the range of possible outcomes – our ensemble of forecasts – just described. And sometimes, little changes in the forecast can make a big difference to the outcome.

Let’s take the example of the extreme heat in Melbourne on Monday. The precise forecast of the maximum temperature depended on two main factors: the timing of the cold front and cloud cover.

A cold front was expected to come through and end the high temperatures, but when? If it crossed in the afternoon, temperatures might peak in the mid to high 30s, but if it didn’t arrive until the evening the mercury might hit the low 40s.

Additionally, more cloud cover would lower the temperature, and less cloud cover would increase it.

As it turns out, the official Bureau of Meteorology maximum temperature forecast was for 41°C across the broader Melbourne metro area. And while Geelong and the western suburbs hit at or very near that mark, the city and eastern suburbs remained below 40°C (just), hitting 39.4°C at the city’s Olympic Park station near 6pm.

But several stations in east and southeast Melbourne barely cracked 37–38°C. The culprit in this case was cloud cover, which persisted over the city centre and the east, but largely cleared to the city’s west.

Should we trust weather forecasts?

Weather forecasting is not always perfect, but it is useful and forecasts are trustworthy.

Take this heat event: forecasts first showed that Monday would be extremely hot up to ten days prior and were showing the possibility of a 40°C day for Melbourne up to seven days ahead.

Twenty years ago, being able to forecast this week’s event with this kind of precision would have been unthinkable. Forecasts for seven days ahead are now as accurate as three day forecasts were 40 years ago – a remarkable scientific achievement.

In the lead up to Christmas, forecasts are showing the potential for more hot weather for the southeast towards Boxing Day, with some models predicting Melbourne could once again reach into the 40s.

Small, almost imperceptible imperfections may change this forecast as we get closer to Boxing Day. No matter what your favourite weather app is predicting, rest assured, your local weather forecaster is analysing all possibilities and providing you with the best forecast available.

Ailie Gallant receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, Water and the Environment.

Michael Barnes receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

– ref. Australia’s latest brush with extreme heat shows just how good weather forecasting really is – https://theconversation.com/australias-latest-brush-with-extreme-heat-shows-just-how-good-weather-forecasting-really-is-246127

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katharine Kemp, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law & Justice; Lead, UNSW Public Interest Law & Tech Initiative, UNSW Sydney

The Australian Information Commissioner today announced a settlement with tech giant Meta over its involvement in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The settlement will see Meta establish a A$50 million payment program for Australian Facebook users who had their personal data harvested by the British political consulting firm.

The commissioner, Elizabeth Tydd, said:

Today’s settlement represents the largest ever payment dedicated to addressing concerns about the privacy of individuals in Australia.

However, details of the payment scheme remain uncertain. And it’s not yet clear whether it will send a strong enough message to other organisations to be more careful when handling sensitive personal information.

What was the Cambridge Analytica scandal?

Cambridge Analytica was a British political consulting firm founded in 2013.

Five years later, it became an infamous household name, thanks to revelations it harvested the personal information of tens of millions of Facebook users. The firm then used this data to target messaging for political campaigns, including the 2016 US presidential election, won by Donald Trump.

The firm harvested sensitive data of Facebook users through a third-party app called This is Your Digital Life, created in November 2013 by Aleksandr Kogan, a professor at Cambridge University. It was enabled to do this by Meta, which three years earlier had changed its software to allow third-party apps to access Facebook users’ personal data.

Only 53 people in Australia installed the app.

However, Australia’s information commissioner estimates that an additional 311,074 Facebook users who were Facebook “friends” of people who installed the app may also have had their personal information compromised.

How will the payment scheme work?

The payment scheme is the culmination of a protracted legal battle between Australia’s privacy regulator and Meta, which have been locked in court proceedings in Australia since 2020. As part of the agreement, the regulator has dropped proceedings against Meta in the Federal Court.

The payment scheme will be set up by Meta but administered by an independent third party. It will be open to people who:

• had a Facebook account between November 2 2013 and December 17 2015
• were present in Australia for at least 30 days during that period
• either installed the This is Your Digital Life app using Facebook login or were Facebook friends with an individual who installed the app.

People can check whether they are eligible on a help page on the Facebook website. The information commissioner anticipates those who are eligible will be able to submit applications “in the second quarter of 2025”.

According to the undertaking, it could take two years for eligible claimants to receive a payment from Meta.

Several uncertainties

Several aspects of the payment scheme remain uncertain. This is because a number of elements will be determined by “scheme instructions” to be given by Meta or left to the absolute discretion of the third-party administrator.

For instance, we don’t yet know:

• the set amount that will be paid to any eligible person who experienced “a generalised concern or embarrassment”, or
• what will be regarded as sufficient evidence that such a person also experienced “specific” loss or damage that entitles them to further compensation.

If the administrator decides on a total amount of compensation for eligible claimants which is less than A$50 million, the remaining funds will be paid to the Australian government’s consolidated revenue fund.

Long overdue

Australia’s privacy commissioner Carly Kind has called this settlement “groundbreaking”. But such enforcement action is long overdue.

When the information commissioner originally brought these proceedings in 2020, it was the first time the regulator had sought a civil penalty order under the Privacy Act. But it has had that power since 2014.

The commissioner was also following in the footsteps of privacy and consumer protection regulators in other countries that had already taken action against Meta over the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

For instance, the UK privacy regulator fined Facebook the maximum £500,000 (A$997,167). The US Federal Trade Commission also settled with Meta on a record-breaking US$5 billion (A$7.86 billion) payment.

These precedents help in understanding the limited deterrent effect the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner case is likely to have on Meta. When the US$5 billion settlement was announced in 2019, Facebook’s share price increased.

The settlement between Meta and the Australian information commissioner represents roughly 0.02% of the tech giant’s US$130 billion global revenue for 2023.

A Meta spokesperson said the company had settled on a “no admission basis” and that the allegations “relate to past practices no longer relevant to how Meta’s products or systems work today”.

However, this is far from the only privacy breach by Meta, with the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission last year reaching a A$20 million settlement with Meta companies over claims that its Onavo VPN service misled users about how their data would be used.

Katharine Kemp is a member of the Research Committee of the Consumer Policy Research Centre.

– ref. Tech giant Meta will pay Australians $50 million for enabling the Cambridge Analytica scandal – https://theconversation.com/tech-giant-meta-will-pay-australians-50-million-for-enabling-the-cambridge-analytica-scandal-246144

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bridget Backhaus, Senior Lecturer in Journalism and Media Studies, Griffith University

The Australian government has launched its News Media Assistance Program, throwing a lifeline to public interest journalism and local news.

The latest push for a more diverse and sustainable news landscape also saw community broadcasters receive a modest but much-needed boost to their funding.

The announcement, worth $180 million overall, is a welcome pre-Christmas gift for struggling media outlets.

But it largely overlooks the importance of community broadcasting in providing accessible, community-engaged news. The program falls short of meaningfully helping the chronically underfunded part of the media landscape.

Millions on the table

On paper (or in government media releases at least), the plan looks promising.

It includes $99.1 million in grants, $33 million for the Australian Associated Press and a commitment of $3 million per year for government advertising in regional newspapers. There’s also $10.5 million for the Australian Communications and Media Authority to implement its Media Diversity Measurement Framework.

This builds on the recently launched News Media Relief Program, which offers $15 million in grants to media outlets to offset journalists’ salaries.

Alongside these announcements was an extra $27 million for the community broadcasting sector. Of this, $15 million is allocated to the Community Broadcasting Program and $12 million to the Indigenous Broadcasting and Media Program.

All up, a substantial investment: $180.5 million to support local news and community broadcasting. But is it enough of a life raft for Australia’s flailing news industry?

Dire times

Australian journalism has been in trouble for years, with a range of factors contributing to the reduced availability and quality of local news.

Australia remains among the worst countries in the world for concentration of media ownership.

There has also been a swathe of regional news outlet closures over the past few years, contributing to vast news deserts.

Further, shrinking newsrooms and the relentless demands of producing ever more multi-platform content is placing immense workload pressures on journalists.

That’s not to mention the role of social media and tech companies in directing online traffic away from news websites.

Against this backdrop, it’s unsurprising the government feels the need to step in.

Read more:
Local papers are central to our democracy. We must do more to bring them out of crisis

Local news as a lifeline

Yet Australians, especially those who live in regional areas, value accessible local news.

This is something the community broadcasting sector knows well. In fact, the main reason listeners tune in to their favourite community radio station is to hear local news and information.

Community broadcasting is Australia’s third tier of broadcasting. It’s separate from state-run and commercial models. Community radio and television are not-for-profit and run for and by the community.

It’s the quiet achiever of the Australian media. Our largest independent media sector, one in four Australians tune in every week to the more than 500 services across the country.

Community broadcasters provide diverse and accessible news and current affairs. In doing so, they enhance Australia’s news media landscape.

Community broadcasters serve audiences that are overlooked, ignored and silenced in the mainstream media.

Take Water Watch, for example. This program on Broken Hill’s 2DRY FM explores issues affecting local waterways every week. It won a Community Broadcasting Association of Australia award for their reporting on the Menindee fish kills.

The Multilingual News Service broadcasts on multicultural community radio stations across New South Wales and Victoria. The service was set up to address health information gaps during the pandemic and still provides an essential news service to communities in their own languages.

Then there’s the work of Ngaarda Media in the Pilbara. Through in-depth reporting in the community, it broke the story of the First Nations man wrongfully accused by the mainstream media of kidnapping Cleo Smith.

While much of this work flies under the radar of the mainstream news media, it gives voice to a range of Australians. This is especially true for marginalised people, like those with disability, LGBTQIA+ Australians and First Nations communities.

If the government’s plan is to support diverse and accessible public interest journalism, the community broadcasting sector must be meaningfully included.

The next journalistic generation

As well as providing diverse and accessible community news in its own right, community broadcasting is an important training ground for journalists and media workers.

Our research uncovered a range of stories from those who got their foot in the door of the media industry at their local community radio station. The practical and soft skills that these volunteers learn, alongside the extensive professional networks, were instrumental in their career trajectories.

Supporting community radio to further develop this training will safeguard the largely voluntary workforce of the sector. It will also help to future-proof the next generation of media workers.

Community broadcasting adds enormous yet underappreciated value to the broader news media landscape. And it does so on a shoestring budget.

The Community Broadcasting Foundation is the independent administrator of government funding for the sector. It faces annual funding shortfalls averaging $9.5 million, rising to $11 million this financial year.

Hence the prospect of $15 million over an unspecified time period is little cause for celebration.

So despite the nominal funding announcement, there remains a missed opportunity for the government to make a meaningful investment in community broadcasting.

While the news plan may offer a general sense of direction, charting the course towards a more diverse and sustainable media landscape means recognising and adequately funding community broadcasting.

Bridget Backhaus is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Award (project number DE240100416) funded by the Australian Government.

– ref. The government is spending millions on news, but crucial community media remains underfunded – https://theconversation.com/the-government-is-spending-millions-on-news-but-crucial-community-media-remains-underfunded-246123

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kai Li Lim, St Baker Fellow in Electric Mobility, The University of Queensland

Within five years, transport is expected to be Australia’s top source of greenhouse gas emissions. While renewables and storage are bringing down emissions from the electricity sector, emissions from transport are still growing. Our fleet of cars, trucks, diesel trains, planes and ships now emit almost 20% more than they did two decades ago.

In car-dependent Australia, switching to electric vehicles will be necessary. This is beginning to happen. Despite recent drops in battery-electric vehicle sales, the hybrid market is growing strongly.

But when we drilled down into the transport sector in our research, we found clear differences on emissions between our major cities and some regional areas. Broadly, city drivers are emitting less, while regions are emitting more.

Why? There are a number of reasons. City drivers are more likely to take up lower-emitting plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles with zero emissions. Rural and regional drivers drive many more kilometres than city drivers, and the electric charger network is scattered. Affordability is also a key consideration. It’s also only recently that the average range of electric cars and vehicles tipped over 400 kilometres per charge.

From January 1, the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard will come into force. One effect will be the arrival of more electric vehicle models and lowering ownership costs. But by itself, this won’t be enough to bridge the city-country gap.

We will need policies targeted at making electric vehicles viable in the regions. Without this, we risk failing to meet Australia’s emission cut targets of 43% by 2035 and net zero by 2050.

What did we find out?

In Australia, the overall transition to electric vehicles is proceeding in fits and starts. This year, sales of battery electric vehicles have dropped back, though plug-in hybrid vehicle sales have risen.

But cleaner options are being taken up faster in some areas than others.

To find out more, we analysed vehicle registration and emissions data across Australia between 2002 and 2020.

These data showed the average carbon emissions from new cars bought in capital cities are generally lower than the rest of the state.

Across this timeframe, we saw major changes in vehicle emissions by postcode.

Unfortunately, we had to limit our study to 2020 due to data availability. This means we could not cover the COVID pandemic and its aftermath in terms of how travel behaviour shifted. While we could not capture the very recent arrival of many more electric vehicle models, we developed projections based on better availability and affordability of electric vehicles.

Over our time period, we found significant falls in emissions per vehicle in major cities such as Greater Sydney (24% decline), while vehicle emissions grew in regions such as North Queensland (3.3%), the Northern Territory (about 4%) and southwest Western Australia (5%) between 2002-2020.

Why the difference? Here are 3 reasons

1: Suburban drivers are taking up low- and no-emission vehicles faster

Australians in the outer suburbs are the most likely to purchase plug-in hybrids and battery-electric vehicles due to better access to charging infrastructure, targeted incentives and a higher awareness of financial and environmental benefits.

2: Rural and regional residents drive more

Rural and regional drivers tend to travel longer distances, rely on larger vehicles such as utes and 4WDs and have limited access to electric vehicle charging networks. Affordability and range anxiety are also barriers in these regions.

3. City drivers turn over cars faster

Urban residents buy cars more often. This means they progressively replace older cars with newer models, which are often more fuel-efficient. Rural areas have slower turnover of their vehicles, meaning higher emissions cars stay on the roads longer.

This is why vehicle emissions in Greater Sydney showed the sharpest decline over the period, aligning with the national trend of lower emissions from new vehicles in metropolitan areas. By contrast, emissions in areas such as North Queensland and the Northern Territory rose, due to a higher dependency on larger vehicles and a lack of charging infrastructure.

Australian cars pollute much more than those in Europe. Across 29 European nations, the average is now 107 grams per kilometre (g/km).

In 2023, the average emissions intensity for all vehicles on Australian roads was 193 g/km. This includes the large fleet of older, highly emitting vehicles, more efficient newer cars and zero emission vehicles. Of the new cars sold in 2023, the average was 165 g/km.

Zero emissions from transport will take work

To track our progress in cutting emissions from vehicles, we need good data. Our research points to the importance of keeping comprehensive, nationwide datasets to track vehicle emissions.

These datasets are important because they allow policymakers to focus on specific areas. Our research could be used to tackle the reasons rural and regional Australians are not taking up low or zero emission transport.

For instance, electric vehicle chargers could be rolled out in regions where uptake is lowest. Roadshows and information sessions could help people feel more comfortable with a new technology and see how it might work for the distances they drive and the type of roads they drive on.

Authorities could also encourage markets for secondhand electric vehicles such as by shifting their fleet to electric, which would increase availability.

Tackling the city-country divide in electric vehicles would not only help reduce the cost of living for rural residents, but it would also encourage greater uptake of electric vehicles among city residents, who would feel more confident driving their cars beyond the city limits.

Kai Li Lim is the inaugural St Baker Fellow in E-Mobility at UQ Dow Centre. His position is endowed through StB Capital Partners, but he does not receive any income from it or any of its portfolio companies. As part of this project, Kai Li Lim receives funding from AURIN.

Anthony Kimpton has received funding from the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN).

Jonathan Corcoran receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network

Neil G Sipe has received funding from the Australian Research Council.

Renee Zahnow receives funding from The Australian Research Council and AURIN.

– ref. Cars in Australian cities are emitting less – but in the regions exhaust emissions are growing – https://theconversation.com/cars-in-australian-cities-are-emitting-less-but-in-the-regions-exhaust-emissions-are-growing-241017

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ali Mamouri, Research Fellow, Middle East Studies, Deakin University

After the fall of the Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, the world was moved by emotional scenes of liberation — families reuniting after years of separation and former prisoners walking free from the brutal conditions of Assad’s prisons.

These moments of joy mirrored similar scenes from the fall of past regimes in the region, such as the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, Saddam Hussein in Iraq, and Omar al-Bashir in Sudan.

Yet, history also warns us of the challenges that come next: the initial euphoria often gives way to instability, tragedy and regret, with many longing for the perceived order of the old regime.

The question now is whether Syria can chart a different course this time, avoiding the pitfalls that have plagued other nations after similar upheavals.

A country long divided

Syria is an ethnically and religiously fragmented country, with four key groups that have conflicting political agendas:

1) The Kurds: this ethnic group of 2.5 million people controls northeastern Syria on the border with Turkey, with whom they have a hostile relationship.

As a result, there are tensions between the US-backed Kurds and Turkish-backed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the rebel group that led the coalition of opposition forces overthrowing Assad’s regime.

These groups agreed to a ceasefire last week, but there are already reports it has collapsed.

Complicating matters further, the Kurds are a strategic ally of Israel, which has historically supported their aspirations for an autonomous state across parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran.

2) Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS): the rebel group that now controls much of the country is made up of a spectrum of Islamist factions. These include moderates, hardline jihadists and foreign fighters from Central Asia with radical Islamist backgrounds. The group also claims to represent the Sunni Arab majority in Syria.

HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (also known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani) has attempted to rebrand the group as moderate, though he retains ambitions for an Islamic governance model. He recently told CNN:

People who fear Islamic governance either have seen incorrect implementations of it or do not understand it properly.

This is a major concern for Jordan and Egypt, both of which face political challenges from the Muslim Brotherhood, whose Syrian branch is affiliated with HTS.

3) The Druze community: Syria’s third-largest group primarily resides in the south near the Israeli border. Some Druze leaders have reportedly called to be annexed by Israel, though others in Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, seized from Syria in 1967, have called for the Golan Heights to return to Syrian control.

Israel has just approved a plan to expand settlements in the Golan Heights, and Israeli troops have advanced beyond the demilitarised zone on the border in recent days.

4) Alawite Shiites and Christians: these are the most vulnerable minorities following the collapse of the Assad regime, as no neighbouring nation or local faction has expressed an interest or has the capability to protect them.

Three possible outcomes

Now, analysing these power dynamics within Syria and the broader regional geopolitics suggests three potential scenarios for the country’s future:

1) A federal secular state. This scenario envisions a federal structure for Syria, accommodating its multi-ethnic and multi-religious composition. A federal system would allow all groups to have representation at both the local and federal levels.

The Kurds, who already enjoy de facto autonomy, along with many other minorities, support this approach.

HTS, however, has not officially commented on the Kurdish role in a new state. Speaking diplomatically, al-Sharaa has only said

in the next Syria, the Kurds will be fundamental. We will live together and everyone will get their rights by law.

Acceptance of a federal model in the broader region is also mixed.

Israel supports federalism. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar recently said a single Syrian state with effective control and sovereignty over all its area is “unrealistic”. He added:

The logical thing is to strive for autonomy for the various minorities in Syria, perhaps with a federal structure.

Other neighbouring countries like Jordan and Turkey, however, oppose the idea. They fear the influence such an arrangement could have on their own minority populations, particularly the Kurds in Turkey.

2) A strong, centralised state. This model would be based on a central government dominated by Sunni Islamist groups, such as HTS. It could result in authoritarian governance, the marginalisation of minorities and an increased role for Islamic law in governance.

Turkey strongly supports this scenario, which it sees as a way to eliminate the threat of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia that controls portions of northern Syria. Ankara believes it is aligned with the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey.

A strong, centralised state would also allow Turkey to extend its influence in Syria. It has economic motivations for this, such as its ambitions to establish a gas pipeline from Qatar to Europe via Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria.

Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar hinted at this possibility recently, stating:

If this happens, the route must be secure. Hopefully, it will be, as that is our wish.

3) Prolonged conflict and de facto separation. This is the worst possible outcome for the Syrian people – continuing violence and Syria remaining divided along ethnic and religious lines.

There are numerous factors suggesting Syria could be heading in this direction, following the path of Libya and Sudan in recent years. Syria has ethnic groups with deeply held, historical grievances, which have been exacerbated by an authoritarian government. It also does not have a strong democratic tradition.

This scenario benefits Israel immensely, as it weakens one of its historical enemies. And Turkey would likely seek to expand its occupation of parts of northern Syria to further challenge the Kurdish fighters there.

What does the region want?

As all of these scenarios illustrate, Syria’s future is inextricably linked to a regional landscape in which various nations exert influence, each pursuing distinct political, economic and security interests.

Eight members of the Arab League met recently in Jordan to express their support for a “peaceful transition process” in Syria. They also met separately with the top diplomats from the US and Turkey, calling for an inclusive government that respects minority rights.

However, this conference did not result in a solid plan due to sharp differences among the attendees about the future of Syria, in addition to the absence of other key players like Israel. Under the current circumstances, forming an international framework for the future of Syria is essential.

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

– ref. Can Syria avoid becoming another Libya or Iraq? A week after Assad’s fall, here are 3 possible futures – https://theconversation.com/can-syria-avoid-becoming-another-libya-or-iraq-a-week-after-assads-fall-here-are-3-possible-futures-245945

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Hickson, Economics Lecturer and Director Business Taught Masters Programme, University of Canterbury

After a slow economic year, many New Zealanders are eyeing 2025 with uncertainty but also a degree cautious optimism. Interest rates are dropping and unemployment rates remain below expectations.

However, Treasury’s Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update revealed a sluggish economy and weaker tax take than was expected. Government spending was forecast to also increase for the year ending June 2025.

This means there will be a further delay till a return to budget surplus, and an increase in borrowing. Treasury made particular mention of New Zealand’s sluggish productivity growth holding back recovery and income increases.

Factors such as high but declining inflation, tightening government spending and rising unemployment have been part of the economic story in 2024 – and they will likely continue to play a role in 2025.

But global politics will also be an important influence, with the return of Donald Trump as US president, as well as a continuing crisis in the Middle East. Three main factors will determine what happens next year.

Government spending

Government spending over the past five years has increased significantly, from $110 billion in 2018 to $156 billion in 2023 (up from a forecast $141 billion).

Treasury’s half-year update showed higher core crown expenses, forecast to grow from $139 billion in the year ending June, to $162.9 billion in the year to June 2025.

But during the 2023 election campaign, National said it would reduce spending by more than $3 billion over four years.

In June, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she wanted to cut public service spending annually by $1.5 billion to meet National’s campaign promise to reduce “back-office expenditure” across 24 public agencies.

Government agencies were required to identify annual savings of between 6% and 7%. As a result, there have been 865 redundancies in the public sector, and 1,150 vacancies have been closed.

This slowdown in government spending is going to continue to have a dampening effect on the economy. Some economists have argued the government’s focus on slashing the budget deficit and reducing public debt has worsened the impact of the stagnant economy on households and businesses.

But ultimately governments need to balance their books either by reducing spending or increasing taxes – something New Zealanders will have differing views on.

But the government has also adjusted tax rates. Households benefited by $60 per fortnight on average from the changes.

The Reserve Bank and interest rates

The Reserve Bank was initially slow to respond to inflation – in fact, it had a hand in driving it by holding interest rates low for too long. But it has slowly got to grips with the problem this year.

The government helped by rewriting the Monetary Policy Committee Remit, which guides the Reserve Bank’s decision making on monetary policy and the official cash rate. The remit was restored to what it was before 2019, with a singular focus on inflation.

Having been unchanged from 1990 to 2019, the remit was then given a dual focus by including maximum sustainable employment as part of the target. In 2021 it was again changed to include consideration of house prices.

While the Reserve Bank might not openly say it, the latest return to a singular focus is likely to change its behaviour. Being solely focused on inflation will simplify its work.

Interest rates are also coming down. Both the Reserve Bank and the Treasury expect the economy to pick up as people feel the benefits of this drop. In particular, people paying relatively high mortgage rates will see payments decline, which will help with the cost of living.

Donald Trump and global uncertainty

We have yet to see the impact of Donald Trump’s return. He is not a globalist and tends to view trade and international interactions as a binary win-lose situation.

If he makes good on promises to raise tariffs across a broad range of goods from more than the countries already targeted, it could hurt local exporters.

The Middle East crisis, now including major uncertainty about the future of Syria, may affect New Zealand if it affects oil supplies or, more generally, if the Suez Canel is blocked.

But New Zealand is fortunate in being less reliant on oil than during the 1970s oil crisis and similar shocks are unlikely.

Looking up slowly

Overall, the signs for 2025 are more positive than negative.

The unemployment rate, while reaching 4.8%, has not risen as high as was initially forecast by the Reserve Bank.

This is still relatively good, considering how slow the economy has been. In 2012, following the Global Financial Crisis, unemployment reached 6.7%. That rate now would see an additional 60,000 people unemployed.

So, there is room for cautious optimism as lower inflation improves household spending power, and lower interest rates help mortgage holders. The minimum wage will increase by 1.5% to $23.50 from April 1, 2025. And starting from a relatively low level of unemployment has meant New Zealand has avoided a hard recession.

But challenges remain: the housing market, skilled labour availability, infrastructure and health system pressures will all demand attention – and investment – as the economy starts to improve.

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

– ref. The fiscal update is no Christmas present for the government – but signs of a slow recovery are there – https://theconversation.com/the-fiscal-update-is-no-christmas-present-for-the-government-but-signs-of-a-slow-recovery-are-there-246020

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gery Karantzas, Professor in Social Psychology / Relationship Science, Deakin University

You’re an independent, capable adult all year round. But when you gather with family for a holiday such as Christmas, suddenly the child in you comes out.

Maybe you find yourself fighting with a sibling over a board game, or being sulky around your parents.

Why does it feel like you regress to childhood around family? And does this happen to everyone?

Here’s the psychology behind those old dynamics – and some tips on how to take a pause and reset this festive season.

Understanding family dynamics

Attachment theory is a widely studied theory of human bonding developed in the early 20th Century.

It suggests our early experiences – especially how we “attached” to parents and primary caregivers as children – influence how we interact with family and in other close relationships.

As adults, we hold certain thoughts, beliefs and stories about these early experiences. These can be positive or negative, and guide how we act around our parents (or later in life, romantic partners).

Together these attitudes, beliefs and behaviours form our “attachment pattern”.

Around 60% of people have a secure pattern. They usually hold quite positive memories about their early relationship with parents. They can communicate openly and honestly with caregivers and turn to them for advice and comfort.

The remaining 40% have an insecure pattern. They often have negative attitudes towards early experiences with their parents. As a result, some people will act withdrawn and distant towards loved ones (known as “avoidant”). Others may need high levels of closeness and validation, and fear rejection (“anxious”).

When we’re around our parents (or primary caregivers) these attachment patterns continue to inform how we might feel or behave even as adults.

Do we treat our parents how we’ve been treated?

One of the major questions in attachment research is whether parents pass their attachment pattern onto their children. This is known as “intergenerational transmission”.

For example, a parent may be distant or withdrawn around their young child early in life. As an adult, that child may in turn treat their parent in a similar way. This would indicate the passing down of an avoidant attachment pattern.

This may be one reason we find ourselves falling into “old patterns” when we’re in the presence of our parents or other close family.

For instance, your mum withdraws, offended about the reaction to her Christmas trifle, and you find yourself anxiously reassuring her it was delicious.

But it doesn’t play out like this in all families. There are reasons why intergenerational transmission might not be strong in some parent-child relationships.

The impact of stress

The care we received from our parents is an important part of how our attachment pattern develops. But it doesn’t fully explain it.

Stressful life events – especially when we’re young – also shape us. And they may affect the quality of the care our parents or caregivers are able to provide in those situations.

Over time, extremely stressful and enduring events can take a toll on the parent-child bond and it may become less secure. Conversely, if life gets easier the relationship between parent and child may also become more secure – or simply less insecure.

Because Christmas can sometimes evoke temporary stress, this can make our insecurities more prominent and affect how we behave around family.

Our temperament matters

Your temperament also plays a role in how you develop an attachment pattern.

Children who are more sensitive, reactive or irritable are more likely to be affected by how well a parent attends to their needs and concerns.

In contrast, children who are less sensitive, and more adaptable to situations, may be less affected by the same behaviour from a parent. They may be able to develop a more secure (or less insecure) attachment pattern despite being raised by an insecure parent, where the more sensitive child cannot.

This can partly explain why adult siblings may experience family settings differently.

Is there anything I can do?

It can sometimes feel like family dynamics are in control of us. But remember, there are things you can do to regain clarity if you’re feeling overwhelmed.

1. Talk to someone

In the lead-up to family time, speak to a close friend or a wise relative about your concerns. They might help you understand what felt negative in the past and workshop how to avoid repeating this and have more positive interactions.

2. Talk to yourself

All of us have a stronger and wiser self inside us. If you’re reminded of negative childhood experiences with family, you may experience feeling emotional, reactive or uncertain. Think of the part of you that’s calm and capable. Take a few moments to connect with that side – it may have some wise advice.

3. Take a break

Can you temporarily remove yourself? Find somewhere you can have a short break to calm your mind and feelings.

During this time, you might want to draw on strategies known to reduce stress and negative emotions.

For instance, you can use breathing techniques to slow down and calm your mind.

Another strategy is to call out your negative thoughts. One way to do this is by sarcastically “thanking your mind” for the negative thought. This allows you to better identify the negative thought and to put the brakes on how much you listen to that thought.

Sometimes – especially during the festive season – we feel we should put up with it and push through negative interactions with family. But this can sometimes cause more problems.

It’s OK if you’re feeling vulnerable and emotional. It may also help to find an ally (such as an understanding sibling) who can help you ride the wave of emotion and to talk through your feelings. You can rejoin festivities when you’ve regrouped.

Gery Karantzas is the founder of Relationship Science Online. He receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

– ref. Why do we revert to our childhood selves when we visit family? – https://theconversation.com/why-do-we-revert-to-our-childhood-selves-when-we-visit-family-244631

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cliff Mallett, Professor of Sport Psychology and Coaching, The University of Queensland

The study of leadership in high-performance coaching aims to deepen the understanding of how and why coaches lead the way they do, rather than just what they do.

There has been increasing academic and applied interest in this area, particularly due to the significant impact coaches have on athlete and team performance, as well as the ethical concerns arising from sporting cultures striving for performance excellence sometimes at the expense of athletes’ mental health and wellbeing.

This evolving landscape prompted us to research what quality coaching is and what we can learn to inform future elite coach development across the world.

Serial winning coaches

There is something special about coaches who are perennially successful in different settings, and our research investigated serial winning coaches in sport.

We defined these coaches as “a coach who has won multiple gold medals and/or major professional league titles at the highest level over a prolonged period and in different contexts (athletes/teams)”.

These coaches (16 men, one woman) represented 11 nationalities from various sports (seven were involved with invasion games such as hockey, nine in time-based sports like running and one in a combat sport).

These coaches were considered outliers among the outliers – the absolute best of the best. Many revered and successful coaches did not meet our criteria.

We also interviewed 20 of these coaches’ successful athletes.

Collectively they produced 150+ gold medals at the Olympics and world championships as well as many professional league titles in multiple sports codes.

In this study, we wanted to move beyond coach behaviours – instead, we were keen to deepen our understanding of these coaches’ values, beliefs and identities using a comprehensive and multilayered approach.

Similarities between the best coaches

The work of high-performance coaches is messy, chaotic, complex, ambiguous and relentless.

Navigating that space requires advanced capabilities for the coach to get the best from themselves, their team and their athletes, within resource constraints.

Governing bodies’ and boards’ high expectations compound the stressors of these environments. They rarely (if ever) lower these expectations.

Successful coaches create positive environments, prioritise everyone’s needs, and adapt their leadership to achieve specific goals.

We found effective coaching requires social and emotional intelligence and an ability to respond to the dynamic nature of sports settings.

An interesting footnote is that all of the coaches we identified had at least one parent who worked in the helping professions, such as teaching or health.

Overall, the research underscores the need for a holistic, caring approach to coaching that balances high challenge and high support. Indeed, performance and personal development are not binary outcomes, but interdependent.

The coaches’ approach to leadership was characterised by “caring determination” – the relentless pursuit of excellence balanced with genuine and compassionate desire to support athletes and themselves.

This duality is highlighted through various quotes from coaches and athletes, illustrating the dance between demanding high performance and providing commensurate support and care. One coach told us:

I’m crazy about winning. I’m not a bad loser, I’m not a bad sport but I love to win […] it might even be part egomania but I love being great.

These coaches were passionate about “getting ahead and staying ahead” and excited by the thrill of competition.

Nevertheless, they continually shifted between reasonable self-doubt and grounded self-belief, which drove their quest for learning to be the best.

In some cases, their patriotism for their country was a deep driver of their passion for success. One coach told us: “I am at the service of my country”.

Interestingly, many of these coaches suffered difficult life events (such as car accidents or being overlooked to compete in the Olympics) that in some cases left them unfulfilled and seeking atonement. One said: “I am simply a failed athlete […] trying to make amends.”

His athlete said: “I think in his own mind he still has something to prove.”

Finding the right balance

Crucially, this obsessive pursuit of excellence did not come at the expense of athlete health and wellbeing.

As one coach said, which was verified by his athlete:

I feel that I have a role in the life of the athletes […] I think that is perhaps a better role than the role of winning another gold medal.

This caring approach is genuine for these coaches. Another told us:

Treat people right. Be a person of integrity. You’re allowed to be demanding but you’ve got to be supportive and you’ve got to put them in a culture that explains why, and that allows them to grow mentally and physically.

When you consider all of these coaches had at least one of their parents in the helping profession, it is likely they experienced first-hand care in childhood and understood the power of forming healthy and productive relationships.

Experiencing care through a critical stage of life likely fosters a sense of caring for others, because you know how helpful that care is both to you as a person and athlete.

Importantly, we found this high-quality care and support was mutual.

Mutual care between the the coach and athlete (and indeed coach-athlete-support team) creates a “greenhouse” environment that fosters thriving for everyone, as athlete and teams pursue performance success without compromising mental health and wellbeing. Indeed, they foster health and wellbeing.

Mutual care and trust are foundational to pursuing excellence in healthy ways.

Who wouldn’t want to be part of that environment?

Cliff Mallett with Sergio-Lara-Bercial received funding from the International Council of Coaching Excellence (ICCE) for conducting this research.

– ref. What makes a great sports coach? We identified 17 of the world’s best, and found some patterns – https://theconversation.com/what-makes-a-great-sports-coach-we-identified-17-of-the-worlds-best-and-found-some-patterns-244818

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Raphaël Fischler, Professeur titulaire à l’École d’urbanisme et d’architecture de paysage, Université de Montréal

There are many good reasons to bring about reforms in zoning, but reducing the cost of housing is certainly not the best one. There are other far more effective strategies to make housing more affordable.

In the current housing crisis, zoning is often singled out as a major obstacle to building affordable housing. Restrictive urban planning regulations are said to limit the supply of new housing and drive up prices and rents in the process. There is some truth to this criticism. A change in practices is necessary. But the question of zoning must be placed in its historical and political-economic context and be approached with care.

The potential and problems of zoning

Research into the history and evolution of zoning – to which I have contributed since my doctoral studies and as a full professor at the Université de Montréal’s School of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture – clearly shows that in North America, zoning was used from the outset to protect middle- and upper-class neighbourhoods, and keep poor and racial and ethnic minority households out of them. Zoning regulations were adopted with the active support of real estate developers, or even at their request, because they protected property values. Yet zoning actually serves a variety of functions.

Adopted under the police power, which allows the state to impose constraints without compensation if they promote the health, safety and well-being of the population, zoning can be used to achieve a variety of goals. In addition to protecting the financial and social capital of property owners, it can keep sources of nuisance and danger away from residential neighbourhoods, help in planning public infrastructure according to the needs of the various zones to be urbanized, shape living environments where every dwelling has good access to light and air, and create greater visual harmony in the city.

Starting in the 1960s, other issues were then added to these: protection of cultural and natural heritage, protection of agricultural land and, in a historical reversal against exclusionary zoning, the inclusion of affordable housing and public facilities in private development projects.

This article is part of our series, ‘Our cities from the past to the future.’ Urban life is going through many transformations, each with cultural, economic, social and political implications. To shed light on these diverse issues, La Conversation Canada and The Conversation Canada are inviting researchers to discuss the current state of our cities.

The rigidity of North America

Zoning presents a double problem. As Sonia Hirt, professor of landscape architecture and urban planning at the University of Georgia, has shown in her book “Zoned in the USA,” unlike European countries, the United States and Canada have used zoning in a very rigid way, strongly separating the various uses and forms of dwellings. This practice has had a particularly profound effect on the construction of North American suburbs and their monofunctional landscapes.

In addition, our zoning attributes significant power to individuals and associations who want to defend the local status quo. So it is prized not only by property owners, whose investments it protects, but also by defenders of local democracy, whose input can become a de facto veto. Although zoning is meant to serve the public interest, it makes rational planning of urban and regional development more difficult by giving a central place to local conflicts over individual projects.

A reform that does little to reduce costs

Faced with this double problem, many, including the Canadian government, are calling for zoning reform, both in content and in process.

I have no doubt that some changes are necessary. At the very least, zoning reform should be carried out to serve the following purposes:

• simplify regulations and speed up permit issuance;

• allow the construction of secondary units or duplexes in zones currently reserved for single-family homes;

• require higher densities in any corridor served by public transit;

• reduce parking space requirements;

• promote mixed-use development;

• promote the creation of quality public space;

• prevent small groups of citizens from blocking projects that serve the public interest.

Changes in this direction are already underway in many municipalities. They need to be multiplied and generalized.

Zoning reform: not a cure all

However, I do not think zoning reform is the best way to bring down the cost of housing, for four reasons.

Firstly, in large cities, there is generally great development potential that is poorly utilized in residential, commercial and industrial areas where zoning changes won’t create much controversy. These areas, which are already served by public infrastructure, as well as federal, provincial or municipal public lands, should be given priority for redevelopment.

Secondly, the main change hoped for – the increase in project density – does not necessarily bring prices down. Aiming for affordability generally means building at good densities, but with average building heights.

Thirdly, the rise in housing prices is due to many reasons other than inadequate zoning regulations. These include the financialization of the housing sector by major economic players, as well as rapidly rising construction costs and the lack of productivity gains in a construction sector that is still dominated by traditional, on-site production. These trends need to be countered by supporting the community sector and its not-for-profit players, and by supporting technological innovation in building materials, techniques and processes.

Finally, zoning reform will do nothing to change the fact that today’s standard housing is simply too expensive for part of the population, and that the poorest households cannot find decent housing without state assistance, as I explained in a previous article.

À lire aussi :
Choices made nearly a century ago explain today’s housing crisis

A multifactoral crisis

There are many legitimate reasons to criticize our regulatory practices in urban development. This criticism is already dated; it goes back to the 60s (e.g. under the impetus of Jane Jacobs).

However, it is wrong to think that zoning reform is the main solution to the current housing crisis. This crisis has multiple causes and will only be resolved by using a variety of strategies. Simplifying and streamlining regulations is one of these, but much better financing of the community sector is another.

Raphaël Fischler is a member emeritus of the Ordre des urbanistes du Québec and a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners. He has received funding from SSHRC and FRQSC for his historical research on zoning. He has carried out mandates on zoning issues for public and private entities.

– ref. Why zoning reform won’t solve the housing crisis – https://theconversation.com/why-zoning-reform-wont-solve-the-housing-crisis-243421

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jing Jia, Senior Lecturer, Business School, University of Newcastle

“Cyber security” may sound like a far-off worry for big corporations or telcos, but that’s far from the case. Cyber security simply means the practice of safeguarding your sensitive data from unauthorised access, theft and damage.

If you have any online accounts at all, you should know how best to protect them. That’s also true if you have a small or medium business.

Nearly half of all cyber attacks target small businesses with 1,000 or fewer employees, resulting in an average cost of A$46,600 for small businesses and $62,800 for medium-sized businesses in Australia.

Even if you don’t own a business, your personal savings are vulnerable, too. Last year, individuals affected by cyber crime reported an average loss of $30,700, up 17% from the previous year.

So what can you do to protect yourself? We interviewed 18 financial, legal and cyber security professionals in Australia and developed practical checklists for individuals and small-to-medium businesses. Here’s what they recommend.

Cyber security checklist for individuals

1. Use strong, unique passwords

Strong passwords are a cornerstone of cyber security. You’ve likely heard this a lot, but it bears repeating: set up a unique password for each of your online banking and email accounts, using a combination of letters, numbers and special characters.

2. Enable multi-factor authentication

Add an extra layer of security to all your important accounts by enabling two-factor or multi-factor authentication wherever possible (you can easily find this in app settings). This means that after entering your password, you also need to enter a verification code sent to your phone, for example.

3. Be cautious with email attachments and links

Avoid clicking on links or downloading attachments from unknown or unsolicited emails or text messages. Verify the sender and stay vigilant.

4. Limit what personal info you share online

Cyber criminals often use publicly available information for social engineering attacks where they pretend to be someone you know, your employer, or even a business you’ve interacted with. Be mindful of any information you share on social media and other platforms.

5. Avoid public wifi for sensitive transactions

When accessing sensitive information (like banking sites), avoid using public wifi or hotspots. It’s best to use your mobile data connection or, if you know how to set one up, use a virtual private network, or VPN.

6. Exercise caution when using artificial intelligence (AI) tools

Before uploading sensitive or confidential information to AI tools such as ChatGPT or Claude, think of the potential risks. Avoid using untrusted or unsecured platforms, check their policies to understand how your data might be shared, and be mindful of the types of information you share with these tools.

7. Use encryption for sensitive information

Encrypt personal files and sensitive communications to protect them from unauthorised access. For example, you can set a password for your document in Microsoft Word by selecting “Encrypt with Password” under the “Info” tab in the “File” menu. This ensures only people with the password can open or modify the file.

8. Stay informed about cyber security threats

Keep up with cyber security news and trends to know what types of attacks are becoming common. You can do this by subscribing to news articles on scams or checking websites like Scamwatch.

Cyber security checklist for small and medium businesses

Much of the advice for individuals also applies to business owners. But there are other things you should keep in mind when it’s not just your personal data that’s at stake.

1. Evaluate how long to keep information

Determine how long to retain information and data and assess if it’s valuable for the organisation. For example, an accounting firm may retain client tax records for five years, but delete older records no longer relevant to current business.

2. Remove unnecessary information and data

Remove information that no longer serves a purpose to reduce the risk of exposure during a breach. For example, retail businesses should periodically delete outdated customer email lists.

3. Keep software and systems up to date

Keep all systems, applications and devices updated. Software may contain vulnerabilities that cyber criminals can exploit, and updates are a way to patch these up and keep your systems secure.

4. Keep an eye on who can access what

Limit access to information based on roles within the organisation. For example, at an accounting firm, only the relevant employees should have access to the financial records of its clients, and they should be protected with multi-factor authentication.

5. Have reliable data backup procedures

Regularly back up essential data to a secure location. Having reliable backups allows for recovery in the event of data loss or ransomware attacks.

6. Conduct regular security audits

Regularly audit systems and networks to identify vulnerabilities. For example, an accounting firm that stores sensitive client data like financial records should conduct quarterly security audits to ensure the data stays safe and nobody has gained illicit access.

7. Train employees on cyber security best practices

Employees play a significant role in cyber security. Regular training can help them recognise phishing emails, suspicious links and other tactics used by cyber criminals.

8. Create an incident response plan

Develop a response plan for cyber security incidents that outlines the steps to take in case of a cyber incident or breach. If something happens, having a plan in place will help you react quickly and efficiently.

9. Consider investing in cyber security insurance

Cyber insurance can help mitigate the financial fallout from a breach, covering aspects like data restoration, legal fees and public relations efforts.

Cyber attacks are constantly evolving, so everyone must stay vigilant about their cyber security – whether it’s simply protecting the logins to your social media accounts, or ensuring the safety of your entire business.

Jing Jia receives funding from Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

Zhongtian Li receives funding from Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

– ref. How can you stay safe from cyber attacks? Here are 2 simple checklists from experts – https://theconversation.com/how-can-you-stay-safe-from-cyber-attacks-here-are-2-simple-checklists-from-experts-245040

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Heap, Senior Researcher Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute; Sessional Academic RMIT University, The Australia Institute

Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are again in the spotlight – mostly because of how they can affect the way companies deal with sexual harassment allegations.

Last week, class action lawsuits were launched against mining giants BHP and Rio Tinto, alleging widespread and systemic sexual harassment on their worksites in Australia.

The law firm leading the class actions, JGA Saddler, alleges NDAs have been used routinely in the mining industry to prevent women from speaking out about sexual harassment.

In response, both BHP and Rio Tinto have stated they take all sexual harassment allegations seriously. Both companies also say they no longer use NDAs in sexual harassment allegations, and won’t enforce past confidentiality terms.

A push to restrict NDAs across the business world is gaining momentum. The Victorian government is currently considering legislation to limit their use.

The effectiveness of any changes will depend on how much they put victim-survivors in the driver’s seat about when – and how – NDAs can be used.

Read more:
Non-disclosure agreements are commonplace in sexual harassment cases, but they’re being misused to silence people

What is a non-disclosure agreement?

When an employee makes a sexual harassment claim at work that is substantiated, one possible outcome is an agreement between the worker and the organisation over how the claim can be “settled”.

Such a settlement may also involve both parties entering a contract that sets out “compensation” for the victim-survivor.

Often, to receive the agreed compensation, the victim-survivor must agree not to say anything about what happened (hence the name, “non-disclosure agreement”).

In addition, they often agree not to say anything negative about their employer.

The impacts of secrecy

Companies typically use NDAs to protect their image or brand. They’re aware the reputational damage from sexual harassment claims can be large.

But this silencing can also protect perpetrators. Australian academics Dominique Allen and Alysia Blackham have documented the extent to which secrecy has become ingrained in these practices and processes.

Secrecy around sexual harassment claims can lead to victim-survivors feeling isolated and stigmatised. It can also enable some perpetrators to remain in the same workplace or move within industries and continue harassing others.

Meanwhile, the lack of transparency means businesses can treat instances as separate and isolated. They can portray sexual harassment as the occasional action of a single “bad apple”. This ignores how the culture, systems and processes at work create the conditions for bad behaviour to flourish.

The Victorian Legal Services Board, the body that monitors the conduct of lawyers, recently warned legal practitioners that inserting confidentiality clauses into sexual harassment settlements could cross ethical boundaries.

Why do victim-survivors sign NDAs?

Facing the threat of lengthy, costly and exhausting litigation, settlement is often the most attractive option for victim-survivors. They may want to stay anonymous. The prospect of having their experience aired in public can be daunting.

Victim-survivors may be afraid to report their experience. They often handle the problem by themselves, while still processing the trauma they have experienced.

Once they have made a claim, the business may see them as a “problem” that needs to be dealt with and treat them with hostility.

There is also a power imbalance between victim-survivors and the businesses they are making claims against. So, businesses often have the upper hand over whether NDAs are used and also what conditions they contain.

Contrary to the belief that NDAs may enable higher settlements for victim-survivors, there is no independent research demonstrating this link.

An appetite for change

Following the Respect@Work Inquiry by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), voluntary guidelines were published on the use of confidentiality clauses.

Yet, there are reports these voluntary guidelines have had limited impact.

There is an appetite both in Australia and overseas for legislated, tighter restrictions on the use of NDAs. A key feature of good policy in this area is transparency. At the same time, we need to give victim-survivors more agency regarding if and how NDAs are used.

A range of policy reforms could move us in that direction.

Protecting the right to speak out

First, the use of NDAs could be limited by creating a legislative presumption that they are not necessary. Legislation could reserve confidentiality restrictions for specified circumstances.

Victim-survivors should retain the right to speak up. They shouldn’t be restricted from discussing their experience with others who can provide support and assistance.

Such groups could include friends, family, colleagues (including union officials and health and safety representatives), lawyers, medical or psychiatric professionals.

A standardised process

The government could also set out a prescribed format for NDAs in legislation, and require all NDAs to be registered with a central agency – such as the human rights commission.

NDAs that deviate from these requirements could be made unenforceable, unless the agency that registers them has reviewed changes and believes they are justifiable.

Finally, businesses could be required to report on their use of NDAs on an annual basis, allowing regulators to identify and investigate where multiple NDAs are reported.

The National Sexual Assault, Family and Domestic Violence Counselling Line – 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for any Australian who has experienced, or is at risk of, family and domestic violence and/or sexual assault.

Lisa Heap received an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. David Peetz received funding from Australian Research Council for two projects relating to gender, including one relevant to women in the mining industry that was co-financed by the Mining and Energy Union.

The reforms discussed in this article also formed part of a recent submission by Lisa Heap and David Peetz to the Industrial Relations Victoria Inquiry on Restricting Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) in Workplace Sexual Harassment Cases.

– ref. Should non-disclosure agreements be restricted in cases of workplace sexual harassment? Here’s what reforms need to get right – https://theconversation.com/should-non-disclosure-agreements-be-restricted-in-cases-of-workplace-sexual-harassment-heres-what-reforms-need-to-get-right-245851

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Will Jeffery, Sessional Academic, Discipline of Film Studies, University of Sydney

Imagine attending a concert including excerpts from Ludwig van Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, Ottorino Respighi’s Pines of Rome, George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Dmitri Shostakovich’s 2nd Piano Concerto, Camille Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals, Paul Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Edward Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance, and Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite – all packed into 74 minutes.

Sounds like a fantastic concert! But this isn’t a classical music concert in the traditional sense. This is the program for Disney’s Fantasia 2000, which premiered 25 years ago today at Carnegie Hall, New York City, as part of a five-city concert tour of live orchestra and screened animation before its theatrical release the following year.

For years, Fantasia 2000 flew under my radar; I thought the only Fantasia was Disney’s 1940 original. Like many, the original film was my introduction to classical music at an early age.

My parents, frustrated by my endless rewatching, gave me headphones to listen to the soundtrack instead. They didn’t anticipate me shouting out the names of the animated sequences for every piece (“Dancing Mushrooms!”).

Unlike my childhood enthusiasm, Walt Disney himself had a more ambivalent relationship with classical music. While he attended concerts, he famously fell asleep during a performance of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. That nap inspired a visual sequence that would later open the 1940 Fantasia.

For Disney, music often served his primary goals: advancing animation techniques and storytelling.

Music and animation

Disney’s interest in pairing music with animation began with the Silly Symphonies, a series of (mostly fantasy) shorts from the late 1920s to late 1930s synchronised to music.

The Old Mill (1937) was the first Disney film to use the revolutionary multiplane camera, creating depth by layering animation.

Though Disney wasn’t a musician, he demanded high-quality scores for these shorts. As historian Ross Care describes it:

[Disney] wanted class, but nothing too classy, and seriousness, but not the type of music to be taken too seriously. Ergo: Silly Symphonies.

This balance reflected the Western tension between popular and “serious” music at the time.

Fantasia (1940) evolved from this concept, framed as a concert experience. As introduced in the film by American composer and music commentator Deems Taylor, the film explored “three kinds of music”:

First, there’s the kind that tells a definite story. Then there’s the kind that, while it has no specific plot, does paint a series of more or less definite pictures. And then there’s a third kind, music that exists simply for its own sake.

However, the film’s ambitious vision was initially its downfall.

Audiences who fell in love with the character-driven musical storytelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) found Fantasia’s abstract, plotless segments “baffling or boring”.

The expensive “Fantasound” format, requiring theatres to install special equipment, and World War II preventing a release in Europe, further limited its reach. Only through re-releases in later decades did Fantasia find its audience and become a beloved classic.

Fantasia 2000

Believing the concert film idea of Fantasia as “timeless”, Walt Disney originally imagined new versions of Fantasia with new musical repertoires every year. Due to the original’s financial difficulties, Disney shelved the idea.

In 1999, decades after Walt’s death and nine years of production later, that dream was realised with the release of Fantasia 2000, a new musical program interpreted by the latest Disney artists and storytellers. Fantasia 2000’s program featured seven new sequences and the return of Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice from the 1940 original.

Shorter than its 124-minute predecessor, Fantasia 2000 focused on music that told stories or painted vivid imagery. Using then-modern computer animation, each sequence was introduced by celebrity hosts like Steve Martin, Quincy Jones and Angela Lansbury.

I first discovered Fantasia 2000 when I was a late teenager beginning my university studies many years after the film’s release. My favourite sequence is Respighi’s Pines of Rome, mainly for its bizarre pairing of an Italian tone poem depicting Pine Trees along the Appian Way in Rome with … flying whales!

A close second is Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, which captures 1920s Manhattan through a mosaic of narratives, including a construction worker moonlighting as a jazz musician.

A concert without an orchestra

After its five-city concert tour, Fantasia 2000 premiered in IMAX and standard theatres in 2000 as an event film.

Despite its innovative animation and music, it met a similar commercial fate to the original, grossing US$90 million against its $80 million production cost (films generally have to return double the production costs to break even). The issues that plagued its predecessor persisted.

As well as the plotless sequences, no dialogue and unpopular music, the concert format was the primary challenge. Film music concerts are wildly popular today, but their appeal lies in nostalgia: audiences connect with the original scores and narratives. Fantasia lacks this connection.

The Fantasia films are concert films without a concert. The spectacle in today’s film music concerts is shared between the screen and the orchestra. However, Fantasia’s format as a concert film means, outside of its first five cities, its spectacle is the screen.

Without the shared spectacle of screen and live orchestra, this format struggles to hold the attention of younger audiences or those unfamiliar with classical music.

I’d love to see Fantasia 2000 – or the original – performed with a live orchestra like their premieres. Experiencing the synchronisation of animation and music in a concert hall could create a synaesthesia of sound and visuals that enhances both.

Disney’s history with music suggests the studio might eventually revisit this format. After all, Walt Disney’s interest in music and devotion to the arts culminated in a Los Angeles concert hall bearing his name. One wonders if he’d have stayed awake during a performance there.

On Fantasia 2000’s 25th anniversary, it’s worth celebrating the film as a bridge between Disney’s past and its future — one that continues to inspire awe and curiosity.

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

– ref. Fantasia 2000: celebrating 25 years of a concertless film in search of a concert – https://theconversation.com/fantasia-2000-celebrating-25-years-of-a-concertless-film-in-search-of-a-concert-244170

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stacy Carter, Professor and Director, Australian Centre for Health Engagement, Evidence and Values, University of Wollongong

Australia’s biggest radiology provider, I-MED, has provided de-identified patient data to an artificial intelligence company without explicit patient consent, Crikey reported recently. The data were images such as X-rays and CT scans, which were used to train AI.

This prompted an investigation by the national Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. It follows an I-MED data breach of patient records dating back to 2006.

Angry patients are reportedly avoiding I-MED.

I-MED’s privacy policy does mention data sharing with “research bodies as authorised by Australian law”. But only 20% of Australians read and understand privacy policies, so it’s understandable these revelations shocked some patients.

So how did I-MED share patient data with another company? And how can we ensure patients can choose how their medical data is used in future?

Who are the key players?

Many of us will have had scans with I-MED: it’s a private company with more than 200 radiology clinics in Australia. These clinics provide medical imaging, such as X-rays and CT scans, to help diagnose disease and guide treatment.

I-MED partnered with the AI startup Harrison.ai in 2019. Annalise.ai is their joint venture to develop AI for radiology. I-MED clinics were early adopters of Annalise.ai systems.

I-MED has been buying up other companies, and is listed for sale, reportedly for A$4 billion.

Big commercial interests are at stake, and many patients potentially affected.

Why would an AI company want your medical images?

AI companies want your X-rays and CT scans because they need to “train” their models on lots of data.

In the context of radiology, “training” an AI system means exposing it to many images, so it can “learn” to identify patterns and suggest what might be wrong.

This means data are extremely high value to AI start-ups and big tech companies alike, because AI is, to some extent, made of data.

You might be thinking it’s a wild west out there, but it’s not. There are multiple mechanisms controlling use of your health-related data in Australia. One layer is Australian privacy legislation.

What does the privacy legislation say?

It’s likely the I-MED images were “sensitive information” under the Australian Privacy Act. This is because they can identify an individual.

The law limits situations in which organisations can disclose this information, beyond its original purpose (in this case, providing you with a health service).

One is if the person has given consent, which doesn’t seem to be the case here.

Another is if the person would “reasonably expect” the disclosure, and the purpose of disclosure is directly related to the purpose of collection. On the available facts, this also seems to be a stretch.

This leaves the possibility that I-MED was relying on disclosure that is “necessary for research, or the compilation or analysis of statistics, relevant to public health or public safety”, where getting people’s consent is impracticable.

The companies have repeated publicly that the scans were de-identified.

De-identified information is mostly outside the scope of the Privacy Act. If the chance of re-identification is very low, de-identified information can be used with little legal risk.

But de-identification is complex, and context matters. At least one expert has suggested these scans were not sufficiently de-identified to take them outside the protection of the law.

Changes to the Privacy Act have toughened up penalties for interfering with people’s privacy, although the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner is underfunded and enforcement remains a challenge.

How else is our data protected?

There are lots more layers governing health-related data in Australia. We’ll consider just two.

Organisations should have data governance frameworks that specify who is responsible, and how things should be done.

Some large public institutions have very mature frameworks, but this isn’t the case everywhere. In 2023, researchers argued Australia urgently needed a national system to make this more consistent.

Australia also has hundreds of human research ethics committees (HRECs). All research should be approved by such a committee before it starts. These committees apply the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research to assess applications for research quality, potential benefits and harms, fairness, and respect towards participants.

But the National Health and Medical Research Council has recognised that human research ethics committees need more support – especially to assess whether AI research is good quality with low risks and likely benefits.

How do ethics committees operate?

Human research ethics committees determine, among other things, what kind of consent is required in a study.

Published Annalise.ai research has had approval, sometimes from multiple human research ethics committees, including approval for a “waiver of consent”. What does this mean?

Traditionally, research involves “opt in” consent: individual participants give or refuse consent to participate before the study happens.

But in AI research, researchers generally want permission to use some of an existing massive data lake already created by regular health care.

Researchers doing this kind of study usually ask for a “waiver of consent”: approval to use data without explicit consent. In Australia this can only be approved by a human research ethics committee, and under certain conditions, including that the risks are low, benefits outweigh harms, privacy and confidentiality are protected, it is “impracticable to obtain consent”, and “there is no known or likely reason for thinking that participants would not have consented”. These matters aren’t always easy to determine.

Waiving consent might sound disrespectful, but it recognises a difficult trade-off. If researchers ask 200,000 people for permission to use old medical records for research, most won’t respond. The final sample will be small and biased, and the research will be poorer quality and potentially useless.

Because of this, people are working on alternative models. One example is “consent to governance”, where governance structures are established in partnership with communities, then individuals are asked to consent to future use of their data for any purpose approved under those structures.

Listen to consumers

We are at a crossroads in AI research ethics. Both policymakers and Australians agree we need to use high-quality Australian data to build sovereign health AI capability, and health AI systems that work for all Australians.

But the I-MED case demonstrates two things. It’s vital to engage with Australian communities about when and how health data should be used to build AI. And Australia must rapidly strengthen and support our existing infrastructure to better govern AI research in ways that Australians can trust.

Stacy Carter has received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Medical Research Future Fund, the National Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare for research on AI in healthcare. She has received travel support to speak at conferences about consumer views on AI in health care from professional bodies, regulators, research groups and medical indemnity insurers. She has worked with consumer organisations, medical professional organisations, and state and commonwealth health departments and agencies on AI and data governance in health care.

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

– ref. An imaging company gave its patients’ X-rays and CT scans to an AI company. How did this happen? – https://theconversation.com/an-imaging-company-gave-its-patients-x-rays-and-ct-scans-to-an-ai-company-how-did-this-happen-245753

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Starling, Postdoctoral Researcher in Veterinary Science, University of Sydney

Around this time of year, pet owners across the country are scrambling to finalise holiday care arrangements.

Some lucky animals go to the home of a familiar family member, pet-sitter or friend. Others may have a pet sitter mind them in their own home. But another common solution is to put your dog or cat in a boarding facility while you’re away.

Boarding facilities can be small and boutique, or very large; some house hundreds of animals at once over the December-January period.

Here are five things to think about before boarding your dog or cat over the holidays.

1. Boarding can be stressful

Boarding facilities during peak periods can be stressful environments for dogs and cats.

Common stressors include:

• noise
• tight living spaces
• restricted human contact
• a dramatic change in routine and sleep patterns.

High density pet housing can also increase the risk of illness.

2. Some animals are not suited to boarding

Some animals come into a boarding facility and adjust within a few days, appearing to be their usual happy selves. Others may adjust more gradually.

But some animals only become more distressed the longer they are boarded.

They may display repetitive behaviours or bark and meow constantly.

In extreme cases, animals may:

• not eat at all
• be too aggressive for staff to handle safely
• lick or chew body parts
• injure themselves
• try to escape.

Although boarding facilities are built to keep animals in, it’s amazing what a desperate or panicking animal can get over, under, or through.

One study estimated 4% of cats are not suited to boarding because their stress levels did not decline over a two-week stay.

Think very carefully before booking commercial boarding for an animal that:

• is prone to anxiety
• dislikes loud noises or changes in their home environment
• will lunge, snap, scratch or bite if they get overwhelmed or startled
• has a history of trying to escape when panicked.

3. Boarding facility design matters

Facility design can have a big impact on how noisy or stressful it is, and how easily disease spreads.

Those with narrow passages or many kennels facing into a central walkway can provoke defensive or frustration-related behaviours in dogs, such as barking and lunging.

Large buildings packed with animals expose your pet to noise and activity, making it hard for them to relax and sleep.

It also increases the risk of spread of airborne pathogens such as Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease Complex (also known as kennel cough).

The facility may have larger common areas for exercise. These can vary enormously in design, from open spaces to yards containing play equipment and gardens.

Well designed common areas introduce more environmental complexity. That means multiple levels, different surfaces, and places where scent can collect (such as under bushes).

One study found cats appreciated environmental complexity such as shelves and scratch posts, and cats with a slightly larger enclosure were less stressed than cats with a smaller one.

The same study found that the more cats they share a space with, the more stressed a cat will get. Those that haven’t been socialised with other cats should be housed on their own.

Try to view the facility before booking. The quieter it is, the better. Think about what size space your pet will be living in, and what spatial restrictions they have experienced and coped with before.

Are there options to pay for more yard time or walks? Choose walks or one-on-one time with staff over extra yard time if there is an option, as companion animals may be missing social contact with humans during their stay and appreciate a change in scenery from their enclosure and the yard.

Are all fences, gates, kennels and other equipment clean and safe? Animals are experts at finding sharp corners, tiny gaps, and broken infrastructure to injure themselves on.

4. Preparation is key

Try to ease your animal into a boarding experience gently by:

• doing short, try-out stays at quiet times so their first stay isn’t a complete shock
• ensuring your pet is up-to-date with vaccinations
• considering if animals already on anti-anxiety medication or at high risk for anxiety may need a higher dose for their stay. Talk to your prescribing vet, as this will need to be trialled before boarding
• ensuring your animal has experience being alone, preferably in unfamiliar places
• avoiding sending familiar items from home unless the facility encourages it; it’s a nice idea but most items will get soiled
• avoiding group housing with unfamiliar animals unless you have a social butterfly that actively tries to make new friends at every opportunity.

Social housing is an important way to ease the stress of kennelling on dogs in shelters long-term. However, it can be stressful for pets that don’t usually spend a lot of time around unfamiliar animals of the same species.

5. Think about how you’ll bring your pet home

Your animal may be unusually quiet after a stay in a boarding facility. They likely didn’t sleep as much as usual.

They may be extra keen to do stuff they couldn’t while boarding, such as exploring outdoor areas unrestrained, rolling in the grass, running, and spending time with their human family. Make extra time for these activities.

Monitor your pet for signs of illness. The most common illnesses animals pick up while boarding are cat flu and canine cough. It can be extremely difficult to control these contagious diseases in high volume boarding facilities, and being more stressed makes animals more prone to illness in general. Take your pet to the vet if they show any symptoms of being unwell.

Melissa Starling works for Pet Behaviour Vet, a company that offers veterinary consulting for behaviour problems in companion animals. She operates Creature Teacher, an animal behaviour consulting business.

Melissa Starling previously worked for a high-volume pet-boarding company.

– ref. 5 things to know before boarding your dog or cat this summer – https://theconversation.com/5-things-to-know-before-boarding-your-dog-or-cat-this-summer-244479

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nathan Cooper, Associate Professor of Law, University of Waikato

After reversing the ban on new offshore oil and gas exploration permits, New Zealand’s coalition government is now considering whether to share the risks of exploration with the fossil fuel industry.

This could mean taxpayers would compensate corporations if exploration is unsuccessful. Resources Minister Shane Jones has stressed that no decision has been made yet, but the government accepts commercial exploration for new gas resources is unlikely without state support.

However, subsidising fossil fuel activities seems contrary to New Zealand’s recent international commitment to phase out incentives for the industry. It is also difficult to square with the government’s climate strategy to make clean energy abundant and affordable for everyone, announced last week as part of the second Emissions Reduction Plan for 2026–30.

Helping corporations potentially exploit new fossil fuel resources, thereby adding greenhouse gas emissions, may also be contrary to the government’s obligations under international human rights law.

International legal obligations

There is clear consensus that greenhouse gases drive global warming and that emissions must be cut to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

New Zealand’s government also acknowledges the effects of climate change are already being felt across communities and the economy.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Health Manatū Hauora identified climate change as one of the leading threats to New Zealanders’ health in its Health National Adaptation Plan.

In international law, Aotearoa New Zealand also has human rights commitments relevant to decisions around new fossil fuel exploration. New Zealand ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in 1978, and since then has been obliged to take steps to progressively realise the rights the covenant contains.

These include the right to an adequate standard of living and the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Realising these rights requires continuous improvement of living conditions and improvement of “environmental hygiene”.

In 2022, a human right to a healthy environment was also adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, and supported by New Zealand.

Drafted in 1954, the ICESCR does not mention greenhouse emissions and climate change, or their links to health and living conditions. Despite this, the UN Human Rights Council asserts that states’ obligations under the covenant include the following:

• refrain from directly engaging in activities that cause environmental harm that interferes with the enjoyment of rights protected by the covenant

• take measures to safeguard the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights against environmental harm

• ensure environmental sustainability.

It is likely that facilitating or helping new fossil fuel exploration would run contrary to these obligations because it would undermine efforts to cut emissions. It also constitutes a regressive step (contrary to the principle of non-retrogression) in realising fundamental rights to health and healthy living conditions.

It may prove politically unpalatable to ask New Zealanders to invest in activities that may erode their human rights.

Clearer state obligations to come

It remains unclear in international law exactly what states are obliged to do in response to climate change. But that situation should soon improve.

Hearings are underway at the International Court of Justice as part of preparations for an advisory opinion on two burning questions: what are the obligations of states under international law to protect the climate and environment from greenhouse gas emissions, and what are the legal consequences for states that have caused significant harm to the climate and environment?

Expected in late 2025, answers to these questions from the world’s highest court could be important in galvanising more effective state action on climate change. But governments shouldn’t wait for this.

The Climate Change Commission’s newly released review of New Zealand’s 2050 emissions target provides a sobering warning.

It says the country’s current 2050 target (net zero for long-lived gases and methane emissions from livestock and waste down by 24–47%) is no longer enough because the severity of climate impacts is greater and faster than expected, and other comparable countries are already doing more.

Instead, the commission recommends a “net negative” target. This would see the removal of 20 million tonnes more carbon dioxide than New Zealand produces, and more ambitious cuts to methane.

The direction of travel should be clear. New Zealand needs greater and faster action to mitigate climate change impacts. On the international front, this should be signalled by a bold and ambitious new emissions reduction pledge under the Paris Agreement, and by more climate finance for Pacific nations.

For domestic energy needs, the government should be investing in community-based renewable electricity, not considering enabling speculative exploration for more fossil fuels.

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

– ref. NZ’s government may ask the public to underwrite the risk of fossil fuel exploration – this could be unlawful – https://theconversation.com/nzs-government-may-ask-the-public-to-underwrite-the-risk-of-fossil-fuel-exploration-this-could-be-unlawful-245267

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sally Larsen, Senior Lecturer in Education, University of New England

The shape of Australia’s school system is undergoing a significant change. Enrolments in independent schools are growing, while fewer students are going to public schools.

Why are more families choosing an independent or Catholic school, when they could send their children to a free public option?

And what does this mean for the system overall?

More families choosing private

Due to a growing population, the past two decades have seen increasing numbers of students in Australian schools overall.

But the number of students attending independent schools has grown faster than the number attending public schools, particularly in high school.

In 2006, around 13% of Australian students were enrolled in independent schools. In 2023 this proportion had increased to 16%.

Enrolments at Catholic schools have remained at just under 20%, although absolute numbers have increased from 680,000 in 2006 to 806,000 in 2023.

According to 2023 data, public schools still enrol the majority of students in primary (around 1.5 million students) and secondary (slightly more than one million students). Despite this, the proportion of students in public schools has been steadily declining. In 1996, 74% of primary students were in public schools, declining to 71% in 2006, and 69% in 2023.

For high schools, the proportion of students in public schools has declined more quickly from 66% in 1996, to 62% in 2006 and 58% in 2023.

Across the same time period, the proportion of students attending independent high schools jumped from 13.5% to 20%.

Why are we seeing these shifts?

There is very little current research looking at why more families are choosing private schools. But there are several clues.

One reason may be policy changes that allowed the establishment of new independent schools in Australia. In the 1990s, the Howard government changed a policy to allow funding for the establishment of new schools, even in areas that already had adequate capacity in existing schools.

There were 131 more independent schools in 2023 compared with 2006, and 90 fewer public schools.

New independent schools tend to charge lower fees than established elite schools, making them more accessible to middle-income families. According to Independent Schools Australia, the largest growth in enrolments is in schools charging fees of around A$5,000 per year.

In some cases, state governments have also been slow to build new schools in growing metropolitan suburbs.

New South Wales Education Minister Prue Car has spoken about this issue for her own son, who attends an independent primary school:

we were in one of the suburbs where the government didn’t build a school.

While evidence shows private schools do not necessarily mean students do better academically, there is a public perception they are better for a students’ grades. This may not be helped by frequent headlines about academic and behavioural problems in the public system.

More than one reason

It is also important to recognise school decisions can be influenced by multiple factors.

A 2016 Australian Institute of Family Studies report on primary school choice found parents consider local knowledge about schools in their area, opinions of family and friends, their own school experiences, and the interests and needs of their children.

Parents may also emphasise different things for primary and high school. For example, they might choose their local primary school for convenience, but choose a high school for its academic reputation or extracurricular offerings.

Twenty years ago, the Australian Council for Educational Research conducted a small study of 609 families asking “Why parents choose public or private schools?”.

A key finding was parents chose schools that aligned with their values. There was also a perception (right or wrong) that values differed between schools in different sectors. For example, parents with children in public schools valued the social and cultural security of the school as well as proximity to their home. Parents with children in independent schools valued discipline, religious values and school traditions.

Why is this an issue?

Compared to other countries, Australian schools have a high level of “socioeconomic segregation”. This means different types of schools tend to have students from different socioeconomic backgrounds.

The increase in students going to fee-paying private schools (even when the fees are not at the eye-watering level often publicised in the media), means we are seeing increasing segregation in our school system.

Public schools continue to educate the majority of children in regional and remote locations, those with high needs, learning disabilities and children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Independent schools enrol increasing proportions of students from the most advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.

We still have questions

We are seeing a significant shift in the way our school system is working. But we need more research to tell us why.

This includes whether the reasons for choosing an independent, Catholic or public school for a child have changed in the last two decades.

And if we are seeing more middle and lower income families send their children to private schools.

Parents will naturally choose what they perceive to be the best school for their children. But of course not all families have a choice. This may be because there is only one school in their area, or they cannot afford the fees for a private school.

Meanwhile, these trends in enrolments raise bigger questions about how equitable our school system is, and what might be done to ensure all Australian children can access educational opportunities that allow them to succeed.

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.

– ref. More Australian families are choosing private schools – we need to understand why – https://theconversation.com/more-australian-families-are-choosing-private-schools-we-need-to-understand-why-242791