Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University

Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, most of it has gone.

Pollution, coastal development, climate change and many other human impacts have degraded or destroyed swathes of mangrove forests, saltmarshes, seagrass meadows, macroalgae (seaweed) forests and coral and shellfish reefs. We’ve lost a staggering 85% of shellfish reefs around the world and coral is bleaching globally.

When healthy, these coastal habitats help feed the world by supporting fisheries. They are home to more than 100 species of charismatic marine megafauna, ranging from sharks to dugongs. They sequester carbon, thus helping to slow climate change. The list goes on.

Healthy coastal habitats are the gift that keeps on giving. We need them back, so there’s a lot of enthusiasm for restoring these habitats. For example, we can plant mangroves, build new shellfish reefs and reduce pollution to help seagrass grow back.

But we want to recover more than just the habitats. We want the animals they support too. We need to know if restoration is helping animals.

We analysed restoration projects around the world to assess how animals are benefitting. Compared to degraded sites, restored habitats have much larger and more diverse animal populations. Overall, animal numbers and the types of animals in restored habitats are similar to those in natural habitats.

So restoration works. But outcomes for animals vary from project to project. Not all projects deliver the goods. As a result, resources are wasted and humanity misses out on the huge benefits of healthy coastal habitats.

Read more:
Global coral bleaching caused by global warming demands a global response

Animals can respond well to restoration

We collated over 5,000 data points from 160 studies of coastal restoration projects around the world.

Excitingly, animal populations and communities were remarkably similar to those in comparable undisturbed natural sites. For example, restoring seagrass off Adelaide’s coast brought back invertebrates, which are food for many fish species Australians love to catch, such as Australasian snapper. Invertebrate numbers here were comparable to nearby natural seagrass meadows.

Read more:
From sharks in seagrass to manatees in mangroves, we’ve found large marine species in some surprising places

Overall, our review found animal populations in restored coastal habitats were 61% larger and 35% more diverse than in unrestored, degraded sites. So restoration produces serious benefits.

Some projects recorded dramatic increases. For instance, after oyster reefs were restored in Pumicestone Passage, Queensland, fish numbers increased by more than ten times. The number of fish species increased almost fourfold.

And animals can occupy newly restored sites surprisingly quickly. Fish and invertebrate numbers in restored seagrass and mangroves can match those in natural sites within a year or two. This happens even though the vegetation is far sparser in restored areas.

Our study shows that efforts to restore coastal habitat certainly can help animals thrive.

Read more:
Once the fish factories and ‘kidneys’ of colder seas, Australia’s decimated shellfish reefs are coming back

Results are not guaranteed

Although restoration generally helped animals, good outcomes are not guaranteed. We found many projects where animal numbers or diversity barely increased. It was not clear why some projects were great for animals and others had lacklustre results.

Some restoration sites could be in places where animals cannot easily find them.

In other cases, actions to restore the habitat may simply not work. Despite our best efforts, we failed to create suitable environments.

It could be that animals are returning to restored habitats, but we’re not capturing them with our monitoring.

We sorely need more consistent restoration outcomes. We may lose community support for restoration if, for example, it doesn’t deliver on promises of improved fisheries.

We are still working out how to restore coastlines effectively. Clearly, more work is needed to improve techniques and the monitoring of animal numbers.

Global alliances and groups are developing standardised frameworks to guide restoration practice and to report on project designs and outcomes. Such strategies and co-ordination promise to deliver more consistent benefits.

Read more:
If we protect mangroves, we protect our fisheries, our towns and ourselves

New technologies can improve monitoring

Monitoring animals and restoration outcomes in coastal habitats is challenging. These aquatic habitats are structurally complex, often impenetrable and hard to navigate, and can be dangerous.

New technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and environmental DNA (eDNA), allow us to collect more and better data on which animals are present and how they use these habitats. We’re rapidly becoming less reliant on hauling in nets or diving down to count animals.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be used, for example, to extract information from underwater cameras. We can monitor animals more often, in more places, for less cost.

AI algorithms were recently used to automatically identify, size and count fish in videos taken on restored oyster reefs in Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne. These data were then used to calculate increased fish productivity due to restoration efforts. And what an increase it was – over 6,000 kilograms of fish per hectare per year!

Combining underwater videos with automated data extraction provides a new, reliable and cost-effective method for surveying animals ethically and efficiently.

Read more:
It sounds like science fiction. But we can now sample water to find the DNA of every species living there

We still face major barriers to scaling up restoration to even get close to reversing our environmental impact on the coasts. Key concerns include ongoing climate change and policies and laws that hamper restoration efforts. It can be difficult, for example, to get permits to restore habitat, with complex systems involving multiple organisations and arms of government.

Still, our synthesis shows some light at the end of the tunnel. Coastal restoration efforts are having substantial benefits for animals around the world. The evidence supports ambitious restoration targets and action.

Michael Sievers receives funding from the Australian Research Council, project DE220100079, the National Environmental Science Program, and philanthropic foundations.

Christopher Brown receives funding from the Australian Research Council (grant FT210100792) and the World Wildlife Fund. He is affiliated with the Global Mangrove Alliance, an organisation that promotes mangrove restoration and conservation.

Rod Connolly receives funding from the Australian Research Council, National Environmental Science Program, philanthropic foundations, Fisheries Research and Development Corporation.

– ref. Restoring coastal habitat boosts wildlife numbers by 61% – but puzzling failures mean we can still do better – https://theconversation.com/restoring-coastal-habitat-boosts-wildlife-numbers-by-61-but-puzzling-failures-mean-we-can-still-do-better-227231

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney

Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range.

But that’s changing. Now we get flash floods much further inland, such as Broken Hill in 2012 and 2022 and Cobar, Bourke and Nyngan in 2022. Flash floods are those beginning between one and six hours after rainfall, while riverine floods take longer to build.

Why? Global warming is amplifying the climate drivers affecting where flash floods occur and how often. All around the world, we’re seeing intense dumps of rain in a short period, triggering flooding – just as we saw in Dubai this week.

Our research shows east coast lows – intense low pressure systems carrying huge volumes of water – are developing further out to sea, both southward and eastward.

This means these systems, which usually bring most of the east coast’s rain during cooler months, are now dumping more rain out at sea. Instead, we’re seeing warm, moist air pushed down from the Coral Sea, leading to thunderstorms and floods much further inland.

This month, a coastal trough along the Queensland and New South Wales coasts and an inland trough resulted in unusually widespread flooding, triggering flooding in Sydney as well as inland.

Read more:
Why is Australia’s east coast copping all this rain right now? An atmospheric scientist explains

What’s changing?

On the coasts, extreme flash floods come from short, intense rains on saturated catchments. Think of the devastating floods hitting Lismore in 2022 and Grantham in 2011.

Inland, flash floods occur when intense rain hits small urban catchments, runs off roads and concrete, and flows into low-lying areas.

The April flooding in NSW and Queensland had elements of both. Early this month, the subtropical jet stream changed its course, triggering a cyclonic circulation higher in the atmosphere over inland eastern Australia.

At the same time, a low-pressure trough developed low down in the atmosphere off the coast and another inland, through southern Queensland and NSW, where they encountered warm moist air dragged by northeast winds from as far away as the Coral Sea.

The result was localised extremely heavy rain, which led to the Warragamba Dam spilling and flood plain inundation in western Sydney.

This unusual event has been referred to as a “black nor’easter”, a term coined in 1911. These are characterised by a deepening coastal trough and upper-level low pressure systems further west, over inland eastern Australia. This term, mostly known in the marine fraternity, became less common during the 20th century. But it has returned.

Why? Global warming is changing how the atmosphere circulates. As ocean temperatures keep rising, the pool of warm water in the Coral and Tasman Seas grows. This gives rise to northeasterly airstreams, which funnel thick fronts of warm, moist air down towards inland Queensland and NSW.

These low pressure systems occur higher in the atmosphere, causing unstable conditions suiting the formation of thunderstorms. And because these systems move slowly, heavy rain can fall continuously over the same area for several hours. All up, it’s a perfect recipe for flash flooding.

We saw similar systems producing flash flooding in Sydney’s Nepean and Hawkesbury rivers during November and December last year, as well as in other regions of inland eastern Australia.

Is this new? Yes. Between 1957 and 1990, flash floods struck Sydney 94 times. But during this period, fast cyclonic airflow in the upper atmosphere was not connected to the jet stream. Instead, flash floods occurred when slow-moving upper-level low pressure circulations encountered air masses laden with moisture evaporating off the oceans. However, there wasn’t enough water in the air over the inland to trigger flash flooding.

In every case between 1957 to 1990, flash floods in Sydney were not linked to slower-forming riverine floods on the Nepean-Hawkesbury River system. When these rivers did flood during that period, they came from longer duration, less intense rain falling in the catchments, and largely from east coast lows. Now we’re seeing something new.

Haven’t there always been flash floods?

Flash floods are not new. What is new is where they are occurring. These sudden floods can now form well west of the Great Dividing Range.

Previously, inland floods tended to come after long periods of widespread rain saturated large river catchments. Inland flash floods were not so common and powerful as in recent decades.

In earlier decades, inland riverine floods during extreme rainfall years occurred when the fast-moving jet stream high in the atmosphere was further north. This occurred frequently in the cooler months, with long, broad cloud bands blown by or associated with the jet stream producing widespread rain inland. Known as the “autumn break”, it often primed agricultural land for winter crops.

In recent years, these crucial air currents have begun moving polewards.

Now that it’s moving south, we have increasingly warm air over inland eastern Australia which can hold more moisture and result in heavy falls, even in the cooler months.

What about the famous inland floods which move through Queensland’s Channel Country and fill Kati Thanda/Lake Eyre?

These are slow moving riverine floods, not flash floods. Flash floods are often limited to local regions. By contrast, Channel Country floods stem from heavy monsoonal rains from November to April.

Read more:
Changes in the jet stream are steering autumn rain away from southeast Australia

Short, intense rain bursts are going global

The pattern we’re seeing – more flash floods in unusual places – is not just happening in Australia. Inland areas – including deserts – are now more likely to see flash floods.

Dubai this week had a year’s rain (152 mm) in a single day, which triggered flash floods and caused widespread disruption of air travel. Other parts of the United Arab Emirates got even more rain, with up to 250 mm. In Western Australia’s remote southern reaches, the isolated community of Rawlinna recently had 155 mm of rain in a day.

This is precisely what we would expect as the world heats up. Hotter air can hold about 7% more water for every degree of warming, supercharging normal storms. And these floods can be followed by extended periods of almost no rain. The future is shaping up as one of flash floods and flash droughts.

Read more:
Flash droughts are becoming more common in Australia. What’s causing them?

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. It never rains but it pours: intense rain and flash floods have increased inland in eastern Australia – https://theconversation.com/it-never-rains-but-it-pours-intense-rain-and-flash-floods-have-increased-inland-in-eastern-australia-227777

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University

In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared the museum is “not a university”, and will gut its research capabilities, starting this July.

In Australia and abroad, hundreds of scientists and friends of the museum have expressed their horror at the proposal, to the media, in letters to the state government, and in interviews with the author.

“It could be the death of the museum,” says renowned mammalogist Tim Flannery, a former director of the museum.

Palaeontologist Mary Droser of the University of California, Riverside, spent two decades working on the museum’s collection of half-billion-year-old Ediacaran fossils. “To say research isn’t important to what a museum does – it’s sending shock waves across the world,” she says.

Critics say the changes will make the museum “more of a theme park”, and make South Australia “the laughing stock of the scientific world”.

What’s the plan?

Gaimster plans to replace ten “science research” positions with five junior “science curators”, and reduce the number of specialist “science collection managers” from 12 to five.

According to the museum’s website, this skeleton crew will focus on “converting new discoveries and research into the visitor experience”.

That’s quite different to what the museum has been doing for the past 168 years. Its researchers have described more than 500 new species, such as tiny crustaceans that live only in desert pools and are at risk from mining.

Read more:
Friday essay: the silence of Ediacara, the shadow of uranium

Museum researchers have also helped discover some 60 new minerals for the mining industry, some of which may help to clean up pollutants or deliver critical minerals for renewable energy technologies. Others have tackled global questions such as the evolution of birds from dinosaurs, how eyes evolved in Cambrian fossils, and Antarctic biodiversity.

What’s so special about a museum?

The museum’s record may be impressive, but couldn’t all this research be done by universities?

Their remits are different, says University of Adelaide botanist Andy Lowe, who was the museum’s acting director in 2013 and 2014. Unlike universities, he says, the museum was “established by government, to carry out science for the development of the state”.

Museum research is also unique because of its unique resources – the collections.

Visitors to the museum see the state’s treasures: the skeleton of marsupial lion Thylacoleo, the largest mammalian carnivore Australia ever had; weird fossils of our planet’s earliest multi-cellular life from the Ediacara Hills of the Flinders Ranges; glowing rocks and crystals that display the foundation of the state’s past and future wealth; and stone tools, boomerangs and bark paintings that record tens of millennia of Indigenous culture on this continent.

But these displays contain only a fraction of the full collections. The rest of the specimens reside beneath the public areas, with the researchers who continuously enrich them with new specimens and new knowledge.

“They’re crucial for what goes on above; you need experts not second-hand translators,” says University of Adelaide geologist Alan Collins. He wonders what will happen the next time a youngster comes into the museum asking to identify a rock. “There won’t be an expert on hand anymore.”

Collins also worries about a bigger looming public failure: a bid to obtain World Heritage listing for the Flinders Ranges. Collins has contributed to the bid by collaborating with museum researcher Diego Garcia Bellido to show how rocks at Brachina Gorge tell the story of how complex life first emerged.

Read more:
How algae conquered the world – and other epic stories hidden in the rocks of the Flinders Ranges

Garcia Bellido and his now-retired colleague Jim Gehling used the museum’s collections to identify dozens of Ediacaran species. Their work led to the formation of Nilpena Ediacara National Park to preserve the sites containing unique fossil beds.

The collection of Indigenous objects dates back to anthropological expeditions carried out by the museum’s Norman Tindale and Harvard’s Joseph Birdsell in the 1930s. These expeditions helped Tindale produce the first map of the territories of “the Aboriginal tribes of Australia”.

The museum’s Phillip Jones now uses this collection in his research, delivering more than 30 exhibitions, books and academic papers.

Continuity and community

Maintaining the museum’s collections takes a lot of work. Without attentive curation and the life blood of research, the collections are doomed to “wither and die”, says Flannery. “There are no collections without research; and no research without collections.”

Many of the above-mentioned researchers, vastly overqualified for the newly described positions, will likely find no home in the reimagined museum.

That raises the issue of continuity. In Flannery’s words, the job of a museum curator:

is like being a high priest in a temple. You have been passed on the sacred objects by your predecessor who has looked after them through their career. That chain of care goes back to the foundation of the state of South Australia – the foundation of the museum […] but break the chain of care and you destroy the museum.

A case in point is Jones, who knew Tindale and interviewed him when he was based at Harvard. Over Jones’ four decades at the museum, his relationships with Indigenous elders have also been critical to returning sacred objects to their traditional owners.

Besides the priestly “chain of care”, there’s something else at risk in the museum netherworld: a uniquely productive ecosystem feeding on the collections.

Here you’ll find PhD students mingling with retired academics; curators mingling with scientists; museum folk with university folk. This rich ecosystem delivers the out-sized knowledge output of the museum and brings in millions of dollars of federal research grants each year. In the year ending 2023 for instance, joint museum and university grants amounted to A$3.7 million.

Read more:
Museums are returning indigenous human remains but progress on repatriating objects is slow

But no more.

The new administration sees these joint grants as a burden. The problem, according to a museum spokesperson, is that “they did not include any remuneration for staff time or operational or administrative overheads”.

No one doubts the financial stresses the museum faces or that revamping exhibits is a desirable thing. But, as many have pointed out, the role of CEO is to knock on the doors of government and philanthropists and find the necessary funds. “It’s possible,” Flannery says. “I’ve done it.”

DNA and biodiversity

The museum has also declared it will no longer support a DNA sequencing lab it funds jointly with the University of Adelaide. The lab has worked with the museum’s collection of Australian biological tissue to help identify more than 500 new species, including 46 now listed as threatened.

“No other institute in South Australia does this type of biodiversity research,” says Andrew Austin, chair of Taxonomy Australia and emeritus professor at the University of Adelaide. “It’s the job of the museum.”

The cuts come while the SA government plans new laws to protect biodiversity.

According to Kris Helgen – chief scientist at the Australian Museum in Sydney – the South Australian Museum has been “the primary natural science museum for the interior of the continent” for 150 years.

The museum’s re-imagining puts this history at risk – and also places the future in jeopardy.

An open letter published on April 10, signed by more than 400 of Australia’s leading researchers, former state chief scientists, Aboriginal elders, politicians including a former state premier, and many others, summed up the case:

the collections housed at the South Australian Museum … are amongst the most significant in the world. They reveal to us the very beginnings of life on earth… and they help us to prevent extinction of critical species that underpin all human life …

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

– ref. ‘It could be the death of the museum’: why research cuts at a South Australian institution have scientists up in arms – https://theconversation.com/it-could-be-the-death-of-the-museum-why-research-cuts-at-a-south-australian-institution-have-scientists-up-in-arms-228193

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University

This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues.

The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, following Angus Brayshaw’s in February and a number of other high-profile footballers in recent years, signals a shift in how athletes view brain trauma risks in sport.

Rather than downplaying or ignoring the potential damage being done to their health by a career filled with brain trauma, some athletes are now choosing to end their careers early. In doing so, they hope to avoid the neurodegenerative diseases which afflicted former players like Danny Frawley, Paul Green, Heather Anderson, and Shane Tuck.

Read more:
Will introducing independent doctors at games help the AFL tackle its concussion problem?

Why do athletes risk their brains?

Murphy’s retirement is a sign that concussion culture in the AFL is beginning to shift.

Although the long-term implications of multiple concussions and repetitive neurotrauma have been recognised internationally for nearly a century, scientific and health knowledge has historically battled against a warrior culture in contact sport communities.

For decades, sports have fostered a win-at-all-costs culture, with a pseudo-military flavour of sacrifice and duty to one’s teammates.

This has given rise to athletes ignoring or downplaying injuries whenever possible to continue the game.

This behaviour is particularly easy to enact when it comes to concussion, because it is often an invisible injury with health effects that may not manifest until after the initial contact.

Compounding this are expectations from spectators and fans, many of whom expect their heroes to “run through walls” and not show any weakness or vulnerabilities.

Media commentators also celebrate athletes who return to the field after sickening collisions as “courageous”, having “no fear”, or “gaining respect from teammates and opposition”.

There have been public calls since at least 2016 for commentators to change to the language around concussion.

A shift in attitude?

To prioritise athlete welfare, outdated attitudes need to change across Australia’s multiple contact sporting codes.

Murphy’s retirement and acknowledgement of his long-term brain health is one sign the culture of valorising injury and risk may be changing. But there is other evidence of a shift.

Australian research shows risky attitudes and behaviours toward concussion have begun to dissipate over recent years.

In 2017, the first study of concussion attitudes and behaviours in Australian athletes at all levels showed that despite participants knowing the dangers of concussion, many would still choose to play through or hide concussions.

Others revealed that even if diagnosed with a concussion, they would not complete full rehabilitation in the hopes of returning to the field sooner.

However, a 2021 follow-up study, using the same survey in a separate group, showed significant improvements towards concussion. Respondents were much less likely to hide or play through a concussion, and were more likely to complete full rehabilitation before returning to competition.

This data indicates that athletes are not only more aware of the potential long-term health effects of brain injuries, but are more likely to heed medical advice if they are concussed.

Murphy’s retirement is an example of footballers’ increased willingness to listen to medical advice. His decision was informed by the findings of the AFL’s independent panel of medical experts, which was introduced in 2019 to provide players with advice about whether to continue their careers following brain trauma.

In his announcement, Murphy said he accepted the panel’s advice, something we hope to see more of in future.

It should also be noted that in October 2023, this advisory panel permitted Murphy to return to training after the athlete was knocked out during September’s AFL Grand Final.

This short turnaround indicates the line between safety and danger for athletes’ brains is razor thin, and that athletes, their families, and medical experts like those who advised Murphy have a complex job ahead of them, as more and more athletes contemplate their futures post-concussion.

Are more retirements to come?

With continued discussion, debate and independent research, it is plausible more players with multiple concussions will prioritise their long-term brain health.

Similarly, new draftees entering professional levels of these sports will need to consider the benefits of competing where multiple brain injuries are likely to occur, versus the risk for cognitive impairments later in life or even brain disease.

In the meantime, the current group of athletes – professionals and amateurs alike – must weigh up the costs of participation in high contact games.

Read more:
Concussion in sport: why making players sit out for 21 days afterwards is a good idea

The recent and tragic deaths of former professionals and many unknown people who played club football, have shown our expectations of athletes need to be tempered. We need to understand these athletes are not machines, but individuals with families who are doing a job as best they can, for the short period of opportunity they have.

We must continue to educate and change the culture around concussion at all levels of sport, and to support players who decide to give the game away when concerned about too many injuries.

It’s in the best interests for the longevity of these sports – and the athletes we love to cheer on.

Alan Pearce is currently unfunded. Alan is a non-executive unpaid director for the Concussion Legacy Foundation. He has previously received funding from Erasmus+ strategic partnerships program (2019-1-IE01-KA202-051555), Sports Health Check Charity (Australia), Australian Football League, Impact Technologies Inc., and Samsung Corporation, and is remunerated for expert advice to medico-legal practices.

Stephen Townsend 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. Are 2 mid-career AFL retirements a sign Australian athletes are taking brain health more seriously? – https://theconversation.com/are-2-mid-career-afl-retirements-a-sign-australian-athletes-are-taking-brain-health-more-seriously-228197

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney

Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President.

The Austrian is one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, best known in the English-speaking world as a novelist.

As literary scholar Rita Felski puts it, Bernhard’s oeuvre is generally thought of as “an oceanic heave of venom, disgust, bitterness, and loathing”.

By the same token – and this is something Felski neglects to mention – his writing can be extremely funny.

One of the great strengths of the Sydney Theatre Company’s captivating revival of the 1975 play, co-produced with Dublin’s Gate Theatre, is how it manages to balance both these aspects of Bernhard’s writing.

Directed by Ireland’s Tom Creed, the production also features two exceptional lead performances.

Hugo Weaving plays the leader of a middling, unnamed country somewhere in Europe. Grandiose and boastful, Weaving’s titular president spends half of the play hiding away in Portugal and refuses to concede his days are numbered. He insists, against all odds, he can somehow “win it all back”.

Meanwhile, Olwen Fouéré’s furious first lady spends her time physically and emotionally tormenting her maid, Mrs Frolick (Julie Forsyth), while monologuing endlessly and ominously on the topics of hate, torture and the liquidation of shadowy political factions.

A complex writer

Bernhard was born in 1931 and died in 1989. Through childhood and adolescence he was unhappy and suffered from a host of life-threatening lung ailments. Eventually, his tuberculous-damaged lungs put paid to his youthful musical aspirations of being an opera singer, so he turned to writing.

After stints as a courtroom reporter and journalist, he started publishing poetry. His debut novel, Frost (1963), made him famous. His theatrical breakthrough came in 1970, with his first full-length play, A Feast for Boris.

Throughout his career, Bernhard’s feelings about his homeland were complex and fraught. Biographer Gitta Honegger, who also translated The President, notes he

came of age while Austria was digging its way out of the devastation of World War II and burying itself in silence about the Holocaust.

He was deeply suspicious about Austria’s refusal to come to terms with its Nazi past and used his standing as a prominent public figure to expose this national hypocrisy.

But these critiques didn’t sit well with everyone in Austria. He was repeatedly attacked for being a Nestbeschmutzer, which roughly translates as “one who fouls their own nest”.

The last play he wrote, Heldenplatz (1988), was an explosive account of the dangers of nationalism and anti-Semitism.

It controversially suggested things hadn’t really changed in Austria since the days of the Third Reich, with one character saying:

conditions today really are the same
as they were in thirty-eight
there are more Nazis in Vienna now
than in thirty-eight
it’ll come to a bad end
you’ll see
it doesn’t even take an extra-sharp mind
now they’re coming out again
of every hole
that’s been sealed for over forty years

The political landscape of 1975

The President was Bernhard’s response to the volatile political climate in Europe of the time.

The president of Bernhard’s demanding play – a fascist dictator in all but name – has just survived an attempt on his life. Anarchists are responsible. There is a possibility the president’s son, who has disappeared, pulled the trigger.

The play opens with the president and his wife preparing for the funeral of a close confidant who was killed in the same assassination attempt (as was the first lady’s beloved dog). The characters are paranoid and panicked:

Aren’t you afraid of the terrorists
of some anarchist trying to get you
You open a book because you want to read
and you are blown into pieces
aren’t you are afraid
everybody
everybody
The whole country is ruled by fear

While Bernhard doesn’t specify, it would have been clear to contemporary audiences he had a particular band of West German terrorists in mind: the Red Army Faction.

It was no coincidence the original production opened at the Stuttgart State Theatre on May 21 1975: the same date and city where the key members of the Red Army Faction went on trial.

Also known as the Baader-Meinhof Group, the Red Army Faction was responsible for a series of assassinations of German business leaders and politicians during the 1970s.

The Red Army Faction was also vocal and scathing about Germany’s unwillingness to properly confront its Nazi past.

In the words of the group’s de facto leader and theorist, Ulrike Meinhof, they had no time for acts of historical erasure, or for those who sought to “turn 12 years of German history into a taboo subject”.

Read more:
Baader–Meinhof group member arrested after 30 years on the run – but Germany still can’t close the chapter on far-left terrorism

‘Uncomfortable truths’

The creative team behind this version of The President clearly know their history.

In his directorial program notes, Creed acknowledges the violent actions of the Red Army Faction would have loomed large in the imagination of audiences in 1975.

Similarly, Weaving has spoken approvingly of Bernhard’s willingness to speak “a lot of uncomfortable truths to his own country”.

In equal measure, however, both Creed and Weaving believe Bernhard’s historically timestamped play can tell us something about the here and now. As Weaving says, The President, which takes a dim view of the performative quality of what passes for politics, is a “fascinatingly timely piece”.

I agree, and wholeheartedly recommend it.

The President is at the Sydney Theatre Company until May 19.

Alexander Howard 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. I wholeheartedly recommend The President: a brilliant revival of a play of decay, terror and revulsion – https://theconversation.com/i-wholeheartedly-recommend-the-president-a-brilliant-revival-of-a-play-of-decay-terror-and-revulsion-227685

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney

You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten years to realise how quickly things have changed.

In 2013, we were still predominantly buying paper bus tickets and using Facebook on a desktop computer. Now, we order food by scanning codes and tap our cards to make payments.

Digital inclusion (someone’s ability to keep up with technology) is an important health and social equity issue, amplified by the rapid digital developments that arose during the COVID pandemic.

Among those who are prone to digital exclusion, there is one group who, due to a collision of several trends, may be hit the hardest: people leaving prison and re-entering society at an older age, or after lengthy periods of imprisonment. In a new study, we interviewed former prisoners about their experiences with trying to adapt to ubiquitous technology after years of going without.

Read more:
Teaching prisoners to start businesses can help them return to society

Unfamiliar tech damaging confidence

Prison populations are getting older worldwide for a few reasons, including general population ageing, trends towards people entering prison at an older age, or staying in for longer. At the same time, Australian prisons remain highly technologically restricted environments, mostly for security reasons.

We interviewed 15 Australians (aged 47–69 years) about their experiences of reintegration following release from prison.

The (primarily male) interviewees recalled a tense and troublesome time. They described feeling like a stranger thrown into a world where survival depended on their ability to use technology.

Regardless of their experiences before imprisonment, the rapid digitisation of daily functions that were once familiar to them rendered their skills and confidence irrelevant. One former inmate said:

There’s a significant gap […] for anybody who’s done, I’m gonna say, probably more than five to seven years [in prison]. Because things change so quickly […] they do not know what the world looks like.

Read more:
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This deeply affected their sense of self and self-efficacy, and heightened the stigma they experienced, adding a weighty psychological and emotional burden to an already stressful time. They told us:

You want to fit in, you want to be invisible, to either fit in and be part of the crowd or just invisible. Because for a lot of people leaving prison, they’re still wearing their crime or their offending on their shoulders. And anything that sort of has their head pop up outside of the norm really triggers people’s anxiety.

There will be people where those trip-ups of technology are a really big deal and really impact your anxiety, really impacts your need and want to socialise and interact with other people.

Exacerbating recidivism

Post-prison reintegration is already a challenge. There’s concerning evidence around recidivism, risk of post-release mortality, social isolation, unemployment and homelessness.

Digital exclusion creates an additional barrier for those who are older, who already face a high risk of medical and social marginalisation. A former prisoner said:

Think about it, after being in ten years, well you think, okay, where do I start? And everything is hard. And sometimes this is why people fall back into their same situations because it’s just too hard.

Read more:
‘They weren’t there when I needed them’: we asked former prisoners what happens when support services fail

Technology isn’t completely absent from Australian prisons, but interviewees described the programs and technology as outdated, basic or limited in relevance to their immediate daily, post-release lives.

Recent attempts to bring in touchscreen devices to NSW prisons suggests positive change. However, our interviewees claimed there was a lack of education around these, adding to the risk of digital division even within the prison.

What can be done?

There must be investment in specific digital literacy or technology readiness programs tailored to the unique needs of this population both prior to, and following release.

The interviewees provided suggestions for how such programs could be delivered and a keenness to engage with them. They tended to focus on learning in environments free from stigma and judgement of their literacy level or histories, with hands-on experience and face to face support. Interviewees favoured learning while in prison, with additional support available on the outside. Three interviewees said:

If they could somehow incorporate it into the prisons where you know, they actually showed them how to use them and how to download an app and how to use the basic apps such as, you know, Centrelink, MyGov, it’d be a lot better life for them when they get out.

I think a lot of ex-prisoners shy away from doing these community type education stuff. Because they’re paranoid, basically.

As you’d be aware, it’s no good someone’s sitting there telling you how it works, you need to experience it yourself.

At a broader level, improving the digital inclusion of people in prison requires attitudinal change by government stakeholders and the community. Ultimately, it calls for a commitment to practices that put rehabilitation at the centre, whilst managing competing needs for security and segregation.

Based on the evidence, we can be certain this will encourage positive change for the 95% of Australian prisoners who will eventually be released.

Ye In (Jane) Hwang has received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, the Australian Association of Gerontology, and the University of New South Wales Ageing Futures Institute for this work.

– ref. Many prisoners go years without touching a smartphone. It means they struggle to navigate life on the outside – https://theconversation.com/many-prisoners-go-years-without-touching-a-smartphone-it-means-they-struggle-to-navigate-life-on-the-outside-224138

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University

You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. They might also check your weight. Looking concerned, they recommend some lifestyle changes.

GPs and health professionals commonly measure waist circumference as a vital sign for health. This is a better indicator than body mass index (BMI) of the amount of intra-abdominal fat. This is the really risky fat around and within the organs that can drive heart disease and metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes.

Men are at greatly increased risk of health issues if their waist circumference is greater than 102 centimetres. Women are considered to be at greater risk with a waist circumference of 88 centimetres or more. More than two-thirds of Australian adults have waist measurements that put them at an increased risk of disease. An even better indicator is waist circumference divided by height or waist-to-height ratio.

But we know people (especially women) have a propensity to gain weight around their middle during midlife, which can be very hard to control. Are they doomed to ill health? It turns out that, although such measurements are important, they are not the whole story when it comes to your risk of disease and death.

Read more:
The body mass index can’t tell us if we’re healthy. Here’s what we should use instead

How much is too much?

Having a waist circumference to height ratio larger than 0.5 is associated with greater risk of chronic disease as well as premature death and this applies in adults of any age. A healthy waist-to-height ratio is between 0.4 to 0.49. A ratio of 0.6 or more places a person at the highest risk of disease.

Some experts recommend waist circumference be routinely measured in patients during health appointments. This can kick off a discussion about their risk of chronic diseases and how they might address this.

Excessive body fat and the associated health problems manifest more strongly during midlife. A range of social, personal and physiological factors come together to make it more difficult to control waist circumference as we age. Metabolism tends to slow down mainly due to decreasing muscle mass because people do less vigorous physical activity, in particular resistance exercise.

For women, hormone levels begin changing in mid-life and this also stimulates increased fat levels particularly around the abdomen. At the same time, this life phase (often involving job responsibilities, parenting and caring for ageing parents) is when elevated stress can lead to increased cortisol which causes fat gain in the abdominal region.

Midlife can also bring poorer sleep patterns. These contribute to fat gain with disruption to the hormones that control appetite.

Finally, your family history and genetics can make you predisposed to gaining more abdominal fat.

Why the waist?

This intra-abdominal or visceral fat is much more metabolically active (it has a greater impact on body organs and systems) than the fat under the skin (subcutaneous fat).

Visceral fat surrounds and infiltrates major organs such as the liver, pancreas and intestines, releasing a variety of chemicals (hormones, inflammatory signals, and fatty acids). These affect inflammation, lipid metabolism, cholesterol levels and insulin resistance, contributing to the development of chronic illnesses.

The issue is particularly evident during menopause. In addition to the direct effects of hormone changes, declining levels of oestrogen change brain function, mood and motivation. These psychological alterations can result in reduced physical activity and increased eating – often of comfort foods high in sugar and fat.

But these outcomes are not inevitable. Diet, exercise and managing mental health can limit visceral fat gains in mid-life. And importantly, the waist circumference (and ratio to height) is just one measure of human health. There are so many other aspects of body composition, exercise and diet. These can have much larger influence on a person’s health.

Read more:
Is menopause making me put on weight? No, but it’s complicated

Muscle matters

The quantity and quality of skeletal muscle (attached to bones to produce movement) a person has makes a big difference to their heart, lung, metabolic, immune, neurological and mental health as well as their physical function.

On current evidence, it is equally or more important for health and longevity to have higher muscle mass and better cardiorespiratory (aerobic) fitness than waist circumference within the healthy range.

So, if a person does have an excessive waist circumference, but they are also sedentary and have less muscle mass and aerobic fitness, then the recommendation would be to focus on an appropriate exercise program. The fitness deficits should be addressed as priority rather than worry about fat loss.

Conversely, a person with low visceral fat levels is not necessarily fit and healthy and may have quite poor aerobic fitness, muscle mass, and strength. The research evidence is that these vital signs of health – how strong a person is, the quality of their diet and how well their heart, circulation and lungs are working – are more predictive of risk of disease and death than how thin or fat a person is.

For example, a 2017 Dutch study followed overweight and obese people for 15 years and found people who were very physically active had no increased heart disease risk than “normal weight” participants.

Read more:
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Getting moving is important advice

Physical activity has many benefits. Exercise can counter a lot of the negative behavioural and physiological changes that are occurring during midlife including for people going through menopause.

And regular exercise reduces the tendency to use food and drink to help manage what can be a quite difficult time in life.

Measuring your waist circumference and monitoring your weight remains important. If the measures exceed the values listed above, then it is certainly a good idea to make some changes. Exercise is effective for fat loss and in particular decreasing visceral fat with greater effectiveness when combined with dietary restriction of energy intake. Importantly, any fat loss program – whether through drugs, diet or surgery – is also a muscle loss program unless resistance exercise is part of the program. Talking about your overall health with a doctor is a great place to start.

Accredited exercise physiologists and accredited practising dietitians are the most appropriate allied health professionals to assess your physical structure, fitness and diet and work with you to get a plan in place to improve your health, fitness and reduce your current and future health risks.

Rob Newton receives funding from National Health and Medical Research Council, the Medical Research Future Fund, Cancer Council Western Australia, Spinal Cord Injuries Australia and the World Cancer Research Fund. Rob Newton is a board member of The Healthy Male.

– ref. Good news: midlife health is about more than a waist measurement. Here’s why – https://theconversation.com/good-news-midlife-health-is-about-more-than-a-waist-measurement-heres-why-226019

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney

Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without their consent. They said it had caused her loved ones extreme distress.

Their appeal is immediately understandable – many people would be upset by seeing photos of a loved one everywhere after such a traumatic event.

The media had evidently not received permission to use these photos in their news stories. Nor had they afforded the family any ethical sense of privacy when they circulated and displayed the photos across multiple platforms.

There has been valuable commentary about the issues surrounding the common journalistic practice of mining social media after a “newsworthy” death.

My PhD research offers further insight into a perspective that is rarely shared: the view of families bereaved through homicide.

While I cannot and do not presume to speak for Good’s family, I have interviewed families bereaved through homicide and they have shared their experience of photos of their loved one being in the media.

Read more:
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Private photos in the public domain

To the bereaved, photos of loved ones are deeply meaningful. They are more than mere objects, more than random captured moments.

They are wrapped up in specific memories and treated as keepsakes. They are representations of and tangible connections to the person who was taken from them.

When these photos enter the public domain following homicide, they become photos of a victim.

In this new domain, private photos serve altogether different purposes. They furnish media stories now and into the future. Their original context and personal meaning are typically overridden or removed, often along with families’ consent.

My research indicates this is an issue that persists long into the aftermath of homicide, well after media and public interest has dissipated.

In other words, it has the capacity to traumatise families for years.

Read more:
Digital ‘death knocks’: is it fair game for journalists to mine social media profiles of victims and their families?

Judging victims

While the mining of photos is one matter, how they are then used by the media and interpreted by the public is another.

My research uncovers how details in a photo can be highlighted and twisted at the expense of others. For example, bereaved families told me how hurtful it was when the media republished unflattering and inappropriate photos of their loved one that were just meant for friends and family.

One mother recalled how her son would do a silly pose and ruin their family photos. He was being a typical teenager, but that was not how he was perceived when the media reproduced those photos alongside their chosen narrative. Instead, the mother read comments made by the public underneath the article that said her son deserved to be murdered. The public judged her son based on those photos.

Similarly, a sister was distraught when the media pulled a photo from her social media of her and her brother where he did not look his best. They were at a party and there is a heart-warming story of the moment before the photo was taken. She explained she loves the photo; it is a happy memory for her, but she said it is for his family to love, not for the public to make assumptions about her brother.

These examples highlight how significant it is for families when the media take a photo out of context, without permission, and curate it to suit specific narratives.

Certainly, it is a practice that exacerbates trauma.

The right to control

I also spoke to families about how they decided which photographs they wanted in the public domain.

One family, whose daughter was murdered before social media was used as a journalistic tool, told me that when they were asked for photos, they were reflective and careful about the ones they shared, choosing to keep their favourite photos to themselves.

Another mother explained her reasoning behind the two photos that she handed over – one because it depicted her daughter as she was at the time of her murder, and the other where she was dressed up, because it showed what she would have been like if she had had the chance to get married.

Bereaved families want photos to be an accurate, presentable, and appropriate portrayal of their loved one.

The photos might be tied to a specific memory or feeling, they might maintain their privacy, they might be chosen because they do not require context, or they might be the one they believe their loved one would have wanted.

The bereaved deserve to be in control of that decision. Allowing them to make that choice themselves gives the bereaved agency at a time when they feel most powerless.

Laura Wajnryb McDonald 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. Some families push back against journalists who mine social media for photos – they have every right to – https://theconversation.com/some-families-push-back-against-journalists-who-mine-social-media-for-photos-they-have-every-right-to-228011

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland

If you’re a fan of all things space, you’ve doubtless heard about the “devil comet”, which has been captivating keen-eyed observers in the northern hemisphere for the past few weeks. Now it’s our turn, as comet 12P/Pons–Brooks is creeping into view for the southern hemisphere.

Before you get too excited, let me quash your hopes. Comet Pons–Brooks is visible to the naked eye, but only if you know where to look. It will look like a fuzzy glowing patch, but nonetheless promises some amazing photo opportunities for the coming weeks.

Even better, it may serve as a celestial warm-up act for an even more special comet later in the year.

Here’s everything you need to know about Pons–Brooks, and how to get the best view.

Why do people call it the ‘devil comet’?

Named after two astronomers who independently discovered it in the 19th century, Comet 12P/Pons–Brooks (its full, official name) was last visible in 1954.

It takes around 71 years to orbit the Sun, making the comet’s visits to the inner Solar System a rare treat for us here on Earth.

At its heart (its nucleus), Pons–Brooks is a dirty snowball around 34 kilometres in diameter. As the comet came swinging back towards us in its orbit, astronomers spotted it back in 2020. At that time, the comet was almost 1.8 billion kilometres from the Sun, and lay dormant.

As the comet kept falling inwards toward the Sun, its surface temperature began to rise, making it “active”. Exposed ices started to sublime, turning directly from solid to gas. This activity is how a comet gets its tail: the nucleus becomes shrouded in a diaphanous “coma” of dust and debris from its sublimated surface, which is then blown away from the Sun by the solar wind.

But comet 12P/Pons–Brooks didn’t activate gently and smoothly. Instead, it produces several large outbursts of activity, each time, emitting vast amounts of gas and dust in a very short period of time before settling down again.

In the first of those significant outbursts, on July 20, 2023, the comet brightened by a factor of a hundred times, shedding an estimated ten million metric tons of dust and ice.

The solar wind pushed the resulting dust, gas and debris away from the Sun, giving the comet an unusual appearance. To some, the comet looked like the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars. To others, it looked vaguely demonic – sporting the cometary equivalent of horns.

The moniker of “devil comet” took hold in media articles and appears to have stuck – even though the comet’s horned appearance is now a thing of the past.

Where (and when) should I look?

Over the last few days, the first confirmed sightings of 12P/Pons–Brooks have come in from around Australia. It is currently visible low in the western sky after sunset, albeit almost lost in the glow of twilight.

In the next few weeks, the comet will slowly climb higher in the evening sky. The two videos below show the location of the comet’s head at 6:30pm from mid-April through to mid-June, as seen from Toowoomba and Melbourne.

Remember, the comet is a diffuse object, rather than a single point of light. The head is where the comet is brightest (centred on its nucleus). The comet’s tails point away from the Sun – so will rise upwards from the western horizon in the evening sky.

While the comet is visible with the naked eye, you really need to know where to look. The best bet is to search with binoculars. Make sure to wait until the Sun is well below the horizon. Once you find the telltale blur of the comet, you will know where to look, and can switch to see if you can spot it with the naked eye.

For me, the most exciting time with Pons–Brooks will come during the first two weeks of May. At that point, the comet will be passing underneath the constellation Orion, which will serve as a signpost.

That period will be prime astrophotography season, so I expect to see many spectacular images of the comet’s tails cutting through the celestial hunter, shining next to the spectacular nebulae dotted throughout Orion’s body.

Read more:
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But wait… there’s more!

While comet 12P/Pons–Brooks currently basks in the limelight, a potentially great comet is currently moving sunward, promising a spectacular show later this year.

That comet, C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), was discovered in January 2023, and astronomers soon realised it has the potential to become truly dazzling.

Comet behaviour is hard to predict, so take the following with a pinch of salt, but things still look really promising.

Current predictions suggest Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will be at least as bright as the brightest stars in late September and early October this year. During that time, it will pass almost directly between Earth and the Sun. It might even briefly become visible in broad daylight at that time.

In the days following that chance alignment, the comet will gradually become visible in the evening sky and could be an incredible sight, up to a hundred times brighter than Pons–Brooks at its best.

So, with any luck, the current apparition of 12P/Pons–Brooks is merely the warm-up act, with an even greater spectacle to come later this year. Fingers crossed!

Jonti Horner 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 ‘devil comet’ 12P/Pons-Brooks has finally become visible from Australia. What can we expect? – https://theconversation.com/the-devil-comet-12p-pons-brooks-has-finally-become-visible-from-australia-what-can-we-expect-226625

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Hamlin, Senior Lecturer in Marketing , University of Otago

A multi-billion dollar stadium precinct has been proposed for Auckland, one of three proposals in front of Auckland Council for a new stadium in the city. The council is also considering revamping Eden Park. But is a new stadium really value for money for Auckland ratepayers?

Large stadiums are sold as an economic boon for cities. But the reality is these multimillion-dollar investments tend to require significant investment from local and regional councils.

These stadiums are often opposed by sections of the communities asked to pay for them. And once built, they stand empty most of the time.

Why then do local governments keep proposing them? The answer lies in the lofty promises from those supporting the projects – and the questionable calculations used to get them over the line.

For the love of the game

Rugby Union is the principal user of large stadiums in New Zealand. When the game was still amateur, it was expected to build and maintain its own stadiums. For example, Carisbrook in Dunedin was initially built by the Otago Rugby Football Union, while Eden Park was built by various Auckland sports associations.

But with the professionalisation of rugby in 1995 the expectation changed. Taxpayers and ratepayers started paying significant amounts for construction of rugby and “multi-use” stadiums.

Two large (over 30,000 capacity) new stadiums have been built in New Zealand since 1999 (Wellington’s Sky Stadium and Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium), with one more currently under construction (Te Kaha in Christchurch). And there is the proposed Auckland stadium, currently in front of a council working group.

Read more:
Note to governments: sports stadiums should benefit everyone, not just fans

Out of the four, only Wellington’s Sky Stadium has been designed to be used for both rugby and cricket. The others have a fixed “natural grass” rugby pitch as their main arena.

According to information released under a Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act request, there have been just 30 major events at the Forsyth Barr rugby stadium in Dunedin since 2014 – three a year. And there are no major live music acts set to perform there in the next 18 months.

The last major concert was Pink, who performed at the stadium last month. Ed Sheeran cited the shape of the stadium – rectangular rather than oval – as a reason for skipping the city on his 2023 world tour.

Costs and benefits

While Christchurch’s Te Kaha has been ratepayer funded from the outset, the consortium behind one of the proposed stadiums in Auckland claims there will be zero cost to ratepayers.

But a feasibility report commissioned by former Auckland mayor Phil Goff on the possibility of a new stadium raised questions about the cost for Auckland ratepayers, how much they would be expected to pay, and what sort of profit would be gained from a new stadium.

Whether it is there from the outset or creeps in later, the case for funding from the community is usually based on “economic impact analysis”. This argument is based on taking a large event and claiming everything the attendees do and spend in the town that day is as a direct outcome of the stadium being there.

This figure is then increased via what is known as an “economic impact multiplier” to create a topline figure in support of the stadiums. The exact calculations behind this figure are not always made clear.

However, this headline figure is flawed. Any local attendee would normally have spent the money in the community anyway, for example. And events may have been held in the community at existing venues before the new stadium was built.

Borrowing and interest costs

The cost of the debt that is incurred to build these stadiums is also high.

Te Kaha, which cost NZ$683 million to build, was promoted as having an annual $50 million positive economic for the region once it opened. But at the same time, Christchurch ratepayers are expected to pay the majority of the construction costs ($453m), while the crown invested $220m.

A significant part of the council investment was borrowed, meaning ratepayers will also be paying for the interest on this debt.

Read more:
Offside: The secret deals involving public money for sports stadiums

Rates increases have become a key source of funding for Te Kaha. The stadium was solely responsible for a 2% increase in Christchurch rates this year – about $94 for an average ratepayer, increasing to $209 during the 2027-28 financial year.

As Auckland councillors consider the proposed waterfront stadium, the city’s leaders need to consider both the cost and the benefit of the development – not just the headline economic impact.

For ratepayers expected to foot some or all of the bill, rates increases and other infrastructure needs could outweigh the benefits of a place to watch sport.

Robert Hamlin 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. Rugby stadiums are sold as an economic asset – but NZ needs to ask if they’re really worth it – https://theconversation.com/rugby-stadiums-are-sold-as-an-economic-asset-but-nz-needs-to-ask-if-theyre-really-worth-it-224951

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University

Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a likely third consecutive victory in the Indian general election, starting today.

While much ink has been spilled on Modi’s populist leadership and personality cult, the same does not hold for the party organisation that he and his close ally, Amit Shah, have developed over the past decade. Yet, this has been crucial to the party’s electoral success. How?

As part of my research on members of right-wing populist parties, I’ve conducted interviews with dozens of BJP party members and officials. (They spoke to me on condition of anonymity, so are only represented by their first initial here).

What I’ve found is the BJP’s grassroots organisation fuels its dominance at the ballot box in four key ways: 1) campaigning; 2) diffusion of Hindu nationalist ideology; 3) implementation of welfare programs; and 4) party survival.

A well-oiled campaign machine

Maintaining a large membership-based organisation provides the BJP with a campaign machine that has no equal in India.

Since 2014, Shah, the former president of the party and current Home Affairs minister, has conducted regular mass recruitment campaigns to help the party become what is believed to be the largest in the world. It claims to have some 180 million members.

The focus of this organisation is on the polling booth. During election campaigns, BJP grassroots members are assigned a booth where they collect as much information as possible on voters and then try to persuade them to vote for the BJP.

S., a Marathi soap business owner active in the BJP’s women wing, described their campaigning to me like this:

Each booth has ten women, and each woman is allotted 15 houses where they roam around for about three days [before election day]. They check who is there, if anyone has passed away. They check how voting will happen. They compile data on that and, on election day, since they have already known each other for a few days, they check in with these people – see if they have voted, if they are getting out to vote.

No other political party, including the Congress Party which dominated Indian politics for decades, can rely on this type of large membership and tight organisation. The BJP is effectively engaging in micro-campaigning on a nationwide scale, and so gaining a significant advantage in mobilising voters.

Training members in Hindu nationalism

In addition, the BJP is the Indian party with the most well-defined ideological platform, which combines fervent Hindu nationalism with right-wing populism based on religious polarisation. Its grassroots organisation enables the BJP to socialise and train its members in this ideology.

My research on both BJP party voters and members shows how these people hold right-wing populist attitudes and worldviews that closely match the party’s platform.

In the case of grassroots members, these ideologies are ingrained through an extensive training network.

J., a doctor and BJP member from Surat (Gujarat), explained to me:

Once a year, for two to three days, there are experts on various subjects who come and train us. There are trainings for different things. The history of the BJP, the ideology of the BJP, the performance of the BJP.

S., a retired school principal, from the same city, said members are also taught “how to communicate with people – we should reach people’s hearts”.

This means that when they campaign in elections, BJP party members are adept at mobilising new followers based on the party’s ideological platform, which has been central to its success over the last decade.

Read more:
With democracy under threat in Narendra Modi’s India, how free and fair will this year’s election be?

Bringing welfare to the poor

Alongside Hindu nationalism, the expansion of welfare to hundreds of millions of low-income earners is another reason why Modi is so popular. He always makes sure to put the words “prime minister” before the names of welfare programs and print his face on handouts.

When it comes to welfare program implementation, however, it is BJP party members who do the heavy lifting. According to my interviews, this was the main activity of party members, whether in the form of cleaning the streets, distributing food or setting up bank accounts for the poor.

As P., a young consultant from Vadodara (Gujarat), told me:

Whenever there is any government scheme for the needy people, we go to them and make them aware. We try to be a bridge between the government and people.

This was the case, for example, of M., a Gujarati woman who helped set up self-help groups for women so that they could “stand on their own two feet”.

We teach them how to make wicks, to make sanitary pads, to make incense sticks.

These schemes are very popular among the Indian public. And evidence shows the beneficiaries were more likely to vote for the BJP in the 2019 general election.

Read more:
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Party survival is a priority

Finally, the extensive grassroots party organisation enables the BJP to thrive by providing a steady source of candidates, officials and leaders.

Members affirmed that the BJP, contrary to other parties, is meritocratic when it comes to the distribution of offices. As N., a Marathi car shop owner, explained:

The BJP is not dominated by one family. All workers are considered equal, and ordinary workers can get promoted to higher posts.

Indeed, my research on dynasticism among Indian parties found that in the 2019 election, just 17% of the candidates fielded by the BJP were from a political family (as opposed to 27% in the Congress Party).

Even though some BJP members did complain to me about candidates being “parachuted” in from other parties without having served their time, the BJP remains a party in which long-standing grassroots members can pursue a political career.

Maintaining a large membership also facilitates the BJP’s survival in the long run. In the words of P., the Gujarati consultant mentioned above:

Today the BJP is ruling because we have full-time workers. It’s one of the biggest strengths of the party. We have seen one Modi, but we have thousands of Modis.

Sofia Ammassari 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. ‘We have thousands of Modis’: the secret behind the BJP’s enduring success in India – https://theconversation.com/we-have-thousands-of-modis-the-secret-behind-the-bjps-enduring-success-in-india-227373

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University

During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone away.

What are online schools doing now? What does the research say? And how do you know if they might be a good fit for your child?

Online learning in Australia

Online learning for school students has been around in basic form since the 1990s with the School of the Air and other government-run distance education schools for students who are geographically isolated or can’t attend regular school.

But until the pandemic, online schooling was largely considered a special-case scenario. For example, for students who are in hospital or training as an elite athlete.

While learning in COVID lockdowns was extremely tough, it also showed schools, students and parents the potential benefits of online learning for a wider range of students. This can include greater accessibility (learning from any location) and flexibility (personalised, self-paced learning).

Students who have mental health challenges or who are neurodiverse particularly found learning from home suited them better. There is also less hassle with transport and uniforms.

This has prompted an expansion of online learning options in Australia.

Primary and high school options

Some schools have been developing online subjects and options to sit alongside in-person classes. For example, in New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory, some Catholic schools are using online classes to widen subject choices.

Some private schools have also begun fully online or blended online/in-person programs in the recognition some students prefer to learn largely from home.

There are also specialist courses. For example, Monash University has a free virtual school with revision sessions for Year 12 students.

Read more:
Australia has a new online-only private school: what are the options if the mainstream system doesn’t suit your child?

What about academic outcomes?

Research on the academic outcomes of distance education students is inconclusive.

For example, a 2019 US study of around 200,000 full-time online primary and secondary students showed they had less learning growth in maths and reading compared to their face-to-face peers.

A 2017 study of primary and high school students in Ohio found reduced academic progress in reading, maths, history and science. Another 2017 US study also found online students had lower graduation rates than their in-person peers.

Research has also found it is difficult to authentically teach practical subjects online such as visual arts, design and technology and physical education.

But a lot of research has been limited to a specific contexts or has not captured whether online learning principles have been followed. Online teaching approaches need to be different from traditional face-to-face methods.

These include ensuring there is an adequate number of teachers allocated and personalised attention for students, and ways to ensure collaboration between students and parental engagement with the school.

What about wellbeing?

Online schooling approaches are still catching up with the support services provided by in-person schools. This includes access to specialists such as psychologists, nurses and social workers.

Some research has noted concerns about online student engagement, social isolation, sense of belonging and social and emotional development.

But COVID showed schools could address these by starting the school day with wellbeing check-ins or supporting mental health through meditation, deep listening journals and taking nature photos.

Online approaches now also include having mentor teachers or summer programs to meet in-person as well as online clubs for students to socialise with each other.

Read more:
As homeschooling numbers keep rising in Australia, is more regulation a good idea?

Is online learning a good fit for your child?

Traditional schooling might still be the best option for families who do not have good internet access, or the flexibility or financial freedom to work from home and support your child.

However, if certain subjects are unavailable, or health, elite sport and distance to school make in-person learning difficult, learning online could be a viable option to consider.

Because online learning tends to be a mix of live lessons and self-paced learning, online students need to be independent, motivated and organised to succeed.

The best online learning programs to look out for are those that provide a lot of opportunities for students to learn from each other.

Online learning should also include an active teacher presence, wellbeing support, and quality, interactive digital resources. There should also be flexible approaches to learning and assessment.

Brendon Hyndman is Senior Manager – Research, Innovation and Impact with Brisbane Catholic Education.

Vaughan Cruickshank 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. Online schooling is not just for lockdowns. Could it work for your child? – https://theconversation.com/online-schooling-is-not-just-for-lockdowns-could-it-work-for-your-child-227770

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy.

However, in the health sector this need for speed entails policy risks that could come back to bite the government before the next election.

The biggest such risk comes from the disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority-Te Aka Whai Ora. This required an amendment to the Pae Ora Act, pushed through under urgency, to remove all references to the Māori Health Authority and its relationships with other entities from the law.

Unlike other law changes (such as the repeal of New Zealand’s smokefree law), the dismantling of the Māori Health Authority had been clearly signalled during the election campaign and in the coalition agreements.

Few people doubted the government would follow through. But it has exposed itself to unnecessary risks and the speed of change could become a liability.

More health sector confusion

There was no practical need for the amendment to be passed under urgency, without the scrutiny of the select committee process.

This approach may provide an electoral sugar hit for the coalition parties, but it could also sow the seeds for practical and political difficulties in health policy later in the parliamentary term and beyond.

While the parts of the act referring to the Māori Health Authority have been excised, the act retains its primary focus on reducing health inequities. The planning, reporting and accountability requirements still reflect this policy direction.

To date, health minister Shane Reti has avoided using the words “equity” or “inequities”, instead preferring a generic focus on improving health outcomes, including for Māori. But the planning and decision making mandated under the legislation still require government health agencies to address health inequities.

The amendment has also delayed the establishment of “localities” – 60 to 80 local networks of government and community health organisations that co-design and deliver community-based services. Under Pae Ora, all regions were to have localities established by July this year and plans produced by July 2025. This timeline has now been pushed out by five years.

The government may well decide to make further amendments to Pae Ora, but in the meantime, the gap between its rhetoric and the policy priorities embedded in the legislation creates an existential bind for the Ministry of Health and Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora.

Read more:
Ending the ‘postcode lottery’ in health is more than a technical fix – it means fundamentally reorganising our systems

Many structural changes introduced by the former Labour government in 2022 remain. Despite having misgivings about the re-centralisation of the health system, the government has not reversed the merging of 20 District Health Boards into Health New Zealand.

Minister Reti has also indicated that iwi Māori partnership boards will have a significant role in the health system. But with the removal of the Māori Health Authority and hitting the pause button on localities, it is not yet clear what this role will be.

Health targets rebooted

Other changes resemble initiatives introduced during the last National-led government in 2009, including specific health targets.

The health targets involve specified performance levels, such as ensuring that 95% of patients visiting emergency departments are seen within six hours.

When these targets were last tried during the 2010s, some reported improvements such as fewer deaths in emergency departments were real. Others were achieved by gaming the system.

Examples included falsifying data (stopping the clock) of when patients left the emergency department and placing untreated patients in short-stay units which were not subject to the target. We don’t yet know how the government plans to avoid such unintended consequences.

In another policy change, the government allocated NZ$5.7 million of temporary funding late last year for hospitals to contract more security guards in emergency departments. This was to address the growing problem of violence and aggression towards doctors, nurses and other emergency department staff.

But this is another example of a PR-driven approach. This earmarked funding has now ceased. Health New Zealand bears either the cost of continuing to fund security guards or the reputational risk of their reduced presence.

Other policy items include the expansion of the maximum age of eligibility for breast cancer screening from 69 to 74 and the commitment to develop a plan toward establishing a third medical school at the University of Waikato.

Read more:
New Zealand’s health restructure is doomed to fall short unless its funding model is tackled first

Both these policies will have reasonable support within the organisations responsible for them. But the extension of breast cancer screening will face challenges of workforce capacity and the rollout will be gradual.

Progress to date on the third medical school is the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the government and the university. If it goes ahead, it won’t have any impact before the mid-2030s.

The government may have already dented minister Reti’s chances of building positive relationships with health sector leaders and interest groups. The Māori Health Authority had widespread support from health sector groups. Alongside everyone else who had a view or an interest, these groups had no opportunity to have input on its disestablishment.

Along with the health sector groups’ vocal opposition to the u-turn on the smokefree legislation and the looming prospect of budgetary austerity, the coalition government has arguably already created a rocky relationship with the sector.

While governments often draw criticism from the health sector, few have done so quite this rapidly.

Tim Tenbensel receives funding from the Health Research Council. He is affiliated with Health Coalition Aotearoa.

– ref. Why the government’s haste in changing the health system could come back to haunt it – https://theconversation.com/why-the-governments-haste-in-changing-the-health-system-could-come-back-to-haunt-it-227552

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney

Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, it has become normalised as a part of Australian culture.

While for some, gambling might be a source of entertainment, for others, it can lead to significant harms.

Gambling and mental illness

Research consistently shows gambling problems often occur alongside other common mental illnesses and substance use disorders. We see particularly strong links between gambling disorder and nicotine dependence, alcohol use disorders, mood disorders such as depression, and anxiety.

In many cases, harms associated with gambling lead to poor mental health. But people experiencing mental illness are also at greater risk of experiencing gambling problems.

Gambling harms exist on a spectrum. For some time, there’s been a focus on those people who develop a gambling disorder, where they have recurring problems with gambling, leading to clinically significant distress and impairment in their daily life.

But we must also look at those who are on a different part of the spectrum, yet still experiencing gambling-related harms.

A person might not have a diagnosable gambling disorder, however they still may face problems in their life as a result of gambling. These can include problems in their relationships, financial debts, and negative effects on work or study. All these things can contribute to poor mental health.

Read more:
We’re told to ‘gamble responsibly’. But what does that actually mean?

Gambling and suicide

Feelings such as stress and isolation, possibly compounded by mental illness, may cause some people with gambling problems to feel like there’s no way out.

Research from different countries has shown that among people receiving treatment for problem gambling, between 22% and 81% have thought about suicide, and 7% to 30% have made an attempt.

Some 44% of Australian veterans experiencing gambling problems have thought about suicide, while almost 20% have made a suicide plan or attempt.

A recent Victorian investigation into gambling-related suicides assessed records from the Coroners Court of Victoria between 2009 and 2016. The researchers found gambling-related suicides comprised at least 4% of all suicides in Victoria over this period, or around 200 suicides.

Gambling-related suicides were more likely to affect males (83%) compared to total suicide deaths in Victoria over the same period (75%). They were significantly more likely to occur among those who were most disadvantaged.

The researchers note these statistics underestimate the true number of gambling-related suicides. This is because, unlike for drugs and alcohol, at present there’s no systematic way gambling is captured as a contributing factor in suicide deaths.

When we also take into account the number of people who may have considered suicide, or survived a gambling-related suicide attempt, we can see the problem is likely to be significantly bigger than these statistics indicate.

Gambling is inherently risky

Electronic gaming machines, more commonly known in Australia as “pokies”, are the product most strongly associated with harmful gambling. Evidence shows pokies alone are responsible for more than half of all gambling problems in Australia.

Casino table games are equally risky, but in the general population they contribute much less to problem gambling because fewer people play them.

While gambling itself comes with a degree of risk, individual vulnerabilities can place certain people at even greater risk of harm. As well as people with mental illness, men are at higher risk of gambling problems than women. People who are single or divorced are at higher risk compared to people who are married. People with higher levels of income and education are at lower risk.

What can we do?

Angela Rintoul, the lead author of the Victorian research mentioned above, this week published an article in the Medical Journal of Australia in which she argued gambling-related suicides are preventable.

She suggested health professionals could make it part of their routine practice to ask simple questions like “in the past 12 months, have you ever felt that you had a problem with gambling?”. Or, “has anyone commented that you might have a problem with gambling?”.

Rintoul also discussed strategies governments could adopt, such as a complete ban on gambling advertising, and a universal account registration system to allow people to set limits on their gambling losses.

To reduce gambling-related suicides, we need to see policy change. In June 2023, a cross-party committee presented a report with 31 recommendations to reduce harms from online gambling in Australia.

One of these recommendations was a comprehensive ban on online gambling advertising. But the government is yet to respond to the report.

Read more:
Celebrities, influencers, loopholes: online gambling advertising faces an uncertain future in Australia

Advice for people who gamble

For people who do choose to gamble, it’s important to be aware of the risks. Understand how gambling and poker machines really work, and that they’re there to make money for venue owners, not to provide wins for players.

If you choose to gamble, set limits on the amount of money you’re willing to loose, or the amount of time you will spend gambling. The Lower Risk Gambling Guidelines for Australians suggest following these three recommendations:

• gamble no more than 2% of your take-home pay

• gamble no more than once a week

• take part in no more than two different types of gambling.

If you notice you’re thinking about gambling more and more, or that it’s causing problems in any part of your life, seeking help early is key. Speak to your GP about how you can get some extra support, or visit Gambling Help Online.

If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Anastasia Hronis 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. Many suicides are related to gambling. How can we tackle this problem? – https://theconversation.com/many-suicides-are-related-to-gambling-how-can-we-tackle-this-problem-228017

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia

Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day?

We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific literature. We searched for meaningful comparisons of insect activity by day and by night. It turns out only about 100 studies have ever attempted the daunting and rigorous fieldwork required – so we compiled them together to work out the answer.

Our global analysis confirms there are indeed more insects out at night than during the day, on average. Almost a third more (31.4%), to be precise. But this also varies extensively, depending on where you are in the world.

High nocturnal activity may come as no surprise to entomologists and nature photographers. Many of us prowl through jungles wearing head torches, or camp next to light traps hoping to encounter these jewels of the night.

But this is the first time anyone has been able to give a definitive answer to this universal childlike question. And now we know for sure, we can make more strident efforts to conserve insects and preserve their vital place in the natural world.

Building a global dataset of sleepless nights

We searched the literature for studies that sampled insect communities systematically across day and night.

We narrowed these down to studies using methods that would not influence the results. For instance, we excluded studies that collected insects by using sweep nets or beating branches, as these methods can capture resting insects along with active ones.

Studies using light traps or coloured pan traps had to be excluded too. That’s because insects are only attracted to these well-lit traps when there’s low light in the surrounding environment, so they don’t work so well during the day.

Read more:
The surprising reason why insects circle lights at night: They lose track of the sky

Instead, we targeted studies that sampled insects during the day and night with traps that specifically caught moving insects. These include pitfall traps (for crawling insects), flight interception traps (for flying insects) and aquatic drift nets (for swimming insects).

We also accepted studies using food baits such as dung, for some beetles or honey (for ants).

One of the most memorable studies we encountered sampled mosquitoes using (unfortunate) human subjects as bait. Another had devised innovative automatic time-sorted pitfall traps to minimise the labour required, as the specimens collected would automatically be delivered into different compartments at different times of the day.

But in most of the studies that we ended up including in our analysis, the data had been collected by entomologists who set up many traps before dawn, returned before sunset to collect the day’s samples and prepare more traps for the night, and finally, returned once more before dawn to retrieve the night’s samples.

To improve their estimates of insect activity, many studies reported data that spanned multiple days and field sites. The sacrifice of sleep in the name of science is a true testament to their dedication.

Eventually, we honed in on 99 studies published between 1959 and 2022. These studies spanned all continents except Antarctica and encompassed a wide range of habitats on both land and water.

What did we find?

We found more mayflies, caddisflies, moths and earwigs at night. On the other hand, there were more thrips, bees, wasps and ants during the day.

Nocturnal activity was more common in wetlands and waterways. In these aquatic areas, there could be twice as many insects active during the night.

In contrast, land-based insects were generally more active during the day, especially in grasslands and savannas. We found the number of insects out and about could triple during the day in these habitats.

This may have something to do with avoiding predators. Fish tend to hunt aquatic insects during the day, whereas nocturnal animals such as bats make life on land more hazardous at night.

We also found insects were more active at night in warmer parts of the globe, where there are higher maximum temperatures. Insects are “ectotherms”, which means they are unable to regulate their body temperature. They are particularly susceptible to extremes in temperature, both hot and cold. This finding underscores the role of climate in regulating insect activity.

Given temperatures peak during the day, higher maximum temperatures may foster increased nocturnal activity as more individuals seek to avoid heat stress by working in the dark.

Findings underscore the threats to nocturnal insects

Insects perform many vital “ecosystem services” such as pollination, nutrient cycling and pest control. Many of these services may be provided at night, when more insects are active.

This means we need to curtail some of our own activities to support theirs. For instance, artificial lighting is detrimental to nocturnal insects.

Our research also points to the threat of global warming. In the hottest regions of the globe such as the tropics, the warming trend may further reduce the activity of nocturnal insects that struggle to cope with heat. To this end, we hope our study motivates day-loving ecologists to embrace night-time ecology.

Insects are among the most diverse and important organisms on our planet. Studying their intricate rhythms represents not just a scientific endeavour, but an imperative for preserving wildlife.

Read more:
Insects will struggle to keep pace with global temperature rise – which could be bad news for humans

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. Things that go buzz in the night – our global study found there really are more insects out after dark – https://theconversation.com/things-that-go-buzz-in-the-night-our-global-study-found-there-really-are-more-insects-out-after-dark-226014

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia

In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay systems fairer and more effective.

With more information on how much certain tasks and roles are valued, employees can better understand and interpret pay differences, and advocate for themselves. When pay is weakly aligned with employee contributions, pay transparency can be embarrassing for firms.

As the government continues to legislate for pay transparency, wise employers should move to identify – and correct – both real and perceived inequities.

The salary taboo

At one extreme, imagine that you work for California-based tech company Buffer, which develops social media tools.

Buffer lists the salary of every company employee, in descending order, on its website. Salaries are non-negotiable and all Buffer employees receive a standard pay raise each year. Prospective job applicants can use Buffer’s online salary calculator to estimate their pay.

Does Buffer’s pay system make you cheer – “yay, no uncomfortable salary negotiations!”, or squirm – “what, my salary is on the website?”

Most probably, both. There is a persistent social norm researchers call the salary taboo. We want to know, but we don’t like to ask, and we definitely don’t want anyone to know that we’re asking.

In Norway, an app that enabled users to access neighbors’ tax-reported income was enormously popular – but only while the user could remain anonymous.

Read more:
QANTAS pays women 37% less, Telstra and BHP 20%. Fifty years after equal pay laws, we still have a long way to go

The problem with not knowing

Historically, companies have given employees only minimal information about their pay systems, and some have even prohibited them from sharing their own pay information.

Such non-transparency creates two big problems.

First, managers place too much trust in organisational systems. The more managers become convinced that pay decisions accurately reflect employee contributions, the less diligent they become about monitoring their own personal biases. Without accountability, it’s easy for an organisation’s pay system to drift into inequity.

Second, in the absence of comparative information, employees often suspect they are being underpaid – even if they aren’t.

In a survey of over 380,000 employees by data firm Payscale, 57% of employees paid at the market rate and 42% of people paid above the market rate all believed they were being underpaid.

However, unfounded it might be, a nagging sense of inequity can drive people out the door. Payscale estimates that people who think they are underpaid are 50% more likely than other employees to seek a new job in the next six months.

Pay transparency is trending

Broadly speaking, pay transparency policies see companies report their pay levels or ranges, explain their pay-setting processes, or encourage their employees to share pay information.

Some companies voluntarily share pay information in response to workforce demand, but there’s also a trend toward mandating pay transparency.

In Australia, pay secrecy terms are banned from employment contracts and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency is publishing employers’ gender pay gaps.

Read more:
Pay secrecy clauses are now banned in Australia; here’s how that could benefit you

The European Union’s Pay Transparency Directive already publishes gender pay gaps and requires employers to provide comparative pay data to employees upon request. Several US states and cities now require employers to include salary ranges in their recruitment materials.

Pay transparency usually has positive effects

In equitable pay systems, pay differences align with the differential values employees bring to the business. When pay systems are transparent, it’s easy for employees to recognise when they – and their coworkers – are being appropriately rewarded for their contributions.

Evidence is building that such transparency is often a good thing.

For one, it can increase employee performance and job satisfaction. People also generally underestimate their bosses’ salaries, so pay transparency can inspire employees to aspire to higher-paid senior positions. And pay transparency identifies staff with unique expertise, so employees seek help from the right coworkers.

Pay transparency has also been shown to help narrow gender pay gaps. As pay transparency rules spread across public academic institutions in the US, the pay gap between male and female academics dramatically narrowed (in some states, it was even eliminated).

In Denmark, where firms are now required to provide pay statistics that compare men and women, the national gender pay gap has declined by 13% relative to the pre-legislation average.

But it can still be risky

Every pay system has pockets of unfairness, where managers have made special arrangements to attract or retain talent. Pay transparency exposes these exceptions, so they can be immediately explained or corrected.

But if there are too many such pockets, managers need to brace for a productivity downturn. When pay transparency reveals systematic inequities – for example, disparities based on gender – overall organisational productivity declines.

Over the long run, pay transparency leads to flatter and narrower pay distributions, but distributions can also be too flat and too narrow. Managers making pay decisions are aware that their decisions will be directly scrutinised and may become reluctant to assign high wages even for high performance.

If pay loses its motivating potential, employees can become disheartened, especially star performers.

Proceed with caution

As stakeholders on this issue demand more transparency, employers would be wise to stay ahead of legislative moves.

Independently making the first move is a show of good faith and can unfold in stages. A good first step is to reveal the pay ranges associated with groups of related roles, giving employers time to conduct internal audits, communicate with employees and systematically correct inequities as they surface.

In contrast, having to reveal pay data because of a government mandate can publicly expose patterns of inequity and cause permanent damage to a company’s reputation.

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

– ref. Why don’t Australians talk about their salaries? Pay transparency and fairness go hand-in-hand – https://theconversation.com/why-dont-australians-talk-about-their-salaries-pay-transparency-and-fairness-go-hand-in-hand-224067

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

When ASIO boss Mike Burgess delivered his annual threat assessment earlier this year, he stressed the rising danger posed by espionage and foreign interference.

“In 2024, threats to our way of life have surpassed terrorism as Australia’s principal security concern,” he said.

But ASIO also remained concerned about “lone actors” – individuals or small groups under the radar of authorities with the potential to “use readily available weapons to carry out an act of terrorism”.

It was a concern “across the spectrum of motivations – religious and ideological”.

With minor variations, Burgess might have been describing what allegedly happened at Sydney’s Wakeley Assyrian Orthodox Church on Monday night, where Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was attacked with a very “readily available weapon” – a knife.

Monday’s incident would have set off shock waves in ordinary times, especially given it was followed by an ugly riot as angry locals converged on the scene, trying to get at the alleged perpetrator, a 16-year-old boy.

In this case, the fear the attack triggered was dramatically heightened by context.

Tensions, especially in western Sydney, are much elevated because of the Middle East conflict. And the Wakeley attack came just two days after the Bondi shopping centre stabbings, which killed six people. While that atrocity did not fall under the definition of “terrorism”, inevitably the two incidents were conflated by an alarmed public.

The mix, further stirred by incendiary social media, increases the difficulty of keeping a sense of proportion about the church incident, which isn’t the first instance of a terrorist act in Australia and presumably won’t be the last.

We don’t know the background of the attack on the bishop. We do know that the wider pressures on our social cohesion – including dramatic rises in antisemitism and Islamophobia – are deeply troubling. Australia’s multiculturalism is enduring unprecedented strains, with all the difficulties that brings for political and community leaders.

When there are security crises, terror-related or not, the default call is, not surprisingly, for authorities to DO SOMETHING. More police (or security guards). Greater law enforcement powers. Tougher penalties. New controls on social media. (After the church incident, the eSafety commissioner ordered tech companies to take down images of the attack. These were widely available, because the church service had been live-streamed.)

Sometimes calls for action may be warranted, but often they’re little more than a knee-jerk response – and can open other debates (for example, over the justification for censoring certain images but not others).

The challenge for political leaders is not just dealing with the immediate increasing threats to cohesion, but with longer term policy.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently flagged, when he met a Jewish youth group, that the government planned to appoint an envoy against antisemitism (a post existing in other countries) and a matching envoy against Islamophobia. There’s no timetable for these appointments.

Looking to the future, what’s unclear, given the present tensions, is the likely trajectory of Australia’s multiculturalism.

Will the strains worsen, seriously fracturing the society? Or will they ameliorate in the years to come? Multiculturalism is likely in transition, but what will be its pathway? And what are the political implications?

Labor is particularly worried about the erosion of its support among Muslim voters in western Sydney seats.

The cat was belled on the suburban multicultural vote in 2022, ironically not by a Muslim candidate but a Christian of Vietnamese heritage. Dai Le, whose family fled the Vietnam war, seized the previously safe Labor seat of Fowler in Sydney’s outer south-west.

It remains to be seen whether this is a one-off, or if more strong independent candidates will start to emerge as people from multicultural communities fight for a bigger direct presence in politics, or to exert more influence through strategic voting.

A recently-registered group called Muslim Votes Matter styles itself as “shaping our future through informed voting and collective influence”. It says on its website, “There are over 20 seats where the Muslim community collectively has the potential deciding vote”.

Kos Samaras, from the Redbridge Group, a political consultancy, says “the fire” has been raging for some years in multicultural communities in areas such as north-western Melbourne and western Sydney. The Israel-Hamas war has obviously fuelled it.

Samaras says the Muslim political alienation from the major parties has been strongest among members of the those communities who were born in Australia – people in their 20s, 30s and 40s.

This week, after the church attack, NSW premier Chris Minns called in faith leaders. But it is a moot point whether this consultation with predominantly older people reaches the younger, more alienated generation.

Young Australian Muslims grew up in a post-September 11 world, Samaras says, with a sense of being outsiders in the country. We saw this feeling during the pandemic, in the complaints about the different treatment of people in Sydney’s eastern and western suburbs.

Notably, Muslim community leader Jamal Rifi, speaking this week to Sky on behalf of the 16-year-old’s family, referenced the fact the Bondi killings were not labelled “terrorism” by the authorities while the church incident was. “I understand there is a difference between the two but unfortunately the overwhelming feeling in the community [is] that it is, you know, Tale of Two Cities,” he said.

Andrew Jakubowicz, emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Technology Sydney, highlights the three separate elements of multiculturalism. These are

• “Settlement policy, which deals with arrival, survival and orientation, and the emergence of bonding within the group and finding employment, housing and education

• “Multicultural policy, which ensures that institutions in society identify and respond to needs over the life course and in changing life circumstances, and

• “Community Relations policy, which includes building skills in intercultural relations, engagement with the power hierarchies of society and the inclusion of diversity into the fabric of decision-making in society – from politics to education to health to the arts.”

Australia has been fairly good at the first, not so good on the second and “very poor” on the third, he says.

The Albanese government last year commissioned an independent review of the present multicultural framework. The report has recommendations for the short, medium and long terms. It envisages changes to institutions as well as policies and at federal and state levels.

Although the review is not due for release until mid-year, the May budget is likely to see some initiatives.

But there are differences between ministers about how far and how fast reform should go. A febrile combination of local and international factors is making crafting a multicultural policy for the next decade a much more sensitive operation than might have been envisaged when the review was launched.

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. Grattan on Friday: Ethnic tensions will complicate the Albanese government’s multicultural policy reform – https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-ethnic-tensions-will-complicate-the-albanese-governments-multicultural-policy-reform-228188

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By T.J. Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication & Digital Media, RMIT University

As more than half of Australian office workers report using generative artificial intelligence (AI) for work, we’re starting to see this technology affect every part of society, from banking and finance through to weather forecasting, health and medicine.

Many people are now using AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini to get advice, find information or summarise longer passages of text. But our recent research demonstrates how generative AI can be used for much more than this, returning results in different formats.

On the one hand, AI tools are neutral – they can be used for good or ill depending on one’s intent.

However, the models powering such tools can also suffer from biases based on how they were developed. AI tools, especially image generators, are also power hungry, ratcheting up the world’s energy usage.

And there are unresolved copyright claims surrounding AI-generated outputs, given the content used to train some of the models isn’t owned by the organisations developing the AI.

But ultimately, there’s no escaping generative AI. Learning more about what these tools can do will improve your digital literacy and help you understand their full impact, from benign to problematic.

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AI to Z: all the terms you need to know to keep up in the AI hype age

1. Imagining what lies beyond the frame

Adobe’s recently developed “generative expand” tool allows users to expand the canvas of their photos and have Photoshop “imagine” what is happening beyond the frame. Nine News infamously experimented with this tool for a broadcast featuring Victorian politician Georgie Purcell.

Here’s a video that shows how that tool works:

But it can also be used more innocently to extend the borders of a landscape or still-life image, for example. You might do this when trying to edit a square Instagram photo to fit a 4×6 inch photo frame.

2. Visualising the past or the future

Photography was only invented within the past 200 years, and camera-equipped smartphones within the last 25.

That leaves us with plenty of things that existed before cameras were common, yet we might want to visualise them. This could be for educational purposes, entertainment or self-reflection.

One example is the writings of historical figures, like architect Robert Russell, who conducted the first survey of what is now Melbourne in 1836. He wrote at the time:

The soil is in this country superior to any in the colony, we have a good grazing land, and a fine supply of water: a fine harbour, a Town on which much capital (I am afraid to say how much) has been expended, enterprising settlers and flocks and herds increasing in all directions, a climate well fitted for Englishmen, and events hastening forward the necessity for some scheme of extended emigration from which we shall soon feel the benefit.

We can feed this text from Russell’s letters into a text-to-image generator and see what the area may have looked like.

Conversely, we might want to look ahead and see if AI can help us visualise what is to come.

For example, a probe is currently heading to a never-before-seen metal asteroid, 16 Psyche. It’s projected to reach the asteroid in 2029. We can feed an AI tool a description from NASA to get a rough sense of what the asteroid might look like.

NASA currently works with artists to illustrate concepts we can’t see, but artists could also draw on AI to help create these renderings.

3. Brainstorming how to visualise difficult concepts

Where we might have once turned to Google Images or Pinterest boards for visual inspiration, AI can also help with suggestions on how to show difficult-to-visualise subject matter.

Take the Mariana Trench, for example. As one of the deepest places on Earth, few people have ever seen it firsthand. It’s also pitch black and artificial light wouldn’t allow you to see very far.

But ask AI for suggestions on how to visualise this spot and it provides a number of ideas, including taking a more familiar landmark, such as the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest structure, and placing a scaled model next to the trench to better allow audiences to appreciate its depth.

Or creating a layered illustration that shows the flora and fauna that live at each of the ocean’s five zones above the trench.

4. Visualising data

Depending on the tool, you can prompt AI with numbers, not just text.

For example, you might upload a spreadsheet to ChatGPT 4 and ask it to visualise the results. Or, if the data is already publicly available (such as Earth’s population over time), you might ask a chatbot to visualise it without even having to supply a spreadsheet.

It’s a great way to speed up such tasks, as long as you keep in mind AI can “hallucinate”, or make things up, so you need to double check the accuracy of the results.

Read more:
Misinformation: how fact-checking journalism is evolving – and having a real impact on the world

5. Creating simple moving images

You can create a simple yet effective animation by uploading a photo to an AI tool like Runway and giving it an animation command, such as zooming in, zooming out or tracking from left to right. That’s what I’ve done with this historical photo preserved by the State Library of Western Australia.

Another way you can experiment with video is using Runway’s text-to-video feature to describe the scene you want to see and let it make a video for you. I used this description to create the following video:

Tracking shot from left to right of the snowy mountains of Nagano, Japan. Clouds hang low around the mountains and they are about 50m away.

6. Generating a colour palette or simple graphics

Maybe you’re creating a logo for your small business or helping a friend with the design of an event invitation. In these cases, having a consistent colour palette can help unify your design.

You can ask generative AI services like Midjourney or Gemini to create a colour palette for you based on the event or its vibe.

If you’re designing a website or poster and need some icons to represent certain parts of the message, you can turn to AI to generate them for you. This is true for both browser-based generators like Adobe Firefly, as well as desktop apps with built-in AI, like Adobe Illustrator.

Next time you’re interacting with a generative AI chatbot, ask it what it’s capable of. In addition to these six use cases, you might be surprised to know that generative AI can also write code, translate content, make music and describe images. This can be handy for writing alt-text descriptions and making the web more accessible for those with vision impairments.

T.J. Thomson receives funding from the Australian Research Council. He is an affiliate with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision Making & Society.

– ref. Visualising the 1800s or designing wedding invitations: 6 ways you can use AI beyond generating text – https://theconversation.com/visualising-the-1800s-or-designing-wedding-invitations-6-ways-you-can-use-ai-beyond-generating-text-228089

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Nicole Sharwood, Injury epidemiologist | Expert Witness, UNSW Sydney

Injuries are the leading cause of disability and death among Australian children and adolescents. At least a quarter of all emergency department presentations during childhood are injury-related.

Injuries can be unintentional (falls, road crashes, drowning, burns) or intentional (self harm, violence, assault). The type, place and cause of injury differs by age, developmental stage and sex. Injury also differs by socioeconomic status and place of residence. Injuries are predictable, preventable events, and understanding where and how they occur is essential to inform prevention efforts.

A new report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, released today, tells us more about the injuries Australian children and adolescents sustained in the year from July 2021 to June 2022. It finds:

• children aged 1–4 years are the age group most likely to present to an emergency department with injuries

• adolescents aged 16–18 years are the age group most likely to be admitted to hospital for injuries

• boys are more likely to be hospitalised for injuries than girls. This continues into adulthood

• girls are five times more likely to be hospitalised for intentional self-harm injuries than boys

• falls are the leading cause of childhood injury, accounting for one in three child injury hospitalisations. Falls from playground equipment are the most common

• fractures are the most common type of childhood injury, especially arm and wrist fractures in children aged 10–12 years.

So injury patterns differ between boys and girls. And causes of injury in children change as they progress through different stages of development.

For children under age one, drowning, burns, choking and suffocation had the highest injury hospital admission rates compared to adults.

In early childhood (ages 1-4 years), the highest causes of injury hospitalisation were drowning, burns, choking and suffocation and accidental poisoning.

Road and other transport injuries are the most common cause of injury requiring hospital admission among adolescents aged 16–18 years.

What about sports?

Sports and physical activities come with risk of injury. But the health benefits far outweigh the risks.

Cycling causes the highest number of sporting injuries with almost 3,000 injury hospital presentations. Again, active transport has many benefits for our health and connecting communities. But there is still more to be done to make cycling safer.

For the top 20 sports that are most likely to cause injury hospital admissions, fractures are the most common type of injury. Soft-tissue injuries, open wounds and head injuries are also common.

However, the data should be interpreted with caution, as only around half of all injury hospitalisations among children and adolescents had an “activity while injured” specified.

What we do know is that injuries are most likely to occur at home.

Read more:
Is it broken? A strain or sprain? How to spot a serious injury now school and sport are back

Balancing risk and safety

Injuries can be serious or fatal. Even non-fatal injuries can keep children in hospital for long periods of time and delay their growth and development.

To prevent injuries, we need to balance risk and safety. For children, play is an important part of learning and expressing various skills, knowledge, and attitudes. Play teaches children to problem-solve, nurtures social and emotional development, improves self-awareness and helps them master their physical abilities.

Embracing risk is a fundamental part of play in all environments where children play and explore their world. As children transition into adolescence, the nature of these risks changes. But with proper guidance and supervision from parents and caregivers, we can strike a balance between offering opportunities for risk-taking and ensuring children’s safety from serious harm.

What can governments do to prevent injuries?

The Australian government has drafted a new National Injury Prevention Strategy, which is expected to be released later in 2024. This will provide clear guidance for all levels of government and others on prevention strategies and investment needed.

In the meantime, better injury surveillance data is sorely needed to better identify the cause of injuries (such as family violence, alcohol and other drug misuse, intentional self-harm or consumer product-related injuries), and to identify where injuries took place (home, school, shopping centre, and so on). There is also insufficient attention paid to priority populations, including people of low socioeconomic status, those in rural and remote areas and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Better reporting on childhood and adolescent injury trends will better inform parents, caregivers, teachers and health professionals about the risks.

Read more:
Giant tube slides and broken legs: why the latest playground craze is a serious hazard

Lisa Nicole Sharwood is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in the School of Population Health, UNSW. She is currently undertaking a project specific short term contract at the AIHW, in the Family and Domestic Violence Unit. She has received funding from the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI) to conduct research into childhood playground injury, the ACI to research adolescent driver attitudes to risky driving, iCare to research costs of traumatic spinal injuries and a range of other funding sources in injury research. She sits as Injury Epidemiologist (nominated by the Australasian Injury Prevention Network) on two national Standards Australia Technical Committees; namely Playground Equipment and Surfacing, and Indoor Trampoline Facilities. She also sits on the International Mirror Committee for Playground and Sports Equipment. Dr Sharwood is recognised as a Professional Fellow in the Faculty of Engineering and IT, UTS, for her industry expertise in product related injuries.

Rebecca Ivers receives funding from The National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. She is chair of the National Injury Surveillance Advisory Committee of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, and a member of the Australasian Injury Prevention Association Executive Committee.

Warwick Teague is Director of Trauma and Consultant Paediatric Surgeon at The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne (RCH). He receives funding from The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation. A/Prof Teague is chair of the Victorian State Trauma Registry Steering Committee and is an active member of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare National Injury Surveillance Advisory Committee, Kidsafe Victoria Advisory Committee, and Victorian Government Trauma System Advisory Committee.

– ref. Falls, fractures and self-harm: 4 charts on how kids’ injury risk changes over time and differs for boys and girls – https://theconversation.com/falls-fractures-and-self-harm-4-charts-on-how-kids-injury-risk-changes-over-time-and-differs-for-boys-and-girls-228096

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Di Winkler, Adjunct Associate Professor, Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University

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

Australia is failing some of our most vulnerable citizens. This week, a news report showed the vile and cruel behaviour of three workers in a group home for people with disability.

Lee-Anne Mackey’s family, desperate for answers to her distress, used hidden camera footage to show she was being bullied and physically abused by those meant to care for her. One worker had been employed to support Mackey for 17 years.

Disability housing in Australia is poor quality, expensive, and becoming more costly each year. Sadly, findings from the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability show Mackey’s experience is not isolated.

Some in the disability sector are worried that, despite some constructive recommendations, reform plans could deny people with disability the option to choose where they live and with whom.

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

Too old and too costly

Suitable and safe housing is a basic human right. Most of the 40,867 National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants who need access to 24/7 support are living in old housing stock that is not fit for purpose. This housing does not foster independence or enable the efficient delivery of support.

Redesigning services and building contemporary models of disability housing and innovation will not only improve the lives of people like Mackey, but also the sustainability of the scheme.

The cost of support – A$9.9 billion each year provided to the 5% of NDIS participants living in disability housing – represents a quarter of total scheme payments. This cost is increasing each year by 9% per person.

Inconsistent funding decisions are also creating an unusual form of trauma for NDIS participants and families and unnecessary work for NDIS staff, therapists and lawyers.

What could the future look like?

Many people living in group homes before the introduction of the NDIS are still “captive” to the same providers.

Proposed NDIS legislation references the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for the first time. Hopefully this will translate to policy implementation that increases participant choice and control over housing and support.

Proposed legislation also aims to deliver fair, consistent and flexible funding so participants can make better use of NDIS resources. More flexible budgets and longer plan durations of up to five years will give participants more certainty, and the ability to adjust their support, save and rollover funds.

As seen in Western Australia before the NDIS and overseas, more flexible personalised budgets can unlock more value and tailored housing and living arrangements.

The NDIS review also includes some practical ways people with disability might realise the housing rights most people take for granted – such as choosing a home and housemates. Potential reforms include:

• specialist housing and living navigators so participants can explore different options, trial alternatives and exercise more choice and control
• shared support facilitators to help people living in disability housing have a say in how their support and household is organised. Co-designed cooperative structures can also do this
• ensuring separation between housing and support providers to dismantle “closed systems” where a single provider is both the landlord and the provider of intimate supports such as personal care.

New co-designed resources will help people living in disability housing to provide feedback and make complaints.

Read more:
Taken together, the NDIS review and the royal commission recommendations could transform disability housing

What about the risks?

The NDIS review states “living alone is not necessarily in line with community norms”. The review adds a 1:1 ratio of support worker to participants with 24/7 living supports can:

[…] foster dependency, increase risks of exploitation, reduce focus on capacity building and opportunities to increase social and economic participation.

Policymakers have wrongly assumed people with disability need to live together for there to be efficiencies in the system and their supports.

Some NDIS participants are not well suited to living with other people with disability. Forcing NDIS participants to share with others instead of allowing single-occupancy dwellings located together has the potential to drive up support costs and perpetuate violence and abuse.

Research indicates moving to co-located single occupant housing has a positive impact on wellbeing, community integration and independence. NDIS participants report more independence and autonomy.

To be in line with our human rights obligations, the next iteration of the NDIS should foster a range of living arrangements including living with a partner, children, friends with or without a disability, or alone.

One support worker to three participants

There are 40,867 NDIS participants who need access to 24/7 living supports. The NDIS review recommends they be funded on a 1:3 ratio – meaning on average, one support worker to three people needing support.

Some NDIS participants and their families are anxious this ratio will be used as a blunt instrument to reduce the cost of NDIS plans.

Some housing providers could interpret the 1:3 ratio as a signal to stop building single-occupancy dwellings. If they build only three-bedroom share houses, it will reduce choice.

It is clear the current regulatory system for disability housing is not working. However, regulation that is not carefully designed and proportionate has the potential to add another layer of cost and further restrict the lives of NDIS participants. Increased regulation tends to favour established business models and stifle innovation. This could extinguish the hope of achieving the radical change in quality and efficiency needed.

Better data on the housing and support needs and preferences of people who need access 24/7 support is needed to foster a user-driven market. And given the Australian government spends $1.29 billion each year providing 24/7 support to NDIS participants who need it, data about outcomes is warranted too.

Read more:
Choice and control: the NDIS was designed to give participants choice, but mandatory registration could threaten this

Crisis and opportunity

The current business model in disability housing sees providers delivering as much in-person support as possible with no reward for supporting people to become more independent. Future NDIS policy needs to incentivise new user-led services that leverage technology and the built environment to improve the quality, efficiency and outcomes for NDIS participants.

Di Winkler AM is an occupational therapist and is the CEO and founder of the Summer Foundation.

Jacinta Douglas 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. Choice and control: will NDIS reforms mean people with disability don’t get to decide who they live with? – https://theconversation.com/choice-and-control-will-ndis-reforms-mean-people-with-disability-dont-get-to-decide-who-they-live-with-227580

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Salman Shooshtarian, Senior Lecturer, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University

Asbestos has been found in mulch used for playgrounds, schools, parks and gardens across Sydney and Melbourne. Local communities naturally fear for the health of their loved ones. Exposure to asbestos is a serious health risk – depending on its intensity, frequency and duration – as it may lead to chronic lung diseases.

The source of contamination is believed to be timber waste from construction and demolition sites that was turned into mulch. So far, 60 locations in Sydney and 12 in Melbourne have been identified as contaminated with asbestos to various degrees. The numbers could increase as investigations continue.

Following the initial detection in New South Wales and Victoria, an investigation in Queensland detected asbestos in one compost and one mulch product.

The severity, spread and impact of the issue convince us to call it the largest scandal in the history of Australia’s circular economy. A circular economy recycles and reuses materials or products with the goal of being more sustainable.

Our research highlights the importance of making it mandatory to certify recycled products such as mulch to ensure their safety. We found none of the local, state or national policies on sustainable procurement practices recommend recycled product certification as a preventive strategy. We also found significant levels of ignorance and resistance to certification schemes in the recycling sector.

These obstacles must be overcome so we have certification of recycled products that ensures their quality, performance, environmental friendliness and safety.

Read more:
Building activity produces 18% of emissions and a shocking 40% of our landfill waste. We must move to a circular economy – here’s how

Scandal is damaging for the circular economy

The discovery in January of asbestos in mulch in NSW triggered a series of actions. These have involved the NSW and Victorian Environment Protection Authorities, local councils, Fire and Rescue NSW and a NSW taskforce, drawing from agencies such as SafeWork, Public Works and the Natural Resources Access Regulator. The actions include testing in identified areas, cordoning off and signposting affected garden beds, engaging licensed asbestos removalists, and sampling to determine disposal options.

Unfortunately, this contaminated mulch raises concerns about the reckless implementation of circular economy principles in Australia. This scandal could make users of recycled materials, particularly local councils, hesitate about procuring these resources, if not dissuade them altogether.

Understandably, the waste management and resource recovery sector is in a state of shock. More broadly, this scandal could undermine efforts to advance the circular economy in Australia.

It’s a reminder that the circular economy concept is based on a system-thinking approach, where all elements must work in harmony. A failure in one can result in the entire system collapsing.

Regulations don’t go far enough

Under NSW legislation, mulch must not contain asbestos, engineered wood products, preservative-treated or coated wood residues, or physical contaminants such as glass or plastics.

However, it isn’t mandatory for suppliers to test for contaminants in mulch. There are no specified procedures they must follow to ensure mulch doesn’t contain asbestos.

The fact is existing policies and regulations, such as the NSW Environment Protection Authority’s Mulch Order 2016, failed to prevent mulch contamination. It’s a reminder of the need for effective strategies to ensure a circular economy will not go wrong.

These strategies must integrate encouragement, education and enforcement. Otherwise, we risk facing unintended economic, environmental and social consequences.

Read more:
Buildings used iron from sunken ships centuries ago. The use of recycled materials should be business as usual by now

Why isn’t certification standard practice?

At RMIT University’s Construction Waste Lab (CWL), we have been researching and sharing key strategies with policymakers and industry. In 2022 and 2023, working with researchers from Griffith and Curtin universities and our industry partners, we explored the use of recycled product certification schemes.

In our research, supported by the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre, we gathered insights from 16 industry professionals engaged in projects involving large quantities of recycled materials. We specifically asked for their views on certification schemes for these materials.

We found only nine of them were aware of such schemes in Australia. A similar number supported their use for construction projects. The main reasons for not supporting them are shown below.

David Baggs is chief executive and cofounder of Global GreenTag International, a recycled product certifier that operates nationally and internationally. He told us a major barrier to the uptake of these schemes is that they’re simply not a priority for many organisations. He added:

The cost of certification is a fraction of whatever their marketing budget might be in any single month, let alone a year. So, particularly for the bigger companies, it’s not about cost, it’s about priorities. If they can see that their certification becomes part of their marketing budget, then the cost of certification is a single-digit percentage of most marketing budgets.

Read more:
Turning the housing crisis around: how a circular economy can give us affordable, sustainable homes

What more can be done?

To encourage builders to use these schemes, the Green Building Council of Australia provides a list of endorsed certifiers. Our research identified seven major drivers for adopting certification schemes when procuring recycled materials, as shown below.

Read more:
Trash TV: streaming giants are failing to educate the young about waste recycling. Here’s why it matters

The CEO of the Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia, Gayle Sloan, has highlighted the need for effective reforms of waste regulations.

In addition, we stress the importance of directories of approved recyclers to ensure end users have access to quality, uncontaminated recycled materials. An example is Sustainability Victoria’s Buy Recycled Directory.

These directories should require listed suppliers to provide certification for their recycled products. It will help distinguish reputable suppliers from rogue suppliers.

Salman Shooshtarian receives funding from the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre Australia

Peter S.P. Wong, Professor – construction, RMIT University. He receives funding from Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre. He is affiliated with RMIT University, Australia.

Tayyab Maqsood receives funding from the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre.

– ref. Asbestos in playground mulch: how to avoid a repeat of this circular economy scandal – https://theconversation.com/asbestos-in-playground-mulch-how-to-avoid-a-repeat-of-this-circular-economy-scandal-227766

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Madeline Taylor, Senior Lecturer, Macquarie University

Right now, there’s a global race underway. The goal: bring back manufacturing and energy jobs as the energy transition speeds up.

In 2022, America launched its mammoth Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act. Japan followed suit the same year, while the EU launched its own effort in 2023, as did Canada. China, of course, moved first, and dominates the market for most clean energy products, from solar panels to wind turbines and batteries.

Now it’s Australia’s turn. Last week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced plans to introduce a Future Made in Australia Act, talking of the need to “break with old orthodoxies and pull new levers to advance the national interest”. The goal here is to reshore manufacturing, make use of our strengths in solar and wind resources and critical minerals, and create new industries.

Direct government funding of industries was previously often considered a thing of the past. But it’s precisely what China has done, with great success. Now the world’s other major economies are looking to follow suit.

For Australia, efforts to reshore manufacturing and stimulate new industries should focus on supporting and stimulating regions. Critical minerals and often the best renewable resources have the great benefit of being located outside the cities. If they becomes reality, these plans present a rare chance to make our regions into sustainable economic powerhouses.

Boosting the regions

Imagine a regional community with strong renewable resources. If a renewable developer builds a windfarm on a farmer’s land, bringing in workers from the cities and material from the port, it might benefit the developer and the farm but do little for the wider community. But it could be done differently. The developer could employ locals, and – if efforts to bring back manufacturing pay off – locally made components could be used wherever possible. Many renewable energy developers are already doing this.

This is why the proposed Future Made In Australia Act is a very real opportunity to deliver energy justice for our regions and rural communities.

Energy justice? It means making sure the energy transition works for communities and individuals rather than just manufacturers and businesses.

If the green transition is imposed on communities, rather than done with them, it could easily founder on local opposition, as the recent Dyer Review of community engagement makes clear.

Most of our green energy transition will take place in regional and rural communities inside the Renewable Energy Zones chosen for their good renewable resources and access to transmission.

To make sure these communities actually benefit, Australia needs to co-design clean energy projects with rural communities, just as projects often do in the European Union. Co-designing projects helps communities feel a sense of, and sometimes literal, ownership of projects, and makes it more likely they will benefit. It’s a key way to ensure a project has a sustained social license within communities.

Queensland might be a first mover here by legally defining social license and requiring renewable energy developers to engage with communities.

Read more:
Made in America: how Biden’s climate package is fuelling the global drive to net zero

Could Australian-made really work?

Some have described the government’s plans as a “new protectionism”, picturing a return to high tariffs and products of dubious quality propped up by subsidies.

There’s a low chance we will go directly head-to-head with green energy giants such as China. But Australia has existing advantages we can make more of.

For instance, we’re already one of the world’s top per capita users of solar, and our food exports are highly regarded. So why not combine them?

Agrivoltaics – combining solar panels with farming –  is forecast to become a A$14.4 billion market by 2031. America, the EU, Germany, France, and Italy all have policies aimed at boosting their agrivoltaics sectors supported by research, subsidies, and tariffs.

Australia has world-leading solar photovoltaic expertise, which we could tap into to create custom-designed agrivoltaics solutions, co-designed with farmers. These future farming systems could create a new export industry, with investment opportunities and potentially tax credits brought by the new legislation.

Similarly, our bioscience experts are highly regarded. We could find ways of creating industries spun off from organisations such as the Centre for Synthetic Biology, who have found novel ways to safely store carbon, or turn biological waste into biofuels.

The timing is good – the World Economic Forum earlier this year called for better financing and development of these types of technologies. Like agrivoltaics, these kinds of inventions offer double benefits – cut carbon emissions, boost farm productivity.

If the Made in Australia plans become law, we would likely see finance flow to other future-focussed industries, such as CSIRO’s goal of ultra-low cost solar, the potential for green hydrogen to substitute for fossil gas exports through to the recently announced Solar Sunshot program, aimed at localising more solar production.

We should use our comparative advantages

Much of the detail in the Future Made in Australia Act remains to be seen. But what is clear is it represents a real chance for our regional and rural communities to lead the energy transition.

We could combine our renewable energy and critical minerals riches with our top energy, biotech and agricultural researchers. And we can do it while uplifting the regional and rural communities which will play home to this transition.

Read more:
Could spending a billion dollars actually bring solar manufacturing back to Australia? It’s worth a shot

Madeline Taylor is a Clean Energy Council Chloe Munro Scholar, is a Fellow at the Climate Council, and is on the Board of REAlliance,

– ref. Could Albanese’s bet on homegrown green industries be the boost our regions deserve? – https://theconversation.com/could-albaneses-bet-on-homegrown-green-industries-be-the-boost-our-regions-deserve-227903

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University

There have been a lot of defence announcements recently about buying new equipment, building up Australia’s manufacturing capabilities, creating local jobs, new legislation to support AUKUS and even a new defence chief.

In many respects, these simply reflect that the Department of Defence is busy, regularly spending a lot of money on a lot of things, and that ministers like announcing good news. However, the latest news related to Australia’s National Defence Strategy this week is of a different kind.

What does the new strategy call for?

The title of the new National Defence Strategy draws attention to defence now being a matter for all Australians, not just the professionals of the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

It also takes the long view, well into the next decade. The strategy replaces the sporadic defence white papers and will be revised every two years to keep up with changes in the Indo-Pacific. It was accompanied this week by an Integrated Investment Program, which lays out where $330 billion will be spent over ten years.

Together, these two announcements chart the future course for a high-spending and sizeable Department of Defence at a time of major wars in Europe and the Middle East, a massive Chinese arms build-up, and growing uncertainty about how tensions over Taiwan and in the South China Sea might play out.

Read more:
Australia wants navy boats with lots of weapons, but no crew. Will they run afoul of international law?

These global risks underline the focus on the “strategy of denial” in the new national blueprint, which aims to deter and prevent hostile forces from attacking Australia.

More mundanely, both of these documents, together totalling almost 200 pages, are the government’s way of controlling the sprawling Department of Defence. More pointedly, they set out the Albanese government’s vision on defence policy in time for the next federal election.

As such, both the gravitas in the documents and the planned expenditures have near-term domestic purposes, as well as long-term geo-strategic ones.

The backbone of the strategy is perhaps unsurprisingly the nuclear submarine acquisition program under the AUKUS alliance with the US and UK. As time goes on, the submarine program is increasingly dominating defence in terms of ministerial interest, budget allotment, industry development and workforce allocation.

But there are five other “immediate priorities” tacked onto this one very big acquisition:

• buying and building long-range missiles

• building up northern defence base infrastructure

• improving workforce pay and conditions

• boosting innovation

• deepening Indo-Pacific partnerships.

The Integrated Investment Program will mostly be of interest to Australia’s defence industry as it tries to gain new multi-year goods and services contracts, as well as state governments keen to have that money spent locally on jobs.

Such a public spending document is a good idea. It was initially introduced by the Howard government, at least partly to try to keep defence projects on-time through public scrutiny.

Since then, these kinds of investment documents have provided increasingly less information. This may be intended to maintain security, but it also limits the publication’s usefulness and the possibility of external critique, somewhat diminishing the accountability for the very large sums of public money spent.

Read more:
The most significant defence review in 40 years positions Australia for complex threats in a changing region

Less urgency, more longer-term preparedness

Together, the strategy and investment program will restructure the ADF to be more focused on operations in the waters immediately to Australia’s north.

To fund this shift to a more maritime focus, the government has reduced the army’s heavier forces, cut a naval project for sea lift ships and delayed buying additional F-35 fighter aircraft. Nevertheless, over time, the future army will be more mobile and amphibious, the navy’s fleet will be modernised, the air force will get sophisticated long-range missiles and the nation’s cyber capabilities will be enhanced.

Such changes, though, take time. In ten years, Australia may have just received one second-hand former US navy nuclear submarine, but little else will have changed from now. This government and its predecessor made various rhetorical statements stressing the need for speed, given the increasing security concerns in the region. However, neither government took actions suggesting such urgency.

Only two weeks before releasing the new documents, Defence Minister Richard Marles quietly signalled that short-term defence improvements were now less needed. He asserted that this kind of focus “lacks wit”.

It misses the point that no middle power in the Indo-Pacific is solely capable of developing or deploying the scale or breadth of military forces that powers like China and the US can.

Australia’s challenge lies in the future beyond this. And here we must invest in the next-generation capabilities the ADF needs.

Shortcomings of the strategy

However, even if the overall defence direction appears logical in design and has supporting budgets laid out, there are still doubts over whether this newly focused ADF is achievable. Military forces are more than hardware. Well-trained people are essential to their effectiveness.

The strategy is pleasingly honest in noting a shortfall of around 4,400 ADF personnel, some 10% of its total workforce. This problem has been long known, but only marginal changes have been made.

Given ADF personnel take many years of training to reach a high standard of combat proficiency, it’s unlikely our forces will be back up to their full strength this decade. New equipment is arguably being bought that won’t be able to be used as there will be no crews.

The personnel shortfall issue inadvertently throws up another surprising shortcoming of the strategy and investment plan. These documents appear not to take into great account the operational innovations and rapid technology developments being demonstrated in the war in Ukraine.

These include attack, reconnaissance and electronic jamming drones, highly effective ground-based air defence systems and an artificial intelligence-enabled surveillance system that allows no one to hide.

There is a danger the National Defence Strategy and the Integrated Investment Program may create an ADF better suited to 2015 than 2025 – and will potentially be rather dated in 2035. The future is coming, but there is little indication of it in these plans.

Peter Layton 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. Australia’s new defence strategy is big on ideas, but lacks one key ingredient: well-trained soldiers – https://theconversation.com/australias-new-defence-strategy-is-big-on-ideas-but-lacks-one-key-ingredient-well-trained-soldiers-228185

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Harcourt, Industry Professor and Chief Economist, University of Technology Sydney

Steve Smith, one of this generation’s finest batters, has conquered much of the cricketing world during his career, and he now has set his sights on a new frontier: the United States.

Yes, Smith has signed to play Twenty 20 (T20) cricket for the Washington Freedom, which happens to be coached by former Australian great Ricky Ponting.

Washington is one of six teams in Major League Cricket (MLC), which began in 2023. The Freedom finished third in the inaugural season, won by New York.

The 2024 season will begin in July before the US co-hosts the T20 World Cup with the West Indies.

A number of established cricket stars have already played in the US league, including Quinton de Kock of South Africa, Nicholas Pooran from the West Indies, Trent Boult from New Zealand and Australians Marcus Stoinis and Aaron Finch.

Looking ahead, T20 cricket has been included for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

So, why is cricket suddenly interested in the US – and does this interest go both ways?

Cricket in the US: what’s the go?

Cricket is slowly becoming better known in the US.

Firstly, it is because of the rising South Asian population who mostly love their cricket.

It is a growing and affluent professional community – the South Asian diaspora is growing at a rapid rate across North America to the point that when you fly into most large US cities, you can spot cricket pitches.

Many South Asian immigrants to the US (and Canada) are engineers, doctors and entrepreneurs with good educations and professional jobs – Indian-Americans are the most affluent group in America by median household income, while Sri Lankans and Pakistanis are two of the eight wealthiest segments.

In terms of education, 70% of Indian-Americans have at least a Bachelor’s degree, compared to the US average of 28%.

A lot of this affluence is ploughed into supporting local cricket leagues in the US and watching the MLC.

In terms of participation, cricket is still very much a niche sport in the US, with about 200,000 registered players. However, this has grown from around 30,000 registered players in 2006, with emigration from South Asia driving the lion’s share of growth.

Consuming cricket anytime, anywhere

Secondly, live streaming has taken off worldwide in recent years, allowing Indians in the US to watch India Premier League (IPL) games back home, and Indians in India to live stream MLC matches.

According to Chris Muldoon, chief strategy officer of Cricket NSW, there are more than 4 million subscribers to Willow TV’s cricket-only streaming service throughout North America.

This means it is easy for most cricket fans can consume what they want, when they want it.

The growth of cricket franchises

Thirdly, IPL franchises are launching clubs and leagues around the world – in South Africa, the UAE and the US – to grow the sport and to attract talent and revenue to their respective franchises.

There is a strong IPL presence across many of the domestic T20 competitions that have launched in recent years, including in MLS where four IPL franchises are involved with the foundation clubs in New York, Dallas, Los Angeles and Seattle.

This is a big shift in cricket governance, as it is not just the cricket boards of Australia, England & Wales and India calling the shots on schedules – it is now the IPL franchises too.

Read more:
‘That’s cricket, kid’: what Bluey can teach us about the spirit of the game

What does this mean for Australian cricket?

So, how does all of this affect elite cricket in Australia?

Australian cricketers have been competing in T20 competitions around the world for years now, with Cricket Australia occasionally having to step in to reduce the workloads of some of its best players.

Now the MLC will force governing bodies and players to react to another competition in a packed cricket calendar.

According to Muldoon, the opportunity in the US is too big to ignore. He says:

The US is the world’s most sophisticated and competitive sports and media market and Major League Cricket presents the most exciting and challenging opportunity in world cricket.

The proliferation of franchise T20 cricket around the globe, much of it driven by the commercial success of the IPL as well as changing preferences of consumers, is changing the way cricket is consumed. And it is bringing new revenue into the sport – which in turn is making it increasingly attractive to the world’s best players and coaches to be a part of these growing franchise leagues around the world on an almost full-time basis.

Read more:
Half-watched TV and part-heard radio: summer Test cricket is steeped in nostalgia, but these ‘traditions’ have short histories

Will cricket really take hold in the US?

So does Smith’s signing indicate a cricket revolution? Does the US aspire to be a cricket nation?

Probably not in terms of Test cricket, but in the US, the shortened format of T20 is possibly appealing.

This is largely driven by the South Asian diaspora who have migrated to North America, and T20 is the format that has the consumer appeal to attract eyeballs – and broadcast partners. The addition of cricket as an Olympic sport for Los Angeles in 2028 may also add to the sport’s exposure.

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

– ref. What does Steve Smith’s Stateside signing mean for cricket in the US – and Australia? – https://theconversation.com/what-does-steve-smiths-stateside-signing-mean-for-cricket-in-the-us-and-australia-227895

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Heidi Norman, Professor, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, Convenor: Indigenous Land & Justice Research Group, UNSW Sydney

The Uluru Statement from the Heart set out the aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples for “Voice, Treaty, Truth”, in that order, to reconfigure the relationship between First Peoples and the Australian nation. The defeat of the Voice referendum revealed significant gaps in understanding the past and how this continues to impact the present.

The referendum outcome also revealed lack of understanding of the workings of the Australian Constitution. Constitutional law expert Anne Twomey describes this as a “spiral of loss”, where unfamiliarity with the mechanisms of constitutional change, alongside growing wariness among Australian voters about supporting amendments, makes politicians reluctant to expend political capital on “futile” constitutional reform.

So where to now for the Uluru Statement from the Heart reform agenda? Allies of the “yes” campaign report still feeling the hurt of the referendum defeat but a renewed sense of determination to continue the fight for change.

Despite years of labour to restore a more balanced national history, truth-telling as a much-needed step in the path to recognition and reconciliation seems more vital than ever.

Our recent research explored attitudes towards, barriers to and enablers of truth-telling in Australia. Our findings highlighted that while truth-telling is an everyday activity for many First Nations people, non-Indigenous Australians are unsure about what their role in truth-telling might be.

The 2022 Australian Reconciliation Barometer identified that only 6% of non-Indigenous respondents had participated in a local truth-telling activity in the previous 12 months. This compared with 43% of First Nations respondents.

This indicates a gap between First Nations people’s call for truth-telling as an essential aspect of resetting the future relationship between them and non-Indigenous Australians, and non-Indigenous people’s knowledge about and interest in participating in truth-telling. It might also indicate a lack of opportunity to participate in truth-telling activities.

Read more:
‘Why didn’t we know?’ is no excuse. Non-Indigenous Australians must listen to the difficult historical truths told by First Nations people

Truth-telling

In our study, truth-telling was broadly defined as activities or processes that seek to recognise or engage with a fuller account of Australia’s history and its ongoing legacy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Three dominant understandings of truth-telling emerged from our research. We added a fourth category to this, capturing our research findings about the “how to” of truth-telling.

1. Truth-telling to achieve justice for First Nations people

This approach to truth-telling is usually undertaken on a larger scale. It is informed by human rights frameworks and aims to address systemic injustice at an institutional level. Examples include the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Bringing Them Home Report and the Yoorrook Justice Commission.

2. Truth-telling to promote reconciliation and healing

This form of truth-telling is most likely to occur at the local and community level, based on the understanding that relationships and dialogue can bring about change. It is also less likely to be tied to formal outcomes or reparations. Examples of this might include the work of the Healing Foundation, memorials, remembrance and reconciliation events.

3. Truth-telling to challenge and change historical understanding

This approach holds that greater understanding of the past will assist in coming to terms with its legacies and what that means to live in Australia today. While much of the work to restore Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander worlds omitted from the national story has been undertaken, First Nations histories extend beyond the 200-plus years of colonisation to many thousands of generations. They draw on a wide array of evidence to tell a richer story.

While acknowledging the interconnections between these categories, we believe this framework is useful to think about the wide range of initiatives and events taking place in Australia under the umbrella of “truth-telling”. It also helps to distinguish what cannot meaningfully be described as truth-telling.

4. Truth-telling practice

We see this as a vital step where more work is needed. The strong consensus emerging from our research participants was that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities must lead truth-telling in Australia. It should engage with First Nations perspectives; recognise the ongoing impacts of the past on First Nations people’s lives today; be ongoing, not a “one-off” event; and aim to achieve change, whether at an attitudinal, institutional or structural level.

Benefits of truth-telling

Both First Nations and non-Indigenous people agreed the main benefit that would emerge from truth-telling would be the development of a shared understanding of Australian history. Another is hope that truth-telling would deliver healing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and the potential of truth-telling to help improve relations between First Nations and non-Indigenous peoples.

All respondents agreed truth-telling should involve First Nations people’s perspectives on the past. A large majority agreed truth-telling should recognise the diversity of First Nations peoples.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were highly committed to truth-telling. However, they were less likely than non-Indigenous people to agree that truth-telling might lead to justice for First Nations peoples.

First Nations respondents identified a range of motivations for participating in truth-telling, beyond the education of non-Indigenous people. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were more interested in truth-telling about their local community (87%) than non-Indigenous people (67%) and much more likely to be motivated to participate in truth-telling to share their own personal or family history or perspective (89% of First Nations respondents, compared to only 25% of non-Indigenous respondents).

Barriers to truth-telling

For First Nations people, the impact of trauma and the need for cultural safety in truth-telling were significant concerns. First Nations people were much more likely to express concerns that truth-telling might emphasise divisions and differences between First Nations and non-Indigenous Australians. They were also concerned that participants in truth-telling might question or challenge the accuracy of the perspectives being shared.

Although self-identifying as highly aware of and engaged with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and truth-telling, non-Indigenous people in our study still indicated significant uncertainty about how to participate in truth-telling. Over half of non-Indigenous respondents indicated this would either be a barrier to their participation (38%) or they were neutral or unsure (26%) about whether it might be. In contrast, only 12% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander respondents said a lack of knowledge about how to get involved might prevent their participation in truth-telling.

There was a degree of uncertainty among non-Indigenous people about what truth-telling involves. Others identified a lack of opportunity to participate in truth-telling.

These findings highlight that community-based truth-telling initiatives will need to include public education about what truth-telling encompasses, as well as practical information about where, when and how it will take place.

Read more:
First Nations people have made a plea for ‘truth-telling’. By reckoning with its past, Australia can finally help improve our future

Contested truths

Of course, truth-telling is not a universal panacea. As historian Mark McKenna commented in the wake of the Voice referendum, “telling the truth is one thing, hearing the truth and taking it in is something else entirely”.

Our research highlights the need for Australians to do more to enable meaningful participation in truth-telling. To be effective, truth-telling processes must be realistic about its benefits and limits, and recognise the diversity among and between First Nations and non-Indigenous participants. It must also acknowledge systemic disadvantages experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, address cultural safety concerns and provide clear protocols for participants.

Finally, it should build truth-telling and truth-listening capacity among both Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants, recognising that truth-telling may involve difficult emotions and the potential for conflict. Strategies must be in place to manage these issues and, perhaps most importantly, maintain hope for a better future.

Heidi Norman receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
Research funded by Reconciliation Australia.

Anne Maree Payne receives funding from Reconciliation Australia.

– ref. How can we have truth-telling without the Voice? Our research shows a way forward – https://theconversation.com/how-can-we-have-truth-telling-without-the-voice-our-research-shows-a-way-forward-226511

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bronwyn E Wood, Associate Professor in Education, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

You don’t need to look hard right now to see concerns about Aotearoa New Zealand’s education system.

Declining performance in international testing has been noted in mathematics, reading and science. And nationally, more than 50% of year eight students are not at the expected level in maths, with only 65% of 15-year-olds at the expected literacy level.

Responding to such perceived failures in the education system, the National Party campaigned on a promise of having 80% of students at or above the expected level in reading, writing, maths and science.

Achieving such a goal will be challenging. But having a clearer idea of how New Zealand got to this point may help when formulating a plan for success.

Competencies versus knowledge

New Zealand made some key decisions about its educational priorities around the beginning of this century.

Firstly, it adopted an OECD-encouraged focus on “competencies” (broad skills such as problem solving and relating to others) rather than basic knowledge acquisition.

Read more:
Curriculum changes must tackle the lifelong consequences of NZ’s alarming literacy and numeracy declines

This was underpinned by the belief that students needed adaptable, flexible skills to meet the changing needs of the global economy.

In addition, attention turned to a new kind of digitally-savvy student. Due to their access to the internet, the “21st century learner” was believed to require less direct teaching on account of their having access to more knowledge, and therefore more personal agency, than students in previous eras.

While neither of these ideas was derived from research, they nonetheless gained widespread traction within the New Zealand education scene.

These shifts heavily influenced the 2007 New Zealand Curriculum, which was heralded for its focus on teaching students to “learn how to learn” rather than teaching them knowledge as such.

Read more:
National wants to change how NZ schools teach reading – but ‘structured literacy’ must be more than just a classroom checklist

The creation of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) in 2002, and its realignment with curriculum changes a decade later, further embedded this lack of prescription.

Students and teachers were now able to select from a broad suite of “achievement standards” in each subject, with few mandated requirements over which ones to choose. Some are exam-based and some internally assessed.

Teachers and students have high levels of autonomy in selecting topics and forms of assessment that suit their interests and preferences. The end result has been high levels of choice and a looseness around required knowledge and expectations.

New Zealand is not alone

Other countries that adopted open and loosely prescribed curricula have begun to question such an approach.

In Wales, for example, one recent report found the skills-based approach of the Welsh curriculum (partly based on the troubled Scottish Curriculum for Excellence) has contributed to steeper declines in student outcomes and greater inequalities than in countries with more prescription.

New Zealand-based research has also raised concerns about inequalities. For instance, the open-ended nature of the national curriculum and NCEA potentially leads to less challenging material being provided for students in lower socioeconomic areas, and for Māori and Pasifika learners.

The previous Labour government began to acknowledge these problems, recognising a need to prioritise “learning that can’t be left to chance”.

Read more:
Standardised testing could be compulsory in NZ primary schools – what can we learn from the past?

Avoiding another polarising pivot

The natural inclination at this point might be a radical policy swing away from the past 20 years. But it would be better to avoid the deep-seated tendency in education to address complex issues with polarising pivots.

Instead, a delicate balance is needed between the binaries that tend to shape educational policy shifts: knowledge versus skills, teacher-led versus student-led learning, national versus local curriculum.

New Zealand needs a broad bipartisan course – not an ideological one – providing students with greater opportunities to access learning that takes them further and reduces inequalities.

The scope of possible reform is vast. The top predictor of student outcomes remains poverty, so this must be a priority. But two education-specific areas deserve focus.

Read more:
Health and education are closely linked – NZ needs to integrate them more in primary schools

Teaching both knowledge and skills

There is increasing international consensus that the turn towards teaching skills over knowledge increased educational inequality.

But snapping back to mandating the learning of a dry set of facts is not the answer. Instead, curriculum reform must acknowledge the interrelated nature of knowledge and skills.

We know skills such as “critical thinking” cannot be built in isolation from specific knowledge. Put simply, a person will struggle to “think critically” about a topic they do not know enough about.

If we want students to become more skilled at critical thinking and problem solving, we need to equip them with a strong, broad knowledge base.

However, skills will not be achieved merely through the rote memorisation of such knowledge. Rather, students need engaging opportunities to apply knowledge via the use of skills in the classroom. In turn, this will help consolidate their knowledge.

In this way, knowledge and skills can reinforce each other. This all needs to be done with lively, culturally-responsive teaching strategies that ignite student imaginations.

Valuing and supporting teachers

No curriculum reform will succeed if teachers are not supported to implement it. What has been missing in New Zealand for many years is “meso” level support – the level between the “macro” of policy and the “micro” of the classroom.

This level of practical support and resourcing for teachers has not been part of the New Zealand education scene since research-led curriculum advisers (who supported and resourced teachers in schools) were disestablished in the early 2000s.

A national, research-led and cohesive programme of professional development for teachers is therefore required.

Above all, while change is needed, it can happen without overcompensating. Developing a clear, thoughtful curriculum and establishing adequate teacher support will give children the greatest chance of success.

Bronwyn E Wood has previously been involved in curriculum writing and providing advice for the Ministry of Education .

Taylor Hughson has previously been contracted to produce advice on the curriculum refresh for the Ministry of Education.

– ref. NZ education scores must improve – but another polarising ideological pivot isn’t the answer – https://theconversation.com/nz-education-scores-must-improve-but-another-polarising-ideological-pivot-isnt-the-answer-227661

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karin Hammarberg, Senior Research Fellow, Global and Women’s Health, School of Public Health & Preventive Medicine, Monash University

Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide are taking drugs like Ozempic to lose weight. But what do we actually know about them? This month, The Conversation’s experts explore their rise, impact and potential consequences.

We’ve heard a lot about the impacts of Ozempic recently, from rapid weight loss and lowered blood pressure, to persistent vomiting and “Ozempic face”.

Now we’re seeing a rise in stories about “Ozempic babies”, where women who use drugs like Ozempic (semaglutide) report unexpected pregnancies.

But does semaglutide (also sold as Wegovy) improve fertility? And if so, how? Here’s what we know so far.

Remind me, what is Ozempic?

Ozempic and related drugs (glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists or GLP-1-RAs) were developed to help control blood glucose levels in people with type 2 diabetes.

But the reason for Ozempic’s huge popularity worldwide is that it promotes weight loss by slowing stomach emptying and reducing appetite.

Ozempic is prescribed in Australia as a diabetes treatment. It’s not currently approved to treat obesity but some doctors prescribe it “off label” to help people lose weight. Wegovy (a higher dose of semaglutide) is approved for use in Australia to treat obesity but it’s not yet available.

Read more:
Ozempic isn’t approved for weight loss in Australia. So how are people accessing it?

How does obesity affect fertility?

Obesity affects the fine-tuned hormonal balance that regulates the menstrual cycle.

Women with a body mass index (BMI) above 27 are three times more likely than women in the normal weight range to be unable to conceive because they are less likely to ovulate.

The metabolic conditions of type 2 diabetes and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are both linked to obesity and fertility difficulties.

Women with type 2 diabetes are more likely than other women to have obesity and to experience fertility difficulties and miscarriage.

Similarly, women with PCOS are more likely to have obesity and trouble conceiving than other women because of hormonal imbalances that cause irregular menstrual cycles.

Read more:
I have PCOS and I want to have a baby, what do I need to know?

In men, obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome (a cluster of conditions that increase the risk of heart disease and stroke) have negative effects on fertility.

Low testosterone levels caused by obesity or type 2 diabetes can affect the quality of sperm.

So how might Ozempic affect fertility?

Weight loss is recommended for people with obesity to reduce the risk of health problems. As weight loss can improve menstrual irregularities, it may also increase the chance of pregnancy in women with obesity.

This is why weight loss and metabolic improvement are the most likely reasons why women who use Ozempic report unexpected pregnancies.

But unexpected pregnancies have also been reported by women who use Ozempic and the contraceptive pill. This has led some experts to suggest that some GLP-1-RAs might affect the absorption of the pill and make it less effective. However, it’s uncertain whether there is a connection between Ozempic and contraceptive failure.

In men with type 2 diabetes, obesity and low testosterone, drugs like Ozempic have shown promising results for weight loss and increasing testosterone levels.

Avoid Ozempic if you’re trying to conceive

It’s unclear if semaglutide can be harmful in pregnancy. But data from animal studies suggest it should not be used in pregnancy due to potential risks of fetal abnormalities.

That’s why the Therapeutic Goods Administration recommends women of childbearing potential use contraception when taking semaglutide.

Similarly, PCOS guidelines state health professionals should ensure women with PCOS who use Ozempic have effective contraception.

Guidelines recommended stopping semaglutide at least two months before planning pregnancy.

For women who use Ozempic to manage diabetes, it’s important to seek advice on other options to control blood glucose levels when trying for pregnancy.

What if you get pregnant while taking Ozempic?

For those who conceive while using Ozempic, deciding what to do can be difficult. This decision may be even more complicated considering the unknown potential effects of the drug on the fetus.

While there is little scientific data available, the findings of an observational study of pregnant women with type 2 diabetes who were on diabetes medication, including GLP-1-RAs, are reassuring. This study did not indicate a large increased risk of major congenital malformations in the babies born.

Women considering or currently using semaglutide before, during, or after pregnancy should consult with a health provider about how to best manage their condition.

When pregnancies are planned, women can take steps to improve their baby’s health, such as taking folic acid before conception to reduce the risk of neural tube defects, and stopping smoking and consuming alcohol.

While unexpected pregnancies and “Ozempic babies” may be welcomed, their mothers have not had the opportunity to take these steps and give them the best start in life.

Read the other articles in The Conversation’s Ozempic series here.

Karin Hammarberg works part-time for the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority.

Robert Norman receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council

– ref. What are ‘Ozempic babies’? Can the drug really increase your chance of pregnancy? – https://theconversation.com/what-are-ozempic-babies-can-the-drug-really-increase-your-chance-of-pregnancy-227561

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Diana Kuchinke, Lecturer in Ecology, Federation University Australia

Once, while teaching a class of environmental science students in China’s Hebei University of Science and Technology, I asked who knew what a laughing kookaburra was. There were many blank faces. Then I tilted my head, much like a kookaburra does, and opened my mouth: “kok-kak-KAK-KAK-KAK-KOK-KAK-KOK-kook-kook-kok, kok, kok”. I became the “bushman’s alarm clock”.

Students burst out laughing. Hands waved in the air. They knew. They all knew. The call of the kookaburra is known worldwide.

Why do kookaburras “laugh”? It’s a declaration of territory. “I am here. This is my space.”

How long has it been part of the Australian landscape? Indigenous Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay and Wiradjuri people named the “guuguubarra”, so for at least 65,000 years.

Genetic analysis suggests its ancestors can be traced back roughly 16.3 million years. So we can be sure kookaburras have been laughing for a very, very long time.

It is shocking, then, that the laughing kookaburra is now in trouble. A combination of human-driven factors – climate change, bushfires and land clearing – is rapidly driving down numbers of this iconic kingfisher species across its range along Australia’s east coast.

Read more:
Citizen scientists count nearly 2 million birds and reveal a possible kookaburra decline

Why are kookaburra numbers falling?

In 2003, the New Atlas of Australian Birds listed the laughing kookaburra as abundant. By 2015, The State of Australia’s Birds report noted them as being in major decline.

What changed? Recent research shows worsening fires are adding to the woes of kookaburras, on top of land clearing, removal of old trees with nesting hollows, state permits to control local numbers and being regarded as an exotic species in Western Australia and Tasmania, where they were introduced more than a century ago.

The tree hollows kookaburras need to breed can take a hundred years to develop. Every forest patch felled means hollows are lost.

Over the past 200 years, nearly 50% of our forest cover has been felled. Urban development all along Australia’s east coast has continued.

Read more:
Dozens of woodland bird species are threatened, and we still don’t know what works best to bring them back

Fire is a growing threat

Increasing fire frequency and severity due to climate change are having damaging impacts on kookaburras across south-eastern Australia. Megafires – those that burn more than 10,000 hectares – used to occur about once a decade. Now they are happening more often.

The 2019-2020 “Black Summer” fires were not confined to one state or season. From September 2019 through to March 2020 they burnt more than ten million hectares of native vegetation. The impacts on wildlife were huge.

In the years after fire, the dense regrowth of vegetation gives many birds a flush of abundant resources for food, nesting, cues for breeding and protection from predators.

However, dense new ground growth could hinder the kookaburra’s hunting by making it harder to spot prey. This species sits high in a tree from where it pounces on its prey, which is mostly taken on the ground.

Research has also shown dense post-fire vegetation has less prey, such as basking lizards, a vital part of the kookaburra’s diet.

Research shows laughing kookaburras leave areas of dense post-fire growth. They prefer areas that haven’t burnt for decades.

Kookaburras also compete for prey with other birds, such as the currawong. A currawong forages both on the ground and in the canopy. In denser vegetation, this gives it a competitive advantage over the kookaburra.

If trees with hollows are burnt down, kookaburras also cannot nest. Kookaburras forced to move to new unburnt or uncleared areas must compete for hollows with other highly territorial kookaburras and species such as parrots, owls and possums.

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

State policies aren’t helping

The Victorian government has issued permits to remove kookaburras from their territories in certain areas. These included three “Authorities to Control Wildlife” by lethal means in 2022 and another in 2023.

The government website says these permits can be issued when wildlife causes damage to property, poses a risk to human health and safety, or is harmful for biodiversity. It is hard to imagine which of these categories justifies permits to kill kookaburras in their native habitat.

The maximum number for lethal control across 2022 was four, and three in 2023. However, kookaburras are highly social birds. They live in family groups of about a dozen individuals with a dominant pair, juvenile helpers and young. If the dominant pair has been dealt with “by lethal means”, it’s devastating for the group.

Two Australian states, Tasmania and Western Australia, treat the laughing kookaburra as an introduced species. In Tasmania (but not WA), the species is unprotected because of its status as an exotic species.

Anecdotal evidence suggests the “first pair” to breed successfully was taken to Tasmania around 1906. But this assumes kookaburras, which are found on other Bass Strait islands, were not already there and could not fly across Bass Strait.

In Tasmania, kookaburras are much maligned and it’s legal to kill them – despite this being the one state where the species isn’t in trouble. One concern is that, as a carnivorous bird, its impact on small reptiles and birds is immense. But other birds, such as the two species of currawong on the island, hunt the same prey as kookaburras.

Read more:
We rely on expert predictions to guide conservation. But even experts have biases and blind spots

We can no longer take common species for granted

As climate change results in more bushfires and we continue to clear-fell old habitat trees, the fate of the laughing kookaburra – our icon of the ages – could be sealed. That once-ubiquitous call will be heard no more.

While considerable resources necessarily go to threatened species programs, it is imperative, too, to give more resources and attention to species we have long thought of as common. If species such as kookaburras and koalas are disappearing, then the threatened species have no hope.

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

– ref. Why the kookaburra’s iconic laugh is at risk of being silenced – https://theconversation.com/why-the-kookaburras-iconic-laugh-is-at-risk-of-being-silenced-208181

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Breen, Professor of Law, University of Waikato

School truancy has been a concern across the political spectrum for years. But proposed solutions have largely failed to address the core reasons for unexplained school absences.

Despite the apparent difficulty in solving the truancy problem, education is a fundamental human right. Governments need to ensure children don’t face unnecessary hurdles when trying to get to and stay in school.

Legally, a truant is a student who is frequently late, misses a class, or misses entire days or weeks of schooling.

A downward trend in regular attendance (the percentage of students attending school 90% of a school term, based on the total enrolments in schools that provided attendance data electronically) has been apparent for a few years.

Absence from school may be justified or unjustified. The latter encompasses absences where no information or a trivial reason is provided (truancy).

In term 2 of 2015, regular attendance was 69.5% (with unjustified absences at 3.4%), before reaching a concerning low of 39.9% in term 2 of 2022 (during the COVID-19 pandemic), when truancy rates were 3.3%.

In term 2 of 2023, regular attendance was 47%, and truancy rates were 2.5%. By term 4 of 2023, regular attendance was 53.6%, with truancy rates at 1.7%.

Prioritising data collection

The coalition government recently announced its Attendance Action Plan in the latest effort to address the issue.

In the short term, the plan includes publishing weekly attendance data, improving awareness of the importance of school attendance, updating public health advice for parents to help them decide whether to send their child to school, and clarifying expectations for school boards.

Longer-term proposals include mandatory daily reporting of attendance data and a traffic light system to respond to different levels of school attendance.

This is underpinned by clear obligations for children, parents and schools, making attendance a strategic priority for school boards, and establishing improved data and analysis to determine the drivers for non-attendance.

It’s clear the coalition government’s current focus is on data collection, which is important for setting benchmarks. It allows the Ministry of Education to monitor and respond to truancy patterns, and can also be used to examine the correlation between student attendance and NCEA achievement.

But the data must be interpreted adequately and appropriately. Otherwise it may cause more harm than good, if the reasons for absences are masked and a one-size-fits-all approach is adopted.

Truancy as a global phenomenon

Changing attitudes to school attendance in New Zealand mirror overseas experiences.

While recognising the importance of going to school for wellbeing and educational achievement, a recent study from the Education Review Office suggests many New Zealand parents attach less importance to regular school attendance. This is similar to what parents have reported in the United Kingdom.

But persistent absences can have a cumulative effect, particularly if they occur from an early age.

Read more:
Why a ban on cellphones in schools might be more of a distraction than the problem it’s trying to fix

Since the end of the global pandemic, truancy rates overseas have been improving. New Zealand’s are too – but at a slower pace.

New Zealand’s poverty rate and cost-of-living crisis, as well as housing shortages, bullying and a youth mental health crisis appear to be having an effect on truancy rates.

Need for cross-party solutions

The 2022 Workforce and Education Select Committee Report on school attendance made a series of recommendations.

Some aspects of that report are reflected in the government’s school attendance plan – including the emphasis on engaging with parents, teachers and schools to improve attendance.

But the select committee’s report also recognised there are societal causes of non-attendance. It recommended the continuing provision of free school lunches and free period products, accompanied by an analysis of the effectiveness of both initiatives.

The coalition government has committed nearly NZ$3 million for period products. But moves to remove or reduce school lunches go against international research which has found free school meals beneficial for student achievement.

The select committee did not believe prosecutions and sanctions to be an appropriate response to chronic absenteeism. This echoes the British findings that sanctions were seen as irrelevant to improving school attendance.

Education as a human right

The right to education has featured consistently in the international legal framework since the end of the second world war. Education must be physically and economically accessible to everyone, and it must be flexible to respond to the needs of students within diverse and changing societies.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 requires countries to encourage regular attendance at school and reduce dropout rates. This also means countries must make every reasonable effort, using available resources, to address the deeper structural reasons for children dropping out of school.

The government’s attendance plan is an important step towards achieving those goals, which are a key element of ensuring their right to education.

Read more:
Being excluded or truant from school leads to mental health problems – and vice versa

Recent research shows young New Zealanders do value education. But they also want to be heard and valued. The support of whānau and friends, as well as the respect and understanding of their teachers, are important factors in keeping them engaged with school.

Improving school attendance and educational outcomes requires an action plan that addresses the structural issues that interfere with attendance and undermine the child’s right to education.

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has stated that education is one of the best financial investments a state can make, not only for social and economic reasons, but because “a well-educated, enlightened and active mind is one of the joys and rewards of human existence”.

Getting to our children to school, then, is only the beginning of this journey.

Claire Breen 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 government is basing its school truancy response on data – but by-the-numbers solutions aren’t enough – https://theconversation.com/the-government-is-basing-its-school-truancy-response-on-data-but-by-the-numbers-solutions-arent-enough-227886

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Cain, Senior Lecturer in Inclusive Education and Arts Education, Australian Catholic University

About 90% of Australian students with disability attend mainstream schools. Equitable access and participation in education is a fundamental human right.

But as last year’s disability royal commission found, this does not mean students with disability are fully included in their classrooms, school activities and playgrounds.

Over the past seven years, we have have surveyed and interviewed more than 100 students with disability, as well as parents, carers and teachers, as part of our research on students with disability in mainstream schools.

The students we talked to were aged between eight and 18. Here are ten things these students, their families and carers want teachers to know.

Read more:
70% of Australian students with a disability are excluded at school – the next round of education reforms can fix this

1. I can tell you what works (and what doesn’t)

Students with disability have a lot of experience overcoming barriers. They are experts about their needs and goals. But we found they are often not consulted by their teachers about what helps them at school.

As a high school student with low vision told us:

In primary school […] I had a teacher who wanted me to get a scribe or wanted me to write with a pen. She thought she knew best. It wasn’t the best. So, I think listening to the student is the most important part.

A parent of a high school student also explained:

Listen to and ask questions of the students. Don’t come with a preconceived idea of what a vision impairment is. Come willing to learn and to hear from the student how things impact them. It’s all about the [teacher] attitude and asking the kid ‘look if you can’t access anything you just make sure you let me know’.

2. Have high expectations

All students need to take risks to be able to discover, learn and grow. This is known as the “dignity of risk”.

Our research told us students with disability have the same goals for further learning and employment as their peers. So they need to take part in the same activities as their classmates and develop skills necessary for an independent future.

A parent of a Year 11 student said:

Students with disability are going to be working in a competitive job market so they need to be prepared for a level of productivity that is the same or better than their peers.

3. I am more than my disability

For some students, their disability is primary to their identity. For others, it is one of many aspects that makes them unique. Either way, students want their teachers to know them as a student with interests, skills, and goals, not just a “student with disability”.

As one parent explained, a delicate balance is required:

you want to normalise [the impairment], but not normalise it too much, because it’s not nothing. But it’s something that can be managed.

4. I don’t want to stand out

All students like to fit in and do what their peers do. So sometimes students with disability probably won’t tell their teacher if they need help.

One student who lost central vision when he was nine explained how his feelings about his disability can change.

[I] go back and forth with acceptance and then depression, anger and denial. I’m never, never, fully okay with it. So, I think depending on how mentally strong I feel, I’m much more open to things. And if I’m, like, really upset, I just don’t want anything to do with any of it.

He also explained how he arranged via email with his teacher to sit at the back of the class so other students would not notice how much he had to zoom in on his screen.

I’m self-conscious of how much I have to zoom in. And I don’t really want people seeing that because people say stuff and I don’t need that in my day.

5. My parents may need to advocate for me

Until students are old enough, parents are their main advocate. Parents and carers have a huge wealth of information about their child’s abilities and impairment, and want to help.

As one parent of a child in high school with low vision told us:

I suppose you are always advocating. It’s part and parcel when you’ve got a child with a disability, probably more so than for your other children.

6. Talk to the people who help me

Students and their families told us it was important for teachers to work out what is needed and how to solve potential issues at the very start of the year. In other words: be proactive and don’t wait for things to go wrong.

One student told us how an advisory teacher who specialises in helping students with disability gave their regular teacher tips on how to help them in maths.

Instead of writing equations on the board my teacher [now] adds them to OneNote [a note-taking app] so it is accessible to me. Then all the other students have access to it as well.

7. I may miss school sometimes

Some students with disability see a variety of medical professionals and therapists. Appointments are made well in advance and are difficult to change.
Sometimes health needs mean students are away from school for extended periods. This means schools need to be patient with absences and help students catch up.
As one parent told us:

Earlier this year my son was away from school for six weeks. The teachers were amazing in organising extensions, liaising with the hospital school, and sent work to him at home when he was feeling better.

8. I need to be included in all aspects of school

Inclusion in the full school curriculum means involvement physically, academically, socially and emotionally. But students with disability are often excluded from things such as physical activity. Teachers may be worried about students getting hurt or be unsure about how to adapt activities.

As one student told us:

I really struggle with sport, like when we play dodgeball and I can’t see the ball. So, I had to hold on to someone’s hand and jump over the ball. It was fun, but I think things should be made more accessible.

Like everyone else, not being able to participate effectively leads to boredom and frustration. This can see some students act out. As one student told us:

At the end of the term the class watches movies and there is no audio description, and I’m just sitting there. Sometimes I sneak my phone out because I’m just so bored.

10. I may need special equipment

Students with disability may need special technology or devices such as screen readers, word prediction software or communication boards. These are essential for equitable access and should not be denied because other students do not need them.
A one parent told us:

The school refused to provide a braille machine. I wanted to take it to the Department of Education, but couldn’t, because I worked at the school. That’s why we ended up buying one. The whole time the [school] said ‘no, it’s too expensive, we’re not buying it. We’ve only got one kid who needs it’.

Another parent agreed:

We need a bit more conversation around how different things are [for our children]. Not that they can’t do things. They can do just about everything, but not the way other children do.

Read more:
We don’t need a hydrotherapy pool in every school, but we do need quality public education for all kids

Students with disability want their teachers to know that just like every student, they have needs, goals and aspirations. They also have insight and experience that can support their access and participation in mainstream contexts. We just need to listen.

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. ‘Listening is the most important part’: 10 things students with disability and their families want teachers to know – https://theconversation.com/listening-is-the-most-important-part-10-things-students-with-disability-and-their-families-want-teachers-to-know-215702

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Flavio Macau, Associate Dean – School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University

Tensions in the Middle East have escalated following Iran’s weekend missile and drone attacks on Israel, heightening concerns of a wider conflict.

As with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, further conflict has the potential to destabilise oil prices and disrupt supply chains.

In Australia, already grappling with a cost-of-living crisis, the ripple effects could soon be felt.

Rising oil prices lead to increased inflation, first affecting fuel prices at petrol stations, advancing to to the prices of fresh produce and groceries delivered by truck, and finally spreading to most transactions in a connected economy.

But how concerned should we be?

The United States Energy Information Administration says Iran is responsible for about only 2% to global oil supplies, none of them coming to Australia.

Higher prices would hurt, wherever our fuel comes from

Malaysia is Australia’s major supplier of oil and Singapore and South Korea supply most of our petrol and diesel. The Middle East seems too distant to matter.

But oil prices are set globally, and a small group of countries have a large impact on it.

Founded in the 1960s, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) originally included Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, which between them controlled the majority of global oil exports.

This meant conflicts involving OPEC members used to squeeze supplies, causing big spikes in inflation of the kind seen in the 1970s and 1980s.

Not so much today. According to the World Economic Forum, the now 13 members of OPEC produce about 40% of the world’s oil, accounting for about 60% of the petroleum traded globally.

There are more alternatives. Among the non-OPEC producers are countries like Mexico, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Malaysia. In 2022 these non-OPEC producers exported respectable 16.5 million barrels a day compared to OPEC’s 28.7 million.

Iran is not the major player it used to be, especially for Western countries.

In 2019 the US and the EU imposed sanctions on Iran in response to its nuclear program and human rights violations.

Iran has employed strategies to circumvent restrictions by rebranding the country of origin of its oil, conducting tanker-to-tanker transfers and engaging getting its oil refined and resold from obscure locations. But its importance to global supply chains diminished.

China is now Iran’s primary buyer, reportedly receiving a 15% discount on oil it agrees to take as Western sanctions are enforced.

Therefore, a buoyant US economy and a recovery in Chinese markets have a larger impact on oil prices than the current escalation of the Middle East conflict. To a point.

Iranian support of Houthi militants in Yemen leading to attacks on merchant ships late last year reduced shipping traffic in the Suez Canal by about 50%, according to the International Monetary Fund. Most of the remaining traffic involves oil tankers.

If Israel hits back at Iran’s weekend drone and missile attack and Iran retaliates by disrupting the Strait of Hormuz – a narrow waterway nearby through which a quarter of global maritime oil trade flows – global oil markets will face a major choke point.

This could be mitigated by exporters using more time consuming routes, but the damage to oil prices could be significant and long-standing. There are not many alternative routes from main production sites to Western countries.

If logistics are affected, consumers may face shortages once again. And Australia is not in a great position to weather that.

Despite being a member of the International Energy Agency, Australia does not maintain oil stocks equivalent to at least 90 days of consumption, as required.

According to Australia Petroleum Statistics, current diesel stocks are estimated to last only about 26 days, with petrol stocks close behind at 27 days.

Furthermore, refinery production on Australian soil has significantly decreased; from producing about 15.1 billion litres of gasoline in 2013 to only 5.7 in 2023, a drop by about two-thirds.

Read more:
Why Yemen’s Houthis are getting involved in the Israel-Hamas war and how it could disrupt global shipping

There is no need for alarm as long as Australia’s response to a major crisis is fast and effective.

To be prepared, the government should prioritise securing oil supplies from reliable, nearby partners, take measures to prevent panic buying, be ready to increase domestic production and encourage industry to develop robust business continuity plans.

With these initiatives in place, Australia will be well prepared to handle any potential crises that may arise.

Read more:
Rising oil prices, surging inflation: The Arab embargo 50 years ago weaponized oil to inflict economic trauma

Flavio Macau is affiliated with the Australasian Supply Chain Institute (ASCI) and the Project Management Institute (PMI). He occasionally owns oil company shares as part of his investment portfolio.

– ref. Will global oil supply be at risk if Iran and Israel pull the Middle East into war? – https://theconversation.com/will-global-oil-supply-be-at-risk-if-iran-and-israel-pull-the-middle-east-into-war-228009

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edith Jennifer Hill, Associate Lecturer, Learning & Teaching Innovation, Flinders University

Have you ever wondered if your partner really loves you? Well apparently so have thousands of TikTok users, who are testing their theories for the world to see.

In the past year we’ve seen a rise in TikTok trends that purport to “test” a partner’s loyalty or the strength of a couple’s relationship. These tests vary in severity, from telling your partner you saw a cool bird and hoping they respond with equal enthusiasm, to asking an influencer to flirt with them to see if they’ll cheat.

If this sound stressful or potentially problematic to you, that’s because it is.

What are these tests?

Generally, TikTok relationship tests involve the tester acting a certain way in front of their partner, while making a video, and posting the results on TikTok for others to judge.

Several different tests have trended this year. One of the most popular is the orange peel “theory” (we use the word very lightly here), in which the tester tells their partner they feel like eating an orange.

Some partners simply acknowledge the comment, while others actually go and get an orange. But the “winners” are those who first retrieve the orange and then happily peel or cut it up for their significant other.

In another popular test, women TikTokers ask their partners to “name a woman”. If they respond with any name other than the tester’s, the woman pretends to act shocked, surprised or angry.

Why do we watch?

So why do millions of people watch and comment on these videos? There are two things we can point to here.

The first is the close resemblance these videos have to reality television, which research has shown we watch, in part, to feel better about ourselves.

Research has also found people are more likely to like, share and comment on stories when they feel a sense of moral outrage. It then comes with a pleasurable payoff once the source of the outrage seemingly gets what they deserve.

One emotion at play here is “schadenfreude”, which refers to taking pleasure from another’s pain. Whether we agree someone’s boyfriend deserves to be called out, or that the original poster “had it coming” with the response, we tend to feel satisfied by being part of the mob response.

Unfortunately, this motivates a hostile online environment. In such spaces, where we see others piling on the shame, we’re also more likely to do so ourselves.

Read more:
Think you might be dating a ‘vulnerable narcissist’? Look out for these red flags

Are the ‘tests’ legitimate in any way?

It’s safe to assume relationship TikTok tests aren’t even close to what would be recommended by relationship science. Currently in psychology research there is no single diagnostic test that can give us exact information about the validity or longevity of someone’s relationship.

Such psychological assessment is complex and can require multiple types of assessment. Moreover, these assessments are often done in various contexts and with feedback from multiple others. Even well-designed personality tests can give questionable, useless or misleading information when applied at an individual level.

Relationships benefit from all parties taking the time to understand one another – not from rushing to diagnose and assign labels.

How might the tests be harmful?

Sometimes we treat our partner as an object: a means to the end of our own desires, with no recognition of their desires.

These TikTok video are often driven by a desire for personal fame, reassurance about the security of one’s relationship, or wanting to feel like the “superior” partner. Of course this can backfire, especially if the person being unwittingly “tested” has their response shared online against their will.

People in relationships are interdependent. This means they influence each other and can choose to meet or deny each other’s needs.

When our needs aren’t met, communication is necessary to understand what matters to each person, and why a particular behaviour or pattern of behaviour is hurtful. It also requires a shared understanding of how to move forward together.

Working through what happened, taking time to recognise each other’s needs and agreeing on the shared values underpinning a conflict are important for repairing a relationship. Using a shame-based video to prove a point suggests the absence of healthy communication.

Beyond that, people tend to seek out information that confirms what they already think. This is called “confirmation bias”. If someone feels insecure about their partnership, they may subconsciously seek out information that confirms their insecurities, or interpret new information in this way.

Research has found if you act in a way that’s untrustworthy – such as setting up your partner to fail in a TikTok “test” – you are more likely to create insecurity in your relationship.

The line between humour and harm

Of course, some people posting these videos are just doing so to be playful or funny. Their partner may not mind, or may even be in on the gag. As long as a behaviour is an expression of a couple’s shared values, is done with consent (especially in terms of uploading the video online) and makes both parties feel respected, who are we to judge?

At the same time, many TikTok relationship tests presented as “jokes” will often portray women as being stereotypically jealous, needy or manipulative. And like all media that stereotype men and women, such content can further feed sexist attitudes and harm our relationships.

Lydia Woodyatt receives funding from The Australian Research Council and The Hospital Research Foundation.

Edith Jennifer Hill 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. No, getting your boyfriend to peel an orange won’t prove his loyalty. Why TikTok relationship ‘tests’ are useless – https://theconversation.com/no-getting-your-boyfriend-to-peel-an-orange-wont-prove-his-loyalty-why-tiktok-relationship-tests-are-useless-227229

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mathew Stewart, Research Fellow, Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University

If you look from above, you can see thousands of stone structures dotting the landscape of the Arabian peninsula. On the ground, you can find a bounty of stone tools and ancient fireplaces scattered along the edges of ancient lakes, as well as rock art depicting hunting and herding scenes in the surrounding mountains.

Despite the visibility of these sites, only in the past decade or so have archaeologists taken a dedicated interest in them. Some of the structures have now been dated at up to 10,000 years old.

However, the arid climate, baking days and freezing nights, and intense wind erosion are not kind to some of the other relics archaeologists prize. To date, there has been little found in the way of fossils or the kind of deeply buried, layered deposits that can open a window onto the history of a place.

Until recently, no archaeologists had surveyed any of the hundreds of caves and lava tubes recorded across northern Arabia. In 2019, our team began to look in these subterranean locations – and in a new study published today in PLoS ONE, we report on the first documented occupation of a lava tube in the Arabian Peninsula.

The Umm Jirsan lava tube

The Umm Jirsan lava tube lies some 125 kilometres north of the city of Madinah, in the Harrat Khaybar lava field. The tube formed long ago by cooling lava. It winds an impressive 1.5 kilometres, and reaches 12 metres in height and 45 metres in width in some sections.

The first thing you notice when venturing into the tube’s dark and meandering tunnels is the sheer number of animal remains. The floor is strewn with piles of bones containing thousands – if not hundreds of thousands – of exceptionally preserved fossils.

These bone-piles are the work of striped hyenas, which drag bones underground to eat, stash away for times of food scarcity, or process and feed to cubs. This process, repeated over millennia, has produced some of the most incredible accumulations of fossils seen anywhere in the world.

But it’s not all just bones. When we surveyed the entrances of Umm Jirsan – essentially areas where the roof has collapsed, providing access to the lava tube – we uncovered hundreds of stone artefacts made from obsidian, chert and basalt.

Although exciting, these artefacts were all surface finds, making them extremely difficult to date. We needed to look deeper.

Digging in

We excavated in the mouth of the eastern passage, near a series of semi-circular stone structures of an unknown age or function. The excavation uncovered more stone artefacts – all made from fine-grained green obsidian – as well as animal bones and charcoal.

Most of the stone artefacts came from a discrete sediment layer roughly 75 centimetres beneath the surface. Radiocarbon dating of the charcoal, and dating of the sediments using a method known as optically stimulated luminescence dating, revealed this main occupation phase likely occurred between 7,000 and 10,000 years ago.

We also found some interesting objects in the surrounding landscape. These included more stone artefacts and circular structures, as well as a so-called “I-type” structure. These constructions are believed to date to around 7,000 years ago, based on their association with large rectangular structures known as mustatils, which we believe were used for ritual animal sacrifices.

Read more:
Enigmatic ruins across Arabia hosted ancient ritual sacrifices

We also found the first rock art discovered in the area. This includes depictions of herding scenes of cattle, sheep and goat, and even hunting scenes involving dogs. This art has similarities with other rock art in Arabia from the Neolithic and the later Bronze Age. It includes overlapping engravings, suggesting people visited the area repeatedly over thousands of years.

We also found human remains at Umm Jirsan, which we dated to the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. By analysing the carbon and nitrogen in these remains, we found these people’s diets were consistently high in protein – though they ate more fruit and cereals over time.

Interestingly, this change in diet appears to coincide with the arrival of oasis agriculture in the region. This saw the emergence of sophisticated farming and water management techniques that enabled people to settle in the deserts more permanently and cultivate plants such as dates and figs.

We made another interesting finding after coming home from the dig. Studying maps of archaeological structures in the wider area, we noticed Umm Jirsan sits along a “funerary avenue” connecting two major oases.

Read more:
Ancient humans may have paused in Arabia for 30,000 years on their way out of Africa

These funerary avenues, which consist of chains of tombs stretching hundreds of kilometres, are believed to have been routes used by Bronze Age pastoralists as they transported their herds between water sources.

We think Umm Jirsan may have been a stopping-off point for pastoralists, a place that offered shelter and water in an otherwise dry and harsh environment.

Archaeologists have made remarkable finds in Arabia in recent years, in settings such as ancient lakebeds. Our finds at Umm Jirsan add another important element to the story of Arabian societies over time, and how they interacted with this dramatic landscape.

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. First evidence of ancient human occupation found in giant lava tube cave in Saudi Arabia – https://theconversation.com/first-evidence-of-ancient-human-occupation-found-in-giant-lava-tube-cave-in-saudi-arabia-227769

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

After the stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in an Assyrian Orthodox Church in Wakeley on Monday, and the killings in Bondi Junction shopping centre just two days earlier, many people in Sydney and in Australia more widely are tense.

With constant protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza and fears about a wider Middle East conflict, social harmony among religions and cultures in Australia is straining.

Dai Le is the independent member for the seat of Fowler, where the church incident took place. Hers is one of the most diverse electorates in the country.

On how the local community is feeling, Dai Le stresses:

The community is currently feeling on edge and there is tension in the community, since the attack.

As you can appreciate, people are on tenterhooks at the moment […] This just follows on from the Bondi killings that happened as well. So it’s just one day after another.

Talking about the alleged attacker, who is a teenager, she highlights some of the struggles facing young people:

Our young people are often very much feeling cut off from society. And I think that they are struggling with mental health issues. They’re struggling with the cost of living. They’re struggling with finding their identity and where they belong in today’s society, where it’s so fast paced, where there’s lots of expectations.

I can’t speak around this young man because I don’t know much about his history.

I do know is that young people need a lot of support, and need a lot to feel that they belong, that they are valued. And how do we do that? What can we create to make sure that they are valued members of our community?

Dai Le still remains hopeful and proud of Australia’s role as a multicultural society:

I still believe, though, that we are still a wonderful multicultural community. I believe that we have that great uniqueness. And Australia has always been welcoming, and I hope that Australia will continue to maintain our wonderful cohesiveness and harmony. If everybody, all the leaders, we work together to ensure the message is out there, that people are welcomed, that people have the right to practice their faith, that people feel that they belong in the community.

Finally, on her hopes for the budget, Dai Le focuses on the kitchen table issues:

I’ve asked the Prime Minister before to extend that excise fuel tax cut, because that will obviously bring down the petrol prices, which is above $2.10 and sometimes up to $2.50, for people because our community travels a lot for work. The grocery food prices that is kind of really just beyond anybody’s imagination how much it costs nowadays to do your grocery shopping.

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

– ref. Politics with Michelle Grattan: Independent MP Dai Le on the church attack in her electorate – https://theconversation.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-independent-mp-dai-le-on-the-church-attack-in-her-electorate-228101

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Euan Ritchie, Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University

We’ve long known Australia’s main environmental protection laws aren’t doing their job, and we know Australians want better laws. Labor was elected promising to fix them.

But yesterday, the government walked back its commitments, deferring the necessary reforms to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act indefinitely in the face of pressure from the state Labor government in Western Australia and the mining and resources industries.

Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek was on the front foot yesterday, promising the new national agency Environment Protection Australia and Environmental Information Australia will still go ahead.

But decisions by the planned agency can be overruled by the minister via expansive “call in” powers. And because Labor has backed away from rolling out essential legally enforceable national environmental standards this term, it’s hard to see how the agency can actually be the “tough cop on the beat” we were promised.

Labor promised substantive change that would prevent further species extinctions. But yesterday’s announcement was basically the continuation of business as usual.

Environmental organisations such as the Australian Conservation Foundation – which backed many of Labor’s proposed reforms – are now “deeply disappointed”.

What just happened?

Yesterday’s announcement effectively defers substantive change until after the next federal election.

Rather than a full package, the government has split its planned reforms into three parts, under the umbrella name of the Nature Positive Plan.

Read more:
5 things we need to see in Australia’s new nature laws

The first is the nature repair market, which many stakeholders – conservationists and business leaders alike – have been sceptical of. It was legislated in December, but nature repair projects can’t start until the market governance and methods are established.

The second will create the federal Environmental Protection Australia agency and Environment Information Australia body. The agency will be responsible for development assessments, decisions and compliance and enforcement, with staff drawn from existing divisions within the department, while the information agency will support decision-making with data, as well as report on progress against environmental targets.

But the third is the crucial bit – the reformed environment protection and biodiversity laws, and the legally enforceable national environmental standards underpinning them.

We need these standards and laws to properly address longstanding deficiencies such as lack of clear policy objectives and “no go” zones for development, failure to account for climate change impacts, ongoing native vegetation clearing and habitat destruction that drives extinction, and a lack of alignment with other laws.

But these vital elements have been deferred to “an unspecified date”. Despite the urgency of our extinction crisis, we have a cart but no horse in sight.

How did we get here?

In 2020, Graeme Samuel released his scathing report detailing the many failings of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. The laws, he wrote, were “ineffective” and needed fundamental reform. Labor came to office pledging to end extinctions, tackle climate change, and repair nature.

But two years later, little solid progress has been made. In cases such as the controversial Lee Point development planned in Darwin, the government has appeared to put development ahead of considerations of threatened species and First Nations’ cultural values.

Samuel called for comprehensive amendments to the laws within 12 months, and for full reform by 2022. Instead, the government only began consulting in May 2023, undertook a “lockup” consultation with peak environment bodies in October, and ran public consultation in November. Now we hear these reforms have been pushed back indefinitely.

In the West Australian, Minister Plibersek describes the changes as:

a staged rollout of sensible reforms that better protect Australia’s natural wonders, while also supporting faster, more efficient decision making […] This package is a win for the environment and a win for business

Speaking on ABC radio, she denied there was any “unnecessary delay”:

there is a careful approach to make sure we get this right, because this is generational change […] I’m not going to go into the parliament with a flawed set of laws that we can’t get support for.

This is questionable. In 2022, Australia signed up to the ambitious global push to turn around the destruction of the natural world, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. We agreed to work to bring biodiversity loss almost to zero by 2030 and for native wild species to become more abundant and resilient by 2050. Deferring our main environment laws is not the way to do this.

Read more:
The historic COP15 outcome is an imperfect game-changer for saving nature. Here’s why Australia did us proud

Restoring nature isn’t possible without stronger environment laws

Preserving nature can only be done with substantive legislative reform, given Australia’s existing environmental laws do not effectively regulate and stop the ongoing destruction of nature.

As Samuel pointed out, our current laws are not keeping the environment in good shape. They focus on individual approvals for projects, not clear outcomes for the environment.

Read more:
‘Nature positive’ isn’t just planting a few trees – it’s actually stopping the damage we do

As it stands there will be no climate trigger – meaning no assessment of impact on climate change – despite the threat this poses to biodiversity. The Great Barrier Reef is suffering its worst recorded mass bleaching this year, the fifth in eight years.

Even so, fossil fuel production continues with many more projects awaiting approval.

Nature can’t afford further delays

Without the reformed environment protection laws, the strengthened Safeguard Mechanism – the government’s main plan to drive down emissions from large polluters – will not work properly. This is because environmental law needs to be amended so greenhouse gas emissions from new coal and gas developments are reported on and tracked.

In fact, without the national environmental standards – which the federal environment department dubs the “centrepiece of our reforms” – the whole package of reform seems toothless.

Labor’s failure so far to deliver on its promise puts their goals of “no new extinctions” and a “nature positive” future for Australia at risk.

Read more:
Get the basics right for National Environmental Standards to ensure truly sustainable development

Euan Ritchie receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Action. Euan is a Councillor within the Biodiversity Council, and a member of the Ecological Society of Australia and the Australian Mammal Society.

Megan C Evans has received funding from various sources, including the Australian Research Council through a Discovery Early Career Research Award (2020-2023), the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, WWF Australia, and the National Environmental Science Program’s Threatened Species Recovery Hub.

Yung En Chee receives funding from an Australian Research Council linkage grant. She also receives funding and research contracts from Melbourne Water through the Melbourne Waterway Research-Practice Partnership 2023-2028. Yung En is a member of the Society for Conservation Biology.

– ref. Australia’s long-sought stronger environmental laws just got indefinitely deferred. It’s back to business as usual – https://theconversation.com/australias-long-sought-stronger-environmental-laws-just-got-indefinitely-deferred-its-back-to-business-as-usual-228090

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chao Chen, Deputy Director, Enterprise AI and Data Analytics Hub, RMIT Univeristy, RMIT University

From asking our smart speakers for the weather to receiving personalised advice from smartwatches, devices powered by artificial intelligence (AI) are increasingly streamlining our routines and decision making. The technology is seeping into our lives in subtle ways.

Manufacturers gather vast amounts of user data to ensure these smart devices are responsive and personalised. But this can put users at risk of exploitation by malicious agents, such as hackers looking to steal your data.

As AI becomes more ubiquitous, consumers will also need to become savvier. If you want to enjoy the benefits of a smart everyday device, you should be aware of the safeguards needed to protect you from cyberattacks.

A smarter internet of things

Once we started connecting physical everyday devices like fridges, vacuum cleaners and doorbell cameras to the internet, the Internet of Things (IoT) was born. It is now estimated there are some 17 billion IoT devices worldwide.

IoT devices that existed before AI generally have simpler, more static functionalities, resulting in lower data privacy and security risks. These devices could connect to the internet and perform specific tasks they were programmed to do, such as remotely turning off lights or setting a thermostat.

However, they couldn’t learn from user interactions or adapt their functionalities over time. Manufacturers integrate AI into IoT devices to help them “understand” and better cater to user needs and behaviours.

For example, a smart speaker might gather behavioural information by listening to conversations in its environment. This helps it to better understand user preferences and commands, adapt its responses and offer more relevant content or suggestions. Ultimately, this enhances the experience – it makes the device more useful to you.

However, it also makes it less secure. With AI now embedded into such devices, it actually opens a new collection of pathways (known as an “attack surface”) for cybercriminals. For example, hackers can use inputs that deliberately cause the AI in the device to malfunction. They can also “poison” the training data of AI models to make them behave in specific ways.

In addition, a malicious attacker can obtain the AI training data through a model inversion attack. If an AI model has been trained on private or sensitive data, replicating this model could potentially expose information that should remain confidential.

Manufacturers should do more

IoT devices have long been vulnerable to hackers due to lack of passwords, lack of encryption or outdated software. With this in mind, smart device manufacturers that prioritise security will implement strong encryption, provide regular software updates and ensure secure data management and transport.

However, users often aren’t aware of just how vulnerable their devices might be, or what kind of data they gather and where it goes.

There is a pressing need for industry standards that ensure all devices meet a minimum-security threshold before they come to market.

Manufacturers should provide detailed guidelines on how the collected data is processed, stored and protected. They should also explain any measures to prevent unauthorised access or data breaches.

Governments and industry have recognised the risks and invisible threats posed by AI. We have already seen the significant negative consequences when this is exploited. That is why laws on AI regulation are being drafted and implemented in Australia and around the world.

In the meantime, consumers must remain vigilant and take proactive measures – to ensure their digital lives bring about more benefit than harm.

How can I protect my devices from cyberattacks?

For a start, review all the devices in your home that connect to the internet. Try to identify AI-powered features, such as learning user behaviours or processing large datasets. These are common in smart speakers, home security systems and advanced wearable technology.

Secondly, explore the functionality of your devices and disable irrelevant or unnecessary AI features. This simple step could prevent AI from gathering personal information and its possible exposure.

Thirdly, when you purchase a device, examine the manufacturer’s security disclosure, often found on their website under titles like “Privacy”, “Security” or “Product Support”. It can also be found in user manuals and, sometimes, directly on the product packaging.

Make sure you understand what sort of AI technology the device uses and how data is collected, processed, stored and protected. What are the safeguards? Did the manufacturer use industry standards or subscribe to strong security guidelines like the European Union’s data protection regulation, GDPR?

Read more:
What does GDPR mean for me? An explainer

Security disclosures can vary greatly in terms of clarity. Technical details can be difficult to understand, but information from the Australian government’s Consumer Data Right guidelines can help guide your decision.

Asking these questions will help with the selection of devices. Sometimes it is best to pick a manufacturer with a strong track record on security, rather than be swayed by price point alone.

Finally, always keep your IoT devices up to date: when your device requests to install an update, do this promptly. This ensures any security loopholes identified by the manufacturer are properly implemented, closing the opportunity for cyberattacks.

These good habits will go a long way to ensuring your privacy is safeguarded.

Chao Chen receives funding from various organisations, including industry partners for industry-driven research projects and government funding from the ARC and CSIRO.

Kok-Leong Ong receives funding from various organisations, including industry partners for industry-driven research projects and government funding from the NHMRC, MRFF and CSIRO.

Lin Li 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. AI is making smart devices – watches, speakers, doorbells – easier to hack. Here’s how to stay safe – https://theconversation.com/ai-is-making-smart-devices-watches-speakers-doorbells-easier-to-hack-heres-how-to-stay-safe-223738