Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Batty, Associate Professor, Business School, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

According to New Zealand’s Trademarks Register, the name Red Bull has been registered for everything from “varnishes” to “sausage machines”. And, of course, energy drinks.

All have been registered by the maker of the eponymous energy drink, but this doesn’t necessarily mean Red Bull will be branching out into new products.

One of the purposes of trademark law is to protect names, words and logos so that when consumers see a product they know where it has come from.

Yet in most trademark registration systems around the world – including in New Zealand and Australia – you can acquire property rights in relation to a trademark simply by filing an application for the nominated goods or services (known as the “specification”).

You don’t have to have actually used the trademark on your product or service to apply – you just have to be the first to register it. As a result, some businesses may register their trademarks for a wide range of products or services to claim broad property rights. This prevents other companies from taking advantage of their brand.

Such “registration-based” systems can be contrasted with “use-based” systems. The prime example of the latter is the United States, where a mark will only be registered once an applicant proves they have used it for the goods or services in the specification.

The main benefit of a “registration-based” system is you are provided with some assurance that your trademark will be protected before you go to the trouble and expense of marketing your product or service.

Once you have marketed it, the hope is consumers will indeed come to recognise your product or service because of its trademark.

The downside of such a system, though, is that brand owners can potentially register trademarks for goods or services they will never use their marks for, and in which they have no real commercial interest.

A recent court ruling in the United Kingdom puts the spotlight on such filing practices in registration-based trademark systems, and how a better understanding of “bad faith” might curb such practices.

Sky Ltd vs SkyKick

A prohibition on filing trademarks in bad faith is one mechanism used to prevent abuse of “registration-based” trademark systems – present both in New Zealand’s and Australia’s trademark legislation.

The UK Supreme Court recently considered how “bad faith” ought to be interpreted. As well as being a “wakeup call” for some UK trademark owners with wide and commercially unrealistic specifications (the description of what a company may trade in), this decision is likely to influence the shape of the law in New Zealand and Australia.

In 2016, UK-based media companies Sky Ltd and Sky International AG (Sky) began trademark infringement proceedings against IT company SkyKick for use of the mark “SkyKick” in relation to the provision of various cloud-based products.

SkyKick responded by claiming Sky had filed its trademarks in bad faith and they should be cancelled. SkyKick’s arguments centred on the breadth of Sky’s specifications, its use of overly broad categories such as “computer software”, and its enforcement strategy.

One of Sky’s marks, for example, had a specification that ran to more than 8,000 words, and covered goods such as “bleaching preparations” and “whips”.

The High Court concluded Sky’s intention was to acquire trademarks as a legal weapon to use against third parties. This meant the trademark applications had been partially filed in bad faith.

The High Court finding was eventually overturned by the UK’s Court of Appeal. But the Supreme Court upheld the High Court decision.

In November, the Supreme Court confirmed it can be an abuse of the trademark system – and therefore bad faith – to file an application to register a trademark for goods or services for a purpose other than that contemplated by trademark law, and where the person had no intention to use the trademark as a badge of origin.

In this case, Sky had obtained registrations for a very wide range of goods and services without providing a plausible commercial rationale, and was prepared to enforce these marks against other traders.

Protecting against bad faith

Admittedly, New Zealand’s Trade Marks Act 2002 has additional mechanisms to prevent abuse of the registration system compared with the law in the UK.

The act allows the intellectual property office to question the justification of a specification, and third parties to challenge whether an applicant has a genuine intention to use a trademark, for example.

That said, the SkyKick judgement has the potential to trigger more scrutiny of trademark filing practices in all registration-based systems. New Zealand courts already seem open to interpreting bad faith in line with the purposes of trademark law.

In a case in the New Zealand High Court, Planet Fitness Ltd v PFIP International, it was alleged a business had filed for the trademark “Planet Fitness” to prevent the expansion of a global gym chain into New Zealand, rather than to use the mark itself.

The High Court found the application was made in bad faith because the applicant was pursuing aims unrelated to protecting a mark intended to be used to communicate origin in the marketplace.

This approach to finding whether a registration was made in bad faith may mean the days of registering trademarks for every good or service under the sun, for purposes unrelated to use in the marketplace, are numbered.

Rob Batty 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. Trademarks that will never be used can be ‘bad faith’ business – a UK case has lessons for NZ and Australia – https://theconversation.com/trademarks-that-will-never-be-used-can-be-bad-faith-business-a-uk-case-has-lessons-for-nz-and-australia-244929

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Priya Dev, Lecturer, Research School of Finance, Actuarial Studies & Statistics, Australian National University

Secret ballots have long been fundamental to democracy, ensuring the integrity of elections in both government and corporate settings. Traditionally, votes are cast on physical paper, creating a clear separation between the voter’s identity and their choice. This anonymity protects individuals from vote-buying, intimidation or retaliation.

But what happens when the system moves online? Recently the Australian National University opted for an online ballot to decide a contentious vote that could significantly impact staff pay. Staff were assured their vote would be anonymous.

The online voting system used by the university is provided by a company called CorpVote, which says “all votes submitted through our secret ballot process are guaranteed to be anonymous”. The system is also used by some of Australia’s largest organisations, including Woolworths, Coles, Telstra, Westpac, BHP, Bunnings, the Australian Federal Police, the Department of Home Affairs, the Fair Work Commission and the ABC.

We decided to investigate whether the claims about voter anonymity were accurate – and made some troubling discoveries.

A three-step process

The CorpVote website claims:

The only way that a response in any of our ballot or election processes can be identified as coming from you is if you disclose this information yourself.

The CorpVote voting process has three steps.

First, each voter receives a unique “voter access code”, similar to a single-use pass code. The voter enters this code on the CorpVote website, along with their employee number. The code and employee number are sent to a CorpVote server to verify the voter’s identity.

Second, once CorpVote verifies a voter’s identity, an online ballot is displayed on the website.

Third, the voter casts their vote on the online ballot. The vote, along with the voter’s unique code, is then sent to the CorpVote server.

A flawed system

The “voter access code” is the connective link that allows an observer of this voting process to connect each vote to each voter’s employee number. At the university, the unique “voter access codes” were also sent to employee email addresses, automatically linking each “voter access code” to each person.

A well-designed voting system makes it difficult to link votes to voters, even in the face of collusion by multiple parties. Some e-voting systems use sophisticated cryptography such as homomorphic encryption or verifiable mixing to break the link between a person’s identity and their vote. However, there are still compelling reasons why e-voting should not be used in government elections. For example, it carries a risk of electoral fraud or error because it makes it difficult to verify each person’s vote is accurately recorded.

Nevertheless, e-voting has been used in state and territory elections, in addition to corporate elections. E-voting is often adopted by organisations for the convenience of allowing stakeholders to cast their votes remotely.

In the case of CorpVote, we did not have direct access to its systems. Instead, we asked volunteers to examine the network activity – how their vote data travels online – while votes were being cast during the Australian National University’s election.

Using freely available developer tools in their web browsers, volunteers recorded the three-step process we previously described.

Who can observe or access the vote data?

Anyone with administrator access to the CorpVote server can inspect or alter
the voting data. Additionally, third-party internet proxy servers used by CorpVote could also inspect or alter the data as it transits to the server.

The system relies on “transport layer security” encryption – a standard internet security measure designed to protect data as it moves across the web. While this effectively secures the connection between the user and the server, it does not protect the data once it arrives at the server.

An attacker with unauthorised access to any of these systems could exploit this flawed design, enabling data tampering or leaks.

Some systems, such as iVote, used during the New South Wales state election, add an additional layer of encryption that the server cannot remove.

This ensures that when the server decrypts the incoming network traffic, it only reveals an encrypted vote. This is similar to how secure messaging apps such as WhatsApp or Signal protect your messages from being read by their servers.

While encryption does not prevent tampering, it ensures those with server access cannot read the votes.

CorpVote strongly rejected our results, telling The Conversation the investigation was “based on several incorrect assumptions” because we did “not have technical access to [CorpVote’s] systems, policy frameworks, or cybersecurity posture”.

A spokesperson for the Australian National University declined to comment, saying any questions about CorpVote’s systems should be directed to CorpVote.

A significant impact

Corporate elections have a significant impact on economies, industries and millions of lives.

In Australia, for example, one in three workers can vote in elections that shape their employment conditions, such as enterprise agreement ballots. As happened recently at the Australian National University, workers often cast their ballot through the CorpVote system.

Meanwhile, about one in three Australians is an investor in a publicly listed company, giving them a direct vote on decisions that influence corporate futures and the value of their investments. For example, shareholders vote to elect directors to the boards of companies such as Woolworths and Coles.

The outcome of such elections can impact how these companies are governed, ultimately influencing how much we pay for groceries at the counter.

Rigorous scrutiny of e-voting systems is needed

Since 2014, employees of the ABC and members of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union have raised privacy concerns about the CorpVote process.

At the core of their unease is the requirement for voters to provide sensitive personal information, such as payroll numbers and birth dates, to verify their identity in the e-voting system.

Our investigation adds to these concerns.

Trust in institutions is already declining in both corporate and government settings. If people think their votes can be traced — such as their boss knowing how they voted — they might not vote at all. Worse, they might not vote honestly. This would lead to unfair outcomes and make others doubt the results.

Organisations and individuals must adopt a “verify, don’t trust” philosophy when voting online, even in corporate settings. This approach demands rigorous scrutiny of e-voting systems, no matter their reputation or assurances.

Vanessa Teague has received consulting money from The Swiss Federal Chancellery and a number of Australian public-sector organisations, for work related to security and privacy, including for e-voting. She is the CEO of Thinking Cybersecurity and chairperson of Democracy Developers, which makes open-source software for supporting democracy and has received grant or consulting money from the State of Colorado, Microsoft, and DARPA via Votingworks.

Priya Dev 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. ‘Anonymous’ voting software used by some of Australia’s biggest companies is flawed, new investigation reveals – https://theconversation.com/anonymous-voting-software-used-by-some-of-australias-biggest-companies-is-flawed-new-investigation-reveals-244181

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Larissa Christensen, Senior Lecturer in Criminology & Justice, Co-leader of the Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit (SVRPU), University of the Sunshine Coast

There are many social issues enabled by social media, including sexting, the creation of and access to child sexual abuse material and cyber bullying.

Concerningly, research has found more than one-third of young Australian women (aged 14–17 years) have sent, or have asked or been asked to show or share nude (or nearly nude) images or videos.

What the public might not realise is that young people who take or share videos or images of themselves are unknowingly possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material.

Analysing a decade of data

In our just-published study, we analysed close to 38,000 sexual offences reported to police in one jurisdiction in Australia (Queensland).

Our large dataset involved all recorded sexual assault and related offences over an almost ten-year period. We wanted to explore the prevalence and type of sexual offence cases, along with the characteristics of the perpetrators, including their age and gender.

Consistent with previous research, we found adult males were responsible for the majority of reported sexual offences in our sample. Women accounted for 12.2% of all reported sexual offences across this period.

What was most unexpected was young women (10–17 years) making up the majority of all women-perpetrated sexual offences (84.1%; 3,874 offences), rather than adult women.

In contrast, young males (10–17 years) made up the minority of all male-perpetrated sexual offences (26.2%; 8,703 offences).

We then grouped the offences into four categories:

• offline child sexual abuse offences (offences against a child victim)

• offline sexual assault offences (offences against an adult or unspecified age of victim)

• online assaultive child sexual abuse material offences (included involving a child in making sexual abuse material)

• online non-assaultive child sexual abuse material offences (included using the internet to procure a child or expose a child to an indecent act).

Our most alarming finding was the high prevalence of young women involved in assaultive child sexual abuse material offences, which was the primary reason this group came to the attention of police.

In fact, when we looked at the likelihood of perpetrating an assaultive child sexual abuse material offence, young women were 20 times more likely than both adult women and adult males, and nearly eight times more likely than young males.

Our finding appears to have uncovered a large concentration of young women engaging in harmful online sexual behaviours and coming to the attention of the criminal justice system.

What we also discovered

We also explored the relationship between perpetrator age, gender, offence type, and the likelihood of police action.

Offences by young women were less likely to result in arrest or going to court compared with any other group (adult women, young males and adult males). Rather, police diversion (such as the person being dealt with by another agency, a restorative justice referral, or given a caution) was the most common outcome.

While these differences may indicate discrepancies in police action for perpetrator gender and age, they are likely due to the circumstances of the case.

So, it may have been that many of these cases involving young women in our study could have involved self-generated material, with these young women taking, and sending, nude pictures of themselves.

In other instances, they may have been sharing explicit images of their peers.

Exploring these interactions was beyond the scope of our study. Further research is urgently needed to investigate why these young women are involved in such a high concentration of these types of offences.

What might curb this behaviour?

We are still learning about young peoples’ online interactions, including those that might come to the attention of police.

Education in the family home is essential. This involves open and honest discussions about online safety.

Online resources are available to help guide parents and caregivers with (sometimes tricky) conversations with young people about online safety. These include materials prepared by the eSafety Commissioner and the National Office for Child Safety.

We also need to continue to focus our efforts on other early intervention strategies.

All young people need to be exposed to education-based programs that help them understand risks and better navigate their social and sexual interactions.

However, it could be argued that education tailored to different behaviour patterns might be helpful to intervene with young people.

For example, educative programs for young women might predominantly focus on the prevention of online harmful sexual behaviours. Whereas, education programs for young males could perhaps centre on harmful sexual behaviours that occur in-person. (Our study found young males mostly perpetrated offline offences.)

But again, we need to first learn more about these young people.

Police are committed in their efforts to help curb this issue, with the use of educative and prevention approaches in cases involving similar-aged young people. Exploring other ways to support police in responding to this issue, while still promoting accountability, may reduce contact with the criminal justice system.

Before we jump to any major conclusions, it is clear further research is needed to understand how our young people interact online and navigate their digital environments.

We need to listen to this population.

What this means is ensuring young people’s voices, experiences and views are at the front and centre of future research.

Doing so will allow us to co-create solutions, reduce these statistics and improve wellbeing and outcomes of young people in Australia.

Larissa Christensen has previously received funding from Queensland Corrective Services and Queensland Police Service (unrelated to the current topic on females). She is affiliated with the Daniel Morcombe Foundation.

Nadine McKillop has previously received funding from Queensland Corrective Services and Queensland Police Service (unrelated to the current topic on females).

Susan Rayment-McHugh has previously received funding from Queensland Corrective Services and Queensland Police Service (unrelated to the current topic on females). She is affiliated with Laurel Place Inc.

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

– ref. A decade-long study reveals concerning trend of young women committing online sexual offences – https://theconversation.com/a-decade-long-study-reveals-concerning-trend-of-young-women-committing-online-sexual-offences-244040

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liz Sturgiss, Associate Professor, School of Primary and Allied Health Care, Monash University

Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has recently approved a self-test kit for chlamydia and gonorrhoea for women and other people with a vagina.

Reports indicate these at-home tests will be available in pharmacies from December 13.

So what do we know about this test?

The basics

The test is developed by a Sydney-based company called Touch Biotechnology.

We don’t yet know how much retailers will charge for it, but people will need to pay for the test out-of-pocket (Medicare only subsidises pathology tests done in a lab).

The test is for two of the most common sexually transmitted infections (STIs), chlamydia and gonorrhoea. Both are bacterial infections.

It’s a vaginal test. While it’s possible to contract chlamydia and gonorrhoea in other parts of the body including the throat and rectum, at present there are no self-test kits available in Australia for other sites (or for men and other people without a vagina).

To collect a sample, you insert a swab into the vagina. The next steps are similar to an at-home COVID test, although the sample needs to be mixed with two different solutions, rather than one.

You next place a few drops of the mixed solution into two separate wells on a cassette (one for chlamydia and one for gonorrhoea). Similar to a COVID test, two lines mean you most likely have an infection, and one line means you probably don’t. You can read the result after about 15 minutes.

Who should take this test?

Most people who contract chlamydia won’t have any symptoms. But the infection can sometimes cause burning when you pass urine, vaginal discharge, unusual vaginal bleeding and pelvic pain.

Gonorrhoea usually doesn’t cause any symptoms when it’s in the vagina, but it can similarly cause vaginal discharge, bleeding and pain.

All this means you don’t need to have any symptoms to take a test.

If you don’t have symptoms, it’s important not to test too early after exposure. Chlamydia can take 7–14 days from exposure and gonorrhoea can take about 7 days to show up in a test, including lab-based tests. If you had sex without a condom and are worried, taking a test at about one week would be best (if you do have symptoms it’s reasonable to take one sooner).

Most STIs are easy to treat, but when they’re not diagnosed and treated over a long period, they can cause complications. For example, chlamydia can travel up into the uterus and fallopian tubes and cause problems with fertility.

Of course, detecting and treating STIs is also important to reduce their spread. Chlamydia and gonorrhoea infections have been increasing in Australia over the past couple of years.

How accurate is the test?

The TGA has strict criteria about how accurate at-home STI tests need to be. They must have a sensitivity of at least 95%, meaning they correctly identify at least 95% of positive cases.

Touch Biotechnology states the at-home chlamydia and gonorrhoea test has more than 99% sensitivity. However the research underpinning this figure has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

In any case, a positive result still needs to be confirmed with a lab-based test. So if you return a positive test, you need to consult a doctor for further testing and advice on treatment.

At-home STI tests are not entirely new

While this represents an exciting innovation in sexual health, at-home testing for STIs is not a completely new thing in Australia. HIV self-tests have been available for purchase in Australian pharmacies since 2021. These tests involve extracting a small amount of blood from your fingertip.

Looking at how HIV home tests have worked can give us clues as to what we might expect from these newer at-home tests for chlamydia and gonorrhoea.

Although most HIV testing is still done in clinics, the availability of self-tests has been shown to increase how often people test for HIV and encourage people who have never tested before to do so.

At-home HIV testing provides an extra level of anonymity compared to attending a clinic. This may be especially important for some populations including younger people, people from culturally and linguistically diverse or migrant communities, and men who have sex with men who identify as straight.

Research suggests most people who get a positive test result on HIV self-tests successfully become linked to the care and treatment they need.

In Australia, it’s also now possible for women and people with a cervix aged 25 and older to collect their own vaginal swab to screen for HPV, which causes cervical cancer. You can take the swab in a clinic or arrange for at-home testing via telehealth.

Some things to consider

When you see a clinician such as a doctor or nurse for a sexual health check-up, they can discuss a range of issues with you including contraception, STIs, vaccinations and other methods of prevention.

At-home tests should not replace discussing your sexual health and wellbeing with a clinician, such as at a GP clinic, sexual health clinic, youth health clinic or other health service.

And remember the at-home test is limited to chlamydia and gonorrhoea only. If you have symptoms that are worrying you, such as pelvic pain, pain during sex or pain with urination, it’s possible you may have another STI, or a different medical issue.

So, if you have symptoms and your at-home test is negative for chlamydia and gonorrhoea, it would be a good idea to get examined to see what else might be going on.

Liz Sturgiss receives funding from the NHMRC, MRFF, RACGP Foundation, Diabetes Australia and VicHealth that is unrelated to this article. She is affiliated with Australian Journal of Primary Health (CSIRO), Australian Prescriber, RACGP, NAPCRG, Guidelines Development Committee for the review and update of the Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Overweight and Obesity in Adults, Adolescents and Children in Australia.

Benjamin Bavinton receives funding unrelated to this article from the NHMRC, Australian Government, state governments, and Gilead Sciences, and has previously received funding from ViiV Healthcare. He has received honoraria and travel from Gilead Sciences and ViiV Healthcare. He is a member of the Australian PrEP Guidelines Panel convened by ASHM. He is a Board Director of community-based organisation, ACON. He has editorial roles with the Journal of the International AIDS Society, AIDS and Behavior, and Sexual Health.

– ref. A new at-home test will soon be available for chlamydia and gonorrhoea. Here’s what to know – https://theconversation.com/a-new-at-home-test-will-soon-be-available-for-chlamydia-and-gonorrhoea-heres-what-to-know-244297

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mona Mashhadi Rajabi, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Technology Sydney

As the climate crisis deepens, the need for global action becomes greater than ever. Central to this effort is the goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050, to meet the Paris Agreement to limit global warming.

So far 145 countries, collectively responsible for 90% of emissions, have committed to net zero targets or are actively considering them. But what if countries withdraw from their commitments, as US President-elect Donald Trump appears intent to do?

Our new research examined how net-zero announcements from the United States, United Kingdom and China affected global financial markets. We studied how traders in global markets reacted to these announcements. We found markets responded positively in each case through both a change in the volume of trade and variations in prices.

Overall, our study showed decisive climate action from the US, UK and China increased global momentum toward net zero – so much so that backsliding by the US will not derail the effort.

A series of net zero commitments

In 2019, the UK became the first country to legislate its net zero target.

China, the world’s largest carbon emitter and second-largest economy, made its net zero commitment to the United Nations in 2021. The policy is not yet enshrined into law, but the announcement showed net zero is a priority for China.

The US – the world’s largest economy and the top per capita emitter – also announced its net zero commitment in 2021.

These announcements were significant because each of these nations play dominant roles in the global economy, total carbon emissions and international climate negotiations.

Market reactions to net zero

Our study focused on what’s known in financial economics as “volatility linkages”. They are a way to measure whether price movements in one market are connected to price movements in other markets.

Just think of how news from one country’s stock market might cause ripple effects, like dropping a pebble into a pond. Those ripples could reach another country’s market, affecting prices there too.

If we see this kind of ripple effect, we know information is flowing between markets. In the context of net zero, this means one country’s announcement about reducing emissions can influence investor decisions in other countries.

We studied ten funds traded on the US stock market over nearly a decade, from January 2014 to February 2023. This included nine funds, each representing a country, and one global fund.

Funds are like baskets of stocks that reflect the performance of their respective economies or regions. By looking at how these funds moved together or separately, we explored whether one country’s net zero commitment influenced trading in other countries.

We then focused on how the net zero announcements made by the UK, US and China affected these linkages.

We found the US announcement in 2021 had a strong, positive effect on market linkages. This suggests investors around the world responded positively to the US commitment, viewing it as a significant and reassuring step toward addressing climate change.

When a major economy such as the US makes a strong climate commitment, it can reassure investors worldwide and strengthen ties between markets.

This highlights the crucial role of large economies in driving not only climate action but also market confidence globally. Conversely, without active participation from these key players, global efforts toward net zero may face significant challenges.

The US: a history of climate policy volatility

The trajectory of climate action in the US has been turbulent.

The US signed the Paris Agreement in 2015 under former president Barack Obama, signalling strong leadership in global climate efforts. This progress was reversed during Trump’s first term (2017–21).

Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement, arguing climate action harmed the US economy. The country officially left the agreement in 2020.

Just months later, in January 2021, President Joe Biden rejoined the Paris Agreement and announced a commitment to net zero by 2050 in April 2021.

Our study found fossil fuel companies in the US initially welcomed the government’s 2021 net zero commitment, not because of the emissions reductions required but because of the certainty such announcements bring.

For businesses, policy clarity enables long-term planning and smoother transitions, which reduces the risks associated with sudden regulatory changes.

Even for industries historically opposed to climate action, there is value in stability. The US net zero commitment brought the stability they required to start their transition to a low-carbon economy.

What a Trump presidency means for net zero

Trump’s return to the presidency means concerns about the future of US climate policy are mounting. His opposition to climate action and support for fossil fuels could slow down the nation’s net-zero transition.

Investment in new renewable energy projects in the US is unlikely to increase under his leadership, potentially opening opportunities for other countries to attract such investments. However, projects already underway are expected to continue, limiting the long-term damage.

The US election result also introduces uncertainty, particularly regarding the future of the Inflation Reduction Act, a cornerstone of US clean energy policy.

The act, signed into law in 2022, is unlikely to be repealed, and another Trump presidency is unlikely to entirely derail the global transition.

As shown in our research, the 2021 US net zero announcement has already cascaded through financial markets, influencing investor decisions. Many countries are now important players in the international path to net zero and that good work is not easily undone.

The world has already experienced Trump’s opposition to climate action. The US withdrawal from Paris took place during our study period and has been examined in a separate piece of research, yet to be published. Preliminary analysis shows his actions did not change the world’s effort to reach net zero then, which suggests they are unlikely to this time, either.

The global path to net zero

Achieving net zero will require sustained, coordinated efforts from all nations.

Already, China is rapidly advancing in renewable energy and the European Union has adopted strong emissions reduction targets. What’s more, the economic viability of renewable energy continues to improve.

If other countries maintain their momentum, the world can ensure the commitment to net zero remains a global priority, even without the US on board.

Mona Mashhadi Rajabi receives funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ), and Business Research Grant from the University of Technology Sydney.

Martina Linnenluecke receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), as well as through a Strategic Research Accelerator grant from the University of Technology Sydney.

Tom Smith receives funding from the Australian Research Council grant DP200102332

– ref. Global markets are likely to withstand a Trump-led US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement – https://theconversation.com/global-markets-are-likely-to-withstand-a-trump-led-us-withdrawal-from-the-paris-agreement-244917

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Azadeh Dastyari, Professor of Human Rights Law, Western Sydney University

We often assume Australian students are great with technology and have access to a computer, reliable internet and adequate data.

But this is not necessarily the case, despite the importance of technology to our lives.

In our research released today, we surveyed 445 New South Wales school teachers and staff. They told us significant numbers of students are missing out on the basic technology and skills they need for their education.

What is ‘digital inclusion’

Digital inclusion means everyone can access and can use digital technology fairly and equally.

A growing body of research shows digital inequality can mirror social inequality. Marginalised and under-served communities, such as Indigenous peoples, those from lower socioeconomic and non-English speaking backgrounds, are often also digitally excluded.

Students need to have an appropriate device to work on – such as a laptop or computer, fast internet and adequate data. They also need to have the skills to use this technology and technical support if they need it.

International research shows those who do not have proper access to technology cannot fully participate in their schooling and are at risk of falling behind their peers. So, digital exclusion can have serious consequences for children and young people’s education.

Read more:
‘I felt lost’: immigrant parents want more support to help their children go to uni

Our research

Concerns about some students not having access to technology are not new. But the pandemic and online learning highlighted the issue. Although we are now out of lockdown, lack of access to technology remains a problem for many students.

To better understand the situation, in 2023 we surveyed 445 NSW teachers, principals and support staff to gauge their concerns about digital exclusion before, during and after the pandemic. The responses came from primary and high schools in both public and private sectors.

We were particularly interested in Western Sydney due to concerns raised by local service providers. We also gathered responses from other parts of Sydney and regional NSW.

What we found

We found during school closures, extra resources (such as laptops and dongles) were provided to students who needed them. However, much of this support ended after the lockdowns.

With rising costs of living, school staff told us many students now have less access to the technology they need than before the pandemic. This is despite schools increasingly relying on it for learning.

There was a stark divide between responses from teachers in government schools and private schools.

When asked if they believed technology provided by schools for students to take home was adequate, only 46% of government school teachers said yes, compared to 96% of non-government teachers.

There was a also a geographical difference. Only 25% of teachers in Western Sydney thought school provisions were adequate, compared to 36% in regional NSW and 76% in the rest of Sydney.

Not enough resources at home

Many teachers also identified issues with students access to technology outside of school. Asked if students had adequate access to devices for learning at home, only 32% of teachers from Western Sydney said yes, compared to 39% in regional NSW and 59% in the rest of Sydney.

Many students also relied solely on mobile phones to complete their schoolwork at home, even though these devices are not suitable for most educational tasks. This included 37% of students in Western Sydney, 25% in regional NSW and 17% in other parts of Sydney.

Asked if they thought students had adequate technical support at home: 10% of teachers from Western Sydney said yes, compared to 5% in regional NSW and 24% for the rest of Sydney.

School staff also told us very few students from groups we know to be vulnerable to digital exclusion had the technology they needed. Asked if students had sufficient access, could afford and adequately use the technology they needed for their education, they estimated this was the case for:

• 19% of asylum seeker and refugee students

• 28% of students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds

• 30% of Indigenous students

• 34% of students from non-English speaking backgrounds and “students with physical disabilities”

• 36% of “students with special needs”.

How can we improve digital access for students?

Our research also outlines five ways we can improve students’ access to the technology they need for their education and life beyond school.

1. Do not assume students are digitally included: schools need to recognise many students may not have devices, internet at home or skills when planning lessons and activities

2. Meet students’ digital needs: schools should review “Bring Your Own Device” policies to ensure they don’t disadvantage students. Governments may need to provide more funding so all students have access to the technology they need

3. Teach digital literacy in schools: develop school-specific resources, including materials in different languages and partner with local organisations to help parents support their children’s learning

4. Invest in community infrastructure: provide areas of high need with free and safe public Wi-Fi and create “device banks” to lend equipment to students in need

5. Schools and researchers need to work together to collect better information: so they can better understand the problem and find solutions.

If we allow this level of digital exclusion to persist, the consequences could be serious for individual students, our economy and society. If we make changes now, we can ensure all students have the tools they need to navigate an increasingly digital world.

This research described in this article was a collaboration between the Whitlam Institute, the Centre for Western Sydney and Wester’ly, a grassroots network of community organisations in Western Sydney focused on addressing digital inclusion.

– ref. Too many Australian students don’t have the basic technology they need for school – here are 5 ways to fix this – https://theconversation.com/too-many-australian-students-dont-have-the-basic-technology-they-need-for-school-here-are-5-ways-to-fix-this-245035

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Niven Winchester, Professor of Economics, Auckland University of Technology

Few can doubt Donald Trump’s trade intentions once he takes office next January. In a recent social media post, the US president-elect promised:

On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States.

In a separate post he announced there would be an additional 10% tariff on imports from China. While New Zealand goods are exempt (at this stage), we can expect indirect impacts from a variety of directions.

Because the tariffs will raise the price in the US of goods from targeted countries, New Zealand producers have an opportunity to increase their share of the US market.

Also, facing reduced US demand for their products, producers in targeted countries will increase their supply to New Zealand (and other countries). Both effects will benefit New Zealand.

However, there are downsides, too. The tariffs will decrease GDP in the targeted countries. In turn, this will reduce the amount of money those countries have to spend on New Zealand goods.

And because many imports from targeted countries are used in US supply chains, the price of US goods (including those shipped to New Zealand) will increase.

Simulating the global economy

To evaluate the impacts of the tariffs, I use a global model of production and trade that captures interactions between sectors and countries, and consumer demand. (The model is similar to that used by the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into improving economic resilience.)

The modelling finds tariffs will have minimal aggregate effects on New Zealand, but will significantly affect bilateral trade for some goods.

It’s estimated the tariffs will decrease national income in Canada and Mexico by 4.7% and 7.1% respectively, and income in China by 0.8%.

The impacts of the tariffs are largest in Canada and Mexico because, relative to China, these nations face higher tariffs, and the US accounts for a larger share (more than 75%) of each country’s exports.

The model projects the tariffs will have little impact on New Zealand’s national income, with gains in some areas offset by losses in others.

More exports to the US, less to China

There are, however, substantial changes in bilateral trade flows. New Zealand’s yearly merchandise exports to the US are projected to rise by NZ$1.2 billion, as US consumers replace goods from targeted countries with goods produced elsewhere.

About half of that increase in New Zealand exports to the US are agricultural and food products (mainly meat products). The other half are manufactured goods, such as machinery and equipment.

Reduced incomes in targeted economies will reduce New Zealand exports to these countries by a projected $965 million. Dairy products will bear the brunt of this decline.

Most of the decrease in exports is driven by reduced demand in China. This is because China constitutes approximately 25% of New Zealand’s export market, whereas Canada and Mexico collectively account for less than 2%.

New Zealand exports to other countries decrease by $308 million. As targeted countries redirect exports from the US to other markets, New Zealand’s market share reduces as a consequence.

Overall, driven by decreasing exports to China, the value of New Zealand’s total agricultural and food exports falls by $648 million. Conversely, aggregate manufactured exports increase by $280 million.

Reduced imports from the US, more from elsewhere

There are also significant changes in New Zealand imports. As the tariffs increase the price of US goods, New Zealand imports from the US will decline by $353 million.

In contrast, imports from targeted countries increase by $870 million as producers pivot towards non-US markets.

New Zealand imports from other countries decrease by $777 million as these nations direct more exports to the US. Total New Zealand imports decrease by $259 million.

These trade changes may have substantial effects on individual companies and specific communities. But at the economy-wide level, gains in some areas (increased exports to the US and cheaper imports from targeted counties) are offset by losses elsewhere (decreased exports to China and more expensive US imports).

The net result is that the proposed US tariffs will have little aggregate effect on New Zealand.

Bigger challenges

There are at least two changes to the global trading environment that are of greater concern to New Zealand than the recently announced tariffs.

First, if China imposed retaliatory tariffs, as it did when the previous Trump administration imposed tariffs on Chinese goods, it would shrink global GDP and ultimately dampen demand for New Zealand exports.

Second, in the lead-up to the 2024 US election, Trump proposed tariffs of up to 20% on imports from all countries. My model estimates such tariffs would reduce New Zealand exports to the US by two-thirds, and reduce New Zealand GDP and national income by nearly 1%.

Should that happen, there would be challenging trade winds ahead.

Niven Winchester has previously received funding from the Productivity Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to estimate the impacts of potential trade policies. He is affiliated with Motu Economic & Public Policy Research.

– ref. New modelling shows how Trump’s trade tariffs will hurt – and help – New Zealand – https://theconversation.com/new-modelling-shows-how-trumps-trade-tariffs-will-hurt-and-help-new-zealand-245128

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

Opposition Senate leader and former senior minister in the Coalition government Simon Birmingham has announced he will quit parliament at the election. Birmingham, one of the few remaining moderates in the Liberals’ ranks, is shadow foreign minister. Now , aged 50, he’s defecting to a (yet to be announced) commercial job.

He joins the podcast to talk about the highs and lows of his time in politics and the Liberal Party, as well as to share his biggest regret and a couple of anecdotes.

So why is he going?

I don’t think I have the same partisan fight in me that I probably had in the early days of my career, and so I think there is an element of recognising that perhaps politics, as is, requires and demands people to take on the fight in our system. And the team deserves people who will take on that fight. I’ve always put the team first, as much as I possibly can, and that requires compromise at all times – and in the end, after a while, you start to tire of the compromise.

So all of that together with yes, a great and exciting opportunity that sets my career up for hopefully the next ten, 20 or longer years of work life. […] and still enables my family to stay in Adelaide, where their careers and education are flourishing.

Speaking about regrets, Birmingham highlights climate change:

I wish we had better landed policies and direction around how Australia responds to climate change. It’s been the thread right throughout my career – of division and politicking. I think the biggest missed opportunity was probably the National Energy Guarantee, which Malcolm Turnbull and Josh Frydenberg came so very close to landing.

It’s actually a mechanism that could have strongly supported a nuclear energy market, for example, as well, and I wish that we had found the way to see that through because I think our policy landscape would be much better today had that been the case.

As a leading moderate within the Liberal Party, Birmingham reflects on the teal movement and where it leaves the moderates:

I think the last election, in particular, not only sent us a clear message of dissatisfaction from more moderately aligned and teal-leaning seats.

But it simultaneously left the party room less well-equipped to respond to those messages because we lost some people who were really about to come into their prime and their own. People like Trent Zimmerman and Tim Wilson and Katie Allen and Dave Sharma [Sharma has since returned to parliament as a senator], they were becoming much stronger and more authoritative voices in the party room, who I have missed greatly in this term and where I think we would have been better placed having them there.

I just hope that coming into the next election where […] we’ve got some great new candidates in different seats who I think are true custodians of the liberal tradition in the Liberal Party, I hope that we can win those seats back and restore some of that balance in the party room.

With the return of Donald Trump, Birmingham recounts his experiences when he was trade minister during the Trump Mark 1 administration:

I remember at [a] dinner with Donald Trump […] we did get into a debate about the trade balance between our countries, and I ultimately reached into some of the documents I had and handed a graph across the table that showed for how long and how significantly the US has had a trade surplus over Australia.

Whilst I don’t think trade relations should be about the binary of surplus v deficit but, in the end, if that’s what’s going to sway his thinking, we’ve got to pitch it in that regard.

He also recalls:

I was scheduled to go from Ottawa through to Washington, DC on my way back to Australia, and Joe Hockey rang me while I was in Ottawa and said, mate your New Zealand counterpart came here on his way to Ottawa and he asked to get the same exemptions to the steel and aluminium tariffs that Australia has got. And Bob Lighthizer, who was Trump’s equivalent of the trade minister, went nuts at the New Zealanders and marched them out of his office saying, ‘you’re not getting it, and Australia never should have either’. And Joe said to me, mate, I think it might be best if you have a family emergency and head back to Australia.  

Lo and behold, I took Joe’s wise advice and counsel, made my way straight back to Australia, making apologies to those in D.C. I was meant to see.

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: Simon Birmingham on Liberal moderates, regrets, and Donald Trump – https://theconversation.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-simon-birmingham-on-liberal-moderates-regrets-and-donald-trump-245147

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nial Wheate, Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Macquarie University

The drug Visanne (also known as dienogest) is the first endometriosis treatment to be added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) in 30 years.

Endometriosis is a chronic and often debilitating condition, where tissue similar to that which normally lines the uterus grows in areas just outside the organ. It affects around one in seven Australian women and there is currently no cure.

Why has the government decided to subsidise Visanne? Here’s how this daily tablet works and who it might help.

What is Visanne and how does it work?

Visanne is a synthetic drug from a family of hormones called progestins. It works by reducing the production of another hormone called estradiol.

Estradiol regulates female reproductive cycles and is the primary female sex hormone. But it also promotes the growth of the endometrium – the tissue that lines the uterus.

Limiting estradiol’s production in the body helps to lessen the crippling effects of the condition by curbing the abnormal growth of this tissue.

In a 2023 study, Visanne was shown to be effective in controlling the symptoms of endometriosis. After a year of treatment with a once daily 2 milligram dose of the drug, women experienced an average reduction of endometrium growth by around 26%. This led to a significant reduction in the condition’s effects, particularly in alleviating period pain.

In another 2022 study (funded by the company behind the drug), researchers examined its use in nearly 900 women across six countries. They found more than 90% of them reported a drop in endometriosis-associated pelvic pain with drug treatment.

Are there side effects?

Like all drugs, Visanne has risks and potential side effects.

The most common effects include headache, breast discomfort, hot flushes, acne, hair loss, abdominal and back pain, weight gain, vaginal bleeding and unusual weakness.

In the 2022 study, two out of five patients reported side effects related to Visanne, including vaginal hemorrhage (10.4%), bleeding between periods (metrorrhagia – 7.3%) and skipped periods (amenorrhea – 6.4%).

The intensity of side effects often lessen over time. But it can mean those who decide to take Visanne may be balancing pain relief with a range of other new symptoms.

While some endometriosis treatments are associated with a loss of bone density and an increased risk of osteoporosis later in life, the manufacturer claims the drug has no, or very little, impact on bone mineral density.

How much will it cost?

Previously, the annual cost of Visanne was A$800 to patients. On the PBS, the price of the daily tablets will reduce to around $380 per year, or around $90 for pension and concession card holders.

But the Australian government will more than make up the extra expense through the benefits of increasing accessibility of the drug.

Why has it been added to the PBS?

The primary consideration for listing a drug on the PBS is its cost-effectiveness. This means the drug must provide a significant health benefit when compared with the cost of existing treatments.

Endometriosis has been calculated to cost the Australian economy at least $7.8 billion per year.

Half of women who have endometriosis are reported to have to manage their condition at work, with many having to reduce their working hours. A 2021 study by academics at Western Sydney University found one in six women with endometriosis have lost their jobs due to their endometriosis.

Solutions for helping women to remain and be effective in the workforce are essential to Australia closing the gender pay gap.

However the cost of Visanne remains high for many individuals, who will still be paying close to $400 a year to reduce their pain and maintain a high quality of life. And many women may need to continue to take other drugs (such as paracetamol) alongside Visanne, further adding to the cost.

Is Visanne right for you?

Visanne is just one available treatment for endometriosis.

There are other effective and safe treatments that are already listed on the PBS, such as combination oral contraceptives, gonadotrophin-releasing hormone drugs and long-acting implants that slowly release progestogens.

It is important to note for some women who take the drug, Visanne can stop ovulation and also make it more difficult to become pregnant.

If you suffer from endometriosis, and your current medications are not sufficient in reducing the pain and inflammation, speak to your doctor. They can determine if a change to Visanne is right for you.

Nial Wheate in the past has received funding from the ACT Cancer Council, Tenovus Scotland, Medical Research Scotland, Scottish Crucible, and the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance. He is a fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, a member of the Australasian Pharmaceutical Science Association and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Nial is the chief scientific officer of Vaihea Skincare LLC, a director of SetDose Pty Ltd (a medical device company) and was previously a Standards Australia panel member for sunscreen agents. Nial regularly consults to industry on issues to do with medicine risk assessments, manufacturing, design, and testing.

– ref. What is Visanne, the endometriosis drug just added to the PBS? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-visanne-the-endometriosis-drug-just-added-to-the-pbs-245028

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lewis Ingram, Lecturer in Physiotherapy, University of South Australia

Can you reach down and touch your toes without bending your knees? Can you reach both arms overhead? If these sound like a struggle, you may be lacking flexibility.

Flexibility is the ability to move a joint to through its full range of motion. It helps you perform most sporting activities and may prevent muscle injuries. And because most daily activities require a certain amount of flexibility (like bending down or twisting), it will help you maintain functional independence as you age.

Although there are many types of stretching, static stretching is the most common. It involves positioning a joint to lengthen the muscles and holding still for a set period – usually between 15 and 60 seconds. An example would be to stand in front of a chair, placing one foot on the chair and straightening your knee to stretch your hamstrings.

Static stretching is widely used to improve flexibility. But there are no clear recommendations on the optimal amount required. Our new research examined how long, how hard and how often you need to stretch to improve your flexibility – it’s probably less than you expect.

Assessing the data

Our research team spent the past year gathering data from hundreds of studies on thousands of adults from around the world. We looked at 189 studies of more than 6,500 adults.

The studies compared the effects of a single session or multiple sessions of static stretching on one or more flexibility outcomes, compared to those who didn’t stretch.

How long?

We found holding a stretch for around four minutes (cumulatively) in a single session is optimal for an immediate improvement in flexibility. Any longer and you don’t appear to get any more improvement.

For permanent improvements in flexibility, it looks like you need to stretch a muscle for longer – around ten minutes per week for the biggest improvement. But this doesn’t need to occur all at once.

How hard?

You can think of stretching as being hard, when you stretch into pain, or easy, when the stretch you feel isn’t uncomfortable.

The good news is how hard you stretch doesn’t seem to matter – both hard (stretching to the point of discomfort or pain) and easy stretching (stretching below the point of discomfort) equally improve flexibility.

How often?

If you are looking to improve your flexibility, it doesn’t matter how often you stretch each week. What is important is that you aim for up to ten minutes per week for each muscle that you stretch.

So, for example, you could stretch each muscle for a little more than one minute a day, or five minutes twice a week.

The amount of time you should spend stretching will ultimately depend on how many muscles you need to stretch. If you are less flexible, you will likely need to dedicate more time, given you’ll have more “tight” muscles to stretch compared to someone more flexible.

Can everyone improve their flexibility?

Encouragingly, it doesn’t matter what muscle you stretch, how old you are, your sex, or whether you are a couch potato or an elite athlete – everyone can improve their flexibility.

Static stretching can be done anywhere and at any time. And you don’t need any equipment. You can stretch while watching your favourite TV show, when in the office, or after walking the dog to help you relax. It’s a great way to start and end your day.

Although the exact stretches needed will depend on which muscles are “tight”, examples of some very common stretches include:

• placing one foot upon on bench and leaning forward at the waist while keeping your knee straight to stretch your hamstrings
• bending your knee and holding your ankle against your buttock to stretch your quadriceps muscles
• reaching one arm while bending your elbow to stretch your triceps muscles.

However, the best advice is to visit a qualified health professional, such as a physiotherapist or exercise physiologist, who can perform an assessment and prescribe you a list of stretches specific to your individual needs.

As you can see, it really isn’t too much of a stretch to become more flexible.

Grant R. Tomkinson has received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, National Institutes of Health, and Public Health Agency of Canada.

Hunter Bennett and Lewis Ingram 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. New research shows how long, hard and often you need to stretch to improve your flexibility – https://theconversation.com/new-research-shows-how-long-hard-and-often-you-need-to-stretch-to-improve-your-flexibility-242488

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Miles, Postdoctoral Researcher in Astrophysics, Swinburne University of Technology

Using the largest gravitational wave detector ever made, we have confirmed earlier reports that the fabric of the universe is constantly vibrating. This background rumble is likely caused by collisions between the enormous black holes that reside in the hearts of galaxies.

The results from our detector – an array of rapidly spinning neutron stars spread across the galaxy – show this “gravitational wave background” may be louder than previously thought. We have also made the most detailed maps yet of gravitational waves across the sky, and found an intriguing “hot spot” of activity in the Southern Hemisphere.

Our research is published today in three papers in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Ripples in space and time

Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space and time. They are created when incredibly dense and massive objects orbit or collide with each other.

The densest and most massive objects in the universe are black holes, the remnants of dead stars. One of the only ways to study black holes is by searching for the gravitational waves they emit when they move near each other.

Just like light, gravitational waves are emitted in a spectrum. The most massive black holes emit the slowest and most powerful waves – but to study them, we need a detector the size of our galaxy.

The high-frequency gravitational waves created by collisions between relatively small black holes can be picked up with Earth-based detectors, and they were first observed in 2015. However, evidence for the existence of the slower, more powerful waves wasn’t found until last year.

Several groups of astronomers around the world have assembled galactic-scale gravitational wave detectors by closely observing the behaviour of groups of particular kinds of stars. Our experiment, the MeerKAT Pulsar Timing Array, is the largest of these galactic-scale detectors.

Today we have announced further evidence for low-frequency gravitational waves, but with some intriguing differences from earlier results. In just a third of the time of other experiments, we’ve found a signal that hints at a more active universe than anticipated.

We have also been able to map the cosmic architecture left behind by merging galaxies more accurately than ever before.

Black holes, galaxies and pulsars

At the centre of most galaxies, scientists believe, lives a gargantuan object known as a supermassive black hole. Despite their enormous mass – billions of times the mass of our Sun – these cosmic giants are difficult to study.

Astronomers have known about supermassive black holes for decades, but only directly observed one for the first time in 2019.

When two galaxies merge, the black holes at their centres begin to spiral towards each other. In this process they send out slow, powerful gravitational waves that give us an opportunity to study them.

We do this using another group of exotic cosmic objects: pulsars. These are extremely dense stars made mainly of neutrons, which may be around the size of a city but twice as heavy as the Sun.

Pulsars spin hundreds of times a second. As they rotate, they act like lighthouses, hitting Earth with pulses of radiation from thousands of light years away. For some pulsars, we can predict when that pulse should hit us to within nanoseconds.

Our gravitational wave detectors make use of this fact. If we observe many pulsars over the same period of time, and we’re wrong about when the pulses hit us in a very specific way, we know a gravitational wave is stretching or squeezing the space between the Earth and the pulsars.

However, instead of seeing just one wave, we expect to see a cosmic ocean full of waves criss-crossing in all directions – the echoing ripples of all the galactic mergers in the history of the universe. We call this the gravitational wave background.

A surprisingly loud signal – and an intriguing ‘hot spot’

To detect the gravitational wave background, we used the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa. MeerKAT is one of the most sensitive radio telescopes in the world.

As part of the MeerKAT Pulsar Timing Array, it has been observing a group of 83 pulsars for about five years, precisely measuring when their pulses arrive at Earth. This led us to find a pattern associated with a gravitational wave background, only it’s a bit different from what other experiments have found.

The pattern, which represents how space and time between Earth and the pulsars is changed by gravitational waves passing between them, is more powerful than expected.

This might mean there are more supermassive black holes orbiting each other than we thought. If so, this raises more questions – because our existing theories suggest there should be fewer supermassive black holes than we seem to be seeing.

The size of our detector, and the sensitivity of the MeerKAT telescope, means we can assess the background with extreme precision. This allowed us to create the most detailed maps of the gravitational wave background to date. Mapping the background in this way is essential for understanding the cosmic architecture of our universe.

It may even lead us to the ultimate source of the gravitational wave signals we observe. While we think it’s likely the background emerges from the interactions of these colossal black holes, it could also stem from changes in the early, energetic universe following the Big Bang – or perhaps even more exotic events.

The maps we’ve created show an intriguing “hot spot” of gravitational wave activity in the Southern Hemisphere sky. This kind of irregularity supports the idea of a background created by supermassive black holes rather than other alternatives.

However, creating a galactic-sized detector is incredibly complex, and it’s too early to say if this is genuine or a statistical anomaly.

To confirm our findings, we are working to combine our new data with results from other international collaborations under the banner of the International Pulsar Timing Array.

Matthew Miles is affiliated with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav), the MeerKAT Pulsar Timing Array, the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array and the International Pulsar Timing Array. He receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

Rowina Nathan is affiliated with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav), the MeerKAT Pulsar Timing Array, the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array and the International Pulsar Timing Array. She receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

– ref. To map the vibration of the universe, astronomers built a detector the size of the galaxy – https://theconversation.com/to-map-the-vibration-of-the-universe-astronomers-built-a-detector-the-size-of-the-galaxy-244157

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sora Park, Professor of Communication, News & Media Research Centre, University of Canberra

Australians now use social media more often than any other type of media, including TV, radio and websites. While the increased use of social media platforms present new opportunities to access and engage with information, it also introduces serious challenges associated with the spread of misinformation.

The sheer volume of information available on social media is overwhelming. These platforms can be used to target people with false, manipulative and misleading claims.

It’s not surprising most adults regularly encounter false and misleading information when they are online. And those who use social media see misinformation the most.

Although people are concerned about misinformation, our new report reveals that 97% of adults in Australia have limited skills to verify information online.

Concerning findings

Our study tested the ability of 2,115 adult Australians to verify information online. Our sample was representative of the Australian adult population.

Participants were shown two real-life web pages and two social media posts. They were asked to evaluate each of them and decide whether the content is reliable and trustworthy. They were also instructed to explain the steps they took to reach the decision.

To evaluate the content, participants could search online on use any device they had at hand.

In all four tasks, respondents were first asked if the claims on the social media posts or websites were true. These questions had a correct answer.

After the first question, participants were asked to explain how they reached their conclusion. If the respondent provided some evidence as to how they were able to verify the information, they were given one point. If the person clearly articulated how they conducted the verification task and provided sufficient evidence, they were given two points.

The highest score achievable was eight points. We grouped respondents into three categories based on their scores:

• no ability (a score of zero)
• emerging ability (one to three points)
• developing ability (four or more points)

The results raise serious concerns about the ability of Australians to identify misinformation online. Almost half (45%) of adult Australians showed “no ability” to take basic steps to verify online information, and 52% had only an “emerging ability”.

Only 3% of respondents were ranked with a “developing ability” because they scored four or more points.

A large gap between assumption and reality

Most studies about media literacy are based on people’s self-reports – what they say they can do. Prior to this research, very little was known about adult Australians’ actual ability to identify misinformation online.

Our study reveals a large gap between what people say they can do and their actual ability.

In our previous survey, 42% of adult Australians said they were confident they could check if information found online is true.

However, in our new study involving the same respondents, 39% of those who said they were confident didn’t demonstrate any ability to verify information, and 55% had only basic skills. This shows many people overestimate their ability.

Another important finding from the current study: the ability to verify information online is low across the board, across all age groups.

There wasn’t a huge difference between age groups – overall, the vast majority of Australians were struggling to verify information. That said, older Australians tended to score slightly lower. A little more than half of the 60–69 age group landed in the “no ability” category, compared to 38% of those aged 30–39 years.

We did find that news and information consumption habits are related to people’s ability to verify information. Heavy news consumers scored higher. Only 36% of heavy news consumers were in the “no ability” group, compared to 59% of those who are non-news consumers.

This indicates that regularly accessing quality information verified by professional journalists may help people distinguish fact-based and fact-checked stories from other information.

What stands in the way of better verification skills?

We found common challenges that may prevent people from making informed judgements about dubious information.

One unhelpful behaviour was to rely on existing beliefs to decide if content is true, rather than scrutinise the claims made in the post.

Another type of unhelpful strategy is to make a snap judgement about veracity based on a person’s past experience with a content producer or actor featured in the post.

We also found many people accept content at face value, mostly based on their “gut feeling” or emotional response, rather than questioning the content.

These unhelpful strategies prevented people from engaging in lateral reading to verify sources and information. Rather than staying on the website, lateral reading is when you leave the page to check other sources to assess the credibility of the original site.

How do we improve Australians’ ability to verify online content?

Accessing reliable and trustworthy information enables citizens to make informed decisions about everything – from voting, to making purchases, to staying safe online, to accessing health advice and services.

Australians must urgently update their media literacy skills to suit the online environment. However, unlike many advanced democracies such as the Netherlands or Finland, Australia doesn’t have a national media literacy policy or strategy to ensure citizens are provided with support to help them verify information online.

The good news is Australians do want access to media literacy support. In our study, 82% of participants agreed adults need access to media literacy education.

They want this education to be delivered in a range of ways – via online tutorials, short videos and in libraries.

The federal government just failed to get a misinformation bill through the Senate, and some argue legislation may be ineffective even it if is passed.

Our work shows that without equipping citizens with media literacy, legislation can only have limited impact. Misinformation will remain part of our media diet: we all need to develop our ability to be able to identify and respond to it.

Sora Park receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Creative Australia, SBS and Boundless Earth.

Tanya Notley is a member of the Australian Media Literacy Alliance. She has a current grant from the Australian Research Council.

– ref. 97% of adult Australians have limited skills to verify information online – new report – https://theconversation.com/97-of-adult-australians-have-limited-skills-to-verify-information-online-new-report-243595

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kerry H. Robinson, Distinguished Professor in Sociology, School of Social Sciences, Western Sydney University

Unwanted sexual attention and behaviour are a persistent problem in many workplace cultures. But the workplace sexual harassment of LGBTQ employees is often overlooked.

Sexual harassment is generally understood through heterosexuality, in which male bosses target female employees with unwanted sexualised behaviours. This perspective of workplace sexual harassment has been enshrined in film, from 1980’s 9 to 5 to 2019’s Bombshell.

Broad population studies show LGBTQ people experience sexual harassment in the workplace and at education and training institutions at disproportionately higher rates than heterosexual women.

But there is limited understanding of how LGBTQ young people experience workplace sexual harassment. We conducted a landmark study funded by ANROWS of more than 1,000 LGBTQ young people aged between 14 and 30. We found more than three quarters had experienced sexual harassment at work.

Alarming statistics

Our study shows 77% of LGBTQ young people have experienced workplace sexual harassment. This sexual harassment occurred across all employment sectors.

The most common sectors were:

• accommodation and food services

• retail trade

• administration and support services

• financial and insurance services.

Sexual harassment was primarily perpetrated by men, typically older than those they harassed, and who acted alone.

Co-workers at the same employment level perpetrated 46% of this behaviour. Clients or customers of the workplace were the perpetrators in 31% of cases.

Threats to ‘fix’ through sexual violence

Many LGBTQ young people were targeted for their gender or sexual diversity.

Common forms of harassment included unwanted sexually suggestive or explicit comments, intrusive questions about identities, bodies, and sex lives, and unwelcome sexual jokes about being LGBTQ.

Disturbingly, threats to use sexual violence to “fix” young people’s gender and sexuality diversity were reported by 30% of those who experienced workplace sexual harassment. These threats were more common for young women and trans masculine young people. Trans masculine refers to those presumed female at birth and whose gender identity or expression is masculine.

A higher proportion of trans young people (80%) experienced workplace sexual harassment than their cisgender peers (74%).

LGBTQ young people were often uncertain if their workplace sexual harassment experiences were, in fact, sexual harassment. This was due to stereotypes of workplace sexual harassment as a heterosexual woman’s experience.

Unawareness and lack of understanding of how sexual harassment intersects with homophobia, biphobia and transphobia contributed to this uncertainty. This lack of awareness and understanding also prevailed among co-workers and workplace managers.

Harassment compounded by age and disability

The younger a person was, the more likely they were to have been sexually harassed at work. Young people have less experience in workplace relations and are often employed in casual and low-paid positions with limited job security.

They often believe they have little choice but to tolerate workplace sexual harassment. This is due to concerns about employer expectations and fears of losing their jobs and tips.

LGBTQ young people with more than one marginalised identity were more vulnerable to workplace sexual harassment.

Among LGBTQ young people with a disability, 83% reported experiencing workplace sexual harassment. This was significantly higher than those without a disability.

In our study, a 15-year-old sexuality-diverse survey participant reported:

Jokes were often made that because I had mobility issues, my old co-worker could do whatever if they took my walking stick away, and I wouldn’t be able to do anything.

Stereotypes related to LGBTQ young people’s ethnicity also contributed to the type of workplace sexual harassment they experienced. In our study, Amanda was viewed by her perpetrator as “a small Asian girl” and subjected to stereotypes that he could “be creepy towards her, and she’ll be submissive because that’s what they’re all like”.

Cultures that discourage reporting

Sexual harassment of LGBTQ young people especially occurs in workplaces in which homophobia, biphobia and transphobia are tolerated without intervention.

These workplaces generally failed to actively implement measures to address or prevent workplace sexual harassment. Environments that normalise prejudice, discrimination and harassment discourage reporting these incidents.

In our study, Blair reported witnessing homophobia and experiencing biphobia in their office workplace. Lesbian coworkers were told:

Well, you just haven’t been with the right man.

And Blair, who identified as bisexual, was told:

Just choose […] you either like girls or you like guys […] you can’t have it all.

Notably, 75% of LGBTQ young people did not report the sexual harassment they experienced at work. Most LGBTQ young people who did report were dissatisfied with the process and outcomes.

Workplace sexual harassment reporting pathways were generally viewed as unsafe, unsupportive and lacking in confidentiality. They also failed to enforce consequences for perpetrators of the behaviour.

Doing serious harm

Workplace sexual harassment had serious mental health, wellbeing, career and financial impacts on LGBTQ young people.

For 80% of those surveyed, workplace sexual harassment negatively affected their mental health. As a result of this harassment, 42% experienced negative feelings about their LGBTQ identities.

More than half of young people reported that workplace sexual harassment was harmful to their careers.

22% reported financial consequences, including a cut in shifts, being fired and choosing to leave their jobs because staying was unsafe.

What can be done?

Employers must take a positive and proactive approach to workplace sexual harassment and adhere to relevant legislation.

They also need to deal more effectively with discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, race, disability and age. Workplace sexual harassment prevention policies, training and strategies for change need to include LGBTQ young people’s experiences to ensure their specific circumstances are addressed.

These policies, training and strategies need to discuss how homophobia, biphobia and transphobia influence workplace sexual harassment of LGBTQ young people.

Confidential, supportive reporting pathways sensitive to LGBTQ young people’s needs are crucial. These are all positive steps to making workplaces safer, more inclusive and supportive for LGBTQ young people. They are also positive steps for all employees.

Kerry H. Robinson received funding from Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS).
Kerry H. Robinson has received funding through Australian Research Council grants.
Kerry H. Robinson is a member of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.

Cristyn Davies receives funding from Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS), the Australian Research Council, and the Medical Research Future Fund. Dr Davies reports voluntarily being President of the Australian Association for Adolescent Health; co-chair of the Human Rights Council of Australia; co-chair of the Child and Youth Special Interest Group for the Public Health Association of Australia; an ambassador to Twenty10 Incorporating the Gay and Lesbian Counselling Service of New South Wales; and co-chair of the research committee for the Australian Professional Association for Trans Health. Dr Davies is a member of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.

Emma F Jackson and Kimberley Allison 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. New research: 77% of LGBTQ young people have faced workplace sexual harassment – https://theconversation.com/new-research-77-of-lgbtq-young-people-have-faced-workplace-sexual-harassment-244735

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

Claims of “judicial activism” are nothing new. Ever since the term was coined by US historian Arthur Schlesinger in 1947, it has been regularly invoked in the United States to describe judges perceived to be going beyond their constitutional role.

In the United Kingdom, the Daily Mail took it a step further in 2018 and labelled three judges “Enemies of the People” in a headline about the legal complexities of Brexit.

In New Zealand, the term seems to have first appeared in the early 1980s and has cropped up fairly regularly ever since to describe judges who have allegedly strayed beyond their responsibilities to interpret and apply the law.

Critics argue such “activist” judges are usurping the sovereignty of parliament as the only lawmaker in our constitutional system. But more recently the rhetoric has been taken up a notch.

Claims of radicalism

This year, Minister of Regional Development Shane Jones described one judge as a “communist” (Jones said the comment was taken out of context), and said some recent judicial decisions were “beginning to show elements of totalitarianism”.

Others have argued for legislative change. Lawyer Gary Judd KC has called on parliament to “assert its constitutional sovereignty to counter a campaign of judicial activism, starting with preventing tikanga Māori from becoming a compulsory subject for law students”.

ACT Party leader David Seymour has justified the Treaty Principles Bill as necessary because “activist judges and bureaucrats” had “twisted the meaning of our founding document to give different groups of people different rights”.

But perhaps the most thorough and extensively researched claim of judicial activism comes from the New Zealand Initiative think tank. In its recently released report, Who Makes the Law? Reining in the Supreme Court, author Roger Partridge argues that:

in recent cases, the Supreme Court has been actively stepping out of its lane, blurring the traditional separation between the roles of judges and Parliament. This shift represents a significant departure from the Court’s proper constitutional function.

Specifically, the report argues, the Supreme Court has begun “stretching or even ignoring statutory language” and taking a “radical new approach” to the common law (that is, the law built over time from judicial decisions, rather than acts of parliament).

The report makes several recommendations for reform, including amending legislation to restrict the way courts can engage in their interpretative role. It also suggests reforming the judicial appointments process so that future candidates must
commit to a list of what the report deems “orthodox judicial constitutional principles”.

Without such reform, the report argues, “we will see an ongoing erosion of the foundations of our legal system”.

Parliament remains supreme

But not everyone agrees the Supreme Court has taken a “radical new approach”. As the legal scholar Paul McHugh argued in 2008, jurisprudence (case law) surrounding the principles of the te Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty of Waitangi has been “cautious and conservative”.

Taking that line, then, it can be argued more recent development of jurisprudence simply builds on that conservative tradition of the common law. Chief Justice Helen Winkelmann has described this process as “picking up the threads”, which simultaneously brings

stability through the doctrine of precedent, while also allowing for the injection of new ideas and for the creation of new responses as required.

Parliament is the supreme lawmaker in our constitutional system. But, by weaving these “threads” of common law, judges also act as lawmakers alongside parliament. Unlike parliament, however, they are constrained by the need to follow precedent (only departing from it when justified).

This is why any development of the common law is necessarily cautious, slow and incremental. Given this structural conservatism, there is some irony that claims of judicial activism come largely from conservative voices.

The suggestion the courts are a hotbed of radical activism also brings to mind the observation of former US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy:

An activist court is a court that makes a decision you don’t like.

Politicising the courts

If recent Supreme Court decisions contain new approaches and ideas, they are still part of the same common law system that allowed a former chief justice to declare in 1877 that the Treaty of Waitangi was “worthless” and a “simple nullity”.

Or, to take another example, the system that allowed a judge of the Court of Appeal to opine in 1997 that the inability of same-sex couples to marry did not amount to discrimination.

Cries of judicial activism did not follow those decisions. They were not described as political statements. Indeed, in the case of same-sex marriage, parliament eventually disagreed and changed the law in 2013.

Parliament remains supreme. It can simply amend legislation in response to Supreme Court judgements it doesn’t like. That is entirely appropriate, and an instance of what is termed “dialogue” between two branches of government.

There is nothing wrong with disagreeing with decisions of the Supreme Court (I have built a career out of it). But it’s another thing to argue the court should not have the capacity to make those decisions in the first place.

To legislate against that capacity would undermine the constitutional foundation of an independent judiciary by risking its politicisation. That would be far more radical than the Supreme Court and the inherently conservative common law.

Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere 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. Is ‘judicial activism’ skewing Treaty law – or are court critics the real radicals? – https://theconversation.com/is-judicial-activism-skewing-treaty-law-or-are-court-critics-the-real-radicals-244926

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kyllie Cripps, Director Monash Indigenous Studies Centre, CI ARC Centre of Excellence for the Elimination of Violence against Women (CEVAW), School of Philosophical, Historical & International Studies (SOPHIS), School of Social Sciences (SOSS), Faculty of Arts, Monash University

Recently, a landmark coronial inquiry into the deaths of four Indigenous women from domestic and family violence in the Northern Territory released its findings after a year-long investigation.

The coroner aimed to understand the systemic responses to an “epidemic of violence that is our national shame”, to then propose improvements to prevent future deaths.

This is not the first inquiry of its kind in the NT. This raises questions of what will be different this time and what actions will be taken.

Simultaneously, the government released its response to the Senate Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous women and children. Mentioned quietly amid a flurry of end-of-year bills, it said little of substance that will help save Indigenous women’s lives.

In a year when domestic and family violence has often been at the centre of public discussion, there’s still a lack of political appetite to help Indigenous women.

Coronial constraints

Judge Elisabeth Armitage delivered 35 recommendations to guide efforts in preventing future deaths from domestic violence in the NT. These were all informed by evidence presented during the inquiry.

However, while these recommendations will be submitted to the attorney-general and relevant agencies under the Coroner’s Act, there’s nothing to guarantee they’ll be implemented.

The agencies must report back to the coroner within three months on their response to the recommendations. But as with all coronial inquests, whether or not they’re enacted is up to the government.

Understanding the limitations of the Coroner’s Act is crucial. There have been myriad previous recommendations in the NT and across the country that have seen inconsistent follow-through and a lack of accountability in tracking their effectiveness in preventing deaths over time.

Anticipating this outcome, Armitage announced she would conduct a second major inquiry into domestic, family and sexual violence in August 2025. It will investigate eight deaths, allegedly related to domestic violence, since June 2024 in the NT. It will further be an opportunity, she said, to assess progress in implementing her recommendations from this inquest.

No new action

At the same time, the federal government responded to the murdered and missing Indigenous women and children senate inquiry. It “noted” the recommendations.

It was a disappointing re-announcement of a commitment of $4.4 billion in “new” funding to gender-based violence. This was previously announced in response to a rapid review that included $3.9 billion to support frontline legal assistance services.

The latter has already been widely critiqued as not being “new” funding but anticipated expenditure to maintain existing services.

They also reiterated that they released the first ever Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan to support the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children. The action plan also included a $194 million investment.

An inaugural National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Family Safety Plan also has government support. To be launched in 2025, it would be informed by the work of the Senate inquiry.

Amid all this, there is nothing mentioned about any new funding commitments for Indigenous women and children in response to the inquiry.

Indeed, Greens Senator Dorinda Cox, who helped to establish the inquiry, expressed disappointment that the government has only addressed two of the ten recommendations.

With 12 Indigenous women having lost their lives to violence nationally between June and early November 2024, the pressing question remains: where is the national outrage? Moreover, where is the action?

Sceptism instead of support

Despite there being ready engagement and attention to domestic violence deaths generally by the Australian public, the deaths of Indigenous women are rarely seen in the national headlines.

The profound impact of death on families and communities is also unseen. Some communities suffer more than others.

Although some may grow weary of this issue, we can’t look away. The statistics reveal Indigenous women are seven times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be killed by a violent partner.

The ramifications of these deaths extend beyond loss of life. They affect children, leading to further systemic failures that have historically let down Indigenous women.

As families are left to cope with their loss, they often receive minimal support for their specific needs. In their grief, they typically form support groups with others who have faced similar tragedies, while navigating police and court systems.

Often, these systems didn’t protect their loved ones.

While victim services for those who have lost a loved one to murder exist, their support is limited and they are not culturally grounded to Indigenous communities. This can force families to seek help from nonspecialist services or forgo assistance altogether.

Our research highlights that the systems designed to protect vulnerable people respond inadequately to Indigenous women. Cripps (one of the authors of this piece) reviewed the cases of 151 Indigenous women lost to intimate partner violence. Through coronial data she found, like Judge Armitage, that many of these deaths are entirely preventable.

Soon to be released research by Longbottom (also an author of this piece) identified multiple systemic failures that contribute to reduced support, which in turn puts the lives of Indigenous women at increased risk. These include lack of training, inconsistent application of domestic violence guidelines and delayed service responses.

Significant delays from emergency personnel compound the issue further. Responses to calls for help are incorrectly downgraded to welfare checks, even when an active protection order exists.

During the NT inquiry, it was revealed that police records frequently included notations suggesting a woman “may make false allegations”. Armitage highlighted that such remarks not only undermine the credibility of the victims, but also adversely affect the urgency and effectiveness of subsequent police responses.

This pattern of behaviour reflects a broader issue within the system that often prioritises scepticism over immediate support for women in risky and vulnerable situations.

Follow the evidence

Our research highlights the importance of Indigenous communities leading response development. Families’ stories enhance these responses, while Indigenous experts provide supporting evidence, and services ensure effective operational support.

Carceral measures, such as increased policing, are ineffective. This underscores the need for a place-based, culturally grounded approach that connects with Indigenous communities, not punishes them.

Aligning with the NT coroner’s findings, our research emphasises the urgent need for systemic reform.

However, we believe the coroner’s recommendations, along with those from the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous women, do not sufficiently address the existing issues. Governments often can and do selectively choose the recommendations they are going to implement, despite evidence to do otherwise.

Read more:
Indigenous women are most affected by domestic violence but have struggled to be heard. It’s time we listened

Responding to domestic and family is complex. Preventing deaths demands sustainable, evidence-based reforms that are both accountable and adaptable to local situations.

These reforms must be shaped by the voices of those with direct experience, ensuring their insights guide policies and interventions. It’s crucial that systems are open to scrutiny and feedback, continuously evolving to meet the needs of those affected.

Everyone has a responsibility to act. Our women’s lives are at stake and we must commit to creating a society where they are protected and valued. Inaction is not an option.

Kyllie Cripps’ research is supported by funding from the Australian Research Council, Centre for Excellence for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (CEVAW).

Marlene Longbottom is a DAATSIA Fellow funded by the Australian Research Council.

– ref. Indigenous women are dying violent, preventable deaths. Endless inquiries won’t help unless we act – https://theconversation.com/indigenous-women-are-dying-violent-preventable-deaths-endless-inquiries-wont-help-unless-we-act-244815

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeannie Marie Paterson, Professor of Law, The University of Melbourne

Have you ever spotted what looked like a great deal on a website, added it to your “basket” and proceeded to checkout – only to find extra fees added on at the last minute?

It’s frustratingly common when making airline, hotel and many other kinds of bookings to see an advertised price get ratcheted up at checkout with additional fees – perhaps “shipping insurance”, “resort fees” or just “taxes”.

The practice is known as “drip pricing” and it can distort consumer decision-making and affect competition. Nonetheless, there is no specific ban on this conduct in Australia.

Some companies have, however, effectively been prosecuted for it under the Australian Consumer Law, which contains some strict rules about misleading consumers through advertising.

Many of us have already begun booking flights, hotels and more as we head into the summer holiday season. Here’s what the law says about companies changing prices in the lead-up to checkout, and how you can protect yourself as a consumer.

Read more:
Why prices are so high – 8 ways retail pricing algorithms gouge consumers

What’s wrong with drip pricing?

The tactic that underpins drip pricing is to draw a customer in with an attractive “headline” price but then add in other fees as the customer approaches the checkout.

It’s reasonable to ask whether there’s anything wrong with this practice: after all, the customer still sees the final price at checkout. Why might that be seen as misleading conduct under Australian Consumer Law?

The reasons lie in views about consumer buying behaviour and the nature of the statutory prohibition.

Typically, the closer a consumer gets to a sale, the less likely they are to pull out or even fully notice any additional fees.

They may then end up paying more than they intended and also have lost the opportunity to deal with other suppliers of the same product at a better price.

In the relevant section of Australian Consumer Law, there’s no requirement of an intention to mislead. It’s also not necessarily relevant that the true pricing situation is eventually revealed to the consumer or that it’s in the “fine print”.

Thus, in the eyes of the law, it can be enough that consumers were enticed by an attractive headline price.

Price surprises

This legal position is well illustrated by a case settled by the High Court in 2013, after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) took on telecom provider TPG Internet in 2010, alleging misleading conduct.

In this case, TPG had been advertising broadband internet services for $29.99 per month.

But on reading the fine print, you’d have discovered this deal was only available with a landline service costing an additional $30 per month.

The case moved up through Australia’s court system, but ultimately, the High Court majority held that the telco had engaged in misleading conduct.

The High Court recognised that the very point of advertising is to draw consumers into “the marketing web”. It is therefore not enough to disclose the true (higher) price only at the point the transaction is concluded.

TPG was fined $2 million in this case. Since then, the maximum penalties have increased, now the higher of:

• $50 million
• three times the value obtained from the contravention, or
  (if the benefit can not be determined)
• 30% of the business’s adjusted turnover during the breach period.

Dynamic pricing

Other pricing complaints have been in the news recently, including concerns about point-of-sale dynamic pricing.

Basically, this means using an algorithm that adjusts ticket prices in response to demand, as consumers wait in a virtual purchasing queue.

Recent media reporting has centred on concerns about the use of point-of-sale dynamic pricing in the events ticketing industry.

A form of dynamic pricing is used by hotels and airlines. They increase prices seasonally and according to demand. But these “dynamic” prices are clearly visible to consumers as they start looking for a deal. Some bodies even publish helpful tables of likely prices at different times.

The kind of dynamic pricing that happens at the very point consumers are waiting to buy is very different and arguably creates an “unfair surprise”.

Whether these kinds of practices also fall within the category of misleading conduct remains to be seen.

But it is arguable that consumers could reasonably expect the real-time movement of prices to be disclosed upfront.

Earlier this year, the government announced plans to address both drip pricing and dynamic pricing as part of a broader ban on unfair trading practices.

Read more:
Albanese government promises to ban ‘dodgy’ trading practices

What can consumers do?

While all this law reform and litigation is playing out, here are some things you can do to avoid pricing shock.

1. Slow down. One of the strategies that online markets often rely on is “scarcity signalling” – those clocks or numbers you see counting down as you move through a website.

The very purpose of these is to make a consumer rush – which can mean failing to notice those additional fees that may make the buy not a good deal.

2. Take screen shots as you progress. Remember what it is you thought you were getting. Doing this also provides a basis for lodging a complaint if the headline and actual price don’t match up.

3. Check. Take a close look at the final bill before pressing pay.

4. Report. Tell your local Fair Trading Office or the ACCC if the advertised deal and the final price don’t meet up.

A recent action taken by the ACCC against Woolworths and Coles alleging “illusory” discounts was launched because of consumer tip-offs.

Jeannie Marie Paterson has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council and undertaken research for ASIC.

– ref. Booking a summer holiday deal? Beware ‘drip pricing’ and other tactics to make you pay more than you planned – https://theconversation.com/booking-a-summer-holiday-deal-beware-drip-pricing-and-other-tactics-to-make-you-pay-more-than-you-planned-244825

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chari Larsson, Senior Lecturer of Art History, Griffith University

QAGOMA’s Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art opened over the weekend with a flurry of artist talks, panel discussions and performances.

With more than 70 artists and artistic projects from Australia, the Pacific and Asia, the triennial is a warm celebration of the diversity of the region’s artistic practices.

Unlike thematically organised exhibitions, the triennial’s curatorial focus has remained remarkably consistent since its inception in 1993. Its focus has always been surveying the most exciting and original art of our region.

One of the risks of this strategy is the challenge of remaining fresh and innovative. The solution to this is twofold.

First, the decision in the 1990s not to appoint a freelance artistic director resulted in the opportunity to develop the authority of knowledge in-house.

Now led by Tarun Nagesh, the curatorial team wields a formidable depth of expertise. This is further strengthened with curatorial partnerships in countries throughout the region. As a result, the connections with individual practitioners demonstrate an authenticity that can often go awry in large-scale exhibitions.

Second, the triennial has never been isolated from broader social and political conversations. As a result, this year sees key concerns emerge such as labour migration, resource extraction, and expressions of home and community.

Untold stories

Consider, for example, Sancintya Mohini Simpson’s extraordinary nine panel painting kūlī / khulā (2024).

Extending horizontally across the gallery walls, the delicate handmade wasli paper depicts miniature figures in a landscape.

Simpson is simultaneously entering into a long history of miniature painting, as well as investigating gaps in the historical archive of the practice of indentured labour and forced migration.

Simpson’s research is deeply personal and investigates intergenerational trauma. She is a descendant of bonded labourers sent from South India to South Africa to work on colonial sugar plantations in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Simpson is focused on giving visibility to the women’s histories: their labour, lives and relationships.

Tully Arnot’s ceramic birds are easily overlooked. Mischievously installed in unexpected spaces, the birds are perched on sticks, twittering and contributing to the ambient soundscape.

There is a darker side to Arnot’s Bird Song (2024): the tweets are drawn from data and translated into sound through electronics and pumps. The work is a mediation on mass extinction.

She asks: will the artificial be the last mode of interaction with animals?

Local communities

One highly engaging seven-channel video installation is by Mumbai-based artists’ collective CAMP.

Using a remote-controlled pan-tilt-zoom camera, the film was created entirely from a CCTV camera located on the 35th floor of a building in south Mumbai.

Each screen gives a distinct view of the individual camera movements, as the camera’s mechanical gaze slowly surveys the scene.

CAMP have long been interested in the technological possibilities offered by CCTV. At one point in the video, the spectator’s assumed anonymity is disrupted by a group of people engaging directly with the camera.

The toll of resource extraction on local communities and the environment in northern Vietnam is the subject of Lê Giang’s extraordinary gem paintings.

Emerging out of the gloom in a darkened gallery space, the paintings appear like shimmering stones.

The popularity of precious and semi-precious stones such as ruby and sapphire has led to deforestation, the pollution of waterways and human rights abuses in northern Vietnam, where the mines are located. This in turn has led to the call for sustainable gemstone mining practices.

The artisanal practice of gem painting involves taking the impure leftovers from gem-mining, and crushing to create a fine, glittering powder. The powder is sprinkled onto Perspex, fixed with glue and transformed into sparkling paintings.

Lê Giang worked with local gem painters to create a series of landscapes that pay homage to this regional vernacular practice. They also deliver a sharp rebuke to the environmental costs borne by an insatiable appetite for luxury goods.

Now is the time for collaboration

Of particular note is the richness and depth of the film programming at GOMA’s Australian Cinémathèque.

This commenced with a film series dedicated to Malaysian-born, film director Tsai Ming-liang and will continue over the exhibition’s duration with a thematic selection of science fiction films from across Asia and the Pacific.

Crucially, with the cost of living crisis, the triennial is free, making QAGOMA an attractive destination for families and younger visitors over the upcoming summer months. This is bolstered by comprehensive children’s programming.

This decades-long investment in local communities has paid off. When I quiz incoming undergraduates at the commencement of each academic teaching year, they frequently cite their formative artistic memories and art experiences being shaped by the triennial.

As the region readies itself for a Trump presidency and the distinct possibility of trade and economic instability, the triennial’s embodiment of soft regional diplomacy comes acutely into view. Now is the time for collaboration and respectful discourse.

Chari Larsson 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 Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art brings us the most exciting and original art of our region – https://theconversation.com/the-asia-pacific-triennial-of-contemporary-art-brings-us-the-most-exciting-and-original-art-of-our-region-242296

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Niamh Chapman, Senior Research Fellow, Hypertension and Patient Engagement, University of Sydney

Measuring your blood pressure at home means you can take readings over several days to get a better picture of your health, instead of one-off measurements at the doctor’s clinic.

It’s important you follow specific steps to get an accurate reading.

But our study found most Australians do not measure their blood pressure correctly at home and very few were told the steps to follow.

We have created resources to help people measure their blood pressure at home, understand their readings and take action with their health-care team.

High blood pressure is a big issue

High blood pressure is a major health problem in Australia and globally.

One in three Australian adults have high blood pressure, also called hypertension. This is when your blood pressure is at or above 140/90mmHg (mmHg refers to millimetres of mercury, a standard measurement of blood pressure).

High blood pressure is the leading contributor to preventable health issues and early death among Australians because it is the main risk factor for heart disease, stroke, dementia and kidney disease.

Why measuring blood pressure is important

High blood pressure often has no symptoms. So the only way to know if you have it is to measure it.

You may also need to check if your blood pressure has lowered after starting medication or if you’re making changes to your lifestyle, such as doing more exercise, giving up smoking or reducing salt intake. Low blood pressure (hypotension) can also be an issue.

But blood pressure changes based on how we are feeling, what we’ve eaten or the activities we have just been doing.

These normal responses mean our blood pressure can change from minute to minute and hour to hour. This is why there are specific, recommended steps to follow to reliably measure your blood pressure and to be able to compare readings taken days, months and years apart.

Mistakes are common

We surveyed and interviewed 350 people (who were all measuring their blood pressure at home) from around Australia to find out how Australians measure blood pressure at home and if they receive any education to help them know what to do.

Our study found no one followed all of the specific, recommended steps to measure their blood pressure. Instead they said they measured their blood pressure at different times of the day after doing different things.

We found most people measured their blood pressure while sitting down (90%) and with the cuff on their bare arm (77%), which is the right thing to do.

While 58% of people took two blood pressure measures each time, which is correct, only 40% used the average of the two blood pressure readings. Very few (15%) measured their blood pressure over several days in both the morning and evening.

Only half of the people in our study used a blood pressure device that had been clinically validated. This means the device has been tested for accuracy by the manufacturer according to international standards, not just safety.

Consultation and communication

Regardless of whether or not a doctor had recommended they measure their blood pressure at home, most people (78%) reported their blood pressure readings to their doctor.

These findings tell us doctors often use home blood pressure readings to help diagnose and manage high blood pressure. This emphasises how important it is to ensure people measure blood pressure correctly.

Many people were measuring their blood pressure a few times a week or month. But most guidelines recommend blood pressure only needs to be measured at home: every day over a week, every six months; and ideally before you see your doctor and after you start or change blood pressure medication.

Measuring blood pressure at home can bring peace of mind, which many study participants described. But measuring your blood pressure too often may create unnecessary stress, potentially leading to higher blood pressure readings.

Instead, it’s better to agree with your doctor how often you should measure your blood pressure and to follow the recommended steps each time to make sure your readings are as accurate and useful as possible.

Support for blood pressure measurement

We found few people had received any education or guidance from health-care professionals about how to measure their blood pressure at home.

Instead, many study participants looked for information online to help them know what their blood pressure numbers meant and changes they could make to lower their blood pressure. They were less interested in learning how to measure accurately.

So we have worked with people who measure and manage their blood pressure at home to create a simple guide to help you choose a blood pressure device, measure your blood pressure accurately, understand your blood pressure readings and take action to control your blood pressure.

For more information about managing your blood pressure at home, see our resources. You can also check if your blood pressure device has been tested for accuracy.

Niamh Chapman receives funding from the National Heart Foundation of Australia, as a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship 2023-2024. She is affiliated with the Australian Hypertension Taskforce as co-chair of the Patient Activation and Engagement working group and Hypertension Australia as member of the Advocacy and Society Liaison Committee.

Dean Picone receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, as an Emerging Leader fellow level 1, from a NSW Health Elite Postdoctoral Researcher Grant and the Royal Hobart Hospital Research Foundation. He is a member of the Hypertension Australia Clinical Council and member of the Australian Hypertension Taskforce working groups for awareness and screening of high blood pressure. He has previously acted as a consultant to the Pan American Health Organization on blood pressure measurement.

Eleanor Clapham 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 people don’t measure their blood pressure properly at home – here’s how to get accurate readings – https://theconversation.com/many-people-dont-measure-their-blood-pressure-properly-at-home-heres-how-to-get-accurate-readings-244161

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Toby Murray, Associate Professor of Cybersecurity, School of Computing and Information Systems, The University of Melbourne

When federal parliament passed legislation last week which will ban under 16s from social media, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese celebrated. Posting on X, he said: “We’re doing everything we can to keep our kids safe”.

Part of that commitment involves launching a trial of age assurance technologies to determine the best way of enforcing the social media ban for under 16s and preventing young people under 18 from accessing online pornography sites.

The trial will be run by a consortium led by a British company called the Age Check Certification Scheme. It has previously tested software for Australian troops in Afghanistan.

The trial, which the government says is a “key plank” of its online safety agenda, will kick off next year. According to the project plan, it will explore “how different methods perform in verifying a user’s age without compromising their
personal data”. In turn, this will help Australia “establish best practices and potential regulatory frameworks for age assurance”.

The trial will involve about 1,100 Australians of varying ages and cultural backgrounds. According to the project plan, it will test three main technology options.

So what exactly are these options – and what does the evidence say about their effectiveness?

Age assurance technologies

The trial will assess the following three technology options.

Age verification – using a person’s identity credentials, such as a digital ID or an uploaded driver’s license or passport. With this information, it is able to verify a person’s stated date of birth – and therefore, whether they are over or under an age threshold.

Age estimation – analysing a person’s biological or behavioural features known to change with age, such as examining a photo of their face or recordings of their voice. According to the project plan, these systems sometimes “employ machine learning and artificial intelligence and may be subject to configuration settings or age buffers to avoid false positives based on inherent performance errors”.

Age inference – which involves using known details of a person’s life circumstances to infer they are an adult, for example, because they are married, have a credit card or mortgage or because they have a government (.gov.au) email address.

Reliability concerns

These three technologies differ in terms of their reliability, how they can go wrong, and their potential unintended consequences when widely deployed.

Age verification based on identity credentials (whether a digital ID or an uploaded driver’s license or other physical documents) is likely to be most reliable – as long as the person supplying the credential actually owns it. What protections will prevent a 14-year-old from uploading their parent’s birth certificate remain unclear.

One option could involve requiring people to take a live photo of their face in real time and to upload that photo alongside verified photo ID. Facial recognition technology might then verify that the same person supplying the credential is pictured in it, by checking whether the face in the real-time photo matches the one in the ID.

However, as anyone who knows how easy it is to fake a live Snapchat picture will tell you, it can be difficult to prove whether a photo was taken live. Therefore, this kind of checking needs to be very carefully implemented to be effective against savvy and motivated teenagers.

Age estimation technology is also likely to include estimating somebody’s age based on (purportedly) real-time photo or video of their face. Even ignoring the difficulties of determining whether a photo or video was taken live, this kind of technology is known to be imperfect.

Previous evaluation has shown that on average it is accurate within only 3.7 years of somebody’s true age. More concerning, it performs worse on tweens and teens than it does on adults over 20. So age estimation may fail precisely when it is most needed.

We should expect similar challenges with age inference. However, it is also likely to exclude many people including young adults who still live with their parents and therefore don’t have evidence such as rental agreements or credit cards.

Privacy concerns

The age assurance trial includes evaluating the privacy implications of each technology option. However, it’s unclear how well Australians understand these risks.

This is something that will be much harder for the trial to evaluate. Polling from 2024 suggests most people are in favour of age assurance to prevent children and teens accessing social media or pornography online.

However, attitudes may shift next year when platforms deploy these technologies to enforce the impending ban.

Ultimately, no matter which technology is deployed, it remains to be seen how many Australians will be happy to identify themselves (whether with a digital or traditional ID, a photo of their face, or by their bank records) to access social media or adult content online.

Toby Murray has previously received research funding from Facebook and Google. He is Director of the Defence Science Institute, which receives State and Commonwealth government funding.

– ref. How can Australia actually keep young people off social media and porn sites? A new trial will test 3 options – https://theconversation.com/how-can-australia-actually-keep-young-people-off-social-media-and-porn-sites-a-new-trial-will-test-3-options-245021

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Natasha Hurley-Walker, Radio Astronomer, Curtin University

Slowly repeating bursts of intense radio waves from space have puzzled astronomers since they were discovered in 2022.

In new research, we have for the first time tracked one of these pulsating signals back to its source: a common kind of lightweight star called a red dwarf, likely in a binary orbit with a white dwarf, the core of another star that exploded long ago.

A slowly pulsing mystery

In 2022, our team made an amazing discovery: periodic radio pulsations that repeated every 18 minutes, emanating from space. The pulses outshone everything nearby, flashed brilliantly for three months, then disappeared.

We know some repeating radio signals come from a kind of neutron star called a radio pulsar, which spins rapidly (typically once a second or faster), beaming out radio waves like a lighthouse. The trouble is, our current theories say a pulsar spinning only once every 18 minutes should not produce radio waves.

So we thought our 2022 discovery could point to new and exciting physics – or help explain exactly how pulsars emit radiation, which despite 50 years of research is still not understood very well.

More slowly blinking radio sources have been discovered since then. There are now about ten known “long-period radio transients”.

However, just finding more hasn’t been enough to solve the mystery.

Searching the outskirts of the galaxy

Until now, every one of these sources has been found deep in the heart of the Milky Way.

This makes it very hard to figure out what kind of star or object produces the radio waves, because there are thousands of stars in a small area. Any one of them could be responsible for the signal, or none of them.

So, we started a campaign to scan the skies with the Murchison Widefield Array radio telescope in Western Australia, which can observe 1,000 square degrees of the sky every minute. An undergraduate student at Curtin University, Csanád Horváth, processed data covering half of the sky, looking for these elusive signals in more sparsely populated regions of the Milky Way.

And sure enough, we found a new source! Dubbed GLEAM-X J0704-37, it produces minute-long pulses of radio waves, just like other long-period radio transients. However, these pulses repeat only once every 2.9 hours, making it the slowest long-period radio transient found so far.

Where are the radio waves coming from?

We performed follow-up observations with the MeerKAT telescope in South Africa, the most sensitive radio telescope in the southern hemisphere. These pinpointed the location of the radio waves precisely: they were coming from a red dwarf star. These stars are incredibly common, making up 70% of the stars in the Milky Way, but they are so faint that not a single one is visible to the naked eye.

Combining historical observations from the Murchison Widefield Array and new MeerKAT monitoring data, we found that the pulses arrive a little earlier and a little later in a repeating pattern. This probably indicates that the radio emitter isn’t the red dwarf itself, but rather an unseen object in a binary orbit with it.

Based on previous studies of the evolution of stars, we think this invisible radio emitter is most likely to be a white dwarf, which is the final endpoint of small to medium-sized stars like our own Sun. If it were a neutron star or a black hole, the explosion that created it would have been so large it should have disrupted the orbit.

It takes two to tango

So how do a red dwarf and a white dwarf generate a radio signal?

The red dwarf probably produces a stellar wind of charged particles, just like our Sun does. When the wind hits the white dwarf’s magnetic field, it would be accelerated, producing radio waves.

This could be similar to how the Sun’s stellar wind interacts with Earth’s magnetic field to produce beautiful aurora, and also low-frequency radio waves.

We already know of a few systems like this, such as AR Scorpii, where variations in the brightness of the red dwarf imply that the companion white dwarf is hitting it with a powerful beam of radio waves every two minutes. None of these systems are as bright or as slow as the long-period radio transients, but maybe as we find more examples, we will work out a unifying physical model that explains all of them.

On the other hand, there may be many different kinds of system that can produce long-period radio pulsations.

Either way, we’ve learned the power of expecting the unexpected – and we’ll keep scanning the skies to solve this cosmic mystery.

Natasha Hurley-Walker is supported by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (project number FT190100231) funded by the Australian Government.

– ref. Astronomers have pinpointed the origin of mysterious repeating radio bursts from space – https://theconversation.com/astronomers-have-pinpointed-the-origin-of-mysterious-repeating-radio-bursts-from-space-244920

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ehsan Noroozinejad, Senior Researcher, Urban Transformations Research Centre, Western Sydney University

Imagine a city where everyone can afford a safe home, reach work or school without long, stressful commutes, and enjoy green parks and clean air.

This is Anthony Albanese’s decade-long vision for Australia’s cities after last week’s release of the new National Urban Policy (NUP).

As Transport and Infrastructure Minister in 2011, he introduced Our Cities, Our Future. Then in 2021, as opposition leader, he pledged a new urban framework.

The new NUP now sets the course for transforming Australia’s cities.

However, as our cities grow, so do the complexities they face: a housing crisis, locking out households, heavier traffic, and rising temperatures caused by climate changes.

These challenges can disproportionately affect low-income and vulnerable communities, especially in our outer suburbs.

The new NUP aims to address all of that, but the big question remains: does it go far enough to build the cities we need for the future?

What is the National Urban Policy?

This policy is Australia’s road map for sustainable city development. It guides collaboration between the federal government, states, territories and local communities to shape future cities to be liveable and productive.

The policy focuses on three key pillars:

1. Liveable and equitable cities: this is to ensure the basic human rights everyone should have access to, like affordable housing, public transport, and essential services like healthcare and education.

2. Productive and innovative cities: this will support jobs, industries and infrastructure to drive economic growth.

3. Sustainable and resilient cities: this will protect the environments in Australian cities to develop urban areas for climate change impacts like floods and heatwaves.

A key element of the policy is its commitment to ensuring strong collaboration with First Nations, Aboriginal and Indigenous communities, acknowledging their connection to the land and integrating their knowledge into urban planing of the future cities.

What does this policy mean for everyday people?

If the new policy delivers on its promise, here is how daily life could be affected for Australians.

Affordable housing: With the ambitious goal of delivering 1.2 million homes by 2029, the government aims to ease the housing crunch. More social housing and making homes closer to jobs and schools are top priorities.

Improved public transport: The government is planning to support public transport upgrades for faster, more reliable and greener commute choices like bike paths.

More green spaces: The government is also keen to boost Australians’ physical and mental health by providing more parks, shaded streets and green rooftops to reduce urban heat. This also aligns with broader climate, health, and wellbeing strategies, and includes heading towards net zero Australia.

Inclusive communities: Ensuring opportunities and services are available to everyone, including First Nations people, elders and those with disabilities, and providing job opportunities closer to home.

Can the policy address Australia’s critical challenges?

Our cities face enormous challenges and the new policy aims to tackle many of them (the housing crisis, climate issues and social inclusion).

But addressing them requires more than a list of goals – it demands bold actions and long-term commitments.

This is an area Western Sydney University has researched in its newly released report looking at international best practices in infrastructure funding.

It highlights how fragmented, short-term funding systems worsen these challenges.

It advocates for long-term, stable funding streams, collaboration, and community-driven approaches and principles successfully embedded in other countries.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and United Nations Habitat’s Global State of National Policy report also provides a comprehensive overview of strategies used by other countries to tackle similar issues.

Other developed countries like Singapore, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States have addressed many of the gaps we have noted through their approaches, including long-term funding models, coordination and clear sustainability goals.

Gaps in the new policy

While the new NUP sets a strong vision, it leaves several critical gaps:

Long-term funding is crucial: The policy leans heavily on short-term budgets and competitive grants, which prioritise projects based on competition, not community need. This leaves many communities and stakeholders with inadequate infrastructure.

An example of this is the short-term, limited support for modular and prefabricated systems as a solution to the housing crisis. A multi-decade funding commitment is essential to allow councils to plan effectively.

Collaboration across government levels is essential: The siloed approach between local councils and state governments impedes effective action. The Commonwealth must take a more proactive role in aligning projects and addressing fragmentation.

Clear timelines and accountability: When will these goals be achieved? The policy lacks clear deadlines and measurable targets to track progress. An ongoing evaluation framework is essential to ensure projects are executed efficiently and build trust among communities.

Embracing digital trasnformation: Many developed countries are using emerging technologies like digital twins and AI to improve their urban planning. Australia’s new policy could adopt similar approach to make smarter, data-driven decisions, though this is not clearly outlined in the current framework.

Infrastructure funding models need overhaul: Australia’s current infrastructure funding system is considered by some as fragmented, inconsistent and poorly coordinated, driven more by short-term political cycles than a by a long-term strategy. The NUP must address this critical gap.

Investment in green construction: The policy overlooks the role of financial institutions in driving sustainable urban development. Green mortgages, green bonds, and incentives for energy-efficient construction, like those in the UK and Europe, could help bridge the gap between affordability and sustainability while ensuring climate resilience in future housing strategies.

More support for vulnerable groups: While inclusivity is mentioned in the new policy, there is room for more specific strategies to support migrants, international students, refugees, single parent families and those from asylum-seeking backgrounds.

Overall, the new NUP is a positive and welcomed step forward.

For success, it must be shaped by meaningful collaboration between policymakers, planners, communities and researchers, drawing on global successes to ensure long-term impact. Only then can the government achieve its ambitious vision.

Dr. Ehsan Noroozinejad has received competitive funding from national and international organisations to support research addressing the housing and climate crises.

Nicky Morrison receives funding from all tiers of governments and works with the National Growth Area Alliance.

– ref. Cheaper housing and better transport? What you need to know about Australia’s new National Urban Policy – https://theconversation.com/cheaper-housing-and-better-transport-what-you-need-to-know-about-australias-new-national-urban-policy-244947