Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Harris, Professor of Corporate Law, University of Sydney

Capitalism without insolvency is like Christianity without Hell.

Those were the words of former Apollo 8 commander Frank Borman, speaking as chairman of Eastern Airlines in the United States in the early 1980s.

That company later entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy itself, in an attempt to deal with a staggering amount of debt.

We all know what it means to run out of money, but what exactly is bankruptcy? It’s certainly been in the news a lot.

Tupperware filed for it last month. Two Australian airlines have become insolvent this year, and other Australian businesses have been going under at record rates.

So how do companies go bankrupt – and what is bankruptcy protection under the law? What’s the famous Chapter 11? And is bankruptcy the end of the road?

What exactly is bankruptcy?

Sometimes, a person or company can’t pay all of their debts as they arise. In legal terms, we call this being “insolvent”.

Receiving a large bill (such as a large tax bill) that you can’t pay on the day doesn’t necessarily make you insolvent. The law allows for a reasonable time to pay bills after receiving an invoice.

But if large numbers of bills remain unpaid weeks or months after their due dates, it begins to suggest a person or business isn’t paying them because they actually can’t.

Being unable to pay all of your debts makes you an insolvent debtor. Bankruptcy is the legal process that allows insolvent debtors to fairly resolve these debts.

In Australia, insolvent individuals can file a bankruptcy petition with the Official Receiver in bankruptcy, a statutory office that is part of the Australian Financial Security Authority.

A creditor who is owed at least $10,000 can also force another person into bankruptcy, by suing them in court and obtaining an order to make them bankrupt.

For companies that can’t pay their debts, there are several options, including liquidation, voluntary administration and restructuring. More on these later.

We let an expert take control

When a person or company goes bankrupt, an independent external expert (or team of experts) is appointed to manage their assets and debt.

For individuals, we call this person a registered bankruptcy trustee. In the case of corporate bankruptcies, we call them a registered liquidator.

In both cases, the expert will take control of the debtor’s assets and affairs. They’ll be looking closely at why the debtor needed to declare bankruptcy in the first place, and whether anything can be sold to generate cash so at least some of the debt can be repaid.

When a person goes bankrupt, not everything is up for grabs. The law allows them to retain some basic essentials, such as clothes, furniture, tools of their trade, and a car valued at less than $9,400.

Some categories of assets can also be exempt, such as superannuation and compensation for personal injuries.

There are no similar extensions for corporate insolvency. All of a company’s assets are on the table.

However, both types of debtor typically enter bankruptcy with few or no assets. In more than 80% of individual and corporate bankruptcy cases, there are no payments to the creditors they owe.

Why seek bankruptcy protection?

One key feature of formally filing for bankruptcy is that it imposes a “stay” on enforcement action against the debtor. This is a court order that gives the party owing money time to organise its affairs in an orderly way – such as by selling assets to raise cash.

In corporate insolvency, there are formal procedures under Australia’s Corporations Act that aim to give a company the opportunity to negotiate a deal with its creditors.

That might include formulating a plan to restructure, allowing it to exit insolvency and keep trading. But it could also include selling the business to a new owner so it can continue.

Some large Australian companies, including Virgin Australia and Channel Ten, have previously used “voluntary administration” to save their businesses.

Voluntary administration can give a company a chance to reduce its debts through a statutory compromise with creditors called a “deed of company arrangement”.

This involves the majority of a company’s creditors approving a deal – usually, to compromise on some of their debt in exchange for a promise of future payments.

The funds to make these payments might come from selling assets, or be a percentage of promised future profits.

If successful, this can allow a company to keep operating and minimise job losses that would otherwise occur if it were simply shut down and its assets sold off – known as being “liquidated”.

Once liquidated, a company will be deregistered by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission – that is, it will cease to exist as a separate company.

What is Chapter 11 bankruptcy?

You’ll often hear or read about companies filing for “Chapter 11” bankruptcy. This is because in the US, there is one law – the Bankruptcy Code 1978 – that covers both individuals and companies.

Just like we’ve discussed in the Australian context, Chapter 11 of that law is specifically aimed at giving debtor companies a chance to enter into a deal with their creditors – to reduce their debts, sell some or all of the assets and hopefully allow at least part of the business to continue operating.

This is what Tupperware did last month, following years of financial pressure.

Where the law differs between Australia and the US is in the fact that Chapter 11 allows the debtor company’s management to remain in charge of the bankruptcy process. We call this “debtor-in-possession”.

In Australia, in contrast, the liquidator – which acts as the administrator in a voluntary administration – remains in control of the company.

Filing for bankruptcy can signal the end of a company’s operations, but not always. It may be possible for an external administrator to try to save the business or sell some or all of it to a new owner, paying down debt and preserving jobs.

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

Jason Harris is an academic member of the Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association.

– ref. What is bankruptcy? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-bankruptcy-239393

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

This time a year ago, we were on the cusp of the October 14 Voice referendum. Most players were already aware it was doomed. Less understood was just how far-reaching would be the impact of what, in retrospect, was a massive miscalculation by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

In his maiden speech in 1996, Albanese declared multiculturalism and reconciliation with Indigenous Australians would be “one of my primary concerns”, but he was not publicly prominent on Aboriginal issues after that, as he rose through Labor’s ranks.

So it came as surprise to some that he invested so much political capital in pledging, especially on election night in 2022, to deliver the Uluru Statement from the Heart “in full”, with the constitutional Voice the first and most significant step.

By mid-2023, the battle for the Voice was absorbing an enormous amount of the government’s attention and distracting it from the cost-of-living issue. For many ordinary voters, increasingly preoccupied with their mortgages and other bills, this was baffling as well as frustrating.

When the overwhelming loss came – six in ten people voted no – it was as if the government’s balloon had popped. What had all this effort been for? Not just nothing, but worse than nothing. The referendum gamble had knocked the stuffing out of both the government and the quest for reconciliation.

Albanese was left depleted. The government had wasted time (never mind the money) that could have been devoted to other things, including working up other policies for Aboriginal people. The defeat was followed by a federal retreat on Indigenous affairs.

Indigenous leaders were shattered, and local communities shocked and disillusioned.
A year on, and blame continues to be thrown about, and shifted. Megan Davis, one of the drafters of the Uluru statement, told the Weekend Australian, “We were sidelined […] The Uluru statement was issued to the Australian people. It was an appeal to them. That got lost in the bread and butter adversarial tussle.”

Davis and other Indigenous leaders were certainly not “sidelined”. The Albanese government elevated what they said over pragmatic considerations. For instance, when Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus wanted to tinker with some detail of the referendum wording, that was effectively vetoed by the Indigenous advisers.

Moreover, while it’s true “adversarial politics” helped stymie the referendum – though that was not the only reason for its defeat – leading Indigenous figures were on both sides of those adversarial politics. Peter Dutton’s opposition dealt the Voice a major blow, but it was Indigenous senator Jacinta Price who was the standout “no” advocate in the campaign.

Indigenous leaders blame the opposition, scare campaigns, disinformation and an ineffective effort from the government. All were factors in the loss. But the “yes” side had money, high profile non-Indigenous activists, and much big business support.

Fundamentally, the story of the Voice is a tale of overreach. Overreach by Albanese. Overreach by Indigenous leaders.

Albanese deluded himself that people would vote for something that wasn’t properly defined, that he could sell it as much on emotion as on practicalities. He underestimated the potency of the argument that no group should be given a special position (which is different from special recognition) in the constitution. He did not take on board that, in the minds of many voters, the “fair go” coin would have two sides.

The Indigenous leaders promoting the Uluru statement were committed to having both recognition and the Voice put into the constitution. They refused to accept that in politics, second best can sometimes be first best – or the only best you can get.

Just think where we might be if they – Albanese, the Voice leaders – had taken another tack. If Albanese had said to those leaders, “Constitutional change is extraordinarily hard – it’s likely beyond my political sway to deliver you all you want.” And if the leaders had said, “We’ll settle for a legislated Voice in this term, and a referendum confined to recognition.”

We would by now have had the Voice operating, giving advice and feedback on policy and programs. Yes, it would have been subject to the risk of abolition by a later government, but that would not have been inevitable.

A referendum just for constitutional recognition would have had a reasonable prospect of passing. Even if it didn’t pass, the Voice would be there.

In the past year, Albanese has shrugged off his preoccupation with Indigenous Affairs as quickly as he seemed to embrace the issue so fervently. The truth-telling Makarrata Commission, despite having budget funding, has been redefined as a process, not the tangible entity it was to be.

More funding for Indigenous housing, education and some other areas has been announced. Albanese is promoting economic empowerment for communities, which is desirable, but we won’t know for some time how this goes. More generally, as Davis says, there has been a distinct shift of Indigenous policy back towards the states, which is problematic at best.

The pro-Voice Indigenous leaders, who included the well-respected Noel Pearson, dropped their bundle after the defeat. It is unclear how the next generation of leaders will fare in promoting the interests of First Australians, particularly in seeking solutions to the so-far intractable problems in remote communities.

Michael Dillon, a former federal public servant and former staffer to Labor Indigenous affairs ministers Clyde Holding, Gerry Hand and Jenny Macklin, says: “In retrospect, the Voice will be seen as the transition point between the old [Indigenous] leadership and the new. The leaders coming through are yet to find their voice and their stride. And this is creating an unfortunate vacuum for Aboriginal aspirations.”

There are other concerns that have emerged in the wake of the overreach that crashed.

We are seeing a backlash against some of the Indigenous recognition that grew in recent years. “Welcome to country” ceremonies at football matches and elsewhere are being questioned. A small thing in itself perhaps, but a symptom.

It remains to be seen if this backlash turns into a wider questioning. It may, at least if the Coalition has its way.

Critics look at failures in Indigenous self-determination as a policy, bringing pressures for a more assimilationist approach. This is the stance of Price, who is shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, though she rejects the depiction.

The brutal truth is that Australia’s Indigenous people find themselves in a worse position than if Albanese had not made that election promise he could not deliver. Hubris, even if linked to good intentions, can cause a lot of hurt.

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

– ref. Grattan on Friday: As the anniversary of the Voice vote nears, the high costs of Albanese’s misjudgement are clear – https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-as-the-anniversary-of-the-voice-vote-nears-the-high-costs-of-albaneses-misjudgement-are-clear-240347

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Arrow, Professor of History, Macquarie University

Women have long turned to the past to understand their place in the present. Many “great women” of history have served as role models and sources of inspiration –though the specific women celebrated have changed over time.

In the past, historians immortalised “women worthies” such as queens and saints. Today, the roster is broader and more diverse, though the purpose is the same: to elevate and educate.

Belvoir St Theatre’s Well-Behaved Women promises a show of uplifting entertainment, in which a series of songs “celebrate the ways in which their bad-ass behaviour helped them make history”. The show, directed by Blazey Best, involves a series of performances on an uncluttered stage accompanied by three musicians.

Although it is described as a musical, the show feels closer to a cabaret. Four excellent performers (Zahra Newman, Stefanie Caccamo, Elenoa Rokobaro and Ursula Yovich) play 16 women in total, from Eve, to Cleopatra, to Malala Yousafzai and Cathy Freeman.

Spotlight on strong women

It gestures to traditions of feminist theatre which mined history for stories of women’s oppression and resistance, such as the 1972 Australian feminist performance Betty Can Jump.

It also sits within a contemporary wave of plays that dramatise the lives of famous women, such as Suzie Miller’s RBG: Of Many, One and Joanna Murray-Smith’s Julia. These “you go girl” shows share a few hallmarks: they celebrate singular women rather than the movements that enabled them, and they don’t dig too deeply into their flaws.

Well-Behaved Women provides a twist on this formula by telling a series of stories entirely through song (together with judicious use of onstage screens). The songs tend to either tell a story from the woman’s life, or convey an emotional state that helps understand her life.

The women, depicted through broad female archetypes, are either victims of the patriarchy or defiant in the face of it.

Musically striking, but lyrically a letdown

The variety of musical genres drawn from adds a further layer of interpretation: Ursula Yovich’s warrior Boudicca conjures Tina Turner in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, while Stefanie Caccamo’s number about Shakespeare’s imagined sister, with its refrain of “poor Judith”, resembles a folk ballad.

Composer and lyricist Carmel Dean is an Australian who has worked in the United States for many years, so the first version of this show (performed in New York) included songs about Eleanor Roosevelt and Ruth Bader Ginsberg. The Australian version has replaced these with tributes to Australian women including Grace Tame, Julia Gillard and swimmers Fanny Durack and Mina Wylie.

One song, Fruit Bowl, pokes fun at the media’s obsession with Gillard’s empty fruit bowl captured in an at-home photoshoot. This song got the biggest applause of the night.

The four performers filled the Belvoir space with their powerful voices. Their performances were moving and, at times, very funny.

Musically, the show has diversity and range. Lyrically, however, the limitations of its omnibus structure became clear. Many of the songs were direct, even didactic –which is perhaps to be expected in such a production.

But in a show about women’s experiences, in all their complexity and variety, perhaps greater subtlety in the lyrics was in order. The lack of a strong narrative structure also left some of the songs adrift: I felt Billie Jean King’s number, for example, might have been better replaced by one about another Australian woman.

History, polished and packaged

As an historian, I was left wondering: what kind of history does this tell? We’re presented with 16 different stories of well-known women from the past, but to what end? If you ask the audience – who responded with enthusiastic applause and a standing ovation – they would probably tell you it was a highly entertaining and inspiring night out.

Well-Behaved Women is certainly a showcase for its talented performers, who demonstrate range and virtuosity. But it reminded me of those feminist children’s books that have become popular over the last few years.

These books have responded to a growing desire for feminist role models for children – but they also represent a tendency to smooth off feminism’s jagged edges for broader consumption.

This show performs a similar feat. There’s no reason women’s history can’t be entertaining, but we would do well to ponder what we might lose alongside the nuance.

Michelle Arrow receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

– ref. Well-Behaved Women: this cabaret-esque celebration of women icons is musically delightful – but historically lacking – https://theconversation.com/well-behaved-women-this-cabaret-esque-celebration-of-women-icons-is-musically-delightful-but-historically-lacking-238572

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

The International Monetary Fund has endorsed the Reserve Bank’s tough monetary policy – while warning rates might need to rise again if the fight against inflation stalls.

A report after IMF staff visited Australia, issued on Thursday, says the economy is resilient but faces challenges, including significant risks from abroad.

“Growth has slowed; while inflation is retreating from its peak, it remains elevated as demand-supply imbalances persist particularly in sectors like rents, new dwellings and insurance,” the report says.

A “modest” recovery is predicted for next year, taking growth from 1.2% in 2024 to 2.1% for 2025, marked by improvement in real incomes and resilient labour markets. But growth “will remain below its potential rate until 2026, when it is forecast to converge to 2.3%”.

“Near-term policies should continue to focus on reducing inflation while nurturing economic growth, ” the IMF says.

The Reserve Bank’s “continued restrictive monetary policy stance aimed at combating persistent inflation is appropriate”.

Underlying inflation is expected to sustainably return to the RBA’s target range of 2-3% at the end of next year, “with underlying price pressures easing only slowly”.

“Should disinflation stall, policies may need to be further tightened while preserving targeted support to vulnerable households amid rising living costs,” the report says.

It notes “underlying price pressures remain elevated”, pointing to rents, new dwellings, and insurance”.

“While acute demand and supply imbalances in the housing market have begun to ease, national house prices have surpassed pandemic-era peaks and the momentum persists, with rents also rising significantly.”

“Addressing the housing affordability challenges requires a holistic approach to tackle the continued supply shortfall.”

The IMF stresses the need for improving productivity, with enhanced competition and innovation. AI technology should be leveraged “responsibly” and the climate transition navigated strategically.

“Efforts to rejuvenate Australia’s productivity growth, including through competition policy, should be prioritised, focusing on reforms across capital and labor markets.”

The IMF welcomes the second consecutive surplus, for 2023-24, announced this week.

It also backs the proposed new Monetary Policy Board for the Reserve Bank, which is so far blocked because of a lack of parliamentary support. The IMF says the policy is in line with international best practices. It would “bolster central bank operational autonomy and enhance monetary-fiscal policy synergies”.

The IMF advocates tax reforms to promote efficiency and fairness. They should reduce “reliance on direct taxes and high capital costs that hinder growth.

“Tax breaks, including from capital gains tax discount and superannuation concessions, could be phased out to generate a more equitable and efficient tax system.”

The IMF says coming environmental and demographic changes “will put structural upwards pressures on government spending.

“Expenditure reforms should therefore aim to enhance spending efficiency and sustainability,” the IMF says.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the IMF had endorsed the government’s economic management.

“The government’s primary focus is to get on top of our inflation challenge without ignoring the risks to growth and the IMF has backed this strategy.”

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. IMF endorses RBA high interest rates and warns a further hike might be needed if the inflation fight stalls – https://theconversation.com/imf-endorses-rba-high-interest-rates-and-warns-a-further-hike-might-be-needed-if-the-inflation-fight-stalls-240443

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shane Clifton, Associate Professor of Practice, School of Health Sciences and the Centre for Disability Research and Policy, University of Sydney

It’s about time city councils did more to make our cities accessible. I recently tried to buy tickets to two Sydney Fringe Festival events, only to be told by the box office that the venues were not wheelchair-accessible.

Sydney remains a place where people with disability feel like they don’t belong. The same is true of other Australian cities. But local councils don’t bear all the blame.

Event organisers are responsible for selecting venues. In the case of the Fringe Festival, they chose locations inaccessible to wheelchair users and others with mobility challenges. It’s a bitter irony that a fringe festival, which ostensibly empowers artists and creatives on the margins, would exclude people with disability.

If event organisers (and every one of us) decided never to hire inaccessible venues, then the market might solve the issue. But those of us with disability are realistic enough to know most people don’t care – or don’t give us a thought. The market hasn’t solved the problem, so it’s up to governments.

The problems go beyond arts venues

Inaccessible venues are only the tip of the iceberg. Countless restaurants, shops and offices are inaccessible, with steps on entry, inaccessible bathrooms and narrow and cluttered aisles.

“Spend the day in my wheelchair” programs are sometimes criticised for trivialising the challenge of disability. However, they do unmask how frustrating and alienating our cities and towns can be.

Google Maps now indicates whether premises are accessible. Those that are bear the universal symbol of disability access – the stylised blue wheelchair. Even then, a person with a disability is just as likely as not to turn up and discover a lift has broken down, a doorway has been blocked off, a bathroom has been used for storage, or a venue is only partially accessible (it’s always the cool spaces that are out of reach).

The Commonwealth and states brought in disability discrimination laws in the 1990s. These have made some difference, but their many exemptions let businesses off the hook. (See the Disability Royal Commission’s recommendations to amend the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.)

More than 30 years down the track, our cities and towns remain bastions of exclusion.

Read more:
What does a building need to call itself ‘accessible’ – and is that enough?

Better access benefits everyone

Landowners and businesses typically complain providing access for the few affected people is too costly. In reality, making our public spaces accessible often requires little more than determined creative design. The costs are a mere fraction of what we spend on other things we judge as more important.

We also underestimate the value added by accessible design.

The Kerb-Cut Effect, for example, describes how designing for people with disability often benefits everyone. The term refers to the impact of activist action in California in the 1970s. Disability advocates in the city of Berkeley poured concrete onto road kerbs to create ramps giving wheelchair users access to footpaths.

These ramps also proved valuable to parents pushing children in strollers, older people and cyclists. Refined into kerb cuts, they spread rapidly around the world.

There are many other examples. Television captioning, developed for people who are deaf and hard of hearing, is now widely used by non-disabled people. Audiobooks, developed for people who are blind, are now a common way that many other people enjoy books.

Accessible venues will not just benefit wheelchair users. Older people, those with impaired mobility and people who push prams and tow suitcases all benefit. Indeed, if we make venues accessible to those on the margins, no one is excluded.

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities highlights the importance of universal design. The convention insists on

the design of products, environments, programs and services to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialised design.

Why use steps that exclude some people when everyone can use a ramp or a lift?

Why councils must lead the way

Accessibility in cities is about more than just wheelchairs; it requires a comprehensive approach to urban planning to meet the varied needs of all citizens. This includes providing sensory aids like audio signals, braille signage and visual measures for people who are blind, deaf or hard of hearing. It’s also crucial that information on public services and events is easily available to everyone in formats they can access and understand.

My focus has been on access to public spaces, but we also need to turn our attention to private homes. Wheelchair users and people with other mobility impairments can’t access most private houses in Australia. There is a drastic lack of accessible housing for people with disability and the cost of retrofitting access is exorbitant.

New South Wales is yet to follow the lead of other states and territories by signing up to the Silver Liveable Housing Design Standards. These standards are part of the revised National Construction Code. They require new housing developments to offer basic accessibility for all people.

We can and must do better. Every level of government can contribute to change.

However, new builds and renovations are often decided upon at the regional level. This means local councils should bear much of the responsibility.

A determined effort by our mayors and councillors to insist premises are accessible will be better for everyone. From a selfish perspective, it might mean I could go out to dinner or a festival without worrying if I can get in the door.

Shane Clifton is affiliated with the Centre for Disability Research and Policy at the University of Sydney.

– ref. When even fringe festival venues exclude people with disability, cities need to act on access – https://theconversation.com/when-even-fringe-festival-venues-exclude-people-with-disability-cities-need-to-act-on-access-239937

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Holly Thorpe, Professor in Sociology of Sport and Gender, University of Waikato

“The climate crisis is a health crisis.” So says World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus.

The World Economic Forum agrees. Its report this year highlighted how climate change is taking a toll on global health due to increasingly frequent extreme weather events.

These issues are on the official agenda here too, especially since severe tropical cyclone Gabrielle caused extensive damage in the South-west Pacific and northern New Zealand in early 2023.

Between February 13 and 14 it slammed into Te Tairāwhiti/East Coast and Te Matau a Māui/Hawkes Bay, with disastrous results for the land and its inhabitants. Communities were displaced, homes destroyed, power and telecommunications cut, water systems compromised, and many roads and bridges badly damaged.

Shortly after Gabrielle hit, Manatū Hauora/Ministry of Health commissioned us to investigate the impacts of adverse weather events on health systems and community health and wellbeing.

Our community research teams interviewed 143 residents in the two affected regions. They included first responders, heath workers, council staff and members of the public. Their stories were emotional, powerful and insightful.

Our recently published report amplifies these community voices and local knowledge, and offers recommendations about planning for future, inevitable events. Here we offer five key messages.

1. Prioritise vulnerable people

Many older people and those with disabilities or existing health conditions were deprioritised or simply forgotten during evacuations and in the days and weeks after the cyclone. As one community responder in Tairāwhiti recalled:

Some of them couldn’t move out because they were so old and frail. The water was so powerful, they couldn’t move anywhere. Some just stayed in their room until somebody turned up. For instance, there was a lady [who] was stuck in her wheelchair, and by the time people found her, the water was at her neck.

Our report identified the need for health and social services to work more closely to ensure at-risk, vulnerable older people and those with disabilities or complex needs are prioritised during evacuations, so their medical and physical needs are met during and after an extreme weather event.

2. Invest in mental health support and trauma recovery

Those in the most affected communities had high levels of stress, grief and trauma during and after emergencies and evacuations.

Staff and volunteers in front-line roles during the state of emergency experienced similar mental health effects. Many felt mental health support was not there when they needed it most.

Almost everyone we spoke to had some negative mental health impacts. These included sleep disruption, rain anxiety and stress from road closures, insurance claims and land instability.

Māori participants also told of their grief over environmental damage and destruction, highlighting the links between whenua (land) and hauora (health). They described drawing on cultural practices to support whānau recovery. For example, a leader of local volunteer efforts spoke about the personal impact of the cyclone:

I was not good […] it was seeing the impact on how it was for your own community whānau. I think it hit me quite a bit later on. I fell into depression […] It just built up over time. I’m still in healing therapy for the last probably six to seven months since Gabrielle, just trying to get my wairua [spirit] and my tinana [body] and everything back in place.

Overall, the research shows a need for greater awareness and investment in weather-related trauma recovery and mental health support.

3. Ensure medical supplies can reach remote areas

Rural and isolated communities had heightened health challenges, particularly due to road and communication failures.

Transporting medical staff into these communities often required creative solutions (driving, using helicopters or hiking through bush and across farmland when roads were damaged, for example).

Access to medicines was a major concern. It took co-ordinated effort to get pharmaceuticals to such communities. Helicopters were crucial in getting supplies and patients in and out of remote areas. Not everyone who needed attention received it, however.

The most effective responses involved organisations (such as the NZ Police and Civil Defence) working together with communities. As one police officer told us:

Our whānau up the coast needed medicine, prescriptions. Getting access from the helicopter to the home was a challenge. So, the police leant in and helped out. We used [an all-terrain vehicle] to get to places and spaces to get medicine in.

4. Resource and co-ordinate local support networks

Fiscally challenged health systems were stretched during the emergency and struggled with power and telecommunications outages. But we heard of many health workers going “above and beyond” to care for patients and communities.

Many continued working even when their own families, homes and communities were directly under threat. Anticipating this and supporting these workers will be important as adverse weather becomes more frequent with climate change.

We also found marae, schools, local social services and non-profit organisations played key roles after the cyclone, but were often outside the direct ambit of the health system.

Often the people working in these organisations have strong community relationships and knowledge that is essential to supporting emergency and recovery processes. These connections should be mapped and integrated for future events.

5. Shift resources and build common will

Local communities are full of knowledge. Many have learnt from recent events to better prepare their families, workplaces and organisations.

Whānau told us about the importance of having cash in case of power outages and telecommunications failure. Others identified battery-powered radio as a critical source of information when systems were down. Pharmacists and doctors told of the importance of hard-copy evidence of prescriptions, to be able to dispense when electronic systems are out.

Checking in on neighbours, sharing resources and making time for a cup of tea were all important for people in the recovery and rebuilding phases. A key lesson is to harness the power of community connections, trust and relationships in climate change resilience and recovery.

Although knowledge, experience and wisdom lie in the hands of communities, our research highlights how financial resources mostly sit with central government. The challenge is to shift resources and build common will for climate action, before the inevitable next event.

The report is receiving attention in parliament. We hope local experience can be central to planning around the health impacts of climate change and decision-making at all levels.

We acknowledge the important contributions of our wider research team and community partners, particularly Manu Caddie (Te Weu Charitable Trust), Josie McClutchie (project lead), Dayna Chaffey, Haley Maxwell and Hiria Philip-Barbara (community researchers) in Tairāwhiti, and Emma Horgan and John Bell (Sustainable HB Centre for Climate & Resilience) in Hawkes Bay.

Holly Thorpe received support from the Manatū Hauora/Ministry of Health funding secured to conduct this research.

Fiona Langridge received support from the Ministry of Health funding secured to conduct this research.

George Laking received funding from The Ministry of Health to conduct the research. He is an Executive Board member of OraTaiao, the New Zealand Climate and Health Council.

Judith McCool receives funding from the Ministry of Health (Polynesia Health Corridors) and the Health Research Council.

– ref. Lessons from Cyclone Gabrielle: 5 key health priorities for future disaster response – https://theconversation.com/lessons-from-cyclone-gabrielle-5-key-health-priorities-for-future-disaster-response-239392

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Theresa Larkin, Associate Professor of Medical Sciences, University of Wollongong

When we start to go grey depends a lot on genetics.

Your first grey hairs usually appear anywhere between your twenties and fifties. For men, grey hairs normally start at the temples and sideburns. Women tend to start greying on the hairline, especially at the front.

The most rapid greying usually happens between ages 50 and 60. But does anything we do speed up the process? And is there anything we can do to slow it down?

You’ve probably heard that plucking, dyeing and stress can make your hair go grey – and that redheads don’t. Here’s what the science says.

What gives hair its colour?

Each strand of hair is produced by a hair follicle, a tunnel-like opening in your skin. Follicles contain two different kinds of stem cells:

• keratinocytes, which produce keratin, the protein that makes and regenerates hair strands
• melanocytes, which produce melanin, the pigment that colours your hair and skin.

There are two main types of melanin that determine hair colour. Eumelanin is a black-brown pigment and pheomelanin is a red-yellow pigment.

The amount of the different pigments determines hair colour. Black and brown hair has mostly eumelanin, red hair has the most pheomelanin, and blonde hair has just a small amount of both.

So what makes our hair turn grey?

As we age, it’s normal for cells to become less active. In the hair follicle, this means stem cells produce less melanin – turning our hair grey – and less keratin, causing hair thinning and loss.

As less melanin is produced, there is less pigment to give the hair its colour. Grey hair has very little melanin, while white hair has none left.

Unpigmented hair looks grey, white or silver because light reflects off the keratin, which is pale yellow.

Grey hair is thicker, coarser and stiffer than hair with pigment. This is because the shape of the hair follicle becomes irregular as the stem cells change with age.

Interestingly, grey hair also grows faster than pigmented hair, but it uses more energy in the process.

Can stress turn our hair grey?

Yes, stress can cause your hair to turn grey. This happens when oxidative stress damages hair follicles and stem cells and stops them producing melanin.

Oxidative stress is an imbalance of too many damaging free radical chemicals and not enough protective antioxidant chemicals in the body. It can be caused by psychological or emotional stress as well as autoimmune diseases.

Environmental factors such as exposure to UV, pollution, as well as smoking and some drugs, can also play a role.

Melanocytes are more susceptible to damage than keratinocytes because of the complex steps in melanin production. This explains why ageing and stress usually cause hair greying before hair loss.

Scientists have been able to link less pigmented sections of a hair strand to stressful events in a person’s life. In younger people, whose stems cells still produced melanin, colour returned to the hair after the stressful event passed.

4 popular ideas about grey hair – and what science says

1. Does plucking a grey hair make more grow back in its place?

No. When you pluck a hair, you might notice a small bulb at the end that was attached to your scalp. This is the root. It grows from the hair follicle.

Plucking a hair pulls the root out of the follicle. But the follicle itself is the opening in your skin and can’t be plucked out. Each hair follicle can only grow a single hair.

It’s possible frequent plucking could make your hair grey earlier, if the cells that produce melanin are damaged or exhausted from too much regrowth.

2. Can my hair can turn grey overnight?

Legend says Marie Antoinette’s hair went completely white the night before the French queen faced the guillotine – but this is a myth.

Melanin in hair strands is chemically stable, meaning it can’t transform instantly.

Acute psychological stress does rapidly deplete melanocyte stem cells in mice. But the effect doesn’t show up immediately. Instead, grey hair becomes visible as the strand grows – at a rate of about 1 cm per month.

Not all hair is in the growing phase at any one time, meaning it can’t all go grey at the same time.

3. Will dyeing make my hair go grey faster?

This depends on the dye.

Temporary and semi-permanent dyes should not cause early greying because they just coat the hair strand without changing its structure. But permanent products cause a chemical reaction with the hair, using an oxidising agent such as hydrogen peroxide.

Accumulation of hydrogen peroxide and other hair dye chemicals in the hair follicle can damage melanocytes and keratinocytes, which can cause greying and hair loss.

4. Is it true redheads don’t go grey?

People with red hair also lose melanin as they age, but differently to those with black or brown hair.

This is because the red-yellow and black-brown pigments are chemically different.

Producing the brown-black pigment eumelanin is more complex and takes more energy, making it more susceptible to damage.

Producing the red-yellow pigment (pheomelanin) causes less oxidative stress, and is more simple. This means it is easier for stem cells to continue to produce pheomelanin, even as they reduce their activity with ageing.

With ageing, red hair tends to fade into strawberry blonde and silvery-white. Grey colour is due to less eumelanin activity, so is more common in those with black and brown hair.

Your genetics determine when you’ll start going grey. But you may be able to avoid premature greying by staying healthy, reducing stress and avoiding smoking, too much alcohol and UV exposure.

Eating a healthy diet may also help because vitamin B12, copper, iron, calcium and zinc all influence melanin production and hair pigmentation.

Theresa Larkin 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 stress turning my hair grey? – https://theconversation.com/is-stress-turning-my-hair-grey-239100

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna-Sophie Jürgens, Senior Lecturer in Science Communication (Pop Culture Studies), Australian National University

Like two-headed playing cards, Joker stories are about dual identity, doubles and duplicity.

Throughout DC comics and films, the Joker turns others into facsimiles of himself, grinning widely. He shares his state of mind through infectious laughter and mass “clownification”, creating copies as he goes.

Film sequel Joker: Folie à Deux, directed by Todd Phillips and released in cinemas today, participates in this rich tradition. It also challenges it by introducing a Joker haunted by his own lost futures – the glam clown, homicidal entertainer and irresistible lover he could have become.

What can we learn from the Joker character about our cultural fascination with duplication and disintegration?

Madness by imitation

Doubling, split consciousness and double meanings have been ingredients in Joker stories since the character’s creation in the 1940s.

He offers different origin stories himself in the 2008 movie blockbuster The Dark Knight (with Heath Ledger as the Joker). He is presented as many in the recent comic series Three Jokers. The Joker shuffles his own “selves like a croupier deals cards” in the 2007 Batman comic The Clown at Midnight.

Within the DC clowniverse, the Joker turns others into Joker copies and clowns, usually through the use of biological or chemical weapons or poisons, virology, hypnotism or sheer charisma. Joker copies include Joker fans and followers in clown costumes and masks, as in the 2019 film starring Joaquin Phoenix. In comics he is described as having an influence that

[…] affects people, on an almost subconscious, primal level. For most people – regular people – he inspires fear. For the less stable people – he simply inspires.

For more than 80 years, his laughter has spread like a virus and caused mass-clownification countless times.

Multiplying his potency

Joker stories tend to revolve around three scenarios of imitation, doubling and multiplication: several people acting as one (that is, the Joker), one person acting as many (as in Batman: R.I.P. when Batman tries to understand the Joker by experiencing his state of mind like a second consciousness), and a number of personalities nestled within the Joker wreaking havoc. All of these scenarios are powerful reminders clown laughter and humour need not be funny.

The Joker character was inspired by famous films from the 1920s and ’30s, including Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920), F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922), Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1926), Roland West’s The Bat (1926) and Paul Leni’s The Man Who Laughs (1928). Many of these works feature hapless or unhappy (comic) performers, who all struggle with identity.

The cultural mould to which the Joker belongs is linked with the more than century-old fascination with doppelgangers, male nervousness, violent and involuntary laughter and the loss of agency and sense of the self.

Haunting through absence

The new sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, draws on all these very Joker traditions. Arthur Fleck and his Joker (Phoenix again) struggles with his split identities.

Set two years after the events of the previous film, Fleck is a patient at Arkham State Hospital, where he meets the dual character Lee Quinzel/Harley Quinn (played by Lady Gaga). She wants him to lean into his Joker self.

Although she is neither the clown nor a scientist as she’s portrayed in other stories, she also wants to be a Joker version. Arthur himself wants to be the Joker, but for reasons both external and internal he ends up not really becoming the Joker we recognise from the first film.

The sequel is ultimately a trick played on the audience. “There is no Joker,” Arthur confirms at the end, just Arthur. Folie à Deux is about a broken dream’s loveliness.

The Joker is a collective dream that fails to come true. He appears in the form of fantasies. He is the past, but at the same time present and absent. This is how the concept of hauntology has been defined – a split between realities. The film glamorises and exploits disillusion as we watch the Joker and his future possibilities disintegrate.

In this way, Joker: Folie à Deux is a clown version of ruin porn, inviting us to enjoy the “decay” of a character. It gives us glimpses of a post-double version of the Joker, a non-Joker, left in pieces.

Joker: Folie à Deux is in cinemas now.

Anna-Sophie Jürgens 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. Joker: Folie à Deux as ‘ruin porn’ – how the new sequel plays with duplication and disintegration – https://theconversation.com/joker-folie-a-deux-as-ruin-porn-how-the-new-sequel-plays-with-duplication-and-disintegration-240311

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milo Barham, Associate Professor, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University

Almost one-sixth of Earth’s land surface is covered in otherworldly landscapes with a name that may also be unfamiliar: karst. These landscapes are like natural sculpture parks, with dramatic terrain dotted with caves and towers of bedrock slowly sculpted by water over thousands of years.

Karst landscapes are beautiful and ecologically important. They also represent a record of Earth’s past temperature and moisture levels.

However, it can be quite challenging to figure out exactly when karst landscapes formed. In our new work published today in Science Advances, we show a new way to find the age of these enigmatic landscapes, which will help us understand our planet’s past in more detail.

The challenge

Karst is defined by the removal of material. The rock towers and caves we see today are what is left after water dissolved the rest during wet periods of the past.

This is what makes their age hard to determine. How do you date the disappearance of something?

Traditionally, scientists have loosely bracketed the age of a karst surface by dating the material above and beneath. However, this approach blurs our understanding of ancient climate events and how ecosystems responded.

Geological clocks

In our study, we found a way to measure the age of pebble-sized iron nodules that formed at the same time as a karst landscape.

This method has the technical name of (U/Th)-He geochronology. In it, we measure how much helium is produced by the natural radioactive decay of tiny amounts of the elements uranium and thorium in the iron nodules. By comparing the amounts of uranium, thorium and helium in a sample, we can very accurately calculate the age of the nodules.

We dated microscopic fragments of iron-rich nodules from the iconic Pinnacles Desert in Nambung National Park, Western Australia.

This world-famous site is renowned for its otherworldly karst landscape of acres of limestone pillars towering metres above a sandy desert plain. The Pinnacles form part of the most extensive belt of wind-blown carbonate rock in the world, stretching more than 1,000km along coastal southwestern WA.

We examined multiple microscopic shards of iron nodules that were removed from the surface of limestone pinnacles. These nodules formed in the soil that lay on top of the limestone during the period of intense weathering that created the karst. As a result, they serve as time capsules of the environmental conditions that shaped the area.

The big wet

We consistently found an age of around 100,000 years for the growth of the iron nodules. This date is supported by known ages from the rocks above and beneath the karst surface, proving the reliability of our new approach.

At the same time as chemical reactions caused growth of the iron-rich nodules within the ancient soil, limestone bedrock was rapidly and extensively dissolved to leave only remnant limestone pinnacles seen today.

From examining the entire rock sequence in the area, we think this period of intensive weathering was the wettest time in this part of WA over at least the past half a million years.

We don’t know what drove this increased rainfall. It may have been changes to atmospheric circulation patterns, or the greater influence of the ancient Leeuwin Current that runs along the shore.

Such a humid interval is in dramatic contrast to the recent droughts and increasingly dry climate of the region today.

Implications for our past

Iron-rich nodules are not unique to the Nambung Pinnacles. They have recently been used to track dramatic past environmental change elsewhere in Australia.

Dating these iron nodules will help to better document the dramatic fluctuations in Earth’s climate over the past three million years as ice sheets have grown and shrunk.

Understanding the timing and environmental context of karst formation throughout this time offers profound insights into past climate conditions, environments and the landscapes in which ancient creatures lived.

Climate changes and resulting environmental shifts have been crucial in shaping ecosystems. In particular, they have had a profound influence on our ancient hominin and human ancestors.

By linking karst formation to specific climatic intervals, we can better understand how these environmental changes may have affected early human populations.

Looking forward

The more we know about the conditions that led to the formation of past landscapes and the flora and fauna that inhabited them, the better we can appreciate the evolutionary pressures that shaped the ecosystems we see today. This in turn offers valuable information for preparing for future changes.

As human-driven climate change accelerates, learning about past climate variability and biosphere responses equips us with knowledge to anticipate and mitigate future impacts.

The ability to date karst features with greater precision may seem like a small thing – but it will help us understand how today’s landscapes and ecosystems might respond to ongoing and future climate changes.

Milo Barham has previously received research funding from the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia.

Andrej Šmuc, John Allan Webb, Kenneth McNamara, Martin Danisik, and Matej Lipar 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. Limestone and iron reveal puzzling extreme rain in Western Australia 100,000 years ago – https://theconversation.com/limestone-and-iron-reveal-puzzling-extreme-rain-in-western-australia-100-000-years-ago-238801

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Odei Erdiaw-Kwasie, Lecturer in Sustainability| Business and Accounting Discipline, Charles Darwin University

Pollution and waste, climate change and biodiversity loss are creating a triple planetary crisis. In response, UN Environment Programme executive director Inger Andersen has called for waste to be redefined as a valuable resource instead of a problem. That’s what urban mining does.

We commonly think of mining as drilling or digging into the earth to extract precious resources. Urban mining recovers these materials from waste. It can come from buildings, infrastructure and obsolete products.

An urban mine, then, is the stock of precious metals or materials in the waste cities produce. In particular, electronic waste, or e‑waste, has higher concentrations of precious metals than many mined ores. Yet the UN Global E‑waste Monitor estimates US$62 billion worth of recoverable resources was discarded as e‑waste in 2022.

Urban mining can recover these “hidden” resources in cities around the world. It offers sustainable solutions to the problems of resource scarcity and waste management. And it happens in the very cities that are centres of overconsumption and hotspots for the greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change.

What sort of waste can be mined?

Materials such as concrete, pipes, bricks, roofing materials, reinforcements and e‑waste can be recovered for reuse. Urban waste can be “mined” for metals such as gold, steel, copper, zinc, aluminium, cobalt and lithium, as well as glass and plastic. Mechanical or chemical treatments are used to retrieve these metals and materials.

Simply disposing of this waste has high financial and environmental costs. In Australia, about 10% of waste is hazardous. Landfill costs are soaring as cities run out of space to discard their waste.

The extent of this fast-growing problem is driving the growth of urban mining around the world. We are then salvaging materials whose supply is finite, while reducing the impacts of waste disposal.

What’s happening globally?

In Europe, the focus is largely on construction and demolition waste. Europe produces 450 million to 500 million tonnes of this waste each year – more than a third of all the region’s waste. Through its urban mining strategy, the European Commission aims to increase the recovery of non-hazardous construction and demolition waste to at least 70% across member countries by 2030.

In Asia, urban mining has focused on e‑waste. However, the region recovers only about 12% of its e‑waste stock. Rates of e‑waste recycling vary greatly: 20% for East Asia, 1% for South Asia, and virtually zero for South-East Asia. China, Japan and South Korea are leading the way in Asia.

Australia is on the right track. Our recovery rate for construction and demolition materials climbed to 80% by 2022 — the highest among all types of waste streams. However, we recover only about a third of the value of materials in our e-waste.

Africa has also recognised the growing value of urban mining resources. Regional initiatives include the Nairobi Declaration on e‑waste, the Durban Declaration on e‑Waste Management in Africa and the Abuja Platform on e‑Waste.

Urban mining solves many problems

The OECD forecasts that global materials demand will almost double from 89 billion tonnes in 2019 to 167 billion tonnes in 2060. The United Nations’ Global Waste Management Outlook 2024 shows the amount of waste and costs of managing it are soaring too. It’s estimated the world will have 82 million tonnes of e‑waste to deal with by 2030.

These trends mean urban mining is becoming ever more relevant and important.

Urban mining also helps cut greenhouse gas emissions. Unlocking resources near where they are needed reduces transport costs and emissions. Urban mining also provides resource independence and creates employment.

In addition, increasing recovery and recycling rates reduce the pressure on finite natural resources.

Urban mining underpins circular economy alternatives such as the “deposit and return” schemes that give people financial incentives to return e‑waste and containers for recycling in cities such as Singapore, Sydney, Darwin and San Francisco. By 2030, San Francisco aims to halve disposal to landfill or incineration and cut solid waste generation by 15%.

What more needs to be done?

Governments have a role to play by adopting and enforcing policies, laws and regulations that encourage recycling through urban mining instead of sending waste to landfill. European Union laws, for example, mandate increased recycling targets for municipal waste overall and for packaging waste, including 80% for ferrous metals and 60% for aluminium.

In Australia, 2019 legislation prohibits landfills from accepting anything with a plug, battery or cord. Anything with a plug is designated as e-waste.

Product design is an important consideration. A designer must balance a product’s efficiency with making it easy to recycle. Products with greater efficiency and easy-to-recycle parts are more likely to use less energy, lead to less waste and hence less natural resource extraction.

Our urban mining research documents a more sustainable approach to product design. Increasing product stewardship initiatives are expected to encourage better product design and standards that promote reuse and recycling, producer responsibility and changes in consumer behaviour.

Good information about the available resources is essential too. The Urban Mine Platform, ProSUM and Waste and Resource Recovery Data Hub collect data on e‑waste, end-of-life vehicles, batteries and building and mining waste. These centralised databases allow easy access to data on the sources, stocks, flows and treatment of waste.

Traditional mining is not the only method for extracting raw materials for the green transition. Waste is set to be increasingly recycled, reducing demand for virgin materials. A truly circular economy can become a reality if governments develop and apply an urban mining agenda.

Michael Odei Erdiaw-Kwasie receives funding from the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR).

Matthew Abunyewah receives funding from the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR) and Northern Western Australia and Northern Territory Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (Northern Hubb)

Patrick Brandful Cobbinah receives funding from Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. He is a member of Planning Institute of Australia.

– ref. More consumption, more demand for resources, more waste: why urban mining’s time has come – https://theconversation.com/more-consumption-more-demand-for-resources-more-waste-why-urban-minings-time-has-come-232484

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shauna Hurley, PhD candidate, School of Public Health, Monash University

There’s a common thread linking our experience of pandemics over the past 700 years. From the black death in the 14th century to COVID in the 21st, public health authorities have put emergency measures such as isolation and quarantine in place to stop infectious diseases spreading.

As we know from COVID, these measures upend lives in an effort to save them. In both the recent and distant past they’ve also given rise to collective unrest, confusion and resistance.

So after all this time, what do we know about the role public health communication plays in helping people understand and adhere to protective measures in a crisis? And more importantly, in an age of misinformation and distrust, how can we improve public health messaging for any future pandemics?

Last year, we published a Cochrane review exploring the global evidence on public health communication during COVID and other infectious disease outbreaks including SARS, MERS, influenza and Ebola. Here’s a snapshot of what we found.

Read more:
Why are we seeing more pandemics? Our impact on the planet has a lot to do with it

The importance of public trust

A key theme emerging in analysis of the COVID pandemic globally is public trust – or lack thereof – in governments, public institutions and science.

Mounting evidence suggests levels of trust in government were directly proportional to fewer COVID infections and higher vaccination rates across the world. It was a crucial factor in people’s willingness to follow public health directives, and is now a key focus for future pandemic preparedness.

Here in Australia, public trust in governments and health authorities steadily eroded over time.

Initial information from governments and health authorities about the unfolding COVID crisis, personal risk and mandated protective measures was generally clear and consistent across the country. The establishment of the National Cabinet in 2020 signalled a commitment from state, territory and federal governments to consensus-based policy and public health messaging.

During this early phase of relative unity, Australians reported higher levels of belonging and trust in government.

But as the pandemic wore on, public trust and confidence fell on the back of conflicting state-federal pandemic strategies, blame games and the confusing fragmentation of public health messaging. The divergence between lockdown policies and public health messaging adopted by Victoria and New South Wales is one example, but there are plenty of others.

When state, territory and federal governments have conflicting policies on protective measures, people are easily confused, lose trust and become harder to engage with or persuade. Many tune out from partisan politics. Adherence to mandated public health measures falls.

Our research found clarity and consistency of information were key features of effective public health communication throughout the COVID pandemic.

We also found public health communication is most effective when authorities work in partnership with different target audiences. In Victoria, the case brought against the state government for the snap public housing tower lockdowns is a cautionary tale underscoring how essential considered, tailored and two-way communication is with diverse communities.

Read more:
What pathogen might spark the next pandemic? How scientists are preparing for ‘disease X’

Countering misinformation

Misinformation is not a new problem, but has been supercharged by the advent of social media.

The much-touted “miracle” drug ivermectin typifies the extraordinary traction unproven treatments gained locally and globally. Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic drug, lacking evidence for viruses like COVID.

Australia’s drug regulator was forced to ban ivermectin presciptions for anything other than its intended use after a sharp increase in people seeking the drug sparked national shortages. Hospitals also reported patients overdosing on ivermectin and cocktails of COVID “cures” promoted online.

The Lancet Commission on lessons from the COVID pandemic has called for a coordinated international response to countering misinformation.

As part of this, it has called for more accessible, accurate information and investment in scientific literacy to protect against misinformation, including that shared across social media platforms. The World Health Organization is developing resources and recommendations for health authorities to address this “infodemic”.

National efforts to directly tackle misinformation are vital, in combination with concerted efforts to raise health literacy. The Australian Medical Association has called on the federal government to invest in long-term online advertising to counter health misinformation and boost health literacy.

People of all ages need to be equipped to think critically about who and where their health information comes from. With the rise of AI, this is an increasingly urgent priority.

Looking ahead

Australian health ministers recently reaffirmed their commitment to the new Australian Centre for Disease Control (CDC).

From a science communications perspective, the Australian CDC could provide an independent voice of evidence and consensus-based information. This is exactly what’s needed during a pandemic. But full details about the CDC’s funding and remit have been the subject of some conjecture.

Many of our key findings on effective public health communication during COVID are not new or surprising. They reinforce what we know works from previous disease outbreaks across different places and points in time: tailored, timely, clear, consistent and accurate information.

The rapid rise, reach and influence of misinformation and distrust in public authorities bring a new level of complexity to this picture. Countering both must become a central focus of all public health crisis communication, now and in the future.

This article is part of a series on the next pandemic.

Rebecca Ryan receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council through funding to Australian Cochrane entities, and was previously commissioned by the World Health Organization to undertake a rapid evidence review on communication for COVID-19 prevention and control (2020).

Shauna Hurley 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. How can we improve public health communication for the next pandemic? Tackling distrust and misinformation is key – https://theconversation.com/how-can-we-improve-public-health-communication-for-the-next-pandemic-tackling-distrust-and-misinformation-is-key-226718

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Jefferson, Senior Lecturer in Education, Edith Cowan University

It is very common for children to have a day or two away from school due to illness. But children can also miss much longer periods of schooling if they have a serious illness or injury.

This could be a severe episode of mental illness, a diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes or in my family’s case, our youngest child being hit by a car at a pedestrian crossing, requiring months of rehab.

After the initial shock, treatment and recovery, families then need to navigate a complex return to school – to make things as normal as possible for the student while handling their ongoing medical needs.

How can families support their child?

How many students are missing school?

There are many reasons why children may need to have a significant break from school.

At least one in every ten children under the age of 14 live with a chronic health condition.

These conditions, which can include heart disease, diabetes and asthma, mental illness and cancers can lead to weeks or months in hospital.

A 2018 study found 70,000 Australians under 16 are also hospitalised with a serious injury each year.

Come back with a plan

We know going to school is central to children’s social and emotional wellbeing, as well as their academic progress. So getting back to school is a key part of a student’s ongoing health and wellbeing.

The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne warns children can get mentally and physically tired after a long or serious illness.

So they recommended returning to school gradually. Students may just go for half days or for a few hours initially.

To make this as smooth as possible, parents or caregivers should meet with the school before you hope to return. This meeting should include the student if possible, relevant teachers (such as class teachers and year-level coordinators) and school nurse.

Not all schools have a dedicated nurse. But if there is one available, they can play an important liaison role and manage a child’s medications or situation at school. If there is no nurse, make sure you include the school’s administration team.

The meeting with the school should make a clear plan around what new support the student needs and how they will receive this. They may need changes to their uniform, timetable or where they physically go in the school. Students may also need extra time to do work, extra academic help and extra breaks.

Families may also want to schedule regular catch-ups with the school.

How is the student feeling?

Children can be worried about not fitting in, especially if something significant has happened to them that makes them feel different from their peers. They may not want a huge fuss when they come back.

Arranging time to talk to or see friends before they come back can help ease a student into their new routine.

Depending on the situation, you could enlist a trusted buddy to help with bags or walk a bit more slowly with them between classes.

Or students may get special permission to leave class a bit early to avoid crowds, or to be able to go and see the nurse without asking the teacher each time and drawing attention to themselves.

As your child returns, make sure the focus is not just on catching up academically but catching up with friends as well. If their hours are reduced at school, try and allow for social time (such as including recess or lunch) as well as lessons.

Your child will likely be dealing with a lot, both mentally and physically. So keep talking to them as much as possible about how they are feeling and going as they return.

Things may have changed for them (and for you), but with time and support, school can feel like a normal part of life again.

Sarah Jefferson 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. How to help your child return to school after a long illness, new diagnosis or an accident – https://theconversation.com/how-to-help-your-child-return-to-school-after-a-long-illness-new-diagnosis-or-an-accident-240012

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Wray, PhD Candidate in Geography, Western University

In recent months, many Canadian employers in both the public and private sectors have implemented return-to-office mandates, requiring workers that transitioned to remote or hybrid work during the COVID-19 pandemic to work in-person again.

Employers are justifying these mandates by arguing they improve productivity, build more collaborative teams and improve mentorship for junior employees.

Employers are not the only group ecstatic about these mandates. Municipalities and business owners are also expressing hope that the presence of office workers will spin off into greater consumer spending at restaurants and other businesses near office buildings. The expectation is that office workers will once again start spending money on coffee, lunch or after-work beverages.

In 2022, the mayor of Ottawa partially blamed the downtown core’s economic struggles on the fact that federal public service workers were still largely working remotely. Federal workers have since been mandated to return to work in-person three days a week in late fall.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business similarly criticized the slow return to offices as a leading factor behind why small and medium-size businesses, especially restaurants and bars, are facing challenges in downtown areas.

Insight into restaurant success

During the pandemic, there were predictions that more than half of Canada’s independent restaurants would fail as part of their customer base — office workers — shifted to working from home.

Our recent study investigated which operational, demographic and land use factors affected restaurant survival during the first year of the pandemic in London, Ont.

We found no significant differences between restaurants that failed and restaurants that survived based on proximity to office uses. Instead, operational decisions made by restaurants individually were much more predictive of their survival than any geographic factor, including the presence of offices.

We found that restaurants located in areas receiving more CERB (Canadian Emergency Response Benefit) payments, and with a higher density of entertainment venues around them, were less likely to survive.

Restaurants that adapted by offering pickup and delivery options were more likely to survive, though only for those that did their own delivery in-house rather than relying on platforms like UberEats and SkipTheDishes. Restaurants that had drive-thrus, held liquor licenses, or had been established for more than five years were more likely to survive. These older, more established restaurants were likely more resilient because of financial stability and customer loyalty.

Table-service restaurants fared better than fast food outlets, likely because they could offer large patio dining spaces during the summer. Restaurants with liquor licenses substantially benefited, especially after a regulatory change by the Ontario government that allowed alcohol sales with takeout and delivery — a first for the province.

In short, restaurant success was driven more by individual business decisions rather than being in a specific location. People working remotely instead of in the office did not significantly affect restaurant survival during the first year of the pandemic.

Downtown struggles

As Canadian downtowns look to recover, many face ongoing challenges. Activity levels are down by about 20 per cent from pre-pandemic levels in many places, lagging behind many similarly sized downtowns in the United States.

This downturn has been partially attributed to a combination of higher office building vacancies and fewer workers downtown. For the first time, downtown office vacancy rates have exceeded suburban rates in the Greater Toronto Area. There has also been tremendous housing growth within many downtown cores.

At the same time, downtowns have become a highly visible focal point of Canada’s growing addictions, mental health and housing crises. The pandemic fully revealed the deeper social, economic and health challenges happening in Canadian society.

While violent incidents are rare, the social incivilities and disorder on display — public urination and defecation, open drug use, visible tents and property crime — contributes to a perception that Canadian downtowns are unsafe. This perception, whether accurate or not, has an impact on the willingness of people to engage with their downtowns.

A way forward

The damage to the reputation of Canada’s downtowns has been done. Downtown London now has the highest office vacancy rate in the country. The Workplace Safety Insurance Board of Ontario, for instance, recently chose to consolidate its offices in the outskirts of London, rather than downtown.

Many people now elect to spend their time and money in areas that have embraced the “experience economy.” These are places that provide highly manicured entertainment and shopping destinations, with restaurants being the bedrock of enabling high quality experiences in these areas.

Foot traffic is at an all-time high in suburban shopping centres. The downtowns of cities that are widely known as global tourist destinations — Las Vegas, Miami and Nashville — have activity levels close to or higher than their pre-pandemic levels.

These are places that are developing highly attractive economies that provide people with the safe, fun and exciting experiences they are looking for locally and internationally. Instead of trying to force unwilling workers back to the office, Canadian cities should instead focus on developing downtowns that people genuinely want to visit and experience.

One potential way to do this is to provide wrap-around support services and direct pathways to stable housing across the entire community, as the City of London has done. By spreading care and outreach services across the entire city, rather than concentrating them exclusively in downtown areas, the negative effects from Canada’s homelessness crisis can be reduced on urban cores.

This type of strategy will direct those who need help away from downtowns, and may even permanently lift them out of poverty. In turn, Canadian downtowns can return to being places for everyone to shop, eat, relax, and work in comfort.

Alexander Wray is President of the Town and Gown Association of Ontario, and a Board Member of Mainstreet London.

Jamie Seabrook, Jason Gilliland, and Sean Doherty 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. Return-to-office mandates may not be the solution to downtown struggles that Canadian cities are banking on – https://theconversation.com/return-to-office-mandates-may-not-be-the-solution-to-downtown-struggles-that-canadian-cities-are-banking-on-239682

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

The Albanese government will tackle “shrinkflation” in supermarkets and potentially other parts of the retail sector.

This is where the product’s size is reduced but the price stays the same, or the price is cut by less than the reduction in size. The practice has become increasingly common.

The government will strengthen the Unit Pricing Code so people can make better comparisons.

It will also bring in “substantial” (but unspecified) penalties for supermarkets that breach the code.

Consumer group CHOICE has identified Easter products, breakfast cereals, chips and cleaning products among items that have recently been “shrinkflated”.

“Unit pricing helps consumers spot good value for money while being able to see the price of products by their volume, weight or per unit, so they aren’t tricked by unchanged packaging hiding less product,” the government said in a statement.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s interim supermarket report, released last week, found nearly nine in ten consumers always or often used unit pricing when deciding on products.

The government said it will consult on improvements to the code such as

• better readability and visibility of unit pricing

• addressing inconsistent use of units of measure across supermarkets

• whether to expand the scope of retailers covered

• requiring more specific prominence and legibility

• improving the use of unit pricing in cross-retailer price comparisons

The ACCC will be given funds for a consumer awareness campaign showing people how they can get the best deals.

The move follows a promise on Tuesday to provide the Commission with an extra $30 million to help it undertake more investigations and take more legal action against supermarkets and other retailers.

The government also promised to work with state and territory governments to wind back planning and zoning restrictions that made it hard for new supermarkets to set up shop.

The interim report of the commission’s year-long supermarkets inquiry, released last week, identified land use restrictions, zoning laws and planning regulations as challenges for aspiring operators attempting to compete with the major chains.

On Monday last week, the ACCC launched legal action against Coles and Woolworths alleging they had breached consumer law by misleading consumers through their “Prices Dropped” and “Down Down” promotions.

In the statement, Prime Minister Albanese said: “Tackling shrinkflation through stronger unit pricing and new penalties is part of our plan to get a better deal for Australians”.

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. ‘Shrinkflation’ is the Albanese government’s next target to protect supermarket shoppers – https://theconversation.com/shrinkflation-is-the-albanese-governments-next-target-to-protect-supermarket-shoppers-240339

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deyanira Nevárez Martínez, Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, Michigan State University

Homelessness is a rare issue in American politics that does not cut neatly along party or ideological lines. It can be hard to predict who will support or oppose measures to expand affordable housing and services for people without homes.

San Francisco, for example – one of the most progressive U.S. cities – has adopted numerous policies that make it easy for opponents to slow or block proposed housing projects. In contrast, churches of many denominations across the U.S. have challenged local zoning ordinances by providing food and shelter to people without homes, even when city laws and codes ban sleeping or eating in areas where the churches are located.

The Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson allows cities to penalize individuals for sleeping in public spaces even when no shelter is available. It overturned the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ previous decision that anti-camping ordinances violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

I am a researcher specializing in homelessness, and signed an amicus brief submitted by 57 social scientists in the Grants Pass case, supporting plaintiffs who sued on behalf of homeless people living in the Oregon city of Grants Pass. In my view, the outcome of the court’s ruling is both predictable and deeply troubling. Many U.S. cities now are moving aggressively to clear homeless encampments, often without providing sufficient shelter or support to the people they are displacing.

Cities take action

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order in July that exemplifies this shift by calling for cities to “humanely remove encampments from public spaces.” This approach, which prioritizes clearing visible homelessness over addressing a systemic lack of housing options, often leads to forced displacement that makes people without housing more likely to be arrested and experience increased instability and trauma.

Newsom’s order opened the door for more punitive actions across the state. The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors is considering revisions to a local camping ordinance that would ban sleeping in a tent, sleeping bag or vehicle for over 60 minutes, and would forbid people from sleeping within 300 feet of a public location where they had slept in the past 24 hours.

The city of Fresno recently banned public camping at any time and in any location, regardless of whether shelter is available. The new law bans sleeping or camping at any entrance to public or private property along a public sidewalk.

It also prohibits sitting, lying down, sleeping or camping on “sensitive use” properties, including schools, child care facilities, parks, libraries, government buildings, warming or cooling centers and existing homeless shelters. Violations are punishable by up to a year in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.

Other jurisdictions are following California’s lead. Grand Rapids, Michigan, has enacted new laws to criminalize activities associated with homelessness, such as loitering and storing unattended personal property. In Illinois, a government lobbying association drafted a model camping ban that enforces fines for initial violations and stricter penalties, including possible jail time, for repeat offenses. Several Illinois cities have adopted the ordinance.

Ironically, Grants Pass has not been able to clear its homeless encampments because of a law Oregon enacted in 2021. This measure allows local governments to enact restrictions on sleeping on public property, such as time, place and manner, as long as they are “objectively reasonable.” It requires communities to consider local ordinances in the context of available shelter services and public space.

This approach, which strikes a balance between public concerns and the needs of people who are homeless, prevents the kind of punitive measures that the Supreme Court ruling now permits elsewhere.

The Housing First approach

Many Americans are frustrated by the homelessness crisis. In their view, cities have made little progress on this issue despite substantial investments.

However, research overwhelmingly shows that criminalizing homelessness perpetuates the problem. It creates a cycle of arrest, incarceration and release, without addressing root causes, such as economic inequality, inadequate mental health and addiction services and a lack of affordable housing. People without housing are at risk of early death from violent injuries, substance abuse or preventable diseases.

In my view, supportive Housing First approaches are more effective than punitive bans. Housing First is a strategy that quickly provides permanent housing to people experiencing homelessness, without requiring them to be sober, employed or in treatment for mental health disorders.

This approach recognizes stable housing as a basic human right and a foundation for addressing other challenges that people without homes often face. By meeting their immediate need for housing, it helps people recover from the stress of being homeless and leads to better long-term results. Research shows that Housing First programs are more effective and cost-efficient than requiring treatment for issues such as addiction as a condition for housing.

Critics say that Housing First is expensive and that providing housing without mandatory support services leads to inefficient use of funds. Some studies highlight challenges in ensuring that services match individual needs. Another critique calls Housing First a “one-size-fits-all” solution that may not adequately address the homeless population’s diverse needs.

Rental access and assistance

In 2024, the federal government awarded US$3.16 billion to communities nationwide through the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Continuum of Care program, the largest investment toward ending homelessness in U.S. history.

This HUD program provides funding and support to local communities to coordinate efforts aimed at ending homelessness, such as providing rapid rehousing and support services to homeless people. This is a crisis-response strategy designed to minimize trauma associated with living on the street by moving people into housing as quickly as possible.

Making a serious and lasting dent in this problem will require scaling up proven solutions, such as rental assistance and access to affordable rental housing. A study published by HUD in 2016 found that giving homeless families permanent housing subsidies, such as housing choice vouchers, was the most effective way to ensure long-term housing stability.

Housing choice vouchers cover most of a family’s rent costs, leaving families to pay about 30% of their income on housing, with no time limit as long as participants follow program rules. The HUD study found that compared with other short-term programs, this approach improved participants’ mental health, stabilized families, supported child development and reduced the likelihood of participants becoming homeless again.

Homeless encampments raise legitimate public concerns about health and safety, including the welfare of people living in the camps. But clearing them and banning public camping won’t solve homelessness. As I see it, providing permanent housing subsidies, expanding access to affordable housing and implementing Housing First approaches, paired with supportive services, is a more effective and humane approach.

Deyanira Nevárez Martínez receives funding from the National Science Foundation, the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the JPB Foundation, and the Latino Policy and Politics Institute at UCLA. She signed an amicus brief submitted by 57 social scientists on behalf of the plaintiffs in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson.

– ref. Cities are clearing encampments, but this won’t solve homelessness − here’s a better way forward – https://theconversation.com/cities-are-clearing-encampments-but-this-wont-solve-homelessness-heres-a-better-way-forward-236762

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shahram Akbarzadeh, Convenor, Middle East Studies Forum (MESF), and Deputy Director (International), Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University

With Iran’s firing of some 180 ballistic missiles at Israel overnight, the Middle East is again on the brink of what would be a costly, ruinous regional war. Israel and its ally, the United States, shot down most of the missiles.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately vowed to retaliate for the attack. He called it a “big mistake” that Iran will “pay for”.

The strike marked a dramatic shift in Iran’s calculations following weeks of escalating Israeli attacks on the leaders of its proxy groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and their forces in both Gaza and Lebanon.

Iran has traditionally outsourced its fighting to Hezbollah and Hamas. It has been very much concerned about getting dragged into direct confrontation with Israel because of the ramifications for the ruling regime – namely the possible internal dissent and chaos that any war with Israel might generate.

When Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran in late July, Iran’s leaders said they would respond appropriately. They basically left it to Hezbollah to do that.

And as Israel intensified its military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon in recent weeks, another Iranian proxy group, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, claimed to have retaliated by launching missiles and drones at Israeli cities and US destroyers in the Red Sea. Israel responded with airstrikes on Yemen.

In this context, from the Iranian point of view, it looked like Iran was just sitting on the fence and not performing its leadership role in challenging Israel. So, to a large extent, Iran had to exert its role as the leader of the so-called “axis of resistance” and get into the fight.

Fighting Israel is very much a pillar of state identity in Iran. The Iranian political establishment is set up on the principle of challenging the United States and freeing Palestinian lands occupied by Israel. Those things are ingrained in the Iranian state identity. So, if Iran doesn’t act on this principle, there’s a serious risk of undermining its own identity.

A delicate balancing act

Yet there are clearly serious risks to this type of direct attack by Iran.

Domestically, the Iranian political regime is suffering from a serious crisis of legitimacy. There have been numerous popular uprisings in Iran in recent years. These include the massive “Women, Life, Freedom” movement that erupted following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody for allegedly not properly wearing her hijab.

There is also a major dissenting view in Iran that challenges the regime’s anti-US and anti-Israel state identity and its commitment to perpetual conflict with both countries.

So, the authorities in Iran have been concerned that direct confrontation with Israel and the US would unleash these internal dissenting voices and seriously threaten the regime’s survival. It’s this existential threat that has stopped Iran from acting on its principles.

In addition, Iran has a new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, who belongs to the reformist camp and has an agenda of improving Iran’s relations with the West. He has been talking about reviving the Iran nuclear deal with the international community, sending signals that Iran is prepared to talk with the Americans.

But the problem is the regional dynamics have completely changed since that deal was negotiated with the Obama administration in 2015. Iran has been a pariah state in recent years – and even more so since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began a year ago.

Since then, no Western country would deem it appropriate or politically expedient to engage in nuclear talks with Iran, with the aim of alleviating international sanctions on the regime. Not at a time when Iran is openly calling for the destruction of Israel, supporting Hezbollah and Hamas in their attacks on Israel, and now engaging in confrontations with Israel itself.

So the timing is awful for Pezeshkian’s agenda of repairing the damage to Iran’s global standing.

Ultimately, though, it’s not the president who calls the shots in Iran – it is Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Supreme National Security Council who consider matters of war and peace and decide on the course of action. The supreme leader is also the head of state and appoints the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The IRGC generals have been advocating for more serious and resolute action against Israel ever since the war in Gaza started. And it looks like the supreme leader has finally listened to this advice.

So, the regime has been maintaining a delicate balance of these factors:
preserving Iran’s state identity and what it stands for in the region, and the need to manage internal dissent and ensure its survival.

In normal circumstances, it was easy for Iran to maintain this balance. It could manage its internal opponents through brutal force or appeasement and advocate an aggressive foreign policy in the region.

Now, the scales have tipped. From the Iranian perspective, Israel has been so brazen in its actions against its proxies, it just didn’t look right for Iran to continue sitting on the fence, not taking action.

As such, it has become more important for Iran to emphasise its anti-American, anti-Israel state identity and perhaps deal with an acceptable level of risk coming from a rise in internal dissent.

Where things go from here

With its attack on Israel, Iran is also prepared for another risk – direct retaliation from Israel and all-out war breaking out.

The conflict in the region is really going according to Netanyahu’s playbook. He has been advocating for hitting Iran and for the United States to target Iran. Now, Israel has the justification to retaliate against Iran and also drag the United States into the conflict.

Unfortunately, Iran is also now prepared to see the entire Persian Gulf get embroiled in the conflict because any retaliation by Israel and perhaps the United States would make US assets in the Persian Gulf, such as navy ships and commercial vessels, vulnerable to attacks by Iran or its allies. And that could have major implications for trade and security in the region.

This is the way things are heading. Iran would know that hitting Israel would invite Israeli retaliation and that this retaliation would likely happen with US backing. It seems Iran is prepared to bear the costs of this.

Shahram Akbarzadeh has received funding from the Australian Research Council. He is affiliated with the Middle East Council on Global Affairs (Doha).

– ref. Iran’s leaders have everything to lose in a direct war with Israel. Why take such a massive risk? – https://theconversation.com/irans-leaders-have-everything-to-lose-in-a-direct-war-with-israel-why-take-such-a-massive-risk-240322

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jamie Cross, Assistant Professor of Econometrics & Statistics, Melbourne Business School

Iran’s missile attack on Israel has caused global oil prices to spike this week amid growing fears a retaliation could put the global oil supply at risk.

Almost one year ago to the day, I wrote how an isolated conflict between Israel and Hamas would likely not cause a sustained increase in oil prices.

This was because neither Gaza nor Israel produces much oil. But this time, it’s different.

What’s changed

Iran is a major player in the global market for crude oil. The latest data from the US Energy Information Administration lists Iran as the ninth largest oil producer, accounting for about 4% of world oil production last year.

While this may sound like a small share, research has shown events like Iran’s nationalisation of the BP-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in the early 1950s, the Iranian revolution in the late 1970s, and Iran-Iraq war of the early 1980s, all caused crude oil price to rise.

The extent to which Israel responds to the latest escalation could therefore have a genuine impact on oil prices in coming days.

A complex world

Of course, the difficulty in assessing any situation is such events do not happen in a vacuum.

While recent events could spark a reduction in global oil supply, putting upward pressure on the price, other factors, such as weak oil demand due to slowing state of the global economy, and record high US production of crude oil, have pushed prices down throughout the year.

Still, the current tensions can only add to the already tightening oil market following Libya’s recent shutdown of the El-Feel oil field in August this year.

There’s no doubt these events will be a top priority at the next panel meeting of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Plus, which committed to achieving and sustaining a stable oil market earlier this year.

What does this mean for Australia?

Last week, the Reserve Bank of Australia said inflation is still above target, and returning to target is their number one priority, despite a highly uncertain economic outlook.

There’s no doubt these events only add to the uncertainty of that outlook, and any oil price surge can only add to the current cost of living crisis faced by Australians.

Let’s be clear. While Australia does not import any crude oil from Iran, we are heavily reliant on our trading partners for the resource. According to the most recent data from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, about two thirds of our oil supply currently comes from South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and India.

This reliance on foreign oil makes us especially exposed to rising oil prices.

The main channel through which higher oil prices could impact inflation is fuel prices. It is well understood that higher oil prices are associated with higher fuel prices.

Research by the Australia Institute, found Australia currently imports about 91% of fuel consumption. The transportation sector accounts more than three quarters of total fuel consumption, with road transport making up more than half of that number.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is undoubtedly closely monitoring prices as it follows international events.

However, the silver lining is research suggests the likely flow on effects of oil prices on inflation in Australia is relatively smaller than some might expect.

A major reason for this is Australia’s electricity generation mix is predominantly comprised of coal, natural gas, and renewables. This is in contrast to countries like the United States, where oil and related products are the main contributor to the energy mix.

To give a rough number, the research suggests a sustained increase in the oil price by 10% would translate into Australia’s inflation rate being about 0.6 percentage points higher.

This means the Reserve Bank will also be closely monitoring the oil price over the next few weeks ahead of next month’s cash rate meeting.

Jamie Cross 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. Oil prices set to rise as Middle East tensions worsen, adding to cost-of-living crisis – https://theconversation.com/oil-prices-set-to-rise-as-middle-east-tensions-worsen-adding-to-cost-of-living-crisis-240307

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Shortis, Adjunct Senior Fellow, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University

Just like vice presidents themselves, in US politics, debates don’t really matter until they do. The most recent debate (and likely the last of the 2024 election cycle) between aspiring vice presidents Senator JD Vance and Governor Tim Walz isn’t likely to matter much at all.

Hosted by CBS, the vice presidential debate took place under much the same rules as the first and only debate between presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. There was no audience and very little fact-checking. The only real difference was that the microphones weren’t muted when a candidate wasn’t speaking – a setup that only really got away from the two moderators once.

A shallow, optics-focused analysis would suggest that the format favoured Vance; that he successfully projected an image of himself as a sensible, commonsense candidate. But Walz also performed entirely adequately, reinforcing his steady, nice-guy image.

There was, in the end, no clear winner. But there was a lot of substance.

America, and a world, in crisis

CBS moderators opened the debate by noting the many intersecting crises facing the US and the rest of the world. Specifically listing the dangerously escalating situation in the Middle East, Hurricane Helene and a labour strike, the moderators focused first on Iran.

In a bizarre choice, rather than asking how each candidate would aim to deescalate or even build peace in the region, the candidates were asked whether or not they would support an Israeli “preemptive strike” on Iran.

Walz, perhaps caught off guard by the specificity of the question, got off to a shaky start, but recovered well enough. Vance, on steadier ground, outlined his ticket’s firm support for Israel.

That neither candidate took issue with the casual suggestion of a “preemptive strike” says a great deal about US global leadership today.

Unlike in the previous presidential debate, the unfolding crisis caused by Hurricane Helene elevated the issue of climate change to the second question. While both candidates touted policies of strengthening fossil fuel production and use at home, Vance’s answer hinted at the underlying radicalism of his politics.

Noting the tragic loss of life in states such as North Carolina, Vance was careful to distinguish victims of the hurricane as “innocent”. He promised, quite specifically, that a future Trump administration would support “citizens” affected by climate change fuelled disasters such as Helene.

These coded references to race and immigration were carefully designed to reinforce Trump and Vance’s conspiratorial narratives about an America under siege, facing an “invasion” of “illegal aliens”.

Vance is accomplished at sanitising Trump’s rhetoric, and made a considerable effort to project a sense of reasonableness. Walz’s weakness – along with the broader Democratic policy platform – is that he attempts to walk a line between conceding to the right on issues of immigration while simultaneously attempting not to alienate the diverse base of support for the Democratic party. It remains to be seen if anyone will be convinced.

Unsurprisingly, Walz was stronger on issues that favour the Democrats, including health care and reproductive rights. Vance was careful not to be drawn on the question of a national abortion ban, a policy favoured by much of Trump’s conservative support base. He spoke instead of his support for a “minimum national standard” (in effect, if not in language, the same thing).

The standout moment came towards the end. Just as in that very first debate between President Joe Biden and Trump a political lifetime ago, the moderators did not ask about the integrity of US democracy until quite a long way into the 90-minute run time.

Asked by his opponent about Trump’s refusal to concede the 2020 election, Vance refused to engage, saying he was instead “focused on the future”. That future, as Walz noted, involves entirely credible threats to US democracy continuing to come from Vance’s running mate.

Quiet conspiracy

Unlike that running mate, Vance largely steered away from spouting conspiracy theories about stolen elections – or any of the far-right’s other favoured issues – directly. In his final statement, though, he highlighted what allows them to thrive.

Apparently attempting to moderate Trump’s nightmarish rhetoric of “American carnage”, Vance leaned into a familiar exceptionalism, focusing at the end on the beauty and the wonder of America. He is proud, he said, to live “in the most incredible country in the world. But…”

It is in the space after that “but” that conspiracy thrives. If the US is indeed the best country in the world, how can there be a “but”? If it cannot be that the US might not be the best country in the world, then the answer can only be that its success is being undermined by a conspiracy against it.

In New York tonight, Walz did not do enough to fill that space. Vance sought to quietly expand it.

That neither of them conclusively succeeded likely won’t matter to the final outcome. Still, the space after the “but…” hangs over us all.

Emma Shortis is Senior Researcher in International and Security Affairs at The Australia Institute, an independent think tank.

– ref. In a largely uneventful and inconsequential US vice presidential debate, no one can claim victory – https://theconversation.com/in-a-largely-uneventful-and-inconsequential-us-vice-presidential-debate-no-one-can-claim-victory-240202

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sebastian Furness, ARC Future Fellow, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland

Fourteen years ago, the older drug cousin of semaglutide (Ozempic and Wegovy) came onto the market. The drug, liraglutide, is sold under the brand names Victoza and Saxenda.

Patents for Victoza and Saxenda have now expried. So other drug companies are working to develop “generic” versions. These are likely be a fraction of current cost, which is around A$400 a month.

So how does liraglutide compare with semaglutide?

How do these drugs work?

Liraglutide was not originally developed as a weight-loss treatment. Like semaglutide (Ozempic), it originally treated type 2 diabetes.

The class of drugs liraglutide and semaglutide belong to are known as GLP-1 mimetics, meaning they mimic the natural hormone GLP-1. This hormone is released from your small intestines in response to food and acts in several ways to improve the way your body handles glucose (sugar).

How do they stop hunger?

Liraglutide acts in several regions of the unconscious part of your brain, specifically the hypothalamus, which controls metabolism, and parts of the brain stem responsible for communicating your body’s nutrient status to the hypothalamus.

Its actions here appear to reduce hunger in two different ways. First, it helps you to feel full earlier, making smaller meals more satisfying. Second, it alters your “motivational salience” towards food, meaning it reduces the amount of food you seek out.

Liraglutide’s original formulation, designed to treat type 2 diabetes, was marketed as Victoza. Its ability to cause weight loss was evident soon after it entered the market.

Shortly after, a stronger formulation, called Saxenda, was released, which was intended for weight loss in people with obesity.

How much weight can you lose with liraglutide?

People respond differently and will lose different amounts of weight. But here, we’ll note the average weight loss users can expect. Some will lose more (sometimes much more), others will lose less, and a small proportion won’t respond.

The first GLP-1 mimicking drug was exenatide (Bayetta). It’s still available for treating type 2 diabetes, but there are currently no generics. Exenatide does provide some weight loss, but this is quite modest, typically around 3-5% of body weight.

For liraglutide, those using the drug to treat obesity will use the stronger one (Saxenda), which typically gives about 10% weight loss.

Semaglutide, with the stronger formulation called Wegovy, typically results in 15% weight loss.

The newest GLP-1 mimicking drug on the market, tirzepatide (Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes and Zepbound for weight loss), results in weight loss of around 25% of body weight.

What happens when you stop taking them?

Despite the effectiveness of these medications in helping with weight loss, they do not appear to change people’s weight set-point.

So in many cases, when people stop taking them, they experience a rebound toward their original weight.

What is the dose and how often do you need to take it?

Liraglutide (Victoza) for type 2 diabetes is exactly the same drug as Saxenda for weight loss, but Saxenda is a higher dose.

Although the target for each formulation is the same (the GLP-1 receptor), for glucose control in type 2 diabetes, liraglutide has to (mainly) reach the pancreas.

But to achieve weight loss, it has to reach parts of the brain. This means crossing the blood-brain barrier – and not all of it makes it, meaning more has to be taken.

All the current formulations of GLP-1 mimicking drug are injectables. This won’t change when liraglutide generics hit the market.

However, they differ in how frequently they need to be injected. Liraglutide is a once-daily injection, whereas semaglutide and tirzepatide are once-weekly. (That makes semaglutide and tirzepatide much more attractive, but we won’t see semaglutide as a generic until 2033.)

What are the side effects?

Because all these medicines have the same target in the body, they mostly have the same side effects.

The most common are a range of gastrointestinal upsets including nausea, vomiting, bloating, constipation and diarrhoea. These occur, in part, because these medications slow the movement of food out of the stomach, but are generally managed by increasing the dose slowly.

Recent clinical data suggests the slowing in emptying of the stomach can be problematic for some people, and may increase the risk of of food entering the lungs during operations, so it is important to let your doctor know if you are taking any of these drugs.

Because these are injectables, they can also lead to injection-site reactions.

During clinical trials, there were some reports of thyroid disease and pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas). However, it is not clear that these can be attributed to GLP-1 mimicking drugs.

In animals, GLP-1 mimicking drugs drugs have been found to negatively alter the growth of the embryo. There is currently no controlled clinical trial data on their use during pregnancy, but based on animal data, these medicines should not be used during pregnancy.

Who can use them?

The GLP-1 mimicking drugs for weight loss (Wegovy, Saxenda, Zepbound/Mounjaro) are approved for use by people with obesity and are meant to only be used in conjunction with diet and exercise.

These drugs must be prescribed by a doctor and for obesity are not covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, which is one of the reasons why they are expensive. But in time, generic versions of liraglutide are likely to be more affordable.

Sebastian Furness receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and Australian Research Council.

– ref. Ozempic’s cousin drug liraglutide is about to get cheaper. But how does it stack up? – https://theconversation.com/ozempics-cousin-drug-liraglutide-is-about-to-get-cheaper-but-how-does-it-stack-up-234922

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis B. Desmond, Lecturer, Cyberintelligence and Cybercrime Investigations, University of the Sunshine Coast

In April, US lawmakers urged President Joe Biden to ban Chinese-built electric vehicles (EVs), labelling them an “existential threat to the American auto industry”. The proposed ban arose from concerns that Chinese car makers have an unfair advantage due to government financial support.

Following a months-long investigation into digital connections that could enable Chinese spying and sabotage, in recent weeks the Biden administration proposed new rules to ban Chinese-made vehicles. The threats they cite stem from built-in internet connectivity for software updates and various remote controls.

Is the US justified in aiming to ban Chinese-made cars over national security issues, and should Australia follow suit? Remote access and data transmission are an integral part of Chinese cars, but the same is true of modern cars made in most countries.

However, Australia’s relationship with Beijing has been rocky at times. Therefore, it’s vital to understand what data is being sent to China and how any vehicles sold in Australia are vulnerable to remote access and control.

Convencience as a double-edged sword

Many car makers offer remote services, including control over vehicle functions. These features are convenient, but also raise concerns about control, privacy and security.

Modern cars are like computers on wheels. They collect data about the car and the driver which can be accessed remotely or during servicing. Computerised control systems and monitoring (also known as telematics) have become widespread.

Regardless of whether the car is electric or petrol-fuelled, the concern is who has access to all that data, and how. If it’s not sent over the internet, but simply downloaded and analysed at the local garage, that’s arguably less concerning.

OnStar, a subsidiary of General Motors launched in 1996, pioneered vehicle telematics and remote connectivity. US law enforcement and intelligence agencies have previously used OnStar’s services to track vehicles, listen to in-car conversations, and even to slow down vehicles during pursuits.

It’s now common for car makers to deliver updates, new features and performance improvements remotely. Volkswagen’s connected service app includes remote start, door lock, vehicle status checks, roadside assistance, vehicle health reports and service scheduling.

Similar apps exist for Ford, Mazda and BMW cars, among others. Earlier this year, police allegedly used an app tracking feature to retrieve a stolen Ford Ranger in Melbourne.

Haval and GWM, two Chinese car manufacturers, also offer connected services for their electric and petrol vehicles in Australia. In some GWM cars, “T-Box” telematics hardware allows the car to connect to the internet. If activated through the manufacturer’s app, GWM ConnectServices collects temperature, battery status, estimated range, mileage, tyre pressure and location. It can also remotely control locks, headlights and other features.

Privacy concerns over internet-connected cars have been widely reported before. But the latest commentary goes beyond this, implying national security risks. Due to so much connectivity, it’s possible for hackers or even nation-states to attack connected vehicles.

Last week, Coalition member Barnaby Joyce expressed concerns China could weaponise remote access to its EVs for “malevolent purposes”. This worry stems from the fact that in Australia, more than 80% of EVs sold are manufactured in China (this includes Tesla models).

Between reality and science fiction

Security experts have raised concerns about China being able to collect driver geolocation and behavioural data, especially in military settings. In the US, car-based espionage concerns have prompted investigations into foreign-made car hardware and software.

To find out whether Chinese cars have actually been used in espionage, governments will need to engage in further scrutiny. This should include increased counterintelligence measures.

Another concern is the remote disabling of vehicles. It is possible to remotely disable a car. Ford filed a patent for remote disabling of services in 2023. Some GWM models currently have built-in alarms and immobilisers that disable a car if unauthorised use is detected.

Moreover, some car manufacturers offer post-theft tracking services, allowing for remote immobilisation. A car equipped with these features could theoretically be hacked by a malicious actor.

Recently, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov accused Elon Musk of disabling his Tesla Cybertruck in Ukraine, where Kadyrov is supporting Russia’s military actions.

This unverified incident hints that a foreign entity could target vehicles over which they have control. However, the possibility of China disabling cars during a trade dispute, cyber conflict or conventional war seems like something out of dystopian fiction.

Who has access to the data?

Ultimately, the worry that nation-states can use highly invasive bits of tech in our cars for spying is not entirely unwarranted.

When you buy a modern car with built-in computers and connected services, you agree that car use data and personal information can be shared with garages and manufacturers. But when we purchase an item, we expect to own it and have full control over its use.

If you’re worried about privacy, take charge. Your best recourse is to know what information your car is collecting, with whom the manufacturer is sharing that information, and where and how that information is being stored and used.

Dennis B. Desmond 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 your car a threat to national security? It can be – regardless of where it’s made – https://theconversation.com/is-your-car-a-threat-to-national-security-it-can-be-regardless-of-where-its-made-240206

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexa Scarlata, Research Fellow, Media & Communications, RMIT University

Disney+ will add their latest Australian original to their catalogue today. The brief seems to have been to “amp up the Australianness” – and boy is it a cacophony.

Last Days of the Space Age is a vibrant, lush look at an incredible moment in Australia’s recent history. It’s promising to see Disney finally pour some money into a series with high production values and a focus on Australian voices, but the execution itself leaves much to be desired.

A delayed promise

The November 2019 launch of Disney+ in Australia was loud. In the weeks leading to its arrival, Disney ran an elaborate public transport ad campaign and hosted numerous pop-up events around the country.

The week of the launch, it hijacked entire prime time ad spots on local commercial broadcasters, with a revolving directory of its seemingly never-ending library. Ash Barty and Rove McManus featured heavily in this early marketing.

Disney’s aim was clear: it had gone on a local hiring blitz because Australia was an important market to the business and the company intended to produce new content here.

Since then, Disney+ has proved extremely popular. It recently surpassed Prime Video as the second most-used subscription streaming platform in Australia (after Netflix), with 28% of adults using the service in the first half of 2023.

However, much as we saw with Netflix, Disney’s early promises to produce Australian content didn’t immediately come to fruition – and it took nearly three years to announce a slate of local content commissions and acquisitions.

It has now released a couple of documentaries (Matildas: The World At Our Feet and Shipwreck Hunters Australia). Two scripted series – The Clearing (a thriller about a female-led cult) and The Artful Dodger (an Oliver Twist sequel set in 1850s Australia) – also came out last year, but arguably flew under the radar.

Everything, everywhere, all at once

Last Days of the Space Age is set in Perth in 1979. It follows three families and multiple generations grappling with the oddest confluence of true events: a strike at the local power company, the arrival of Miss Universe pageant contestants from around the world, and a crashing US space station, Skylab.

It’s an incredible and exciting premise. But perhaps there were some concerns there wasn’t enough going on already?

Why else are we also taken along on a feminist surfing odyssey reminiscent of Puberty Blues, a Vietnamese refugee’s quest to find her lost son in Malaysia, and one character’s journey coming to terms with their participation in the UK government’s atomic bomb testing 20 years earlier?

Last Days features deaths, defections and deb balls – all in eight short episodes. As a result, we get but a glimpse of Eileen Wilberforce (Deborah Mailman) battling to be accepted by her horrendous neighbours. And I’m left desperate to know more about Svetlana’s (Ines English) and Yvgeny’s (Jacek Koman) backstory in the Soviet Union.

Unfortunately, by including as many plot points as possible, the fantastical events experienced in Western Australia 45 years ago struggle to breathe.

That said, the upside is that, unlike Disney+’s previous local productions, the show feels like it is first and foremost meant for Australian viewers.

A brilliant cast from home and away

The show’s cast is enormous and terrific. Disney does that now seemingly necessary thing where it fronts a show with established and recognisable international talent. It has thrown Game of Thrones’ Iain Glen and the incredible Linh-Dan Pham from The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) into the show’s mix to appeal to viewers around the world.

But it has also lured Aussie exports Jesse Spencer and Radha Mitchell home. Thomas Weatherall is captivating and moves well beyond his performance in Heartbreak High, while the sisterly dynamic between newcomers Emily Grant and Mackenzie Mazur rings true. All the while, Mailman is perhaps the best thing about the show.

The series sounds comforting to the Australian ear, refusing to convert or explain references for international audiences. The writing team, which worked on Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Heights and Hungry Ghosts, have created a world that is both familiar and full of humour.

Given the particular 1979 events on which the show is centred, it’s unlikely we’ll see a second season of Last Days.

So what does this mean for future Disney+ commissions in Australia then? Disney has been tightlipped about what it’s going to invest in next.

It will be interesting to see whether the reception of Last Days of the Space Age inspires more local storytelling. If the series crash-lands (sorry, I had to), it might be bad news for more distinctly Australian commissions from the streamer.

Alexa Scarlata 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. Disney+ dials up the Australiana in star-studded drama Last Days of the Space Age. But does it deliver? – https://theconversation.com/disney-dials-up-the-australiana-in-star-studded-drama-last-days-of-the-space-age-but-does-it-deliver-239619

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

I am writing this because no one at the ABC — whose producers invited me onto their coronation coverage as a guest — has uttered one word of public support. Not one ABC executive has publicly refuted the lies written or spoken about me. I don’t hold any individual responsible; this is an institutional failure.

These words, written by Stan Grant, who at the time was one of the ABC’s most high-profile First Nations journalists, catalysed the ABC into commissioning a review that has now revealed systemic racism across the national broadcaster.

The review was conducted by the Indigenous law firm Terri Janke and Company. Its report, Listen Loudly, Act Strongly, sets out failures of culture, management and senior leadership.

Failures of culture were demonstrated by the prevalence of overt and covert racism.

A First Nations staff member was asked: “How much of you is Aboriginal? Don’t worry. You don’t look it.”

Another staff member said:

whenever you raised [racism] with someone, you’d have to be so careful because if they got upset, you were the one who would get in trouble, you know, cause you’d be going out and upsetting the nice White people. And [they would say]: ‘Don’t say that. That’s not what we meant. You’ve got it all wrong. You’re so sensitive. You’ve overreacted.‘

Failures of management abounded, especially in middle management, where some were good at handling issues concerning race but most were not.

One staff member said:

there is an overall sense that managers are just not up for the job.

Senior leadership was likewise of uneven quality, although when a staff member circumvented middle management and went right to the top, the experience was positive:

I went to see David [managing director Anderson]. He was great. He listened. It was difficult for him.

The more common experience was reflected in this observation:

As an organisation, they don’t understand they have a structural issue. If the Managing Director says at Senate Estimates that there isn’t a problem, then middle management wouldn’t think there is an issue. And we all feel like we are being gaslighted.

Laundry list of issues

These responses represent a small cross-section of the data in the report, derived from the testimony of 99 current staff and 21 former staff, 80 women and 30 men.

Most gave their accounts in personal interviews, while others used group forums or provided written submissions. Many said they came forward because they cared about the ABC.

The preponderance of women indicates there is an especially acute issue concerning what is called intersectionality, meaning the intersection of two attributes, in this case race and gender, that tend to arouse discrimination. The report finds the most severe accounts of racism and racial discrimination described to the review team were directed towards women of colour.

The report canvasses not just the day-to-day interactions reflected in the comments above, but also:

• gaps in the management structure

• shortcomings in human resource management

• the incapacity of the ABC to respond effectively to external attacks on its journalists

• narrowness in recruitment

• inequitable career progression

• inadequate complaints-handling processes

• inequities in pay

• poor training of managers.

A test of character

There are 15 recommendations covering all these problems and the ABC has issued a statement saying it has adopted all of them in principle. In some cases it has gone further and begun implementing them already.

It has appointed a new Director, First Nations Strategy to the senior leadership team, engaged the former Race Discrimination Commissioner Chin Tan as a change agent and engaged the prominent First Nations academic, Jackie Huggins, as Elder-in-Residence to provide advice and support.

These are among a long list of actions put out by the ABC alongside the release of the report.

There are new committees, staff consolidations, reallocations of management reporting lines and the like, but the real test is still to come: the test of courage and character that the ABC has failed so conspicuously, not just in the Grant case but in others, including the ongoing matter of Antoinette Lattouf.

Both she and Grant were victims of sustained external attacks. Recommendation four of the report addresses the ABC’s demonstrated incapacity to cope with these. It says a centralised team should be set up to which staff can turn when attacked by external media organisations or individuals.

Read more:
Antoinette Lattouf sacking shows how the ABC has been damaged by successive Coalition governments

The ABC’s response to this is confined to a general statement about improving its systems and processes. Considering it was a sustained external attack, led by News Corporation, on Stan Grant that led to his resignation and the setting up of the review, it is a singularly vague and lame response.

The pressures of diversity

An especially insightful part of the report articulates the complex challenges facing journalists from First Nations or cultural and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds.

One such challenge is referred to as “cultural load”. This means these journalists are not only expected to do their own stories like everyone else, but to provide contacts and cultural advice to other journalists who have come to rely on them for this kind of support rather than develop their own contacts and cultural understandings.

Read more:
Stan Grant’s treatment is a failure of ABC’s leadership, mass media, and debate in this country

Another is that stories with a cultural dimension raise presumptive suspicions by managers that journalists from diverse backgrounds will not be able to cover stories about their communities impartially.

At the same time, there was a lack of recognition among managers of the burden of community expectations these journalists carried when reporting on matters involving their cultural background.

One journalist summarised it like this:

we can’t go to our managers to actually talk about this because I’m worried that if I do say something, I’m going to be scrapped off this story or I’m going to be labelled as biased. And they also don’t know at the end of the day that when we go home and we are in proximity with those communities, we also bear the brunt of their anger and frustration. There’s a lot of backlash and assumptions about what we can do in our capacity.

This is an acute dilemma for managers and staff, but it seems clear that whatever editorial policies are in place to resolve it are inadequate. The ABC’s action list has nothing to say about this.

Altogether it is a lacerating document and it demonstrates to a sobering degree how closely the ABC’s conduct reflects the overt and covert racism in the wider Australian community.

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

– ref. The ABC’s racism review is scathing. Can Aunty find the strength of character to properly address it? – https://theconversation.com/the-abcs-racism-review-is-scathing-can-aunty-find-the-strength-of-character-to-properly-address-it-240203

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Fiedler, Senior Lecturer, Management and International Business, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

With rising costs and drops in consumer spending, small businesses have been struggling lately.

Continuous economic pressure is causing significant stress and burnout among small business owners, while confidence continues to decline.

Data from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment show company liquidations are up 40% in the first eight months of 2024 compared to 2023. Construction, retail and hospitality have been hit hard due to rising costs and declining spending.

The economic climate has been compared with the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC). But this time, the pain for small and medium-sized businesses could end up being worse.

New Zealand in the 2008 crisis

The GFC, rooted in excessive risk taking in credit markets in the United States, Ireland and elsewhere, was one of the most severe economic shocks in the postwar era.

Globally, central banks quickly lowered interest rates to encourage lending. By cutting interest rates governments were encouraging consumers to spend their way out of the crisis.

New Zealand’s official cash rate fell sharply from 8.25% in July 2008 to 2.5% by May 2009. Falling interest rates benefited many mortgage holders.

The government also moved forward capital spending, encouraged investment and provided support for small business.

At the same time, China had a growth spurt and developed an appetite for New Zealand’s agricultural exports. Trade between the two countries nearly tripled between 2007 and 2016.

These conditions placed our per-capita gross domestic product performance among the best in the OECD. In the current crisis, we are among the worst.

Holding the belt tight

This time is different. New Zealand is trying to save its way out of economic trouble. High inflation, and subsequently higher interest rates, have forced many New Zealanders to tighten their belts.

According to one survey, Australian and New Zealand consumers have reduced their spending at small and medium-sized businesses by 60% – the highest among all polled regions.

The government has also dramatically cut back on spending and made thousands of public service workers redundant. More cuts might be on the horizon to allow for inflation-neutral tax relief.

While all small businesses are facing the same storm, they are not in the same boat.

Some, such as technology companies, or those in specific locations, such as construction firms in Southland, have continued to experience demand. There have also been consumption shifts from city centres to suburbs, malls and online.

For others, however, the cost-of-living crunch has forced their customers to repair rather than replace, have a take-out meal instead of eating in a restaurant, and to hunt for online deals, ditch the gym or do more DIY.

In fact, credit bureau Centrix showed that 461,000 New Zealand consumers are now behind on repayments. Consumer cost-saving measures have hit many retailers and small service businesses alike.

International visitors, who tend to spend in these categories, are also still below pre-COVID levels. Customer spending is tight.

Small business are in a “cost of doing business” crisis. Costs have increased rapidly. Wages, materials, rent and the cost of capital have gone up. Compliance costs and lack of infrastructure further stretch business budgets.

But passing on the increase to customers is often impossible, given the reduction in shrinking discretionary spending power. In short, reduced spending power and rising costs mean, for many small firms, the candle is burning at both ends.

Too costly to close

The severity of the situation is unlikely to be fully represented in business closure statistics. Small businesses are doing everything to hang on. People are working longer hours and cutting back on the money they take out of the business to manage cash flow.

Exiting is also difficult in a tight labour market – in part because there are fewer positions available to the rising number of job seekers.

Business loans tend to be secured against the family home or through a personal guarantee, which mean business liquidations are a worst-case scenario and relatively rare.

Instead, small businesses do everything to extend the runway to avoid legal liquidation. They tend to close quietly if they run out of options.

But rising interest rates have increased exposure. And with falling house values, small businesses have fewer opportunities to tap into the family home for additional funding.

These processes worked in the opposite direction during the 2008 crisis, where initially shrinking demand was met with a declining cost of borrowing. Bluntly put, gas was added to the tank.

Interest rates to the rescue?

There is hope. The recent drop in interest rates has lifted the economic mood, with business confidence reaching a ten-year high in September.

In the lead-up to her “no-frills” budget, Finance Minister Nicola Willis warned of a difficult period before the economic situation lifted.

Global drops in interest rates mean Willis’ predicted lift has begun – but the outcome is not guaranteed.

Consumers have been pessimistic about the New Zealand economy for more than two years, which is a stark contrast to the GFC, where their confidence rebounded quickly.

Demand from China, a key market for New Zealand, is facing its own economic challenges.

The government narrative shapes conditions for the economy. Yes, we need to “face the books”, but this needs to be balanced with encouraging small businesses and innovation.

Like other small economies, New Zealand needs a sustained commitment to infrastructure and exporting, and investment in science and innovation to support the small business sector.

The government needs to provide small businesses with the confidence to flourish – and to prevent the long squeeze from the economic downturn.

Antje Fiedler is a Director of The Small Enterprise Association of Australia and New Zealand (SEAANZ).

Benjamin Fath 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. Tougher than the GFC: why NZ’s small businesses may be in worse shape than in 2008 – https://theconversation.com/tougher-than-the-gfc-why-nzs-small-businesses-may-be-in-worse-shape-than-in-2008-239389

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sandra Peter, Director of Sydney Executive Plus, University of Sydney

You know we’ve reached peak interest in artificial intelligence (AI) when Oprah Winfrey hosts a television special about it. AI is truly everywhere. And we will all have a relationship with it – whether using it, building it, governing it or even befriending it.

But what exactly is AI? While most people won’t need to know exactly how it works under the hood, we will all need to understand what it can do. In our conversations with global leaders across business, government and the arts, one thing stood out – you can’t fake it anymore. AI fluency that is.

AI isn’t just about chatbots. To help understand what it is about, we’ve developed a framework which explains the broad broad range of capabilities it offers. We call this the “capabilities stack”.

We see AI systems as having seven basic kinds of capability, each building on the ones below it in the stack. From least complex to most, these are: recognition, classification, prediction, recommendation, automation, generation and interaction.

Recognition

At its core, the kind of AI we are seeing in consumer products today identifies patterns. Unlike traditional coding, where developers explicitly program how a system works, AI “learns” these patterns from vast datasets, enabling it to perform tasks. This “learning” is essentially just advanced mathematics that turns patterns into complex probabilistic models – encoded in so-called artificial neural networks.

Once learned, patterns can be recognised – such as your face, when you open your phone, or when you clear customs at the airport.

Pattern recognition is all around us – whether it’s license plate recognition when you park your car at the mall, or when the police scan your registration. It’s used in manufacturing for quality control to detect defective parts, in health care to identify cancer in MRI scans, or to identify potholes by using buses equipped with cameras that monitor the roads in Sydney.

Classification

Once an AI system can recognise patterns, we can train it to detect subtle variations and categorise them. This is how your photo app neatly organises albums by family members, or how apps identify and label different kinds of skin lesions. AI classification is also at work behind the scenes when phone companies and banks identify spam and fraud calls.

In New Zealand, non-profit organisation Te Hiku developed an AI language model to classify thousands of hours of recordings to help revitalise Te Reo Māori, the local indigenous language.

Prediction

When AI is trained on past data, it can be used to predict future outcomes. For example, airlines use AI to predict the estimated arrival times of incoming flights and to assign gates on time so you don’t end up waiting on the tarmac.

Similarly, Google Flights uses AI to predict flight delays even before airlines announce them.

In Hong Kong, an AI prediction model saves taxpayer money by predicting when a project needs early intervention to prevent it overrunning its budget and completion date. And when you buy stuff on Amazon, the ecommerce giant uses AI to predict demand and optimise delivery routes, so you get your packages within hours, not just days.

Recommendation

Once we predict, we can make recommendations for what to do next.

If you went to Taylor Swift’s Eras tour concert at Sydney’s Accor stadium, you were kept safe thanks to AI recommendations. A system funded by the New South Wales government used data from multiple sources to analyse the movement and mood of the 80,000 strong crowd, providing real-time recommendations to ensure everyone’s safety.

AI-based recommendations are everywhere. Social media, streaming platforms, delivery services and shopping apps all use past behaviour patterns to present you with their “for you” pages. Even pig farms use pig facial recognition and tracking to alert farmers to any issues and recommend particular interventions.

Automation

It’s a small step from prediction and recommendation to full automation.

In Germany, large wind turbines use AI to keep the lesser spotted eagle safe. An AI algorithm detects approaching birds and automatically slows down the turbines allowing them to pass unharmed.

Closer to home, Melbourne Water uses AI to autonomously regulate its pump control system to reduce energy costs by around 20% per year. In Western Sydney, local buses on key routes are AI-enabled: if a bus is running late, the system predicts its arrival at the next intersection and automatically green-lights its journey.

Generation

Once we can encode complex patterns into neural networks, we can also use these patterns to generate new, similar ones. This works with all kinds of data – images, text, audio and video.

Image generation is now built into many new phones. Don’t like the look on someone’s face? Change into a smile. Want a boat on that lake? Just add it in. And it doesn’t stop there.

Tools such as Runway let you manipulate videos or create new ones with just a text prompt. ElevenLabs allows you to generate synthetic voices or digitise existing ones from short recordings. These can be used to narrate audiobooks, but also carry risks such as deepfake impersonation.

And we haven’t even mentioned large language models such as ChatGPT, which are transforming how we work with text and how we develop computer code. Research by McKinsey found that these models can cut the time required for complex coding tasks by up to 50%.

Interaction

Finally, generative AI also makes it possible to mimic human-like interactions.

Soon, virtual assistants, companions and digital humans will be everywhere. They will attend your Zoom meeting to take notes and schedule follow-up meetings.

Interactive AI assistants, such as IBM’s AskHR bot, will answer your HR questions. And when you get home, your AI friend app will entertain you, while digital humans on social media are ready to sell you anything, any time. And with voice mode activated, even ChatGPT gets in on the inter-action.

Amid the excitement around generative AI, it is important to remember that AI is more than chatbots. It impacts many things beyond the flashy conversational tools – often in ways that quietly improve everyday processes.

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

– ref. Wondering what AI actually is? Here are the 7 things it can do for you – https://theconversation.com/wondering-what-ai-actually-is-here-are-the-7-things-it-can-do-for-you-239843

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jake M Robinson, Ecologist and Researcher, Flinders University

In a race against time, scientists are exploring new ways to restore natural systems. Alongside traditional methods such as planting trees, reducing pollution and reintroducing native species, a surprising new tool is emerging: sound. Ecologists can harness sound to bring life back to degraded ecosystems.

On land and at sea, natural soundscapes are being replicated to stimulate growth, reproduction and even communication among species. Sound is already being used to restore oyster beds and coral reefs.

In our new research, we found beneficial plant microbes are also receptive to sound. We used high-frequency white noise to stimulate a fungus that promotes plant growth. The noise is a bit like the sound emitted in between channels of an old-fashioned radio.

This adds a new dimension to restoration projects. Imagine using tailored soundscapes to restore wetlands, forests or grasslands, simply by artificially amplifying the sonic cues that attract wildlife, stimulate growth and rebuild relationships between species. We see a bright future for this “biodiversity jukebox”, with tracks for every ecosystem.

Sound as an ecological tool

In healthy ecosystems, everything from animal calls to water trickling underground creates a sonic landscape or “soundscape” that ultimately supports biodiversity.

Conversely, the soundscapes in degraded ecosystems are often diminished or altered. This can change the way species behave and ecosystems function.

Marine biologists were among the first to explore sound as a tool for restoring Australia’s southern oyster reefs. Intact oyster reefs provide habitat for many species and prevent shoreline erosion. But pollution, overharvesting and dredging almost wiped them out more than a century ago.

It turns out playing sounds of healthy reefs, namely snapping shrimp, underwater encourages baby oysters to settle and grow. These sounds mimic the natural environment of thriving oyster beds.

The results have been impressive. Oyster populations show signs of recovery in areas where soundscapes have been artificially restored.

Similarly, fish support healthy coral reefs by grazing on algae that can otherwise smother corals. Playing the sounds of healthy coral reefs can attract young fish to degraded reefs. This helps kickstart reef recovery.

The power of sound in plant microbiology

Building on these successes, we ventured into new territory. In our new research we used sound to stimulate the growth of soil microbes.

These microbes play an essential role in plant health. Some promote nutrient uptake in plants, others protect against disease. But these communities of microorganisms can be diminished and disrupted in degraded soils, hampering plant growth and ecosystem recovery.

We wanted to find out whether specific sounds could encourage the growth of these beneficial microbes. We ran a series of experiments, to test the effect of sound on the growth and reproduction rate of a particular fungus known to stimulate plant growth and protect against diseases.

We grew the fungus in the laboratory in 40 Petri dishes and subjected half of them to treatment with sound. We played a sound recording similar to the high-frequency buzz of white noise for 30 minutes a day over five days. Then we compared the amount of fungal growth and the number of spores between the two groups.

In technical terms, the frequency was 8 kHz and level was 80 dB, which is quite loud, like the sound of a busy city street or vacuum cleaner, almost loud enough to damage hearing.

We used a monotonous sound for experimental reasons, because it is easy to control. But a more natural or diverse soundscape may be even better. We plan to do more research on this in the near future.

We found sound stimulated the fungi, increasing the growth rate by more than seven times and the production of spores by more than four times compared to the control (no sound).

Why sound works

Why does sound have such a powerful effect on ecosystems? The answer lies in the way organisms interact with their environment.

Sound travels almost five times faster in water than in air, making it an efficient means of communication for marine life such as oysters, fish and whales.

Trees detect the soundwaves produced by running water, and their roots move towards the vibration.

We already know sound influences the activity of microbes. We think it stimulates special receptors on the membranes of the microbes. These receptors might trigger a response in the cells, such as switching genes responsible for growth on or off.

Is sound the future of restoration?

Microbes support plant life, help maintain soil structure, hold water and store carbon. By stimulating beneficial microbes with sound, we may be able to improve large-scale restoration projects. This approach may also support regenerative agriculture, where farming works with nature rather than against it.

Our next steps include refining the sound patterns that are most effective in different ecosystems. We then need to scale up our research to test different sounds in diverse environments. We envisage creating a “biodiversity jukebox” of beneficial sounds to enhance ecosystem health.

It’s clear what we hear – and don’t hear – profoundly influences the environment. So we’re also interested in noise cancellation. By this, we mean barriers to protect ecosystems from potentially undesirable noises. For instance, we’re asking questions such as: do traffic and industrial noises harm the ecosystem?

As ecosystems face increasing pressure from climate change, biodiversity loss and habitat destruction, sound can become a powerful tool for restoration.

While the science is still in its infancy, it has huge potential.

Ultimately, sound-based restoration might offer a low-impact and cost-effective approach to help ecosystems recover. The future of restoration could be as much about what we hear as what we see.

Jake M Robinson is affiliated with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change think tank Resilience Frontiers. He receives funding from the National Environmental Science Program for the Restoration by Design project.

Martin Breed receives funding from the Australian Research Council, National Environmental Science Program Resilient Landscapes Hub, Cooperative Research Centre for Transformations in Mining Economies (CRC TiME), Australian Academy of Science, and the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment.

– ref. The biodiversity jukebox: how sound can boost beneficial soil microbes to heal nature – https://theconversation.com/the-biodiversity-jukebox-how-sound-can-boost-beneficial-soil-microbes-to-heal-nature-235866

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vincent Hurley, Lecturer in Criminology. Police and policing. Dept of Security Studies & Criminology, Macquarie University

A string of high-profile stabbing incidents in Australia, including this year’s Bondi Junction attacks, the Wakeley attack on Bishop Mari Emmanuel and last year’s stabbing murder of New South Wales paramedic Steven Tougher, have prompted fears that knife crime is growing out of control.

But is that true? What’s the history of knife crime in Australia? And how does knife crime here compare with other countries, such as the United Kingdom and Canada?

Crime trends in Australia

Overall, crime across Australia has been declining since 2009.

Over the same period, homicide rates have remained relatively stable.

Other crimes in which knives are commonly used, such as attempted murders and armed robberies, have fallen since 2004.

However, knives were the most common weapon used in homicides in Australia from 2010 to 2023.

So even though official police statistics show knife crime is not getting worse across Australia, the fact knives have been used in some high-profile murder cases could partly explain the growing concerns.

What sort of knives are being used?

As there are different types of firearms, so too are there different types of knives.

Knives are also known by police as bladed or sharp implements, a term that also includes axes, tomahawks, machetes, “zombie knives”, bayonets, swords and even syringes.

Comparisons with the UK and Canada

Unlike in Australia, knife crime in both the UK and Canada has been rising.

The UK was rocked in late July this year when three young girls were stabbed to death, and others seriously injured, at a dance class in Southport.

Shortly afterwards, an 11-year-old Australian girl survived a knife attack in broad daylight in London’s busy Leicester Square.

There are four reasons why there has been an increased focus on knife crime in the UK in recent years.

First, in London, knife crime rose by 18% from 2022 to 2023.

Second, crime in England and Wales generally increased from roughly 4 million offences in 2012 to 6.65 million in 2023–24.

Corresponding with these two factors was the removal of approximately 20,000 police officers between 2011 and 2019, although this trend has been reversed somewhat in recent years.

Finally, and unsurprisingly, the strict gun laws in the UK ensures guns are rarely used in homicides compared with knives.

Canada has seen a general crime increase of 10% since 2020. But knife stabbing deaths have increased dramatically over the past decade – up 72.5% from 2012 to 2022.

Despite the increase in knife deaths in Canada, its parliament has not introduced specific legislation around knife crime, unlike in the UK.

However, police numbers in Canada have remained stable in the past ten years.

One possible explanation for the increase in knife crime in Canada is a combination of a lack of specific knife legislation and stagnant policing numbers – the police may be unable to keep pace or focus on knife crime, unlike in the UK.

Knife crime isn’t new

In 1669, King Louis XIV of France saw the connection between pointed domestic knives on his dining table and violence. He was so concerned that he passed a law demanding the tips of all table and street knives be ground smooth.

This is why we have rounded dinner knives today.

A century ago in Australia, knife crime came to public attention with a hybrid slang term called “Razorhurst”, when those living in the Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst demanded politicians deal with violent crime. Criminal gangs in the 1920s were regularly using cutthroat razors to slash the faces of their victims.

What reinforced the popularity of cutthroat razors, as opposed to guns, was introduction of the NSW 1927 Pistol Licensing Act.

This legislation was introduced to specifically discourage men who had become familiar using firearms in the first world war from using guns after returning home to Australia.

This law only led to the entrenched use of cutthroat razors, morphing into the use of knives instead of firearms.

How laws have changed in recent decades

In modern times in Australia, knife laws changed significantly after the stabbing murder of NSW police officer David Carty in 1997.

Some of these changes included the banning of “credit card knives” and knives disguised as non-weapons, while it became illegal to sell knives to people under 18. It also became illegal to carry a pocket knife in public unless it was for a specific, lawful purpose.

The death of Jack Beasley in Queensland in 2019 resulted in the “Jack’s Law” legislation. And in the past year, most Australian state and territory governments have introduced new laws to address and prevent knife crime.

There have also been calls to allow police widespread use of electronic, handheld metal detectors to check if anyone is carrying a knife, as has happened recently in NSW.

The reality of knife crimes in Australia

So if knife crime has not risen as sharply as it has in places like UK or Canada, what gives the impression that Australia is suffering an epidemic of knife crime?

The recent string of high-profile incidents has generated widespread public concern, which in turn has prompted calls by politicians to get tough on knife crime. This can be an easy political win.

Given every kitchen and garage in Australia possess more than one knife or bladed implement, the reality of removing these is not an option.

But the fear of knife crime is greater than the reality of us becoming victims to it.

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

– ref. After a spate of recent stabbings, is knife crime getting worse in Australia? – https://theconversation.com/after-a-spate-of-recent-stabbings-is-knife-crime-getting-worse-in-australia-239925

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Armin Alimardani, Lecturer, School of Law, University of Wollongong

It’s been nearly two years since generative artificial intelligence was made widely available to the public. Some models showed great promise by passing academic and professional exams.

For instance, GPT-4 scored higher than 90% of the United States bar exam test takers. These successes led to concerns AI systems might also breeze through university-level assessments. However, my recent study paints a different picture, showing it isn’t quite the academic powerhouse some might think it is.

My study

To explore generative AI’s academic abilities, I looked at how it performed on an undergraduate criminal law final exam at the University of Wollongong – one of the core subjects students need to pass in their degrees. There were 225 students doing the exam.

The exam was for three hours and had two sections. The first asked students to evaluate a case study about criminal offences – and the likelihood of a successful prosecution. The second included a short essay and a set of short-answer questions.

The test questions evaluated a mix of skills, including legal knowledge, critical thinking and the ability to construct persuasive arguments.

Students were not allowed to use AI for their responses. And did the assessment in a supervised environment.

I used different AI models to create ten distinct answers to the exam questions.

Five papers were generated by just pasting the exam question into the AI tool without any prompts. For the other five, I gave detailed prompts and relevant legal content to see if that would improve the outcome.

I hand wrote the AI-generated answers in official exam booklets and used fake student names and numbers. These AI-generated answers were mixed with actual student exam answers and anonymously given to five tutors for grading.

Importantly, when marking, the tutors did not know AI had generated ten of the exam answers.

How did the AI papers perform?

When the tutors were interviewed after marking, none of them suspected any answers were AI-generated.

This shows the potential for AI to mimic student responses and educators’ inability to spot such papers.

But on the whole, the AI papers were not impressive.

While the AI did well in the essay-style question, it struggled with complex questions that required in-depth legal analysis.

This means even though AI can mimic human writing style, it lacks the nuanced understanding needed for complex legal reasoning.

The students’ exam average was 66%.

The AI papers that had no prompting, on average, only beat 4.3% of students. Two barely passed (the pass mark is 50%) and three failed.

In terms of the papers where prompts were used, on average, they beat 39.9% of students. Three of these papers weren’t impressive and received 50%, 51.7% and 60%, but two did quite well. One scored 73.3% and the other scored 78%.

What does this mean?

These findings have important implications for both education and professional standards.

Despite the hype, generative AI isn’t close to replacing humans in intellectually demanding tasks such as this law exam.

My study suggests AI should be viewed more like a tool, and when used properly, it can enhance human capabilities.

So schools and universities should concentrate on developing students’ skills to collaborate with AI and analyse its outputs critically, rather than relying on the tools’ ability to simply spit out answers.

Further, to make collaboration between AI and students possible, we may have to rethink some of the traditional notions we have about education and assessment.

For example, we might consider when a student prompts, verifies and edits an AI-generated work, that is their original contribution and should still be viewed as a valuable part of learning.

Armin Alimardani has a short-term, part-time contract with OpenAI as a consultant. The organisation had no input into the study set up or outcomes and did not fund the research. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.

– ref. I got generative AI to attempt an undergraduate law exam. It struggled with complex questions – https://theconversation.com/i-got-generative-ai-to-attempt-an-undergraduate-law-exam-it-struggled-with-complex-questions-240021

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University

Thirteen years ago at the tax summit called to discuss the Henry Tax Review, David Koch stopped discussion of negative gearing dead in its tracks.

Better known by many as “Kochie”, he was the long-running host of Channel Seven’s Sunrise, TV’s favourite “daggy dad”, a finance journalist and a community representative at the summit.

Property manager Eddie Kutner had just finished putting the case for negative gearing. He argued allowing landlords who lost money to deduct the losses from their other income to cut tax was “a responsible part of providing accommodation”.

Then Koch spoke. He looked around the room.

Negative gearing on an unproductive asset? Does it just go on for time immemorial, or is it time to actually put some limits on it – to say, okay for the first five years, but if it’s not producing an income after that, why are you there?

The fiction at the heart of negative gearing

Koch had zeroed in on the fiction at the heart of negative gearing: that the landlord had bought and rented out a property to earn income, but had failed, perhaps temporarily or perhaps for a very long time. As a result, they needed to be compensated for losses incurred in the pursuit of an income.

It’s an argument we’ve grown used to hearing in Australia. Overseas? Forget it.

Landlords aren’t compensated in the same way in the United Kingdom or the United States.

In both those countries, landlords are allowed to lose money – no crime in that. But they are not allowed to offset those losses against their wages to pay less tax (although they are able to offset them against income from other investments).

In Canada, landlords can try it on. But the bar is higher: there, they need to be able to demonstrate an “intention to make a profit” – something that would be beyond many Australian negative gearers.

Back at the 2011 tax summit, Koch went on: “It’s done purely for the attraction of letting the taxman pay half, I’m not saying get rid of it altogether, but there’s got to be a limit”.

No one returned to the topic. The summit moved on. And here we are 13 years later, still having the same argument.

13 billion reasons for change

Negative gearing has become so common – in Australia, one in six taxpayers are landlords and 40% of them negatively gear – that we no longer think of it as weird.

But the treasury is examining it. Since Jim Chalmers became treasurer in 2022, it has been including it in its annual list of anomalies known as tax expenditures. Chalmers says he has sought its advice about it, which he says is “not especially unusual, especially when it comes to contentious issues”.

Axing negative gearing would bring in an extra A$7.7 billion next financial year according to calculations by the Parliamentary Budget Office.

If the government also abolished the 50% discount on the capital gains tax that makes negative gearing attractive, it would save a further $5.9 billion dollars.

The total, $13.6 billion, would be enough to fund substantial extra tax cuts for all of us – about half as big as the Stage 3 tax cuts that began in July.

But that’s not the only argument for winding back access to negative gearing – and perhaps not even the strongest.

More landlords means fewer owner-occupiers

For most of the post-war years, right through to the 2001 census, about 70% of Australian households lived in a home they owned. They didn’t rent, and many who did could expect to own their home as they moved through life.

In 1999, the headline rate of capital gains tax was halved. In the 25 years since then, home ownership has fallen to 66%. It has fallen on the watch of John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison and now Anthony Albanese.

It has happened because more homes are owned by landlords. The maths are unarguable.

The bigger the share that is owned by landlords, the smaller the share that is owned by occupiers.

My calculations suggest that if homeownership bounced back to 70%, where it was in 2001, an extra 430,000 homes – 4% of Australia’s 10.8 million households – would now be owned by the people who live in them.

Modelling finds limits would build back home ownership

Would limiting access to negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions help more of us own our homes? Two sets of economics modelling suggest it could.

Modelling of the changes Labor took to the 2019 election by Deloitte Access Economics for the Property Council found that, over time, they would increase the share of owner-occupiers by 2.5 percentage points. At the moment, that would mean an extra 270,000 homes owned by the people who live in them.

Modelling by the New South Wales Treasury found Labor’s 2019 plan would increase the share 4.7 percentage points (which would mean 507,000 more owner-occupied homes).

What options does the government have now?

Of course, there are all sorts of things the treasury could suggest to Jim Chalmers that would fall short of the plans Labor took to the 2019 election – but which would still help.

Koch suggested one option: “there’s got to be a limit”.

The Albanese government – or a future government, should Albanese choose to do nothing like his predecessors – could limit the number of homes each investor is able to negatively gear.

That limit could be set at one investment property (most investors negatively gear only one). Or it could be a more generous two: nine out of ten negatively gear only one or two. Only a minority – 31,000 – own four or more.

Alternatively, Australia could limit the dollar amount negative gearers are able to deduct from their pay for tax purposes, perhaps stopping at $20,000. Not only are high earners more likely to negatively gear than low earners, they are also likely to deduct more, because they borrow more and are in higher tax brackets.

Or we could phase it out over five years, as suggested by the Grattan Institute.

Or we could protect existing arrangements (as Shorten promised to in 2019) and continue to allow negative gearing for investors who build new homes rather than buy existing ones.

Or do nothing. Both former prime minister Scott Morrison and former treasurer Joe Hockey said they were unhappy with the way negative gearing worked, yet did nothing while in office. They kicked the can down the road.

Albanese and Chalmers are in charge now. What will they do next?

Peter Martin is economics editor.

– ref. More than 430,000 Australians could have owned their own home today – if not for 7 prime ministers’ inaction – https://theconversation.com/more-than-430-000-australians-could-have-owned-their-own-home-today-if-not-for-7-prime-ministers-inaction-240107

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexa Scarlata, Research Fellow, Media & Communications, RMIT University

As we dive into October, here are some captivating new films and series to help fill your evenings on the couch.

This month’s streaming picks from our experts feature plenty of strong women characters – from Nicole Kidman’s role as a fearsome matriarch in The Perfect Couple, to empowered young women battling it out in a K-pop reality show contest. Meanwhile, Marvel’s latest offering Agatha All Along brings a fresh feminist-queer twist to the Marvel universe.

Whether you’re in the mood for romance, documentary or murder mysteries, we’ve got something for you.

Last Days of The Space Age

Disney+

Disney+‘s new drama Last Days of the Space Age is set in Perth in 1979 – and could be considered the streaming service’s first real foray into Australiana.

The series follows three families through a series of true events, including a power company strike, the arrival of a bunch of Miss Universe contestants from around the world and the crash of the US space station Skylab. Amid this chaos, it also touches on the denial of local Indigenous history, a Vietnamese refugee’s search for her lost son, a feminist surfing adventure – and more.

By trying to juggle so many plot points in eight episodes, the series overwhelms itself and at times can feel underdeveloped. Nonetheless, its focus on Australian audiences and stories gives it a refreshing authenticity.

The cast is stellar, featuring local talent such as Jesse Spencer, Deborah Mailman and Radha Mitchell, alongside international names including Iain Glen and Linh-Dan Pham. Newcomers Emily Grant and Mackenzie Mazur also shine in their roles.

As Disney’s first truly Australian-centric show, Last Days of the Space Age is a promising step for local storytelling. Let’s just hope it’s not the last of the streaming service’s major local commissions.

–Alexa Scarlata

Emily in Paris, season four

Netflix

Season four of Emily in Paris continues the frothy delightfulness of previous seasons, complete with absurd fashion moments, sharp dialogue and easily resolved PR catastrophes. This show is the televisual equivalent of fairy floss in the best way: nutritionally empty, yet sweetly satisfying.

The almost hermetically sealed, aspirational world of Emily’s Paris remains untouched by pandemics, Olympic scandals or economic realities. Instead, we bounce from the titular French capital to the snowy slopes of Megève, to Roma – all rendered in the dreamy romance of a technicolor fantasy. Although she is now fully ensconced in Parisian life, Emily (Lily Collins) carries the show with spunk and a wide-eyed American optimism.

“Hot chef” Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) still has zero personality, but that doesn’t matter as he is surrounded by charismatic and charming characters in the bonkers Luc (Bruno Gouery) and witty Mindy (Ashley Park), both of whom are standouts this season. Sylvie Grateau (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) continues to inspire us all, thanks to her derision of Emily’s American ways and iconic style.

Do not attempt to make sense of the timeline, geography or economics of Emily in Paris. Just open your mind and heart to its goofy, spectacular pleasures.

– Jessica Ford

Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE

Netflix

Netflix’s Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE is about 20 aspiring young women who are finalists in a global competition, launched by entertainment industry heavyweights HYBE and Geffen Records, to find the next big K-pop group.

While I’m not a huge fan of the K-pop music genre, this docuseries has all the hallmarks of a streaming success. It takes talented contestants from all over the world, pits them against one another, and packages the outcome in a glossy and highly bingeable format.

There’s a fine line between empowerment and exploitation explored in the series. The girls are trained relentlessly and judged on categories such as “star power” and their general attitude. Non-compliance is seen as unacceptable.

At times I worried about the show’s potential to negatively influence young viewers – and especially young trend-conscious girls. That said, director Nadia Hallgren (who is known for her sensitive work documenting women of colour) does well to show that the participants’ quest is far from glamorous.

I appreciated the intimate access into the lives of these girls, who often have no fallback if their efforts in the merciless industry don’t pay off. There are some fascinating moments where you see the stars in their eyes begin to dim as they’re taken to breaking point. This prompts some to take matters into their own hands – showing a true fighting spirit.

– Phoebe Hart

The Perfect Couple

Netflix

Based around a lavish wedding due to take place in a multimillion-dollar beach house on the Nantucket coastline, The Perfect Couple is a glossy “whodunnit” featuring the uber-wealthy getting up to no good.

Just hours before the ceremony, the body of maid of honour party-girl Merritt Monaco (Meghann Fahy) washes up dead. With secrets lurking at every plot twist, everyone’s a suspect.

In a narrative device reminiscent of Big Little Lies, scandalous revelations are gleefully delivered during a series of police interviews. Detective Nikki Henry (Donna Lynne Champlin) listens with equal parts revulsion and fascination, a fitting stand-in for us viewers.

While the whole cast appear to be enjoying themselves immensely, Nicole Kidman is the undeniable star of the show. Recent roles have seen Kidman become synonymous with the glamorous, albeit fragile, housewife. The icy matriarch Greer Garrison Winbury – equally revered and feared – is a welcome deviation that Kidman performs with relish.

The Perfect Couple arguably doesn’t offer the same depth of social critique as similar predecessor shows such as Big Little Lies or The White Lotus. Nonetheless, its fast pace and slick execution render it tremendously fun and binge-worthy viewing.

– Rachel Williamson

KillJoy

Stan

At 16, Kathryn Joy applied for a passport. To do this, they had to obtain the death certificate for their mother, Carolyn. After growing up in a house in which their father had killed their mother, Kathryn learned exactly how their mother had died: “gunshot wound to the head”.

The bare brutality of this information shocked them into looking anew at their father, escaping from small town to big city, spiralling into trauma-induced mental anguish, and embarking on a journey of self-discovery through tracing their family’s violent history.

Eight years of this journey are documented in the new Australian documentary Killjoy.

The narrative is held together by two investigative processes: finding out about how Carolyn had lived, as well as died; and understanding how to travel through, and with, pain and vulnerability to a place of fullness and purpose.

The film takes us with Kathryn as they trace their own history, irrevocably intertwined with that of their mother. The result is a unique journey into the inner turmoil, development, hopes and passions of a beautiful sensitive mind struggling to understand themselves against an ongoing backdrop of gender violence and political activism.

– Sharon Crozier-De Rosa

Read more:
The documentary Killjoy captures the personal and the political of family violence and gender activism

Agatha All Along

Disney+

With episode three having just dropped, Kathryn Hanh is back as Agatha Harkness in the much-anticipated Agatha All Along – a follow up to the critically acclaimed Marvel series WandaVision.

Following her battle with Wanda (Elizabeth Olson), Agatha is stuck in Eastview without her powers. Episode one opens with Agatha trapped in a parody of Mare of Easttown, with Hahn hamming up the mannerisms of Kate Winslet’s performance alongside Aubrey Plaza. She’s soon woken up, however, by a mysterious teen played by Heartbreaker’s Joe Locke. To regain her strength, she must transport herself to the Witches’ Road and survive the journey. But she can’t do this without forming a coven with other witches.

With a coven played by the star-studded ensemble of Debra Jo Rupp, Ali Ahn, Sasheer Zamata and Patti LuPone, Agatha dares to walk the Witches’ Road. Along the journey, each witch will be faced with a trial in which they must succeed or face certain death. Adding to the tension is the mystery around the teen’s identity and the potential former romance between Hanh and Plaza’s characters.

Showrunner Jac Schaeffer, who also created WandaVision, has imbued Agatha All Along with the same humour and pop culture awareness. The show is reminiscent of the 1990s obsession with witchcraft and supernatural power, such as Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Charmed and Practical Magic. It’s refreshing to have a Marvel entry that is genuinely feminist and queer.

– Stuart Richards

Sharon Crozier-De Rosa receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

Alexa Scarlata, Jessica Ford, Phoebe Hart, Rachel Williamson, and Stuart Richards 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. Flashy Parisian fashion, queer Marvel and the competitive world of K-pop: what we’re watching in October – https://theconversation.com/flashy-parisian-fashion-queer-marvel-and-the-competitive-world-of-k-pop-what-were-watching-in-october-239731