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

Labor is less than halfway into its first term, but Anthony Albanese is focused, laser-like, on its second one. Securing it, that is.

His message to delegates at the party’s national conference on Thursday was, in essence: be patient, don’t rock the boat, you shouldn’t expect the government to do all you want all at once.

And, above all, realise that if this is just a short-term government, what it achieves can be quickly negated by the other side.

“Each of us understands that winning and holding government is not only true to our principles, it is essential to fulfilling them”, Albanese said in his keynote address. “Equally we know what we have begun can be undone, unless we are there to protect it.”

Underlining his point, Albanese spelled out the differences between a short-term and a long-term Labor government.

The difference between a moment of progress – or a lifetime of opportunity.

The difference between laying the foundation – and finishing the build.

The difference between taking the gender pay gap to an historic low. And making the gender pay gap history.

The difference between writing an emissions reduction target into law. And seeing it achieved in new jobs and clean energy and a healthier environment.

It all amounted to whether Labor shaped the future – “or the future shapes us”. To be there for the long term depended on “bringing people with us” and “earning and repaying people’s trust.”

Albanese acknowledged that “this approach mightn’t suit those who prefer protest to progress, who imagine grand gestures and bold declarations are better than the patient work of ensuring lasting change.”

The prime minister’s pragmatic sentiments were a million miles from those the youthful Albanese would have expressed. Then again, this Labor conference is a far cry from those of decades ago when then prime minister Bob Hawke and treasurer Paul Keating had to fight for their policies against critics on what was a tough and vocal left. They won but the fights could be hard.

So far, this conference has been docile, compliant, and highly managed with approved speaking lists. Even though the left has the numbers (for the first time in decades) the government is firmly in the driving seat.

Remarkably – or perhaps not – when the party’s economic platform was discussed on Thursday morning, issues such as the need for comprehensive tax reform were not front of mind.

Stage 3 tax cuts actually didn’t even get a mention, despite being hotly contested in the public discussion.

The CFMEU had earlier floated a push for a super profits tax to provide money for housing, but the air was taken out of that balloon in negotiations.

The wording of the final motion said blandly: “Labor will increase government investment in social and affordable housing with funding from a progressive and sustainable tax system, including corporate tax reform”.

Read more:
View from The Hill: Albanese unveils boosted housing target and incentive payments ahead of Labor national conference

CFMEU National Secretary Zach Smith said “a permanent solution on social and affordable housing requires us to be more bold” while admitting the amendment was “not everything that the union is demanding”.

On the eve of the conference the government had unveiled initiatives to try to speed up the construction of housing, including increasing the target build from one million new homes to 1.2 million over five years from mid next year. It also announced ongoing work to strengthen renters’ rights.

The Grattan Institute has strongly praised Labor’s plan, saying every extra home will increase supply and so ease rental pressure. Its calculations suggest the extra 200,000 homes could reduce rents by about 4%. But it also notes that while it’s a good plan, “the devil will be in the detail”, to ensure the incentives work properly and there is adequate skilled labour for construction.

It’s not clear whether the housing crisis will do serious damage to Labor as it looks to the next election. The Greens, seeking to seize the mantle of the party of renters, have been predictably critical of the government’s measures. And there is still no resolution of the standoff over the government’s proposed housing fund.

The government is right to resist the demands by the Greens for a rent freeze or caps, but there is little doubt it is vulnerable in the battle for votes among many of the now large renter constituency, especially younger voters.

Read more:
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Labor president Wayne Swan on the party’s coming national conference

The Labor conference’s economic debate saw delegates from unions given an extensive speaking role.

Basically, they were happy with the Albanese government, not looking to cause any trouble or stir the pot. The economic debate neither reflected discontent nor was a forum for forward thinking.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who kicked off that part of the conference, would be happy with the smooth run the party gave him. However, he often proclaims he is anxious to have “conversations” about important issues for the future.

Next Thursday at the National Press Club, Chalmers will launch the government’s Intergenerational Report, which examines what will happen to Australia over the next four decades.

This one will be the first to attempt to properly incorporate the effects of climate change, and the first of a more regular series of such reports. Chalmers has promised they will be prepared every three years (in the middle of each electoral cycle) rather than every five years as they have been since 2002.

It remains to be seen how willing he will be to grapple with the really tough questions the report is likely to point to.

More immediately, back at the Labor conference, the arm-twisting continued to finalise wording on the AUKUS section of the platform, to be considered on Friday, that is acceptable to the government.

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: Albanese is determined to keep Labor’s eyes firmly focused on a second term – https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-albanese-is-determined-to-keep-labors-eyes-firmly-focused-on-a-second-term-211740

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Coates, Program Director, Economic Policy, Grattan Institute

Wednesday’s National Cabinet meeting set itself a huge task: to fix Australia’s rental crisis. Thankfully, given rents are rising at their fastest rate in decades, the plan it produced just might do the trick.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says it’s the most significant housing reform in a generation. If the states and territories deliver on their commitments, this might become one of the rare occasions when such lofty rhetoric is justified.

The plan has two key objectives:

• to remove constraints to building more homes in established suburbs

• to give renters more rights

As Grattan Institute has long argued, each is crucial.

Rents 4% cheaper as a result of the plan

The National Planning Reform Blueprint adds 200,000 homes to the previous target of 1 million extra homes over five years.

More importantly, that target is backed by $3.5 billion in incentives for states and territories to actually deliver the extra homes.

Most of that comes from the New Home Bonus, which will give states and territories $15,000 for every one of the extra 200,000 homes they deliver.

Grattan Institute calculations suggest those extra 200,000 homes, once all built, could reduce rents from what they otherwise would have been by 4%.

That’s a saving of $8 billion for renters over the first five years.

If those higher rates of construction are sustained for a full decade, rents could fall by 8%, saving renters $32 billion over those ten years.

Rewards for states that fast-track developments

A separate Housing Support Program will provide $500 million in competitive funding for state and local governments who get their act together on connecting services to new housing developments and fast-tracking planning reforms.

These incentives are needed because planning reform is hard

The Grattan Institute has long called for such meaningful incentives.

It is our state and local governments that restrict medium- and high-density developments, largely to appease existing residents in established suburbs.

The specific barriers vary from state to state, but the effect is the same: fewer houses where people most want to live.

Freeing up barriers is politically hard for state governments because many (vocal) residents don’t want more housing where they want to live.

Combined, the $3.5 billion in incentive payments will make it worth the states’ while to make tough choices by rewarding them for each extra home that’s eventually built.

Better housing, as well as more housing

Importantly, National Cabinet has also committed to rectifying problems in housing design and building certification to lift the quality of new builds, particularly apartments.

Public support for more density in existing suburbs will rise if residents know that what will get built will be good-quality housing that results in more vibrant and liveable communities.

Better security for renters

The second part of the plan – better, and nationally consistent, rights for renters – is an important step towards delivering genuine security of tenure.

The archetypal renter is no longer a student with a few milk crates and a futon.

It is increasingly a young family that has to endure huge housing costs and the intermittent disruption of being evicted against its will.

Nearly a quarter of couples who started their family more than five years ago are still renting privately. As do more than half of Australia’s single parents.

But while renters have changed, Australia’s rental rules have not. Renting remains insecure: most tenancy agreements are for a single year, and in many states landlords retain extensive rights to end leases, including via no-grounds evictions.

The plans aim to ensure renters can be evicted only if there are genuinely reasonable grounds for eviction.

Better behaviour by landlords

The prime minister and premiers also want to combat what they call retaliatory rent increases and eviction notices, whereby landlords hit back at tenants who take reasonable action to enforce legal rights or complain about their tenancy.

These are important steps, but more will be required. For example, more needs to be done to encourage institutional investors to buy up more of the rental stock. They are better placed than “mum-and-dad” investors to offer security.

More needed, but a good start

There is much more that will have to be done to make housing more affordable.

The tax and means test rules that distort demand for housing will have to be reformed, Commonwealth Rent Assistance will have to be increased further, and the Senate will have to pass the Housing Australia Future Fund to guarantee a steady stream of funding for new social housing.

But this is an excellent start. What will be important will be that the states follow through and don’t try to use loopholes to get rewards for homes that would have been built anyway.

For its part, the Commonwealth will have to do all it can to ensure Australia gets the skilled workers that will be needed to build these extra houses, including by streamlining pathways to skilled migration.

Ultimately, the only thing that will really help is more about supply. Because when housing is plentiful, it’s more affordable.

Read more:
The rent crisis is set to spread: here’s the case for doubling rent assistance

Grattan Institute began with contributions to its endowment of $15 million from each of the Federal and Victorian Governments, $4 million from BHP Billiton, and $1 million from NAB. In order to safeguard its independence, Grattan Institute’s board controls this endowment. The funds are invested and contribute to funding Grattan Institute’s activities.

Joey Moloney 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. National Cabinet’s new housing plan could fix our rental crisis and save renters billions – https://theconversation.com/national-cabinets-new-housing-plan-could-fix-our-rental-crisis-and-save-renters-billions-211696

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Damien O’Meara, PhD Candidate, Media and Communications, Swinburne University of Technology

The hit romantic comedy Red, White & Royal Blue, an adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s book of the same name, quickly became the number one movie on Prime.

The film follows Alex Claremont-Diaz (the son of the US President) and Prince Henry (the “spare” to the British royal throne) and their enemies-to-lovers secret romance, and its mainstream appeal broadens understandings of what gay intimacy can look like.

Red, White & Royal Blue is an exciting catalyst for new discussions between mainstream and queer audiences about gay representations in the media, portrayals of gay and queer sex in Hollywood cinema and the role media plays in how broader communities understand queer lives.

It takes on aspects of the gay rom-com genre that emerged through queer film festivals. And like other recent gay rom-coms that pitched to the mainstream, it takes on a role to explain gay contexts to non-queer audiences.

Gay cultural anxieties in the heterosexual setting

Red, White & Royal Blue takes steps to reflect aspects the gay context to both queer and mainstream audiences.

Upon coming out to his mother (President Ellen Claremont), Alex is met with a parent well-versed in current queer community matters. She reflects a growing broader community understanding of LGBTIQ+ community interests and anxieties.

As Alex makes clear he is bisexual, she responds “you know the B in LGBTQ is not a silent letter.” This reflection and acknowledgement of bi erasure (the questioning or denying the existence of bisexuality) may seem basic to those within the community. But it is a reminder to the audience that one half of this gay rom-com is bisexual.

The President also raises the prospect of going on Truvada, a medication that can help prevent HIV infection, even though the drug continues to have low awareness, even among primary care providers.

These – somewhat clunky, although I suspect that’s for comic effect – parental interjections provide aspects of the film’s establishment of gay contexts in a much more mainstream world.

However, it is the intimate portrayal of Alex and Henry’s first time having sex that is reflexive of queer community frustrations about gay sex in cinema. Director Matthew López addresses this matter directly in an interview with Digital Spy’s David Opie, saying

I really wanted to show something that I hadn’t seen much of in mainstream movie making, which is sex between two men that is loving and connected, and that is emotionally resonant.

Read more:
Red, White & Royal Blue review – this queer romcom puts a new spin on the US and UK’s ‘special relationship’

The influence of queer film festivals

In my recent essay in Senses of Cinema, I argue that the gay rom-com emerged through the influence of queer film festivals.

Queer film festivals seek to give queer audiences stories where they can see themselves and their community. The growing global network of queer film festivals has also made them curators of what films are culturally valuable.

Think gay rom-coms like Bear City (2010), which premiered and circulated through queer film festivals, and reflects the physical spaces and cultural anxieties of New York’s bear subculture. The film shows a range of gay sex scenes with different levels of intimacy (although none quite as intimate as Red, White & Royal Blue).

In another genre, the gay romantic drama, Shelter (2007), which premiered at the 31st Frameline (LGBTQ+) film festival, is also an example that shows more variety and intimacy in representations of gay sex.

But Red, White & Royal Blue takes a mainstream setting, and pitches it to a mainstream audience. And yet, that’s not to say that there aren’t gay cultural contexts in the film.

Gay sex in Hollywood cinema

Film historian Vito Russo’s book Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies charts gay and lesbian representations in cinema through the suppressive Hays Code era, which censored American films, and its impact through to the 1980s.

Russo argues that after years of suppression of gay and lesbian representations in Hollywood, the 1960s and 1970s saw a push by the mainstream to show limited views of gays onscreen. Russo describes “the readily visible poles of the gay community.” That is, “the sissy at one end” – the mysoginistic framing of gay men as feminine the therefore weak – and “the leather-jacketed macho violence of the waterfront sex bar at the other”, portraying gay men as deviant and predatory.

One of the most graphic early depictions of gay sex in Hollywood cinema is in Fortune and Men’s Eyes (1971), with an infamous and confronting prison rape. In relation to gay sex scenes, such as in this film, Russo describes situational homosexuality as “either active (masculine and powerful) or passive (feminine and powerless).”

There are many portrayals of gay sex in cinema, but this dynamic of gay sex as being about dominance of one man over another has persisted in many Hollywood representations. It is important to say this positioning is not an invalid portrayal of gay sex. But as with any stereotype, it is rooted in a history of showing gay men in a particular way.

My Policeman (2022), The Normal Heart (2014), Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Wet Hot American Summer (2001) are just a few recent examples of this representation of gay sex as an act of domaination**.

It is a portrayal so prominent that some outsiders to queer communities were surprised to see face-to-face gay sex in this latest gay rom-com. One Twitter poster asking “gay guys can do missionary?”. This has led to gay men on the social media platform noting the importance of gay representation in the media, and reviews, critique and media praising the “accuracy” of the scene.

The development of gay sex in Hollywood cinema is something to keep watching as these stories continue to find mainstream appeal.

Damien O’Meara is the recipient of the Research Training Program Stipend Scholarship through Swinburne University of Technology.

– ref. ‘Gay guys can do missionary?’ – how Red, White & Royal Blue brings queer intimacy to mainstream audiences – https://theconversation.com/gay-guys-can-do-missionary-how-red-white-and-royal-blue-brings-queer-intimacy-to-mainstream-audiences-211663

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Mouat, Researcher in Economic Geography, Massey University

Like most countries over the past three years, New Zealand has tried to manage inflation by increasing interest rates. Japan, on the other hand, has taken a different tack – with clear success.

In 2016, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) set the country’s interest rate at -0.1% and left it there. During the same period, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has adjusted the interest rate 18 times, with 12 upward adjustments since the end of 2021.

Japan’s annual inflation rate peaked at 4.4% in January 2023, while New Zealand’s peaked at 7.3% in June 2022, before dropping to 6.0% in June this year.

What might explain these differences in interest rate policy and inflation outcomes? The answer begins with how Japan views inflation in the first place.

Inflation as a supply issue

Since the early 1980s, most central banks have believed inflation could be combated by increasing the base interest rate. This would cause domestic demand for goods and services to decrease, suppress wages and increase unemployment – eventually triggering a fall in general price levels.

New Zealand enshrined this approach in the Reserve Bank Act 1989, which introduced the RBNZ monetary framework. Since 1999, the main policy tool for adjusting inflation has been the official cash rate (OCR), more or less mirroring the global central bank consensus.

Put bluntly, raising the OCR suppresses demand until unemployment is high enough for prices to fall.

Read more:
UK interest rates: crashing the economy is no way to bring down inflation

In contrast to New Zealand and elsewhere, the BoJ board sees the recent inflation episode as primarily caused by “transient” supply issues. So, raising interest rates to suppress demand has no effect on supply chains disrupted by things such as a global pandemic, the war in Ukraine or cuts to oil production.

While not necessarily short lived, these disruptions are seen by Japan’s central bank as transient because they are unlikely to cause permanent structural changes. With it’s focus on supply issues, Japan has ultimately fared better.

Why interest rates could be inflationary

There are three reasons why Japan’s refusal to tinker with interest rates may have been more successful at fighting inflation than New Zealand’s orthodox policy of raising rates.

1. Interest income

Securities such as government bonds attract interest. So, raising interest rates has meant new interest income began flowing from the public to private sector – in particular to those who have the money to invest in government bonds.

Treasury has calculated that interest income will more than double in 2023 – meaning an extra NZ$3.4 billion will flow to private sector investors. At least some of those billions will be spent on goods and services, adding to New Zealand’s existing inflationary pressures.

Japan’s policy of holding the interest rate below 0% means issuing government securities does not provide significant new interest income, which would ultimately put upward pressure on prices.

2. Employment

Employment – and unemployment – are viewed differently in Japan, where the unemployment rate is 2.7% and hasn’t been above 3% since 2017.

The RBNZ, by comparison, forecasts rising interest rates will lead to rising unemployment, possibly tipping above 5% in the near future.

Read more:
Interest rates: the case for cutting them permanently to zero

Japan’s workers benefit from an “implicit contract” between business and the rest of Japanese society, which delivers long-term employment. This implicit contract drives the BoJ policy of keeping interest rates low to fight inflation.

This policy broadly aligns with what’s known as “Okun’s Law”. This links increasing unemployment with a reduction in productive output. New Zealand’s policy of increasing unemployment by raising interest rates therefore restricts production, putting upward pressure on prices by restricting supply.

Adding to this, increased welfare payments due to rising unemployment maintain demand for consumer goods at the same time as output is restricted. The New Zealand Treasury forecasts welfare payments will increase by $10 billion over the next four years.

The BoJ policy of keeping the interest rate below zero supports productive output and suppresses the need for increased welfare payments. This likely keeps prices down, as reflected in Japan’s better inflation targeting performance.

The RBNZ policy of increasing rates, on the other hand, restricts output and increases welfare payments, likely adding to inflationary pressures.

3. Business expenses

Finally, raising interest rates might be inflationary when businesses require credit to operate. Compared to Japan, New Zealand businesses now have comparatively higher interest costs.

Increased interest costs translate into increased operational costs that can be passed through to consumers in the form of higher prices.

Increased interest costs in New Zealand are therefore more likely to be inflationary than Japan’s below-zero policy rate. This is reflected in recent inflation data from the two economies.

Reexamining inflation orthodoxy

The Bank of Japan’s divergence from monetary policy orthodoxy raises an important question: by raising interest rates to combat inflation over nearly four decades, have central banks been stamping on the inflation accelerator rather than the brakes?

Furthermore, did hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders need to lose their jobs at various times during this period?

By deliberately leaving the interest rate below zero, Japan has seen better inflation outcomes than New Zealand, where official policy has seen rates continually adjusted – the majority of which were increases.

There are other factors that may contribute to Japan’s low inflation, such as government price controls and an ageing population. But as New Zealand tries to manage rising costs of living, it may be time to examine Japan’s approach and question orthodox wisdom about dealing with inflation.

Michael Mouat 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. Japan has gone its own way on fighting inflation – can NZ learn from a global outlier? – https://theconversation.com/japan-has-gone-its-own-way-on-fighting-inflation-can-nz-learn-from-a-global-outlier-210618

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Mouat, Researcher in Economic Geography, Massey University

Like most countries over the past three years, New Zealand has tried to manage inflation by increasing interest rates. Japan, on the other hand, has taken a different tack – with clear success.

In 2016, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) set the country’s interest rate at -0.1% and left it there. During the same period, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has adjusted the interest rate 18 times, with 12 upward adjustments since the end of 2021.

Japan’s annual inflation rate peaked at 4.4% in January 2023, while New Zealand’s peaked at 7.3% in June 2022, before dropping to 6.0% in June this year.

What might explain these differences in interest rate policy and inflation outcomes? The answer begins with how Japan views inflation in the first place.

Inflation as a supply issue

Since the early 1980s, most central banks have believed inflation could be combated by increasing the base interest rate. This would cause domestic demand for goods and services to decrease, suppress wages and increase unemployment – eventually triggering a fall in general price levels.

New Zealand enshrined this approach in the Reserve Bank Act 1989, which introduced the RBNZ monetary framework. Since 1999, the main policy tool for adjusting inflation has been the official cash rate (OCR), more or less mirroring the global central bank consensus.

Put bluntly, raising the OCR suppresses demand until unemployment is high enough for prices to fall.

Read more:
UK interest rates: crashing the economy is no way to bring down inflation

In contrast to New Zealand and elsewhere, the BoJ board sees the recent inflation episode as primarily caused by “transient” supply issues. So, raising interest rates to suppress demand has no effect on supply chains disrupted by things such as a global pandemic, the war in Ukraine or cuts to oil production.

While not necessarily short lived, these disruptions are seen by Japan’s central bank as transient because they are unlikely to cause permanent structural changes. With it’s focus on supply issues, Japan has ultimately fared better.

Why interest rates could be inflationary

There are three reasons why Japan’s refusal to tinker with interest rates may have been more successful at fighting inflation than New Zealand’s orthodox policy of raising rates.

1. Interest income

Securities such as government bonds attract interest. So, raising interest rates has meant new interest income began flowing from the public to private sector – in particular to those who have the money to invest in government bonds.

Treasury has calculated that interest income will more than double in 2023 – meaning an extra NZ$3.4 billion will flow to private sector investors. At least some of those billions will be spent on goods and services, adding to New Zealand’s existing inflationary pressures.

Japan’s policy of holding the interest rate below 0% means issuing government securities does not provide significant new interest income, which would ultimately put upward pressure on prices.

2. Employment

Employment – and unemployment – are viewed differently in Japan, where the unemployment rate is 2.7% and hasn’t been above 3% since 2017.

The RBNZ, by comparison, forecasts rising interest rates will lead to rising unemployment, possibly tipping above 5% in the near future.

Read more:
Interest rates: the case for cutting them permanently to zero

Japan’s workers benefit from an “implicit contract” between business and the rest of Japanese society, which delivers long-term employment. This implicit contract drives the BoJ policy of keeping interest rates low to fight inflation.

This policy broadly aligns with what’s known as “Okun’s Law”. This links increasing unemployment with a reduction in productive output. New Zealand’s policy of increasing unemployment by raising interest rates therefore restricts production, putting upward pressure on prices by restricting supply.

Adding to this, increased welfare payments due to rising unemployment maintain demand for consumer goods at the same time as output is restricted. The New Zealand Treasury forecasts welfare payments will increase by $10 billion over the next four years.

The BoJ policy of keeping the interest rate below zero supports productive output and suppresses the need for increased welfare payments. This likely keeps prices down, as reflected in Japan’s better inflation targeting performance.

The RBNZ policy of increasing rates, on the other hand, restricts output and increases welfare payments, likely adding to inflationary pressures.

3. Business expenses

Finally, raising interest rates might be inflationary when businesses require credit to operate. Compared to Japan, New Zealand businesses now have comparatively higher interest costs.

Increased interest costs translate into increased operational costs that can be passed through to consumers in the form of higher prices.

Increased interest costs in New Zealand are therefore more likely to be inflationary than Japan’s below-zero policy rate. This is reflected in recent inflation data from the two economies.

Reexamining inflation orthodoxy

The Bank of Japan’s divergence from monetary policy orthodoxy raises an important question: by raising interest rates to combat inflation over nearly four decades, have central banks been stamping on the inflation accelerator rather than the brakes?

Furthermore, did hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders need to lose their jobs at various times during this period?

By deliberately leaving the interest rate below zero, Japan has seen better inflation outcomes than New Zealand, where official policy has seen rates continually adjusted – the majority of which were increases.

There are other factors that may contribute to Japan’s low inflation, such as government price controls and an ageing population. But as New Zealand tries to manage rising costs of living, it may be time to examine Japan’s approach and question orthodox wisdom about dealing with inflation.

Michael Mouat 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. Japan has gone its own way on fighting inflation – can NZ can learn from a global outlier? – https://theconversation.com/japan-has-gone-its-own-way-on-fighting-inflation-can-nz-can-learn-from-a-global-outlier-210618

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick D. Nunn, Professor of Geography, School of Law and Society, University of the Sunshine Coast

Can you imagine a scientist who could neither read nor write, who spoke their wisdom in riddles, in tales of fantastic beings flying through the sky, fighting each another furiously and noisily, drinking the ocean dry, and throwing giant spears with force enough to leave massive holes in rocky headlands?

Our newly published research in the journal Oral Tradition shows memories of a volcanic eruption in Fiji some 2,500 years ago were encoded in oral traditions in precisely these ways.

They were never intended as fanciful stories, but rather as the pragmatic foundations of a system of local risk management.

Life-changing events

Around 2,500 years ago, at the western end of the island of Kadavu in the southern part of Fiji, the ground shook, the ocean became agitated, and clouds of billowing smoke and ash poured into the sky.

When the clouds cleared, the people saw a new mountain had formed, its shape resembling a mound of earth in which yams are grown. This gave the mountain its name – Nabukelevu, the giant yam mound. (It was renamed Mount Washington during Fiji’s colonial history.)

So dramatic, so life-changing were the events associated with this eruption, the people who witnessed it told stories about it. These stories have endured more than two millennia, faithfully passed on across roughly 100 generations to reach us today.

Scientists used to dismiss such stories as fictions, devalue them with labels like “myth” or “legend”. But the situation is changing.

Today, we are starting to recognise that many such “stories” are authentic memories of human pasts, encoded in oral traditions in ways that represent the worldviews of people from long ago.

In other words, these stories served the same purpose as scientific accounts, and the people who told them were trying to understand the natural world, much like scientists do today.

Battle of the vu

The most common story about the 2,500-year-old eruption of Nabukelevu is one involving a “god” (vu in Fijian) named Tanovo from the island of Ono, about 56km from the volcano.

Tanovo’s view of the sunset became blocked one day by this huge mountain. Our research identifies this as a volcanic dome that was created during the eruption, raising the height of the mountain several hundred feet.

Enraged, Tanovo flew to Nabukelevu and started to tear down the mountain, a process described by local residents as driva qele (stealing earth). This explains why even today the summit of Nabukelevu has a crater.

But Tanovo was interrupted by the “god” of Nabukelevu, named Tautaumolau. The pair started fighting. A chase ensued through the sky and, as the two twisted and turned, the earth being carried by Tanovo started falling to the ground, where it is said to have “created” islands.

We conclude that the sequence in which these islands are said to have been created is likely to represent the movement of the ash plume from the eruption, as shown on the map below.

‘Myths’ based in fact

Geologists would today find it exceedingly difficult to deduce such details of an ancient eruption. But here, in the oral traditions of Kadavu people, this information is readily available.

Another detail we would never know if we did not have the oral traditions is about the tsunami the eruption caused.

In some versions of the story, one of the “gods” is so frightened, he hides beneath the sea. But his rival comes along and drinks up all the water at that place, a detail our research interprets as a memory of the ocean withdrawing prior to tsunami impact.

Other details in the oral traditions recall how one god threw a massive spear at his rival but missed, leaving behind a huge hole in a rock. This is a good example of how landforms likely predating the eruption can be retrofitted to a narrative.

Our study adds to the growing body of scientific research into “myths” and “legends”, showing that many have a basis in fact, and the details they contain add depth and breadth to our understanding of human pasts.

The Kadavu volcano stories discussed here also show ancient societies were no less risk aware and risk averse than ours are today. The imperative was to survive, greatly aided by keeping alive memories of all the hazards that existed in a particular place.

Australian First Peoples’ cultures are replete with similar stories.

Literate people, those who read and write, tend to be impressed by the extraordinary time depth of oral traditions, like those about the 2,500-year old eruption of Nabukelevu. But not everyone is.

In early 2019, I was sitting and chatting to Ratu Petero Uluinaceva in Waisomo Village, after he had finished relating the Ono people’s story of the eruption. I told him this particular story recalled events which occurred more than two millennia ago – and thought he might be impressed. But he wasn’t.

“We know our stories are that old, that they recall our ancient history,” he told me with a grin. “But we are glad you have now learned this too!”

Acknowledgements: The original research this article is based on was conducted in collaboration with Loredana Lancini and Rita Compatangelo-Soussignan (University of Le Mans), Meli Nanuku and Kaliopate Tavola (Fiji Museum), Taniela Bolea (University of the Sunshine Coast) and Paul Geraghty (University of the South Pacific).

Patrick D. Nunn receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Australia Pacific Climate Partnership, the Asia-Pacific Network, the Natural Environment Research Council (UK) and the British Academy.

The original research this article is based on was conducted in collaboration with Loredana Lancini and Rita Compatangelo-Soussignan (University of Le Mans), Meli Nanuku and Kaliopate Tavola (Fiji Museum), Taniela Bolea (University of the Sunshine Coast) and Paul Geraghty (University of the South Pacific).

– ref. A dramatic volcano eruption changed lives in Fiji 2,500 years ago. 100 generations have kept the story alive – https://theconversation.com/a-dramatic-volcano-eruption-changed-lives-in-fiji-2-500-years-ago-100-generations-have-kept-the-story-alive-211619

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shobi Sivathamboo, Research Fellow, Monash University

When 20-year-old Disney Channel star Cameron Boyce died of “sudden unexpected death in epilepsy” (known as SUDEP) in 2019, his parents had not even heard of the condition.

“We didn’t know about SUDEP. We have family members who are doctors who never heard of SUDEP,” Cameron’s father Victor said in an interview.

We were clueless, completely clueless. The first time we heard [of] SUDEP is when the coroner told us that’s what took our son.

Most of us have heard of epilepsy, a brain condition that causes recurrent and spontaneous seizures. Lesser known to the public is that seizures can lead to an uncommon but fatal complication known as sudden unexpected death in epilepsy.

What is sudden unexpected death in epilepsy?

Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy is when someone with epilepsy dies without any warning and there is no other cause found. It often occurs immediately after a night-time convulsive seizure. Victims are often found in bed and lying face down.

While this can occur at any age, it particularly affects young people – the average age at death is only 26 years.

The risk of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy is highest in those who have convulsive or “tonic-clonic” seizures. With these types of seizures, the muscles stiffen, there is loss of consciousness, and the body starts jerking rhythmically.

This can cause a fast heart rate, as well as long pauses to breathing, which decrease oxygen levels. These seizures can place a lot of stress on the body.

Even one convulsive seizure in the past year can increase the risk of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. In one Swedish study, having one convulsive seizure and not sharing a bedroom (meaning no-one is there to intervene if a seizure occurs in the night) made the condition 67 times more likely than those who do not have convulsive seizures and share a bedroom. As the number of convulsive seizures increase, the risk of sudden unexpected death also increases.

Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy is the leading cause of death from epilepsy and accounts for over 80% of epilepsy deaths.

While the overall risk of SUDEP is low, with about 1 in 1,000 people with epilepsy affected each year, this risk increases to 1 in 150 in those with poorly controlled seizures. The risk increases with time, as epilepsy is often a lifelong condition, and the longer the exposure, the higher the risk.

But these figures are thought to be an underestimate. Because deaths commonly occur at night, they aren’t often witnessed, limiting what information there is about the time of death – for instance, whether there a seizure right before death. Often, victims are found deceased in bed and a history of epilepsy is overlooked as the cause of death.

People with epilepsy often have other serious medical problems such as heart disease, which can make identifying the cause of death difficult.

Autopsy findings are often inconclusive or attributed to heart issues, as even among forensic specialists there is limited awareness that epilepsy can cause sudden death.

Do we know what causes sudden unexpected death in epilepsy?

It’s still unclear why one person can have hundreds of convulsive seizures in their lifetime and won’t die of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, and yet another can die after only a handful.

We think this is because there are many different causes.

Looking at sudden unexpected death in epilepsy cases that happened in hospital, researchers found that in all cases, a convulsive seizure caused a “flat-lining” of brain activity, which stopped the heart beat and breathing – all within minutes, causing rapid death. Survivors in this study all received prompt resuscitation within minutes.

But in some people, seizures can trigger dangerous irregular heart rhythms – which may be another cause of the sudden death.

Some genetic conditions can impair how molecules responsible for electrical conduction in the heart and brain function. This can increase the risk of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy by making epilepsy and abnormal heart conditions more likely to occur together, heightening the risk of death.

Seizures can deprive the major organs of oxygen. Over time, repeated decreases in oxygen levels can cause damage to not only the heart, but also to the brain.

In people who died of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, areas of the brain that control breathing and heart function had shrunk. Over time, this may increase the risk of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy by lowering the brain’s ability to control vital functions.

I or a loved one have epilepsy. What can we do?

Unfortunately, people with epilepsy and their families are often not counselled on sudden unexpected death in epilepsy and its risks. All newly diagnosed epilepsy patients should be informed about these risks at the time of diagnosis or shortly afterwards.

Individual risk varies. For most people with epilepsy, the overall risk will be low. Control of convulsive seizures is associated with the most significant risk reduction.

Most of the time this is achieved with the use of one or more epilepsy medications.

In people who don’t respond to epilepsy medications, brain surgery, implantable neurostimulators, or dietary therapies may offer some people hope in decreasing seizure frequency.

Read more:
What are ketogenic diets? Can they treat epilepsy and brain cancer?

It’s important to remember sudden unexpected death in epilepsy can happen to anyone with epilepsy – even those with well-controlled epilepsy.

Taking medications as prescribed and not missing doses, getting a good night’s sleep, avoiding alcohol and recreational drugs, and managing stress may reduce the risk of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy by making seizures less likely.

For some people who continue to have convulsive seizures, sharing a bedroom, or night-time monitoring devices may offer peace of mind and help with sudden unexpected death in epilepsy risk.

The causes of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy are many – understanding these will help develop targeted treatments. We need to develop tests that can identify people at high risk so we can optimise prevention strategies.

The development of night-time monitoring systems to identify dangerous seizures in the home and alert caregivers or emergency services is currently underway, and are sorely needed.

Shobi Sivathamboo receives funding from the National Institutes of Health. She is affiliated with The International League Against Epilepsy SUDEP Task Force.

– ref. What is sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, and what causes it? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-sudden-unexpected-death-in-epilepsy-and-what-causes-it-208281

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Younger, Lecturer, Southern Ocean Vertebrate Ecology, University of Tasmania

Albatross are among the world’s largest flying birds, with wingspans that can stretch beyond a remarkable three metres. These majestic animals harness ocean winds to travel thousands of kilometres in search of food while barely flapping their wings.

Young albatross, embarking on their first journey, can spend up to five years at sea without ever touching land.

Yet not all albatross are the same. Across the world’s oceans there exist 22 species, with many sharing an overlapping range around the Southern Ocean — a region synonymous with cold, roaring winds and towering waves.

Our new research published today shows how albatross species evolved different beak shapes to make the most of the ocean’s food resources. These species have adapted to different seafood diets.

Read more:
An ocean like no other: the Southern Ocean’s ecological richness and significance for global climate

Move over, Darwin’s finches!

In 1835 Charles Darwin discovered the finches of the Galápagos Islands and noted their beaks varied in shape and size to suit different diets. This observation became a centrepiece for the theory of evolution, showing how species adapt to different ways of life.

From a single common ancestor, Darwin’s finches diversified. Some birds have thick beaks for feeding on seeds and nuts, while others have pointed beaks for eating insects. This variation allows species to specialise, helping them to share available food sources and limit competition.

Albatross have fascinating beaks. Unlike most other birds, they have a “compound” beak made of multiple pieces of keratin. Albatross spend most of their lives at sea, so they have adapted to drink seawater. They use a special gland to remove salt from the seawater and their beaks contain tube-like passages that excrete the salty liquid.

By studying the shape of albatross beaks in three dimensions (3D), our new research shows that, just like Darwin’s finches, albatross beaks vary in size and shape to adapt to different diets.

The 3D scanning revolution

Wildlife research is undergoing a revolution as scientists use new 3D scanning and modelling techniques to compare the anatomy of animals. This gives fresh insights into their ecology and evolution.

Using museum specimens, we made 3D digital models of beaks for 61 birds from 12 different albatross species. We compared the size and shape of different species’ beaks. We tested if closely-related species had similar beaks. Alternatively, beaks might be more alike between species that are distantly related but consume similar food. Such a pattern would be an example of convergent evolution.

We found beak size and shape varied between albatross species, making it a useful tool for identifying species that otherwise look similar.

Beaks also varied between species that eat either invertebrate prey, fish, or a mixture of both. Even in species that have similarly shaped beaks and diets, variations in beak size enable them to focus on prey of different sizes within the same category, such as small versus large fish.

The variation is most obvious in changes in the length and thickness of the beaks, but they can also vary in how the separate keratin pieces come together to make up the whole shape of the beak. These differences help albatross species to avoid competition with each other as they forage together over the open ocean.

A future for albatross?

This research was made possible by the large collection of more than 750 albatross specimens preserved at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

Almost all of these specimens came to the museum after being caught as bycatch in past longline fisheries, where bird carcasses were collected to identify which species were being captured on hooks.

Fortunately, improved fishing methods have reduced albatross bycatch, but this collection now remains as a valuable resource for new research like this into the biology of these birds.

Sadly, fisheries are not the only threat these extraordinary birds face. The first European record of an albatross from 1593 tells us how the bird was captured, killed and eaten. Today, of the 22 albatross species, two are considered critically endangered, seven species are endangered, and a further six species are considered vulnerable.

Albatross are still frequent victims of fisheries bycatch, plastic pollution, and introduced predators on their breeding islands.

Like most wildlife species, the persistent threat of climate change looms large, as the world’s oceans warm and alter their habitat and the abundance of their prey.

Despite their evolutionary marvels and remarkable adaptations to the harshest ocean on Earth, the albatross serves as a poignant reminder of nature’s fragility. It is our duty to ensure their wings continue to soar above our oceans for generations to come.

Read more:
Plastic in the ocean kills more threatened albatrosses than we thought

Jane Younger receives funding from National Geographic Society and WIRES.

Josh Tyler receives funding from the Evolution Education Trust.

David Hocking 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. Thick ones, pointy ones – how albatross beaks evolved to match their prey – https://theconversation.com/thick-ones-pointy-ones-how-albatross-beaks-evolved-to-match-their-prey-211461

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Vincent, Lecturer in Creative Industries, The University of Melbourne

The stories told on the operatic stage have received critical attention for their representation of gender, particularly the often violent fate of their heroines.

But little attention has been paid to women’s representation behind the scenes in Australia. In part, this is due to a lack of readily available data about women’s actual status within opera companies.

We have now created a unique dataset to address this gap.

We looked at the production credits for staged operas presented by Opera Australia, Opera Queensland, the State Opera of South Australia, Victorian Opera and West Australian Opera from 2005 to 2020.

For each production, we tracked the gender profile of the practitioners credited as conductors, directors and designers. We looked at who was credited when, and on which kinds of operas.

We found evidence of pervasive gender inequality.

Read more:
Opera is stuck in a racist, sexist past, while many in the audience have moved on

Gender inequality at top opera companies

Across the five companies, women were hugely underrepresented in the core creative leadership roles of conductor and director.

Women held just 5% of conductor credits over the 16 seasons, and less than a quarter of director credits. Not only were women less likely to see initial credits compared to men, they were also less likely to have opportunities to work on more than one production.

At individual companies, women’s representation was lowest at Opera Australia and the State Opera of South Australia.

Less than 3% of conductors and 19% of directors credited at Opera Australia were women. The State Opera of South Australia did not credit a single woman conductor between 2005 and 2020 and just 17% of its credited directors were women.

In comparison, two of the smallest companies – Opera Queensland and Victorian Opera – had by far the highest representation for women in both roles.

Women also saw low representation as designers, comprising 21% of set designers and 9% of lighting designers. Women were much more likely to be credited in the feminised role of costume designer.

Inequality is greatest in productions of the canon

The kinds of operas programmed also affected women’s representation as conductors, directors and designers.

Canonical works like Puccini’s La bohème (1895) and Bizet’s Carmen (1875) are seen as low-risk because they are recognised as masterpieces of the genre and are popular with existing opera audiences.

Canonical operas dominated programming at four of the five companies, followed by slightly less popular works from the 19th century and earlier, such as Rossini’s La Cenerentola (1817) and Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles (1863).

The combination of canonical and slightly less canonical works comprised 84% of programming at West Australian Opera, 79% at Opera Australia, 73% at Opera Queensland and 64% at the State Opera of South Australia. (The outlier, Victorian Opera, explicitly focuses on modern operas.)

However, women practitioners were notably absent from the production teams for these popular works. On canonical operas, women’s representation as conductors dropped to less than 1%. Women directors and designers saw almost universal drops in representation across both categories of repertoire.

Instead, women were more likely to be credited on high-risk modern operas. These works are thought to be less popular with audiences and are programmed less frequently and for fewer performances than canonical works.

Women also had higher levels of representation in musical theatre works, popular with audiences but traditionally holding little prestige in the sector.

Risk perception and gender inequality

Beyond the risk associated with different operas and their ability to attract audiences, a contributing factor for gender inequality in opera is how “risky” certain practitioners are thought to be.

Studies from the creative industries have shown perceptions of risk in the arts are deeply gendered, particularly when it comes to hiring for key artistic or governance roles. While men practitioners are seen as reliable, women are seen as inherently risky.

These biases are exacerbated in fields like opera where work opportunities are driven by personal networks and professional visibility, both of which favour men.

Risk perceptions also have compounding effects. Because modern operas are already seen as “risky”, it appears these productions can take the “risk” of employing women – whereas canonical operas, programmed because they are “safe”, also make the “safe” choice in hiring men.

Risk aversion in funding enables gender inequality

Entrenched gender bias is difficult to shift in any field. But with Australia’s opera companies, government funding policies are exacerbating the field’s existing inequality.

Here again, it comes down to questions of risk.

Australia’s peak arts funding body, now named Creative Australia, has a particular focus on mitigating risk – both financial and artistic – through its operatic policies.

In exchange for multi-year funding support, companies are expected to maintain financial targets and prioritise programming operas that are low-risk financially. Companies are also encouraged to rent existing productions from Opera Australia or co-commission new productions with other companies.

These policies are laudable for their attention to efficient public spending and co-operation. But policies can have unintended impacts.

By encouraging companies to program low-risk popular operas, Creative Australia is trying to mitigate financial risk. But such policies don’t take into account the fact that women practitioners are largely absent from these works.

In the same way, policies that promote co-operation don’t consider how this leads to companies reproducing gender imbalances. Opera Australia is framed as a key source of rental productions for other companies but also has some of the lowest rates of representation for women directors and conductors.

It is critical that arts funding bodies and policymakers consider the practical impacts of their policies. At the same time, opera companies need to acknowledge the extent to which their own organisational practices are driving inequality within the sector.

The scale of gender inequality at work in Australian opera production won’t be easily remedied. But shining a light on the extent of the problem is a start towards making the sector accountable for its performance, both on and off the stage.

Read more:
Does opera deserve its privileged status within arts funding?

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. 95% male conductors, 70% ageing classics and zero appetite for risk: what’s wrong with elite Australian opera – https://theconversation.com/95-male-conductors-70-ageing-classics-and-zero-appetite-for-risk-whats-wrong-with-elite-australian-opera-211270

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Buckberry, Telethon Kids Institute / Senior lecturer, ANU College of Health and Medicine, Australian National University

Stem cells are special kinds of cells in our body that can become any other type of cell. They have huge potential for medicine, and trials are currently under way using stem cells to replace damaged cells in diseases like Parkinson’s.

One way to get stem cells is from human embryos, but this has ethical concerns and practical limitations. Another way is to turn adult cells from the skin or elsewhere into what are called “induced pluripotent stem cells” (iPS cells).

However, these cells sometimes carry a “memory” of the kind of cell they used to be, which can make them less predictable or efficient when we try to turn them into other types of cells.

We have found a way to erase this memory, to make iPS cells function more like embryonic stem cells. Our study is published in Nature.

Great promise for regenerative medicine

Mature, specialised cells like skin cells can be reprogrammed into iPS cells in the lab. These “blank slate” cells show great promise in regenerative medicine, a field focused on regrowing, repairing or replacing damaged or diseased cells, organs or tissues.

Scientists can make iPS cells from a patient’s own tissue, so there’s less risk the new cells will be rejected by the patient’s immune system.

Read more:
Explainer: what are stem cells?

To take one example, iPS cells are being tested for making insulin-producing pancreas cells to help people with diabetes. We’re not there yet, but it’s an example of what might be possible.

Research using iPS cells is a rapidly advancing field, yet many technical challenges remain. Scientists are still figuring out how to better control what cell types iPS cells become and ensure the process is safe.

One of these technical challenges is “epigenetic memory”, where the iPS cells retain traces of the cell type they once were.

Epigenetic memory and how can it impair the use of iPS cells

To understand “epigenetic memory”, let’s first talk about epigenetics. Our DNA carries sequences of instructions known as genes. When various factors influence gene activity (turning them on or off) without changing the DNA sequence itself, this is known as epigenetics – literally meaning “above genetics”.

A cell’s epigenome is a collective term to describe all the epigenetic modifications in a cell. Each of our cells contains the same DNA, but the epigenome controls which genes are turned on or off, which determines whether it becomes a heart cell, a kidney cell, a liver cell, or any other cell type.

You can think of the DNA as a cookbook and the epigenome as a set of bookmarks. The bookmarks don’t alter the recipes, but they direct which ones are used.

Similarly, epigenetic marks guide cells to interpret the genetic code without changing it.

Read more:
Explainer: what is epigenetics?

When we reprogram a mature cell into an iPS cell, we want to erase all its “bookmarks”. However, this doesn’t always work completely. When some bookmarks remain, this “epigenetic memory” can influence the behaviour of the iPS cells.

An iPS cell made from a skin cell can retain a partial “memory” of being a skin cell, which makes it more likely to turn back into a skin-like cell and less likely to turn into other cell types. This is because some of the DNA’s epigenetic marks can tell the cell to behave like a skin cell.

This can be a hurdle for using iPS cells because it can impact the process of turning iPS cells into the types of cells you want. It might also affect the function of the cells once they’re created. If you want to use iPS cells to help repair a pancreas, but the cells have a “memory” of being skin cells, they might not function so well as true pancreatic cells.

How we managed to clear iPS cell epigenetic memory and improve their function

Overcoming the issue of epigenetic memory in iPS cells is a widely recognised challenge for regenerative medicine.

By studying how the epigenome transforms when we reprogram adult skin cells into iPS cells, we discovered a new way to reprogram cells that more completely erases epigenetic memory. We made this discovery by reprogramming cells using a method that imitates how the epigenome of embryo cells is naturally reset.

During the early development of an embryo, before it is implanted into the uterus, the epigenetic marks inherited from the sperm and egg cells are essentially erased. This reset allows the early embryo cells to start fresh and become any cell type as the embryo grows and develops.

By introducing a step during the reprogramming process that briefly mimics this reset process, we made iPS cells that are more like embryonic stem cells than conventional iPS cells.

More effective epigenetic memory erasure in iPS cells will enhance their medical potential. It will allow the iPS cells to behave as “blank slates” like embryonic stem cells, making them more likely to transform into any desired cell type.

If iPS cells can forget their past identities, they can more reliably become any type of cell and help create specific cells needed for therapies, like new insulin-producing cells for someone with diabetes, or neuronal cells for someone with Parkinson’s. It could also reduce the risk of unexpected behaviours or complications when iPS cells are used in medical treatments.

Dr Sam Buckberry has received funding from the NHMRC and WA Department of Health. He is employed by the Telethon Kids Institute, is affiliated with the Australian National University and is on the executive committee of the Australasian Genomics Technology association. He is also a co-inventor on a pending patent (PCT/AU2019/051296) related to correcting epigenetic memory in iPS cells.

– ref. A ‘memory wipe’ for stem cells may be the key to better therapies – https://theconversation.com/a-memory-wipe-for-stem-cells-may-be-the-key-to-better-therapies-206230

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kasey Symons, Postdoctoral research fellow, Swinburne University of Technology

Wednesday night saw the end of the Matildas’ nation-gripping FIFA Women’s World Cup pursuit, losing 3-1 to England in the semi-final in Sydney.

While it was an emotional finish to Australia’s exciting run, the match only further highlighted the record-breaking audiences experiencing the fan culture of women’s football.

This fandom has a notably different flavour from traditional men’s sports fan culture, and could be the defining legacy of the tournament.

A space for all

Women’s football, and most women’s sports, allow space for different fan cultures to come together in a safer and more inclusive environment.

These cultures have been developed over time by those who have felt excluded by traditional sporting environments that can promote toxic elements of masculinity and require fans to behave in particular ways.

Fans in many male sporting cultures are expected to have a prior knowledge, understand rules and intricacies of the game, wear particular merchandise and use specific language to show support. If fans don’t comply with these set behaviours, they can feel like they don’t belong.

Research has shown this is a particularly complicated experience for women. To fit in and feel part of men’s sporting fan culture, they have to modify parts of their gender identity.

Women’s sports create an environment where fans can come as they are, not as who they think they should be. This welcomes everyone to the game, especially people who might have previously looked at sport and thought it wasn’t for them.

A history of exclusion

It is no accident these spaces are welcoming, and speaks to the history of active exclusion women have faced in football.

Women’s international football took off in Australia in the mid-to-late 1970s, with the first recognised game between Australian and New Zealand. Coverage was scarce, and even when it was present, it was often sexist and demeaning.

The timing of this growth of the game is no coincidence, aligning with the FA’s (English Football Association) lifting of the 50-year ban of women’s football in England. The FA didn’t have the power to ban women from playing entirely, so in 1921 it ruled that women’s games couldn’t be played on FA-affiliated grounds.

This hindered the development of football not only in the UK, but around the world, as other nations echoed similar positions.

That there was an international team representing Australia in 1979 is credit to the women, and supportive men, who built spaces for women and girls to play.

In creating new clubs, teams, and competitions, they created environments demonstrating values that were the opposite of those that had previously excluded them.

Fans returning to the sports they love

These welcoming cultures aren’t exclusive to football. Many women’s sporting clubs in Australia have played key roles in contributing to the growing audiences that elite codes are experiencing today. Women’s sporting codes aren’t just attracting new fans but are also re-engaging fans formerly lost to sport.

Research I conducted into the developing fan culture of the AFLW found many fans came to women’s Australian rules football because they were interested in the code but felt alienated by the culture of the men’s game.

Fans shared that AFLW offered a more inclusive culture, and they didn’t have to navigate how to support athletes accused of domestic violence or sexual assault and fear racist or homophobic language. Fans also felt they could do things such as change teams and support multiple teams. People were fans of the competition more broadly and also wanted to generally support women playing the sport they love.

These findings aren’t just bound to Australia. There were distinctly different fan experiences at the men’s and women’s European Football Championships held in 2021 and 2022. Both finals were played in England and featured the hosts.

The men’s final was marred by fan violence, altercations with police and racism, while the women’s competition presented a safe, friendly and inclusive environment, .

Fans of women’s sport around the world are rejecting traditional masculine norms of sports fandom, and developing a counter fan culture.

Read more:
Racism in sport: why it comes to the surface when teams lose

Inclusive supporter groups

Trailblazing volunteers, administrators, coaches and athletes built these spaces for women and non-binary folk to play. But there are also passionate fans on the ground continuing to drive the fan culture.

One group bringing the noise this Women’s World Cup is Matildas Active Support, which states “inclusivity is at our core”. The group coordinates meet-ups pre and post-match, leads chants at the games and brings fans together on social media. The group welcomes everyone to their events, whether that be singing at the top of their lungs or quietly taking it all in.

Diverse fan support like this adds to the family-friendly atmosphere at women’s football, where families with children feel more comfortable to attend, and women in particular feel safe to attend matches alone.

Fans the legacy of this world cup

It’s important women athletes are visible in the media to show the next generation what is possible, and the Matildas are definitely achieving this. But the visibility of fandom and the culture that surrounds women’s football is just as crucial to drive women’s sport forward.

This Women’s World Cup is an opportunity for stakeholders to learn more about the different ways fandom is experienced, and how to connect with diverse fans to continue to grow the audience beyond the tournament and in other women’s sports.

What’s been clear over the last month is that record numbers of women’s football fans have rejected traditional masculine forms of sporting fandom for more inclusive, safe, and friendly expressions.

These fans have been seen. They now must be heard to continue to build on this momentum for women’s sport.

Kasey Symons consults to and conducts research for a number of organisations across Australia. Her research has received funding from organisations including the Victorian Government, and national and state sport governing bodies including the Australian Football League and its clubs and the National Rugby League. Dr Symons is also one of the co-founders of Siren: A Women in Sport Collective.

Paul Bowell 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. ‘Felt alienated by the men’s game’: how the culture of women’s sport has driven record Matildas viewership – https://theconversation.com/felt-alienated-by-the-mens-game-how-the-culture-of-womens-sport-has-driven-record-matildas-viewership-211524

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tamara May, Psychologist and Research Associate in the Department of Paediatrics, Monash University

Have you noticed that your levels of attention may slightly change during your menstrual cycle?

This may be particularly noticeable for women and people assigned female at birth with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They have differences in their ability to easily focus and sustain their attention. There may be times during their menstrual cycle when it seems harder to plan, organise and focus their attention. And they may find their ADHD medication doesn’t seem to work as well.

Very little research has explored the interaction between female hormones and symptoms of ADHD. But women with ADHD could gain much from greater insights into the mechanisms of this effect.

Here are five questions women and girls commonly ask about their hormones and ADHD symptoms.

1. Can hormones impact ADHD symptoms?

There is growing awareness of the relationship between sex hormones and neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters pass messages between neurons in the brain.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter important for motivation, reinforcement and reward. It’s a chemical that makes you feel good and has key roles for our executive functions, including attention.

For people with ADHD, the regulation of dopamine is thought to differ. For example, it is thought there are lower levels of dopamine in the brain’s synapses (the connections between neurons) in people with ADHD. Our best current theory is that lowered synaptic dopamine contributes to ADHD symptoms and difficulties with focusing attention in a flexible way, maintaining attention and regulating activity levels.

Medications for ADHD, such as the psychostimulant methylphenidate (usually called Ritalin), help to make more dopamine available in the synapse. We think this is one of the reasons why symptoms of ADHD reduce and attention is improved with ADHD medication.

Sex hormones, including estrogen and progesterone, fluctuate naturally through different phases of a woman’s life. Fluctuations in sex hormone levels can affect brain function by altering levels of neurotransmitters, including dopamine and serotonin which is important for mood.

The relationship between sex hormones and neurotransmitter levels is complex. Animal studies have shown higher levels of estrogen are linked to increased levels of dopamine. Progesterone also appears to influence dopamine levels, but the relationship between dopamine and progesterone is less clear.

Read more:
Autism is still underdiagnosed in girls and women. That can compound the challenges they face

2. What happens to my attention over my menstrual cycle?

Estrogen and progesterone levels fluctuate across the menstrual cycle. The key phases of the menstrual cycle are the follicular phase (referring to the first days of menstruation until ovulation), and the luteal phase (the days between ovulation and the following the period).

Estrogen levels gradually rise during the follicular phase, fall after ovulation and rise again during the mid-luteal phase, before decreasing at the end of the cycle. Progesterone levels are low during the follicular phase and rise in the luteal phase.

Research exploring whether attention changes across the menstrual cycle is inconsistent.

However, for women sensitive to menstrual cycle hormone fluctuations, the premenstrual or late luteal phase is associated with poorer attention, higher anxiety and stress, or at the more severe end of the mood spectrum, premenstrual dysphoric disorder (a severe form of premenstrual syndrome).

Studies show some attention-related tasks are performed better when there are higher levels of estrogen, such as before ovulation. Performance may be poorer when there are lower levels of estrogen and higher levels of progesterone, such as in the couple of weeks after ovulation and before menstruation. This fits with what many women with ADHD report anecdotally: their attention is better before ovulation and can worsen after.

3. What if I’m on the contraceptive pill?

There is little research on this for women with ADHD. Oral contraceptive pills do not appear to alter attention in the general population, but they can increase depression risk in some women.

For girls and women with ADHD, research suggests the risk of depression when using oral contraceptives is even higher.

Read more:
I think I have ADHD, how do I get a diagnosis? What might it mean for me?

4. What will happen to my ADHD symptoms if I have a baby?

Estrogen levels increase during pregnancy and drop after birth. These and other hormonal changes at this time have potential to impact cognition and ADHD symptoms.

However, there is a lack of research in pregnant women with ADHD, how ADHD symptoms might change and whether ADHD medications may need to be stopped or adjusted.

5. What about when I’m perimenopausal or in menopause?

The fluctuating and eventually declining levels of estrogen (specifically estradiol) during perimenopause are associated with “brain fog” for many women. Symptoms often include difficulties with attention and higher order executive functions (such as planning, organising and decision making).

While studies have not specifically investigated ADHD symptoms during menopause, a recent study found four weeks of psychostimulant use improved mid-life onset executive-function difficulties in perimenopausal and early post-menopausal women.

Anecdotally women with ADHD report their ADHD symptoms can worsen during perimenopause and menopause.

Read more:
‘Brain fog’ during menopause is real – it can disrupt women’s work and spark dementia fears

What needs to happen next

Women and girls with ADHD have been neglected for too long. Learning more about how hormones impact ADHD symptoms in women and girls with ADHD is an urgent research need.

Such work could lead to clinical guidelines about altering medications for ADHD as hormones fluctuate, specific hormone treatments for girls and women with ADHD, and how women with ADHD can best be supported. For now, girls and women with ADHD should talk to their doctor (a general practitioner, psychiatrist, paediatrician or gynaecologist/obstetrician) about their individual circumstances and what support they may benefit from.

As researchers, we want to hear about your experiences. If you are interested in participating in a survey about how ADHD presents in women at different life phases, please follow this link.

Read more:
Hot flushes, night sweats, brain fog? Here’s what we know about phytoestrogens for menopausal symptoms

Tamara May works as a psychologist in private practice.

Caroline Gurvich has received funding from the NHMRC, the Rebecca Cooper Foundation and Perpetuel Trustees.

Mark Bellgrove receives funding from the NHMRC and MRFF. He is affiliated with The Australian ADHD Professionals Association.

– ref. How hormones and the menstrual cycle can affect women with ADHD: 5 common questions – https://theconversation.com/how-hormones-and-the-menstrual-cycle-can-affect-women-with-adhd-5-common-questions-210627

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Simpson, Senior Lecturer, International Studies, University of South Australia

Party members, unions and politicians will meet in Brisbane on Thursday when Labor’s national conference begins. The event is where Labor’s federal policy direction is hashed out. This year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will be under pressure from within the party to boost Labor’s action on climate change.

This is federal Labor’s first conference since forming government in May last year. Following that win, there was enormous goodwill for the party’s political platform – both from within Labor’s membership and the broader community. The sentiment extended to Labor’s modest promised action on climate change, which seemed like a giant leap forward after the climate policy desert of the Coalition years.

Since the election, however, the world has changed. The climate emergency is accelerating with breathtaking speed. And the frightening frequency of climate-related disasters further validate the agendas of the Greens and the teal independents as they push the government for ambitious climate action.

So let’s take a look at where the Albanese government stands on climate policy ahead of its national conference, and where it needs to go before the next election.

What has Labor done on climate change?

Labor’s climate action has been a vast improvement on the very low bar set by the previous Coalition government. But there’s plenty of room for improvement.

For example, Labor enshrined into law an emissions reduction target of 43% by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050. But as others have noted, more cuts are needed for Australia to do its share on emissions reduction under the Paris Agreement.

Labor’s strengthening of the safeguard mechanism will go some way to curbing industrial emissions. But the government continues to support new mining and energy projects.

This week, thousands of Labor’s rank-and-file members will use the national conference to pressure Albanese on climate action. The push, backed by 350 Labor branches, will call for a windback on land clearing and native forest logging (which would help reach emissions-reduction goals), and more subsidies for renewable energy.

That’s not the only internal pressure Albanese faces, however. The Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union is reportedly set to oppose the push to abandon native forest harvesting.

Read more:
Why are so many climate records breaking all at once?

The bigger picture

Aside from its internal juggling act, Labor must significantly enhance its climate credentials before the next election to fight off teal independents and the Greens.

Last year’s watershed federal election resulted in six progressive “teal” female independents entering parliament, by displacing male Liberal Party incumbents from inner-city blue ribbon seats. The new MPs joined independent Warringah MP Zali Steggall, who was elected in 2019.

The wave of teal victories was seen in part as punishment for the Liberals over climate inaction.

The Greens party, too, had its best-ever federal election result.

It won four lower house seats – Melbourne, which party leader Adam Bandt retained, and three new seats in inner Brisbane. The party says the success gives it a mandate to push the government harder on climate change.

Since being elected, the Greens and the crossbench – including the teals and independent senator David Pocock – have all pressured Labor to strengthen its climate agenda.

For instance, the crossbenchers and the Greens secured amendments to Labor’s Climate Change Bill. Pocock and the Greens also won changes to the so-called “safeguard mechanism”, which applies to emissions from Australia’s most polluting companies.

The crossbench pressure on the Albanese government is unlikely to let up. And Labor MPs could be battling new teal challengers at the 2025 election.

Meanwhile, the Coalition has given up on providing any real opposition on climate and energy policy – putting most of its bets on irrational support for nuclear power.

Labor’s climate challenge

Australians have watched with alarm in recent weeks as the Northern Hemisphere summer went haywire. Air and ocean temperature records have tumbled and deadly wildfires have destroyed vast swathes of land from the Mediterranean to Hawaii.

Australia, after an unseasonably warm winter, is heading into a hot, dry El Niño summer.

What’s more, climate change is becoming a key component in the cost-of-living crisis. Insurance premiums have reportedly jumped 50% in the last year in high-risk parts of Australia, such as flood-prone areas.

Labor was bound to the climate policies it took to the last election. But there’s now a persuasive argument that climate conditions have dramatically shifted – and more radical policies are needed.

National Labor party conferences do not hold the primacy they once did, because the caucus and cabinet now hold more sway. But they remain the key avenue for grassroots members to influence party policy.

More significant government measures on climate change would satisfy the thousands of rank-and-file Labor members who want action. It would also help shore up Labor against progressive challengers at the next election.

Read more:
‘Australia is sleepwalking’: a bushfire scientist explains what the Hawaii tragedy means for our flammable continent

Adam Simpson 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 world has changed’: why Anthony Albanese must up the ante on climate policy at Labor’s national conference – https://theconversation.com/the-world-has-changed-why-anthony-albanese-must-up-the-ante-on-climate-policy-at-labors-national-conference-211605

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Irga, ARC DECRA Fellow and Lecturer in Air and Noise Pollution, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney

Growing city populations and limited space are driving the adoption of green roofs and green walls covered with living plants. As well as boosting biodiversity, green roofs could play another unexpectedly valuable role by increasing the electricity output of solar panels.

As solar panels heat up beyond 25℃, their efficiency decreases markedly. Green roofs moderate rooftop temperatures. So we wanted to find out: could green roofs help with the problem of heat reducing the output of solar panels?

Our research compared a “biosolar” green roof – one that combines a solar system with a green roof – and a comparable conventional roof with an equivalent solar system. We measured the impacts on biodiversity and solar output, as well as how the plants coped with having panels installed above them.

The green roof supported much more biodiversity, as one might expect. By reducing average maximum temperatures by about 8℃, it increased solar generation by as much as 107% during peak periods. And while some plant species outperformed others, the vegetation flourished.

These results show we don’t have to choose between a green roof or a solar roof: we can combine the two and reap double the rewards.

Read more:
Despairing about climate change? These 4 charts on the unstoppable growth of solar may change your mind

How was the study done?

Many studies have tested a single rooftop divided into “green roof” and “non-green roof” sections to measure the differences caused by vegetation. A problem with such studies is “spatial confounding” – the effects of two nearby spaces influencing one another. So, for example, the cooler green roof section could moderate the temperature of the non-green section next to it.

In studies that use distinct buildings, the buildings might be too far apart or too different in construction to be comparable.

The two buildings in our study were the same height, size and shape and located next to each other in Sydney’s central business district. The only difference was Daramu House had a green roof and International House did not.

We selected a mix of native and non-native grasses and non-woody plants, which would flower across all seasons, to attract diverse animal species.

The biosolar green roof and conventional roof had the same area, about 1860 square metres, with roughly a third covered by solar panels. Vegetation covered about 78% of the green roof and the solar panels covered 40% of this planted area.

To identify which species were present on the roofs we used motion-sensing cameras and sampled for DNA traces. We documented changes in the green roof vegetation to record how shading by the solar panels affected the plants.

Read more:
Greening our grey cities: here’s how green roofs and walls can flourish in Australia

How did the panels affect the plants?

In the open areas, we observed minimal changes in the vegetation cover over the study period compared to the initial planted community.

Plant growth was fastest and healthiest in the areas immediately around the solar panels. Several species doubled in coverage. We selected fast-growing vegetation for this section to achieve full coverage of the green roof beds as soon as possible.

The vegetation changed the most in the areas directly below and surrounding the solar panels. The Baby Sun Rose, Aptenia cordifolia, emerged as the dominant plant. It occupied most of the space beneath and surrounding the solar panels, despite having been planted in relatively low densities.

This was surprising: it was not expected the plants would prefer the shaded areas under the panels to the open areas. This shows that shading by solar panels will not prevent the growth of full and healthy roof gardens.

Read more:
Up on a roof: why New Zealand’s move towards greater urban density should see a rooftop revolution

What were the biodiversity impacts?

We used environmental DNA (eDNA) surveys to compare biodiversity on the green roof and conventional roof. Water run-off samples were collected from both roofs and processed on site using portable citizen scientist eDNA sampling equipment to detect traces of DNA shed by the species on the roof.

The eDNA surveys detected a diverse range of species. These included some species (such as algae and fungi) that are not easily detected using other survey methods. The results confirmed the presence of bird species recorded by the cameras but also showed other visiting bird species went undetected by the cameras.

Overall, the green roof supported four times as many species of birds, over seven times as many arthropods such as insects, spiders and millipedes, and twice as many snail and slug species as the conventional roof. There was many times the diversity of microorganisms such as algae and fungi.

Encouragingly, the green roof attracted species unexpected in the city. They included blue-banded bees (Amegilla cingulata) and metallic shield bugs (Scutiphora pedicellata).

Read more:
Yes, the state of the environment is grim, but you can make a difference, right in your own neighbourhoood

How did the green roof alter temperatures?

The green roof reduced surface temperatures by up to 9.63℃ for the solar panels and 6.93℃ for the roof surfaces. An 8℃ reduction in average peak temperature on the green roof would result in substantial heating and cooling energy savings inside the building.

This lowering of temperatures increased the maximum output of the solar panels by 21-107%, depending on the month. Performance modelling indicates an extensive green roof in central Sydney can, on average, produce 4.5% more electricity at any given light level.

These results show we don’t have to choose between a green roof or a solar roof. We can combine them to take advantage of the many benefits of biosolar green roofs.

Read more:
Green roofs improve the urban environment – so why don’t all buildings have them?

Biosolar roofs can help get cities to net zero

The next step is to design green roofs and their plantings specifically to enhance biodiversity. Green roofs and other green infrastructure may alter urban wildlife’s activities and could eventually attract non-urban species.

Our green roof also decreased stormwater runoff, removed a range of run-off pollutants and insulated the building from extremes of temperature. A relatively inexpensive system provides all of these services with moderate maintenance and, best of all, zero energy inputs.

Clearly, biosolar green roofs could make major contributions to net-zero cities. And all that’s needed is space that currently has no other use.

Peter Irga receives funding from the Australian Research Council, The City of Sydney and NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment. Peter Irga engages with the Australian Flora Foundation and the Australian Green Infrastructure Network.

Eamonn Wooster receives funding from The City of Sydney.

Fraser R Torpy receives funding from The Australian Research Council, the City of Sydney and NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment.

Jack Rojahn receives funding from The Centre for Invasive Species Solutions.

Robert Fleck receives funding from The City of Sydney and NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment..

– ref. A green roof or rooftop solar? You can combine them in a biosolar roof, boosting both biodiversity and power output – https://theconversation.com/a-green-roof-or-rooftop-solar-you-can-combine-them-in-a-biosolar-roof-boosting-both-biodiversity-and-power-output-211347

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rosemary Sainty, Academic, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney

“At PwC, (our purpose) is to build trust in society and solve important problems”, says one recruitment invitation. While another promises: “As one of our grads, you can expect to work on high-impact, meaningful and purpose-led projects”

This is the wording used in invitations circulated this year by two of the so-called big 4 accounting firms to final year business students.

Each year graduate employers spruik their job opportunities to soon-to-graduate students in a competitive process that promises much for up to 5,000 successful candidates.

So how should final year students respond when all four prominent graduate recruiters are caught engaging in unethical business practices as revealed in the ongoing Senate inquiry examining consultants?

And how well have business schools prepared students to navigate such challenges?

What of the recent graduate recruits already working in these organisations, such as at PwC – will they be rounded up as part of those “we will be naming … who did anything wrong” or included in the 1,500 staff to be spun off into a new entity?

Problematic cultures exist in other sectors

The revelations about the big four resonate with the earlier scandals uncovered across the banking and finance sector in Australia, leading to the Prudential Inquiry into the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (2018) and Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry (2019).

The CBA inquiry identified “culture” as a key lever in addressing misconduct, demonstrated by a widespread sense of complacency from the top down; normalised bad behaviour, reactive rather than proactive responses to risk; favouring of consensus over constructive criticism and a lack of critical thinking.

Are such practices endemic to the whole industry and can announced measures such as divestment of some government business and a single set of standards deal with these issues? Or is this simply a rushed response to protect the financial interests of the firm?

What of the role of business schools, responsible for educating graduates who go on to lead financial institutions and consulting services? How well prepared are their graduates to navigate ethical challenges as they arise?

Business schools stand accused of perpetuating a corporate culture that prioritises maximising shareholder profit to the detriment of broader stakeholder concerns in their teaching.

In the fallout of the banking royal commission, we held a public forum to look at the role of business schools.

Read more:
Tax advisers who promote exploitation schemes to face $780 million penalty

This was followed by a qualitative research project investigating the experiences of a cross section of students and graduates in navigating ethical challenges in their corporate internships and graduate roles.

Students find the theory doesn’t always match the practice

Based on a series of focus groups, exposure to normalised bad behaviour surfaced early in the experiences of student interns.

They reported a lack of preparedness for their early placements and inadequate supervision: “you just don’t have the knowledge to ask the right questions. The amount of responsibility I got … was too early.”

This meant many students did not feel they had the ability to be heard – carrying out important tasks without adequate guidance, while lacking the seniority to have concerns taken seriously. “Dodgy practices” became normalised, and students felt compromised.

Most felt university could better prepare them, with a more real-world approach to ethical issues: “at uni basically everything you do is black or white … so textbook compared to what it’s like in the industry.”

Recent graduates who had entered the workforce in the last five years took a pragmatic approach, with career aspirations front of mind. Having secured a graduate position for themselves, there was concern about “rocking the boat”. One reported: “It’s sometimes hard to raise something to a manager, not because of fear of getting punished, but more of like a respect factor”.

Read more:
How reliance on consultancy firms like PwC undermines the capacity of governments

For longer-term graduates, questionable practices, weak HR, disinterested management, and the emotional cost of choosing to leave a workplace due to unethical practice were key themes: “So, the system isn’t set up where if people do the right thing they’ll be protected. Everything’s set up for the companies to protect their own interests.”

Business schools and recruiters need to change their approach

What emerged clearly from the data is the need to fix workplace culture, and greater accountability by both business schools in their teaching approaches and graduate recruiters in their supervision of intern and graduate programs.

The joint aim must be to equip students and graduates with “the agency to enact personal and social responsibility”.

As the big four accounting firms’ reputations continue to unravel, it’s essential they adopt ways to minimise the lack of trust in what they do and tackle the complex cultural underpinnings of organisational misconduct.

Business schools also have a role. They need to fix the disconnect between what is delivered in the curriculum and real-world experience.

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

– ref. It’s time business schools prepared their graduates for potential workplace misconduct – https://theconversation.com/its-time-business-schools-prepared-their-graduates-for-potential-workplace-misconduct-208858

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter McNeil, Distinguished Professor of Design History, UTS, University of Technology Sydney

The Darwin winter sunset encircled the city with a brilliant gold. As the crowd anticipated the start of the annual Indigenous fashion parades, the room turned dark, and a lone figure appeared.

As the first model walked, the crowd cheered, excited to see the show they had waited a year to attend.

Throughout two shows, Our Legacy and Our Heart, First Nations models of diverse ages and sizes almost outshone the striking garments they wore.

Designs from 22 labels and collaborations represented the heart and soul of the designers, artists and makers, many who journeyed very long distances for the opportunity to tell their stories through fashion design and art.

The Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair has concluded for another year with more than 70 exhibitors and a successful fashion program. The Indigenous Fashion Projects festival grows in size and quality every year, showing the potential for First Nations fashion – like art and music – to become defining features of Australian life.

Yet beyond the lights, makeup and action, people in the First Nations fashion industry just want their voices to be heard. They see their contributions to fashion, textile design and modelling as contributing to cultural tradition, economics and cultural sustainability, and blak pride and storytelling.

Read more:
‘Cultural expression through dress’: towards a definition of First Nations fashion

Cultural tradition

The day after the parades, the annual National Indigenous Fashion Awards were held in the beautiful open air. This also provided a moving ceremony as we celebrated the work of 66 First Nations artists, designers and collaborators.

Nearly all the winners referred to the ongoing and living cultural traditions that inform their work, generally framed as female and working with and learning from Elders.

“All those old ladies have passed away but they’re still holding us up,” said a representative from Ikuntji Artists. “Their spirit is still strong and walks with us. Thanks for loving our designs and stories because we know they’re still here with us.”

Fashion designer of the year, Wiradjuri, Gangulu and Yorta Yorta woman Lillardia Briggs-Houston, told the audience: “I am what I am because of my grandmother and grandfather.”

Through both textile and art making, First Nations fashion designers are continuing the unbroken chain of practice that has existed since time immemorial. This was seen on textile designs referencing animals to the construction of exquisite headpieces and jewellery using shells and stones.

Economics and cultural sustainability

Many winners spoke about the economic opportunities afforded by the fashion industry. Selling fashion and textiles supports “money business”, permitting the makers and designers to remain on Country and continue practising culture while taking their work to audiences around Australia.

Economic opportunities are underpinned by cultural sustainability. Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts with Aly de Groot won both the traditional adornment and community collaboration awards for their work in recreating fibre work from an anthropological photograph. They noted how the 19th century women and their work even looked like models lined up on a catwalk.

The need for fashion design and creative training opportunities on Country was emphasised by Briggs-Houston. As she noted, fashion work – pattern cutting, design adjustments, sewing and embellishment – was traditionally women’s work, conducted at home, but no one felt they were a designer, let alone a brand ambassador.

Briggs-Houston studied fashion at TAFE and learnt from her knowledgeable grandmother:

We were always the seamstress but never the designer back then. Now I dedicate my life to cultural sustainability through fashion.

One challenge facing emerging First Nations designers is access. The best fashion schools are concentrated in expensive metropolitan centres. Some students must drive all day to reach TAFE.

Fashion is a complex business. It combines designing, making, marketing, branding, photography, styling, and formats from conventional parades to newer fashion films. How to even touch on these skills and make them accessible?

Several First Nations fashion organisations, such as Indigenous Fashion Projects, First Nations Fashion + Design and Mob in Fashion are helping via in-person, online and mentoring experiences.

Blak pride and storytelling

The Indigenous Fashion Projects festival of events was filled with an assertion of pride and storytelling, as well as a re-configuring of the that idea that fashion is Western and European.

As Northern Territory Arts Minister Chansey Paech (Arrernte/Gurindji) said at the awards, when you buy First Nations fashion “you are buying someone’s story, someone’s connection, someone’s truth”.

The parade and the awards ceremony are always tinged with the modesty of many of the participants. Many live in remote communities and are unused to the spotlight.

As their achievements were listed and screened through beautiful short films about their Country and making (made for NITV broadcast), the audience applause saw them swell with shared confidence. Hayley Dodd from Ikuntji Artists declared when accepting the business achievement award, “We are black. And we are deadly.”

With Australia soon to be deciding on the Voice to Parliament, it is timely to reflect on how much has been achieved with so little financial resources or mainstream power. What might we achieve as a nation if all our peoples are supported, financed and also recognised?

As Paech concluded and reminded us: “First Nations fashion excellence began small. It’s about creativity, excellence and pride. [We are] the first designers and models of this world.”

Read more:
How Indigenous fashion designers are taking control and challenging the notion of the heroic, lone genius

Peter McNeil was grateful for a small UTS internal grant to support travel to Larrakia Country.

Treena Clark has received funding through the University of Technology Sydney Chancellor’s Indigenous Research Fellowship scheme.

– ref. ‘The first designers and models of this world’: attending the 2023 National Indigenous Fashion Awards – https://theconversation.com/the-first-designers-and-models-of-this-world-attending-the-2023-national-indigenous-fashion-awards-211517

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

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced $3 billion in incentives for states and territories and a boosted target for the number of homes to be built, in a package aimed at alleviating Australia’s housing crisis.

A Wednesday national cabinet meeting in Brisbane also advanced work on renters’ rights. But there will be no rent freeze or caps, as demanded by the Greens.

National cabinet agreed on a new national target to build 1.2 million “new, well located homes” over the five years from July 1 next year. The National Housing Accord target was one million homes.

The federal government will provide $3 billion for states and territories that exceed their share of homes under the National Housing Accord.

“This will incentivise states and territories to undertake the reforms which are necessary to boost housing supply and increase housing affordability,” Albanese told a news conference after the meeting.

There will also be a $500 million competitive funding program for local and state governments to kickstart supply by such measures as connecting essential services, supporting amenities for new housing development, and building planning capability.

The meeting also endorsed a blueprint that promotes medium and high density housing in “well-located areas close to existing public transport connections, amenities and employment”, as well as “streamlining approval pathways”.

There will be more collaboration with the states on migration settings.

The “Better Deal for Renters” includes developing a nationally consistent policy on eviction grounds, moving towards limiting rent increases to once a year, and phasing in minimal rental standards.

The Greens said in a statement: “Labor’s announcements today largely enshrine the status quo, leaving millions of renters exposed to unlimited rent increases”.

The housing package comes as Labor prepares for its national conference, amid intensive efforts to defuse contentious issues, especially AUKUS, to ensure the prime minister and the government are not embarrassed.

Defence Minister Richard Marles has held briefings for rank and file party members and unions on AUKUS. There has been deep unease among the party membership over the agreement, which Albanese accepted in opposition virtually immediately, in order to keep Labor a small target on national security for the 2022 election.

The conference will not reject or condemn the AUKUS agreement, with its promise of nuclear-powered submarines. Whatever motion is passed is expected to be relatively anodyne.

One left source who has attended many conferences said the attempted control of this one “is the most rigid I’ve ever seen”.

This is the first national conference in decades where the left has the controlling numbers, but it is not a solid bloc.

There are 402 delegates. The left has 202, including 25 from the CFMEU and industrial left who are not part of the state or territory left groups. The right has 185, with 12 delegates not aligned. The remaining delegates are the president and two vice presidents.

Factions were meeting on Wednesday.

Read more:
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Labor president Wayne Swan on the party’s coming national conference

The conference, being held in Brisbane, runs three days, with Albanese delivering his keynote address on Thursday morning.

While the party’s policy platform, settled by the conference, is formally binding on an ALP government, these conferences have nothing like the clout they once did, and are more stage-managed.

On Thursday delegates will discuss the economy, including taxation and housing, climate, the environment and energy security, and health and aged care.

The CFMEU plans to push for support for a super profits tax. This will be backed by the party’s Labor for Housing group.

The union’s national secretary Zach Smith, said recently: “A super profits tax is the fairest way to raise the billions of dollars needed to guarantee every Australian has the basic right of shelter”.

The convener of Labor for Housing, Julijana Todorovic, from the Victorian socialist left, told The Conversation a super profits tax could provide ongoing funds for housing. She said the group would also be advocating structural policy reform that focused on intergenerational inequity in housing.

The AUKUS debate will come on Friday when the foreign affairs and defence sections of the platform are considered.

The government has adjusted its policy on Palestine and Israel ahead of the conference to head off trouble over what is a sensitive issue among party members.

A key feature of the conference will be whether there is a general sentiment that the government should move faster on change or whether the party is generally satisfied with the government’s pace.

Albanese stresses that to achieve major change, Labor has to be a long term government and therefore cannot move so fast that it alienates voter.

In his foreward to the new national platform he writes: “I’m proud of what we have achieved together so far, but it is just the beginning. Maintaining the momentum we have built is an important part of the responsibility and privilege of forming Government.

“It is my deep hope that this is a long-term Labor government because real, enduring reforms that change a country for the better take time.”

Albanese is set to attend the Matildas’ match against England in Sydney on Wednesday night.

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. View from The Hill: Albanese unveils boosted housing target and incentive payments ahead of Labor national conference – https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-albanese-unveils-boosted-housing-target-and-incentive-payments-ahead-of-labor-national-conference-211673

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jamie Kirkpatrick, Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Tasmania

The photo said it all. On the back of a logging truck, a tree so large it could barely fit. It was cut down in Tasmania’s Florentine Valley, not far from Mount Field, where it had started life as a seedling over a century ago.

The photo triggered outrage from conservationists and the public. Greens founder Bob Brown called the felling “a national disgrace” and urged a halt to the felling of old growth giants.

Giant trees are supposed to be protected as a matter of normal process. Trees over 85 metres high or with a trunk volume of 280 cubic metres should be retained with a 100 metres radius of uncleared bush around them. The loggers say this one was cut down for “safety reasons”. We don’t know if this one met those criteria.

Whether or not that’s true, the felling has sparked a new battle in Tasmania’s long-running forest wars. Unlike in Victoria, old growth logging in Tasmania doesn’t look like ending any time soon. But we must find ways to better protect these giants of nature, the tallest flowering trees in the world. They store huge amounts of carbon in their trunks and in the soil, provide habitat for many forest creatures and produce awe in humans who see them.

Why was this giant logged?

The truck transporting the trunk of the tree was seen exiting Tasmania’s Florentine Valley. This valley has been the site of many protests over the years. Part of it is in the World Heritage Area, but logging is still allowed in other parts of it.

Why was a tree this size cut down? Safety.

“On occasion, it may be necessary for Sustainable Timber Tasmania to remove a large tree where it presents an access or safety risk,” a spokeswoman told news.com.au.

That is possible. Giant old trees can hollow out as they age and become a safety risk if people are allowed near them. But the trunk in the published photo shows no sign of hollowing out. If it was a giant, the mandatory 100 metre protection zone would eliminate almost all risk.

At the very least, the felling suggests not all of Tasmania’s ancient trees are adequately protected. What it shows is the need for independent assessment of areas slated for logging likely to be home to giants – and to ensure trees felled for “safety” reasons” genuinely need to be removed.

And what about trees that are not quite big enough to be protected? As ecologist and tall-tree expert Dr Jennifer Sanger has observed, the 85-metre figure is arbitrary. We need to plan for the giant trees of the future by keeping the almost giant trees of now.

Read more:
After the chainsaws, the quiet: Victoria’s rapid exit from native forest logging is welcome – and long overdue

Ancient giants matter

Mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans) is the world’s largest flowering plant. The trees can live up to 700 years and reach over 100 metres in height.

Do they matter more than other trees? Yes. That’s because big old trees begin to decay in interesting ways, creating hollows for possums and birds to nest in, and even hollowing out inside the trunk, which makes habitat for bats. They play an outsized role in ecosystems in providing shelter, hollows and food.

Ironically, these processes of decay can make these giants all but useless for timber. If you’re logging a giant to turn it into large structural beams, you might find it’s hollow inside and all but useless.

The sheer size of these trees also means they have more habitat to offer for other forms of life. Native animals, birds and invertebrates rely on these trees. Plus, they store massive amounts of carbon, both above ground and in the soil. Cutting down the old growth forests of which these trees are a part and turning them into production forests results in a substantial ongoing leakage of soil carbon for many generations.

The trees induce awe and wonder in most who see them. People are passionate about keeping them on the planet – one of the reasons for the forest wars in the first place. These huge trees attract tourists to walk beneath them or up in their canopies.

Haven’t Tasmania’s forest wars stopped?

Sadly, no. The decades-long battle between loggers and conservationists in Tasmania has certainly become less intense after many old growth forests such as the Weld, Styx, Florentine and Great Western Tiers gained World Heritage protection in 2013.

But native forest logging in Tasmania shows no sign of stopping entirely. Old-growth logging continues around the state, including in the Florentine Valley where this giant tree was felled. Rainforest trees in some reserves are available for logging.

In May, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced his state would this year end native forest logging, which has long been a loss-making industry. Instead, plantation logging will be expanded.

Why can’t Tasmania do this? It mostly comes down to politics. Tasmania is the poorest state in Australia, and the few jobs logging native forests are politically important.

Also, the wood from larger trees are better for ends such as veneer, exposed beams and furniture than most plantation-sourced wood. Their felling can be rewarding financially for the companies that do it, as no-one has to pay to grow them and they can contain large volumes of high quality wood.

But overall, cutting down old growth forests may not stack up economically, with the quasi-government enterprises managing production forests often making losses. It didn’t make much financial sense in Victoria, and may not in Tasmania.

Will the felling of this giant bring change? Don’t bet on it. Probably the best we can hope for is to preserve as many giants – and near-giants – as we can. And to do that, we’ll need independent assessments of old growth forest slated for logging to double-check measurements of these precious trees.

Read more:
Photos from the field: capturing the grandeur and heartbreak of Tasmania’s giant trees

Professor Jamie Kirkpatrick sits on the Tasmanian Independent Science Council

– ref. Giant old trees are still being logged in Tasmanian forests. We must find ways of better protecting them – https://theconversation.com/giant-old-trees-are-still-being-logged-in-tasmanian-forests-we-must-find-ways-of-better-protecting-them-211670

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Director, Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre; Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University

The Australian government has today released the First Action Plan 2023-2027 and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032. These long-awaited plans detail what the Commonwealth, state and territory governments have agreed to do to progress their ambitious target to eliminate domestic, family and sexual violence.

In the first 32 weeks of 2023 alone, 44 women have been killed allegedly by violence. These action plans come at a critical time when advocates, academics and practitioners have been calling for more funding and clearer actions to counter domestic, family and sexual violence.

Read more:
A new national plan aims to end violence against women and children ‘in one generation’. Can it succeed?

What are the action plans?

The action plans set out the national and state-based commitments across prevention, early intervention, response, recovery and healing.

The purpose of the first action plan is to

understand what actions governments are taking to end gender-based violence, what outcomes the actions and activities aim to achieve, and the targets we are working towards.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan is the first dedicated plan to address violence against women and children in First Nations communities.

It was developed with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Council and in consultation with First Nations communities. It provides a road map for addressing the disproportionately high rates of violence First Nations women and children experience.

What commitments have been made?

The first action plan commits to implementing ten actions.

It includes education and training across justice, specialist and mainstream workforces, as well as advancing gender equality.

Specific actions outlined in the first action plan include:

• funding to support increased education and training on family, domestic and sexual violence for community mainstream workers, health professionals and the justice sector

• establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Men’s Advisory Body to provide advice and leadership on issues such as family violence, gender equality, programs and services for men

• improving access to short-term, medium-term and long-term housing for women and children experiencing violence

• improving actions to prevent and address sexual violence and harassment in all settings

• improving police responses and the justice system to better support victim-survivors by providing trauma-informed, culturally safe supports that promote safety and wellbeing. This also includes holding people who choose to use violence to account.

One of the notable features of the national plan is its focus on recovery and healing. The first action plan commits to enhancing trauma-informed supports and exploring new models of recovery for victim-survivors.

The national plan also includes an acknowledgement of children and young people as victim-survivors in their own right.

The first action plan commits to developing and implementing age-appropriate, culturally safe programs across all four domains of prevention, early intervention, response, recovery and healing. These will be informed by children and young people.

While the detail of how this will be achieved is unclear, the commitment is critical. As we have noted previously, ending gender-based violence in one generation requires a focus on delivering improved outcomes with transformational results for the next generation.

How will success be measured?

One of the key criticisms of the former national plan was that it didn’t include any measures to track progress over its ten-year life span.

Notably, the evaluation of the former plan was never released publicly. This is a significant failing in public accountability for efforts to reduce violence against women and children.

A key finding from the consultations was the emphasis from stakeholders and victim-survivors that targets be included in this national plan.

The first action plan is accompanied by an outcomes framework that includes targets to reduce violence. It also promises a future measurement plan, to be released in early 2024.

Careful attention and urgency in developing this measurement plan are critical. The six national targets outlined in the first action plan focus on:

• reducing the prevalence of intimate partner homicide
• improving community knowledge of what constitutes domestic, family and sexual violence
• improving community attitudes.

Notably, this action plan specifies a commitment to a 25% annual reduction in female victims of intimate partner homicide. No justification is included for aiming for this specific level of reduction.

The action plan also recognises that attitudinal change is key to eliminating violence. It includes several targets related to shifting community attitudes.

The first action plan commits to annual reporting of progress. This includes tracking the implementation of the actions contained in the two action plans. This will be a much-needed check, and ensures accountability and transparency over the life of both action plans.

Read more:
To end gender-based violence in one generation, we must fix how the system responds to children and young people

What is needed now to ensure effective change and a reduction of violence?

These actions plans represent a much-needed next step in realising the objectives of the national plan. Achieving the set targets will require a significant increase in urgency and funding.

This government has made an unprecedented funding commitment of $2.3 billion over the 2022-23 and 2023-24 budgets to address women’s safety and support delivery of these action plans.

While this sounds impressive, it is not commensurate with the scale of the crisis of domestic, family and sexual violence in Australia. Increased funding to accelerate delivery of these action plans is urgently needed.

It is also critical that the reforms and work in this space are not siloed: housing, economic security and childcare are critical aspects of securing women’s safety. This is a whole-of-government project, and must be led in this way.

The way forward must be driven by a commitment to safety and recognising that we need to move urgently on the actions in the plans. They cannot simply be a political tool: they are the result of extensive consultation across Australia involving experts, advocates and victim-survivors.

This work must accelerate now. Each action may not necessarily work. Monitoring is needed to understand what works and for whom.

Agility is also required to ensure efforts can be tailored to maximise the potential for ending domestic, family and sexual violence in one generation.

Kate has received funding for family violence related research from the Australian Research Council, Australian Institute of Criminology, Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety, the Victorian Government and the Department of Social Services. In 2021 Kate led the National Plan Stakeholder and Victim-Survivor Advocates Consultation Projects. This piece is written by Kate Fitz-Gibbon in her capacity as Director of the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre and is wholly independent of Kate Fitz-Gibbon’s role as Chair of Respect Victoria.

Marie Segrave receives funding from the Australian Research Council and Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety.

Silke Meyer has received funding for domestic and family violence related research from the Australian Institute of Criminology, Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety, the Queensland Government and the Department of Social Services. In 2021 Silke co-led led the National Plan Stakeholder Consultation Project.

– ref. The government has released its action plans to end violence against women and children. Will they be enough? – https://theconversation.com/the-government-has-released-its-action-plans-to-end-violence-against-women-and-children-will-they-be-enough-211606

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

There are thousands of mental health apps available on the app market, offering services including meditation, mood tracking and counselling, among others. You would think such “health” and “wellbeing” apps – which often present as solutions for conditions such as anxiety and sleeplessness – would have been rigorously tested and verified. But this isn’t necessarily the case.

In fact, many may be taking your money and data in return for a service that does nothing for your mental health – at least, not in a way that’s backed by scientific evidence.

Bringing AI to mental health apps

Although some mental health apps connect users with a registered therapist, most provide a fully automated service that bypasses the human element. This means they’re not subject to the same standards of care and confidentiality as a registered mental health professional. Some aren’t even designed by mental health professionals.

These apps also increasingly claim to be incorporating artificial intelligence into their design to make personalised recommendations (such as for meditation or mindfulness) to users. However, they give little detail about this process. It’s possible the recommendations are based on a user’s previous activities, similar to Netflix’s recommendation algorithm.

Some apps such as Wysa, Youper and Woebot use AI-driven chatbots to deliver support, or even established therapeutic interventions such as cognitive behavioural therapy. But these apps usually don’t reveal what kinds of algorithms they use.

It’s likely most of these AI chatbots use rules-based systems that respond to users in accordance with predetermined rules (rather than learning on the go as adaptive models do). These rules would ideally prevent the unexpected (and often harmful and inappropriate) outputs AI chatbots have become known for – but there’s no guarantee.

The use of AI in this context comes with risks of biased, discriminatory or completely inapplicable information being provided to users. And these risks haven’t been adequately investigated.

Misleading marketing and a lack of supporting evidence

Mental health apps might be able to provide certain benefits to users if they are well designed and properly vetted and deployed. But even then they can’t be considered a substitute for professional therapy targeted towards conditions such as anxiety or depression.

The clinical value of automated mental health and mindfulness apps is still being assessed. Evidence of their efficacy is generally lacking.

Some apps make ambitious claims regarding their effectiveness and refer to studies that supposedly support their benefits. In many cases these claims are based on less-than-robust findings. For instance, they may be based on:

• user testimonials
• short-term studies with narrow or homogeneous cohorts
• studies involving researchers or funding from the very group promoting the app
• or evidence of the benefits of a practice delivered face to face (rather than via an app).

Moreover, any claims about reducing symptoms of poor mental health aren’t carried through in contract terms. The fine print will typically state the app does not claim to provide any physical, therapeutic or medical benefit (along with a host of other disclaimers). In other words, it isn’t obliged to successfully provide the service it promotes.

For some users, mental health apps may even cause harm, and lead to increases in the very symptoms people so often use them to address. The may happen, in part, as a result of creating more awareness of problems, without providing the tools needed to address them.

In the case of most mental health apps, research on their effectiveness won’t have considered individual differences such as socioeconomic status, age and other factors that can influence engagement. Most apps also will not indicate whether they’re an inclusive space for marginalised people, such as those from culturally and linguistically diverse, LGBTQ+ or neurodiverse communities.

Read more:
How effective is mindfulness for treating mental ill-health? And what about the apps?

Inadequate privacy protections

Mental health apps are subject to standard consumer protection and privacy laws. While data protection and cybersecurity practices vary between apps, an investigation by research foundation Mozilla concluded that most rank poorly.

For example, the mindfulness app Headspace collects data about users from a range of sources, and uses those data to advertise to users. Chatbot-based apps also commonly repurpose conversations to predict users’ moods, and use anonymised user data to train the language models underpinning the bots.

Many apps share so-called anonymised data with third parties, such as employers, that sponsor their use. Re-identification of these data can be relatively easy in some cases.

Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) doesn’t require most mental health and wellbeing apps to go through the same testing and monitoring as other medical products. In most cases, they are lightly regulated as health and lifestyle products or tools for managing mental health that are excluded from TGA regulations (provided they meet certain criteria).

How can you choose an app?

Although consumers can access third-party rankings for various mental health apps, these often focus on just a few elements, such as usability or privacy. Different guides may also be inconsistent with each other.

Nonetheless, there are some steps you can take to figure out whether a particular mental health or mindfulness app might be useful for you.

1. consult your doctor, as they may have a better understanding of the efficacy of particular apps and/or how they might benefit you as an individual

2. check whether a mental health professional or trusted institution was involved in developing the app

3. check if the app has been rated by a third party, and compare different ratings

4. make use of free trials, but be careful of them shifting to paid subscriptions, and be wary about trials that require payment information upfront

5. stop using the app if you experience any adverse effects.

Overall, and most importantly, remember that an app is never a substitute for real help from a human professional.

Read more:
AI chatbots are still far from replacing human therapists

Jeannie Marie Paterson receives funding from the Australian Research Council and has taken part in industry led roundtable discussions about digital mental health.

Nicholas T. Van Dam receives funding from the Three Springs Foundation Pty Ltd to establish the Contemplative Studies Centre at the University of Melbourne.

Piers Gooding receives funding from the Australian Research Council to examine the regulation of digital technologies in mental health care.

– ref. Not all mental health apps are helpful. Experts explain the risks, and how to choose one wisely – https://theconversation.com/not-all-mental-health-apps-are-helpful-experts-explain-the-risks-and-how-to-choose-one-wisely-211513

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ella Jeffery, Lecturer in Creative Writing, Griffith University

The Block has begun its 19th season this month, billed as “a Block that’s entirely relatable to people right around Australia”. This year, contestants renovate five “authentic ’50s dream homes” in “the perfectly named Charming Street, in Melbourne’s Hampton East”.

But if the median price for a four-bedroom house in Hampton East is around A$1.6 million and the nation’s housing crisis shows no signs of easing, who is The Block relatable to? And why do audiences keep coming back to renovation stories?

Home ownership is becoming less accessible and more people than ever are renting, but stories about renovation on TV, in film and in literature continue to have a powerful effect on us. Why?

One reason they can be so captivating is that they invoke the idea of the dream home.

Read more:
Building costs have soared. Is it time to abandon my home renovation plans?

Home makeovers are ultimately about us too

Ask anyone you know about their dream home – something I did regularly when I was writing my PhD on renovation stories – and you’ll get an incredible array of different styles, sizes, locations. Maybe it overlooks the ocean, maybe it has the newest appliances, maybe it has a pool, maybe it’s just a house without a mould problem.

The idea of the dream home is deeply rooted in our shared imagination. The philosopher Gaston Bachelard wrote in The Poetics of Space (1958) that our houses – both the ones we live in and the ones we dream of – “move in both directions: they are in us as much as we are in them”. Bachelard suggests that in even “the humblest dwelling” our memories, desires and dreams are gathered, and this is why houses are so central to who we are.

If houses can be expressions of self, our dream houses say a lot about our desires. While it might no longer look like a house on a quarter-acre block, the dream still exists. Renovation stories are so compelling because in them, as researchers have noted, home improvement often represents self-improvement – a dream life, not just a dream house.

This is especially important in programs like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (2003–20) and Backyard Blitz (2000–), which often focus on people presented as hard-done-by whose lives are changed by renovations that solve their day-to-day problems.

Read more:
Future home havens: Australians likely to use more energy to stay in and save money

Better house, better life

Reality TV isn’t the only place we find this type of story about transformation and self-improvement. In Frances Mayes’ bestselling memoir Under the Tuscan Sun (1996), Mayes travels to Italy and buys an abandoned villa, Bramasole, which she renovates. In the process, she gains a new outlook on life.

There’s a similar story in Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence (1989). Mayle, a UK advertising executive, buys a 200-year-old farmhouse in France and renovates it.

Both books were exceptionally successful, inspiring an entire genre of renovation memoirs about wealthy middle-class people able to travel abroad, buy charmingly rundown properties in beautiful locations, and renovate them while enjoying the local lifestyle. In them, renovation is a clear symbol of self-transformation, if only for people rich enough to afford it: renovating houses leads to a greater appreciation of life’s pleasures and a new way of seeing the world.

Read more:
It seemed like a good idea in lockdown, but is moving to the country right for you?

This idea of the renovated life can be especially compelling in a world that increasingly feels frightening and overwhelming. Researchers like Fiona Allon argue that renovation stories allow us to turn away from the alarming outside world – with its violence, looming recessions, pandemics, climate crises – and focus on the smaller, more controllable world of the home.

Maggie Smith’s viral poem Good Bones (2016) plays with this idea. The poem is about a mother trying to convince her children (and herself) that despite being a scary place, the world can be improved. To do this, she uses the analogy of a real estate agent selling a fixer-upper. The poem ends with lines that present renovation as an opportunity for change:

This place could be beautiful,
Right? You could make this place beautiful.

This optimism is what makes renovation excellent fodder for love stories. In the Nancy Meyers rom-com It’s Complicated (2009), Meryl Streep plays a divorcee looking for a fresh start, who renovates her home and falls in love with her architect, Adam. In The Notebook (2004), Ryan Gosling’s Noah transforms an old plantation estate into his lover Allie’s dream home, a gesture that reveals his enduring love.

Renovation stories are always about change (although in some the change doesn’t last). Even if, as may be the case for the increasing number of people who are renting, having a house of our own is itself a fantasy.

Read more:
Off the plan: shelter, the future and the problems in between

Renovate? In this economy?

Many renovation stories can be seen as escapist media that trade on the image of the dream home to sell ideas about wealth, taste and style to audiences unable to afford such things. The Block may involve contestants from a range of backgrounds, but few people can afford the multimillion-dollar houses they build.

The Block’s viewership has had ups and downs in its two-decade history, but the show (and many others) continues because, despite being about profiting from the housing market, it sells the idea of transformation and change, not just in our houses but in our lives.

Renovation stories invite audiences to indulge in a fantasy where we become our best selves living in dream homes that protect us from a volatile and threatening world. The dream home might remain a dream, but in renovation stories we escape reality and envision life in a Tuscan villa, or having a butler’s pantry or plunge pool, or simply owning a house of our own.

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

– ref. Even in a housing crisis, Australians can’t get enough of renovation stories on TV. Why? – https://theconversation.com/even-in-a-housing-crisis-australians-cant-get-enough-of-renovation-stories-on-tv-why-211334

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Sussex, Associate Proessor (Adj), Griffith Asia Institute; and Fellow, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, ANU, Australian National University

This year’s ALP national conference, beginning August 17, promises to be somewhat feistier than its recent COVID-affected (and boring) predecessors.

Yet it’s unlikely to deliver a major embarrassment to the Albanese government. Issues like the Stage 3 tax cuts may irritate traditional Labor members, but there’s a general consensus that conference stoushes shouldn’t derail the government’s re-election agenda.

Unusually for a liberal democracy, where domestic affairs tend to dominate party politics, the loudest disagreements at the conference are likely to happen over foreign policy. Aid, refugees and Australia’s stance on the Israel-Palestine dispute have long been bugbears of the Labor Left.

Read more:
Australia’s decision to again use the term ‘occupied Palestinian territories’ brings it into line with international law

Yet the issue causing the most consternation – the tripartite technology-sharing AUKUS agreement that will eventually see Australia operating nuclear-powered submarines – has been delivered by a prime minister from Labor’s left faction, after being announced by the previous Morrison coalition government.

And while old left warriors (including Peter Garrett and Kim Carr) have condemned AUKUS, the most vocal criticism has come from members of Labor’s right. This includes prominent figures such as former Prime Minister Paul Keating and former Foreign Minister Bob Carr.

So what’s at stake in the AUKUS debate?

There’s certainly widespread scepticism within the party’s ranks about the deal. And that scepticism cuts across the increasingly blurry cleavages between Labor’s factions.

Labor members in the South Australian electorates of Mayo and Boothby, as well as in the influential seat of Sydney, have all condemned the agreement. Labor’s ACT conference tried to pass a motion rejecting AUKUS, while Victorian trade unions also sought to marshal support for an anti-AUKUS agenda.

Read more:
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Labor president Wayne Swan on the party’s coming national conference

Apart from a concerted effort by Labor’s leadership to ensure AUKUS doesn’t derail the conference, a key reason it’s unlikely to gain much real traction is because opposition to AUKUS encompasses such an incoherent mishmash of grumbles.

They include those opposed to nuclear weapons as well as nuclear energy, the reflexively anti-American lobby, and those mistrustful of shadowy military-industrial complexes.

These concerns – which are hardly new in Australian politics – are jammed together with more targeted and contemporary objections.

For instance, plenty of Australians (and not just in the ALP) remain vexed at the government’s fairly tokenistic explanation about why the agreement was necessary. So far it has only offered some inconsistent rhetoric about boosting self-reliance and a future-proof sovereign Australian deterrent capability.

Others worry about the extent to which the agreement binds Australia so firmly to America’s warfighting posture, itself increasingly dictated by Sino-US strategic competition.

With future Australian-flagged AUKUS forces essentially interchangeable with American ones, the concern is that Australia has voluntarily subordinated strategic policy flexibility to alliance loyalty at a time of significant regional uncertainty and flux.

There are also objections about the eye-watering $368 billion price tag.

Read more:
Time to grow up: Australia’s national security dilemma demands a mature debate

Still other concerns have been raised about the capacity for Australia to crew its nuclear subs. Then there is the lengthy timeframe for delivery, and the prospect of operating three different classes of submarine at once (the ageing Collins class, US Virginia class nuclear powered submarines, and the new AUKUS class boats).

So AUKUS highlights some important questions about Australia’s national security choices, as well as the processes that will promulgate them. It has also – to an extent – reopened old wounds in the ALP, revealing persistent and deeply-held views.

While cautiously supportive of AUKUS, I wholeheartedly agree that debating it is legitimate and entirely appropriate. But if the deal falls over, it will have less to do with Australian debates, and much more to do with American ones.

US domestic politics meets bureaucratic logjams

There have already been signs that US lawmakers are prepared to include AUKUS in attempts to pressure the Biden administration. In January 2023, a secret bipartisan letter written in December 2022 by Jack Reed (the Democrat chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee), and the Republican Senator James Inhofe warned against selling Virginia class submarines to Australia without significant additional investment in US shipbuilding capacity.

More recently, in July 2023, US Senator Jim Wicker led a move to block an agreement authorising Congress to fast-track the sale of three Virginia submarines. He argued the US needed to spend more than the debt-ceiling limit on boosting defence production.

In particular, Wicker claimed the A$3 billion Australia had already tipped in was insufficient for America’s submarine industrial base to meet US Navy build schedules.

Meanwhile, the state of UK shipbuilding capacity – which will be central to building the new AUKUS-class platform – should also raise concerns.

Given the next presidential election season is fast approaching, we must expect that US national security issues will continue to be used for political purposes. And with the identity of the next president by no means clear, Australian influence in the US will struggle to overcome a concerted “America First” agenda, led either from a future White House or the Congress.

Second, it’s often forgotten that AUKUS goes far beyond nuclear-powered submarines. The so-called Pillar Two of AUKUS will be crucial to Australia’s capacity to leverage partnerships on high-end critical technologies. This has the additional advantage that many of them will be dual-use (in other words, have both civilian as well as military applications).

There is particular scope for the deal to supercharge advancements crucial to future defence needs –- in command and control (C2), electronic warfare (EW) and integration of AI systems, for instance.

But again, Australia’s ability to benefit from these advancements will have to overcome a slew of largely US-based obstacles. And these are in addition to Canberra’s historical timidity about backing innovations from concept to reality.

A key sticking point will be America’s hypersensitivities over information-sharing, which often results in over-classification via the blanket NOFORN (Not Releasable to Foreign Nationals) designation. Even more problematic are the US International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and its Foreign Military Sales (FMS) process.

These are costly to overcome, require ongoing investments in goodwill, and are vulnerable to the vicissitudes of American politics. As a CSIS report recently noted, the United Kingdom already spends over 1% of its total defence budget on ITAR compliance alone.

While there is broad-based acceptance that ITAR and FMS are arcane, they remain significant regulatory and political hurdles to the type of innovation agenda envisaged under AUKUS Pillar Two.

And while there have been proposals to circumvent export controls by legislating a “pre-approval” process for AUKUS projects, they have not yet progressed further than ideas. This risks being undone by a determined future US administration.

This all means it’s important to recognise that the ALP’s AUKUS debate is not happening in a vacuum. Indeed, as is often the case with having great and powerful friends, trying to shape their preferences can prove the most difficult task. For Australia, AUKUS is likely to be no exception.

Matthew Sussex has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council, the Carnegie Foundation, the Lowy Institute, and various Australian government agencies.

– ref. The AUKUS deal will be hotly debated at the ALP national conference, but its real vulnerabilities lie in America – https://theconversation.com/the-aukus-deal-will-be-hotly-debated-at-the-alp-national-conference-but-its-real-vulnerabilities-lie-in-america-211504

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Russell, Senior Lecturer in Crime, Justice & Legal Studies, La Trobe University

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains the name and image of a deceased person.

The bail reform bill tabled in the Victorian parliament this week seeks to undo some of the worst parts of the Bail Act, which was condemned as a “complete and unmitigated disaster” in the coronial inquest into the passing of Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman Veronica Nelson in 2020.

The proposed bail changes have come about because of the tireless advocacy of Nelson’s family.

However, the bill doesn’t go far enough to address the discriminatory effects of the current bail regime, nor fix the state’s remand crisis.

The disaster of Victoria’s bail laws

Bail is a process which allows people accused of crimes to remain in the community, with conditions, until their court matter is finalised. However, the progressive hardening of Victoria’s bail laws over the past decade has made bail much harder to obtain, giving rise to ballooning rates of people on remand (that is, in prison without having been convicted or sentenced).

Unsentenced people in Victoria now make up 42% of the total prison population, compared to only 18% a decade ago. The proportions are even higher among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and women. The number of unsentenced Indigenous women entering prison each year has grown by 243% over the past decade.

The negative consequences of remand are significant and can include family separation, trauma, and cycles of homelessness, unemployment, and reincarceration.

The human cost of the state’s toughened bail regime was put in the spotlight by the cruel and preventable death of Veronica Nelson at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre women’s prison in January 2020. She had been arrested and refused bail for shoplifting related offences just three days earlier. Due to changes made to the Bail Act in 2018, she faced a presumption against being granted bail, and was refused bail for this reason.

Following the Coroner’s findings, Veronica’s family and legal experts called for the implementation of “Poccum’s Law”, after the nickname for Veronica by her mother, Aunty Donna Nelson.

Poccum’s Law provides a best practice, evidence-based model for bail reform which would have prevented Veronica’s death in custody.

However, the bail reform bill put forward by the government this week falls short of this call.

Read more:
Number of women on remand in Victoria soars due to outdated bail laws

3 ways the bill falls short

There are three major aspects of the bill which legal and health experts say undermine real progress.

1. First, bail reforms wouldn’t be implemented until six months after passing parliament. This would mean the changes would come into effect in early 2024, which is over four years after Veronica Nelson’s passing, and over 12 months after the Coroner recommended urgent and sweeping reforms to the laws.

After the tragic Bourke Street incident in January 2017, Premier Daniel Andrews acted rapidly to implement changes to bail laws to create a presumption against bail for a large number of offences, including many minor offences. In doing so, he ignored the advice of experts, who warned the changes would have devastating consequences for already disadvantaged people.

There’s no clear reason for the government to now delay implementation of laws which would curb Victoria’s inflated prison population and prevent the needless harm and suffering caused by large numbers of people cycling through prison unsentenced.

Read more:
Victoria’s prison health care system should match community health care

2. Second, the bill doesn’t change the unacceptable risk test enough to ensure that people who pose no risk to community safety aren’t held in prison. Poccum’s Law requires that a person is only refused bail where they pose an immediate and identifiable risk to the safety of another person, serious risk of interfering with a witness, or a demonstrable risk of fleeing the jurisdiction.

The bill retains the power for magistrates to refuse bail where there’s only a risk that a person will not attend court or meet strict bail conditions. Retaining this power won’t address the discriminatory effects of bail laws, since people experiencing significant social disadvantage – such as people who are homeless, victim-survivors of family violence, or people with disability – are less likely to be able to comply with onerous bail conditions.

What’s more, Poccum’s Law specifies that a person must not be refused bail if they would be unlikely to receive a sentence of imprisonment. Half of those discharged from prison have not spent any time under sentence. The bill won’t properly prevent this, which means people will continue to needlessly “churn” through the prison system.

3. Finally, the bill doesn’t remove the presumption against bail for all offences. A presumption against bail means the accused person, who hasn’t been found guilty of any crime, has to demonstrate they should be granted bail.

Depriving someone of their liberty is one of the most serious restrictions that can be imposed on a person’s human rights. The presumption against bail erodes the presumption of innocence, and should be repealed in its entirety.

Instead, the onus should be on the prosecutor to persuade the court an accused person shouldn’t be granted bail. This aligns with the UN Committee against Torture’s recommendation that remand be “resorted to only in exceptional circumstances” and the continued calls to properly implement the findings of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

Half-hearted bail reforms can only lead to more suffering and harm. The government ought to listen to the family of Veronica Nelson and the expertise of the 56 Aboriginal, legal, human rights and health organisations that have endorsed Poccum’s Law.

Emma Russell is a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Crime Law and Justice at University of New South Wales. She is affiliated with Smart Justice for Women.

Andreea Lachsz was the Head of Policy, Communications and Strategy at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service during the Inquest into the passing of Veronica Nelson.

Sarah Schwartz is the Principal Lawyer of the Wirraway Practice at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and acted in the Inquest into the passing of Veronica Nelson.

– ref. 3 ways the Victorian government’s bail reforms fall short – and why it must embrace ‘Poccum’s Law’ – https://theconversation.com/3-ways-the-victorian-governments-bail-reforms-fall-short-and-why-it-must-embrace-poccums-law-210694

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mike Joy, Senior Researcher; Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

You may not have noticed, but earlier this month we passed Earth overshoot day, when humanity’s demands for ecological resources and services exceeded what our planet can regenerate annually.

Many economists criticising the developing degrowth movement fail to appreciate this critical point of Earth’s biophysical limits.

Ecologists on the other hand see the human economy as a subset of the biosphere. Their perspective highlights the urgency with which we need to reduce our demands on the biosphere to avoid a disastrous ecological collapse, with consequences for us and all other species.

Many degrowth scholars (as well as critics) focus on features of capitalism as the cause of this ecological overshoot. But while capitalism may be problematic, many civilisations destroyed ecosystems to the point of collapse long before it became our dominant economic model.

Capitalism, powered by the availability of cheap and abundant fossil energy, has indeed resulted in unprecedented and global biosphere disruption. But the direct cause remains the excessive volume and speed with which resources are extracted and wastes returned to the environment.

From an ecologist’s perspective, degrowth is inevitable on our current trajectory.

Read more:
Degrowth isn’t the same as a recession – it’s an alternative to growing the economy forever

Carrying capacity

Ecology tells us that many species overshoot their environment’s carrying capacity if they have temporary access to an unusually high level of resources. Overshoot declines when those resources return to more stable levels. This often involves large-scale starvation and die-offs as populations adjust.

Access to fossil fuels has allowed us to temporarily overshoot biophysical limits. This lifted our population and demands on the biosphere past the level it can safely absorb. Barring a planned reduction of those biosphere demands, we will experience the same “adjustments” as other species.

One advantage humans have over other species is that we understand overshoot dynamics and can plan how we adjust. This is what the degrowth movement is attempting to do.

To grasp the necessity of reducing ecological overshoot we must understand its current status. We can do this by examining a variety of empirical studies.

Material flows and planetary boundaries

Analysis of material flows in the economy shows we are currently extracting more than 100 billion tons of natural materials annually, and rising. This greatly exceeds natural processes – erosion, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes – that move materials around the globe.

Such massive human-driven material flows can destroy ecosystems, cause pollution and drive species extinct.

Only about 10% of these resource flows are potentially renewable. In many cases, we are harvesting more than can be regenerated annually (for example, many fish stocks).

Humans have now transgressed at least six of nine planetary boundaries. Each boundary has distinct limits, but in some instances the overshoot is at least double the safe operating level.

Both material flow analysis and planetary boundaries provide critically important information about our impacts on the biosphere. But they fail to capture the full picture. The former doesn’t directly measure biosphere functioning. The latter doesn’t capture inter-dependencies between various boundaries.

The biosphere is a holistic entity, with many self-organising and interconnected subsystems. Our generally reductionist scientific methodologies are not able to capture this level of complexity. The methodology that comes closest to achieving this is the ecological footprint.

Read more:
Degrowth: why some economists think abandoning growth is the only way to save the planet – podcast

Biocapacity

The ecological footprint measures the amount of productive surface on Earth and its capacity to generate resources and assimilate waste. These are two of the most fundamental features of the biosphere.

It then compares this available biocapacity with humanity’s annual demands. Humanity’s ecological footprint has exceeded the biosphere’s annual biocapacity since at least 1970 and is currently almost twice the sustainable level.

The reason we can use more of what is generated annually is because we use stored biomass – ancient solar energy captured over millennia – to power this draw-down.

We must note that the ecological footprint is an acknowledged underestimate of our demands on the biosphere. Also, the biosphere isn’t there only for us. At least 30-50% of the biosphere should be reserved as wilderness to protect other species and global ecosystems.

Humanity exceeds its fair share of natural resources by more than 50%, and likely needs to reduce this demand by 70-80% to operate within carrying capacity. Those with greater wealth are responsible for a disproportionately large share of overshoot.

Read more:
Stories about economic degrowth help fight climate change — and yield a host of other benefits

It’s not just a climate crisis

The political and public concern about climate change is considerable internationally and in New Zealand. But this is one of many environmental crises, together with soil erosion, groundwater pollution, deforestation, the rise of invasive species, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification and the depletion of resources. They are all symptoms of overshoot.

The climate crisis is seen as a problem requiring a solution rather than a symptom of overshoot. The problem is generally formulated as looking for a way to maintain current lifestyles in the wealthy world, rather than reducing overshoot.

The ecological perspective accepts that we exceed biophysical boundaries and emphasises the importance of reducing energy and material consumption – regardless of how the energy is provided.

The scope of human disruption of the biosphere is now global. This ecological perspective highlights the current magnitude and closeness of significant and unwelcome changes to Earth systems. The reduction of humanity’s demands on the biosphere is an overriding priority.

Ecological economics, with its emphasis on a steady-state economy, is perhaps the most rigorous existing economic framework with specific proposals for determining priority actions. We urge scholars of all disciples to examine these.

The author acknowledges the contribution of Jack Santa-Barbara.

Mike Joy is affiliated with Degrowth Aotearoa New Zealand (DANZ).

– ref. Critics of ‘degrowth’ economics say it’s unworkable – but from an ecologist’s perspective, it’s inevitable – https://theconversation.com/critics-of-degrowth-economics-say-its-unworkable-but-from-an-ecologists-perspective-its-inevitable-211496

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marissa Shields, Research fellow, The University of Melbourne

Australian governments spend a lot of money supporting young people with disability to find a job. But the success of these programs has been modest.

Employment rates for young people with disability have been persistently low for the past two decades, despite considerable investment in employment services and programs. While 80% of those Australian adults without disability are in jobs, only 48% of those with disability were in work in the most recent Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers.

Young adults with disability are therefore also much less likely to be in jobs than their peers without disability. Our recently published research found young people with disability who do have jobs have better mental health.

Unfortunately, current efforts to boost workforce participation are focused solely on potential employees with disability, not the environments that could employ and support them.

Read more:
Working from home has worked for people with disability. The back-to-the-office push could wind back gains

Young people with disability have poorer mental health to start with

The mental health of young people with disability is considerably worse than their peers without disability and this gap looks to be widening.

We know having a job is good for a person’s mental health and that unemployment leads to poorer mental health. Our previous research showed being unemployed has a bigger negative effect on the mental health of young people with disability than young people without disability.

This may be due to factors like loss of work identity and financial stress which can affect all unemployed people. However, these and other impacts may be worse for people with disability due to the greater economic and social disadvantage they experience, and the greater barriers they face in gaining work.

Our study used Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey data from 2016 to 2019 and included 3,435 young adults aged 20 to 35. The 377 young adults with disability in our sample had poorer mental health than young adults who didn’t report a disability. They were also less likely to be employed.

We checked to see how much of the poorer mental health experienced by young adults with disability could be improved if they had the same employment rate as their peers without disability. To do this, we used a method called “causal mediation analysis” which allowed us to estimate how much having a disability affects the mental health of young adults.

We then took this estimate and split it into two parts: the effect on mental health due to unemployment, and the effect on mental health not due to unemployment.

We found nearly 20% of the poorer mental health reported by young adults with disability could be alleviated by helping those who want to work into jobs.

Employment programs may not be hitting the mark

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) promised to improve employment rates for young participants. The School Leaver Employment Supports program is the main way NDIS participants are supported to move out of school and into work. However, data in the most recent report shows only 29% of people in the program entered mainstream employment, and over half were unemployed when they left the program.

Other programs, like Disability Employment Services and Workforce Australia, provide support to people with disability to find and keep a job. Outside of school leaver supports, the NDIS can provide funding to help participants find and keep a job.

Our research suggests supporting more young people with disability into employment could start to close the gaps in mental health between them and those without disability. But the focus shouldn’t be just on the job seeker.

Room for improvement

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has targeted the school leaver supports program for reform as part of concerns around the financial sustainability of the NDIS, including changing the way the School Leaver Employment Supports program is funded. This would mean incentivising providers to achieve good employment outcomes for young people with disability, instead of just providing services.

Currently, services focus on vocational training with the aim of improving the jobseeker’s capability and capacity to work. This can include education and training. But this is often outside a workplace setting rather than “on the job” training, which may be more effective.

Further, focusing only on the job seeker ignores the other barriers people with disability experience, like discrimination and systemic disadvantage. When looking for work, people with disability encounter job advertisements which use ableist language and application software that may screen out candidates who have gaps in their employment record. Inaccessible buildings may make it difficult for people with physical or sensory disability to participate in job interviews.

On the job, people with disability may face negative attitudes, employers who do not know how to provide reasonable adjustments and lack of flexible work arrangements. For some people with invisible disability, like psychosocial disability, talking to their employer may be especially difficult due to the fear of stigma and discrimination.

Meaningful government action is needed to address the discrimination people with disability experience when they look for jobs and in the workplace.

Additional barriers to employment, like accessible transportation to get to and from work, or safe and stable housing, also impact the employment outcomes of young people with disability.

Connections between government services and more training for workers could ensure job seekers with disability get help to address these life areas. Employers also need clear guidance and support to hire, accommodate, and build the careers of employees with disability.

Read more:
Australia is lagging when it comes to employing people with disability – quotas for disability services could be a start

Young adults want to work

We know young adults with disability want to work and to have the same opportunities as everyone else.

Helping young people with disability into suitable jobs that match their strengths, needs and goals is critical to supporting their mental health. But until we address these bigger issues that stop young people from getting work, young adults with disability will continue to have lower employment rates and poorer mental health that puts them at risk of poorer quality of life. Failing to address this issue also adds to welfare and health system expenses.

We owe it to young people with disability and their mental health to make job opportunities a reality.

Read more:
‘On my worst day …’ How the NDIS fosters a deficit mindset and why that should change

Marissa Shields received funding from an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship provided by the Australian Commonwealth Government.

Anne Kavanagh receives funding from the Australian Research Council, NHMRC, MRFF, and Victorian and Commonwealth governments.

Tania King receives funding from the Australian Research Council (DE200100607 & LP180100035).

– ref. Young people with disability have poorer mental health when they are unemployed – funding should tackle job barriers – https://theconversation.com/young-people-with-disability-have-poorer-mental-health-when-they-are-unemployed-funding-should-tackle-job-barriers-211065

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Wellings, Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations, Monash University

So here we are again. It’s Australia versus England in a major sporting contest – as if the Ashes, netball, rugby and not forgetting darts weren’t enough.

But something feels different with this fixture. The match in question is, of course, the semi-final of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Unless you have been living under a rock for the past three weeks, you will have noticed that cup fever has gripped the land. Even long-haul international flights could provide no respite for refuseniks.

We all enjoy seeing the skill of athletes. However, it is the emotional investment in the team that truly draws us in. The close-ups of emoting players and the soundscapes of the ball hitting the post create shared moments of emotion that only live sport can provide in an age of streaming and video on demand.

Other host nations are no stranger to this phenomenon, which alters perceptions of nationhood: France 1998, South Korea 2002; Germany 2006. But it’s nice when it happens to us.

And it couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of people at the centre of it all: the Matildas. Projecting onto sportspeople can be a risky business. The real people behind the public personas can sometimes disappoint.

Read more:
From handing out their own flyers, to sell-out games: how the Matildas won over a nation

Nonetheless, this team seems a genuinely likeable and supportive group of players. Some Australian teams – we don’t need to name names – have attracted criticism and opprobrium at home and abroad for not playing entirely by the rules (aka “cheating”), or playing in a less than gracious manner.

But the Matildas seem refreshingly different. And the “old” rivalry with England seems different too. This begs the question, why?

First, history. In contrast to other codes, there is no long history of Anglo-Australian rivalry in football, for either the women’s or men’s teams. The histories of how sporting codes spread around the world depends a lot on those promoting the games: were they private school-educated missionaries across the former British Empire, for example, or British railway navvies in Latin America.

Football in Australia experienced periods of large crowds during the 1920s and 1950s – linked to migration from the United Kingdom – but it was always kept on the sidelines by other codes.

Second, hierarchy. In what some Australians call “the world game” (itself a claim by its supporters to remind fans of other codes of their parochialism), the hierarchies are different. Women’s football has been dominated by the United States for so long that it has become the team to beat. Australia competes in the Asian confederation, so Japan is the main rival in these competitions. And there’s always New Zealand, where “traditional rivalries” – and hierarchies – seem most at stake. Football has developed as a truly international game, in contrast with cricket, netball and rugby which developed largely in the confines of Commonwealth and Empire.

Third, gender. This is, of course, the women’s world cup. By all accounts, the atmosphere at games is different from those of the men’s leagues and internationals. Although perpetrated by a minority, we know fans’ behaviour at men’s games can sometimes set the cause of football in Australia back 20 years. As yet, we have not seen female fans with eight pints of beer under their belts and three sheets to the wind invading the pitch.

Of course, the fixture is a nightmare scenario for English immigrants. And there are lots of English people living in Australia. In 2021-22, the UK (not the same as England) was the donor country of the third-largest group of migrants into Australia. More than a million people born in the UK now live permanently in Australia, making up 5% of the total population.

If this fixture is difficult for the migrants, imagine the dilemma it poses if you happen to be head of state of both countries. Presumably King Charles will adopt a constitutional position (we could say an each-way bet) on the outcome.

However, William, Prince of Wales, is head of the (English) Football Association, a point not lost on football fans in Scotland, Northern Ireland and not least Wales, as well as the Australian Republican Movement.

Then there is the prospect of a potential penalty shootout. Those of us who have been following international football for longer than we care to admit have experienced what is euphemistically called “the drama” of shootouts before. Many of us have aged prematurely as a result. (Despite the photo accompanying this article, I’m actually only 28.)

Little can outdo this horrific spectacle. Every time FIFA pushes its quest for markets into new areas – be it “lost continents” such as North America or Australia, or the women’s game – unsolicited advice from new spectators schooled in other sports is given on how to “improve” the game to make it more “exciting”. Make the goals bigger (or just make the goalkeepers smaller) is perhaps the classic of the genre. But whatever needless innovation novices might feel is necessary, nothing can match a penalty shootout for stomach-wrenching tension and drama.

The semi-final is an Australia-England fixture with fewer of the national slights and burdens of history, hierarchy and gender than other sports.

Read more:
How do we keep women’s football clean? Start paying players a fair wage

However, with the stakes so high, this will be part of the emerging history between the two teams, many of whose players are teammates at English and or continental European clubs. A repeat result of the 2003 Rugby World Cup final, when the England men’s team beat Australia in the final minute, would be a national calamity for Australia. But whatever the result of the semi-final, it feels like the ground has shifted for football – women’s especially – in Australia.

A word of caution: penalty shootouts feel great when your team wins. If your team is the one denied by the woodwork, however, it’s not so fun. If that happens tonight, Australian football will have something to blame England for.

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

– ref. It’s Australia versus England in sport once again – but why does it feel different this time? – https://theconversation.com/its-australia-versus-england-in-sport-once-again-but-why-does-it-feel-different-this-time-211525

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Hume, Lecturer In Theatre (Voice), Victorian College of the Arts, The University of Melbourne

“It was definitely loud,” said Matildas player Caitlin Foord last week after the team played Denmark in Sydney, adding

I loved it. We definitely hear it, we feel it and the louder the crowd I feel the better we are.

Now fans are set to get even louder, whether watching at home or in a stadium, as the Australian team prepare to face England in their first-ever World Cup semi final.

While the Matildas are warming up their limbs and muscles pre-match, spectators need to warm up our vocal folds. With a barracking job to do, we need to be match-fit. Here’s why.

Read more:
From handing out their own flyers, to sell-out games: how the Matildas won over a nation

Why do we need to warm up at all?

A sudden night of cheering can lead to vocal strain. The short-term risk is that you have a hoarse voice for a couple of days. Repeated vocal abuse can lead to permanent damage that may require therapy or surgery.

But with some good habits and preparation, you’ll be able to get loud safely. Here are five ways to build vocal stamina for tonight.

1. Get your body ready

The amount of volume you can have in your voice all begins with your body. If you are feeling tight, especially around the neck and shoulders, the muscles around the vocal folds may overcompensate, giving you a tired or strained feeling. Before the match, take a moment to stretch your neck and shoulders for a more open and relaxed throat, ready to roar.

And just as the Matilda’s will aim to stay well hydrated, you should too to protect your voice. The vocal structures consist of soft tissues that vibrate better when wet.

2. Yawn – even though you’re excited

Yawning stretches your soft palate (the fleshy back portion of the roof of the mouth) and its flexibility is essential for safe screaming. A vocal technique called yawn-sigh can also help stretch and warm up the structures like the tongue and pharynx (the passage at the top back of the throat) that are important for voice.

Try yawning “horizontally” – smiling widely as you yawn. Then try yawning in the usual “vertical” way. When yawning horizontally, you should feel a different stretch in the back of your mouth and throat that targets your soft palate.

Read more:
Connection, camaraderie and belonging: why the Matildas could be making you a sports fan for the very first time

3. Breathe

If the semi final is anything like the quarter final against France, it may be hard to remember to breathe. But breath gives your voice power.

If you roar and cheer without a decent in-breath, the muscles of your throat will tense and strain to try to make the sound louder. It’s not efficient and will tire you out quickly. So every time you go to cheer, allow a big breath in first.

4. Work out your vocal folds

Your voice is like a muscle – actually a complex arrangement of cartilage, muscle, ligaments and soft layers. If you stretch it before a workout, it will not only make the exercise easier but also aid recovery time.

Your vocal folds are small bands of muscle in the larynx, and you can think of them like elastic. If unused, they can lose stretch and have less vibration capacity to produce sound.

Simple exercises like humming and lip trilling can help keep the elasticity of your vocal folds. Start with humming at a comfortable pitch and glide up and down your range.

5. Put your whole self into it

Your voice, body and emotions are constantly taking cues from one another. If you allow your body to be expressive, your voice will follow. Let your fandom take over your whole body and come into your face too – gestures and facial expressions change the sound of your voice and can bring enormous energy to your roars.

Fully commit and trust your body and voice. When we are completely connected to communication, huge breaths can fly in, sound travels up through the vocal folds and rings through the body, giving your voice enormous carrying power.

If you try to make your voice low pitched when it wants to come out high, or you hold back from being loud when your voice wants to be heard, tension can come into your throat and lead to strain.

Read more:
5 tips to take the best care of your voice for everyone who sings, from a speech pathologist

How to treat your voice after the match

You got excited. You overdid the shouting. Understandable! After a full match, you may feel some level of vocal fatigue. If your voice sounds rough, hoarse or scratchy with unpredictable pitch, you might have what speech pathologists and ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists call dysphonia.

As the Matildas jump in an ice bath, it’s your time to give your voice some TLC.

Stretching, yawning, deep breathing and gentle voice exercises like humming and trills work for recovery as well as warming up. An exercise I use with actors after a show is gentle whimpering sounds (like a puppy) to soothe vocal folds. Although it’s not widely researched, actors love it.

Again, hydration is important for vocal hygiene, so drink up or try a humidifier. Special techniques like singing through a straw into a half-glass of water can help. Avoid whispering, which can produce more strain than talking naturally. Avoid smoking or smoky spaces, excessive throat clearing and alcohol or caffeine that can dry out the throat and thicken mucus.

With all the love behind the Matildas, they’ve got a chance of reaching the World Cup final. Even more reason to look after your voice and maintain match fitness. Go Matildas!

Read more:
How to actually fix a lost voice, according to science (hint: lemon and honey doesn’t work)

Amy Hume 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. 5 ways to protect your voice while barracking for the Matildas – and how to treat a hoarse voice after – https://theconversation.com/5-ways-to-protect-your-voice-while-barracking-for-the-matildas-and-how-to-treat-a-hoarse-voice-after-211499

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Esther Mirjam Girsberger, Lecturer in Economics, University of Technology Sydney

Increasing the rate of paid maternity leave, so it is tied to prior earnings, rather than just increasing the time off work, could lead to better and fairer outcomes for Australian families.

It could also help the country by supporting women’s workforce participation and boosting fertility rates.

Australia currently has the lowest rate of paid maternity leave of all OECD countries except the United States, which is the only OECD country without any government-mandated paid maternity leave.

From July 1 2023, the Australian government increased the duration of paid maternity leave to 20 weeks, with an extra two weeks to be added to the scheme every year until it reaches 26 weeks. However, the rate of pay, which is equivalent to the national minimum wage – $882.80 a week – remains the same.

This is around 42% of average previous earnings, or currently 8 weeks’ average pay.

Many Australian families see their incomes drop, sometimes massively, if they take maternity leave. And if they’re paying off a mortgage, or have high expenses, it may be difficult to survive on that income without significant prior savings.

About six out of ten employers offer paid maternity leave in addition to the government scheme, yet the length and rate of pay vary across firms. Government organisations, universities and large consulting firms are quite generous, but other industries not so much.

In retail and construction, only two out of ten employers offer extra maternity leave, according to a report by the Australian Workplace and Gender Equality Agency. Smaller companies are also less likely to offer additional leave.

In Switzerland and many other OECD countries, maternity leave benefits are tied to earnings – often 80-100% of prior pay. This system is fairer and avoids the potential plunge in income.

Weighing up the value of the Swiss model

Our research examined the impact of the government-mandated paid maternity leave in Switzerland, on employment, earnings, job continuity and fertility. The Swiss benefit was set at 80% of previous earnings for most women, a fairly generous provision.

The maternity leave benefits were funded through mandatory social security contributions by employers and employees, which only increased marginally as a result of the mandate.

We were also able to compare firms that had prior paid maternity leave provisions in place to those that did not offer this benefit, and examine the impact.

Before the mandate was introduced, around 40% of employers already offered their female workforce paid maternity leave, but leave provisions differed enormously.

The maternity leave mandate therefore introduced a minimum level of paid maternity leave to all eligible women and reduced inequalities in coverage. Employers were free to offer more generous schemes at their own expense.

How the scheme affected a mother’s work-life balance

The Swiss mandate started on July 1 2005 and provided 14 weeks of maternity leave benefits, and job protection during pregnancy and the 16-week period following birth.

Not all women benefited from the mandate in the same way. Mothers who gained access to paid maternity leave for the first time had slightly higher employment rates and saw their earnings increase by around 8% in the five years after giving birth.

The maternity leave mandate therefore successfully kept these women in the workforce and allowed them to work more hours or in better-paid jobs upon returning from leave. It improved the “work” side of their work-life balance.

In contrast, mothers who worked in firms that offered paid maternity leave prior to the mandate became more likely to have a second child. Among them, the share with two children (or more) jumped from 73% to 77% after the mandate.

Their employment rate and earnings remained stable even though they had more children on average. The mandate therefore enhanced the “life” side of the work-life balance for these mothers.

What about their employers?

Did the employers benefit from the mandate or did it increase their administrative burden and costs? Our research suggests firms benefited, too.

The mandate induced mothers to return to the same employer after maternity leave. Given worker turnover is costly, this helped firms cut recruitment and training costs.

Most importantly, however, the costs arising from maternity leave payments dropped for many businesses, as the mandated maternity leave benefits were covered by the social security fund.

Lessons for Australia

The Swiss maternity leave mandate – in combination with better access to affordable early childcare – helped stop the declining fertility rate in Switzerland and improved the work-life balance for thousands of families.

The government-funded maternity leave introduced in Australia in 2011 slightly increased the desire to have more children, according to 2020 research. However, the recently implemented two-week increase is probably too short to have any detectable impact.

Moreover, the level of maternity leave benefits, and not just the duration of leave, matter greatly for families in deciding whether to have another child.

Read more:
Paid family leave makes people happier, global data shows

A recent study from Germany found earnings-dependent maternity leave benefits (in contrast to a low flat rate) can successfully increase fertility rates for women with higher education (and earnings) who otherwise tend to have few or no children.

Women working in smaller companies and in industries less likely to offer additional maternity leave would particularly benefit from a Swiss-style system.

A decade ago, Australia’s Coalition government proposed a maternity leave scheme tied to 100% of prior earnings. The recent increase in the length of the paid maternity leave scheme in Australia will help many families. But Australian policymakers might also want to start – or revisit – conversations about the benefit level.

Esther Mirjam Girsberger 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. Boosting maternity leave payments would help the economy, not just parents – https://theconversation.com/boosting-maternity-leave-payments-would-help-the-economy-not-just-parents-209881

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Tillott, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Health, Southern Cross University

With over seven million Australians hooked onto the world cup viewing, many who have never really been interested in sports have recently found themselves screaming at the TV, cheering in pubs and hugging complete strangers.

Have you found yourself in this new legion of sports fans, and wondering how you got here?

It is likely down to many factors. There is of course the incredible talent on display, the kindness players are showing on and off the field, and women and girls relating to players who look like them.

But it is also to do with the visibility and exposure of the game; the influence of our families and friends; the ways we are hardwired for connection; and the addictive nature of neurotransmitters.

Like many Australians, we will be sure to not miss tonight’s game when Australia plays England in the semifinal – but first, here’s a look at all of these new emotions you may be experiencing.

Read more:
From handing out their own flyers, to sell-out games: how the Matildas won over a nation

The social contagion

With Australia as a host nation – and the incredible success of the Matildas – there has never been more visibility and focus on women’s football in Australia.

Positive emotions and behaviours are contagious. Psychologists refer to “emotional contagion” or “social contagion”, which describes how emotions, attitudes and behaviours spread through groups and crowds.

In general, people just want to feel good! We enhance that feeling by forming positive social connections with other humans, sharing in a common experience, having a common goal and putting aside our differences.

Being on the same side means we have something to share and celebrate in and, more importantly, someone to do it with.

You’re likely feeling like you are part of something greater, and that has us all reaching for more by getting together to watch the next game.

Another reason you might find yourself getting behind the world cup is everyone loves a good story – and this competition has them in spades.

This world cup has had its share of ups and downs: superstar Sam Kerr’s injury; the crushing low of defeat to Nigeria; the high of the must-win-game against Canada; the electric edge-of-your-seat drama of the penalty shootout against France.

We all share in these highs and lows.

Sports can help create positive social cohesion by bringing people together. There is something very comforting about winning or losing as a group – whatever the result, we aren’t doing it alone!

Sports breaks down barriers, forms pro-social bonds and helps people unite through a common goal. We get lost and escape into a world of togetherness, which feels great!

The ability to laugh, cry or hold hands with people (both strangers and friends) in nervous moments is felt deep in our body. It is undeniable, palpable and reinforces our connectivity. These heightened emotions fast track our sense of belonging to a group.

Meanwhile, there is something very primitive going on deep in the brain that may explain this phenomenon.

Our brains are wired to work in groups or tribes. Historically, working together towards a common goal improved our ability to survive.

In a contemporary setting, when we belong to groups we unite through the notion of achieving a common vision. The “self” blends with the social. We evaluate our environment and look for links of commonality to achieve social harmony.

This comes back to the notion of feeling good. When you are sharing a sporting event – watching together or talking about it after – you are sharing a safe space you can relate, engage and belong to.

Shared experiences

The reality of what sports can do to unite and change the way we connect is palpable through this world cup.

We are all sharing a common experience which enables us to talk to complete strangers at the bus stop, on the train and when we are ordering our coffees at the local café.

This shared experience enables us the confidence to strike up new conversations: sharing our pride, our fears and our emotions.

We fast track our connections with people through sharing our vulnerabilities. Connections that could generally take years to form are happening in seconds. The moments to form those connections are more frequent as the success of our team continues.

Matilda’s defender Claire Hunt spoke of the collective belief the team has in their abilities. This collective belief has spread out from the team and their diehard supporters to become a source of national pride.

We belong

Sports creates a connection to something greater than yourself, an ability to ride the highs and lows of a team as you journey with them for the entire match!

Notice the feeling of your heart beating through your chest (and that feedback coming through your smart watch as the high pulse rate alert is screaming at you!); feeling like you want to vomit and cry from the anticipation; the tensing of your muscles during every attempt at goal.

Through Australia’s collective love, support and excitement behind the Matildas, we are in the process of forming our identity and becoming part of a family.

We relate to people, we connect to people, we belong.

These feelings have powerful effects on our wellbeing. Belonging enhances self-esteem, improves psychological and behavioural functioning, and improves the quality and meaning of our lives.

As our energy starts to rise, we begin to release positive endorphins such as serotonin, dopamine and adrenaline. Dopamine enhances our feelings of pleasure, satisfaction and motivation. Adrenaline makes you feel alive. These neurotransmitters increase our sense of wellbeing.

They are addictive and we are left feeling that we want more.

Even as a newly minted fan, you are now part of the Matilda’s family and they’re counting on the Aussie social contagion to push through those cramping muscles, tired bodies and sweaty palms.

You are about to be a part of history and those neurotransmitters won’t want to miss it for the world!

Read more:
5 ways to protect your voice while barracking for the Matildas – and how to treat a hoarse voice after

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. Connection, camaraderie and belonging: why the Matildas could be making you a sports fan for the very first time – https://theconversation.com/connection-camaraderie-and-belonging-why-the-matildas-could-be-making-you-a-sports-fan-for-the-very-first-time-211526

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Webb, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology

How can a black hole pull in light when light isn’t a physical thing? – Will, age 8, Victoria

What an excellent question, Will! I too wondered about this when I started to learn the wonders of physics.

To answer this, we must first explain three things: 1) what is light, 2) what is gravity, and 3) what is a black hole?

1) What is light?

Light is just a type of energy, travelling through space. There are many different types of light we can’t physically see, but can detect and even use. For example, ultraviolet light that comes from our Sun is why you have to wear sunscreen – so the light doesn’t hurt your skin.

Read more:
Curious Kids: can our brains sense electromagnetic waves?

It’s important for us to remember that just because light doesn’t have mass, it still is very much a physical thing in our universe, following physical laws.

The neat thing is, no matter what type of light, it all follows the same physical laws in the universe. One rule is that light always wants to travel in a straight line through space.

This is where we now need to break down gravity, and what space is made of.

2) What is gravity?

Gravity is the force that keeps us safe here on Earth. It also keeps Earth circling around (orbiting) our Sun. But what causes gravity?

Many scientists in history pondered this question, and came up with all sorts of theories. But when Albert Einstein presented his theory on general relativity in 1915, we started to really understand exactly what gravity was, and how it affects our universe.

Einstein had mathematically worked out that we exist in something called “spacetime”. You can picture this as the fabric of our universe. Like a fabric, it can bend and stretch. I like to picture space like a trampoline. When you put something heavy (like a bowling ball) in the middle of a trampoline, the fabric underneath it bends and sinks down.

Now imagine a universe-sized trampoline, and we place our Sun on it. The dip in that trampoline represents the gravity of the Sun. And we can do this with every object that has mass.

When spacetime is bent by that mass, the lines that would normally be straight become slightly curved – you can see that in the picture below. This is most extreme around the really massive objects we call black holes.

Read more:
Curious Kids: How are planets created?

3) What is a black hole?

Black holes are, in my opinion, one of the coolest things we’ve ever discovered in the universe. Black holes are regions of space so dense, nothing can escape.

They are usually formed when very large stars get too heavy and collapse (implode) on themselves. Astronomers think all the mass in the black hole is actually squished into a single point in the middle.

Black holes get a bad reputation for eating “anything that is near them”, which is just not true. Black holes do have a distance from their centre, which we mark as the point of no return. This is called the event horizon.

But farther away from this point, light and matter can circle around a black hole for a very long time.

So how can a black hole pull in light?

Now we’ve broken down those three key things, we can answer the great question asked by Will: how can a black hole pull in light?

When light is travelling near a black hole, it is still trying to travel in a straight line. As it gets closer to the black hole where spacetime is bent, the light will follow those bends.

When light gets very close to the black hole, it can be trapped circling around and around it. That’s because the fabric of spacetime is bent to the extreme. As you’ll remember, light is indeed a physical thing and is affected by spacetime.

Possibly my favourite part about this fact is it doesn’t just apply to black holes.

Anything with enough mass can make light bend around it, even our Sun. This was how scientists first confirmed Einstein’s theory of gravity was likely correct in 1919.

Something really heavy, like a whole group of galaxies clumped together, can bend space so much, it works like a magnifying glass and shows zoomed-in pictures of the stars behind it.

Read more:
Curious Kids: what are gravitational waves?

Sara Webb 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. Curious Kids: how do black holes pull in light? – https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-how-do-black-holes-pull-in-light-208848

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate C. Prickett, Director of the Roy McKenzie Centre for the Study of Families and Children, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

By introducing four weeks of paid parental leave for partners if re-elected, the Labour Party would move New Zealand out of an undesirable and tiny club of OECD nations. Only the United States and Israel would then not offer something similar after the birth (or adoption) of a baby.

But that’s not to say New Zealand might become a world leader in paid parental leave. In fact, the promised four weeks would move New Zealand into the middle of the OECD rankings on length of leave available.

Furthermore, the proposed reimbursement rate would pay the leave at below the current minimum wage. This puts New Zealand back towards the bottom third of the OECD when it comes to the average number of weeks a parental partner’s actual income is replaced under such a scheme.

Nonetheless, the prime minister was correct to note the policy was the “right thing to do”, and that it will ease the financial burden on families that would otherwise take unpaid leave.

Partner’s leave will also provide crucial support during those early days with a newborn, when extra hands and sleep are in short supply – especially for those families for whom taking unpaid leave would be prohibitively expensive. Whether it is adequate is another question, however.

Duration and remuneration matter

The research evidence suggests a myriad social and economic benefits for families. Reserved leave quotas for fathers have been shown to increase the likelihood of men taking any parental leave after the birth of a child. (Most research in this area focuses just on new fathers, rather than a wider sample of non-birth parents.)

Importantly, paid paternity leave is also associated with better outcomes for the child, such as their cognitive development, both in the short term and later in life.

Such policies have also been shown to improve mothers’ incomes and career trajectories over time, because they can return to work sooner or take on hours they might not have been able to. Overall, families are financially better off in the long term.

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Fewer than 1% of New Zealand men take paid parental leave – would offering them more to stay at home help?

However, many of these studies – while extremely rigorous and using statistical methods that can make the case for a causal impact – are using data from countries with much more generous partner and parental leave systems than New Zealand’s, even if Labour gets to introduce its new policy.

Positive effects of partner and paternal leave have been found in countries where the leave duration is longer. Wage reimbursement is also much closer to the parents’ actual work income – up to a certain amount, but typically capped at a rate that is higher than the median wage.

In Norway, for example, new parents are entitled to nearly one year of paid parental leave, at full wage compensation (capped, but still at a very high amount). Those 49 weeks’ leave can be shared however parents like.

A similar scheme exists in Denmark and Sweden. To encourage non-birth partners to take up parental leave, some countries operate a “bonus” leave scheme: if partners take leave, mothers or the birth parent qualify to take even more.

Baby steps

There may not be the political or public appetite in New Zealand to move closer to the gold standard of the Scandinavian models. But less generous entitlements risk being still too expensive for families to take up. And this threatens the universality of the policy – available to everyone, regardless of income.

The proposed reimbursement rate would mean many New Zealand partners who take up the leave would receive an income below the minimum wage. While this is technically better than unpaid leave, it amounts to an effective pay cut many families will not be able to afford – especially during a cost of living crisis.

À lire aussi :
Fatherhood changes men’s brains, according to before-and-after MRI scans

There may be unintended consequences, too. Families that could always afford to take unpaid parental leave will be disproportionately more likely to take advantage of the new allowance compared to lower- and middle-income families. And a number of families will be omitted in the first place, such as children with sole parents.

None of this is to suggest paid partner leave is not a necessary and important step towards better supporting families during a crucial period in their lives, one that has been shown to be critically important for child development and shaping longer term wellbeing.

If implemented, it would help ensure New Zealand doesn’t continue to fall behind other nations in its commitment to strong families. But the scope and generosity of the policy on offer falls well short of the evidence-backed benefits that appropriately funded partner leave can have for children and their families.

Kate C. Prickett is the Director of the Roy McKenzie Centre for the Study of Families and Children, which has previously received research funding from the Ministry of Social Development and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

– ref. Labour’s promise of paid parental leave for partners is ‘the right thing to do’ – but NZ could still do better – https://theconversation.com/labours-promise-of-paid-parental-leave-for-partners-is-the-right-thing-to-do-but-nz-could-still-do-better-211603

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mike Tipton, Professor of Human and Applied Physiology, University of Portsmouth

News that four Australians and two Indonesian crew members have been found alive after going missing on Sunday from a boat trip off the coast of Aceh in Indonesia has made headlines around the world.

The group, which was on a surfing trip, was found “bobbing around on their surfboards”, according to media reports quoting the father of one of the Australian surfers.

Our research in the Extreme Environments Laboratory at the University of Portsmouth focuses on how humans survive and respond to adverse environments.

So what does it take to survive such gruelling conditions?

Read more:
‘Your first emotion is panic’: rips cause many beach drownings, but we can learn from the survivors

A hierarchy of survival

There is an established hierarchy of survival.

Without air you only survive for a matter of minutes. Without sufficient warmth you only survive hours. Without sufficient drinking water you can survive up to six or seven days in a maritime environment. Without food you can survive 40–60 days.

So, those who survive more than a few hours are almost always in warm air or water.

Because you can eventually cool even in water that is relatively warm, you are better off out of the water than in it. Being on top of a surfboard is a step in the right direction.

Read more:
Why is extreme ‘frontier travel’ booming despite the risks?

Dealing with dehydration

When the water and air are warm, the primary problem is dehydration.

Death due to dehydration occurs when you lose about 15–20% of your body weight in fluid.

Even at 5% dehydration you can get headaches, become irritable and feel lightheaded. At 10% you may be dizzy, feel faint, have a rapid pulse and rapid shallow breathing. Thereafter, hallucinations and delirium are common.

To survive longer than six or seven days, when dehydration is your major threat, you must do two important things.

First, try to find fresh water. The absolute minimum you need to find is 110–220 millilitres a day, although 400mL per day is safer.

If you were prepared, you may have taken water with you as you embarked on your survival voyage.

If you are lucky, it might rain and you may be able to collect some rainwater in suitable, uncontaminated containers.

Surfers are unlikely to have devices such as a solar still or a reverse osmosis pump available to purify water for safe drinking. But other sources of useful fluids include fish “lymph” squeezed from the flesh of fish. This has about the same salt concentration as human body fluid (0.9%), so is only helpful if you are very dehydrated.

Fish eyes, spinal fluid and turtle blood can also help when desperate.

What you must not do, despite what becomes an overwhelming urge, is drink the seawater that surrounds you.

Seawater has an average salt concentration of 3.5%, so drinking it adds to the salt load of the body.

You should also not drink urine in this situation, because it will also contribute to salt building up in your body.

Conserving fluids

The second important factor is to conserve body fluid.

The body of a 75kg person contains nearly 50 litres of water, and in a survival situation where dehydration is your greatest threat, conserving this water is crucial.

The body helps. With a body fluid loss of 1% of body weight and consequent decrease in blood volume and increase in salt concentration, the body increases the production of the anti-diuretic hormone that lowers urine production by the kidneys.

You can provoke this response by drinking nothing in the first 24 hours of a survival voyage.

At the same time, it is important to do as little as possible. Try to minimise heat production by the body, which will mean less sweating.

So “bobbing around” on a surfboard is better than paddling it and getting hot and sweaty.

Normally, you would seek or make shade on your survival craft and rest during the hottest parts of the day. This is not possible on a surfboard, but periodic wetting from waves may keep you cool and help reduce sunburn (which can impair your ability to control your body temperature) by cooling the skin and covering it periodically.

The longer-term challenge is starvation – but this is a less pressing problem than dehydration.

Staying calm in a crisis

Survival at sea depends on knowing how your body works and what it needs, and then doing the right things.

Experience helps. Being used to the sea means you remain more relaxed in a crisis and are less likely to become seasick (which can accelerate dehydration, impair body temperature regulation and destroy morale).

Being with others helps morale and decision-making. Young and fit people, such as many surfers, are less likely to have other health-related problems that may compromise their survival prospects.

Read more:
Alone in a dark cave: what can we learn from extreme survival experiments?

Mike Tipton is affiliated with the Extreme Environments Laboratory University of Portsmouth, UK.

– ref. Surf group found safe after days at sea in Indonesia. A sea survival expert on what it takes to survive being lost at sea – https://theconversation.com/surf-group-found-safe-after-days-at-sea-in-indonesia-a-sea-survival-expert-on-what-it-takes-to-survive-being-lost-at-sea-211608