Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee Wallace, Professor, Film Studies, University of Sydney

When we sat down with friends to watch the Matildas take on England, the two of us played it cool through the pre-match period, as if this was a game like any other.

There was the usual chatter while the mascots ushered our now familiar Matildas onto the field. But at half-time – three pizzas and a bottle of viognier in – we were a little subdued and trying to find distraction.

To mask our own anxiety, we found ourselves commenting on the tension observable in others: the stadium crowd oddly tamped down, the ashen face of Australia’s coach Tony Gustavsson.

We rose as one when Sam Kerr delivered her sensational goal in the 63rd minute, but not long after that the game was over. Our girls huddled down and then took the mandatory lap of honour, stunned and wide-eyed as if they, too, were unable to take in what had just gone down.

We are still coming to emotional terms with the 3-1 result. But the matches on the field weren’t the only World Cup story we were interested in. In our group chat and on social media, another game was taking place: queer DIY commentary on the outest World Cup ever played.

In this virtually expanded world, the Matildas can never lose.

Read more:
Connection, camaraderie and belonging: why the Matildas could be making you a sports fan for the very first time

Queer women talking

While women have long been associated with gossip, the World Cup has given this ancient form of political and psychological processing a queer twist.

Watching the games and talking about the Matildas is one thing, but the online alt-commentary on the game has been a joy – even for those with little prior relation to social media or, truth be told, sport.

The barrier to entry is low: you can start with the group chat. Ours began organically with six fellow researchers of queer popular culture and media with varied attachments to football.

Our running commentary kept pace with the on-field action and included selfies at games and venues – but it chiefly focused on queer subtextual and para-athletic details such as height of knee socks, brow styling, headbands and ribbons.

Anyone still struggling with the outcome of Wednesday’s match might find solace, as we did, in learning about the children’s book that accompanies the ribbon Hayley Raso was originally gifted by her grandmother to match her jerseys.

That’s the kind of thing lady-amateurs process while the professional commentators beam in on the corporate media channels. They talk about the on-field action, while we tap into the expansive alternative universe of queer social media commentary.

Read more:
‘Felt alienated by the men’s game’: how the culture of women’s sport has driven record Matildas viewership

Learning the code

Our chat has been wide-ranging and quizzical as some of us learn the new code.

It has shifted between pure sports commentary – fuelled by our Angel City FC expert, who has a side hustle as a queer sports podcaster – and non-FIFA-approved content sourced from TikTok and Instagram as others like us caught on to the magic of the tournament.

We knew we weren’t alone when comedian Bec Shaw asked why other sports communities weren’t more like ours: up-to-date with game strategy and player performance histories, but also invested in the soapy off- and on-screen melodrama.

The Penrith Panthers and a huge number of other mainstream clubs came online with their reactions. Under their club social media accounts, these teams demonstrated their unequivocal, unquestioned passion for elite sports performance outside of their own codes and genders.

In this respect, they were in line the rest of the world, fully under the spell of the Matildas’ version of queer authenticity.

As queer viewers, our emerging expertise was not limited to the play.

We began trawling through the now infamous “woso chart” (“woso”, of course, short for women’s soccer), modelled on the relationship chart from The L Word, which maps all the intimate relationships, breakups and rumours (aka replays and substitutions) between players.

But, like game plans, diagrams can’t capture the real life drama. For that you need to turn to Brooke’s TikTok serial where she lesbian-splains the intricacies of girl-on-girl attachments to a sweet young hipster who believes they are all just friends.

One of the beautiful things about this World Cup has been the diverse engagements of fans around elite team sport and all its dimensions.

As comedian Mel Buttle captured beautifully, these virtual and actual conversations about women’s sport between friends, colleagues and strangers were unimaginable only a few years ago.

It has been queerly thrilling to be at the centre of this global shift – and to understand that all the feelings we have had along the way have been shared at scale with people we mistakenly think are not like us.

Queer closing fixture

There are not many moments in everyday life where you see euphoria and despair in such painfully close proximity, as we did on Wednesday night.

As one of us said from the house in Tempe where we were babysitting a next-generation sports star while his two mums were making the overlong journey back from Homebush, “It feels like World Pride is over.”

But here’s the good news. It’s not. After the final whistle, the cameras find Kerr. She puts it straight into the top corner for queer Australia with her powerful proclamation, “Wouldn’t want to be on any other team”.

Nor would we. We can’t imagine this World Cup without our virtual team huddle.

It’s not too late to join us. The third-place playoff will be the “gayest” FIFA final ever.

Just pick up your devices and come find us in the virtual dugout, where pop cultural crossovers keep the Matildas effect forever in play.

Thanks to our chat-buddies Cherine Fahd, Annamarie Jagose, Sarah Kessler, Alice Motion, Maddy Motion and Karen Tongson, who all play for SSSHARC FC.

Lee Wallace receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the NSW Department of Communities and Justice.

Victoria Rawlings receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the NSW Department of Communities and Justice.

– ref. ‘Wouldn’t want to be on any other team’: the queer joy of watching the Matildas at the ‘outest’ World Cup ever – https://theconversation.com/wouldnt-want-to-be-on-any-other-team-the-queer-joy-of-watching-the-matildas-at-the-outest-world-cup-ever-211681

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Greg Austin, Adjunct Professor, Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney

The federal Labor government today used the ALP national conference to address internal dissent over the controversial AUKUS security pact and its plan for acquiring nuclear-powered submarines.

Taxpayers have been asked to fund these subs at an extreme cost, up to A$368 billion, and with many risks in the procurement cycle. This decision, and the price tag, can only be justified by the consideration that Australia would likely join the US in a war against China to protect Taiwan.

But the government hasn’t specifically acknowledged that. Its public rationale for going ahead with the subs is to counter China’s growing military influence in the Asia-Pacific, especially in the maritime domain.

“China’s military buildup is now the largest and most ambitious we have seen by any country since the end of the second world war,” according to Defence Minister Richard Marles.

But how great is China’s naval capability?

The truth is the US navy, alongside its allied navies, especially Japan, remains much more powerful compared with China’s navy – and that’s likely to continue.

The Australian government isn’t being fully open about the cost-benefit analysis. It hasn’t publicly laid out its case for why its pursuit of such extremely expensive subs in relatively small numbers would help redress negative implications of the Chinese military buildup for Australian security.

What’s more, the AUKUS arrangements add little to the security commitment the US and Australia already have. We already have the closest possible alliance with the US, and even the government has said to our Asian neighbours that AUKUS doesn’t upgrade the security guarantees of the US to Australia.

So how do we assess the naval balance of power between China and the US, and do the AUKUS submarines arriving in the 2030s figure in those assessments?

Comparing their navies: the old way

A traditional way of assessing the balance of naval power is to count and compare the number of warships operated by each country. Even on that metric, the US isn’t outgunned by China, based on recent data.

China is frequently described as the world’s largest navy. But the US has more of the most important types of major warships, which are suitable for maritime warfare. The count only shifts in China’s favour for lighter and less heavily armed ships, such as frigates and coastal patrol vessels.

China’s advantage in lighter classes of warships could be particularly important in a conflict contained largely within the Taiwan Strait and other coastal areas near China.

On the other hand, even though the US doesn’t normally deploy all its naval force to the Western Pacific, it could deliver overwhelming naval power in the region in most circumstances if war was imminent.

The ‘missile age’

In today’s world, the ability of a country to carry out missile strikes is a far more important consideration than simply the number of warships.

The US can readily compensate for China’s numerical advantage in light warship numbers with “stand-off” missiles, which can be launched from long distances (more than 1,500km).

Read more:
The much-anticipated defence review is here. So what does it say, and what does it mean for Australia?

In modern war, the count of “weapons platforms” (any structure from which weapons can be deployed, including ships) is far less important than the number of missiles that can be fired from a variety of platforms against enemy targets.

A US think tank has estimated that in the event of China starting a war with Taiwan, the US could fire more than 5,000 anti-ship missiles over the first 3-4 weeks.

The simulation was pessimistic about whether this number would be adequate to hold the Chinese attack at bay or defeat it in the first weeks, but it still saw China suffer significant ship losses. The simulation didn’t include US attacks on Chinese naval bases, which could significantly alter the missile advantage in favour of the US.

In a war between the US and China, we could expect the US would be prepared to undertake crippling cruise missile strikes on naval bases and other targets inside China. Even on short warning, the US navy could, for example, launch more than 1,000 cruise missiles against the Chinese mainland in an initial engagement over several days if it chose to do so.

According to the US Congressional Research Service, the US navy has 9,000 missile vertical launch tubes to deliver long-range cruise missiles, compared with China’s 1,000.

The Australian public need not be so spooked about China’s naval buildup, given the US’s supremacy in the “missile age”.

The US also has the cyber advantage

The US navy also has superior cyber capabilities compared with the Chinese navy.

Its cyber resources are concentrated in its “Tenth Fleet”, with more than 19,000 active and reserve personnel. It has 26 active commands, 40 cyber mission force units, and 29 reserve commands around the world, which could be available to strike China in the event of war. Such missions would likely aim to disable, disrupt or destroy the command and control and fighting effectiveness of the Chinese navy.

For example, it was US navy cyber personnel, alongside Ukrainian counterparts, who successfully blocked what could have been crippling cyber attacks by Russia ahead of its invasion in early 2022.

In contrast, China doesn’t appear to have a dedicated naval cyber command, corresponding forces, or such a substantial global footprint.

Read more:
Deterring China isn’t all about submarines. Australia’s ‘cyber offence’ might be its most potent weapon

The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) has assessed that China is at least ten years behind the US in its cyber power.

This judgement is based on the US’s industrial and technological supremacy, and its much longer history of integrating cyber operations into military planning.

In a war with China, the US could count on the active support of key allies, such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, through remote cyber military attacks against China.

The AUKUS pact enhances the strength of this cyber alliance. Australia having nuclear-powered submarines doesn’t hugely change the US/China balance of power.

The allied cyber capabilities together far outweigh those of China. China has no strong cyber allies and has weak cyber defences compared with the US.

What about the long term?

The Congressional Research Service’s May 2023 report assesses that the naval balance remains in favour of the US, especially in submarine capability.

It finds China would have to maintain its robust naval buildup and modernisation for quite some time if that were to change (though it doesn’t estimate a timeline for this). If that transpires, the report concludes China “might eventually draw even with or surpass the United States in overall naval capability”, though in my view this outcome is far from certain.

I estimate the US advantage in naval power over China will likely remain in place for at least the next decade, and probably longer. The government owes the Australian public a granular accounting of the military balance for the longer term.

Greg Austin consults for the International Institute for Strategic Studies whose work is cited in this article.

– ref. The US navy is still more powerful than China’s: more so than the Australian government is letting on – https://theconversation.com/the-us-navy-is-still-more-powerful-than-chinas-more-so-than-the-australian-government-is-letting-on-208466

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Saphira Rekker, Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Finance, The University of Queensland

Rapid reductions in fossil fuel production and use are essential to limit global warming to 1.5℃ compared to pre-industrial levels. Our new research shows most of the world’s major coal, oil and gas companies are yet to make meaningful reductions.

Some companies have been quick to announce net-zero targets or other claims of alignment with the Paris Agreement. But how do their actions compare to what must be done to achieve the agreed goal of keeping the temperature increase below 1.5℃?

Our research developed a method to track whether production by individual fossil fuel companies is aligned with putting the world on a 1.5℃ climate pathway. We use production budgets as these can be compared directly with fossil fuel demand scenarios and avoid the need for complex emissions calculations.

More than 60% of the top 142 oil, gas and coal companies – including three of the five Australian companies assessed – were not on track. Rio Tinto and BHP were the two Australian companies found to be on track. Between 2014 and 2020, the fossil fuel sectors exceeded overall production budgets by 64% (oil), 63% (gas) and 70% (coal).

These budgets are the levels of production needed to limit warming to 1.5℃ under the Paris Agreement “middle-of-the-road scenario” (where trends broadly follow their historical patterns).

We need freely available information to understand the impact companies are having on the climate and to hold them accountable. Our results are on the website Are you Paris compliant?.

Read more:
‘It can be done. It must be done’: IPCC delivers definitive report on climate change, and where to now

How can we track companies’ actions?

In an earlier research paper, we laid the foundation of what Paris compliance means using a strict science-based approach. We developed several conditions.

Firstly, the base year of measuring progress of an entity should be the same as the starting year of the decarbonisation scenario being used. While there are many such scenarios, the pathway has to be consistent with a 1.5℃ or “well below” 2℃ warming limit as stated in the Paris Agreement.

To prevent constant delay of action, only pathways starting in or before 2015 should be used. That’s when the world’s nations committed to decarbonisation under the Paris Agreement. For example, if a company wants to track its alignment with a well-below 2℃ pathway starting in 2014, it should start tracking from 2014.

Also, companies should make up for action deficits since the base year to stay within their budgets.

Commonly used frameworks such as the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and the London School of Economics’ Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI) don’t comply with these conditions. The not-for-profit SBTi is the primary point of call for companies wanting to develop emission reduction targets. It’s a partnership between CDP (which runs the global system of environmental impact disclosures), UN Global Compact, World Wildlife Fund and World Resources Institute.

We have now applied our more rigorous approach to fossil fuel companies. Using publicly available production data from the Climate Accountability Institute allows us to assess a large number of companies.

We evaluated the 142 largest producers of coal, oil and gas against four possible emissions “pathways” to limit temperature increase to 1.5℃ this century. We used three pathways set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2014 and the International Energy Agency’s Net Zero Emissions pathway from 2020. Each pathway involves different scenarios of climate actions, emissions and carbon capture and storage.

Read more:
Climate change: ditch 90% of world’s coal and 60% of oil and gas to limit warming to 1.5°C – experts

Off course, with much more to do

Not only did we find the majority of these companies are not currently aligned, but the outlook is also troubling. If recent trends (2010-2018) continue, the companies would produce up to 68% (coal), 42% (oil) and 53% (gas) more than their cumulative production budgets by 2050.

In Australia, the three companies not on track were Whitehaven Coal, Santos and Woodside. They exceeded their production budgets by 232% (Woodside coal), 28% (Santos oil) and 33% (Santos gas), and 39% (Woodside gas, on track for oil).

BHP was on track because it has reduced its coal, oil and gas production more than required between 2014 and 2020 under the middle-of-the-road 1.5℃ scenario. It used 87% (coal), 85% (oil) and 92% (gas) of its production budgets. Rio Tinto entirely stopped its production of coal in 2018.

Read more:
We pay billions to subsidise Australia’s fossil fuel industry. This makes absolutely no economic sense

While we project future production using historical (2010-2018) growth, a next step would be to assess how current production plans align with 1.5℃ pathways.

Companies can use our method to see how much they need to reduce production to be aligned. They can also see how much carbon capture and storage is required under a certain 1.5℃ pathway.

Read more:
The oil industry has succumbed to a dangerous new climate denialism

Tracking enables accountability

For companies to claim Paris alignment, they must be accountable for achieving the required levels of mitigation (reducing production and carbon capture and storage) under a particular 1.5℃ pathway.

Our method provides a foundation to drive this change. It offers a relatively simple way to measure corporate actions against the reductions required.

Our work aids the development of standards, regulation and guidance on what Paris alignment actually means. The Science Based Targets initiative has yet to finalise a method for the oil and gas sector. It has no method for coal.

Our method provides a process that can fill this void. In addition to tracking individual companies’ compliance with the Paris Agreement, we require clarity on their intentions beyond just setting targets. The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) will play a vital role by requiring detailed climate transition plans from companies in countries that adopt its standards.

Tracking how companies are performing empowers all stakeholders – including governments, investors and individuals like you and me – to advocate for climate action and make climate-safe decisions. For example, investors can use this information to decide which companies to invest in and advocate for change where required. Governments can integrate this information into corporate guidelines for climate action.

Saphira Rekker is affiliated with the Science Based Targets initiative Technical Working Group (Oil & Gas), the Science Based Targets Scientific Advisory Group and the Australian Sustainable Finance Institute Taxonomy Technical Expert Group.

Belinda Wade has a paid position and is an owner/shareholder in the consulting firm Aurecon. She has received internal UQ strategic funding to support research on decarbonisation and has had other grants associated with research projects e.g. Future Fuels CRC and Rural Economies Centre of Excellence.

– ref. Nearly two-thirds of the top fossil fuel producers in Australia and the world aren’t on track for 1.5℃ climate target – https://theconversation.com/nearly-two-thirds-of-the-top-fossil-fuel-producers-in-australia-and-the-world-arent-on-track-for-1-5-climate-target-211609

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lea Redfern, Lecturer, Discipline of Media and Communications, University of Sydney

Michael Parkinson, who has died at 88, demonstrated the art of the good interview night after night. He practised deep listening, giving his interviewee his full attention, but he was always aware of the audience. While he was asking questions on behalf of the audience and advocating for the audience, he always had the person he was interviewing as his focus.

As host of Parkinson (1971–82 and 1998–2007) and Parkinson in Australia (1979–83), he was a big presence on Australian TV. He was television the whole family could watch together, never unsuitable for children.

We may not have understood everything, and some references went over our head, but as children we could watch Parkinson with our parents. I remember as a young person regularly watching him and hoping the interview would be funny that week.

There were times you knew it was going to be hilarious. When Billy Connolly or “our” Dame Edna were going to appear it was a must-watch.

Whoever the interviewee, Parkinson brought out their stories, their observations. He gave them space to share engaging stories and never stepped on a punchline. Although humour was a draw card for the audience, their was space for pathos, too.

Finding the shape

Parkinson was an interviewer of great skill. He could be a presence, but never pull focus from the interviewee. He was deeply empathetic, and always in control of the interview.

The form of the interview was always satisfying: he knew how to draw a narrative through the length of the program. When interviewing three people at once, he knew how to be fair and have a balance between everyone and their stories. He made this appear effortless.

From 1979 to 2014 he frequently worked in Australia across the ABC, Channel Ten and Channel Nine.

For a generation of ten pound passage immigrants, he represented the best of the old country: he was never patronising, never spoke down to people, and helped to bridge the gap between Australia and England. He was able to bring us the best of British and Australian interviewees alike, affirming Australia’s international standing in the arts and culture.

When speaking to Australian politicians, sports stars and actors he was always deeply interested and deeply curious. He could reflect us back to ourselves without any of the cultural cringe so evident in the media of the time. The affection Australians felt for him is shown in the diminutive “Parky”.

Read more:
Interviews with journalists can seem daunting – but new research shows 80% of subjects report a positive experience

An authentic voice

Born in Yorkshire in 1935, Parkinson didn’t attend university, starting his career working for newspapers straight out of school. It was perhaps this start which aided in his plain speaking common sense and ability to talk to ordinary people. You got the sense he could speak to anybody. There was no putting on a persona; he was always authentically him.

Today, this authentic self is seen in many of our best interviewers. We know how important it is curiosity and authenticity drive the interview – Parkinson was doing this decades before others recognised its importance.

When I started in radio, I looked towards Parkinson as the gold standard. I admired how he was able to draw people out and reveal so much of themselves. He demonstrated how the media could go beyond the soundbite.

So much of the media of the time was about context-free news and current affairs journalism. Although his interviews were with celebrities, he showed people might share more of themselves and the world if they’re given time and space to speak. Parkinson gave us a fuller, richer sense of the people he spoke to.

His legacy in Australia can be seen in people like Andrew Denton, Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski – long form interviews driven by curiosity.

Some people have been describing Parkinson’s death as the end of an era, but his legacy will live on. When we look at shows like ABC Conversations, and so many longform podcasts, we find curious interviewers who, like Parkinson, build a relationship and find a connection with an interviewee. A soundbite might show up on TikTok or YouTube – but you have to do the longform interview to get there.

Perhaps one of the best demonstrations of this was Parkinson’s interview with Ian Thorpe. In the 2014 interview, Thorpe came out publicly for the first time, and spoke about his depression and use of drugs and alcohol.

Without the relationship Parkinson was able to build over the course of the interview, it is doubtful Thorpe would have felt comfortable to come out in the same way. Parkinson was always interested in giving people the opportunity to reveal themselves.

That Thorpe felt Parkinson’s show was a safe space to come out says something about the tenor of his relationship with his interviewees and his place in Australian culture.

Read more:
Ian Thorpe came out, but not in Australia – a wise decision

There for the audience

His few missteps seemed to be with women. As I grew older, I realised he was a man of his time, as was made obvious in his awkward interviews with Meg Ryan and Helen Mirren. In these interviews, his occasional awkwardness around gender is writ large, and the interviews go off the rails. He fails to develop his famous rapport and adjust his approach in response to their discomfort.

But given the length of his career, the rarity of these missteps is still impressive. His geniality and quiet generosity came across night after night, for decades.

What defined him more than anything was how he was inclusive of his audience. No matter how complex the ideas or how smart the person he was interviewing, the audience was brought along with them. He was there on our behalf, and able to ask the clarifying questions without worrying about his own ego.

He represents an age of Australian and British relationships in a way that is truly singular and his interviews are artefacts of that age. He was an interiewer who stood out for not having to stand out, and the delights and possibilities of the long-form interview are his legacy.

Lea Redfern 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. Interested, curious and empathetic, Michael Parkinson helped bridge the gap between Australia and England – https://theconversation.com/interested-curious-and-empathetic-michael-parkinson-helped-bridge-the-gap-between-australia-and-england-211824

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hannah Dahlen, Professor of Midwifery, Associate Dean Research and HDR, Midwifery Discipline Leader, Western Sydney University

Why do babies always cry when they come out of their mum? – Nam, 12, Hanoi, Vietnam

When babies are born, they all seem to cry. We see this a lot on TV.

But not all newborn babies cry straight away. Here’s what’s going on.

What happens at birth?

When a baby is born, they move from their mum’s warm body, and out of their dark, watery world into a much cooler, drier and brighter one.

It’s a bit of a squeeze. As the baby comes out from their mum, the cooler air hits their wet skin.

The cooler air makes them gasp. They also gasp when the midwife or doctor touches their body to help them come into the world.

That gasp is their first breath, which usually comes with a cry. And when this happens the gasp or cry triggers an amazing change in how the baby gets oxygen and moves it around their body.

Read more:
Curious Kids: why do we cry?

What changes?

In the womb, babies depend on their mum for oxygen – via the placenta and umbilical cord.

The placenta looks a bit like a pancake and filters oxygen-rich blood from the mum. The umbilical cord then pumps that to the unborn baby.

But once babies are born, their first breath or cry triggers a whole range of changes to the way their heart moves blood around their body. So, rather than breathing fluid from the womb, they can now breathe air and get oxygen into their lungs just like we do.

The process of being born also squeezes water out of the baby’s lungs, allowing them to work properly.

A newborn baby crying is a sound parents and health workers are very happy to hear. That’s because it usually means the baby is well and won’t need any extra help to breathe.

But not all newborn babies cry. And it’s not always something to be worried about.

Read more:
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Why don’t all babies cry?

Sometimes this switch to moving oxygen around the body just like us does not happen smoothly.

There might be problems with the baby’s heart, or there may have been a difficult birth. For instance, the baby might have been very short of oxygen in the womb and need some help to start breathing when they are born.

Sometimes, there’s a delay in babies crying.

Babies born by caesarean section – when doctors operate on the mum to lift the baby out of her womb – might be slower to breathe and cry. That’s because they don’t have the fluid squeezed from the lungs like they do when born through the vagina.

Sometimes newborn babies don’t cry at all.

Babies born in water (known as a waterbirth) may have lots of warm water around them and not even realise they are born. That’s because they don’t feel cold air as they come into the world; they are often in their mother’s arms in the water. So they tend to just breathe quietly, and turn pink (showing they are getting enough oxygen), without crying.

Hello, Curious Kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au

Hannah Dahlen receives funding from NHMRC and ARC. She is affiliated with The Australian College of Midwives

– ref. Curious Kids: why do babies cry when they come out of their mum? – https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-do-babies-cry-when-they-come-out-of-their-mum-205477

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jemma Geoghegan, Professor and Webster Family Chair in Viral Pathogenesis, University of Otago

A highly pathogenic bird flu is currently sweeping the world – and New Zealand could be better prepared for its potential arrival.

Over the past few years, more and more birds have come to harbour new strains of this deadly virus as it continues to evolve to infect new species. It is now causing a panzootic (a pandemic of animals) among wild aquatic birds.

The virus, known as highly pathogenic avian influenza virus, has likely already killed thousands of birds worldwide (the exact number is difficult to estimate). What’s more, spillovers to non-avian hosts such as mammals are becoming increasingly common.

While only a few human cases have been reported, cats, foxes and sea lions are being infected at an alarming rate.

Despite intercontinental transmission of highly pathogenic bird flu variants during the past 20 years, no cases have been reported in New Zealand – yet. Australia is also considered free of the virus, although a few years ago a strain in chickens was thought to have evolved locally.

One reason we emphasise “yet” is because each spring, thousands of migratory birds arrive in Aotearoa New Zealand. Will they bring these deadly strains of avian influenza with them? An unwanted viral hitchhiker of this type could have devastating consequences for our biota and industries.

Read more:
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How bird flu could get to New Zealand

New Zealand is conventionally assumed to be at low risk from highly pathogenic avian influenza. We are thought to be too far away from other landmasses and not on routes that migratory waterfowl usually take.

Any migratory shore and seabirds that do usually make landfall in New Zealand are thought likely to die of the disease before reaching our shores.

But some wild birds might experience asymptomatic infections, even of strains that are typically highly pathogenic.

Read more:
Avian flu has jumped into wild seabirds and is spreading fast

Also, the recent expansion of susceptible host species, including to marine mammals, increases the risk that some species might carry the virus here.

As for geography, research suggests wild bird migrations are responsible for transmitting the virus from Europe to the Americas across the Atlantic, as well as throughout Eurasia. So why not to New Zealand? Are we really just too far away?

How to prepare for an outbreak

If this highly pathogenic avian influenza virus were to arrive, New Zealand is not as prepared as it could be. The major reason is that we have very little active virus surveillance of wildlife.

New Zealand monitors livestock, including cows, sheep and poultry, for a range of diseases. But the impact of this virus on people and non-poultry livestock is likely to be minimal.

The first signs might be the death of seabirds or marine mammals. While perhaps not as iconic as a kiwi or kākāpō, New Zealand is home to a great many seabirds found nowhere else on the planet.

Some species, such as tara iti (or fairy tern) are critically endangered, with only about 50 individuals left. A virus such as this could directly drive the extinction of species with such low numbers.

Given this risk, the US took action to vaccinate the Californian condor against avian influenza – but only after finding 21 dead condors (4% of the remaining population) which had tested positive for the H5N1 strain.

What should New Zealand watch for and how can we be better prepared to detect any incursions early?

• Raising awareness: unexpected deaths in animals are a red flag. Usually, such events are investigated by the Ministry for Primary Industries. But we must better inform the public about what to do if they spot a dead bird or sea lion.

• Testing: ramp up active and targeted surveillance of known pathogens. Wild birds have been surveyed annually since 2004 for avian influenza. However, since 2010 the focus has shifted away from migratory birds to sampling resident wildfowl in the summer months, concentrating on a small number of coastal locations visited by migratory shorebirds. This is based on the lack of positive samples from migratory bird prior to 2010, but the global situation and consequences of an incursion warrant revisiting active migratory bird surveillance across more locations.

• Genomics: use the viral genomics capabilities we have already established during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Europe, for instance, there are some circulating variants of avian influenza that seem to better infect mammals. If the virus arrives here, viral genomics can be used effectively to let us know what form we are dealing with, and inform our response.

Read more:
What is spillover? Bird flu outbreak underscores need for early detection to prevent the next big pandemic

It is clear that to first spot and then stop a virus such as this, we need to look at the entire ecosystem – that is, where humans, animals and the environment are interconnected. This is known as the “One Health” approach.

While this makes intuitive sense, the reality is that disease surveillance affecting humans, domestic animals and wildlife is largely siloed and under-resourced. There is limited integration of activities across these domains. The result is that we are currently ill-equipped to track and respond rapidly to this deadly virus were it to arrive in New Zealand.

We are advocating defragmentation of our surveillance for emerging pathogens. It is time to provide a more enhanced and integrated One Health surveillance system, involving expertise across universities, research institutes and government departments to re-evaluate our pandemic (and panzootic) preparedness.

Jemma Geoghegan receives funding from the Royal Society Te Apārangi, the Marsden Fund and the Health Research Council of New Zealand.

Nigel French receives funding from Te Niwha, the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries and the New Zealand Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment. He is Emeritus Director of the New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre.

– ref. Thousands of migratory birds will make NZ landfall in spring – will they bring a deadly bird flu with them? – https://theconversation.com/thousands-of-migratory-birds-will-make-nz-landfall-in-spring-will-they-bring-a-deadly-bird-flu-with-them-211492

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Passmore, Research Fellow, Evolution of Cultural Diversity Initiative, Australian National University

If you’ve ever seen Monty Python’s Life of Brian, you might remember that Romanes eunt domus means “Romans go home”. Or does it? Isn’t domus the nominative? Shouldn’t we be using the dative? Or is it the accusative?

Grammar is very complicated, especially if you are learning a new language. And if lots of people have to learn a new language, wouldn’t it be easier to make things simpler?

This is an intriguing idea linguists have previously proposed: languages lots of people learn as adults should tend to change over time to have simpler grammar, to accommodate the needs of learners who lack children’s sponge-like facility for picking up a new lingo.

However, in a new study in Science Advances, we analysed more than 1,200 languages to show this idea is not true, dashing the hopes of language learners worldwide.

How many words for ‘the dog’ do you need?

The theory of grammatical simplicity and non-native speakers has thrived because it seems intuitively reasonable.

Just as more non-native speakers should lead to simpler grammar, languages primarily spoken by native speakers should become more complex. This is because children can readily learn arbitrary grammatical rules and, as we collectively become more familiar with a language, we can encode more information in language more efficiently.

Read more:
Most assume writing systems get simpler. But 3,600 years of Chinese writing show it’s getting increasingly complex

For example, in the relatively isolated language of Iceland, there are three different word forms for “the dog”, depending on what the dog is doing in a given sentence: hundurinn, hundinn and hundinum (the nominative, accusative, and dative forms, respectively). But speakers of Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian, three countries historically in more regular contact with each other, simply use hunden in all scenarios.

It’s nice to think we can bend our language rules to accommodate newcomers and neighbours. But is this example just an anecdote, or does it indicate a universal feature of language change where languages evolve in different ways depending on who speaks them?

Putting the theory to the test

To test this theory we used a global database of grammatical features called Grambank.

From the database, we created two measures of grammatical complexity for each language: fusion, which depends on how much the language uses features such as prefixes and suffixes, and informativity, which shows how many pieces of grammatical information must be present for sentences to make sense.

Using these measures, we modelled the relationship between complexity, social and demographic factors (such as numbers of native and non-native speakers), and language status (such as whether the language is a national language or is used in education).

We also took into account the historical origins of languages. For example, French and Italian are similar because both descended from Latin. This process creates “trees” of languages, like the picture of the Uralic languages family above.

Grammar changes more slowly than populations

Our results show how language complexity evolved alongside the number of native – and non-native – speakers of each language. Contrary to the hypothesis, it seems that changes in grammatical complexity are too slow to be affected by the ebbs and flows of new adult speakers.

A good example of this is German, which is learned and spoken by a large number of non-native speakers who must navigate its case system, three genders, verbal agreement, and a multitude of other grammatical distinctions. For example, anyone learning German needs to remember whether every single noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter, like the feminine fork (die Gabel), the masculine spoon (der Löffel), and the neuter knife (das Messer).

Read more:
Research on 2,400 languages shows nearly half the world’s language diversity is at risk

Instead, we found the patterns of grammatical complexity we observe today are more likely to have arisen through a combination of historical language change and contact with other languages.

Our study shows how large-scale datasets and rigorous methods can shed new light on long-standing questions about what makes grammar more or less complex.

And although we found no evidence for the impact of non-native language speakers on grammatical complexity, there are still many more questions to explore about how social and demographic changes might influence the way we communicate with each other.

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

– ref. Do languages become less complex with more new adult speakers? Research shows it’s not that simple – https://theconversation.com/do-languages-become-less-complex-with-more-new-adult-speakers-research-shows-its-not-that-simple-211732

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Davis, Chair of Women’s Health, Monash University

Ever heard “low testosterone” blamed for low mood, brain fog and loss of vitality? Despite all evidence to the contrary, social media influencers are increasingly promoting testosterone therapy as an elixir for women experiencing troubling symptoms of menopause.

In a series of documentaries and social media posts about menopause in 2021 and 2022, British TV presenter Davina McCall promoted the use of testosterone therapy in addition to standard menopausal hormone therapy. The “Davina effect” has helped fuel a ten-fold increase in prescribing of testosterone for women in the United Kingdom since 2015.

Data isn’t available for Australia, but in my clinical practice, women are increasingly asking to have their testosterone level checked, and seeking testosterone to treat fatigue and brain fog.

But while testosterone continues to be an important hormone before and after menopause, this doesn’t mean women should be having a blood test to get their testosterone levels checked – or taking testosterone therapy.

What does testosterone do?

Testosterone is an important hormone in women’s bodies, affecting the blood vessels, skin, muscle and bone, breast tissue and the brain. In both women and men, testosterone can act on its own or be converted into estrogen.

Before menopause, testosterone is made in the ovaries, where it helps developing eggs grow and aids in estrogen production.

The ovaries release both testosterone and estrogen into the bloodstream, and the levels of the two hormones in the blood peak around ovulation.

Some of the testosterone measured in blood is also produced outside the ovaries, such as in fat, where it is made from “pre-hormones” secreted by the adrenal glands. This source of production of testosterone takes over after menopause.

Read more:
What makes you a man or a woman? Geneticist Jenny Graves explains

Do we have more testosterone before menopause?

The claim is often made that pre-menopausal women have more testosterone in their bloodstream than estrogen, to justify the need for testosterone replacement after menopause.

But, when sex hormones have been measured with precision, studies have shown this is not true. Our research found estrogen levels are higher than testosterone levels at all stages of the menstrual cycle.

Blood testosterone levels fall by about 25% between the ages of 18 and 40 years in healthy women. The fall in testosterone coincides with the decline in eggs in the ovaries but whether this is a marker of the decline, a consequence, or a cause of the decline is not known.

From around 40, the rate of decline slows and blood testosterone levels don’t change when menopause occurs naturally. Studies have not shown testosterone levels change meaningfully during the menopause transition.

Can blood tests detect ‘low testosterone’?

Some influencers claim to have a condition called “testosterone deficiency syndrome” or low levels of testosterone detected in blood tests.

But there is no “normal” blood level below which a woman can be diagnosed as having “testosterone deficiency”. So there’s no such thing as having a testosterone deficiency or testosterone deficiency syndrome.

This is also in part, because women have very low testosterone concentrations compared with men, and most commercial methods used to measure testosterone cannot separate normal from low levels in women with any certainty.

Pre-menopausal women might also be told they have “low” testosterone if blood is drawn early in the menstrual cycle when it is normal for testosterone to be low. (However, it would only be clinically necessary to do this type of blood test to look for high testosterone, in someone with with excessive hair growth or severe acne, for example, not for low testosterone.)

In post-menopausal women, much of the action of testosterone occurs in the tissues where it is made, after which testosterone is either converted to estrogen or broken down before it leaks back into the circulation. So blood testosterone concentrations are not a true reflection of tissue concentrations.

Further complicating the picture is the enormous variability in the effects of testosterone. At a given blood level of testosterone, some women might have oily skin, acne, increased body hair growth or balding, while others will have no such effects.

So, looking for a “low” blood testosterone in women is not helpful.

Read more:
‘How do I control my oily skin and prevent pimples?’ A dermatologist explains

Can testosterone improve sexual desire? What about other conditions?

There is sound evidence that testosterone therapy may improve sexual desire in post-menopausal women who have developed low sexual desire that bothers them.

This was confirmed by a systematic review of clinical trials comparing testosterone with a placebo or an alternative. These trials, all of which involved a treatment time of at least 12 weeks, showed testosterone therapy, overall, improved desire, arousal, orgasm and sexual satisfaction in post-menopausal women with low desire that caused them distress.

Treatment is only indicated for women who want an improvement in sexual desire (after excluding other factors such as depression or medication side effects) and its success can only be determined by each woman’s personal self-reported response.

But there is not enough evidence to show testosterone is beneficial for any other symptom or medical condition. The overall available data has shown no effect of testosterone on mood or cognition.

As such, testosterone therapy should not be used to treat symptoms such as fatigue, low mood, muscle weakness and poor memory, or to prevent bone loss, dementia or breast cancer.

However research continues to investigate these potential uses, including from my research team, which is investigating whether testosterone therapy can protect against bone density loss and muscle loss after menopause.

You can learn more about participating in one of our studies here.

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

Susan Davis is supported by the NHMRC, Grant no 2016627, and receives project funding from the NHMRC, MRFF and the Heart Foundation. She has consulted with Lawley Pharmaceuticals (most recently, in 2020) and the company has provided testosterone and matching placebo for her competitively funded clinical trials.

– ref. Don’t believe the hype. Menopausal women don’t all need to check – or increase – their testosterone levels – https://theconversation.com/dont-believe-the-hype-menopausal-women-dont-all-need-to-check-or-increase-their-testosterone-levels-209516

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, The Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University

Black Summer, Black Saturday, Ash Wednesday: these and so many other bushfire disasters are regular reminders of the fact Australia is among the most flammable continents on Earth.

Alarmingly, climate change is making bushfires more frequent. This is a huge concern, given the devastating effects of fire on both human communities, and the diversity of plants and animals.

As our new research shows, however, the trend is not uniform. We examined the frequency of wildfires in parts of Victoria over the past 40 years. We found fire frequency is increasing in all ecosystems we studied, but to varying extents. In some places, fires are occurring so often, entire ecosystems are at risk of collapse.

These nuances are important. They point to the urgent need to tackle climate change. They also have major implications for biodiversity conservation, and bushfire management and prevention, and cast further questions over the controversial practice of native forest logging.

Fires are becoming shockingly more frequent

To understand the effects of wildfires, it’s not enough to focus on a single fire. We must examine successive fires in an area and how frequently they occur.

Our analysis focused on southeastern Australia – one of the most populated, heavily forested, and fire-prone parts of the continent.

Specifically, we homed in on six geographic areas in Victoria known as “bioregions”. Bioregions vary in their climatic conditions, geological features, biodiversity and other characteristics. The six areas together cover 4.64 million hectares – much of it forest.

We excluded deliberate burns such as hazard reduction (or prescribed) burns lit by fire authorities. We also excluded places that had been logged, because they’re known to be at a high risk of severe fire – and so including them would have skewed the results.

We found a major change in the frequency of wildfire over the past four decades. Between 2001 and 2020, there were substantially more fires in almost all bioregions than between 1981 and 2000.

In the earlier two decades, almost 667,000 hectares of forest burned. More than 36,000 hectares of this burned more than once.

In the latter two decades, 3.1 million hectares burned. About 1 million hectares burned more than once.

The change was most pronounced in the three bioregions at higher elevations – the Snowy Mountains, Victorian Alps, and South East Coastal Ranges (which lie southeast of the Snowy Mountains).

The least amount of change was found in Victoria’s East Gippsland Lowlands. This area had more fires in 1981-2000 than the other areas we studied, but only a modest increase in number of fires between 2000 and 2020.

Fascinatingly, however, the story doesn’t end there.

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

A complex picture

We found the changes in fire frequency were nuanced and complex. Across the study areas, the frequency of wildfires was very strongly affected by topographical features such as slope, as well as climate measures such as rainfall and temperature. However, the influence of these factors differed markedly between areas.

For example, in four bioregions we studied, wildfires became more frequent as rainfall declined. But the opposite was true in the other two bioregions.

The reasons for these complex findings remain unclear. Increased average rainfall may, in some cases, arrive in storm events with associated lightning (which can start fires). It can also lead to faster water runoff, meaning rainfall may not be as well retained in the soil as otherwise might be, and forests could become drier.

Similarly, fire frequency was also affected by the extent to which temperatures deviated from the long-term average. Generally, this deviation was toward hotter temperatures.

In some areas, this temperature variation was associated with less frequent fires. In others, it coincided with more frequent fires. Again, the reasons for these differences are not yet clear.

The increase in fire frequency is alarming. Some places where fire has been particularly frequent include wetter forests, such as those dominated by ash-type eucalypts. Consistent with earlier analyses, we found evidence of locations that have experienced up to four fires in the past 25 years.

Fires in ash-type ecosystems have historically occurred only once every 75 to 150 years. Fires occurring too often in these environments may lead to the entire ecosystem collapsing.

Our results have major implications for the native forest logging forestry industry. More frequent fires means many trees burn well before they’ve reached an age suitable for sawlogs. This suggests yields from native forest logging in south-eastern Australia will decline, making the practice even more financially precarious.

Read more:
Giant old trees are still being logged in Tasmanian forests. We must find ways of better protecting them

What must happen next?

Our results confirm wildfires are becoming more frequent in parts of fire-prone south-eastern Australia. And while climate change influences the frequency of fire, the effects vary across geographical areas.

Clearly, we must seek to limit the number of wildfires. An obvious response is to take more strident steps to tackle climate change. But even if humanity meets this huge global challenge, it will be a long time before we see demonstrable changes in climate conditions.

More immediate options include managing vegetation to reduce flammability. For example, activities such as logging and thinning can make forests more flammable, so such practices should be halted in these vulnerable ecosystems.

Greater efforts are needed to conserve biodiversity that is sensitive to fire, and to conserve ecosystems at risk of collapse. We must also embrace new technologies to detect wildfires as soon as they ignite, and suppress them as quickly as possible.

David Lindenmayer receives funding from the Australian Government, and the Victorian Government. He is a Councillor with the Biodiversity Council and is a member of Birds Australia.

Philip Zylstra is a member of the Leeuwin Group and receives funding from the Koorabup Trust.

Chris Taylor and Maldwyn John Evans do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Yes, climate change is bringing bushfires more often. But some ecosystems in Australia are suffering the most – https://theconversation.com/yes-climate-change-is-bringing-bushfires-more-often-but-some-ecosystems-in-australia-are-suffering-the-most-211683

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paula Jarzabkowski, Professor in Strategic Management, The University of Queensland

The Actuaries Institute of Austalia has just confirmed what many Australian households already know – home insurance is increasingly unaffordable.

It found average premiums climbed 28% in the year to March, while premiums for higher-risk properties, such as those in flood-prone areas, climbed 50%.

The institute also found 12% of Australian households – 1.24 million – are experiencing extreme home insurance affordability stress, defined as paying more than four weeks of gross household income on premiums.

Twelve months ago, this figure was 10%, or 1 million households.

While in the past affordability had been recognised as a problem affecting vulnerable Australians, it has got to the point where it is hitting households across the socio-economic spectrum. And not only in Australia.

Insurers are increasing premiums in locations at high risk of climate-related damage throughout the world and even withdrawing home insurance completely in places such as California and Florida.

The high premiums are spreading to households in lower-risk locations through a complex interconnected system of rising private reinsurance charges (insurance for insurers), more frequent and worse weather events, and increasing rebuilding costs.

The case for a government-owned reinsurance pool

The Actuaries Institute put forward risk pooling as an emergency solution.

It would work through a government-owned and run “reinsurance pool”, providing nationwide coverage for claims relating to extreme weather events. Private insurers would pass on their risk to the state-owned pool, which would use the pooled premiums to ensure every insurer was covered.

In the past, the insurance industry has been overwhelmingly opposed to the idea, viewing it as interfering in a traditionally private market.

As recently as March 2022, as Queensland and NSW reeled in the aftermath of catastrophic flooding and its implications for insurance, the Insurance Council of Australia responded to calls to extend the newly created cyclone reinsurance pool by saying the private sector did things better.

The industry’s concerns are not totally unfounded. Setting up a risk pool without taking steps to mitigate the underlying risk would simply mask, or even exacerbate, the problem. It could facilitate insurance and rebuilding in high-risk areas that will suffer repeated losses.

Risk pools have to include mechanisms that tie insurability to long-term risk reduction through mitigation, updated planning and building regulations, and disaster-resilient rebuilding programs, informed by nationwide data collection.

Read more:
Victims of NSW and Queensland floods have lodged 60,000 claims, but too many are underinsured. Here’s a better way

Governments are stepping in elsewhere

Extreme weather risk pools work in advanced economies around the world.

Some, such as the United States’ National Flood Insurance Program, mask risk while allowing rebuilding in disaster-prone areas. But others, such as those in Spain, France and Switzerland, integrate risk pooling with risk reduction.

Australia would need to draw on the experience of the countries that do it well, doing everything we can to reduce underlying risk, including by changing where and how we build, and relocating people from disaster-prone areas.

Read more:
After the floods comes underinsurance: we need a better plan

If we don’t do something along the lines of government-provided and mandated reinsurance, insurance and its enormous benefits will no longer be available to an increasing share of Australians, regardless of their financial means.

The inclusion of the idea in the Actuaries Institute report might be an indication that opposition is softening. The future of home insurance could depend on it.

In the past Paula Jarzabkowski has received funding to study insurance protections gaps from Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation (ARPC), the Bank of England, Flood Re, Guy Carpenter, Hiscox, the International Forum of Terrorism Risk (Re)Insurance Pools (IFTRIP), the Leverhulme Trust, Pool Re, Präventionsstiftung der Kantonalen
Gebäudeversicherungen and Willis Towers Watson. She is a member of the OECD High-Level Advisory Board for the Financial Management of Catastrophe Risk and on the Pool Re Advisory Council.

Corinne Unger and Katie Meissner 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. Home insurance bills are soaring as climate risks grow. The government should step in – https://theconversation.com/home-insurance-bills-are-soaring-as-climate-risks-grow-the-government-should-step-in-211515

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