Artificial intelligence is a challenging policy area that’s moving towards the centre stage of public and government attention. Some experts emphasise the immense potential of AI, while others are deeply troubled about the ramifications the technology may have on humans.
AI has the potential to open up employment opportunities, but also to replace many jobs.
The Albanese government has recently begun consultations as it formulates a policy for seeking to ensure AI technology is both safe and responsible.
In this podcast, Ed Husic, the minister for industry and science, who is overseeing the AI policy development process, joins us to talk about this new frontier.
Husic is an enthusiast for what AI can deliver. “It’s been estimated […] it could potentially add up to $4 trillion to our economy by the early 2030s. But I look at it as the way in which it could change, particularly in terms of health.” He highlights how AI saved time in the pursuit of a COVID vaccine.
But, he says, “This is not about just plugging in a bit of technology, flicking the switch on and thinking that everything will be sorted out. It does require the pairing of human capacity to the capacity of people and their skills with the technology to get the outcomes we want and to think about how the technology will be used.
“We have a challenge within layers of management to understand, to have awareness about what technology is capable of, to then use that awareness to make investment decisions. And then when they’ve made those decisions, how to integrate technology in a way that is not hugely or unnecessarily disruptive.
“If we get it right, there is a potential for huge benefit.”
AI has experienced a boom of interest since the pandemic. Generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT are becoming smarter and more widespread. Students are using ChatGPT, which has worried some educators. The minister for education, Jason Clare, has commissioned work on a draft framework for the use of AI in schools.
Husic argues that AI can be incorporated into the education system and the workforce in a way that benefits everyone.
“AI can be used […] in personalising the way in which we are taught to take into account what our skills and capabilities are and then work out how to build and develop and improve those capabilities, not just for young people, but also I see a career transition benefiting from that re-training and having personalised training that suits individuals.”
A major concern about AI is the potential to create and spread misinformation and disinformation.
“I think that’s a genuine concern,” Husic says, highlighting the danger of “deepfakes”. “You’ll see something on a computer screen, on a phone or a TV and think this is a person that’s speaking to you doing something or saying something horrible or out of line. And it turns out it’s not. It’s been a manipulation of an image to make it look like that person.”
“It may influence people’s thinking or it may trigger a response out of government or authorities or create a climate that is forcing decisions to be made by governments that clearly it’s just wrong.
“We can’t afford to see that happen […] we will need to think about how we modernise or shape up our regulatory frameworks to avoid that, to tackle that and to give people confidence and comfort that what they’re saying is legitimate and that it’s not provoking decisions made of false or erroneous way.”
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.
INTERACTIVE WEBCAST: Join the LIVE recording of Paul G. Buchanan and Selwyn Manning’s podcast A View from Afar shortly after midday today Thursday (New Zealand time) and Wednesday 8pm (US EDT).
Today, In this episode of A View from Afar political scientist, and former Pentagon analyst, Dr Paul Buchanan, and Selwyn Manning will analyse the question:
What does theGeopolitical balancing that is taking place in the West and South-West Pacific mean for the region and the globe?
Paul and Selwyn will consider this question from several angles, and provide a context to the headlines that suggest both global powers, the USA and the Peoples Republic of China, are on a collision-course toward conflict.
Paul will take us through the US-PNG and Japan-NZ bilateral security/military agreements as a balancing response to the PRC-Solomons security agreement.
In addition, Paul will consider the question: Does the PRC have legitimate interests in the Pacific and, as a great power, should those interests be understood and respected?
Selwyn will consider whether China’s ascendancy as a global power threatens the United States’ position as the ‘preeminent defender’ of the Global Order?
And Selwyn will raise for debate, highlighting what the two global powers’ messaging was at the Shangri-La security dialogue that took place over last weekend.
Paul will then analyse what this all means for the Asia-Pacific region and the world.
INTERACTION WHILE LIVE: Paul and Selwyn encourage their live audience to interact while they are live with questions and comments.
Threat.Technology placed A View from Afar at 9th in its 20 Best Defence Security Podcasts of 2021 category. You can follow A View from Afar via our affiliate syndicators.
Defence Minister Andrew Little’s recent announcement that New Zealand would be “willing to explore” participation in military technology sharing – or “pillar two” – under the AUKUS security arrangement has already divided opinion.
Proponents have argued participation will enhance New Zealand’s security and help deter China in an increasingly contested geopolitical environment. Critics have suggested it would compromise New Zealand’s antinuclear commitment, undermine diplomacy and raise the prospect of a destabilising arms race in the Pacific region.
But missing from the debate so far is any clear analysis of how participation in pillar two of AUKUS might infringe on New Zealand’s policy approach to autonomous weapons systems (AWS).
That’s because of lack of clarity about two things: what kinds of technology sharing and development would be included under pillar two, and just what New Zealand’s policy position on AWS currently is.
What do we know about pillar two?
When AUKUS was announced, the promise to equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines naturally dominated headlines. The other focus of the partnership, however, is cooperation on “advanced capabilities”.
While little detail has been released publicly, these capabilities include a range of high-tech applications: undersea robotics and autonomous systems, quantum technologies, AI and autonomy, advanced cyber technologies, hypersonic and counter-hypersonic capabilities, electronic warfare, defence innovation and information sharing.
In some ways, pillar two of AUKUS is more significant than pillar one. It is certainly more imminent than the submarine delivery. It may also be “of greater long-term value and more strategically challenging”, according to analysis by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
There are a lot of uncertainties with emerging technologies, with no way to predict how they will develop or be adopted for military purposes. They also have more wide-reaching societal and economic implications, since much of the research and development capacity sits in civilian industries and universities.
AUKUS and autonomous systems
Ultimately, of course, AUKUS is about competing militarily with China. It’s the “most consequential strategic competitor” of the US and its allies and partners, according to US Assistant Secretary of Defense Mara Karlin.
Pillar two cooperation, Karlin argues, is necessary to accelerate military innovation, enhance interoperability and integrate the “defence industrial base” across partner countries in response to the threat posed by China.
Last month, it was revealed Australia, the US and the UK had held a trial of AUKUS advanced capabilities, focused on AI and autonomy. According to the UK Ministry of Defence, the event succeeded in achieving several “world firsts”, including AI-enabled assets from the three countries successfully operating as a “swarm”.
The systems were “testing target identification capabilities”, indicating the likely lethal applications of some pillar two technologies.
Where does NZ stand now?
Former disarmament minister Phil Twyford. Getty Images
While some clarity is beginning to emerge on the technologies being explored under pillar two, New Zealand’s policy approach to these types of technologies has become increasingly murky.
Following advocacy by the former minister for disarmament and arms control, Phil Twyford, cabinet committed to supporting international regulations and bans on AWS in late 2021.
When Twyford announced the policy, he declared the emergence of lethal AWS would be “abhorrent and inconsistent with New Zealand’s interests and values”, and would have “significant implications for global peace and security”.
Yet the cabinet paper itself contained significant caveats. These were aimed at allowing for maintenance of interoperability with key defence partners, and ensuring the New Zealand tech sector could continue to pursue “the responsible development and use of AI”.
Twyford’s leadership on this policy position is important given the loss of his ministerial role following Chris Hipkins’ first cabinet reshuffle as prime minister. Whether the approach outlined in the 2021 cabinet paper survives his demotion is not yet clear.
Thus far, his successor in the disarmament and arms control role, Nanaia Mahuta, has made no statements on AWS policy.
Defence Minister Andrew Little: interest in collaboration on cybersecurity, quantum computing and AI. Getty Images
Interests and values
Given these developments, Andrew Little’s openness to considering pillar two cooperation under AUKUS takes on an interesting complexion and raises numerous questions.
Some have suggested the defence minister has moderated his original comments on openness to pillar two, perhaps having faced some pushback from the prime minister and foreign minister.
Most recently, Little has emphasised the uncertainty around what New Zealand could offer under pillar two. But he has maintained there was an interest in collaboration on cybersecurity, quantum computing and artificial intelligence.
The recent tests of military AI technologies by the AUKUS partners, and the associated comments on their likely military purposes, point to the likelihood of various combinations of lethal and autonomous capabilities emerging from pillar two cooperation.
Before making any commitment to engaging in this part of the AUKUS arrangement, New Zealand’s political leaders need to carefully consider if these technologies are in keeping with the “interests and values” behind Phil Twyford’s initial push toward banning or regulating AWS.
Jeremy Moses receives funding from Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund.
Sian Troath receives funding from The Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund.
Like something out of a spy movie, thermal cameras make it possible to “see” heat by converting infrared radiation into an image. They can detect infrared light given off by animals, vehicles, electrical equipment and even people – leading to specialised applications in a number of industries.
Despite these applications, thermal imaging technology remains too expensive to be used in many consumer products such as self-driving cars or smartphones.
Our team at Flinders University has been working hard to turn this technology into something we can all use, and not just something we see in spy movies. We’ve developed a low-cost thermal imaging lens that could be scaled up and brought into the lives of everyday people. Our findings are published in the journal Advanced Optical Materials.
Thermal imaging across industries
Thermal imaging has obvious applications in surveillance and security, given its ability to detect the heat signature of people. It’s not surprising defence forces all over the world use this technology – including in Australia.
In medicine, it can be used to detect tissues of a higher temperature. This means thermal cameras are useful in the non-invasive detection of tumours, which run at a higher metabolism (and temperature) than healthy tissue.
Thermal imaging even plays a crucial role in space exploration. For instance, it can be used to image distant stars, galaxies and planets, because infrared light can penetrate dust clouds much better than visible light. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope also takes infrared images – and its ability to see far “redder” wavelengths is opening up new corners of the universe for us.
Above are just some examples in a long list of the specialised applications of thermal imaging. Yet this technology could have many more potential uses if it wasn’t so expensive to produce.
The high cost comes, in part, from the materials used to produce the camera lenses. These lenses need to have special properties that allow them to be used with infrared radiation in a way standard lenses can’t.
Most glasses and plastics will absorb infrared radiation, so expensive materials such as germanium or zinc selenide must be used. Both materials can be difficult to manufacture and maintain; germanium is a critical element in short supply, and zinc selenide contains toxic elements.
Our team wanted to address the lens challenge head-on. We developed a new polymer made from the low-cost and abundant building blocks of sulfur and cyclopentadiene (an organic compound that takes the form of a colourless liquid).
The cost of the raw materials for the lens we’ve developed is less than one cent per lens. In comparison, some germanium lenses can cost thousands of dollars.
This new sulfur-based lens can also be moulded and cast into a variety of complex shapes through common techniques used in the plastics industry. These techniques are simpler and less energy-intensive than those used to create conventional infrared lenses – further reducing the cost and making the polymer more scalable.
The key to developing this material was figuring out how to use cyclopentadiene as a gas for the reaction with sulfur. By doing this, we could precisely control the composition of the resulting polymer – leading to a lens with enhanced capabilities for thermal imaging.
Despite being completely opaque to visible light, the polymer has the highest long-wave infrared transmission of any plastic that has been reported – which means it can be used with a thermal imaging camera.
The lens is black and opaque. Author provided
Possible applications
The development of this material opens doors to many new thermal imaging applications that weren’t possible before.
Self-driving cars could use this technology to detect pedestrians or vehicles – even in low light or fog. Or it could be used in agriculture to monitor irrigation and crop health. Importantly, it would be affordable for farmers.
The new lens is also lightweight, which is helpful for aerial imaging by drone.
Finally, it could be integrated into consumer electronics such as smartphones, computers and home automation systems, to name a few. This would enable users to take thermal images or videos at any time from their phone. It could even be used to create next-generation smoke alarms.
The advances developed in this new study have significantly reduced the barrier to using thermal imaging – and may help revolutionise how it’s used in our everyday lives.
Samuel Tonkin studies at Flinders University. He receives funding from Flinders University Impact Seed Funding for Early Career Researchers and the Australian Research Council (DP200100090 and FT220100054) awarded to Future Fellow Prof Justin Chalker. Additional support for quantum mechanical calculations was also provided by the ARC to Prof Michelle Coote (DP210100025). Samuel Tonkin is an inventor on a provisional patent application covering the manufacture and use of thermal imaging materials discussed in this article (AU2022900289).
Justin M. Chalker receives funding from Flinders University and the Australian Research Council (FT220100054, DP230100587, DP200100090) for this project. Justin Chalker is an inventor on a provisional patent application covering the manufacture and use of the thermal imaging materials discussed in this article (AU2022900289).
Climate change is increasing the risk of plant-destroying insects, diseases and invasive weeds entering Aotearoa New Zealand. Border security is not enough to protect us from the next biosecurity threat – it’s time to be proactive in preventing the risks.
As New Zealanders, our natural world is important for our wellbeing and our sense of identity. It is also important economically and for food production.
With a total economic cost of pests estimated at NZ$9.2 billion in 2020 (2.9% of GDP), biosecurity is a major component of our annual budget.
Most of New Zealand’s biosecurity detection is concentrated at the border – monitoring ships and cargo coming into New Zealand. But this approach does not take into account pests that arrive by other ways.
A number of pest species, such as myrtle rust, are wind-blown. We miss their pending arrival because we are typically focused on what is already here.
New Zealand needs to be more proactive to biosecurity threats. This means developing new monitoring tools, and utilising new technologies like environmental DNA (or “eDNA”, the DNA that is left behind as organisms pass through an environment) to better inform our baseline data.
We also need to sequence the genomes for species that aren’t represented in our databases. This will enable faster identification of dangerous interlopers.
Learning from the fall armyworm
The fall armyworm highlights why we urgently need to develop proactive biosecurity responses and tools.
We knew for some time the fall armyworm was heading to New Zealand (most likely from Australia) – which it did in February 2022. It quickly established and began to decimate crops.
Unfortunately for New Zealand’s agricultural sector, the fall armyworm is a highly adaptable pest. The moths fly extremely well and the caterpillars feed on around 350 different plant species, with a preference for crops like maize and sweetcorn.
And they’re voracious. The caterpillars gather in armies to decimate all plants in their path. Northland growers report picking crop plants and hearing the caterpillars fall from them en masse. The fall armyworm is now widespread in the north of the North Island and has also reached the South Island.
There was a missed opportunity in proactive management before the fall armyworm arrived. This was perhaps due to the prevalent belief that it wouldn’t be able to overwinter in New Zealand (it can and did!).
But we also failed to prevent the fall armyworm’s arrival because there has been a general reticence to put money towards something that isn’t a problem yet. Particularly absent in our response was the use of genomic tools to predict the pest’s invasive potential before arrival, and then to rapidly identify its incursion pathway once here.
Carried by the wind
A number of scientists believe the fall armyworm was carried over on the wind from Australia. This theory could be confirmed using genomic data to identify the global population with which the New Zealand samples share most ancestry. It would also be easy to ascertain whether the South Island incursion came from the North Island or via a separate wind event from Australia.
Why is it important to understand where the pest has come from? Origin determines genomic signatures and understanding these in a pest may give us a better idea of how likely it is to survive in certain conditions. We could, for example, see if it carried particular genetic variants that show insecticide resistance or an ability to survive colder temperatures.
Meanwhile, understanding incursion pathways could facilitate the rapid blocking of particular trade routes or the identification of ideal sites for pheromone trapping to intercept flight pathways into the country for wind-blown organisms.
The initial plan to eradicate fall armyworm has now been abandoned. In April 2023, New Zealand moved to management of the pest.
Looking to the next threat
Our reactive response strategy is set to become a bigger issue, with incursions from more pests expected as the country continues to warm as a consequence of climate change.
The Queensland fruit fly and the painted apple moth both pose a risk to fruit crops, with the moth also enjoying native species like kōwhai and karaka. The brown marmorated stink bug infests houses to shelter from the cold and releases a foul scent when disturbed. Each of these three pests is regularly intercepted at the New Zealand border.
We learn nothing from failed invasions right now, but we could use genome sequencing to search for signatures in the genome that help us to understand and better predict establishment outcomes.
And, when a pest does arrive – because it can, and it will – we could move more quickly before it gets a foothold with genomics in our biosecurity toolbox. We could more rapidly detect the pest, determine where it came from and understand the genetic arsenal it brings with it. This would help us determine the best approaches to mitigate any environmental damage.
These methods are there for the taking. Similar methods are already applied in conservation contexts. Sometimes we even eventually use them for pests. But almost always, we do this reactively once eradication efforts have already been abandoned.
If we want to prevent the next big pest threat to New Zealand, then it is long past time to invest in the prevention rather than the cure.
Ang McGaughran has received funding from the Royal Society of New Zealand, from the MBIE Smart Ideas funding programme, and from Genomics Aotearoa.
In the wake of the PwC scandal, there is renewed interest in the work of outside agencies within Australian government.
Earlier this year, an audit showed almost A$21 billion was spent on external labour hire in the Australian Public Service in 2021-22.
Contained within this figure is a significant jump in the amount spent on consultants. While some outsourcing will be to fill genuine gaps, there is evidence that overreliance on consultancies can undermine the longer-term capability of the public service.
Australia is not the only country with an interest in consultants. It is a truly worldwide phenomenon that spans government and private business. In 2023, it is estimated the global management consultants market is worth over $US860 billion.
However, Australia’s consulting industry (made up of public and private sector spending) is the fourth largest in the world, and significantly larger than other comparable countries.
External organisations undertake a broad range of functions, including giving advice on strategy, accounting services and IT services. Sometimes entire government functions (for example, operating offshore detention facilities) are outsourced.
The use of outside labour has a long and interlinked history. Their worldwide rise started following a number of reforms from the late 1970s that aimed to introduce more market-based structures into public services. This transformed the corporate structures of governments.
Governments were encouraged to outsource a range of functions (such as delivering disability or employment services) on the basis that they could contract this to firms that could do this more effectively and efficiently. Governments could stick to making policy and ensuring this delivered the outcomes consumers wanted.
But the separation of policy design and management from service delivery was not as simple as it might have first appeared. In separating these functions, many governments have experienced a “hollowing out”, losing the knowledge, skills and institutional memory that is key to managing services.
And so this had a snowballing effect, with governments increasingly turning to consultants to carry out the jobs they once did.
Consultants in the Australian Public Service
Over the past decade, the total volume of consultancy work undertaken for the APS by the so-called “Big Four” consultancy firms has increased 400% from $282 million in 2012-13 to over $1.4 billion in 2021-22.
Most often the reason given for contracting consultancies is a “need for specialised or professional skills”. This may be because, the rationale goes, the skills don’t exist within the APS or because an external perspective is needed that can’t be gained from internal employees.
But some believe a culture of preferencing advice from consultants over the public service has taken hold. At times, this can lead to governments receiving the advice they want rather than a more rounded view of an issue.
The use of consultants within government doesn’t always mean these skills are not available in the APS. One important issue to consider is the level of APS staffing. After the 2015-16 budget, the previous government constrained the size of the APS to around the 2006-2007 average staffing level of just over 167,500. It is argued this cap on staffing numbers left the APS unable to undertake all the work it needed to do, making it reliant on consultants to fill gaps.
The Australia Institute argues the $1.1 billion spent on consultancy services in 2018-19 could have employed an extra 12,346 public servants. It notes that, in reality, consultants are often paid at a much higher rate than public servants.
Implications for public service capability
A number of inquiries and reviews have expressed concern that reliance on consultants has long-term impacts for the public sector.
In 2019, the Independent Review of the APS found labour contractors and consultants were increasingly being used to do work that had been core public service capability, such as program management.
These findings were confirmed in a 2021 Senate Finance and Public Administration Reference Committee report on the capability of the Australian Public Service. It found that when government spends money on policy advice from private consulting firms, this undermines public service capability.
The Community and Public Sector Union has argued that consultants are often engaged to do more strategic and complex work that APS employees should be doing. All too often, public servants are asked to provide administrative support to consultants, and therefore miss out on opportunities to develop their skills and expertise.
These issues have also been noted in other countries. Most notably in the UK, Lord Agnew of Oulton noted the UK civil service was “too reliant on consultants. Aside from providing poor value for money, this infantilises the civil service by depriving our brightest people of opportunities to work on some of the most challenging, fulfilling and crunchy issues.”
When consultants undertake entire areas of work, the requisite skills and knowledge are not transferred to the APS. In effect, this sets up a negative feedback loop, where APS employees lose skills and institutional knowledge because of the reliance on consultants, meaning the next project or piece of work needs the input of consultants.
Time for change
Although concerns about public sector capability have been around for more than a decade, there is some sign action might finally be taken. A Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee inquiry into the management and assurance of integrity by consulting services is due to report by the end of September. It will likely make a number of recommendations about the use of consultants.
The recent federal budget announced the government was committed to rebuilding the capability of the APS, increasing average staff numbers by around 10,800. This figure includes a number of individuals on external labour hire arrangements who will effectively be brought in-house.
But restricting the use of consultants will be just one step in rebuilding the APS and its capability. Significant investment and a change of culture are both needed if the use of consultants is to decrease substantially.
Helen Dickinson receives funding from ARC, NHMRC and CYDA.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachael Jefferson-Buchanan, Lecturer in Human Movement Studies (Health and PE) and Creative Arts, Charles Sturt University
Spending an average of US$2 million a year on an anti-ageing regimen, Johnson claims he now ages slower than some children. He explains: “the pace my body accumulates ageing damage is less than the average ten year old”.
Many of Johnson’s age-reversal methods are questionable, involve dodgy science, and have known side effects.
While you can’t stop the ageing process, and the gradual decline our bodies experience as we advance in years, there are some things we can all do – for free – to maintain our health as we age.
What does Johnson do? And is it scientific?
Fasting
Johnson reports fasting for 23 hours a day. He then eats one meal a day: 2,250 calories of nutrient-dense food “customised” to his body’s needs.
However, a Spartan-like food intake can impair how our body responds to sugar (known as glucose tolerance). And it’s not necessarily any more effective for weight maintenance than reducing calorie intake at each meal.
Large-scale, long-term human trials are needed to confirm the limited risk-benefit findings of fasting.
Johnson has weekly acid peels (which use a mild acid to exfoliate the skin) to maintain a “youthful glow”.
But you cannot smooth sagging facial skin or remove deep scars or wrinkles. Acid peels also come with risks, including organ damage, infection, scarring and swelling.
Plasma infusions
Perhaps the most bizarre youth-inducing procedure Johnson has attempted is receiving blood transfusions from his 17-year-old son.
US biotech companies have explored plasma infusions to tackle age-related diseases in humans for decades. But there are no proven clinical benefits.
Humans have been experimenting with anti-ageing methods for centuries. These have included all sorts of behavioural and lifestyle practices that are quirky, questionable, and even sadistic.
Ancient practices included crocodile dung face masks, which the Greeks and Romans used to brighten their complexions.
Romans also used donkey milk and swan fat to minimise wrinkles, due to their acclaimed rejuvenating properties.
Cleopatra apparently took daily baths in sour donkey milk. To sustain this lavish habit, she had a herd of 700 donkeys. Sour milk contains lactic acid, a naturally occurring alpha-hydroxy acid (AHA) that exists in many modern-day exfoliants. So this idea was grounded in basic science, at least.
Dutch motivational speaker Wim Hof includes cold water immersion as one of the three pillars of his Wim Hof Method to “increase mind-body connection”.
Athletes such as Cristiano Ronaldo use cryotherapy, exposing their bodies to extremely cold temperatures for two to four minutes to decrease the signs of ageing and enhance their general health.
However, the risks of cryotherapy include bone fractures, frostbite, nerve damage, bleeding, cramping, swelling and skin infections.
Two of the more mainstream anti-ageing methods that Johnson recommends are the daily self-care habits of sleep and exercise.
He has a strict sleep schedule that involves retiring to bed at 8pm, with a one-hour wind-down in a darkened room.
Adults report poorer sleep quality and difficulty being able to sleep for long enough as they age. Sleeping too much or too little is associated with a greater risk of obesity, heart disease and premature death.
Developing a regular sleep routine, reducing bedroom distractions such as mobile phones, and exercising regularly can all help to alleviate sleep problems.
From middle age onwards, we all need to exercise regularly, to increase our muscle mass, bone density, strength, endurance, coordination and balance. One of the greatest health risks for older people is falling, which balance, flexibility, endurance and strength training can help reduce. Physical activity can bring social benefits in older adults if undertaken in groups, and there are well-known mental health gains.
Rachael Jefferson-Buchanan 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.
The predatory beetle eurylychnus blagraveiNick Porch, Author provided
The Black Summer megafires engulfing south-eastern Australia in 2019–2020 were so intense they burned habitats rarely exposed to fire, such as southern warm temperate rainforest.
These rainforests range from East Gippsland in Victoria up to just south of Sydney. Usually, they stay moist enough to prevent major fires. But in that unprecedented summer of fire, 80,000 hectares burned. Our new research estimates more than 60 billion invertebrates in the soil and leaf litter died too.
While our hearts went out to the burned koalas and kangaroos, this was a silent tragedy. These tiny creatures are enormously important in ecosystems. They eat dead leaves, create rich soil, and provide a key food source for bandicoots and lyrebirds. Many species have very small ranges, putting them at real risk of decline or even extinction from fire.
As renowned naturalist E. O. Wilson once said, invertebrates are the “the little things that run the world”. But because they are small and out of sight, we still underestimate their significance in ecosystems and their contribution to Australia’s biodiversity. They’re all but forgotten when ecological disasters strike.
Temperate rainforests such as those in East Gippsland are not used to intense fire. Joshua Grubb, Author provided
How did we find out how many invertebrates died?
In warm temperate rainforests, there’s a layer of moist leaf litter which is home to an abundance of ancient lifeforms. These include the macroinvertebrates big enough to see with the naked eye, such as velvet worms, snails, land hoppers, millipedes, slaters and beetles.
Many of these groups include species with very small ranges, putting them at particular risk from bushfire and other changes to their environments.
Common macroinvertebrates of these rainforests include velvet worms, snails, slaters, beetles, millipedes and land hoppers (clockwise from left) Nick Porch, Author provided
The fires incinerated much of the leaf litter and its inhabitants. To find out the toll on these creatures, a year after the fires we set out to collect leaf litter samples from 52 temperate rainforest sites ranging from Buchan in East Gippsland, Victoria, to Nowra in New South Wales, across the lands of the Kurnai, Bidawal and Yuin people. Then we compared sites subject to medium and high severity fires with those that had escaped the fire.
Back in the lab, we ran the samples through Tullgren funnels, which sort leaves from creatures, then counted the macroinvertebrates. We excluded the tiny springtails and mites, which are hugely abundant mesoinvertebrates. We found every hectare of unburnt rainforest had 2.5 million litter macroinvertebrates, while severely burnt forests had a quarter as many.
We used Tullgren funnels to sort leaf litter fron its inhabitants. Heloise Gibb, Author provided
If we look at all temperate rainforest burned at different severities across the south-east that means 60 billion tiny deaths. But of all the forest that burned during that summer, rainforests made up only about 1%. The total loss might be closer to 6 trillion individuals. Then to get to truly extraordinary numbers, we can include mites and springtails which account for around 95% of individual invertebrates. That would give us an estimate of 120 trillion.
Why are these tiny creatures so important?
Invertebrates account for fully 99% of all animal species and most of the weight of animals on the planet. Renowned Australian scientist Baron Robert May is famously quoted as saying “to a good approximation, all species are insects”. Even now, an estimated 70% of all Australian invertebrate species remain undescribed. Many will go extinct before we have time to document them.
Although we know little of the ecology of most invertebrate species, collectively we know they play crucial roles in ecosystems. Losing this rich food source is likely to slow the recovery of key ecosystem engineers such as lyrebirds and bandicoots, which turn over large volumes of dirt in search of them.
When we try to replant forests without invertebrates, many plants and trees struggle. That’s why conservationists are using leaf litter transplants to move vital invertebrates from healthy forests to new ones.
These critters are a vital way nutrients cycle through our forests by breaking down leaves and other organic matter. Globally, they’re directly responsible for converting about 40% of all leaf litter into soil. By turning over leaves or shredding them into pieces, they make it possible for microbes to help decompose organic matter. Without this work, leaf litter would begin to pile up, setting the scene for more fires.
Springtails and mites are by far the most abundant invertebrates in leaf litter, with thousands in an average square metre. On the right is a predatory snout mite (Bdellidae) feeding on a purple springtail (Collembola). Nick Porch, Author provided
When we lose billions or trillions of invertebrates, we may see the area become more susceptible to future fires.
More frequent fires means slower decomposition, which means leaf litter builds up more rapidly. This might be a direct effect of the loss of invertebrates due to fire.
We found the most damaging fires were those where almost all of the canopy was burned. These intense treetop fires killed off three to four times as many invertebrates as fires where only half of the canopy burned.
That’s good news, as it suggests species can tolerate fires, as long as some litter habitat is left. Recovery efforts should focus on the sites where the most canopy burned.
In the wake of fires, rainforest species risk getting pushed out by surrounding eucalyptus trees, which are better at tolerating fire – and encourage more fires by dropping large volumes of litter.
You might think bugs can easily bounce back as the rainforest regrows. But recolonisation doesn’t always happen. Land hoppers, millipedes and isopods (slaters) can be extremely abundant in leaf litter, but none of them can fly to a new location. The dry forest between two sheltered rainforest gullies is so hostile to invertebrates like land hoppers that they can die in minutes when removed from their moist homes.
What can we do?
The future holds more fire, as the world heats up. How can we protect these vital invertebrates? One method is to make their habitats better connected wherever possible. Another is to rewild with minibeasts, seeding severely burnt sites with healthy litter invertebrates from nearby unburnt rainforests.
While we can calculate the numbers of individuals lost to fire, we don’t know much about whether the fires caused extinctions because many species are still unknown to science.
We can no longer overlook these minibeasts and the vital roles they play in ecosystems. We would miss them if they were gone.
Heloise Gibb receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Bushfire Wildlife and Habitat Recovery Scheme (Federal Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment), the NSW Environment Trust and the Hermon Slade Foundation.
Nick Porch receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, the Plomley Foundation, the Marsden Fund, National Geographic, The Hermon Slade Foundation and the Wildlife and Habitat Bushfire Recovery Program (Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment).
When we were asked to survey people in Melbourne about their relationship with nature, little did we know our findings would reinforce a well-known cultural divide between those living north and south of the Yarra River. Residents of neighbourhoods to the south were overall less connected to nature.
But perhaps a more important finding was that people in Melbourne overwhelmingly supported the creation of more space for nature in the city.
The City of Melbourne commissioned the study and is already applying its findings in programs that aim to foster residents’ connection with nature.
The differences in connection to nature north and south of the Yarra River, with green areas being neighbourhoods with higher average connection to nature and yellow areas having lower average connection. Selinske et al 2023, CC BY
In our survey of nearly 1,600 residents, commuters and visitors to Melbourne, 86% wanted the city to create more space for nature. Their reasons included:
to promote mental and physical wellbeing
to conserve native plants and wildlife in the city
civic pride
a belief that if Melbourne could create more nature it would help attract more visitors and help the city’s post-pandemic recovery.
Nearly 75% of respondents had a high connection to nature. More than 75% said they were concerned about climate change and the destruction of nature.
These figures should give heart to anyone promoting greening or conservation actions in the city – the public has your back.
Retirees and university students who had lived most of their lives within the greater Melbourne area had the lowest connection to nature. Despite there generally being more tree cover and beach access south of the Yarra, residents of those areas tend to have a lower connection to nature than those to the north.
City parks with high biodiversity help strengthen people’s connection with nature. Shutterstock
Why promote people’s connection with nature?
The City of Melbourne commissioned the study as part of its Nature in the City Strategy. Its aim, in part, is to “create a more diverse, connected and resilient natural environment” and “connect people to nature”.
The strategy set this target: “By 2027, more residents, workers and visitors encounter, value and understand nature in the city more than they did in 2017.”
Connection to nature is the extent to which an individual identifies with nature. It stems from a belief that we all have a natural affinity for nature, known as biophilia.
Nature anywhere can offer respite from stresses and be a source of inspiration, creativity and spiritual connection. But individuals have varying levels of connection to nature, which may change during their lifetime.
Those who feel less connected are less likely to engage with nature. Their wellbeing can suffer as a result.
Barriers to engaging with nature as identified from responses to the survey. Selinske et al 2023, CC BY
Exposure to and engagement with nature are important for our physical and mental health. Studies have shown exposure to natural environments reduces blood pressure and stress levels, and improves cardiovascular health.
Nature also fosters emotional wellbeing. Research has consistently shown spending time in nature reduces anxiety, depression and mental fatigue.
This is especially important for stressed city residents. As well as its health benefits, urban nature has positive impacts on our mood, crime rates, social cohesion and quality of life.
The reasons for the north-south divide in residents’ connections to nature aren’t clear and require more research. However, the other findings are already being applied to strategies to help people engage with nature and enjoy the benefits.
Research has shown young people’s connection to nature tends to decline when they reached their mid-teens. While there might be a spike in connection as they reach their 20s, it can plateau by later adulthood.
Young people go through many changes in their lives before adulthood. For many, other activities take priority over spending time in nature. Re-engagement strategies could include more nature-based social events for teens and young adults, to help sustain their connection to nature through to adulthood.
While some retirees had strong knowledge of Australian biodiversity, their low connection to nature could be due to lack of mobility and social connection. One possible way to re-engage this group is to bring nature to them. We could set up more community gardens near them, creating social opportunities as well, or make nature part of their homes.
In response to our findings, the City of Melbourne ran online workshops to identify where retirees engage in nature, how connections with nature are formed, and possible barriers and strategies to strengthen these connections.
New residents of Australia are a really engaged, environmentally conscious group. Finding ways to increase their local biodiversity knowledge may create stronger ties to the Melbourne area and foster emerging conservation allies. The City of Melbourne is planning programs to increase learning opportunities for these residents who identified awareness as a barrier to taking part in conservation activities.
The city council can also make structural changes to increase the time people spend in nature. Biodiverse streetscapes and green buildings can enhance exposure and connection to nature for residents and visitors.
For starters, the council could green streets while reducing traffic by converting parking spaces into gardens and passing Amendment C376 for Sustainable Building Design. This change to the planning scheme will increase green roofs and walls and the number of trees in the city.
As Melbourne recovers from pandemic lockdowns and becomes the most populated urban area in Australia, making more space for nature is vital to maintain and increase the city’s liveability. Most Melburnians would agree.
We all benefit from spending time in nature whether that takes place north or south of the Yarra.
The author acknowledges and thanks Blake Alexander Simmons, Environmental Social Scientist at Tampa Bay Estuary Program, and Lee Harrison, Senior Ecologist at City of Melbourne, co-authors of the peer-reviewed study published in Biological Conservation.
Matthew Selinske receives funding from Australian Research Council and the City of Melbourne and is a board member of the Society for Conservation Biology’s Social Science Working Group.
A significant proportion of young Australians still do not finish high school.
According to data released by the Productivity Commission on Tuesday, about one in five students leave before they reach Year 12.
In 2022, about 79% of students started Year 12, the lowest in the last ten years of data reported. The rate was higher for non-government schools (87.2%) than government schools (73.5%).
If a student reaches Year 12 it doesn’t mean they complete the year. Figures released last month by the South Australian Department for Education show of those who began Year 12 in the state, only 64% completed their Year 12 certificate.
This is a problem. But our work with non-mainstream schools is showing how we can retain and engage more students if they are treated with more respect and given more choice in the senior years.
Why is it important for young people to finish Year 12?
It is hugely important for young people to finish Year 12. Low-skilled, entry level jobs are disappearing.
In 2022, the National Skills Commission found more than nine out of ten new jobs to be created in the next five years will require post-secondary qualifications.
There is a clear link between finishing Year 12 and higher earning capacity – for one, students are more likely to earn above the minimum wage. But more than this, Year 12 is where young people start to build a career, rather than have a job.
School completion also means young people are more likely to be engaged in their communities and have a longer, healthier life.
Why are these students leaving?
Over the last few decades, the collapse in the youth labour market and raising the school leaving age has meant senior secondary schooling must accommodate a more diverse range of young people.
But it is still designed for a time when this stage of education was meant for a small elite.
If young people do not see themselves reflected in the curriculum or school structure, this is a problem. Exams and a heavy academic workload will not work for everyone. Simply bolting on vocational education and training programs don’t give young people enough choice and power to express their interests and skills.
If young people do not think school is relevant to them, they will not stay. Mart Production/ Pexels
We know if young people live in poverty, rural and remote locations or come from an Indigenous background, they have a have significantly lower chance of staying on for and completing Year 12.
Disadvantaged young people who don’t fit the narrow image and academic aspirations of schooling “success” are often told by their schools they would be better off leaving. This can be to another school or perhaps a vocational program. But it can start the journey out of school, without clear direction or guidance.
Many come to this conclusion themselves. The implicit contract that Year 12 completion leads to higher paid work in the future is not enough to counter the lack of belonging they feel at school.
A new type of school
Increasingly, research is showing us the way we do schooling needs to change to support all young people.
Our work is with new schools that are adapting to meet the needs of different groups of students.
Independent “special assistance schools” – sometimes known as flexi schools – cater for young people who have left mainstream education, because they have either failed or become disengaged. There is growing demand: there were 48 independent special assistance schools in the 2014 and 96 as of 2022 in addition to those in the Catholic sector.
Special assistance schools have much to teach mainstream schools. Their strength comes from being small, usually with less than 150 students, with a focus on relationships that foster understanding and responding to their students.
These schools work with generalist teachers and a range of youth workers, social workers, makers, coaches and other adults to support student wellbeing. The curriculum follows students’ interests and passions.
There is direct negotiations about what students do. For example, a young person with an interest in visual arts may work with an artist-in-residence to organise and plan an exhibition on youth experiences with mental health.
In addition to the art making, they would explore the maths of organising an exhibition space, the literacy in communicating to others and increase their knowledge and understanding of their own wellbeing and how artists make a living.
The students accessing these schools arrive with their own issues, ideas, aspirations, skills and capabilities. These young people have already made a choice, wanting to continue their education.
For some they want to do learning in the way they did it at school but in a smaller, more respectful place. Others come with a clear idea of what they want to achieve but not knowing how to get there. For others it is about testing the water.
Special assistance schools empower young people to pursue their own interests in a supported environment. The Lazy Artist Gallery/Pexels
We know students benefit from being treated like adults, where they feel their voice is heard and they have a say in how the school works.
We are partnering with special assistance schools in South Australia to speak to education authorities about how to get their work accredited. This could reimagine how learning and achievement is recognised for these young people.
This could potentially see students finish Year 12 without doing a battery of exams or assignments. Instead, they would develop a “learner profile”, which would reflect the the skills and learning they had developed.
But more than this, they will have developed networks, support and the confidence to talk about their capabilities and achievements.
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.
On Monday, eight of Australia’s largest employer groups launched a campaign against the government’s Same Job, Same Pay Bill, saying it was “unfair”.
The television ads and website say the proposed law would penalise hard workers with “decades of knowledge and experience” by forcing employers to pay everyone the same (in the hard workers’ case, lower) wage.
Minerals Council of Australia advertisement.
The employer groups are right about one thing. What’s at stake is fairness, although not in the way they suggest.
The bill, introduced in November, is designed to regulate the disingenuous use of labour-hire contracts.
Its explanatory memorandum says its aim is to “ensure that workers employed through labour-hire companies will receive no less than the same pay as workers employed directly”.
It does this in two ways.
labour-hire businesses would be required to afford to all workers whom they provide to another person “pay and conditions which are no less favourable” than those required to be paid to direct employees of that person
firms or people that use labour-hire businesses would be required to provide the labour-hire business with all the information it would reasonably require to comply with the act and to refrain from engaging any labour-hire business that did not comply with the act.
The bill is part of an election promise Labor made to address instances of employers using labour-hire firms to deliberately undercut the wages and conditions they offer in enterprise agreements.
Labor hire isn’t all bad
Many labour-hire arrangements are put in place for legitimate reasons.
Among the examples are aged-care workers contracted through an external agency to backfill sick leave and production workers contracted to deal with unexpected increases in demand.
In the preamble to the bill, the government explicitly says it will not affect the ordinary and fair use of labour hire, including as a reasonable way to manage surge periods and employee absences.
But the misuse of labour-hire agreements is contributing to the fracturing of Australian workplaces by setting up two – and sometimes more – sets of employment conditions, which is inherently unfair.
But labour-hire workers can be poorly paid
The Bureau of Statistics finds 84% of workers on labour-hire contracts don’t have access to paid leave entitlements. Their median annual earnings are A$33,100. Labour-hire work is insecure and poorly compensated for being insecure.
Labour-hire workers are also more likely to sustain workplace injuries due to inadequate training and management practices.
In November the South Australian Employment Tribunal found in favour of a worker who was “not trained adequately or at all in relation to the safe completion of the task” that resulted in their death.
The employers’ groups campaigning against the Bill include the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association, the Business Council of Australia and the Council of Small Business Organisations.
They also include the Minerals Council of Australia headed up by Tania Constable who told 2GB’s Ray Hadley on Monday the bill would mean someone could “be employed by a business for six months and get the same pay as somebody that has been there for six years”.
The bill does not require every worker to be paid the same
The bill does not relate to the rates of pay within organisations. What it would do is require labour-hire firms to provide pay and conditions “no less favourable” than those paid to direct employees performing the same duties.
It would not change or override anything in enterprise agreements.
The employers groups have also claimed the bill would suppress wage growth when the opposite is more likely to be true.
Fragmented workplaces and the low wages common in insecure contracts (including labour-hire agreements) have been exerting a downward pressure on Australian wages.
It is more likely to lift than depress wages
Rather than lowering permanent employees’ wages, the bill would lift the wages of labour-hire workers up to their level.
Claims that it would disincentivise hard work or hurt productivity (or cost jobs) obscure what the bill is about: ensuring workers who are doing the same job go home with the same paycheck at the end of each day.
The government will put the bill before parliament later this year.
It is worth considering what the motives might be of those who oppose it. It might be that they are not as keen to increase wages, productivity and employment as they say and are more concerned about keeping the right to pay externally hired contractors less than the workers they work alongside.
Gemma Beale 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.
In a recently viral TikTok series, creator Ali Tate Cutler spends time with her terminally ill grandma who has made the choice to end her life through euthanasia.
While sharing start-of-life stories – such as ultrasound pictures or childhood milestones – is commonplace, posting end-of-life “journeys” online has users conflicted.
Such stories raise questions of autonomy, vulnerability and privacy, but are ultimately useful in changing how we talk about preparing for death.
Dying, virally
In Cutler’s series of videos, they show off their outfits before their “last lunch” together. Cutler’s grandma “Bubbie” gives life advice, and they talk through their thoughts and feelings about the euthanasia process.
Cutler’s videos are divisive. Many commenters criticise the attention gained through this subject, commenting, “Why would you publicise this? So wrong.”
However, some recognise it as an important story to tell and reply with their own stories about loved ones, showing kindness to Cutler’s family. Some recent comments have said:
This needs to be regular practice. Thank you for sharing your story.
It’s a blessing to be privy to conversations like this.
Sending her love on her next adventure. Safe travels to a beautiful soul.
It’s telling that many commenters thank Cutler and mention being “privy” to a usually private moment; we hear far fewer end-of-life stories than start-of-life stories.
Talking about death and dying
As scholars who research health, death and grief, we know there can be stigma and silence around end-of-life stories, despite an underlying obsession with death which pervades our media and social circles.
Experts in the field, such as those working in palliative care, call for more open conversations and stories about dying. They argue that not doing so is hindering happier deaths.
Mentioning death and happiness in the same breath may seem like an oxymoron. It’s natural that death and dying bring feelings of worry, fear, grief and regret. Those who talk about death and dying publicly (as we can attest as researchers in these fields) are often labelled grim, maudlin and even “clout-chasing”.
These reactions are understandable – we are biologically and socially conditioned to fear death. Our brains “shield” us from the reality of death, leading us to imagine it as something which happens to others rather than ourselves.
The “other people” we often imagine dying are elderly people. They can face infantilisation and assumptions that they are forgetful or incapable of making choices and speaking for themselves. Maturity of age, experience, autonomy and storytelling capabilities are overlooked.
Commenters assume Cutler is milking her grandma’s death for “clout” rather than enabling her grandma to tell stories which are important.
Cause to be cautious
Concerns of safety and vulnerability are legitimate and, of course, not all those at the end of their lives can tell their own stories. As life narrative theorist Paul John Eakin states, the breakdown of adult life and memory brings us “face to face with the end of an identity’s story”.
However, assuming that all elderly or dying people are beyond constructing stories of their identities or lives is folly. We must share end-of-life stories – safely, collaboratively – or risk oversimplifying the complexity of dying and denying the autonomy of dying people to share their feelings.
Out of pages and into our screens
End-of-life storytelling isn’t new, autothanatography – writing about one’s own imminent death – is an established literary genre.
This unique genre not only helps us process death (our own or a loved one’s), but also normalises anticipatory grief (grieving before the fact). Australian authors such as Cory Taylor and Georgia Blain have penned their own deaths.
This miniature is my life in words, and I have been so grateful for every minute of it.
As writers and creators like Cutler demonstrate, the end-of-life stage can be difficult and heartbreaking, but is also a time to reflect. Autothanatological stories, whether written or digital, are a chance to “shape” death and to contemplate the past and the future at once.
The platform is the message
Backlash aimed at Cutler may be due to her platform of choice. TikTok can be denounced as an app for young, vain people creating dance videos and “thirst traps”.
But content about dying is in demand, as evidenced by popular sub-categories “DeathTok” and “GriefTok”. The juxtaposition between lighthearted posts and stories about dying on the “video dance app” can be an adjustment.
Cutler, a Victoria Secret model, posts both kinds of content concurrently. Some users may find this jarring but it demonstrates that loss is an integrated part of life, not something separate. TikTok and similar sites are ripe for developing such nuanced conversations and even cultural practices around death.
Sites like TikTok create a unique space for end-of-life narratives to reach vast audiences through visual, auditory and algorithmic timelines, suggesting content, and encouraging engagement. Users interact with one another, and explore the complexity and inherent contradictions in reflecting on a life while preparing to lose the person who lived it.
As Cutler responds to a commentor, “This was the hardest and most beautiful conversation I’ve ever had”.
These narratives are moving rapidly from the pages of memoir to the instant accessibility of our mobile phones and we must make conscious efforts to be open to diverse stories about dying.
If we interrogate how we feel when we encounter challenging or surprising end-of-life stories, we can broaden the ways we think and talk about dying, and, indeed, even celebrate happy moments among the sad.
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.
Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka was welcomed to the New Zealand Parliament yesterday while on his first official trip to Aotearoa since being elected as PM in December.
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced just over NZ$11.1 million in climate change support for Fiji.
Hipkins said he had “an inspired discussion” with Rabuka on how they could further cooperate on combating the effects of climate change.
He said it remained the single greatest threat to lives and livelihoods in the Pacific region.
Rabuka welcomed the finance boost saying it would support the implementation of renewable energy projects, infrastructure resilience, and climate policy.
Hipkins noted both nations regularly collaborated on climate disasters.
“I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank Fiji for their defence and emergency personnel assistance following Cyclone Gabrielle,” Hipkins said.
‘Long-standing links’ “We are connected by long-standing people-to-people, sporting, economic and cultural links, and through the Fijian communities who have made New Zealand their home.
“We are connected by the depth of our cooperation across a broad range of sectors including defence, policing, health, trade and industry, education, fisheries, climate change and disaster management to name a few.
“I know that New Zealand and Fiji, alongside other Pacific Island Forum leaders, share an ambitious vision for the social, cultural and environmental economic resilience of the region where we are strong, prosperous and secure.
“We know we are stronger when we combine our efforts and focus on Pacific regionalism and the priorities of the Blue Pacific continents.”
In response, Rabuka acknowledged the traditional owners of the land and paid respect to elders past and present.
He said his visit was to discuss ways forward for both countries, following covid-19.
“Exactly a month ago, the WHO declared covid-19 over as a global health emergency. Seven million deaths later, the global economy is still recovering,” Rabuka said.
‘Serious’ about Fiji economy “The people’s coalition government that I lead is serious about growing our economy and my engagement here reflects that.”
He said the Fiji government was keen to work harder to boost its export capacity to New Zealand and pleased to see bilateral relations had continued to strengthen over the years.
Fiji PM Sitiveni Rabuka (right, partially obscured) meets New Zealand PM Chris Hipkins in Wellington yesterday. Image: Koroi Hawkins/RNZ Pacific
On Monday, Rabuka met the Fijian community in Auckland and the following night community members in Wellington.
The official visit also comes 25 years after Rabuka last visited the country in an official capacity when he was previously Prime Minister.
The visit is also signifcant for the Fijian community as they had welcomed a Fiji prime minister for the first time in 16 years.
More than 500 Fijians in Auckland turned up to the Mahatma Gandhi Centre to welcome Rabuka and his wife, Sulueti, where they were accorded a full traditional welcome ceremony.
Community thanked for support Rabuka thanked the community for its ongoing support for Fiji.
“You have left Fiji but continue to play an important role in Fiji. Thank you for keeping Fiji in your lives,” he said.
Rabuka informed the community that their financial support had contributed greatly as Fiji battled its unprecented economic crisis, with the World Bank reporting its debt levels reaching 90 percent of GDP last year.
In 2022, Fiji received more than F$1 billion in remittances which prove to be a saving grace during the height of the pandemic which caused great financial strain for Fijians.
Rabuka spoke about the success of national events such as Girmit Day and the reconvening of the Great Council of Chiefs and Ratu Sukuna Day.
President of the Fiji Girmit Foundation Krish Naidu thanked Rabuka for honouring his promise to the community.
Girmitiya holiday promise “When the Prime Minister visited us last year, we asked for a public holiday to mark the contributions of the Girmitiyas, and told us if he made [it into] government he would do that.
“He lived up to his words. He is an honourable man.”
Naidu added that Rabuka’s visit was extremely crucial to the Fijian community.
“We look forward to this week with the Prime Minister building the much-needed aroha, loloma, and love between Fiji and NZ, which has been lost for 16 years,” he added.
The Fiji Prime Minister returns to Fiji today.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
A leaked document authored by a recently recruited senior University of the South Pacific academic has again put a spotlight on the affairs of the regional institution.
The “strictly confidential” document, viewed by RNZ Pacific, is written by Professor Janusz Jankowski, the deputy vice-chancellor and vice-president (research and innovation) of USP.
The 13-page report is addressed to the USP Council chair and pro-chancellor — and former Marshall Islands president — Dr Hilda Heine and deputy chair and deputy pro-chancellor, Professor Pat Walsh.
USP’s deputy vice-chancellor (research and innovation) Professor Januscz Jankowski . . . appointed November 2022, “sacked” on May 26. Image: USP
It alleges several “issues, concerns and breaches with both USP policies and procedures” under USP’s vice-chancellor and president Pal Ahluwalia’s leadership.
Dr Jankowski — who was appointed to his role in November last year and has been working remotely from the UK — is calling for formal investigations of the vice-chancellor of the regional university.
USP vice-chancellor and president Professor Pal Ahluwalia . . . facing new allegations. Image: USP
RNZ understands that following Dr Jankowski’s report to the USP Council, he has been dismissed from his position.
It is also understood that USP staff unions are unhappy with a range of issues highlighted in the report and the sacking of Dr Jankowski.
RNZ Pacific has contacted Professor Ahluwalia and USP for comment.
In an email response, a USP spokesperson said on Wednesday that Dr Jankowski was no longer working at the university but that was not related to his complaint.
“Contrary to media reports, the vice-chancellor and president of USP does not have the delegated authority to terminate the employment of a deputy vice-chancellor,” the statement said.
“This authority rests with the University Council. In the matter pertaining to Professor Janusz Jankowski’s status with the university, he was until recently engaged as a fixed-term and part-time consultant, and this arrangement has now ended.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Community leaders around Panguna mine in the autonomous Papua New Guinea region of Bougainville want mining giant Rio Tinto to help out following recent flooding.
Rio Tinto was the owner/operator of the mine which has laid derelict for more than 30 years.
Fears of the threat from flooding in the river system near the mine have increased in recent years.
Recent heavy rain has choked rivers with mine tailings waste, resulting in several communities being swamped.
Residents have reported peoples’ homes have been inundated, water supplies and food crops compromised.
The flooding risks were highlighted in an independent report by Tetra Tech Coffey published last year.
This report was prepared as a baseline to inform an independent human rights and environmental impact assessment that launched in December 2022 and which Rio Tinto committed to fund in response to a human rights complaint by 156 local residents.
Phase 1 of the assessment is due to report in mid-2024.
Immediate funding call Community leaders are calling for immediate funding from Rio Tinto for tangible action to address urgent health and safety issues in their communities, as well as a commitment from the company now that it will fund long-term solutions after each phase of the impact assessment.
To date, Rio Tinto has agreed to fund the human rights and environmental impact assessment only.
The chairperson of the Lower Tailings Landowners Association, Bernardine Kiraa, said: “Our communities are drowning in mine tailings waste.”
“The recent flooding damaged peoples’ houses, food crops and water sources. Women have been having trouble finding clean water to wash their babies.
“We worry about the spread of mosquitoes and disease following the flooding.”
Theonila Roka-Matbob, who is a local MP and local landowner, and who led the campaign for the environmental assessment said: “We have welcomed Rio Tinto’s commitment to assessing the impacts of the Panguna mine.”
“We know the process will be a long one. But we have been dealing with the disaster caused by the mine for decades.”
‘Always worrying about food’ “We are always worrying that the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe is not safe. We worry about levees collapsing and mine waste flooding our lands and communities,” she said.
“We need tangible action now to address urgent health and safety issues. And we need to know what Rio’s intentions are after the impact assessment – that they will stick with us and fund the long-term solutions we need.”
The legal director at Australia’s Human Rights Law Centre, Adrianne Walters, said: “Communities are being asked to be patient while the impact assessment progresses over a number of years.”
“But they also need action now and a public commitment from Rio Tinto that it will actually remedy the devastating impacts of the mine.”
“Rio Tinto’s commitment to assessing the impacts of its former mine is an important first step,” Walters said.
“The company now needs to publicly reassure communities that it is firmly committed to funding the long-term solutions that will allow them to live safely on their land.”
Rio Tinto gave away its shares in Bougainville Copper Ltd (BCL) in 2016 but it has subsequently agreed to the funding of the human rights and environmental assessment.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Vanuatu Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau says Pacific security is about the security of the Pacific peoples and their way of life as identified by Forum leaders in the Boe Declaration.
Kalsakau said this reaffirmed climate change as the single greatest threat to regional security.
The PM was speaking at the opening of the Pacific Fusion headquarters in Port Vila on Tuesday, alongside Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles.
He said Vanuatu, with the world’s first climate change refugees with the relocation in 2005 of 100 villagers in Torba Province, “will always consider climate change its top priority”.
He said climate change is real, an existential threat, impinging on the security and stability of all nations.
“We do not have to look too far to see how the increased intensity of climate change-induced tropical cyclones wreak havoc on the daily lives and livelihoods of our people and set us back years in our development,” said Kalsakau.
He said Vanuatu’s Pacific brothers also faced human security challenges caused by the nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands (by the US), Mororoa Atoll (France) and Australia (United Kingdom).
‘Our reefs are dying’ “With the effects of global warming and nuclear testing, our ocean is getting warmer, our reefs are dying and fishes are now very scarce.
“Our children and grandchildren are bound to never experience what we’ve enjoyed in our childhood.
“The maintenance and sustenance of our marine resources must be the top priority of our Pacific leaders.”
Pacific Fusion . . . “guided by the regional security priorities identified by the Boe Declaration and supports regional decision-making on these shared security priorities.” Image: Pacific Fusion screenshot APR
Kalsakau said there were other pressing issues such as the Fukushima nuclear waste water discharge and AUKUS.
“I say again that Pacific security is about the security of our Pacific peoples and way of life.
“This is why Vanuatu stood alongside our Pacific brothers and sisters to produce the Rarotonga Treaty. Which brings me to today’s very special occasion.
“The Pacific Fusion Centre is guided by the regional security priorities identified by the Boe Declaration and supports regional decision-making on these shared security priorities,” he said.
The centre, which is funded by Australia and to be run in collaboration with Pacific Forum member states, will aim to provide training and analysis on regional security issues.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
The latest national accounts tell us Australia’s economy grew by just 0.2% in the three months to March.
It’s the weakest growth since the economy shrank during the COVID lockdowns, and, before that, the weakest economic growth since December 2018.
If economic growth continued at that pace for four quarters, the annual rate would be 0.8%, the weakest outside of a recession.
And the quarterly pace is shrinking. Economic activity grew 0.8% in the June quarter of 2022, 0.6% in the September and December quarters, and most recently, in the March quarter, only 0.2%.
The earlier stronger growth means gross domestic product is 2.3% larger than a year ago, a figure that looks set to become the highest for some time, but which looks less impressive when set aside the 2% growth in population.
Per person, gross domestic product shrank by 0.2%, the most outside of a COVID lockdown period since 2016.
The main drivers of economic growth were business investment and exports of services.
But there was weakness in consumer spending, with spending on discretionary items slipping.
Households were only able to increase their essential spending (on things such as fuel, transport and rent) by saving less. Australia’s household saving ratio, the proportion of income saved, fell to just 3.7% – the least since 2008.
Mortgage interest expenses doubled over the year to the March quarter, and dwelling investment fell by 1.2% in the quarter, and 4.4% over the year.
Business investment increased, climbing 2.4% in the quarter, but much of it was imported capital equipment, which detracted from GDP. Exports increased, with the return of international students to Australian campuses an important contributor.
Who is getting what national income there is?
There has been some debate about how the national pie is being shared. Related is an argument about whether it is greedy businesses or greedy workers that are responsible for higher inflation.
Australian Council of Trades Unions Secretary Sally McManus points out that labour’s share of GDP is near its lowest since the quarterly national accounts began in 1959. The profit share is near its highest.
The Australia Institute has argued that most of the current excess inflation is attributable to higher corporate profits, an assessment that has been critiqued by the Reserve Bank and Treasury.
Much of the overall increase in the profit share is attributable to the mining sector.
The profit share in mining is around the highest in at least two decades, due almost entirely to higher commodity prices since Russia invaded Ukraine.
In the rest of the economy, the profit share is not exceptional.
What does it mean for your mortgage?
Inflation appears to have peaked around the end of 2022, but the Reserve Bank is hyper-alert to any sign that inflation may not be declining towards its 2-3% target as rapidly as it would like.
Its most recent forecasts published in May (which assumed no further increases in interest rates) envisaged inflation returning to 3% by mid-2025.
Governor Philip Lowe’s statement following Tuesday’s board meeting suggests such a path is the slowest return to the bank’s target he will accept – the “narrow path” he spoke about Wednesday morning.
The bank’s forecasts have annual economic growth slowing from 2.7% at the end of 2022 to 1.75% by mid-2023.
Today’s data is in line with that forecast, and so should not put any more pressure on the bank to increase interest rates further.
Its longer-term concern is labour productivity. Real GDP per hour worked has barely increased over the past few years. Lowe says this makes wage increases more likely to add to inflation and reduces the leeway he has to hold off on pushing up rates.
John Hawkins formerly worked as a senior economist for the Reserve Bank and Australian Treasury.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Rowe, Emeritus Professor of Cultural Research, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University
Professional golf – and increasingly world sport – is caught in a sand trap. Not the familiar hazard between fairway and green, but the Middle Eastern desert producing enormous quantities of fossil fuels.
The resulting riches are being diverted into sport, disrupting its traditional Western dominance.
The latest example is the dramatic announcement that LIV Golf, the rebel circuit led by retired Australian golfer Greg Norman and backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, has merged with the (US) PGA and (European) DP World Tours after two years of trench warfare.
While today’s big story is LIV Golf, Saudi Arabia’s involvement in sport will generate many more money-driven, politics-heavy headlines.
There are echoes here of Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket and Rupert Murdoch’s Super (Rugby) League. An aggressive, well-funded competitor takes on the sport establishment, promising to shake up a sclerotic game, bringing in new money and younger fans with lashings of razzmatazz.
LIV Golf offers shorter stroke play contests and a competitive team format. This April, Australia got a taste of it in Adelaide. Large, raucous crowds turned up, witnessing innovations like a “party hole” complete with terrace, bars and a DJ.
LIV lured leading golfers such as Australia’s Cameron Smith with enormous contracts, in his case worth A$140 million. In response, the main tours banned LIV-signed golfers from most of their tournaments. Inevitably, it ended up in the courts, with LIV suing the PGA Tour for restrictive practices, and the PGA countersuing for inducement to break contracts.
Peace suddenly broke out this week via a joint news release announcing the tours and LIV Golf would morph into a collectively owned, for-profit entity. This came as a shock to tour golfers in an ostensibly player-run organisation, who found out via Twitter.
Even Greg Norman – a pivotal but deeply divisive figure – was apparently blindsided and discarded.
With Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan as chair and PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan as chief executive, the so-far unnamed entity must heal some deep wounds. Golfers who refused massive LIV contracts and believed Monahan’s defiant rhetoric feel sold down the river. It will take more than boosterist words from golf’s inner circle to placate them.
Golf’s turmoil is symptomatic of the impact of huge injections of capital into sport from outside the US and Europe. It does not only come from the Middle East. The Indian Premier League, both men’s and women’s, has comprehensively refashioned the economy of world cricket.
China has invested huge sums in soccer, and Beijing is the only city to have hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics.
But the Middle East is where commercial sport is seen as the future of a post-carbon economy. Last year, Qatar hosted the men’s FIFA World Cup and is steadily supplementing its sports infrastructure, while the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have committed large sums to motorsports and cricket.
Saudi Arabia is making the biggest impact on global sport through its A$10 trillion plus Vision 2030 plan to diversify its economy under leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (also known as MBS).
Money and image
Human rights come to the fore every time such non-Western countries host a major sport investment or buy a major sport property. A 2021 report by human rights group Liberty found Saudi Arabia had recently invested more than A$2 billion in sport. Much more since has been spent on sports such as football, golf, motor racing and cricket.
In the world game, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund bought English Premier League club Newcastle United, and has recruited superstars such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema to the Saudi Pro League.
The sight of a laughing FIFA President Gianni Infantino seated alongside MBS at the Qatar World Cup opening ceremony fuelled suspicions that the kingdom’s bid for the 2030 men’s World Cup has the inside running.
Sport investment is clearly part of the country’s economic agenda, but also its political positioning. Such sportswashing is a method used by illiberal regimes to cover up the ugly face of repression. Despite some loosening of controls over women in Saudi Arabia in areas like driving cars, MBS undermined his claim to be a moderniser when 81 people convicted of crimes ranging from murder to “monitoring and targeting officials and expatriates” were beheaded on one day in March 2022.
Critics of the sportswashing concept argue that it’s imprecise, and moreover is a routine feature of national and corporate public relations all over the world. It is also used selectively, despite countries like Australia having their own deficient human rights records regarding First Nations peoples and refugees, and trading freely with repressive nations.
But sport attracts greater scrutiny because it is carried on television screens, not container ships. This profile was clear when Infantino was forced, after an angry response by players, to abandon plans to make Visit Saudi a major sponsor of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
Saudi tourism may have missed out this time, but Saudi capital will continue visiting many more sports and countries.
David Rowe 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.
Fifty years after the Whitlam government released its landmark report on multiculturalism in Australia, the Albanese government has launched a major review of its policies to ensure they are serving multicultural communities in the best ways.
But will this review provide a multicultural policy “for all Australians”? Or is it just seeking to ensure, as the government put it, that “no one is left behind, and everyone feels that they truly belong”?
Multicultural policies in Australia initially aimed to benefit all Australians, not just multicultural communities. They were meant to express the broader principles of liberal democracy, such as equality, freedom and economic opportunity.
However, the past decade has been marked by “fear-mongering and division”, as Immigration Minister Andrew Giles recently reminded us.
Perhaps this is why the Albanese government review, promised during the 2022 federal election, has set a modest goal on multicultural policies. It may ultimately fall short of the broader goal of engaging with wider society.
So, what will the review actually be looking at? And what is it seeking to achieve?
How Australia has changed
The review’s terms of reference for say the aim is quite simple: ensuring we have a government that works for a multicultural Australia.
It identifies discrimination, systemic barriers to services and social mobility as focal points for action.
Australia has changed significantly over the past decade. More than 50% of the population today was born overseas or has at least one parent overseas born. And nearly 30% identify with a non-Anglo culture.
Over the past decade, perhaps the biggest issue in relation to the social integration of immigrants has been the huge increase in temporary migration to Australia.
Public policy has equated “temporary” with “not requiring support”. That means these migrants have not received adequate services in housing, transport, education, employment protection and health.
They were the ones most abandoned during the pandemic, when they were told simply to “go home” or survive on the streets.
There are three intertwining policy spheres that require a major rethink in the multicultural review:
multicultural policy (including language policy, recognition of people’s identities and support for their sense of belonging to Australian society, and employment protection policy)
settlement policy (focused on new arrivals of both migrants and refugees, including trauma recovery), and
community relations (covering discrimination, relations between different cultural groups, anti-racism efforts, social integration and the all-important relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians).
These policies were left to decay over the last generation, throughout both Labor and Coalition governments.
Importantly, the review will also consider the role of the government as an employer itself. Recent studies have pointed to the under-representation of culturally and linguistically diverse groups in the public sector at both the Commonwealth and state levels – especially at senior levels.
The review will consider how the Commonwealth government has been addressing all of these issues. It will make recommendations on legislation, policy settings, community relations and government services at the federal, state and local levels.
Where the review may fall short
Unfortunately, the review was not asked to examine the poor state of Australian government data collection on diversity and its appalling consequences.
We recently saw this most starkly in the lack of statistics on mortality from COVID, which hit older, multicultural Australians particularly hard.
Neither is it being asked to consider how to rebuild the depleted state of Australian research on diversity and multicultural issues. This was a central recommendation of the last Labor-led parliamentary committee review of multicultural policies in 2013.
The chair of the current panel is Dr Bulent Hass Dellal, executive director of the Australian Multicultural Foundation. He has considerable experience as a government advisor in the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments. He also has the confidence of the new government.
However, there are no First Nations people on the panel, though they will be invited to contribute. The government has also not appointed any academic researchers to either the panel or reference group.
From the perspective of experts with an interest in cultural and linguistic diversity, this is disappointing.
Lastly, the review is being conducted within the Department of Home Affairs rather than the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Multicultural policy was once thought important enough to have the support and imprimatur of the prime minister and be monitored by his staff – be it Malcolm Fraser or Bob Hawke. This is seemingly no longer the case.
Andrew Jakubowicz has been a participant in many government inquiries into multicultural issues.
The rapidly declining health of New Zealand’s marine environment raises serious questions about how we care for and manage the oceans.
A recent stocktake of our marine environment identifies several cumulative pressures. These include ocean acidification, sea-level rise and ongoing warming of the ocean surface associated with climate change.
The report also highlights how activities on land lead to excess sediment, nutrients and plastic pollution flowing into the sea. Pressures at sea include fishing and aquaculture, extraction of natural resources, introduced invasive species and coastal development.
Activities on land and at sea all have an impact on estuaries. Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge, CC BY-ND
Our research explores the potential of ecosystem-based management – an approach that focuses on the whole system rather than individual species – to better regulate activities on land and at sea to improve ocean health.
We looked at what we would need in law and governance to support ecosystem-based management. We examined existing innovative forms of environmental governance such as legal personhood, community-based collaborative initiatives, policies that reflect Māori values and rethink our relationship to te taio, and management approaches led by kaupapa Māori.
We found we already have solid foundations to enable ecosystem-based management in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Ecosystem-based management looks at the whole system rather than focusing on a particular species. Callum Hill, CC BY-ND
The state of our marine environment
Ecosystem-based management (EBM) emerged as an approach following concerns about declining biodiversity, fish stocks and habitats, as well as failures of sector-based governance arrangements to prevent environmental degradation.
EBM promotes a focus on ecosystems rather than on species. It seeks to sustain ecosystem health, integrity and resilience. It requires an integrated approach that takes into account social, ecological, cultural and economic impacts of multiple uses and stress factors.
An ecosystem approach can potentially reconcile conflicts between different user groups, resolve mismatches and fulfil sustainability objectives.
There are indications that some things may be improving. But the accumulation of sediment and the presence of heavy metals in estuaries are of ongoing concern. So is habitat degradation and biodiversity loss. Recent examples include the closure of scallop fisheries because of declining stocks.
A particular challenge is managing cumulative effects that arise from incremental or interacting stressors. These can come from human activities or natural events that overlap in space or time. Estuaries and coastal areas are often the final repositories.
Incremental changes and cumulative effects make it challenging to manage the marine environment well. Grace Caadiang, CC BY-ND
Changing environmental governance
Marine governance in Aotearoa New Zealand is characterised by fragmentation. Sectoral interests are regulated through multiple laws and policies. Responsibility for management is shared among at least 14 agencies operating under more than 25 different statutes across seven spatial jurisdictions.
The functions of these statutes range from regulating the effects of activities and access to resources to ensuring sustainable use and protecting species or areas of significance.
There are gaps in how land and sea are regulated. EBM, as an approach that benefits from mountains-to-sea thinking and action, could support more joined-up governance.
Environmental governance in New Zealand is already changing. Collaboration and place-based decision making are becoming features in new governance arrangements. How the environment is understood in relation to people, ecosystems and landscapes has also changed. It now better aligns with Māori worldviews and values.
We examined seven governance arrangements that span different environmental domains and reflect aspects of te ao Māori. We looked at marine and other examples to show what might be possible to enhance the implementation of EBM.
The Kaipara Harbour is one of several sites where ecosystem-based management has been implemented. Shutterstock/Hot Pixels Photography
Two of the examples we examined are Ōhiwa Harbour and Kaipara Harbour. Both provide valuable insights into EBM in practice.
In both harbours, cumulative effects over multiple decades led to a decline in water quality and biodiversity and affected access to seafood.
In Ōhiwa Harbour, the decline in mussels and an over-abundance of seastars led to research and action focused on restoration and recovery. Scientists and tangata whenua worked together to improve management.
In Kaipara Harbour, concerns over ecosystem health led to the establishment of a co-management entity. The relationship between tangata whenua and the Kaipara Harbour is central to management.
These are two examples of grassroots EBM initiatives involving tangata whenua, local councils, local people and central government agencies. Management practices are informed by science and mātauranga Māori and emphasise resilience rather than resource extraction and exploitation.
Based on these examples, we identified four pou (enabling conditions) to support the implementation of EBM with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous worldviews, knowledge systems and values.
Certain conditions support the implementation of ecosystem-based management. Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge, CC BY-ND
Strengthening these pou would help governance by promoting collaborative and inclusive institutional arrangements capable of upholding Māori worldviews while being responsive to social and ecological complexity. These changes are already occurring. Focusing on how to support these changes ought to be a priority.
Karen Fisher receives funding from the New Zealand Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment (C01X1901) through the Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge’s Phase II Project 4.2 Options for policy and legislative change to enable EBM across scales.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Bean, Research Fellow, School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, The University of Queensland
Scholars are baffled by a mysterious object from Emperor Rudolf II’s collection: a hand bell, made from an alloy of seven metals and said to have been used to summon spirits, contains an enigmatic cipher on the inside.
The Habsburg emperor Rudolf II (1552–1612) went down in history as one of the greatest patrons of the arts and sciences.
During his 36-year reign, he amassed unimaginable treasures and riches behind the walls of Prague Castle. Only a chosen few were granted access to his legendary Kunstkammer, or cabinet of curiosities, whose contents are spread all over the world today.
The emperor had a penchant for all things occult. Magic, alchemy, astrology and the kabbalah were among his favourite pastimes.
Alchemists and magicians from near and far – such as the English magus John Dee and his scryer Edward Kelly, the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, and the Polish alchemist Michael Sendivogius – were drawn to Prague around 1600.
Hans von Aachen (1552–1615), Emperor Rudolf II, circa 1606/1608. Kunsthistorisches Museum
Around 1600, the Prague goldsmith Hans de Bull created two curious objects for the imperial collection. The so-called Alchemical Hand Bell once belonged to a pair. The whereabouts of its counterpart are unknown.
From a letter by the artist, we know he cast both bells from an alloy of the seven metals associated with the heavenly bodies depicted on the mantle: gold (sun), silver (moon), copper (Venus), iron (Mars), lead (Saturn), tin (Jupiter) and mercury (Mercury).
Such a sevenfold alloy had been described by the Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus as “Electrum”.
As part of a complicated ritual, the chime of an Electrum bell could grant its owner wisdom and power. Emperor Rudolf II admired Paracelsian philosophy, and De Bull’s bell was a welcome addition to the imperial Kunstkammer.
Secrets in the script
Altogether, four different scripts can be discerned on this object.
In the trapezoidal fields above the deities’ heads are letters resembling Syriac, the language of ancient Syria.
The letters on the bell’s handle, above the planetary symbols, are reminiscent of Arabic.
The iron clapper is adorned with Hebrew letters which are also hardly legible.
However, every attempt so far to make sense of these 163 letters has failed: the “words”, composed of ten different Greek letters, are hardly pronounceable.
It is tempting to suspect the spiralling text contains some kind of invocation, maybe to summon the supernatural beings described by Paracelsus.
Is this another example of nonsense script that so often occurs on magical objects based on the principle of script for script’s sake? Or does the text contain a hidden meaning that still needs to be deciphered?
First attempts to decode the bell’s secrets
In order to try to understand the letters’ meaning, we looked at different kinds of ciphers used around the same time period.
One possibility is a so-called “polyphonic” cipher. This is one where each “cipher” symbol – here the ten Greek letters – corresponds to one or possibly several letters in the original language.
This is in contrast to a “homophonic” cipher, such as those created by the Zodiac serial killer in the 1960s, where each letter in the original text is replaced by one of several different cipher symbols.
Historically, there have been a few attempts at using polyphonic ciphers, such as the Papal ciphers of around the same time period. These ciphers used the digits 0 to 9 with dots above the numerals to distinguish different letters and groups of letters.
But these kinds of ciphers can be very difficult to solve where the exact enciphering method is not known. Here, we do not even know the underlying language.
Some plausible possibilities are Latin, German or Greek. Latin was the lingua franca of scholarly writing in Europe and any Westernised territory of the time, while German and Czech were spoken at Rudolf’s court.
We tried automated methods for solving these ciphers with various languages. But the shortness of the passage meant the usual techniques were unlikely to help.
The ultimate question is: is there actually an understandable message present?
The more general question for researchers is how much “ciphertext” do we need to extract the underlying message? We can only deduce this for ciphers we already know of.
If we could understand the writing, we could gain new insight into the meaning of this bell and cipher techniques used at the time, and perhaps uncover secrets from Emperor Rudolf’s fabled court. But for now, the mystery prevails.
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.
The Bureau of Meteorology this week declared a 70% chance of an El Niño developing this year. This raises concern for the health of the Great Barrier Reef, which is under continuing threat from climate change.
Recent summers have shown the devastating damage heat stress can wreak on the reef. We must act urgently to protect this underwater marvel – through this likely El Niño, and beyond.
We are coral reef and climate scientists, and policy experts. We’ve seen how the Great Barrier Reef is nearing its tipping point. After this point, it will become unrecognisable as a functioning ecosystem.
But the scale of climate threat is beyond the tools currently used to manage the Great Barrier Reef. New measures and sustained effort are needed – at local, national, and international scales – if we’re serious about saving this natural wonder.
International treasure under threat
The Great Barrier Reef is internationally renowned for its biodiversity, including more than 450 species of coral, 1,600 species of fish and 6,000 species of molluscs.
It is also an economic workhorse, contributing about A$6 billion to the Australian economy and providing some 64,000 full-time jobs. Many industries and coastal communities in Queensland rely on a healthy Great Barrier Reef.
But Australia’s reefs are in trouble and climate change is the biggest threat – bringing heatwaves, severe cyclones and more acidic oceans.
The background temperature of the Great Barrier Reef has warmed by 0.8℃ since 1910. This warming can couple with ocean temperature variability, such as from El Niño and its counterpart, La Niña. But because the Great Barrier Reef is already struggling under climate change, an El Niño could mean even more pressure.
Indicative changes in sea temperature, ocean pH, sea level and tropical cyclones based on climate projections (from Great Barrier Reef 2019 Outlook Report).
The bathtub is filling
We hope this analogy helps explain the situation.
Imagine a bathtub. The water inside it represents global sea-surface temperature. When the bathtub was only half-full, temporary heat variability (from El Niño) caused splashes, but they were contained in the tub.
Now fast-forward to the present day. For more than a century, humans have been heating the planet by burning fossil fuels. The background temperature has risen and the bathtub is now almost filled to the brim. Add a splash of heat from El Niño and the bath spills over.
These splashes bring consequences: more mass bleaching of coral and, in severe cases, widespread coral death.
El Niño and La Niña have become more variable in recent decades. This has meant more frequent and stronger events – bigger splashes in the bathtub – that pose a grave threat to the Great Barrier Reef’s health and biodiversity.
All the while, the bathtub keeps filling.
The World Meteorological Organisation reported that the next five years will be the warmest since records began. And 2023 will almost certainly be among the ten warmest years on record.
Earth’s average temperature is predicted to exceed 1.5℃ of warming in at least one of the next five years. This would produce a big splash – but it doesn’t represent the bathtub level reaching the brim.
Under the global climate accord known as the Paris Agreement, nations are pursuing efforts to limit the average global temperature increase to 1.5℃ above pre-industrial levels. Background warming beyond 1.5℃ is widely considered by climate scientists as dangerous. We’re entering an era in which hot and more frequent splashes are imminent – and the survival of coral reefs is becoming increasingly threatened.
Clearly, the global warming we’re seeing now is unprecedented. We must turn off the tap.
Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration from the Mauna Loa Observatory has increased from below 320 parts per million (ppm) to over 420 ppm since 1958 (Data: Scripps CO₂ Program).
An inadequate tool kit
Unless global emissions are drastically reduced, frequent severe bleaching is projected this century for all 29 World Heritage-listed coral reefs.
This would cause untold ecological damage. It would also reduce the reefs’ ability to support human communities that depend on them.
Coral bleaching is not the only threat to the Great Barrier Reef. Other pressing problems include poor water quality from land-based runoff, crown-of-thorns starfish and unsustainable fishing and coastal development.
So how do we deal with all of this? A range of management actions exists.
Banning fishing in some areas and limiting exploitation elsewhere has benefited conservation, while also enhancing fisheries.
But other actions have had mixed success. And not all available tools are being applied effectively.
For example, “special management areas” were intended to restrict human use of the Great Barrier Reef for conservation or management purposes. But their use has been limited. And emergency implementations of these areas, allowed under the law, have never been used.
Crucially, none of the available actions were designed to respond to climate threats. The reality is, the scale of climate disturbance is beyond the available management tools.
The scientific evidence is unequivocal. We must work at local, national, and international scales to help the Great Barrier Reef better cope with climate change. The likely arrival of an El Niño makes this task ever more urgent.
Australian and international governments must take immediate and decisive action on emissions reduction. This includes banning new coal and gas projects and rapidly shifting to renewable energy. Communities reliant on fossil-fuel industries should be helped to transition to new livelihoods.
Reef management agencies need to tackle climate threats more effectively – at a scale commensurate with the problem. This requires a new way of managing key areas. That could mean, for example, temporarily closing off parts of the Great Barrier Reef affected by coral bleaching to give them a reprieve from other stressors such as fishing and tourism.
And individuals must also ensure our everyday choices – in transport, consumption and elsewhere – help tackle the climate threat.
It’s time for us all to double-down and ensure the survival of the Great Barrier Reef, and the planet. There is no room for complacency. So what are we waiting for?
Scott F. Heron is receiving and has received funding from Australian Research Council, as well as from international government sources. Together with Jon Day, Scott developed the Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI) for World Heritage that has also been applied to assess climate impacts upon other areas of significance.
Jodie L. Rummer has received funding from the Australian Research Council. She is the current Vice President of the Australian Coral Reef Society.
Jon Day previously worked for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority between 1986 and 2014, and was one of the Directors at GBRMPA between 1998 and 2014. He represented Australia as one of the formal delegates to the World Heritage Committee between 2007-2011.
If you have been stung by a jellyfish at the beach, you’ll know how painful and unpleasant it can be. But how best to treat jellyfish stings has been debated over the years.
Is it best to use hot water or an ice pack? How about pouring on vinegar or rubbing with sand? Then there’s the popular myth about urinating on your leg, which health professionals have debunkedmany times but seems to resurface regardless.
We looked at the evidence for popular treatments and have just published our analysis in a Cochrane review. This is what we found.
They have tentacles covered with tiny stinging cells called nematocysts. When these cells touch your skin, they release venom that can cause burning, redness, swelling and sometimes more serious reactions, such as heart issues.
Fortunately, most jellyfish stings are not life-threatening. Symptoms differ depending on the species. And the best treatment for one species is not always the best for another.
By knowing which treatment works and which doesn’t, you can reduce your discomfort and avoid complications.
We found nine trials involving treatments for two types of jellyfish:
bluebottles or Portuguese man o’ war (Physalia)
box jellyfish (Cubozoa), which are considered the most dangerous jellyfish. Some box jellyfish can cause Irukandji syndrome (a condition that may lead to severe pain, heart problems, and very occasionally death).
These trials, involving 574 people, tested various treatments such as vinegar, hot water, ice packs, isopropyl alcohol, methylated spirits, ammonia and sodium bicarbonate.
The trials also looked at Adolph’s meat tenderiser (a powder thought to break down proteins) and Sting Aid (an over-the-counter treatment thought to help ease pain after a variety of stings).
Regardless of the jellyfish species, it’s reasonable to first remove any visible tentacles with tweezers or a gloved hand. What to do next depends on the species.
For bluebottles, try heat
The data in our included studies provides what’s described as low-certainty evidence for soaking the affected area in water about 45℃ to ease the pain. This is thought to denature the venom protein. At the beach, you could apply a heat pack or take a hot shower.
There was not enough evidence to show whether other treatments, such as ice packs, were effective for bluebottle stings.
Stung by a bluebottle? Try warm water or a heat pack. Shutterstock
For box jellyfish, try vinegar
For box jellyfish stings, the evidence was more limited. Our review did not find sufficient evidence to support currentrecommendations to apply vinegar to inactivate the nematocysts.
Nevertheless, it’s reasonable to try vinegar. That’s because evidence not considered as part of our review shows vinegar inactivates nematocysts when tested in the laboratory.
When to seek medical care
Most symptoms can be managed at the beach or at home. But always seek medical attention if you or the person you’re looking after has symptoms such as:
difficulty breathing
chest pain
nausea
vomiting
weakness, or
drowsiness.
Such severe symptoms mean monitoring and treatment in hospital may be needed. If the person stops breathing or has a heart attack, they need immediate basic life support.
Do not rub or scrape the area with sand or a towel because this might cause more nematocysts to release their venom.
When it comes to treatments, our review found some may be harmful or ineffective, so should be avoided.
These included ammonia, methylated spirits and fresh water, as they may cause burns on the skin or trigger more venom to be released from nematocysts.
Avoid pressure immobilisation bandaging (wrapping a bandage tightly around the limb) as this may also trigger more venom release from nematocysts.
We found vinegar, sodium bicarbonate, Sting Aid or meat tenderiser have no proven benefit and may cause irritation or infection.
Perhaps not surprisingly, there were no published trials looking at the effectiveness of urine as a treatment and so it’s not recommended.
Prevention is best
Remember, prevention is better than cure. Keep an eye on safety announcements from lifeguards, monitor the water for jellyfish and wear protective clothing to prevent stings where possible.
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.
Dendrolagus ursinus, or Goodfellow’s tree-kangaroo.Shutterstock
Kangaroos are an enduring symbol of Australia’s uniqueness. To move, they do what no other large mammals do: they hop along on oversized hind legs. So you may be surprised to learn that some kangaroos live in trees, and are among the most endearing and threatened of all marsupials.
Today, biologists recognise ten tree-kangaroo species, all in the genus Dendrolagus. Two species inhabit tropical forest in far northern Queensland. The other eight live in New Guinea.
Studying them is difficult because their habitats are hard to access, they live high in trees and are increasingly rare due to human impacts.
The evolutionary history of tree-kangaroos is even more obscure. In a new study published today in Zootaxa, we pull together all the evidence on fossil tree-kangaroos and show giant tree-kangaroo species were widespread across Australia, and lived in habitats that were a long way from tropical forest – their modern-day home.
Reconstruction of the giant tree-kangaroo Bohra illuminata, Nullarbor region, 250,000 years ago. Peter Schouten, Author provided
Tree-kangaroos from the Treeless Plain
In 2002, a team of explorers found three new caves in the middle of the arid Nullarbor Plain of south-central Australia. The cave floors were littered with the bones of the extinct marsupial “lion” Thylacoleo carnifex and short-faced kangaroos, as well as those of several mammals, birds and reptiles that still live in drier parts of Australia.
Given the high diversity of herbivores, we concluded the Nullarbor had to have been more than just arid shrubland some 200–400 thousand years ago, even if it was still very dry. This is because a few shrubs would not have been enough for such a range of herbivores to live on.
In this light, it was hard to believe when we discovered partial skeletons of two new species of giant tree-kangaroo in 2008 and 2009. They belong to the extinct genus Bohra, first named in 1982 on the basis of leg bones found in the Wellington Caves in New South Wales.
Like the picture on a jigsaw box, we used the Nullarbor skeletons as a guide to search for isolated pieces in museum collections. We discovered more than 100 teeth and bones belonging to a total of at least seven species of extinct tree-kangaroos.
These come from fossil sites extending from southern Victoria to central Australia to the New Guinea highlands, and range in age from 3.5 million (late Pliocene) to a few hundred thousand years old (middle Pleistocene).
Skull of the extinct Bohra illuminata alongside that of a modern tree-kangaroo (scaled to same length). Author provided
A big leap forwards – and then upwards
Anatomical and molecular evidence shows that, among living marsupials, kangaroos are most closely related to possums. No one is sure exactly when the kangaroo ancestor made the descent to the forest floor, due to big gaps in the Australian fossil record.
Similarly, we do not know whether the distinctive “bipedal” hopping mode of locomotion originated in the trees or on the ground – but we do know it became the enduring hallmark of the kangaroo family. They have longer hind legs and longer feet than their possum ancestors, and the foot bones lock together in such a way as to limit sideways foot movement.
Combined with high tendon elasticity and a large muscular tail, these adaptations make kangaroos among the most energy-efficient movers on the planet.
The foot bones of tree-kangaroos reveal three stages in the evolutionary “reversal” of these adaptations. Pliocene species of Bohra evolved a broader heel bone and upper ankle joint, allowing them greater mobility. Later, Pleistocene species of Bohra evolved a smoother joint at the front of that heel bone, giving them the ability to roll the soles of their feet inward to wrap around tree trunks and limbs.
As well as shorter feet, modern tree-kangaroos (Dendrolagus) have shorter hindlimbs, in conjunction with powerful forelimbs and claws for grasping and climbing. They can even walk with their hind legs while climbing, whereas ground-dwelling kangaroos only move their hind legs alternately while swimming.
Comparison of tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus) and grey kangaroo (Macropus) foot bones. Author provided
Why return to the trees?
As Australia dried out over the past 10 million years, more open vegetation became widespread. This trend was interrupted by a greenhouse phase 5–3.5 million years ago. We speculate that the temporary expansion of forest habitats during this period would have opened new ecological niches that early tree-kangaroos evolved to exploit.
By the time climatic drying returned, tree-kangaroos had become established members of the Australian fauna, with species adapting to expanding woodland and savannah habitats.
As some larger monkeys do today, species of Bohra probably divided their time between living in trees and on the ground, whereas modern tree-kangaroos spend most of their time in the canopy.
So, although we might now think of tree-kangaroos as quintessential rainforest animals, this is because the Bohra species that lived in other habitats have become extinct.
Despite everything we can learn about evolution from studies of modern species, the fossil record holds the potential to flip the script with one discovery.
Gavin Prideaux is a palaeontologist at Flinders University, and receives research grant funding from the Australian Research Council, Australia Pacific Science Foundation, Hermon Slade Foundation, National Geographic and Australian Geographic.
Natalie Warburton receives funding from Australia Pacific Science Foundation and has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council. She is a researcher in the Harry Butler Institute at Murdoch University, a Research Associate of the Western Australian Museum and the current Vice President of the Australian Mammal Society.
New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.
New Zealand Politics Daily is a collation of the most prominent issues being discussed in New Zealand. It is edited by Dr Bryce Edwards of The Democracy Project.
Our noses perform important functions every day of our lives, but we often only notice when disease changes how they work.
Our sense of smell works when chemical molecules are sniffed into the nose and make contact with the sense organ called the “olfactory bulb” in the roof of the nasal cavity. The other main function of noses is to warm and moisten air going to the lungs (air conditioning) and to remove unwanted particles and viruses suspended in the air (filtering).
But what are sinuses? What about the snot colours? What’s that squeaky sound in your ears about? And is there a correct way to position nose spray? (Spoiler: yes and you are probably doing it incorrectly.)
The nasal cavity is much larger inside than it seems from the outside.
Dual cavities extend up and also back from the nostrils, and have multiple bony folds (called turbinates) that create a larger surface area (150 square centimetres) for the nasal cavity to be an effective filter and air conditioner.
Turbinates also create turbulence of the airstream, causing about 80% of suspended particles to be filtered as they hit the skin of the nasal cavity.
The nose has a very rich blood supply just under the skin lining (mucosa) which acts as a heat exchange. This can be dialled up or down quickly by nerves controlling dilation or constriction of blood vessels.
There are a number of cavities with connections via narrow tubes to the nasal cavity. That’s four sets of sinuses (hollows) in the facial bones and the middle ear cavity.
The auditory or Eustachian tubes connect the middle ear cavity to the back of the lower nose, above the tonsils and adenoids. The Eustachian tubes are small and closed at rest. But if pressure is lower or higher in the middle ears than the outside world they “pop” open as air rushes through. You may sometimes hear other sounds like squeaks or crackles as an inflamed tube opens and closes, such as when we swallow.
When the nose is congested, the tubes connecting ears and sinuses can also become blocked, causing pain from pressure build up.
We’re not really sure why we evolved to have sinuses – but they work. Shutterstock
We don’t know why we have sinuses. One evolutionary theory is that they arose so humans could grow a larger face without adding too much weight to the head and they do help our immune defences, with nitrous oxide produced by lining cells in the paranasal sinuses that inhibits viral and bacterial growth.
The major passages of the upper respiratory tract are lined with a mucous membrane that also contain mucus-producing goblet cells.
Mucus (which we commonly call “snot”) is the main source of moisture to humidify the air we breathe in. It also traps smaller particles like pollen or smoke. Hairlike structures called cilia line the mucous membrane and transport the particles trapped in the mucus out of the back of the nose.
Cilia beat at ten to 12 times per second, propelling mucus at one millimetre per minute.
Mucus is around 95% water, 3% proteins (including mucin and antibodies) and 1% salt, plus other substances. Mucus strands form crosslinks to become a sticky, elastic gel. The nose produces over 100 millilitres of snot over the course of a day (less during sleep). It carries dead cells and other dust and debris to the stomach for recycling.
Mucus assists in fighting infection when white blood cells and antibodies are excreted into it and increases in volume to flush away infection, irritants or allergens. Watery mucus – such as from allergy or in the first days of a virus – tends to exit via the nostrils (a “runny nose”).
Thicker mucus tends to exit down the rear of the nasal cavity into the throat, moved by the action of cilia.
The human body produces around 100 mls of snot each day. Shutterstock
My snot of many colours
Mucus can be colourful stuff, which can make people worry.
It might be orange and brown if it has some blood in it. Yellow and green hues come from white blood cells (leucocytes) that fight bacterial and viral infections. Colours are more prominent the longer the mucus has “stuck around” – so your morning nose blow might be more brightly coloured than later in the day.
A common misconception is that green mucus indicates bacterial infection and requires antibiotic treatment. But most upper respiratory tract infections (even with green mucus) resolve whether or not antibiotics are used.
Repeated studies show around 80% of patients with sinus infections recovered with no antibiotics, compared to 90% with antibiotics, after seven days.
The main purpose of treatment when you have a cold, flu or upper respiratory tract infection is to relieve symptoms. A nose spray can deliver an effective dose to where it is needed with few side effects.
A blocked nose from an acute viral infection is best treated with decongestant sprays, which are safe to use for at least seven days. They work by constricting swollen blood vessels and reducing excess mucus production.
However, they also slow the action of cilia, slowing the clearance of mucus and making it stickier. Regular sprays or irrigation with salt solutions (saline) wash away mucus and stimulate cilia to beat more effectively.
For the treatment of allergic rhinitis, oral antihistamines and/or nasal steroid sprays may be needed to control symptoms. The addition of saline nose spray to steroid sprays improves effectiveness, probably by flushing away allergens and mucus.
Don’t just jam it up there. Point nasal spray back and slightly outwards. Shutterstock
Yes, there’s a correct way to spray
Using nasal spray is not as simple as pointing it up your nose and pumping. Here’s how to get it right:
stay in an upright position with the head tilted forward slightly
hold the nasal spray in your hand with your thumb at the base of the bottle and the index and middle fingers on top
insert the tip of spray bottle into one nostril, blocking the other nostril gently with the other hand
squeeze the pump with your index and middle finger and breathe in slowly, just enough to keep the medication in place
use the right hand to deliver a spray into the left nostril, directing the spray towards the left ear. Repeat on the other side.
David King 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.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Cardilini, Lecturer, Environmental Science, School of Life and Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment, Deakin University
Use of sodium fluoroacetate poison baits – commonly known as 1080 – to kill unwanted animals is widespread in Australia. But it occurs largely out of sight and out of mind. We may see signs warning the baits have been laid, but we rarely see the consequences.
When someone else’s dog dies after eating 1080 poison bait, news reports briefly rattle our sense of security. But the people concerned can be left distressed and traumatised.
In our new research, we interviewed seven people about their dog’s death from 1080 poisoning. We identified common themes and how these contributed to changed attitudes toward lethal control methods. This is the first qualitative study to give voice to people whose dogs have been unintentionally harmed by 1080.
Australia is only one of a handful of countries that allow the use of 1080 baits. We hope our results will inform decision-making by the government agencies, farmers and conservation organisations that use the poison.
1080 poison bait sign. Photo by Rhyshuw1/Wikimedia Commons
Since the 1950s, Australian governments, private contractors and property owners have used 1080 poison baits to kill “pest” animals such as foxes, rabbits, cats, pigs and wild dogs, including dingoes.
Depending on the target species, their food of choice is laced with poison (carrots for rabbits, grain for pigs, meat for foxes, wild dogs and dingoes).
The “metabolic poison” disrupts the energy powerhouse of the body’s cells (the mitochondria). The delay between ingestion and signs of toxicity can be anywhere between 30 minutes and 20 hours. Initial signs include vomiting, anxiety and shaking. But that’s only the beginning of what can be a long, painful and violent death.
Native Australian animals vary in their tolerance to the poison. That’s because it is derived from a naturally occurring compound (potassium fluoroacetate) found in several native Australian plants. Though, in parts of the country, it is used to kill native animals too, such as wallabies and possums.
But companion animals such as dogs can also consume the baits. Their suffering, often witnessed by owners, provides important insights into what wild animals experience when poisoned.
Our research aimed to understand the impact the death of a companion dog from 1080 poisoning has on people and their relationships with other animals.
Our results reveal how a brief encounter with 1080 had traumatic and life-altering consequences.
The participants loved their dogs and considered them family. They felt responsible for providing a happy, healthy life that included walking or running in nature. It was usually during these walks in familiar places that encounters with 1080 occurred.
Some people didn’t know about 1080, while others were very aware and took precautions like avoiding local areas known to be baited.
Several participants were shocked by how quickly their dogs ate a bait, after briefly snuffling at the ground or disappearing out of sight for just a moment. They struggled with the fact that a short lapse in their attention was all it took to lose their dog forever.
Others didn’t realise what had happened for hours, until the onset of symptoms or death.
The horror: ‘just running away from pain’
People described the death of their “loved one” from 1080 baiting as one of the most horrific experiences of their lives. Symptoms of 1080 poisoning included uncontrollable vomiting, defecating, urinating, frenzied running, barking, “screaming”, convulsions, confusion, fear, coma and finally, death.
The dogs seemed terrified and their guardians felt completely powerless in the face of extended suffering. As one participant told us:
He was just running away from pain […] He was running that fast and he obviously had no control over what his body was doing, he just hit the fence at full speed, it dropped him to the ground and he’s on the ground snarling and biting and whatnot, at himself, at me, anyone who tried to get near.
Those who weren’t present when their dogs died felt guilty for not supporting their dog through their pain.
Traumatic grief: ‘I can’t get it out of my mind’
Any loss of a companion animal can cause feelings of grief. However, traumatic loss of a companion in such an unexpected and violent way is better captured by the concept of traumatic grief. One participant vividly recalled their dog’s death:
I can’t get it out of my mind […] her face like that and, you know, she wasn’t vicious at all […] it was so absolutely heartbreaking. I can’t even […] heartbreaking is not the right word for it. No, I need a more intense word than heartbreaking, just to see someone that you love go through that and know that they suffered every second until they died.
We found the experience with 1080 changed people’s relationships and attitudes to dogs, wildlife, nature and government authorities.
They reported being anxious and hypervigilant for signs of 1080 poisoning in other dogs. Some could no longer visit locations where the poisoning occurred.
After the traumatic loss of their companion, families shunned the place where the dog ate the bait. Corey Serravite, Unsplash, CC BY
Many participants wanted to save other animals from suffering like their dog did. All participants believed no animal should be exposed to 1080 poison, regardless of species or wild status. Some went on to actively advocate against the use of 1080 bait.
For several participants, their suffering was amplified by a perceived lack of accountability from authorities. They believed officials dismissed and belittled their experience of losing a dog to 1080 poisoning.
Participants viewed 1080 baiting as a deliberate choice that led to their dog’s suffering and death. They were angry that anyone would knowingly choose such a violent management approach. In the words of one participant:
What an inhumane thing to do to any living creature. […] I am just angry that this is happening in Australia, I really am. We are such a progressive country. It’s banned in so many parts of the world. And Australia, of all places, is still using it. […] It’s just not Australian to see a wild animal, never mind a dog that you love, die like that.
There have been public calls to ban 1080. Indeed, we believe a more compassionate approach is needed: one that values the interests and agency of both wild and companion animals. It is time for Australia to reconsider its use of 1080.
We would like to acknowledge the work of our colleague Melissa Zeven who led this research. We appreciate their efforts in conducting participant interviews and analysing such emotionally difficult stories.
Dr Adam Cardilini is a member of the Animal Justice Party and volunteers in it’s policy working group. He is also a fellow at PAN Works (https://panworks.io/), an international ethics think tank dedicated to the wellbeing of animals. The work in this article was partly supported by funding from Deakin University.
Dr Alexa Hayley is a member of the Animal Justice Party and Animals Australia, and is currently employed by Geelong Animal Welfare Society and Deakin University, School of Psychology.
Dr Bill Borrie has previously received funding from the US Forest Service and is currently a Fellow with PAN Works.
Things have moved very quickly from keyboards and predictive text.
The rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) means bots can now write human-quality text without having hands at all.
Recent improvements in speech-to-text software mean even human “writers” do not need to touch a keyboard, let alone a pen. And with help from AI, text can even be generated by decoders that read brain activity through non-invasive scanning.
Writers of the future will be talkers and thinkers, without having to lift a finger. The word “writer” may come to mean something very different, as people compose text in multiple ways in an increasingly digital world. So do humans still need to learn to write by hand?
Handwriting is still part of the curriculum
The pandemic shifted a lot of schooling online and some major tests, such as NAPLAN are now done on computers. There are also calls for cursive handwriting to be phased out in high school.
However, learning to handwrite is still a key component of the literacy curriculum in primary school.
Parents may be wondering whether the time-consuming and challenging process of learning to handwrite is worth the trouble. Perhaps the effort spent learning to form letters would be better spent on coding?
Many students with disability, after all, already learn to write with assistive technologies.
But there are are a number of important reasons why handwriting will still be taught – and still needs to be taught – in schools.
Technology changes mean we can ‘write’ without lifting a pen. Shutterstock.
1. Fine motor skills
Handwriting develops critical fine motor skills and the coordination needed to control precise movements. These movements are required to conduct everyday school and work-related activities.
The refinement of these motor skills also leads to handwriting becoming increasingly legible and fluent.
We don’t know where technology will take us, but it may take us back to the past.
Research suggests traditional pen-and-paper notes are remembered better, due to the greater complexity of the handwriting process.
And learning to read and handwrite are intimately linked. Students become better readers though practising writing.
3. It’s good for wellbeing
Handwriting, and related activities such as drawing, are tactile, creative and reflective sources of pleasure and wellness for writers of all ages.
This is seen in the popularity of practices such as print journalling and calligraphy. There are many online communities where writers share gorgeous examples of handwriting.
Caligraphers focus on making beautiful, design-oriented writing. Samir Bouaked/Unsplash
4. It’s very accessible
Handwriting does not need electricity, devices, batteries, software, subscriptions, a fast internet connection, a keyboard, charging time or the many other things on which digital writing depends.
It only needs pen and paper. And can be done anywhere.
Sometimes handwriting is the easiest and best option. For example, when writing a birthday card, filling in printed forms, or writing a quick note.
Handwriting can be done anywhere. You don’t ever need to plug it in. Marcos Paulo Prado/Unsplash
Most importantly, learning to write and learning to think are intimately connected.
Ideas are formed as students write. They are developed and organised as they are composed. Thinking is too important to be outsourced to bots!
Teaching writing is about giving students a toolkit of multiple writing strategies to empower them to fulfil their potential as thoughtful, creative and capable communicators.
Handwriting will remain an important component of this toolkit for the foreseeable future, despite the astonishing advances made with generative AI.
Writing perfect cursive may become less important in the future. But students will still need to be able to write legibly and fluently in their education and in their broader lives.
Lucinda McKnight receives funding from the Victorian Association for the Teaching of English and the Australian Research Council.
Maria Nicholas receives funding from The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child
Among a host of other recommendations, the Independent Electoral Review has proposed a referendum on extending the term of parliament to four years (from the current three). I’ll admit from the outset to being torn over the issue – the policy wonk in me says four, the election junkie says three.
But there’s another problem. Even if it is a sound idea, why hold a referendum when two past referendums have already rejected the proposal? Parliament could make the change alone, but MPs would likely face a backlash from the people wanting a referendum.
Those previous polls in 1967 and 1990 were both defeated by more than two-thirds majorities. Without a strong sense of a public desire for change, it’s hard to see a third result being any different.
In fact, one can almost hear the social media arguments against it already: “We have more important things to think about”, “They just want to keep their noses in the trough for longer”. Given current levels of distrust in politics, getting this across the line feels like a stretch.
But we’re still at the initial review stage. Public consultation is open until July 17, and a final report goes to the government in November, after the election. Public opinion could still shift in the meantime.
Time to govern
There are some good practical reasons for extending the parliamentary term. For starters, by the time a new government is sworn in after an election, it’s often nearly Christmas and the nation shuts down and heads to the beach.
Ideally, a new government should get cracking with making policy and legislation in its first and second years. But in the third, anticipation of the next election changes the priorities and the focus.
To get a new law from a first cabinet paper to an act of parliament can take a couple of years – longer if there’s a lot of argument. So we’re not allowing much time for governments to really get things done.
When we account for the downtime before and after elections, they’re left with roughly two years of action out of every three. That slack could be reduced from roughly one-third to one-quarter if we moved to a four-year term.
On the other hand, many New Zealanders like having their say and holding their representatives to account through the ballot box. That’s not an argument for even shorter terms, but it is certainly a persuasive argument for the status quo.
ACT’s David Seymour: reform ‘doesn’t solve a single urgent problem that New Zealanders face’. Getty Images
Winners and losers
So, if not through a referendum, how would we change the length of the parliamentary term? It is possible if parliament were to pass an amendment to the Electoral Act. That requires a 75% majority.
Given Labour’s Jacinda Ardern and National’s Judith Collins both supported the idea before the 2020 election, that super-majority may well exist. That’s bolstered by the fact the ACT Party also supports a four-year term.
And yet ACT leader David Seymour was quick to rubbish the whole electoral review report. Before most people had even had a chance to read it, he’d declared it a “waste of everyone’s time” and “a major left-wing beat-up that doesn’t solve a single urgent problem that New Zealanders face”.
One explanation for such a negative reaction may lie in one of the report’s other recommendations, which is to eliminate the “coat-tailing” rule. This allows a party that wins at least one electorate seat to bring more MPs into the house, proportional to their party vote even if it’s below the 5% threshold.
The rule has undeniably created inequities. But ACT itself has benefited from it, notably in 2008, when it received just 3.65% of the party vote but took five seats on the back of winning the Epsom electorate.
It’s perhaps inevitable that partisan political self-interest will emerge whenever these electoral reform proposals are made. Those who stand directly to win or lose become the loudest voices in the subsequent debate. The issue itself is politicised before the average voter has even taken in the details.
And, let’s remember, extending the parliamentary term is only one of more than 100 draft recommendations, including lowering the party vote threshold from 5% to 3.5%, and lowering the age of eligibility to vote from 18 to 16. The review process can mean difficult technical, legal and constitutional debates and proposals become bogged down in politics as usual.
Much like the 2012 Electoral Commission review, from which no substantive recommendation for change was ever adopted (the present review repeats some of them), the unintended consequence may be another round of talk, but little action. If there’s a change of government after October’s election, this review is unlikely to go anywhere, other than into the archives. That would be a shame.
New Zealand’s electoral and parliamentary systems aren’t perfect, but no such system is. It may be asking a bit much at present, but some consensus about making them work more democratically and effectively would still be a good thing.
Grant Duncan 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.
Twenty five broadcasters from 13 Pacific countries touched down in Auckland recently for the Pacific Broadcasters conference.
A meet and greet filled with lots of talanoa, networking and healthy debate, the conference was a welcome change from a typical Zoom meeting.
Natasha Meleisea, chief executive of Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Ltd (PCBL), which operates Pasifika TV, says the conference was about uniting Pacific broadcasters.
“I’ve kind of shared messages today around, it’s never a solo journey. There is strength in the collective and partnerships is really important,” Meleisea says.
“For a very long time we’ve had Pacific voices or Pacific stories being told by non-Pacific. There’s nothing wrong with that.
“However, it’s good to provide a platform where our own Pacific people can share those stories themselves and PCBL, Pasifika TV enables that.”
Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Cooperation (VBTC) chief executive Francis Herman says that after seeing Vanuatu stories in the hands of overseas productions, story sovereignty is an important point of discussion.
‘Misconstrued a lot of things’ “We’ve noticed that in previous years, people have just flown in, told our stories, misconstrued a lot of things,” says Herman.
“[They’ve] gone for the ratings, gone for the dollars and left us high and dry, and they really haven’t told the real stories. We are the experts in our own culture, our own island, or about our people.”
But Herman says the PCBL partnership has been a “faithful . . . and equal partnership.”
“We haven’t been seen as a very small island developing state or a very small broadcaster. They’ve treated us as equals.
“We tell our own stories. We know our audience better, we know our country better than they do.
“Let’s tell our stories. And I think Pasifika TV has given us that opportunity and that’s why we’ve continued that partnership.”
Story sovereignty major factor for Pacific broadcasters. Video: Tagata Pasifika
Part of that partnership includes training in camera production, operation of Live U units and journalism training, something which Kiri One TV chief executive Tiarite George Kwong deeply values.
“Kiri One just started five years ago . . . and so we are very new in this kind of industry,” Kwong says.
‘Upgrading our skills’ “The idea for the partnership with PCBL is to upgrade our skills so that the news that we produce is up to the standard that people want to listen and watch every day.
Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Ltd CEO Natasha Meleisea . . . “There is strength in the collective and partnerships is really important.” Image: Tagata Pasifika
“Compared from day one that we started, we have seen the improvement.”
Broadcasters like Mai TV in Fiji have taken the PCBL training one step further, when they acquired the netball rights for the Oceania Netball Series in 2022, their first time to do so.
“We were thinking we cannot do this because you need all the different equipment and costs and things,” says director of Mai TV Stanley Simpson.
“But we spoke with PCBL and they found solutions for us. And through that we were able to take the Oceania Netball series to Tonga, to Samoa and the Cook Islands, which is the first time that we were able to distribute rights from Fiji.
Pacific broadcasting workshop . . . “The empowerment has been really strong.” Image: Tagata Pasifika
“That empowerment has been really strong. And from the discussions and the inspiring conversations we’ve had with the team at PCBL, it made us look around and realise that we have the best stories in the world in the Pacific.”
Now that their Pacific counterparts are receiving the necessary training and equipment, Meleisea says there is an abundance of Pacific content being produced from their regional partners.
‘A phenomenal feat’ “We went to air in 2016, at that point in time we weren’t getting any content from the Pacific. Fast forward eight years down the track, we’re now getting eight to 10 hours a day from the Pacific, which is a phenomenal feat.
“In order to achieve that, it’s been a slow build. It’s been about providing equipment, providing training, and then providing the infrastructure and the connectivity to enable it.
“So without all of those three things, we wouldn’t have been able to get the content from the region.”
Funded as part of NZ’s Public Interest Journalism project. Republished from Tagata Pasifika with permission.
Twenty five broadcasters from 13 Pacific countries gathered for the Pacific Broadcasters Conference. Image: Tagata Pasifika
Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe and his board have pushed up interest rates yet again – for the twelfth time in 14 months – because they want to damage the economy further.
Home prices have been climbing for three straight months – in March, April and May – instead of continuing to fall as they had been since the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) began pushing up rates in May 2022, a point the bank notes in its latest statement.
Employment, which in November the RBA predicted would grow 1.4% this financial year, is instead growing at an annual pace of 2.9%. In April, Australians worked more hours than ever before.
These aren’t signs of a depressed economy, and the Bank wants to depress the economy further to ensure it gets inflation down to where it wants it to be.
The governor’s written agreement with the treasurer requires him to deliver an inflation rate of 2–3% on average, over time.
Some of us are doing well, most are not
Parts of the economy are slowing. The statement refers to a “substantial slowing in household spending” (and Wednesday’s national accounts are likely to be grim) but the RBA’s concern is that the slowdown is uneven.
It says while some households are “experiencing a painful squeeze”, others have “substantial savings buffers”.
Those experiencing the squeeze are the 35% of households that are mortgaged. The 31% who rent aren’t doing too well either. By contrast, many of the 31% that own outright are doing well indeed.
Since the RBA began pushing up rates in May 2022, the typical interest rate on a new mortgage has doubled – climbing from 2.7% to 5.4%, adding roughly $1,000 per month to the cost of servicing a $600,000 mortgage. The latest decision will add a further $90. And yet home prices are turning back up.
Lowe wants to be sure
The RBA has pushed rates to a new ten-year high – and hinted strongly it will push them up again, saying “further tightening” might be required – not because it doesn’t think the economy isn’t slowing overall, but because it wants to make sure it keeps slowing enough to keep inflation heading down.
Inflation was 7% in the year to March, and 6.8% in the year to April. The RBA wants to get it down to its forecast of 6.3% for the year to June and to its forecast of 3% two years after that, and while it looks as if things are on track, it isn’t yet sure.
If it has to, it is prepared to push Australia’s unemployment rate up from 3.7% to 4.5% by late next year, putting perhaps an extra 100,000 people out of work. That’s what its board minutes predict.
Hard to cop. Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Tuesday. Lukas Coch/AAP
It’s a decision that Treasurer Jim Chalmers says many Australians will find “difficult to cop”. The RBA’s job, in Chalmers’ words, is to “squash inflation without crunching the economy”.
He could have added that Lowe is running out of time. Unless he gets an extension, his six-year term as RBA governor ends in September.
That gives him just three more board meetings to make sure inflation is heading back towards the RBA’s target of 2-3% before he hands over to his successor.
Lowe will get the official reading on inflation for the year to June on July 27. If it hasn’t fallen to the 6.3% the RBA expects, he is likely to increase rates again in August.
Minimum wage untroubling
Something that doesn’t seem to be giving Lowe much grief is Friday’s
Fair Work Commission national minimum wage decision, trumpeted by the trade union movement as an above-inflation increase of 8.6%.
What the union movement didn’t say, but Lowe knows well, is that it is an increase hardly anyone will get. The only people who get the misleadingly named national minimum wage are those not already covered by awards, enterprise agreements or individual agreements – at a guess only 0.7% of the workforce.
So hard are these people to find the Commission says it is “difficult to identify in practical terms any occupations or industries” in which they are engaged.
What their wage rise will contribute to inflation will be next to nothing. The first part (an increase of 2.7%) changes the award wage they are linked to from what the commission now regards as an inappropriate classification of “C14”, which was originally a metal industry training wage, to “C13”, which is a non-training wage.
5.75%, but only for some
The second part of the increase applies to everyone on awards, some 20.5% of the workforce, which probably extends to 25% if you take into account other workers whose pay is linked to awards. It’s an increase of 5.75%, much less than inflation, and on Commission’s calculations should add only 0.6 percentage points to it.
Given that a wage increase of zero wasn’t tenable (even the employers asked for 3.5%) it means the wage increase a (low-paid) portion of us get in July won’t much impede the Bank’s attempts to bring down inflation.
The Commission believes employers can afford it. It says profits have “generally been healthy” in the private sector industries whose workers most rely on awards, singling out the accommodation, food services and retail industries, which employ one-third of workers on awards and have enjoyed “substantial increases in profits”.
Expectations are what matters
The wages of the rest of us who don’t rely on awards are largely determined by bargaining power and what we expect, as are the prices businesses charge, and it is here that the Reserve Bank is worried.
It wants to dent bargaining power by making sure it dents spending and employment, and it wants to make sure above everything else that high inflation doesn’t become entrenched in “expectations”, a point Lowe mentions twice in his eight-paragraph statement.
He says if high inflation does become entrenched in expectations, it will become “very costly to reduce later” requiring even higher interest rates and even higher unemployment.
Peter Martin 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.
The unfolding PwC scandal could be considered nothing more than an especially egregious example of ethical failure with dire consequences.
However, there are deeper issues to be examined. The most obvious concerns the proper role of the Australian Public Service, and whether or not efforts by successive governments to hollow it out have caused damage that will take a generation to repair. Less obvious is the damage done to an essential component of Australia’s ethical infrastructure: the professions.
Australian governments have long been captivated by physical and technical infrastructure. Few politicians can resist the opportunity to don a hard hat and hi-vis vest when announcing new investment in road, rail, bridge and dam projects. There is equal pride in initiatives including the National Broadband Network, quantum computing and improved cybersecurity.
Unfortunately, there is little interest in the ethical “infrastructure” that determines the extent of public trust in major public- and private-sector institutions. Without that trust, reform becomes almost impossible – or only after untimely delays and great cost.
As with physical and technical infrastructure, the quality of a nation’s ethical infrastructure has tangible effects on a nation’s economy. For example, Deloitte Access Economics has estimated that just a 10% improvement in ethics, across Australia, would generate an extra A$45 billion in GDP each year.
What is ethical infrastructure?
There are many components to this ethical infrastructure. However, one of the most important is the professions – whose members influence nearly every aspect of our lives. To understand their distinctive role, one needs to recognise the difference between two “worlds”: those of the market on one hand, and the professions on the other.
The essential character of the market was defined by Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith. It is a place where self-interested actors satisfy the wants of others. Smith prohibits lying, cheating or the oppressive use of power – as all harm the free market. Self-interested conduct is mediated by the so-called invisible hand, which Smith argues leads to an increase in the stock of common good. Indeed, that is the test any market must pass: does it, in practice, make us all better off?
The second world – the professions – is, in two respects, the opposite of the market. First, members of the professions do not satisfy the wants of others; they are obliged to serve the interests of others. For example, a diabetic might want to consume a large block of chocolate. The market will happily satisfy this want as long as the customer can pay the tariff. However, a doctor will refuse to provide the chocolate because it is not in the interests of their patient to do so.
Second, professionals are obliged to put aside self-interest in favour of the public good. For example, as officers of the court, lawyers are obliged to help in the administration of justice. This takes precedence over duties to the client and to the profession. Only after all other interests have been served may a lawyer look to their self-interest. The same holds for the members of every true profession. can we add a couple of other examples here just to make sure readers fully understand this concept?
Professionals should put public good ahead of self interest. Shutterstock
In recognition of this practice, society enters into a social compact with the professions. It accords status, and gives them access to certain work that others may not do. It establishes privileges (such as the shield laws that protect journalists’ sources). The quality of the social compact waxes and wanes over time – but can exist only for as long as the professions honour their commitment to reject the logic of the market.
The importance of independence
It is the ethical foundations of the professions – in particular the putting aside of self-interest – that makes it possible for Australian governments to outsource public-sector functions to large, professional consulting firms such as PwC. After all, governments have an inalienable duty to act solely in the public interest. It is inconceivable they would turn over any of their functions to a self-interested entity. That would be to invite the fox into the hen house.
Central to each of the “Big Four” consulting firms is their auditing practice. Compared with consulting, auditing is a minnow in terms of revenue and influence. However, there lies the core of accounting’s professional ethos with its commitment to what is true and fair. Auditors should be the quintessential professionals – independent and divorced from the ethos of the market. So, when an auditing firm, like PwC, works for government, it is assumed they can be trusted. Until they cannot.
What impact will PwC’s behaviour have on other professions?
We do not know the full extent of what happened at PwC. However, it seems likely that, at some point, some part of the firm abandoned the world of the professions in favour of the market – placing self-interest before all other considerations.
Now we are left to wonder. Was this just a small part of PwC, or has the rot infected larger parts of the company? If the professional ethos of PwC has been corrupted, how is this risk being managed in other, similar organisations?
Most troubling of all, can society still rely on the social compact it has struck with the professions more generally? Or has this once-vital piece of ethical infrastructure fallen into disrepair?
Whether you care about the quality of our society, or the economy, or the possibility of progress, you should care about the quality of our nation’s ethical infrastructure. It’s time to reinforce what remains so it’s not all lost, through neglect, cynicism or indifference, and to our considerable cost.
The St James’ Ethics Centre currently receives no government funding. It does however, receive donations. Simon Longstaff is a Fellow Certified Practising Accountant.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liam Byrne, Honorary Fellow, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne
Luong Thai Linh/ AAP
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s recent trip to Vietnam is a recognition that Australia’s relationship with the Southeast Asian nation is important on its own terms – not just in how it relates our broader relationships with the United States and China.
As such, it was surprising to see that a nicely executed state visit to a mid-power in the region, which resulted in the mooted upgrading of a “strategic partnership” to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”, had failed to generate substantive headlines, or capture the public imagination.
Australians need to see the enhancement of regional partnerships such as the one with Vietnam as having significant interest to us all, with implications for our future.
Decades of rebuilding relations
This is not the first bilateral visit of an Australian prime minister to Vietnam. The most recent was Scott Morrison’s visit in 2019. But there was a particular resonance to this occasion.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Australia and Vietnam. This was, of course, a particularly potent moment due to Australia’s involvement in the war in Vietnam (known there as the “American War”).
Over the course of the war, more than 60,000 Australians were deployed to the country and 523 died. The war and the means of its prosecution – particularly conscription – became heated points of polarisation domestically.
The cost of the war to Vietnam itself was incalculable.
Australian commitment to the war began to wind down from late 1970, with the last Australian troops returning in December 1972, soon after the election of the Whitlam government. Our involvement formally ended a month later.
The decades following the war were devastatingly difficult for Vietnam as it rebuilt itself amid international isolation, especially from the United States. A large number of refugees fled the authoritarianism of the new Communist regime, with many establishing strong and vibrant communities in Australia.
In 1986, the Vietnamese Communist Party announced its Đổi Mới reforms to transition the country from a highly centralised economy based on state ownership to a form of market socialism. This began a process of opening Vietnam up economically and politically to the world.
In subsequent years, there has been a bipartisan effort in Australia to consolidate the relationship with Vietnam in both economic and defence agreements.
During the visit of Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh to Australia in 2009, the countries upgraded their relationship to one of “comprehensive partnership”. In 2018, to mark the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations, this was upgraded further to a “strategic partnership”.
There are obvious economic and diplomatic benefits to enhancing the connections between the countries. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, trade between the countries has grown on average by 8.6% per year over the past two decades.
But the attitude of the Morrison government to Vietnam was overtly inflected by its hardening hostility towards China.
Morrison trumpeted the growth in trade during his visit, but within the framework of his government’s foreign policy it was clear that such relationships were, relatively speaking, a sideshow to the main game: Australia’s future was bound to the United States.
Since its election, the Albanese government has demonstrated its determination to rebuild and repair regional relationships. While this has included taking the heat out of the recent tensions with China, it also included enhancing collaborations with countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and others.
The government’s approach has not been a repudiation of Australia’s ongoing defence and political ties with the United States, and is far from a passive stance towards China’s positioning in the region. The staunch commitment of the Albanese government to AUKUS makes this abundantly clear.
But it was a recognition that the overwhelming emphasis of Australian foreign policy in recent years had diminished the significance of our relationships with these middle-sized regional countries that were similarly seeking to adapt to the changing relationships and balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region.
Stepping-up Australia’s relations with Vietnam is an important part of the government’s determination to rebuild Australia’s links with the countries of Southeast Asia.
Vietnam has experienced its own economic woes of late. It has a notable reliance on Australian coal for its power generation, and this is likely to remain the case in the short term. Its government is authoritarian. This should not be obscured in discussions of our relationship.
During Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s official trip to Hanoi, Australia and Vietnam inked a $105 million decarbonisation agreement.
But Vietnam is a dynamic country with an economy that has been on the upswing. It also has a young population that is increasingly skilled and has demonstrated itself to be globally connected.
On our side, Australia is a country increasingly integrating itself into the region and exploring new economic opportunities in renewable energy. Among the agreements Albanese signed in Hanoi was a $105 million package to help Vietnam decarbonise its economy.
Australia also has a large population of citizens with Vietnamese heritage with enduring ties – both familial and economic – to Vietnam. Current exchanges in trade and education are mutually beneficial, and growing.
Australia has a vibrant community of citizens with Vietnamese background. Shutterstock
And all this is happening between two countries who, within living memory, were at war.
The experience of the Vietnam War should remind all Australians of the dangers of following our American ally in pursuing its foreign policy ambitions without regard for our own. And the current relationship with Vietnam demonstrates how we can do it our way.
Liam Byrne 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.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liza Lim, Professor, Sculthorpe Chair of Australian Music, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney
The Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho passed away Friday at the age of 70.
There’s been an outpouring of grief, sadness and love on social media and in statements from orchestras, festivals and opera companies as the music community processes the loss of one of the greatest composers of our time.
When I was a young composer, the first work by Saariaho I heard live was Jardin Secret I (1985) at the 1988 Hong Kong ISCM Festival.
It was the first time the International Society of Contemporary Music had staged a festival in an Asian country, and many European composers were in attendance.
I was swept up by the work with its haunting bell tones transformed through electronics. The music sounded simultaneously familiar and alien, intimate and immense. I was awed by the imposing presence of a composer I knew only from music history texts.
Later, we met when I served on some competition juries she chaired.
I briefly got to know someone of warm generosity, incisive knowledge and integrity who brought a hilariously dry wit and impeccable timing to telling stories.
Operas of love and loss of innocence
Saariaho will be remembered for her many illustrious achievements in forging a luminous musical language out of instrumental and electronic resources, the composition of five major operas, and through numerous orchestral works often showcasing close collaborators as soloists.
Her career reached its peak with two operas.
L’amour de loin (Love from afar) created a sensation when it premiered at the Salzburg Festival in 2000 in a production by American director Peter Sellars.
In a lyrical retelling of an enigmatic story of love and spiritual yearning, with a libretto by Lebanese-French writer Amin Maalouf, it has become one of the most successful 21st century operas.
Hypnotic, suspended harmonies and modal melodies create an alternative, idealised world in which one has time to contemplate themes of obsession, devotion and the realities and illusions of love.
In 2016, it was the first opera by a female composer to be staged at the Metropolitan Opera in New York since the production of Ethel Smyth’s Der Wald (The Forest) in 1903.
Two decades later, Saariaho’s last opera Innocence (2018) was described by the New Yorker as a “monumental cry against gun violence”. Again, it was immediately hailed as a masterpiece at its premiere at the 2021 Aix-en-Provence Festival in France.
Innocence is set in nine languages with a multitude of intersecting stories, but its genius lies in the way the luminously pulsing music is used to maintain dramatic momentum and a clear through line.
Following its premiere, Innocence has been taken up by major opera houses around the world.
Since the mid-80s, a time when there were very few prominent women composers on the international stage, Saariaho has been a major role model.
She resented the “woman composer” label and spoke infrequently about the prejudices and challenges she had encountered in the decidedly male-dominated world of classical music.
Yet on the occasions when Saariaho did address this topic, she conceded there was a role she could play in raising consciousness about the persistence of gender inequality in music.
I’ve seen it with young women who are battling with the same things I was battling […] 35 years ago. […] Maybe we, then, should speak about it, even if it seems so unbelievable. You know, half of humanity has something to say.
Saariaho opened pathways for many composers across different generations and practices. Her work alchemised several 20th century musical trends that had tended to inhabit separate “camps” into a unique and emotionally powerful style with broad appeal for both specialists and the general public.
Early on, she engaged with a modernist focus on a detailed chiselling of sounds working with techniques that extended the capacities of any virtuoso performer performing her work.
Working at IRCAM (the Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music) in Paris in the 1980s, she created several genre-breaking works.
Lichtbogen (1985/86) for ensemble with live electronics used computer-aided analyses of sound to shape huge sweeping brushstrokes of sensuous sound.
She worked within the musical field of “spectralism”, where the analysis of the acoustic properties of sound is used as the basis of composition. This opened up new approaches to harmony in her music.
Orion (2002) for large orchestra is an example of how she could build up layer upon layer of sound where you hear individual colours in translucent detail within epic, billowing clouds of resonance.
Her operatic works from 2000 on brought a narrative directness, a ravishing beauty and devastating emotional punch that saw her work embraced by audiences around the world.
Soul listening
At the heart of her work was a kind of soul-listening and deep connection to nature.
In 2015, I had the privilege of going for a walk with Saariaho in a snowy landscape outside Hämeenlinna, Finland (the birthplace of Sibelius). As we walked, I got to hear the sounds of cracking ice and the whisper of birch trees through the lens of her delicate observations.
The task of today’s artist is to nurture with spiritually rich art. […] To provide new spiritual dimensions. To express with greater richness, which does not always mean more complexity but with greater delicacy.
Liza Lim 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.
The self-styled provisional government of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua “with the people” of the Melanesian region have declared political support for full West Papuan membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).
In a statement issued in the Vanuatu capital of Port Vila after a meeting of thew ULMWP executive in Jayapura last Sunday, West Papua Council chair Buchtar Tabuni said full membership of the MSG would be a “sign of victory” for the Papuan nation seeking to become independent from Indonesia.
“[West Papua] membership in the MSG is our safety [net]. The MSG is one of the UN [recognised] agencies in the Melanesian sub-region, as well as the PIF [Pacific Islands Forum] and others,” he said.
“For this reason, West Papua’s full membership in the MSG will later be a sign of safety for the Papuan people to become independent”.
The declaration of support was attended by executive, legislative and judiciary leaders who expressed their backing for full MSG membership status for the ULMWP in the MSG by signing the text.
Representing the executive, Reverend Edison K. Waromi declared in a speech: “Our agenda today [is] how to consolidate totality for full membership [ULMWP at MSG].
“Let’s work hand in hand to follow up on President Benny Wenda’s instructions to focus on lobbying and consolidating totality towards full membership of the MSG.”
‘Bargaining position’ This was how he ULMWP could “raise our bargaining political position” through sub-regional, regional and international diplomacy to gain self-determination.
Judicial chair Diaz Gwijangge said that many struggle leaders had died on this land and wherever they were.
“Today the struggle is not sporadic . . . the struggle is now being led by educated people who are supported by the people of West Papua, and now it is already at a high level, where we also have relations with other officially independent countries and can sit with them,” he said.
“This is extraordinary progress. As Melanesians, the owners of this country, who know our Papuan customs and culture that when we want to go to war, we have to go to the wim haus [war house].
“Today, Mr Benny Wenda, together with other diplomats, have entered the Melanesian and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, and more states [are] running.”
Gwijangge added that now “we don’t just scream in the forest, shout only outside, or only on social media”.
“Today we are able to sit down and meet with the presidents of independent countries . . .”
Legal basis for support The events of today’s declaration were the legal basis for political support from the leadership of the provisional government of the ULMWP, he said.
“For this reason, to all the people of West Papua in the mountains, coasts and islands that we carry out prayers, all peaceful action in the context of the success of full membership in the MSG.
“As chairman of the judicial council, I enthusiastically support this activity.”
In February, Barak Sope, a former prime minister of Vanuatu, called for Indonesia’s removal from the MSG.
Former Vanuatu PM Barak Sope . . . opposed to Indonesian membership of the MSG. Image: Hilaire Bule/Vanuatu Daily Post
Despite being an associate member, Indonesia should not be a part of the Melanesian organisation, Sope said.
His statement came in response to the MSG’s revent decision to hire Indonesian consultants.
Sope first brought West Papuan refugees to Vanuatu in 1980.
Many of our economic and even social interactions are competitive. We use markets to find jobs, but also dates. What does this mean for our morals? Does capitalism give us the American dream, or American Psycho? Does the experience of competition keep us honest, or drive us towards cheating?
These profound questions preoccupied the minds of some of the great classical economists, who saw capitalism as rife with both good and bad moral influences. Adam Smith mostly focused on the good, whereas Karl Marx was admittedly less optimistic.
To test this question convincingly in the lab, our project coordinators invited dozens of behavioural scientists to contribute their own experimental designs, resulting in observations of more than 18,000 people in total.
We are not the first to take a scientific approach to the question of competition and morality. However, individual tests have delivered mixed results, possibly because of differences in the definitions and measures of morality used.
Some of the early results were provocative, such as a finding that people in competition were less likely to prevent the death of a mouse. However, these results were hard to replicate or interpret.
One way to account for differences in the design of individual studies is to conduct a “meta-analysis”, evaluating and combining the results of many different studies. However, meta-analysis often has troubles of its own, as selective reporting and publication bias can influence which studies are available to be included in the analysis.
What was different about our study
To really get some reliable results, we went a step further and carried out a “prospective meta-analysis”.
The “prospective” part means that all the studies to be included in the analysis were registered before they were done. This prevents cherry-picking of results, or bias in what kind of results are published.
Our project involved 45 different experiments carried out by teams around the world. Each team independently designed an experiment to test the effects of competition on morality.
The results of these studies, which involved observations of more than 18,123 individual participants, were then collated and analysed.
A small decline in morality (on average)
The meta-analysis revealed that competition has an overall negative effect on morality, but the effect is very small. (The effect is measured by a number called Cohen’s d. A value of 0.2 is considered a small effect, and the value we found was only 0.1.)
As expected, we also observed a substantial variation in the effects as measured by different experiments. Some were positive, some were negative, and the sizes of the effects also varied.
So despite the advantages of our new prospective meta-analysis, the jury is still out regarding the overall effect of competition on morality.
Perhaps the question is too general to answer properly without a particular context. The devil may be in the details.
Loss, not competition, to blame?
My team (one of the 45 involved in the meta-analysis) used a number-guessing game between two people as an instance of competition. This was followed by an individual game of honesty, which was our measure for the effects on morality.
This individual experiment resulted in a small negative overall effect of competition (d = –0.1) much like the meta-analysis, but it failed to reach statistical significance on its own.
However, exploratory analysis of our results revealed a potential breakthrough.
We found it was only the losers of the number-guessing game who became more dishonest, with a larger effect (d = –0.34). The winners of the competition stage, on the other hand, showed no change in their honesty behaviour.
These exploratory results – yet to be replicated – suggest a reason why competition does not affect morality much on average. Perhaps it is being disadvantaged in a competitive process that corrupts, not competition per se.
Ozan Isler is a research fellow at the University of Queensland’s School of Economics. He acknowledges funding from the Templeton Religion Trust for an international research grant on religious belief and moral behavor.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kali Marnane, Honorary Associate Lecturer in Architecture and Urban Design, The University of Queensland
Kali Marnane (2023), Author provided
I’m in Ahmedabad, India, standing where families once built their homes under the shade of large trees. Today, those houses are a flattened dust bowl at the edge of a construction site. Apartment buildings are replacing the low-rise, high-density settlement called Ramapir No Tekro, the city’s biggest informal settlement.
I’m feeling the inevitability of political forces intent on shaping the city in a new image. Walking through the community, I see shops closed and homes reduced to rubble. It’s hard to reconcile these images with the once-vibrant streets I remember.
Apartments under construction on the site of demolished houses in Ramapir No Tekro. Kali Marnane (2023), Author provided
The 8,500 homes that housed 150,000 people in Ramapir No Tekro are being redeveloped as the government aims to achieve a “slum-free” India.
Although the stated aim of providing affordable housing to bring people out of poverty gives me hope, I feel heartbreak and frustration as residents continue to be short-changed. They receive poor compensation, the underlying reasons people build informal housing are not addressed, and authorities refuse to see value in the informal architecture that the residents created. Apartment designs lack key features of the settlement that our recent study identified as improving residents’ lives.
Redevelopment behind a partially demolished street in Ramapir No Tekro. Kali Marnane (2023), Author provided
Residents will receive a new apartment if they can prove they have lived here since 2010. To do this, they must have original documents such electricity bills, government survey, or birth certificates. Those who qualify for an apartment will get compensation to cover rent while construction is completed but they must dismantle their home before relocating.
Renters, more recent arrivals and those who lack the required paperwork are ineligible. They must relocate permanently at their own expense, often far from community support networks, livelihoods and schools.
Even for those who do qualify for new housing, nearby rental accommodation is hard to find due to high rents and/or caste discrimination. When residents return, their new apartment will consist of one room with a small entry space, kitchen and bathroom – regardless of the size of their family or of their previous house.
As an incentive for developers, height and setback restrictions have been eased. This allows more apartments to be sold for profit.
Houses in Ramapir No Tekro before redevelopment. Kali Marnane (2018), Author provided Houses in Ramapir No Tekro during redevelopment. Kali Marnane (2023), Author provided
How suitable design improves lives
In a recent study, Kelly Greenop and I examine the design of the “slum” I now stand in, before it was demolished. We identify four features that help improve living conditions:
houses are located near work, schools, healthcare and family
residents have control over design and construction, upgrading only when affordable, which creates a sense of ownership that means residents are more likely to invest in and maintain common areas, and also can give priority to spending on children’s education
houses are clustered in groups that connect neighbours, and designs typically feature an entry porch, which allows activities from small dwellings to spill into common areas and fosters social connection
neighbourhoods have a clear hierarchy and scale of shared spaces: from private house, to semi-private porch, to semi-public common area, to public street. Spending time in shared spaces directly outside the home helps to build strong community bonds.
Neighbours sit outside their houses to complete cottage industry work while children play nearby in Ramapir No Tekro. Kali Marnane (2017), Author provided The community is now buried beneath apartment construction. Kali Marnane (2023), Author provided
To understand what aspects of informal housing design work (or not), we compared the information we gained from interviews with women residents and detailed house and neighbourhood drawings against the United Nations’ Adequate Housing Criteria. The criteria state that housing must:
provide secure tenure
provide essential infrastructure, such as water and electricity
be affordable
be habitable, providing adequate space, structural stability and protection from the elements
be accessible
be located close to services, such as health, employment and education, and support networks, including extended family
enable the expression of cultural identity.
By definition, informal houses do not meet the first criterion. However, houses in Ramapir No Tekro often met three to six of the other criteria, with some exceptions performing poorly.
A street in Ramapir No Tekro left partially intact. Kali Marnane (2023), Author provided
Research by Uchita Vaid on housing quality before and after redevelopment reports that new apartments provide security of tenure (meeting criterion 1) and essential infrastructure (meeting criterion 2).
But the new buildings fail to meet other criteria. They suffer from substandard structural quality and lack of maintenance (failing criterion 4). They lack shared space for neighbourly interaction, resulting in more social isolation (failing criterion 6). And more time spent inside leads to higher electricity bills (failing criterion 3).
Slum redevelopment in Ahmedabad. Kali Marnane (2023), Author provided
Apartments are inaccessible to household goats and chickens, and are too small for multi-generational living or common employment types (failing criterion 5). They do not reflect household identity or allow for cultural expression (failing criterion 7).
Play area located away from apartments in slum redevelopment in Ahmedabad. Kali Marnane (2023), Author provided
It’s difficult and expensive to correct such faults in apartments after they’re built. Ramit Debnath and colleagues have shown that discomfort from poor redevelopment design causes some residents to move back into informal settlements.
Apartment entry in slum redevelopment in Ahmedabad. Kali Marnane (2023), Author provided
Community-based design matters
Housing design alone cannot change the persistent structural inequality facing low-caste and low-income residents of “slums”. But good design can improve wellbeing, opportunities for social connection and residents’ daily lives in general.
In Ramapir No Tekro, residents could and did create solutions adapted to their challenging circumstances. Instead of starting from scratch – risking the introduction of new problems – housing interventions should engage with and learn from residents by enhancing what already works, even in so-called “slums”.
Kali volunteered for The Anganwadi Project and Manav Sadhna, who built and managed preschools and community centres in Ramapir No Tekro, between 2016-2018.
On September 13 2013, speleologists Rick Hunter and Steven Tucker descended deep into South Africa’s Rising Star cave system and discovered the first evidence of an extraordinary assemblage of hominin fossils.
To date, the remains of more than 15 individuals belonging to a previously unknown species of extinct human, dubbed Homo naledi, have been found in the cave. These short-statured, small-brained ancient cousins are thought to have lived in Southern Africa between 335,000 and 241,000 years ago.
Rising Star Cave is an exceptional resource for exploring the origins of our species. However, archaeological work at the site has been some of the mostcontroversial in the discipline.
Threenewstudies made available today (as pre-prints awaiting peer review) claim to have found evidence Homo naledi intentionally buried their dead (a sophisticated practice we usually associate with Homo sapiens) and made rock art, which suggests advanced cognitive abilities.
However, as archaeologists who investigate early humans in Africa, we’re not convinced the new research stacks up.
Did Homo naledi bury their dead?
The research purports to have evidence Homo naledi undertook deliberate burial of their dead – a major claim.
So far, the earliest secure evidence for burial in Africa comes from the Panga ya Saidi cave site in eastern Kenya, excavated by our team and dated to 78,000 years ago. This burial of a Homo sapiens child meets rigorous criteria agreed upon by the scientific community for identifying intentional human burial.
The aim of the criteria is to help differentiate burial from other practices and phenomena that could lead to the depositing of human remains. These include, for example, the natural accumulation of skeletal parts in a predator’s cavern, or the kind of carrying and protecting of dead bodies observed among cognitively advanced non-human species such as gorillas and chimpanzees.
The claimed Homo naledi burials precede the Panga ya Saidi burial evidence by as much as 160,000 years. If the claim is correct, it significantly pushes back evidence for advanced mortuary behaviour in Africa. It also implies intentional burial wasn’t limited to our species or other big-brained hominins.
Such a finding would force us to rethink the role of brain size in advanced “meaning-making” cognition, as well as what distinguishes our species from our ancestors.
But is there actually evidence for funerary behaviour at Rising Star Cave? According to standards set by the palaeoanthropology community, the evidence presented so far indicates no.
However, not one of the burials provides compelling evidence of a deliberately excavated pit. Indeed, the shallow cavities may not be dug pits at all, but natural depressions where the bodies accumulated and were later disturbed by trampling, or partial cave collapse.
The alleged burials also fail to meet another fundamental criteria for deliberate burials: anatomical alignment of the body and articulation of skeletal remains.
In a deliberate burial, the body is generally intact and any minimal displacement can be explained by decomposition. That’s because burial involves immediately covering the body with soil, which protects the anatomical integrity of the skeleton.
Rising Star Cave so far hasn’t produced evidence for anything other than the general spatial association of some skeletal elements. At most, it provides evidence for the in-situ decomposition of particular body parts, such as an ankle, and partial hand and foot articulations.
Moreover, confirming intentional burial in the past has required the presentation of human remains in an arrangement that can’t have been achieved by chance. However, the scattered distribution of the remains at Rising Star prevents reconstruction of their original positions.
Other claimed evidence for funerary behaviour is equally uncompelling. A stone artefact supposedly included in the burial as a “grave good” is said to have scratches and edge serrations from use. But this so-called artefact’s shape suggests it may be natural. It’s still encased in sediment and has only been studied through synchrotron X-ray.
The purported stone artefact (from synchrotron X-ray) showing so-called scratches and edge serrations may actually be a natural rock and not culturally modified. Lee Berger et al, CC BY-SA
But perhaps the biggest barrier to confirming the status of the findings is that so far none of the alleged burials have been fully excavated. It’s therefore impossible to assess the completeness of the bodies, their original position, and the limits of the purported pits.
Did Homo naledi make rock art?
An equally splashy claim made in one of the publications is that Homo naledi left rock art on the walls of Rising Star Cave.
The report describes engravings in the form of deeply impressed cross-hatchings and geometric shapes such as squares, triangles, crosses and X’s. Further claims are made about the preparation of and potential repeated handling or rubbing of the associated rock surface, and the use of a similar “tool” to the one they claim was found with the alleged burial.
The researchers point to engravings in the wall as evidence of Homo naledi’s capability to create art and symbols. But these etchings haven’t been dated, and some of the lines look relatively recently etched. Lee Berger et al, CC BY
This claim has major implications. To date, rock art has only reliably been linked to Homo sapiens and, in rarer cases, some of our large-brained ancestors. Similar to deliberate burial, producing rock art has major implications for the cognitive abilities of a species. It denotes a capacity for representation, and the creation and communication of meaning via abstract symbols.
The problem with the rock art at Rising Star Cave is that it’s undated. To imply any link with Homo naledi requires firm dates. This could be achieved through using dating techniques on associated residues or natural deposits covering the art, or by studying materials from excavated and dated archaeological layers that can be linked to the art (for instance, if they contain engraving tools or engraved rock fall fragments).
In the absence of dating, it’s simply spurious to claim the engravings were made by Homo naledi, rather than by another species (and potentially at a much later date).
Did Homo naledi light up Rising Star Cave?
The researchers also claim the mortuary and engraving activities in Rising Star Cave involved strategic use of fire for illumination.
In public lectures and on social media they clarify they have found new evidence for hearths, including charcoal, ash, discoloured clay and burned animal bones. Yet none of the scientific research needed to confirm the use of fire has been carried out. Or if it has, it hasn’t been published.
Previously acquired radiocarbon dates obtained by the site investigators on the apparent hearth material provided very late dates that distanced the hearths from the remains of Homo naledi by several hundred thousand years.
We’re not opposed to the idea that the Rising Star Cave witnessed precocious mortuary behaviour involving the intentional disposal of bodies by Homo naledi. But it’s clear the latest inferences require further investigation before they’re accepted by the broader scientific community.
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.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By M. Reza Hosseini, Senior Lecturer in Construction, Deputy Director, Mediated Intelligence in Design (MInD) Research Lab, Deakin University
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Architecture, engineering and construction employ 1.2 million people in Australia and account for 9% of GDP. But our biggest services sector also produces roughly 40% of landfill waste and accounts for 18.1% of Australia’s carbon footprint. The sector must change its practices fast for Australia to meet its commitments to cut emissions under the Paris Agreement.
A circular economic model can help solve the environmental challenges created by our built environment – water, waste and power systems, transport infrastructure and the buildings we live and work in. A circular economy involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling materials and products for as long as possible.
Circular economy principles have gained recognition from all levels of government in Australia. But there’s a big gap between acknowledgement and action. Progress towards systemic change has been very limited.
A new report by university and industry experts lays out a roadmap to a circular economy. Those working in the sector reported the top three barriers as: a lack of incentives, a lack of specific regulations, and a lack of knowledge. The top three enablers were: research and development of enabling technologies, education of stakeholders, and evidence of the circular economy’s added value.
The huge amount of waste created by building construction and demolition makes the industry unsustainable.
So what are the world leaders doing?
Extensive research for the report drew on real-world experiences, including a survey and interviews with stakeholders. The report offers practical recommendations to drive the transformation to a circular economy, with examples from global front-runners.
The first recommendation is to learn from these nations. Most are in Europe.
A leading example is the Netherlands’ “Cirkelstad”. This national platform connects key players in the transition to a circular economy in major cities. It provides a database of exemplary projects, research and policies, as well as training and advice.
Cirkelstad highlights the importance of broad collaboration, including research organisations. One outcome is the City Deal initiative. It has brought together more than 100 stakeholders with the shared goal of making circular construction the norm. They include government bodies, contractors, housing associations, clients, networks, interest groups and knowledge institutions.
We rarely see such collaboration in Australia. Connections between government, research and industry practices have been weak. Our universities compete fiercely.
In Denmark and Sweden, rigorous regulations have been effective in promoting circular practices. Denmark has incentives for the use of secondary materials such as recycled brick. It also promotes designs that make buildings easy to disassemble.
In Canada, Toronto is notable for its proactive approach. Measures include a cap on upfront carbon emissions for all new city-owned buildings.
Test beds and pilot projects have proven effective, too. A good example is the UK’s Waste House.
Waste House was built using more than 85% waste material from households and construction sites. Yet it’s a top-rated low-energy building. The project is an inspiration for architects and builders to challenge conventional construction methods and embrace circular practices.
Much of the focus of Finland’s circular economy initiatives is on construction and urban planning. Various policy tools and incentives encourage the use of recycled or renewable materials in construction. The renovation of Laakso hospital in Helsinki is a notable example.
Strategic zoning of public spaces can also be used to bolster circular economy activities. An example is the repurposing of urban land for activities such as waste sorting.
The Brighton Waste House was made largely from recycled materials.
How can Australia create a circular economy?
Australia has been slow to adopt such measures. There are voluntary schemes, such as Green Star, that include emission caps for buildings. However, Australia lacks specific, well-defined requirements to adopt circular economy practices across the built environment sector.
Our report’s recommendations include:
develop metrics and targets to promote resource efficiency
adopt measurable circular procurement practices for public projects
provide incentives for circular practices
establish technical codes and standards that foster the use of secondary products.
The report finds funding for collaborative projects is badly needed too. Regrettably, the Australian built environment is not seen as a research funding priority. But more funding is essential to foster the innovation needed to make the transition to a circular economy.
Innovation can help us reconcile the public demand for spacious homes with sustainable construction practices. We can achieve this through a mix of strategies:
moving towards modular construction techniques
creating incentives to adopt circular design principles
making adaptive reuse of existing structures a priority
designing multi-functional spaces that makes the most of resources.
Integrating circular economy principles into education and training at universities and schools can embed a culture of innovation. Equipping students with this knowledge and skills will enable the next generation to drive change in our built environment.
Currently, there are few Australian-based training programs that focus on the circular economy. And available courses and programs overseas are costly.
There is also a need to promote inclusivity in the built environment sector. Circular solutions must incorporate cultural considerations.
By embracing the above strategies, Australia can foster a harmonious balance between cultural values, environmental sustainability and efficient resource use.
Collectively, these initiatives will lay the foundation for a circular economy in the built environment sector. The growing need for housing and infrastructure underscores the urgency of achieving this goal in Australia. Ultimately, consumers, industry and the environment will all benefit.
Tuba Kocaturk is affiliated with Geelong Manufacturing Council, as a Non-Executive Director.
M. Reza Hosseini 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.
Anyone trying to follow the latest political debate over housing, urban intensification and development can be forgiven for feeling confused.
The National Party’s newly announced housing policy would allow local councils to opt out of the Medium Density Residential Standards the party originally supported. The Labour government calls it a “flip flop”, the Greens call it “confused”, but National says its policy is in fact “more ambitious”.
What does seem clear, however, is that some form of urban intensification will still play a role in New Zealand’s future planning. And that, of course, comes with its own layers of confusion and conflict – particularly between advocates of more medium-density housing and defenders of urban heritage.
Many urban communities are now having to balance the urgent need for more housing and the perceived dangers of what can appear like a tidal wave of sometimes inappropriate development.
This is partly due to the vague definitions of what constitutes urban heritage in the first place. Essentially, it refers to the layers of history within a community, from iconic monuments and buildings to housing and green spaces.
Often in New Zealand it is assumed “heritage” refers to the leafy suburbs of renovated colonial villas and bungalows. But it can also be ordinary, informal, unspectacular and utilitarian – what is known as “vernacular” – and still have deep significance. This kind of heritage also maintains connections with previous generations.
It’s hardly surprising, though, that the impact of development and regeneration can threaten urban heritage. Jackhammers or simply changes in planning law can fragment these valuable urban histories.
New Zealand has a particularly poor record of conserving its past, having failed to protect countless examples of its significant and vernacular built heritage. For every art deco treasure in Napier, there are many lost links to the past.
Despite resource management laws to protect historic heritage from inappropriate use and development, wider appreciation of heritage values has been slow to take hold.
A poor record of maintaining links to the past: modern office towers overshadow Auckland’s ferry building. Getty Images
Rules for progress
One way to see progress – and to avoid a perpetual standoff between vested interests – might be through greater appreciation of international best practice. The principles of the International Council on Sites and Monuments (ICOMOS) provide a useful guide.
ICOMOS is the only global non-governmental organisation of its kind dedicated to promoting the conservation of architectural and archaeological heritage. It has national committees in 107 countries, including New Zealand, and provides expert advice to bodies such as the World Heritage Convention.
Since 1964 it has set standards for safeguarding and conserving historic cities, towns and urban areas. These standards are based on its original
principles, which were further updated in 2011.
As tension in New Zealand between urban intensification and preserving urban heritage seems likely to increase, these principles inform four broad themes that will be worth keeping in mind.
1. Local communities come first
Local people and communities should sit at the heart of any conservation efforts, not out-of-town developers or remote government departments. The desire to protect local heritage should be encouraged and supported. The relevant ICOMOS rule states:
The participation and the involvement of the residents are essential for the success of the conservation programme and should be encouraged. The conservation of historic towns and urban areas concerns their residents first of all.
2. Heritage areas must be credible
Planning for the conservation of historic towns and urban areas should be preceded by multidisciplinary studies that address not only architecture, but also the history, sociology and contexts of the places under review.
These plans should determine what must be preserved, what should be preserved under certain circumstances, and what may be expendable. But they should not be used as a tactic simply to deflect urban intensification. Once the authenticity and integrity of heritage areas is established, however, the presumption should be that conservation is a priority.
3. Protection requires a wide lens
Urban heritage protection needs to be about more than just buildings. It is about managing the relationship of the built environment to its surroundings, both natural and constructed.
This involves ensuring infrastructure is adequate and potential nuisances (such as traffic and parking) accounted for. Planners should also avoid sharp divisions between protected and unprotected areas by creating buffer zones.
These intermediate areas help enhance what is protected, rather than allow inappropriate bordering developments that can directly overshadow the conserved areas.
4. Improving housing is a priority
Urban heritage is not about preserving history in a glass case. Historic urban areas should be allowed to evolve. Change and development should be welcomed if they facilitate and improve housing, and are compatible with the character of a historic area, the existing spatial layout, scale and section size. ICOMOS is very clear on this point:
The improvement of housing should be one of the basic objectives of conservation.
The risk, of course, is that gentrification can price original communities out of their own neighbourhoods, and ultimately alter the character of a place to the extent its heritage value has changed too. As ICOMOS states:
Retention of the traditional cultural and economic diversity of each place is essential, especially when it is characteristic of the place.
None of these balancing acts is easy. But we need to avoid the perception of a binary choice between housing people and saving traditional urban areas. It is possible to do both – but this requires a degree of finesse currently missing from aspects of the local debate.
Alexander Gillespie is a former rapporteur for the World Heritage Convention, where he worked with ICOMOS. He has submitted to the Hamilton City Council about the importance of international principles in urban heritage management regarding proposed changes in heritage areas.
