Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Anderson, Associate Professor, National Centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing Research, Australian National University

Australian children are among the healthiest in the world. However, First Nations children continue to be left behind. To break the cycle of disadvantage, we need to foster First Nations children’s wellbeing so they can enjoy strong, happy childhoods.

Research can help us achieve this, but there’s a critical challenge – how do we include the voices of First Nations children in the research that aims to support them? We must do this safely and effectively.

One of the biggest hurdles is that participating in research can be boring, if not downright scary, for many children.

We’ve come up with a unique approach to overcome this challenge – a culturally informed app that makes research for First Nations children fun and familiar.

Culturally relevant wellbeing measures are essential

Assessing and supporting the wellbeing of anybody must be done in a culturally relevant way. But when it comes to First Nations children, there has historically been a lack of wellbeing measures which take into account their unique cultural, spiritual, family and community needs. This has been a major barrier to achieving real change in advancing the wellbeing of First Nations children.

Our national project, What Matters 2 Kids, is filling this gap. It combines art, storytelling and technology to develop a nationally relevant, strengths-based wellbeing measure for First Nations children aged five to 11 years. This measure can then inform clinical and policy decision-making.

The project’s First Nations facilitators are engaging children around the country in art and yarning workshops to understand what is important for their wellbeing.

While these workshops use plenty of pencils, crayons, paint and paper, our project team saw the need to give children other options in how they engage with the study and share their views.

A new app

To achieve this, the project team turned to technology first developed by David Ireland from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) to help children living with chronic pain communicate their pain to their therapists and how it affects their daily life.

In collaboration, we developed a culturally grounded app that engages First Nations children in research about their own health and wellbeing in a fun and familiar way.

This app was designed to follow the format of the face-to-face art and yarning workshops. It invites the child to draw on a tablet and prompts them to describe what they have drawn and why it’s important to them.

To make the app more welcoming, the research team used a real human voice instead of an artificially generated one. A talented young First Nations girl, Stevie Fagan, recorded the voiceover to make sure that the voice sounded friendly for the children using the app.

The icons in the app are designed with culturally grounded imagery created by Craig Carson, a proud Wakka Wakka man, artist and Senior Community Engagement Officer at the University of Queensland.

Combined, these features ensure the app is as inclusive and culturally respectful as possible. It gives children who might feel shy or uncomfortable sharing their stories face-to-face an opportunity to open up about what is important to their wellbeing on their own terms, and with space and privacy.

In short, it gives children control over the research we are doing.

The project team are now using the app at a variety of sites around Australia to collect data with children. The team is aiming to have a draft wellbeing measure ready for testing by the end of next year, and the project will run until December 2027.

Lessons for other researchers

By weaving together First Nations culture with new technologies, the What Matters 2 Kids project is leading the way in developing and testing new ways of including the voices of First Nations people in research.

The new app has broad implications for research, policy and program development, as it demonstrates that the inclusion of First Nations children’s voices in projects about them is not “too hard”.

Instead, it can engage and empower the next generation of First Nations leaders.

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

– ref. What matters to First Nations children in Australia? A new app is helping us find out – https://theconversation.com/what-matters-to-first-nations-children-in-australia-a-new-app-is-helping-us-find-out-235593

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ava Kalinauskas, Research Associate, United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney

Now that US Vice President Kamala Harris has sewn up the Democratic presidential nomination, she has a busy few weeks ahead of her. After she announces her vice-presidential running mate, the pair will campaign in seven swing states in four days. Then comes the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, starting on August 19.

With her campaign revving up, many are starting to wonder what a possible Harris presidency could mean for the world if she beats Republican Donald Trump in November. And how might it differ from President Joe Biden’s time in office?

Rejecting isolationism

Biden is one of the most experienced foreign policy hands to have served as president. He spent 36 years in the Senate, including 30 years on the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He then had two terms leading critical foreign policy initiatives as Barack Obama’s vice president.

As president, Biden has deepened and broadened America’s engagement with its allies and partners around the world. This has included reaffirming US support for NATO and Ukraine, forging the AUKUS pact with the United Kingdom and Australia, and elevating the Quad diplomatic grouping between the US, Australia, India and Japan to counter China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

The Biden administration also launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, an economic partnership involving the US and 13 countries in Asia and the Pacific. It seeks to re-engage the US economically in the region following Trump’s 2017 withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Harris, on the other hand, entered the White House with little foreign policy experience of her own. As vice president, she has learned on the job, particularly through her travels to more than 20 countries and meetings with over 150 world leaders.

Harris’ foreign policy outlook appears to align with Biden’s internationalist approach, albeit with a more progressive inclination in some areas.

She views US-led post-war global institutions and norms as the country’s greatest foreign policy achievement, and has cautioned against calls for the US to pull back from its commitments on the global stage.

For example, in her time as vice president, Harris has met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky half-a-dozen times. She has stepped in for Biden at three annual Munich Security Conferences — one of the most important international security summits.

At this year’s conference, she pledged the US would support Ukraine for “as long as it takes”.

According to reports, Harris also helped negotiate the landmark US-Russia prisoner-swap deal during a closed-door meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at this year’s Munich Security Conference.

And more recently, Harris pushed back on Trump’s claim that he would pull the US out of NATO, describing it as “the greatest military alliance the world has ever known”.

A firm commitment to US allies in Asia

Not surprisingly, Harris shares many of the same priorities as Biden, including his strong commitment to US allies in Asia.

As Biden’s second-in-command, however, Harris has carved out her own niche in foreign affairs. For instance, she has devoted time to America’s oft-neglected relationships in South-East Asia. She has stepped in for Biden at many regional summits including the East Asia and US-ASEAN summits in 2023.

Harris also stepped in for Biden at the 2022 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, meeting briefly with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Perhaps more importantly, on that same trip, she made a very visible show of the United States’ commitment to the Philippines amid its heightened tensions with China.

Stopping on the island of Palawan, Harris said the US would stand by its ally to uphold “the rules-based international maritime order in the South China Sea”. It was a critical declaration given the two countries have a pact to come to each other’s defence if they are attacked.

On Taiwan, Biden has been explicit multiple times in his presidency about the US coming to the island’s defence if it was invaded by China. He has taken a much stronger stance than previous presidents, though his aides have repeatedly tried to walk back his comments.

Harris has stuck more to the script. She has, for instance, stressed the US “will continue to support Taiwan’s self-defence, consistent with our long-standing policy”. She is unlikely to be prone to Biden’s gaffes on Taiwan as president.

Differences with Biden

Harris would likely differ from Biden in other ways, too.

For example, Harris has been described as having a more “empathetic” approach to Israel’s war in Gaza.

Harris was one of the administration’s first high-profile voices to call for an immediate temporary ceasefire in March. She has described the civilian death toll in Gaza as a “humanitarian catastrophe”.

She has also reportedly privately urged Biden to take a stronger stance against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

As president, Harris may demonstrate a greater willingness than her predecssor to publicly criticise Netanyahu. Biden has described himself as a Zionist and defended Israel more stridently than progressive Democrats would have liked.

After meeting Netanyahu in Washington in late July, for instance, Harris said:

We cannot allow ourselves to be numb to the suffering and I will not be silent.

Trade remains another area where Harris may differ from Biden. She has expressed scepticism about free trade dating back to her Senate run in 2016. During that race, she opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership — then a landmark accomplishment of the Obama-Biden administration.

Harris denied she was a “protectionist Democrat” during her 2020 presidential campaign. However, she said she would not have voted for NAFTA and felt the TPP failed to adequately protect American workers or environmental standards.

A Harris administration may not be as divided on trade issues as the Biden administration has been. The future of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework has been in doubt, for instance, due to Democratic concerns it would hurt American workers — echoing Harris’ criticisms of other trade agreements.

Though Harris started with a thin foreign policy CV, in her three years as Biden’s loyal deputy she has quickly gained on-the-ground experience. But stepping into the role of US chief executive would be an opportunity for her to stamp her own mark on foreign policy and America’s standing on the global stage.

Nevertheless, if Harris wins in November, the world can expect to see more continuity than change.

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

– ref. What a Kamala Harris presidency could mean for the world – and where she differs from Joe Biden – https://theconversation.com/what-a-kamala-harris-presidency-could-mean-for-the-world-and-where-she-differs-from-joe-biden-235651

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Phoebe Williams, Paediatrician & Infectious Diseases Physician; Senior Lecturer & NHMRC Fellow, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney

So far in 2024 there have been more than 17,000 cases of whooping cough (pertussis) across Australia. This is well above our usual national average. It’s already six times more cases than we saw in all of 2023.

News headlines in multiple states have warned of whooping cough outbreaks over recent weeks and months. Most recently, Western Australia has reported a surge, highest in the state’s south-west.

Young infants are at the greatest risk of severe disease and death as whooping cough numbers continue to climb.

So why has it been such a big year for whooping cough? And how can we prevent this dangerous disease spreading further?

First, what is whooping cough?

Whooping cough is an infection that affects the lungs and airways. It’s caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. Like other respiratory infections, it passes easily from person to person via coughing, sneezing or talking.

Adults and children can get sick with whooping cough and suffer prolonged periods of coughing that may last weeks or months. In infants, the cough is characterised by a “whoop” sound when they breathe in, and they may vomit after coughing. In some cases, there may be no cough at all, and babies under one year can experience pauses in their breathing or turn blue.

Babies younger than six months are particularly vulnerable to whooping cough as they’re not yet fully immunised. Infants under four months have the highest rate of hospitalisation. Around one in 100 hospitalised children under one may die from the infection.

Why are cases surging this year?

Along with other infectious diseases, including viral infections such as influenza and bacterial infections such as group A streptococcal infection, whooping cough all but disappeared at the height of the COVID pandemic.

After social distancing measures were eased, we’ve seen a higher-than-usual burden of circulating respiratory infections. This is particularly true for children, who had less exposure to common bugs during the lockdown period than they would normally have.

Whooping cough usually surges every three to four years, but social distancing, border controls, lockdowns and mask wearing during the pandemic meant our last peak occurred in 2016. Therefore many people now have less immunity to whooping cough than normal.

Further, whooping cough is highly infectious and immunity – from either immunisation or natural infection – wanes over time. This leaves people vulnerable to repeat infections.

What about the vaccine?

Immunisation is the best way to protect both yourself and vulnerable babies from whooping cough infections.

In Australia, children receive six pertussis vaccinations at the ages of six weeks, four months and six months (the primary course). “Booster” doses are given at 18 months, age four and year 7.

Maternal vaccination is the best way to protect very young infants. Whooping cough booster doses are recommended for pregnant women, from 20 weeks of pregnancy, in every pregnancy.

This allows the transfer of protective antibodies to the baby, reducing the chances of catching whooping cough during their first few months of life – particularly before receiving their first vaccination at six weeks.

Booster doses are also recommended for health-care workers and adults who come into close contact with infants, or care for young babies.

How effective is the vaccine?

The vaccines recommended currently are good at providing protection against severe whooping cough (around 85% efficacy). They are less able to protect against milder infections in children. This means they don’t have much impact on reducing the transmission of whooping cough, which tends to occur when people with milder infections are well enough to be out and about in the community.

Whooping cough vaccines available in Australia are “acellular” vaccines. These are made using purified proteins, rather than “whole cell” inactivated vaccines (based on a whole inactivated version of Bordetella pertussis).

Whole cell vaccines were used previously and provoked a better immune response, but were also associated with more side effects, such as fever or reactions at the injection site. The acellular vaccines cause fewer side effects and are very safe, but may result in a slightly lower immune response, which also wanes over time.

To address this, research is under way to reconsider the role of the whole cell vaccine. Other research is testing novel vaccine delivery methods, such as a nasal spray, which may be able to better reduce community transmission of whooping cough.

How can we stop the surge?

The COVID pandemic resulted in drops in routine vaccination coverage. This was due to a combination of practical access issues – for example, people were concerned about catching COVID when visiting their GP – and lower vaccine acceptance. The latter resulted from a rise in vaccine misinformation on social media, mistrust in government, and increased scrutiny of vaccine safety, among other factors.

Across Australia, up-to-date pertussis vaccination coverage in young children declined from 94.2% in 2021 to 93.6% in 2022. This drop represents thousands of children and sends us further below our 95% coverage target.

Coverage was even lower in adolescents in 2022 (86.9%), with many children missing their year 7 booster doses.

We haven’t previously had good national data on maternal vaccination, because historically the Australian Immunisation Register didn’t record pregnancy status. But research has shown coverage is variable in expectant mothers (between 49% and 89%). Rates are particularly low among Indigenous women, culturally and linguistically diverse women and those of lower socioeconomic status.

Recent updates to the Australian Immunisation Register, allowing documentation of pregnancy, will improve our understanding of vaccine coverage in this group.

It’s essential pregnant women and parents ensure they and their children are up to date with routine vaccinations. This will help protect everyone against vaccine-preventable illnesses, including young infants who are most vulnerable to getting very sick from whooping cough and other infections.

Candice Holland from Queensland Health contributed to this article.

Phoebe Williams receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council. She is affiliated with the Australian Society for Infectious Diseases Advocacy and Policy Committee and the Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases.

Archana Koirala has been involved in research activities which receive funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, NSW Ministry of Health and the Snow Foundation. She is affiliated with the Australian Society for Infectious Diseases: chair of the Vaccination Special Interest Group and a member of the Australian and New Zealand Paediatric Infectious Diseases Group.

Katie Flanagan has received funding from NHMRC, Clifford Craig Foundation and the Medical Research Council (UK) for studies of pertussis vaccination. She is immediate Past-President of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases (ASID), Co-Chair of the ASID Advocacy and Policy Committee, and a member of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI). These are her personal views.

Prof Margie Danchin receives funding from the Victorian and Commonwealth governments, MRFF, NHMRC and DFAT. She is a member of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases (ASID) Advocacy and Policy Committee and Vaccination Special Interest Group (VACSIG) the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI). These are her personal views.

– ref. Whooping cough can be deadly for young babies. Vaccination is our best defence – https://theconversation.com/whooping-cough-can-be-deadly-for-young-babies-vaccination-is-our-best-defence-235527

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Ward, Lecturer, School of Environment and Science, Griffith University

Since European colonisation, 29 million hectares (54%) of the forests and woodlands that once existed in New South Wales have been destroyed. A further 9 million ha have been degraded in the past two centuries. This amounts to more than 60% of the state’s forest estate.

We will never know the full impacts this rampant clearing and degradation have had on the state’s wildlife and plants. But it is now possible to put into perspective the impacts of logging practices in the past two decades on species that have already suffered enormous loss.

Cutting down native vegetation for timber destroys habitat for forest-dependent species. Our research, published today, has found ongoing logging in NSW affects the habitat of at least 150 species considered at risk of extinction, due mostly to historical deforestation and degradation.

Thirteen of these species are listed as critically endangered. This means there is a 20% probability of extinction in ten years (or five generations, whichever is longer) without urgent conservation action.

The bare and highly disturbed areas created by logging also increase risks of erosion, fire and invasion by non-native species.

Other states and countries ban native forest logging

Despite these impacts, Australia still logs native forests.

Many countries have now banned native forest logging. They have recognised the enormous impact of intact forests on biodiversity and climate change, and rely entirely on plantations for wood production. New Zealand, for example, banned native forest logging two decades ago, in 2002.

In Australia, South Australia has protected native forests since the 1870s. The ACT banned logging in the 1980s. As of 2024, Western Australia and Victoria have ended their native forest logging operations (except logging for fire breaks, salvage logging after windstorms, and logging on private land).

The reasons are clear: native forestry is unpopular and unprofitable, contributes heavily to climate change and is a major cause of species decline.

Yet government-owned logging operations in NSW, Tasmania and Queensland continue to erode their remaining forest estates.

Logging impacts on habitats and species add up

The current practice of impact assessment means logging activities are evaluated individually, without looking at the broader history of land management. On their own, small areas of logging might seem insignificant. However, logging these small areas can add up to a much larger long-term habitat loss.

To assess what logging today means in terms of impacts on species, we need to assess how much habitat has been lost or degraded over long time periods.

We used historical loss and degradation as a baseline to evaluate recent logging events (from 2000 to 2022) across NSW. We found continued logging is having impacts on 150 threatened species.

Forty-three of these species now have 50% or less of their intact habitat remaining in NSW. They include the three brothers wattle, regent parrot and growling grass frog. Two species, Sloane’s froglet and Glenugie karaka, have less than 10% of intact habitat remaining.

Some species’ distributions had high overlaps with recent logging. They include the floodplain rustyhood (75% overlap with logging), Orara boronia (26%), Hakea archaeoides (24%), long-footed potoroo (14%), southern mainland long-nosed potoroo (12%) and southern brown bandicoot (9%). Species with the most distribution by area that overlapped with logging included koala (400,000 ha), south-eastern glossy black-cockatoo (370,000 ha) and spot-tailed quoll (southeast mainland population, 310,000 ha).

Our research shows the importance of a historical perspective. Almost all the forest-dependent species we assessed have suffered terribly from land clearing and fires over the past two centuries. They now survive in small parts of their natural range.

Logging this remaining habitat is forcing many of these species into an extinction vortex. Environmental impact assessments and decisions about land use (such as converting land into conservation zones, solar farms or logging areas) must consider the historical legacies of logging for these species.

How can we retain our remaining forest estate?

Australia is a signatory to many international conservation goals. For instance, the Global Biodiversity Framework aims to “ensure urgent management actions to halt human-induced extinction of known threatened species and for the recovery and conservation of species”. The Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration committed us to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030.

Logging native forests stands in stark contrast to these undertakings.

In Australia, the states regulate forestry and, strangely, own the forestry business themselves. However, the Commonwealth has the power to intervene and halt native forest logging. With the federal government in the throes of reforming nature laws and an election coming up, the choice is simple: lock in extinction by continuing rampant logging, or lock in species recovery by working with land managers to secure the future of these species.

Australia has a chequered recent history when it comes to protecting its environment. We have one of the highest mammal extinction rates in the world and the highest per capita greenhouse gas emissions of all OECD member countries. We are also the only developed nation identified as a deforestation hotspot.

Native forests are essential for carbon sequestration, biodiversity and the cultural wellbeing of First Nations and local communities. An easy win for all these interests is within our reach. Shifting from native forest logging to sustainable plantations will help protect these essential forests while still meeting wood demands.

Michelle Ward has received funding from The Australian Research Council and the Commonwealth National Environmental Science Program. She was Science and Research Lead at WWF-Australia and is currently on a Technical Advisory Panel for a project run by the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists.

David Lindenmayer receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Victorian Government, the Australian Government and the Ian Potter Foundation. He is a member of the Biodiversity Council and Birds Australia.

James Watson has received funding from the Australian Research Council, National Environmental Science Program, South Australia’s Department of Environment and Water, Queensland’s Depart of Environment, Science and Innovation as well as from Bush Heritage Australia, Queensland Conservation Council, Australian Conservation Foundation, The Wilderness Society and Birdlife Australia. He serves on scientific committees for Subak Australia and BirdLife Australia and has a long-term scientific relationship with Bush Heritage Australia and Wildlife Conservation Society. He serves on the Queensland Government’s Land Restoration Fund’s Investment Panel as the Deputy Chair.

– ref. More than half of NSW’s forests and woodlands are gone as ongoing logging increases extinction risks, study shows – https://theconversation.com/more-than-half-of-nsws-forests-and-woodlands-are-gone-as-ongoing-logging-increases-extinction-risks-study-shows-235416

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University

This week a Senate inquiry will look at the federal government’s controversial legislation to cap international student numbers in Australia from next year.

University-commissioned research predicts caps will cause a significant loss of revenue and jobs, including flow-on effects to the broader economy.

But my new report for the ANU’s Migration Hub, argues there are yet more reasons why the government’s international student cap is a bad idea.

The caps would add to many recent migration policy changes already reducing international student arrivals. Instead, we should wait to see whether these changes have done enough to bring numbers back to target levels.

What happened with international students?

Until late 2023, the Albanese government supported the return of international student numbers.

During 2022 and 2023 it cleared a backlog of student visa applications. It gave international students an additional two years in Australia after they graduated, provided they had one of a long list of qualifications.

These policies successfully rebuilt international education after the pandemic downturn. By May 2024 the resident student visa holder population, including partners and children of students, was 674,000. This was 58,000 more than the pre-COVID peak level. The combined total of students and temporary graduate visa holders was 887,000.

But by late 2023, the recovery of international education collided with rising rents and shrinking accommodation availability. The government hit the brakes on international education, and implemented multiple migration policy changes. Then, just before the May budget, it announced the caps, which it hopes will send student numbers into reverse.

The move to cap international students

If the legislation passes, the education minister will be able to cap international students by education provider, campus location and course. From January 1 2025, caps would apply to new international students, with ongoing students included in later years.

The legislation covers 1,500 education providers that deliver more than 25,000 courses in 3,900 locations. This includes schools, English language colleges, vocational education providers, universities, and non-university higher education providers such as the pathway colleges that many international students attend before moving on to a university.

At this point, there is no plan to cap school or research degree students. The focus of the 2025 caps will be non-school education providers in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane as these are the most popular cities for international students.

The case against caps

With course caps, the government hopes to steer international students away from current popular choices such as business degrees, and towards courses that meet Australia’s skills needs, such as in health and education.

The in-principle case against caps is that students should be free to choose their own courses and education providers.

But the policy rationale of meeting Australi’s skills needs is also flawed, as fewer than 20% of international students end up as permanent residents in Australia.

Principles aside, the education and migration systems are not ready to implement a capping regime in less than six months.

Several government agencies – the vocational education regulator, higher education regulator and Department of Home affairs (which manages student visas) – are so concerned they have gone public in Senate inquiry submissions. They say they cannot implement the caps with their existing setups.

9 changes already

To make matters more complex, Australia student migration system has already undergone significant changes in the past year.

Since 2023 the government has introduced nine major migration policy changes affecting future and former international students, with a tenth foreshadowed for later in 2024. Many of them have sensible goals.

To get a visa, prospective international students now need higher levels of English and more savings to support their stay in Australia.

The government has also introduced policies to block “non-genuine” students coming to Australia to work rather than study.

It has also more than doubled the visa application fee to A$1,600, which will divert student demand to other countries.

Other changes mean former students can spend less time in Australia. The government has also stopped temporary graduate visas to international graduates aged over 35, and reversed its earlier two-year extension of this visa.

Have we already done enough?

Several migration changes, including the higher visa application fee, are too recent to show in visa data.

But my report, using month-to-month data, shows the government’s policies have already had significant effects on vocational education, which includes students studying at TAFEs and their private-sector equivalents. In early 2024, monthly visa grants fell to the lowest level since 2005 apart from the two years of COVID border closure.

Higher education has been more resilient, but visa grants in early 2024 were running below their pre-COVID levels.

Policy changes aside, 2025 will be a more “normal” year in international education. The past few years have seen pent-up demand from 2020 and 2021, when students could not come to Australia, together with the students who would have arrived between 2022 and 2024 anyway.

As these students complete their courses and leave Australia, we will return to the usual pattern of departures significantly offsetting arrivals.

The government should wait and see

Amid all these changes and possible further disruption from caps, we are missing a key part of the puzzle.

The government should announce the target student visa levels underlying its capping policy.

It should then wait to see whether student visa application and grants for the remainder of 2024 and first semester 2025 put us on track to achieve them.

If not, then perhaps education provider caps should go back onto the policy agenda. Going ahead now risks far more harm to education providers, and the students who want to enrol with them, than is necessary to reduce Australia’s population.

Andrew Norton works for the Australian National University, which like all higher education institutions offering courses to international students is likely to incur significant revenue losses due to the policies described in the article.

– ref. Australia made 9 changes to student migration rules over the past year. We don’t need international student caps as well – https://theconversation.com/australia-made-9-changes-to-student-migration-rules-over-the-past-year-we-dont-need-international-student-caps-as-well-235964

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justin Wastnage, Adjunct Industry Fellow, Griffith Institute for Tourism, Griffith University

The financial difficulties of Rex Airlines, coming so soon after the bankruptcy of Bonza, have brought into sharp focus one of the federal government’s key priorities for aviation: enhancing passenger rights.

In each case, passengers were left with tickets for flights that did not fly. In the case of Rex, tickets were honoured by rivals Virgin Australia and Qantas, possibly trying to recapture the small toehold Rex had established in the Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne golden triangle.

The Bonza story was more complex as the fledgling airline, which collapsed in May, had sought to exploit under-serviced routes to smaller leisure-based cities including Maroochydore and Port Macquarie.

In many cases, passengers were left out-of-pocket and stranded.

Support for an ombudsman

These failures will have emboldened the federal government’s plans to introduce stronger passenger protections and an airline ombudsman.

The release of its policy white paper is imminent. The paper covers aviation issues including competition between airports and airlines, the sector’s environmental impact and better mechanisms for consultation.

After years of opposition, Qantas and Virgin quietly fell in behind the idea in May, signalling a deal is close to being announced.

The ombudsman is designed to protect consumer rights in what is often monopolistic or quasi-monopolistic operating environments. With the exception of residents of southeast Queensland and the western suburbs of Melbourne, most Australians only have one airport from which to fly.

This, coupled with an effective airline duopoly, can lead to higher prices and poorer service for consumers, the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) has argued.

The ACCC has been calling for better passenger rights for more than a decade. But its calls grew louder after it fined Qantas A$120 million for selling “ghost” flights in May.

Passengers did receive refunds, but the process was not easy compared to many overseas jurisdictions where compensation is automatic and based on distance travelled.

Australia is rare among developed countries for not having automatic compensation if a flight is cancelled or delayed.

The EU model

The leader in air passenger rights, as in many areas of consumer protection, is the European Union. The EU Passenger Rights regulation is 20 years old and now also applies to rail and bus passengers.

The regulation favours the passenger and awards compensation of up to €600 (almost A$1,000) for delays or cancellations. There are clauses for when a delay is unavoidable, but generally airlines have now built the scheme into their costs of doing business.

The scheme is well publicised and in 2022, about eight million passengers were eligible for refunds.

Air passenger rights in the UK continued in the EU mould after Brexit and were even strengthened.

But in a 2023 review into the UK scheme, some airlines argued “private insurance was a better option for some passengers”, particularly those with disabilities.

The same reasoning led to the removal of Australia’s previous consumer protection scheme for airline passengers, the Travel Compensation Fund, which refunded customers when airlines or travel agencies went bankrupt.

The scheme was ended under the Abbott government in June 2014, with travellers told instead to take out their own travel insurance.

Labor is expected to reintroduce an element of corporate responsibility for airline delays, not least since Brazil, Canada and Türkiye have also followed the EU’s lead.

Brazil’s scheme is particularly generous, with up to R7,500 (A$1,950) available to passengers who have to pay for last minute accommodation if their flight is cancelled.

Lawmakers there countered claims by airlines that low cost airline passengers could stay in cheaper hotels, by applying the compensation uniformly, regardless of travel class.

Popular with voters

Air passenger rights can be a vote winner, too. Before he withdrew his bid for reelection, US President Joe Biden trumpeted the automatic airline compensation scheme the US Department for Transportation will bring in this year.

Until now, airline compensation was mandated by the states without coordinated processes meaning some airlines used vouchers, some credits and a few cash to compensate customers.

Despite this, about US$3 billion (A$4.6 billion) in refunds have been issued to US passengers since 2020, including more than US$600 million to Southwest Airlines passengers alone.

This was due to a serious scheduling crisis which forced the low-cost carrier to cancel almost 60% of its flights in the 2022 summer.

By contrast, in Australia, air passengers have only had basic protections under consumer rights law since deregulation in 2002.

There is no guarantee of a seat or even flight the consumer purchased. This has led consumer advocates including Choice to support calls for an airline ombudsman and automatic delay and cancellation compensation.

The author previously worked as the director of aviation policy at the Tourism & Transport Forum that received funding from major airlines and airports.

– ref. If Australia had an aviation ombudsman, passengers could get compensation for cancelled flights – https://theconversation.com/if-australia-had-an-aviation-ombudsman-passengers-could-get-compensation-for-cancelled-flights-235679

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

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will switch the government’s focus in Indigenous affairs policy towards the economic empowerment of First Nations communities, in a speech at the Garma Festival in Arnhem Land on Saturday.

Addressing the festival nearly a year after the Voice referendum crashed, Albanese will say: “I have not returned to Garma today to talk about what might have been. I have not come back to this place of fire, to rake through the ashes. I am here because my optimism for a better future still burns.”

“We can be a country where Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people have power over their destiny.”

The government’s new economic emphasis comes as many Indigenous people remain upset over the referendum’s failure. This weekend’s festival coincides with the appointment of Malarndirri McCarthy as the new Minister for Indigenous Australians, and the release this week of the latest Closing the Gap report, that showed several areas, including indigenous incarceration, going backwards. .

In his speech, released ahead of delivery, Albanese looks to global changes, specifically the energy revolution, as providing the opportunities for Australia’s First Nations people to prosper.

He says building “true and lasting self-determination requires economic security” for Indigenous people – security that exists “outside of government decisions, and endures beyond them”.

The changes in the global economy are making this possible, he says..

“Growing global demand for renewable energy, critical minerals and rare earths represents an unprecedented opportunity for our nation and for Northern Australia.”

The north has so many of the resources the world needs to transform to clean energy, Albanese says, and so much of the space and sunlight for Australia to be a renewable energy superpower.

The global economy is undergoing the biggest change since the industrial revolution, he says.

“And it also represents the best chance Australia has ever had to bring genuine self-determination and lasting economic empowerment to remote communities.

“New clean energy projects, new defence and security projects, new processing and refining facilities can all unlock new jobs and prosperity for Indigenous communities.”

Partnering from the start with locals means “we can avoid the exploitation and injustices of the past,” the Prime Minister says.

“And we can tackle the poverty and lack of opportunity that has seen disadvantage entrenched in these parts of our country over generations.

“Together, we can seize this moment to build a better future on a simple principle. The principle that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people deserve a real say in the economic development of the land you call home. And you deserve your fair share of the benefits that flow from it.

“This is about so much more than consulting communities in the service of cultural or heritage considerations, as important as that remains.”

Indigenous people “are more than curators or custodians, you are the traditional owners, who have cared for land and waters for 60,000 years and more.

“And we want you to have ownership of your future – built on a foundation of economic empowerment.

“This is about good jobs that change lives and strengthen communities – that provide a sense of pride and purpose, hope and aspiration. New careers in clean energy, construction, the care economy, technology, infrastructure and resources.

“These are creators of intergenerational opportunity.”

To promote delivery and accountabilty the goverbment is forming a First Nations Economic Partnership with the Coalition of Peaks, which represents a wide range of Indigenous organisations.

Tying the approach into the same principles as in the government’s Future Made in Australia policy, Albanese says: “We want government investment to drive engagement between businesses and communities, maximising local jobs and long-term benefit.

“And we want to see the same commitment in the First Nations Clean Energy Strategy we are developing with the states and territories.

“We want projects generating renewable energy on country, to bring new economic power to communities.”

Some needed changes were practical rather than political, such as helping Indigenous bodies and investors to connect.

“That’s why we are partnering with the First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance to create a central point of contact in communities to connect traditional owners and investors.”

Albanese was vague on the remaining issues of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

He said the government remained committed to Makarrata which means “a coming together after a struggle.”

“And we will continue to engage in good faith with leaders and communities to decide what the next steps should be at a national level.”

Work on treaty and truth telling is being left to the states and territories at present.

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

– ref. Government’s focus pivots to economic empowerment for Indigenous Australians in Garma speech – https://theconversation.com/governments-focus-pivots-to-economic-empowerment-for-indigenous-australians-in-garma-speech-236059

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tamsin Phillipa Paige, Senior Lecturer, Deakin University

Sea Shepherd founder and anti-whaling activist Paul Watson has been arrested in Greenland and awaits potential extradition to Japan.

The arrest relates to incidents in the Southern Ocean in February 2010. The charges against Watson include “accomplice to an assault” and “ship trespass”. Both relate to the boarding of the Japanese vessel Shonan Maru No 2 by Pete Bethune, who was captain of the Sea Shepherd vessel Ady Gil. Bethune was detained on the Shonan Maru No 2 and returned to Japan for trial, where he received a suspended sentence. An international arrest warrant was issued for Watson in 2012.

At the time of the recent arrest on July 21, Watson’s ship had stopped for refuelling while en route to intercept a Japanese whaling vessel, the Kangei Maru. He was on board the John Paul DeJoria, owned by the Captain Paul Watson Foundation he founded two years ago.

Watson left Sea Shepherd in 2022, following disputes with directors over the value of direct action and confrontation. He originally founded Sea Shepherd after falling out with Greenpeace for similar reasons.

His arrest brings the issue of whaling back to the fore. Despite a flurry of activity in the courts a decade ago, the issue hasn’t gone away. That’s because Japan withdrew from the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling and its decision-making body in 2019 and resumed commercial whaling.

What is an international arrest warrant?

An international arrest warrant, also referred to as a “Red Notice”, is a request to law enforcement all over the world to locate and provisionally arrest a person.

The Red Notice for Watson is based on an arrest warrant or court order issued by Japan. Importantly, a Red Notice is not a finding of guilt and the presumption of innocence still applies.

Now the arrest has been made, Japan is seeking extradition. The request went to Denmark because Greenland is an autonomous Danish territory.

What is the basis for the charges?

Two international treaties provide Japan with a legal basis for the charges laid against Watson.

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea, Japan can grant its nationality to ships, as it did with the Shonan Maru No 2. Nations have exclusive jurisdiction over ships flying their flag when that ship is on the high seas (international waters). This means Japan can treat the boarding of the Shonan Maru No 2 as if it happened on Japanese territory.

Japan may also argue the boarding of the Shonan Maru No 2 was an act of piracy. Under the convention, Japan would need to show the boarding was a case of:

illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directed […] on the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship.

The sticking point for Japan may be whether or not the boarding can be considered to be for “private ends”.

The convention for the suppression of unlawful acts against the safety of maritime navigation may also apply. In short, this grants jurisdiction over certain types of offences when they occur on board a ship flying the nation’s flag. For example, Japan may argue the alleged conduct of Watson and/or his colleagues was “an act of violence against a person on board a ship if that act is likely to endanger the safe navigation of that ship”.

Will Denmark extradite?

Extradition is often governed by a specific extradition agreement between two nations, as well as by a nation’s own domestic law. For example, the Extradition Act in Denmark permits extradition in certain circumstances. However, it also has limitations on that power, including to prevent double prosecutions, where a person faces trial more than once for the same conduct.

Extradition will not apply to prosecutions of crimes that are not also an offence in Denmark, abandoned prosecutions, or where a court accepts there is a risk that the person concerned:

will be subjected to persecution affecting his life or freedom or otherwise of a serious nature because of his or her origin, membership of a particular ethnic group, religious or political beliefs or otherwise because of political circumstance.

The relevant court in Denmark can also decide that extradition is temporarily suspended on serious humanitarian grounds.

Extradition is as much political as legal

In many ways, extradition is a fusion between “executive power” and the powers of the courts and the prosecutors, as well as involving foreign policy considerations. For this reason, it can be as much political as legal. This is why we have seen calls from other countries, such as France, for Denmark to abandon the arrest and not agree to extradition.

Political pressure can sometimes be effective in such cases, particularly in countries where there is ministerial discretion around whether to extradite.

What next?

Ultimately, Japan may choose to abandon its interest in prosecuting a warrant that is more than ten years old.

Or it may choose to exercise its full legal power in pursuing Watson, with the goal of deterring anti-whaling advocacy. However, this would likely attract criticism from other nations, given very few support whaling activity, and reduce willingness to cooperate with Japan on other extradition matters.

Either way, the tension between environmental advocacy and other commercial and legal interests is obvious. The law can – and should – find better ways to balance these interests, especially in the midst of an environmental crisis.

Tamsin Phillipa Paige has previously received funding from the Australian Government.

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

– ref. Former Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson arrested on a Japanese warrant from 2012 – what next? – https://theconversation.com/former-sea-shepherd-captain-paul-watson-arrested-on-a-japanese-warrant-from-2012-what-next-235965

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassandra Cross, Associate Dean (Learning & Teaching) Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice, Queensland University of Technology

For many, tax time is an exciting part of the year – there’s the potential for a refund. However, it’s also an attractive time for fraudsters looking for ways to get money and deceive unsuspecting victims.

Each year Australians lose large amounts of money to scams. In 2023, Australians reported losses of more than A$2.7 billion. While this is a slight reduction from the $3.1 billion in 2022, there are still millions of victims who’ve suffered at the hands of scammers.

Impersonation scams are one common approach. Scamwatch reports that in 2023, 70% of reports to them involved impersonation.

A large number of these were linked to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and myGov.

What is an impersonation scam?

Impersonation scams are what they sound like: when an offender pretends to be someone or something they are not. Offenders may pretend to be family members or friends in our contact lists.

In many cases, they will say they’re from an organisation such as a bank or a well-known retailer, or a government department – like the ATO.

Offenders take on the identity of a known and trusted organisation to increase the chances of success. While we may ignore communications from unknown entities and strangers, we’re more likely to engage with what’s familiar.

Additionally, the ATO has a powerful status as a government agency, and we are unlikely to ignore its messages – especially at tax time.

What are they trying to get out of my myGov account?

myGov is the gateway to a range of government services, including Medicare, Centrelink, My Health Record, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and of course, the ATO.

Being able to log in to myGov gives offenders access to a wide range of your personal details. This can help them build a fuller profile of you to potentially commit identity theft (such as opening new accounts in your name).

There’s also the potential for direct fraud. With access to myGov, offenders can change your bank account details and redirect any refunds into their accounts, whether from the ATO or other linked services.

They can even submit false tax returns, medical claims or other forms to obtain fraudulent funds. As the legitimate owner of the account, you may not immediately notice this.

What does a myGov scam look like?

In most instances, a myGov scam will look like one of the many phishing attempts we all receive on a daily basis. While each approach can be worded differently, their desired outcome is the same: to acquire your personal information.

Fraudsters are sending text messages and emails pretending to be from the ATO, advising you there’s a refund available if you click the provided link.

Another approach is to flag a “problem” with your tax return or bank account, and direct you to take immediate action via a link. Creating a sense of urgency can trick users into acting in the moment, without thinking through the request.

The text or email may also be very neutral, simply stating there’s a new message waiting – with a link to where you can read it.

Regardless of what the message says, the goal is to direct you to a website that looks genuine, but is fake. If you enter your myGov details into such a fake site, the offender can capture your login details and use them to log into your actual myGov account.

What to do if you’ve been a victim?

If you have clicked on a scam link and provided your personal details, there are steps you can take.

Change your password and review your account settings if you still have access to your myGov account.

Check your bank accounts, to see what, if anything, has been lost. Contact your bank or financial institution immediately if you notice any withdrawals or suspicious transactions.

Contact any other organisation linked to your myGov account to see if any unauthorised actions have been taken.

For anyone who has lost personal information and experienced identity crime, IDCARE is the national support centre for identity crime victims. They will be able to assist with a personalised response plan to your specific situation.

How do I keep my account safe?

Never click on links in text messages or emails that direct you to log in to your accounts. Always access your accounts independently, through details you have found independently of any text or email.

Review your security settings. There have been recent reports of people’s myGov accounts being targeted with repeated login attempts. Using your unique eight-digit myGov username for logging in can be safer than using your email address.

Enable multi-factor authentication where possible. myGov uses two-factor authentication in the form of a text message in addition to an online login. While this is not foolproof, it offers an additional layer of protection and can stop offenders accessing your account with only partial pieces of your information.

Be vigilant on all communications. Always keep in mind that all may not be what it seems and the person you are communicating with may not be who they say they are. It is okay to be sceptical and do your own checks to verify details of what is presented to you.

Remember, fraudsters thrive on the silence and shame of those who respond or fall victim to their scams. We need to communicate openly about these schemes and talk to family and friends, to increase everyone’s knowledge and awareness.

Cassandra Cross has previously received funding from the Australian Institute of Criminology and the Cybersecurity Cooperative Research Centre.

– ref. It’s tax time and scammers are targeting your myGov account. Here’s how to stay safe – https://theconversation.com/its-tax-time-and-scammers-are-targeting-your-mygov-account-heres-how-to-stay-safe-235785

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Campbell, Lecturer, Performing Arts, UniSA Creative, University of South Australia

A blind dinner date in a small high-rise apartment between a blandly dressed neat-freak with a professed admiration for alt-right male online celebs, and a colourful gender studies grad with a strong sense of social justice is falling apart.

It is about to be over – when an unnamed emergency causes the building and city to go into lockdown.

We follow the hilarious consequences of these two political polar-opposites being thrust together, with surprising outcomes.

The Questions is a gorgeous and joyful piece of new Australian musical theatre. Van Badham (book and lyrics) and long-term collaborator Richard Wise (music and lyrics) have created a stunning two-hander about an ultimate first-date disaster and finding connection despite differences.

Nestled amid the many hilarious moments in the rom-com musical are profound questions about what is really needed for two seemingly opposite people to really connect.

A beautiful construction

As “Visitor” and “Resident”, Chaya Ocampo and Charles Wu are a delight. They are adorable and mesmerising as the ill-met-by-lockdown odd couple. Their voices are stunning, and their playful and feisty engagement is electric.

They build the relationship between the two mismatched Gen Xers with an unwavering sense of playful connection: their development of the gradual intimacy and resulting fights and flare-ups is wonderful to observe.

The band is located onstage in an adjoining apartment. As the neighbours/house-and-band-mates, musicians Sam Lau (keys, guitar), James Bannah junior (keys) and Jackson Mack (drums) are just fabulous. Their playing and backing vocals are sharp, lively and well woven through the play.

Badham and Wise’s lyrics are delicious and devilishly clever with clever rhymes and quirky metaphors. They have a razor-sharp sense of the pulse of pop culture, and the songs and dialogue revel in those moments. The sudden moments of intimacy and of conflict are a joy.

Badham’s book is beautifully constructed with hilarious twists and starkly honest observations about the reality of dating when someone else is doing the matching – whether friend, app or random noodle server.

There are moments of recognition of the world of dating in an online world; sparks and sparring; the awkward and euphoric.

Navigated with energy and ease

The musical takes its title from the “36 questions to fall in love” developed by psychologist Arthur Aron in 1997. The device of the questions is used sparingly, the spotlight given to examining the developing relationship between the Resident and the Visitor.

Wise’s music effortlessly conveys the exciting-but-nervous first-date energy, pressure-cooker arguments and vulnerable, deep truth moments of love.

Wu’s solos have moments of breath-taking lyricism. His excellent voice and phrasing give nuance and depth to each moment.

Ocampo’s voice changes effortlessly from overexcited patter to reflective to no-holds-barred excitement or anger. Everything she sings is right in the middle of the note and sparkles with clarity and intention. They both navigate the often complex vocal lines with ease.

Mitchell Butel directs with wit and verve. His sense of the joy and fun of this piece is evident. His skill at conveying the sense of energies exploding in the contained space, while also giving the characters room to expand and steer their storytelling, is masterful.

The set by Jeremy Allen is a wonderful realisation of the world of Nordic-inspired neutrals, the interior of tiny, densely packed modern apartments repeated ad-infinitum. The slightly cartoonish style of the high-rises in the background (complete with lighted windows) evokes manga and keeps us located in the world of musical comedy.

The band’s room is a tiny glass box encroaching on the living room space of the Resident’s apartment. Clever use of micro venetians as actual room blinds screens the band from the action. The proximity of the neighbours and their observation of everything that happens in the fishbowl apartment next door is used to wonderful comic effect by the actors.

Gavin Norris’ lighting creates beautiful moments, isolating the actors during a solo, or abruptly changing the mood during a tense moment. The lighting gives the neutral tones of the set depth and colour, reflecting the changing moods of the characters and their inner emotions.

State Theatre Company South Australia has nurtured and developed this premiere piece with such care and joy. I left the theatre completely elated and my heart was full of beautifully made music and lyrics. I wanted to go back in and see it all again.

The Questions is at the State Theatre Company of South Australia until August 17.

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

– ref. The Questions is a gorgeous and joyful piece of new Australian musical theatre – https://theconversation.com/the-questions-is-a-gorgeous-and-joyful-piece-of-new-australian-musical-theatre-235105

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrienne O’Neil, Professor, Food & Mood Centre, Deakin University

Around 3.2 million Australians live with depression.

At the same time, few Australians meet recommended dietary or physical activity guidelines. What has one got to do with the other?

Our world-first trial, published this week, shows improving diet and doing more physical activity can be as effective as therapy with a psychologist for treating low-grade depression.

Previous studies (including our own) have found “lifestyle” therapies are effective for depression. But they have never been directly compared with psychological therapies – until now.

Amid a nation-wide shortage of mental health professionals, our research points to a potential solution. As we found lifestyle counselling was as effective as psychological therapy, our findings suggest dietitians and exercise physiologists may one day play a role in managing depression.

What did our study measure?

During the prolonged COVID lockdowns, Victorians’ distress levels were high and widespread. Face-to-face mental health services were limited.

Our trial targeted people living in Victoria with elevated distress, meaning at least mild depression but not necessarily a diagnosed mental disorder. Typical symptoms included feeling down, hopeless, irritable or tearful.

We partnered with our local mental health service to recruit 182 adults and provided group-based sessions on Zoom. All participants took part in up to six sessions over eight weeks, facilitated by health professionals.

Half were randomly assigned to participate in a program co-facilitated by an accredited practising dietitian and an exercise physiologist. That group – called the lifestyle program – developed nutrition and movement goals:

• eating a wide variety of foods
• choosing high-fibre plant foods
• including high quality fats
• limiting discretionary foods, such as those high in saturated fats and added sugars
• doing enjoyable physical activity.

The second group took part in psychotherapy sessions convened by two psychologists. The psychotherapy program used cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), the gold standard for treating depression in groups and when delivered remotely.

In both groups, participants could continue existing treatments (such as taking antidepressant medication). We gave both groups workbooks and hampers. The lifestyle group received a food hamper, while the psychotherapy group received items such as a colouring book, stress ball and head massager.

Lifestyle therapies just as effective

We found similar results in each program.

At the trial’s beginning we gave each participant a score based on their self-reported mental health. We measured them again at the end of the program.

Over eight weeks, those scores showed symptoms of depression reduced for participants in the lifestyle program (42%) and the psychotherapy program (37%). That difference was not statistically or clinically meaningful so we could conclude both treatments were as good as each other.

There were some differences between groups. People in the lifestyle program improved their diet, while those in the psychotherapy program felt they had increased their social support – meaning how connected they felt to other people – compared to at the start of the treatment.

Participants in both programs increased their physical activity. While this was expected for those in the lifestyle program, it was less expected for those in the psychotherapy program. It may be because they knew they were enrolled in a research study about lifestyle and subconsciously changed their activity patterns, or it could be a positive by-product of doing psychotherapy.

There was also not much difference in cost. The lifestyle program was slightly cheaper to deliver: A$482 per participant, versus $503 for psychotherapy. That’s because hourly rates differ between dietitians and exercise physiologists, and psychologists.

What does this mean for mental health workforce shortages?

Demand for mental health services is increasing in Australia, while at the same time the workforce faces worsening nation-wide shortages.

Psychologists, who provide about half of all mental health services, can have long wait times. Our results suggest that, with the appropriate training and guidelines, allied health professionals who specialise in diet and exercise could help address this gap.

Lifestyle therapies can be combined with psychology sessions for multi-disciplinary care. But diet and exercise therapies could prove particularly effective for those on waitlists to see a psychologists, who may be receiving no other professional support while they wait.

Many dietitians and exercise physiologists already have advanced skills and expertise in motivating behaviour change. Most accredited practising dietitians are trained in managing eating disorders or gastrointestinal conditions, which commonly overlap with depression.

There is also a cost argument. It is overall cheaper to train a dietitian ($153,039) than a psychologist ($189,063) – and it takes less time.

Potential barriers

Australians with chronic conditions (such as diabetes) can access subsidised dietitian and exercise physiologist appointments under various Medicare treatment plans. Those with eating disorders can also access subsidised dietitian appointments. But mental health care plans for people with depression do not support subsidised sessions with dietitians or exercise physiologists, despite peak bodies urging them to do so.

Increased training, upskilling and Medicare subsidies would be needed to support dietitians and exercise physiologists to be involved in treating mental health issues.

Our training and clinical guidelines are intended to help clinicians practising lifestyle-based mental health care within their scope of practice (activities a health care provider can undertake).

Future directions

Our trial took place during COVID lockdowns and examined people with at least mild symptoms of depression who did not necessarily have a mental disorder. We are seeking to replicate these findings and are now running a study open to Australians with mental health conditions such as major depression or bipolar disorder.

If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Adrienne O’Neil receives funding support from the National Health and Medical Research Council (#2009295). The CALM Trial was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Medical Research Future Fund – COVID-19 Mental Health Research Australian Government Department of Health (GA133346).

Sophie Mahoney’s position is funded by a Medical Research Future Fund grant (2006296). The CALM Trial was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Medical Research Future Fund – COVID-19 Mental Health Research Australian Government Department of Health (GA133346). Sophie has previously received payment from Red Island.

– ref. Food and exercise can treat depression as well as a psychologist, our study found. And it’s cheaper – https://theconversation.com/food-and-exercise-can-treat-depression-as-well-as-a-psychologist-our-study-found-and-its-cheaper-235952

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Doug Drury, Professor/Head of Aviation, CQUniversity Australia

It’s been a depressing year for regional aviation. Rex airlines has just become the second Australian airline to go into voluntary administration this year, after Bonza’s collapse in April.

Is Qantas’ Chief Executive Vanessa Hudson right – that there simply aren’t enough passengers in Australia to support more than three airlines?

That’s certainly a convenient narrative for the members of our domestic airline duopoly, Qantas and Virgin Australia, who now face even less competition.

Or did Rex fall victim to other airlines’ strategic management to limit the number of airport slots available to them to successfully fly between the capital cities? This practice is known as “slot hoarding”.

On Thursday, the former chair of the the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Rod Sims, seemed to think so, telling ABC radio:

The government outsources the management of the slots at Sydney airport to a company that’s majority-owned by Qantas and Virgin, it is just unbelievable.

It’s certainly not a new allegation. Rex, Bonza, and the ACCC have all previously raised concerns.

So how exactly do airline slots work, and does the system need reform?

Read more:
Rex Airlines’ future up in the air amid questions about viability of small airlines in Australia

What are slots?

Back in the 1970s, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) developed the airline slot system to reduce airport congestion. The aim was to improve the traffic flow during peak travel times at “level 3” high traffic density airports – a category that includes Sydney and Melbourne.

Under the system, airlines are allocated a daily number of slots they can use. Importantly, there is a set amount of slots available, as they represent specific time windows for aircraft to take off or land.

Airlines schedule their slots ahead of time as part of a yield management program. This plan looks across the whole calendar year, taking into account projected peak and off-peak travel times for business and leisure travellers.

An airline owns the time slot it is designated by the airport infrastructure capacity, whether it gets used or not.

The IATA system relies on what’s called the “80/20 rule”, which states an airline must use 80% of its allocated slots or it will loose its unused slots. The 20% is a buffer. But it has been criticised as overly generous.

Airlines can also buy sell or lease, slots they are not using due to slow demand or the need for financial gain. These can sell for huge sums.

Can slots be hoarded?

Broadly speaking, slot hoarding is the practice of booking slots for use only to cancel them in bad faith, preventing other airlines from getting access to premium travel times.

In June last year, Rex’s then-deputy-chairman John Sharp accused Qantas of engaging in the practice:

It’s as plain as the nose on your face that Qantas is hoarding slots by cancelling sufficient flights to remain within the 80/20 rule.

Slot availability is a particular issue for Sydney Airport, because takeoffs and landings are capped at 80 per hour.

Sydney Airport Corporation’s executive general manager of aviation, Robert Wood, as well as the airport’s then-chief-executive Geoff Culbert also both expressed serious concerns about slot use last year.

In February this year, the federal government unveiled a range of reforms for Sydney airport’s slot system. These included requirements for increased transparency on how slots are used, and new independent audits.

Notably though, the government made no change to the 80/20 rule.

What needs to change?

A number of further reforms could help make the airport system friendlier to new entrants and more equitable.

One possibility is to sell a predefined number of slots to the major participating airlines. Airlines would have to make a business case outlining their proposed needs over the next calendar year.

Currently, airlines request slots from the airport slot management team at no cost to the airline, a system which favours established airlines that have met the 80/20 rule.

But a key criticism of this proposal is that the cost of purchasing slots would be passed down to the flying public, likely resulting in higher airfares. Bidding for slots would also add new cost barriers to entry for would-be startup challengers.

Another possibility is to look at slot allocation based on fairness, measuring an airline’s needs against airport infrastructure.

Airlines that had historically used 80% of their allocated slots would be given priority bidding on up to 50% of the following year’s total airport slot allocation.

The remaining 50% of slots could be prioritised for new airlines without an established history, with the goal of awarding them take off and landing times that aren’t necessarily premium, but close enough.

Airlines that didn’t achieve this 80% target or were found to be abusing the slot hoarding rules would be removed from the top-tier fairness status and placed in a slot allocation “sin bin” until their performance measures were brought up to standards.

Australia has challenges ahead for domestic flights that are already at capacity. Government reforms that provide better oversight of airport usage of the 80/20 rule could help mitigate the risk of anti-competitive behaviour.

Australian airlines have the right to compete without feeling unfairly held back, and we as consumers have the right to reasonable airfares.

Read more:
What just happened to Bonza? Why new budget airlines always struggle in Australia

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

– ref. What is ‘slot hoarding’ – and is it locking out regional airlines like Rex? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-slot-hoarding-and-is-it-locking-out-regional-airlines-like-rex-235960

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ana Manero, Research Fellow, Australian National University

Ever since Polynesian pioneers took to the ocean on wooden rafts, people have been hooked on riding waves. Today, surfing is one of the world’s fastest-growing sports and one of the latest additions to the Olympic games.

Surfing is especially valuable to Australia. My new research shows surf-related expenditure contributes nearly A$3 billion to the Australian economy every year. And the mental health benefits to Australian surfers are in the order of $6 billion a year.

Yet many surf breaks are subject to coastal erosion, water pollution and other threats. The surfing event in Tahiti for this year’s Olympics is a case in point: it involved drilling into delicate coral reef to build a new judging tower.

It’s vital to recognise and measure the true benefits of surfing in dollar terms, so decision-makers realise it makes sense to invest in protecting Australia’s surf breaks.

The economics of surfing

Waves are essentially free. All you need is a surfboard and you’re set. Well, you might want to grab yourself a leg rope and a wetsuit too.

If you have a wave virtually at your doorstep, it’s likely you’re paying a real estate premium. Otherwise, you’re probably spending your weekends chasing waves up and down the coast. You may even have your family in tow. The costs soon add up.

Using an online survey of 569 Australian surfers, my team and I explored the influence of recreational surfing on the economy and people’s wellbeing. We found the average Australian surfer spends more than $3,700 a year, within Australia, on surfing-related purchases. Half goes on equipment, while the rest is spent on domestic travel. A further $1,975 is spent on international travel.

There are an estimated 727,000 Australian adult surfers, which brings the total spend to $2.71 billion every year being pumped into the domestic economy. If we factor in flow-on effects, such as business-to-business spending, the overall contribution of recreational surfing comes to $4.88 billion.

Economic impacts can inform government priorities and public decisions affecting coastal management. For example, the 2023 Margaret River Pro drew $8 million and 3,500 visitors to the region. These figures, as well as local and international support, encouraged the organisers to renew the contest until 2028.

Mental health and wellbeing

Besides direct economic impacts, surfing contributes to participants’ wellbeing in multiple ways.

In our survey, more than 94% of respondents reported improvements in their physical and mental health, as well as their ability to deal with stress and difficulty in their lives.

More than 75% of surfers reported an improvement in their sense of belonging to a community and ability to foster positive relationships.

One way to measure wellbeing in economic terms is by comparing workplace productivity and healthcare costs between groups. Previous research has quantified the benefits of being in nature to mental health, using data from national parks visits. When applying this approach to surfing, the researchers found gains in surfers’ mental health worth $7,650 per person per year – or $5.6 billion across Australia’s surfers.

Deadly but delicate

The first-time inclusion of surfing in the 2020–21 Tokyo Olympics was hailed as a landmark recognition of the sport’s cultural significance. A year later, surfing was admitted as a permanent Olympic sport.

But built infrastructure, such as ports and sea walls, human-induced climate change, coastal erosion and water pollution are endangering waves around the world.

The tiny village of Teahupo’o, in Tahiti, is home to one of the world’s “heaviest” waves. But some residents feared the Olympics would irreversibly damage their pristine environment. In response, visitor numbers were capped and construction minimised.

The world-renowned wave of Mundaka, in Spain’s Basque Country, disappeared in 2005 as a result of dredging activity in the nearby rivermouth. The wave eventually came back, but the area had already suffered a slowdown in economic growth, including the cancellation of a professional contest.

In Australia, three surf breaks were lost to construction of Perth’s Ocean Reef marina in 2022. Local residents’ calls for an artificial reef are now being considered.

Protection for a precious resource

Australia is blessed with more than 1,440 surf breaks and a surf-loving culture.

But if we want those waves to exist for future generations, we must look after them now.

A good starting point could be to include surf breaks in the Australia State of the Environment Report. The review already evaluates pressures on recreational fishing, snorkelling and scuba diving – but not surfing, despite it attracting more participants than the other three sports combined.

Form a legal standpoint, only a few of our waves are protected: the iconic Bells Beach in Victoria comes under the Heritage Act 2027. A dozen of “surfing reserves” in New South Wales are safeguarded by the Crown Lands Act 1989. In Queensland, coastal protection policies are being developed for the Noosa and Gold Coast World Surfing Reserves.

Across the world, more countries are adopting protections for surfing’s recreational and environmental values. In Brazil, the waves at Doce River Mouth were recently granted special protection, as a new bill acknowledged the ocean as a living being with intrinsic rights.

The goal to better understand and protect the value of surf breaks is in line with the 2021–30 Oceans Decade, a United Nations initiative to leverage scientific knowledge for ocean sustainability.

It’s often said “only a surfer knows the feeling” of riding a wave, but research quantifying the benefits of surfing can help decision-makers appreciate the need to preserve a truly irreplaceable resource.

Ana Manero is a volunteer with not-for-profit Surfing Mums.

– ref. Save our waves: surfing pumps $2.71 billion into the Australian economy and boosts wellbeing – https://theconversation.com/save-our-waves-surfing-pumps-2-71-billion-into-the-australian-economy-and-boosts-wellbeing-235579

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Greste, Professor of Journalism and Communications, Macquarie University

The photo of returning prisoners in an American plane, all grinning from ear to ear, says it all: the joy, the relief and the success of an incredibly complicated mission.

The freeing of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Radio Free Europe journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, former US Marine Paul Whelan and a host of others is the biggest prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold War.

In all, 26 people from seven different countries were freed in a mindbogglingly complex agreement that took years to negotiate. They included 16 imprisoned in Russia: the three Americans, a host of Russian political prisoners, and a 19-year-old Russian-German national jailed for taking photographs of a Russian military base.

In return, eight Russians were also released – the most notorious among them, Vadim Krasikov, a colonel in the Federal Security Service jailed in Germany for murdering a former Chechen rebel in Berlin in 2019.

Freedom for those unjustly imprisoned is indisputably wonderful news, even if it is way overdue, and the Biden administration deserves credit for its work in negotiating the deal. But this case could also set up an international precedent: journalists can be used as geopolitical bargaining chips.

Journalists as leverage

Gershkovich had the highest profile of those detained by Russia. From the day the journalist was arrested in March 2023 on espionage charges, it was clear the only way out would be through some kind of negotiation.

From the outset, Russia failed to produce any evidence to validate their claims that he was a spy and not a highly competent journalist simply doing his job. And in February, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Fox News’s Tucker Carlson:

the special services are in contact with one another. They are talking […] I believe an agreement can be reached.

Because of their role, foreign correspondents are tempting fodder for governments looking for easy victims to use as leverage. Reporters carry cameras and notebooks, talk to political opponents and gather information in ways that are easily presented as espionage.

They are generally high-profile, working for companies with the ability to pressure their own governments to make deals. And their arrest sends a chilling message to other journalists, both local and foreign: challenge the official narrative at your peril.

This was the case with The Washington Post’s Tehran Bureau Chief Jason Rezaian, who was imprisoned in Iran, and the Al Jazeera Three (including myself), detained in Egypt on terrorism charges.

But this deal also makes it more likely that in future, journalists and other civilians will be caught and traded between governments as bargaining chips.

Russia has got what it wanted: the return of what The Economist colourfully described as, “assassins, smugglers, hackers and the deep-cover agents known as ‘illegals’.”

The United States, then, has to live with the fact it helped free people serving time for crimes as severe as murder.

How do governments navigate this?

It is an almost impossible dilemma for governments trying to free innocent detainees. Do they stand firm and refuse to negotiate, risking anger at home for abandoning their own nationals? Or do they do a deal as the US did, and risk more detentions and more negotiations in future?

While the deals are impossibly complex, the long-term solution lies in a straightforward calculus: the price of detaining foreign hostages must ultimately be made higher than the value those hostages represent as prisoners.

The Canadian government has an idea that might just help. In 2021, in typically awkward diplomatic language, it launched, “The Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations”.

In simple terms, the declaration is creating a coalition of states committed to stopping the practice. Currently, it is a rather bland set of bullet points expressing “grave concern about the use of arbitrary arrest or detention by States to exercise leverage over foreign governments, contrary to international law”. It also reaffirms “the fundamental importance of the rule of law, independence of the judiciary, (and) respect for human rights […]”

But behind it lies the seed of a potentially powerful strategy. If enough governments agree to collectively act against any state that grabs a foreign hostage, it raises the price of keeping them while avoiding the need to start one-on-one negotiations.

Those actions don’t need to be dramatic. Placing the status of a hostage at the top of the agenda of every diplomatic meeting is a good start. Making the issue a point of friction in trade deals is another. So too is making visas difficult for official visits.

No single action needs to be expensive for those countries that are part of the coalition, but for a rogue state holding hostages, all those points of pressure add up to make the practice more trouble than it is worth.

The idea can’t guarantee there will never be another innocent like Gershkovich or Whelan unjustly imprisoned for political leverage, but it might reverse an awful trend. As Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly declared:

Hostage diplomacy is an unacceptable and abhorrent practice. It threatens international peace and security and contravenes international law. It inflicts immeasurable harm on victims and their friends and families. It must stop.

Peter Greste is Professor of Journalism at Macquarie University, and the Executive Director for the advocacy group, the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom.

– ref. The US-Russia prisoner swap shows how journalists risk being used as geopolitical bargaining chips – https://theconversation.com/the-us-russia-prisoner-swap-shows-how-journalists-risk-being-used-as-geopolitical-bargaining-chips-236052

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney

Virginia Woolf always maintained that, of all of the great writers, the British novelist Jane Austen “is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness”.

To my mind, the groundbreaking Russian playwright Anton Chekhov gives Austen a close run for her money. He is also, as one tends to find when seeing his work performed live, very hard to get right.

This difficulty stems from the subtlety and nuance of Chekhov’s writing, which, on the surface, appears to trade exclusively in the trivialities and minutiae of everyday existence.

Nothing, however, could be further from the truth.

Chekhov’s genius lies precisely in his ability to achieve a great deal with seemingly very little. He conveys emotional depth and intellectual profundity through subtle, almost imperceptible, shifts in tone and characterisation, all while eschewing conventional dramatic action.

With that in mind, it is heartening to be able to report the Ensemble Theatre’s exceptional and engaging production of Uncle Vanya successfully captures the essence of Chekhov’s work.

A storied history

The history of Uncle Vanya, which was written in 1897 and first staged in 1899, is complex. Born on January 29 1860, Chekhov grew up in Taganrog, a port city in Southern Russia. He started writing in school and finished a full-length play by the age of 17.

In 1879, after moving to Moscow to study medicine, Chekhov supported his family by writing humorous sketches and stories for various journals. This work provided him with a crucial source of income.

At the same time, he continued to hone his skills as a dramatist. In 1888, he began work on what would become his third play, The Wood Demon.

Written in collaboration with his friend and publisher, Alexi Survorin, Chekhov finished the script in October 1889. The play premiered at the Abramov Theatre in Moscow on December 27 1889. It was a resounding flop. The reviews were overwhelmingly negative and the production ground to a halt after only three performances.

Bruised but undeterred, Chekhov kept chiselling away at the play. Nearly a decade in the making, the eventual result was Uncle Vanya, which differs drastically from The Wood Demon in terms of running time, formal structure and tonal affect. While The Wood Demon unfolds across multiple venues, Uncle Vanya, a work about unrequited love and thwarted ambition, is set in a single location.

This change in setting afforded Chekhov the opportunity to intensify his focus on the internal conflicts and interpersonal dynamics of his cast of characters. They represent, as the cultural theorist Raymond Williams says, “a generation whose whole energy is consumed in the very process of becoming conscious of their own inadequacy and impotence”.

Conflicts and comedy

The plot of the tragicomic play centres on a dilapidated rural estate, where the eponymous Vanya and his niece Sonya toil to maintain the property for the benefit of Vanya’s brother-in-law, Professor Serebryakov, whose unexpected visit with his young wife, Yelena, disrupts the daily routine of the disgruntled household.

Tensions mount, passions flare and tempers threaten to boil over.

Adapted by the award-winning Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith and directed by Mark Kilmurry, the Ensemble Theatre’s production excels in rendering these escalating conflicts, leavened by moments of genuine comedy.

This is no mean feat. In many interpretations of Chekhov, as Murray-Smith has acknowledged, “the comedy is missing because it just doesn’t translate to now”.

By the same token, Murray-Smith expresses doubts about pandering to contemporary tastes when it comes to theatrical adaptation:

In a good production of a Chekhov, you really don’t need to make any changes if you don’t want to: you can present it in the world at the end of the 19th century […] I’m not doing very well at selling my own job here, but a lot of the time I think the modernising is completely unnecessary.

Happily, this production – which also makes excellent use of the Ensemble Theatre’s intimate theatrical setting – proves Murray-Smith correct.

The performances are all outstanding. Abbey Morgan gives us a preternaturally stoical Sonya. Chantelle Jamieson’s portrayal of Yelena blends passion and irony. Deftly shifting between satire and sincerity, the cast evokes both laughter and real sympathy from the audience.

When handled with due care and proper attention, as it is here, Chekhov’s play is simultaneously timeless and timely.

It addresses themes of ecological degradation, intergenerational strife and societal upheaval – just as relevant today as it was in 1899.

Uncle Vanya is at Ensemble Theatre, Sydney, until August 31.

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

– ref. Joanna Murray-Smith’s new adaptation of Uncle Vanya reminds us Chekhov’s play is both timeless and timely – https://theconversation.com/joanna-murray-smiths-new-adaptation-of-uncle-vanya-reminds-us-chekhovs-play-is-both-timeless-and-timely-235201

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Ware, Associate Professor in International & Community Development, Deakin University

Mass protests have rocked Bangladesh over the past few weeks. The military was deployed to the streets with shoot-on-sight orders. News agencies have reported some 266 deaths, with 7,000 people injured and more than 10,000 arrested.

In addition, a near-total communications blackout cut all internet and mobile phone services for more than a week. A nationwide curfew locked down 170 million people, at first for up to 22 hours a day.

These restrictions have eased somewhat, but troops still patrol urban areas and the curfew remains in force for half the day.

For the Rohingya refugees in the country, the security measures and curfew have made their plight even more desperate.

Read more:
Bangladesh protests: brutal security crackdown sparks calls for international probe

Life was already tough for the Rohingya

Nearly 1 million Rohingya have been sheltering in dire conditions in camps since fleeing what the United Nations has described as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing” across the border in Myanmar.

Despite the initial hospitality of the Bangladeshis, the influx of refugees has put an enormous strain on the country’s social and political systems.

The Bangladesh government has become increasingly impatient with the situation, while locals have become more vocal in expressing their frustration and resentment.

With no international resolution to the refugee crisis in sight, Bangladeshi authorities have progressively increased restrictions on the Rohingya to curtail their movement and prevent them from trying to earn a living in Bangladesh.

With no legal options for paid employment or running a business, World Food Programme vouchers are essential. Yet international aid for the Rohingya refugees has declined sharply, resulting in a US$125 million (A$190 million) shortfall last year. This cut the value of food vouchers to just US$0.27 (A$0.41) per person per day, despite record-high food prices.

People are hungry and desperate, and the shortfall looks worse this year.

Spiralling crime and violence

At the same time, violence has spiralled in the refugee camps. Even before the latest unrest in Bangladesh, armed criminal gangs and insurgent groups had proliferated both inside and surrounding the camps, comprised of both Rohingya and Bengali members.

Drug trafficking, kidnappings for ransom, extortion and murder have been rife. When aid workers and local authorities go home for the evening, the armed gangs inside the camps effectively take control after dark. They are known as the “night government” in the camps.

Repatriation to Myanmar is all but impossible for the Rohingya trapped in Bangladesh. A civil war is raging across the border. The UN said in May that Rohingya had been targeted in reported shootings, beheadings and the torching of villages.

Meanwhile, third countries like Australia, the UK and US have accepted very few Rohingya refugees from the Bangladesh camps. There are currently no pathways for refugees to apply for asylum in another country. It is thus hardly surprising that thousands are turning to people smugglers to try to escape on boats.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has recorded more than 7,700 people boarding 77 boats in the past two years to try to escape to elsewhere in South-East Asia and beyond. Over 800 have been reported dead or missing.

Concerted action by the Bangladeshi authorities and international aid agencies has reduced the number of people trying to flee on boats to just 700 so far this year (with 104 missing or dead). However, the recent unrest in Bangladesh makes the situation in the camps increasingly precarious.

Curfews have trapped the Rohingya

The curfews have not only confined the Rohingya to their tiny huts for up to 22 hours a day, but have also prevented aid workers from entering.

Some crisis support has been provided in the camps, such as emergency health services and food distribution. But otherwise there were almost no aid workers or Bangladeshi authorities present, other than extra security forces.

Some programs are resuming as curfews ease, but the absence of aid workers has made the refugees more vulnerable. Without a doubt, the armed criminal gangs have only strengthened their “night government” power during this period.

Many refugees will likely either turn to people smugglers for a way out or join the armed groups as a way to guarantee security for their families.

Either outcome is dire for the Rohingya, Bangladesh and the region.

What can Australia and other donor countries do?

Australia has been a major donor to the Rohingya, via the Australian Humanitarian Partnership (AHP)—Bangladesh. The government also recently reversed last year’s cuts to aid for the camps.

But Australia and other donor countries can do more. They can:

1) Urgently increase aid in real terms. The recent reversal of cuts is welcome, but significant new funding is urgently needed not only for food and basic services, but also to address crime, people smuggling and security more broadly.

2) Work with Bangladesh to stop people smuggling. It is in Australia’s national interest to stop people smuggling, not just turn back the boats. This will require additional funding to meet the needs of the Rohingya in the camps, guarantee their security and create pathways that provide hope for the future. It is cheaper than keeping asylum seekers in detention once they arrive in Australian waters.

3) Help Bangladesh target crime. Australia can provide more support and co-operation with the Bangladeshi government to target the gangs and crime in and around the camps. Again, this is a significant challenge, but Australia could offer technical and financial support, officer training and expertise, and additional personnel and funding.

4) Guarantee multi-year funding to aid and security programs. Funding to the camps has been disjointed. There have been long gaps between “phases” of aid. This has led to programs ceasing, aid workers finding new jobs and leaving, and discontinuity of support and programs for vulnerable refugees.

Anthony Ware receives funding from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Australian Humanitarian Program-Bangladesh, via Alinea International and Plan International Australia, for work on strengthening everyday peace between the Rohingya refugees and their host community.

– ref. With Bangladesh on a knife’s edge, trapped Rohingya refugees are forced to turn to people smugglers or violent gangs – https://theconversation.com/with-bangladesh-on-a-knifes-edge-trapped-rohingya-refugees-are-forced-to-turn-to-people-smugglers-or-violent-gangs-235676

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brigid McCarthy, Lecturer in Journalism, La Trobe University

Women’s gymnastics is finally ageing.

In fact, four of the five United States athletes who took team gold in Paris were women in their 20s attending their second Olympics.

And after picking up the all-around gold, 27-year-old Simone Biles is the oldest winner in 72 years.

The last time a non-teenager took that title was in 1972. And even then, 20-year-old Soviet Ludmila Turischeva’s win was upstaged by the electric performances of her younger teammate Olga Korbut, aged 17.

Korbut would be the first in a line of “teenage pixies” who emerged after the women’s discipline took an acrobatic turn in the 1970s, favouring a smaller physiology and younger athletes.

The media, ever enamoured with prodigious children, fuelled an enduring cultural fascination with these gymnast wunderkinds.

Young athletes, big pressure

Girls’ acrobatic feats were often seen as charming play or superhuman acts, instead of the product of intense labour undertaken by children.

By the late 1990s, however, journalist Joan Ryan’s book, Little Girls in Pretty Boxes, raised significant questions about the treatment and disposable careers of girls in gymnastics and figure skating.

In 1997, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) raised the minimum competitive age from 15 to 16 to protect girls’ health.

Since then, developments in competition formats and training approaches resulted in longer careers.

Despite the gradual rise in the ages of gymnasts since the turn of the century, paternalist attitudes lingered both within and outside of the sport.

One study found coaches and officials were slow to stop viewing gymnasts as children. My own study observed how broadcasters often clung to the cute, disciplined girl-child as a gymnastics behavioural ideal well into the 2000s.

Contrary to this was a “diva” stereotype, used by reporters and commentators to describe athletes who defied the ideal.

Svetlana Khorkina, a hugely successful Russian gymnast who competed into her 20s, was labelled as such for her mercurial, outspoken personality.

In the 2024 Athens games, the 25-year-old was pitted against ponytailed teen Carly Patterson for Olympic gold. Some portrayed it as a battle between youthful zest and aged arrogance.

Later, world champion Aliya Mustafina and her teammates were similarly labelled for their self-assured and headstrong attitudes. These attributes were often treated as factors in losses or mistakes.

At the 2011 American Cup, when Mustafina made a competitive decision against her coach’s advice that didn’t work out, commentators treated it like a cautionary tale.

It was as if autonomy and self-possession were out of place in a sport for little girls.

Then, in 2016, came the sport’s greatest reckoning.

A torrid history of abuse

The Larry Nassar sexual abuse case ignited waves of present and former gymnasts worldwide to speak out about the silencing, abuse and toxic training environments they’d endured.

Over the next few years, athletes recounted the cost of childhood sporting careers.

Coaches were investigated. Independent reviews were undertaken.

Australia, too, confronted its past. A former national coach was sanctioned.

An Australian Human Rights Commission review concluded a “win at all costs” culture created “unacceptable risks” to young athletes.

The national governing body, Gymnastics Australia, apologised to survivors of abuse.

Age is by no means the only factor in vulnerability to abuse, but research shows that age and international-level training are significant risk factors in forms of interpersonal violence.

There are also child labor concerns, as well as health and wellbeing risks — something figure skating has been forced to grapple with following a doping case involving a 15-year-old at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

In this context, the newfound emergence of older gymnasts is reassuring. But what is more reassuring is that athletes are now being treated as adults.

A change in attitude

Before the Paris games began, USA Gymnastics technical lead Chellsie Memmel told reporters Biles would have the option to not compete on every apparatus during the team competition.

“If that’s what she needs to continue to be at her best for her team and for herself, then that’s what we’re going to do,” Memmel said of their highest scorer.

In 2021, Biles also chose to withdraw mid-competition during the Tokyo games for mental health and safety reasons.

Read more:
How to win on your own terms: Simone Biles claims her eighth Olympic gold on her Paris 2024 ‘redemption tour’

For longtime gymnastics followers, the notion of gymnasts being able to decide how and when they compete is still alien and refreshing.

So too is gymnasts eating pizza (an act former US Olympian Aly Raisman once feared might cost her career) and making sideline TikToks in Paris.

It’s a world removed from gymnastics’ recent, oppressive past.

A seismic outcome of gymnastics’ reckoning has been a culture change that appears to finally privilege autonomy. Choice may be becoming these athletes’ new normal.

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

– ref. From ‘teenage pixies’ to a grown woman’s domain – Olympic gymnastics is finally evolving for the better – https://theconversation.com/from-teenage-pixies-to-a-grown-womans-domain-olympic-gymnastics-is-finally-evolving-for-the-better-235581

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karinna Saxby, Research Fellow, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne

A majority of Australians voted “no” to an Indigenous Voice to Parliament. But if we dig deeper into the data from the 2023 referendum, there is more to learn, especially about the health of Indigenous Australians living in communities with strong opposition to the Voice.

It is a picture both striking and urgent.

In research published today we show for the first time that Indigenous Australians living in regions more strongly opposed to the Voice had poorer health.

When we mapped community-level opposition to the Voice to Australians’ health, we found Indigenous Australians were more likely than non-Indigenous Australians to report poorer general and mental health. But Indigenous Australians were less likely to access health care. These inequalities were larger in areas with higher opposition to the Voice.

Our results likely reflect underlying negative attitudes towards Indigenous Australians and fewer culturally sensitive options for accessing health care in some regions. Both impact Indigenous Australians’ health in numerous ways.

What we did and what we found

We started with the national map of voting patterns to identify
regions with the highest level of opposition to the Voice (defined in this study as regions of Australia where more than 72% of community members voted “no”).

Next, we compared regions with high versus lower levels of opposition to the Voice with Australians’ health. We did this using a 2021 national survey, which included information on self-reported general health, mental health, and use of health care in the past year.

Our study showed that compared to Indigenous Australians living in areas with low opposition to the Voice, Indigenous Australians living in communities with the highest opposition to the Voice were more likely to report poor general and mental health, and were less likely to have visited any health care provider in the past year.

We did not see the same disparities for non-Indigenous Australians.

For example, in areas with the greatest support for the Voice, Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians reported similar levels of poor mental health (16% for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous). Whereas in areas with the strongest opposition to the Voice, 27% of Indigenous Australians reported poor mental health compared with 15% of non-Indigenous Australians.

In areas with the greatest support for the Voice, the proportion of Indigenous Australians who had seen any health care provider was 78%, which was higher than the proportion for non-Indigenous Australians, at 71%. But in areas with strongest opposition to the Voice, the proportion visiting any provider was markedly lower for Indigenous Australians (54%) but not for non-Indigenous Australians (68%).

Altogether, this suggests that despite being in poorer health, Indigenous Australians living in areas with stronger opposition to the Voice are less likely to access health care.

Why is this happening?

There are several possible explanations for these results.

A strong possibility, which aligns with recent research, is community-level opposition to the Voice could capture underlying negative attitudes towards Indigenous Australians. So what we’re seeing may reflect the impact of such negative attitudes over time on people’s health.

This aligns with much international research showing how community-wide stigma and discriminatory environments lead to poorer health among minority and historically marginalised groups. Generally, we see this play out in higher rates of smoking and drinking, and reduced access to health care.

These attitudes could impact Indigenous Australians’ experiences of health care. For example, we know previous experiences of racism while accessing health care deters Indigenous people from engaging with mainstream health care. Alternatively, there may not be enough culturally safe health care options in regions with the highest opposition to the Voice.

Indigenous leaders in Australia have continued to share their experiences of racism before, during and after the Voice referendum. While the direct impact of racism is evident in the testimony of these individuals, relatively little attention has been paid to the impact of structural racism at the community level.

But we cannot say from our research what motivated people to vote “no” and a “no” vote cannot be taken as evidence of racism. But whatever the motivation for voting “no”, it is Indigenous Australians’ health that is uniquely impacted in these high-opposition regions.

Where from here?

Our results suggest that when it comes to future health policy and programs, we need to consider multiple, community-level solutions. In particular, we should pay particular attention to areas where there was greater opposition to the Voice, as these are the areas associated with the worse health and less use of health care.

In these areas, in particular, we need more culturally safe health care, tailored care that is inclusive and free of racism. This is so patients can access relevant and appropriate health services to improve their health.

We also need to look more broadly to change community attitudes about Indigenous Australians if we are to reduce systemic racism, stigma and its impacts on health.

Our results are just a snapshot

The Voice referendum opened our eyes to the fundamental struggle Indigenous Australians face in advancing Indigenous self-determination as the ultimate way to improve life opportunities and health.

But our findings reflect just one moment in time. So we need more research to better understand the systemic nature of the observed health disparities.

Health and social policy needs to account for these systemic issues and ultimately place greater attention on how community-level attitudes can shape the health of Indigenous Australians.

Karinna Saxby has previously received funding from the Department of Health and Aged Care.

Luke Burchill draws strength and pride from his Yorta Yorta, Dja Dja Wurrung, and English Australian heritage. He co-leads Darak for the Australian Stroke Alliance, which embeds Indigenous governance in Indigenous health research. In 2021, he played a leading role in Australian physicians voting in favour of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, and Māori people, receiving constitutional recognition within the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. He receives funding from National Health & Medical Research Council of Australia and currently works as an adult congenital heart disease specialist at Mayo Clinic.

Yuting Zhang receives funding from the Australian Research Council (future fellowship project ID FT200100630), Department of Veterans’ Affairs, the Victorian Department of Health, and National Health and Medical Research Council. In the past, Professor Zhang has received funding from several US institutes including the US National Institutes of Health, Commonwealth fund, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Zoe Aitken receives funding from the Australian Research Council (Early Career Industry Fellowship IE230100561), the National Health and Medical Research Council (2010290), the Medical Research Future Fund (2024940 and 2022600), and Suicide Prevention Australia. She has previously received funding from the Department of Social Services and the Department of Health and Aged Care.

– ref. We found opposition to the Voice is linked to poorer Indigenous health. And in some regions, the link is striking – https://theconversation.com/we-found-opposition-to-the-voice-is-linked-to-poorer-indigenous-health-and-in-some-regions-the-link-is-striking-235410

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Mason, Adjunct Senior Fellow in Renewable Energy Systems Engineering, University of Canterbury

The recent failure of a deal to deliver hydrogen-powered trucks to New Zealand, and the removal of a NZ$100 million government rebate scheme for green hydrogen users in the 2024 budget, make a transition to the much-lauded energy technology increasingly less certain.

The government had invested $6.5 million for the purchase of up to 25 heavy freight hydrogen trucks as part of a wider energy strategy due by the end of the year. But the US company Hyzon, which makes hydrogen fuel-cell trucks and had been modifying diesel trucks to use hydrogen, pulled out at short notice.

Nonetheless, interest in hydrogen for future transport and energy systems has soared globally, and New Zealand is no exception. But we argue that critical voices have been largely missing from the debate here.

In New Zealand, green hydrogen (which is produced with electricity from renewable sources) has attracted government support of $186.3 million from 2017 to 2023. This provided funding for a hydrogen refuelling network, vehicle conversions and purchases, research, and the establishment of the New Zealand Hydrogen Council (now Hydrogen New Zealand).

Proponents of green hydrogen argue it is essential for fuelling economic sectors they believe will be hard to decarbonise by direct electrification. As well as heavy road transport, this includes shipping and fertiliser production.

But opinions differ considerably on which sectors to focus on, and whether hydrogen is the best choice.

Evolution of the narrative

In the wake of the previous government’s ban on new offshore oil and gas exploration, the 2019 H2 Taranaki roadmap outlined a vision for the region as a leader in hydrogen production.

Former energy minister Megan Woods reinforced this, indicating her government would be interested in any associated economic opportunities. This largely positive narrative continued in two further government reports.

The first, A Vision for Hydrogen in New Zealand, suggested the case for hydrogen was already settled:

Hydrogen is poised to fulfil its potential as a clean alternative to hydrocarbons in the global pursuit of decarbonisation to address climate change.

Development of green hydrogen was largely implicit in the second report, the Interim Hydrogen Roadmap, which aimed to:

optimise the potential for green hydrogen to contribute to New Zealand’s emissions reductions, economic development, and energy sector to the extent compatible with our broader electrification goals.

We analysed these reports using a content analysis approach focused on identifying how often strengths, weaknesses, opportunities or threats are mentioned. This revealed the words “opportunities” and “challenges” were used frequently, while “weaknesses” and “threats” were absent.

The use of “strengths” was confined to perceived advantages of New Zealand as a location for hydrogen production. Where difficulties were identified, they were framed as challenges rather than weaknesses.

This optimistic tone is generally reflected in descriptions of several government-funded projects, including green hydrogen research at GNS Science, and international collaborations such as the German-NZ Green Hydrogen alliance.

Media reports have typically reflected the enthusiastic narrative. Of 83 articles on green hydrogen published in New Zealand between 2019 and 2023, only 15 (18%) contained any critical analysis.

Critical voices need to be heard

While some experts have voiced serious concerns about green hydrogen, this has not featured prominently in the debate in New Zealand.

For example, research by University of Cambridge engineering expert David Cebon shows battery electric vehicles are superior to hydrogen vehicles for heavy transport.

The emergence of fast (five minutes or less) automated and manual battery-swap systems, which provide an alternative to high-powered fast-charging systems, supports this point.

Climate and energy strategist Michael Barnard, who covers the green hydrogen debate extensively, writes:

Since 2000, application after application of hydrogen has found it to be inefficient, ineffective and expensive compared to obvious alternatives.

A German rail company which launched the world’s first hydrogen line last year has since opted for cheaper all-electric trains. Rising costs have also forced one Austrian state to abandon plans to introduce hydrogen buses.

Recent research suggests developments in battery-run and fast-charging electric trucks could soon make hydrogen fuel cells superfluous in road transport in most cases.

UK energy analyst Michael Liebreich has quantified the immense scale, significant impracticalities, enormous subsidies and costs associated with green hydrogen.

Liebreich’s “hydrogen ladder” ranks both actual and potential uses. It provides an evidence-informed guide on where to best focus attention and resources. Based on this, the previous government’s funding for the manufacture of green fertiliser (for which hydrogen is an input) was a sensible allocation.

In New Zealand, a 2019 report sponsored by industry and the government, and a letter from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, have both provided some critical analysis of the potential for green hydrogen.

Towards a new narrative

The previous government’s commitment to finalise New Zealand’s hydrogen strategy, and to deliver an overall energy strategy, remains in place. But we need a more nuanced perspective.

This must start with an acknowledgement that hydrogen is an energy carrier (which has to be produced from other sources of energy), and not an energy resource like solar radiation, wind or hydro.

We need an approach that can continue to adapt to changes in “hard to abate” sectors of the energy system. Critiques of green hydrogen need to enter the discussion if we are to make informed choices.

Government policy on this topic must be informed by independent advice free from commercial interests. A new green hydrogen narrative will enable us to focus our limited resources on applications with the best chance of delivering on New Zealand’s decarbonisation and sustainability aspirations.

This could include key New Zealand industries switching from fossil fuels to hydrogen to produce green steel, green ammonia and fertiliser and green methanol.

The authors are grateful to Paul Callister for his helpful comments and suggestions.

Ian Mason is affiliated with the NZ Offshore Wind Working Group.

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

– ref. Hope or hype? NZ needs to be realistic about the clean energy potential of green hydrogen – https://theconversation.com/hope-or-hype-nz-needs-to-be-realistic-about-the-clean-energy-potential-of-green-hydrogen-234137

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Teagan Goolmeer, PhD Candidate, The University of Melbourne

Globally, many Indigenous people want to help protect their traditional lands and waters, drawing on knowledge stretching back millenia. Indigenous people have an obligation to look after species and habitat which are culturally important to them.

But how can Indigenous voices be supported to make land management decisions? And how do we ensure the process is Indigenous-led and culturally safe? New research by myself and colleagues can help.

We engaged Indigenous people from Bundjalung Country on Australia’s east coast. In a process they led, the Bundjalung people identified which culturally significant species they considered priorities for “collaborative management” – that is, management built on mutual respect for both Western science and Indigenous knowledge systems.

We hope this process might be used elsewhere, to give Indigenous people a genuine say in decisions about managing Country.

‘They hold the stories’

Bundjalung Country stretches from Grafton in northern New South Wales to the Logan River in Queensland and inland to Warwick.

The term Country describes the lands, water and seas to which Indigenous people are connected. Country contains complex ideas about lore, custom, language, spiritual belief, culture, material sustenance, family and identity.

For Indigenous Australians, some plants, animals and habitats hold special cultural significance. This may be, for example, because they are used in ceremonies, they feature in Creation stories or are used as a traditional food source.

The importance of this concept was was summed up during our project by Bundjalung man Oliver Costello, who said:

[Culturally significant entities] are the teachers of Country, they hold the stories and are the indicators for the health of Country. If you look after Country, it will look after you.

Our study set out to establish a process by which Indigenous people can come together to identify culturally significant species. The list of priority species would then be used to inform collaborative land and sea management with governments, conservation groups and others.

The process should be led by Indigenous people themselves, and aligned with their obligations and values.

We partnered with the Bundjalung-owned Jagun Alliance. This was crucial to ensuring the project was conducted in a culturally safe manner and developed with an Indigenous lens.

Our project adhered to cultural protocols and protected Indigenous cultural and intellectual property at all times.

What we did

First, we convened a meeting of five non-Bundjalung Indigenous experts with extensive experience in Indigenous-led work biodiversity work.

They identified six objectives for decision-making around culturally significant species. The objectives involved not just environmental values, but also social, spiritual, economic and cultural values.

We hosted several on-Country workshops with Bundjalung people and distributed an online survey, to determine which species might be prioritised for collaborative management. Of the responses we received, 32 yielded usable data.

The culturally significant plant and animal species identified as the top priority by Bundjalung respondents were:

• koalas
• goannas
• platypuses
• echidnas
• wedge-tailed eagles
• coastal emus
• pipis
• long-necked turtles.

Participants were also asked which habitats were most important for collaborative management. Some 70% identified wetlands, followed by grasslands and big scrub (a mosaic of lowland rainforest, swamp forest and wet eucalypt forest extensively cleared by colonists).

Once the results were in, Bundjalung knowledge-holders identified threats to these species, as follows:

• the lack of Bundjalung decision-making in land management actions
• lack of cultural burns
• impacts on Country such as dams, roads, housing and farming
• invasive species
• climate change.

The Bundjalung also identified management actions which should be integrated into Western management under a collaborative approach:

• community gathering on Country, such as holding ceremonies and harvesting traditional resources
• regular cultural burns
• releasing water into catchments to support cultural objectives
• active management of cultural sites and pathways.

Unlike the current threatened species approach, which largely manages only parts of the problem, the actions identified by Bundjalung people were holistic and landscape-wide. This means these actions can benefit many species and habitats.

Bundjalung people were then invited to a meeting to share findings from the work. This provided an opportunity to heal from past trauma over a shared vision for Country.

Spotlight on the koala

In Bundjalung language, the koala is known as the boorabee.

The boorabee is the only culturally significant species identified by Bundjalung people with an active “national recovery plan”. This plan guides and coordinates conservation efforts by governments and others.

The koala recovery plan calls for Indigenous-led action, which offers Bundjalung people an avenue for collaborative management. Likewise, many management actions proposed by the Bundjalung are clearly aligned with the plan.

The koala and coastal emu are listed as threatened species under various pieces of state and federal legislation. However, a species need not be imperilled to be central to Indigenous-led management.

Where to now?

Our process helped a group of Bundjalung people agree on their conservation priorities, and how to act on them.

It’s important to note, however, that the Bundjalung community consists of ten clans – it is not a homogeneous group. As such, our findings may not be supported by all Bundjalung people.

We hope our findings help policymakers understand what Indigenous-led action could look like, if integrated into biodiversity management. The structured process we undertook may benefit other groups – although applied elsewhere, it may involve different objectives, modes of engagement and results.

Indigenous Australians are ready to sit at decision-making tables to improve the management of Country. They intimately understand our precious environment – and their contribution could be transformative.

Teagan Goolmeer receives funding from the Resilient Landscapes Hub of NESP. She is affiliated with Biodiversity Council and the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists.

– ref. Indigenous Australians want a seat at the table when it comes to conservation. Here’s how we might get there – https://theconversation.com/indigenous-australians-want-a-seat-at-the-table-when-it-comes-to-conservation-heres-how-we-might-get-there-235954

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Seyedali Mirjalili, Professor, Director of Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research and Optimisation, Torrens University Australia

In the world of artificial intelligence (AI), a battle is underway. On one side are companies that believe in keeping the datasets and algorithms behind their advanced software private and confidential. On the other are companies that believe in allowing the public to see what’s under the hood of their sophisticated AI models.

Think of this as the battle between open- and closed-source AI.

In recent weeks, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, took up the fight for open-source AI in a big way by releasing a new collection of large AI models. These include a model named Llama 3.1 405B, which Meta’s founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, says is “the first frontier-level open source AI model”.

For anyone who cares about a future in which everybody can access the benefits of AI, this is good news.

The danger of closed-source AI – and the promise of open-source AI

Closed-source AI refers to models, datasets and algorithms that are proprietary and kept confidential. Examples include ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude.

Though anyone can use these products, there is no way to find out what dataset and source codes have been used to build the AI model or tool.

While this is a great way for companies to protect their intellectual property and their profits, it risks undermining public trust and accountability. Making AI technology closed-source also slows down innovation and makes a company or other users dependent on a single platform for their AI needs. This is because the platform that owns the model controls changes, licensing and updates.

There are a range of ethical frameworks that seek to improve the fairness, accountability, transparency, privacy and human oversight of AI. However, these principles are often not fully achieved with closed-source AI due to the inherent lack of transparency and external accountability associated with proprietary systems.

In the case of ChatGPT, its parent company, OpenAI, releases neither the dataset nor code of its latest AI tools to the public. This makes it impossible for regulators to audit it. And while access to the service is free, concerns remain about how users’ data are stored and used for retraining models.

By contrast, the code and dataset behind open-source AI models is available for everyone to see.

This fosters rapid development through community collaboration and enables the involvement of smaller organisations and even individuals in AI development. It also makes a huge difference for small and medium size enterprises as the cost of training large AI models is colossal.

Perhaps most importantly, open source AI allows for scrutiny and identification of potential biases and vulnerability.

However, open-source AI does create new risks and ethical concerns.

For example, quality control in open source products is usually low. As hackers can also access the code and data, the models are also more prone to cyberattacks and can be tailored and customised for malicious purposes, such as retraining the model with data from the dark web.

An open-source AI pioneer

Among all leading AI companies, Meta has emerged as a pioneer of open-source AI. With its new suite of AI models, it is doing what OpenAI promised to do when it launched in December 2015 – namely, advancing digital intelligence “in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole”, as OpenAI said back then.

Llama 3.1 405B is the largest open-source AI model in history. It is what’s known as a large language model, capable of generating human language text in multiple languages. It can be downloaded online but because of its huge size, users will need powerful hardware to run it.

While it does not outperform other models across all metrics, Llama 3.1 405B is considered highly competitive and does perform better than existing closed-source and commercial large language models in certain tasks, such as reasoning and coding tasks.

But the new model is not fully open, because Meta hasn’t released the huge data set used to train it. This is a significant “open” element that is currently missing.

Nonetheless, Meta’s Llama levels the playing field for researchers, small organisations and startups because it can be leveraged without the immense resources required to train large language models from scratch.

Shaping the future of AI

To ensure AI is democratised, we need three key pilars:

• governance: regulatory and ethical frameworks to ensure AI technology is being developed and used responsibly and ethically
• accessibility: affordable computing resources and user-friendly tools to ensure a fair landscape for developers and users
• openness: datasets and algorithms to train and build AI tools should be open source to ensure transparency.

Achieving these three pillars is a shared responsibility for government, industry, academia and the public. The public can play a vital role by advocating for ethical policies in AI, staying informed about AI developments, using AI responsibly and supporting open-source AI initiatives.

But several questions remain about open-source AI. How can we balance protecting intellectual property and fostering innovation through open-source AI? How can we minimise ethical concerns around open-source AI? How can we safeguard open-source AI against potential misuse?

Properly addressing these questions will help us create a future where AI is an inclusive tool for all. Will we rise to the challenge and ensure AI serves the greater good? Or will we let it become another nasty tool for exclusion and control? The future is in our hands.

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

– ref. Meta just launched the largest ‘open’ AI model in history. Here’s why it matters – https://theconversation.com/meta-just-launched-the-largest-open-ai-model-in-history-heres-why-it-matters-235689

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lynette Cheah, Professor and Chair of Sustainable Transport, University of the Sunshine Coast

With the rise in e-commerce, 161 billion parcels were delivered worldwide in 2022, doubling in just four years. In Australia, more households are shopping online than ever before. In 2023, 5.6 million households made a monthly online purchase. This implies millions of parcels are being shipped each month.

High-emitting diesel vans or trucks undertake almost all last-mile or doorstop parcel deliveries. In cities, these vehicles add to traffic congestion, parking pressures, carbon emissions and air pollution. So how can we reduce the environmental impact of all these deliveries?

Using low-emission vehicles, such as electric delivery vans powered by renewable energy sources, can certainly help. However, electric delivery vans and trucks are still uncommon. Their global sales share in 2023 was just under 5%. Increasing the numbers of vehicle chargers powered by renewable energy will also take time.

To complement the transition to cleaner vehicles, shorter-term solutions can include optimising the organisation of deliveries, as well as more novel ideas. One of these ideas is crowdshipping.

The concept applies crowdsourcing to delivery services. Members of the public elect to deliver parcels in the course of their journeys. In this way, crowdshipping integrates passenger and freight transport to streamline movement in cities.

How does crowdshipping work?

Crowdshipping taps into “the crowd” to fulfil parcel deliveries. Instead of having dedicated couriers, we can match people with parcels bound for destinations close to where they are already headed, with minimal detours.

The concept leverages existing transport capacity. “Crowdshippers” are already travelling privately in their own vehicles or by public transport, or even cycling or walking. Through a service-matching platform, such as Roadie or DoorDash, crowdshippers can be paid for taking a parcel along their way.

In cities with good public transport and high levels of use, passengers can hand-carry small parcels across the network. Automated parcel lockers installed at stations can serve as mini distribution centres, where passengers pick up and drop off parcels.

What are the benefits?

We modelled crowdshipping in Singapore. The city has an excellent public transport system used by nearly 60% of commuters.

Algorithms were developed to match a selection of parcels to available passengers, considering their origins and destinations. The simulation used real-world datasets on daily parcel deliveries from the Singapore road network and public transport journeys.

The simulation showed crowdshipping can have multiple benefits. By outsourcing only 11% of parcel deliveries to crowdshippers riding public buses, an e-commerce carrier will require fewer delivery vehicles. Delivery vehicle distances fall by 20%, with matching cuts in emissions.

And even after paying crowdshippers, the carrier will enjoy cost savings.

What practical obstacles must be overcome?

There are several practical considerations.

For a start, would passengers be willing to deliver parcels? A survey of potential crowdshippers had a positive response.

Motivated by being able to earn some income while travelling, most passengers polled said they were willing to serve as crowdshippers. They were especially keen if paid one to two times their transport fare.

Next, might transporting parcels on public transport cause extra congestion or delay during peak-hour commutes? We should avoid adding more loads on crowded buses or trains.

We explored limiting crowdshipping to off-peak hours and found good availability of potential crowdshippers to deliver parcels. Many public transport systems tend to have excess capacity at these times, so making use of this to move parcels is feasible.

Finally, there’s a need to assure parcel shippers, carriers and receivers that the service is reliable. The service platform should be designed to develop and maintain accountability and trust among users. The system would have to be able to verify identity and track parcel status.

Crowdshipping using public transport would be ideal for cities with good public transport networks and high passenger numbers. Similar to outsourcing to a logistics provider, carriers can explore using people movements to complement their regular deliveries.

Cities need new solutions to make urban mobility sustainable. Integrating passenger and freight transport could make city logistics operations more efficient. By carrying out data-driven transport modelling and simulation, we can explore ideas such as crowdshipping, develop trials to test them and bring them closer to realisation.

This article draws on research conducted with Dr Meijing Zhang from Singapore University of Technology and Design.

Lynette Cheah receives funding from the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads. She previously received funding from the Singapore National Research Foundation, Ministry of National Development, Land Transport Authority, Public Transport Council, Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), and Daimler Mobility.

– ref. Ride a bus, take a package with you – how crowdshipping reduces the impacts of millions of deliveries – https://theconversation.com/ride-a-bus-take-a-package-with-you-how-crowdshipping-reduces-the-impacts-of-millions-of-deliveries-234556

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jua Cilliers, Head of School of Built Environment, Professor of Urban Planning, University of Technology Sydney

It’s been a rainy winter in many parts of Australia, wreaking havoc on kids’ sporting competitions. As mums, it has been frustrating to see so many of our kids’ sport matches (and training sessions) cancelled because of waterlogged grounds.

When footy, rugby, league tag, soccer or netball get cancelled because of ground closures, our kids miss out on valuable exercise and growth opportunities. It means less time to develop sport skills, practise teamwork, boost resilience and mental health, engage with positive role models and play with friends. It often means more time on the couch, and parents lamenting the money they spent on registration fees and sports uniforms.

With climate change predicted to bring more intense rainfall events, this situation isn’t going away. The good news is a growing body of research offers insights into how we can address this problem through smarter urban design and green infrastructure.

What’s green infrastructure?

The term “green infrastructure” can mean many things but in this context it refers to nature-based infrastructure we can build to better filter and absorb rainwater.

The fundamental principle is that concrete doesn’t absorb water. Rain that falls on it just gets channelled to stormwater drains (which can quickly overflow), or to the nearest bit of green space. Often, that’s the local sporting field.

The solution? Create more soil-based or nature-based spaces that allow for rainwater to be absorbed into the earth well before it gets to the local sports grounds.

This can include:

• green roofs and rooftop farms, which use roof space to grow plants and food

• green walls, where the walls of buildings are repurposed as places to support plants

• urban forest projects

• urban parks

• planting and preserving more street trees, which help absorb rainwater through their roots

• using less concrete in our urban spaces

• rain gardens, which are specially designed gardens that can rapidly absorb rainfall during wet weather

• special vegetated channels called swales, which absorb rainwater.

Green infrastructure doesn’t just reduce flooding. It can also make our urban spaces more sustainable, cut urban heat, lower noise pollution and even reduce people’s stress.

Some cities and suburbs have made great strides in installing and tending to green infrastructure.

But why aren’t these principles of urban design more widely implemented?

Yes, it costs money – but it’s worth it

Too often, governments do not advocate for investment in green infrastructure. According to the World Economic Forum, less than 0.3% of current urban infrastructure spending goes to nature-based solutions.

Yes, green infrastructure requires investment but our current concrete-based approach to cities is also enormously expensive. One study found:

Nature-based infrastructure costs around 50% less than equivalent built infrastructure while delivering the same — or better — outcomes. As well as the lower initial costs, nature-based infrastructure tends to be cheaper to maintain and more resilient to climate change.

Research has also found green infrastructure can deliver broader health benefits to the community that may represent savings to the public health bill.

New South Wales already has a planning framework, released last year, that aims to:

provide a standardised, robust and comprehensive approach to identify, quantify and monetise common costs and benefits associated with green infrastructure and public spaces.

That’s a strong start. But more could be done to embed green infrastructure principles into development application processes. This could encourage the development of green infrastructure that can absorb rain. That, in turn, could mean fewer closures of waterlogged sports grounds.

It is also possible to improve drainage on existing sports grounds. Managers of the Maryland SoccerPlex in the United States, for example, used a green infrastructure technique known as “sand slit drainage” – which involves installing special pipes and adding sand to the field – to vastly upgrade drainage. This allows people to play sports throughout the rain season.

Can’t we just make sports grounds out of artificial grass?

Sure, fake grass sports grounds would allow fields to accommodate some games when real grass fields wash out – but it would be a huge loss for biodiversity, quality of life, our health and the broader sustainability of our neighbourhoods.

Residents in some parts of NSW have already voiced concerns artificial grass can radiate heat on very warm days. It also produces plastic pollution.

Instead, we need to rethink the design of sport fields. We should view them as valuable green spaces. They are part of the green infrastructure network and help regulate urban temperatures and enhance ecological systems in and around our cities.

They should be seen as sponges to absorb rainwater – but they cannot be the only ones. Without more green infrastructure in our cities, our sports ground sponges will quickly become overloaded and waterlogged.

Jua Cilliers is the president of the Commonwealth Association of Planners. She is the Director of the UTS Green Infrastructure Lab.

Mehrafarin Takin is currently a PhD candidate at University of Technology Sydney. She has a research scholarship from Australian government.

– ref. Kids’ sport always cancelled due to rain-soaked grounds? Green infrastructure can help – https://theconversation.com/kids-sport-always-cancelled-due-to-rain-soaked-grounds-green-infrastructure-can-help-235109