Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Whittaker, Senior Lecturer, School of Animal and Veterinary Science, University of Adelaide

Research Checks interrogate newly published studies and how they’re reported in the media. The analysis is undertaken by one or more academics not involved with the study, and reviewed by another, to make sure it’s accurate.

Recently there’s been a trend of people wanting to feed their pets a diet that follows their own dietary preferences – which often means a meat-free diet.

Vets have long maintained that feeding cats a meat-free diet is a big no-no. But a new study published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE challenges this assumption. The researchers write in the abstract:

[…] cats fed vegan diets tended to be healthier than cats fed meat-based diets. This trend was clear and consistent. These results largely concur with previous, similar studies.

So, are vegan diets really more healthy for cats? When we start to pick apart the findings, we see the evidence is far from conclusive.

What the study involved

The authors of the study surveyed 1,369 cat owners, who fed their cats either a vegan or meat-based diet, about their cats’ health. Respondents were mostly female (91%) and represented a range of ages. Most lived in the UK, with others residing in Europe, North America or Oceania.

Most (about 65%) had themselves adopted some form of diet to reduce meat consumption – being either vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian (fish only), or reducing their meat consumption. A small portion (9%) fed their cats a vegan diet in spite of their own dietary choices.

The owners were asked about their cat’s health, including specific health conditions, medication use and how often they saw a vet. They were also asked their opinion on how healthy their cat was, and what they believed their vet would say about their cat’s health.

What did the study find?

Overall, the study found no evidence of detrimental health effects in cats fed a vegan diet. In fact, the authors suggest a vegan diet actually leads to health benefits for cats.

The researchers looked at seven indicators of illness and found non-significant reductions in all of them in cats on a vegan diet. These included reduced veterinary visits, reduced use of medications and fewer instances of owners thinking their cats were in poor health.

Non-significance means the researchers didn’t find strong enough evidence to say there was a meaningful difference between the groups – but it doesn’t mean there was no effect (especially since some of the trends were strong).

They found 15 diseases were more common in cats fed meat, while only seven diseases were more common in cats on a vegan diet. Examples of less common diseases for cats on a vegan diet included dental disease, skin disease and hormonal diseases. But again, the differences between the two diet groups were not statistically significant.

There was only one disease for which a significant statistical difference was observed: cats fed a vegan diet were slightly more likely to have kidney disease.

Putting the findings in context

Compared to similar past studies, this study included a relatively large number of cats. That said, only 127 of these cats were on a vegan diet.

Most of the health benefits reported for this group also did not reach statistical significance, which may be the result of simply not having enough animals in the study.

The authors reported a tendency towards positive effects of vegan diets. This means there was a general trend (which was sometimes strong), but doesn’t necessarily mean there is a very predictable relationship.

As a survey study, it’s not possible to confirm exactly what the cats were eating. Many of them went outside and may have hunted down meaty treats even while on a vegan diet. Some owners also fed their cats treats and essential nutrient supplements, so any beneficial effects (or a lack of harmful effects) may not be due to diet alone.

Another missing piece of information is how long the cats were kept on the diet. We might assume one year – but this isn’t specifically stated. This is important information since deficiency diseases can take time to develop.

Finally, any study assessing animal health will have inherent limitations if it’s designed as a survey. Pet owners usually aren’t medically trained and their “opinions” can be subjective and therefore biased.

Owners who had removed or reduced meat in their own diet were over-represented in the study. These people may already anticipate vegan diets are better for health, and this thinking could influence their responses.

It’s also worth noting the study was funded by ProVeg International – a food awareness organisation that promotes plant-based products. While this might not have impacted the validity of data, it could have influenced the stance taken when reporting on the results.

Read more:
One cat, one year, 110 native animals: lock up your pet, it’s a killing machine

So, is a vegan diet good for my cat?

Only a handful of studies have looked at health outcomes in cats fed vegan diets. This study adds to a growing body of evidence that, contrary to long-held beliefs, it may be possible for cats to stay healthy on a vegan diet.

However, we’ll need much more research before we can conclude vegan diets are better for cat health than diets containing meat.

Read more:
Are vegan pet diets as unhealthy as they’re claimed to be? Here’s what the evidence says

To obtain really strong evidence on the safety and health benefits of vegan diets, we’d need clinical trials involving a large cat population and direct measurements of health through veterinary exams and lab tests.

One challenge that isn’t really addressed in this paper is how a vegan cat diet should be safely put together. We know plant-based diets typically lack a range of nutrients cats need and which their bodies can’t make. Previous studies have shown cats on vegan diets to have severe deficiency disorders affecting the muscles.

It may be possible for owners to provide these nutrients through supplements, but this would require an understanding of cat nutrition, or some sound advice from an animal health professional. For most of us, achieving a well-balanced diet for our felines in this way will be tricky. And let’s not forget cats are natural hunters and may well like the taste of meat!

It’s probably wise to wait before letting Felix go completely meat-free. If you feel very strongly about not feeding your cat meat, make sure to choose a commercial vegan pet diet and ask your vet about proper nutrient supplementation.

Blind peer review

This article is a fair analysis of the study. It importantly clarifies the study can’t conclude that it is safe or beneficial to feed a solely vegan diet to cats in the long term.

The details of the diets fed to these cats were very vague; cats on a predominately vegan diet may have been receiving non-vegan foods as well, which could have provided essential nutrients, such as taurine, that may have been deficient in fully vegan diets. It also gave no detail about wet versus dry diets, which is another dietary factor that can impact health.

As a feline specialist veterinarian, I know too well how good cats are at hiding signs of illness until they are very advanced; owner-reported health status simply isn’t good enough to determine a cat’s health.

For example, one concern with vegan diets is a lack of taurine, which is essential for cats. Taurine deficiency can cause retinal degeneration and cardiac disease, both of which would not be evident to owners until the conditions were very advanced. Nutrient deficiencies can take a long time to develop and the study didn’t report on long-term feeding of a solely vegan diet.

I also disagree that fewer vet visits and less medication indicate better health. The authors point out that part of the study was performed during COVID lockdowns, which we know had significant effects on veterinary visits and also on some health conditions.

To assess health impacts of vegan diets, much longer-term studies would be needed with more complete health assessments including examination of the back of the eye, blood tests and ultrasound examination.

– Andrea Harvey

Read more:
Don’t let them out: 15 ways to keep your indoor cat happy

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. Is it really safe to feed your cat a vegan diet? – https://theconversation.com/is-it-really-safe-to-feed-your-cat-a-vegan-diet-213356

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matt Halliday, Lecturer in Advertising and Brand Creativity, Auckland University of Technology

At the launch of the Auckland Climate Festival last month, Green Party Auckland Central MP Chlöe Swarbrick spoke about how building a community is the best way to avoid being overwhelmed by the scale of the climate emergency.

Advertising might not have been the first thing on Swarbrick’s mind. But earlier in August, New Zealand’s Commercial Communications Council had announced its own community initiative to address emissions within the advertising sector.

Labelled Ad Net Zero, it’s part of an international framework launched in the UK late in 2020. “Our ambition,” it states, “is to reduce the carbon impact of developing, producing and running advertising.”

To support the industry reducing its own emissions, Ad Net Zero is built around a five-point “action plan”, the first four points of which are to reduce emissions in different areas of the business.

But it’s the fifth point that will show whether the agencies that have signed up really mean to change: “harness advertising’s power to support consumer behaviour change”.

One would assume that includes moving consumers away from fossil fuel consumption. However, right now, this seems unlikely. Every New Zealand agency that represents a large fuel company has signed up to Ad Net Zero, and they are still creating ads for their petrol station clients.

Risk of greenwashing

Every time I jumped in my car this weekend (it’s electric before you accuse me of hypocrisy) I heard an ad for a fuel company and how many cents I could save per litre. Is this not where advertising might make the biggest difference?

Internationally, agency leaders are on the record about sustainability and how the industry is leading the way in reducing emissions. Considerably less attention is paid to the environmental impacts of the work they do for their client roster.

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The risk here is that the advertising industry itself will be perceived to be indulging in the same “greenwashing” that so many consumer products and services are already accused of practising.

But the issue goes beyond just the industry. Despite having declared a climate emergency, the New Zealand government still allows the consumer incentives driven by fuel discounts. Brand extensions such as AA Smartfuel, Mobil Smiles and Z Energy Pumped all thrive off relatively cheap in-store and radio advertising targeting consumers in their cars.

Fossil fuel ad bans

There are already international precedents for ending these kinds of campaigns. In France, for example, any company promoting fossil fuel products can now be fined up to €100,000.

Greenpeace has argued the French law doesn’t go far enough. But it still provides a stark contrast with New Zealand – which continues to trade on its “100% Pure” image while allowing incentives for fuel purchases.

Read more:
Cigarette ads were banned decades ago. Let’s do the same for fossil fuels

Two Dutch cities have taken the advertising ban even further. Amsterdam’s metro system banned the advertising of fossil-fuelled transport, including flights and non-electric cars, in 2021.

And next year Haarlem will prohibit these types of ads and all holiday flight advertising in public places. The city has also become the first in the world to ban ads for meat due to its consumption contributing to the climate crisis. (One can hear the Groundswell tractors revving at the mere thought of this happening in Aotearoa.)

Dropping fossil fuel clients would undoubtedly affect agency income and jobs. But it is also advertising’s job to find creative solutions to clients’ problems. Maybe such a move would present new opportunities for the New Zealand industry.

Climate-conscious creatives

Brands and their advertising amplify and help accelerate movements in global culture. The question now is, can advertising’s storytellers truly accelerate our emissions reduction?

Ad Net Zero is a good start. But a commitment to dropping high-emission clients is more challenging. This is where overseas initiatives such as Comms Declare and Clean Creatives come in.

Read more:
Greenwashing: how ads get you to think brands are greener than they are – and how to avoid falling for it

These organisations, both established in 2020, aim to help individuals, agencies and clients within the industry divest themselves of fossil fuels by refusing to take on new fossil fuel contracts or work with agencies that still have them on the books.

Creatives for Climate, established by a young New Zealander in Amsterdam around the same time, shares these aims and is launching a New Zealand chapter at the Auckland Climate Festival later this month. The movement of climate-conscious creatives is here and it’s growing.

In the long term, Ad Net Zero will need to prove it stands for true change if it’s to avoid accusations of being a greenwashing campaign itself.

Matt Halliday is appearing on a panel for Creatives for Climate. He is affiliated with Creatives for Climate.

– ref. The NZ ad industry wants to clean up its climate act – but will agencies drop their fossil fuel clients? – https://theconversation.com/the-nz-ad-industry-wants-to-clean-up-its-climate-act-but-will-agencies-drop-their-fossil-fuel-clients-213236

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Overs, Research Assistant, Swinburne University of Technology

We all know that feeling when nature calls – but what’s far less understood is the psychology behind it. Why, for example, do we get the urge to pee just before getting into the shower, or when we’re swimming? What brings on those “nervous wees” right before a date?

Research suggests our brain and bladder are in constant communication with each other via a neural network called the brain-bladder axis.

This complex web of circuitry is comprised of sensory neural activity, including the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. These neural connections allow information to be sent back and forth between the brain and bladder.

The brain-bladder axis not only facilitates the act of peeing, but is also responsible for telling us we need to go in the first place.

How do we know when we need to go?

As the bladder fills with urine and expands, this activates special receptors detecting stretch in the nerve-rich lining of the bladder wall. This information is then relayed to the “periaqueductal gray” – a part of the brain in the brainstem which constantly monitors the bladder’s filling status.

Once the bladder reaches a certain threshold (roughly 250-300ml of urine), another part of the brain called the “pontine micturition centre” is activated and signals that the bladder needs to be emptied. We, in turn, register this as that all-too-familiar feeling of fullness and pressure down below.

Beyond this, however, a range of situations can trigger or exacerbate our need to pee, by increasing the production of urine and/or stimulating reflexes in the bladder.

Peeing in the shower

If you’ve ever felt the need to pee while in the shower (no judgement here) it may be due to the sight and sound of running water.

In a 2015 study, researchers demonstrated that males with urinary difficulties found it easier to initiate peeing when listening to the sound of running water being played on a smartphone.

Symptoms of overactive bladder, including urgency (a sudden need to pee), have also been linked to a range of environmental cues involving running water, including washing your hands and taking a shower.

Read more:
Does it matter if you sit or stand to pee? And what about peeing in the shower?

This is likely due to both physiology and psychology. Firstly, the sound of running water may have a relaxing physiological effect, increasing activity of the parasympathetic nervous system. This would relax the bladder muscles and prepare the bladder for emptying.

At the same time, the sound of running water may also have a conditioned psychological effect. Due to the countless times in our lives where this sound has coincided with the actual act of peeing, it may trigger an instinctive reaction in us to urinate.

This would happen in the same way Pavlov’s dog learnt, through repeated pairing, to salivate when a bell was rung.

Cheeky wee in the sea

But it’s not just the sight or sound of running water that makes us want to pee. Immersion in cold water has been shown to cause a “cold shock response”, which activates the sympathetic nervous system.

This so-called “fight or flight” response drives up our blood pressure which, in turn, causes our kidneys to filter out more fluid from the bloodstream to stabilise our blood pressure, in a process called “immersion diuresis”. When this happens, our bladder fills up faster than normal, triggering the urge to pee.

Interestingly, immersion in very warm water (such as a relaxing bath) may also increase urine production. In this case, however, it’s due to activation of the parasympathetic nervous system. One study demonstrated an increase in water temperature from 40℃ to 50℃ reduced the time it took for participants to start urinating.

Similar to the effect of hearing running water, the authors of the study suggest being in warm water is calming for the body and activates the parasympathetic nervous system. This activation can result in the relaxation of the bladder and possibly the pelvic floor muscles, bringing on the urge to pee.

The nervous wee

We know stress and anxiety can cause bouts of nausea and butterflies in the tummy, but what about the bladder? Why do we feel a sudden and frequent urge to urinate at times of heightened stress, such as before a date or job interview?

When a person becomes stressed or anxious, the body goes into fight-or-flight mode through the activation of the sympathetic nervous system. This triggers a cascade of physiological changes designed to prepare the body to face a perceived threat.

As part of this response, the muscles surrounding the bladder may contract, leading to a more urgent and frequent need to pee. Also, as is the case during immersion diuresis, the increase in blood pressure associated with the stress response may stimulate the kidneys to produce more urine.

Some final thoughts

We all pee (most of us several times a day). Yet research has shown about 75% of adults know little about how this process actually works – and even less about the brain-bladdder axis and its role in urination.

Most Australians will experience urinary difficulties at some point in their lives, so if you ever have concerns about your urinary health, it’s extremely important to consult a healthcare professional.

And should you ever find yourself unable to pee, perhaps the sight or sound of running water, a relaxing bath or a nice swim will help with getting that stream to flow.

Read more:
Is urine sterile? Do urine ‘therapies’ work? Experts debunk common pee myths

Helen O’Connell is the current president of The Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand (USANZ).

David Homewood, James Overs, and Simon Robert Knowles 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. Does running water really trigger the urge to pee? Experts explain the brain-bladder connection – https://theconversation.com/does-running-water-really-trigger-the-urge-to-pee-experts-explain-the-brain-bladder-connection-210808

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabrielle Appleby, Professor, UNSW Law School, UNSW Sydney

In the upcoming Voice referendum, all Australian voters must decide whether to approve the proposed law to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through the mechanism of a Voice to Parliament and the executive government of the Commonwealth.

So what actually is the “executive government”? Here, I will answer that question, specifically in the context of the proposal that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice will “make representations” (that is, provide its views and advice) to it on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

What does ‘executive government of the Commonwealth’ mean?

There are three branches of government at the Commonwealth level in Australia: the parliament, the executive government, and the judiciary. Broadly speaking, each branch performs a different function of governance.

1. The parliament makes the laws. The federal parliament may only make laws that are connected to its powers, but these laws can override inconsistent state laws.
2. The executive develops laws and policies. Once laws are enacted, it executes or administers those laws (that is, it puts the laws into practice at a day-to- day level).
3. The judiciary determines disputes that arise under the laws.

Once these different functions are understood, it becomes clear why it is important the Voice should speak to both the parliament and the executive.

The Voice needs to speak to parliament as our ultimate lawmaker. It can inform parliamentarians when they debate proposed laws and consider amendments to them.

But the Voice will also need to be involved earlier in the development of proposed laws. This means these earlier and more formative steps, which the executive government undertakes, can benefit from the input of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s views and experiences.

It’s also important the Voice be involved when policies (which might never become formal laws) are developed, as these will shape government practice and so can have a big impact on peoples’ lives. And of course, once a law is enacted, how the executive government actually applies those laws and policies will benefit from their input. As Senator Patrick Dodson has explained:

Government policies and bureaucratic actions have so often adversely affected First Peoples who have not had a say in the implementation of those policies and actions.

So, who is this ‘executive government’?

The “executive government of the Commonwealth” is not a new term. It has been used in a number of other constitutional provisions.

It’s often useful to think of the executive like a pyramid.

At the top of the pyramid sits the governor-general, representing the king, who plays a largely symbolic role. The governor-general acts on advice of the federal ministers, who sit in the next layer down. This is where the prime minister also sits.

In the next layer down are the “other officers of the executive government of the Commonwealth”. This is a much larger group including public servants working in federal government departments, advising ministers and making government decisions, as well as the front-line workers – think, for example, of the service staff at Centrelink. It will also include defence force personnel and police officers. It doesn’t include the public servants working for state and local governments.

The executive also includes people who work in a range of federal statutory entities and authorities. The majority of these are officers of the executive – such as those in the Australian Tax Office, Fair Work Australia, or the Parliamentary Budget Office. (If you are curious, you can see a flip chart of them and their nature here.)

However, some of these entities have been given their own legal “personality” by statute and are incorporated separate from the executive government. These are sometimes described as “independent” agencies. This includes bodies such as the Australian Human Rights Commission, the National Library of Australia and the Reserve Bank. This has given rise to confusion as to whether the Voice may make representations to these entities.

In practice, there is likely to be little confusion. All statutory agencies and independent office-holders are accountable to a minister and therefore have close relationships with them. This means, if that agency is making decisions relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the Voice would be able to make representations to the minister, and the minister would (one would hope) bring that advice to the attention of the agency.

And, as has been stressed many times, no person or body in the executive is under any legal obligation to accept that advice.

What does it mean to say the Voice will make ‘representations’ to the executive?

Many parts of the executive already seek the views of all sorts of different people and groups before making decisions and developing policy. This will often include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and groups.

Sometimes consulting with affected groups is mandated by statute, and sometimes it isn’t. But government officials realise the huge benefit of engaging with people affected by what they do: decisions and policies improve through consultation, and people feel they have been given a fair hearing and process even if the outcome is not exactly what they were seeking. This in turn increases trust in government.

Of course, it’s important to remember that not all parts of the executive are making decisions and developing policies and laws that relate to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. But in those areas where it is, the Voice proposal builds from and improves the current position in three key respects.

First, it provides a standing national body that is representative of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This is of huge benefit not just to these people, who will be given a say in matters that affect them, but to the vast array of executive officers, who now have the convenience of being able to access views of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through the Voice when making decisions that will affect them.

Second, it provides a guaranteed avenue for the Voice to be able to speak to all layers of the executive. This means Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people don’t have to wait to be consulted, but can be proactive, engaging with the executive and making representations on matters that those in the community are telling the Voice are important and pressing. This will enhance those benefits I spoke about above – improving decision-making and policy/law development, as well as improving a sense of fairness in government process and trust in government.

Third, if the Voice is established, laws will be passed to clarify the relationship between it and the executive. These laws are likely to govern matters such as exactly to whom representations will be directed in the first instance within a particular department or agency, how they will be received and considered, and their legal effect.

This will bring a welcome level of clarity – not confusion – to government decision-making, law and policy development.

Gabrielle Appleby was a pro bono constitutional consultant to the Regional Dialogues and First Nations Constitutional Convention that delivered the Uluru Statement from the Heart. She is a member of the Indigenous Law Centre (UNSW Law & Justice) and supports the work of the Uluru Dialogues.

– ref. Explainer: what is executive government and what does it have to do with the Voice to Parliament? – https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-executive-government-and-what-does-it-have-to-do-with-the-voice-to-parliament-212785

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth McCausland, Associate Professor, UNSW Sydney

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety recognised the aged care system has failed to provide culturally safe care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as they age. It recommended major reforms, including active partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The Australian government has also committed more funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander aged care services, with a focus on boosting the role of Aboriginal community-controlled organisations.

So what do older Aboriginal people need to age well? And how can aged care funding and systems enable that?

This was at the centre of our study, led by the Dharriwaa Elders Group in its long-term partnership with UNSW, known as Yuwaya Ngarra-li.
The study involved speaking with 22 Elders in the remote New South Wales town of Walgett about what ageing well means to them.

Read more:
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Elders are the ‘wellspring’ for younger people

Aboriginal Elders play an important role as community leaders and protectors of cultural heritage. This involves passing down knowledge and stories, leadership, care-giving and safeguarding family, community and intergenerational wellbeing. Supporting this aspect of ageing well is crucial. As one Elder explained:

Talking about our stories and storylines, and telling those stories […] It’s Aboriginal culture – it’s an oral system of educating people and giving people information. It’s part and parcel of Aboriginal life […] you know your stories, you know where you come from.

For Elders who have worked away from Walgett in various careers, this means a kind of “active retirement” – returning to Country to bring back knowledge and continue a legacy for future generations.

One said:

Once you have an education, you take it back to your community.

Addressing the ongoing impacts of colonisation

Elders explained how community health and wellbeing continue to be harmed by dispossession and climate change, drought and water insecurity:

When I think about ageing and culture, I think one of the big things that is on people’s minds, especially elderly Aboriginal people, is the fact that the rivers have dried up, and how that affects culture. To me, it’s like another wave of destruction of our culture.

Many Elders described experiencing institutional racism in mainstream services, including aged care services, and identified that current systems are not designed with consideration of the wellbeing of Aboriginal people:

I think there’s always been a difference in the aged care needs of Aboriginal people. We’re in a system, an English system, and I think our care needs are different. Not that we need to be in a building with four walls and just sit there. They don’t understand the Aboriginal way because they never learn it, we learnt their way.

Elders highlighted the need to acknowledge the intergenerational trauma of being placed in institutions for Aboriginal people, especially for survivors of the Stolen Generations who were taken from their families and put in government and church-run institutions.

A holistic concept of wellbeing

For Elders, wellbeing isn’t just about individual health. It also involves social, mental, physical, cultural, spiritual, political, family and community dimensions.

They saw the Dharriwaa Elders Group Centre – a space used for daily meetings, events, cultural exhibitions and other community activities – as vital:

People tell jokes, you come in here and have a yarn about different things. Makes you feel good when you come in here and talk to people.

Another said:

I think the Elders Group is important, that we have this organisation here, we’ve got people together of the same age group, the same mindset. You see it when older people are just around young people, they aren’t exercising their minds as much because they don’t know what they’re talking about. The older person doesn’t understand, and they’re just left there wondering. So if you’ve got similar age, similar thinking, they can have a conversation.

Elders saw staying politically engaged and active in the community through Aboriginal community-controlled organisations as crucial to wellbeing.

A culturally safe model of aged care

Elders talked passionately about how culturally safe aged care means being truly cared for, not just having your needs met. They described the traditional way of caring as based on being loved, valued, respected and safe. A culturally safe model of aged care would integrate these values into practice.

Elders felt strongly that mainstream models didn’t help show what aged care should look like. One said:

They’ve had the royal commission, and the report […] They did do some investigation of ageing Aboriginal people, but how do they fully know what to look at? Come and talk to us. What I mean by this is Closing the Gap – well, there is no such thing for ageing […] Because non-Aboriginal people, we can see they’re getting a bad deal.

Many feared becoming dependent on the aged care system.

Building community capacity in aged care

Walgett is a small remote community, which presents service delivery challenges. But enabling Elders to age on and care for Country, and to stay connected to extended family, would bring many benefits and opportunities.

For example, unemployment among Aboriginal people in Walgett is high; family and community members could be trained and employed to provide in-home support and transport for Elders:

Aboriginal people know their people […] Racism is a big thing and it does rear its head in ageing. Aboriginal people understand the way a person speaks, what they might mean, as opposed to say, a non-Aboriginal person, they wouldn’t understand it. Aboriginal people are closer to the language, to the extended family. They’d be good, to be trained up in aged care.

Local community-controlled organisations are ideally placed to do this, with appropriate resourcing.

What now?

Aged care reform is underway. The Dharriwaa Elders Group and others have raised concerns about a fee-for-service aged care funding model with NDIS-like individualised entitlements.

Elders’ perspectives could guide a different kind of policy and service design reform.

The Dharriwaa Elders Group is an example of how Aboriginal community-controlled organisations provide places to gather and connect, and share knowledge and humour. They can be a hub for community leadership and advocacy. Governments could resource such organisations across Australia to support Elders to age well on Country.

A whole of system approach is required. Elders told us any policy reform must focus not just on aged care, but also on the health, housing and social sectors. This is vital as a non-medical approach to ageing well, enabling Elders to stay on Country, in their community, connected to peers.

This research is leading to possible solutions already. For example, an award-winning Masters project arising from this research drew on what Elders said they needed to design a culturally led model of housing that could be built in Walgett and other remote communities.

Read more:
Aboriginal people with disabilities get caught in a spiral of over-policing

Ruth McCausland receives funding from the Paul Ramsay Foundation and National Health and Medical Research Council, and is on the Board of the Community Restorative Centre.

Peta MacGillivray receives funding from the Paul Ramsay Foundation and is affiliated with the Community Restorative Centre (CRC NSW) as Chair of the Board of Directors.

Sacha Kendall Jamieson receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and through the Westpac Safer Children, Safer Communities grant scheme

Virginia Robinson is Secretary of the Dharriwaa Elders Group

– ref. The aged care system has failed Aboriginal people. Here’s what Elders say needs to change – https://theconversation.com/the-aged-care-system-has-failed-aboriginal-people-heres-what-elders-say-needs-to-change-209031

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martino Malerba, ARC DECRA Fellow, Deakin University

Frogs are in trouble. While many of the world’s animal species are now at risk from habitat loss, climate change and other human pressures, frogs are particularly at risk.

That’s because they rely on fresh water – and rivers, creeks and lakes are especially vulnerable to threats and habitat loss. Freshwater creatures are going extinct faster than land or sea-based lifeforms. Frogs are at even higher risk because their life stages require pristine terrestrial and aquatic habitats – and because the lethal amphibian chytrid fungus is after them.

Frogs could use some good news. Here it is: the farm dam. These ubiquitous human-made ponds are scattered across Australia’s rural regions. Our new research has found they have become home to over two-fifths of Australia’s 240-plus surviving frog species. Better still, as we compiled more than 100,000 audio recordings made by citizen scientists, we could hear the unmistakable calls of species threatened with extinction, such as the green and golden bell frog.

Which dams are important for frogs?

Australia has almost 1.8 million farm dams, storing 20 times the volume of Sydney Harbour. Tens of thousands more are excavated each year.

But which of these small, widely distributed ponds offer the best habitat for frogs? And which of our native frogs are able to use them?

To find out, we drew heavily on the power of citizen science. Thousands of people used the Australian Museum’s FrogID app or Melbourne Water’s Frog Census app to record calling frogs and upload the audio.

Read more:
Farmers are famously self-reliant. Why not use farm dams as mini-hydro plants?

We compiled more than 100,000 recordings near 8,800 farm dam sites. When experts listened to these recordings, they identified 107 different species.

What we were most excited by was discovering species at very real risk of extinction, croaking happily in unnamed dams. These included growling grass frogs (Litoria raniformis), green and golden bell frogs (Litoria aurea), Sloane’s froglet (Crinia sloanei) and northern heath frogs (Litoria littlejohni).

This tells us that farm dams can provide breeding habitat for frogs that are vulnerable to extinction – not just for common species.

In the recordings, we heard the growling grass frog over 3,200 times near 315 farm dams dotted around southeast Australia. That’s an important find, given it’s one of six priority frog species in the government’s threatened species action plan.

Frogs love mid-sized old dams

When we crunched the numbers, we found distinct trends in frog abundance. The dams richest in frog species were those older than 20 years, with a medium surface area around 0.1 hectares (dams get a lot bigger than this), and located in areas with high rainfall and intermediate temperatures.

That makes sense. The older the dam, the more natural it becomes. Aquatic plants have time to grow, while shrubs and plants around the dam provide shelter and calling sites for frogs.

Medium size dams provide frogs with the ideal balance between protection from drying out and reduced danger from fish and reptile predators.

We also detected more frog species in dams close to rivers, lakes or conservation sites. Leapfrogging between nearby wetlands is likely to be an important way frogs colonise farm dams.

Farms and frogs can happily coexist

Is there a clash between what farmers want from their dams and what frogs need? Not necessarily.

It’s certainly true that the banks of dams can, if not looked after, be trampled by livestock into mud. But when farmers fence off parts of the dam banks to protect plants, it benefits livestock health, increases water quality, cuts greenhouse gas emissions, and safeguards breeding habitats for crustaceans, birds, and amphibians, which, in Australia, means frogs.

Researchers from Sustainable Farms have released guides on how to make farm dams even better oases for native wildlife by managing and revegetating farm dams to boost water quality and biodiversity.

As the federal government advances its plans for a nature repair market, it’s possible we could see a surge of interest in farm dams.

In this scenario, making farm dams more wildlife-friendly could net farmers and landholders biodiversity credits. Given the wealth of frog species in dams, this could present a cost-effective strategy.

Does this mean we should encourage more farm dams? Not necessarily. Farm dams can compete for water with natural freshwater systems and reduce habitat for species relying on ephemeral ponds or streams to breed. Any future financial incentives to re-wild farm dams must not reward the mass creation of farm dams.

As we grapple with the ongoing biodiversity crisis, it makes sense to make the most of what we have. Farm dams are everywhere. Let’s make them a haven for our frogs.

Read more:
HECS for farmers? Nature repair loans could help biodiversity recover – and boost farm productivity

Martino Malerba receives funding from the Australian Research Council through the DECRA program (DE220100752).

Don Driscoll receives funding from Australian Pacific Science Foundation and Glenelg Catchment Management Authority to study frog conservation and management. He is affiliated with the Ecological Society of Australia and Society for Conservation Biology.

Jodi Rowley is the Lead Scientist of the Australian Museum’s citizen science project, FrogID. She has received funding from state, federal and philanthropic agencies.

Peter Macreadie receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

Nick Wright 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. Our unsung farm dams provide vital habitat to threatened species of frogs – https://theconversation.com/our-unsung-farm-dams-provide-vital-habitat-to-threatened-species-of-frogs-213072

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin Trenberth, Distinguished Scholar, NCAR; Affiliate Faculty, University of Auckland

This year’s string of record-breaking disasters – from deadly wildfires and catastrophic floods to record-high ocean temperatures and record-low sea ice in Antarctica – seems like an acceleration of human-induced climate change.

And it is. But not only because greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. What we are also observing is the long-predicted water vapour feedback within the climate system.

Since the late 1800s, global average surface temperatures have increased by about 1.1℃, driven by human activities, most notably the burning of fossil fuels which adds greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide and methane) to the atmosphere.

As the atmosphere warms, it can hold more moisture in the form of water vapour, which is also a greenhouse gas. This in turn amplifies the warming caused by our emissions of other greenhouse gases.

Some people mistakenly believe water vapour is a driver of Earth’s current warming. But as I explain below, water vapour is part of Earth’s hydrological cycle and plays an important role in the natural greenhouse effect. Its rise is a consequence of the atmospheric warming caused by our emissions arising especially from burning fossil fuels.

Water vapour: the other greenhouse gas

For every degree Celsius in warming, the water-holding capacity of the atmosphere increases by about 7%. Record-high sea temperatures ensure there is more moisture (in the form of water vapour) in the atmosphere, by an estimated 5-15% compared to before the 1970s, when global temperature rise began in earnest.

Water vapour is a powerful greenhouse gas. Since the 1970s, its rise likely increased global heating by an amount comparable to that from rising carbon dioxide. We are now seeing the consequences.

Read more:
Global average sea and air temperatures are spiking in 2023, before El Niño has fully arrived. We should be very concerned

In many ways, water vapour is the most important greenhouse gas as it makes Earth habitable. But human-induced climate change is primarily caused by increases in the long-lived greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

As a general rule, any molecule with three or more atoms is a greenhouse gas, owing to the way the atoms can vibrate and rotate within the molecule. A greenhouse gas absorbs and re-emits thermal (infrared) radiation and has a blanketing effect.

Clouds have a blanketing effect similar to that of greenhouse gases but they are also bright reflectors of solar radiation and act to cool the surface by day. In the current climate, for average all-sky conditions, water vapour is estimated to account for 50% of the total greenhouse effect, carbon dioxide 19%, ozone 4% and other gases 3%. Clouds make up about a quarter of the greenhouse effect.

Why is water vapour different?

The main greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone – don’t condense and precipitate. Water vapour does, which means its lifetime in the atmosphere is much shorter, by orders of magnitude, compared to other greenhouse gases.

On average, water vapour only lasts nine days, while carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for centuries or even millennia, methane lasts for a decade or two and nitrous oxide a century. These gases serve as the backbone of atmospheric heating, and the resulting rise in temperature is what enables the observed increase in water vapour levels.

Read more:
Extreme precipitation events have always occurred, but are they changing?

The rise in carbon dioxide doesn’t depend on weather. It comes primarily from the burning of fossil fuels. Atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased from pre-industrial levels of 280ppmv to 420ppmv (an increase of 50%) and about half of that increase has happened since 1985.

This accounts for about 75% of the anthropogenic heating from long-lived greenhouse gases. The rest of human-induced atmospheric warming mainly comes from methane and nitrous oxide, with offsets from pollution aerosols.

The extra heating from water vapour has been on a par with that from increased carbon dioxide since the 1970s.

Water vapour and the water cycle

Water vapour is the gaseous form of water and it exists naturally in the atmosphere. It is invisible to the naked eye, unlike clouds, which are composed of tiny water droplets or ice crystals large enough to scatter light and become visible.

The most common measure of water vapour in the atmosphere is relative humidity.

During heatwaves and warm conditions, this is what affects human comfort.
When we sweat, the evaporation of moisture from our skin has a cooling effect. But if the environment is too humid, then this no longer works and the body becomes sticky and uncomfortable.

This process is important for our planet, too, because about 70% of Earth’s surface is water, predominantly ocean. Extra heat generally goes into evaporating water. Plants also release water vapour through a process called transpiration (releasing it through tiny stomata in leaves as part of photosynthesis). The combined process is called evapotranspiration.

The moisture rises into the atmosphere as water vapour. Storms gather and concentrate the water vapour so that it can precipitate. As water vapour has an exponential dependence on temperature, it is highest in warm regions, such as the tropics and near the ground. Levels drop off at cold higher latitudes and altitudes.

The expansion and cooling of air as it rises creates clouds, rain and snow. This vigorous hydrological cycle means water vapour molecules only last a few days in the atmosphere.

Water is the air conditioner of the planet. It not only keeps the surface cooler (albeit at the expense of making it moister) but rain also washes a lot of pollution out of the atmosphere to everyone’s benefit.

Precipitation is vitally important. It nourishes vegetation and supports various ecosystems as long as the rate is moderate. But as the climate warms, higher moisture levels increase the potential for heavier rainfall and the risk of flooding.

Moreover, the latent energy that went into evaporation is returned to the atmosphere, adding to heating and causing air to rise, invigorating storms and making weather extremes greater and less manageable.

These changes mean that where it is not raining, drought and wildfire risk increase, but where it is raining, it pours.

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

– ref. How rising water vapour in the atmosphere is amplifying warming and making extreme weather worse – https://theconversation.com/how-rising-water-vapour-in-the-atmosphere-is-amplifying-warming-and-making-extreme-weather-worse-213347

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamin Kooyman, Learning Adviser, Australian National University

In an essay on Kenneth Branagh, screenwriter Scott Frank recalls meeting the future star and director of his screenplay Dead Again (1991) and wondering “why the guy would want to direct a loopy, film noir thriller like mine?”

He goes on to say “the answer became abundantly clear: Kenneth Branagh wants to do everything”.

Branagh has not shaken this compulsion. A Haunting in Venice, his 20th film as director, opens in Australia today. It is his third appearance as Agatha Christie’s Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot; his first based on a Christie source not previously adapted for film (1969’s Hallowe’en Party); and fifth “loopy” thriller following the Poirots, Dead Again and Sleuth (2007).

It is par for the course for Branagh: dabbling across genres, putting fresh spins on well-worn material, and following in the footsteps of British acting and filmmaking luminaries.

Branagh as acting royalty

Over his first two decades in film, Branagh’s signature work was Shakespearean, beginning with his 1989 directorial debut, Henry V.

In this respect, he followed in the footsteps of Laurence Olivier, whose directorial debut was his wartime Henry V (1944), and Orson Welles, another wunderkind with Shakespearean credentials.

Olivier and Welles created three Shakespeare films apiece. Branagh has, so far, directed five: Henry V, Much Ado about Nothing (1993), Hamlet (1996), Love’s Labour’s Lost (2000) and As You Like It (2006).

He portrayed Iago in Oliver Parker’s Othello (1995), helmed In The Bleak Midwinter (1995) – the story following a semi-professional troupe staging Hamlet – and starred as the Bard himself in All is True (2018). Even Branagh’s self-aggrandising autobiography opens each chapter with lines from Shakespeare.

In addition to courting association with Shakespeare, Branagh’s choices cultivated association with his stage and screen precursors. Like Olivier, he has played both Henry V and Hamlet. Branagh even portrayed Olivier in My Week with Marilyn (2012).

In playing Poirot, Branagh followed the footsteps of British acting luminaries such as Albert Finney, Peter Ustinov and David Suchet.

He positions himself alongside luminaries, casting actors like Derek Jacobi, Paul Scofield, Judi Dench and John Gielgud in his films.

As the director of the Sir Kenneth Branagh Archive, Mark Thornton Burnett, notes, Branagh “deployed seasoned figures from the Royal Shakespeare Company to authenticate his entry into a sacrosanct arena”.

He canonised himself rather than waiting to be canonised.

It worked. Now an elder statesman, he recited Shakespeare scored to Elgar at the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony and lends gravitas to the films of Christopher Nolan.

To Branagh’s credit, he has parodied his upstart crow status, for instance in his role as Gilderoy Lockhart in the Harry Potter films.

Branagh as pop culture connoisseur

While his Shakespearean films position Branagh as a classicist, his genre-hopping around those films is eclectic. He directed thrillers Dead Again and Sleuth, the dramedy Peter’s Friends (1992) and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994).

My PhD, completed in 2009, considered Branagh’s self-fashioning through Shakespeare, little anticipating in the subsequent 13 years he would direct films as disparate as Marvel’s Thor (2011), the Tom Clancy action movie Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014), Disney’s Cinderella (2015), the intimate All is True, children’s fantasy Artemis Fowl (2020), his Poirot trilogy and autobiographical Belfast (2021).

Read more:
Belfast – archiving all the voices of the Troubles

From a cynical perspective, Branagh has made overtures to commercial filmmaking. Alternately, as Frank suggested, Branagh really does “want to do everything”.

Branagh genre-hopped even within his Shakespeare films. His dramatic entrance in shadow in Henry V evokes Darth Vader; his arrival on horseback in Much Ado about Nothing summons The Magnificent Seven (2016); the musical numbers in Love’s Labour’s Lost echo classic Hollywood musicals.

Hamlet, in particular, invites association with Hollywood epics. At 242 minutes, it was the longest commercial release since 1963’s Cleopatra, the first 70mm British production since 1970’s Ryan’s Daughter, and shot by Lawrence of Arabia’s focus-puller Alex Thomson.

The film’s palatial wintry setting recalls Doctor Zhivago, as does Julie Christie’s casting as Gertrude. Charlton Heston’s casting evokes his popular biblical epics. Placing Hamlet’s “How all occasions” soliloquy before intermission mirrors Gone with the Wind’s famous pre-intermission speech.

Branagh’s staging of Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” monologue even suggests Taxi Driver, where anti-hero Travis Bickle likewise fantasises dangerous courses of action before a mirror.

While Branagh’s Shakespearean output links him to high culture, his dabbling across genres and homages to classic films show him to be a pop culture connoisseur.

Branagh as maximalist

Branagh is a maximalist whose precursors are, in some respects, Ken Russell and Richard Lester: directors with idiosyncratic and irreverent relationships to British heritage cinema who were unafraid to take creative swings.

Like Branagh, Russell was tongue-in-cheek in grappling with the canon (D.H. Lawrence, Elgar, Mahler, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Byron and the Shelleys), but far more subversive.

Like Branagh, Lester was an energetic, lively filmmaker who dabbled in Hollywood superhero fare (Superman II and III) and populist classic literature (his Musketeers films and Robin and Marion), but far more counter-cultural.

Joe Wright is arguably Branagh’s contemporary and successor. He too has a penchant for long tracking shots (see Atonement’s Dunkirk sequence and Henry V’s post-Agincourt march); delivers spry, earthy takes on canonical material (Pride and Prejudice); and is unafraid of genre fare (Hanna), postmodern approaches (Anna Karenina) or looking silly (Pan).

Branagh is, ultimately, an important figure who traverses mediums, roles, genres and tastes. Though varying wildly in quality – Rotten Tomato scores for his directorial features range from 8% for Artemis Fowl to 98% for Henry V – his output showcases a quite remarkable straddling of genres and production scales, seemingly hidden in plain sight.

Read more:
Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile seems to forget Agatha Christie was a master of the murder mystery

Benjamin Kooyman 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. A Haunting in Venice is Kenneth Branagh’s 20th film – what do we make of his prodigious output? – https://theconversation.com/a-haunting-in-venice-is-kenneth-branaghs-20th-film-what-do-we-make-of-his-prodigious-output-209790

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Doddridge, Research Associate in Physical Oceanography, University of Tasmania

For most of us, Antarctic sea ice is an abstraction – something far away we may have seen on a documentary. But the radiant white sheets of ice floating on the seas around the snowy continent are a crucial component of Earth’s climate processes.

Sea ice insulates the ocean, reflects heat, drives currents, supports ecosystems and protects ice shelves. It also has an annual seasonal cycle – some of the ice melts, then freezes again.

Every year, the cycle of freeze and melt around Antarctica has been extremely reliable. Until recently.

In a new study published today in Communications Earth & Environment, we have found a preliminary indication that Antarctic sea ice may have entered a new state of diminished coverage.

A sudden, dramatic loss

For many years, while the Arctic lost sea ice, the Antarctic did not. Then, in the spring of 2016, Antarctic sea-ice coverage dropped dramatically. Over two years, the Antarctic lost as much sea ice as the Arctic had lost in three decades. Since then, Antarctic sea ice has been below average almost constantly.

This past Southern Hemisphere summer, Antarctic sea ice was the lowest it has ever been, with dire consequences. In late 2022 we saw the heartbreaking loss of 10,000 emperor penguin chicks, when the sea ice they lived on melted before they had grown their waterproof feathers.

On February 19 2023, Antarctic sea ice set a new record minimum of 1.77 million square kilometres, 36% below the 1979–2022 average for the summer minimum.

Read more:
Antarctica’s heart of ice has skipped a beat. Time to take our medicine

Since then, things have gone from bad to worse. The winter around Antarctica is cold and dark. Ever since we’ve had satellites to measure it, the surface of the ocean has reliably frozen into sea ice at about the same pace every winter, even following low sea ice summers. Except for this year.

This winter we have seen the largest negative anomaly – deviation from the norm – since reliable satellite measurements began in the late 1970s. What’s more, this record negative anomaly happened at a time of year when there has historically been very little variation from one year to the next.

Something has fundamentally changed Antarctic sea ice this year.

Two main drivers of sea ice

In our study, we used a statistical algorithm to identify three different periods in the sea-ice record. The first was a neutral sea-ice period from November 1978 to August 2007, the second a high sea-ice period from September 2007 to August 2016, and the third a low sea-ice period from September 2016 until now.

Our analysis of the relationship between sea ice and the underlying ocean suggests this current low sea-ice period may represent a new state or “regime” for Antarctic sea ice. What does that mean?

Sea ice forms a thin layer between the ocean and the atmosphere. Therefore, it is affected by both.

On timescales of days and weeks, the atmosphere is what controls sea ice – it forms when the air above is cold, and is blown around by the wind.

However, the ocean is crucial in determining how the sea ice responds to the atmosphere. The waters beneath are what influences sea ice variation and change in the long term.

Read more:
Why Antarctica’s sea ice cover is so low (and no, it’s not just about climate change)

Lately, sea ice seems to be responding to atmospheric drivers differently than it did in the past, suggesting an influence from the slowly varying ocean may be important.

Research published in 2019 suggested ocean warming may have played a role in the low sea ice extent observed in the 2016/17 summer.

Building on this hypothesis, our study examined the long-term variations in sea ice and ocean temperature, finding that ocean warming has pushed Antarctic sea ice into a new low-extent state.

A clear warming trend

Using data from ocean temperature measurements 100-200m below the surface, we found a clear warming trend over the period for which we have reliable observations.

Importantly, strong subsurface ocean warming began in 2015, in the same regions that lost substantial sea ice in 2016. This is a key indication the ocean was important in driving the low sea ice in 2016. Since then, the warm subsurface ocean seems to be maintaining the low sea-ice coverage.

Prior to 2016 there was no relationship between the amount of sea ice at the summertime minimum and the amount at the following wintertime maximum. Since 2016 there is a strong relationship. This change suggests something has fundamentally altered the relationship between the ocean and the sea ice.

Together, this evidence suggests the overall way of how Antarctic ice behaves in the atmosphere-ocean-sea ice system has changed.

Our results suggest that even though the record-breaking low sea ice we’ve seen this year is shocking, it is likely to be the new abnormal.

We may now be seeing the inevitable decline in Antarctic sea ice, long projected by climate models. The Antarctic region is changing rapidly. To understand these rapid shifts, we urgently need to support fieldwork in sea ice, and develop computer models that will help us to understand the changes we are already seeing, and to predict what the future will look like.

Reduced sea ice will have serious implications for Southern Ocean ecosystems and global consequences for the climate system. Dramatic changes in a seasonal cycle as reliable and critical as Antarctic sea ice underscores the urgency to reduce fossil fuel emissions.

Read more:
Record low Antarctic sea ice is another alarming sign the ocean’s role as climate regulator is changing

Edward Doddridge receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

Ariaan Purich receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

– ref. Devastatingly low Antarctic sea ice may be the ‘new abnormal’, study warns – https://theconversation.com/devastatingly-low-antarctic-sea-ice-may-be-the-new-abnormal-study-warns-212376

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

Anthony Albanese has now confirmed he’ll be heading to China before the end of the year. He is the first Australian prime minister to visit since 2016, and it is the culmination of an improvement in China-Australia relations since the change of government.

In this podcast, we’re joined by Richard McGregor, an expert on China and senior fellow at the Lowy Institute.

McGregor says the Albanese trip will be particularly important, given the hiatus between prime ministerial visits.

We haven’t had a prime minister in China for six, seven years. We all know why that’s the case, it’s not just COVID. It’s also because Australia’s relationship with China went downhill slowly, then quickly to the point where we didn’t have any political dialogue at all for about two to three years.

Our position in South East Asia, our position in the Pacific and our alliance with the United States all are affected by the China relationship.

While the government has trodden carefully in rebuilding the relationship, McGregor acknowledges there will be risks in the trip. “There are risks, undoubtedly, we’re going up to another level in what the Chinese call a ‘reset’ [and] we studiously call ‘stabilisation’.”

The Chinese see value in stabilising relations with Australia inasmuch as it sort of turns off a very bad signal that the bilateral fight was sending to the rest of the world. Australia and China had deep divisions [and] we made a lot of noise about it.

Many countries which normally wouldn’t really take much notice of Australian foreign policy, particularly in Europe and to some extent in a different way in South East Asia, in Japan and South Korea, have all watched Australia closely for lessons about how to manage the downside of the relationship. And I think that for China, it wasn’t working for them as well for all sorts of reasons.

So the election allowed the beginning of the stabilisation and I think the Chinese are taking advantage of that.

Australia and China have been embroiled in a bitter trade dispute since former Prime Minister Scott Morrison pressed for an investigation into the origin of COVID-19 in 2020. Up to $20 billion worth of Australian exports were targeted by the Chinese government. Recently Trade Minister Don Farrell estimated that has come down to $2.5 billion. On the remaining sanctions McGregor sees a mixed picture.

On the commodities or sectors which are still affected, wine I think is running on its own track – that’s the subject of a World Trade Organisation complaint by Australia. Until we get a draft report with a resolution to that or a decision – Australia seems to expect it will be in our favour – but until we get that we’ll see no movement from China I think.

In the other areas we might get some sort of flashy opening or partial reopening of the punitive trade measures on areas like lobster, around the time Mr. Albanese is to visit. I think that’s a time honoured Chinese technique, to sort of ‘sweeten the tea before it’s drunk’ But no big change I think.

The bulk of [Australian] trade with China, which is dominated by iron ore, LNG and the like, the bulk of that was not affected. That was the fascinating thing about our trade dispute because during that period both sides tried to diversify, and both sides really failed. We still have complementary economies, we sell them stuff that they still need, and China won’t self harm.

While Albanese has flagged there are no concessions in place for the visit, McGregor says if he doesn’t make any progress regarding imprisoned Chinese-Australians Cheng Lei and Yang Hengjun, it will be “embarrassing and damaging” for his reputation:

This is where the risks of the Albanese trip comes in – Australia has constantly said that we would go to China without any preconditions and I think that’s fair enough. But if six months or so after the trip […] there’s been no movement on the two high-profile detainees Cheng Lei and Yang Hengjun, then I think that would be very embarrassing and damaging for Mr Albanese.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Albanese have a lot of talking points to cover, and McGregor believes Chinese foreign investment in Australia and climate change will be of particular focus:

China is a big, complicated country, but it’s a clean energy superpower. 90% of solar panels in the world are manufactured in China. […] Yes, they are struggling to get their emissions down because their economy is still growing. Just one figure, the share of coal-fired power in the Chinese economy has gone down from about the mid 70’s to 50% in recent years.

Foreign investment is a point of conflict. […] I think Australia’s going to be very restrictive in the area of lithium and rare earths. And I think the Chinese will be raising that quite vociferously. I expect the Australian response at the top table will be vague, but we’ve already made it pretty clear that we’re not going to allow, potentially, a country which has been unfriendly and which we we have not a great deal of trust in investing in there and potentially dominating that industry in Australia.

Other than that, both leaders will be laying out, I think, their view of the world, their view of the region, their concerns about instability in the region and the possibility of conflict. There are all sorts of things that Mr. Albanese will have to raise.

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

– ref. Politics with Michelle Grattan: Asia expert Richard McGregor on Anthony Albanese’s coming visit to China – https://theconversation.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-asia-expert-richard-mcgregor-on-anthony-albaneses-coming-visit-to-china-213471

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shae McCrystal, Professor of Labour Law, University of Sydney

Qantas faces a potentially huge compensation payout to sacked workers, in a further knock to the carrier’s already diminished reputation.

On Wednesday the airline lost its bid to have the High Court overturn a ruling that it unlawfully outsourced the jobs of around 1,683 ground crew, including baggage handlers, cleaners and tug drivers.

The ruling was the culmination of a long road for the Transport Workers’ Union, and the impacted employees, whose belief that their jobs were outsourced because Qantas wanted to avoid negotiating with them over their future pay and conditions was vindicated by the High Court.

In November 2020, at the height of the pandemic, Qantas made the outsourcing decision which made the ground crews across ten airports redundant, and saved Qantas an estimated $100 million a year in operating costs.

The workers turn to the courts

The union took action in the Federal Court of Australia, arguing the decision was made to avoid bargaining with those same workers for a new enterprise agreement, and to stop them taking protected industrial action.

In July 2021, Justice Lee in the Federal Court found that Qantas could not show it had not made the workers redundant for the reasons alleged by the union. Because the right to bargain and take industrial action are workplace rights under the Fair Work Act, this meant Qantas had taken adverse action against those employees in breach of the Act.

Justice Lee’s decision was upheld by the Full Federal Court of Australia in May 2022, and on Wednesday was unanimously upheld by the High Court.

Read more:
Qantas chief Alan Joyce quits early, amid customer fury at the airline

Qantas will now be required to pay compensation to the employees concerned and penalties for breaches of the Fair Work Act – with those amounts to be determined by Justice Lee in the Federal Court.

While the workers have been vindicated, the ruling does not mean employers cannot make outsourcing decisions, or that those former Qantas employees will get their jobs back. It doesn’t even mean Qantas will suffer substantial harm beyond what is likely to be a hefty bill.

As demonstrated after its 2011 worldwide lockout and shutdown, Qantas seems willing and able to absorb both financial pain and substantial damage to its reputation in pursuit of its industrial objectives.

So, what does the ruling mean?

It is important to understand that the case turned on very narrow principles of law and findings of fact.

When making a decision that affects an employee, an employer must not make that decision because the employee has workplace rights, or to prevent the employee exercising their workplace rights.

Read more:
Will it be greener pastures for Qantas as Alan Joyce takes off?

The Fair Work Act does not prevent employers making business decisions. Qantas was lawfully able to make a decision to outsource its ground handling staff. And it was entitled to base its decision on legitimate business grounds, including factors such as cost, profit and convenience.

What it was not entitled to do was to include, as a reason for the outsourcing decision, seeking to avoid engaging in collective bargaining with those employees or to avoid them exercising their right to strike.

Qantas could not prove this was not an operative or substantial part of its reasoning.

A rare win for the unions

The High Court case is significant, but not because it makes a precedent that employers cannot outsource their workforces.

It is significant because the union won. And these cases are notoriously hard to win. Because they turn on the subjective reasons of the decision maker, which can be very difficult to challenge in practice.

Furthermore, it is hard to get injunctive relief to prevent decisions taken for prohibited reasons before they can be implemented.

In the Federal Court, the union sought reinstatement of the workers impacted by Qantas’s unlawful actions.

But the egg was already scrambled – the workers had been made redundant, and the work outsourced to external providers and their employees (with less generous industrial arrangements). Third-party interests had got involved. So, the Federal Court refused the reinstatement request.

This leaves the compensation and penalties payments that Qantas now faces potentially as just a cost of doing business.

So what has come out of this ruling?

The lessons we can draw from the decision are threefold.

First, the laws that protect our workers in the exercise of their rights need to be strengthened so the victory of the Transport Workers’ Union does not stand as an anomaly.

Second, early injunctive relief in these cases should be easier to access so workers rights are preserved, and courts are not left attempting to compensate workers once the damage is done and cannot be undone.

Read more:
What will putting the interests of Qantas ahead of Qatar Airways cost? $1 billion per year and a new wave of protectionism of legacy carriers

Third, this decision won’t prevent businesses outsourcing to avoid negotiating enterprise agreements with their workers – not where they can show legitimate business reasons for their actions that do not involve any substantive prohibited reasons.

The solution to the outsourcing problem lies in multi-employer and industry-level bargaining. It shouldn’t be significantly cheaper to outsource your workers. If all employers within a sector have to pay the same rates through multi-employer or industry-level agreements, the incentive to outsource falls away.

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

– ref. High Court ruling vindicates sacked Qantas workers but doesn’t stop the outsourcing of jobs in the future – https://theconversation.com/high-court-ruling-vindicates-sacked-qantas-workers-but-doesnt-stop-the-outsourcing-of-jobs-in-the-future-213452

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brad E Tucker, Astrophysicist/Cosmologist, Australian National University

Are we alone? This question is nearly as old as humanity itself. Today, this question in astronomy focuses on finding life beyond our planet. Are we, as a species, and as a planet, alone? Or is there life somewhere else?

Usually the question inspires visions of weird, green versions of humans. However, life is more than just us: animals, fish, plants and even bacteria are all the kinds of things we seek signs of in space.

One thing about life on Earth is that it leaves traces in the chemical makeup of the atmosphere. So traces like that, which are visible from a long way away, are something we look for when we’re hunting aliens.

Scientists in the United Kingdom and the United States have just reported some very interesting chemical traces in the atmosphere of a planet called K2-18b, which is about 124 light-years from Earth. In particular, they may have detected a substance which on Earth is only produced by living things.

Meet exoplanet K2-18b

K2-18b is an interesting exoplanet – a planet that orbits another star. Discovered in 2015 by the Kepler Space Telescope’s K2 mission, it is a type of planet called a sub-Neptune. As you probably guessed, these are smaller than Neptune in our own Solar System.

The planet is about eight and a half times heavier than Earth, and orbits a type of star called a red dwarf, which is much cooler than our Sun. However, K2-18b orbits much closer to its star than Neptune does – in what we call the habitable zone. This is the area that is not too hot and not too cold, where liquid water can exist (instead of freezing to ice or boiling into steam).

Read more:
To search for alien life, astronomers will look for clues in the atmospheres of distant planets – and the James Webb Space Telescope just proved it’s possible to do so

Earth is what is called a rocky planet (for obvious reasons), but sub-Neptunes are gas planets, with much larger atmospheres containing lots of hydrogen and helium. Their atmosphere can also contain other elements.

Which brings us to the excitement around K2-18b.

How to fingerprint an atmosphere

The planet was first discovered by the Kepler Space Telescope, which was monitoring distant stars and hoping for planets to pass in front of them. When a planet does pass between us and a star, the star becomes momentarily dimmer – which is what tells us a planet is there.

By measuring how big the dip in brightness is, how long it takes for the planet to pass in front of the star, and how often it happens, we can work out the size and orbit of the planet. This technique is great at finding planets, but it doesn’t tell us about their atmospheres – which is a key piece of information to understand if they hold life or are habitable.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope – the big space telescope launched at the end of 2021 – has now observed and measured the atmosphere of this exoplanet.

The telescope did this by measuring the colour of light so finely, it can detect traces of specific atoms and molecules. This process, called spectroscopy, is like measuring the fingerprint of elements.

Each element and molecule has its own colour signature. If you can look at the colour signature, you can do a bit of detective work, and work out what elements or compounds are in the planet.

While the planet does not have its own light, astronomers waited for when K2-18b passed in front of its star, and measured the starlight as it went through the planet’s atmosphere, allowing the team to detect fingerprints of substances in the atmosphere.

Alien marine farts?

The new study found a lot of carbon dioxide and methane. This is interesting as this is like what is found on Earth, Mars, and Venus in our Solar System – rather than Neptune.

However, it also found a small amount of dimethyl sulfide. Dimethyl sulfide is an interesting molecule, made up of carbon, hydrogen, and sulfur.

On Earth, it’s generally a bit smelly. But it’s also closely linked to life.

The only process we know that creates dimethyl sulfide on our planet is life. In particular, marine life and plankton emit it in the form of flatulence.

So yes, scientists are excited by the potential idea of alien marine farts. If it is real. And linked to life.

The search continues

While on Earth, dimethyl sulfide is linked to life, on other planets it may somehow be related to geological or chemical processes.

After all, K2-18b is something like Neptune – a planet we do not really know a lot about. Just last month, researchers discovered that clouds on Neptune are strongly linked to the Sun’s 11-year cycle of activity. We have a lot to learn about planets and their atmospheres.

Also, the measurement of dimethyl sulfide is very subtle – not nearly as strong as the carbon dioxide and methane. This means more detailed measurements, to improve the strength of the signal, are required.

Read more:
The Webb telescope has released its very first exoplanet image – here’s what we can learn from it

Other telescopes may need to join the effort. Instruments on the Very Large Telescope in Chile are able to measure the atmospheres of planets around other stars – as is a new instrument called Veloce on the Anglo Australian Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia.

And new space telescopes, like Europe’s PLATO which is under construction, will also help us get a better look at alien atmospheres.

So while the signs of dimethyl sulfide on K2-18b may not be linked to life, they are still an exciting prospect. There is plenty more to explore.

Brad E Tucker receives funding from the Australian Research Council and Australian Capital Territory Government.

– ref. Signs of life? Why astronomers are excited about carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere of an alien world – https://theconversation.com/signs-of-life-why-astronomers-are-excited-about-carbon-dioxide-and-methane-in-the-atmosphere-of-an-alien-world-213458

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

The Housing Australia Future Fund, or HAFF, will finally pass the Senate this week, most likely on Thursday.

Based on a Grattan Institute proposal, the fund is expected to support the construction of 20,000 social homes and 10,000 affordable homes over the next five years.

The Bill has been stalled in the Senate for months, with the Coalition opposing it and the Greens refusing to lend their support to it until the government agreed to support a number of their own proposals for housing.

But the Greens have now agreed, in exchange for another A$1 billion for social housing, on top of the $2 billion in extra social housing funds the federal government gave to the states in June.

The biggest social housing boost in years

The fund will begin with $10 billion borrowed by the government and invested by the Future Fund, with the returns used to offer at least $500 million a year in subsidies to state governments and community housing providers in order to support the construction of social and affordable housing.

It will be the biggest single investment in social housing since the global financial crisis 15 years ago.

Social housing – in which rents are typically capped at 25-to-30% of tenants’ incomes – can make a big difference to the lives of many vulnerable Australians.

Yet Australia’s stock of social housing, currently about 430,000 dwellings, has barely grown in 20 years, despite the population growing 33%.

Social housing is expensive

What makes housing “social housing” is a big rental discount, or subsidy, given to tenants. The subsidy needed is thought to be around $15,000 per rental per year.

Once that subsidy is guaranteed to a provider such as a state government or community housing organisation it can pay the upfront costs of construction knowing that rent and subsidy combined will make the project viable.

Future funds are a way of funding it

Future funds are not unusual.

The main Future Fund was set up in 2006 to accumulate funds to pay for public sector pensions and the Board of Guardians currently manages it and five additional special-purpose funds:

• the Medical Research Future Fund,

• the DisabilityCare Australia Fund

• the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land and Sea Future Fund

• the Future Drought Fund

• the Disaster Ready Fund.

The theory, in most years borne out in practice, is that such funds can earn more than the government has to pay to borrow, meaning they can be a better use of government funds than paying off debt.

A concession offered to the Greens during negotiations means the housing fund will have to spend a minimum of $500 million a year on social and affordable housing (a figure that was previously a maximum) regardless of the fund’s returns in any particular year.

The case for further delay was weak

Instead of a rent subsidy of $500 million per year drawn from a future fund, the Greens wanted a number of commitments including $5 billion per year invested directly in social and affordable housing.

As strange as it seems, apart from the amounts involved, the two ideas weren’t that far apart.

One idea (the Greens) has the government borrowing to invest in housing, and using the growth in the value of that investment to subsidise rents.

The other idea (the government’s) has the government borrowing to invest in shares and other assets, and using the growth in the value of that investment to subsidise rents.

Under both, the government would guarantee to subsidise rents using the returns on assets it borrowed to buy.

This made the case for further delay weak.

The fund will need more than $10 billion

The government says in its first five years of operation the $10 billion HAFF will help fund the construction of 20,000 social homes and 10,000 affordable homes.

But Grattan Institute calculations suggest it will do it by committing the returns of the fund to rent subsidies for about 15 years.

This means that, as presently set up, the fund is unlikely to support the building of further social housing for a decade or so beyond the first five years.

Read more:
The compelling case for a future fund for social housing

Yet other calculations suggest Australia is set to need around 6,500 extra social housing dwellings per year just to keep pace with population growth.

This means the initial $10 billion won’t be enough – the HAFF will have to grow.

The Grattan Institute originally suggested $20 billion, which still mightn’t be enough, but it could be enough if state governments agreed to match it.

Then, with a $20 billion fund channelling subsidies of $1 billion a year into housing subsidies, plus matching funding from the states, there’s a chance we could make Australia’s social housing stock grow faster than Australia’s population for the first time in decades.

At $10 billion, the Housing Australia Future Fund is a start.

Brendan Coates 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 Greens were right to agree to pass Australia’s Housing Future Fund bill – the case for further delay was weak – https://theconversation.com/the-greens-were-right-to-agree-to-pass-australias-housing-future-fund-bill-the-case-for-further-delay-was-weak-213255

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ailie Gallant, Senior Lecturer, School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University

July 2023 was the hottest month ever recorded. And now we know something even more alarming. This week, the European Space Agency announced the July heat pushed the global average temperatures 1.5℃ above the pre-industrial average.

The ominous headlines seemed to suggest we’d blown past the 2015 Paris Agreement goal of holding warming to 1.5℃ – and around a decade earlier than expected.

Is that it? Game over, we lost?

Well, like all things to do with climate change, it’s not quite that simple. The threshold was breached for a month before average temperatures dropped back. And July 2023 isn’t actually the first time this has happened either – the dubious honour goes to February 2016, where we broke the threshold for a few days.

Remind me – why is 1.5℃ so important?

In 2015, the world looked like it was finally getting somewhere with action to combat climate change. After decades of arduous debate, 195 nations adopted the Paris Agreement, a formal but non-binding agreement with a clear goal: limit global warming to 1.5℃ above pre-industrial levels to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

But there’s nothing magic about this number. Every increase worsens the impacts. So why is 1.5℃ so important?

Essentially, it was thrashed out by experts as a threshold representing heightened danger. The Paris Agreement states avoiding dangerous climate change means keeping global temperatures “well below 2℃” of warming, and so the 1.5℃ threshold was born.

Read more:
The 1.5℃ global warming limit is not impossible – but without political action it soon will be

What’s a dangerous level of climate change? Basically, levels of warming where the damage becomes so widespread or severe as to threaten economies, ecosystems, agriculture, and risk irreversible tipping points such as the collapse of ice sheets or ocean circulations. More importantly, this level of warming risks pushing us beyond the limits of being able to adapt.

Put simply, the 1.5℃ threshold is the best estimate of the point where we are likely to find ourselves well up the proverbial creek, without a paddle.

Is it too late to act on climate change?

So, should we all just give up?

Not yet.

The global authority on climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, defines 1.5℃ as a departure from global average temperatures above the 1850 to 1900 (pre-industrial) average.

It’s true that this threshold was exceeded for the month of July 2023. But the climate is more than a single month.

Global average temperatures go up and down every year on top of the global warming trend, because climates naturally vary year-to-year.

The most recent few years have been much warmer than average, but cooler than they could have been because of consecutive La Niña events.

This year, there’s been a significant acceleration in warming, largely due to the brewing El Niño event in the Pacific. El Niño years tend to be hotter.

To iron out year-to-year differences, we typically average data over several decades. As a result, a 2021 IPCC report defines the 1.5℃ threshold as the first 20-year period when we reach 1.5℃ of global warming (based on surface air temperatures).

Recent research shows the best estimate to pass this threshold is in the early 2030s. That means, by IPCC definitions, the average global temperature between the early 2020s and early 2040s is estimated to be 1.5C.

Dangerously close to the red line

All of this means we haven’t yet failed to meet our Paris targets. But the July record shows us we are dangerously close to the line.

As the world keeps heating up, we’ll see more and more months like this July, and move closer and closer to the threshold of 1.5℃, beyond which global warming will become more and more dangerous.

Is it still possible to stay below 1.5℃? Maybe. We would need extremely aggressive cuts to emissions to have a chance. Failing that, we will likely exceed the Paris target within the next decade or so.

Let’s say that happens. Would that mean we just give up on climate action?

Hardly. 1.5℃ is bad. 1.6℃ would be worse. 2℃ would be worse still. 3℃ would be unthinkable. Every extra increment matters.

The closer we stay to the line – even if we cross it – the better.

And there’s now good evidence that even if we overshoot 1.5℃, we could still reverse it by ending emissions and soaking up excess greenhouse gas emissions. It’s like turning around an enormous container ship – it takes time to overcome the inertia. But the sooner we turn around, the better.

Read more:
After COP27, all signs point to world blowing past the 1.5 degrees global warming limit – here’s what we can still do about it

Ailie Gallant receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water.

Kimberley Reid receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

– ref. We just blew past 1.5 degrees. Game over on climate? Not yet – https://theconversation.com/we-just-blew-past-1-5-degrees-game-over-on-climate-not-yet-213364

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Kidson, Senior Lecturer in Educational Leadership, Australian Catholic University

Victorian Premier Dan Andrews has opened a new front in the national campaign to attract and retain teachers. Amid ongoing teacher shortages, Victoria will offer fee-free education for high school teaching degrees from next year.

This is similar to the free nursing degrees Victoria announced in 2022 to create an “army of home-grown health workers”.

But is it going to fix the problem?

Read more:
Governments are making nursing degrees cheaper or ‘free’ – these plans are not going to help attract more students

What was announced?

On Tuesday, the Victorian government announced a A$230 million teaching package.

This includes scholarships to cover the costs of a high school teaching degree. Students will be required to work in Victorian government schools for two years after they graduate. This is expected to support about 8,000 “future teachers”.

There is a further $27 million to provide up to $50,000 in incentives for graduates to work in hard-to-staff schools, both in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas. There is also $95.7 million to support and mentor first year teachers.

It’s an attractive package. But it’s very unlikely to address the core of the problem. That’s because access to tertiary study and incentives to relocate are not the root causes of teachers shortages, particularly in rural and remote areas.

History tells us to be cautious

History suggests free degrees will not see a surge of students applying to study teaching.

There was free university education in Australia between 1974 and 1989. Yet 1996 analysis showed the reintroduction of fees under the Hawke government was accompanied by an increase in university access, rather than a reduction in student numbers.

Greater access to tertiary education also didn’t make it easier to find teachers for hard-to-staff schools. A 2019 University of Canberra review looked at 20 years of evidence around attracting and retaining teachers in rural and remote communities, including financial incentives. It found “we are no closer to solving this perennial issue”.

International evidence is mixed. It shows financial incentives can lead to an immediate increase in enrolments for teaching courses, but this tapers off quickly once the incentive is removed (as appears to be the case here at the end of 2025).

Research also suggests cash incentives can convince some students who are open to the idea of teaching, yet undecided, to enrol. But there is little chance it will bring people into the profession who don’t already value teaching.

It’s a question of motivation

Like nursing, the motivation for pursuing a teaching career is driven by a range of factors largely unrelated to pure financial incentives.

Those who choose, and remain in, teaching beyond their first few years are typically attracted by the intellectual stimulation, social benefits of teaching and opportunity to have a positive impact on people’s lives.

Students motivated predominantly by financial incentives may well get a reality check when they encounter their first practical experience in a classroom, particularly in a hard-to-staff school.

Schools also need to be positive and safe places to work if we want to attract and keep teachers. In a December 2022 review, the Productivity Commission noted “low value” administrative tasks meant teachers were not spending enough time teaching.

There have also been repeated reports about unreasonable expectations and even abuse from parents, as well as student behavioural issues.

Unfortunately many teachers report their work is leaving them stressed and burned out – and wanting to leave the profession.

Read more:
‘They phone you up during lunch and yell at you’ – why teachers say dealing with parents is the worst part of their job

We need to look beyond teaching degrees

It’s good to see almost $96 million in the package to support first year teachers’ transition into the profession through “extra preparation time, mentoring and other professional support”.

This is consistent with the national plan to address teacher shortages, released by federal and state education ministers in late 2022.

But we also need ongoing measures. This includes professional and practical supports.

Adequate housing for teachers amid a housing affordability crisis remains a challenge. The impracticality of being posted to a regional school without housing is self-evident.

Community and social connections are also vital for new teachers who move to non-metropolitan areas for work.

Read more:
We won’t solve the teacher shortage until we answer these 4 questions

More questions

This package is an important and welcome response to teacher shortages. But it is unlikely to fix the problem and leaves us with some questions.

The funding is only for high school teachers. Could this attract students potentially interested in primary teaching and make primary school supply issues a greater problem?

The funding is only for enrolments in 2024 and 2025 and only for government schools. What happens in two years’ time? Could the package be extended to private and Catholic schools?

A two-year package with free degrees may seem like good politics (and it makes a good headline). But we need to look at the bigger picture and examine issues such as working conditions, professional development, and the way our society supports teachers so they can keep doing the essential work they do.

Paul Kidson works in the National School of Education at the Australian Catholic University. ACU provides initial teacher education in Victoria.

– ref. Will free teaching degrees fix the teacher shortage? It’s more complicated than that – https://theconversation.com/will-free-teaching-degrees-fix-the-teacher-shortage-its-more-complicated-than-that-213361

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Portolan, PhD student, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University

In the ever-evolving realm of social media, TikTok has emerged as a dynamic platform that has reshaped how we engage with content and share our personal romantic stories. Within this vibrant ecosystem, one phenomenon has caught romance raconteurs’ attention: dating story time.

The #DatingStoryTime hashtag has transformed into a virtual stage where users narrate their dating experiences, weaving a colourful tapestry of narratives that mirror the complexities of modern romance.

To unlock the depths of the trend and its impact, I examined a series of TikTok accounts that actively employed the #DatingStoryTime hashtag. My research encompassed several crucial dimensions: the milestone that users discussed, the situational context and the audience engagement.

Milestones, context and comments

The study explored the nature of milestones discussed in the TikTok videos, which ranged from the excitement of a first date to the heartache of a breakup.

Another vital aspect was the context in which users chose to share their dating stories. Were these stories recounted during everyday activities, such as knitting, breakfast or makeup application? This sought to unveil the ordinary scenarios that users engaged in as they participated in the dating story time trend.

The study also delved into the responses generated within the TikTok community, examining the types of comments and interactions these videos attracted. Were users met with support, trolling or a blend of both?

Scrutinising the audience’s reactions provided insights into how this trend influences perceptions of dating.

Humour and horror in dating

Among the TikToks examined in the study, many showcased humorous tales from first date experiences. These stories often revolved around socially awkward behaviours, such as unwanted public displays of affection, conflict about paying the bill or other unusual behaviours.

In addition to recounting in-person encounters, users also shared quirky and entertaining dating app conversations. These interactions offered a glimpse into the early stages of modern romance in the digital age – weird and abrupt, filled with ghosting and often strange or unwarranted sexual and personal requests.

Some TikTok users opted to compile their dating experiences into aggregated summaries. For instance, several users created a lighthearted PowerPoint presentation summarising their dating adventures throughout the year 2022. The presentations included statistics on first dates, compatibility ratings and even the types of dates, ranging from movie nights to weddings.

Subverting dating norms

Overall, the study revealed a challenging of cultural norms in relation to dating. TikTok influencers within this space often subvert conventional dating norms and invite their followers to engage in discussions on difficult topics (like consent) and invite them to demonstrate support.

This is exemplified by users who share stories of boundary violations and encourage their audience to deliberate on whether such behaviour constitutes a red flag. These discussions are conducted in a humorous, ironic way. But they also cut deep and tell a powerful, validating story about modern dating.

Most TikTok users participating in dating story time recorded their videos in ordinary and intimate settings. This practice not only mimics vlogging video blogs but also fosters a sense of intimacy, friendship and community.

By sharing these experiences in familiar surroundings, TikTokers extend their digital reach to a broader audience, creating a culture of care reminiscent of real-life interactions with close friends.

The comments section on TikTok offers a unique space for further negotiation of romantic milestones, support networks and audience engagement. Users can reinforce or challenge behaviours seen in dating experiences, thereby creating or disrupting communities of care.

TikTok has also emerged as a platform for addressing issues such as sexual racism, where users share and challenge stereotypes they have encountered on first dates.

TikTok’s #DatingStoryTime has the power to normalise the idea that dating is a journey filled with potential missteps and pitfalls. It is also a space where inappropriate behaviours should be called out.

Risks and rules

TikTok’s subversion of cultural dating norms fosters a culture of exploration and encourages viewers to challenge conventional ideas of love and connection.

Similar to the characters in romantic comedies who are willing to take risks and break the rules, TikTok influencers within the dating story time space are altering perceptions of dating and relationships.

In the spirit of humour, camaraderie and cultural critique, #DatingStoryTime on TikTok has evolved into a space where romantic cultural norms are questioned, challenge, and reconstructed.

Through humour and authenticity, TikTok is reshaping the narrative of modern romance, allowing users to share their stories, build coalitions, create safe spaces and ultimately reclaim agency in the world of dating.

In a digital landscape characterised by irreverence and absurdity, TikTok’s influence on contemporary dating culture is undeniable and its impact continues to be a subject of fascination and exploration.

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

– ref. How TikTok’s dating story time trend offers a glimpse into the sometimes weird world of modern romance – https://theconversation.com/how-tiktoks-dating-story-time-trend-offers-a-glimpse-into-the-sometimes-weird-world-of-modern-romance-212778

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mike Jones, Postdoctoral Fellow—Indigenous and Colonial Histories, University of Tasmania

Manchester Museum has formally handed over 174 cultural heritage items to a delegation of women from the Anindilyakwa community of Groote Eylandt, an island in the Northern Territory.

Last week’s event was the result of three years of collaboration between the museum, the Anindilyakwa Land Council and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS).

The returned items included arm bands, turtle shell maps, baskets, a model canoe, spears, spear throwers and 70 Dadikwakwa-kwa (shell dolls).

The director of the Manchester Museum, Esme Ward, emphasised repatriation is:

a gain, not a loss. Once you understand that it is about building relationships, it changes everything.

Since her appointment in 2018, Ward has championed these approaches, seeing museums not just as places to care for objects and collections, but as “empathy machines” that generate ideas and foster relationships.

This focus on relationships is relatively new in museums, and remains far from universal. But if museums are to remain relevant, trusted institutions they need to move beyond traditional models of authority.

The museums of the future must become socially engaged platforms where diverse voices and perspectives come together in productive new ways.

Slow waves of change

Through the 19th and early 20th centuries, museums positioned themselves as authoritative spaces for the enlightenment of the people. Indigenous artefacts, ancestors and cultural heritage were taken, traded and studied, resulting in thousands of collections held by institutions around the world.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were objects of curiosity and study, with no say in how their history and cultural knowledge were managed or represented.

Change started slowly in the 1970s. At international meetings and conferences, professionals from colonial countries emphasised the need for more engagement with communities. There were growing calls for the repatriation of ancestral remains.

The first repatriation by an Australian museum came in 1976, when the remains of celebrated palawa leader Trukanini were returned to Tasmanian Aboriginal Community members after years of lobbying.

In the years since there have been many repatriations, though there are still many more to go.

Read more:
The violent collectors who gathered Indigenous artefacts for the Queensland Museum

New relationships

The past decade has seen an interesting shift in museum practice toward a focus on relationships.

Community involvement has gradually changed the ways First Nations cultures and histories are represented in exhibitions. There are more First Nations museum professionals working in the sector than ever before, though there remains more work to do.

While Manchester Museum has returned artefacts to other communities before, its head of exhibitions and collections, Georgina Young, saw last week’s return as unique. This return was facilitated through relationships formed when Young and her colleagues visited Groote Eylandt to meet and work with Elders and community members.

For the Anindilyakwa community, awareness of the now-repatriated dolls has already helped revitalise culture through a contemporary art program, the Dadikwakwa-kwa Project, led by women from Anindilyakwa Arts. Two of the artists were part of the Manchester delegation.

Staff and visitors to the Manchester Museum had the opportunity to hear First Nations voices and stories. The repatriation and associated public programs created a space where people could experience not just historic collections, but living Anindilyakwa culture.

Australian museums are also reconsidering how they can engage with community.

Museum Victoria’s Yulendj group (from the Kulin word for “knowledge and intelligence”) was formed during development of the museum’s First People’s exhibition, installed in 2014.

The group has helped foster strong and deep relationships between the museum, its staff and community members. Aboriginal Elder Esther Kirby (Wiradjuri/Yorta Yorta/Yitha Yitha) characterised the results as like “one of those patchwork quilts. Everybody’s got a different story and them patches all join together”.

The Australian Museum’s 2021 Unsettled exhibition responded to the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s arrival on the Australian mainland. First Nations curatorial team Laura McBride and Mariko Smith engaged with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples before exhibition planning had begun.

Smith describes how they wanted to embrace the role of “curator” as a conduit for First Nations voices. The resulting exhibition gave a genuine sense the curators were holding themselves accountable to community-centred relationships.

Unsettled provided visitors with new and sometimes uncomfortable perspectives on the complex history of Australia since European invasion.

Read more:
Tall ship tales: oral accounts illuminate past encounters and objects, but we need to get our story straight

Building the future

Still, many large institutions remain resistant to change.

Conservative commentators, politicians and museum directors have expressed concerns that repatriation sets a dangerous precedent and risks opening the floodgates.

But political scientist Pierre Losson has analysed the return of cultural heritage objects from “universal museums” in North America and Europe.

He has found the return process can result in new trusted relationships. These relationships can form the basis of a model for the future: networks of related institutions and communities, rather than singular sites of preservation and display.

Thousands of First Nations objects are still held in institutions around the world. Despite the resistance of some, the hope is more museums will see these collections as opportunities for empathy and relationship-building.

For communities, reconnecting with artefacts provides new opportunities for cultural resurgence. And for the institutions involved, the relationships created provide new opportunities for public programming and exhibitions featuring diverse voices and perspectives, connecting their visitors not just with artefacts and artworks, but with living cultures.

As Ward said following the ceremony in Manchester:

We believe this is the future of museums. This is how we should be.

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

– ref. What Manchester Museum’s return of 174 Indigenous artefacts tells us about the future of museums – https://theconversation.com/what-manchester-museums-return-of-174-indigenous-artefacts-tells-us-about-the-future-of-museums-213147

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Huda Syyed, PhD Candidate & Tutor, Charles Darwin University

Female genital cutting is a secretive and largely invisible practice in Pakistan.

The experiences of survivors are the only sources of information we have to understand its prevalence. There are no national statistics or governmental efforts to counter the practice or this lack of awareness. Open conversations are difficult because women’s bodies are treated as a source of shame or taboo.

My research has found we must understand female genital cutting from a Pakistani perspective and work towards bridging the knowledge gap through increased data collection and encouraging greater dialogue with survivors.

Otherwise, Pakistan risks being left behind in achieving one of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals, the elimination of female genital cutting by 2030.

What is female genital cutting?

There are four types of female genital cutting, but generally speaking, it involves
the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia. This can be through pricking, scraping, stitching and burning.

At least 200 million girls and women globally have experienced different forms of female genital cutting, according to the United Nations. It is practised on every continent, except Antarctica.

A small minority of Dawoodi Bohra Muslims from the Shiite Ismaili sect practice female genital cutting in Pakistan (as well as in India).

The practice also occurs within the Dawoodi Bohra diaspora. In 2015, a mother, nurse and spiritual leader were found guilty in Australia’s first genital mutilation trial. Even though the practice is illegal in Australia, it is still carried out in secret.

Dawoodi Bohras generally practice a type of cutting called khatna, or the removal of the clitoral hood. Young girls usually undergo this practice at seven years old. This is ostensibly done to curb a woman’s sexual desire, to promote genital hygiene and to follow the Islamic sunnah, or the sayings and practices of the Prophet Muhammad.

Religious scholars, medical practitioners and activist organisations argue, however, that it is a harmful practice and not a religious duty.

According to World Health Organization, there are short-term and long-term health risks from the practice. These include severe pain, bleeding, infections, urination problems, obstetric fistulas, perinatal risk, trauma and other mental health problems. A study in India also reported side effects such as low sex drive, oversensitivity in the clitoral area and problems with sexual pleasure and trusting partners.

While there are members of the Dawoodi Bohra community who speak out against the practice, some also defend it as a cultural right. Most Dawoodi Bohras are secretive about it due to a fear of potential backlash, since acts of violence against minorities are common in Pakistan.

Read more:
Why it’s so difficult to end female genital mutilation

Not just an African problem

Most international efforts to eliminate female genital cutting focus on Africa. As a result, it is believed to be an African practice.

Somalia has the one of the highest prevalence rates of female genital mutilation in the world, with 99% of women aged 15-49 having been cut. Sudan also saw an increase in the practice during COVID lockdowns, despite it being criminalised in 2020.

This statistical data is available to us because African countries are able to measure its prevalence through nationally representative household surveys. Self-reporting is also used to acquire data from mothers and daughters.

Although these data collection efforts are not always reliable, the general level of awareness in some African countries gives activists and policymakers a platform to organise more targeted campaigns to bring social change.

Research shows the practice is also widespread among the Dawoodi Bohra community in India. The Indian government, however, has denied the existence of female genital cutting in the country, meaning there is no official data collection there, either.

However, in 2017, a human rights advocate and lawyer filed a petition before the Supreme Court to ban the practice. Although a decision is still pending, non-profit organisations continue to speak out against the practice.

What can be done in Pakistan?

Pakistan ranks as 142nd out of 146 countries in the Global Gender Gap report 2023 by the World Economic Forum. It is frequently criticised by human rights activists for its high rates of violence against women and mistreatment of minorities.

Recently, there has been more activism in Pakistan against honour killings of women, the mistreatment of the khwaja sira (transgender) community and child labour. Protests and community engagement make these issues more visible and put pressure on the government to respond.

This is not the case with female genital cutting. To curb the practice in Pakistan, it must be openly addressed and understood.

How can we do this? Through responsible data collection and consensual conversations with community members.

Dialogue should start in the Dawoodi Bohra community because change from within is more likely to be long-lasting and less contentious. Considering Pakistan’s fractious religious climate, it is important for communities to mobilise for change from within to avoid the Dawoodi Bohras being targeted in sectarian violence.

Religion and women’s bodies are sensitive topics in patriarchal societies. Pakistan’s history with women has long been marked by an urge to morally police their bodies. One discriminatory practice, the two-finger virginity testing in sexual assault cases, for example, has only recently been abolished after a concerted push from activists.

This is why an issue like female genital cutting must be discussed with contextual care and caution. This approach, supported by activists and lawmakers within the community, will be transformative in ending this practice for good.

Huda Syyed 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. Female genital cutting remains a taboo subject in Pakistan, preventing real progress from being made – https://theconversation.com/female-genital-cutting-remains-a-taboo-subject-in-pakistan-preventing-real-progress-from-being-made-210549

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yianna Zhang, Sessional tutor, The University of Melbourne

Around 75% of infants aged six to 12 months and 25% of toddlers aged one to two years in Australia don’t get the recommended dietary intake of iron.

Despite their small size, weaning infants and children require similar amounts of iron to adults. The iron is crucial for supporting their rapid growth in blood and muscles, immunity, brain development and learning.

Untreated iron deficiency can progress to anaemia – severe iron deficiency where there are insufficient healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen around the body. Alarmingly, anaemia affects around 8% of Australian children under five, and if untreated, can be associated with developmental setbacks and later cognitive deficits.

Read more:
Why iron is such an important part of your diet

How do I know if my kids have iron deficiency?

Iron deficiency in children is often associated with vague or no symptoms, especially if it has not progressed to anaemia.

Symptoms can include fatigue, difficulty concentrating, poor behaviour, frequent infections, and pica (eating non-food substances such as paper, clay or soil).

Diagnosis typically involves a blood test that screens for iron markers such as ferritin, a protein that stores iron. Doctors often recommend these tests for people who are at high risk, detailed in the figure below.

What are the first options for treatment?

When iron deficiency and anaemia are caused by a lack of dietary iron, both can often be effectively addressed through changes to the diet and oral iron supplements.

The Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne recommends boosting intake of iron-rich foods such as meat, fish, eggs, leafy greens and legumes, and drinking less than 500mL (about two cups) of cow’s milk per day. This is because cow’s milk has been associated with reduced iron stores in young children.

Doctors might also prescribe oral iron supplements. A course of liquid or tablets would usually be recommended for a minimum of three months , during which follow-up blood tests can show how well the child is responding to the supplementation.

Existing evidence suggests supplements are a more effective way to replenish iron stores than dietary changes alone, and ferrous sulfate is the most effective iron supplement for young children.

Navigating the side effects

Iron supplements are known to have some nasty side effects including constipation, nausea, diarrhoea, dark stools, and stained teeth. This may make compliance challenging, especially for young children. The approaches to alleviate side effects vary depending on the child.

The doctor may recommend alternative supplements as some may be better tolerated than others. Another option is to adjust the dosage, with lower dose supplements or taking it every other day.

Consuming iron supplements with food or immediately after eating can also lessen side effects. However this may result in reduced absorption, and should be discussed with your doctor.

For cases where iron supplements don’t appear to be working or where compliance is an issue, iron infusions may be prescribed by your doctor. These involve injecting iron over multiple visits at a hospital and/or specialist clinic, with each session potentially lasting an hour or more.

Read more:
I’ve been diagnosed with iron deficiency, now what?

How can I prevent iron deficiency in my kids?

To prevent iron deficiency, it’s important to keep an eye on your child’s iron intake, and the factors that may influence their absorption.

For example, drinks which contain tannins (tea, coffee, chocolate drinks) may inhibit iron absorption. But vitamin C and organic acids from fruits and vegetables, as well as high-quality proteins such as those found in meat and fish, can promote absorption.

From infancy, following the national feeding guidelines will help to support your child’s iron status. This includes introducing iron-rich solid foods from around six months of age for healthy breastfed infants to replenish their iron stores from birth.

Around six months is also the prime time for introducing foods to minimise risk of food allergies, including to iron-rich foods such as seafood and nut butters.

From 12 months onwards, children’s diets should align with the Australian Dietary Guidelines, emphasising a balanced, nutritious diet encompassing a range of foods. Diets following this pattern should deliver ample iron from meats, breads and cereals, as well as iron absorption promotors such as oranges, capsicum and other fresh fruits and vegetables?.

In cases where the child is a picky eater, or where access to a diversity of foods is limited, look for fortified iron options such as in bread, drinks (for example juice for kids over 12 months, and Milo for older kids), and breakfast cereals.

If your child is diagnosed with iron deficiency, remember each path to recovery is unique. Consultation with a GP or dietitian can help tailor solutions catering to their specific needs.

Read more:
What to drink with dinner to get the most iron from your food (and what to avoid)

Yianna Zhang has previously received a postgraduate scholarship from CSIRO, which investigated food-based chemical interactions potentially affecting iron absorption.

Amanda Patterson has previously received funding from the Hunter Medical Research Institute and Meat and Livestock Australia for research on Iron Deficiency.

Ken Ng 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. Could my child have low iron? And what are my options if they do? – https://theconversation.com/could-my-child-have-low-iron-and-what-are-my-options-if-they-do-210899

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert G. Patman, Professor of International Relations, University of Otago

The debate in New Zealand over whether to join “pillar two” of the AUKUS security partnership threatens to overshadow a more important foreign policy challenge: how the country’s allies in the Indo-Pacific region are responding to the war in Ukraine.

AUKUS seems to be based on the assumption it will deter or counter China’s assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific. But it is unclear whether this arrangement would advance the core national interests of New Zealand.

While New Zealand’s “stability, security and prosperity” depend critically, in the words of a recent government document, on an international rules-based order, it is also plain that China is not the sole or even most serious threat to this arrangement.

Meanwhile, the capitals of the Indo-Pacific region have been closely monitoring the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Most supported last year’s United Nations resolution condemning Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” (Laos and Vietnam abstained).

But only Singapore, a close US ally, imposed sanctions on Russia. And generally, the ASEAN nations’ statements on the invasion have not directly criticised Moscow. This is related to the considerable unease in Asia over the disruption and price shocks for global commodities caused by the Ukraine conflict.

Indo-Pacific interests

For Indonesia and many other South-East Asian states, the war has led to soaring prices for food and energy, and a more polarised diplomatic environment.

Indonesia is the second-largest market for Ukrainian wheat and the fourth-largest for Russian chemical fertiliser, which is needed to grow local rice. Overall, ASEAN countries are major wheat importers, accounting for 15% of global imports.

Read more:
The defence dilemma facing NZ’s next government: stay independent or join ‘pillar 2’ of AUKUS?

At the same time, many Indo-Pacific states are conscious that regional heavyweights China and India remain important partners of Moscow.

China has abstained on crucial UN resolutions condemning Russian actions in Ukraine. Beijing has repeatedly placed the blame for the conflict on NATO and the US purportedly fuelling the conflict.

China has also massively expanded trade with Russia since the start of the invasion. This bilateral trade will exceed US$200 billion in 2023, a jump of $70 billion since 2021. Russian energy shipments to China are projected to increase by more than 40% this year.

China, India and Russia

Military ties between China and Russia continue to deepen. Several joint exercises having taken place since the start of the Ukraine invasion. Beijing has quietly supplied military-related technology to Russia, and reportedly supplied components to Iran in 2023 for use in drones being sold to Russia.

While Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been more overtly critical than China’s Xi Jinping of the Ukraine invasion, he continues to emphasise close diplomatic and military ties with Moscow.

Read more:
Talk of a new Cold War is overheated – but NZ faces complex challenges in the era of ‘strategic competition’

India has also abstained on key UN resolutions criticising the invasion. And while tensions between India and China have increased, the Indian government shows no signs of reducing its dependence on spare parts and technical support for the many Russian weapons platforms used by the Indian military.

Further, trade turnover has risen by over 300% since the invasion, including a tenfold increase in discounted Russian oil bought by India.

Finally, Indo-Pacific nations will have other concerns about the response of the US and wider international community to the Russian invasion. In particular, they might question the West’s staying power.

Read more:
NZ’s first national security strategy signals a ‘turning point’ and the end of old certainties

The Biden administration has directed more than $75 billion in financial and military assistance in support, NATO has further expanded its membership, and a range of comprehensive and collective sanctions have targeted the Russian economy.

But the US has also tried not to directly “provoke” the Putin regime while supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty.

There are international supporters of Ukraine who champion a “land for peace” deal with Russia, too. And it remains possible that a new Republican administration in Washington in 2024 might abandon the current military commitment.

Supporting Ukraine to counter China

Given the circumstances, New Zealand should remain clear-eyed about the connections between its strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific and its support for defeating Russian expansionism.

To date, New Zealand has contributed more than NZ$70 million in humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine. But this looks pretty modest in light of the possible fallout for the Indo-Pacific region if Putin wins any sort of victory.

Read more:
The US navy is still more powerful than China’s: more so than the Australian government is letting on

Especially so, considering Ukraine is a liberal democracy that gave up its nuclear weapons in 1994 (in return for Russian recognition of its sovereignty and territorial integrity), and which shares New Zealand’s goal of reforming the UN Security Council.

Indeed, the best way for New Zealand to contribute to countering Chinese assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific would be to significantly increase its military support for Ukraine.

If Russia is defeated or forced to withdraw, it will be a serious blow to Xi Jinping’s leadership and complicate any plans he might have for annexing Taiwan. This would go some way towards bolstering the rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific that is so clearly in New Zealand’s interests.

Robert G. Patman 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. New Zealand’s strategic priority in the Indo-Pacific is not AUKUS – it’s helping to defeat Russia in Ukraine – https://theconversation.com/new-zealands-strategic-priority-in-the-indo-pacific-is-not-aukus-its-helping-to-defeat-russia-in-ukraine-213354

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Baerbel Koribalski, Senior research scientist, CSIRO

Galaxies come in many shapes and sizes, from giant, slowly rotating ovals and fast-whirling spiral disks to faint ball-shaped blobs and dwarf irregulars. Most large, bright galaxies – including our own Milky Way – are orbited by a gang of much smaller dwarf galaxies.

Most of this we know from optical images, whether taken with small backyard telescopes or much bigger dedicated ground- and space-based telescopes that reveal the light from billions of distant suns. However, as we are discovering, what happens beyond the bright disk of stars may be even more interesting.

With radio telescopes, we can map the distinctive glow of free-floating hydrogen atoms throughout the universe, whether they are inside galaxies, around them, or lurking in the lonely spaces between.

Using CSIRO’s Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope, on Wajarri Yamaji Country in Western Australia, we recently discovered an enormous ribbon of hydrogen encircling a spiral galaxy called NGC 4632. The results are described in a new paper in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Galactic leftovers

NGC 4632 appears to be a very rare formation called a “polar ring galaxy”, as the hydrogen ring seems to be rotating over the poles of the galaxy’s disk. The gas in the ring, which makes up about half of the system’s mass, was likely hoovered up from a companion galaxy.

In the words of my colleague Nathan Deg at Queen’s University in Canada, who led the new study:

Polar ring galaxies are some of the most spectacular looking galaxies that we can see. Beyond just being beautiful, they provide important clues about the formation and growth of galaxies over time.

The location and movement of these polar rings can also tell us about the shape of the halo of invisible dark matter astronomers believe surrounds most galaxies.

Spiral galaxies like NGC 4632 are typically rich in cold hydrogen gas. The gas provides the fuel for star formation and typically extends well beyond the bright disk of stars.

In the outskirts of spiral galaxies, we often see that the shape of the gas disk is warped. Why does this happen?

Read more:
Experts solve the mystery of a giant X-shaped galaxy, with a monster black hole as its engine

Some warps may be caused by a galaxy wrestling with its neighbours via gravity, stealing gas which collects in the galaxy’s outer disk or forms a polar ring. This is quite a common process by which galaxies grow: our Milky Way galaxy is known to have munched up several small companions.

Hunting hydrogen

I was first inspired to study polar ring galaxies in the 1990s by astronomers Penny Sackett and Linda Sparke. Eager to understand what these strange cosmic structures could reveal about dark matter, I teamed up with Magda Arnaboldi to observe hydrogen in the nearby galaxy NGC 4650A using CSIRO’s Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) on Gomeroi Country, outside Narrabri in north-west New South Wales.

Two big projects, the HI Parkes All Sky Survey (HIPASS) and the Local Volume HI Survey (LVHIS), set the scene for much of my current research on galaxies. As plans advanced for the much larger and more powerful ASKAP telescope, I was one of the founders of the Wallaby project, which uses ASKAP’s capabilities to conduct a huge survey of hydrogen in the local universe.

ASKAP began full operations in late 2022. The telescope is located at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, CSIRO’s Murchison radio astronomy observatory: the traditional name means ‘sharing sky and stars’ in the Wajarri language.

ASKAP now produces such vast amounts of data that we need dedicated software running on the Setonix supercomputer in Perth, not only to produce wide-field images and cubes, but also to sift through them for signs of hydrogen in distant galaxies. We can then conduct more detailed studies of the most interesting galaxies.

Read more:
‘WTF?’: newly discovered ghostly circles in the sky can’t be explained by current theories, and astronomers are excited

Visualising galaxies

Our latest paper highlights two galaxies (of 600 found in our first pilot study) that contain unusual structures.

As Deg puts it, “finding two potential polar ring galaxies in the Wallaby pilot survey is incredibly exciting, as it suggests that these objects may be more common than previously thought”.

To explore the shapes of galaxies we often use 3D visualisation – and even virtual reality software such as iDaVIE.

We expect the full Wallaby survey will reveal more than 200,000 hydrogen-rich galaxies. Among them will be many more unusual objects like the polar ring around NGC 4632, which can then be used to learn more about dark matter.

Baerbel Koribalski is affiliated with the School of Science at Western Sydney University.

– ref. Astronomers have discovered a rare ‘polar ring galaxy’ wrapped in a huge ribbon of hydrogen – https://theconversation.com/astronomers-have-discovered-a-rare-polar-ring-galaxy-wrapped-in-a-huge-ribbon-of-hydrogen-213254

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Thurbon, Professor in International Relations / International Political Economy, UNSW Sydney

This week, a diverse group of organisations called on the Australian federal government to establish a A$100 billion, ten-year policy package to turbocharge Australia’s green energy transition.

Proposed by groups including the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Australian Conservation Foundation, Climate Energy Finance, Rewiring Australia and the Smart Energy Council, the Australian Renewable Industry Package (ARIP) would dwarf the government’s existing commitments.

Its proponents claim that by 2035, the package would generate at least $300 billion annual clean export revenue and 700,000 much needed jobs, mainly in rural and regional Australia.

So will Australian policymakers from across the political spectrum heed this call and agree to spend big on Australia’s green energy industry capabilities?

If we want policymakers to unify and to act, we have to use language that widely resonates. This, we argue, must be the language of green energy statecraft, not industry policy.

A response to the US

The ARIP is explicitly framed as a response to the United States’ impactful Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The act, passed in August 2022, is Washington’s response to its pressing geostrategic, economic, energy and environmental security challenges.

The IRA contains US$370 billion worth of incentives for clean tech and is estimated to spur US$2.9 trillion of cumulative investment opportunity by 2032.

This comprehensive suite of policy supports has put Australian efforts to shame. As a result, the IRA is now drawing much needed green energy investment away from Australia. Given the support on offer, it is no surprise US manufacturing spending has nearly doubled in the last 12 months, while Australia remains stuck in the investment slow lane.

Even more worrying for Australia is the fact the US is not the only rapid mover in the green energy space. A number of middle powers more similar to us in capacity – such as Canada and Japan – have also announced hugely ambitious green energy investment packages that leave Australia lagging.

There is no question Australia needs the ARIP, and needs it urgently.

Read more:
We need a national renewables approach, or some states – like NSW – will miss out

Industry policy – Australia’s dirtiest word

In arguing for a new big renewables push, some proponents have couched it in the language of a “new industry policy”. But this language is problematic for two main reasons.

First, this language in Australia is highly politicised and divisive. Since the 1980s, “industry policy” has arguably become one of the most misused and abused terms in our nation’s political discourse.

To even utter the words “industry policy” is often enough to spark fierce ideological objection, or to cause people’s eyes to glaze over with disinterest, disillusionment or both. In this sense, the term has become the ultimate thought blocker and conversation stopper.

Unfortunately, such reactions make it almost impossible to have a sensible national debate about what effective industry policy actually looks like. For its many detractors “industry policy” means protectionism and picking winners, and should therefore be avoided at all costs.

This unsophisticated view ignores the fact that in countries that have historically practised highly effective and strategic industry policy – including our northeast Asian neighbours of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan – “protectionism” and “picking winners” was far from the norm.

Indeed, because of the goal orientation of East Asian policymakers, who wanted to catch up with developed countries extremely quickly, industry policy was a highly disciplined affair tied to stringent performance incentives.

In this context, East Asian governments did not pick winners. Rather, winning firms self-selected by opting into government support programs, and by then outperforming competitors to keep earning that support.

By contrast, in Australia “industry policy” has become a highly politicised and partisan affair. For this reason, calls for industry policy often fall on deaf ears, and do more to divide policymakers and business leaders than unite them.

Read more:
Industrial policy is back on the agenda — and it’s never been needed more than it is now

Towards ‘statecraft’, not industry policy

But there is another, even more compelling reason for advocates of the renewables package to avoid the language of “industry policy”. The term doesn’t adequately capture the kinds of policies our competitors – both rivals and partners – are now enacting in the green energy space, or the kind of response we require.

Instead, Australia needs to embrace “green energy statecraft”.

Such statecraft involves bold government initiatives to build, grow and dominate the high-technology markets essential to the green transition, and to fend off or outflank rival powers, be they economic, geo-strategic or both.

Green energy statecraft is different from plain old energy policy, or even “industrial policy”. Its focus is squarely on building new industries with the intention of ensuring success in hyper-competitive global markets and, simultaneously, bolstering national security.

We argue that in recent years, the most significant obstacle to Australia’s success in the green energy arena has been the prevailing policymaking mindset: viewing the green energy shift principally as an energy and climate policy challenge, rather than statecraft.

With national security motivations at play, governments that practice green energy statecraft create bold visions for new industries like green hydrogen, green steel and bioenergy. They set clear production, export and, most importantly, technology-upgrading targets. They also mobilise all available financial incentives and policy instruments to ensure these targets are met.

To become a green energy superpower, Australia needs to match our strategic vision with a new green energy statecraft.

Language matters. If we want policymakers to act, and if we want our calls to unite rather than divide, we need to choose our words very carefully.

Elizabeth Thurbon receives funding from the Australian Research Council, The Australian Department of Defence, and The Academy of Korean Studies. She has previously received funding from the Korea Foundation, the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and The Asia Society. She sits on the Research Board of the Jubilee Australia Research Centre and is an elected member of the Executive Council of the Society for the Advancement of Socioeconomics.

Alexander M. Hynd receives funding from the Academy of Korean Studies.

Hao Tan receives funding from the Australia Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project 2019-2023. He previously received fundings from the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, from Enova Community Energy Ltd, and funding from the Confucius Institute Headquarters under the “Understanding China Fellowship” in 2017.

– ref. We urgently need $100bn for renewable energy. But call it statecraft, not ‘industry policy’ – https://theconversation.com/we-urgently-need-100bn-for-renewable-energy-but-call-it-statecraft-not-industry-policy-213351

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Fuller, Charles Perkins Centre Research Program Leader, University of Sydney

Our metabolism is the force inside our bodies that mysteriously decides whether to convert the food we eat into a burst of energy, or extra kilos on the scales.

A “slow” or “sluggish” metabolism is often the first thing we blame when we struggle to lose weight.

As a result, a US$33 billion industry offers thousands of products promising to speed up our metabolic rate for weight-loss success.

But rather than reaching for a supplement, there are things you can do to speed your metabolism up.

Read more:
Ever wonder how your body turns food into fuel? We tracked atoms to find out

What is metabolism and how does it work?

Metabolism is the term describing all the chemical reactions in our bodies that keep us alive. It provides the energy needed for essential functions like breathing and digestion.

When we refer to metabolism in the context of our weight, we’re actually describing our basal metabolic rate – the number of calories the body burns at rest, determined by how much muscle and fat we have.

Many factors can affect your metabolism, including gender, age, weight and lifestyle. It naturally slows down as we age and becomes dysfunctional after dieting.

Why does our metabolism slow with age?

As our bodies age, they stop working as efficiently as before. Around the age of 40, our muscle mass starts naturally declining, and the ratio of body fat to muscle increases.

Because muscle mass helps determine the body’s metabolic rate, this decrease in muscle means our bodies start to burn fewer calories at rest, decreasing our metabolic rate.

Why does our metabolism become dysfunctional after dieting?

When you lose large amounts of weight, you’re likely to have lowered your metabolic rate, and it doesn’t recover to the level it was pre-dieting – even if you regain weight.

This is because, typically, when we diet to lose weight, we lose both fat and muscle, and the decrease in our calorie-burning muscle mass slows our metabolism.

We can account for the expected decrease in metabolic rate from the decrease in body mass, but even after we regain lost weight our metabolism doesn’t recover.

Research shows that for every diet you attempt, the rate at which you burn food slows by a further 15% that can’t be accounted for.

Read more:
Is it true the faster you lose weight the quicker it comes back? Here’s what we know about slow and fast weight loss

3 ways to speed up our metabolism (and 1 thing to avoid)

1) Pay attention to what you eat

Consider the types of food you eat because your diet will influence the amount of energy your body expends to digest, absorb and metabolise food. This process is called diet-induced thermogenesis, or the thermic effect of food, and it equates to about 10% of our daily energy expenditure.

Research shows the thermic effect of food is highest for protein-rich foods because our bodies need to use more energy to break down and digest proteins. Eating protein-rich foods will increase your metabolic rate by about 15% (compared to the average of 10% from all foods). In contrast, carbs will increase it 10% and fats by less than 5%.

But this doesn’t mean you should switch to a protein-only diet to boost your metabolism. Rather, meals should include vegetables and a source of protein, balanced with wholegrain carbs and good fats to support optimum health, disease prevention and weight loss.

2) Get moving

Regular physical activity will boost muscle mass and speed up your metabolism. Increasing your muscle mass raises your basal metabolic rate, meaning you’ll burn more calories at rest.

You can achieve this by incorporating 30 minutes of physical activity into your daily routine, supplemented with two days of gym or strength work each week.

Read more:
Does exercise help you lose weight?

It’s also important to mix things up, as following the same routine every day can quickly lead to boredom and exercise avoidance.

Neglecting exercise will just as quickly result in a decline in muscle mass, and your lost muscle will slow your metabolism and hamper your efforts to lose weight.

3) Get enough sleep

A growing body of research confirms sleep deprivation can significantly impact your metabolism.

A lack of sleep disturbs the body’s energy balance. This causes our appetite hormones to increase feelings of hunger and trigger food cravings, while altering our sugar metabolism and decreasing our energy expenditure.

If you want to boost your metabolism, set yourself a goal of getting seven hours of uninterrupted sleep each night.

A simple way to achieve this is to avoid screens for at least one hour before bed. Screens are a big sleep disruptor because they suppress melatonin production in the brain, telling us it’s daytime instead of nighttime.

4) Don’t waste your money on diet pills and supplements

Thousands of products promise to activate your metabolism and speed up your weight loss. While some may have ingredients that will boost your metabolism immediately after you take them, such as caffeine and capsaicin (the component which gives chillies their heat), research confirms the effect is temporary – they don’t support long-term weight loss.

Most products promising to help you speed up your metabolism to help you lose weight don’t offer any scientific evidence to back their efficacy. Two extensive reviews published recently examined around 120 studies of weight-loss supplements and found they just don’t work, despite the bold marketing claims.

So leave the pills, potions and powders on the shelf and focus on the things that work. Your metabolism – and your hip pocket – will thank you.

Read more:
It’s time to bust the ‘calories in, calories out’ weight-loss myth

At the Boden Group, Charles Perkins Centre, we are studying the science of obesity and running clinical trials for weight loss. You can register here to express your interest.

Dr Nick Fuller works for the University of Sydney and has received external funding for projects relating to the treatment of overweight and obesity. He is the author and founder of the Interval Weight Loss program.

– ref. What can you do to speed up your metabolism? – https://theconversation.com/what-can-you-do-to-speed-up-your-metabolism-204811

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tonia Gray, Professor, Centre for Educational Research, Western Sydney University

There is ongoing concern about the impact of “helicopter parenting” on children’s growth and development.

Keen to ensure the best outcomes for their children, helicopter parents tend to hover over their kids, constantly trying to prevent misadventure or harm.

But child experts say this can lead to a lack of resilience and tenacity in children. Children can also struggle with problem-solving and initiative.

How can we overcome this?

We are educators who study risky environments. Our new research looks at parent’s perceptions of an outdoor play park. It shows how outdoor parks provide opportunities for children to engage in risky play and develop independence and problem-solving skills.

The importance of risk

Risk taking means engaging in any behaviour or activity with an uncertain physical, social, emotional or financial outcome.

Risk is an everyday part of life, from driving a car to buying a house at auction or climbing a ladder.

We cannot eliminate risk, so we need to learn how to navigate it. This means taking responsibility for assessing potential consequences and taking necessary precautions. For example, crossing the road carries risk, but we learn how to look for cars or cross at traffic lights if the road is very busy.

Recognising and appropriately responding to risk taking is an integral aspect of children’s growth and development. In 1998, US educator and wilderness guide Jeff Liddle observed risk was instrumental to lifelong learning.

Outdoor experiences are particularly good places to develop skills around risk because they are not a controlled environment. For example, no two trees are the same to climb and conditions can vary depending on the weather.

Read more:
This new ‘risky’ playground is a work of art – and a place for kids to escape their mollycoddling parents

Our study

In a new study we surveyed parents and caregivers about children’s risk taking in the Boongaree nature play park in Berry, New South Wales.

The park includes fixed equipment such as slides and climbing ropes as well as natural elements such as water, stone, timber, sand and greenery.

We chose Boongaree after it became the focus of media and social media debate due to a spate of injuries, including broken bones. The Daily Mail suggested it was Australia’s “most dangerous playground”. Following community concerns, the park’s tunnel slide was replaced in May this year with another slide with less “momentum”.

Over multiple visits to the park in June 2023, we recruited 302 adults to complete a survey about their children’s park use. We then followed up with a closed Facebook group of 56 parents from the same group.

The benefits of risk

We asked parents to share their views about the park and they told us risky park play had many benefits. These included allowing children to:

• be challenged and solve problems

• connect to the outdoors

• direct their own play

• be physically active

• be creative and curious

• demonstrate confidence and independence and

• build social capacity, by sharing equipment and taking turns.

As one parent told us:

The look on children’s faces as they reach the top of climbing ropes and start walking across the bridges is fabulous – grit and determination, followed by a big deep breath […]

Another parent spoke of the importance of giving kids the opportunity to

make their own decisions about the risk they want to take, how high or how fast they will go.

Yet another parent described how the park gave children the “freedom to play in any way they feel comfortable”.

Read more:
Five ways parents can help their kids take risks – and why it’s good for them

How to support your child in outdoor, risky play

So next time you go to the park, how can you support your child to take appropriate risks? Here are some tips, based on our work on children, risk and outdoor play:

Start with a positive mindset: playgrounds are designed to develop physical and social skills. So be prepared for your child to try new things at the park (rather than just play it safe with the same old equipment).

Be ready to support – and to stand back: there are times when it is best to stand back and let children experience the equipment or the area for themselves. There are others where parents are needed. So keep a monitoring eye on things. But don’t assume you will be helping all the time.

Language matters: try to steer away from language such as “be careful”. This can set children up to be afraid of a situation. Reframe your language to something more supportive, such as “is there a stronger piece of wood to put your foot on?” or “have you seen the hole over there?”

You could also say something like, “look around, do you want to explore left or right?”. This prompts your child to think about the best approach for them and builds self confidence and problem-solving skills.

Give useful advice: help children with specific guidance on how to use equipment safely. For example, when climbing you could say, “use three points of contact, two hands and one foot on that ladder”.

Let the child decide: allow your child to decide what pieces of equipment they use and how far they climb. Do not push them to complete activities they are not comfortable with. And by the same token, intervene only when the equipment is clearly above their skill development level.

Have fun: show excitement, join in the imaginative games and reinforce the message that it is acceptable to say no or yes to challenge – both choices are OK!

The authors wish to acknowledge Amanda Lloyd, who contributed to the research on which this article is based.

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. Stand back and avoid saying ‘be careful!’: how to help your child take risks at the park – https://theconversation.com/stand-back-and-avoid-saying-be-careful-how-to-help-your-child-take-risks-at-the-park-212969

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antonia Finnane, Professor (honorary), The University of Melbourne

In August 2022 a young woman wearing a yukata – a simple, summer-weight kimono – was having her photo taken on a street in picturesque Suzhou, China, when she was accosted by a police officer. Following an angry exchange, partly captured on her phone, she was arrested for disturbing the public peace.

The Suzhou Kimono Incident, as it came to be known, sparked an internet debate over the propriety of wearing kimonos and the legality of the policeman’s actions.

This was not the first time wearing a kimono in China had caused a furore, and it would not be the last. Another broke out in March this year, after a visitor to Nanjing, site of an infamous massacre by the Imperial Japanese Army in 1937, reported seeing a woman in a white kimono posing amidst the cherry blossoms in a Buddhist temple. He complained to the attendants but they said it was merely a matter of ethics: after all, people were free to wear what they like.

That may soon change. A new draft law on public security published online at the beginning of this month includes a clause criminalising the wearing of clothes that might be “hurtful to the spirit and sentiments of the nation”. If the law is passed, offenders will face penalties of up to 5,000 yuan (A$1,000) and up to 15 days jail.

Draft laws, routinely posted for comment, rarely attract many responses. The response to this one has been huge, with around 100,000 submissions to date. Legal scholars in China have weighed in, pointing out the fuzziness of this clause and its openness to abuse by local law enforcers.

And as one Beijing lawyer intimated, the legislation seems directly aimed at the kimono.

A ‘hurtful’ kimono?

Half a century ago, the target of sartorial struggle in China was “strange clothing and outlandish dress” – tight pants were the example par excellence in the 1960s, succeeded by flares in the 1970s.

Such clothing was associated with the United States, the Soviet Union and Hong Kong, all sink-holes of decadence and natural enemies of China under Mao.

Things have changed. Soviet revisionists have morphed into Russian allies; Hong Kong has been swallowed up by the mainland; and with jeans and t-shirts now ubiquitous in China, the US is no longer open to attack on the sartorial front.

Enter Japan, with its spectacular array of distinctive cultural products, strong youth following across East Asia and a wartime history that since the 1980s has been leveraged to foment nationalism in China.

In 1980, Japanese movie star Nakano Ryoko received a rapturous welcome when she visited China. Over the next few years, Japan inspired and provided training for the first generation of post-Mao fashion designers, who helped lay the foundations for a now-flourishing industry.

In the mid-1980s, a fully accessorised kimono as a symbol of excellence in Japanese design was perfectly acceptable for publication in a Chinese magazine.

Simultaneously, however, a “new remembering” of Japanese wartime atrocities – specifically the Nanjing massacre – was emerging, soon to be endorsed by the ruling Communist Party. By the 1990s, a history that had been buried in the Mao years was being given full play.

All this helps explain the visceral responses to young Chinese women wearing kimonos today.

In April 2009, two high-impact films about the Nanjing massacre were released. Images of Japanese soldiers raping Chinese women were fresh in people’s minds when, in September, young model Ding Beili posted a photo of herself online wearing a kimono. She attracted a storm of criticism.

“With so many countries in the world to pick from,” asked one blogger, “why did she have to pick Japan?”

Why indeed? The answer lies in something else that came to China from Japan: cosplay, popular across East Asia. The girl of the Suzhou Kimono Incident was a cosplayer, performing a role from the Japanese anime Summer Time Rendering. Naturally, cosplayers view Japanese-inspired dress differently from their critics.

Among the great occasions for Chinese cosplay until recently were Japanese-style “summer festivals”, or matsuri. It was for a matsuri in Shanghai that Ding Beili donned a kimono in 2009. Increasingly popular in China in recent years, summer festivals were cancelled in at least seven cities in August 2022 under rising anti-Japanese sentiment.

Read more:
How the kimono became a symbol of oppression in some parts of Asia

Adding the US to the mix

The ultra-nationalist Hu Xijin, former editor of the Global Times, has dismissed the issue of the kimono in China as a matter of no consequence. “Little Japan,” in his view, is just “a lackey of the US”.

The US-Japan alliance undoubtedly exacerbates Chinese hostility towards Japan, a country that like Australia is an easier target for payback than the US. China’s response to the new tripartite agreement between Japan, South Korea and the US was to slap a ban on Japanese seafood imports, on stated grounds of health security.

The new draft law against “hurtful” dress was posted soon after the implementation of the seafood ban, leaving observers with a distinct impression of China as a place where people can neither eat Japanese fish nor wear Japanese clothes.

Older people must be reminded of a time half a century ago, when young people wearing “strange clothing and outlandish dress” were attacked on the streets, while seafood was hardly available at all.

Read more:
The Communist Party claims to have brought prosperity and equality to China. Here’s the real impact of its rule

Antonia Finnane has received funding from the Australian Research Council

– ref. China is criminalising clothing ‘hurtful to the spirit and sentiments of the nation’ – could this mean a kimono ban? – https://theconversation.com/china-is-criminalising-clothing-hurtful-to-the-spirit-and-sentiments-of-the-nation-could-this-mean-a-kimono-ban-213153

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Shaw, Professor of Politics, Massey University

Christopher Luxon is no slouch on the dance floor, it seems. As his wife Amanda told the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, the two prepared for their university ball with a ballroom dancing class.

The teacher said he had rhythm and I couldn’t believe she was saying that about him when I had done ballet for years. But that’s what clinched it for me!

As the pace increases in the campaign for New Zealand’s 2023 general election, and regardless of polls showing the National Party ahead of Labour, Luxon will need to find some of that rhythm in the weeks leading up to and after the election.

As a recent, unimpressive TV performance defending his party’s tax package demonstrated, he’ll need stamina and skill to make up for being a comparative newcomer to the political dance.

But this may be even more important after the election than during the campaign. If National leads the next government – and even if it doesn’t – the landscape on the right of New Zealand politics is changing.

In particular, ACT’s success in stitching together a coalition of urban low-tax-loving liberals and disaffected farmers is driving a wedge between National and voters it has long seen as its own.

The party Luxon leads is facing not just an election, but a generational realignment.

Rebranding an airline, as Luxon did in a former life, is one thing. Steering the National Party through what lies ahead may require more than fancy footwork.

The political unknown

This is no small task for a political novice. Luxon only entered parliament as the MP for Botany at the 2020 election. National lost the party vote to Labour in that Auckland constituency, and the 50% of the candidate vote he gained was lower than the 60% National’s Jami-Lee Ross had won in 2017.

If it was a baptism by fire, he fared better than a lot of National’s other candidates in that election, which gave Labour the first single party majority government since the adoption of the MMP electoral system in 1996.

That seismic defeat saw the end of Judith Collins’ leadership, and the search for a new face. A little over a year later, Luxon was installed as the party’s fifth leader in just four years.

It’s been less than two years since then, but much has changed. Most notably, former prime minister Jacinda Ardern has gone – as have all of the COVID restrictions and many of the policies with which she was associated.

Read more:
Taxing questions: is National glossing over the likely cost of administering its new ‘revenue measures’?

During that time, Luxon has been working hard to construct a political persona, but routinely faces claims he is an unknown quantity.

His previous careers at Unilever and Air New Zealand are well known, as is the fact he’s a conservative Christian. Some might know he likes waterskiing and country music. Some may even rate his credentials on the climate crisis, gender pay equity and opposition to human trafficking.

Yet Luxon still lacks political definition in a way John Key – the former National Party leader and prime minister, whose political success it is Luxon’s job to reprise – did not.

The two things most people knew about Key were that he was born in a state house and grew up to become an international man of finance.

The first fact allowed Key to promote himself as an ordinary bloke, the second notwithstanding. Luxon – who earned NZ$4.4 million a year at Air New Zealand and owns seven houses – has yet to pull off that political sleight of hand.

Brand Luxon

Earlier in the campaign, that slight sense of fuzziness – the feeling that people are not quite sure who Luxon is or what he stands for – was a concern for National’s strategists, forcing them to distinguish the leader from the party on the campaign trail.

There were worries, too, about the gap between Luxon’s personal polling and those of Prime Minister Chris Hipkins (and, for different reasons, those of the ACT Party leader David Seymour). However, the head-to-head contest for preferred prime minister between Luxon and Chris Hipkins has since tightened considerably.

But the concerns about the extent to which “brand Luxon” has achieved cut-through with voters have not entirely abated. For one thing, the same poll which had Luxon just a couple of percentage points behind Hipkins as preferred prime minister suggested he is less popular among undecided voters – who often determine the outcome of elections.

Read more:
How to read the political polls: 10 things you need to know ahead of the NZ election

Furthermore, in another relatively recent poll, only 25% of women respondents felt well disposed towards Luxon, whereas 39% expressed some degree of negativity towards him – which may speak to his socially conservative views on (among other things) abortion.

In 2020, National lost significant support among women to Ardern. It needs those votes back if it is to prevail this time, which goes some way to explaining the composition of National’s party list, even if Luxon was less than keen to acknowledge gender was a factor in drawing it up.

The ACT factor

It is worth recalling, however, that this time three years ago, National’s figures were in free-fall. Luxon has turned that around, calming a querulous caucus and ending National’s leadership musical chairs.

He has also made sure the party’s list more closely resembles the wider population, with fewer middle-aged white males per capita than previously.

That said, reflecting on the views held by a number of those on that list, one journalist suggested a National victory could produce “an unruly rump of zealots championing Christian identity politics” and pose “a significant risk to National’s cohesiveness and its ability to hold that power”.

But unlike Ardern in 2020, if Luxon is in a position to lead the next government, he will not be dancing with himself. He is going to need at least one parliamentary partner. This may be where the skills developed in his previous careers will be most severely tested.

Read more:
70 years of road-based policies created today’s problems – does National’s transport plan add up?

For one thing, the polls suggest Luxon will have to negotiate some form of governing arrangement with ACT. That is unlikely to be a straightforward process, given the extent to which the parties diverge on various policy issues.

Luxon would also find the day-to-day management of a National-ACT administration a challenge – much less a minority National government reliant on ACT for parliamentary support, as ACT leader David Seymour has suggested could happen.

ACT’s own experience in office is limited to Seymour’s brief tenure – a decade ago – as minister of regulatory reform and parliamentary undersecretary to the minister of education. And some of its candidate selection choices raise concerns about the sorts of views held within a party that could shortly find itself in – or propping up – a government.

To lose one candidate might be put down to misfortune. To lose several, as ACT has during this campaign, speaks to something more than carelessness.

Read more:
Tougher donation limits and funding fixes would make future NZ elections fairer for all

The post-election dance

Such difficulties would be partly of National’s own making. Since the 2002 election, ACT has cleared MMP’s 5% threshold for parliamentary representation just once (in 2020). For survival, it has relied on National either standing aside in the seat of Epsom or encouraging its supporters to give their vote to ACT’s Epsom candidate.

National is playing neither game this year, but may come to regret ever having done so. Because right now, Seymour’s party has the political breeze behind it.

A seemingly resurgent New Zealand First (NZF) also poses a threat. These days NZF is as much a populist party seeking to “take the country back” from sundry “elites” and “a small unelected cabal of opinionated virtue signallers” as it is a vehicle for economic nationalism.

But just as he did with Brian Tamaki’s Freedoms NZ Party, Luxon is equivocating on the question of whether or not he would countenance working with NZF leader Winston Peters after the election.

For now, National’s leader can keep his potential governing options open. But in a month’s time – assuming present polling trends apply on the big day – we may find out who on his political dance card will get the nod.

Christopher Luxon just has to avoid tripping over his own feet before he gets there.

Richard Shaw 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. After the election, Christopher Luxon’s real test could come from his right – not the left – https://theconversation.com/after-the-election-christopher-luxons-real-test-could-come-from-his-right-not-the-left-209393

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew King, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science, The University of Melbourne

The run of extreme weather events around the world seems to be never-ending. After the northern summer of extreme heat and disastrous fires, we’ve seen more exceptional autumn weather over Europe with record-breaking heat in the UK.

Meanwhile, record-breaking rain and intense flash floods struck Greece before the same storm devastated Libya, with thousands dead.

Almost 20% of Africa is estimated to be in drought, and drought conditions are returning to parts of Australia. To top it off, we’ve seen several hurricanes intensify unusually quickly in the Atlantic.

We know climate change underpins some of the more extreme weather we’re seeing. But is it also pushing these extreme events to happen faster?

The answer? Generally, yes. Here’s how.

Flash droughts

We usually think of droughts as slowly evolving extreme events which take months to form.

But that’s no longer a given. We’ve seen some recent droughts develop unexpectedly quickly, giving rise to the phrase “flash drought”.

How does this happen? It’s when a lack of rainfall in a region combines with high temperatures and sunny conditions with low humidity. When these conditions are in place, it increases how much moisture the atmosphere is trying to pull from the land through evaporation. The end result: faster drying-out of the ground.

Flash droughts tend to be short, so they don’t tend to cause the major water shortages or dry river beds we’ve seen during long droughts in parts of Australia and South Africa, for example. But they can cause real problems for farmers. Farmers in parts of eastern Australia are already grappling with the sudden return of drought after three years of rainy La Niña conditions.

As we continue to warm the planet, we’ll see more flash droughts and more intense ones. That’s because dry conditions will more often coincide with higher temperatures as relative humidity falls across many land regions.

Flash floods and extreme rainfall

Climate change can cause increased rainfall variability. Some parts of the world will get a lot wetter, on average, while others will get drier, increasing the variation in rainfall between different regions. For Australia, most locations are generally expected to have intensified downpours of rain, as well as intensified droughts. So we might be saying more often ‘it doesn’t rain, it pours!

We’re seeing exceptionally extreme rainfall in many recent events. The recent floods that submerged villages in Greece came from a sudden downpour of over 500 millimetres in a single day. Hong Kong was hit last week by the heaviest rains in 140 years, flooding subway stations and turning streets into rivers.

But why does it happen so quickly?

Sudden extreme rains fall when we have very moist air coupled with a weather system that forces air to rise.

We’ve long known human-caused climate change is increasing how much moisture the air can hold generally, rising by about 7% per degree of global warming. That means storms now have the potential to hold and dump more water.

Notably, the impact of climate change on rain-bearing weather systems can vary by region, which makes the picture more complicated. That means, for instance, climate change may lead to more extreme rain in some places, while other places may only see an intensification in really short extreme rain events and not for longer timescales.

We can safely say, though, that in most parts of the world, we’re seeing more intense storms and sudden extreme rainfall. Sudden dumps of rain drive flash floods.

More moisture in the air helps fuel more intense convection, where warm air masses rise and form clouds. In turn, this can trigger efficient, quick and intense dumps of rain from thunderstorms.

These short-duration rain events can be much larger than you’d expect from the 7% increase in moisture per degree of warming.

Read more:
Think storms are getting worse? Rapid rain bursts in Sydney have become at least 40% more intense in 2 decades

Flash cyclones? Hurricanes are intensifying faster

Last month, Hurricane Idalia caused major flooding in Florida. As we write, Hurricane Lee is approaching the US.

Both tropical storms had something odd about them – unusually rapid intensification. That is, they got much stronger in a short period of time.

Usually, this process might increase wind speeds by about 50 kilometres per hour over a 24-hour period for a hurricane – also known as tropical cyclones and typhoons. But Lee’s wind speeds increased by 129km/h over that period. US meteorological expert Marshall Shepherd has dubbed the phenomenon “hyperintensification”, which could put major population centres at risk.

Rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones are strong and can be very hazardous, but they aren’t very common. To trigger them, you need a combination of very high sea surface temperatures, moist air and wind speeds that don’t change much with height.

While still uncommon, rapid intensification is potentially getting more frequent as we heat the planet. This is because oceans have taken up so much of the heat and there’s more moisture in the air. There’s much more still to learn here.

Australia’s El Niño summer in a warming world

Spring and summer in Australia are likely to be warmer and drier than usual. This is due to the El Niño climate cycle predicted for the Pacific Ocean. If, as predicted, we also get a positive Indian Ocean Dipole event, this can heighten the hotter, drier weather brought by El Niño. After three wet La Niña years, this is likely to be a marked shift.

Read more:
When the Indian Ocean and El Niño join forces, things can get hot and dry

If it arrives as expected, El Niño would lower the risk of tropical cyclones for northern Australia and reduce chances of heavy rain across most of the continent.

But for farmers, it may help trigger flash droughts. Prevailing warm and dry conditions may rapidly dry the land and reduce crop yields and slow livestock growth.

Drier surfaces coupled with grass growth from the wet years could worsen fire risk. Grass can dry out much faster than shrubs or trees, and grass fires can start and spread very rapidly.

Climate change loads the dice for extreme weather. And as we’re now seeing, these extremes aren’t just more intense – they can happen remarkably fast.

Read more:
‘Flash droughts’ can dry out soil in weeks. New research shows what they look like in Australia

Andrew King receives funding from the National Environmental Science Program.

Andrew Dowdy receives research funding from the University of Melbourne.

– ref. Faster disaster: climate change fuels ‘flash droughts’, intense downpours and storms – https://theconversation.com/faster-disaster-climate-change-fuels-flash-droughts-intense-downpours-and-storms-213242

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

I’m not sure whether I’ve got any unclaimed Qantas flight credits.

I haven’t looked, either because I’m too busy or can’t be bothered. Which is exactly what Qantas wants. And not only Qantas. Separating out those people who are desperate or determined to get their money from those who give up is a standard business practice.

It’s called price discrimination, although Qantas appears to have added a twist.

Washing machine, fridge and computer manufacturers all do it. They sell their products for a standard price, and then offer a $200 or $400 “cash back” to buyers who fill in and send off a form when they get home.

The manufacturers know time-poor, lazy or well-off customers won’t bother, so they won’t need to send them cash. But the customers who do bother will really need the cash, and probably wouldn’t buy the products without it.

That way they can sell to people who otherwise wouldn’t have bought, while at the same time charging a high price to people prepared to pay it. They’ve arranged things so the two groups sort themselves out.

A tax on the time-poor

Qantas (and Virgin) could have easily refunded money to people who bought flights during the first years of COVID and had to cancel because of lockdowns. In most cases, Qantas had their credit card numbers. It still has them. It could refund the best part of A$500 million right now.

Instead, it makes it really difficult to get money back. It requires phone calls, waiting on the line and fishing out old emails and customer codes.

For a while, until it backed down days ahead of its chief executive bringing forward his retirement, Qantas said those credits would expire unless they were reclaimed, knowing full well many would not be.

But it’s not only Qantas imposing a tax on the time-poor.

A tax on those who won’t pick up the phone

News Corporation will allow you to subscribe to its papers with a click and a card. But when you hit “unsubscribe”, you get given a phone number.

When (and if) you get around to ringing it, you are subjected to an ordeal in which the operator gives you reason after reason not to unsubscribe, instead of acting on your request. You can insist, of course, but it takes time and effort.

The (NewsCorp-owned) Wall Street Journal also makes it impossible to unsubscribe without a phone call… unless you live in California. There, and only there – not in Australia, not in the rest of the United States – you are allowed to unsubscribe online because of a law forcing providers to offer the option.

Australia’s banks are experts at separating lazy customers from diligent shoppers, as are electricity companies.

They routinely offer customers who switch (or say they are about to switch) better rates than customers who stay, turning a time-poor tax into a loyalty tax.

Read more:
When the price is not right: technology price gouging in Australia

A tax on loyal customers

You might think a tax on those who don’t chase the best deals is effectively a tax on the better-off, as they are the least likely to need savings.

Yet an array of evidence across a wide range of industries assembled by David Byrne and Leslie Martin finds loyalty taxes hit the poorest the hardest.

In an intriguing and expensive experiment in 2017, Byrne and Martin attempted to find out why this was.

They staffed a call centre at The University of Melbourne in which actors phoned electricity companies, provided or let slip a few details, and said they were thinking of switching.

Among those details was eligibility for Victoria’s low-income energy subsidy.

Byrne and Martin found no discrimination against low-income callers because they said they had low incomes. But they did find that where the callers sounded as if they lacked information, they got offered lower discounts.

A premium price dispute

Disturbing evidence tendered in the Federal Court suggests some Australian insurance companies may be systematising discrimination against Australians who lack access to information.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has alleged some insurers set premiums not only on the basis of risk, but also on the basis of what a computer model tells them about the likelihood of each customer tolerating a price hike.

ASIC says the alleged practice is known internally as “renewal optimisation”.

Those claims are disputed, with insurer IAG telling The Australian Financial Review: “We don’t agree with how ASIC has characterised the process by which we calculate renewal premiums, and the impact on our customers.”

Enough for a government inquiry

Where immorality starts and standard business practice stops will be a question for a newly-established taskforce on competition. It will be headed by the Grattan Institute’s Danielle Wood (who will also head the Productivity Commission) and the former head of the Competition and Consumer Commission, Rod Sims.

One thing they might be able to agree on immediately is that something else Qantas has been accused of doing with flight credits is beyond the pale.

Evidence supplied to the ABC in 2022 suggests that not only has Qantas been hanging on to customers’ money by directing them to use credits for flights rather than refunds, it has been jacking up the price of flights when they do – by 50-300%, imposing what amounts to an extra (enforced) loyalty tax.

If Qantas and others have taken standard business practices just that little bit further in recent years, there’s a small chance they’ve done us a favour. They’ve given the taskforce something to sink its teeth into.

Read more:
Booking customers on cancelled flights – how could Qantas do that?

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

– ref. How Qantas might have done all Australians a favour by making refunds so hard to get – https://theconversation.com/how-qantas-might-have-done-all-australians-a-favour-by-making-refunds-so-hard-to-get-213346

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yanyan Hong, PhD Candidate in Communication and Media Studies, University of Adelaide

In the ever-evolving landscape of Indian cinema, where movie stars rise and fall, one name has remained etched in the hearts of millions for more than three decades – Shah Rukh Khan, also known as “SRK”.

Fondly known as the King of Bollywood, Khan’s cinematic influence on Indian cinema is a story that transcends borders and generations.

As people celebrate his remarkable return to the silver screen in 2023 after a four-year hiatus, marked by the resounding global success of Pathaan, it’s the perfect time to embark on a journey through his illustrious career.

Here, I explore the timeless Indian classics that catapulted him to stardom and look at the excitement surrounding his latest release, Jawan (in cinemas now), and the highly awaited Dunki.

So, for those who may not be familiar, what is Bollywood?

Bollywood, India’s cinematic powerhouse based in Mumbai, is where the majority of Hindi-language films are made. It’s like India’s own Hollywood.

But Indian cinema isn’t just about Bollywood. Regional film production centres across India like Kollywood (the Tamil film industry) and Tollywood (Telugu film industry) add their unique colours. India is now the global leader in film outputs, with an astonishing 1,500 to 2,000 films released each year in more than 20 different languages.

And the 57-year-old King Khan has been a pillar of Bollywood ever since he broke through with the 1992 film Deewana.

SRK’s cinematic influence on Indian cinema

To truly grasp SRK’s impact on Indian cinema, let’s rewind to the 1990s – a golden era of Bollywood brimming with iconic Indian films and unforgettable performances.

During this time, a young man without any industry connections in a world built on family ties was about to shape the future of Indian cinema.

In 1995, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge hit the screens. Directed by the legendary Aditya Chopra, this film told a captivating love story transcending all boundaries.

SRK’s portrayal of Raj wasn’t just a character, it was emotion.

With its enchanting music and a storyline that captured the essence of young love and tradition, the film became a sensation within and beyond India, uninterruptedly running for more than two decades (it’s still running today!) in Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir theatre.

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’s staggering success made SRK a star, or perhaps it was the other way around: SRK made DDLJ.

His later films like Dil Se (1998), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) and others solidified his status as the king of romance. These timeless classics not only tugged at heartstrings, but also paved the path for his incredible cinematic journey.

In the 2000s, he continued to shine with family and romantic hits like Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham (2001) and Kal Ho Na Ho (2003). He experimented with versatile roles in films like Swades (2004) and Chak De India (2007), while venturing into film production with his own Red Chillies Entertainment Limited.

As the years rolled on, SRK represented Indian cinema globally with films such as Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012) and Chennai Express (2013). However, he faced a challenging period in the late 2010s when his films Jab Harry Met Sejal (2017) and Zero (2018) failed miserably at the box office, leading many to wonder if his time had passed.

Read more:
Bollywood and Australia: worth making a song and dance about

The return of the king

Jump to 2023. After a four-year hiatus from the big screen, the king returned with three promised films in one year, and audiences worldwide eagerly awaited to see if his magic still held sway.

Pathaan, with its phenomenal dance, didn’t just meet expectations – it smashed them. It broke box office records and earned global acclaim, showcasing SRK’s unparalleled star power.

This action thriller has become India’s highest-grossing Hindi film ever, and the first Bollywood film to earn more than US$100 million (A$155 million) without a release in China.

Pathaan’s success was a testament to the love fans hold for SRK, reaffirming his charisma as irresistible as ever.

Anticipation for Jawan and Dunki

Jawan, which premiered in Australia on Sept. 7, became the first Indian film ever to claim the top spot in both the Australian and neighbouring New Zealand box offices on its first day. Trailers for the film amassed millions of views, and fans dissected every snippet, making the buzz around it electrifying.

And then there is Dunki, directed by the acclaimed Indian director Rajkumar Hirani (whose 2009 film 3 Idiots happens to be my personal favourite). The mere announcement of this collaboration sent ripples through the industry.

Love beyond borders

Beyond the box office figures and his countless film awards, SRK’s films carry a profound cultural significance. They often delve into deeper social and emotional themes, resonating not just with Indian audiences, but worldwide.

Dear Zindagi (2016) explores mental health and personal growth, breaking stereotypes about therapy and self-discovery.

My Name Is Khan (2010) addresses the complexities of racial profiling and discrimination in the post-9/11 world. Its iconic line “My Name is Khan, but I am not a terrorist” transcended national borders and touched hearts across the globe.

In Swades (2004), SRK’s heartfelt portrayal of a NASA scientist’s return to his homeland mirrors the Indian diaspora’s yearning for roots and ignited a dialogue on the duty of reconnecting with one’s homeland.

Calling himself a dream seller who peddles love to millions of people in his 2017 TED talk, Khan’s influence is proof to the enduring power of storytelling, and the ability of cinema to connect people across cultures.

He is one of Time’s 100 most influential people of 2023. His fans even set a Guinness World Record for the most people performing his iconic pose.

Many have labelled SRK’s 2023 as a comeback, but the superstar himself seems not to believe in this notion. Quoting a line from the Hollywood film Gattaca (1997), SRK tweeted, “I never saved anything for the swim back”.

As fans eagerly flock to see Jawan and await Dunki, it’s a reminder he continues to “move forward” and redefine what it means to be a superstar, not just in Bollywood, but on the globe stage. He shows us the magic of cinema knows no boundaries, and neither does the allure of Bollywood’s king.

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

– ref. From Deewana to the success of Pathaan: the global impact of Bollywood’s enduring king, Shah Rukh Khan – https://theconversation.com/from-deewana-to-the-success-of-pathaan-the-global-impact-of-bollywoods-enduring-king-shah-rukh-khan-213146

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anne Twomey, Professor emerita, University of Sydney

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has committed to holding another referendum on Indigenous constitutional recognition (without a Voice to Parliament), if the upcoming Voice referendum fails.

What does history tell us about the repeat of referendums on the same or similar subjects?

Hope springs eternal for a government that wants more power

In the first half of the 20th century, Commonwealth governments tended to bring referendums that sought to expand Commonwealth legislative power over commercial and industrial matters.

This included holding referendums on:

• trade and commerce in 1911, 1913 and 1919
• corporations in 1911, 1913, 1919, 1926 and 1944
• monopolies in 1911, 1913, 1919 and 1944
• trusts in 1913, 1919, 1926 and 1944
• marketing in 1937, 1944 and 1946
• industrial relations in 1911, 1913, 1919 and 1946.

In some cases, the referendums were intended to be temporary measures for postwar reconstruction. But regardless of the context, all these referendums failed. They even failed when they had bipartisan support. This was usually because they were opposed by state premiers or affected groups, such as unions, primary producers and business organisations.

Amendments about political arrangements rarely win

In the second half of the 20th century, referendums tended to focus more on political and voting arrangements.

For example, there were referendums to require simultaneous elections for the Senate and the House of Representatives in 1974, 1977, 1984 and 1988. Improving the fairness of elections was also put to referendums in 1974 and 1988.

The constitutional recognition of local government was considered in referendums in 1974 and 1988, and almost went to a third referendum in 2013, before it was pulled by then prime minister Kevin Rudd.

All of these referendums also failed. It seems Australian voters are not only suspicious about giving the Commonwealth parliament greater powers, but are also wary about altering the political and electoral rules set out in the Constitution.

Read more:
Australians will vote in a referendum on October 14. What do you need to know?

The rare cases where a second go succeeds

The one case that bucked the trend was the amendment of the referendum process itself.

In 1901, there were no Commonwealth territories. So when the Constitution was passed, it provided that a referendum had to be put to voters in each state and would succeed when it was approved by a majority of voters nationally and a majority of voters in a majority of states.

This meant that when the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory were established, their electors could not vote in federal referendums at all.

In 1974, a referendum proposed to change this, so residents in the territories would be counted in the overall national vote in a referendum. But this referendum question also proposed to alter the majority requirement, so that success was only needed in half of the states (three out of six), rather than a majority of states (four out of six).

The referendum failed. It was most strongly opposed in the least populous states.

In 1977, there was a second attempt, but this time it only proposed giving territorians the right to vote in a referendum and be counted in the overall majority. It succeeded in every state and overall.

So, it is possible to alter the terms of a failed referendum and achieve success – but it is very rare.

Another example goes back to federation itself. In 1898, referendums were held in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania to approve federation. But while the NSW referendum achieved a majority, it did not meet the threshold requirement of 80,000 “yes” votes that was set out in the legislation for the referendum to succeed.

As there was no compulsory voting in those days, a minimum threshold had been put in place to ensure federation did not occur as a result of the votes of a small minority of those enfranchised.

But the vote was enough to tell the politicians that the voters actually wanted federation. This caused them to meet in a premiers’ conference in January 1899 to make some tweaks to the draft Constitution, including a compromise requiring Australia’s capital to be in NSW, but at least 100 miles from Sydney – which is how we got Canberra.

When a fresh referendum was held in June 1899, it succeeded, with a “yes” vote of 107,420 against a “no” vote of 82,741. The other states then also approved federation, and the Constitution was enacted by the British Parliament.

Read more:
The history of referendums in Australia is riddled with failure. Albanese has much at risk – and much to gain

The factors needed for success

While most “second runs” of referendums fail, it is possible to succeed if the referendum proposal is altered or untethered from an unpopular element. The key factor in success, however, is having no organised group that opposes it. Bipartisan support at the Commonwealth level is therefore extremely important, as is support at the state level.

For example, the 1928 referendum on financial agreements between the Commonwealth and states succeeded, despite containing a radical clause that allowed these agreements to override state and federal laws and the Constitution itself.

It succeeded because the terms of the amendment had already been agreed to by every state parliament, as well as both sides in the Commonwealth parliament, before being put to the people. There had been an awful lot of advance groundwork done, so voters could be reassured by all sides and all levels of government that the amendment was safe and sensible.

But it is also important to capture the support of those who are particularly affected by the referendum, as any concerted campaign of opposition is likely to sow enough doubt to cause defeat. In the past, campaigns by religious organisations, unions, employers and primary producers have sunk referendum proposals.

If a second referendum were to be held on the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Constitution, substantial support by Indigenous Australians would be essential for its success.

Anne Twomey has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council and sometimes does consultancy work for governments, Parliaments and inter-governmental bodies. She was a member of the Constitutional Expert Group, which advised the Commonwealth Government’s Referendum Working Group on the wording of the proposed referendum. She is also a part-time consultant for Gilbert + Tobin Lawyers.

– ref. What does history tell us about the Coalition’s proposal for a second referendum? – https://theconversation.com/what-does-history-tell-us-about-the-coalitions-proposal-for-a-second-referendum-212773

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jay Daniel Thompson, Lecturer and Program Manager, Professional Communication program, RMIT University

In January this year, the federal government proposed legislation that seeks to curb the online spread of false and misleading information.

Since then, a range of experts and groups have accused the draft Communications Legislation Amendment (Combating Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill of being vaguely worded and encouraging censorship.

Is this bill really an affront to free speech and, therefore, to democracy itself? And if so, how might it be strengthened to protect online expression?

An overview of the bill

The bill aims to amend the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 to grant the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) “powers to combat online misinformation and disinformation”.

Specifically, ACMA would be given the power to make platforms report back on the measures they are taking to combat what is sometimes called “fake news”. Should ACMA determine that “stronger protections for Australians are required”, it can then alter the existing media codes of practice and introduce new codes.

ACMA will also have the power “to make an enforceable standard for all digital services providers in the relevant section[s] of the industry”.

The federal government has emphasised ACMA will not remove content from platforms.

The government has also stated the bill “seek[s] to strike a balance between the public interest in combating the serious harms that arise from the propagation of misinformation and disinformation, with freedom of speech”.

But some critics – including constitutional law expert Anne Twomey and the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) – have argued the bill doesn’t successfully strike this balance, and may have a chilling impact on online expression.

Combating fake news, or silencing expression?

The bill’s problems stem largely from the definitions it uses. Both misinformation and disinformation are defined as “information that is false, misleading or deceptive” and that “is reasonably likely to cause or contribute to serious harm”.

But there is a key difference between these two terms: disinformation is information that is distributed with the express purpose of deceiving others, whereas misinformation isn’t necessarily spread with deceptive intent.

The Law Council of Australia warns the broadness and imprecision of key terminology in the bill may result in confusion in its application. Similarly, the AHRC has said:

The broad definitions used here risk enabling unpopular or controversial opinions or beliefs to be subjectively labelled as misinformation or disinformation, and censored as a result.

Put simply, the bill could threaten freedom of speech: the ability to speak one’s mind in a public forum without the unreasonable threat of being silenced (such as via lawsuits or incarceration).

Freedom of speech has been heralded as a bulwark of any robust democracy; for a democracy to function, citizens must have the right to have their say on the issues of the day.

In the United States, free speech is protected by the First Amendment. No such formal protection exists in Australia. Nevertheless, the AHRC notes:

the High Court has held that an implied freedom of political communication exists as an indispensable part of the system of representative and responsible government created by the Constitution.

Read more:
No, Twitter is not censoring Donald Trump. Free speech is not guaranteed if it harms others

Risk of ‘double standards’

The risk to free speech is further heightened by the bill’s interpretation of what constitutes harm. Historically, the potential of speech to cause harm (either physical or psychological) has been understood as one of the few reasons that speech should ever be censored.

The bill identifies one harm as being the “disruption of public order or society in Australia” – but does not clarify what such a disruption would actually entail.

The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance argues this concept of “harm” is especially vulnerable to misuse. It notes “there is a long history of important social movements being considered ‘disruptive’ by governments and powerful interests”.

It’s easy to imagine online campaigns opposing Australian refugee policy, taxation laws or institutionalised racism being labelled as “misinformation” – even if they have a factual basis.

The bill does feature a list of exemptions, including authorised government content. This could include press releases and social media posts.

The Victorian Bar posits this exemption creates a “double standard” that “disadvantages critics of government in comparison with a government’s supporters”.

There is also the patently false implication that government information can’t be incorrect.

What happens now?

Despite its faults, the bill is well intentioned. As Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland rightly says:

Mis- and disinformation sows divisions within the community, undermines trust and can threaten public health and safety.

The bill is yet to be debated in parliament, which means there’s still time for amendments to be made. In particular, the imprecision of key terminology is ripe for amendment.

Should the bill pass into law as it is, it could lead to censorship – endangering the very democracy it purports to defend.

Jay Daniel Thompson receives funding from the Australian Research Council for a collaborative study entitled ‘Addressing online hostility in Australian Digital Cultures’ (DP230100870). Dr. Thompson is also the recipient of a 2023 Herbert & Valmae Freilich Project ECR Small Grant for a project entitled ‘Digital citizenship and ethical journalistic representations of online hostility directed at women and girls’.

– ref. Yes, Labor’s misinformation bill could jeopardise free speech online – https://theconversation.com/yes-labors-misinformation-bill-could-jeopardise-free-speech-online-213241