University of Canberra Professorial Fellow Michelle Grattan and University of Canberra Associate Professor Caroline Fisher discuss the week in politics.
They dissect the revelation Scott Morrison secretly had himself sworn into multiple ministries without the knowledge of his cabinet. Where does the affair leave his relationship with colleagues, after frontbencher Karen Andrews called for his resignation from parliament? And what will happen next?
They also talk about the role of Governor-General David Hurley and whether the criticism he’s facing is warranted.
Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
There’s some pretty bad advice out there for families impacted by alcohol and other drug use. Some of it not only doesn’t work but could actually make things worse.
Most people who use alcohol or other drugs never develop a problem with it, and most people who develop problems recover. If you discover someone in your family is using drugs, don’t panic or jump to conclusions. Getting angry or upset may mean they just hide their drug use.
So what can you do and what should you avoid if you discover a family member has an alcohol or other drug problem?
“Tough love” is treating someone harshly with the intention of reducing unwanted behaviour. For example, refusing to pick them up from a party if they are drunk, locking them out of the house if they don’t go to rehab, or refusing money for food if they are still using.
The problem is tough love doesn’t work for most people and, worse, it can cause more harm than good.
Sometimes it’s a well-intentioned attempt to set boundaries or protect against perceived “manipulation”. But it is often used out of frustration, anger or desperation, or driven by stigma about alcohol or drug use.
The problem is it is humiliating and demeaning, and can lead to feelings of guilt and shame. It can increase stress and sends the message the family’s love is conditional, which can result in more drug use, not less.
It is sometimes a misguided strategy to help someone to hit “rock bottom” so recovery can begin. But the idea someone needs to hit rock bottom before they will change is a myth.
It’s not true people must ‘hit rock bottom’ in order to change. Priscilla du preez/unsplash, CC BY
We know from behavioural psychology that punishment and harsh treatment do not lead to long-term change. Motivation to change comes when the benefits of giving up outweigh the benefits of using alcohol or other drugs.
A great piece of advice comes from one of our colleagues who is a carer of someone with a drug problem and also provides support for other families: do what you would do if drugs were not involved. If your child was struggling with another health issue, like a depression or anxiety, would you withhold money, lock them out of the house or refuse to speak to them if they didn’t want to seek help?
‘Enabling’
Families are sometimes accused of “enabling” drug use if they don’t use the tough love approach. Enabling is behaviour that is seen to protect someone from the consequences of their alcohol and other drug use.
The problem is it’s impossible to know what is helpful and what is enabling until the outcome is known.
Families may draw criticism if they take action that is helpful for them, but that outsiders see as enabling. You might remember the criticism levelled at the father of footballer Ben Cousins when he revealed that he went with his son to buy drugs because he was so worried he would die.
When families are criticised for their attempts to help, it increases stress in the family and can make the situation worse.
Enabling is merely a cliche that doesn’t help families work out what is helpful and unhelpful for them.
Staging an ‘intervention’
The “intervention” is a familiar scene in movies and on TV: concerned family and friends ambush their family member to get them to change.
There is some therapeutic basis to this idea. It was originally designed as a caring conversation within the family, coached by a professional facilitator.
There is some evidence that it increases the likelihood of someone going to treatment, but reduces the likelihood they will stay there and increases likelihood of relapse.
When families stage their own intervention, the likely outcome is shame and embarrassment, and relationships can be damaged.
Families tend to intervene for two main reasons: to help the person using alcohol or other drugs to change their behaviour, or to improve wellbeing for the broader family.
Working out which of these is the priority can help the family get on the same page about the best approach.
It can be helpful to think about harm reduction. All or nothing goals, like complete abstinence, may not be achievable in the short term. So focusing on reducing behaviours that are harmful to the individual or the family might be more feasible. What can the family live with, even if it is not a perfect solution?
Agree on acceptable boundaries
When family members disagree about the best approach it can cause additional conflict and stress in the family. Setting realistic boundaries everyone agrees on and that are easy to maintain means they are more likely to be adhered to.
A good start is to think about boundaries that focus on positive action (like providing food) rather than only thinking about boundaries that focus on negative actions (refusing to provide money) or that only come into play when something goes wrong.
Boundaries that aim to reduce the family’s stress are also helpful, no matter how small. For example, putting the phone on “do not disturb” after a certain time so they can get some sleep.
When deciding how to intervene in a loved one’s dependence issues, think about the desired outcome. Priscilla du preez/unsplash, CC BY
Improving communication
Families with alcohol or other drug problems do better when general communication in the family improves.
Discovering drug use in the family can be a confusing and upsetting time. It may also come with additional unexpected worries, like care of grandchildren. As a result, families can experience poorer physical and mental health.
Family members need to look after themselves to be in a good position to provide support for the person using alcohol or other drugs and the rest of the family. It’s important to get enough sleep, eat well, and exercise regularly.
Consider the supports the whole family might need. Being around supportive family and friends can be helpful. Support groups provide help from others going through a similar situation. Families might also need professional support from a family therapist to figure out what is and is not working in their current approach and what they might do differently.
If you are worried about your own or someone else’s alcohol or other drug use, contact the National Alcohol and other Drug Hotline on 1800 250 015 for free, confidential advice. Family support is available from a number of organisations including APOD Family Support, Family Drug Support and Family Drug Help in Australia, and Family Drug Support in Aotearoa New Zealand
Nicole Lee works as a consultant in the alcohol and other drug sector and a psychologist in private practice. She has previously been awarded funding by Australian and state governments, NHMRC and other bodies for evaluation and research into alcohol and other drug prevention and treatment.
Paula Ross works as as consultant in the alcohol and other drug sector and as a psychologist in private practice.
The Australian documentary Under Cover, premiering at the Melbourne International Film Festival, presents the voices and faces of older women’s housing insecurity. Many of us would have seen the figures: the number of homeless people aged 55 years or above increased 28% between 2011 and 2016. And single women of that age are the fastest-growing homeless group in Australia.
But knowing the statistics is different from witnessing the reality. In Under Cover, filmmaker Sue Thomson depicts the stories of ten older women who have experienced housing insecurity and homelessness. They live in hostels, community housing, their cars, vans, caravan parks.
All have travelled different routes, but leading to each individual experience is a chain of similar factors: taking time off work to care for children, having little or no superannuation, experiencing relationship breakdown that leaves them without money or assets, eviction. For some, additional factors include family violence and the enduring impacts of colonisation.
These women filled the role in society that women are expected to, caring for husbands, elderly parents and children. As one of them points out:
We’ve all done the right things, you know. We got married, we stayed at home, we’ve raised our children.
They feel shock, grief and frustration that, in return for their service, they have ended up here, beyond the edge of poverty. For many, the routine acts of waking and washing, food preparation, seeking an income, maintaining precious belongings, sleeping and staying safe take place in spaces of transience and mobility.
Many of the women say they never thought they would end up homeless; it was something that happened to other people. They are articulate, reflective, everyday women who were blindsided. As one of them says:
I had never ever considered that I would be homeless. Never.
Indeed, in advocating for political change, the film powerfully presents the idea that homelessness can happen to anyone.
The Margot Robbie–narrated documentary Under Cover gives voice to older women who are facing homelessness.
Risks are rising with rental and living costs
The pressures that lead to people becoming homeless are increasing. Rental and living costs are soaring.
Anglicare’s Rental Affordability Snapshot shows rents are more unaffordable than ever before, especially for people on low incomes. Nationally, only 0.7% of listed private rental homes were affordable for a single adult on the aged pension. Only 1.4% were affordable for couples on the aged pension.
An Australian property market geared to make profits, rather than provide housing as a basic human right, is having stark long-term impacts. When the next Census homelessness estimates are released in 2023, it’s likely we will see more older women are at risk of homelessness – and more Australians across all age groups and genders with first-hand experience of not having a home.
Many of the women in Under Cover never thought they would end up being homeless. Under Cover/SA Films
The film highlights some important programs and organisations that are helping homeless women. But, as Margot Robbie’s narration makes clear, non-government organisations cannot do the work without government support.
Currently available social or affordable housing may be located far from women’s social networks and community. They may be given a stable home but at the cost of their sense of belonging.
Significantly more social and affordable housing is needed. This will ensure people have suitable options and don’t have to move long distances to receive shelter. Temporary housing is also necessary but insufficient.
Recent research also assesses innovative housing models for older people. Suggested solutions include co-operative living and shared-equity schemes. These are consistent with the reported aspirations of older Australians who require safe, secure housing to age well. Options include downsizing or “rightsizing” in later life.
Having stable, alternative housing available will help older people who cannot stay in the family home, whether because their relationship breaks down or they never owned property.
More broadly, Australian housing policy needs to understand housing as a human right that is fundamental to people’s wellbeing. Housing should be safeguarded as essential social infrastructure.
Housing needs to be recognised as a human right that is fundamental to people’s wellbeing. Under Cover/SA Films
Other measures to prevent older women from becoming homeless will require policy beyond housing: better parental leave schemes, pay equality, domestic violence responses, closing the superannuation gender gap. In short, it depends on overcoming gender inequality on all levels and scales. These are big tasks, but they must be undertaken for a fair and just society.
Under Cover makes it clear we cannot continue the way we are, or these problems will continue through to the next generations. Today’s young women will be tomorrow’s older homeless women, wondering how on Earth they ended up here. As one woman in the film says:
I couldn’t believe this was me. I couldn’t believe after all these years that I would be in this situation.
People experiencing homelessness are often regarded as invisible, as are olderwomen. Homeless older women may be doubly invisible. But by getting into the specifics of their homelessness, Under Cover brings their experiences into the light.
You can’t make policy about something you can’t (or don’t want to) see. With the federal government’s commitment to national co-ordinated housing policy, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s open discussion of being raised by a single mother in public housing, perhaps there is a fairer Australian housing landscape on the horizon.
A sequel to Under Cover that focuses on “how older women’s housing insecurity and homelessness was solved” would be welcome. In the meantime, government action, supported by research that increases understanding of age, gender and other intertwined vulnerabilities, is badly needed. Also critical are the conversations at kitchen tables, in local neighbourhoods, in workplaces, among friends and in news media that Under Cover will provoke.
Under Cover is screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival until August 20 and is streaming at MIFF Play until August 28.
Zoe Goodall has received funding from the Victorian Government and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) and receives an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.
Margaret Reynolds receives funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) and Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG).
Piret Veeroja receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC), the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI), Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG), Kids Under Cover (KUC) and has previously received funding from Victorian Government.
Wendy Stone receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC), the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI), Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG), Kids Under Cover (KUC) and has previously received research funding from the Victorian Government.
As bad as it is, Scott Morrison’s surreptitious circumvention of Australia’s parliamentary and Cabinet processes might have got worse.
Had the former prime minister been re-elected, it is reasonable to assume he would have continued to mislead his Cabinet, the parliament and the public after amassing multiple reserve powers.
He may even have extended his undeclared reach, further weakening a gullible Cabinet that had all but surrendered its judgment to him since the so-called “miracle” election win of 2019.
Fronting reporters on Wednesday, Morrison provided no substantial acceptance of wrong-doing, no viable pretext for his secrecy. He also did not provide a reason for his wilful debasement of the principle of collective Cabinet decision-making.
Many voters will now be deeply concerned that Morrison was not dissuaded from his dangerous fantasy by the governor-general, who gave these novel arrangements his imprimatur.
The cost of Morrison’s excess and the governor-general’s apparent incuriosity is a sharp decline in public confidence.
Questions must now be asked about the durability of time-honoured Westminster conventions, as conservatism – the most successful political brand in Australia electorally speaking – succumbs to the same radical urges as like-minded parties abroad.
These questions go to the ease with which Morrison side-stepped usual transparency requirements, which are critical in delimiting executive power.
And they go to the special forms of confidence that bind ministers of the Crown to act honourably. This includes an obligation to resign when that confidence has been compromised.
The case of Resources Minister Keith Pitt highlights this cynical fracture. Pitt’s deliberative ministerial power was superseded by the prime minister, who had secretly acquired the joint commission for his resources portfolio.
This aggressive act amounted to a prime ministerial statement of no-confidence. Ordinarily, that would trigger the minister’s immediate resignation.
Morrison’s treatment of Resources Minister Keith Pitt highlights the cynical fracture of Westminster conventions. Mick Tsikas/AAP
It is worth noting that had Pitt then resigned, the whole issue of Morrison’s phantom cabinet would presumably have been exposed and dealt with at the time.
According to former Howard government minister Amanda Vanstone, knowledge of Morrison’s secret commissions would have prompted censure of the prime minister and possible dismissal.
Beyond the public governance failures of this bizarre controversy lie the wan political responses on the Coalition side. These we can view on the one hand as questions of ideology, and on the other as tactical matters. The latter being calculations over how to limit brand damage and avoid a difficult byelection.
Governing is inevitably a mix of these influences. But how they are balanced when fundamental values are at stake provides a moral health check of a government.
Internally, considerations range from the shallow, such as how to avoid giving the new Labor government a political boost, to deeper judgments about whether the Coalition parties should be seen to prioritise public confidence in the Constitution, the Crown and the primacy of Parliament over their own short-term popularity.
So far, former ministers, with the notable exception of Karen Andrews, have been loath to fully condemn Morrison’s behaviour.
Driven by quotidian image considerations, this spectacular misreading exposes a pervasive nihilism gripping the centre-right.
It reveals that mutually observed Westminster norms specifically designed to vouchsafe good-faith governance have become, like the duplicated ministries of Morrison’s phantom Cabinet, mere guidelines to be obeyed only when they do not inhibit the pursuit and retention of power.
For a stream of political thought quick to invoke flag and country, this breezy subjugation of the national interest to selfish political equities represents an obvious contradiction.
Australian conservatives are hardly unique in this regard. Across the democratic West, disregard for long-agreed ethical and procedural standards has become commonplace as hyper-partisanship and populism supplant foundational tenets of conservatism. These include honour, respect, due process and an insistence that social change should only ever be gradual.
Contemporary conservativism is now more clearly defined by vulgar whatever-it-takes rule-breakers such as Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and Morrison, than by the principled defenders of sober governing norms such as newly disendorsed United States Republican Senator Liz Cheney and Karen Andrews.
Cheney was junked by her Trump-enthralled GOP this week after taking a leading role in the January 6 insurrection hearings. There she declared:
I say this to my Republican colleagues […] there will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonour will remain.
Andrews, as one of the ministers secretly duplicated by Morrison, has so far been the only LNP frontbencher to call on Morrison to quit politics, declaring “the Australian people were betrayed”.
I think the actions that he undertook in swearing himself in to numerous portfolios and not disclosing those to the ministers responsible means that he needs to resign and he needs to leave Parliament.
While Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie has also strongly criticised Morrison’s abuse of Westminster standards, other senior Coalition figures have largely stayed mute or sought to apply narrow binaries to his behaviour.
Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce essentially played down the issue. He told Radio National:
Obviously I don’t agree with the prime minister taking on roles here, there and everywhere, I believe in a cabinet system of government […] but Mr Morrison has not broken any law.
The elevation of Morrison’s former political adviser and one-time chief of staff, Phil Gaetjens, to the role of Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet is a symptom of the tendency to put political considerations above due process.
Morrison’s insistence he acted on advice from his department has to be viewed in this light.
While it is unclear what that departmental advice stated, senior public servants, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirm PM&C’s Governance Division would almost certainly have advised publicising any new ministerial commissions to ensure public awareness and parliamentary accountability.
That this advice was either not given or not taken as authoritative is of concern.
Even before the scandal, The Australian’s Greg Sheridan wrote, in a piece headlined “Liberals have lost the plot amid global crisis of the right”, that it had become difficult to know what the Coalition parties believed.
An admirably direct critic of the conservative tradition from within, Sheridan describes an “intellectual vacuum across the Australian political right”, calling it the “greatest long-term threat to the Libs and the Nats”.
As shocking at Morrison’s behaviour was, the reluctance of the Coalition parties to unequivocally condemn it may inflict even greater long-term damage to the conservative cause.
Mark Kenny ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.
Astronomers at Western Sydney University have discovered one of the biggest black hole jets in the sky.
Spanning more than a million light years from end to end, the jet shoots away from a black hole with enormous energy, and at almost the speed of light. But in the vast expanses of space between galaxies, it doesn’t always get its own way.
Taking a closer look
At a mere 93 million light-years away, the galaxy NGC2663 is in our neighbourhood, cosmically speaking. If our galaxy were a house, NGC2663 would be a suburb or two away.
Looking at its starlight with an ordinary telescope, we see the familiar oval shape of a “typical” elliptical galaxy, with about ten times as many stars as our own Milky Way.
The radio waves reveal a jet of matter, shot out of the galaxy by a central black hole. This high-powered stream of material is about 50 times larger than the galaxy: if our eyes could see it in the night sky, it would be bigger than the Moon.
While astronomers have found such jets before, the immense size (more than a million light years across) and relative closeness of NGC2663 make these some of the biggest known jets in the sky.
So, what did we see, when the precision and power of ASKAP got a “close-up” (astronomically speaking!) view of an extragalactic jet?
This research is led by doctoral student Velibor Velović of Western Sydney University, and has been accepted for publication in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (preprint available here). Our Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU)
survey sees evidence of the matter between galaxies pushing back on the sides of the jet.
This process is analogous to an effect seen in jet engines. As the exhaust plume blasts through the atmosphere, it is pushed from the sides by the ambient pressure. This causes the jet to expand and contract, pulsing as it travels.
As the image below shows, we see regular bright spots in the jet, known as “shock diamonds” because of their shape. As the flow compresses, it glows more brightly.
Black hole jets from NGC2663 compared to a jet engine. Top image: observations from the ASKAP radio telescope. Bottom: a methane rocket successfully being tested in the Mojave Desert. Note the patterns of compression ( Mike Massee/XCOR, used with permission, Author provided
Biggest one yet
As well as in jet engines, shock diamonds have been seen in smaller, galaxy-sized jets. We’ve seen jets slam into dense clouds of gas, lighting them up as they bore through. But jets being constricted from the sides is a more subtle effect, making it harder to observe.
However, until NGC2663, we’ve not seen this effect on such enormous scales.
This tells us there is enough matter in the intergalactic space around NGC2663 to push against the sides of the jet. In turn, the jet heats and pressurises the matter.
This is a feedback loop: intergalactic matter feeds into a galaxy, galaxy makes black hole, black hole launches jet, jet slows supply of intergalactic matter into galaxies.
These jets affect how gas forms into galaxies as the universe evolves. It’s exciting to see such a direct illustration of this interaction.
The EMU survey, which is also responsible for identifying a new type of mysterious astronomical object called an “Odd Radio Circle”, is continuing to scan the sky. This remarkable radio jet will soon be joined by many more discoveries.
As we do, we’ll build up a better understanding of how black holes intimately shape the galaxies forming around them.
Ray Norris is affiliated with CSIRO, who own and operate the ASKAP telescope.
Luke Barnes, Miroslav Filipovic, and Velibor Velović 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.
It was the friendliness of Fijians that led educator Hiroshi Taniguchi to give up his Japanese citizenship and make Fiji his home.
The 50-year-old is a National Federation Party (NFP) provisional candidate for the 2022 general election.
He moved to Fiji in 2004 and then established the Freebird Institute in the Western Division in 2014, now one of the biggest language institutes in Fiji.
The institute has educated more than 15,000 students from 29 countries since its establishment.
It is listed in the South Pacific Stock Exchange.
“The first time I came to Fiji was in 2002,” Taniguchi said.
“I hung around with locals, they invited me for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Fiji ‘the place for me’ “During my stay in Fiji, I only spent my money twice to buy food because everywhere I went they invited me to eat with them.
“I had never seen anything like this, and I knew that Fiji was the place for me.
“For 18 years now I’ve been living in Fiji and I have never regretted anything.
“I didn’t feel like I sacrificed my Japanese citizenship because, to be honest, I am enjoying being a Fijian.
“Now I have to apply for a visa if I want to visit my friends or family in Japan.”
Taniguchi said the Japanese government did not allow dual citizenship.
He is originally from Obama City, located close to Japan’s old capital, Kyoto.
He was educated at Tongji University, China, where he studied a major in applied physics.
One of China’s earliest national universities, it is located in Shanghai City and dates back to 1907.
Fluent in Chinese Taniguchi worked in Hong Kong, Thailand, Europe and Japan before settling in Fiji.
“I am fluent in Chinese because I spent four years studying in China where I studied physics so I’m more of a science man.
“I even have a telescope tent. I love science and I am also businessman.”
If he wins in the general elections, Taniguchi said he would change the education system and work culture.
“The biggest problem in any country is nepotism, I think it is part of the culture in Fiji, and people express their love by giving their relatives or friends opportunities.
“To love each other is a very beautiful thing but when it comes to running a company or civil service, people should be appointed according to merit.
“I really want to change this country with my ideas that uplift the standard of education and civil service and take it to another level.”
He said he chose NFP because he believed that it was the only political party that could work with other parties to uplift the standard of service in Fiji.
“During the general election, I don’t want to sell my face,” he said.
“It is my ideas that I want to tell people.”
Arieta Vakasukawaqais a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.
The office of the Tahitian president says it wants to honour the memory of Bruno Barrillot who was the head of French Polynesia’s organisation looking at the aftermath of France’s nuclear weapons tests.
The office says it wants to mark the sixth anniversary of Barrillot’s return from France to French Polynesia.
He died less than a year later, shortly before his 77th birthday.
In 2013, Barrillot was sacked by the newly-elected government led by Gaston Flosse, which objected to funding his agency.
His dismissal was widely condemned because he was considered to be the most knowledgeable person about the French tests.
The test veterans’ organisation Moruroa e Tatou said he was pursued by a “vengeful hatred” that did no justice to the government.
Military sites Moruroa, Hao In 2016, the government reinstated him — three years after the Flosse sacking.
Barrillot’s duties included work on the rehabilitation of the former test-related military sites on Moruroa and Hao as well as assisting in efforts to amend the French nuclear testing compensation law.
In 1984, Barrillot, a French-born priest, founded the NGO Arms Observatory and after the French sinking of the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior in July 1985 he focused on the damage caused by the nuclear tests in the Pacific.
He was also the co-founder of French Polynesia’s nuclear test veteran organisations.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
If you think about “unravelling the mysteries of the universe”, you probably think of physics: astronomers peering through telescopes at distant galaxies, or experimenters smashing particles to smithereens at the Large Hadron Collider.
When biologists try to unravel deep mysteries of life, we too tend to reach for physics. But our new research, published in Science, shows physics may not always have the answers to questions of biology.
For centuries scientists have asked why, kilo for kilo, large animals burn less energy and require less food than small ones. Why does a tiny shrew need to consume as much as three times its body weight in food each day, while an enormous baleen whale can get by on a daily diet of just 5-30% of its body weight in krill?
While previous efforts to explain this relationship have relied on physics and geometry, we believe the real answer is evolutionary. This relationship is what maximises an animal’s ability to produce offspring.
How much do physical constraints shape life?
The earliest explanation for the disproportionate relationship between metabolism and size was proposed nearly 200 years ago.
In 1837, French scientists Pierre Sarrus and Jean-François Rameaux argued energy metabolism should scale with surface area, rather than body mass or volume. This is because metabolism produces heat, and the amount of heat an animal can dissipate depends on its surface area.
In the 185 years since Sarrus and Rameaux’s presentation, numerous alternative explanations for the observed scaling of metabolism have been proposed.
Arguably the most famous of these was published by US researchers Geoff West, Jim Brown and Brian Enquist in 1997. They proposed a model describing the physical transport of essential materials through networks of branching tubes, like the circulatory system.
They argued their model offers “a theoretical, mechanistic basis for understanding the central role of body size in all aspects of biology”.
Living organisms cannot defy the laws of physics. Yet evolution has proven to be remarkably good at finding ways to overcome physical and geometric constraints.
In our new research, we decided to see what happened to the relationship between metabolic rate and size if we ignored physical and geometric constraints like these.
So we developed a mathematical model of how animals use energy over their lifetimes. In our model, animals devote energy to growth early in their lives and then in adulthood devote increasing amounts of energy to reproduction.
Animals allocate more energy to reproduction after they reach maturity. Craig White
We used the model to determine what characteristics of animals result in the greatest amount of reproduction over their lifetimes – after all, from an evolutionary point of view reproduction is the main game.
We found that the animals that are predicted to be most successful at reproducing are those that exhibit precisely the kind of disproportionate scaling of metabolism with size that we see in real life!
This finding suggests disproportionate metabolic scaling is not an inevitable consequence of physical or geometric constraints. Instead, natural selection produces this scaling because it is advantageous for lifetime reproduction.
The unexplored wilderness
In the famous words of Russian-American evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky, “nothing makes sense in biology except in the light of evolution”.
Our finding that disproportionate scaling of metabolism can arise even without physical constraints suggests we have been looking in the wrong place for explanations.
Physical constraints may be the principal drivers of biological patterns less often than has been thought. The possibilities available to evolution are broader than we appreciate.
Why have we historically been so willing to invoke physical constraints to explain biology? Perhaps because we are more comfortable in the safe refuge of seemingly universal physical explanations than in the relatively unexplored biological wilderness of evolutionary explanations.
Craig White receives funding from The Australian Research Council.
Dustin Marshall receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
Will climate action undermine Australia’s democracy? This question might not be as outlandish as it seems.
A recent investigation details a campaign by the car industry to have its (low) voluntary standards on fuel efficiency legislated into national standards. This campaign fits into a broader pattern of lobbying by the fossil fuel industry to hinder effective climate action and highlights the importance of democratic integrity in addressing the climate crisis as well as the urgent need for robust regulation of lobbying.
The fossil fuel lobby and climate inaction
University of Melbourne professor Ross Garnaut has observed that “(e)missions-intensive industries have invested heavily to influence climate change policy since the early days of discussion of these issues”.
We see the influence of these investments in various ways:
the $22 million advertising campaign by mining companies against the Rudd government’s resource super profits tax was such a success that it’s now become routine for industry groups to threaten a “mining tax style campaign” every time they don’t get their way with government
Marian Wilkinson’s book The Carbon Club provides a compelling account of how a network of climate-science sceptics, politicians and business leaders brought about decades of climate inaction in Australia.
Under the Howard government, climate change policy was determined by fossil fuel lobbyists who likened themselves to organised crime through a self-styled label — the greenhouse mafia.
The group has contributed to the outsized role the fossil fuels industry has in steering government policy. Perhaps most importantly, fossil fuel companies have played an instrumental role in ousting two out of the six prime ministers Australia has had since 2007; Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull.
The term, “policy capture” is described by the OECD to mean when public decisions over policies are consistently directed away from the public interest towards a specific interest, leading to inequalities and undermining democratic values, economic growth, and trust in government. The use of the phrase in this context has a certain validity.
The lobbying risks of climate action
Paradoxically, the risks associated with fossil fuel lobbying increase with higher levels of climate action.
Effective climate change policies will mean increased regulation of fossil fuel industries. AP
Effective climate action will mean increased regulation of fossil fuel industries, such as more stringent emission standards for the largest greenhouse emitters under the ALP’s Powering Australia plan. Under the plan, substantial amounts of public funds will go towards climate action.
As a result, the fossil fuel industries and other sections of the community will naturally seek to influence government climate decisions. That in itself is not undemocratic – fossil fuel industries have a legitimate role in influencing government policy.
However, what is undemocratic is their disproportionate influence and how it is often wielded behind closed doors.
The secrecy and lack of integrity around fossil fuel lobbying stems directly from the shortcomings of federal lobbying regulation. This lack of transparency also includes:
lobbying coverage that has been confined to commercial lobbyists, who only comprise 20% of the lobbyist population, excluding other “repeat players” such as in-house lobbyists
Dismal disclosure obligations that require only the name and contact details of the lobbyist and the client they are representing. There is a vacuum of knowledge about when lobbyists are contacting government officials and over what issues.
Enforcing violations is also a huge concern. In 2018, the Commonwealth Auditor-General found the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, which oversaw the federal lobbyist register, did not take any action against lobbyists despite identifying at least 11 possible breaches.
Three essential reforms will make federal lobbying regulation more effective, while also assisting with effective climate action.
First, coverage under federal lobbying regulation should extend to both commercial lobbyists and in-house lobbyists. Following the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption’s (ICAC) Operation Eclipse, the NSW government will implement lobbying laws that will regulate these two classes of lobbyists (as is done in Canada and the United States).
Second, there should be greater transparency of lobbying activity by requiring:
ministers, senior ministerial advisers and senior public servants to provide monthly disclosures of who has contacted them and why. Currently, Queensland discloses ministerial diaries, while NSW will disclose diaries of ministers and MPs
the establishment of an independent regulator or commissioner to regularly monitor and take action in these matters if needed, such as the NSW government has committed to do.
Safeguarding democracy is imperative in the climate crisis and to the functioning of government overall. Robust lobbying regulation is an essential measure to ensure that all are protected.
Joo-Cheong Tham has received funding from the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption for the discussion paper for Operation Eclipse and is a Director of the Centre for Public Integrity. He has also received funding from the Australian Research Council, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, European Trade Union Institute and International IDEA. and is a national councillor and Victorian division assistant secretary (academic staff)-elect of the National Tertiary Education Union.
Yee-Fui Ng has received funding from the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption for writing the discussion paper for Operation Eclipse.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominic O’Sullivan, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology and Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt University
Crisis is a word often used in politics and the media – the COVID crisis, the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, and so on. The term usually refers to single events at odds with common ideas of what’s acceptable, fair or good.
But in New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere, Indigenous policy can be portrayed as a different kind of crisis altogether. Indeed, it can often just seem like one crisis after another, one policy failure after another: poor health, poor education, all kinds of poor statistics. A kind of permanent crisis.
It may be that crisis makes better headlines. But we also need to ask why, and what the deeper implications might be for Indigenous peoples and policy in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia.
Sharing the sovereign? The Australian Aboriginal flag and Australian national flag fly above Sydney harbour bridge. GettyImages
Colonialism as crisis
Last month I published a journal article titled “The crisis of policy failure or the moral crisis of an idea: colonial politics in contemporary Australia and New Zealand”. In it I argue that when public services don’t work well for Indigenous peoples, the explanation does not just come down to isolated examples of policy failure.
The solution is not that governments simply get better at making policy. Instead, colonialism itself is what I call “the moral crisis of an idea”.
[Governments] perpetuated an ingrained way of thinking, passed down over two centuries and more, and it was the belief that we knew better than our Indigenous peoples. We don’t. We also thought we understood their problems better than they did. We don’t. They live them.
Morrison was describing a problem with the way the system ordinarily works. Yet a crisis is supposed to be something out of the ordinary, something that needs fixing. How, then, do we fix an idea?
Listening, reflection and justification
Colonialism presumes a moral hierarchy of human worth. It presumes Indigenous people shouldn’t have the same influence over public decision making as others (for example, ensuring a hospital or school works in their favour).
The democratic theorist John Dryzek says there is a crisis of communication in modern democracy. This is because people understate the importance of listening, reflection and justification in public decision making.
Colonialism, however, doesn’t require listening, reflection or justification. Its essential idea is that some people just aren’t as entitled as others to a meaningful say in public policy.
Entrenching listening, reflection and justification in the workings of democratic politics would support different and non-colonial aspirations. This is something I have called “sharing the sovereign” in my 2021 book of the same name.
Sharing the sovereign
Sharing the sovereign means recognising many sites of decision-making authority. This is the point of the treaties being considered in Victoria, the Northern Territory and Queensland. It’s also the point of Te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Te Tiriti affirmed the Māori right to authority (rangatiratanga) over their own affairs. It also conferred on Māori the rights and privileges of British subjects, which continue to evolve as New Zealand citizenship. This was the right to influence the affairs of the new state – the right to be part of the new state in a meaningful way.
Successive Waitangi Tribunal reports show that crisis in Māori policy occurs when these two simple ideas of independent authority and meaningful participation in the state are absent.
In Australia, the Victorian Treaty Assembly says: “Treaty is a chance to address [the] future together as equals”. The idea of an Indigenous voice to parliament, which the new Australian government is supporting, is also a step towards sharing the sovereign among all citizens.
In Aotearoa New Zealand, sharing the sovereign would mean the Crown is not, in the words of the first Maori judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Joe Williams, “Pakeha, English-speaking, and distinct from Māori”.
Political equality then becomes possible because the sovereign is not an ethnically exclusive entity. It’s not an all-powerful authority over which Indigenous people should not expect any real influence.
Equality through inclusivity is fundamentally different from colonialism and its inherent moral crisis. Equality and inclusivity make different assumptions about what the state is and to whom it belongs.
However, normalising public institutions to work for Indigenous peoples as well as they work for anyone else is still a contested idea. In 2019, for example, the New Zealand cabinet instructed public servants on the questions they should consider when advising ministers on Treaty/Tiriti policy.
On one hand, cabinet affirmed Māori influence in the policy process. On the other, it didn’t consider the possibility that governments might sometimes stand aside entirely in the making of effective and fair public policy. So, cabinet didn’t require advisers to ask questions such as:
Why is the government presuming to make this decision?
And why does the decision not belong (partly or entirely) to the sphere of tino rangatiratanga (self-determination, sovereignty)?
Asking these kinds of questions involves sharing the sovereign. They presume listening, reflection and justification to put colonialism, as the moral crisis of an idea, under permanent scrutiny.
Dominic O’Sullivan 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.
When a comic about “mental load” went viral in 2017, it sparked conversations about the invisible workload women carry. Even when women are in paid employment, they remember their mother-in-law’s birthday, know what’s in the pantry and organise the plumber. This mental load often goes unnoticed.
This burden has been exacerbated over the recent pandemic (homeschooling anyone?), leaving women feeling exhausted, anxious and resentful.
As sexuality researchers, we wondered, with all this extra work, do women have any energy left for sex?
We decided to explore how mental load affects intimate relationships. We focused on female sexual desire, as “low desire” affects more than 50% of women and is difficult to treat.
Our study, published in the Journal of Sex Research, shows women in equal relationships (in terms of housework and the mental load) are more satisfied with their relationships and, in turn, feel more sexual desire than those in unequal relationships.
Low desire is tricky to explore. More than simply the motivation to have sex, women describe sexual desire as a state-of-being and a need for closeness.
Adding to this complexity is the fluctuating nature of female desire that changes in response to life experiences and the quality of relationships.
Relationships are especially important to female desire: relationship dissatisfaction is a top risk factor for low desire in women, even more than the physiological impacts of age and menopause. Clearly, relationship factors are critical to understanding female sexual desire.
As a way of addressing the complexity of female desire, a recent theory proposed two different types of desire: dyadic desire is the sexual desire one feels for another, whereas solo desire is about individual feelings.
Not surprisingly, dyadic desire is intertwined with the dynamics of the relationship, while solo desire is more amorphous and involves feeling good about yourself as a sexual being (feeling sexy), without needing validation from another.
Assessing the link
Our research acknowledged the nuances of women’s desire and its strong connection to relationship quality by exploring how fairness in relationships might affect desire.
The research involved asking 299 Australian women aged 18 to 39 questions about desire and relationships.
These questions included assessments of housework, mental load – such as who organised social activities and made financial arrangements – and who had more leisure time.
We compared three groups:
relationships where women perceived the work as equally shared equal (the “equal work” group)
when the woman felt she did more work (the “women’s work” group)
when women thought that their partner contributed more (the “partner’s work” group).
We then explored how these differences in relationship equity impacted female sexual desire.
The findings were stark. Women who rated their relationships as equal also reported greater relationship satisfaction and higher dyadic desire (intertwined with the dynamics of the relationship) than other women in the study.
Unfortunately (and perhaps, tellingly), the partner’s work group was too small to draw any substantial conclusions.
However, for the women’s work group it was clear their dyadic desire was diminished. This group was also less satisfied in their relationships overall.
Women who perceived they did more work in the relationship felt less sexual desire. Lucaxx Freire/Unsplash
We found something interesting when turning our attention to women’s solo desire. While it seems logical that relationship inequities might affect all aspects of women’s sexuality, our results showed that fairness did not significantly impact solo desire.
This suggests women’s low desire isn’t an internal sexual problem to be treated with mindfulness apps and jade eggs, but rather one that needs effort from both partners.
Other relationship factors are involved. We found children increased the workload for women, leading to lower relationship equity and consequently, lower sexual desire.
Relationship length also played a role. Research shows long-term relationships are associated with decreasing desire for women, and this is often attributed to the tedium of over-familiarity (think of the bored, sexless wives in 90s sitcoms).
However our research indicates relationship boredom is not the reason, with the increasing inequity over the course of a relationship often the cause of women’s disinterest in sex.
The longer some relationships continue, the more unfair they become, lowering women’s desire. This may be because women take on managing their partner’s relationships, as well as their own (“It’s time we had your best friend over for dinner”).
And while domestic housework may start as equally shared, over time, women tend to do more household tasks.
However, we found the same link between equity and desire for women in same-sex relationships, although it was much stronger for heteronormative couples.
A sense of fairness within a relationship is fundamental to all women’s satisfaction and sexual desire.
What happens next?
Our findings suggest one response to low desire in women could be to address the amount of work women have to take on in relationships.
The link between relationship satisfaction and female sexual desire has been firmly established in previous research but our findings explain how this dynamic works: women’s sense of fairness within a relationship forecasts their contentment, which has repercussions on their desire for their partner.
To translate our results into clinical practice, we could run trials to confirm if lowering women’s mental load results in greater sexual desire.
We could have a “housework and mental load ban” for a sample of women reporting low sexual desire and record if there are changes in their reported levels of desire.
Or perhaps women’s sexual partners could do the dishes tonight and see what happens.
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.
Hearts sank along the Australian east coast this week when the Bureau of Meteorology announced a third consecutive La Niña was likely this year. La Niña weather events typically deliver above-average rainfall in spring and summer.
But the last two La Niñas mean our catchments are already full. Dams are at capacity, soils are saturated and rivers are high. In some cases, there’s nowhere for the rains to go except over land.
Over the past 18 months, many communities have been hit by floods – some more than once. For these residents, the prospect of a third La Niña will be extremely concerning. And some people who’ve never experienced floods may now be at risk.
Our current research project is examining the experiences of flood-hit communities in New South Wales and Queensland – and our interviews have already yielded useful insights. So let’s take a look at what we should be thinking about now as another wet summer looms.
Water isn’t always fun
Floods are among the deadliest natural hazards in Australia. Yet in Australian culture, water often equates to fun. From a young age we’re taught to swim, enjoy and “master” the dangers that water poses.
So during floods we often see risky behaviours such as driving and playing in dangerous water.
Recent floods, however, brought home the reality of the threat. Few could forget images of frightened families being winched off roofs by helicopter, water rushing from spilling dams and everyday people rescuing their neighbours.
The NSW government on Thursday released an independent report into this year’s floods. It examined flooding from February to April and again in July – mostly around the Northern Rivers, Sydney’s Hawkesbury-Nepean and the central to north coasts.
The report contained troubling statistics, including:
nine people tragically died
7,700 people sought emergency accommodation
14,600 homes were damaged
5,300 homes were left uninhabitable.
Releasing the report, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said up to 40,000 Western Sydney residents risked flood evacuation by 2040, if flood conditions similar to those in July were repeated and no mitigation action was taken.
The inquiry revealed a central theme: the need for a renewed and stronger emphasis on sustained disaster preparedness. Otherwise, as the report noted, the emergency response becomes harder:
Preparedness is discussed in relation to emergency management and our natural and built environment. But an important component of preparedness is at a personal or family level. Failure to prepare at this level makes preparations at other levels more difficult and expensive.
Failing to prepare for floods can bring make the emergency response harder. Jason O’Brien/AAP
‘Don’t worry. Your house won’t get wet’
Our current research is examining the experiences of those affected by this year’s floods to gather insights on preparedness and response. Participants can take part in an interview, a survey or both.
Our interviews are already providing useful insights. They include the possibility that prior experience of flood, and the well-meaning reassurances of others, can hinder preparations. As one respondent said:
the house, having been built on a mound, has never been flooded and that’s why my neighbour said, ‘Don’t worry. Your house won’t get wet. It’s never got wet in 70 years’. But this was unprecedented.
With another wet summer likely, interviewees are starting to see major flooding as a “new normal” rather than a once-in-a-lifetime experience. This is causing them to question the future of their communities. As another respondent told us:
that’s the part that I’m struggling with now is that it feels like it’s unviable to live here because there’s no security, and when you take away people’s security, your life tends to unravel.
We hope our research will influence policy and practice on flood preparation, community engagement and risk messaging, and shed light on more permanent changes required.
The authors hope their work will influence policy and practice on flood preparation. Tracey Nearmy/AAP
Be prepared
So what should you do if flooding is forecast and you need to evacuate? Here’s what experts recommend:
identify the safest route to your nearest safe location and leave well before roads flood
move vehicles, valuables, outdoor equipment, garbage and poisons to higher locations
enact safety plans for pets and other animals
take medications and identification with you
tell friends, family and neighbours of your plans
know where to go for information. Monitor alerts and stay aware of changing situations
keep your mobile phone charged and have at least half a tank of fuel in your vehicle
turn off electricity, gas, and water at the mains before you leave.
Of course, flood preparation should not be left until the last minute. Now is a good time to think about what might happen in the months ahead. Things you can do now include:
clean up outside and inside, move or secure items that could float or create a hazard
move valued possession to higher places in your home
pack an emergency bag and keep it at the ready
consider which friends or family you might stay with if needed.
For further advice, head to the website of your state’s emergency service agencies.
Thinking long-term
Climate change will exacerbate floods and other natural disasters. Communities must be supported to prepare as best they can.
More permanent measures are also needed, such as land buybacks to move people out of flood-prone areas. And importantly, planning systems must ensure we don’t keep building on floodplains.
Our approach to disaster readiness will continue to change. Already, experts are providing advice on matters such as emotional preparedness and recovery in the aftermath.
One thing is clear: in the face of the increasing disaster threat, temporary and seasonal preparations are no longer enough.
Clueless actor Alicia Silverstone recently told a podcast she co-sleeps with her 11-year-old son, explaining she is “just following nature”.
“Bear and I still sleep together,” she told The Ellen Fisher Podcast last month. “I’ll be in trouble for saying that, but I really don’t care.”
As Silverstone predicted, a backlash followed. Fans accused her of “ruining” her child, while others called it “creepy”. One psychologist said it would create “boundary issues”.
I am a psychologist who directs a clinic specialising in sleep difficulties in children from birth to 18 years. I am also a researcher in paediatric sleep. I have seen first-hand the strong opinions people have about parents co-sleeping (or not) with their children.
While we need to be mindful of safety and SIDS when co-sleeping with infants, there is no problem with co-sleeping with older children in and of itself.
How common is co-sleeping?
Co-sleeping, like many aspects of parenting, is often the subject of vehement disagreements.
While proponents argue it nurtures the parent-child attachment, reduces children’s anxiety and helps children sleep, critics say it stunts a child’s independence and disrupts parents’ sleep and intimacy.
But it is more common than people may realise and is under-reported. I have found in my work that before their child is born, parents often say they don’t want to co-sleep, but often end up doing it over time.
Data of rates of co-sleeping in school-age children in western countries are scarce. But recent studies show in China, 25% of pre-adolescents co-sleep. In Brazil up to 47% of school-aged children sleep in their parents’ bed at least sometimes, while 30% of school-aged children co-sleep in Italy.
Why do western countries frown on co-sleeping?
In western societies, the idea that children should sleep on their own only emerged during the 19th century.
Before this, the communal house and communal bedroom, shared by siblings and parents, was the norm (and still is in many societies).
But with the emergence of nuclear families in Victorian times came the need for increased discipline with children who were independent from their parents. Bedrooms were “privatised” and sleeping alone was thought to instil self-regulation in children.
Co-sleeping was also seen as something “poor people” did, as wealthier families could afford a bed for each child.
By the early 20th century, there were fears over-indulgent parenting styles would spoil children and co-sleeping became synonymous with raising lazy, difficult children.
What does the research say?
As social animals, children are not biologically primed to sleep alone. This is something they often need to learn with support from a parent or other trusted adult. Gaining the confidence and resilience to sleep alone is not a given and some children, especially sensitive or anxious children, need more time and assistance.
There is no scientific time frame in which this needs to occur, only societal expectations. Indeed, research confirms supporting and nurturing a sensitive child while learning to sleep alone (if necessary or desired) is more effective than forcing them to sleep alone.
One of the key arguments against co-sleeping is that, children who co-sleep become more dependent on their parents both at sleep time and also in general. It is viewed as a bad habit that will be difficult to break.
Parents may be warned “once a co-sleeper always a co-sleeper”. The research does not support this claim.
In fact, research shows that while co-sleeping may result in a temporary dependence on a parent, in the longer term it results in a child who is more resilient, gaining the skill of solo sleeping when they are more able to cope.
A child who co-sleeps also does not necessarily continue to co-sleep. As they get older, sleeping alone is often simultaneous with increasing independence. Similar to all other learned habits in older children such as dressing and tidying their rooms, children will not always need their parents to do it for them, and when parents deem this appropriate they can be taught and guided to do it themselves.
There is no guideline for an age when co-sleeping should be stopped or started, just as there is no guideline for when comfort toys should be kept or discarded.
These factors are largely driven by societal expectations and parents’ own choice (which is of course, is influenced by society).
Worried your kids are ‘too old’ for co-sleeping?
If parents are enjoying co-sleeping with their children but think they “should” stop, keep these points in mind:
co-sleeping has a bad reputation. There are social myths that co-sleeping is “bad” and it develops inappropriate daytime or night-time behaviours, dependency on parents and bad habits for life. But co-sleeping does not have negative outcomes in an of itself
if your child is co-sleeping consider the reasons they doing this. Is it due to anxiety, sensitivity or sleep disturbance? If so, these can be effectively treated by a professional
maybe you just like co-sleeping. As long as there are no obligations – both parties are doing it because they want to – there is no issue
both parent and child can stop co-sleeping when they want. Co-sleeping is a learned behaviour, and can be unlearned at any time. Child psychologists and some GPs are increasingly offering interventions to get children used to sleeping alone, and offer parenting strategies to help this happen in a child friendly and supportive way.
Sarah Blunden 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.
BeReal hit the social networking scene in late 2019 but didn’t take off until downloads started skyrocketing in 2022. So, what is BeReal all about, and is it here to stay?
BeReal is based in France and was founded by Alexis Barreyat in December 2019. At this stage, it doesn’t feature any paid advertising and is funded by venture capital. Although the big names such as TikTok, YouTube and Instagram still dominate global social networking popularity rankings, BeReal’s rapid growth has grabbed attention this year.
The platform works by sending one randomly timed notification per day to users and gives them two minutes to take simultaneous photos with the front and back cameras on their phone and share it with friends. Users cannot manipulate the timing of the notification and it’s sent at the same time to every global user.
BeReal mandates no filters, no editing, no followers (except friends), and no cheating.
Although users can delay their daily photo, friends will see that the post was late and how many photo attempts were made. On the App Store, the company says “BeReal is your chance to show your friends who you really are, for once”.
Reality and gamification
But the risk here is that reality can be boring. To combat this, BeReal has employed several gamification strategies to keep users engaged.
Gamification is the application of game elements in non-gaming contexts, which means the fun parts of games can be applied to other things, including social media. BeReal uses scarcity (limiting users to one post per day) and mystery (users don’t know ahead of time when the notification will appear) to hook users. And like Snapchat, photos disappear after 24 hours. Disappearing media can be an incredibly effective motivator – users check the app regularly because they don’t want to miss out.
If you’ve ever known the devastation of losing a Snapchat streak, you understand how gamification can emotionally engage us. But the trade-off is that gamification strategies can also be addictive.
So, although BeReal is trying to move away from some of the negative cultures (and endless scrolling) that have developed around platforms like Instagram, users could still end up frustrated and tied to their phones, waiting for the daily notification.
Despite potential frustrations, people are nevertheless flocking to BeReal.
BeReal’s growth in 2022 has largely been driven by its college ambassador program in the United States and United Kingdom, where college students are recruited as paid ambassadors for the brand, and BeReal’s ethos appears to be resonating with users.
In an age when the Instagram algorithm requires some serious strategy to navigate, and influencer culture is dominant, some young people are searching for a different and more authentic online experience. Tired of finding the perfect light or event for an Instagram post, sharing random daily moments on BeReal can be liberating.
Steph, a 27-year-old BeReal user and full-time marketing officer, said that sometimes when she sees her friends’ photos on the app, “it’s nice reassurance that I’m not the only one who sits at home and does nothing”. She gestures to the validation that social media users seek (consciously or unconsciously), and her relief in knowing “it’s not just me”.
Does BeReal have staying power?
Steph explains that although the app has been fun to experiment with, some features can be annoying, such as notifications that pop up in the middle of the night, and difficulty in framing both photos because you can only see one view at a time. “I have a feeling this app may not last,” she said.
Reviews on the App Store and Google Play reveal users who love the concept of the app but have been frustrated by technical issues. It’s a promising sign that developers have been responsive to these reports, but fixing bugs is just one of several challenges BeReal faces.
For long-term viability, BeReal needs to consider how advertising or other commercial partnerships will appear on the app, and the impact these might have on user experience. Competitors also have their eyes keenly trained on BeReal.
In July 2022, Instagram Dual was launched, which allows users to snap photos with their phone’s front and back cameras simultaneously on Reels. Although this feature alone doesn’t copy the complete BeReal experience, it’s likely only the beginning of competitor pressure.
Perhaps the biggest question is, are our daily unfiltered and unedited lives too mundane to keep us coming back for more?
Emily Wade 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.
It’s not breaking news that Scott Morrison has trouble with women. His “woman problem” was one factor in his election defeat.
But really, his treatment this week of Karen Andrews, his former home affairs minister, was particularly gratuitous.
By Tuesday Morrison had contacted Mathias Cormann and Josh Frydenberg (both now out of parliament) to apologise personally for failing to tell them he was wading into their portfolios, unannounced.
It took until Thursday morning, after Andrews had said on TV that she hadn’t heard from him and Peter Dutton had publicly told him to contact her, for Morrison to finally get in touch.
Didn’t he think Andrews, who is shadow home affairs minister, deserved the same courtesy as the former finance minister and former treasurer?
If Morrison had called on Tuesday he certainly could have received an earful. Andrews was declaring he should quit parliament.
The Morrison affair might be about events in the past, but controversy around him will continue to flare, burning the opposition.
The former PM affirmed at his train-wreck Wednesday news conference that he would remain in parliament as “a quiet Australian […] doing my job as a local member”.
He’ll be a pariah in the party room, and a lightning rod for trouble for the Liberals. Fast forward and another book will be published in December, Bulldozed by journalist Niki Savva, a trenchant critic of Morrison. It will bring more stories and bad publicity.
Coalition members are acutely aware of the harm his continuing presence will do them. While most may be shy of saying publicly that he should leave, their blunt criticisms indicate the mood. Anger has deepened during the week.
But Morrison doesn’t have an alternative job. And there’s the question of a byelection.
Maybe his friends could help with the job search. The byelection is a weighing of downsides. Which would be worse: Morrison remaining in full target range or the hazards and cost of a Cook contest?
If he could be persuaded to go soon – as he is expected to do at some stage in the term – it would benefit the Dutton opposition.
There was a substantial swing against him in Cook at the election but he ended with a hefty 62.44% of the two-party vote.
We see some huge swings in byelections these days, as when former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian resigned (although her seat was retained). But Cook would be hard for Labor or a high-profile independent to win, and Liberal sources believe it would be held. The Liberals could benefit if they ran a credible local female candidate. (She could campaign on “Solving the woman problem” – just joking.)
The NSW Liberals, facing a March election, wouldn’t welcome an expensive federal byelection. But they’ve got bigger problems and the horror publicity around Morrison is unhelpful to the Liberal brand generally.
Having enjoyed days of political free kicks, the Albanese government is mulling its next steps as it awaits advice, due on Monday, from the Solicitor-General on the legality of Morrison’s actions.
Separately, Morrison’s failure to inform parliament he’d had himself appointed to multiple ministries could be referred to the privileges committee.
It might also be (though this isn’t clear yet) that the present House of Representatives practice needs clarifying or strengthening on disclosure.
If Morrison’s conduct becomes an issue on the floor of the house, opposition members will have a delicate dance, between defending their former leader and distancing themselves from him.
Albanese has been heavily milking the story. On Thursday he said: “The issue isn’t whether an apology has been given to Mr Frydenberg or Karen Andrews or others. The issue is that the apology is owed to the Australian people.”
But the government knows it must be careful not to overstep the mark – that it must follow the proper procedures, especially in parliament.
Also, it will want the public’s attention on its own agenda. The next parliamentary sitting comes only a couple of days after the jobs summit.
The government will need focus on the positives out of that gathering. Many voters might be appalled about Morrison, but for most there are more immediate preoccupations, especially the rising cost of living.
Former ministers weren’t the only ones in for a nasty surprise with the revelations that flowed from the publication of Plagued, by Simon Benson and Geoff Chambers. Governor-General David Hurley has taken a degree of pillorying this week that has probably shocked him.
Obviously Hurley knew about the appointments because he formally made them. In doing so, he was acting quite properly, following government advice.
But the issue around him has become, did he do enough? Critics say no – that he should have questioned this unusual course and warned that the appointments should be disclosed.
Hurley is clearly feeling sensitive. He has issued two statements explaining his conduct, the second saying he had “no reason to believe that appointments would not be communicated”.
We don’t know precisely, but quite likely what happened was that Hurley got the paperwork – the process was administrative, Morrison was not sworn in face to face – and regarded it as routine, not giving it further thought. Remember also, the process was strung out, with a maximum of two ministries involved at one time.
Hurley said: “It is not uncommon for ministers to be appointed to administer departments other than their portfolio responsibility”. True, but the Prime Minister is not just any minister. Hurley didn’t twig that he was in fact dealing with something very uncommon.
Governor-generals vary in how they operate in the more informal part of their role, which is to question and counsel.
Paul Hasluck, who held the office during 1969-1974, said in his 1972 lecture, “The Office of Governor-General”, that “the personality and qualifications” of the occupant may affect how they do the job. (Hurley is a former chief of the defence force and a former NSW governor.)
Hasluck went on to say the Governors-General’s “dominant role is as one who uses his influence to ensure that there is care and deliberation, a close regard both for the requirements of the law and the conventions of the Constitution and for the continuing interests of the whole nation”.
The influence of Governors-general will vary according to how they are respected, in terms of wisdom, experience, discretion and the like, Hasluck observed. But the governor-general’s “influence would disappear altogether if he were thought of as one who would do whatever he was told without asking the reasons why”.
Albanese is backing Hurley. As he should, even if Hurley fell short of what he might have done to curb Morrison. But it is clear Hurley’s reputation has been damaged by what he – apparently – didn’t do.
Scott Morrison leaves casualties all over the place. His own legacy is, of course, the biggest casualty of all.
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.
The president of Vanuatu has dissolved the country’s Parliament just over halfway through the current four-year-term.
President Nikenike Vurobaravu signed the instrument for the dissolution of Parliament this afternoon on the eve of a proposed motion of no confidence in Prime Minister Bob Loughman that was to have been tabled tomorrow morning.
The now caretaker Prime Minister Loughman, who requested the dissolution, has welcomed the president’s decision and called on all Vanuatu citizens to respect it.
The national broadcaster in Vanuatu is reporting that the president Nikenike Vurobaravu has signed an instrument for the dissolution of parliament and copies of the signed document are circulating online.https://t.co/0Zh028z8pv
RNZ Pacific was still trying to reach the former opposition leader Ralph Regenvanu but in a statement on social media he said they would be challenging the president’s decision in court.
“The President of the Republic has dissolved Parliament on the advice of the Council of Ministers just hours before a scheduled motion of no confidence in the Prime Minister in an Extraordinary Parliamentary session called by the majority of Members. The majority of Members will be challenging this dissolution in court. – in Port-Vila,” Ralph Regenvanu posted on the Vanuatu opposition’s official Facebook page.
However, caretaker Prime Minister Loughman is already in campaign mode saying by law they must hold an election in not less than 30 days but also not more than 60 days time.
“My responsibility and that of my ministers [is] to make sure that we run and we conduct an election for the people of this country to elect their new representatives to represent them in Parliament,” he said.
“I had made an appeal earlier on that when it comes to selecting candidates, I appealed to all the communities to nominate and elect reputable leaders that have the qualities to lead this country.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
This copy of the signed instrument for the dissolution of the Vanuatu Parliament was posted online shortly after news of the president’s decision was aired. Image: RNZ
Tonga has not done enough to combat people trafficking and will remain on an American watch list, according to the US State Department’s annual report.
Since convicting its first trafficker in April 2011, the government has not prosecuted or convicted any traffickers, the State Department said.
The government had taken little action on people trafficking, even considering the pressures of the covid-19 epidemic.
The government had not investigated any potential trafficking cases for three years in a row. Police said their ability to pursue cases was affected by a lack of resources.
The Trafficking in Persons Report acknowledged that Tonga’s borders had been closed early in the epidemic and entry to the kingdom was extremely limited.
However, it said some Tongans and foreign individuals were vulnerable to trafficking in Tonga, and some Tongans are vulnerable to trafficking abroad.
Sex workers Tongans working overseas were vulnerable to labour exploitation. However, it also said that Asian workers in Tonga were vulnerable to labour exploitation and being forced to become sex workers.
East Asian women, especially those from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), who were recruited from their home countries for legitimate work in Tonga were vulnerable to sex trafficking
They often paid excessive recruitment fees and sometimes ended up as sex workers in clandestine establishments operating as legitimate businesses.
Chinese workers working in construction on government infrastructure projects in Tonga were vulnerable to labour trafficking.
Tongan children were vulnerable to sex trafficking.
Reports indicated that Fijians working in the domestic service industry in Tonga experienced mistreatment typical of labour trafficking.
Tongans working overseas, including in Australia and New Zealand, were vulnerable to labour trafficking, including through withholding of wages and excessive work hours.
Some Tongan seasonal workers who were unable to leave Australia after the borders were closed due to covid-19, then became vulnerable to exploitation.
Some employers had rushed workers to sign employment contracts they may not fully understand, while others were unable to retain copies of their contracts.
Minimum standards “The government of Tonga does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but is making significant efforts to do so. These efforts included providing funding to an NGO available to assist trafficking victims,” the report said.
“However, the government did not demonstrate overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period, even considering the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on its antitrafficking capacity.
“The government did not identify any victims, develop procedures to identify them, or investigate any cases of trafficking.”
The report said the government did not have a national action plan or conduct awareness campaigns. However, authorities informed Tongans participating in seasonal worker programmes overseas about workers’ rights.
The State Department said Tonga should sign up for the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons.
It said the government should also:
Develop and fully implement procedures for proactive identification of trafficking victims among vulnerable groups;
Increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes;
Amend trafficking laws to criminalise all forms of trafficking in line with the definition under international law, including such crimes lacking cross-border movement;
Develop, adopt, fund, and implement a national action plan;
Uee the Asian liaison position to facilitate proactive identification of foreign victims and their referral to care;
Provide explicit protections and benefits for trafficking victims, such as restitution, legal and medical benefits and immigration relief; and
Develop and conduct anti-trafficking information and education campaigns.
Dr Philip Cass is an editorial adviser to Kaniva Tonga and is editor of Pacific Journalism Review. Republished with permission as part of a Kaniva Tonga and Asia Pacific Report collaboration.
Sixty years ago today — on 15 August 1962 — the fate of a newly born nation-state West Papua was stolen by men in New York. The infamous event is known as “The New Agreement”, a deal between the Netherlands and Indonesia over West Papua’s sovereignty.
A different fate had been intended for the people of West Papua in early 1961 when they elected their national Council from whom the Dutch were asking guidance for the transfer of administration back to Papuan hands.
Shockingly, the threat of colonialism came from America several months later when a journalist advocating liberty denounced a secret Washington proposal to betray America’s Pacific War ally Papua to an Asian colonial power.
The Council’s response was to present to the Dutch a flag and manifesto of independence asking all the peoples of West Papua to unite as one people under their new Morning Star flag.
On 1 December 1961, the Dutch raised the Morning Star flag, and for more than 60 years the people have united as one raising their Morning Star flag.
But declassified American records reveal horrific deceptions. A group inside the White House had begun secret negotiations with the Republic of Indonesia around a proposal for an illegal use of the International Trusteeship System, or to quote the US, “a special United Nations trusteeship of West New Guinea” that irrespective of Papua’s objections would then ask Indonesia to assume control.
The “special” nature of the US proposal had the opposite intent than that of the international law. The International Trusteeship System, Chapter XII of the United Nations Charter is meant protect a people’s right of independence and have the UN prepare annual reports about their welfare and progress towards independence for each territory the United Nations has become responsible for, including those invaded and subjugated by UN troops.
West Papua is both.
Instead of protection and annual reports, the United Nations by omission of duty is enabling Indonesian impunity for military campaigns of terror and administrative suspension of all human rights.
West Papuans have suffered hundreds of thousands of extrajudicial deaths, disappearances and looting of many hundreds of billions of dollars throughout the UN appointed administration by Indonesia.
Weekly stories of horror hidden from international news media by an ongoing Indonesian declaration that Papua is a quarantine zone requiring special permission for NGOs and journalists to enter.
Fiscal and geopolitical deceptions Every principle written into the UN’s charter, the Rules of Procedure of the Trusteeship Council, and even Indonesia’s own New York Agreement have been violated by the ongoing Indonesian conduct, international mining and United Nations omission of lawful conduct.
These events proceeded against the backdrop of a global movement calling for decolonialisation that rippled across Asia, Africa and the Pacific, with the West and the Communist bloc supporting or opposing one another to gain influence in these movements.
The newly independent nation of Indonesia, which had been under Dutch rule for more than 300 years, declared independence on 17 August 1945. Sukarno was the man of this era, leading the outburst of a long-awaited human desire for freedom and equality.
In the same era, wars broke out in Korea and Vietnam; the world endured the Cuban missile crisis as forces of the West and the Communist bloc continued to clash and reshape the destiny of these new nation-states.
Leading up to the final recognition of their new republic in December 1949, Indonesians experienced another brutal, protracted war with the Dutch. The Netherlands side wanted to reclaim their past colonial glory, and the Indonesian side wanted to removed Dutch occupation and authority from their nation.
Indonesia’s founding fathers, Sukarno and Suharto, were significant men of their era, with ambitions to match — ambitions that led to the massacre of millions of alleged Indonesian Chinese communists in the mid-1960s; the same ambition that placed the Papuan people on the path they are on now, carved by blood, tears, trauma, war, killing, rape, exploitation, betrayal, and being cheated at every turn by the world’s highest institutions.
Many nations around the world had to face difficult choices, with emerging leaders of all types avoiding the cause of their own imagined nation-state. This was a most turbulent era of development and globalisation.
Arguably, most conflicts around the world today stem from unresolved grievances brought about by this turbulence and divisive historical events.
West Papua’s extended conflicts for the last 60 years are a direct result of being mishandled by Western forces who sought to take Papua’s independence for themselves.
As of today, Indonesians (and those unaware of West Papua’s legal status under international law) think that this is a domestic issue, a narrative which Jakarta elites insist on propagandising to the world.
The truth is that West Papua remains an unresolved issue with international implications. More specifically, the UN still has the responsibility to correct their sixty-year-old mistake.
The UN breached its own charter At least in principle, all 111 articles of the UN Charter are aimed at promoting peace, dignity, and equality. One of the key elements of the charter (in relation to decolonisation) is its declaration that colonial territories would be considered non-self-governing territories. The United Nations’ responsibility was to provide a “full measure of self-government” to those nations colonised by foreign powers. West Papua’s story as a new nation began within these international frameworks.
West Papua was already listed under the UN’s decolonisation system as a non-self-governing territory before 1962 and the Dutch were preparing Papuans for full independence in accordance with the UN charter guidelines. The public has been deceived by trivialising this agreement and downplaying it as simply two powers — Netherlands and Indonesia — fighting over West Papuan territory.
The UN, as a caretaker of this trust, had a responsibility to provide a measure for Papuans to achieve independence. The UN instead handed (abandoned) this trust to Indonesia, who then abused that international trust by invading West Papua in May 1963. This scandalous historical error has brought unprecedented cataclysm to Papuans to date.
Flashback to the raising of the Morning Star flag of West Papuan independence alongside the flag of the colonial power The Netherlands in 1961. Image: Papua Voulken/Marinier Museum
The Indonesian perspective Most Indonesians have been fooled by their government to think that West Papua’s fate was decided during a referendum, known as “Pepera” or “Act of Free Choice” in 1969, which Papuans now refer to as the “Act of No Choice”. Indonesians assume that Indonesian occupancy is good for West Papua, but this is not true: they are unaware that Indonesia is illegally occupying West Papua and their government is in breach of many international laws.
It seems that the Western powers have no issue turning a blind eye when one of their endorsed global players are breaking their laws.
During the period of July to September 1969, the Act of Free Choice was carried out by the Indonesian government. The UN was there but did not act or speak against it. This referendum was one of the items stipulated in the New York Agreement seven years earlier.
About 2025 Papuan elders among the one million Papuans who were handpicked at gunpoint and forced to say “yes” to remain with Indonesia. The UN acted as a bystander, unwilling to interfere with the tyranny taking place before them.
What we seem to forget is the fact that before the referendum in 1969, Indonesia had already launched a large-scale martial and administrative operation throughout West Papua, instilling fear and setting the stage for the rubber stamp referendum to proceed.
What happened in 1969 was a tragedy and a farce of human autonomy. The UN and international community betrayed West Papua on the world’s stage.
The New York Agreement Andrew Johnson and Julian King, Australian researchers who specialised in this case, have argued that West Papua is still a non-self-governing territory, and that Indonesia has no legal or moral right to claim sovereignty over West Papua. These researchers insist that West Papua is still a non-self-governing territory, and Indonesia is only there temporarily as an administrator — they have no legal basis to introduce any law or policy towards West Papua.
Either as a Non-Self-Governing Territory or a Trust Territory, the legal rights of the people of West Papua have been denied with every UN Member responsible and legally bound to uphold the Charter in order to correct this breach of international law.
West Papua Exposed, by Julian King and Andrew Johnson. Image: Screenshot from the Griffith Journal of Law and Human Dignity. Image: Screenshot APR
No Papuan was invited or included during the agreement. This act itself speaks volumes – the complete denial of Papuans’ intrinsic worth as human beings to have any input into their fate is the basis for all kinds of violence, abuse, torture and mistreatment towards Papuan people.
This is the first violation and the most egregious because the Indonesian government’s draconian policies towards Papuans have consistently exhibited and reinforced this prejudiced behaviour over the past 60 years. Indonesians do not treat Papuans as equal human beings, therefore, what Papuans think, desire and feel doesn’t matter.
It was the right move for the UN to accept West Papua as a Trust Territory. However, the UN abandoned this sacred trust to Indonesia a year later, even though Indonesia’s behaviour prior to, during, and after this agreement had already been in breach of many UN charters and principles.
For example, Chapters 11 (XI), 12 (XII), and 13 (XIII) of the UN Charter governing decolonisation and Papua’s right to self-determination, as specified in the New York Agreement’s Articles 18 (XVII), 19 (XIX), 20 (XX), 21 (XXI), and 22 (XXII) have not been followed.
Additionally, the UN’s failure to uphold its principles and its silence on its disastrous mistake constitutes a serious breach of international law.
Secret documents Declassified documents from the United States, Australia, and the United Nations reveal irrefutable evidence of what went wrong behind the scenes prior to, during, and after the Netherlands-Indonesia agreement.
The idea of exploiting the UN Trusteeship system to transfer the sovereignty of West Papua to Indonesia was already proposed in 1959 by the US embassy in Jakarta.
Our position of neutrality has served its purpose. It is time we developed a formula to remove this major irritant to Indonesian relations with the West.
In the US minds, the formula was exploiting the UN’s mechanisms to give West Papua sovereignty to Indonesia.
A year later on 3 March 1961, the US embassy wrote:
Unless New Guinea question can be promptly removed as source of Soviet strength and US weakness, as incipient cause of war and as platform for variety of unhealthful isms within Indonesia, our best efforts in any other direction will fail to achieve our objectives here.
According to King and Johnson, the 1962 New York Agreement story has been a deception for 60 years; the agreement was not drafted after the Indonesian invasion in 1962. The agreement was proposed by an American lawyer in May 1959, modified in 1960, proposed to Indonesia in March 1961, and executed in 1962.
West Papua is not sold or traded under the Agreement. It is an agreement between UN members to share the responsibility for the welfare of West Papuan people (trusteeship), and it asks the UN to be the “administrator” (occupying force) in 1962. When the United Nations backed the agreement, Pakistani troops were appointed to administer West Papua in 1962, followed by Indonesian troops in 1963.
As it turns out, armies of secret dealers in UN uniforms were behind the scenes setting agendas, proposing solutions, and implementing them without consequences.
It appears then that the New York Agreement itself, the terms of reference upon which the UN General Assembly voted on the agreement, the UN’s role from 1962 to 1963, the final Act of Free Choice in 1969, and the UN General Assembly vote on the Act of Free Choice’s outcome were all facades — a treacherous performance fit for a tragic drama.
A carefully orchestrated plan was devised to sacrifice West Papua to Indonesia by manipulating the UN’s system by the United States — the leader of the free democratic world and the tyrant flexing its vast military power.
The fight to reclaim stolen sovereignty lives on Papua played an important role in reshaping geopolitical arrangements between the West and the communist bloc, and it will continue to do so if this issue remains unresolved.
The future in which West Papua will play a critical role has arrived. The US and its allies will have to face China or any other power or ideological forces that are challenging the liberal world order.
The responses, criticisms, or reactions arising from nations around the world — whether it be on the issues of covid-19, the Ukraine war, Taiwan, Solomon Islands-China security deals, or any other global issue — suggest that the grand narrative of the West as the saviour of mankind pushed by the US is being questioned and rejected.
Another new grand narrative is now emerging, and that is China.
West Papua at a crossroads What role will West Papua play in the current geopolitical tussle between the West and China is impossible to predict. This is something that must be dealt with by regional and international communities. West Papua’s issues do not dominate the headlines like Ukraine, Solomon Islands, or Taiwan, but they have their own significance in reshaping regional and global geopolitical arrangements.
The world of Papuans 60 years ago was different from now. More than half of a country abused, tortured and mistreated under Indonesia occupation is driving Papuans to become a minority in their own homeland. It has also strengthened their will to live and fight, and most Papuan youth are equipped with knowledge of the crimes against their people and what they can do to bring about justice and facilitate change.
Papuan resistance groups are increasingly becoming anti-Western, believing that the West is exploiting them while supplying arms to the Indonesian military. West Papuan students across Indonesia often wear revolutionary hats or t-shirts displaying socialist and communist revolutionary leaders such as Fidel Castro, Lenin, Che Guevara, and Ho-Chi Mi — they are well-versed in Leftist literatures.
The attitude of the general population in West Papua is also changing. Where previous generations have had a strong connection with the West due to shared experiences of World War II and influence by Western missionaries, young people are now questioning everything about the current state of affairs and asking why they are in this predicament.
Papua’s governor also praised Russia for its generous sponsorship of Papuans to study in the country. The Governor is currently building Russian and Papuan museums to strengthen this relationship and honour Russian anthropologist Nicholai Nicholaievich Mikluho Maklai, who advocated for the rights of New Guinea People 150 years ago.
The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) The armed wing of the Free Papua Movement (OPM), the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), has also been changing its armed resistance strategy against Indonesian occupation.
They are shooting and killing anyone they consider a traitor or an invader, an attitude never seen before. It is dangerous because of not only their drastic approach, but the retaliation from heavily armed Indonesian security forces, who are aggressively shooting, burning, rampaging, and bombing anyone they consider to be OPM.
The TPNPB and Indonesian security forces have been at war for many years, and Jakarta has responded with heavy handed security measures by sending thousands of soldiers to hunt down the alleged perpetrators.
Recently, this has intensified, resulting in the displacement of thousands of Indigenous Papuans.
West Papua civilians could be subjected to an unprecedented mass atrocity if (or when) this situation escalates. According to a report published by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, structural factors behind conflict in the region are showing signs of events that could trigger mass atrocities against civilians.
As reported by the UCA News, Gadjah Mada University researchers in Yogyakarta reported 348 violent acts in Papua between 2010 and March of this year. There were at least 464 deaths, including 320 civilians, and 1654 injuries, mostly civilians.
There are far more human tragedies unfolding in West Papua each day than what this figure represents. Unfortunately, Jakarta has blocked independent journalists from entering the region, making it difficult to verify these claims.
International voices for human rights investigation In March 2022, UN experts from the Office of the Human Rights High Commissioner published a report highlighting serious violations and abuses against Papuans.
In addition, Jakarta has not granted a request for a visit by the UN High Commissioner to the region made by the UN Human Rights Council.
On August 3, ABC Radio Australia hosted Benny Wenda, the UK-based exiled West Papua independence leader, to discuss the current situation in his homeland.
According to Wenda, the plight of West Papua to determine its own fate is clouded by the current geopolitical intrigues between the West and China. The status of West Papua is an unresolved international issue that has been swept under the carpet.
Even though the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) meeting of heads of state and government held in Suva, Fiji from 11 to 14 July 2022 left West Papua out of the forum’s agenda, Wenda expressed optimism that West Papua would not be forgotten at the next meeting.
Indonesia and West Papua at a crossroads again Although West Papua has been buried deep within diplomacy for 60 years, it remains the most important issue affecting Jakarta’s relations with China and the US, as well as the way big powers deal with the independent Indigenous nation states across Oceania.
Above all, geopolitical war via chequebook diplomacy, media, or forming military and trade alliances and deals in the Pacific has become a real issue that we all must face.
The peaceful blue Pacific (Oceania), which Australia and New Zealand consider their “backyard” could become a new Middle East.
At the outset, West Papua issues might seem insignificant, irrelevant, or forgotten to the world, but in reality, it is one of the most significant issues influencing how Jakarta’s engage with the world and how the world engages with Jakarta.
Once again, Jakarta is caught in the middle between great powers, and they do not have the same leverage to play the same games as their ancestors did so many years ago. Jakarta elites need to recognise that they stole something so precious that belonged to Papuan people, and this must be returned to the rightful owner.
The only appropriate and adequate justice left for Papuans is to be given back their sovereignty. This is the only way for Papua to heal and have decades of violence against them reconciled.
Yamin Kogoya is a West Papuan academic who has a Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development from the Australian National University and who contributes to Asia Pacific Report. From the Lani tribe in the Papuan Highlands, he is currently living in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
A Papuan student advocacy group has called for the establishment of a future Aotearoa New Zealand scholarship for West Papuans to replace a controversial Indonesian-funded programme that left many students stranded this year with incomplete studies.
The call has been made by the Papuan Students Association Oceania (PSAO) as a cohort of students celebrated the graduation of two commercial pilots this month.
They also marked the success of fundraising and pastoral support for students who remained in New Zealand to complete their studies in spite of the hardships created by a sudden loss of Papuan provincial scholarships at the end of last year.
Community, faith-based, social justice and student groups have raised more than $70,000 in relief programmes aimed at assisting with accommodation, student fees and living costs.
Speaking on behalf of PSAO, student advocate Laurens ikinia, a postgraduate communications student at Auckland University of Technology (AUT), praised the help of many New Zealand groups which have in recent months filled the gap left by the “unjust cancellation” of Papuan provincial scholarships for about 40 students.
He said in a message to support groups and political parties which have assisted that the International Alliance of Papuan Student Associations Overseas (IAPSAO) and the parents and whanau of the affected students had expressed “thank you for your kind support and solidarity, generous donation, faithful prayers and moral support during our difficult times.”
Ikinia said that out of the 41 affected students, 12 had been forced to return to West Papua for several reasons.
Generous support “The remaining 28 students who are currently studying at different tertiary institutions and one student at a high school have benefited from [New Zealanders’] generous support. All of them have gratefully expressed their gratitude and aroha,” he said.
“We sincerely thank you for being part of our life’s journey through the unprecedented struggle that we have faced. We will remember and cherish them for our lifetime.”
The message was conveyed to New Zealand while students were marking the success of Papuans Stevi Yikwa and Logi Karuri gaining their commercial pilot’s certificates at the Ardmore Flying School near Auckland.
Other students are at AUT, Canterbury University, IPU New Zealand, Massey University, Otago University, Unitec, Victoria University of Wellington and Waikato University.
As well as support from Labour and Green MPs, the students have been helped with fundraising efforts by the All Saints Anglican Food Bank, Auckland Central Parish of the Methodist Church, Church Unlimited, Dominican Sisters, Fielding Activate Church, Grace City Church (Palmerston North), Indonesian Catholic Community (Auckland), Indonesian Christian Community (Pamerston North), Onehunga Food Bank, Pax Christi Aotearoa, PNG community in Palmerston North, Rotuman Community Centre and Whānau Hub, Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, West Papua Action, West Papua Movement Aotearoa and many others.
The Papuans have also been boosted by support from AUT Melanesian Wantoks, New Zealand International Students Association (NZISA), New Zealand Union of Students Association (NZUSA) and Taura Pasifika
Scholarships next step However, Ikinia said the next challenge was to try to establish future scholarships for indigenous Papuans in New Zealand similar to those offered for Timorese-Leste and Pacific Islands students.
The Papua provincial government’s Foreign Scholarship programme introduced by Governor Lukas Enembe in recent years will wind up by the end of 2022.
Ikinia said one of the key factors in the ending of the scholarship was the loss of the governor’s independent authority over education funds under Indonesia’s controversial Special Autonomy Law (OTSUS) volume ll in the Melanesian provinces.
Also Governor Enembe’s second term is due to end by the end of 2023.
Commentators are warning that there will be “political and bureaucratic instability” in Papua due to the unpopular establishment of three new provinces that is being widely resisted by Papuan civil society.
Papuan students who are studying in New Zealand who are not on the scholarship termination list will still face uncertainty for the future.
The students are appealing to MPs and political party leaders, NGOs, churches, community groups, iwi, unions and other stakeholders to join their appeal for annual indigenous Papuan student scholarships.
“Marape was voted in as prime minister unopposed, with unanimous support from all MPs present in the first parliamentary sitting following the country’s controversial, and at times violent, national election,” she reported today.
Both the NBC state broadcaster and the independent news website Inside PNG reported live streams of today’s election and the swearing in.
Pangu Pati’s Marape is expected to be leading at least 17 parties in a coalition government.
The Prime Minister ousted his predecessor Peter O’Neill after a controversial walkout in Parliament three years ago, and has survived attempts to unseat him.
The invitation by the Governor-General, Sir Bob Dadae, as prescribed in the Constitution, was issued at 10.20am yesterday.
Pangu Pati invited Sir Bob said in his address: “I have been advised to invite Pangu Pati to form the next government.
“It is an honour to formally announce this message.
Pangu’s Prime Minister James Marape in Parliament today … re-elected to the top post. Image: NBC TV live stream screen shot
“By virtuous [sic] of the powers conveyed by Section 63 of the Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates of Papua New Guinea and all other powers, acting in and in accordance with the advice of the Electoral Commissioner, hereby invite Pangu Party incorporated which has endorsed the greatest number of candidates elected in the 2022 National Elections to form the Government.”
As the formal invitation had been handed over to Pangu, the next step was to ensure that the party had the numbers in the 111-seat Parliament — with counting still going on in 13 seats — and the nominee for prime minister was ready today.
the Diocese of the Southern Cross is a new structure for Anglicans in Australia who can no longer sit under the authority of their bishop.
What lead to this rupture and what does it mean for the future of the Anglican Church in Australia?
Anglicans in Australia
Anglicans are the second largest Christian denomination in Australia, making up 9.8% of the population. They suffered the greatest decline in numbers of any Christian denomination between the 2016 and 2021 census, losing 604,900 members.
The Diocese of the Southern Cross is a new religious denomination that was first incorporated in September 2021, although it was not formally launched until this week. Its first bishop will be the former Anglican archbishop of Sydney, Glen Davies.
The new diocese describes itself as a parallel Anglican structure following key Anglican documents such as the 39 articles, the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal. However, it is not part of the Australian Anglican Church nor will it be part of the Anglican Communion. In other words, it is not the 24th diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia.
St Mary’s Anglican Church in North Melbourne. AAP
Why has the Diocese of the Southern Cross been created?
The reasons behind the creation of the Diocese of the Southern Cross are complex. On its web page, GAFCON Australia states:
At the recent General Synod (the church’s triennial meeting), a majority of bishops were unable to uphold the Bible’s ancient teaching on marriage and sexual ethics.
However, in his response to the announcement of the creation of the Diocese of the Southern Cross, the Primate of the Australian Anglican Church Archbishop Geoff Smith noted:
The meeting of the General Synod held in May this year clearly affirmed the view that marriage is between a man and a woman, and declined to affirm same sex marriage. It is perplexing therefore that the leaders of this breakaway movement cite the reason for this new denomination as the failure of General Synod to explicitly express an opinion against the blessing of same sex marriages.
In 2020, the Anglican Church’s Appellate Tribunal ruled that blessings of same-sex couples were permitted under church law. The Bishops of the church met in response to this ruling, and noted “with pain we recognise that there is not a common mind on these issues within the House of Bishops.”
The 2022 General Synod did not pass any resolutions specifically affirming that marriage is between a man and a woman. However, a resolution on Exemptions Clauses for Religious Bodies included this statement that the Anglican Church:
Continues to affirm that marriage according to the rites and ceremonies of the Anglican Church of Australia is the voluntary union of one man and one woman arising from mutual promises of lifelong faithfulness. The doctrines, tenets, beliefs and teachings of our Church are expressed in the authorised liturgies of our church and there is currently no liturgy for the solemnisation of a same-sex marriage.
However, the House of Bishops also voted against a specific motion “that sought to affirm that marriage is only between a man and a woman and the blessing of same sex marriages was not in accordance with the teaching of Christ.”
What is the future of the Australian Anglican Church?
While much has already been said about the split in the press and elsewhere, the future is very much unknown. Parallel Anglican organisations have previously been set up in other parts of the world including New Zealand, the United States and Canada with varying degrees of success.
The Diocese of the Southern Cross is not even the first parallel Anglican denomination to be set up in Australia. For example, the Anglican Catholic Church was established in 1987 and describes itself as the “traditional Anglican Church in that we preserve the Historic Beliefs, Holy Tradition, Creeds, and Liturgies used by the Church in England prior to their latest reformation”.
Australian Anglicans are used to a church that does things a bit differently. For example, while the Anglican Diocese of Sydney will only ordain women as deacons, the Diocese of Perth is headed by Archbishop Kay Goldsworthy, one of the first women to be ordained to the Anglican priesthood in Australia.
While things may be uncertain at the moment, the words of Archbishop Smith sum up the current position of the church well:
It is always easier to gather with those we agree with. But in a tragically divided world God’s call and therefore the church’s role includes showing how to live together with difference. Not merely showing tolerance but receiving the other as a gift from God.
My conviction is that the Anglican Church of Australia can find a way to stay together, graciously reflecting God’s great love, with our differences held sincerely. This week’s announcement makes achieving that end more difficult but not impossible.
Renae Barker is the Advocate of the Anglican Diocese of Bunbury and a member of General Synod.
It was at the end of a long day of walking back and forth over the dusty roads of Goroka town in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea that I first met Evelyn.
I’d spent the morning interviewing three inmates in the regional penitentiary, Bihute Prison, about their participation in the murder of three people who they believed had killed a relative.
That afternoon I interviewed a policeman and a government official about the increasing impact of sanguma — sorcery violence — on the people of the region.
Everyone I talked with agreed that sanguma was a serious issue. I ended each interview by asking the men, what can be done to quell the violence and halt the spread of this growing problem.
Not one of them was able to provide an answer. “The problem was simply too big” and “there are no resources to help”, they said. As I climbed into the back of a rust-filled Econovan, the wife of one of the officials who had lingered in the background during the last interview, rushed to hand me a piece of paper.
She handed over the torn note, saying: “You must find her.”
The note contained the hastily written name “Evelyn Kunda” and a phone number. By the time I climbed out of the Econovan, back in the centre of Goroka, I’d made contact and walked directly to the Catholic mission.
There I found Evelyn Kunda. She looked like many other women in Goroka, dressed in a Meri blouse –- a Mother Hubbard style dress. Her hair was deep back and densely curled.
Warmth and intelligence She looked to be in her early 50s but life in the Highlands towns and villages can make it hard to tell. What struck me the most about her appearance was the warmth of her smile and the intelligence in her eyes.
I didn’t know why the official’s wife had to told me to find her, I struggled to find a place to start. I told Evelyn, that I was researching sanguma in the Highlands, and asked what she might know.
Kunda explained that she, along with other volunteers of the Catholic Church, worked to hide, rehabilitate, and eventually — where possible — relocate the survivors of sorcery accusation-related violence (SARV).
As trucks expelled oily exhaust fumes, pushing dust down the road behind us, she described how difficult and dangerous the work had become for her and other volunteers in Goroka.
“In one instance we were looking after a woman whose husband had beaten her. He wanted to kill her. I took her to my house. Then her husband wanted to kill us as well,” Kunda said.
For a time, the Catholic church provided Kunda with a house in their compound but that soon became problematic, and the women were asked to leave. Now Kunda runs an unofficial safe house hidden among the shanties on the outskirts of the town.
‘They’re traumatised’ Kunda does her best to provide for them, but she explains: “They often can’t talk with us, they find it very difficult to talk about what has happened, they’re traumatised”.
She provides them with a place to sleep, food from her tiny garden, and whatever she can afford from the markets and trade stores.
At the end of our interview, I posed the same question to Evelyn Kunda that I’d asked the officials earlier that day.
“What can we do to stop sorcery violence?” Kunda’s response was immediate and practical, “We do all we can with whatever we have. Solutions can’t be found by sitting on our hands.”
Her work is proof that she’s a woman of action.
The following year, in 2019, I visited Evelyn Kunda’s safe house. A small two-room dirt floored hut that she’d built with offcuts of timber, bush materials, and sheets of old corrugated iron.
At the time she had two women living with her. One had escaped a violent partner and the other had been beaten as an accused witch. Kunda is desperate for support.
On the streets of Goroka town 2019 … hard hit as covid-19 swept through communities in Papua New Guinea the following year. Image: Ⓒ Paul Wolffram
Working on a film We began working together on a film, with the aim of showing the extent of the impact of sanguma in the Highlands. I also wanted to show the world the incredible work Kunda is doing to resist the violence, rescue survivors, and educate others against gender and sorcery-based violence.
I was to return to Goroka in 2020 to complete the filming and to bring Evelyn Kunda back to New Zealand to work with us on the post-production but, like so many other plans, co covid-19 interrupted them.
The last two years have been more difficult than usual in the dusty frontier towns in the Highlands. As covid-19 swept through communities in Papua New Guinea and the morgue at Goroka hospital filled to overflowing, the amount of sorcery accusation-related violence rose too.
Local researcher Fiona Hukula said that there was a lack of clear communication about covid-19 available in PNG and significant amounts of disinformation. The National newspaper reported about a 45-year old woman and her daughter who were accused of sorcery and tortured by their relatives after her husband died of covid-19 in April last year.
Emma Dawson, Caritas Australia’s Pacific manager, described increasing domestic violence reports and sorcery accusation-related violence in July last year.
The violence occurs when a community blames a death or illness on sorcery. They identify a local man or woman as a witch and torture and kill them in shocking scenes of mob violence.
Earlier in 2021 a young boy died suddenly in the Highlands province of Hela. Within a few days a woman’s body was left by the side of the road. She’d been lynched and killed by her own community.
No cultural background Ruth Kissam who works for a local NGO, the Tribal Foundation, told the ABC that violence like this didn’t have a cultural background, even in areas where belief in sorcery was traditional.
“Sorcery accusation-related violence picked up about 10 to 15 years ago. Culturally, there is a deep belief in sorcery in many parts of PNG but it was never violent.” Kissam said that this was a law-and-order problem.
Back in Goroka there were other instances where people were known to have died from covid-19 but the community and family refused to accept the diagnosis and in one case a woman was burnt with hot irons and thrown from a bridge. She survived, but her daughter and other family members were also targeted.
For Evelyn Kunda at the grasruts, running a safe house in a community where her presence and work are not always supported by landowners, life has become even more tenuous. Over the last two years I’ve maintained constant contact with her. At one time she had eight adults and children living in her tiny house.
Last week, Kunda was accosted by a group of women who beat her because of the work she does with the community’s most vulnerable.
Evelyn Kunda has no government support; she is not linked with any national or international NGO or aid organisation. She volunteers for this work out of compassion. Despite these difficulties, she is making a real difference to the lives of the women, men and children she houses and supports.
How long she will be able to continue this work is unknown.
Dr Paul Wolffram is a film maker and associate professor in the Film Programme at Te Herenga Waka. He has been working with communities in Papua New Guinea for more than 20 years.
Aotearoa New Zealand’s ruling Labour’s caucus has unanimously decided to suspend Hamilton West MP Dr Gaurav Sharma effective immediately in the wake of allegations of bullying of and by MPs.
This morning, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s office confirmed the meeting to discuss allegations of bullying raised by Hamilton West MP Gaurav Sharma would take place this afternoon.
The meeting addressed Dr Sharma’s status within the party after he took his concerns to the media rather than usual party processes for dealing with disputes.
Dr Sharma has complained, however, that using those mechanisms have got him nowhere, saying he had tried dealing with the concerns through the party whip’s office and Parliamentary Service for the past year and a half.
He was not at the caucus meeting this afternoon.
“I note that he did find the time to talk to media,” Ardern said.
“Caucus has determined suspension is the most appropriate response to the repeated breaches of trust from Gaurav over recent days.
No longer in caucus “This means Gaurav will continue as the MP for Hamilton West and be expected to be present at Parliament. However, he will no longer participate in any caucus events or activities unless caucus’ permission is granted.”
Dr Sharma was emailed, phoned, and text messaged to try to get him to attend the meeting today, she said.
Watch the conference
Labour’s unanimous decision to suspend MP Dr Sharma. Video: RNZ News
Ardern said she called and tried to message him after the meeting this afternoon, as have others, and she hoped this was not the first he had heard of his suspension.
“We have made efforts to convey this information to him directly.”
The whips directly engaged with Dr Sharma on whether he would attend, she said.
“Originally a range of options were sent and they didn’t receive a response. They then proposed a time and they were told at that time that no, at that time Gaurav had a specific event.
“They then advised that we would set a meeting time at a time that suited Gaurav today, he advised that nearer to 3[pm] would suit so whips suggested 2.30, we then at that point didn’t receive any further engagement.”
All of Labour’s MPs were invited to attend today, she said.
Labour’s caucus has unanimously decided to suspend MP Gaurav Sharma effective immediately https://t.co/qogiWItoxG
Decision unanimous She said the decision was unanimous, and the team was clear that to function as a political party in a place where open debate and dialogue was key, members needed to be able to trust their colleagues.
“You need to feel you can speak openly and freely. That sense of trust has been broken by repeated breaches of our caucus rules over the last five days and that made the decision very clear,” she said.
Ardern and party leadership have continued to refer to the allegations — which in particular accuse former whip Kieran McAnulty of bullying and gaslighting — as an employment concern between Dr Sharma and the staff in his office.
RNZ has sought comment from McAnulty repeatedly but he has not responded.
Ardern said, based on the documents she has reviewed, the Labour whip’s office and Parliamentary Service began working with Dr Sharma to address concerns raised about his staff management. He was then asked to work with a mentor, which he objected to.
“Finally agreement was reached at the end of last year. Further issues were later raised by additional staff members including those in his direct employment, This resulted in another pause on hirinig and again coaching, mentoring and temporary staff in the meantime.
“Gaurav again objected to this intervention and the need for his future hiring of staff or undertakings on his part. A protracted process ensued.”
No other concerns Ardern said she still had heard no concerns raised by any other MPs about McAnulty.
She said she did not recall Dr Sharma ever raising his concerns with her and she had gone through records of events and text messages after hearing about his concerns last week.
“I have not gone through everything but from what I can see he is a member who I’ve had less engagement with than most, that is fair to say … he’s never raised the issue directly with me, and that is an expectation I would have because it’s set out in our rules.
“First if there’s an issue you go to the whips. If you’re unable to get resolution you go to either the Labour leader or to someone the Labour leader nominates. And if it’s still unresolved you go to caucus. That didn’t happen.
“He did raise them with my chief-of-staff at the end of last year. He told me about that and he also told me the resolution that was reached between them and I’ve seen the messages that demonstrate that. Neither of us heard anything after that until the events that led to this.”
After he published his column in The New Zealand Herald last Thursday, she called him and he did not pick up, she said. She then sent a text to ask about his welfare, rather than relitigating issues.
“I received one message in response, I won’t go into the details on that but it was essentially setting out his perspective on these issues.”
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern … “caucus were clear that the team retains the right to revisit the decision at any time if the rules continue to be broken.” Image: Angus Dreaver/RNZ
One of his allegations was found to have no basis, she said, but he has continued to make them.
“I am equally concerned that staff members have been implicated by the level of detail that’s been shared … we considered whether or not for transparency we should release some of the communications to demonstrate our perspective on what has occurred here but again that runs the risk of exposing staff.”
She said Dr Sharma’s status would be reviewed in December, to allow a chance for a return to caucus if trust with him was able to be restored.
“But in making the decision to suspend, caucus were clear that the team retains the right to revisit the decision at any time if the rules continue to be broken. To be clear, the caucus’ decision was squarely focused on actions over the last few days. What gave rise to those actions also deserves some reflection.”
Ardern said there were grounds for expulsion under the caucus rules, but the team wanted to send a message that while their trust had been lost and they considered the situation very egregious, they were a team that wanted to give second chances.
“If he does that there’s a pathway back, if he doesn’t then he will be expelled.”
She said the exact date in December for revisiting the decision had not been decided upon.
Options at that time could include continued suspension, a return to caucus, or expulsion. At this point, the possibility of sending a letter to the Speaker to request his removal from Parliament under the waka jumping law has not been discussed.
Informal caucus meeting last night As the meeting started this afternoon, Dr Sharma contacted RNZ claiming an earlier meeting involving some Labour MPs was held last night, without his knowledge.
Ardern said the outcome today was not predetermined at a meeting last night. She said one of the issues of misconduct was that Sharma had been sharing the contents of meetings publicly, which meant people felt they were unable to raise questions or discuss issues.
The reason Sharma was not informed of the meeting last night was “because people did not feel they could have an open conversation with him”.
Sharma claimed he had an image sent to him, a screenshot of the meeting.
“You’d note that probably if someone were deliberately sharing that message it would be more likely a gallery view,” Ardern said.
“I also knew who took that screenshot, it was intended they were trying to capture something else on their phone, the meeting was occurring in the corner at the same time, they accidentally sent it to someone they shouldn’t.
“What they sent was a screenshot of the conversation trying to set a caucus meeting time, it just so happened that they were multitasking … they’re somewhat embarrassed over the situation.”
The meeting last night was not a formal caucus meeting, she said, and she was also clear there would not be a predetermined outcome.
“Natural justice is very important to our team.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the covid outbreak in the Marshall Islands a Public Health Emergency.
A total of 571 new omicron cases of the virus were recorded in the latest 24-hour reporting period.
Three people have died and more than 10 percent of the population in the capital Majuro have tested positive, according to the Marshall Islands Ministry of Health and Human Services.
The WHO has declared the outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
All schools will be closed for the next two months, just one of the measures under the government’s disaster management plan.
The number of positive cases has skyrocketed from a handful on August 8 to more than 1000 by the weekend.
“Everybody’s operation is affected. I went next door to buy some drinks and the owner is doing the cash register … all cashiers are out of action with covid. The Post Office had to close down because so many people came down with covid.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Two days after being elected as Prime Minister again in Papua New Guinea, James Marape took his first official trip as the country’s leader while hitting the ground running in groundbreaking clean green energy projects he has been championing over the past two years.
He met with leaders of Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) in Singapore yesterday to progress the talks further.
After numerous questions on the trip to Singapore taken by Marape on Friday afternoon a statement was released about midnight through other social media platforms.
In the morning, the PM’s Department released the statement at 7.30 am after the country became aware of Marape’s trip to Singapore.
The Prime Minister flew to Singapore to continue important trade and investment conversations, including those on Papua LNG, Pasca LNG, Pn’yang LNG and also to get Porgera and Wafi-Golpu sanctioned.
He said from Singapore that FFI had voiced its intention to partner with Papua New Guinea in a big way to harvest clean green energy from both hydro and geothermal sources and to move into solar and wind energy production.
Currently, FFI has identified and set up project sites in Gulf Province for hydro and West New Britain Province for geothermal work and has been working in these areas since the signing of two important agreements since 2021.
Clean green energy way of future Marape said from Singapore: “With global consciousness of fossil fuel-induced global warming, clean green energy is the way to move into the future and this meeting follows on the head agreement PNG has signed with FFI to progress investment in this energy sector.”
The Prime Minister also visited the PNG High Commission in Singapore with a view to strengthening it further as a trade and investment office while getting the PNG government to increase trade and investment with the ASEAN and APEC countries.
He said: “The Singapore office will be given more support in that context in partnership with Investment Promotion Authority, the Kumul companies, National Fisheries and Forestry authorities, and our Agriculture and Livestock departments so that it coordinates export and trade into the lucrative Asian market of over 2 billion people who need food and energy, and products PNG can mass produce into the future as we are planning under my government.”
The Marshall Islands is a live demonstration that the omicron BA.5 variant is the most contagious covid variant yet to appear.
In the first five days of the outbreak in the Marshall Islands, more than 10 percent of the population in Majuro, the capital, has tested positive, reports the Ministry of Health and Human Services.
From initial confirmation of a handful of positive cases in the community on August 8, the number of positive cases skyrocketed to the one-day total of 1064 testing positive on Saturday, August 13, at the three community-based “alternative care sites” established to test and treat local residents.
This brings Majuro’s total in the wake of the outbreak to more than 2000 cases in a population estimated at 20,000. There were nine early hospitalisations, with most reported to be recovered by Sunday.
President David Kabua on Friday signed a proclamation of a “State of Health Disaster,” which outlines duties of all ministries and government agencies to respond.
It also gives the government the power to access emergency funding for the response to the initial outbreak.
Health authorities reported two deaths in the first week — both men. The first was a 23-year-old man, the second a 69-year-old.
Both pronounced dead They were both pronounced dead on arrival at Majuro Hospital’s emergency room, Health officials said. Their vaccine status was not announced.
Majuro experienced a chaotic first couple of days as alternative care sites (ACS) were rolled out at two local schools and at an outdoor sports court, with thousands of islanders crowding in to get tested.
By Friday the influx of hundreds of volunteers to support the Ministry of Health and Human Service in managing the flow of people led to improvements in the service.
“What we are seeing at these sites is what we expected, the ACS sites are getting better and more organised as we go along,” said Health Secretary Jack Niedenthal Sunday.
“Much of the chaos is beginning to die down, though it is still there for sure, but this will continue to get better.”
Spread was not contained to Majuro Atoll, the capital. Within a day of the initial confirmation of positive cases in the Majuro community last Monday, the first case was identified on Ebeye, the densely populated community next door to the US Army’s Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll.
In addition, several isolated outer atolls at week’s end were reporting multiple residents with covid-like symptoms.
All remote island flights suspended All flights on Air Marshall Islands and all government ships to remote islands were suspended August 9 in an effort to contain the spread. But travellers from the previous week to remote islands unwittingly caused the spread.
August 12, a special Air Marshall Islands flight took a health team to Wotje Atoll, confirming multiple positive cases, training the local health aide to conduct further testing, and leaving a supply of PaxLovid and other therapeutic medicines for islanders, according to health officials.
Health teams were attempting to visit other remote islands for similar follow up Sunday, but all AMI pilots reportedly tested positive, putting flights in limbo.
Although the government did not require a lockdown, most churches cancelled in-person services Sunday and the one main road in the capital atoll was unusually quiet as people appeared to be staying home.
Restaurants also saw the number of customers decline dramatically, although most continued to see ongoing demand for takeout meals.
“We at the Ministry of Health and Human Services are very proud of the response that has come in from all corners of our country to help us deal with the health crisis,” said Niedenthal.
The ministry struggled in the initial phase of the outbreak with more than 200 of its staff, including many doctors and nurses, testing positive for covid — many exposed before they knew it was circulating in the community.
Covid-free success Until last week the Marshall Islands had successfully employed some of the world’s strictest quarantine rules for people entering the North Pacific nation. This had kept it covid-free for the first two-and-a-half-years of the covid pandemic.
A reduction of quarantine time in recent weeks, coupled with unprecedented numbers of people coming in through the managed quarantine process is suspected to be the cause of the outbreak.
The government had earlier announced it was going to eliminate the managed quarantine requirement and open the borders on the October 1.
“As expected, the outbreak continues to gain strength,” Niedenthal said on Sunday.
“We had over 1000 cases in Majuro yesterday, almost double from the previous day. About 75 percent of the people we test are positive, which is an incredibly high positivity rate.”
A security officer controls the flow of islanders into one of several community-based alternative care sites established by the Ministry of Health and Human Services. Image: Wilmer Joel/RNZ Pacific
Outbreak escalating Last week, as the outbreak was escalating, Majuro traditional leaders sent a letter to President Kabua calling for the borders to be closed and opposing the announcement that medical teams arriving this week would not be required to quarantine.
The medical surge support teams are from the US Centers for Disease Control and other agencies. Niedenthal emphasised the importance for delivering services to the public by these medical professionals.
He described these as “boots on the ground medical support professionals” and said they would be tested on arrival and then sent right into the field to support ongoing services by local Health authorities.
“As a country we have moved from prevention to mitigation because we are now fighting this disease,” he said.
“The days of quarantine upon arrival are now over. I know some people are nervous about this, but we at the Ministry of Health are not and we are the ones on the frontline,” Niedenthal said.
“Please respect these public health decisions. We knew this would have to be a fast shift in strategy that would trouble some people because we had been working so hard (and) successfully to prevent the disease from coming into the Marshall Islands.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Unfathomably, Australia’s unemployment rate has sunk to 3.5%. Even harder to believe is that it will soon sink lower – perhaps even this week, when the update is released on Thursday – and after that, if the ANZ’s forecasts are correct, dip below the next threshold to two-point-something for the first time since 1974.
That this can be happening at a time when interest rates are soaring and households are tightening their belts belies standard analysis.
So what’s driving this new ultra-low unemployment? It’s been harder for employers to get workers, because borders were closed, and because of unusually high rates of people off sick.
But digging further into the economic data reveals something we haven’t seen before – which has already changed the lives of almost 100,000 Australians.
Time lost to illness has almost doubled
Even now, an awful lot of workers on whom employers normally depend are sick, or on reduced hours, caring for someone who is sick.
In the years before COVID (and in the first two years of COVID itself), typically 3% of the workforce worked less than usual hours in any given week as a result of illness or injury. Calculations by the University of Melbourne’s Jeff Borland suggest so far this year it’s been 5.2%.
The effect isn’t quite as dramatic when you examine the number of hours lost. Pre-COVID (and in the first two years of COVID) 2% of working hours were lost to illness. So far this year, with so many of us ill, it’s been 3.8%.
As a sign at a doctor’s surgery I visited the other day read:
The whole world is short-staffed, be KIND to those who show up.
Borland illustrates what sickness is doing to employment by talking about a café with five staff. He says if one is away one day per week on average, the cafe might have to put on a sixth to cover – if it can. Unfilled vacancies are higher than ever.
It’s also true (at least until now) we’ve been spending big-time, spurred on by pent-up demand from when we were all in lockdown, as well as ultra-low interest rates and generous government support.
We escaped the jobless ‘escalator’
But there’s something else explaining our new ultra-low unemployment, something that flows from the nature of the labour market – and how it’s different from the market for goods in shops.
You can see it most clearly when unemployment climbs.
In the half century we have been collecting modern employment statistics, unemployment has shot up dramatically three times:
in the mid 1970s, when it jumped from 2.1% to 5.4% in a matter of months and never came back down
in the early 1980s, when it jumped from 5.3% to 10.3%, and took six years to come back down
in the early 1990s, when it jumped from 5.8% to 11.2%, and took seven years to come back down.
Each time, unemployment went up by the escalator, and down by the stairs.
Remarkably, as the graph shows, that’s not what happened during the global financial crisis or COVID. Instead, both times the government and Reserve Bank went hard and early with as much support as it took to prevent unemployment climbing too far.
If unemployment had shot up as it had in earlier crises, it might have taken the best part of a decade to get down.
The long-lasting scars of unemployment
Economists use an ugly word to describe the reasons why unemployment stays high long after the reason for high unemployment has passed. It’s “scarring”.
Each person who loses their job or who is unable to get a first job when unemployment shoots up can lose confidence and up-to-date work experience.
Then, as things improve and employers begin hiring again, people who have been out of work for longer get pushed back in the queue. Employers find it safer to take on new graduates or people with more recent experience.
The more those who were unlucky during a crisis get pushed to the back of the queue, the less employable they seem – and the less employable they become.
This puts a new higher “floor” under the unemployment rate, because it gets to the point where employers would rather not fill a vacancy than put on someone who’s been continually passed over.
It’s a phenomenon well known to the Treasury and Reserve Bank. What’s less well known, and is only now becoming apparent, is that it can work in reverse.
Almost 100,000 lives already transformed
If employers are forced to hire people they wouldn’t have in other circumstances, because they’ve run out of every other conceivable option, those people become employable. They either develop the right skills, or employers discover they are not so bad after all. The floor under the unemployment rate drops.
We haven’t seen this before – at least, not in the past half century – because employers have never before been given no other option but to employ people they would really rather not.
People are regarded as long-term unemployed (and harder to employ) if they’ve been out of work for one year or more. In the year to June 2022, the number of long-term unemployed fell from 218,200 to 130,100.
That fall is far more important than the fall in the total number of unemployed from 682,400 to 493,900.
It means those Australians are more likely to be employed than shunned for years to come. It means future employments rates are more likely to start with a “2”, a “3” or a “4” than a “5”.
It means we’ve bought ourselves long-lasting lower unemployment, whatever happens from here on.
It also means the best part of 100,000 lives have been transformed. It means the best part of 100,000 people no longer face years on JobSeeker.
And it means we’ve discovered something really useful.
Just as a crisis that renders people near unemployable can lift the floor under unemployment for years to come, a crisis that forces employers to take on people rendered near unemployable can cut it, perhaps for a very long time.
Peter Martin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
The Melbourne Theatre Company’s Laurinda is a smart re-framing of Alice Pung’s classic coming-of-age novel about the racism inherent in the privileged world of private school culture.
In a bizarre twist of magical-realist fate, jaded school principal Lucy Lam (confidently and energetically played by Ngoc Phan) journeys back in time to inhabit her 15-year-old schoolgirl self, newly arrived at an elite private girls school.
Lucy must navigate the challenges of being one of the few Vietnamese students in an environment riddled with confusing new rules and systemic barriers, reigned over by a truly ghastly trio of entitled white girls called “The Cabinet”.
This strongly grounded ensemble piece is the brainchild of playwright Diana Nguyen and director Petra Kalive, who share a history of improvisational story-telling through their prior work with Melbourne Playback Theatre.
Lucy must confront a truly ghastly trio, ‘The Cabinet’. Jeff Busby/Melbourne Theatre Company
Laurinda was workshopped with the cast throughout COVID lockdowns. This focussed period of development provides a robust foundation for the work.
The show’s framing device enables Lucy to relive her school experience with an adult’s perspective. As she journeys through her teenage past, she is simultaneously participant in and witness to the key moments that shape her.
Lucy is the recipient of a scholarship which brings her to the private school Laurinda from her state school.
Excited at first to leave her working-class suburb, Lucy’s evolution from naïve newbie to empowered valedictorian drives the action.
As she negotiates the veiled insults and power-plays conducted by the members of The Cabinet (and their obnoxious mothers), the complexities of class, racism, privilege and language are laid bare.
Xanthe Beesley’s stylish movement direction creates satisfying moments of synchronised gesture, wild dancing and ensemble choreography.
White girls and teachers are all played by an all Asian-Australian cast in purposeful disruption of racial stereotypes. In particular, Gemma Chua-Tran, Chi Nguyen and Jenny Zhou as Cabinet members Brodie, Amber and Chelsea deliver a petulant and incisive caricature of entitled white girls, complete with matching stockings and Alice headbands.
An all Asian-Australian cast plays the white characters which populate the private school. Jeff Busby/Melbourne Theatre Company
Phan switches between guileless teen and disheartened adult with great facility.
Linh (Chua-Tran) is the standout: joyful, subversive, questioning, she’s Lucy’s nemesis, friend and provocateur.
Laurinda brings the story of migrant workers and their aspirations into stark relief. Lucy’s mum (Chi Nguyen) is a gently sensitive portrait of the hard-working and no-nonsense mother, speaking rapidly in Vietnamese and English as she labours over the sewing machine.
Exchanges between mother and daughter are sometimes comic, sometimes heated, but always poignant as they grapple with clashing cultures, expectations and the echoes of intergenerational trauma.
Laurinda sensitively explores intergenerational relationships. Jeff Busby/Melbourne Theatre Company
Set in the late 90s, Nguyen’s snappy dialogue is underpinned by darkly comic overtones referencing important events of the time including John Howard’s disturbing “children overboard” affair and Hanson’s “swamped by Asians” rhetoric.
But the show works on several levels. It is also an indictment on the small-minded and entitled culture of private schools where the politics of exclusion are alive and well.
The private school setting uncomfortably resonated for me. A product of that privileged culture, I squirmed in my seat as I was reminded of the desperate gentility that pervaded my school experience: the imperious teachers, the cliquey girl groups, the sensible shoes, the social hierarchies, the recitation of the school motto.
Here, the pretentious civilities belie the glaring injustices just beneath the surface.
Witty and relevant
Eugyeene Teh’s audio-visual design is a delight. Glitchy and fractured animations vie with video closeups and swirling animated vortexes to shift us from present day to past; to manifest a plummy-voiced school marm; to transport us to a 90s dance club.
His set design, employing large elevated columns and roll-away rest-rooms, is suitably minimal, modular and stylised.
Gemma Chua-Tran (centre) is the standout performer. Jeff Busby/Melbourne Theatre Company
Composer Marco Cher-Gibard’s sound design includes the use of microphone reverb to build sonic depth.
As stories are told and retold through generations, they are transformed but not reduced. Witty and relevant, Laurinda successfully intersects engaging personal story and driving social commentary with intelligence and humour.
The politics of power and prejudice is explored in a perceptive work that exposes the pomposity of private school culture and reminds us systemic racism is complex and deeply embedded.
Laurinda is at Melbourne Theatre Company until September 10.
Kate Hunter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
The revelation that Scott Morrison secretly had himself appointed to five separate portfolios has triggered widespread outrage, just when the broader question of integrity has been a big political issue.
In this podcast, Michelle Grattan speaks with Independent member for Indi Helen Haines, who has pushed for a national integrity commission. Such a body will soon be legislated by the Albanese government.
Haines strongly condemns Morrison’s behaviour, although she doesn’t see it as the sort of matter that would go to an integrity commission. “It doesn’t appear apparent to me that there are questions here of corruption. But we don’t know really what motivated the prime minister to keep all of this a secret.”
Haines says an Anti-Corruption Commission needs to have the capacity to investigate what has been dubbed “grey” corruption, such as jobs for the boys and pork barrelling.
She argues that “public money being spent for political gain through so-called rorting or pork barrelling is potentially corruption.”
“These bodies are seeking to stamp out corruption and they are seeking to shine a light in dark places. Now, in shining that light, they may well determine that there’s nothing to be seen.
“But on the other hand, they may well find that there are practices which have been accepted as kind of matey and okay that in fact lead to poor governance, that lead to poor public policy, that lead to an erosion of trust in our leaders.”
“There needs to be a pathway that communities can see is fair and just. [So] that if you need a hospital in your electorate (as indeed I do), if you need new roads or a bridge or whatever it might be, that there’s a clear pathway to applying for those funds, putting forward a case, and a legitimate system that shows where you are in the queue to achieving the infrastructure that you need in your community.”
In her maxim for integrity in politics, Haines says politicians need to “be what you want to see.”
Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jinhyun Cho, Senior Lecturer in Translation and Interpreting at Macquarie University, Macquarie University
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Is Australia an English-speaking country? The answer seems obvious.
Although Australia does not have an official language, English is so pervasive that a full life in Australia is virtually impossible if you’re unable to speak English.
Many of those who speak other languages are not proficient in English and need translators and interpreters to manage their day-to-day lives. Translators and interpreters play an important role in promoting social harmony in Australia, yet so little is known about this group of people.
In fact, many people do not even know the difference between translation and interpreting. The biggest difference between interpretation and translation is that interpreters translate spoken language orally, while translators translate the written word. Both groups possess expert knowledge of a foreign language as well as clear communication skills.
It is perhaps not an exaggeration to say that translators and interpreters are invisible in Australia. Considering their low public profile here, it may surprise some to learn that in some other parts of the world, interpreting is perceived as glamorous and very high profile.
Interpreters as celebrities in Korea
In South Korea, some interpreters, particularly English-Korean interpreters, enjoy celebrity status. They appear frequently in local media as role models for their mastery of English, an extremely popular language in Korea.
One example is Ahn Hyun-Mo, an interpreter who has risen to stardom after interpreting for a series of high-profile events, including the 2018 US-North Korea Summit, the Grammy Awards, and the Oscars. She is a regular guest on various television programs and even models in advertising.
Another example is Sharon Choi, known as the interpreter for Bong Joon-Ho, the director of the Oscar-winning movie, Parasite. Choi’s flawless and eloquent interpreting attracted high praise, with fans across Korea and beyond giving her the title “perfect translator in the world”.
Interpreter Sharon Choi (left) and Parasite director Bong Joon-ho speak at the 35th Film Independent Spirit Awards. AP
Being an interpreter in Korea usually means that the person has mastered the language “to perfection” through dedication and hard work, hence the high levels of praise. In bookstores, it is not uncommon to find books written by interpreters as well as autobiographies of famous interpreters where they spill their secrets on how to master a foreign language. What a contrast to Australia.
Popularity of interpreting in China
The interpreting profession is also highly regarded in China. Some high-profile interpreters have achieved fame for their excellent interpreting and desirable English accents amid the popularity of English language learning among Chinese people.
A good example is Zhang Jing, known as “China’s most beautiful interpreter”. Zhang’s excellent interpreting and aesthetics became hot news during a bilateral meeting between China and the US in Alaska in 2021. Following the summit, her name became one of the most searched topics on Weibo, China’s social media platform.
Another celebrity interpreter is Zhang Lu, an English-speaking career diplomat who has served a number of Chinese leaders and has attracted dedicated followers thanks to her flawless interpreting. There was also popular television drama The Interpreter, featuring Chinese-French interpreters, which attracted 100 million views in one week after its release in 2016.
Chinese translator Zhang Jing interprets at a press conference in Beijing, 2016. AP
Why are translators and interpreters invisible in Australia?
Considering the popularity of interpreters in other countries, it is natural to ask why so little attention is paid to translation and interpreting in Australia. A major factor may be the lack of interest in foreign language learning in Australian society.
Public interest in language learning is dishearteningly low in Australia. A 2018 report showed that only 8% of Australian students say they are learning two or more foreign languages, compared to 50% of students across OECD countries.
Additionally, because English is so prevalent here, fluency in another language is often not appreciated. Under these circumstances, translation and interpreting is usually reserved for people from migrant backgrounds. The dominance of migrants in the translating and interpreting profession may also be another reason why the professions are seldom acknowledged.
The invisibility of translators and interpreters in Australia is not a problem limited to the profession but a social issue. People with little or no English rely on translators and interpreters to manage their day-to-day lives. The profession needs to attract good people to help maintain social harmony in multicultural Australia, but this is a challenge when there is little social awareness or acknowledgement of the important work done by interpreters and translators.
Language is a valuable resource that migrants bring to Australia, and Australia should use its linguistic diversity wisely to build a truly multicultural society. A successful multicultural society is one where value is accorded to all its residents, and translation and interpreting are an ideal place from which to build a more resilient and united Australia.
Jinhyun Cho 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.
Cold weather and rising energy costs, combined with poor-quality housing, have left many renters struggling to keep warm this winter. The Cold and Costly report released this week by Better Renting shows how cold, mouldy homes and high energy bills take a toll on the physical and mental health of renters who live in homes that have often been likened to “glorified tents”.
Landlords are responsible for maintaining and improving rental properties. We interviewed landlords in Victoria about how they make decisions that affect the energy efficiency of their rental properties. Some might be surprised by what our research revealed: landlords who retrofit homes generally do it to improve renters’ comfort, rather than being motivated by increased rents.
However, a major issue is that many landlords who use property managers are unaware of tenants’ discomfort.
Renters are more likely than home owners to live in cold houses. The cold is typically due to substandard insulation and a lack of energy-saving features and solar panels to keep energy costs down.
Improving rented homes is landlords’ responsibility
While there are some things renters can do to keep warm in a cold home, they don’t have much power to make property improvements. Tenancy rules vary across Australia, but generally tenants are not allowed to make permanent changes to the house.
However, landlords do not benefit directly from improving the comfort or energy efficiency of their rental properties. So why do some landlords retrofit?
Our interviewees included landlords who had retrofitted improvements and those who had not, as well as landlords who owned high-cost and low-cost rental properties.
Our research shows that, in general, landlords are not motivated to retrofit for increased rent. Nor are they motivated by environmental benefits. However, they are motivated to retrofit to improve renters’ comfort, particularly thermal comfort.
Improving renters’ comfort can benefit the landlord financially if renters stay longer in the property because this avoids vacancies and advertising costs. One landlord explained:
“I get loyalty out of them. It’s difficult always to find new tenants. It’s time. It’s money involved. I prefer that I have tenants who stay for the long run.”
Landlords also said they felt a responsibility to meet renters’ needs. For example, one landlord told us:
“I think you have to be attentive to your tenants’ needs. It’s pretty much as simple as that.”
However, landlords can only make changes to improve renters’ comfort if they are aware of renters’ discomfort. We found landlords who used a professional property manager – as about three-quarters of landlords do – generally knew very little about the conditions in their property and the people living in it. As one landlord said:
“I know their name and that’s about it. I’ve never actually met them.”
Landlords who use property managers are generally unaware of problems until renters submit a formal complaint or ask for improvements. Renters are often reluctant to request improvements because they worry about eviction or rental increases, or because their previous requests have not been met.
We also found some landlords are not concerned about renters’ comfort. These landlords are unlikely to make improvements unless governments require rental properties to meet a prescribed standard.
Governments across Australia are looking at ways to improve the energy efficiency of rental properties. Specifically, governments are considering requiring that energy performance be disclosed to prospective tenants and for rental properties to meet minimum energy efficiency standards.
While energy performance disclosure may allow landlords to charge higher rents for efficient properties, our research suggests this will not motivate them to retrofit. This is consistent with findings from Europe that energy disclosure requirements are not a strong driver of retrofitting.
To improve the poorest-performing rental properties, energy efficiency disclosure must be combined with enforceable minimum standards. Some standards have been introduced in recent years. For example, rental homes in Victoria are required to have a fixed heater and those heaters will be required to meet energy efficiency standards by 2023.
Governments can also encourage landlords to do more than the bare minimum. Comprehensive retrofitting is needed to create healthy, low-energy homes. Government programs should aim to:
educate landlords about conditions in their properties
support property managers to organise retrofits
protect renters from eviction or rent increases if they speak out about uncomfortable, inefficient rental properties.
When introducing new energy-efficiency policies and incentives, governments should emphasise comfort and other benefits for tenants. Change is urgently needed to ensure Australians from all walks of life can live in comfortable, healthy and climate-resilient homes.
Michaela Lang undertook this research as part of a PhD that was supported by the Australian Government Research Training Program and the Victorian Government Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.
Ruth Lane receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the National Environmental Science Program
Rob Raven does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frédérik Saltré, Research Fellow in Ecology for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University
But, as the oceans keep warming, rising sea temperatures generate unprecedented cascading effects that include the melting of polar ice, rising seas, marine heatwaves and ocean acidification.
This in turn has profound impacts on marine biodiversity and the lives and livelihoods of coastal communities, especially in island nations such as New Zealand.
In our latest research, we focused on great whales – sperm and blue whales in particular. They are crucial for maintaining healthy marine ecosystems, but have limited options to respond to climate change: either adapt, die, or move to stay within optimal habitats.
We used mathematical models to predict how they are likely to respond to warming seas by the end of the century. Our results show a clear southward shift for both species, mostly driven by rising temperatures at the sea surface.
Sperm whales (left) and blue whales (right) are both affected by rising ocean temperatures. Author provided
Computing the fate of whales
Data on the local abundance of both whales species are deficient, but modelling provides a powerful tool to predict how their range is likely to shift.
We used a combination of mathematical models (known as correlative species distribution models) to predict the future range shifts of these whale species as a response to three future climate change scenarios of differing severity, as outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Blue whales forage off the coast of New Zealand. Author provided
We applied these models, using the whales’ present distributions, to build a set of environmental “rules” that dictate where each species can live. Using climate-dependent data such as sea-surface temperature and chlorophyll A (a measure of phytoplankton growth), as well as static data such as water depth and distance to shore, we applied these rules to forecast future habitat suitability.
We chose a scenario of “modest” response to cutting greenhouse gas emissions (the IPCC’s mitigation strategy RCP4.5), which is the most likely given the current policies, and a worst-case scenario (no policy to cut emissions, RCP8.5), assuming the reality will likely be somewhere between the two.
Projected change in habitat suitability by 2100, for sperm (left panels) and blue (right panels) whales under two IPCC climate scenarios: modest mitigation (RCP4.5) and no mitigation (RCP8.5). Percentages are expressed as relative to each species’ present-day distribution. Author provided
Our projections suggest current habitats in the ocean around the North Island may become unsuitable if sea-surface temperatures continue to rise.
These range shifts become even stronger with increasing severity of climate change. For sperm whales, which are currently abundant off Kaikōura where they support eco-tourism businesses, the predicted distribution changes are even more evident than for blue whales, depending on the climate change scenario.
While our results do not predict an overall reduction in suitable habitat that would lead to local extinctions, the latitudinal range shifts are nevertheless bound to have important ecological consequences for New Zealand’s marine ecosystems and the people who depend on them.
Great whales are marine ecosystem engineers. They modify their habitats (or create new ones), to suit their needs. In fact, these activities create conditions that other species rely on to survive.
They engineer their environment on several fronts. By feeding in one place and releasing their faeces in another, whales convey minerals and other nutrients such as nitrogen and iron from the deep water to the surface, as well as across regions. This process, known as a “whale pump”, makes these nutrients available for phytoplankton and other organisms to grow.
On top of this, each great whale accumulates about 33 tonnes of carbon dioxide in their body, which they take to the ocean floor when they die and their carcass sinks.
Ultimately, the impact of warming oceans on whale distribution is an additional stress factor on ecosystems already under pressure from wider threats, including acidification, pollution and over-exploitation.
Blue whales convey nutrients between different parts of the ocean during their migration. Author provided
A way forward to help whales
Sperm whales are the largest toothed whales (odontocetes) and deep-diving apex predators. They primarily feed on squid and fish that live near the bottom of the sea.
Blue whales are baleen whales (mysticetes) and filter small organisms from the water. They feed at the surface on zooplankton, particularly dense krill schools along coastlines where cold water from the deep ocean rises toward the surface (so-called upwelling areas).
These differences in feeding habits lead to divergent responses to ocean warming. Blue whales show a more distinct southerly shift than sperm whales, particularly in the worst-case scenario, likely because they feed at the surface where ocean warming will be more exacerbated than in the deep sea.
A population of sperm whales is currently resident off the coast of Kaikōura. Author provided
Both species have important foraging grounds off New Zealand which may be compromised in the future. Sperm whales are currently occurring regularly off Kaikōura, while blue whales forage in the South Taranaki Bight.
Despite these ecological differences, our results show that some future suitable areas around the South Island and offshore islands are common to both species. These regions could be considered sanctuaries for both species to retreat to or expand their habitat in a warming world. This should warrant increased protection of these areas.
Frédérik Saltré receives funding from the Australian Research Council
Karen Stockin is a Professor of Marine Ecology at Massey University (New Zealand) and a Rutherford Discovery Fellow (Royal Society Te Aparangi). Karen is further professionally affiliated with the International Whaling Commission (United Kingdom) and the Society for Marine Mammalogy (USA)
Katharina J. Peters is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Canterbury (New Zealand). She is also professionally affiliated with Massey University (New Zealand), the University of Zurich (Switzerland), and Flinders University (Australia).
Could Australia soon have a form of emissions trading? Yes, if Labor’s much-anticipated paper on fixing Australia’s mediocre emissions-reduction framework, released today, is any guide.
At present, Australia relies on the controversial safeguard mechanism to encourage big emitters such as fossil fuel power plants and manufacturers to reduce their pollution. This framework – alongside the Emissions Reduction Fund – was introduced during the Coalition years to reduce carbon dioxide pollution at low cost.
The problem is, it didn’t work. Emissions from large polluters have remained high since it was introduced in 2016. As the discussion paper states:
Emissions limits, known as baselines, have allowed business-as-usual operations and aggregate emissions from Safeguard facilities to grow.
Labor’s discussion paper flags ways to make the mechanism work as intended – most significantly by letting companies sell credits created by cutting emissions by more than they are required to. Companies finding it harder to slash emissions can buy these. Creating this market would effectively create a very useful carbon currency.
You might think this sounds abstract. It’s not. Fixing this mechanism would have a major impact on our future emissions – and the likelihood of reaching our committed emission goals. Getting this right matters.
The current safeguard mechanism has not worked as intended, with emissions still high. Pexels, CC BY
So what is the safeguard mechanism and why does it matter?
The safeguard mechanism is a framework to control emissions from large polluters – defined as those emitting more than 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually.
This includes industries such as electricity generation, mining, and oil and gas extraction.
It works by giving each facility a benchmark level of emissions they are not allowed to exceed.
If a facility does exceed their benchmark, the regulator gives them a few easy options: reduce emissions, ask for their benchmark to increase, or buy and surrender Australian Carbon Credit Units. These credits come from someone else’s emissions reductions, which the original polluter has to pay for.
The problem is the current safeguard mechanism is not fit for purpose.
As I’ve previously pointed out, the system is easily gamed. Many high-polluting firms have simply asked for larger benchmarks – and often got them. You can see the incentive – asking for a larger, “better fitting” benchmark is the cheapest option of all, requiring absolutely no change on the company’s part.
This is the fundamental flaw: there is no economic incentive for large polluters to cut their emissions.
Better systems already exist in other countries. For instance, large polluters in the United States and European Union are targeted using pollution markets that have robust economic incentives.
In such schemes, companies that find it very expensive to reduce pollution can buy pollution credits from the market. Alternatively, companies that find it cheap to reduce emissions can sell their credits and make money. Labor’s new discussion paper draws heavily on these successful schemes.
Even better, the government can raise serious revenue from this market by initially auctioning off pollution credits. It’s a win-win: polluters pay and gain a strong incentive to reduce emissions, and the government obtains much-needed revenue at a time when budgets are stretched from the pandemic.
The public funds raised can be significant: the carbon market set up by 12 states in the eastern US has auctioned off pollution allowances since 2008, raising A$5.45 billion to date.
If we want to reach Labor’s target of cutting emissions by 43% (relative to 2005 levels) over the coming eight years, we need a fully functional market-based approach.
So what are the proposed changes?
The paper sets out the main proposals for developing the safeguard mechanism, including how to set a baseline of emissions for polluters (and how this should decline over time), the use of offsets, and the introduction of trading.
Trading would be the most significant change. Some companies will pursue emissions reduction with greater vigour – or may find it easier to do so than those in harder-to-abate sectors such as aluminium smelting or steel-making. The ability to sell these avoided emissions rewards these companies. The companies buying the credits have an incentive to cut emissions over time to avoid this cost.
Another proposal is to allow banking and borrowing of these credits over time. This would allow firms reducing emissions today to save credits for the future or, if needed, borrow some from the future.
The big question: will it work?
From an economist’s perspective, this is good news.
Allowing firms to trade credits will make the safeguard mechanism more cost-effective and create incentives to actually cut emissions – something lacking in the old version.
But it could work even better.
Under the current proposal, companies in the scheme cannot trade with firms outside it. This cuts the number of market participants and could limit the cost-effectiveness of the scheme. Labor should look at widening the scope and creating a fully fledged market.
And while banking and borrowing pollution credits has been shown to work reasonably well in other countries, we know it has to be managed well.
If the scheme isn’t properly managed, companies could borrow credits and simply never pay them back. Banked carbon credits could actually lead to higher emissions in the future, when companies draw down on them.
In the EU this became a real concern when the stockpile of banked allowances grew too large. In response, the European scheme’s regulator had to remove them from the market. The Australian government must learn from this and design the scheme carefully.
But overall? Take this as good news. It is a step towards a goal that has long been out of reach: a well-functioning pollution market.
Ian A. MacKenzie has received funding from Australian Research Council focusing on managing
carbon offsets to improve Australian climate policy effectiveness..
An eight-year-old boy is often hungry, but knows if he tells his mum, she will eat less herself and go hungry. He hates the thought, so he stays quiet.
An 11-year-old girl knows once rent is paid, there is almost nothing left over, so she tries not to ask for too much. She never takes school excursion notes home in case the cost is too much.
A 10-year-old boy’s dad has been angry since he was injured at work; he can no longer support his family, and awaits compensation. It makes this boy feel sad, but he understands and tries not to add to his dad’s stress.
This is how children have described their experiences of poverty in research I have done over several years.
Children have also told us relationships are essential. They talk about the importance of family, the strength of community, and people helping one another.
These help buffer children from the effects of poverty – but none can address its structural drivers, or the ways systems fail many people.
Decades after then prime minister Bob Hawke declared that by 1990, “no Australian child will live in poverty”, the problem remains very real in Australia.
So what is that experience like for children, and what needs to be done?
My research shows that when we listen to children about their experiences of poverty, three themes almost always emerge.
First, not having the material basics – enough food, a safe and secure home, transport – is a near-constant problem for far too many children.
Some of these things can be bought if money is sufficient, but some – like secure housing and transport – require investment in public infrastructure and equal distribution of resources. These are structural problems, not individual ones.
My colleagues and I have found children are more likely to talk about the importance of food than toys or electronic devices. Hunger shapes priorities powerfully.
Second, poverty limits children’s ability to participate in activities and services (such as sport, public library time and health care).
This can be due to families not having the money – but often the barriers are, once again, structural. Schools in low-income areas are often under-resourced, playgrounds are less likely to be maintained, services are limited, and public transport is inadequate.
Third, relationships are deeply affected by the pressures poverty creates. This is exacerbated by factors such as:
Another, perhaps even more harmful, theme has emerged in Australia over recent decades – the discourse around poverty often attaches blame and stigma to individuals.
Anyone deemed to be part of the “undeserving poor” is shamed. Children experience this in the names targeted at them, their families and communities. Policy settings around welfare can be unbelievably punitive.
As a society, we are diminished by this blaming and shaming rhetoric. It undermines our ability to care for others, and to recognise the value of care.
6 changes needed now
There is no quick fix, but here are six changes that would help immediately.
1. Boost welfare benefits
Children in families dependent on working-age benefits will grow up in income poverty. Children in single-parent (usually single mum) families dependent on income support are most likely to be in poverty. The policy response is clear – we must raise the rate of working age benefits and reform the child support system.
2. Recognise the importance of strong and supportive relationships
Relationships are crucial to children but undue pressure on parents – through welfare conditions or child-unfriendly, insecure working conditions – undermines those relationships.
Some countries, such as New Zealand, are undertaking child impact assessments, which aim to work out whether a given policy proposal will improve the wellbeing of children and young people.
Australia should do similar assessments of all policies, particularly those linked to social security and labour markets.
As governments respond to the housing crisis through greater numbers of social housing it is critical we adhere to principles of child-friendly communities.
This means providing safe, welcoming places for children to play, building footpaths so children can easily and safely get around, creating communal, child-inclusive spaces to bring people together across generations, and creating child-friendly services close to home.
4. Reform education funding
Education funding must be more equitable, and ensure all children can access and enjoy high-quality schooling.
5. Change the narratives and language around poverty
We must recognise poverty is not the fault of the individual. Debates and policies should be based on empathy, not blame.
6. Put children at the centre of policy
This could include approaches like the European Child Guarantee, which aims to guarantee every child access to essential services.
Sharon Bessell receives funding from The Australian Research Council; Paul Ramsay Foundation. This article is part of The Conversation’s Breaking the Cycle series, which is supported by a philanthropic grant from the Paul Ramsay Foundation.
A View from Afar S03 E17. Paul G Buchanan and Selwyn Manning examine what to expect next with the Russia war with Ukraine.
A View from Afar
PODCAST: Buchanan + Manning: What's Next Regarding the Ongoing War in Ukraine?
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A View from Afar – In this podcast, political scientist Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning analyse the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Specifically, they examine how the invading forces of Russia are struggling against a determined and well-equipped Ukraine defence.
What can we expect next from Russia?
How can western nations sustain the sanctions regime, and is there an intensifying risk of sanctions evasion taking place?
How stable is the wider region, and how serious is the fomenting unrest among the Balkan states?
How advanced is the Eurozone in facing the reality that Russia has the advantage of cutting gas supplies as winter advances in the next few months?
How sustainable is Russia’s alliance-making effort with the Stan states, the PRC, and what the west regards as rogue states like Iran, Venezuela, DPRK, Cuba, Nicaragua?
And finally, how can Russian Federation president, Vladimir Putin survive a military stalemate?
You can comment on this debate by clicking on one of these social media channels and interacting in the social media’s comment area. Here are the links:
Threat.Technology placed A View from Afar at 9th in its 20 Best Defence Security Podcasts of 2021 category. You can follow A View from Afar via our affiliate syndicators.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julianne Schultz AM, FAHA, Emeritus Professor of Media and Culture, Griffith University, Griffith University
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As the cut-off for the government’s consultation on a National Cultural Policy (NCP) approaches, thousands in the sector are putting the finishing touches to their three-page submissions. These are directed around “five pillars” drawn from Creative Australia, the national cultural policy announced in the last months of the Gillard regime, but ignored by the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments thereafter.
Coalition arts ministers showed little interest in cultural policy. Over the last nine years, national cultural institutions lost funding, the Australia Council’s budget was diverted to programs under ministerial control, and key board appointments reflected a lack of sector expertise.
The pattern of the past 30 years in arts and culture is for Labor to initiate and the Coalition to dismantle.
The new government’s consultation process has been a long time coming and it is welcome.
Creative Nation to Creative Australia
Creative Australia built on Creative Nation, Paul Keating’s National Cultural Policy, which launched in 1994. It emerged from Kevin Rudd’s 2020 Summit, two major inquiries and a reference group of several dozen people from all parts of the sector. It was designed to enable systematic engagement with culture in all its manifestations.
But much has happened in the nation, the economy and society since 2013. And while the recently announced 15-member NCP advisory panel includes people with deep knowledge, there are some gaps.
Creative Australia drew together a range of competing perspectives and had a broad enough base to start giving culture the clout it needed to be taken seriously as an object of policy. After it was adopted, more money flowed to the Australia Council and other cultural agencies and institutions.
In a fraught world a new national cultural policy needs an even wider framework. Culture touches every part of our public and private lives.
A cultural policy should include an arts policy, but also policies addressing national institutions, heritage, the commercial cultural industries, soft power diplomacy, education, community groups and charities, as well as areas of public administration like First Nations, health, welfare, and education where cultural activity is a valued tool.
It must be able to align with state and local governments as active partners in this domain.
A robust arts policy is a first step in developing an expansive, nationally-appropriate cultural policy. Art for its own sake, yes. But art that binds, stretches, and challenges contemporary society.
Above all, a new national cultural policy needs conceptual depth. Culture was once seen as a public good, but has been hollowed out. The Australia Council’s consultation framing document defines its benefits largely in instrumental terms (mental health, social cohesion, education, tourism, the creative economy). Meanwhile, the substance of culture’s intrinsic value remains unaddressed.
A ministry of culture?
One of the key insights from the Creative Australia consultation process was the need for a federal ministry of culture.
Over the past two decades the arts has been tacked on to many other ministerial portfolios: communications, transport, environment, local government, the attorney general’s, and now employment. They should be at the heart of a culture portfolio that draws together elements scattered across the cabinet.
Currently, the arts are buried at the bottom of a drop-down menu, while media and communications (including public and commercial broadcasting) is the responsibility of another minister.
A culture ministry would allow effective aggregation of the significant expenditure made in culture across government. They exist in most comparable countries. A properly constituted ministry could assess the cultural impact of new policy proposals from any department.
In the 1990s, Australia was ahead of the global curve in redefining art and culture for a new democratic, multicultural era. The 2020s present different problems: climate change, digitisation, globalisation, inequality and a growing distrust in democratic institutions. A dedicated cultural ministry is the best way of addressing them with a perspective that touches lives and builds strong institutions.
This is not just a challenge for Australia. As Professor Hans Mommaas, Director of The Netherland’s Environmental Assessment Agency, put it to us recently:
In the midst of our various problem agendas… there is no clear place… any longer for the role of culture in the sense of creating and celebrating collective forms of imagination (and) communication… We must have a rich cultural sphere… for culture to be instrumental to these other agendas… Why not start with redeveloping the story-line that in the midst of the crises we find ourselves in, we urgently need a revival of a cultural sphere and that the current lack of this… is producing (a) distrust in the future and (a) lack of collective imagination.
Breathing new life into a decade-old national cultural policy is a useful beginning. But as Arts Minister Tony Burke has said of the current consultation process, “it is a trajectory, not a destination”. What is required now is an in-depth gestation period to position culture as a public good in the life of the nation.
The right of citizens to participate in, and contribute to, the cultural activities of the community is accepted in a number of the international agreements to which Australia is signatory. In an age of streaming platforms, public funding cuts and rising inequality, these cultural rights must be revisited and reasserted.
A new national cultural policy is an opportunity for a radical rethinking of the importance of culture to a troubled age. More than ever, we need creativity and an understanding of cultural heritage to imagine our collective future.
Julianne Schultz AM, FAHA chaired the reference group for the 2013 NCP, Creative Australia.
Justin O’Connor receives funding from the Australian Research Council
Julian Meyrick 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.
A former president of Kiribati warns the crisis involving the island nation’s government and the courts has left the country with a “dysfunctional judiciary” and put a question mark over its democratic system.
The Kiribati government suspended its chief justice in July and last Thursday immigration and police detained and attempted to deport High Court Judge David Lambourne.
They were unsuccessful after the country’s highest court ordered the Australian-born judge to be released.
The Court of Appeal stopped the government from deporting Lambourne pending a further hearing expected to be held this week, escalating further acrimony between the executive and judicial arms of the state.
Anote Tong, who was president of Kiribati from 2003 to 2016, says the issue of Judge Lambourne has clear “political connotations” because he is married to the leader of the opposition.
But, he said, the actions of President Taneti Maamau’s government bordered on contempt of court.
“The deportation order by the president [Maamau] is really in direct contravention to the decision by the court. So, whether the government is now in contempt of court is the question that really needs to be addressed,” Tong told RNZ Pacific.
“To be in direct conflict with the decision of the court here, I think we know what that means.”
‘Abiding by the laws of Kiribati’ In a statement, the government maintained that Judge Lambourne had breached his visa conditions and national laws and raised concern “by the overreach of the Court of Appeal” to issue an injunction to prevent his deportation.
Kiribati’s Australian-born judge David Lambourne … his wife, Tessie, is leader of the opposition. Image: Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute
The government said it “abides by the laws and the Constitution of Kiribati … to protect the interest of the people of Kiribati”.
It blamed “neocolonial forces” for “weaponising the laws enacted to protect” the i-Kiribati people “to pursue their own interest and suppress the will of the people”.
But Tong said the separation of powers is a fundamental principle of a democratic society.
“We have a constitution. We have the laws in place, and we have a court. The question is: are we adhering to these legal provisions?,” he asked.
“It looks like the government is crossing that boundary and delving into the purview of the judiciary.”
Tong said the problem between the government and Judge Lambourne began after the 2020 elections when his wife, Tessie Lambourne, was elected as leader of the opposition.
“There is no question about it,” he said, adding it did not “give an excuse for the government to ignore a court decision”.
He said until Kiribati amended its laws and constitution “to recognise that the separation of powers is fundamental to its democratic system of government, everything else that has been done will become illegal”.
International condemnation The Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association (CMJA), the Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA), and the Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA) have all raised concerns and said they were “alarmed” at the situation.
The associations have urged the Kiribati authorities to respect the rule of law and comply with orders of the courts.
“The associations are alarmed that the tribunals set up to investigate alleged misbehaviour by Judge David Lambourne and the Chief Justice William Hastings have yet to report on any findings,” they said via a joint statement.
“The associations are further alarmed that there has been an attempt to deport Judge Lambourne without due process being followed and he has subsequently now been arbitrarily detained by the authorities in Kiribati.”
CMJA, CLEA and CLA are urging the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) to consider the actions of the Kiribati government as a matter of urgency.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Alongside much else that is being revised, reimagined or recast by the Albanese government, Australia is to have a new cultural policy. Consultation has involved town hall meetings and a call for submissions. The arts minister, Tony Burke, has established five review panels to consider feedback.
First Nations artists and culture are at the centre of Burke’s invitation. The emphasis on the artist not just as creator but as worker responds to the pandemic’s devastating impact on the already-parlous circumstances in which artists and writers often live and work.
The other pillars of this cultural-policy-in-the-making highlight the diversity of stories and artists, building audiences and the strengthening of cultural institutions.
The review panels are brimming with respected and innovative creators and producers, with decades of collective experience.
But their coverage of the sector is patchy. Our concern as historians is with history, publishers and the “GLAM” sector – galleries, libraries, archives and museums.
While there is representation from galleries and collecting institutions on the panels, there is not a single historian, publisher or archivist whose feedback will help shape Australia’s cultural policy.
Given the importance of history in defining our sense of national selfhood, and the role publishers, libraries, archives and museums play in preserving, collecting and presenting Australian histories and stories, these fields being absent from the national cultural policy panels is a disappointing oversight.
A sense of belonging
History and historians play a crucial role in Australian culture. They are foundational to other fields in the arts, with historical research often underpinning film, theatre, literature and even, on occasion, dance.
A government serious about implementing a cultural policy for the future must make space for history and historians in the formulation of that policy.
History is both a scholarly pursuit and a widely shared leisure activity. Millions of Australians visit museums, archives, libraries and galleries each year, both in person and online.
Family history has become much more than just a popular hobby. It is integral to people’s sense of self and belonging, with First Nations people and migrant communities increasingly active.
Australians are involved in history and heritage in their communities. These activities are integral to identities of people and places, and especially regional places. They keep people active and connected with one another.
Community history and heritage needs to be at the heart of a democratic and inclusive cultural policy.
Historians feature in our media as expert commentators. They speak at writers’ festivals and in documentaries.
They publish histories and biographies that attract readers outside the circle of their colleagues and students. Some make podcasts and television programs.
Historians provide policy advice to government. They judge literary prizes and contribute to the making of the school curriculum. Historians work with community groups, including with Indigenous communities in native title cases, and they advise on cultural heritage.
The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards include a dedicated prize for Australian history. History is one of five subjects mandated in the national curriculum. Days of national commemoration, from Sorry Day to Anzac Day, mark significant events in Australia’s collective national memory.
Collecting institutions, like the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney, represent a priceless possession of the nation.
Both state and Commonwealth governments fund institutions which collect and preserve Australian history. At the federal level, the national cultural institutions perform this work. Together with the public broadcasters the ABC and SBS, they represent a priceless possession of the nation.
Writing and knowing Australian history would be impossible without them, and we would be a different – and lesser – people without such places.
Struggling institutions
Governments from both sides of politics have subjected these institutions to humiliating funding cuts. Labor first created “efficiency dividends” to reduce expenditure on our national cultural institutions in the late 1980s.
This initiative meant that every year, they received less funding, which a 2019 parliamentary business committee found had a “significant and compounding effect”.
It got worse in 2015-16, when the Turnbull government disastrously imposed an additional 3% “efficiency target” on these cultural institutions.
Such funding cuts no longer drive “efficiencies”. They diminish the quality of the user experience. Researchers at the National Archives report long delays – sometimes years – in gaining access to records that under the law of the land are supposed to be made available within 90 business days.
Our national cultural institutions no longer have sufficient funds to preserve the collections they maintain on our behalf.
The Archives only received an urgent injection of funds to preserve unique audio-visual records after a public campaign in 2021.
In June, it was reported the maintenance backlog at the National Gallery of Australia is estimated to be A$67 million. The ABC recently announced plans to slash specialist archives and librarians.
The maintenance backlog at the National Gallery of Australia is estimated to be A$67 million. Shutterstock
Cuts to funding came with the leaching of historical expertise from the boards and councils established to advise the national cultural institutions.
In the past, many distinguished historians have served on these bodies. Today, they are more likely to be defined by political appointees.
I don’t see how you have a national museum with a board that does not include a single historian.
Neither do we. We further urge a stronger presence for history in cultural policy generally – and right now for the presence of historians in the constructing of a new policy document.
History is the very kind of creative and democratic practice that must be central to any reimagining of Australia in an age of anxiety and of promise.
When pharmacists dispense tablets or capsules they commonly advise when and how often to take them, and if this needs to be with or without food.
You generally don’t hear them tell you to lean to one side when swallowing. But preliminary research from Johns Hopkins University in the United States suggests this might improve how fast your medicine is absorbed and gets to work.
The results are based on a computer simulation, rather than in actual patients, and may not equate to the real world. So it’s too early to suggest you strike a yoga pose when taking your medicine.
But your posture can be important when taking pills or capsules, for comfort or safety.
Once you swallow a tablet or capsule, it moves down the throat to the stomach. There, a tablet swells and disintegrates, or a capsule breaks open. The drug can then dissolve and your body can absorb it.
Most drugs do not start being absorbed until they reach the small intestine. However, some drugs, such as aspirin, are likely to be absorbed in the stomach because of its acidic environment.
A number of other factors can also affect where and how a drug is absorbed.
These include how fast the tablet disintegrates to release the drug, how fast the swallowed contents move from the stomach to the small intestine, the amount of food and drink consumed before taking the medicine, and how easily the drug is absorbed across the gut lining.
The researchers used software they developed to simulate several ways of taking a pill: staying upright, leaning to the left or right, or leaning backwards.
They showed leaning 45 degrees to the right favoured a faster movement of stomach contents into the duodenum (the first part of the small intestine). This would allow the pill to be absorbed more quickly and start to take effect.
The results could be important for medicines that you’d want to act quickly, such as pain medicines, or ones used to treat a heart attack.
There is already some earlier evidence from real patients suggesting posture may influence how medicines are absorbed. This includes the option of leaning to the right. But the authors acknowledge many factors influence absorption, not just posture.
Sometimes your pharmacist may advise you to swallow your medicine sitting, standing, or lying down for reasons other than speeding up absorption.
For example, certain drugs are more likely to cause side effects such as heartburn, where stomach acid leaks from the stomach and moves up into the oesophagus (food pipe).
These include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen (Nurofen), diclofenac (Voltaren), and iron supplements.
So if this is a problem for you, it may help to take these medicines sitting or standing, and not lying down straight away afterwards. That’s because your stomach acid is less likely to leak back up into your oesophagus.
Some medicines can irritate the throat or cause heartburn. So it’s best to take these upright. Shutterstock
Some medicines can irritate the throat if they become stuck. This is because they damage the protective mucosal barrier that lines your oesophagus and stomach, causing irritation and inflammation.
For these medicines it is important to take these sitting up or standing, and remaining upright for 30 minutes afterwards.
These include the antibiotic doxycycline, and drugs known as bisphosphonates (for osteoporosis), such as risedronate (Actonel) and alendronate (Fosamax).
Glyceryl trinitrate (Nitrolingual) is an under-the-tongue spray. It’s prescribed to people with angina, a type of chest pain caused by an underlying heart problem.
Pharmacists advise patients to sit or lie down before using this spray as it can cause a sudden drop in blood pressure, making you feel very dizzy.
Other heart medicines, such as diuretics, are also known to cause dizziness. Although you don’t usually need to take these medications lying down, if you do become dizzy it is best to sit or lie down, and ensure you stand up slowly afterwards.
There are also medications that can cause drowsiness or make you feel “woozy”. These can include strong pain killers (such as opiates), sleeping tablets, some epilepsy medications, or drugs for certain mental health conditions, such as anxiety or schizophrenia.
These don’t need to be swallowed while lying down, but lying down can help if you become dizzy or drowsy.
Some medicines can make you dizzy. So you can lie down after taking them. Shutterstock
What if I’m not sure?
Next time your pharmacist dispenses your medicine, unless they provide specific guidance about sitting, standing or lying down, you are generally safe to take it whichever way is most comfortable.
So how about this latest evidence suggesting leaning to the right might help? At this stage, you likely won’t hear your doctor or pharmacist recommend you should lean over to take your medicines until further research is done.
But next time you need to take a medicine for pain, as long as it is not uncomfortable, feel free to try this to see if your pain is relieved faster.
Elise Schubert is a registered pharmacist and a PhD Candidate receiving scholarship from the University of Sydney and Canngea Pty Ltd.
Associate Professor Wheate in the past has received funding from the ACT Cancer Council, Tenovus Scotland, Medical Research Scotland, Scottish Crucible, and the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance. He is a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, a member of the Australasian Pharmaceutical Science Association, and member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Nial is the science director of Canngea Pty Ltd, chief scientific officer of Vairea Skincare LLC, and a Standards Australia panel member for sunscreen agents.
Associate Professor Tina Hinton has previously received funding from the Schizophrenia Research Institute (formerly Neuroscience Institute of Schizophrenia and Allied Disorders). She is currently a Board member of the Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacologists and Toxicologists.
In a new 3D modelling study published this week in Science Advances, we show that the giant extinct shark, Otodus megalodon, was a true globetrotting super-predator.
It was capable of covering vast distances in short order, and could eat the largest of modern living super-predators, the killer whale, in five gargantuan bites. It could have swallowed a great white shark whole.
The largest shark that ever lived
Megalodon was the largest shark that ever lived, and it was around for a long time – from around 23 million to 2.6 million years ago. At one time its range was enormous: its fossilised teeth have been found on every continent except Antarctica. These teeth are not hard to recognise if you come across them, as they can be up to 18 centimetres long.
Comparison of a fossilised megalodon tooth (left), and a tooth from a modern great white shark. Mark_Kostich/Shutterstock
Just why this formidable predator went extinct remains a mystery. It could have been linked to global cooling, or competition from other predators such as orcas (killer whales). This is just one of many unanswered questions.
One thing we know for sure is that the megalodon was big – but just how big has remained a point of contention among scientists, because previous estimates have been effectively based on just fragmentary remains.
And its size really matters, because it helps us to interpret its biology – the kinds of prey an animal can kill and eat, the amount of food it needs to survive and the speed at which it can travel.
The question of diet is particularly important as it determines an animal’s role and impact on its ecosystem. Historically, many thought megalodon took very big prey, including large whales.
But it has recently been argued that it may not have been quite the super-predator it had been cracked up to be, concluding that it concentrated on lesser prey such as seals, dolphins and small whales between around two and seven metres in length. If correct, this would have major implications for our understanding of how the marine ecosystems of the time functioned.
Our new model now suggests it did in fact prefer to take on much larger prey.
The reconstructed megadolon was 16 metres long and weighed over 61 tons. J.J. Giraldo
Car-crushing bite force
I’ve long had an interest in megalodon. I published a paper with colleagues back in 2007 wherein we built a computer simulation to predict its bite force.
Our estimate – a car-crushing 18 tonnes – was dependent on the assumed body mass of the animal, so I was delighted when colleagues from overseas asked me to help with an attempt to develop a more accurate model of the whole shark. From there, we could more reliably determine its size.
Previous estimates of the body mass and proportions of megalodon have largely just extrapolated on data from single fossilised vertebrae, which leaves a lot of room for error. Others were based on direct comparison with the living great white shark; however, it’s now pretty clear that the two weren’t closely related.
In our new study, we based our estimates on 3D modelling of the most complete specimen known, represented by a largely intact vertebral column held in a Belgian museum. We quantified its total length, weight, and the size of its gape from the complete digital model.
Lastly, we estimated the megalodon’s cruising speed, the volume of its stomach, its daily energetic demands and the rate at which it likely encountered prey.
We concluded that this particular megalodon was around 16 metres long and weighed in at more than 61 tonnes. This is considerably larger than recent estimates of a mere 48 tonnes.
Based on other isolated fossil vertebrae, it’s likely the largest megalodon grew to 20 metres in length. We further determined that the Belgian specimen’s maximum gape was around 1.8 metres and that its stomach could have held 9.5 cubic metres of food.
This suggests it could have entirely consumed the largest of living killer whales (around 8 metres) in just five bites.
Hypothetically, it could have eaten another iconic super-predator, the Tyrannosaurus rex, in just three bites. As for great white sharks, a megalodon could have swallowed a large one whole.
Our results suggest megalodon could have comfortably cruised at over 5 kilometres per hour. This is much faster than the largest living fish, the filter-feeding whale shark, or even the great white shark, which cruises at around 3 kilometres per hour.
Megalodon was the biggest shark that ever lived, and needed enormous amounts of food to sustain itself.
This ocean-spanning super-predator could travel vast distances in short order, increasing prey encounter rates and allowing it to quickly move to take advantage of seasonal changes in prey abundance.
Results from our analysis of energetics suggest that having eaten a big killer whale for breakfast, this megalodon could have travelled around 7,000km before needing to feed again.
In short, our results show that megalodon really was the super-predator it’s been cracked up to be, and more.
No creature, no matter its size, was safe from the jaws of this super shark. Its extinction likely sent tremendous cascading effects through marine environments of the time.
Stephen Wroe 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.
