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

The minister for government services, Bill Shorten, will unveil a new initiative that would allow people to have more control over the personal information they share.

The scheme, called the Trust Exchange (TEx), would allow people to verify their identities and credentials based on official information already held by the federal government.

The plan is still in its very early developmental stage.

Shorten will tell the National Press Club on Tuesday that the scheme would mean “sharing only the personal information to get the job done – and in some cases, not handing over any personal information at all.

“It can all be done via the digital wallet on your phone – the TEx technology does the rest.”

In his speech, partially released ahead of delivery, Shorten gives the example of paying for a hotel room. Currently, a person may be asked for a driver’s licence or passport to do this.

“With TEx, instead of handing over those documents and having them taken to the back office to be photocopied, you will scan a QR code on the front desk – or use technology similar to tap-to-pay machine – which digitally shakes hands with your myGov wallet.

“You choose which information to share from your digital wallet and consent to its use.

“You will have a record in your myGov wallet of what you shared and with whom you shared it.”

Shorten says there are numerous advantages of the TEx system:

• a person would give their consent every time their information was shared
• they would choose what information to share
• the shared information would be trusted because of the rigorous privacy and security standards of the system.

A person starting a new job, for example, would be able to verify their identity via myGov or the government digital ID, and then through their wallet, share attributes of their identity with their employer – but only the ones they agreed to.

“It could be date of birth, address, citizenship or visa status, or qualifications, occupational licences or working with children check. You control what details are exchanged.”

In another example, TEx could be used for a person to prove they are old enough to enter a club.

“They’d just hold their phone up to a QR code or tap-to-pay machine, and a digital token will be sent to the club vouching for their identity, and they are over 18.

“None of that information needs to be kept by the club. The token will be a valuable promise to the club but of zero value to a cybercriminal.

“Because the confirmation token will not contain any personal information.”

Shorten says TEx could be used in exchanges between governments and businesses, as well as between consumers and governments and consumers and businesses.

“Whatever the case, online or in person, you choose what is shared, you consent to it being shared and you can trust it is safe.”

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

– ref. Albanese government developing proposal for new digital ID system to protect personal information – https://theconversation.com/albanese-government-developing-proposal-for-new-digital-id-system-to-protect-personal-information-236603

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Hammond, Research Assistant, Department of Social Work, The University of Melbourne

For those experiencing fertility issues, cost can be a major barrier to becoming a parent.

Rebates and other public funding aim to make access to fertility health care fairer. Australia’s first public fertility clinics in Victoria, for example, were announced in 2021 to ensure “bank balance is no barrier” to fertility treatment.

But money is not the only barrier. Muslims who experience fertility issues also face specific cultural and religious barriers – but they are often overlooked.

Our recently published review of international evidence highlights how common aspects of fertility treatment – such as using donated eggs and masturbating to get a sperm sample – may be inappropriate for some Muslim patients.

So what cultural and religious barriers do Muslims face when dealing with fertility issues? And how can they be addressed?

The costs and challenges of fertility treatment

Infertility is a stressful and sometimes heartbreaking condition. It is also common. In Australia, an estimated one in nine couples require medical treatment to achieve pregnancy.

Some people experiencing fertility issues can treat them with medication or lifestyle adjustments, such as quitting tobacco and alcohol, or trying to decrease stress. Others require more intensive procedures, such as artificial insemination or in vitro fertilisation, better known as IVF.

Artificial insemination is a procedure which inserts sperm into the uterus during ovulation to achieve pregnancy. IVF involves a more invasive surgical procedure. Eggs are extracted from a woman’s ovaries and fertilised with sperm provided by a partner or donor. The resulting embryo is then inserted into the uterus.

Both artificial insemination and IVF can be unreliable procedures. In Australia, success rates for these treatments vary widely, depending on factors such as age, quality of eggs/sperm, and overall health. Many people require multiple rounds to achieve pregnancy – with private clinic costs of A$3,000 and $10,000 per round respectively.

For many who experience infertility, accessing these treatments is the last stop – and often the last hope – in a long journey.

Some treatments are incompatible with certain interpretations of Islam

When it comes to receiving appropriate fertility care, Muslim couples face specific challenges. These have not been researched in Australia.

Our research explored these barriers by analysing international evidence about Muslim communities’ access to, and experience of, fertility treatment. The studies we reviewed documented experiences in countries including Lebanon, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Egypt.

We found Muslim patients face faith-specific challenges when receiving fertility care. For example, depending on specific Islamic sect and interpretation, the use of donated eggs and/or sperm in treatments can be considered impermissible.

For couples who are able to use their own eggs and sperm for IVF or artificial insemination, the challenges don’t stop there. Providing a semen sample usually requires masturbation, which some Muslims consider religiously impermissible. This can therefore leave men questioning the appropriateness of the process, and can trigger feelings of guilt and shame.

Another complexity is that, according to some interpretations of Islam, adoption is not always allowed. That may leave fertility treatments – which are lengthy, expensive and invasive – as the last option to achieve parenthood.

Fertility practitioners are sometimes unsure how to support patients whose religious, cultural or personal beliefs influence their treatment options. In Western countries, these issues can be even more pronounced.

In countries where Muslim communities are a minority, patients have reported limited understanding of the Islamic faith among some health-care practitioners. They were then insensitive to their religious concerns surrounding treatments. Without the right language supports, some practitioners may also not properly communicate what treatment entails.

Many Muslim couples are therefore navigating a complex decision: to accept treatments they view as violating their religious beliefs, or forego parenthood altogether.

Exploring solutions to nuanced problems

Muslim communities are not a monolith. In Australia, Muslims may have differing views on what types of treatments are acceptable for them in a cultural or religious sense. There is considerable diversity in interpretation, practice and language, as well as interactions between culture and faith. Improving health care for Muslim patients means understanding these nuances.

Structural issues can also play a strong role. For example, some asylum seekers in Australia – both Muslim and non-Muslim – do not have access to Medicare due to visa restrictions. This group is automatically ineligible for Victoria’s new public fertility treatments and medicare IVF rebates.

Addressing these issues is complex, and will require more research. But there are things governments and health-care services can do to make sure Australia’s Muslim communities are not left behind. They include:

• matching patients with practitioners from the same language and cultural background

• embedding language supports more consistently across services

• training health-care professionals to better support diverse communities

• exploring alternatives to common aspects of fertility treatment. (For example, options for those unable to masturbate include surgical removal of sperm or the use of a special condom)

• more research, specific to Australia, to understand Muslim patients’ experiences of fertility care.

Initiatives like public fertility clinics show a clear ambition to make treatments more accessible. But equitable distribution means taking into account barriers beyond cost alone.

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

– ref. Donated eggs and masturbation are common in fertility treatments. But they may not be OK for Muslim patients – https://theconversation.com/donated-eggs-and-masturbation-are-common-in-fertility-treatments-but-they-may-not-be-ok-for-muslim-patients-233330

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

Australia’s forestry industry raised eyebrows this month when it released plans to remove trees from native forests, potentially including national parks, and claim carbon credits in the process.

Forestry Australia, the industry body behind the plan, claims it would make ecosystems more resilient and help tackle climate change. But decades of research findings clearly suggest the proposal, if accepted, will have the opposite effect.

Scientific evidence shows some proposed practices make forests more fire-prone and undermine forest healthy. And the carbon released when cutting down and processing trees would undercut any climate benefits of the plan.

Australia cannot risk any further declines in its biodiversity resulting from harvesting native forests, or actions that bring further risks to its emissions-reduction goal. On this basis, the Forestry Australia proposal should be rejected.

Understanding Australia’s carbon credit scheme

Under a federal government scheme, people and businesses can undertake projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or store carbon, in exchange for financial rewards known as carbon credits.

Projects can include changing the way vegetation is managed, so it removes and stores more carbon from the atmosphere.

The government has invited proposals for new ways to generate carbon credits under the policy.

Forestry Australia’s proposal involves a number of activities conducted in national parks, state forests and on private land. In return for conducting these activities, land managers – such as government agencies and private landowners – would be granted carbon credits.

One part of the method involves “adaptive harvesting”. Forestry Australia says the approach would reduce carbon emissions and improve carbon storage in forests “while allowing for a level of ongoing supply of wood products”.

Adaptive harvesting purports to reduce environmental impacts but still produce wood products. Techniques can include delaying logging until trees are older, resting areas from harvesting and minimising areas cleared for roads and log landings.

The proposal also involves “forest thinning”, or removing trees. In a statement to The Conversation, Forestry Australia’s acting president William Jackson said thinning involves “selectively reducing the number of trees to enable the healthy trees to grow”.

Forestry Australia says it has not proposed timber production from national parks. However, it did not say what would happen to trees cut down in thinning operations, including whether they would be sold or left on the forest floor.

Forestry Australia has also proposed to change the way harvested wood is used, so it stores carbon for longer.

So, instead of harvesting low-grade logs used for woodchips and paper, it would harvest more valuable logs to be made into longer-lived timber products, such as roof trusses and floorboards.

However, plantation forests already produce about 90% of logs harvested in Australia, raising questions over the demand for native forest logs.

Logging does not make forests resilient

Announcing Forestry Australia’s proposal, its president Michelle Freeman said forests were “more resilient if they are actively managed”.

But several adaptive harvesting practices are scientifically shown to harm native forests.

For example, analyses following the 2009 wildfires and after the 2019-2020 wildfires show thinning generally makes forests more fire-prone. Foresters have themselves highlighted this problem. And the heavy equipment used to log forests disturbs and degrades soil and the understorey.

What’s more, young trees – the usual targets of thinning – provide understorey habitat for many species, including endangered mammals, such as Leadbeater’s Possum and many species of birds.

And thinning undermines a forest’s ability to withstand other threats, such as climate change.

A big climate risk

Forestry Australia’s proposal is problematic if Australia hopes to achieve its emissions-reduction target of 43% by 2030, based on 2005 levels.

First, logging releases carbon stored in trees and soil. So, even if some carbon was stored under the plan – through activities such as regeneration – this would be undermined by carbon released when removing trees.

Second, there is a risk carbon credits may be granted for activities and emission reductions that would have happened anyway.

Take the proposal to provide carbon credits for adaptive harvesting. Most of these activities, such as forest regeneration, are already required by regulation and forestry codes of practice.

And in the case of the proposal to conduct regeneration activities after bushfires, forests will regenerate naturally if they are left alone.

A similar issue arises if forest managers are offered carbon credits to encourage timber to be turned into long-lived wood products. These products are more lucrative than, say, woodchips. So the financial incentive to create them already exists – and there’s a good chance suitable logs would have been used for these products regardless of whether carbon credits were offered.

What’s more, the average life of these longer-lived timber products is still far less than the standing trees.

Rules under Australia’s carbon credit scheme are meant to prevent credits being given for activities that would have occurred anyway. However, serious concerns have been raised over the effectiveness of these rules.

The answer is clear

Australia’s native forest logging industry has long been in decline and operates at a financial loss in most states.

Adding to the industry’s demise, Victoria and Western Australia have called an end to logging in public native forests and southeast Queensland is reportedly set to follow.

The flailing, damaging native forest logging industry is on the way out and plantations already provide almost all our sawn wood supply. Propping up the industry via a badly designed carbon credit method does not make economic or climate sense.

In response to the points raised in this article, Forestry Australia’s acting president William Jackson provided the following statement. It has been edited for brevity.

Adaptive harvesting practices are proposed only for state forests and private native forests, within areas where timber harvesting is expressly permitted and regulated under state-based legislation.

Thinning is conducted for ecological reasons, cultural values or fire management or other reasons. Forestry Australia disagrees with the view that thinning makes forests more fire prone. The inclusion of thinning in native forests in the method is supported by clear evidence from Australian and international research showing that thinning of forests, when combined with prescribed burning to reduce fuel hazards, can significantly reduce wildfire risks and impacts in dry forests.

Not all forests are in the condition to regenerate naturally due to the impacts of climate change, invasive species and wildfire. The method encourages active and adaptive management to assist in restoring the health and resilience of these forests.

This method would maximise carbon market opportunities to more landowners, from state government agencies managing state forests and national parks, as well as community groups, not-for-profits, private landowners and First Nations Peoples.

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

Brendan Mackey receives funding from the Australian Government. His is a volunteer board member of the Great Eastern Ranges Ltd.

Heather Keith receives funding from the Australian Government and is a member of the Environmental Economic Accounts and Environmental Indicators Technical Advisory Panel.

– ref. Industry push to earn carbon credits from Australia’s native forests would be a blow for nature and the climate – https://theconversation.com/industry-push-to-earn-carbon-credits-from-australias-native-forests-would-be-a-blow-for-nature-and-the-climate-236245

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Forsyth, Distinguished Professor of Workplace Law, RMIT University

The federal government has bypassed the courts and introduced legislation to fast track the appointment of an administrator to overhaul the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union.

This follows stalled proceedings in the Federal Court where the Fair Work Commission sought administration orders in response to reports of alleged criminal infiltration of the union.

Former workplace relations minister Tony Burke and his successor Murray Watt had signalled the government would introduce legislation, if the CFMEU did not agree to an administrator being appointed by late last week.

When the union didn’t, the government on Monday introduced amendments to Fair Work laws, empowering Senator Watt to place the CFMEU and its state branches into administration.

Melbourne barrister Mark Irving KC is expected to be appointed administrator, a position that can be held for up to three years.

The administrator’s powers

The administrator’s precise powers will be determined by Senator Watt. However the bill indicates these will include powers to:

• suspend or sack elected CFMEU officials and declare their offices vacant

• discipline or expel CFMEU members and disqualify officers for up to five years

• terminate the employment of union employees

• alter the CFMEU’s rules

• engage persons to assist the administrator

• cooperate with inquiries into the conduct of the CFMEU, its officers or employees by any law enforcement agency or regulator

• determine the timing of future elections for union offices. These would likely not be able to occur until the administrator decides the union is clean and can be returned to democratic control in the interests of its members.

The bill would effectively enable the administrator to take over the day-to-day running of the union, and get to the bottom of the corruption and criminal activity alleged against it.

Holding the CFMEU to account

The bill arguably goes further than expected, in also giving the administrator power to ensure the union’s compliance with all laws, including workplace laws, and holding officers and employees accountable for any past non-compliance.

This brings into consideration the union’s history of breaching federal restrictions on illegal industrial action and entry onto building sites.

Exactly how the administrator will be able to hold anyone accountable for past offences is not clear from the bill.

The bill deals with concerns raised by the Business Council of Australia and others last week who called for a royal commission, arguing an administrator would not have compulsory evidence-gathering powers or be able to protect witnesses.

But the administrator will have powers to require officers, employees, former officials or agents of the CFMEU, or service providers to the union, to produce documents or other evidence considered necessary.

Potential penalties

People who breach these provisions without a reasonable excuse could be fined.

Both civil and criminal penalties will apply to broader anti-avoidance provisions in the bill including those prohibiting interference with the administrator’s role.

This includes “destroying business records or membership lists, transferring assets to hide them and other action that could reasonably ‘obstruct or frustrate’ the administration work”, according to the bill’s explanatory statement.

Civil liability under these provisions will be retrospective from 17 July 2024. Criminal liability will apply from when the administration process begins.

In addition, existing whistleblower protections in laws regulating trade unions will be extended to enable people to present information to the administrator.

The bill gives the administrator sweeping powers, and the minister significant discretion to move the CFMEU into administration without going through the usual parliamentary scrutiny.

The government justified this by saying the legislative amendments were urgently needed so an administration could be put in place swiftly if the parliament agreed.

An administration would

… help return the construction and general division (of the CFMEU) to a position where it is democratically controlled by those who promote and act in accordance with Australian laws, including workplace laws.

The proposed legislation is necessary to end ongoing dysfunction within the division and to ensure it is able to operate effectively in the interests of its members.

Where to now?

Attention now turns to whether the bill will be passed swiftly by parliament as the government intends.

The Greens will probably move amendments to certain provisions of the bill which they are likely to view as infringing on civil liberties, such as retrospective civil liability for impeding the administrator.

And the Coalition has raised concerns about the power given to the minister and called for a parliamentary inquiry.

However, the Coalition would be unlikely to oppose the setting up of an administration if it is a choice between that and allowing the bill to be defeated.

Anthony Forsyth is affiliated with the Centre for Future Work (Australia Institute). He has received funding from the Australian Research Council Linkage Program (industry partners: Australian Council of Trade Unions and The Union Education Foundation).

– ref. Labor’s plan to fast track appointment of administrator to CFMEU could be delayed by Greens and Coalition – https://theconversation.com/labors-plan-to-fast-track-appointment-of-administrator-to-cfmeu-could-be-delayed-by-greens-and-coalition-236581

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania

Australia has a proud history at the Summer Olympics. We have won at least one medal in every Summer games all the way back to 1896.

We have secured top-ten finishes on the medals table every Olympics since 1992. The fact there are more than 50 countries with larger populations makes these results ever more impressive.

The 2024 Olympics were no different.

Most gold medals

There are different ways to measure Olympic success, however the International Olympic Committee (IOC) medal tally ranks countries by the number of gold medals won.

By this measure, Paris 2024 was Australia’s most successful Olympics.

Our 18 golds breaks the previous record of 17 set in Athens (2004) and Tokyo (2021).

So how did this happen?

The golden haul was led by our swimmers, particularly the women.

Swimming is Australia’s most successful Olympic sport. We have a strong swimming culture and very demanding national qualifying times.

Importantly, there are a lot of swimming events at the Olympics – in Paris there were 35 golds available in the pool. In comparison, sports such as hockey and handball only had two gold medals on offer.

Australia won 18 swimming medals including seven gold.

Traditionally, when the swimming events finish, Australia starts to slide down the medal tally as other countries with strengths in other sports surge.

This slide did not happen as fast in Paris. Day 12, with four golds and two bronze (none from swimming) was our most successful day in Olympic history.

We also won gold medals in events for the first time. One of those went to Arisa Trew, 14, who became our youngest gold medallist and first gold medallist in women’s park skateboarding.

Other first-time golds included the women’s time trial (Grace Brown), men’s 50-metre freestye (Cameron McEvoy), women’s BMX (Saya Sakakibara), women’s pole vault (Nina Kennedy), women’s canoe slalom (Jess Fox) and women’s kayak cross (Noemie Fox).

One-third of Australia’s gold medals came in less traditional Olympic sports such as canoe slalom, skateboarding and BMX.

In fact, if the Fox sisters, Jess and Noemie, were a country, their combined three gold medals would have ranked them 29th, ahead of countries such as Denmark and Austria.

Comparing to previous results

Comparing medal tallies historically is difficult, as many things have changed.

New sports have been added in recent Olympics, resulting in more medals being available. But the world population has nearly tripled since 1956, which means more competition for medals.

In 1956, Australia won 8.61% (13 out of 151) of the gold medals available and were ranked third on the medal tally.

This is our highest percentage of golds and our highest rank.

So, was this actually our best Olympic performance?

Maybe, but it is important to acknowledge we had a lot less competition.

Australia’s remoteness and international conflicts resulted in many countries not attending the games. China did not compete. Neither did most of Africa.

Only 72 countries competed and nearly 10% (323 out of 3314) of competing athletes were Australian.

In 2000, Australia won its most medals (58, including 16 gold), but were likely advantaged by a vocal home crowd and featuring our biggest team ever (632 athletes).

Athens 2004 probably ranks slightly ahead of Tokyo 2021 as our team won their 17 golds from 301 events, whereas there were 339 events in Tokyo.

But there were slightly more total competitors in Tokyo.

In Paris, 10,714 athletes from 206 countries competed; 462 (4.31%) were Australian.

The 2024 team may have been advantaged by the non-attendance of most Russian athletes. However, Russia’s most successful Olympic sports are wrestling, gymnastics and athletics, not swimming, skateboarding and canoe slalom.

Also, Australia only won four gold medals last time Russia did not attend the games, in 1984. So we don’t know what difference it would have made to our medal tally.

One thing we can all agree on is that Australia has had a very successful Olympics.

What was the secret to Australia’s success in Paris?

A search of the Olympics subreddit provides some plausible (“strong sporting culture”) as well as humorous (“all the slow Aussies got eaten by wildlife”) answers to this question.

But what other reasons are there?

Funding boosts

The Australian Sports Commission directly invested a record $398.3 million in high performance funding for Paris.

This money funded projects such as developing a replica Paris BMX Freestyle track and launching a new canoe slalom kayaking program.

This preparation helped contribute to Olympic success for Australia.

Direct athlete support

Since the Tokyo games, $47 million in direct athlete support grants have been awarded.

The AOC also invested in Indigenous Athletes Support Grants and financial incentives for medal winners.

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart also personally supported our swimming, rowing, volleyball and synchronised swimming teams.

This support allows athletes to train more and work less.

Female role models and inspiration

Some of Australia’s finest recent Olympic performances have been from women. This has included Cathy Freeman’s iconic 400m win and the more recent performances of swimmer Ariarne Titmus.

More media exposure, equal representation, federal funding and presence for female sports has made it easier to inspire and support new generations of elite female athletes.

These developments may have contributed to the success of our female athletes, who won 13 of Australia’s gold medals in Paris.

Science and innovation

Australia has always been at the forefront of sports science.

For example, Australia was the first country in the world to use underwater cameras to extract data from the pool.

They are planning to increase their use of AI in the lead-up to the 2028 Olympics.

Read more:
Why does the Olympics have an ‘AI agenda’ and what does it mean for the future of sport?

Australia also used environmental measurement units in the Olympic village to help athletes avoid the negative effects of hot summer temperatures and humidity during the games.

Australian athletes continue to benefit from state-of-the-art facilities at the Australian Institute of Sport.

The (AIS) European Training Centre in Italy tripled its accommodation in the lead-up to Paris.

It now provides a “home away from home” and competitive advantage for more Australian athletes training or competing in Europe.

Enhanced wellbeing focuses

All major Australian sporting bodies have been committed to the “Win Well 2032 Pledge”.

The pledge focuses on ensuring national sporting organisations are committed to supporting mental, emotional, cultural and physical wellbeing to foster the best chance for athletes to succeed.

Historical precedent

Australian athletes have consistently performed better in the Olympics than other developed countries with bigger populations, like Canada and Spain.

Australians have always had a strong interest in sports, with many of us believing sport contributes to our national identity.

In 1962, Sports Illustrated identified Australia as the best sporting nation in the world per population level.

These foundations set a precedent for modern and future generations, creating an expectation to maintain Australia’s global sporting status.

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

– ref. The major factors behind Australia’s surge to a record-breaking Olympics – https://theconversation.com/the-major-factors-behind-australias-surge-to-a-record-breaking-olympics-236402

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ausma Bernot, Lecturer in Technology and Crime, Griffith University

Roblox is a hugely popular online gaming platform that contains its own little universe of games. It is primarily targeted at children. Users can create games themselves and play games built by others, and chat with other players. If you’re a parent, you’ve likely heard of it. You might even be bribing your kids with Roblox gift cards to do chores.

Roblox has reported 79.5 million average daily users playing Roblox games in the second quarter of 2024. These users spent 17.4 billion hours on the Roblox platform, which means just over a whopping 200 hours per user per year, or around 40 minutes per day.

While kids can engage in fun digital play and even learn basic programming on Roblox, they may also have troubling encounters, such as seeing sexually explicit content, experiencing grooming or cyberbullying.

Those troubling experiences for children are the official reason why Turkey banned access to Roblox on August 7.

Why did Turkey suddenly ban Roblox?

In a machine-translated statement on X, Turkey’s Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç said that “according to our constitution, our state is obliged to take the necessary measures to ensure the protection of our children”.

The block was handled by the Adana 6th Criminal Court of Peace. It cited an internet governance law Turkey enacted in 2007 and last updated in 2020 to immediately ban access to Roblox.

The law outlines quick-moving consequences. If a court determines content on an online platform as unlawful, the president of the Information Technology and Communication Authority then has 24 hours to review the decision. If a ban is decided upon, it has to be implemented within just four hours.

This is likely bad news for Roblox. Turkish authorities determined “the infringement could not be prevented by technically banning access to the infringing content”. They blocked access to the whole site instead.

Roblox issued a statement noting they are working with local authorities with the goal of resolving the ban. Specifically, Roblox will need to prove their content can be moderated in such a way that children would not be harmed.

Turkey also recently banned Instagram, and has discussed plans to also ban TikTok. Instagram was banned for nine days due to allegedly blocking condolence posts following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

How safe are kids playing Roblox?

The scale of the troubling content problem on Roblox and other large tech platforms is hard to quantify. Monitoring and reporting on these large social media and gaming platforms is often opaque.

The real-life accounts of parents about their children’s experiences are sobering, fuelling criticism that Roblox is not sufficiently monitoring the content that ends up in children’s message boxes.

In a BBC report earlier this year, an eight-year-old boy revealed that people he met on Roblox asked him for nude photos. At least 20 people have been detained in the United States since 2018 on charges of harassing or kidnapping people they met on Roblox.

With 42% of Roblox users under the age of 13, it is obvious why the platform is targeted by such offenders. This raises understandable concerns for parents (and Turkey) about the risks posed to children.

Roblox does try to moderate the content on its platform.
In 2023, Roblox made 13,316 reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, up from 2,973 in 2022. However, such numbers, when the monthly active user base for the platform exceeds 200 million users, are received with some scepticism.

The problem of grooming and child abuse material is not unique to Roblox, either. There have been recent efforts by other platforms to be more open about their monitoring, and measures to protect children. This includes partnering with trusted third parties to maximise the impact of such initiatives.

Earlier this year Aylo (owner of Pornhub) participated in an evaluation of a deterrence campaign on their platform. In the United Kingdom, Project Intercept by the Lucy Faithful Foundation is working with tech platforms to stop online sexual abuse of children.

What can we do about preventing digital harm to kids in Australia?

Australia’s eSafety Commission holds the view that we “can’t regulate our way out of online harms”. Instead, it demands safety by design, where companies are encouraged to invest in risk mitigation at the front end.

Safety by design, transparency and collaboration with external organisations are key to build trust in the platforms, and to also enable regulators to create effective policy.

Interestingly, Roblox is doing this work already. Roblox has joined the Tier 1 social media program of the Australian eSafety Commissioner, which enables the commission to delete reported information more quickly.

In 2019, Roblox also hired a director of digital civility to figure out how to make the platform a secure place for kids to play. The director has since launched a free digital civility curriculum and a Digital Safety Scavenger Hunt that teaches kids about safe and unsafe in-game interactions, such as account baiting.

However, the current issues speak to the importance of this work, and the need for strong regulator engagement by tech firms. We need continuous improvement of monitoring systems industry wide. The current statutory review of the eSafety Commissioner is an opportunity for expanding the office’s ability to act in relation to platforms at this scale to protect Australians.

If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800.

Joel Scanlan has collaborated with the Lucy Faithful Foundation and the Internet Watch Foundation on the evaluation of the reThink Chatbot deployed on Pornhub in the UK.

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

– ref. Roblox was just banned in Turkey to ‘protect children’. What’s Australia doing? – https://theconversation.com/roblox-was-just-banned-in-turkey-to-protect-children-whats-australia-doing-236489

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marnie Lloydd, Senior Lecturer in Law and Co-Director New Zealand Centre for Public Law, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

Today marks 75 years since the adoption of the Geneva Conventions on August 12 1949. In theory, these rules of war are universally agreed by every nation. In practice, they are routinely violated everywhere.

With an estimated 120 armed conflicts worldwide, more than 450 armed groups and 195 million people living in areas under their control, the protection of the vulnerable is as vitally important as ever.

As the news headlines remind us daily, however, international humanitarian law can seem like too little, too late when faced with military might and political indifference.

This year also marks other, less hopeful, anniversaries: ten years since the genocide against the Yazidi by ISIS in Syria, and ten years of war in Ukraine. Geopolitical tensions are escalating in the Middle East and the South China Sea.

Given the modern technologies used on today’s battlefields (and in cyberspace), and the violation of even basic humanitarian protections, is there much to celebrate in 2024? Are the Geneva Conventions still fit for purpose for today’s wars – and tomorrow’s?

Humanitarian values

All societies have cultural, religious or legal rules of some kind around war. But in the aftermath of World War II’s extreme horrors, the world agreed to a detailed set of codified rules governing armed conflict.

Despite differing political views and experiences of war, countries agreed to the Geneva Convention rules by striking a balance between military need and humanitarian ideals for the treatment of civilians, captured enemy soldiers and the dead.

The 1949 Conventions remain the core of international humanitarian law, or the laws of armed conflict. This body of law has been expanded over the years by other treaties and protocols dealing with civil war, chemical weapons, antipersonnel landmines, torture and enforced disappearances.

Designed to help prevent a spiral of tit-for-tat atrocities, many of the rules work due to reciprocal respect between combatants: treat our soldiers well when captured and we will do likewise.

But they also demand the humane treatment of people caught up in war, even if one warring party has breached those rules or started the war in violation of the United Nations Charter that prohibits aggression.

Four conventions, 400 articles

The Geneva Conventions include more than 400 articles, setting out detailed rules for the treatment of prisoners, protecting hospitals and medical staff, allowing humanitarian aid, and prohibiting torture, rape and sexual violence.

In fact, four conventions were adopted in 1949. The first three’s provisions built on existing laws protecting wounded soldiers on the battlefield, at sea and when captured as prisoners.

The key fourth convention sought to protect civilians living under the power of an adversary, such as in occupied territory.

A single article provided fundamental rules about the humane treatment of people during a civil war – the first time international law had dared to regulate violence occurring within a country rather than between two or more.

War and peace

Some say international humanitarian law took the wrong approach back in the 1860s when the very first Geneva Convention was adopted, because it accepted war and gave up on insisting on peace.

As the scholar Samuel Moyn has argued, this has forced us to choose between the ideal of opposing war in the first place and opposing the crimes that take place within it.

Humanitarian law also accepts a minimum level of harm to civilians as “collateral damage” during an attack on a military target. In other words, not all civilian deaths are war crimes.

And some articles in the conventions seem old-fashioned today – tobacco is mentioned together with food and water for prisoners of war, for example.

But in my own experience working with the International Committee of the Red Cross, I have seen international humanitarian law in action. When respected, it can save and improve lives.

Eternal vigilance

Warring parties everywhere still allow the Red Cross to visit thousands of detained people, and to negotiate about improving their treatment.

Combatants make agreements for prisoner swaps, hostage release, return of the dead, and the provision of medical care to wounded enemy soldiers.

Sometimes, countries investigate war crimes allegations. And the conventions make it possible for warring parties to make other agreements for even greater protections.

And while the Geneva Conventions, and international humanitarian law more generally, are far from perfect, the rules seek a basic limit on the worst humanity has to offer, insisting on some fundamental human dignity.

To ensure they are at least not actively breached, and ideally their protections extended, countries must do three key things:

• focus on collective responsibility, comply with the law themselves, and ensure respect by others

• stop using technical legal arguments to legitimise large-scale devastation in ways that ignore the fundamental humanitarian purpose of the rules

• and resist any claim by a nation state that exceptional national security threats (including terrorism, insurgency or new technologies) justify the rules being abandoned.

It is precisely in the gravest situations, when politics and other laws have failed to prevent war, that these rules are most needed. Greater respect for them would go a long way to saving lives and preventing the horrors we see in today’s conflicts.

Marnie Lloydd is a member of New Zealand’s International Humanitarian Law Committee and has worked previously with the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

– ref. The Geneva Conventions at 75: do the laws of war still have a fighting chance in today’s bloody world? – https://theconversation.com/the-geneva-conventions-at-75-do-the-laws-of-war-still-have-a-fighting-chance-in-todays-bloody-world-235882

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne

A national Newspoll, conducted August 5–9 from a sample of 1,266, had Labor and the Coalition tied at 50–50, a one-point gain for the Coalition since the last Newspoll, three weeks ago. Primary votes were 39% Coalition (up one), 32% Labor (down one), 12% Greens (down one), 6% One Nation (steady) and 11% for all Others (up one).

Anthony Albanese’s net approval was down one point to -8, with 51% dissatisfied (steady) and 43% satisfied (down one). Peter Dutton’s net approval was down two points to -10. Albanese led Dutton as better PM by an unchanged 46–39.

The graph below shows Albanese’s net approval in Newspoll. The data points are marked with plus signs and a smoothed line has been fitted. Albanese’s ratings remain stuck in negative territory.

This is the third Newspoll this term that has had a tie on two-party preferred, and other polls are also not good for Labor. Labor is likely to struggle as long as voters remain worried about the cost of living and inflation. Labor will hope there are interest rate cuts before the next election that is due by May 2025.

Resolve poll would have Labor just ahead

A national Resolve poll for Nine newspapers, conducted August 7–11 from a sample of 1,607, gave the Coalition 37% of the primary vote (down one since July), Labor 29% (up one), the Greens 13% (steady), One Nation 6% (steady), the UAP 2% (up one), independents 10% (down one) and others 4% (up two).

Resolve doesn’t usually give a two-party estimate, but this poll would be about 51–49 to Labor by 2022 election preference flows, a one-point gain for Labor since July.

Albanese’s net approval improved four points to a still bad -17, with 51% giving him a poor rating and 34% a good rating. Dutton’s net approval improved three points to +3. Dutton retained a one-point lead as preferred PM, leading Albanese by 36–35 (35–34 in July).

On keeping the cost of living low, the Liberals led Labor by 34–23, a widening from a 31–24 Liberal lead in July. This is currently the most important issue. On economic management, the Liberals led by 40–23 (40–24 in July).

In additional questions from the previous Resolve poll, voters trusted the police by 69–13, but by 47–30 they did not have faith in the courts and justice system.

Morgan poll: 51.5–48.5 to Labor

A national Morgan poll, conducted July 29 to August 4 from a sample of 1,655, gave Labor a 51.5–48.5 lead, a one-point gain for Labor since the July 22–28 Morgan poll.

Primary votes were 37% Coalition (down 0.5), 30.5% Labor (steady), 12% Greens (down one), 5.5% One Nation (down one), 10% independents (up 1.5) and 5% others (up one).

Usually there has been a gap in the Coalition’s favour between respondent allocated preferences (the headline figure) and preference flows based on the 2022 election. In this poll, the results were identical, with the previous election method giving Labor a 51.5–48.5 lead, a 0.5-point gain for Labor.

Victorian Redbridge poll: Labor slumps to a 50–50 tie

A Victorian Redbridge poll, conducted from July 23 to August 1 from a sample of 1,514, had Labor and the Coalition tied at 50–50, a five-point gain for the Coalition since a Redbridge poll that was conducted in February and May. Primary votes were 40% Coalition (up two), 31% Labor (down four), 12% Greens (down two) and 17% for all Others (up four).

A Victorian Resolve poll that was conducted in June and July was close to tied on its two-party measure. Past Victorian Redbridge polls have had Labor well ahead, unlike Resolve.

In other Victorian news, the parliamentary Electoral Matters Committee has recommended scrapping group ticket voting for the upper house, which can allow parties with minuscule vote shares to be elected. Victoria is now the only Australian jurisdiction that still uses group voting tickets.

The committee has recommended replacing group voting tickets with a system similar to the federal Senate. Voters would be instructed to number at least five boxes above the line, though only one would be required for a formal vote. There has not yet been a response from the government to the committee’s recommendations.

NT election: August 24

The Northern Territory election will be held on August 24. There are 25 single-member electorates. Labor has governed since it won the 2016 NT election. The Poll Bludger had a preview on August 4 that included a Freshwater poll that was released in May for Australian Energy Producers NT.

This poll gave the Country Liberal Party (CLP) a 54–46 lead over Labor, from primary votes of 39% CLP, 29% Labor, 9% Greens and 22% independents. ABC election analyst Antony Green’s estimate of the 2020 two-party result was 53.3–46.7 to Labor, so this poll would represent a 7% swing to the CLP.

There will be 80 candidates at this election, down from 111 in 2020, for an average of 3.2 candidates per seat. Green said this is the lowest number of candidates since 2008. The CLP is contesting all 25 seats, Labor 24, the Greens 11 and there are 20 independent candidates.

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

– ref. Labor still struggling in polls as Newspoll tied – https://theconversation.com/labor-still-struggling-in-polls-as-newspoll-tied-236235

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Astrid R.N. Haas, Adjunct professor, University of Toronto

Land prices across many African cities are soaring. This is because land is a city’s key asset. As urbanisation progresses, demand for land will rise, and therefore so will land prices, because the supply of land in cities is limited. Investments in public infrastructure, and zoning regulations that convert land to alternative uses, will also boost land value.

In fact, studies have shown that simply converting rural land to urban can increase its value by 400%.

All these changes are driven by the government and collective action, rather than by private individuals. But the beneficiaries of higher land prices will be property owners, unless there are mechanisms in place to recoup the value. Thus, city governments across Africa are seeking ways to capture this value, boost revenue and reinvest in public goods and services.

Hong Kong is a prime example of effective land value management. It is often cited as a case study. Land revenue has funded high quality public transport, as well as social infrastructure like schools and hospitals.

As a researcher focused on helping African cities raise finance and funding for large-scale public infrastructure and services, I wanted to know more about these land-based financing models when I moved to Hong Kong. An important initial finding is that Hong Kong uses multiple and distinct instruments for different purposes. This article explores just one of these instruments: the land lease system. I will examine other instruments in future articles.

Land lease system

Since 1 July 1997, all land in Hong Kong, except for one plot, has been owned by the People’s Republic of China. The Hong Kong government therefore does not sell parcels of land, but rather leases out the use rights for a specific period. The allocation process of leases, which are now granted for 50 years, is done by annual public tenders and auctions, managed by the Hong Kong government’s Land Department.

Developers bid on these tracts of land based on a minimum bid price. This is determined by the location, permitted use, maximum zoned height and minimum floor-to-area ratio required, among other factors. Whoever is successful in the auction then pays a one-off land premium to the Hong Kong government as well as ground rent for the duration of the lease. The rent is currently calculated at 3% of the rateable value of the land.

Each tract of leased land usually comes with a building covenant that stipulates the conditions of development. This is to prevent speculative holding of empty plots. The requirement is usually that 60% of the agreed floor space must be constructed within four or five years of the lease being issued. If this does not happen, the government can retake the site without compensation. There are exceptions: for example, in April 2020 the Hong Kong government extended covenants by up to six months due to the economic pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic.

All the revenues generated by the premiums and ground rents are earmarked and directly deposited into a Capital Works Reserve Fund which was established in 1982. This fund can only be used to finance public works and further land development. The government estimates it will earn about US$11 billion in land premiums from the lease of 18 sites during the 2023/24 financial year.

This system allows the government to maintain control over land use while providing private use rights that generate revenue to invest in infrastructure. It essentially establishes the basis of a capitalist society on a relatively socialist land tenure system.

Colonial legacy of land

The system has its origins in the time when Britain colonised Hong Kong in 1841. The British government aimed to develop the island’s harbour into a commercial trading post. A legal framework was developed to attract commercial enterprises, particularly from the UK; for one thing, Hong Kong was declared a freeport. This also meant that the British government could not rely on revenues from customs duties to support the colony. Consequently, there was a strong emphasis on raising revenue from the increasing demand for land.

In contrast, the British colonies in Africa focused on exploiting natural resources. Institutional structures, including those to do with land management, focused on short-term extractive gains rather than long-term trade and economic growth of the colony.

Another difference was that when the British annexed Hong Kong in 1841, the population on the island was only about 7,500 people, including 2,000 boat dwellers. British African colonies like Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania not only had much larger indigenous populations, they were already organised into kingdoms, ethnic groups and clans, each with their own customary land management systems.

So, while land tenure systems in Hong Kong were established on a relatively blank slate, in many African contexts the colonisers introduced their own tenure structures, disregarding the existing ones, leading to conflict with existing ways of managing land. These tenure structures were often established to exclude Africans from central urban areas. The repercussions continue in how African urbanisation is managed today.

The pre-colonial realities and the contrasting colonial goals have resulted in very different land markets. While African cities often have multiple and overlapping land tenure systems, Hong Kong maintains one exclusive leasehold system from which it generates significant revenues.

Read more:
African urbanisation: what can (and can’t) be learned from China about growing cities

Further lessons of running a leasehold system

For a public auction system to work as in Hong Kong, there needs to be transparent land administration, predominantly government-owned land, and a thriving real estate market. Developers, after they pay for the lease, must be able to convert land into buildings and lease or sell units. In African cities, despite high land demand, high construction and mortgage costs pose challenges in converting land to buildings. This could potentially limit similar auction demand where land has enforceable building covenants to prevent speculation.

While Hong Kong’s system has largely been successful, African cities should also consider lessons from its current experiences. Importantly, land revenue is volatile and generally will follow macroeconomic cycles. For instance, the Hong Kong government’s revised budget for the year 2022/23 highlighted that land revenue was more than US$6 billion lower than expected, due to reduced developer demand. This means that while land revenue is suitable for financing upfront infrastructure capital costs, the year-on-year volatility does not make it suitable for financing recurrent expenses, like those in health and education. It also means that for all capital expenditure that a city invests in with land revenue, sufficient operating budget needs to be found to cover the running costs over time.

Furthermore, for land to provide strong revenue for capital investments, high land prices are necessary, which in turn raises property prices and rental costs. Therefore, African cities facing acute affordable housing shortages must carefully consider supporting policies, if pursuing land-based financing, to ensure residents are not priced out of the market.

African cities should continue to pursue land as a revenue source for infrastructure financing, especially because publicly created value should benefit the public. However, instead of trying to replicate Hong Kong’s unique land-lease system, which has been shaped by very different historical and institutional factors, they should design land-based financing systems that work in the local context.

This is the second in a series of articles that will look at Africa’s urbanisation and draw lessons from other countries.

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

– ref. Raising revenue from land: what African cities might learn from Hong Kong’s unique land-lease system – https://theconversation.com/raising-revenue-from-land-what-african-cities-might-learn-from-hong-kongs-unique-land-lease-system-235327

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

The Albanese government next week will introduce legislation to force the appointment of an administrator into the recalcitrant CFMEU, after the union tried a delaying tactic to drag out court action.

Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt announced on Friday the legislation – which the government threatened if the union resisted the application by the Fair Work Commission’s General Manager to install an administrator – would go ahead.

Watt had given the union until 5pm on Thursday to consent to the application, which is before the federal court.

He told a news conference that at 5.09 Thursday he had received a response from Zach Smith, the union’s national secretary, “in which he said that consenting to the application only remains a possibility.

“It is clear that the CFMEU will not consent to that application any time soon and for that reason the Albanese government will introduce a bill to deal with this situation when parliament returns next week.”

The bill will enable Watt to decide whether it is in the public interest to appoint appoint an administrator into the union’s construction division. He would then set down a scheme of administration, including the administrator’s powers, roles and responsibilities. The legislation would give the Fair Work Commission’s General Manager, Murray Furlong, the power to appoint the administrator.

Watt said the bill was drafted so as to withstand legal challenge. There were “a couple of steps in the legislation to ensure that it can hold up in court – because I think you can bet your bottom dollar that the CFMEU will try and challenge it”.

“We cannot stand by and allow a once proud union to be infiltrated by bikies and organised crime or have bullying and thuggery as part of its day-to-day business,” Watt said.

“The construction division of the CFMEU has clearly failed to operate effectively or in the best interest of its members. Urgent action is required,” he said

“Our legislation is a critical step towards ridding organised crime from the construction industry once and for all.”

In his letter, Smith said the allegations had “not been tested by any court or tribunal, and the union’s rules require procedural fairness to be afforded to all persons whose interests are directly affected by any steps taken to address the allegations”.

“This takes time,” he wrote. The union had sent questions to the commission’s General Manager, Murray Furlong.

“Consenting to the application or seeking to negotiate some revisions to the proposed scheme in order to facilitate consent remains a possibility,” Smith wrote.

But Watt said the union had had “ample time” “The time for messing about is over.”

The union has previously tried to argue it can deal itself with the crisis following revelations in Nine media of nefarious behaviour.

the power to appoint the administrator.

Watt said the bill was drafted so as to withstand legal challenge. There were “a couple of steps in the legislation to ensure that it can hold up in court – because I think you can bet your bottom dollar that the CFMEU will try and challenge it”.

“We cannot stand by and allow a once-proud union to be infiltrated by bikies and organised crime or have bullying and thuggery as part of its day-to-day business,” Watt said.

“The construction division of the CFMEU has clearly failed to operate effectively or in the best interest of its members. Urgent action is required,” he said

“Our legislation is a critical step towards ridding organised crime from the construction industry once and for all.”

In his letter, Smith said the allegations had “not been tested by any court or tribunal, and the union’s rules require procedural fairness to be afforded to all persons whose interests are directly affected by any steps taken to address the allegations”.

“This takes time,” he wrote. The union had sent questions to the commission’s General Manager.

“Consenting to the application or seeking to negotiate some revisions to the proposed scheme in order to facilitate consent remains a possibility,” Smith wrote.

But Watt said the union had had “ample time” “The time for messing about is over.”

The union has previously tried to argue it can deal itself with the crisis following revelations in Nine media of a range of alleged nefarious behaviour. The union has appointed anti-corruption expoert Geoffrey Watson the investigate the allegations.

The opposition has called for the union to be deregistered, but is expected to support the government’s legislation, althopugh probably it will try to get amendments.

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

– ref. Albanese government will introduce legislation next week to force an administrator into the CFMEU – https://theconversation.com/albanese-government-will-introduce-legislation-next-week-to-force-an-administrator-into-the-cfmeu-236493

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Monica Taylor, PhD Candidate in climate justice, Queensland University of Technology

This week, a Senate committee examining Australia’s disaster resilience tabled its long-awaited report in parliament.

The 151-page report makes ten recommendations. These concern funding arrangements, mental health supports, emergency volunteering models, and the need to establish a national asset register.

Overall, the report captures a broad selection of issues in disaster management. It acknowledges the views and perspectives of many stakeholders.

However, its recommendations largely focus on volunteers involved in the immediate disaster response. This will not make Australians more resilient to disasters, because communities need long-term support to develop their capacity to bounce back. Deeper structural reform is required.

A wide-ranging inquiry

The report was titled “Boots on the ground: Raising resilience”. It was commissioned in November 2022 to inquire into Australia’s disaster preparedness, response and recovery workforce models, as well as alternatives.

The committee also had to consider the role of the Australian Defence Force, volunteer groups, not-for-profit organisations and state-based services, as well as the support required to improve Australia’s resilience and response to natural disasters.

Over almost two years, the inquiry received 174 submissions from charities, government agencies, academics, emergency services and the general public. It also conducted 17 public hearings across all states and territories.

Understanding the needs of communities

We analysed more than 150 of these submissions to the inquiry in our research last year into the role of community organisations in disasters.

Our focus was on the contributions place-based, frontline community organisations such as neighbourhood houses or centres can make to building disaster resilience.

Community organisations are both first and last responders, and play a vital but often overlooked role in disaster response, recovery and resilience-building.

We have now analysed the report to see how well it responds to issues raised in submissions. Unfortunately, we found it fails to address the vital role and needs of communities.

Firstly, the report acknowledges community sector organisations’ calls for additional resourcing and identifies funding shortcomings for their vital work in disasters. But it falls short of recommending any funding measures specifically for this sector. None of the recommendations in this report will fix the problem of persistent underfunding for frontline, place-based community services.

Secondly, it identifies the urgent need for mental health and trauma-informed approaches, and recommends the creation of a national disaster mental health hub. While investment in mental health is always welcome, more information is required to determine how this recommendation will work in practice.

Thirdly, the report lacks any recommendations to formally integrate or fund community organisations’ participation in disaster governance. This is despite evidence of the need to give community organisations a genuine seat at the table so they can share their expertise on local needs and capacities. This reflects our research, which shows community organisations still sit on the periphery of formal disaster management arrangements.

Our research: beyond ‘tinny heroes’ and ‘mud armies’

During our research, we identified common themes in the submissions. Let’s take a closer look at the top three things communities want.

1. Community organisations’ contributions are crucial, but invisible and undervalued

Community organisations play crucial long-term roles in building disaster resilience. But their efforts are often undervalued, under-recognised, and poorly defined within disaster management policy frameworks. This theme emerged time and time again.

Many submissions highlighted the frustration of communities and frontline staff at the lack of understanding in government agencies about their roles, or downplaying their local knowledge.

These submissions also highlighted the absence of formal policies to clarify the roles of community organisations in disaster preparedness, response and recovery. Most submissions called for increased funding to enable community organisations to sustain their support and to be consulted in the creation of any disaster response strategies.

Compelling testimony to the Senate committee from organisations such as Resilient Lismore, North Townsville Community Hub and Marninwarntikura Women’s Resource Centre in Fitzroy Crossing demonstrated how they were overlooked in formal disaster management processes.

2. Communities’ and first responders’ mental health is being affected

Compounding, cascading events are affecting communities’ and first responders’ mental health. Many submissions identified a need for greater mental health support. This would include trauma-informed training and care that is more coordinated, proactive and planned.

Community organisations provide person-centred, trauma-informed care to individuals in disaster response, and throughout the long tail of disaster recovery.

3. Disaster resilience is an under-realised opportunity and asset

Multiple submissions from community organisations called for a shift in thinking away from a reactive cycle of response and recovery.

The authorities need to stop treating disasters as one-off events and move towards a long-term focus on disaster preparedness.

Communities sought more resources to expand their work, including through volunteer coordination. Many operate with limited, short-term funding, and experience high staff turnover and burnout.

The work of community organisations is especially relevant given declining rates of volunteering fuelled by an ageing population, the impact of COVID, and the cost-of-living crisis. Exhausted volunteering networks cannot be expected to continue offering services without better support.

A missed opportunity

With memories of devastating fires and floods fresh in the minds of many Australians, the Senate inquiry came at an opportune time.

Australia is also expected to experience worsening disasters as climate change accelerates, so it has never been more important to strengthen our resilience.

While the senate committee’s report is welcome, its recommendations are far narrower than the themes and issues contained within it.

It’s disappointing that once again, voices of those who have engaged in the process are not adequately reflected in recommendations that would deliver policy change. The community sector is stretched beyond its limits and experiencing consultation fatigue.

Unfortunately there is little here for place-based community organisations on the frontline as they approach the next disaster.

Despite the narrow recommendations, there is still an opportunity for the government response to address broader issues canvassed in the report. It is never too late to invest in community organisations and this will deliver long-term benefits for Australians as climate change intensifies.

The authors wish to acknowledge law Professor Rowena Maguire and human rights expert Associate Professor Bridget Lewis for their contributions to this article.

Monica Taylor has previously worked for Community Legal Centres Queensland and the Queensland Council of Social Service, two peak bodies in Queensland supporting the community legal and social service sector.

Fiona Crawford owns flood-prone residential property.

– ref. Disaster season looms, but the senate inquiry has failed to empower communities – https://theconversation.com/disaster-season-looms-but-the-senate-inquiry-has-failed-to-empower-communities-236124

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Brown, Head of Policy and Engagement, Climateworks Centre

Much of the climate conversation in Australia to date has centred on actions to limit global warming, recognising that each increment of warming contributes to worsening climate extremes.

In a recently released book, Living Hot: Surviving and Thriving on a Heating Planet, authors Clive Hamilton and George Wilkenfeld argue while emissions reduction should continue, Australia should refocus its efforts on “adaptation”, or building resilience to the effects of climate change.

Certainly, Australia cannot ignore adaptation. Extreme weather, driven by climate change, repeatedly batters much of the country – and some areas get little reprieve between natural disasters.

But Australia’s emissions-reduction efforts must continue in haste, at large scale. Real change is possible. It will require everything, everywhere, all at once.

Mixed progress

The world is on track to warm by almost 3°C on pre-industrial levels, unless current national pledges to reduce emissions are ramped up.

Climate change is already leading to more intense and frequent extreme weather events in Australia’s global region, the Asia-Pacific.

However, the region’s progress on climate action has been mixed at best. As such, many countries are seeking to adapt to their “new normal”.

Indonesia, for example, is moving its capital city from sinking Jakarta to the new city of Nusantara – partly as a climate adaptation measure.

And in Malaysia, Monash University academics are exploring new ways to educate citizens and adapt buildings in the era of global warming.

Of the world’s high-income nations, Australia is one of the most vulnerable in a warmer world. We must focus on both cutting our emissions, and fundamentally rethinking how we live.

Mitigation and adaptation: two sides of a coin

When we prioritise both cutting emissions and adapting to climate change, twin benefits can flow.

Research by our organisation, Climateworks Centre, shows how this applies to conserving ocean ecosystems around Indonesia, the largest archipelago-nation in the world.

Mangroves, with their strong root systems, help protect coastal communities and lands from extreme weather events. They can also provide significant long-term “sinks”, or storage, for carbon.

Protecting these important ocean ecosystems can bolster Indonesia’s climate resilience and avoid more carbon entering the atmosphere. It’s a win-win for both adaptation and mitigation.

Similarly in Australia, the choices we make around land use can help us both mitigate and adapt to climate change. This understanding underpins the world-leading “Land Use Trade-offs” model, originally developed by CSIRO.

Climateworks and Deakin University released a new version of the model in 2023. It maps the best way to use and manage land in Australia to meet climate targets, agricultural demand and biodiversity goals.

For example, well-designed solar arrays can produce clean energy and increase livestock productivity, by sheltering sheep and protecting pasture.

Technology is outpacing expectations

Hamilton and Wilkenfeld argue humanity relies on a technology-only approach to climate action at our own peril.

There is truth here. However, technological advances to date cannot be understated. In fact, many renewable technologies have consistently outpaced our expectations – such as affordable solar, batteries, electric vehicles and LED lights.

There is also great potential for technology to lower emissions in Australia’s heavy industry.

In 2022, an initiative co-convened by Climateworks found 70 million tonnes of emissions reduction was possible in just five industrial regions of Australia – representing an 88% reduction – if timely, effective action was taken. This action also sets Australia up to make good on its superpower ambition, as a producer of green steel and hydrogen.

Living Hot highlights the immense increase required in Australia’s renewable energy supply if everything currently powered by fossil fuels is to be powered by clean sources. We agree. Australia’s electricity and grid needs are far bigger than we have planned for to date.

This pressure on the grid can be reduced, however. We could use energy far more efficiently in our homes, businesses and industries.

And in some cases, these changes bring multiple benefits. Well-designed homes are cooler in summer and warmer in winter. They are also cheaper to run, more resilient to climate-driven extremes and use less energy.

Regional cooperation is key

The authors of Living Hot argue nothing Australia does “can appreciably change the climate Australians will live through in 2050 and beyond”.

In isolation, this could well be the case. But Australia can have a significant impact on global efforts to tackle climate change, if it respond to calls from our region to cooperate meaningfully on emissions reduction.

Over the last two decades, emissions in the Southeast Asian region have grown nearly 5% a year as nations in the region rapidly industrialise.

Left unchecked, this emissions-intensive growth risks pushing global warming past thresholds crucial for stabilising Earth’s climate.

Australia and our region can provide many of the minerals and materials needed in the transition to clean energy. To achieve this, Australia should work collaboratively with our Indo-Pacific neighbours, such as helping them acquire the specialised skills needed to decarbonise.

Looking to COP31

Australia is bidding to host the 2026 United Nations climate conference, COP31, in partnership with our Pacific neighbours.

If we succeed, it would provide a once-in-a-generation opportunity to champion the urgency of both ambitious climate mitigation and adaptation in our region.

For the Pacific, climate adaptation is existential. Tuvalu is maintaining its identity, even though its land could disappear in mere decades. But in Southeast Asia, the greater challenge, and economic opportunities, remain in mitigating emissions.

Dramatic emissions reduction – enough to slow, and eventually stop global warming – will give nations longer to adapt.

Australia has a lot to lose in the face of climate change, but also a lot to gain. We are one of the sunniest and windiest places on the planet, with a vast landmass and rich reserves of critical minerals needed in the energy transition.

A more certain, safer future for all is within our grasp. It requires both going as hard as possible on reducing emissions, and adapting to the changes ahead.

Anna Malos does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article. Climateworks Centre, part of Monash University, receives philanthropic funding and grants for its work.

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

– ref. ‘Everything, everywhere, all at once’: Australia’s survival in a warmer world will be a mammoth multi-tasking effort – https://theconversation.com/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-australias-survival-in-a-warmer-world-will-be-a-mammoth-multi-tasking-effort-236337

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peta-Anne Zimmerman, Senior Lecturer/Program Advisor, Griffith Graduate Infection Prevention and Control Program, Griffith University

Google searches for “NSW scabies outbreak” have spiked over recent days in light of an outbreak of the contagious skin condition in New South Wales.

According to the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District south of Sydney, an initial case was detected at Wollongong Hospital in late July. Since then, at least 11 patients and 23 staff have been diagnosed with scabies across four hospitals in the region.

So what is scabies, and is this outbreak cause for concern?

An itchy rash

Scabies is a skin infestation caused by the Sarcoptes scabiei mite (a type of microscopic insect), which buries underneath skin and lays eggs.

Generally, the symptoms show up as an itchy rash, raised bumps, or bites. You may also see “tracks” on your skin, which might appear as thin, tiny, raised or discoloured lines.

Scabies most commonly appears in folds of the skin, such as between the fingers, under the armpit, or in the groin area. The itch is usually worse at night or after you’ve had a hot shower.

Scabies can look a lot like other rashes, such as eczema, psoriasis, or even just dry skin. So the best thing to do if you think you might have scabies is to go and be assessed by a doctor or other health professional. They will be better able to tell whether or not it’s scabies, and may also take a skin sample to identify it.

How does scabies spread?

Scabies spreads by skin-to-skin contact. It can also spread via towels, bedding and clothes. This is because the mite can survive outside a human for roughly 48 hours.

Once you’ve been exposed to the parasite and it has been transmitted, it can take between two and eight weeks for symptoms to present. This is because it takes time for the mite to enter the skin, lay their eggs there, and for the eggs to hatch, which contributes to the symptoms.

However, you can be a source of transmission even before symptoms appear, which is why scabies can be so difficult to control.

Can it be treated?

It’s important not to scratch scabies. Doing so may spread the newborn mites under your skin, meaning a larger area can become affected. Scratching could also cause a secondary bacterial infection.

The good news is scabies can be treated quite easily once it’s identified. Your doctor will usually recommend a cream or lotion, which will generally be available over the counter. The cream is normally applied to your whole body (staying away from sensitive areas such as the head and neck) once before bed, and then again around a week later. But follow the instructions for use on the product or any guidance from your doctor.

The topical treatment kills the mites and eggs, so it’s safe for someone who has had scabies to mix with other people 24 hours after the initial treatment.

How contacts are managed or treated will be advised by health authorities or professionals. But, given scabies is so contagious, it’s generally recommended that close contacts of known cases receive treatment too, via a single application of the cream or lotion.

If you or someone in your house has scabies, wash any bedding, towels or clothing used in the previous 48 hours in a hot-wash cycle. If you don’t have access to a hot wash, another option is to collect these items into a plastic bag and leave it for a week. The mites will have died by the time you retrieve them.

Scabies is quite common

According to the World Health Organization, at least 200 million people worldwide have scabies at any one time. Scabies can occur anywhere but is most common in areas with high population density.

It’s endemic in some remote communities in Australia, where it predominantly affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Sometimes, outbreaks will occur in regional and metropolitan areas, as we’re seeing now in NSW.

Outbreaks can spread easily in places like nursing homes, child care centres, detention centres and prisons, where people live or spend time in close quarters.

What about the NSW outbreak?

Information about how the outbreak in NSW started is currently unavailable. It’s unlucky an outbreak has affected hospitals, which have strong infection prevention and control procedures.

Health-care facilities have plans in place to manage an outbreak of this nature if it occurs. Any patient with scabies, or suspected to have it, would likely be put into what we call “contact precautions”. This means they would have their own room and bathroom, and staff looking after them would have to take extra protective measures.

It’s recommended any staff member with scabies should not return to work until 24 hours after they’ve received the appropriate treatment.

The Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District also says it’s undertaking extensive contact tracing to identify people who may be at risk.

But even with stringent infection prevention and control procedures and a thorough public health response, the outbreak is likely to take some time to bring under control. This is mainly because of the challenges of diagnosis and the time between when a person is exposed and when symptoms appear.

If you’ve spent time in one of the affected hospitals, or live in the local area, there’s no need to panic. But keep an eye out for any unusual rash, and seek medical attention if symptoms develop.

Peta-Anne Zimmerman is affiliated with the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control, the Global Outbreak alert and Response Network, and the Collaborative for the Advancement of Infection Prevention and Control.

– ref. Scabies: what to know about the outbreak of this contagious skin condition in hospitals – https://theconversation.com/scabies-what-to-know-about-the-outbreak-of-this-contagious-skin-condition-in-hospitals-236482

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

For the more than 100,000 years humans have been on Earth, we have looked up at night and seen the stars and our celestial home, the Milky Way galaxy. Cultures all around the world have stories and records incorporating this majestic, sublime sight.

However, nearly 3 billion people can no longer see the Milky Way when they look skyward at night. In turn, their connection to the cosmos – and to the sense of deep time it represents – has also been lost.

Light pollution is the culprit of this loss. But it is a relatively recent problem. In fact, roughly a century ago, the skies above some of even the biggest cities in the world were still dark enough to see the gaseous clouds of the Milky Way and the infinite specks of flickering light shining in the farthest reaches of the universe.

So, what happened? And what can we do to help darkness reign supreme again?

The long legacy of lights

Light pollution is the spill or glow of lights upward, into the sky.

Lights help us see on the ground. But for a variety of reasons – from poor design to inefficient lights and unnecessary lighting – light pollution in an area can grow fast.

Light pollution also comes from a variety of sources.

Much of it comes from streetlights. They contribute 20% to 50% of the light pollution in a city. But they are not the only source. Others include floodlights from ovals, billboards and lights at our homes – both inside and outside.

At night, when we see a large building or empty apartment building with all the lights on inside and no shades or covers, that is light pollution.

A new problem

For thousands of years, humans have made detailed observations of the Milky Way – including even dark patches where dust blocks out starlight from behind.

For example, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia have thorough records of the Great Celestial Emu. This is formed by the dark dust lanes in the Milky Way from right near the Southern Cross constellation, an area called the Coalsack Nebula.

Roughly a century ago you could see sublime sights such as this in the night sky while standing in the middle of the so-called “city of lights” – Paris.

In the late 1880s, through to the 1910s, French astronomer Guillaume Bigourdan observed many galaxies from the Paris observatory.

In 1917, he said you could see the Milky Way from the Paris observatory during summer when the sun was sufficiently below the horizon, about the position of nautical twilight – the time of night where when at sea, you can no longer see the horizon.

But it was around this period that light pollution started to become a problem in modern cities.

The Melbourne Observatory was established in 1863 but stopped doing astronomy in the early 1900s. This was partly because light pollution from Melbourne was hindering astronomers’ ability to accurately observe the night sky.

In 1924, Mount Stromlo Observatory, located outside Canberra, took over observing the Milky Way. It was chosen for its remote location and dark skies.

However, by the 1950s, despite the Australian capital being less than 10% of its current size and having less than 10% of its current amount of light pollution, a new dark site needed to be found because the Milky Way was slowly being lost from sight. The site scientists chose was located eight hours away at Siding Spring Observatory.

However, even Siding Spring can now see the glow of Sydney – from 450 kilometres away.

What can be done?

By living our modern lives more intelligently, the Milky Way could be visible again from anywhere, including the heart of Sydney, Paris or Los Angeles – just as it was 100 years ago.

Shielding of lights is an important aspect. Instead of having an open light, flat lights or shielded lights that prevent spill upward are crucial. They direct light to the ground, and not up into the sky.

In Canberra, the Australian Capital Territory government and light operator Omexom have been changing streetlights to do exactly this – no upward spill, and controllable lights.

In doing so, Canberra has reduced its light pollution by about 30% in only a few years, as my colleagues and I report in a forthcoming paper.

Turning off – or dimming – unnecessary lights is also important.

Canberra is also doing this. It has been dimming street lights down to 50% of their total brightness in the middle of the night. In doing so, the city is saving energy – and reducing light pollution. For every 10% we dim streetlights, we reduce light pollution by 5%, as our forthcoming paper also finds.

The colour of light is another part of the solution. Instead of using bright white LEDs and cold-coloured lights, we can use warm-coloured lights, which are better for our eyes, sleep cycles, native animals – and for reducing light pollution.

With these simple measures, we can return to the not-so-long-ago time when we could see the Milky Way wherever we were standing on Earth.

We can regain the night sky.

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

– ref. Only 100 years ago the Milky Way was visible from central Paris. Here’s how we can get the night sky back – https://theconversation.com/only-100-years-ago-the-milky-way-was-visible-from-central-paris-heres-how-we-can-get-the-night-sky-back-236221

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hensher, Director, Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, University of Sydney

Announcing the directive to work “primarily in an approved office”, NSW Premier Chris Minns said overseas studies showed people were less productive when working from home.

“There is a drop in mentorship. There is less of a sense of joint mission,” he said. “This is about building up a culture in the public service.”

Having examined the impacts of working from home since the pandemic started, I am not convinced.

With colleagues from the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies at The University of Sydney Business School, I have been monitoring the changing incidence of working from home and its relationship to performance since the start of the pandemic.

Working from home means working more

We have found that workers who take up working from home devote about one third of the time they save by not communing to extra unpaid work.

When we asked workers who took up working from home what the new arrangement had done to their productivity, more said it had improved it than made it worse.

About one in five said it had made them “a lot more productive”. Only one in 30 said it had made them “a lot less productive”.

Interestingly, when employers were asked the same question about whether their workers who took up working from home had become more or less productive, the answers were about the same.

About one in five said the change had made their workers “a lot more productive”. About one in 20 said it had made them “a lot less productive”.

Our findings accord with international evidence.

A Stanford University study found that, in the United States, working from home during the pandemic had delivered a 5% increase in productivity.

It found much of the gain didn’t show up in conventional measures of productivity because they didn’t take account of the saving in commuting time.

Another study assessed the productivity of both remote and on-site call centres at Fortune 500 firms. It found working from home lifted productivity by 8%.

Another, which email metadata from North America, Europe and the Middle East, found increases in the number of meetings per person but decreases in the average length of meetings, resulting in less time spent in meetings per day.

Our own work has found some face-to-face contact is important, but two to three days per week is all that’s needed to facilitate social interaction, mentoring and sharing of ideas.

In Australia, the Productivity Commission found control over working arrangements was important to productivity.

It observed:

[…] workers may be more productive at home because they have better control over their time and enjoy better work-life balance.

And it identified better matching of workers to jobs as important.

Firms will be able to tap into a larger pool of (more productive) labour. While not strictly a productivity impact, workers have been shown to work longer hours when working from home during the pandemic.

Our research offers new evidence on what workers do with the time saved by not commuting.

According to the workers who took part in our surveys, the biggest use of that time (almost one-third of that time) was extra unpaid work for their employer.

Extra paid work took up another substantial chunk of time (whether for the main employer or not) and household tasks took up about one-quarter of the time.

The average commuting time saved by working from home in the Greater Sydney metropolitan area in September 2022 was 9.4 hours per week. This suggests the extra time devoted to extra paid and unpaid work has been substantial.

It’s important to consider this in assessments of productivity.

It would be unfortunate if the biggest effect of the return-to-the-office mandate was to make workers less generous with their time.

David Hensher receives funding from iMOVE Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) with Transport and Main Roads, Queensland (TMR), Transport for News South Wales (TfNSW) and WA Department of Transport (WADoT) on Working for Home and Implications for Revision of Metropolitan Strategic Transport Models.

– ref. Making workers return to the office might not make them any more productive, despite what the NSW premier says – https://theconversation.com/making-workers-return-to-the-office-might-not-make-them-any-more-productive-despite-what-the-nsw-premier-says-236310

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University

As the Paris 2024 Olympics come to a close, athletes who’ve pushed themselves to their limits and beyond will be focused on recovery. Even “weekend warriors” know the value of careful management after a long run or gym session.

Intermittent pneumatic compression, also called air compression therapy or by various brand names, uses mechanically inflatable socks, sleeves or pants. These run through a sequence of pressure and release patterns on the body. Sports brand Nike even released a boot version ahead of the Olympics.

Compression has long been used in medicine to manipulate circulation. Now “recovery boots” are being used by athletes and in wellness businesses.

What’s the evidence they might help Olympic athletes, or mere mortals, recover from exercise?

How it started, how it works

Compression therapy using bandages to treat a range of ailments and circulation issues dates back to ancient Egypt. Research and development into pneumatic compression devices (meaning those operated by air or gas under pressure) began in the 1950s with the goal of providing rhythmic compression to the limbs to enhance fluid flow and reduce swelling .

Pneumatic compression is a mechanical therapeutic technique to increase the flow of blood through the veins and lymph fluid through the lymphatic vessels returning these fluids to the heart.

This is achieved by applying external pressure sequentially with inflation and deflation to the arms and legs commencing at the ends of the limbs and progressing towards the trunk. The veins and lymphatic vessels contain one-way valves along their length so when they are compressed the fluids can only move towards the heart.

The lymphatic system is a key component of the immune system helping the body fight off infection but the major role is to maintain fluid balance within the body tissues.

This “pumping” action not only facilitates the movement of fluid through vessels but also creates a greater pressure differential in the tissues. This helps reduce excess fluid, enhances cell regeneration, and delivers more nutrients while removing waste from cells.

What is it good for?

There are several established benefits of pneumatic compression including improved blood flow, reduced swelling, pain reduction, enhanced muscle recovery following physical activity, exercise or work, and potentially improved cardiovascular recovery.

In the medical setting, pneumatic compression is used in the management of several health conditions including lymphoedema (swelling where there is lymph fluid accumulation), venous insufficiency (poor vein function), deep vein thrombosis (DVT) prevention and post-surgical recovery. In these instances, the pneumatic compression is applied daily, for between 45 to 60 minutes using pressures of between 30 to 80 mmHg.

In the setting of sports or exercise, the treatment is used after high-intensity sessions or competition. Treatment generally lasts from 20 to 30 minutes at pressures of about 80 mmHg.

Can’t a healthy body do that on its own?

Physical exercise alone creates a very powerful pumping action to facilitate return of blood and lymph fluid by the repetitive contraction and relaxation of the muscles compressing the tissues and vessels.

The mechanisms and effects of pneumatic compression are also very similar to what occurs during therapeutic massage. In both cases pressure is applied, pushing and compressing the muscles of the limbs in a rhythmical action towards the heart.

In terms of what is most effective – exercise, massage or pneumatic compression – each has pros and cons. But all three produce similar benefits in terms of draining fluid from the tissues and enhancing return of blood and lymph to the heart.

Exercise of course is essential for overall health and has multiple additional benefits so this is a non-negotiable. Pneumatic compression and therapeutic massage can provide additional benefit and help recovery from intense physical activity (say after competing internationally) and help an athlete adapt to training too.

What if I’m not an Olympian?

Pneumatic compression is becoming increasingly accessible and affordable.

It is generally safe however there are some conditions for which it is not recommended. These include severe congestive heart failure, arterial disease or active deep vein thrombosis.

This kind of compression therapy is not a “magic bullet” but rather an effective complement to physical exercise that can also be combined with therapeutic massage if you’re getting serious about sport or physical activity.

If in doubt, get advice from an appropriate health-care professional such as an accredited exercise physiologist, physiotherapist, or medical doctor to determine if pneumatic compression would provide added benefit in the management of your health and fitness.

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

– ref. Pneumatic compression therapy – can it really help Olympians (or you) recover after exercise? – https://theconversation.com/pneumatic-compression-therapy-can-it-really-help-olympians-or-you-recover-after-exercise-236228