I remember when my family bought Innocent Eyes, at a JB Hi-Fi off the Nepean Highway. I was 12 and had just started high school. It was the first time I really understood the power of music; I felt like Delta was imparting words of wisdom through this time of transition. I played that original copy so much it started skipping and I had to buy a replacement.
Delta’s music has continued to define my life. It was the catalyst for lifelong friendships. The music bonded us, but our relationships transformed into something greater. We’ve worked together, travelled the world, and stood by one another on wedding days.
My story is one of many significantly shaped by this record. Innocent Eyes is the second highest selling Australian album in Australia of all time, only behind John Farnham’s Whispering Jack. It sold 4.5 million copies worldwide, including 1.2 million in Australia. To put that into context: one in every four Australian households owned a copy.
So why is Delta Goodrem overlooked in Australian music history?
A run-away success
Released 20 years ago, Innocent Eyes achieved unprecedented success, staying at number one for a record-breaking 29 weeks (that’s seven-and-a-half months). She became the first artist to have five number one singles on the Australian charts from a debut album.
At the 2003 ARIA awards, the 18-year-old had a record ten nominations, taking home every award she was nominated for, with the exception of album of the year (she twice lost to herself, for a total of seven wins). As Powderfinger accepted for Vulture Street, they joked “Can I see that envelope please? This is truly, completely unexpected”.
In the weeks leading up to the ARIAs, it was unclear whether Delta would attend: her diagnosis with Hodgkin’s lymphoma was front page news. The awards were Delta’s first public appearance in months; the night became an unofficial celebration of her return.
Delta recently went through her archives from this time as part of a sold-out 20th anniversary tour, a celebration of an album that captured the hearts and attention of the Australian public in a way that hasn’t been replicated.
This was not a comeback tour. Delta has remained an integral part of the Australian music scene. She’s one of our country’s standout performers, taking to the stage at AFL Grand Finals, Sydney Mardi Gras and the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony (twice).
Delta has mentored artists on The Voice; performed as Grizabella in Cats; her latest film, Love Is In The Air, has been streamed 12 million times; and she’s achieved five number one albums.
It was recently announced Jet would be inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. Their debut album, Get Born, was also released in 2003, featuring the smash hit Are You Gonna Be My Girl?.
Jet are an incredible Australian rock success story, with 6.5 million records sold worldwide.
Many “best of” music lists are dominated by male artists. Rolling Stone’s Greatest Australian Albums of All Time only features two females in the top 20 (Kylie and The Go-Betweens). Characteristics of “good” music and artistic integrity often hold masculine connotations. This impacts which artists achieve consecrated status.
Innocent Eyes defined a generation of Australians, many who were teenage girls. Popular music and culture with predominantly female audiences is often dismissed. Rock is seen as “authentic” and masterful; pop is not worthy of such acclaim. While “poptimism” helped legitimise the genre, there’s still work to be done to shift these perceptions.
The elevation of Jet but not Delta to the ARIA hall of fame is evidence of how Delta’s talents as a songwriter and musician are underrated. She commands the piano, and has written almost every song she’s released. When speaking with people about why I’ve been a fan for so long, I always explain you have to see her live: Delta’s vocals are phenomenal, she truly connects.
I’ve been speaking with Delta fans as part of my PhD research on music fandoms. One fan described the album as “going home to my parent’s place […] no matter what is happening in the world, that album is a safe place.”
For many fans, this album means everything. These songs were the soundtrack to our adolescence, and have continued to wrap themselves around us.
“It is truly one of the greatest honours of my life to have written an album that might have meant something to you, or been a part of your life,” Delta said on stage last month.
At the peak of Innocent Eyes’ success, weeks before her cancer diagnosis, 8,000 fans descended on Highpoint Shopping Centre. She stayed signing CDs for 14 hours.
Music has a unique ability to document time and construct identity. There is a sense of nostalgia for the time we first heard these songs, and reflections of what they mean to us now.
“Iconic” Australian music often reinforces the pub rock canon, overlooking the significant impact of other songs and artists.
Innocent Eyes – and Delta Goodrem – deserve a place in the cultural memory and legacy of Australian music.
Kate Pattison has previously worked with Delta Goodrem’s social media team.
It is part of Massey’s scenic grounds on Auckland’s North Shore, which are shrouded with an air of uncertainty as proposed job cuts hang over this campus.
More than 100 jobs are on the line at Massey, the Tertiary Education Union (TEU) says, including from the schools of natural sciences, and food and advanced technology — programmes that would cease to exist in Auckland.
Only a year ago, a new Innovation Complex opened its doors in Albany, reportedly costing $120 million. The university would not confirm the price.
It was to be called the Innovation and Science Complex, but the science part of the name was quietly dropped, although it remains on some signs in the building.
Professor of behavioural ecology Dianne Brunton . . . Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Professor Dianne Brunton — a specialist in conservation biology whose job is on the line — showed RNZ what the complex had to offer this week.
Building for the future “This space — all of these labs, the whole building, really, is a building for the future, a building for the next 20 to 40 years,” she said. “And [for the] students and the staff and the growth we’ll see in the sciences here on the North Shore, where the population is just ballooning.
“It’s not going to stop. It’s just going to keep going.”
Staff and students have until Friday to have their say on Massey’s science proposals as the university deals with an expected shortfall of about $50 million for the year.
“We were in little huts. They were temporary buildings and they were fitted out,” Professor Brunton said of the previous office and lab space.
“They were like Lockwood houses, if you remember that far back. They’re little prefabs, but they worked.
“In fact, some of the best covid work was done on that campus by researchers that were here with us then, and they’ve since gone.”
Professor Brunton said Albany staff were determined to offer solutions to the university, and work with it so they could remain, including on how they pay to use their space.
Floor space rented out Massey effectively charges rent for floor space to its colleges, and science takes up room.
“There are some solutions to that and one of them is to have biotech companies in. We’ve had a number of biotech companies working in the molecular lab, basically leasing it out,” Professor Brunton said.
“We’ve got lots of ideas about other things, but the instability that we’re seeing at the moment makes that a bit tricky.”
The Innovation Complex is an award-winning building, and a leader in its field.
“It’s not just a science building — make that clear. There’s lots of student space, work space, flexible teaching space, but really state-of-the-art, really efficient labs,” Professor Brunton said.
Among its jewels are a chamber for detecting spider vibrations and a marine wet lab which allows for experiments using live animals thanks to a reticulated salt water system.
In the previous buildings, buckets of salt water sourced from the sea had to suffice.
Massey University’s Innovation Complex opened its doors in Albany in 2022 . . . It houses several disciplines and contains specialised spaces and equipment. Image: RNZ/Marika Khabazi
Specialised spaces Professor Brunton said she did not know what would happen to specialised spaces or equipment if the Massey proposal went through.
“Some of these pieces of equipment are not the kind a local company could come in and use.”
Staff had to have hope the proposal would not go through, she said.
She also raised concerns about the quality of the financial information made available on which staff and students could make submissions.
Many students are in limbo due to the threat to cut courses from the Albany campus.
Third-year food technology student Cynthia Fan, 21, said those affected were trying to prepare for exams, while worrying about where they would be next year and organising submissions.
Under the proposal, food technology students were among those who might have to continue their studies at Palmerston North, unless Massey decided to stagger the cessation of the courses in Albany.
“The thing that really sucks is I have no idea and we have no idea. The uni has said that they will not speak to students,” Fan said.
Fan would like to see the university focused on helping its students.
“I think in the first week [after the proposal was announced] everyone was hard panicking. I think a lot of people missed lectures because they didn’t have energy.”
‘Financial sustainability is urgent,’ university says In a statement, Professor Ray Geor, pro vice-chancellor for Massey’s College of Sciences, said the university’s financial statements were inspected and approved by Audit NZ.
“During a financial year, it is expected there could be adjustments. Additionally, during the close-inspection focus of the proposal for change processes, we expect there will be refinements of information,” Professor Geor said.
“Organisational finances are never static. However, we are confident that adjustments will be minor and not substantive to the financial drivers for the need for a proposal for change,” he said.
“As we are funded by taxpayers, part of being a financially responsible organisation is exploring revenue streams, as many tertiary education providers are doing within New Zealand.
“Staff can provide avenues for exploration and the College of Sciences will consider all feedback. However, the need to reduce costs and generate income to ensure financial sustainability is urgent for this year and for the near term — 2024-2027.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
The Prime Minister heads to Washington next week for a state visit. Talks between Anthony Albanese and President Joe Biden will canvass progress on implementing the AUKUS agreement, Ukraine, China and the situation in the Asia-Pacific region, and of course the Middle East crisis. Biden will have just returned from his visit to Israel and will brief the PM on the situation, which has worsened by the day.
In this podcast, Kim Beazley, defence minister during the Hawke government, former Labor leader, and former Australian ambassador to the US, joins The Conversation to talk about the Albanese visit and the international situation.
On AUKUS, progress has been slowed by the need to get approval for the export of sensitive military technology, and there have been some dissident voices over the supply of US-built Virginia Class nuclear-powered submarines to Australia.
“We’ve got a lot to move along,” Beazley says. “The most important thing, at least to me at the moment, to move along is the process by which the approvals are given for the export of nuclear materials.”
On the Middle East Beazley, from their contact in the past, is very impressed with Biden’s grasp of the detail of that fraught region.
I used to see Biden modestly regularly when I was ambassador to the US, and he was enormously impressive in his knowledge on Middle Eastern matters. I remember him having a most interesting discussion with then foreign minister Bob Carr, which I attended, on a shift in Australia’s position from opposing the Palestinian resolution in the UN […] to abstaining (which really infuriated the Americans when that was done). But Biden explaining his perception of Palestinian politics and attitudes – it was enormously sophisticated.
We all get caught up in this Republican propaganda […] that the president is mentally falling apart – has to be said that in this area he had great acuity. […] Biden moving into the Middle East is a totally confident man. He’s confident he knows all the nuances and confident that when he gets the intelligence about what is actually happening on the ground, he’ll have an erudite opinion on it.
On the Voice’s defeat, Beazley, a Western Australian, says he feels “terribly depressed”. He sees the result as damaging not just for Indigenous Australians, but for Australia’s reputation abroad:
This is not about government. This is about us, it’s about we as an Australian people and it’s not actually a good ad in the region around us that our response would be ungenerous.
Now the people come out and say, Oh, come off it, that’s just an elite thinking; it’s got nothing to do with the streets. That’s true. I don’t think anybody in the countries around us, or for that matter in the United States will be giving a minute’s thought to the referendum on its result. But every single elite will be. And it’s actually elites that make decisions.
You know, I was depressed by the way race seemed to be a factor in discussion about this whole proposition. This whole proposition had nothing to do with race. It had absolutely everything to do with originality. Who was here? Well, they have been here for 70,000 years.
Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
In October 2011, Victorian woman Joy Rowley was strangled to death by her intimate partner. It was not the first time he had strangled her. Over the eight-month period leading up to her death she had called the police multiple times to report strangulation attacks.
In the inquest that followed, the coroner highlighted an incident months before she died that involved strangulation and a knife. Police did not lay charges against the offender James Mulhall until several months after that incident. Rowley’s family and others have tirelessly campaigned since for the introduction of a strangulation offence.
Today, 12 years later, the Victorian parliament introduced a bill to criminalise non-fatal strangulation as a standalone offence.
Strangulation, also referred to as choking, means stopping or hindering a person’s breath or blood flow through neck compression.
It is a common and gendered form of violence reported by 25–60% of family violence victim-survivors. It is recognised as a form of coercive control – a pattern of controlling and manipulative behaviours within a relationship. Through strangulation, abusers can show they literally hold the victim-survivor’s life in their hands.
A person who has experienced strangulation from their abusive partner is six or seven times more likely than other victim-survivors of family violence to experience death, or very serious harm, in the weeks or months that follow.
Some 15% of deaths attributed to family violence are caused by strangulation. Death can occur in around a minute with a level of pressure required being less than what’s needed to open a soft drink can.
Sometimes death can occur weeks or months after strangulation because of blood clots, stroke or brain damage. When it is not fatal, injuries can be long-lasting including loss of consciousness, brain injuries resulting in memory loss, and pregnancy miscarriage.
Short-term injuries are common too, and may include bruising and nausea. However, in about 50% of cases victim-survivors have no visible injuries even when they have lost consciousness.
In Victoria, strangulation is commonly charged as an assault, which does not reflect the seriousness of the offence. Victoria’s proposed strangulation legislation includes two forms of the offence. The most serious form will require the prosecution to prove the offender intended to cause injury. It will attract a maximum ten-year prison sentence.
A second form won’t require proof of injury and could attract a five-year maximum penalty. In such cases, it will be possible for the accused to demonstrate there was affirmative consent and avoid conviction. The government says this will:
[…] provide protection for people who have engaged in genuinely consensual non-fatal strangulation during sexual activity and no intentional injury has occurred.
Choking and sex
Historically, strangulation has been understood as a risky and edgy form of bondage and domination sexual practices. But despite its dangers, strangulation has become an increasingly common part of sex, especially among younger people. This may be driven by increasing engagement with pornography where depictions of choking are frequent.
A survey of over 4,000 American undergraduate students found around one quarter of women reported being choked in their most recent sexual experience. The same study also highlighted the gendered nature of the activity, with women much more likely to be choked by their male partner than the other way around.
Other states have already introduced laws to make non-fatal strangulation a crime. Shutterstock
Should consent be a defence?
There is increasing debate about whether consent should be a defence to any form of strangulation, given the risks and dangers associated with it.
Reported cases of rape and sexual assault frequently feature claims by the accused that violent sex, including strangulation, was consensual. This leads to challenges to victim-survivors’ credibility and “he said-she said” arguments. Some experts are worried this resurrects the “she asked for it” defence in rape and sexual assault cases.
In Queensland, where the strangulation offence has been in place since 2016, lawyers report allegations of non-consensual strangulation during sex generally result in sexual offence charges, rather than for strangulation.
Claims strangulation was consensual have been rare. This likely points to low levels of complaint rather than that non-consensual strangulation during sex it is not happening.
Queensland court statistics show when a charge of strangulation is lodged, about 23% of charges lead to a conviction of strangulation. The other 75% of matters are withdrawn because victim-survivors do not wish to proceed, there is insufficient evidence or a different charge such as assault proceeds. Conviction of strangulation in Queensland results in imprisonment in over 95% of cases.
Victoria is the final state or territory in Australia to introduce a standalone offence of strangulation.
Elsewhere the introduction of the offence has significantly improved knowledge among front-line workers about the risks and harms of strangulation. Greater understanding of its risk and harms should lead to more appropriate referrals and enhanced safety.
The proposed law is an important step in recognising the specific risks and harms associated with this behaviour. Now it’s been introduced to parliament, the text of the bill will likely be debated and potentially adapted before being passed. Hopefully the introduction of the offence will bring with it appropriate training opportunities and greater awareness.
For information and advice about family and intimate partner violence contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732). If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, contact 000. Kids Helpline is 1800 55 1800. Men’s Referral Service (call 1300 766 491) offers advice and counselling to men looking to change their behaviour.
Heather Douglas receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary Woessner, Lecturer in Clinical Exercise and Research Fellow, Institute for Health and Sport (iHeS), Victoria University, Victoria University
In the Netflix documentary Beckham, the footballer is asked how he coped with the abuse of his entire country after the 1998 men’s football World Cup. David Beckham responds:
I was able to handle being abused by the fans […] because of the way my dad had been to me.
A poignant scene shows Beckham’s mother Sandra struggling with how hard his father Ted was on their son. Ted’s shouting often brought David to tears. When asked if he was too tough on David, Ted says:
No […] if I told him how good he was, then he’s got nothing to work at.
Throughout the documentary, Ted’s behaviour is rationalised by Ted and even Beckham himself as necessary to support David’s sporting trajectory. But David also said he was scared of his father’s feedback and felt compelled to practise for hours every day.
Too often, controlling behaviour by parents is portrayed as necessary for success as an athlete. But the evidence shows this idea is false. In fact, such an approach can be detrimental to both a child’s chances of sporting success and their wellbeing.
And it’s not just a problem with elite sport; our research shows it’s also occurring with community sport.
Our research found about one in three people we surveyed said they’d experienced abuse by a parent during their time in Australian community sport.
Psychological abuse by parents was reported by just under a third of our respondents, and included behaviours such as:
excessive criticism
insults and humiliation
excessively training to extreme exhaustion/vomiting
ignoring a child following a sport performance.
The controlling and abusive behaviours described above have been consistently normalised by parents, coaches and sporting organisations as being necessary to create “mentally tough” athletes ready for high-level competition.
Research shows when adults in community sport use what’s known as an “autonomy-supportive approach” – in which young people are empowered to make their own decisions and have their feelings validated – children can be more self-motivated.
An experiment at the 2012 Olympic Games found coaches with a more supportive approach achieved higher medal tallies than those who did not.
Most of this evidence has focused on coaching, but given many parents act as coaches for their children, these findings remain relevant.
There is no evidence abuse improves performance of children in sport. Shutterstock
Putting children’s experiences first
There is no evidence that controlling or abusive practices improve children’s performance in sport. But even if there was, sport performance should not be valued above a child’s health and wellbeing.
These behaviours would not be tolerated in different environments, such as workplaces or schools.
It’s time to move on from this debate in sport. So where to from here?
The sport system is complex, and while it’s easy to think it’s just a few problematic people, the reality is these practices have been normalised for generations.
Parents are repeating patterns from their own experiences and mirroring practices they see as normal in elite sport. There is no quick fix.
But we can all play a part by reflecting on our own behaviours and considering how we can prioritise children’s experiences and wellbeing.
Despite Beckham himself suggesting it was all worth it, the evidence suggests he was successful in spite of the high-pressure home environment, not because of it.
Alexandra Parker receives funding from the Australian Government Emerging Priorities Program.
Aurélie Pankowiak receives funding from VicHealth.
Mary Woessner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ausma Bernot, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security, Charles Sturt University
Ausma Bernot
In China, LGBTQ+ activists and groups are consistently targeted by authorities and tech platforms. This is done digitally through computer algorithms, and physically by law enforcement and state security personnel trying to constrain their work.
For these people, living under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and government means being severely limited in any activities their organisations undertake.
For our latest research, we spoke with 26 LGBTQ+ activists from 12 different provinces in China, to investigate what life is like on the ground for them.
The Chinese government claims LGBTQ+ people do not face discrimination in their country – but our research shows this isn’t true.
The realities of Chinese LGBTQ+ activism
China’s LGBTQ+ communities are still awaiting legal recognition of their relationships in the form of marriage or de facto relationships. And as in many countries, trans people are the most marginalised on the rainbow spectrum.
The level of social acceptance of LGBTQ+ people is discouraging. One 2015 survey of 28,454 people, conducted by the United Nations Development Fund, found only 5% of LGBTQ+ people in China chose to disclose their sexual and/or gender identity at school, in the workplace or in religious communities.
The evidence suggests LGBTQ+ activists in China have had a particularly tough time since President Xi Jinping took office in 2013. The effects of targeting have spiralled in the past few years, reflected in the abrupt closure of the Shanghai Pride in 2020, and the 2021 shutdown of LGBT Rights Advocacy China – an organisation that held law-based campaigns.
However, arguably the toughest blow was delivered this year when the Beijing LGBT Center closed its doors after 15 years of service.
In May, the Beijing LGBT Center closed its doors after 15 years of servicing the community. Mitch Altman, CC BY-SA
About half of the organisations we talked to for our research have since been closed.
The line between legal and acceptable
For our research, we used encrypted communication platforms to interview activists from 12 different provinces, various types of organisations, and all parts of the LGBTQ+ spectrum.
Our findings reveal these activists have long had to negotiate an invisible line between what is legal and what is acceptable.
For one thing, Chinese social media is tightly controlled. Social media companies are mandated to proactively support online censorship. WeChat, the most popular social media app in China, also actively engages in censorship.
Using the app is a double-edged sword for activists. They have to play around with words and content in a bid to dodge censorship, playing the cat-and-mouse game. In some cases, even using LGBTQ+ “double-speak”, or code words well known within the community, isn’t enough for content to be published (or remain published).
In July 2021, a number of LGBTQ+ activist groups woke up to find their WeChat social media accounts deactivated. Although they hadn’t breached any laws with their content, the date was very close to a key political event, which likely invoked pre-emptive repression.
Waves of censorship tied to key political events are known as the “dissident calendar”. These repression strategies most often coincide with the five-year anniversaries of the Tiananmen Square massacre, the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and high-level government meetings.
One queer woman activist spoke to us about the incident:
I tried to find some people [working for WeChat] to ask what exactly happened. It’s very difficult to find any proof […] after some investigation, our conclusion was that it might have been the company’s action based on their own fear of getting into trouble. They wanted to prove to the authorities that they were loyal.
Other Chinese-owned social media apps such as Weibo and Douban must monitor “sensitive terms” and cooperate with government authorities. This can lead to account “bombing”, where access to an account is frozen or blocked by the government – and shadow banning, where the content is only visible to the person who posted it.
We also found an onslaught of regulatory practices (such as laws and policies) constraining most activities in which LGBTQ+ groups and organisations would typically engage, whether that be fundraising and partnering with donor organisations, or raising social awareness.
For example, the 2017 Charity Law allows registered charitable organisations to fundraise. However, it requires social groups and social service organisations to obtain registration certificates issued by the local civil affairs department.
As our interviewees noted, registering an LGBTQ+ organisation is extremely difficult as most activists are bluntly rejected. In other words, the law indirectly outlaws fundraising for LGBTQ+ activities. Authorities can use the law to validate an existing governance agenda in which they consistently monitor and even harass LGBTQ+ activists.
One genderqueer activist shared their experience with us:
The police called our landlord, telling them that we were an illegal organisation and […] not to rent the place to us anymore. […] The police called the owner of the property […], then our organisation closed down and ceased all activities.
The current state of birthrates in China hasn’t helped. Birthrates continue to fall, despite the relaxation of the one-child policy in 2015, which then became a two-child policy, and then a three-child policy in 2021.
One queer woman activist commented on the secondary pressure coming from declining birthrates:
China right now is going insane […] they are trying to put women back in [the] home, so that they produce more babies for the GDP. Some of my friends who are Party members are getting calls from the Communist Party saying, ‘are you having plans to have kids? Don’t make up excuses to not have kids’.
While regular police strategies include monitoring and intimidation, some use more extreme measures. In one case, an activist found their passport banned from overseas travel after arriving at the airport in preparation to fly internationally.
Survival as resistance
Queer activists in China have actively challenged the conditions of control and repression imposed upon them.
They told us their first priority was ensuring the longevity of their organisations. They did this by deprioritising outward-facing activities such as social awareness campaigns, and directing that focus to community activities.
Many still maintain social media accounts, but must increasingly put in effort to dodge shadow bans and avoid having their posts taken down.
Chinese authorities have weaponised regulatory practices against LGBTQ+ communities and activists, while maintaining decorum on the political world stage. We should expose these forms of oppression to help ensure they don’t become permanent fixtures in Chinese society.
Ausma Bernot received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research under grant OV7-170639 which supported this research.
Sara Davies received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research under grant OV7-170639 which supported this research. She serves on the Steering Committee of the Australian Civil Society Coalition for Women, Peace and Security.
The LIVE Recording of A View from Afar podcast will begin at midday Thurs October 19, 2023 (NZST) and Wednesday October 18, 8pm (USEDST).
In this the tenth episode of A View from Afar for 2023 political scientist Dr Paul Buchanan and journalist/analyst Selwyn Manning will examine the current Israel-Palestine Atrocities.
As we prepare for this podcast, representatives of Arab states have presented a united front at the United Nations, criticising the UN Security Council of doing nothing to protect civilians from Israeli bombing and missile attacks on Gazan civilians and locations.
These civilian facilities include Hospitals, schools, residential areas. The targeting of civilians has resulted in the deaths of thousands of people – around one-third of those deaths are children.
Additional to this, Israel has sealed the borders of Gaza while it prevents food, water and medical supplies from reaching civilians – in breach of international law requirements and laws of conflict.
Israel ordered Gazan civilians, who wish to get to safety, to get out of North Gaza and move toward the south, to the border with Egypt. But as people fled south toward what appeared to be safety, Israel bombed the southern Gaza region killing more civilians and sealing off that corridor for others who sought refuge.
As a consequence of the bombing, Egypt responded by sealing the Gaza-Egypt border. Humanitarian aid now sits on trucks, waiting, on the Egypt side of the border, while United Nations officials implore Israel and Egypt to allow medical supplies, food and water to get through to those who are injured and dying.
The Israel Defence Force strikes followed a surprise-attack on Israeli citizens by soldiers operating under the Hamas banner. Civilians were slaughtered and others taken hostage, only to be used as bargaining chips in and leverage against their enemies.
Even Palestinian advocacy groups like the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa suggested that breaches of international humanitarian Law, crimes against civilians, have been committed by those Hamas-aligned fighters. But they are clear, as others are too, that crimes against humanity, war crimes, have been committed by Israel, without consequence, as we all give witness to its response which is disproportionate, brutal, and disregarding of the thousands of Palestinian lives that have already been taken.
That’s the current situation. It is likely to get much worse.
In this episode, our questions will include:
What are the world’s leaders doing to stop the carnage?
Are the world’s nations being drawn into what will be an ever-expanding war?
Are we witnessing the beginning of a war where on one side authoritarian-led states like Russia, Iran, the wider Arab states, and possibly China stand unified against the United States, Britain, Germany, and other so-called liberal democratic allies representing the old world order?
Is what we are witnessing, what happens when a global rules-based order, multilateralism and institutions like the United Nations no longer have influence to prevent war, or restore peace and stability, or assert principles of international justice and enforce the rights of victims to see recourse to the law?
Why has this slaughter become an opportunity for the US and Russia to square-off against each other at the UN Security Council – a body that was once designed to advocate and achieve peace, but has now become a geopolitically divided entity of stalemate and mediocrity?
Eventually, will humanitarianism prevail? Will the world recognise that all people, the elderly, women, children, people of all ethnicities and religions, that they all bleed and die irrespective of their state of origin, when leaders of all sides, while sitting back in their bunkers, unleash weapons designed to kill as many people as is possible?
In this episode, Paul and Selwyn will examine this most grave situation from a geopolitical vantage point. It may appear as dispassionate, and as so even disturbing, but we will take this approach in an attempt to aide an understanding of why this is happening in Gaza and why it is happening now.
INTERACTION WHILE LIVE:
Paul and Selwyn encourage their live audience to interact while they are live with questions and comments.
RECOGNITION: The MIL Network’s podcast A View from Afar was Nominated as a Top Defence Security Podcast by Threat.Technology – a London-based cyber security news publication. Threat.Technology placed A View from Afar at 9th in its 20 Best Defence Security Podcasts of 2021 category.
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mike Joy, Senior Researcher; Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
As the world grapples with multiple ecological crises, it’s clear the various responses over the past half century have largely failed. Our new research argues the priority now should be addressing the real driver of these crises – our own maladaptive behaviours.
For at least five decades, scientists have worked to understand and document how human demands exceed Earth’s regenerative capacity, causing “ecological overshoot”.
Those warnings of the threats posed by the overshoot’s many symptoms, including climate change, were perhaps naive. They assumed people and governments would respond logically to existential threats by drastically changing behaviours.
The young researchers in the 1970s who published the Limits to Growth computer models showed graphically what would happen over the next century if business-as-usual economic growth continued. Their models predicted the ecological and social disasters we are witnessing now.
Once people saw the results of the research, the authors believed, they would understand the trajectory the world was on and reduce consumption accordingly. Instead, they saw their work dismissed and business-as-usual play out.
The behavioural crisis
During these past five decades, there have been innumerable reports, speeches and data, ever more strident in their predictions. Yet there has been no change in the economic growth trajectory.
The first world scientists’ warning to humanity was published in 1992 as an open letter, signed by hundreds of scientists and detailing how human activities damage the environment. A second notice in 2017, which thousands of scientists signed, included this stark statement:
If the world doesn’t act soon, there will be catastrophic biodiversity loss and untold amounts of human misery.
Many of those working in the natural sciences felt they were doing what they could to prevent this “ghastly future” unfolding. Researchers even laid out a framework of actions for the world to take, including human population planning and diminishing per-capita consumption of fossil fuels, meat and other resources. But few meaningful changes have been achieved.
By taking a different perspective, our research explores intervention points and demonstrates the behavioural roots of ecological overshoot. It is a collaboration with behaviour-change strategists in the marketing industry, and grew partly from their disaffection with the outcomes of their work on human and planetary health.
Behind the research sits a stark statistic: the wealthiest 16% of humanity is responsible for 74% of excess energy and material use. This reflects a crisis of human behaviour. It is the outcome of many individual choices involving resource acquisition, wastefulness and accumulation of wealth and status.
Some of these choices may have served humans well in the evolutionary past. In a modern global economy, however, they become maladaptive behaviours that threaten all complex life on Earth.
The ‘growth delusion’
Current interventions to restrain climate change – just one symptom of ecological overshoot – are failing to curb emissions. Last year, global emissions of carbon dioxide reached a new high, partly as a result of air travel rebounding after the COVID pandemic.
We argue that trying to fix an accelerating problem with slow solutions is itself the problem. Instead, we need to treat the root causes of ecological overshoot and its behavioural drivers, rather than be distracted by patching up its many symptoms.
A prime example is the current “solution” to climate change through a full transition to renewable energy systems. This simply replaces one form of energy with another, but doesn’t address the rising demand for energy that enabled overshoot in the first place.
Such interventions are incremental, resource intensive, slow moving and flawed: they aim to maintain rather than manage current levels of consumption. This “growth delusion” offers a false hope that technology will allow human society to avoid the need for painful change.
An emergency response
To overcome the critical disconnect between science, the economy and public understanding of these issues, an interdisciplinary response will be needed.
Paradoxically, the marketing, media and entertainment industries – central to the manipulation of human behaviours towards resource acquisition and waste – may offer the best way to reorient that behaviour and help avoid ecological collapse.
Logically, the same behavioural strategies that fuelled consumerism can do the reverse and create the necessary desire for a stable state.
Understanding the many dimensions of the behavioural crisis, including the influence of power structures and vested interests in a market economy, is crucial. Defusing and even co-opting those forces to reform the economy and reverse the damage is the challenge.
It will require a concerted multi-disciplinary effort to identify the best ways to produce a rapid global adoption of new norms for consumption, reproduction and waste. The survival of complex life on Earth is the goal.
This research was led by Joseph Merz of the New Zealand-based Merz Institute and its Overshoot Behaviour Lab. Other authors include energy researcher Chris Rhodes; economist and ecologist Bill Rees; and behavioural science practitioner and vice chair of advertising company Ogilvy, Rory Sutherland.
Mike Joy is affiliated with The Merz Institute and the Morgan Foundation
Phoebe Barnard is affiliated with the University of Cape Town, University of Washington, Stable Planet Alliance, Global Restoration Collaborative and Global Evergreening Alliance, and occasionally works on contract for the United Nations and national governments.
Renewable electricity generation is at record levels in Australia. Renewables produced 36% of the nation’s electricity in 2022. Solar photovoltaics (PV) had the highest renewable contribution (about 15%) and are expected to keep growing in coming years.
But the increase in the share of grid-connected renewables adds to the challenge of maintaining a stable electricity grid, given the impact of weather conditions on their output.
An increasingly important question is what impact will climate change have on weather-induced inconsistencies in solar generation? Our newly published research is the first to quantify climate change’s impact on solar resource reliability in Australia over the next century.
We find that as the climate warms, in some regions of Australia there will be more weather-induced variability than in others. In particular, the eastern parts of Australia can expect fewer intermittent or lull periods of solar power generation by the end of the century. By contrast, some regions in the west will face prolonged periods of minimum-to-no power generation in the future.
Despite the changing climate, the good news is the future of solar power looks promising in most of Australia. Our research suggests solar resource reliability will increase in the regions where we have our existing solar farms.
The grid distributes electricity generated from coal and gas-fired power stations, large solar and wind farms, rooftop solar, hydropower and so on.
Unlike coal or gas-fired stations, the power renewables generate is not constant. It varies depending on the local weather. For example, the amount of solar power generated depends on the amount of irradiance (intensity of sunlight) and, most importantly, cloud cover at that location.
So, any changes in the weather affect the amount of energy supplied to the grid. These variable outputs can not only cause an imbalance between electricity supply and demand, but also lead to voltage fluctuations and blackouts.
Electrical equipment is designed to function at a specific frequency and voltage. If the voltage exceeds the threshold it can damage the equipment. At a larger scale, voltage changes or frequency instability can trigger safety mechanisms that take parts of the grid offline, leading to blackouts.
How does climate change affect solar output?
Using regional climate model projections, our results predict that under a higher emissions scenario known as RCP8.5, often described as “business as usual”, the availability of solar resources will increase in most of Australia by up to 1% by 2099. We predict minor decreases of 0.25–0.5% near the west.
Similarly, the duration of extractable solar power (called “episode lengths”) will increase in the east by up to 30 minutes per year. We predict minor decreases in the west. This means the resource will be more reliable in the east and we can expect a more stable electricity supply from solar PV generation. This doesn’t take into account higher temperatures, which can decrease the PV yield.
We also predict the times with no-to-minimum power generation (called “lulls”) will reduce in eastern Australia by about 25 minutes per year. We expect minor increases in lulls in the west. These changes are mainly due to an increase in the number of clear-sky days in the east.
A less sunny outlook for world’s largest solar farm
Sun Cable is developing the largest solar farm in the world in the Northern Territory. It will have a generation capacity of at least 14 gigawatts. Sun Cable plans to supply electricity to Darwin and Singapore.
Based on our simulations, we predict a 2% reduction in radiation at the Sun Cable solar farm by 2099. This could lead to a loss of about 280 megawatts in its total generation capacity by then.
We also predict reduced episode lengths for the Sun Cable farm. This points to shorter periods of reliable power output. Likewise, the power generated is predicted to be highly variable throughout the day due to an increase in lull periods.
Sun Cable will likely need to consider having energy storage systems and strategies to control voltage fluctuations to tackle intermittency.
What else does Australia need to consider?
The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report stresses the urgent need to prepare for extreme climate change and greatly reduce carbon emissions. One of the most efficient ways to do this is to develop more grid-connected renewable energy technologies world-wide.
Australia has an ambitious renewable energy target, and we expect more grid-connected solar farms in the future. This means grid operators and distributors will have to manage future periods of high demand and variable supply.
One of the most efficient solutions is to use storage facilities to soak up energy at times of high output. These can then supply energy when renewable output stops or is intermittent. Batteries are an obvious choice, and Australia will have several big battery storage plants by 2025.
Before setting up large-scale solar plants, we should assess the impacts of climate change using a range of climate models and different future scenarios to minimise future risks. We should also consider installing hybrid renewable energy plants, such as solar and wind at the same site. This will help optimise the energy mix to reduce intermittency.
Shukla Poddar is affiliated with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes.
Psyche was the Greek goddess of the soul, born a mere mortal and later married to Eros, the God of love. Who knows why the Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis gave her name to a celestial object he observed one night in 1852?
Psyche was only the 16th “asteroid” ever discovered: inhabitants of the Solar System that were neither the familiar planets nor the occasional visitors known as comets. Today we know the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter contains millions of space rocks, ranging in size from the dwarf planet Ceres down to tiny pebbles and grains of dust.
Among all these, Psyche is still special. With an average diameter of around 226km, the potato-shaped planetoid is the largest “M-type” asteroid, made largely of iron and nickel, much like Earth’s core.
Last week NASA launched a spacecraft to rendezvous with Psyche. The mission will take a six-year, 3.6 billion kilometre journey to gather clues that Earth scientists like me will interrogate for information about the inaccessible interior of our own world.
Natural laboratories
M-type asteroids like Psyche are thought to be the remnants of planets destroyed in the early years of the Solar System. In these asteroids, heavier elements (like metals) sank toward the centre and lighter elements floated up to the outer layers. Then, due to collisions with other objects, the outer layers were torn away and most of the material was ejected into space, leaving behind the metal-rich core.
These metallic worlds are perfect “natural laboratories” for studying planetary cores.
Our current methods for studying Earth’s core are quite indirect. We sometimes get tiny glimpses into the Solar System’s early history – and hence our planet’s own history – from metallic meteorites, parts of asteroids that fall to Earth. However, this view is very limited.
Another way to study the core is using seismology: studying how the vibrations caused by earthquakes travel through the planet’s interior, in much the same way doctors can use ultrasound to see the inside of our bodies.
However, on Earth we have fewer seismographs in the oceans and in the Southern Hemisphere, which restrict what we can see of the core.
What’s more, the core is buried beneath the planet’s outer layers, which obscure our view even further. It is like looking at a distant object through an imperfect lens.
As well as seismology, we learn about the core through lab experiments attempting to recreate the high pressures and temperatures of Earth’s interior.
We take the observations from seismology and lab experiments and try to explain them using computer simulations. In a recent paper in Nature Communications, we discussed the current challenges in studying Earth’s core – and the ways forward.
What the Psyche mission hopes to discover
We can think of NASA’s mission to Psyche as a journey to the centre of Earth without having to travel down through the planet’s rocky crust, the slowly moving mantle and the liquid core.
The mission aims to find out whether Psyche really is the core of a destroyed planet, that was initially hot and molten but slowly cooled and solidified like the core of our planet. On the other hand it’s possible Psyche is made of material that was never melted at all.
NASA also wants to discover how old Psyche’s surface is, which would reveal how long ago it lost its outer layers. The mission will also investigate the asteroid’s chemical composition: whether it contains lighter elements alongside iron and nickel, such as oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, silicon and sulphur. The presence or absence of these could give us clues about our own planet’s evolution.
Information about Psyche’s shape, mass, and gravity distribution will also be gathered. Also, the potential for future mineral exploration should be studied.
All of this will be possible with the broad-spectrum cameras, spectrometers, magnetometers, gravimeters and other instruments the spacecraft carries. Scientists like me will follow with impatience the mission’s long journey through space.
Hrvoje Tkalčić receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
There have been incredible advances in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment in recent years. And stories about celebrities who have “beaten” breast cancer continue to be a source of inspiration for many people.
However, this emphasis on fighting, beating and surviving cancer shuts out the voices of those who will not survive. That is, the many people diagnosed with incurable, life-limiting metastatic breast cancer, which kills nine Australians every day or nearly 3,300 people a year. Yet an estimated 10,000 Australians are living with the diagnosis.
Being diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, as one of the authors has been, means ongoing treatment to live as long, and as well, as possible. It also means an ongoing need for emotional and practical support.
However, society, health-care professionals, cancer advocacy organisations, even a patient’s closest family and friends, can struggle to understand what it is like to live with an incurable and life-limiting cancer and how best to provide support.
Why is there so little awareness?
Metastatic breast cancer, also called stage four breast cancer, is the most serious form of breast cancer. Unlike early breast cancer that is contained within the breast or nearby lymph nodes, metastatic breast cancer has spread to other parts of the body, most often the bones, lungs, liver, or brain.
There is no cure for metastatic breast cancer despite decades of advocacy, funding and research. Treatment continues for as long as it helps to control the cancer and is tolerated by the patient. Median survival is two to three years, although newer, novel treatments mean some patients are living much longer.
As a society, we can be uncomfortable talking about and facing death. When it comes to cancer, we usually prefer focusing on good news stories. These narratives are often perceived to be better for fundraising and are reassuring for people newly diagnosed. But they fail to represent the diversity and reality of cancer experiences.
Despite considerable research into people with non-metastatic breast cancer, relatively little is known about Australians with metastatic breast cancer.
Through our research we wanted to better understand people’s experiences of metastatic breast cancer. We interviewed 38 participants from around Australia with diverse experiences of metastatic breast cancer. Participants were recruited through breast cancer and community organisations.
We found messages and public campaigns about cancer survivorship, which emphasise hope and positivity, drowned out the voices of those with metastatic breast cancer. The focus on “success stories” about surviving breast cancer made some people feel like it was their responsibility to “beat” cancer. If they didn’t, it was their own fault. As one interviewee told us:
I react quite badly to all the, ‘we’ve had breast cancer and we beat it and we’ve survived. Aren’t we fantastic.’ There’s almost a feeling if you haven’t beaten your breast cancer you haven’t tried hard enough.
Silence around metastatic breast cancer was common in research participants’ experiences. It prevented many from connecting with others and to the support they needed. It even affected relationships with those closest to them leaving them feeling misunderstood:
They don’t realise I’ve got to be on treatment forever. I’m not going to be cured. I think society thinks everything can be fixed; metastatic breast cancer actually can’t be fixed.
Sharing deep fears and worries about their life expectancy can leave people with metastatic breast cancer feeling drained rather than supported. Many participants reported having to support and shield family, friends, acquaintances and work colleagues from the reality of their terminal diagnosis.
You hide how you feel because you don’t want to be avoided […] You put on that big, happy face. But like an onion if you peeled the layers away, you’d find out what’s going on.
While many participants wanted to join a community of people with metastatic breast cancer, they struggled to know how to find one. Those who did, emphasised how invaluable it had been:
Being able to identify with and know that these people really get me is a huge relief and it reduces the isolation.
Being diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer can be terrifying, lonely and create significant support needs. It is essential people with metastatic breast cancer have their voices listened to and their needs met.
increasing representation of people with metastatic breast cancer in advocacy, support organisations and research
nationwide access to peer-to-peer programs and professionally led metastatic breast cancer support groups.
We must ensure people with metastatic breast cancer are the ones to speak to their experience and needs. As a colleague with metastatic breast cancer said:
I read an article written by an early-stage breast cancer ‘survivor’. It felt like someone describing winter when they had only ever experienced autumn.
If you or someone you know has metastatic breast cancer, these organisations may be able to support you or connect you with others with the same diagnosis:
McGrath Foundation for information about access to metastatic breast care nurses.
The authors would like to thank the members of Breast Cancer Network Australia’s Metastatic Breast Cancer Lived Experience Reference Group for their review of this article.
Sophie Lewis receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council.
Andrea Smith receives funding from a Daffodil Centre Research Fellowship, The Professor Martin Tattersall ECR Oncology Award and the University of Sydney Bright Ideas Award. She works on a voluntary basis with several national and international breast cancer advocacy organisations including Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA) and the ABC Global Alliance.
Katherine Kenny receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
While the Southern Ocean around Antarctica has been warming for decades, the annual extent of winter sea ice seemed relatively stable – compared to the Arctic. In some areas Antarctic sea ice was even increasing.
In 2018 the international scientific community agreed to produce the first marine ecosystem assessment for the Southern Ocean. We modelled the assessment process on a working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). So the resulting “summary for policymakers” being released today is like an IPCC report for the Southern Ocean.
This report can now be used to guide decision-making for the protection and conservation of this vital region and the diversity of life it contains.
Sea ice is to life in the Southern Ocean as soil is to a forest. It is the foundation for Antarctic marine ecosystems.
Less sea ice is a danger to all wildlife – from krill to emperor penguins and whales.
The sea ice zone provides essential food and safe-keeping to young Antarctic krill and small fish, and seeds the expansive growth of phytoplankton in spring, nourishing the entire food web. It is a platform upon which penguins breed, seals rest, and around which whales feed.
The international bodies that manage Antarctica and the Southern Ocean under the Antarctic Treaty System urgently need better information on marine ecosystems. Our report helps fill this gap by systematically identifying options for managers to maximise the resilience of Southern Ocean ecosystems in a changing world.
We sought input from a wide range of people across the entire Southern Ocean science community.
We sought to answer questions about the state of the whole Southern Ocean system – with an eye on the past, present and future.
Our team comprised 205 authors from 19 countries. They authored 24 peer-reviewed papers. We then distilled the findings from these papers into our summmary for policymakers.
We deliberately modelled the multi-disciplinary assessment process on a working group of the IPCC to distill the science into an easy-to-read and concise narrative for politicians and the general public alike. It provides a community assessment of levels of certainty around what we know.
We hope this “sea change” summary sets a new benchmark for translating marine research into policy responses.
Southern Ocean habitats, from the ice at the surface to the bottom of the deep sea, are changing. The warming of the ocean, decline in sea ice, melting of glaciers, collapse of ice shelves, changes in acidity, and direct human activities such as fishing, are all impacting different parts of the ocean and their inhabitants.
These organisms, from microscopic plants to whales, face a changing and challenging future. Important foundation species such as Antarctic krill are likely to decline with consequences for the whole ecosystem.
The assessment stresses climate change is the most significant driver of species and ecosystem change in the Southern Ocean and coastal Antarctica. It calls for urgent action to curb global heating and ocean acidification.
It reveals an urgent need for international investment in sustained, year-round and ocean-wide scientific assessment and observations of the health of the ocean.
We also need to develop better integrated models of how individual changes in species along with human impacts will translate to system-level change in the different food webs, communities and species.
Our report will be tabled at this week’s international meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in Hobart.
The commission is the international body responsible for the conservation of marine ecosystems in the Southern Ocean, with membership of 26 nations and the European Union.
It is but one of the bodies our new report can assist. Currently assessments of change in habitats, species and food webs in the Southern Ocean are compiled separately for at least ten different international organisations or processes.
The Southern Ocean is a crucial life-support system, not just for Antarctica but for the entire planet. So many other bodies will need the information we produced for decision-making in this critical decade for action on climate, including the IPCC itself.
Beyond the science, the assessment team has delivered important lessons about how coordinated, collaborative and consultative approaches can deliver ecosystem information into policymaking. Our first assessment has taken five years, but this is just the beginning. Now we’re up and running, we can continue to support evidence-based conservation of Southern Ocean ecosystems into the future.
Andrew J Constable has worked for the Australian Public Service in the Australian Antarctic Division, received funding from Pew Charitable Trusts, and, for the marine ecosystem assessment for the Southern Ocean, he received funding from environmental and fisheries non-government organisations (details are identified in the Summary for Policy Makers).
Jess Melbourne-Thomas receives funding from the Climate Systems Hub of the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program, and the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation.
Cities are hard for wildlife. Many animal species avoid the cars, buildings, smog and fragmented habitats of urban environments. Then there’s the noise pollution, a serious issue for humans and animals alike, according to the World Health Organization.
Human-made (anthropogenic) noise can be very bad for animals. Busy cities can make it harder for animals to reproduce, communicate and behave naturally.
But magpies have generally found our cities to their liking. There is enough food about – and they can usually out-compete other urban bird species.
Even within magpie populations, there are differences in how individuals cope with noise. Our new research has found the magpies that perform better on an associative learning task are better able to maintain their normal anti-predator behaviours in noise. That is, the smarter the magpie, the better they are likely to do in our cities.
Cities like Perth offer grass, open space – and a lot of noisy machines. Shutterstock
What does noise do to a magpie?
While magpies are often thought of as similar to crows, they’re not corvids at all and not related to Eurasian magpies. Their closest relatives are actually butcherbirds.
To date, most research on the damage done by human-made noise has examined what it means for a species or population. There’s been little work done on how individuals respond differently to noise. What we do know suggests factors such as the sex, age, body condition and prior experience with noise can change how animals cope with noise.
But what about cognition? Animals from the same species can have very different cognitive abilities – the ways an animal perceive, store and respond to information from their environment.
So would smarter animals be more able to change their behaviour to survive better in the urban jungle?
To find out, we observed all behaviours shown in timed 20-minute periods by 75 wild magpies in Perth (to a total of 333 observation periods). We also played magpie alarm calls with and without the noise of planes in the background to 24 magpies to see how plane noise affected their anti-predator response.
These wild magpies live in Perth, Western Australia and have been studied consistently since 2013. Most birds have coloured rings or bands on their legs so we can easily identify them.
Urban parks offer good foraging for magpies – if they can put up with our noise. James Blackburn, CC BY-ND
Individual identification meant we could test the intelligence of 52 of these magpies to see whether performing better on associative-learning tests would change how birds respond to and cope with anthropogenic noise.
The first thing we found was, yes, magpies find our noise difficult to handle. Our observations revealed loud man-made noises such as traffic, airplanes, or leafblowers forced magpies to spend more time vigilant and alert to threats, to sing less, and to forage less efficiently.
That’s likely because these magpies saw anthropogenic noise as dangerous or threatening stimuli, or as a distraction. That forces them to spend more time alert, with less time for other important behaviours.
But there are other potential causes too. Noise from a bustling restaurant strip may drown out small sounds magpies use as cues, such as the rustle of beetles burrowing under leaf litter.
Magpies have broadly adapted well to life in Australia’s cities. Shutterstock
We also found human-made noise made it harder for our birds to respond to a magpie alarm call, used to warn others of predators. When we played an alarm call in isolation, about 37% of birds sought cover. When we added the noise of a plane flying overhead to the alarm, only 8% of birds fled. This suggests birds couldn’t properly hear and respond to this cue of danger.
Our magpies also spent much more time on alert after an alarm call played alone compared to an alarm call played with human-made noise. This suggests their normal anti-predator response doesn’t work as well against a backdrop of our noise.
Why would intelligence help magpies deal with noise?
Researchers in the United Kingdom working on animal cognition suggest better cognition on a species level may help animals cope with new environments or environmental stress. Other researchers argue cognition is what makes it possible to adapt to and succeed in urban environments.
To test this, we gave magpies a learning task to measure their intelligence and cognition. Could they associate a colour cue with a food reward? How long did it take them to learn that, say, dark blue meant a snack?
This test is a measurement of how quickly they learn. It’s thought to be involved in how successful an animal is in foraging, social interactions and responding to predators.
We found smarter birds reacted more similarly to a standalone alarm call as they did to one with a noisy plane in the background. By contrast, less intelligent birds responded significantly less to alarm calls with plane noise compared to an alarm call alone.
For a magpie, that could be the difference between life or death. If you’re clever enough to shut out the background noise of the plane so you can better hear a warning, you stand a better chance of surviving, say, a dog rushing you at a park.
Birds with better associative learning may also be better in other aspects of intelligence too. In fact, previous research on this species found birds that performed better in one cognitive task also performed better in other cognitive tasks.
As researchers learn more about animal intelligence, we’ll find out more about how associative learning helps animals adapt – and why these abilities are so strongly conserved in evolution.
Our study reveals intelligence matters for individual animals as they grapple with how to adapt to and cope with human-induced stressors.
But adults can face the dilemma of how to talk to children about these incredibly serious issues without upsetting them further.
We are educational linguists investigating how writers and illustrators communicate ideas related to climate change to children. Books are an important way to help conversations around climate change in safe, age-appropriate ways.
Here are six books from Australian writers and illustrators that can help parents and carers look at issues related to climate change with children from preschool to the late primary years.
They have been chosen because they offer their readers hope, foster relationships to the environment and encourage agency and courage. These can all help children develop positive coping strategies around climate change.
1. Walk of the Whales by Nick Bland
For children four and up
Walk of the Whales shows children how the world around them is interconnected.
It is a simple tale of what happens when whales walk out of polluted oceans and establish homes on land. The ensuing chaos is brought to life through humorous illustrations, where the whales are shown wreaking havoc on their new homes. Imagine sharing a lane at the swimming pool with an whale or the state of the pavements when whales play jumprope!
This thought-provoking tale is told with a lightness of touch which will delight young readers while illustrating the consequences of our actions in a delicately balanced world.
2. Iceberg by Claire Saxby and illustrated by Jess Racklyeft
For children five and up
Iceberg is a beautifully illustrated book that brings the luminescent beauty of Antarctica to life. It is told from the perspective of an iceberg over the course of a year.
It presents Antarctica as rich, dynamic and teeming with abundant sea life. For children, Iceberg makes a gentle plea to appreciate and protect the world around us before it is lost forever.
How to Bee is set in a future Australia where insecticide has rendered bees extinct.
The importance of biodiversity is a key theme, as is our place within the ecosystem.
However, the strongest environmental message is carried by the fierce nine-year-old, Peony. Her fraught battle to return home parallels the return of bees to the farm and hope for the future.
For children struggling with climate anxiety and feelings of powerlessness, this novel models strategies for building resilience.
4. Bindi by Kirli Saunders and illustrated by Dub Leffler
For children eight to 12 years
With an El Niño event underway in Australia, young readers may find refuge from climate anxiety in the pages of Bindi.
This beautifully illustrated verse novel is told from the perspective of an 11-year-old Indigenous girl as her town survives catastrophic bushfires.
The poetry evokes an idyllic rural childhood while also propelling a cracking plot. Gundungurra language (from south east New South Wales) is woven throughout, inviting readers to learn Language (canbe means fire). Children will find strength in this story of perseverance and healing and may also develop a deeper connection to Country.
5. The Giant and the Sea by Trent Jamieson and illustrated by Rovina Cai
For children eight and up
This is an exquisitely illustrated picture book that tackles climate change in a lyrical and rhythmical style.
A giant stands watch over the sea and warns a “brave girl” the sea is rising. This girl is reminiscent of young climate activists whose warnings – like those of our child hero – are often dismissed, with increasingly disastrous consequences.
The book deals with themes of whose voices count, the problem of unsustainable growth and how humans will adapt to different futures.
The Giant and the Sea doesn’t shy away from the effects of global warming, noting, “There is only so much that bravery can do”. Despite its dystopian conclusion, young readers will find the book motivating and hopeful because it shows they have a role to play alongside adults in this multigenerational problem.
6. Blueback by Tim Winton
For children eight and up
Blueback charts the life of Abel from child to adult.
It is a fable that explores his deep connection to ocean life and the human pressures on the natural world.
Through Abel’s mother Dora, Winton offers children a hero whose dogged but successful campaign to save a threatened site spreads
like a coral spawn, those letters, tiny white messages that drifted out from Longboat Bay into the offices of people all of the country.
In such beautiful prose, Winton shows children the importance of courage and resilience and reminds us all of our collective responsibility for the environment. This is a book that can inspire readers of all ages.
Pauline Jones is currently engaged in literacy research projects funded by the NSW Department of Education and the Association of Independent Schools, NSW. She has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council. She is President of the Primary English Teaching Association Australia.
Annette Turney is currently engaged in literacy research projects funded by the NSW Department of Education.
Anne Hellwig does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
A decade ago, William Shakespeare was the most performed playwright in Australia. In 2024 not one mainstage theatre company in Australia will perform Shakespeare. The only exception will be Bell Shakespeare.
This shift has been a long time coming. Theatre makers such as Lachlan Philpott, Nakkiah Lui and Andrew Bovell have been calling for less Shakespeare and more new work since the mid-2010s.
Today, their advocacy is bearing fruit.
Of the 79 plays being performed in 2024, 68 (87%) were written after 2000, 60 (76%) were written after 2014, and 23 (29%) will have their world premiere in 2024. Only three were written prior to the 20th century – and that’s if you count Kip Williams’ new adaptation of Dracula, alongside Bell Shakespeare’s two plays.
New work is important. A truly rich cultural conversation must include a variety of voices and fresh perspectives. But alongside new work and new voices, nuanced engagement with the past is needed.
A forum for conversations
Shakespeare is important, not just because he wrote great plays, and definitely not because he is perfect. He is important because we have, for 400 years, made him important, using his work to have rich conversations about identity, truth, meaning and morality.
These conversations are worth participating in.
Australia’s mainstage comprises 11 companies: State Theatre Company of South Australia in Adelaide; Queensland Theatre and La Boite Theatre in Brisbane; Melbourne Theatre Company and Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne; Black Swan State Theatre Company in Perth; and Belvoir, Bell Shakespeare, Griffin Theatre Company, Ensemble Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company in Sydney. All except La Boite have announced their 2024 seasons.
The fact that none of these companies will perform Shakespeare next year suggests a decline in engagement with the canon outside of adaptations.
Edwin Landseer, Scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Titania and Bottom (1848-1851). Oil on canvas 82.0×133.0cm. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Felton Bequest, 1932. Photo: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. CC BY-NC
This decline is, in some ways, justified. We don’t need to perform Shakespeare all the time. We certainly don’t need to trot out tired, uninspired performances just for the sake of doing Shakespeare.
But if new work is not in conversation with the canon, we risk taking an uncritical and oversimplified view of the past – and present and future. We risk understanding ourselves merely through the lens of now, rather than enriching our present through discussion with our history.
Playwrights Philpott and Bovell have expressed understandable frustration at productions tying themselves in knots trying to make Shakespeare “relevant”. If your aim is to make the text reflect modern values, why not simply perform a new play?
Perhaps we do need a break from Shakespeare if all we can do is insist he is always, and in all things, our contemporary.
There is an alternative to this false dilemma. We are not restricted to either using Shakespeare as a sock puppet to voice our own ideas, or ignoring him altogether. Rather, we can perform Shakespeare in a critically engaged, nuanced way.
This means avoiding easy categories like “problematic” or “universal”. Like any fruitful conversation, it means listening, sitting with discomfort, learning, recognising what still speaks to us, and responding to what doesn’t.
Conversing with Shakespeare does not mean smoothing over problems or forcing him to agree with us. Sydney Theatre Company’s 2022 production of The Tempest, directed by Kip Williams, attempted to correct the play’s racism by radically editing the text.
By trying to solve The Tempest, the production glossed over its problems rather than engaging critically with them.
There are excellent examples of Australian theatre makers grappling with problems in Shakespeare.
Anne-Louise Sarks’ 2017 production of The Merchant of Venice for Bell Shakespeare explored the uncomfortable religious and social dynamics of the play.
The scenes in which Shylock is forced to surrender both his property and his faith were jarringly and uncomfortably melancholy. There was no attempt to shrug off the pain of the play’s conclusion for Shylock and his daughter Jessica.
Jason Klarwein and Jimi Bani’s 2022 Othello at Queensland Theatre used translation, casting and design choices to confront and interrogate the themes of the play.
This production explored and highlighted racism and sexism, both in 20th century Australia, and within the play itself.
Othello has a vexed performance history, and this production was an important contribution to a 400-year-old conversation.
In Benedict Andrews’ 2009 production of The War of the Roses for Sydney Theatre Company, Shakespeare’s Henry V was stripped back to a series of soliloquies spoken by Ewen Leslie.
Covered in glitter, then oil, and eventually blood, Leslie as Henry V invited audiences to confront not only the humanity of “the warlike Harry”, but also the horror associated with his military triumph.
Talking back to history
By confronting – rather than avoiding, removing or “fixing” problems in Shakespeare – productions can invite audiences to ask important questions. Why have certain ideas been acceptable in the past? Why are they not so now? What are we doing differently today, and what should we be doing differently?
Nuanced, two-way conversations with our cultural history are vital to progress.
Decolonising the canon does not mean ignoring it, but dialoguing with it. It means learning from, questioning, and talking back to our history. Doing this will allow us to better understand our present and know who we would like to be in our future.
Of the 79 works being performed on the 2024 Australian mainstage, 68 were written in the new millennium. Shifting the balance of old and new ever-so-slightly would enrich our cultural conversation.
For an election ostensibly fought over a “cost-of-living crisis”, there was a strong unspoken consensus between the two major parties: most people’s living standards needed to reduce to thwart inflation. Regardless of the election result, a form of austerity was always going to win.
Both National and Labour essentially agreed with the Reserve Bank hiking interest rates to bring down inflation – a crude market discipline likely to cause redundancies, suppress wages, and increase debt and inequality.
Such policies – classically neoliberal, specifically monetarist – are presented as if there is no alternative. Yet other countries have successfully used other measures to protect living standards, including wealth taxes, rent caps, windfall taxes on excessive profits, and major subsidies on energy payments.
While National and Labour both offered targeted support for those struggling to get by, such as tax cuts (National) or the removal of GST from fruit and vegetables (Labour), such mitigation seems paltry by comparison.
Only smaller parties, notably the Greens and Te Pāti Māori, offered policies aimed at changing fundamental economic settings.
Radical incrementalism?
Of course, there were and are important differences between Labour and National. Many contend Labour has abandoned the free-market fundamentalism associated with “Rogernomics” that it adopted in the 1980s.
Under the Labour governments led by Jacinda Ardern and then Chris Hipkins, there was an attempt to ameliorate the worst excesses of market capitalism.
Hipkins, for instance, insisted Labour’s policies were not simply about “tinkering around the edges of the neoliberal model”. He spoke of “radical incrementalism” – allowing a government to “do big change”.
In that light, the 2017-23 Labour government lifted the minimum wage, introduced fair pay agreements, built state houses, increased Working for Families wage subsidies, and intervened during a pandemic and natural disasters to support people and jobs.
Labour also reformed the Reserve Bank’s targets to include “maximum sustainable employment”, alongside the bank’s traditional goal of keeping inflation within a 1–3% band.
Beyond Aotearoa New Zealand, neoliberalism’s demise was proclaimed in the aftermath of the 2007-09 global financial crisis, as governments everywhere shored up the financial sector.
The obituaries have increased since the COVID pandemic. In the United States, Joe Biden’s preference for public investment prompted one commentator to claim the president had “declared the death of neoliberalism”.
The ‘third way’
Given the Labour government’s track record, then, it might seem unfair to label it a neoliberal administration. But I think such reasoning is mistaken on several counts.
A rough scholarly consensus has emerged that neoliberalism has shown a remarkable ability to evolve. Labour – and to some extent National – have rejected the harsh “vanguard neoliberalism” of the 1980s and ‘90s. Instead, they have embraced the mild neoliberalism of “third way” politics since 1999.
Sometimes called the “post-Washington consensus”, third way economics accepts the need for some government intervention in the market, something the more hardline “Washington consensus” of the late 1980s did not.
Yet under this softer form of neoliberalism, governments do not intervene to genuinely redistribute wealth. Instead, they act to temporarily support business during crises.
For example, the Labour government’s COVID business support and wage subsidy scheme was supposedly undertaken to protect workers from unemployment.
In reality, it facilitated a massive upward transfer of wealth by subsidising businesses, and boosting house prices and private savings. That wealth transfer amounted to about NZ$1 trillion, according to economic commentator Bernard Hickey.
Hickey also argued governments of both stripes have effectively cut social services such as housing, health and education in real per-capita terms, as the population has increased. For the most part, increased funding has not stayed level with inflation.
We might call this austerity by stealth, with one example being the current funding crisis in tertiary education that has resulted in many job cuts.
In this sense, the various palliative reforms made by the Ardern-Hipkins governments do not represent a fundamental swing away from neoliberalism. Crucially, both prime ministers ruled out any kind of wealth or capital gains tax, and generally kept tax levels low (despite a small increase in the highest income tax rate).
Tellingly, the US Heritage Foundation – a think tank devoted to the “principles of free enterprise, limited government [and] individual freedom” – still ranks New Zealand fifth in its global “index of economic freedom”.
While Labour’s Reserve Bank reforms appeared to modify its monetary priorities to maximise sustainable employment, its governor admitted raising interest rates to control inflation was deliberately engineering a recession, with a likely rise in unemployment.
Before becoming prime minister in 2017, Ardern agreed with the view of previous National prime minister Jim Bolger that neoliberalism had failed. She said Labour accepted the need for government intervention in the market.
This might qualify as a rejection of neoliberalism if we define it only as a set of ideas or policies designed to “hollow out the state” and promote free-market, individualistic competition.
But there is another view of neoliberalism, put forward by historian Quinn Slobodian and other scholars, that it was never about rejecting big government. Rather, at its core, it is about imposing a global and state framework that favours business and private property.
To achieve this, they argue, the state restricts democracy, trade unions and community interest groups from achieving genuine improvements in ordinary people’s lives. Slobodian sees neoliberalism as involving “re-regulation” rather than deregulation.
The underlying consensus
None of this means Labour and National mirror each other. Labour is more centrist, more committed to maintaining public services. National is more business-friendly and seems poised to make deeper cuts to public services.
To differing degrees, National and its probable coalition partner ACT reject the “progressive” aspects of what feminist scholar Nancy Fraser called “progressive neoliberalism”. They aim to roll back most of Labour’s incremental reforms, and are aligned in their opposition to what they see as excessive government spending and regulation.
But beneath those apparent ideological differences there remains an underlying neoliberal consensus. Roughly speaking, this compact aims to keep taxes low, push for free trade agreements, maintain a largely deregulated business sector, enable financial speculation, and use interest rates to combat inflation.
Above all, the goal is to be “fiscally responsible” by keeping government spending tight and the debt-to-GDP ratio low. Austerity is the means by which this is achieved, whether by stealth or through more upfront cuts.
It was perhaps predictable that governments everywhere would revert to austerity to pay down debts incurred during the pandemic. But those same governments are also struggling with broader economic, climate, housing, health and education crises.
Wars and political polarisation generally have added to a sense that neoliberalism’s hegemony is fraying. There has been a trend towards more nationalist and authoritarian government – although not yet in Aotearoa New Zealand to any great extent.
Given we are now seeing living standards squeezed to combat inflation, and government austerity to pay off COVID debts, neoliberalism still seems embedded in the political and economic fabric of Aotearoa. This is especially so with the election success of parties promising to reduce government spending.
Toby Boraman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
The priority for Gaza is not bandages and aspirins — they need loud voices condemning Israeli genocide. They need the bombing and killing to stop.
Early last week Hipkins condemned the killing of civilians in the Hamas attack on Israel but has refused to condemn Israeli war crimes against the Palestinian people.
Palestinian Solidarity Network Aotearoa John Minto . . .
The “collective punishment” of Palestinian civilians in Gaza; the withholding of food, water, electricity and fuel; the intensive massive bombing of densely populated civilian areas of Gaza — these are all war crimes. Genocide is the only name that fits.
More than 700 children have been killed so far by Israeli bombing with civilian casualties of more than 2800.
Green light to orgy of killing By refusing to condemn these killings, Hipkins is giving Israel the green light to continue its orgy of killing in Gaza.
Hipkins says he is “deeply saddened” by civilians deaths. But not deeply saddened enough to call out the colonial, apartheid state of Israel whose racist policies against Palestinians are the cause of the slaughter in Gaza.
Similarly, when Hipkins says “we call on all parties to respect international humanitarian law, and uphold their obligations to protect civilians, and humanitarian workers, including medical personnel”, it is a meaningless gap-filler in a government media release.
Hipkins’ announcement will be welcomed in Washington and Tel Aviv but will be deplored by decent people around the world who call for human rights for Palestinians and accountabilities for apartheid Israel.
The Prime Minister has our loudest voice — we demand he use it to help end the slaughter of civilians in Gaza by sheeting home blame where it belongs — with the policies of the racist, apartheid state of Israel.
John Minto is national chair of the Palestine Solidaity Network Aotearoa.
The above chart shows that the world’s governments, taken collectively, run financial deficits every year. This is not a weakness of the global financial system; it’s a strength, perhaps the strength of the world system. Government deficits offset private sector financial choices.
We note that when the world government deficit becomes unusually small, as in 2000 and 2006/07, the world’s financial system is at its least stable. 2000 to 2001 was the dotcom financial bust, and 2008/09 was the global financial crisis. These small crisis-preceding deficits are a result of substantial speculative activity accruing in some portions of the private sector, reducing overall private surpluses; essentially larger than usual amounts of private speculative borrowing.
After a financial crisis – indeed as a playing-out of such a crisis – the private sector (defined as combined non-government financial participants) runs unusually large financial surpluses which must be accommodated by government deficits. Any economic recession which follows a financial crisis indicates insufficient government accommodation of private retrenchment.
Those large private financial surpluses were not as large as the panicked parties would like them to have been. As a result of a financial crisis, private participants seek to pay down as much debt as they can as quickly as they can, and most reduce investment spending in favour of increased saving. The extent to which private parties can achieve their distress goals is determined by governments’ willingness to extend government debt and to run down sovereign (and local government) wealth funds.
Not all economic crises commence with a financial crisis. We see the size of the Covid19-led crisis in the 2020 balances. In this case, it was the governments who initiated their increased deficits by becoming much more willing to borrow than usual, though in a financial environment that was making the private sector much less willing to borrow. So the private sector was very happy in 2020 to underwrite new government debt.
It’s worth noting the IMF’s forecasts for 2023 to 2028 (shown in muted colours). These forecasts are conservative. While I think the post-covid recovery was on the way to creating a financially speculative environment (such as in 2005), the subsequent wars will probably lead to 2023 and 2024 balances similar to 2018 rather than to 2007.
While I think it very likely that there will be a new Great Depression commencing as soon as 2026, rather than a financial crisis the lead-up will be the military/environmental cost-crisis which is already well under way; a crisis that I imagine will precipitate a global stagflation in the later 2020s. (We note that military costs are threefold: economic activity diverted from peacetime into military production; the fact that an active military substantially exacerbates the existing environmental crises which include excessive greenhouse gas emissions; and the military destruction of human beings, ecosystems, housing, and public utility infrastructure.) In other words, the financial lead-up to the next economic crisis may be more like the lead-up to the covid pandemic crisis; nevertheless, we should look out for elements of excessive financial speculation in 2024 and 2025.
(Note on source data. The IMF does not provide World balances directly. But they do provide balances separately for advanced economies and for emerging/developing economies. The data shown is a weighted average of these two groups, with combined advanced countries having a 70% weight and emerging a 30% weight. Changing those weights would not make much difference to the chart.)
I finish here with two charts which show just how exceptional New Zealand’s financial balances have been:
Chart by Keith Rankin.Chart by Keith Rankin.
(A country’s government balance is not the exact opposite of its private balance, because a country – but not the world – also has foreign balances.)
We see that New Zealand’s private sector financial sector balances are typically negative (ie deficits); in contrast with the world, which shows positive financial balances (surpluses) each year. Sometimes these private deficits are very large. (We note that, due to a technicality, 2019 New Zealand data are contaminated by data from the first half of 2020 – meaning the initial phases of the pandemic.)
New Zealand’s exceptionalism is less apparent in the chart showing government balances for New Zealand and the world. But the exceptionalism is still clearly there; except for the crisis years at the turn of each decade within this century.
If most other countries had tried to follow New Zealand’s long-term financial model then the world economy would be in perpetual crisis. But New Zealand’s exceptional strategy does work because it is exceptional, because most others do not follow it; indeed New Zealand’s strategy offsets the very different financial strategies followed by most other advanced countries. When some countries follow one kind of destabilising strategy and others follow the opposite kind of destabilising strategy, then indeed two wrongs can make a right.
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Keith Rankin (keith at rankin dot nz), trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.
The referendum on the indigenous Voice in Australia last Saturday was an historic event. Australians were asked to vote on whether to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia in the Constitution through an indigenous Voice.
“A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
“Do you approve this proposed alteration?”
The Voice was proposed as an independent, representative body for First Nations peoples to advise the Australian Parliament and government, giving them a voice on issues that affect them.
Here are some key points:
The proposal was to recognise Indigenous Australians in the Constitution by creating a body to advise Parliament, known as the “Voice”.
The “Voice” would be an independent advisory body. Members would be chosen by First Nations communities around Australia to represent them.
The “Voice” would provide advice to governments on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, such as health, education, and housing, in the hope that such advice will lead to better outcomes.
Under the Constitution, the federal government already has the power to make laws for Indigenous people. The “Voice” would be a way for them to be consulted on those laws. However, the government would be under no obligation to act on the advice.
Indigenous people have called for the “Voice” to be included in the Constitution so that it can’t be removed by the government of the day, which has been the fate of every previous indigenous advisory body. It is also the way indigenous people have said they want to be recognised in the constitution as the First Nations with a 65,000-year connection to the continent — not simply through symbolic words.
It was necessary for a majority of voters to vote “yes” nationally, as well as a majority of voters in at least four out of six states, for the referendum to pass.
Unfortunately, it was rejected by the majority with more than 60 percent with the vote still being counted. In all six states and the Northern Territory, a “No” vote was projected.
The Voice vote nationally – “no” ahead with 60 percent with counting still ongoing. Source: The Guardian
According to the ABC, a majority of voters in all six states and the Northern Territory voted against the proposal.
New South Wales 81.2 percent counted, 1.81 million voted yes (40.5 percent) and 2.67M million voted no (59.5 percent).
Victoria 78.5 percent counted, 1.56 million voted yes (45.0 percent), and 1.91 million voted no (55.0 percent).
Tasmania 82.7 percent counted, 134,809 voted yes (40.5 percent), and 198,152 voted no (59.5 percent).
South Australia 79.1 percent counted, 355,682 voted yes (35.4 percent), 648,769 voted no (64.6 percent).
Queensland 74.3 percent counted, 835,159 voted yes (31.2 percent), 1.84 million voted no (68.8 percent).
Western Australia 75.3 percent counted, 495,448 voted yes (36.4 percent), and 866,902 voted no (63.6 percent).
Northern Territory 63.4 percent counted, 37,969 voted yes (39.5 percent), and 58,193 voted no (60.5 percent).
ACT 82.8 percent counted, 158,097 voted yes (60.8 percent), and 102,002 voted no (39.2 percent).
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said the next steps after the failed Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum are yet to be decided and called the expectation of having a plan just days after the vote “not respectful”.
In addition to being viewed as divisive along racial lines, concerns about how the Voice to Parliament would work (whether indigenous Australians would be given greater power) and uncertainties about how the new body would result in meaningful change for indigenous Australians contributed to the rejection.
Australia has held 44 referendums since its founding in 1901. However, the referendum on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament in 2023 was the first of its kind to focus specifically on Indigenous Australians.
As part of a broader push to establish constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians, the Voice proposal was seen as a significant step towards reconciliation and was the result of decades of indigenous advocacy and work.
A key turning point came in 2017 when 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates from across the country met at Uluru for the First Nations’ National Constitutional Convention. The proposal, known as the Voice, sought to recognise Indigenous people in Australia’s constitution and establish a First Nations body to advise the government on issues affecting their communities.
However, the Voice proposal was not unanimously accepted. In the course of the campaign, intense conflict and discussion ensued between supporters and opponents, resulting in what supporters viewed as a tragic outcome, while the victorious opponents celebrated their victory.
The support of Oceania’s indigenous leaders Pacific Islanders expressed their views before the referendum on the Voice to Parliament.
Henry Puna, Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum, said that Australia’s credibility would be boosted on the world stage if the yes vote won the Indigenous voice referendum. He stated that it would be “wonderful” if Australia were to vote yes, because he believed it would elevate Australia’s position, and perhaps even its credibility, internationally.
The former Foreign Minister of Vanuatu (nd current Climate Change Minister), Ralph Regevanu, warned Australia’s reputation would plummet among its allies in the Pacific if the Voice to Parliament was defeated.
These views indicate the potential impact of the voice referendum on Australia’s relationship with Pacific Island nations, which it often refers to as “its own backyard”.
The “No” camp claimed the Voice was an “elite” idea, that “real” Indigenous people didn’t want it, because Peter Dutton had spoken to “shoppers”. Even with the results, they still insist communities did not want one – taking away what little voice they gothttps://t.co/kWt0hjDHEC
Division, defeat and impact A tragic aspect of the Voice proposal is the fact that not only were Australian settlers divided about it, but even worse, indigenous leaders themselves, who were in a position to bring together a fragmented and tormented nation, were at odds with each other — including full-on verbal wars in media.
While their opinions on the proposal were divided, some had practical and realistic ideas to address the problems faced by indigenous communities in remote towns. Others proposed a treaty between settlers and original indigenous people.
There are also those who advocate for a strong political recognition within the nation’s constitutional framework.
Despite these divisions among indigenous leaders, the referendum on Voice represents a significant milestone in the ongoing indigenous resistance that spans over 200 years.
It is a resistance that began on January 26, 1788, when the invasion began (Pemulwuy’s War), and continued through various milestones such as the 1937 Petition for citizenship, land rights, and representation, the 1938 Day of Mourning, the 1963 Yirrkala bark petitions, the 1965 Freedom Rides, and the establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972.
It further extended to 1990-2005 with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), the 1991 Song Treaty by Yothu Yindi, Eddie Mabo overturning terra nullius in 1992, Kevin Rudd’s 2008 apology, and the Uluru Statement from the Heart until the recent defeat of the Voice Referendum in 2023.
A dangerous settlers’ myth and its consequences The modern nation of Australia (aged 244 years) has been shaped by one of European myths: “Terra Nullius”, the Latin term for “nobody’s land”. This myth was used to describe the legal position at the time of British colonisation.
Accordingly, the land had been deemed as terra nullius, which implies that it had belonged to no one before the British Crown declared sovereignty over it.
Eddy Mabo: A Melanesian Hero An indigenous Melanesian, Eddy Mabo, overturned this myth in 1992, known as “the Mabo Case,” which recognised the land rights of the Meriam people and other indigenous peoples.
The Mabo Case resulted in significant changes in Australian law in several areas. One of the most notable changes was the overturning of the long-standing legal fiction of “terra nullius,” which posited that Australia was unpopulated (no man’s land) at the time of British colonisation.
In this decision, the High Court of Australia recognized the legal rights of Indigenous Australians to make claims to lands in Australia. It marked a historic moment, as it was the first time that the law acknowledged the traditional rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. In addition, the Mabo Case contributed directly to the establishment of the Native Title Act in 1993.
Even though these changes are significant, debates persist regarding the state of indigenous Australians under colonial settlement.
Indigenous Affairs reporter Isabella Higgins says the No victory in the Indigenous Voice to Parliament Referendum could change the way Indigenous Australians will want to interact with the rest of the country going forward. pic.twitter.com/g5CxBaU0Op
Indigenous leaders need to see a big picture The recent referendum on the Voice sparked heated debates on a topic that has long been a source of contention: the age-old battle of “my country versus your country, my mob versus your mob, I know best versus you know nothing.”
While it’s important to celebrate and protect cultural diversity and the unique perspectives it brings, it’s equally important to recognise that British settlers didn’t just apply the myth of terra nullius to a select few groups or regions — they applied it to all areas inhabited by indigenous peoples, treating them as a single, homogenous entity.
This means that any solution to indigenous issues must be rooted in a collective, unified voice, rather than a patchwork of fragmented groups.
Indigenous leaders need to prioritise the creation of a unified front among themselves and mobilise their people before seeking support from Australians. Currently, they are engaging in competition, outdoing each other, and fighting over the same issue on mainstream media platforms, indigenous-run media platforms, and social media.
This approach is reminiscent of the “divide, conquer, and rule” strategy that the British effectively employed worldwide to expand and maintain their dominion. This strategy has historically caused harm to indigenous nations worldwide, and it is now harming indigenous people because their leaders are fighting among themselves.
It is important to note that this does not imply a rejection of every distinct indigenous language group, clan, or tribe. However, it is crucial to recognise that indigenous peoples throughout Oceania were viewed through a particular European lens, which scholars refer to as “Eurocentrism”.
This “lens” is a double-edged sword, providing semantic definition and dissection power while also compartmentalising based on a hierarchy of values. Melanesians and indigenous Australians were placed at the bottom of this hierarchy and deemed to be of no historical or cultural significance.
This realisation is of utmost importance for the collective attainment of redemption, unity and reconciliation.
The larger Australian indigenous’ cause From Vasco Núñez de Balboa’s momentous crossing of the Isthmus of Panama to Ferdinand Magellan’s pioneering Spanish expedition across the Pacific Ocean in 1521, and Abel Janszoon Tasman’s remarkable exploration of Tasmania, Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji, to James Cook’s renowned voyages in the Pacific Ocean between 1768 and 1779, the indigenous peoples of Oceania have endured immense suffering and torment as a consequence of the European scramble for these territories.
The indigenous peoples of Oceania were forever scarred by the merciless onslaught of European maritime marauders. When the race for supremacy over these unspoiled regions unfolded, their lives were shattered, and their communities torn asunder.
The web of life in Australia and Oceania was severely disrupted, devalued, rejected, and subjected to brutality and torment as a result of the waves of colonisation that forcefully impacted their shores.
The colonisers imposed various racial prejudices, civilising agendas, legal myths, and the Discovery doctrine, all of which were conceived within the collective conceptual mindset of Europeans and applied to the indigenous people.
These actions have had a lasting and fatalistic impact on the collective indigenous population in Australia and Oceania, resulting in dehumanisation, enslavement, genocide, and persistent marginalisation of their humanity, leading to unwarranted guilt for their mere existence.
The European collective perception of Oceania, exemplified by the notion of terra nullius, has resulted in numerous transgressions of indigenous laws, customs, and cosmologies, affecting every aspect of life within the entire landscape. These violations have led to the loss of land, destruction of language, erasure of memories, and imposition of British customs.
Furthermore, indigenous peoples were forcibly relocated to concentration camps, missions, and reserves.
The Declaration received support from a total of 144 countries, with only four countries (which have historically displaced indigenous populations through settler occupation) voting against it — Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.
However, all four countries subsequently reversed their positions and endorsed the Declaration. It should be noted that while the Declaration does not possess legal binding force, it does serve as a reflection of the commitments and responsibilities that states have under international law and human rights standards.
The challenges and concerns confronting indigenous communities are undeniably more severe and deplorable than the current “yes or no” referendum. It is imperative for the entire nation, including indigenous leaders, to acknowledge the profound extent of the Indigenous human tragedy that extends beyond the divisive binary.
Old and new imperial vultures Similar to the European vultures that once encircled Oceania centuries ago, partitioned its territories, subjugated its people, conducted bomb experiments, and eradicated its population in Tasmania, the present-day vultures from the Eastern and Western regions exhibit comparable behaviours.
It is imperative for indigenous leaders hailing from Australia, Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia to unite and demand that the colonial governments be held responsible for the multitude of crimes they have perpetrated.
Message to divided indigenous leaders Simply assigning blame to already fragmented, tormented, and highly marginalised Indigenous communities, and endeavouring to empower them solely through a range of government handouts and community-based development programs, will not be adequate.
Because the trust between indigenous peoples and settlers has been shattered over centuries of abuse, deeply impacting the core of Indigenous self-image, dignity, and respect.
My personal experience in remote indigenous communities I am a Papuan who came to Australia over 20 years ago to study in the remote NSW town of Bourke. I lived, studied, and worked at a small Christian College called Cornerstone Community.
During my time there, I was adopted by the McKellar clan of the Wangkumara Tribe in Bourke and worked closely with indigenous communities in Bourke, Brewarrina, Walgett, Cobar, Wilcannia, and Dubbo.
Unfortunately, my experiences in these places left me traumatised.
These communities have become so broken. I found myself succumbing to depression as a result of the distressing experiences I witnessed. It dawned upon me being “blackfella” — Papuan indigenous descent — was and still consistently subjected to similar mistreatment regardless of location.
This realisation instilled within me a sense of guilt for my own identity, as I was constantly made feel guilty of who I was. Tragically, a significant number of the young indigenous whom I endeavoured to aid and guide through diverse community and youth initiatives have either been incarcerated or committed suicide.
West Papua, my home country, is currently experiencing a genocide due to the Indonesian settler occupation, which is supported by the Australian government. This is similar to what indigenous Australians have endured under the colonial system of settlers.
Indigenous Australians in every region, town, and city face a complex and diverse set of issues, which are unique, tragic, and devastating. These issues are a result of how the settler colony interacted with them upon their arrival in the country.
Nevertheless, the indigenous people were not subjected to centuries of abuse and mistreatment solely based on their tribal affiliations. Rather, they were targeted by the settler government as a collective, disregarding the diversity among indigenous groups.
This included the indigenous people from Oceania, who have endured dehumanisation and racism as a result of colonisation.
It is imperative to acknowledge that the resolution of these predicaments cannot be attained by a solitary leader representing a particular group. The indigenous leaders need a unified vision and strategy to combat these issues.
All indigenous individuals across the globe, including Australia, New Zealand, Oceania, and West Papua, are afflicted by the same affliction. The only distinguishing factor is the degree of harm inflicted by the virus, along with the circumstances surrounding its occurrence.
A paradigm shift Imagine a world where indigenous peoples in Australia and Oceania reclaim their original languages and redefine the ideas, myths, and behaviours displayed on their land with their own concepts of law, morality, and cosmology. In this world, I am confident that every legal product, civilisational idea, and colonial moral code applied to these peoples would be deemed illegal.
It is time to empower indigenous voices and perspectives and challenge the oppressive systems that have silenced them for far too long.
Commence the process of renaming each island, city, town, mountain, lake, river, valley, animal, tree, rock, country, and region with their authentic local languages and names, thereby reinstating their original significance and worth.
However, in order to accomplish this, it is imperative that indigenous communities are granted the necessary authority, as it is ultimately their power that will reinforce such transformation. This power does not solely rely on weapons or monetary resources, but rather on the determination to preserve their way of life, restore their self-image, and demand the recognition of their dignity and respect.
Last Saturday’s No Vote tragedy wasn’t just about the majority of Australians rejecting it. It was a heartbreaking moment where indigenous leaders, who should have been united, found themselves fiercely divided.
Accusations were flying left and right, targeting each other’s backgrounds, positions, and portfolios. This bitter divide ended up gambling away any chance of redemption and reconciliation that had reached such a high national level.
It was a devastating blow to the hopes and aspirations for a better world for one of the most disadvantaged originals continues human on this ancient timeless continent — Australia.
Yamin Kogoya is a West Papuan academic who has a Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development from the Australian National University and who contributes to Asia Pacific Report. From the Lani tribe in the Papuan Highlands, he is currently living in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Grant, has found X (formerly Twitter) guilty of serious non-compliance to a transparency notice on child sex abuse material. The commissioner has issued X with an infringement notice for A$610,500.
The commissioner first issued transparency notices to Google, X (then Twitter), Twitch, TikTok and Discord in February under the Online Safety Act 2021. Under this legislation, the commissioner has powers to require online service providers to report on how they are mitigating unlawful or harmful content.
The commissioner determined Google and X did not sufficiently comply with the notices given to them. Google was warned for providing overly generic responses to specific questions, while X’s non-compliance was found to be more serious.
For several key questions, X’s response was blank, incomplete or inaccurate. For example, X did not adequately disclose:
the time it takes to respond to reports of child sexual exploitation material
the measures in place to detect child sexual exploitation material in live streams
the tools and technologies used to detect this material
the teams and resources used to ensure safety.
How severe is the issue?
In June, the Stanford Internet Observatory released a crucial report on child sex abuse material. It was the first quantitative analysis of child sex abuse material on the public sites of the most popular social media platforms.
The researchers’ findings highlighted Instagram and X (then Twitter) are particularly prolific platforms for advertising the sale of self-generated child sex abuse material.
These materials, and the accounts posting them, are often marked by specific recurring features. They may mention particular words or phrases paired with variations on the term “pedo”. Or they might have certain hashtags or emojis in their bios. Using these features, the researchers identified 405 accounts advertising the sale of self-generated child sex abuse material on Instagram, and 128 on Twitter.
They found searching for such content on Instagram may result in an alert of potential child sex abuse material. However, the prompt still presents a clickthrough to “see results anyway”:
Stanford’s analysis found Instagram’s recommendation algorithms are particularly effective in promoting child sex abuse material once it has been accessed.
Although the researchers focused on publicly available networks and content, they also found some platforms implicitly allow the trading of child sex abuse material in private channels.
As for X, they found the platform even allowed the public posting of known, automatically identifiable child sex abuse material.
Why does X have this content?
The creation and trading of this content is commonly regarded as one of the most harmful abuses of online services.
All major platforms – including X – have policies that ban child sex abuse material from their public services. Most sites also explicitly prohibit related activities such as posting this content in private chats, and the sexualisation or grooming of children.
Even self-proclaimed free-speech advocate Elon Musk declared that removing child exploitation material was the top priority, after he took over the platform late last year.
Moderating child sex abuse material is challenging work, and can’t be done through user reporting alone. Platforms that allow nudity, such as X, have a responsibility to distinguish between minors and adults – both in terms of who is depicted in the content and who is sharing it.
They should scrutinise content shared voluntarily by minors, and ideally should also weed out any AI-generated child sex abuse material.
Musk fired hundreds of employees responsible for content moderation after taking over at X. It would seem likely the gutting of X’s trust and safety workforce would have reduced its ability to respond to both the harmful material and the eSafety notices.
After years of leniency towards social media platforms, governments are now demanding increased accountability from them for their content, as well as data privacy and child protection matters.
Non-compliance now attracts hefty fines in many jurisdictions. For instance, last year US federal regulators imposed a US$150 million (A$236.3 million) fine on X to settle claims it had misleadingly used email addresses and phone numbers for targeting advertising.
This year, Ireland’s privacy regulator slapped Meta, Facebook’s parent company, with a €1.2 billion (almost A$2 billion) fine for mishandling user information.
This year the Australian Federal Court also ordered two subsidiaries of Meta, Facebook Israel and Onavo Inc, to pay A$10 million each for engaging in conduct liable to mislead in breach of Australian consumer law.
The latest fine of A$610,500, though small in comparison, is a blow to X’s reputation given its declining revenue and dwindling advertiser trust due to poor content moderation and the reinstating of banned accounts.
What happens now?
X has 28 days to settle the fine. If it doesn’t, eSafety can initiate civil penalty proceedings and bring it to court. Depending on the court’s decision, the cumulative fine could escalate to A$780,000 per day, retroactive to the initial non-compliance in March.
But the fine’s impact extends beyond just financial implications. By spotlighting the issue of child sex abuse material on X, it could increase pressure on advertisers to pull their ads, or empower other governments to follow suit.
Earlier this month, India’s Ministry of Electronics and IT sent notices to X, YouTube and Telegram, instructing them to remove child sex abuse material for users accessing the sites from India – while threatening heavy fines and penalties for non-compliance.
It seems X is in hot water. To get out, it’ll need to make a 180-degree turn on its approach to moderating content – especially that which harms and exploits minors.
Marten Risius is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Australian Discovery Early Career Award (project number DE220101597) funded by the Australian Government.
Stan Karanasios is a member of the Association for Information Systems. In recent years he has received funding from the International Telecommunications Union and the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity.
The New Zealand government is putting $5 million to address urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza, Israel and the occupied West Bank.
The initial contribution would include $2.5 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and a further $2.5 million to the World Food Programme (WFP) under the umbrella of the United Nations appeal.
The Defence Force also remains on standby to help with evacuations of New Zealanders from the area, if required.
In a statement, caretaker Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said he was “deeply saddened” by the deaths and conflict in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
“The situation continues to evolve rapidly, and New Zealand is joining other likeminded countries to support those civilians and communities affected by the conflict.
“The ICRC protects and assists victims of armed conflicts under international humanitarian law, and is working to gain access to people held hostage, distributing cash and other assistance to displaced people, and providing essential medical assistance and supplies.”
With the Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings shut, the Rafah border was the only way into and out of the Gaza Strip for people and also for humanitarian aid. But that had shut in October too.
Safe passage Western countries are also getting involved to try to secure safe passage through Rafah for both foreign passport holders in Gaza and humanitarian aid, and there have been conflicting reports about whether it would open temporarily or not.
The WFP aid would help address food insecurity concerns in Gaza and the West Bank, and ensure emergency stock was prepared once access was guaranteed, Hipkins said.
The Gaza civilian casualties keep climbing . . . 2750 Palestinian adults and 1030 children. Al Jazeera screenshot/APR
“New Zealand calls for rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access to enable the delivery of crucial life-saving assistance.
“We call on all parties to respect international humanitarian law, and uphold their obligations to protect civilians, and humanitarian workers, including medical personnel.”
Both the ICRC and WFP act with full independence and neutrality.
With the Labour-led government being in the caretaker position and trying to transition to the National Party after the general elections, the decision for aid had been made after consultation with National leader Christopher Luxon, Hipkins’ statement read.
Luxon said he was appreciative of the communication between the outgoing government and the incoming one.
“It’s important that the government owns those decisions, we are consulted, and when we’re consulted we can give our support.”
NZDF on standby On Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said most New Zealanders who were registered as being in Israel had already left, but 50 Kiwis were still there, and 20 were registered as being in the occupied Palestinian territories (Gaza and the West Bank).
But the government has asked for the New Zealand Defence Force to remain on standby in case it is needed to help with evacuations.
“While not everyone wanting to leave can necessarily get themselves to a departure point, the government has requested NZDF to remain on standby to deploy if necessary,” Hipkins said.
“Commercial routes remain the best option to depart the region, and MFAT is actively providing consular assistance to New Zealanders who remain in the affected region,” he said.
“Anyone who wishes to depart should take the earliest commercial opportunity to do so.”
New Zealand was also working with its partners on evacuation points for people who could not access commercial routes, but Hipkins acknowledged “the security situation on the ground make this difficult”.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
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
With 79% of enrolled voters counted nationally, “no” has won the Voice referendum by a 60.7–39.3 margin. “No” has easily won in every state and territory except the ACT.
The Guardian reported Sunday that analyst Simon Jackman said that in polling booths where Indigenous Australians made up at least 50% of the population, there was an average 63% “yes” vote.
This is in line with a Resolve poll that had “yes” leading by 59–41 among Indigenous Australians, but well down on polls conducted early this year showing 80% “yes” support from the Indigenous.
In Lingiari, where 40 of the population is Indigenous, “no” leads by a 56–44 margin. Analyst Ben Raue said that remote booths, which are overwhelmingly Indigenous, voted “yes” by 73–27, but other areas of that seat, which are non-Indigenous, voted heavily “no”.
The large wins for “no” in Lingiari and other seats with high Indigenous populations are caused by non-Indigenous people in those seats voting heavily “no”.
Of 78 total Labor-held seats, the ABC has called 16 for “yes”, three where “yes” is currently ahead, two with “no” currently ahead and 57 called for “no”. Most Labor seats have substantial support for right-wing parties, so this doesn’t mean “no” won Labor voters.
The final Voice Newspoll, which gave “no” an accurate 20-point lead, had Labor voters supporting “yes” by 58–37 and Greens by 74–21, but Coalition voters were voting “no” by 81–15 and Other voters (which includes One Nation) by 69–21.
Modest “yes” support from Labor voters in most of their seats was overwhelmed by strong “no” voting from Coalition and other right-wing voters. Bradfield in New South Wales is the only Coalition-held seat to vote “yes”.
The final Newspoll also gave “yes” a 51–44 lead among those with a university education, but “no” led by 62–33 among TAFE/college educated and 62–31 among those without a tertiary education.
I have covered the education divide before and said that non-university educated people outside the cities are turning against the left. The major problem for “yes” is that they also heavily lost non-university educated people in the cities. But this divide explains the huge margins for “no” in rural seats, with 21 mostly rural seats giving “no” over 75%.
I previously covered a Resolve poll for Nine newspapers that was conducted September 22 to October 4 from a total sample of 4,728. “No” led by 56–44, understating the actual “no” margin. Additional questions on the Voice were asked of 3,116 respondents.
This poll found that key “no” campaigners in general had better net likeability ratings than key “yes” campaigners. The big exceptions were Peter Dutton, Pauline Hanson and Lidia Thorpe. Dutton and Thorpe are negatively perceived for reasons other than the Voice, and Thorpe was opposing the Voice from the left.
Labor improved in pre-referendum Newspoll as Dutton sank
A Newspoll, conducted October 4–12 from a sample of 2,638, gave Labor a 54–46 lead, a one-point gain for Labor since October 3–6. Primary votes were 36% Labor (up two), 35% Coalition (down one), 12% Greens (steady), 6% One Nation (up one) and 11% for all Others (down two).
Anthony Albanese’s ratings were 46% satisfied (up one) and 46% dissatisfied (steady), for a net zero approval. Dutton’s net approval fell five points to -18. Albanese led Dutton by 51–31 as better PM (50–33 previously).
Despite the heavy defeat for the Voice, Labor’s vote has held up well in the lead-up to this referendum. It will be interesting to see what happens on voting intentions after the referendum result.
Essential poll: Albanese’s ratings steady, Dutton down
Essential have not updated their voting intentions graph with the latest poll that was conducted October 11–15 from a national sample of 1,125. Albanese’s ratings were steady since September at 46% approve, 43% disapprove (net +3), while Dutton’s net approval dropped two points to -7.
Essential has a Voice question that had “no” ahead by 53–38, out from 49–43 in early October. But I will not be including that in my assessment of polls as it was released three days after referendum day.
Given four choices, 74% thought the government’s most important priority was cost of living, 15% climate change, 6% international relations and 5% workplace rights.
On the Israel-Palestine conflict, 64% thought Australia should stay out of it, 23% provide active assistance to Israel and 13% active assistance to Palestine.
By 57–20, respondents supported the UK’s plan to end smoking by raising the legal age of smoking by one year every year, so that those aged 14 or younger will never be able to legally buy cigarettes.
Victorian Resolve poll: Coalition gains but Labor still far ahead
A Victorian state Resolve poll for The Age, conducted with the federal Resolve polls in September and October from a sample of 1,103, gave Labor 39% of the primary vote (steady since August), the Coalition 32% (up four), 12% Greens (down one), 10% independents (down three) and 7% others (steady).
While Resolve doesn’t give a two party estimate until near elections, I estimate this poll would give Labor a 57–43 lead, a three-point gain for the Coalition since August.
New Labor Premier Jacinta Allan had a 38–19 lead over Liberal leader John Pesutto as preferred premier from the October sample of 553. Former premier Daniel Andrews had a 41–32 lead in September (sample 550), a drop from 44–29 in August.
By 58–19, respondents would support a Victorian inquiry into the state government’s handling of the COVID pandemic.
Liberal conservative alliance to replace authoritarian party in Poland
I covered Sunday’s Polish election for The Poll Bludger. Poland does not have a major centre-left party. The authoritarian incumbent Law and Justice was defeated by a liberal conservative alliance. Strong results for the far-right AfD at German state elections and national polls were also covered.
Adrian Beaumont does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mihiri Silva, Paediatric dentist, Senior Lecturer and Clinician-Scientist Fellow, MCRI and University of Melbourne, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
Teeth decay occurs when frequent and excessive amounts of sugar disturb bacteria in the mouth. This can lead to holes or “cavities”, which may need fillings.
If untreated, the holes can get bigger, causing pain and infection. Tooth decay is the most common cause of toothache among children and tooth decay is a leading cause of preventable hospital admission.
Parents and carers sometimes think baby teeth are less important than adult teeth. But tooth decay can impair a child’s ability to eat, sleep, learn and socialise. It can affect the quality of life of children, and their parents and carers.
The good news is tooth decay is preventable with three good dental habits: early dental check-ups, twice daily brushing and limiting sugar.
Australian and international guidelines recommend children have their first dental check-up when the first tooth emerges from the gums (usually at age six months), or by at least 12 months of age.
Yet few families follow this advice, presuming their child is too young, or that they have healthy teeth.
Early dental check-ups can pick up early signs of tooth decay. This allows simple treatments, such as topical fluoride varnish, which stop tooth decay getting worse.
Australian children from families experiencing the greatest adversity are the least likely to access dental services. However, all preschool-aged children are eligible for free dental check-ups through public dental services.
Medicare’s Child Dental Benefits Scheme also provides a capped benefit for eligible children to use at their local dentist. Around 95% of dentists bulk bill services under the Medicare scheme.
However, with uptake below 40%, most eligible families are not using the scheme, indicating cost is only one barrier. Families living in rural and remote areas, for instance, may find it difficult accessing dental services.
Many young children have teeth spaced apart, so flossing between teeth may not be necessary. However, your dentist may recommend flossing if teeth are in tight contact.
While most Australian adults brush their teeth twice daily, tooth brushing is less consistent in the early years.
For some parents and carers, tooth brushing can be a low priority, as it becomes difficult when young children are uncooperative. Dental check-ups can help parents and carers get individualised support with these important dental habits.
Manual dexterity varies between children, so it’s important to assist children with tooth brushing well into primary school. Some children may need help for longer than others. Ask at your next dental check-up whether your child is brushing well.
Parents and carers should avoid giving free sugars to children. Free sugars are those added to food and drinks (such as confectionery and soft drinks) and those naturally present in honey and fruit juices.
The World Health Organisation recommends limiting free sugars to less than 5% of total energy intake. However, many Australian children consume well above this amount.
Parents and carers should be wary of aggressive marketing and deceptive labelling of sweet drinks and snacks as healthy alternatives.
Children should also avoid eating and drinking around bedtime to reduce the risk of tooth decay. This includes consumption of milk and other sugar-sweetened drinks from bottles to sleep.
The best alternative to sugar-sweetened drinks is water. Drinking water from a fluoridated water supply will help protect your child’s teeth from decay.
Community water fluoridation was one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century. But some Australians, particularly in rural and remote areas, miss out. People living in these areas might benefit from other fluoride therapies (such as fluoride mouth rinses) but should discuss this with their dentist.
Families have an important role to play in children’s dental health. Early dental check-ups, brushing teeth twice a day with age-appropriate fluoridated toothpaste, and limiting sugar will allow children to reach adulthood with healthy mouths.
Mihiri Silva receives funding from the Medical Research Futures Fund. She is affiliated with the Australian Dental Association as the chair of the Oral Health Committee.
Sharon Goldfeld receives funding from the Candian Institutes of Health Research.
Elodie O’Connor and Rachelle Welti 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.
If we’re upset about the price of petrol, why do we drive the vehicles we do?
SUVs (so-called sport utility vehicles) use more fuel per kilometre than standard cars – according to the International Energy Agency, up to 25% more.
They weigh more than standard cars – about 100 kilograms more.
And they emit more carbon than standard cars. In Australia, medium-size SUVs emit 14% more carbon per kilometre travelled than medium-size cars. Large SUVs emit 30% more than large cars.
Yet we’re buying them at a rate that would have been unimaginable even a decade ago.
SUVs outsell passenger cars 3 to 1
As recently as 2012, more than half the new vehicles sold in Australia were “passenger cars” – the standard low-slung cars of the type we were used to. About one-quarter were SUVs.
Back further, in the early 1990s, three-quarters of the new vehicles we bought were passenger cars, and only 8% SUVs.
Yet after an explosion in SUV sales, today every second vehicle bought is a SUV. In August, SUVs accounted for 57% of new vehicle sales. Passenger cars accounted for just 17%. This means SUVs outsell passenger cars three to one.
Like country music, SUVs are hard to define, but you know one when you see one.
Standard passenger cars (be they hatches, sedans or wagons) sit closer to the ground, are usually lighter, and are less likely to kill or seriously injure pedestrians and cyclists, according to US insurers.
So common have the new larger SUVs become that Standards Australia is considering increasing the length of a standard parking bay by 20cm. It wants comments by November.
Also taking market share from smaller standard cars are what we in Australia call utes, which are standard vehicles (they used to be Falcons and Commodores) with a built-in tray attached at the rear.
1971 Holden Ute. Shutterstock
Utes are categorised as commercial vehicles, even though these days they tend to have four doors rather than two. They are also just as likely to be used for moving families as equipment, even if bought with small businesses tax concessions.
Vehicles defined a commercial, the bulk of them utes, accounted for one in five vehicles sold a decade ago. Now they are one in four, outselling passenger cars.
Tax only explains so much
Cars get special treatment in Australia’s tax system.
If an employer provides them and their private use is “minor, infrequent and irregular”, or if they are utes “not designed for the principal purpose of carrying passengers”, they can can escape the fringe benefits tax.
And from time to time small businesses get offered instant asset writeoffs, which means that all or part of the cost of the car can be written off against tax.
But apart from perhaps helping to explain the increasing preference for utes, these concessions seem insufficient to explain the demise of the standard passenger car and the rise of the expensive (and more expensive to fuel) alternatives.
But, in an information paper, the bureau goes on to note that SUVs “appear to be more likely to kill pedestrians than cars”.
They also appear more likely to kill the occupants of standard cars than standard cars when those cars crash, largely because they are higher – a phenomenon the insurance industry refers to as “incompatibility”.
Australia’s Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics refers to this as the “other side of the coin”.
But I think that for buyers of SUVs, it might be the same side of the coin. That is, I think it might be becoming a perverse and macabre argument for buying SUVs.
If SUVs are becoming dominant and they put other road users at risk, it makes sense not to be one of those other road users.
I am not suggesting that danger from SUVs is the only reason for the flood of buyers switching to SUVs. But I am suggesting it has helped contribute to a snowballing in demand for SUVs, along with fashion, and changed views about what’s normal.
I’m not sure what can be done at this stage. Higher petrol prices ought to have helped, but they don’t seem to have.
SUV purchases have increased, even as petrol prices have climbed. Extra taxes have been proposed to help curb road deaths, but they mightn’t help either. SUVs are already expensive.
Tighter standards would help
One thing we ought to do straight away is to shift the burden of decision-making from buyers to makers.
Ideally, those standards would require the entire fleet of vehicles sold by each manufacturer to meet a gradually-tightening average efficiency standard.
Putting more electric vehicles into each fleet would help. But so would increasing the efficiency of its conventionally-powered SUVs – which would mean reducing their weight, and with it, their danger to other people on the road.
The design of the scheme is up for grabs, and the Grattan Institute’s Marion Terrill has made a submission.
She says regardless of the switch to electric cars, Australians are going to be buying petrol and diesel vehicles for some time. That’s why it’s so important those cars become as fuel efficient (and, she could add, as safe) as they can be.
The horse-human partnership has existed for around 4,000 years, and humans and horses share a co-evolutionary history. Given this, it’s unsurprising the horse has a high emotional impact.
Tensions around wild horse management also exist in other countries, particularly around mustangs in the United States, which are a federally protected species. However, the Australian context retains a unique flavour: the brumby has become a focus for concerns around what it means to belong in Australia for settler-colonial Australians.
But too often our discussions of brumbies and Australia’s “special” relationship with the horse don’t consider the darker aspects of the horse’s role in Australian history.
Sociologist Catriona Elder has argued ideas about being Australian are fundamentally tied to
a desire for the land, a fear of others who may claim the land and, as a result of this, a deep ambivalence about belonging to this space.
Horses were crucial to the colonisation of this land.
They increased settler mobility in both speed and range. Being mounted offered improved field of vision when deploying a firearm. Even the body of the horse could act as a weapon, particularly when attacking camps. Taken together, the horse represented a devastating tactical advantage to settlers. They proved integral to the frontier violence that created modern-day Australia.
W. A. Cawthorne, 1844, A Fight at the Murray. Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW
Historian Nanette Mantle argues the figure of the stockman is a celebratory story that evolved to mask the dark truth of Aboriginal dispossession.
Richard Swain (Wiradjuri) is an ambassador for the Invasive Species Council and a founding member of Reclaim Kosci, an organisation that seeks to raise awareness about the impacts of feral horses and create support for their humane reduction.
He has been targeted in racist attacks from the pro-horse lobby, including being threatened with the “colonial experience”.
This reference, wielded as a threat, is fitting.
As Tim Flannery writes, The Man from Snowy River is “an archetypal Australian hero – one of the brave Aussies who tamed the rugged land”.
It was these stockmen mounted on horseback, Flannery writes, who were “the shock-troops in our Aboriginal wars”.
Horses also represent a particular identity associated with Britain and Europe.
Compare horses with camels. Camels were integral to the exploration and opening up of inland Australia and, like horses, were used in the battle of Beersheba in the Sinai and Palestine campaign of the first world war. Like brumbies, Australia also has the largest feral camel population in the world.
Camels are culturally and historically significant for Arab peoples, yet here they are routinely culled without a second thought.
Australia has the largest feral camel population in the world. Shutterstock
Despite their long history in Australia, camels are associated with Asia and the Middle East and seen as exotic and foreign. Horses, on the other hand, have Anglo-European connotations that fit comfortably within Australia’s white identity.
As horses that have successfully adapted to Australia’s extreme conditions, brumbies are used to justify the coloniser’s presence on the land: if horses belong, surely we do too.
An evolving conversation
Our thinking about brumbies has evolved in recent years. The debate has moved from uncritically accepting stories of wild horses as part of Australian culture, through debates focused primarily on management, to the current recognition of the role these animals play as cultural markers.
If we can look beyond the celebratory stories and accept the role the horse has played as a highly effective tool of dispossession, we can more readily accept the truth of Australia’s colonisation. From there, we will be better positioned to resolve the brumby debate, able to move forward as a society on a mutually-agreed rather than deeply contested pathway.
Beyond the wild horses, an understanding and acceptance of this element of our dark colonial history may also better enable us to embrace reconciliation.
Aotearoa New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is correct to condemn Hamas killing Israeli civilians in its attacks on Israel this week.
The killing of civilians or taking them hostage is a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention and should be universally condemned.
However, the Labour government has been deathly silent on the war crimes committed by Israel against Palestinians under Labour’s watch these past six years.
Under his prime ministerial watch this year, Chris Hipkins has looked the other way while Israel has built more illegal Israeli settlement homes on Palestinian land; killed more than 250 Palestinian civilians; supported Israeli settler pogroms against Palestinian towns and villages across the occupied West Bank and encouraged highly-provocative Israeli ministerial and settler incursions into the Al Aqsa compound in occupied East Jerusalem.
Why does he only wake up when Israelis are killed? Why does he think Israeli lives are more important than Palestinian lives?
The Prime Minister’s pro-Israel stance is one-sided and blatantly racist.
New Zealand, along with other Western countries, bears heavy responsibility for the deaths of Palestinians and Israelis in recent days because we have never held Israel to account for its crimes against the Palestinian people.
We have given Israel a free pass to murder and abuse Palestinians and this led to the inevitable tragedy last weekend.
It is precisely the attitude of Western leaders such as our Prime Minister which has meant so many lives have been lost.
The Prime Minister has the blood of Palestinians and Israelis on his hands.
John Minto is national chair of Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA).
Gaza Strip . . . about 2.3 million people have been living trapped under an Israeli air, land and sea blockade since 2007. Image: Al Jazeera (CC)
The besieged Gaza Strip The Palestinian enclave — home to about 2.3 million people — has been under an Israeli air, land and sea blockade since 2007, reports Al Jazeera. More than 100,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced and thousands have taken shelter in UN schools as Israeli attacks intensify, forcing Palestinians to flee their homes.
Buildings, mosques and offices have been targeted as Netanyahu promised “mighty vengeance” for the deadly attacks that has sent shockwaves across Israel.
Harrowing images from inside Gaza have emerged with 19 members of a family killed when an air strike on Sunday hit their residential building. More than 60 percent of Gaza’s population are refugees who were ethnically cleansed from their homes currently in Israel.
Israel has maintained a land, sea and air blockade on Gaza since 2007, a year after Hamas was democratically elected into power. The voting came nearly two years after Israeli troops and settlers withdrew from the enclave.
The blockade gives Israel control of Gaza’s borders, and Egypt has stepped in to enforce the western border.
Israel has stated it has blocked the borders to protect its citizens from Hamas, but the act of collective punishment violates the Geneva Conventions and has long been considered illegal by groups including the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane McAdam, Scientia Professor and Director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Sydney
In conflicts around the world, evacuations have long been used to rescue people from serious harm. During the second world war, for instance, thousands of children across Europe were sent to rural areas or abroad under evacuation schemes initiated by governments and child welfare agencies.
The contrast in Gaza today is stark. We are witnessing an urgent, chaotic evacuation ordered by a belligerent party to the conflict, which is fast becoming a humanitarian catastrophe. Israel has told 1.1 million people in northern Gaza to move to the south ahead of an impending ground invasion.
Put yourself, your family, your friends or colleagues into this horror for a moment. How would you evacuate if you or your child was sick? How would you get your elderly parents out if they couldn’t walk? How would you move rapidly to southern Gaza if you had no fuel or transport?
Any of this would be hard at the best of times, let alone in the middle of a war zone, on short notice and with nowhere safe to go. As one 20-year-old woman, who had tried to flee south, said:
I was terrified, I thought I was about to die […] They told us to escape and then they bomb people on the road. My father drove back to Gaza City. He said if we are dying anyway, let’s be at home in Gaza.
Evacuating civilians under international law
Evacuations in armed conflict are strictly governed by international humanitarian law, which seeks to balance military and humanitarian needs. Israel’s warning to civilians in Gaza of impending attacks must be “effective”, meaning it must not only reach people but allow them sufficient time to evacuate safely.
The extremely tight time-frame Israel has given Gaza residents to leave is insufficient and unrealistic for an evacuation of this scale, especially amid its fast-tempo bombardment across the strip and under conditions of total siege.
Israel must also ensure evacuated civilians have the means to survive. International law requires it to allow and facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need. This includes food, water, medical supplies, clothing, bedding, shelter, heating fuel and other supplies and services essential for survival. The starvation of civilians is a war crime.
Yet, Israel unlawfully imposed a “complete siege” of Gaza in response to the Hamas attacks on Israeli border communities last week, ordering no electricity, food, water or gas into the territory.
Cramming more than a million extra people into southern Gaza – doubling its population – will also place impossible strains on its infrastructure, which has already been much degraded by 16 years of blockade.
There is debate over whether Gaza is still legally “occupied” by Israel since the withdrawal of its ground forces in 2005.
The traditional view is that occupation requires Israeli “boots on the ground” to administer Gaza from within. A more contemporary view is that Israel still retains a sufficiently high level of control over life in Gaza, despite its withdrawal of troops. If it is occupied, additional legal rules apply to the present situation.
As an occupying power under international humanitarian law, Israel may order an evacuation for imperative military reasons, or for the safety of civilians, but civilians must still be protected. Specifically, Israel must ensure displaced civilians have adequate shelter, hygiene, health, safety and nutrition, and that family members are not separated.
The specific needs of children, expectant and nursing mothers, people with disabilities and the elderly must be addressed. All of this is on top of the requirement to allow rapid and unimpeded humanitarian relief, which applies regardless of whether Gaza is considered occupied.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the US and Israel have agreed to work on a plan to get humanitarian aid into Gaza and consider ideas for “safe zones” that would theoretically be shielded from strikes, but nothing has been implemented yet, with the situation continuing to deteriorate.
‘Extremely dangerous’
The UN relief agency for Palestinians says it has run out of capacity to help, declaring an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe”.
Gaza is being strangled and it seems that the world right now has lost its humanity.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, the custodian of the law of war, rarely publicly rebukes governments. However, it has also called the evacuation order illegal. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned it, as well, saying it is “extremely dangerous” and potentially impossible.
The World Health Organization criticised Israel’s further orders to evacuate 22 hospitals in northern Gaza, stating that it would “further worsen the current humanitarian and public health catastrophe”.
Forcing more than 2,000 patients to relocate to southern Gaza, where health facilities are already running at maximum capacity and unable to absorb a dramatic rise in the number of patients, could be tantamount to a death sentence.
Treating Gazans as refugees
Gazans are also unable to reach safety in other countries. The border crossing into Egypt remains closed.
Many Palestinians do not want to leave their homeland if there’s a chance they won’t be allowed to return, a risk etched in their collective memory since the exodus of the 1948 war.
But those who do wish to leave are entitled to do so under international law, and other countries must not refuse them entry given the real risk to their lives.
Gazans are normally protected as refugees by the UN relief agency for Palestinians, under a bespoke legal regime.
However, the relief agency’s present inability to provide protection and assistance means Palestinian refugees who do reach another country should be automatically protected as refugees under the 1951 Refugee Convention, without the need for further status determination.
Anyone who refuses to evacuate Gaza – or simply cannot evacuate – remains protected as a civilian. People do not lose that right simply because they stay put.
Ben Saul has engaged in past work with the Israeli Defence Forces (a training seminar, conferences and field visits), the Palestinian Authority (legal advice and research), and Israeli and Palestinian NGOs. He is also an associate fellow with the International Centre for Counter-terrorism in The Hague.
Jane McAdam 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.
Melanesians all across Aotearoa are coming together in Auckland this weekend to celebrate their unique cultural heritage.
This is the second time the annual Melanesian Festival Aotearoa is being held and it is an opportunity for community members from Fiji, Kanaky New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to fully immerse in their culture.
More than 7000 people attended the inaugural event last year which was a huge success.
Cultural performances, musical showcases, traditional food, arts and craft were on display and enjoyed by all.
Festival director Albert Traill said this festival is “something unique for New Zealand because New Zealand is a predominantly Polynesian-based society when it comes to Pacific Islands communities”.
He expressed that sometimes the Melanesian community feel left out or lost in the crowd and their numbers are smaller in comparison to their Polynesian brothers and sisters.
The five Melanesian nations parade their flags . . . Fiji (from left), Kanaky New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. Image: Melanesian Festival Aotearoa
“Melanesian culture and music is really different to Polynesia. Very similar, but it has its own unique feel,” Traill said.
Annual event The community have been talking about organising their own cultural festival for years, and with the support of Creative New Zealand, it is now an annual event.
“It’s an opportunity for our Melanesian community to come out and have a space for us to share our culture, our food, and just to come together and celebrate each other’s identity and culture.
“We love it here in New Zealand because New Zealand is a country that loves and supports cultural diversity.”
Community members sing and dance along. Image: Melanesian Festival Aotearoa
Traill has a smile in his voice as he reflects on the success of last year’s festival, sharing how many of the performances were youth driven.
The young ones spent months researching their countries and consulting with community elders and knowledge holders, to produce outstanding items.
Their pride and passion shone on stage, striking a string in the hearts of their family and friends
‘Everyone in tears’ “And pretty much everyone was in tears hearing them share how special they felt. Normally they get lumped in with Polyfest and, and all the other festivals and stuff. But this one, for the first time ever, they could say, ‘this is my festival. It’s Melanesian’.”
“We’re doing it for the young people,” he says.
“So hopefully one day when we’re not here, they can stand up with the same pride and say, ‘Yeah, you know what? I’m Melanesia. And I’m proud to share my culture’.”
The festival will be held at the Waitemata Rugby Club Grounds in Henderson from 9am onwards with a packed programme.
The cultural performances begin at 10am and there are a few popular reggae artists and bands hailing from the Solomon Islands, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
Community groups from Christchurch, Tauranga, Waikato and Wellington are travelling up to participate and the entertainment will continue until late in the afternoon.
Cultural activation spaces will also be spread around the grounds showcasing the traditional weaving and tapa printing of Melanesia.
Ancient tatooing style The ancient style of Papua New Guinea tattooing will also be on display.
It will be a vibrant hub of cultural identity and heritage and the the organizers warmly welcome any interested ones to come along and join in the celebrations.
“Come and have a look, come and see Melanesia,” Traill said.
“Melanesia is like the Tuakana of the Pacific, the older sibling, the older ancient cultures. You’re looking at 10,000 years of history in the Pacific. A lot of these are ancient old cultures and very complex.”
Young Fijian men prepare for their performance. Image: Melanesian Festival Aotearoa
The organisers expect this year to be even bigger and better, and it will only grow each consecutive year.
They are already looking into further expanding the festival for 2024 and are looking to collaborate with embassies to fly across talented local artists and cultural performance groups to join in next years Melanesia Festival.
Proud family members watch their young ones perform. Image: Melanesian Festival Aotearoa
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brandon Michael Sideleau, PhD student studying human-saltwater crocodile conflict, Charles Darwin University
Shutterstock
On January 4 this year, a three-metre saltwater crocodile heaved itself out of the water and up the beach. Nothing unusual about that – except this croc was on Legian Beach, one of Bali’s most popular spots. The emaciated reptile later died.
Only four months later, a large crocodile killed a man who was spearfishing with friends in Lombok’s Awang Bay, about 100 kilometres east of Bali. Authorities caught it and transferred it to captivity.
You might not associate crocodiles with Bali. But the saltwater crocodile once roamed most of Indonesia’s waters, and attacks are still common in some regions. I have been collecting records of crocodilian attacks since 2010, as the creator of the worldwide database CrocAttack. What’s new is that they’re beginning to return to areas where they were wiped out.
Does this mean tourists and residents should be wary? It’s unlikely these islands can host anywhere near the same population densities as the wide, fish-filled rivers of Australia’s tropical north. And in Bali, it’s unlikely we’ll see any crocodile recovery because of the importance of beaches to tourism and a high human population.
This 4.6-metre saltwater crocodile was captured in Lombok after the fatal attack in May. Bali Reptile Rescue, CC BY-ND
What happened to Indonesia’s crocodiles?
Saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) are also known as estuarine crocodiles, as they prefer to live in mangrove-lined rivers. They’re the largest living reptile, reaching up to seven metres in length – far larger than Indonesia’s famous Komodo dragon, which tops out at three metres.
Crocodiles in Bali and Lombok were killed off by the mid-20th century, and later across Java. But they survived in more remote parts of the island nation.
Salties are now being regularly sighted in Indonesia’s densely populated island of Java, including in seas off Jakarta. At least 70 people are killed by crocs every year across the archipelago, with the highest numbers of attacks being reported from the Bangka-Belitung islands off Sumatra and the provinces of East Kalimantan, East Nusa Tenggara, and Riau.
Are crocodiles returning in numbers?
These incidents means numbers are increasing. But recovery may not be as significant as it seems.
On many Indonesian islands, there’s very limited mangrove habitat suitable for crocodiles, and many creeks and rivers may be naturally too small for more than a small number of them. Even a small population recovery could quickly fill up the croc capacity of estuaries and creeks. These crocodiles are the most territorial of all crocodilians. Dominant males push out smaller male crocodiles, who set out in search of new habitat.
To date, Indonesia’s crocodile surveys reveal mostly small and low-density populations. But even the arrival of a single crocodile into human territory can spark conflict – and threaten the conservation of the species.
Worldwide, saltwater crocodiles are listed as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, thanks to their full population recovery in parts of northern Australia after hunting was banned in the early 1970s. But in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam the species is extinct.
You might look at a map and think crocodiles moving back into Bali are coming from Australia. But there is currently no evidence of significant crocodile movement between Australia and Indonesia. It would be a brave crocodile to swim more than 1,000 kilometres from Australia to Bali.
What we are likely witnessing is a crocodile exodus from nearby areas, though we would need to do genetic analysis to prove it. That’s because the surviving croc population centres are much closer than Australia. For Bali and Lombok, crocodiles are likely migrating from the islands to the east, such as Flores, Lembata, Sumba and Timor.
The most likely source of Java’s crocodile arrivals is southern Sumatra, which is less than 30km from Java at its nearest. This area has long been prone to crocodile attacks.
The spike in sightings and attacks suggests we’re going to have to find ways of living alongside these reptiles. The coastal waters and estuaries of Lombok and western Java are now likely home to a small resident population.
What can be done to prevent attacks? First, people have to know that crocs are back. Increasing crocodile awareness and caution is vital to save lives.
Some researchers believe attacks on us and our livestock get more likely if mangroves have been destroyed or fishing grounds fished out. Protecting crocodile habitat and prey species can both secure the future of the species and cut the risk of attacks.
Does it mean you should cancel your next Bali trip? No. While restoration efforts have brought back tracts of mangroves along some coastlines in Bali, the sheer popularity of the island means it’s unlikely any crocodile population will ever be reestablished there.
But we could well see crocodiles slowly return to less populated parts of Java and Lombok. While that may fill us with anxiety, they’re a vital part of the ecosystem. Crocodiles are meant to be there.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Goldstein, Associate Professor, Dianoia Institute of Philosophy, Australian Catholic University, Australian Catholic University
In 1950, British computer scientist Alan Turing proposed an experimental method for answering the question: can machines think? He suggested if a human couldn’t tell whether they were speaking to an artificially intelligent (AI) machine or another human after five minutes of questioning, this would demonstrate AI has human-like intelligence.
Although AI systems remained far from passing Turing’s test during his lifetime, he speculated that
“[…] in about fifty years’ time it will be possible to programme computers […] to make them play the imitation game so well that an average interrogator will not have more than 70% chance of making the right identification after five minutes of questioning.
Today, more than 70 years after Turing’s proposal, no AI has managed to successfully pass the test by fulfilling the specific conditions he outlined. Nonetheless, as some headlinesreflect, a few systems have come quite close.
One recent experiment tested three large language models, including GPT-4 (the AI technology behind ChatGPT). The participants spent two minutes chatting with either another person or an AI system. The AI was prompted to make small spelling mistakes – and quit if the tester became too aggressive.
With this prompting, the AI did a good job of fooling the testers. When paired with an AI bot, testers could only correctly guess whether they were talking to an AI system 60% of the time.
Given the rapid progress achieved in the design of natural language processing systems, we may see AI pass Turing’s original test within the next few years.
But is imitating humans really an effective test for intelligence? And if not, what are some alternative benchmarks we might use to measure AI’s capabilities?
Limitations of the Turing test
While a system passing the Turing test gives us some evidence it is intelligent, this test is not a decisive test of intelligence. One problem is it can produce “false negatives”.
Today’s large language models are often designed to immediately declare they are not human. For example, when you ask ChatGPT a question, it often prefaces its answer with the phrase “as an AI language model”. Even if AI systems have the underlying ability to pass the Turing test, this kind of programming would override that ability.
The test also risks certain kinds of “false positives”. As philosopher Ned Block pointed out in a 1981 article, a system could conceivably pass the Turing test simply by being hard-coded with a human-like response to any possible input.
Beyond that, the Turing test focuses on human cognition in particular. If AI cognition differs from human cognition, an expert interrogator will be able to find some task where AIs and humans differ in performance.
Regarding this problem, Turing wrote:
This objection is a very strong one, but at least we can say that if, nevertheless, a machine can be constructed to play the imitation game satisfactorily, we need not be troubled by this objection.
In other words, while passing the Turing test is good evidence a system is intelligent, failing it is not good evidence a system is not intelligent.
Moreover, the test is not a good measure of whether AIs are conscious, whether they can feel pain and pleasure, or whether they have moral significance. According to many cognitive scientists, consciousness involves a particular cluster of mental abilities, including having a working memory, higher-order thoughts, and the ability to perceive one’s environment and model how one’s body moves around it.
The Turing test does not answer the question of whether or not AI systems have these abilities.
The Turing test is based on a certain logic. That is: humans are intelligent, so anything that can effectively imitate humans is likely to be intelligent.
But this idea doesn’t tell us anything about the nature of intelligence. A different way to measure AI’s intelligence involves thinking more critically about what intelligence is.
There is currently no single test that can authoritatively measure artificial or human intelligence.
At the broadest level, we can think of intelligence as the ability to achieve a range of goals in different environments. More intelligent systems are those which can achieve a wider range of goals in a wider range of environments.
As such, the best way to keep track of advances in the design of general-purpose AI systems is to assess their performance across a variety of tasks. Machine learning researchers have developed a range of benchmarks that do this.
For example, GPT-4 was able to correctly answer 86% of questions in massive multitask language understanding – a benchmark measuring performance on multiple choice tests across a range of college-level academic subjects.
It also scored favourably in AgentBench, a tool that can measure a large language model’s ability to behave as an agent by, for example, browsing the web, buying products online and competing in games.
Is the Turing test still relevant?
The Turing test is a measure of imitation – of AI’s ability to simulate the human behaviour. Large language models are expert imitators, which is now being reflected in their potential to pass the Turing test. But intelligence is not the same as imitation.
There are as many types of intelligence as there are goals to achieve. The best way to understand AI’s intelligence is to monitor its progress in developing a range of important capabilities.
At the same time, it’s important we don’t keep “changing the goalposts” when it comes to the question of whether AI is intelligent. Since AI’s capabilities are rapidly improving, critics of the idea of AI intelligence are constantly finding new tasks AI systems may struggle to complete – only to find they have jumped over yet another hurdle.
In this setting, the relevant question isn’t whether AI systems are intelligent — but more precisely, what kinds of intelligence they may have.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
They don’t treat you like a person. They treat you like an ‘it’.
This was how Richard*, who has an intellectual disability, described his general experiences with medical professionals.
He was among 18 adults with intellectual disability and eight support people we spoke to for a study on how people with intellectual disability have experienced medical care. We were especially interested in experiences with genetic health care (where, for example, a person may get genetic testing to learn more about their disability).
This work, part of a broader body of research on intellectual disability and medical care, has revealed an urgent need to shift the deeply entrenched assumptions many health-care workers often hold about patients with intellectual disability.
Our research suggests health professionals need training to deliver more inclusive, person-centred and respectful health care.
Our team included not just genetics researchers, bioethicists and disability education researchers but also adjunct lecturer Julie Loblinzk OAM, a mother and self-advocate leader with intellectual disability (who is also a co-author on this article).
Together, we formed the inclusive research group GeneEQUAL.
We set out to involve people with lived experience of intellectual disability in the project design, implementation and interpretation.
We’ve now produced a number of studies revealing the startling extent to which people with intellectual disability are often excluded from discussions about their own health.
People with intellectual disability told us how they generally felt cut out of their own health-care appointments, as health-care practitioners often spoke to their support person or family member instead of to them.
Many spoke of how little effort health-care professionals often put in to use accessible language or offer easy-to-read materials. As Lillian told us:
It’s very hard to read the form? Even my mum found it hard to read.
This meant people with intellectual disability were often unsure why they were having a genetic test at all.
Many felt excluded from decisions about consent for genetic tests, or even what was talked about in the appointment.
The video below shows an all-too-common experience for people with intellectual disability seeing a doctor for genetic testing.
The next video, by contrast, shows what accessible, inclusive and respectful practice would look like.
Genetic counselling is often emotionally triggering. It touches on deeply personal issues of identity, health implications for children and extended family, and future health. For example, after a genetic diagnosis Katrina said:
I feel like I’m not normal now. And I’ve told people about it, and they’re my friends and family and they don’t mean to pick on me about it, but they look like, ‘You’re just a retard. You’re not all there now’.
Three participants said they’d considered suicide after their diagnosis.
However, people with intellectual disability told us they were rarely connected with appropriate psychological supports after their diagnosis. There is also a shortage of these kinds of supports. One interviewee, Katarina, told us:
you’ve got to watch the way you present things to us, because we will just break down and cry and think it’s other things […] we get very, like, broken-hearted about things. We dwell on it, we stew on it.
The deficit-based language of genetics is peppered with words such as mutation, risk, impairment and abnormality. This can reinforce people’s lifelong experiences of bullying and stigma. As Aaron told us:
In my mind, Mum has said to me, ‘You’re missing a bad chromosome’. […] I knew I wasn’t normal to others – I knew I was missing, some part of my brain has gone missing.
All of this means the potential benefits of a genetic diagnosis were often wasted.
Virtually none of the participants in our research knew the name or nature of their genetic condition, let alone what health checks or therapies were recommended.
Worse, their ongoing health-care teams (including their GPs) were often equally in the dark.
Genetic counselling is often emotionally triggering. Shutterstock
Failing to address this means fewer people with intellectual disability getting health checks and screenings, leading to poorer long-term health. The average life expectancy of Australians with intellectual disability is already shockingly low compared to the general population.
But slowly, change is underway.
Based on our research, NSW Health funded our team to work with self-advocacy groups and health-care professionals to co-produce the GeneEQUAL Educational Toolkit. This resource empowers medical professionals to deliver better, more equitable genetic healthcare and features Easy Read booklets about genetic conditions and clinics.
People with intellectual disability identified three key guiding principles. Health-care professionals need to:
make reasonable adjustments, such as allowing long enough appointments to explain options in an understandable way
practice person-centred care, such as making genetic reports and letters available in Easy Read (a style of presenting information simple and easy-to-understand ways) and ensuring the genetic diagnosis and management plan is shared with the patient themselves, their support person and their clinical team
offer choices and deliver trauma-informed care, given the high rate of abuse and stigma experienced by people with intellectual disability; language should be strengths-based and environments welcoming.
This toolkit has been widely used in Australia and internationally since its launch, with many showing interest not just in the content but also in the collaborative way it was produced.
*Names changed to protect identities. If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Elizabeth Emma Palmer has received funding from the NHMRC and NSW Health. She is a clinical geneticist at Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network-Randwick and a member of the medical and scientific advisory committee for Rare Voices Australia, the national peak body for Australians living with a rare condition.
Iva Strnadová has received funding from the NHMRC and the NSW Department of Health. She is also a Board member of Self Advocacy Sydney, an organisation run by and for people with intellectual disability.
The institute that Jackie Leach Scully directs has received funding from the NHMRC and the NSW Department of Health.
Julie Loblinzk has received funding from the NHMRC and the NSW Department of Health. She is also a Board member of Self Advocacy Sydney, an organisation run by and for people with intellectual disability.
It might sound like science fiction, but “marine cloud brightening” is being seriously considered as a way to shield parts of the ocean from extreme heat.
We’re using water canons to spray seawater into the sky. This causes brighter, whiter clouds to form. These low marine clouds reflect sunlight away from the ocean’s surface, protecting the marine life below from the worst of climate change.
Australia’s Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program – a collaboration between several universities, CSIRO and the Australian Institute of Marine Science – is exploring whether cloud brightening could reduce coral bleaching. As an oceanographer and engineer I lead the program’s research into cooling and shading techniques.
We started exploring cloud brightening after the mass bleaching event in 2016. First, we needed to develop and test the underlying technologies in the lab. Then we began pilot testing in the central Great Barrier Reef near Townsville during January 2020. After several iterations we have now moved beyond “proof of concept” to investigating the response of the clouds themselves.
The Cloud Brightening Field Trip of 2021 (Southern Cross University)
British cloud physicist John Latham originally proposed cloud brightening in 1990 as a way to control global warming by altering Earth’s energy balance. He calculated that brightening clouds across the most susceptible regions of the world’s oceans could counteract the global warming caused by a doubling of preindustrial atmospheric carbon dioxide. That’s a level likely to be reached by the year 2060.
Recently, scientists have begun to consider regional rather than global application of cloud brightening. Could brightening clouds directly over the Great Barrier Reef for a few months reduce coral bleaching during a marine heat wave?
Modelling studies are encouraging and suggest it could delay the expected decline in coral cover. This could buy valuable time for the reef while the world transitions away from fossil fuels.
Lowering the heat stress on the ecosystem would produce other benefits when combined with other reef interventions – such as improved control of invasive crown of thorns starfish and planting of corals with increased heat tolerance.
But these studies also show there’s a limit to what can be achieved. Long-term benefits are only possible if the cloud brightening activity occurs alongside aggressive emissions reductions.
Cloud brightening does have risks as well as benefits, but the prospect of intermittent regional use is very different to large-scale “solar geo-engineering” proposals for shading and cooling the whole planet.
We expect the regional effect will be short-lived and reversible, which is reassuring. The technology must be operated continuously to modify clouds and could be stopped at any time. The sea salt particles sprayed in the process typically only persist in the atmosphere for one to several days.
Southern Cross University’s aerosol and cloud microphysics aircraft operating over the Southern Great Barrier Reef. Southern Cross University
A warm cloud (as opposed to an ice cloud) is a collection of small water droplets floating in the air.
A cloud of many small droplets is brighter than one with fewer large droplets – even if both clouds contain the same amount of water overall.
Every droplet begins with the condensation of water vapour around a nucleus, which can be almost any kind of tiny particle suspended in air.
Typically, in the lower atmosphere over land there are thousands to tens of thousands of these tiny particles suspended in every cubic centimetre of air. We call these airborne particles “aerosols”.
Aerosols may be natural such as dust, sea salt, pollen, ash and sulphates. Or they may come from human activity such as burning fossil fuels or vegetation, manufacturing, vehicle exhaust and aerosol spray cans.
When a cloud forms under these conditions, water vapour is forced to condense around fewer nuclei, creating larger droplets and fewer of them. Large droplets reflect less light for the same volume of cloud water.
To brighten such clouds, we can spray large quantities of microscopic seawater droplets into the air. This process of atomising seawater mimics the generation of sea salt aerosols by wind and waves in the ocean. If these are incorporated into a cloud and create extra droplets, the cloud will be brightened.
The latest cloud brightening generator (V model) in action. Southern Cross University
Testing the theory
Although scientists have researched cloud brightening for more than 30 years, no one had ever directly tested the theory. In Australia, we have now developed technology to a point where we are starting to measure the response of the clouds.
We are beginning such tests with the support and permission of Traditional Owners, who have sustainably managed their Sea Country for tens of thousands of years.
Our research program involves more than 15 research institutions and has multiple levels of governance and oversight.
Most people probably don’t realise we are already inadvertently brightening the clouds. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates humanity’s unintentional release of aerosols offsets around 30% of the warming effect due to greenhouse gases.
Sulphates in ship exhaust are such a potent source of aerosols for droplet formation, the passage of ships leaves cloud trails called ship tracks.
When the International Maritime Organisation introduced new rules limiting the sulphur content of marine fuels, the number and extent of ship tracks drastically reduced, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. A recent study even suggests the devastating heat wave that swept the Northern Hemisphere earlier this year was worsened by the absence of ship tracks.
The world-first research we are conducting in Australia aims to determine if we could harness the clouds in an effective, environmentally responsible and socially acceptable manner for the future conservation of one of our most precious ecosystems.
Daniel Patrick Harrison receives funding from the The Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program which is funded by the partnership between the Australian Governments Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.
He would like to acknowledge the many indigenous traditional owners of the Great Barrier Reef whom have supported this work and thank them for their valuable insights and contribution to the design and conduct of the research.
Viewed from the Voyager 1 space probe as it passed beyond the edge of the solar system, Earth and Venus might not look too different – same diameter, similar mass and distance from the Sun.
But from a human perspective, Venus is a hostile spot. Its much denser atmosphere enables a greenhouse effect on steroids, with surface temperatures approaching 500°C.
An image of Venus captured from a spacecraft. NASA, CC BY-SA
While the timeline that brought Venus’ climate to where it is today is still being researched, the critical difference between the two planetary systems is the ocean. Venus possibly never had one, but oceans on Earth have shielded us from the worst climate impacts by storing around 90% of the heat captured by the changing atmosphere.
We have managed to land a camera on the surface of Venus, with the Soviet space probe Venera 9 in 1975. Like the “Earth rise” image captured during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968, this again proved the power of visual imagery. Yet we’re still learning about our own oceans.
The first images of the surface of Venus arrived a year before we discovered mid-ocean hydrothermal vents and three years before we first looked beneath an Antarctic ice shelf.
If we want to better understand the climate-regulating role of Earth’s oceans, we must increase the effort we put into observing them, with a focus on our planet’s largest heat sink, the Southern Ocean.
Sea ice up against an ice shelf. Craig Stevens/K132/NIWA, CC BY-SA
Direct observations
Thanks to a variety of Earth-orbiting satellites and resource-intensive computer simulations, we have made progress in observing Earth’s oceans.
But as powerful and all-encompassing as these observations are, we still make surprise discoveries, such as vent systems on the seafloor and life in under-ice cavities. This is why we need to continue exploring and ramp up our capacity to measure the oceans directly.
Nowhere is this more true than in the Southern Ocean, the connector of all oceans.
Several unique features distinguish the Southern Ocean from Earths’ other oceans. One is Antarctica’s sea ice – the continent’s skirt of frozen ocean that comes and goes with the seasons.
The dramatic decline in Antarctic sea ice is of concern to the climate science community because of its several major roles: as a mirror that reflects solar energy back into space, a pump that ventilates the deep ocean, and an essential habitat for polar life, from algae to Emperor penguins.
The Southern Ocean’s other unique feature is the Antarctic Circumpolar Current – a massive flywheel of energy driven by winds, spinning non-stop from west to east. The flow rate in this giant ocean current dwarfs even the largest river, the Amazon, by three orders of magnitude.
Ocean sensors being retrieved by the Korean icebreaker IBRV Araon in Robertson Bay, Antarctica. Fiona Elliott/NIWA/ANTA1801, CC BY-SA
Fostering collaboration
The rapid changes in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica make it clear we need to increase our capacity to observe and measure this environment. But it is a very expensive place to work.
While it is not quite Venus in terms of difficulty, measurements have to target and prioritise the major science questions.
Earlier this year, more than 300 researchers gathered for the first Southern Ocean Observing Symposium in Hobart to express their growing concern. They came together to assess the state of the ocean and to develop new ways to collaborate, share information and to connect efforts from national research programmes as much as possible.
A recent analysis looked at how we might measure connections between the Ross Sea and far-East Antarctica. These are critical because major ice-free ocean areas, known as polynyas, and the massive ice shelf in the Ross Sea region, influence waters flowing westward into East Antarctica.
The risks of the unknown
We are entering a new era of observing the Southern Ocean. The urgency of the climate emergency has prompted a range of new technologies to be deployed to monitor and understand the changing conditions, including a fleet of autonomous Argo floats that monitor temperature and salinity at depth.
It isn’t cheap to track changes in such a remote location. Sending ships and deploying robust instrumentation, and then retrieving the gear and data, all adds up. But it is almost certainly far less expensive than responding to the impacts of climate change.
The lack of direct observations is one reason we continue to be surprised by changes in the region. As a community, we have been caught out by the sudden decline in sea ice around Antarctica. But the lack of a consistent method to measure sea ice thickness over large areas has been a known major gap in our knowledge for decades.
The Venus analogy may be a stretch, but there is little doubt the observations in the Southern Ocean and around Antarctica are a harbinger of changes to a climate system that, to date, has enabled our species and cultures to flourish.
Craig Stevens receives funding from the New Zealand Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), Antarctica New Zealand Antarctic Science Platform (ASP), MBIE Strategic Science Investment Fund and the New Zealand Royal Society Te Apārangi Marsden Fund. He is on the Council of the New Zealand Association of Scientists.
Natalie Robinson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
There is a huge amount of pressure on parents today – from feeding babies the “best organic purees” to making sure older children get all the developmental opportunities they could possibly need, while of course documenting the whole thing on Instagram.
There is also no shortage of advice about how to go about this. Just as there is no shortage of debate about the “best way” to parent your child.
But what if parents just focused on being a “good enough parent” instead? You do not have to be perfect in order to do a good job of raising a child. In fact, it may be better if you are not.
We know parenting matters in a child’s life. Research tell us parents influence their child’s development, resilience and expectations of themselves and others. This in turn determines their behaviour and wellbeing.
He found children actually benefit from mothers who “fail” them in some ways.
This does not mean parents can neglect or minimise their role in making sure children are safe where they live, learn and play. Children also need to have their emotional needs met. They need to know they are loved and feel a sense of belonging.
But good enough parenting recognises parental failure is an inevitable part of life. Experiencing sadness, tears and anger are part of childhood and parents should allow children to gradually tolerate some frustration. The good enough parent realises it is not possible to be available and immediately responsive all of the time.
Winnicott noted when babies are very little, their needs are attended to almost immediately. If a baby cries, the parent will feed or change them.
But as the child grows, they do not necessarily have to have their needs met immediately. Parents can allow them to develop a tolerance for some uncertainty – or things not going the way they wanted – while still caring and responding to their basic needs.
This is important because life does not always go as we expect it to and children need to develop resilience.
What does good enough parenting look like everyday?
As a starting point, ask yourself “what does my child need from me?”
Good enough parenting focuses on tuning in to and responding to your child’s emotions and needs. These needs will change over time. For example, a good enough parent realises they need to respond quickly to their baby’s hunger cry. Whereas a teenager is learning to navigate life. A good enough parent will at times have to allow their child to face consequences of their choices.
At the same time, don’t try and “stop” emotions. Good enough parenting is about being there for your child if they are sad or angry, but not preventing them from being sad or angry in the first place. It can be helpful to think about suffering as not caused from emotional pain but from avoidance of uncomfortable emotions.
And don’t set unrealistic standards for your child. For example, if it’s dinner time and they are tired and hungry, don’t expect them to tidy their room.
Don’t suppress or ‘stop’ emotions if your child is upset. Instead, try and empathise with them. Yan Krukau/Pexels
Set boundaries
Being a good enough parent also means accepting your child for who they are. Children need unconditional love from a parental figure to develop a healthy sense of self. So, if you have a child who is more interested in soccer than maths (or vice versa) don’t try and change them.
At the same time, do set boundaries – such as “please don’t interrupt me when I’m talking” or “I’d like you to knock before you come into my room” – and try and be consistent about enforcing them. Not only does this help define your relationships (as a parent and child, not two friends), it also teaches your child about healthy boundaries in any relationship.
Things won’t always go to plan
As we know, things won’t always go as we want or expect. So if you feel angry with your child, model how to emotionally regulate and try and talk to them as calmly as you can. If you make a mistake – such as raising your voice or losing your temper – apologise.
But also find ways to give yourself a break. This means you will have the energy and capacity to parent tomorrow and into the future.
And ask for help when you need it. This could be from your partner, family or professionals, such as a GP, family counsellor or psychologist. Remember, this is about being good enough, not super human.
Cher McGillivray does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
When was the last time you used cash? For many Australians using cash or even swiping a card has become a rare event.
The move towards a cashless society started 50 years ago with the introduction of the Bankcard and was driven by technological advancements. But it really took off with the COVID pandemic when consumers and retailers were reluctant to handle potentially infected notes and coins.
The federal government last week underscored its recognition of this trend by unveiling reforms to regulate digital payment providers. Treasurer Jim Chalmers said:
As payments increasingly become digital, our payments system needs to remain fit for purpose so that it delivers for consumers and small businesses. We want to make sure the shift to digital payments occurs in a way that promotes greater competition, innovation and productivity across our entire economy.
From big cities to remote rural corners the shift towards digital payments is evident. This raises the question, is a cashless society inevitable?
The phenomenal growth of the digital payments
The convenience of digital transactions has become irresistible for consumers and businesses and has led to the sector eclipsing traditional payment methods.
The relentless march of technology has produced myriad innovative platforms from mobile wallets to buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) schemes, each vying for a piece of this burgeoning market.
A recent report by the Australian Banking Association paints a vivid picture of the digital payment industry’s explosive expansion.
The use of digital wallet payments on smartphones and watches has soared from $746 million in 2018 to over $93 billion in 2022. Cash only accounts for 13% of consumer payments in Australia as of the end of 2022, a stark contrast to 70% in 2007.
Digital wallets are popular with most age groups. Young Australians aged between 18 and 29 are leading the pack, with two thirds using digital wallets to pay for goods and services.
About 40% of Australians are comfortable leaving home without their actual wallets or even credit or debit cards, as long as they have their mobile devices with digital wallets.
The astonishing speed at which Australians have embraced digital payments places the country among the top users of cashless payments globally, surpassing the United States and European countries.
Digital wallets are not the only players in this space. The use of BNPL products is also growing rapidly in Australia, which was where many of the large-scale products in this category started.
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) reports the total value of all BNPL transactions increased by 79% in the 2018–19 financial year. This continues into 2022 with an annual growth beyond 30% according to the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).
PayID and PayPal payments are also claiming their shares in this space.
Are government regulations necessary?
The government’s planned regulation of the system, contained in amendments to the Reforms to the Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998, is a big step towards establishing a secure and trustworthy cashless society in Australia.
It will subject BNPL and digital wallet service providers like Apple Pay and Google Pay to the same oversight by the RBA as traditional credit and debit cards.
The regulations will require providers meet clear standards for security measures, data protection and dispute resolution to give Australians confidence their funds and personal information are safeguarded.
With increasing concern over cyber attacks, the regulations will help reduce the risk of fraudulent activities and money laundering and help identify suspicious transactions, maintaining the integrity of the financial system.
Also, regulation will promote fair competition and market stability by levelling the playing field and by preventing monopolies.
While banks support the forthcoming regulation, new market players are less positive. For example, Apple Pay says it is merely providing technical architecture rather than payment services.
The current regulatory debate is not new. When credit cards made their debut in Australia in the early 1970s, there were hardly any safeguards for consumers. This led to card users being hit with high interest rates on money owed, sneaky fees and aggressive marketing tactics.
Consequently, regulations were introduced to hold card providers to a standard of responsible behaviour. Today, they must openly disclose interest rates, fees and charges, and follow stringent guidelines in advertising their products and services.
Regulating digital wallet providers strikes a crucial balance between innovation and accountability, ensuring life-changing technology continues to serve the public interest.
The shift towards a cashless society in Australia isn’t just a possibility, it’s already well underway.
The blend of technological advancements, changing consumer preferences and regulatory adaptations has set the stage for this transformation. The new regulations will help Australians navigate this transition more confidently.
Angel Zhong does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Halloween season is here, bringing with it the promise of new horrors at the box office. This year it’s all about renewed cinematic horrors.
Alongside the tenth Saw film, there is The Exorcist: Believer, directed by David Gordon Green, the sixth Exorcist film and the first instalment of a new trilogy which cost US$400 million in worldwide rights alone.
Believer follows certain rules and conventions with roots in William Peter Blatty’s bestselling 1971 novel: think demonic possession, projectile vomiting and spinning heads. Aficionados expect these things from works bearing The Exorcist imprimatur.
Green’s film manages to hit these markers – albeit with a twist.
Believer is a “retcon”, an example of retroactive continuity: a movie which ignores or re-imagines events in previous films.
Believer follows directly on from the plot of William Friedkin’s masterly adaptation 1973 of Blatty’s book, while disregarding all other films (and the underrated television series) in the franchise.
However, what seems at first blush to be an innovative approach to franchise movie-making is, in truth, nothing more than a creative dead end – a futile exercise in cinematic nostalgia.
The retcon is not a new phenomenon (Arthur Conan Doyle’s resurrection of Sherlock Holmes being a case in point), but the concept has become ubiquitous in recent years.
Green has form with the genre. He was also behind the Halloween trilogy (2018–22), drawing on the 1978 film of the same name.
The 2018 Halloween made over US$250 million at the global box office and breathed new commercial life into a desiccated corpse of a franchise.
There were nine Halloween films between the first in 1978 and Green’s in 2018, but Green simply disregards the sequels while subtly tweaking the ending of the original.
Green’s slasher picks up after the first Halloween left off, with scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis reprising her role as Laurie Strode.
This is where things take a discernibly revisionist
turn. For those who haven’t seen it: the original Halloween climaxes with a confrontation between the teenage babysitter Laurie and the franchise’s unstoppable antagonist, Michael Myers (Nick Castle).
After a seemingly deadly struggle, Michael disappears into thin air. Having evaded capture, Michael then returns in the 1981 sequel to wreak further havoc.
In Green’s revisionary sequel, set 40 years after the original, the story presupposes Michael was captured and imprisoned immediately after his brutal killing spree. Disregarding the sequels, the 2018 iteration begins with Michael still incarcerated.
Suffice it to say, once things get going, it doesn’t take him long to break out.
By pretending there is only one Halloween, Green gives himself space to spruce up the original mythology, while re-imagining it for a modern audience.
(The 2018 film was a financial and critical success. The same, sadly, cannot be said of the two cinematicbombs that followed.)
A pale rehash
This brings us to The Exorcist: Believer.
Green clearly thinks he has found a winning recipe with legacy sequels and retcons.
In keeping with other legacy sequels, both Halloween and Believer rely on hefty doses of celluloid gravitas and pre-existing star power.
Where the 2018 Halloween had Curtis as a damaged, alcoholic Laurie, the 2023 Exorcist has the 90-year-old Ellen Burstyn returning as Chris MacNeil.
In the original, Chris’s daughter Regan (Linda Blair) falls victim to demonic possession. In Believer, Chris, who has written a bestselling memoir about Regan’s possession, is now a leading authority on demonology. She somehow ends up attempting an impromptu exorcism.
It does not go well.
As with the 2018 Halloween, Believer also assumes there is only one Exorcist film in existence. This approach has benefits: it means Green doesn’t have to worry about the notorious 1977 sequel, the worst film of all time.
Believer’s plot focuses on two friends, Katherine (Olivia O’Neill) and Angela (Lidya Jewett), who head into the woods to commune with the dead. They vanish. Once reunited with their families, it becomes clear something is amiss. Things go from awful to catastrophic, and various personages and priests try to help. Cue the pea soup.
If this sounds more or less like a pale rehash of Friedkin’s Exorcist, that is because it pretty much is. The only difference is the crushingly dull (and not scary) Believer features not one but two possessed girls.
In the lead up to the film’s release, Green claimed he wanted to leave his directorial mark on the world of the Exorcist, while simultaneously breaking the rules of what he considers the Holy Grail of horror franchises.
Ultimately, the film fails on all fronts. From the opening shot of two dogs fighting in a Haitian street (a callback to the dramatic prologue of Friedkin’s box-office smash) to the entirely predictable final act, it is clear what we have here is an empty exercise in brand recognition. It is hard not to feel short-changed.
Green’s execrable new Exorcist is not only one the most breathtakingly cynical movies of recent memory – it serves as an indictment of what cultural theorist Mark Fisher once condemned as the creative paucity of retcon culture in general.
It is very difficult to care about films of this sort, the cinematic equivalent of, in Fisher’s memorable phrase, “microwave-reheated comfort food”.
Had he lived long enough, I imagine Friedkin’s head would have been left swivelling at the horror of it all.
And to think: there are two retconned Exorcist sequels still to come. This is truly the stuff of filmic nightmares.
Alexander Howard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Auckland Museum lit its building up in blue and white. On social media, the museum said it had lit up “in solidarity with Israel”.
“Our thoughts go out to the many civilians impacted as a result of the terrorist attack a week ago,” the museum had said.
“As a war memorial, we value the importance of peaceful dialogue and understanding.
“We condemn all acts of violence and terrorism. This evening the museum is lit in blue and white in condemnation and as an expression of hope for peace.”
Researcher Dr Arama Rata said within hours, about 100 people had gathered outside the museum, many holding Palestine flags and chanting “Free Palestine”.
She said a verbal confrontation arose between the Palestine supporters and a group of Israel supporters.
Red fabric-covered lights Dr Rata said Palestine supporters subsequently covered the lights with red fabric blacking out the display.
She said the museum must issue a formal apology to the community, saying its actions have caused deep divisions for people who are already hurting.
Alternative Jewish Voices co-founder Marilyn Garson, a Jewish woman who spent four years in Gaza providing humanitarian aid to shelters, said the board of the War Memorial Museun was either partisan, or uninformed.
“They feel solidarity only with Israel. So they single out one acknowledged crime while massive crimes against Palestinians are unfolding. I don’t understand how Palestinian civilians can be invisible to the board of a war museum,” she said.
“It seems to me that it is the antithesis of a war memorial’s mission to downgrade some human lives. They’re saying that they feel for these civilians and not those civilians. So someone really doesn’t understand the concept of civilian safety.
“A war memorial should act to hold back the violence, they need to learn into their blind spot. I want them to call for the end of this horror.”
Personally apologised In a statement, chief executive David Reeves said he personally apologised and they were reviewing the feedback they had received from Sunday night.
“I acknowledge the depth of feeling around our decision to light the museum on Sunday night,” Reeves said.
“We wanted this to be an expression of hope for peace — our approach was wrong, and I personally apologise for the distress and hurt caused to members of our community,” he said.
“I am carefully reviewing and reflecting on all of the feedback we have received. As a War Memorial Museum, we continue to hope for deeper understanding and a peaceful resolution to conflict.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vasso Apostolopoulos, Professor of Immunology, Vice-Chancellors Distinguished Professorial Fellow, Head of Immunology and Translational Research, Victoria University
So what exactly is tuberculosis, how is it treated and what is Australia doing to prevent its transmission?
It starts as a respiratory infection
Tuberculosis, caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, starts as a respiratory infection when inhaled.
Once in the lungs, the immune system responds by forming granulomas, clusters of immune cells (mainly macrophages and T cells), in an attempt to contain the infection.
Over time, some granulomas may calcify, with calcium salts accumulating within these structures.
These calcifications are visible on X-rays and indicate latent tuberculosis infection. This means the Mycobacterium tuberculosis are in a dormant state, causing no immediate symptoms but posing a potential risk of reactivation if the host’s immune defences weaken.
Reactivation can lead to active tuberculosis, characterised by symptoms such as a persistent cough, fever, weight loss and fatigue.
Active tuberculosis is contagious, especially when it affects the lungs, as it primarily spreads through respiratory droplets released during coughing or sneezing.
Early treatment is key
Early diagnosis and treatment reduces the infectious period and helps prevent spreading the disease to others. It can also halt the progression of a latent infection to active disease.
Delayed treatment can lead to complications such as lung damage and scarring; damage to the bones, kidneys, lymph nodes and central nervous system; and infection in the brain and spinal cord. Delayed treatment can also be fatal.
However, it can be lengthy, lasting several months or more. This can be physically and emotionally challenging for patients, especially as it includes periods of isolation.
Treating tuberculosis can also be a notable burden on the health system, due to the need for isolation, contact tracing, and specialised care.
Tackling drug-resistant bacteria
The Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria can quickly become resistant to antibiotics, so routine treatment includes multiple antibiotics which increases adverse effects.
The emergence of drug-resistant tuberculosis strains is a major concern because it makes treatment significantly more challenging and costly. Managing drug-resistant tuberculosis often requires extended treatment courses with second-line drugs, which can lead to more severe side effects and demand close monitoring.
Treating tuberculosis can sometimes be a long and difficult process. Shutterstock
The prolonged and complex treatment regimens increase the risk of treatment non-compliance and failure, posing not only a threat to affected people but also raising concerns about potential community transmission of these drug-resistant strains.
Who is susceptible to tuberculosis?
The risk of acquiring tuberculosis is higher among people who live in densely populated housing, those with compromised immune systems and people with poor access to health care.
This includes Indigenous Australians, recent migrants and refugees, people with underlying health conditions (such as HIV or diabetes), people in corrections facilities, remote and rural communities, the elderly, health-care workers and people who are homeless.
Children are also at greater risk of tuberculosis, as their immune systems are still developing.
Tuberculosis often presents differently in children, making it challenging to estimate the true global burden. However, the World Health Organization estimates 11% of the 10.6 million tuberculosis cases worldwide are in children. Some 14% of all tuberculosis-related deaths occur in children under 15 years old.
Common symptoms of paediatric tuberculosis include prolonged cough, wheezing, weight loss, loss of appetite, respiratory symptoms, failure to thrive, swelling of the lymph nodes, fever and night sweats.
disseminated tuberculosis. This spreads throughout the body via the bloodstream and lymphatic system to the liver, spleen, bone marrow, kidneys and brain
tuberculous meningitis. This is a life-threatening condition where the infection from the lungs has gone to the brain and spinal cord
congenital tuberculosis. This is a rare condition where a newborn baby is born with active tuberculosis, transmitted from infected mother to baby.
What can we do about TB?
Despite Australia’s relatively low incidence of tuberculosis, we have a robust control program, targeting efforts to vulnerable populations through culturally sensitive health-care services, public health campaigns, and community engagement.
The Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine provides partial protection, primarily against severe forms of tuberculosis. It’s not routinely given in Australia because we’re not considered a high-risk country, but it’s given in local regions with tuberculosis outbreaks.
Testing for active tuberculosis is also a part of the immigration process. Visa applicants aged 11 years and over must have a chest X-ray for evidence of active tuberculosis.
SA Health is working with Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations and other partners to respond to this outbreak with information and videos.
Timely and effective tuberculosis control measures help not only in treating individuals but also in preventing further transmission. This reduces the overall impact of the disease on public health and the health-care system.
Dr Ena Husaric, a doctor at The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, co-authored this article.
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.
Pacific leaders fear they will have little or no voice in the new National-led government in Aotearoa New Zealand with the real possibility of not a single Pacific person making it into the new coalition.
Labour had 11 Pacific members of Parliament, then 10 when then Communications Minister Kris Faafoi left. Included was Carmel Sepuloni who became Deputy Prime Minister when Chris Hipkins became leader.
National currently has one possible Pacific MP, Angee Nicholas, but she may lose the Te Atatū seat on special votes, leading with only a margin of 30 over Labour’s Phil Twyford.
But even though the race is tight, she said on social media she had been stopped and congratulated by community members.
“It is going to be close but I hope to bring it home now,” Angee said in a post to social media.
Angee Nicholas says she has been getting positive responses from people in her community . . . “This beautiful family stopped me today to say congratulations. Thank you.” Image: RNZ Pacific/Angee Nicholas/Facebook
National list MP Agnes Loheni has not made the cut as things currently stand.
Pacific political commentator Thomas Wynne said it meant that the number of Pacific people in government might very well go to one or even zero.
Who is it? “Here’s my question to National, who is it exactly that you’re going to have as the minister for Pacific people? Because if Angee doesn’t get in and neither does Agnes, then who?” Wynne asked.
“Because you don’t have any Pacific people in there.
“Chris Luxon has said he has a party of diversity, well I’m sorry but that’s just not the case.”
At the moment Dr Shane Reti is the Pacific people’s spokesperson for National.
On the campaign trail Dr Reti said “attending to the cost of living” was one of the most impactful things that could be done for Pacific people.
Thomas Wynne is part of the Marumaru Atua voyagers. Here he helps guide the vaka into Avarua Harbour in Rarotonga. Image: RNZ Pacific/Daniela Maoate-Cox
Pacific community advocate Melissa Lama said she did not know how National planned to make decisions on Pacific issues.
“To me that’s really scary to have one person represent a massive group of New Zealand society who are visible which is our Pacific people, I just can’t get over that.”
Disheartened over results Lama said she felt disheartened after the results.
“If we look at some of the campaigning slogans and narratives that particularly on the right side, National and Act, have had throughout this election it doesn’t necessarily give me hope for what’s to come for my future and my children’s future,” she said on Sunday.
“I’m definitely gutted. I feel a bit low mood today.”
Dunedin community leader Melissa Lama . . . “I’m definitely gutted. I feel a bit low mood today.” Image: RNZ Pacific/Fire Fire/The Outliers
On Saturday, at a Pacific election watch party in Ilam, Christchurch, most attendees opted to socialise outside instead of watching the results.
Views on what’s to come for Pasifika are mixed. There’s some excitement for change but also nerves.
A common thread was concern that the Ministry for Pacific Peoples would be scrapped.
However, just last week the now incoming Prime Minister told RNZ Pacific he would not bow to ACT.
“Our position very strongly is I’ve been supportive of the Pacific Peoples Ministry. I haven’t been supportive of the management of it. When you have a $40,000 farewell I think that’s insane,” Luxon said.
Keeping an optimistic outlook Deputy Mayor of Waitaki Hana Halalele who is also the general manager of Oamaru Pacific Island Community Group said she was disappointed about the results but was trying to be optimistic.
Hana Halalele . . . disappointed but trying to be optimistic. Image: RNZ Pacific/Waitaki District Council
Despite the drop in Pacific representation in Parliament, Wynne wants to focus on the positives and asks frustrated Pacific community members to hold National and ACT to account on what they have promised.
“I feel it’s time for us to not think about what we’re losing because that day is done — that was yesterday and really we need to start looking at the opportunity of what this new government affords us, because shouting from the sidelines is not going to help,” he said.
Wynne said Act’s vision was for less government and more community involvement could be beneficial.
He also said Act had promised a return of charter schools, which could be good for Pasifika.
Tongan community leader Pakilau Manase Lua, who is leading the charge on fighting for justice for ongoing Dawn Raids said National and Act had been clear on overstayers.
“They don’t support any pathway to residency for people who are overstaying or who may have been stuck here during the lockdowns and had no other option but to try and find a way to settle.”
Pakilau said while there was concern for overstayers, he was still holding out hope the new government would surprise him.
Community leader Pakilau Manase Lua at a Tongan Council of Churches and Aotearoa Tonga Response Group church service . . . leading the charge on fighting for justice over ongoing Dawn Raids. Image: RNZ Pacific/Lydia Lewis
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
On October 16 1923, brothers Walt and Roy set up a modest cartoon studio. Their goal was to produce short animated films. They created a new character: a mouse, with large ears.
Named “Mickey”, he soon became one of the world’s most recognisable images.
Walt Disney was an innovator in terms of space, colour and movement. He had an uncanny ability to provide pleasure for millions of viewers struggling through the Great Depression.
Disney has influenced countless other animation studios and artists. It has received Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature for the likes of The Incredibles, Up and Frozen. Walt himself holds the record for most nominations (59) and Oscar wins (22 competitive awards, plus four honorary awards) for a single individual.
Just how did Disney manage to do it?
Steamboat Willie and technological wonders
Based in Los Angeles, Disney set about innovating. He created The Alice Comedies, a series of short films featuring a live-action child actress in a cartoon world. Then came Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a precursor to Mickey Mouse.
Steamboat Willie, released in 1928, was the world’s first fully synchronised sound cartoon. His pioneering use of sound quickly became an industry norm.
A simple story featuring Mickey as a steamboat captain trying to navigate the boat while dealing with various comical situations, Steamboat Willie was universally praised. After a short theatrical run in New York, the film was exhibited nationwide and set Disney on its way.
The clip of Mickey holding the ship’s wheel and whistling became the company’s logo in 2007, reminding audiences of Steamboat’s enduring importance.
New characters emerged post-Steamboat, such as Donald Duck and Mickey’s love interest, Minnie, which still endure today.
Flowers and Trees, made in 1932, was the first animated short film to win an Academy Award – it was also Disney’s (and the industry’s) first full-colour three-strip Technicolor film.
By the end of the 1930s, Disney had pivoted to feature-length animated films, releasing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937.
What followed Snow White is often referred to as Disney’s “golden age”, with the release of Pinocchio (1940), Dumbo (1941) and Bambi (1942).
Those early films still dazzle today – think of the Sorcerers’ Apprentice scene in Fantasia (1940) or the Pink Elephants hallucinogenic number in Dumbo. And is there any scene, in any film, more heart-wrenching than the death of Bambi’s mother?
But the golden age never really stopped. The hits just kept on coming – Peter Pan (1953), Lady and the Tramp (1955) and Mary Poppins (1964) remain enduring classics. In the 1990s, a new generation fell in love with Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992) and The Lion King (1994) – and these films were then remade as live-action versions in the 2010s.
Even a minor Disney film like Zootopia (2016) could make a billion dollars at the box-office.
Disneyland and diversification
In 1955, Walt Disney opened Disneyland in Anaheim, California. He wanted to build an inclusive theme park where all the family could have fun.
After Disneyland came Disney World in Florida in 1971, then versions of Disneyland in Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
A famous diagram, sketched by Walt himself in 1957, foreshadowed the direction Disney would ultimately take: a huge business empire of synergies, merchandising and cross-promotion.
Buyouts and a cultural behemoth
In 2006 Disney bought Pixar, in 2009 it bought Marvel and in 2012 it bought LucasFilm. These acquisitions solidified Disney’s position as the brand leader in the entertainment industry.
Pixar was known for films like Toy Story (1995) and Finding Nemo (2003) and the purchase would lead to multiple collaborations between the two.
Most recently, in 2019, Disney acquired 21st Century Fox for a staggering US$71 billion. The deal gave them instant access to Fox’s vast back catalogues.
The deal made some industry insiders uneasy: Disney had become a cultural behemoth, strangling competition, homogenising content and swallowing up entire franchises.
Disney films proudly prioritise family values, stress teamwork and empathy and promote gender equality. Yet until relatively recently, its heroes and heroines were very visibly white, and the studio was criticised for invoking messages of privilege, racial hierarchy and standards of beauty.
Its 1946 film Song of the South has long been criticised for its racist portrayal of African Americans and its romanticisation of the plantation era. Since 1986, Disney have tried to keep it out of circulation, although clips can be found online.
Many old films streaming on Disney+ now feature a disclaimer telling viewers some scenes will include “negative depictions” and “mistreatment of people or cultures”.
LGBTQ+ representation has become more visible since LeFou became Disney’s first openly gay character in its 2017 live-action Beauty and the Beast. But the backlash was troubling, and Disney also ran into trouble with conservative critics with its same-sex kiss in Lightyear (2022), and would later be mocked as “woke Disney” by conservative politicians and media personalities.
CEO Bob Iger – who stepped down in 2021 but was then brought back in 2022 on a huge salary – has not fared well during the recent SAG-AFTRA disputes, with comments deemed out of touch and tone-deaf by many.
Still, despite these tricky issues, Disney’s corporate stranglehold shows no sign of abating. Its reach is gigantic. From cartoons to comics to CGI, Disney controls much of our popular culture.
“If you can dream it, you can do it,” Walt once said. As Disney turns 100, with a market capitalisation today of more than US$150 billion, that’s some dream come true.
Ben McCann does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
