Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Erin McEwan, PhD candidate in Geological Sciences, University of Canterbury

New Zealand’s 2016 Kaikōura earthquake stopped the Waiau Toa – also known as the Clarence River – in its course. Within hours, the river flooded outside its channel and changed course. In the seven years since the magnitude 7.8 earthquake, the river has completely abandoned the path it used to take.

This is not the first time this sort of thing has happened.

Flooding and earthquakes are some of the most frequent natural disasters globally. A great deal of work has been done to understand their risk – but relatively little to determine how they can occur at the same time.

This is a problem. Tens of thousands of active faults run under river channels around the world and in New Zealand. In places where faults and rivers intersect, earthquake and river flood hazards are also intertwined.

Our new research shows that when a fault deforms the earth’s surface, it can cause an overlying river to suddenly flood outside its established channel. This can put unsuspecting communities at risk.

In some cases, the sudden river shifts – also known as avulsion – may even cause the river to establish a new channel within the landscape.

There are many examples of this phenomenon throughout history, including the 1812 Reelfoot fault rupture, which dammed the mighty Mississippi river for several hours. The same earthquake also permanently dammed the Reelfoot river, creating Reelfoot Lake.

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Nobody can predict earthquakes, but we can forecast them. Here’s how

Earthquakes occur due to sudden movement on faults. When a fault ruptures to the surface, it can shift one side of the fault vertically past the other. This can cause a large block of land to be permanently uplifted or depressed.

Where faults run under rivers, this vertical movement can produce a fault scarp – a wall of rock and/or soil – that obstructs the river’s ability to continue flowing in its usual channel.

This is what happened in Kaikōura in 2016. The Papatea Fault ruptured and created a 6.5 meter high barrier within the channel of the Waiau Toa, stopping the river in its course and rapidly and permanently altering the path it takes.

But can we predict this sort of thing before it happens?

Forecasting shifts

Data from the Kaikōura earthquake offered an opportunity to test whether these sorts of shifts in river flows, and potential flooding, can be “forecast” in advance. Turns out, it might be possible.

We constructed two flood models that aimed to reproduce the Waiau Toa river shift. The first model used topographic data obtained following the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake, containing the real Papatea fault scarp. The second model simulated the avulsion using pre-earthquake topography, modified with an artificial Papatea fault scarp.

Both models performed well, and accurately reproduced patterns of flooding that took place in 2016. This indicates that changes in river flood patterns following surface rupturing earthquakes can be predicted ahead of time.

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Seismologists can’t predict an impending earthquake, but longer term forecasts and brief warnings after one starts are possible

That said, it is impossible to predict the exact amount of surface displacement a fault may produce when it ruptures, or the exact river flow conditions when it does. Instead, flood modelling can be used to explore scenarios ahead of time using historical flow information and historic fault data.

Applying this to the Papatea fault rupture, we found that sudden shifts in the flow of the river may not immediately happen if the river is low.

Better planning

This is important, as it suggests that flooding could be delayed following a surface rupturing earthquake if the affected river is running low. Yet a river may still change course later, as the flow rate increases.

Creating flood models ahead of time may allow planners to identify key zones along the river that are exposed to this hazard. They can then put in measures that will reduce the impact of the flooding, such as levees.

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NZ’s next large Alpine Fault quake is likely coming sooner than we thought, study shows

New Zealand’s position atop a plate boundary means earthquakes are a common natural hazard. Flood hazards are also increasing in frequency and severity .

Kaikōura is not the only community that could be affected by the combination of earthquakes and flooding.

Many of New Zealand’s active faults underlie rivers located near populated areas, or critical infrastructure. Examples include the Wellington fault, which underlies the Hutt River, and the Titri fault and Taieri river intersection which borders Dunedin airport and several towns.

Yet we typically do not consider how these rivers may change following a surface rupturing earthquake, meaning nearby populations and infrastructure remain exposed and unprepared. The unique combination of earthquake and flooding is rarely considered in existing flood management strategies or earthquake response plans.

It is imperative that existing earthquake response plans consider the influence of active faults that underpin river systems. Current flood models that neglect their presence may underestimate the extent, longevity and patterns of flooding following earthquakes.

Our modelling provides a path forward. With some knowledge of fault location and rupture style, the interactions between surface rupturing earthquakes and river flood hazards can be explored ahead of time.

Funding for this work is provided by the New Zealand Earthquake Commission, Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment Endeavour Fund and GNS Science.

– ref. Earthquakes can change the course of rivers – with devastating results. We may now be able to predict these threats – https://theconversation.com/earthquakes-can-change-the-course-of-rivers-with-devastating-results-we-may-now-be-able-to-predict-these-threats-206172

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Malouff, Associate Professor, School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences, University of New England

Being on social media has become synonymous with living in the 21st century. Year after year, we see new platforms and smarter algorithms roping us into highly addictive online worlds.

Now, a growing number of people have noticed this trend and are actively making an effort to resist it.

Anecdotally, a case can be made for quitting social media, and there are myriad reasons why someone might want to. But is there evidence that doing so is good for you in the long term?

Drivers for quitting

Although there are too many social media platforms to name, most people tend to think of the “big five”: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.

Research has found people have various reasons for quitting one or more of these apps. Many quit over concerns about negative impacts on their mental and physical health. For example, studies have shown adolescent girls in particular can experience negative body image as a result of viewing manipulated selfies on Instagram.

People also choose to quit due to disliking ads, feeling like they’re wasting time, or if they’re worried about their privacy. The question then is: does quitting social media resolve these concerns?

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Mixed research outcomes

It’s difficult to determine whether there are clear and lasting benefits to quitting social media – and a look at the research explains why.

One 2020 study found people who had quit social media saw improvements in their close relationships, and were pleased to be free of comparison with others. But some also said they missed the informational and entertainment aspects of it.

In a 2018 study, researchers assessed the psychological state of 143 American undergraduates before randomly assigning one group a daily ten-minute limit for Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, per platform. Three weeks later, those who limited their social media use showed significantly lower levels of loneliness and depression. However, there was no significant effect on anxiety, self-esteem or wellbeing.

And in one 2019 study with 78 participants, half were asked to take a one-week break from Facebook and Instagram. To the researchers’ surprise, the users in this group who were generally active on social media experienced less positive psychological effects than those in the control group.

With research findings painting several different pictures, it’s safe to say our relationship with social media – and how it affects us – is very complex.

Research constraints

There appear to be no published studies that have assessed the long-term impacts of permanently quitting social media. This is probably because it’s difficult to find participants who will agree to be randomly assigned the task of dropping social media forever.

One important consideration is that a percentage of individuals who quit social media will eventually go back. Reasons for returning include feeling left out, fearing loss of connections, wanting to regain access to interesting or useful information, feeling social pressure to rejoin, or simply feeling that quitting wasn’t the right choice.

Even if researchers do find a large enough group of people willing to quit social media for good, conducting long-term follow-ups would be highly resource-intensive. Beyond that, it would be difficult to figure out how much of a participant’s increase (or decrease) in life satisfaction is due to quitting social media, and not other factors.

As such, there’s currently no evidence that quitting social media comes with concrete long-term benefits. And in the short term, results are mixed.

To quit, or not to quit?

However, that doesn’t mean quitting (for a short or long period) wouldn’t be beneficial for some people. It’s likely that any potential benefits will depend on the individual doing the quitting, and why they’re doing it.

For instance, consensus that does emerge from the research is that the way you use social media plays a significant role in how negative or positive your experience is. By using social media mindfully, users can minimise potential harms while retaining the benefits.

For some, it may only be one platform causing unease. If you strongly dislike Instagram’s tendency to be hyper-focused on people’s private lives, then you could simply stop using Instagram.

Another technique is to curate your social media feeds by engaging only with content you find useful and positive. For instance, many young women take steps to avoid seeing perfect bodies all day on their social media.

If you’re still wondering whether quitting might be good for you, the simplest way to find out is to experiment and do it.

Take a break from one or more types of social media. After some time ask yourself whether the benefits seem worth it to you. If the answer is “yes”, make the break permanent.

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Want to delete your social media, but can’t bring yourself to do it? Here are some ways to take that step

The Conversation is commissioning articles by academics across the world who are researching how society is being shaped by our digital interactions with each other. Read more here

John Malouff ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. What are the long-term effects of quitting social media? Almost nobody can log off long enough to find out – https://theconversation.com/what-are-the-long-term-effects-of-quitting-social-media-almost-nobody-can-log-off-long-enough-to-find-out-205478

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danelle Kenny, PhD student, The University of Queensland

So you’ve been approved for a home care package. Congratulations! This government-funded program can provide you with much-needed assistance to stay independent and live safely in your own home.

However, the process of getting started can be confusing and overwhelming. Which provider should you choose, how do you get the most out of your package, and what if you change your mind later?

Here’s what you need to know.

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Explainer: what is a home care package and who is eligible?

What does a provider do?

A provider delivers aged care services subsidised by the Australian government – such as nursing care, personal grooming, home maintenance, meal preparation and transport – under a home care package.

Your provider can help with decision-making, managing your package funding, and handling any fees or charges you may have to pay.

Your choice of provider will be limited to those that service your area, their staffing levels, and possible waiting lists for different service types. My Aged Care’s Find a Provider can provide more information about providers near you.

Are there waiting periods?

Potentially.

There may be a delay between receiving your approval for a home-care package and when one becomes available. This will be the same regardless of your choice of service provider.

Occasionally, the service provider will be at capacity and not able to start the services you want as soon as your package starts.

The only way to know is to ask the service provider directly.

How does the provider work?

Providers all work differently.

Some use case managers and assign staff members to you to provide consistency and familiarity. Others may be organised centrally and different workers might attend each time you need that service.

Some may come the same time each week, or day. Others may come on different days each week.

Think through what’s important to you and what your expectations are before you discuss your care with a service provider.

What fees does the provider charge?

Provider fees are highly variable. Fee schedules are published on the My Aged Care website or can be requested from the service provider, but it is still sometimes quite hard to compare.

If you can, try to compare:

• administration fees
• care management fees
• service delivery fees (for example, do they charge per hour or per 15 minute block?)
• travel costs (for example, do they charge per kilometre travelled or a flat rate?)
• internal or third-party services (for example, do they use their own nurses or outsource it to another company that provides this care?)

Writing these down or creating a spreadsheet can help with comparisons.

What services do I get?

You get to choose how the funds in your home care package are spent, as long as they are broadly for health care.

This choice can be daunting, but try to think through what services best meet your care goals. Consider which services will best meet the long-term goal of staying healthy at home. The assessment completed prior to your approval is a good starting point for identifying gaps in your care.

Ask yourself: “What will help me stay living at home longer?”

Can I organise services outside of what the provider supplies?

Yes. However, they may not be covered through your home care package.

Say you already have a trusted clinician and would like to continue to receive their care. You can discuss brokering through your service provider.

If you have used up the funds in your home care package, you always have the option to pay privately. This won’t affect your home care package.

Likewise, you are still eligible to receive Medicare rebates, chronic disease management plans, and government-subsidised prescriptions while you’re on a home care package.

Can I review my package as time goes on?

Yes. You should review your package regularly to make sure it still meets your needs.

You might need to change the mix of services, or you might realise you need more funding. If you have a case manager assigned to you, they can help you find the best options.

Think about services you may be able to access outside of your package and what informal care might be available. This can take pressure off your package.

If your care needs are still not being met, you may be eligible to apply for a higher level package, which you can discuss with your provider at any time.

What if I want to change providers?

First, think about what issue you have with the current provider, whether you feel comfortable discussing your concerns with them, and whether switching will resolve the issue.

If you decide to switch, it won’t cost anything. You need to provide between two and four weeks notice for your package to transfer and you will generally need to contact My Aged Care to reactivate your code for the new provider yourself.

Remember there may be waiting periods with the new provider and their fee structure may be different. Be sure to check the details of the new provider carefully to make sure they can support you to stay healthy at home.

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Yes, older Australians need more home-care funding. But these dribs and drabs only make a dent in the waiting list

Danelle Kenny is affiliated with the University of Queensland Centre for Health Services Research and involved with their consultation work with the Department of Health and Ageing.

Tracy Comans receives funding from the NHMRC and MRFF and holds consultancies with the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care

– ref. I’ve been approved for a home care package but how do I choose a provider – and what if I want to switch? – https://theconversation.com/ive-been-approved-for-a-home-care-package-but-how-do-i-choose-a-provider-and-what-if-i-want-to-switch-205386

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kylie M Cairns, Research fellow, UNSW Sydney

For decades, crossbreeding between dingoes and dogs has been considered the greatest threat to dingo conservation. Previous DNA studies suggested pure dingoes were virtually extinct in Victoria and New South Wales.

Reinforcing this belief, the term “wild dog” has replaced the word dingo in most legislation and policy across Australia. “Wild dog” is a coverall term defined as “any dog living in the wild, including feral dogs, dingoes and their hybrids”. It’s the term used on signs in National Parks and other lands advertising the target and presence of meat baits impregnated with the poison 1080. These baits are laid to reduce the risk of wild dogs preying on livestock.

Our new research used the latest genetic testing methods to establish the ancestry of wild dogs across Australia. Most of the 307 wild animals we tested were pure dingoes. Only a small proportion of wild dingoes had dog ancestry, probably from a great- or great-great-grandparent. There were no “first-cross” (50/50) hybrids or feral dogs in our wild-caught sample.

Essentially, all the “wild dogs” were dingoes. The results challenge public perceptions and call into question well established management practices. We argue the term “wild dog” should be removed from public language and legislation. Dingo and feral dog should be used instead. And the role of the dingo as Australia’s apex predator should be restored, for we are the greatest threat to their existence.

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Why dingoes should be considered native to mainland Australia – even though humans introduced them

Better results from better tests

The dingo (Canis dingo) has been in Australia for 5,000 to 11,000 years. But while dingoes are genetically distinct from domestic dogs, they can breed with them.

Scientific support for the idea that few pure dingoes remain in eastern Australia came from skull measurement tests developed in the 1980s and a DNA test developed in the 1990s.

Applying these approaches, Victoria listed dingoes as a threatened species after finding just 1% of animals killed in pest control programs were pure dingoes. Similarly in NSW “predation and hybridisation by feral dogs (Canis familiaris)” was listed as a key threatening process in 2009.

But DNA testing methods have improved since then. When we compared old and new DNA testing methods in our study, we found the original method frequently misidentified pure dingoes as hybrids. This is because the technique used a relatively small number of DNA markers, only 23. We used 195,000 DNA markers.

A DNA marker is a genetic change that can be used to study differences between species, populations or individuals. This is the same sort of technology used for human ancestry or family tree testing. In general, more DNA markers means more information about an individual and more accurate DNA test results.

The older method was also unable to account for geographic variation in dingoes. We found evidence of at least four populations or varieties of dingo in Australia, which we call: West, East, South and Big Desert.

So when we looked at Victorian dingoes, nearly 90% of the animals we tested were pure dingoes. In NSW, over 60% of the animals we tested were pure dingoes and only two animals had less than 70% dingo DNA.

Dog ancestry was more common in NSW and Queensland dingo populations where there were intensive lethal control programs, such as aerial 1080 poison baiting, along with higher numbers of pet domestic dogs. One explanation is that lethal control programs carried out during the dingo breeding season may increase the risk of dingo-dog hybrids, as it does for wolves and coyotes in North America. Australian aerial baiting programs can kill up to 90% of the dingoes in an area, reducing the availability of mates for any remaining dingoes.

These findings have important implications for our knowledge of dingoes and how they are managed. We need to ensure public policy is built on robust, up-to-date knowledge of dingo identity and ancestry.

Wildlife managers and scientists should ensure that the DNA testing methods they use are accurate and fit for purpose. It is crucial that updated genetic surveys be carried out on dingoes, using the latest DNA methods to inform local dingo management plans.

Dingo conservation plans should consider the presence of geographic variation and the differing threats the four dingo populations may be facing.

Currently, dingoes fall into a grey area: because they are both a native animal and agricultural pest; and because their identity has become ambiguous due to the widespread adoption of the term wild dog.

Lethal control programs have been extended into conservation areas, including national parks, with the primary purpose of minimising livestock losses on neighbouring lands.

During 2020-2021, NSW dropped more than 200,000 1080 poisoned meat-baits from planes and helicopters to suppress “wild dogs”.

This year Victoria renewed its “wild dog bounty” program. It pays landholders A$120 per wild dog body part. Under the scheme, about 4,600 “wild dog” body parts have reportedly been redeemed since 2011.

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Killing dingoes is the only way to protect livestock, right? Nope

Restoring an apex predator

Our study shows the term “wild dog” is a misnomer. The animals being targeted for eradication as an “invasive” pest are native dingoes.

The threat of dingo-dog hybrids has also been exaggerated. While dingoes can pose a threat to some livestock, as apex predators they play an essential role in maintaining healthy ecosystems. The dingo keeps natural systems in balance by preying on large herbivores and excluding invasive predators such as feral cats and foxes. This in turn benefits small marsupials, birds and reptiles. We need to balance managing dingo impacts on agriculture against ensuring they can perform their vital environmental functions.

The term “wild dog” should be removed from public language and legislation. Dingo and feral dog should be used instead. This change in terminology would accurately reflect the fact that a vast majority of the wild canines in Australia are pure dingoes – and the hybrids are predominantly dingo in their genetic make-up.

A name change would also align with calls from Australia’s First Nations people to respect and acknowledge the dingo as a native and culturally significant species.

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From the dingo to the Tasmanian devil – why we should be rewilding carnivores

Kylie M Cairns receives funding from the Australian Dingo Foundation, New Guinea Singing Dog Conservation Society, NSW Koala Strategy and Australia and Pacific Science Foundation. She is a scientific advisor to The Australian Dingo Foundation, New Guinea Singing Dog Conservation Society, the New Guinea Highland Wild Dog Foundation and is co-chair of the IUCN Canid Specialist Dingo Working Group.

Mathew Crowther receives funding from Australian Research Council, Australia and Pacific Science Foundation and the NSW Koala Strategy

Mike Letnic receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Australia and Asia Pacific Science Foundation

– ref. New DNA testing shatters ‘wild dog’ myth: most dingoes are pure – https://theconversation.com/new-dna-testing-shatters-wild-dog-myth-most-dingoes-are-pure-206397

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lurion De Mello, Senior Lecturer in Finance, Macquarie University

Australian consumers are painfully aware of the energy cost crisis. And from July 1, electricity bills are set to rise by a further 20-25% across South Australia, New South Wales, south-east Queensland and Victoria. The increases will add to cost-of-living pressures across households and small businesses.

With the burden likely to fall yet again on the consumer, we’re being told to shop around for the best deal.

So, where do you start? There are about 25 electricity suppliers in NSW alone. Some you probably have never heard of. Do you go to each one online and see which has the best deal? That’s unlikely. It is too overwhelming and time-consuming.

Instead, you resort to using energy comparison websites. However, based on my experience, neither energy bills nor comparison sites are easy to use or clear about the terms of deals – and I study energy economics.

It’s not just me – consumer advocacy group Choice has found problems with these sites, while Clare Savage, chair of the Australian Energy Regulator (which announced the price increases), has said a “complex and confusing” process left her unsure whether she had found the best deal.

If consumers are being told to shop for the best deal, better regulation is needed to ensure the average person can do this.

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So how do you compare energy deals?

First, you’ll need to have a close look at your electricity bill. Does your account clearly state what plan you are on?

My AGL bill says I am on a “Bright” plan. Not so bright as I cannot find any details about it on AGL’s site! It’s probably a plan that no longer exists.

Why are retailers constantly allowed to change the names of plans? It’s confusing.

The Australian government has an official energy comparison website called Energy Made Easy. There are third-party comparison services, too, such as Canstar Blue, iSelect, Energy Finder and Compare the Market. In 2020, the Federal Court fined iSelect A$8.5 million for misleading consumers when plans it recommended between November 2016 and December 2018 were not necessarily the most suitable or competitive.

In addition, other third-party providers use cold calling and pressure consumers to switch in one phone call. I once used such a service a few years ago. I now get calls every six months asking me to switch. How can I verify a deal over the phone?

Third-party providers get a referral fee from some electricity suppliers when consumers switch through their websites. Canstar, for example, provides a list of suppliers and has a “Go to Site” or “Details” icon under the More information” column to the right. If you click on the “Go to Site” option and sign up, Canstar gets a referral fee.

On the Canstar website, you first enter the suburb (in my case, somewhere in NSW) before getting a list of prices. The default energy distributor is Ausgrid. Since I am with Endeavour, I had to edit this.

Endeavour resulted in prices that were significantly above Ausgrid prices. Why are the prices different? I don’t have the answer.

If you stick to the default Ausgrid, you can enter your home address in the next step, which will then adjust your details to the correct provider. Why not start with the address in the first place if a suburb has multiple electricity distributors?

You have the Energy Made Easy option to go down the official path. The Australian Energy Regulator received A$8 million to make this website work better. Was this money well spent? I don’t think so.

The initial steps on Energy Made Easy are straightforward. You select electricity, enter your postcode, and select the number of people in your household.

Next, to provide the details of your energy use, you can enter your National Metering Identifier (NMI) number on your bill. Or you can upload the last 12 months of your bills. I tried both options.

The NMI option gives you different prices from the “Upload PDF bill” option. How is this possible? Yes, another stressful and frustrating situation.

Next, read the terms and conditions. They state that the information presented might not be accurate. My confidence dropped after reading this.

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Like-for-like comparisons are needed

The NMI and PDF bill uploads present you with a total cost over 12 months. It’s the same on other online comparison sites. I expected a monthly comparison, as this is how I get my bill.

I also expected a neat comparison across usage charges, usually per kilowatt hour (kWh), and the daily supply charge to bring electricity to my premises. Instead, I was presented with connection, disconnection, move-in and move-out fees. Some had a membership fee. We all know what that means. You are likely to stick with that provider for much longer.

There are many other options to consider. Do you have a swimming pool? Is this on a controlled load? What is a controlled load? What is the difference between a standing and a market offer? Wait a minute, the standing offer is also known as the default market offer. Some retailers call the “standing offer” the “reference price”. In fact, the idea of a default price was to make it easier to compare retailers.

You need to know these terms as you will encounter them while you shop around. And if you don’t shop around and your market offer (that fancy-named plan) has expired, you will likely pay the maximum price.

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Why are electricity prices going up again, and will it ever end?

Please read the terms and conditions. Please read the fine print before making your choice. Too many people skip this, but the details matter when trying to get the best deal.

It looks like Australians are sitting ducks when it comes to electricity price rises. We need better guidelines for what information is presented to the consumer and in what form. Current regulations require only the essential information to be given either on bills or comparison sites.

We need a better solution than simply asking consumers to shop around for the best deal. Right now, even the official Australian government website can’t accurately help us.

Lurion De Mello ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. Shop around to beat electricity price spikes? It’s not as easy as it should be – https://theconversation.com/shop-around-to-beat-electricity-price-spikes-its-not-as-easy-as-it-should-be-206405

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Peden, NHMRC Research Fellow, School of Population Health & co-founder UNSW Beach Safety Research Group, UNSW Sydney

The weather is getting chilly and the pool is looking less inviting than ever. At this time of year, with cooler temperatures and shorter days, swimming can be the furthest thing from our minds. It’s no wonder during winter many parents pause their child’s swimming lessons.

Many local pools in country areas close during the cooler months, often reopening in spring.

So, does it matter if kids stop swimming lessons over the winter? Here’s what to consider before you pull the plug.

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The more time in the water, the better

The first thing to note is that a pause can easily turn into stopping lessons altogether. Or, it can make restarting lessons in summer tricky, as children try to remember skills they haven’t practised in months.

And it’s important to remember drowning risk, particularly for young children, is present 365 days a year.

Almost a third of all drowning deaths of children under five occur in autumn and winter.

Learning to swim is one strategy for parents to reduce a child’s risk of drowning, alongside active supervision, restricting access to water and learning CPR.

However, an estimated 40% of children leave primary school without being able to swim the length of an Olympic swimming pool. Participation in swimming lessons declines significantly after age seven.

That means the younger years represent a valuable time to ensure your child has the skills and knowledge to keep themselves safe in the water.

A 2015 study I co-authored found that, when it comes to children mastering the skill of swimming, the more time in the water the better.

One potential benefit of keeping up with lessons over winter is giving children the opportunity to regularly and continuously hone their water safety skills.

Swimming lessons offer kids other bonuses too, including physical, cognitive and language skill development benefits.

Too many missed swimming lessons

Ceasing swimming lessons in the cooler months may also mean you risk losing your preferred lesson timeslot.

It may even mean you lose your child’s place altogether, in an industry where demand often outstrips supply and waitlists can be long.

Children’s swimming lessons have also been significantly affected by the COVID pandemic.

Research has warned too many kids have missed swimming lessons due to lockdowns, pool closures, swimming teacher shortages and long waitlists.

There are fears this will lead to a generation of Australian children leaving primary school without the basic skills needed to keep them safe and enjoy the water throughout adulthood.

What about a summer intensive?

If you must discontinue swim lessons over winter, consider enrolling your child in a holiday or summer intensive swim course. This is where kids have lessons every day over a week or two. It may give your child the chance to catch up after taking the winter months off.

Given the near record number of drowning fatalities in Australia last financial year, and the disruption to swimming lessons during the COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdowns, it’s important we don’t lose momentum now.

Giving your children every opportunity to learn how to swim is vitally important. It could even save their life one day.

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Why should my child take swimming lessons? And what do they need to know?

Amy Peden receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council. She maintains an honorary affiliation with Royal Life Saving Society – Australia as a Senior Research Fellow.

– ref. Thinking of quitting your child’s swimming lessons over winter? Read this first – https://theconversation.com/thinking-of-quitting-your-childs-swimming-lessons-over-winter-read-this-first-206192

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison Cole, Composer & Lecturer in Screen Composition, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney, University of Sydney

Iconic television shows share unforgettable title sequences that have lived on as sonic calling cards we can quickly identify.

The television show’s opening sequence has artfully evolved from the memorable tunes of bygone radio formats into an expositional bookmark that sets the tone of what’s coming in a series.

For the viewer, the opening titles draw us into a narrative world.

As a professional media composer of more than 20 years and a screen composition lecturer, I unapologetically love, tolerate or mute opening title music.

Now, at the end of its final fourth season, I hold Succession’s theme in regard.

From the first frame, it is clear craft and imagination are deeply valued throughout the show’s entire soundtrack.

Another member of the family

Accompanying the grainy “family videos” feel of the Succession’s opening visuals you’ll hear a late 19th-century-style piano piece. This is accompanied with a contrasting melody that sometimes accents dissonant notes in the theme.

Composer Nicholas Britell describes this music as off-kilter, “like the family in the show”.

A New York classic hip hop drum machine beat anchors the melody’s chaotic, dissonant touches, suggesting something underhand with a touch of gangster.

Britell’s 20 years working in hip-hop production and film scoring are clear with his blend of hip-hop beats and classical orchestration.

Britell’s work echoes the mix of hip-hop beats and art music in Malcolm McLaren’s 1984 song Madam Butterfly, which left a hypnotic legacy of a constant, raw hip-hop beat underpinning an irresistible melody. Bands like Run DMC and The Beastie Boys took their audio sampling cues from McLaren’s work, and now Britell seamlessly blends these two worlds in a television format.

Broadening the instrumentation to incorporate the gravitas and lyrical timbre of strings captures the show’s themes of intrigue in the corporate media establishment.

Repeating string sequences – reminiscent of Philip Glass’s use of layered musical sequences – build intensity and allude to the turning wheels of industry.

When the strings shift into a distinctive classical form, they remind us of the show’s grand setting of this drama. Then the dissonant piano jolts us back into the court, with the jester weaving chaos.

Succession’s opening titles are a unique fusion of musical duality that embody elements of absurdity with a more profound gravitas.

À lire aussi :
Kendall Roy’s playlist: why hip hop is the perfect counterpoint for Succession’s entitled plutocrats

Scoring the show

Britell’s describes the collaborative process of finding the sound of Succession stemming from an early conversation with producer Adam McKay and the show’s creator, Jesse Armstrong, from which a chord progression “that felt very, very 1700s” emerged.

The sound of the show echoes off the sound of the opening credits through the main theme melody appearing as variations throughout each episode.

Throughout the series, Britell’s compositional scope has musically realised scathing satire and moments of poignant emotional pull with an empathic connection which has had me, at times, in tears.

In other moments, the score suggests absurd dark humour via overblown and pompous orchestration.

Throughout each season, the soundtrack has played with different instrumental blends and subtle harmonic changes to underscore an extensive range of emotional narratives.

In season one, you might notice an experimental electric piece that could appear on a compilation with post-punk British bassist Jah Wobble.

In season two, you could hear a Mozart-like lightness of touch.

Britell’s constant evolution of minor motifs and variations on the main theme syncs with the shape of the storyline.

The opening theme is woven through so many intimate and epic moments. There is Logan Roy’s outburst over his perceived children’s failings. When there’s underhand corporate intrigue at hand, the score uses the theme to allude to the dark machinations of the show’s corporate narrative.

The instrumentation and arrangement of Succession’s soundtrack nod to the Baroque and Classical symphonic movements, and the conceptually driven work of the Russian Romantic composer Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943).

Britell’s Serenade in E flat or Impromptu No. 1 in C minor could sit comfortably sit comfortably beside works such as Mozart’s Fantasia in C minor (K. 475) or Schubert’s 4 Impromptus, Op. 90, D.899: No 1 in C Minor.

Succession’s soundtrack has elevated the compositional benchmark that seeks to evolve television soundtracks into longer works that occupy a more lasting place as future works to perform.

As a lover and composer of both art music and beat driven electronic music, I have Britell’s score for Succession.

I’ll miss the show for how the music has brought its own life force to interact with the narrative to deepen the viewer’s experience.

À lire aussi :
Far from the ‘ludicrously capacious’: what the fashion of Succession tells us about the show – and about society

Alison Cole ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. From absurd dark humour to poignant emotional pull: why I deeply loved the music of Succession – https://theconversation.com/from-absurd-dark-humour-to-poignant-emotional-pull-why-i-deeply-loved-the-music-of-succession-206597

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martin Drum, Lecturer Politics and International Relations, University of Notre Dame Australia

One of the most dominant premiers in recent Australian political history, Mark McGowan, has resigned as Western Australian premier and the member for Rockingham.

Put simply, McGowan has dominated WA politics since becoming premier in March 2017. His Labor Party holds 53 of 59 seats in the Legislative Assembly, and for the first time ever, controls the Upper House as well.

But this does not begin to adequately describe his dominance. He has been the driving force of the Labor government, personally selecting cabinet ministers. Since 2021, he has been both premier and treasurer, which amounted to him holding the two most significant roles in government at the same time. He has centralised much of the decision-making across government in his own office.

Read more:
WA Premier Mark McGowan quits in shock announcement, declaring he is ‘exhausted’

Then there is his public profile. To many Western Australians, McGowan is the government. Many voters regarded him as the principal person to thank for keeping COVID-19 at bay during the pandemic. When many other Australian states endured long lockdowns, WA was COVID-free for the vast majority of that time.

At the 2021 election, the Labor party asked voters to vote for McGowan, not for the Labor brand or for local candidates. There are many anecdotal stories, often told by his political opponents, of voters coming up to them in various electorates, asking how they could vote for him.

Explaining his popularity

McGowan was already a popular politician before COVID. He won a landslide victory in WA in 2017, and the primary vote for Labor was at that time its highest ever. Even before COVID there were recriminations among his opponents, and a sense that he would be premier for at least two terms.

But the advent of COVID took his popularity to completely new levels. McGowan’s most popular policy was the closure of the WA borders to other states from mid-2020. Opinion polls indicated that as many as 91% of WA voters approved of his handling of the pandemic.

When mining magnate Clive Palmer took WA to court to try to bring down the border, and this was initially supported by the federal government, McGowan’s popularity only grew, as he was depicted as defending WA against elite interstate interests.

More significantly, the closed border policy tapped into WA parochialism, a sense that wider Australia might not have the interests of WA people at their heart. This has always been a factor in WA politics, evident in debates around the GST allocation, but it reached new levels during COVID.

Read more:
Republic of Western Australia: how the west has always charted its own course, from secession to COVID

Change in the political landscape

McGowan’s legacy will be immense. In political terms, his party is dominant, with a massive structural advantage in seats, human resources and funds. His chief opponent, the once dominant Liberal Party of WA, is in ruins. Even the Federal Branch of the Liberal Party is a shadow of its former self, smashed at the Federal election of 2022.

But McGowan’s departure does present real opportunities. The new premier will not have the same latent personal support that McGowan commanded. A change in leadership may free some voters up to switch their allegiances.

Read more:
Labor’s thumping win in Western Australia carries risks for both sides

The new premier will have to make their own mark and notch up new achievements to define their leadership and government. As a start, they will need to make inroads into some of the policy challenges the government faces, which did not receive the same visibility during the pandemic. This includes homelessness, since housing has become less affordable and the waiting list for public housing has grown significantly.

There is also a profound skills shortage that is affecting public and private sector projects, especially in the construction industry. Tourism needs to be rebuilt – the government previously told people not to come to WA, and now has to convince them otherwise.

Finally, there have been disturbing and challenging problems in WA’s juvenile detention system that require urgent attention.

Who might succeed McGowan?

Because of McGowan’s dominance, there has been less opportunity for his colleagues to shine.

Roger Cook has been deputy premier for the duration of the McGowan government. He was health minister for the vast majority of the pandemic, and over that time he had the second biggest profile in government. The health portfolio was a challenging one, and Cook stepped away in 2021. His profile has not been so significant since that time, but his current portfolio of state development, jobs and tourism is very economic focused, which would not be a bad stepping stone to the premier’s role.

The other potential candidate is Minister for Health Amber-Jade Sanderson. She has been elevated quickly within the government, taking on the environment portfolio and then the hot seat of health. She is in just her first term as a minister and at 46, would represent something of a generational change at the top.

The new leader will have a considerable period of time to settle in. The next state election is not due until March 2025. This should offer the new premier an opportunity to make their own mark and set a new direction before facing the voters.

Martin Drum was a member of the Ministerial Expert Committee that advised the WA government on electoral reform.

– ref. Mark McGowan quits in his own time, after dominating Western Australian politics – https://theconversation.com/mark-mcgowan-quits-in-his-own-time-after-dominating-western-australian-politics-206612

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jared Mondschein, Director of Research, US Studies Centre, University of Sydney

Congress appears to be on the cusp of passing legislation that would not only avoid an unprecedented US government default – and economic catastrophe – but also provide some much-needed political stability in Washington.

Both Republicans and Democrats are claiming victory in the deal and a loss for the other.

From the Republican point of view, the deal will bring

historic reductions in spending, consequential reforms that will lift people out of poverty […] and rein in government overreach.

Key Republican demands included:

• new work requirements for those seeking federal government assistance, meaning more Americans will enter the workforce instead of being paid not to work

• fewer government regulations around infrastructure projects

• a US$20 billion (A$30.5 billion) cut to the Internal Revenue Service budget in 2024

• a cap on non-defence government spending and federal relief of student loans.

From the Democratic point of view, the agreement raises the debt ceiling beyond the 2024 elections, does not cut discretionary spending and contains a fraction of the cuts the Republican-controlled House of Representatives had passed in their earlier proposals.

And on the concessions mentioned previously, Democrats are touting:

• the new work requirements are minimal and will not affect Medicare recipients

• the streamlining of regulations around infrastructure projects is far more limited than what Republicans had initially sought

• the cuts to the IRS budget are a fraction of the recently passed US$80 billion (A$122 billion) budget increase

• government spending was likely to face limits due to appropriation processes anyway, and student loan payments were already due to restart.

Washington maybe isn’t broken

US President Joe Biden campaigned in the 2020 elections as a unifier who prioritised his ability to reach across the aisle and lower the levels of political animosity.

As a result, these are the sorts of political arguments – in which both sides argue over who won – that he is all too glad to have.

In today’s political climate, where polarisation has resulted in decreasing levels of bipartisanship, it can feel like the only thing both sides can agree on is that disagreements are too great to be overcome.

Most US citizens and politicians will agree that Washington is broken and the government does not function as well as it should.

The nature of the debt-ceiling agreement makes clear there is, at least in this instance, bipartisan political leadership in favour of specific legislation instead of endless rhetoric that everything in Washington is broken.

Few, if any, US presidents have assumed office with more political experience than Biden. Having arrived in Washington half a century ago, he is acutely familiar with how to negotiate in a manner that allows both sides to claim victory.

Biden has also remained consistently confident about his ability to do so despite bipartisan pessimism. As much as it pays political dividends to campaign on the idea that Washington is so broken only an outsider can fix it, Biden would argue instead that a president with five decades of experience as a “Washington insider” actually makes government function better, not worse.

Crafting a deficit agreement that allows both Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Biden to claim victory – in the wake of other bipartisan legislation ranging from infrastructure and semiconductor manufacturing to veteran health care – is the sort of proof of results that Biden would say comes from such experience.

Biden made his approach to the budget negotiations clear. The agreement is a compromise, he said, in which “no one got everything they want, but that’s the responsibility of governing”.

The president believes these sorts of compromises help restore trust and optimism about the US government actually being capable of responsible governing.

Read more:
Voters want compromise in Congress — so why the brinkmanship over the debt ceiling?

Why does this matter to the world?

As the world’s largest economy with a debt that is foundational to the global economy, a default would do far more than create chaos in the US$24 trillion Treasury debt market. It would ultimately upend financial markets and create international turmoil.

Indeed, the catastrophic economic consequences of a default would be so widespread that it is difficult to quantify. It would have almost certainly led to a recession.

But aside from the most dire of scenarios, these budget negotiations have had direct implications for the rest of the world – far larger than the mere cancelling of Biden’s planned trip to Australia this month.

As my colleagues recently argued, the last US debt-ceiling negotiations, during the Obama administration in 2011, resulted in the Budget Control Act. This law constrained US defence strategy in the Indo-Pacific to such an extent that US foreign policy has still not entirely recovered.

As the then US secretary of defence, James Mattis, said:

No enemy in the field has done as much to harm the readiness of the US military than the combined impact of the Budget Control Act’s defence spending caps.

Read more:
Biden’s cancelled Australia-PNG trip was a missed opportunity – but a US debt crisis would hurt a lot more

What to expect next?

Former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously only allowed legislation to be voted on that she knew had the requisite Democratic votes to get passed.

With one of the slimmest possible majorities in the House, McCarthy only won his role as speaker after more than a dozen votes. Few had complete confidence he would ultimately get the job. As a result, McCarthy will rarely – if ever – be able to take a Pelosi-like approach to voting during his speakership.

With the debt-ceiling legislation, McCarthy may again be forced go to the House floor without complete confidence in Republican support. He and centrist Republicans will instead be relying on some centrist Democrats voting in favour of the legislation.

This reality has forced McCarthy to simultaneously tout the proposal to Republicans as exceedingly conservative, but still enough of a compromise to win over some Democrats. Even then, there may once again be symbolic votes against the legislation the first time it is put to the floor in order for some representatives to register a protest with their constituents.

Biden and McCarthy will now need to weather the storm from their respective left and right flanks to secure the agreement’s passage. But they are ultimately hoping this deal will remove one more obstacle to a better-functioning Washington, where political brinkmanship has continued to challenge an otherwise significant resurgence of US strength at home and leadership abroad.

While failure to raise the debt limit would have been unprecedented, a lowering of Washington’s political antagonism increasingly feels unprecedented, too.

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

– ref. Can high-stakes debt-ceiling brinkmanship in the US lead to unprecedented political unity? – https://theconversation.com/can-high-stakes-debt-ceiling-brinkmanship-in-the-us-lead-to-unprecedented-political-unity-206586

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

Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan has announced he is quitting as premier and leaving parliament.

In a shock announcement, McGowan told a news conference in Perth on Monday he had “loved the role. But the truth is I’m tired, extremely tired – in fact I’m exhausted. The role of political leadership doesn’t stop – it’s relentless.”

The 55-year-old said he was confident WA Labor could win the 2025 state election, but he did not have “the energy or drive” to fight the campaign.

He has been premier since 2017, and was re-elected in 2021 in a stunning victory that almost wiped out the parliamentary WA Liberal party.

McGowan, whose popularity reached stratospheric levels – earlier this year it was at 88% – shot to national prominence during the pandemic when he shut the WA border, avoiding prolonged lockdowns and keeping the state’s economy strong.

His stance on the border was vindicated when the High Court rejected a challenge brought by businessman Clive Palmer, initially supported by the Morrison government.

The pandemic, and McGowan’s handling of it, brought out the historical separatist sentiments among Western Australians.

McGowan’s popularity was a factor in federal Labor picking up several seats at last year’s election, and his departure is an indirect blow for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

McGowan said he had been considering his decision to leave parliament for some time but had needed to bring down the state budget, which had a strong surplus. McGowan is treasurer as well as premier.

He listed the government’s achievements, saying the state has “the strongest economy in Australia” and one of the strongest in the world. He noted the very good deal WA extracted from the Morrison government to get a bigger share of the nation’s goods and services tax.

McGowan said this would be his final week in his role.

He has been in parliament 26 and a half years and has led Labor, in opposition and government, for 11 and a half of those.

McGowan said he wasn’t naturally a combative person but every day he had to engage in confrontation and “I’m tired of it”.

He wanted to be seen as “an achiever”. “I just wanted to leave the state better than I found it, and do good things along the way […] improve the place in the long term.”

McGowan said he did not have any plans for what he would do “but I don’t want to stop work”.

He said he had wanted to give his successor, whoever it is, time to cement themselves in the role.

McGowan served in the navy before going into politics. He originally came from New South Wales but has since become known for his strong affinity for Rockingham, the often-derided city where he lives and which he has represented in parliament since 1996.

Albanese said in a statement: “Mark leaves office as he led, on his own terms and as his own man. He has been a great Premier of his proud state, an extraordinary leader for WA Labor and a trusted friend.

“Above all, Mark will be remembered for seeing the people of Western Australia safely through one of the most challenging crises in our nation’s history. In unprecedented times, Mark always held to his convictions and always sought to do the right thing by his state.”

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

– ref. WA Premier Mark McGowan quits in shock announcement, declaring he is ‘exhausted’ – https://theconversation.com/wa-premier-mark-mcgowan-quits-in-shock-announcement-declaring-he-is-exhausted-206611

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dee Ninis, Earthquake Geologist, Monash University

Last night at 11:41pm local time, the greater Melbourne region was shaken by a magnitude 4.0 earthquake – as calculated by the Seismology Research Centre – centred near Sunbury, approximately 30km north of the CBD.

Geoscience Australia have so far received more than 25,000 reports from people who felt this earthquake, some as far as Hobart, which is 620km away from the epicentre.

In the Melbourne region, the earthquake reportedly produced shaking which lasted roughly 10–20 seconds, according to witness reports on social media. It was followed two minutes later by a magnitude 2.8 aftershock, which was reported by some people in the epicentral region between Sunbury and Cragieburn.

Are earthquakes becoming more common in Melbourne?

In September 2021, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake rattled Melbourne, its epicentre being at Woods Point to the east of the city. This earthquake was felt as far away as Brisbane and Adelaide.

Last night’s earthquake follows a magnitude 2.5 earthquake near Ferntree Gully, to the east of Melbourne, two weeks ago on May 16. Another one with a magnitude of 2.0 was felt by about 1,300 people in roughly the same region on May 22, according to Geoscience Australia.

Although this means some Melbournians have experienced two or even three earthquakes in the last two weeks, earthquakes are not becoming more common in Melbourne. It is not unexpected for there to be 10–12 felt earthquakes a year somewhere in the greater Melbourne region – these need not occur at regular intervals.

Earthquakes in Australia occur as a result of stresses at our surrounding tectonic plate boundaries – where different plates collide, grind past one another, or are being forced apart. These stresses make their way towards the middle of the plate, too.

In southeast Australia, the forces at the Pacific-Australian plate boundary to the east of us – the same plate boundary which passes through Aotearoa New Zealand – produce a buildup of strain. This is eventually released in the form of earthquake ruptures at weak zones or “faults” in the crust.

As a result of all this, earthquakes occur in the greater Melbourne region about once a month. Many of these – typically more than three quarters – are too small to be felt.

Read more:
Nobody can predict earthquakes, but we can forecast them. Here’s how

What determines if you feel an earthquake?

Generally speaking, a larger magnitude earthquake is more likely to be felt than those of smaller magnitudes. But other factors play a part, too.

Earthquake depth affects how strong the associated ground shaking is – the shallower the earthquake, the stronger the shaking. Last night’s magnitude 4.0 near Sunbury was a relatively shallow earthquake at just 3km depth. Because shallow earthquakes produce stronger ground-shaking, they’re also more likely to cause damage. Minor damage, such as cracked plaster and fallen pictures, were reported as a result of last night’s earthquake.

Read more:
Why are shallow earthquakes more destructive? The disaster in Java is a devastating example

The closer you are to the earthquake epicentre, the more likely you are to feel it. You’re also more likely to experience an earthquake if you’re stationary, rather than jogging or riding a bike or driving. Some people reportedly slept through last night’s earthquake.

The earthquakes reported as felt by those near the epicentre are mostly ones above a magnitude 2.0–2.5, although smaller events can be felt especially at shallow depths, and in populated areas. If an earthquake happens in a remote region, there are often no people to report having felt it.

Booms and aftershocks

Very small, shallow earthquakes sometimes do not produce any shaking closest to the epicentre, but instead produce a sound akin to an explosion – a short, sharp, loud “boom”. This occurs when the seismic waves reach the surface and transform into sound waves.

This is different to the rumbling sound which is more commonly heard, and is often described as a train approaching. It’s the result of the shaking of the built environment as the seismic wave passes through.

In addition to the magnitude 2.8 aftershock from last night’s earthquake, there have been additional aftershocks less than magnitude 1.0. These are still being examined by seismologists. There may still be aftershocks large enough to be felt in the coming days, weeks, and months, though the likelihood of these diminishes with time.

Occasionally, a larger earthquake may occur, in which case the magnitude 4.0 will be considered a foreshock.

Read more:
The earthquake that rattled Melbourne was among Australia’s biggest in half a century, but rock records reveal far mightier ones

Dee Ninis works for the Seismology Research Centre. She is affiliated with the School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment at Monash University, and is Vice President of the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society.

– ref. Melbourne earthquake 2023: are they becoming more common? A seismology expert explains – https://theconversation.com/melbourne-earthquake-2023-are-they-becoming-more-common-a-seismology-expert-explains-206589

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

When people decide it’s time to lose weight, they’re usually keen to see quick results. Maybe they have an event coming up or want relief from health problems and discomfort.

But expert guidelines typically recommend slower weight loss for the treatment of obesity. This tallies with a a widely held opinion that fast weight loss is more quickly regained. Slow weight loss is generally perceived as better for your health and more sustainable. Many programs offering “the fastest way to lose weight” are considered fad diets that severely restrict calories or eliminate some foods.

But does slow and steady really win the weight-loss race? Or is fast weight loss just as effective and safe?

Read more:
Is menopause making me put on weight? No, but it’s complicated

What’s the difference between slow and fast weight loss?

Governing bodies typically recommend a weight loss of 0.5 to 1 kilogram each week, which would be defined as slow weight loss.

So fast weight loss – also termed “rapid weight loss” – is losing more than 1 kilo a week over several weeks.

What does the research say about fast weight loss?

There are several well-conducted studies examining differing approaches.

One study of 200 people randomly assigned them to fast or slow weight loss – 12 weeks versus 36 weeks – aimed at a 15% reduction in weight.

The fast weight loss group was put on a very low energy diet using meal replacements, including shakes, bars and soups, three times per day. The slow weight loss group was advised on the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating with the goal to eat 500 calories less than they used for energy (creating a calorie deficit) each day. They also used one to two meal replacements daily.

Some 50% of the slow weight loss group and 81% of the fast weight loss group achieved 12.5% or more weight loss during this time.

After this initial phase, those who had lost 12.5% or more were then placed on a weight maintenance diet for approximately 2.75 years.

By the three-year mark, 76% of those in the slow weight loss and the same percentage of those in the fast weight loss group had regained their lost weight.

So, it didn’t matter if they had lost it slow or fast, they still regained the weight.

However, another study on 101 postmenopausal women found fast weight loss resulted in better outcomes than a slow weight loss group at the three-year mark.

But there are other factors to consider, aside from weight loss, when it comes to the differing ways of losing weight – such as changes in body composition and bone mineral density.

This is best highlighted by a large meta-analysis. These type of studies combine the results of all previous well-conducted studies on the topic.

While this analysis found the magnitude of weight loss was similar for both approaches, slow weight loss resulted in better outcomes than fast weight loss with respect to metabolism or how many calories we burn at rest.

There were no differences in the amount of fat-free mass or muscle mass lost between the slow and fast weight loss groups. But slow weight loss resulted in greater reductions in fat mass and therefore a better fat-to-muscle ratio.

Slow weight loss also seems better for bone density, because rapid weight loss results in a twice as much bone loss and puts a person at increased risk of brittle bones or osteoporosis.

What about other diet approaches?

Research shows it doesn’t matter what type of macronutrient diet you follow – moderate or high-protein diet, low or high-carbodyrate diet, low or high-fat diet. All diet approaches achieve similar weight loss outcomes.

The same can be said for fashionable ways of cutting calories from the diet, such as intermittent fasting. Research has shown such diets don’t result in any better weight loss results than any of its predecessors. This is because our body is extremely good at protecting against weight loss.

When you want to lose weight consider …

Your metabolism
When you lose large amounts of weight, you resting metabolic rate – the energy you burn at rest – will lower. Keeping your resting metabolic rate high is essential for keeping the weight off. Unfortunately, once it slows down, your resting metabolic rate doesn’t recover to the level it was pre-dieting even after you regain weight.

However, research has confirmed slow weight loss preserves your resting metabolic rate compared with rapid weight loss. As does a weight loss program that includes exercise rather than one that focuses on diet alone.

Side effects
While restrictive diets can achieve rapid results, studies suggest they can come with adverse effects. This includes a higher risk of gallstones and deficiencies that can result in poor immune function, fatigue and a decrease in bone density. Such restrictive diets can make it challenging to meet your nutritional needs.

Sustainability
Many fast weight loss diets restrict or exclude foods required for long-term health. Carbohydrates are often banned, yet wholegrain carbohydrates are an essential source of nutrition, helping with weight loss and prevention of disease. Including meal replacements as part of a restrictive diet is also not sustainable for long.

Read more:
Does exercise help you lose weight?

The bottom line?

Regardless of how you lose the weight, it’s very difficult to maintain losses. Our bodies work to keep our weight around a set point by adjusting our biological systems and imposing a series of physiological changes within the body to ensure we regain weight we lose. This stems from our hunter-gatherer ancestors, whose bodies developed this survival response to adapt to periods of deprivation when food was scarce.

Successful long-term weight loss comes down to:

1. following evidence-based programs based on what we know about the science of obesity

2. losing weight under the supervision of qualified health-care professionals

3. making gradual changes to your lifestyle – diet, exercise and sleep – to ensure you form health habits that last a lifetime.

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

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

– ref. Is it true the faster you lose weight the quicker it comes back? Here’s what we know about slow and fast weight loss – https://theconversation.com/is-it-true-the-faster-you-lose-weight-the-quicker-it-comes-back-heres-what-we-know-about-slow-and-fast-weight-loss-198301

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Speck, Emerita Professor, Art History and Curatorship, University of Adelaide

Milton Moon (1926-2019) was not your regular potter. He was deeply imbued with Zen Buddhism and once said each vessel is a container for thoughts, “a fundamental expression of life’s forces”.

His work produced over six decades is on show in a new exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia that calls for close looking.

He took to his craft in his early 30s from the base of a successful career in ABC radio.

Once his hands were working with clay, he never looked back.

On show are some of his earliest ceramics, made and exhibited in 1959 when living in Brisbane. His influences were artists living or showing in Brisbane then, including David Boyd, son of Merric Boyd, and Hermia Boyd whose studio ceramics were on show in July 1959 at the progressive Johnstone Gallery.

Studio ceramics – with its hallmark folk tradition, figurative form and applied decoration – appears briefly in some early Moon work such as his Sculptural vase, 1960. Owl-like, the eyes at the top look down on viewers, while the decorative markings double as plumage and drawing on clay.

More elemental even, but in the same style, is his Antipodean head, 1962, whose rough torso looks hewn from a rock-face.

The art of Zen

While the earthy nature of some of Moon’s pots are in response to the Australian landscape, he had a deep interest in matters philosophical, formally studying philosophy in the mid-1960s. This was greatly extended by a year in Japan in 1974.

It wrought changes to Moon himself. He studied meditation in the Zen style with Kobori Nanrei Sōhaku, Abbot of the Rinzai sect, whose teachings influenced his life course, and his ceramics.

As Moon said, “no one ever leaves Japan unaltered”. In his 2006 book The Zen Master, the Potter and the Poet, he explores this journey.

On display are a series of ceramic landscape platters that point to those deep changes such as Plate with blossom pattern, 1978. Its abstract marks meld an Australian landscape base with finely drawn blossom, while the calligraphic gestures on his Dish, 1982, point to a deep infusion of a Zen way of thinking and making.

Read more:
Friday essay: how the West discovered the Buddha

A painterly potter

Moon was a painterly potter. He saw little difference between painting on a canvas and painting with glazes on the surface of a pot, and two of his abstract paintings, mark making on canvas, are in the exhibition.

Moon’s delicate, refined Fairweather pot, 1966, made in homage to his friend Ian Fairweather, is very much a painted pot. Its calligraphic lines, inspired by the artist’s paintings, sweep around and down the rounded pot with grace and beauty.

Moon, though, observed at the time “it is difficult to achieve the fragility and impermanence Fairweather gives his paintings”.

Some ceramic pieces are functional. Others, like the early 1970s Folded pot, have their functionality denied.

The allure lies in the harmony of the shape, the gradation of glazes, and its changing texture governed by a sense of restraint: not too much, not too little.

Read more:
A new study of artist Ian Fairweather considers how Chinese ideas influenced this wanderer and adventurer

‘Let nature take its course’

Moon was fascinated by the geological nature of clay itself.

What stands out is the texture of much of the work on show such as his Platter, 1962-64, which Moon achieved by the quality of the clay he used, his mode of firing the pots and his innovative application of glazes. The word “experimentation” comes to mind.

In the accompanying catalogue, his son Damon (also a master potter), talks about the technical aspects of his father’s work and how he applied glazes to clay like an artist – drawing or painting onto the surface with a brush, a stick or his fingers, scratching back layers of oxides and adding wood ash to achieve the colours and textures of the landscape he was after.

The quirks in the firing process were yet another element in Milton Moon’s experimentation, Damon observing:

in this funny business of mud and water and fire, he was willing to let nature take its course. I think he liked that aspect of ceramics.

Hybrid space

While the curatorial intent in Crafting Modernism is to contextualise Milton Moon’s ceramics in the broader narrative of Australian art, his location in that narrative is more complex.

This stands out when looking at his impressively large floor pots such as his Yourambulla landscape pot, 1990, standing close on a metre high with its earthy tones, and inscribed, scratched-in lines to convey the dense scrubby nature of the bush.

Over and above the obvious references to the landscape is an underlying sense of the calligraphic gestures to evoke the bush.

In this and many other works he dances between two worlds and two cultures, crafting a hybrid space. That is what is so alluring about his work.

Moon was a prolific potter. He spoke through his ceramics, once writing making marks on the surfaces of pots “are my words”; they are a “whispered secret”.

The beauty of the exhibition curated by Rebecca Evans is its distilling of his output over 60 years to a coherent and poetic display. Its framing in a white space, in a top-lit gallery with natural light augmented by artificial light, makes the works sing.

A Zen-Buddhist vision lives on in works of great beauty.

Milton Moon: Crafting Modernism is on display at the Art Gallery of South Australia until August 6.

Read more:
How Japanese avant-garde ceramicists have tested the limits of clay

Catherine Speck has, with Joanna Mendelssohn, Catherine De Lorenzo and Alison Inglis, received funding from the ARC to investigate exhibitions of Australian art.

– ref. Milton Moon: the Australian artist who brought a Zen Buddhist, modernist and painterly sensibility to pottery – https://theconversation.com/milton-moon-the-australian-artist-who-brought-a-zen-buddhist-modernist-and-painterly-sensibility-to-pottery-205480

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

When the National Party’s transport spokesperson, Simeon Brown, questioned the logic of bilingual traffic signs, he seemed to echo his leader Christopher Luxon’s earlier misgivings about the now prevalent use of te reo Māori in government departments.

Genuine concern or political signalling in an election year? After all, Luxon himself has expressed interest in learning te reo, and also encouraged its use when he was CEO of Air New Zealand. He even
sought to trademark “Kia Ora” as the title of the airline’s in-flight magazine.

And for his part, Brown has no problem with Māori place names on road signs. His concern is that important messaging about safety or directions should be readily understood. “Signs need to be clear,” he said. “We all speak English, and they should be in English.” Adding more words, he believes, is simply confusing.

It’s important to take Brown at his word, then, with a new selection of proposed bilingual signs now out for public consultation. Given the National Party’s enthusiastic embrace of AI to generate pre-election advertising imagery, one obvious place to start is with ChatGPT, which tells us:

Bilingual traffic signs, which display information in two or more languages, are generally not considered a driver hazard. In fact, bilingual signage is often implemented to improve safety and ensure that drivers of different language backgrounds can understand and follow the traffic regulations.

ChatGPT also suggests that by providing information about speed limits, directions and warnings, bilingual traffic signs “accommodate diverse communities and promote road safety for all drivers”.

Safety and culture

With mounting concern over AI’s potential existential threat to human survival, however, it’s probably best we don’t take the bot’s word for it. Fortunately, government transport agency Waka Kotahi has already examined the use of bilingual traffic signs in 19 countries across the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. It’s 2021 report states:

The use of bilingual traffic signage is common around the world and considered “standard” in the European Union. Culture, safety and commerce appear to be the primary impetuses behind bilingual signage.

Read more:
Bilingual road signs in Aotearoa New Zealand would tell us where we are as a nation

Given Brown’s explicit preference for the use of English, it’s instructive that in the UK itself, the Welsh, Ulster Scots and Scots Gaelic languages appear alongside English on road signs in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

More to the point, on the basis of the evidence it reviewed, Waka Kotahi concluded that – providing other important design considerations are attended to – bilingual traffic signs can both improve safety and respond to cultural aspirations:

In regions of Aotearoa New Zealand where people of Māori descent are over-represented in vehicle crash statistics, or where they represent a large proportion of the local population, bilingual traffic signage may impart benefits in terms of reducing harm on our road network.

‘One people’

Politically, however, the problem with a debate over bilingual road signs is that it quickly becomes another skirmish in the culture wars – echoing the common catchcry of those opposed to greater biculturalism in Aotearoa New Zealand: “we are one people”.

It’s a loaded phrase, originally attributed to the Crown’s representative Lieutenant Governor William Hobson, who supposedly said “he iwi tahi tātou” (we are one people) at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.

Read more:
‘You can’t speak what you can’t hear’ – how Māori and Pacific sports stars are helping revitalise vulnerable languages

Whether or not he said any such thing is up for debate. William Colenso, who was at Waitangi on the day and who reported Hobson’s words, thought he had. But Colenso’s account was published 50 years after the events in question (and just nine years before he died aged 89).

Either way, the assertion has since come to be favoured by those to whom the notion of cultural homogeneity appeals. It’s a common response to the increasing public visibility of te ao Māori (the Māori world).

But being “one people” means other things become singular too: one law, one science, one language, one system. In other words, a non-Māori system, the one many of us take for granted as simply the way things are.

Any suggestion that system might incorporate or coexist with aspects of other systems – indeed might benefit from them – tends to come up against the kind of resistance we see to such things as bilingual road signs.

Read more:
Putting Aotearoa on the map: New Zealand has changed its name before, why not again?

Fretful sleepers

The discomfort many New Zealanders still feel with the use of te reo Māori in public settings brings to mind Bill Pearson’s famous 1952 essay, Fretful Sleepers.

In it, Pearson reflects on the anxiety that can seep unbidden into the lives of those who would like to live in a “wishfully untroubled world”, but who nonetheless sense things are not quite right out here on the margins of the globe.

Pearson lived in a very different New Zealand. But he had his finger on the same fear and defensiveness that can cause people to fret about the little things (like bilingual signs) when there are so many more consequential things to disrupt our sleep.

Anyway, Simeon Brown and his fellow fretful sleepers appear to be on the wrong side of history. Evidence suggests most New Zealanders would like to see more te reo Māori in their lives, not less. Two-thirds would like te reo taught as a core subject in primary schools, and 56% think “signage should be in both te reo Māori and English”.

If the experience in other parts of the world is anything to go by, bilingual signage will be just another milestone on the road a majority seem happy to be on.

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

– ref. Slow down Simeon Brown – bilingual traffic signs aren’t an accident waiting to happen – https://theconversation.com/slow-down-simeon-brown-bilingual-traffic-signs-arent-an-accident-waiting-to-happen-206579

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mehmet Ozalp, Associate Professor in Islamic Studies, Director of The Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation and Executive Member of Public and Contextual Theology, Charles Sturt University

Recep Tayyib Erdogan will remain president of Turkey for another five years after winning Sunday’s run-off election over his long-time rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. If he serves the full five-year term, he will have held power for 26 years – almost the entire history of Turkey in the 21st century.

What is astonishing is how the majority of Turkish people elected Erdogan despite a worsening economy and now chronic hyperinflation that would likely bring down any government in a democratic country.

So, how did Erdogan win the election and, more significantly, what is likely to happen in the country in the foreseeable future?

Read more:
How Erdoğan framed his science and tech ‘great achievements’ as part of election campaign

Free but far from fair

The election was free in that political parties could put forth nominees on their own and carry out campaigns. Parties also had the right to have representatives in every polling station to ensure the votes were counted correctly. And voters were free to vote.

However, the election was far from fair.

First, a potential leading rival in the race, Ekrem Imamoglu, was sentenced in December to more than two years in prison on a charge of “insulting public figures”.

Imamoglu, the popular mayor of Istanbul, dealt Erdogan’s party a rare defeat in the 2019 Istanbul elections. Polls had shown he could win against Erdogan in the presidential election by a comfortable margin.

Some argue the court ruling was politically motivated. With Imamoglu out of the picture, the opposition had to coalesce behind Kilicdaroglu, the weakest of all possible high-profile candidates.

Erdogan also has an almost ubiquitous grip over the Turkish media, engineered through Fahrettin Altun, the head of media and communication at the presidential palace.

Turkish media are either directly owned by Erdogan’s relatives, such as the popular Sabah newspaper managed by Sedat Albayrak, or controlled through managing editors appointed and monitored by Altun. Some independent internet news sites such as T24 practice self-censorship in order to remain operational.

With this massive media control, Erdogan and his men ensured he had the most television airtime. Erdogan was depicted in the media as a world leader advancing Turkey by building airports, roads and bridges. He was put in front of dozens of journalists on TV, but all the questions were prepared in advance and Erdogan read his answers through a prompter.

Altun also orchestrated a massive smear campaign against Kilicdaroglu. The opposition leader received minimal airtime, and when he was in the media, he was depicted as an inept leader unfit to rule the country.

Altun not only controlled the conventional TV channels and print media, but also social media. On Twitter, a very influential platform in Turkey, Altun used bots and an army of paid trolls and influencers to seek to control the dialogue.

And it worked. Sufficient number of voters were swayed through confusion and fear that the country would be far worse if Kilicdaroglu was elected.

Lastly, there was the potential for fraud due to the non-transparent way the election results are processed. Once each ballot box is counted, the ballot and result sheet are transported by police in cities and the military in regional areas to the electoral commission. Both the police and military are under Erdogan’s tight control.

The results are then reported only through the state-owned Anadolu Agency, while in the past they were reported by multiple independent agencies.

Even if no evidence of fraud emerges in this election, the spectre could put in doubt the integrity of the entire electoral process.

Staunch support from religious voters

There are two other factors that were decisive in the elections.

The first is the support Erdogan received from Sinan Ogan, who was third in the first round of the presidential election two weeks ago, with 5.2% of the votes. Erdogan persuaded Ogan to throw his support to him.

The second and most important factor was the way Erdogan was viewed in an almost mythical fashion by conservative and religious voters. For them, Erdogan is a religious hero and saviour.

The religious population in Turkey has long suffered persecution in the name of secularism. For them, Kilicdaroglu and his Republican People’s Party symbolised that persecution. Although Kilicdaroglu abandoned the party’s previous strict secular policies, these voters never forgave it for preventing Muslim women from wearing the head scarf in educational and state institutions and keeping religion out of public life and politics for decades.

The conservative and religious right in Turkey sees Erdogan as a world leader and a hero who struggled against ill-intentioned forces, both internally and externally, to make Turkey great again.

What is likely to happen in Turkey post-election?

Turkey desperately needed a change of government and a breath of fresh air. Now the social, political and economic suffocation is likely to get worse.

Erdogan had promised a Turkish revival by 2023, which is the 100th anniversary of the republic’s founding. Turkey was supposed to enter the top 10 economies in the world by then. However, Turkey barely sits in the top 20, at 19th.

The economy has experienced a significant downturn in the past three years. The Turkish lira has plummeted in value, leading to a dollar-based economy.

But dollars are hard to come by. The Turkish Central Bank kept the economy afloat by emptying its reserves in the last few months for the elections. The Central Bank has been running a current account deficit of US$8-10 billion dollars every month, and its reserves last week fell into the negative for the first time since 2002.

Now Erdogan has to find money. He will resort to high interest foreign loans and embark on a diplomatic spree of the oil-rich Muslim countries to draw some of their funds to Turkey. The uncertainty around how successful these endeavours will be and their likely short-term gain may throw the Turkish economy into recession.

For the people of Turkey, this could mean massive unemployment and a reduced cost of living. The inflation rate had reached a 24-year high of 85.5% last year, and may go even higher, as the cash-strapped government continues to print digital money to pay for its large bureaucratic workforce.

On foreign policy, Erdogan will continue to try to become a regional power independent of NATO, the European Union and the US. He will likely continue to strengthen Turkey’s ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which has been a worry for Turkey’s Western allies.

What does the future hold?

This will be Erdogan’s absolute last term in office, according to the Turkish constitution, and it could possibly be cut short.

The 69-year-old president has many health problems. He is becoming increasingly physically frail, finding it hard to walk, and his speech often slurs. In coming years, his health may get worse and he may have to hand over his presidency to a trusted deputy.

The other possibility is that potential leaders in his party could decide to carry out a party coup to topple Erdogan before his term is up, so they can garner public support ahead of the 2028 presidential election.

While there may be some political stability in post-election Turkey for now, the country will be in economic, social and political turmoil for the foreseeable future.

Read more:
Turkey’s Erdoğan took a page from US presidents and boosted reelection campaign by claiming to have killed a terrorist

Mehmet Ozalp is affiliated with Islamic Sciences and Research Academy Limited.

– ref. Free but unfair election: how Erdogan held onto power in Turkey, and what this means for the country’s future – https://theconversation.com/free-but-unfair-election-how-erdogan-held-onto-power-in-turkey-and-what-this-means-for-the-countrys-future-206293

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jacquie Rand, Emeritus Professor of Companion Animal Health, The University of Queensland

Stray cats are a longstanding problem in Australian towns and cities. Common complaints about roaming cats include nuisance (fighting and urinating), disease risks to humans and other animals, and predation of native wildlife. The huge numbers of cats and kittens taken in by animal shelters and council pounds are a challenge to manage, leading to an estimated 50,000 being killed each year – most of them young and healthy.

Our newly published research reveals Australian council pounds, rescue groups and animal welfare shelters took in 179,615 cats and kittens in 2018-2019. Of these animals, 5% were reclaimed by owners, 65% rehomed and 28% killed.

Council-operated pounds killed 46% of all cats and kittens admitted. Shelters killed 25%. One in four council pounds in New South Wales and Victoria killed a staggering 67-100%.

Despite the scale of this killing, Australia’s stray cat numbers are not decreasing. The evidence shows an urgent need for proactive community cat programs offering free desexing of cats in targeted problem areas.

Killing so many cats is bad for people too

High cat-killing rates also have a significant human cost. Many council, shelter and veterinary staff suffer devastating psychological impacts when required to kill large numbers of healthy cats and kittens, often repeatedly. These impacts include trauma, depression, substance abuse and increased suicide risk.

Members of the public can also be traumatised when the stray cats they are feeding are trapped and killed.

Current approaches are failing

To make matters worse, trapping and killing stray cats and kittens is costly and has not worked. This reactive approach has not reduced the stray cat population over the decades it has been applied. Therefore, the potential nuisance, disease risks and native wildlife predation have not been reduced.

Our research shows cat intakes actually increased at municipal pounds in NSW from 2016-17 to 2018-19 (pre-COVID data are most accurate). Attempts to adopt and kill our way out of the stray cat problem have failed.

Read more:
Cats that are allowed to roam can spread diseases to humans and wildlife

Australian councils are increasingly adopting mandatory cat containment (curfews). It seems like a logical solution, but based on the evidence it is not effective. It doesn’t reduce stray cat numbers in the short or long term, as shown by the experience of councils such as Casey and Yarra Ranges in Victoria.

RSPCA Australia acknowledges:

Overall, councils with cat containment regulations have not been able to demonstrate any measurable reduction in cat complaints or cats wandering at large.

In contrast, Hume, Hobsons Bay and Merri-bek councils in Victoria have rejected mandatory containment. Their decisions cited reasons such as it is ineffective and unenforceable because most stray cats don’t have an owner to contain them.

Cats may be owned, semi-owned (people feed them intentionally) or (uncommonly) unowned. In the latter case they get food unintentionally provided by people, such as from bins.

Even for owned cats, containment is sometimes not achievable due to factors such as housing limitations, cost – containment systems typically cost $700-$2,000 – and concerns about the welfare of confined cats. Mandatory containment creates a barrier to semi-owners adopting the stray cat they are feeding and also potentially criminalises cat ownership for disadvantaged families, particularly those in rental properties.

Containment to their owners’ properties should be strongly encouraged where cats’ physical and mental needs can be met. But mandatory containment should be rejected. It will not protect native wildlife, the commonly cited justification, because it does not measurably reduce the number of free-roaming cats.

Read more:
Research reveals why pet owners keep their cats indoors – and it’s not to protect wildlife

Stray cats are not feral cats

Based on RSPCA and government definitions, stray cats in urban and urban fringe areas are all domestic cats.

They are not feral cats. Feral cats live and breed in the wild, not in cities or towns or near people, are not the subject of nuisance complaints and are not admitted to shelters or pounds. Stray cats are sometimes mislabelled as feral cats, which prevents effective solutions to the stray cat problem.

Stray cats account for 80-100% of admissions to council pounds and 60-80% to animal welfare agencies. The rest are mostly cats given up by their owners.

Most stray cats entering pounds and shelters are from poorer areas and are likely semi-owned cats. The people who feed them do not see themselves as owners of the stray cat but have an emotional bond with the cat.

Read more:
Why do our dogs and cats bring us dead animals?

So what’s the long-term solution?

Assisting semi-owners and owners in disadvantaged areas to desex their cats is the best long-term solution to the stray cat problem. The Community Cat Program is an evidence-based approach that supports cat owners and semi-owners with free desexing and microchipping of the cats they are caring for. These efforts should be focused on areas of high cat intakes and complaints.

Proactive community cat programs are scientifically proven to reduce the number of stray cats and unwanted kittens in targeted areas. They thereby reduce nuisance complaints, cat intake and killing, trauma to people, costs, disease risks and wildlife predation.

Banyule in Victoria set up a free program to desex, microchip and register owned and semi-owned cats, with a focus on suburbs with high cat-related calls. In just three years, the council reduced impoundments by 61% and numbers killed by 74%. In contrast, after Yarra Ranges Council implemented mandatory containment in 2017, there was a 68% increase in impoundments in the third year.

The 2022 NSW Rehoming Practices Review recommended community cat programs, consistent with a “One Welfare” approach. The aim is to optimise and balance the wellbeing of people, animals and their social and physical environment. Earlier this year, the NSW government announced $8.3 million in funding for community cat programs and facilities.

At least 50% of cats entering pounds and shelters are kittens less than six months old. These figures highlight why community cat programs are urgently needed across Australia to protect cats, native wildlife and people.

Diana Chua, a veterinarian and masters student at The University of Queensland, is lead author of the research paper on the numbers of cats being taken in by Australian pounds and shelters, and contributed to this article. Jade Norris, a veterinarian working at the Australian Pet Welfare Foundation and a masters student at The University of Queensland, and Andrea Hayward PhD, a volunteer researcher with the APWF examining social issues associated with cat management following a background in clinical genetic counselling, reproductive medicine and genetic paternity testing, also contributed to this article. Jacquie Rand is a registered specialist veterinarian in small animal internal medicine and Emeritus Professor of Companion Animal Health at the University of Queensland. She is also the Executive Director and Chief Scientist of the Australian Pet Welfare Foundation, which provides a consultancy service on urban cat management to local governments. APWF receives funding from the Queensland Government Gambling Community Benefit Fund and from many state, national and international granting bodies, not-for-profits and donors. She is affiliated with the Australian Veterinary Association, Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists, American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and the Society of Comparative Endocrinology.

John Morton is affiliated with the Australian Veterinary Association and the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists. Dr Morton provides an epidemiological consulting service through Jemora Pty Ltd.

– ref. Australian shelters and pounds kill 50,000 mostly healthy cats and kittens in a year. There’s a way to prevent this pointless killing – https://theconversation.com/australian-shelters-and-pounds-kill-50-000-mostly-healthy-cats-and-kittens-in-a-year-theres-a-way-to-prevent-this-pointless-killing-201947

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Falconer, Lecturer, T.C. Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland

Australia’s housing crisis is no secret. What many people don’t realise is that there’s another, less visible housing crisis. Australia’s urban cemeteries are running out of space to house the dead.

In Sydney, for example, a 2020 report found all of the city’s existing public cemeteries would be full by 2032. This will leave the communities they serve without a place to bury their dead.

We know how to solve this crisis. A few key changes can make Australia’s cemeteries more sustainable and viable for generations to come.

But these changes require political will to act. That’s because the solutions involve changes to the state-based laws that govern cemeteries. We can start with Victoria’s Cemeteries and Crematoria Regulations 2015, which must be updated by 2025.

Read more:
Housing the dead: what happens when a city runs out of space?

Make renewable grave tenure the default option

Most Australians assume graves last forever. This system of perpetual tenure is mandatory in Victoria and the ACT. It’s the (near-universal) default in New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania.

But this system makes our burial space a “single use” resource. Overseas, perpetual tenure is the exception rather than the rule. Almost all European and East Asian countries have limited tenure for burial, or actively encourage cremation.

Where grave renewal occurs in Australia, it happens a long time after burial, typically between 25 and 99 years. By this time, the physical remains of the grave’s previous occupant have significantly degraded. Any remnants are preserved in an ossuary or dug deeper into the soil.

Cemeteries in South Australia and Western Australia already have renewable grave tenure. Families have an option to extend tenure, should they wish to do so.

By making renewable tenure the default option across Australia, cemeteries will greatly increase future capacity. If all of Sydney’s public cemeteries adopted a 35-year renewable tenure system, for example, it has been estimated the city’s burial needs over the next 99 years would require 38% less land.

Read more:
Losing the plot: death is permanent, but your grave isn’t

Create dedicated natural burial grounds

One simple, more environmentally friendly option is “natural burial”. Natural burial eschews embalming, caskets made from hardwood or metal, and monumental headstones. Instead, the body is buried in biodegradable materials, such as wicker or cardboard.

Green burial grounds are popular in the United Kingdom and Europe. They require less irrigation and maintenance. They also offer a way to conserve natural woodlands and so help foster biodiversity.

Some Australian cemeteries offer natural burial as an option next to traditional grave plots. There are, however, few dedicated natural burial grounds. Legislating natural burial grounds as distinct entities will allow specific regulations that give priority to regular grave renewal and positive environmental impact.

Natural burial grounds may also make “better neighbours” than traditional cemeteries if communities are going to be asked to live alongside new cemeteries. Overcoming resistance to new cemetery developments is essential to secure future burial capacity.

Read more:
Buried beneath the trees: a plan to solve our shortage of cemetery space

Legalise alternative disposal methods

We are all familiar with burial and cremation. But what about dissolving bodies in an alkaline solution – known as “water cremation” or “alkaline hydrolysis” – or transforming them into compost (“natural organic reduction”)?

These options have robust environmental credentials. They require less space than burial, as they produce portable remains in the form of ashes or soil. Several US states now permit these options.

In most of Australia, these options exist in a legal grey area. In Victoria, authorisation must be sought from the Department of Health to dispose of a body other than by burial or cremation. Queensland has no comprehensive cemeteries legislation, and thus no guidance on the legality of these alternatives.

New South Wales legalised water cremation (but not natural organic reduction) in 2011. The state now has two such facilities.

Other states and territories should follow NSW in explicitly legalising viable alternative disposal methods. This will ease pressure on cemeteries and provide greater choice to families.

Read more:
Ashes to ashes, dust to … compost? An eco-friendly burial in just 4 weeks

Invest in cemeteries as multi-use green spaces

Current regulatory frameworks emphasise the cemetery as a space of sombre reflection and remembrance. Victoria, for example, prohibits a wide range of activities, including dancing, fishing and sport.

However, as green space becomes scarce in Australia’s major cities, public opinion and current practices are falling out of alignment with such regulations. In a recent national survey, two-thirds of respondents disagreed with the sentiment that cemeteries were solely spaces for memorialisation. They supported the use of cemeteries as public green space.

Read more:
Visions of future cemeteries: 5 models and how Australians feel about them

Historic cemeteries, where new burials and visits are rare, offer even greater potential as multi-use public space. In cities overseas, jogging, walking the dog and picnics are common in these cemeteries.

Australia is yet to feel the full effects of the impending crisis of cemetery space. While big changes are needed to avert this crisis, at least the path forward is clear.

Hannah Gould has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council, through the Discovery Projects and the Linkage Projects schemes, with Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust as Linkage Project research partner.

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

– ref. Our cemeteries face a housing crisis too. 4 changes can make burial sustainable – https://theconversation.com/our-cemeteries-face-a-housing-crisis-too-4-changes-can-make-burial-sustainable-205987

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hassan Vally, Associate Professor, Epidemiology, Deakin University

As Australia heads towards the fourth winter of the pandemic, we have once again started seeing an increase in the level of COVID circulating. With this comes an increased risk of infection and serious illness.

Elderly people living in aged care are one of the groups facing the greatest risk.

But the latest figures from the federal health department show that to May 24 just over 40% (42.9%) of aged care residents estimated eligible for a booster vaccination have had their latest shot and are fully vaccinated.

If we also take into account immunity gained through recent infection in the past six months, just over half (50.4%) of aged care residents are estimated to have adequate levels of immunity.

Although numbers have increased considerably in the past few weeks, this is plainly far from ideal.

It’s been heartbreaking

Earlier in the pandemic, I was briefly part of the Victorian Aged Care Response Centre, set up to coordinate the response to the COVID surge in residential facilities. I was part of the team that collected, collated and interpreted COVID data used to inform the public health response.

What we witnessed in aged care then, and since, has been nothing short of heartbreaking.

Our inability to adequately protect aged care residents in the early part of the pandemic was undoubtedly one of our biggest pandemic failures.

I saw firsthand that this was not due to a lack of effort. The reality was there were just too many factors thwarting our ability to bring outbreaks under control in this uniquely challenging setting.

Since then, aged care residents have continued to die from COVID during the Omicron era. Since January 2022 COVID has accounted for about 5% of all deaths in residential aged care.

Read more:
4 in 10 nursing homes have a COVID outbreak and the death rate is high. What’s going wrong?

Why booster shots are so critical

Maintaining high levels of immunity by being up to date with COVID boosters is vital for protecting this vulnerable cohort from serious outcomes this winter.

Age, existing chronic illnesses and weaker immune systems are just some of the reasons why this group is most vulnerable.

Not only do vaccines protect against severe illness, they reduce the likelihood of passing COVID on to others in this high-risk environment.

And with higher rates of COVID transmission in the community, we’ll likely see more active outbreaks in residential aged care facilities. This highlights how important it is to see more residents receive their booster shots.

Read more:
Haven’t had COVID or a vaccine dose in the past six months? Consider getting a booster

COVID fatigue, vaccine distribution

It’s not entirely clear why COVID booster rates in aged care are so low.

There may be some COVID vaccine fatigue. Residents and their families may have tuned out to public health messages about the importance of vaccination and keeping up to date with booster shots. But how much of an issue this is in aged care is hard to measure.

Changes in the way COVID vaccines are delivered to aged care may have also played a role. Early in the pandemic, vaccine delivery was coordinated federally. However, now aged care centres are responsible for ensuring residents have access to the recommended COVID vaccine, with primary health-care providers, such as GPs and pharmacists, administering the shots.

Read more:
COVID vaccine consent for aged-care residents: it’s ethically tricky, but there are ways to get it right

We’ve tried incentives

Health departments and health workers are well aware of the need to adequately protect aged care residents as we head towards winter.

In February 2023, incentive payments for eligible health workers to go into residential aged care facilities to administer COVID vaccines were streamlined and increased.

In April 2023, the federal health department’s chief medical officer, and the aged care quality and safety commissioner issued a joint letter to aged care providers with advice on preparing for winter, including a reminder about COVID vaccination.

The federal government has also called on Primary Health Networks – bodies responsible for coordinating delivery of primary health care in their regions – to encourage them to support residential aged care homes across Australia to arrange COVID vaccination clinics.

This is all positive and sensible. Yet, we still haven’t seen a huge spike in COVID booster rates as we reach the end of May. That is concerning.

We mustn’t forget flu vaccines

As we enter the colder months, influenza also poses a significant threat for aged care residents.

So promoting COVID and influenza vaccination in aged care should go hand-in-hand this year, and for the foreseeable future.

Read more:
Should I get a flu vaccine this year? Here’s what you need to know

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

– ref. Over half of eligible aged care residents are yet to receive their COVID booster. And winter is coming – https://theconversation.com/over-half-of-eligible-aged-care-residents-are-yet-to-receive-their-covid-booster-and-winter-is-coming-205403

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pascal Scherrer, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Business, Law and Art, Southern Cross University

This week in Paris, negotiators from around the world are convening for a United Nations meeting. They will tackle a thorny problem: finding a globally binding solution for plastic pollution.

Of the staggering 460 million tonnes of plastic used globally in 2019 alone, much is used only once and thrown away. About 40% of plastic waste comes from packaging. Almost two-thirds of plastic waste comes from items with lifetimes of less than five years.

The plastic waste that escapes into nature persists and breaks up into smaller and smaller pieces, eventually becoming microplastics. Plastics now contaminate virtually every environment, from mountain peaks to oceans. Plastic has entered vital systems such as our food chain and even the human blood stream.

Governments and industry increasingly acknowledge the urgent need to reduce plastic pollution. They are introducing rules and incentives to help businesses stop using single-use plastics while also encouraging collection and recycling.

As a sustainability researcher, I explore opportunities to reduce plastic waste in sectors such as tourism, hospitality and meat production. I know how quickly we could make big changes. But I’ve also seen how quick-fix solutions can create complex future problems. So we must proceed with caution.

Read more:
Here’s how the new global treaty on plastic pollution can help solve this crisis

Plastic avoidance is top priority

We must urgently eliminate waste and build a so-called “circular economy”. For plastics, that means reuse or recycling back into the same type of plastic, not lower grade plastic. The plastic can be used to make similar products that then can be recycled again and again.

This means plastics should only be used where they can be captured at their end of life and recycled into a product of the same or higher value, with as little loss as possible.

Probably the only example of this to date is the recycling of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) soft-drink bottles in Norway and Switzerland. They boast recovery rates of 97% and 95% respectively.

The waste management pyramid below shows how to prioritise actions to lessen the waste problem. It is particularly relevant to single-use plastics. Our top priority, demanding the biggest investment, is prevention and reduction through redesign of products.

Where elimination is not yet achievable, reuse solutions or recycling to the same or higher-level products can be sought to make plastics circular.

Read more:
With better standards, we could make plastics endlessly useful – and slash waste. Here’s how

Unfortunately, a lack of high-quality reprocessing facilities means plastic waste keeps growing. In Australia, plastic is largely “downcycled”, which means it is recycled into lower quality plastics.

This can seem like an attractive way to deal with waste-plastic stockpiles, particularly after the recent collapse of soft-plastics recycler RedCycle. But downcycling risks doing more harm than good. Here are three reasons why:

1. Replacing wood with recycled plastics risks contaminating our wildest natural spaces

An increasing number of benches, tables, bollards and boardwalks are being made from recycled plastic. This shift away from timber is touted as a sustainable step – but caution is warranted when introducing these products to pristine areas such as national parks.

Wood is naturally present in those areas. It has a proven record of longevity and, when degrading, does not introduce foreign matter into the natural system.

Swapping wood for plastic may introduce microplastics into the few remaining places relatively free of them. Replacing wood with downcycled plastics also risks plastic pollution through weathering or fire.

2. Taking circular plastics from their closed loop to meet recycled-content targets creates more waste

Clear PET bottles used for beverages are the most circular plastic stream in Australia, approaching a 70% recovery rate. When these bottles are recycled back into clear PET bottles, they are circular plastics.

However, the used PET bottles are increasingly being turned into meat trays, berry punnets and mayonnaise jars to help producers meet the 2025 National Packaging Target of 50% recycled content (on average) in packaging.

The problem is the current industry specifications for plastics recovery allow only downcycling of these trays, punnets and jars. This means that circular PET is removed from a closed loop into a lower-grade recovery stream. This leads to non-circular downcycling and more plastic sent to landfill.

3. Using “compostable” plastics in non-compostable conditions creates still more plastic pollution

Increasingly, plastics are labelled as compostable and biodegradable. However, well-intended use of compostable plastics can cause long-term plastic pollution.

At the right temperature with the right amount of moisture, compostable plastics breakdown into soil. But if the conditions are not “just right”, they won’t break down at all.

For example, when a landscape architect or engineer uses a “compostable” synthetic fabric instead of a natural alternative (such as coir or jute mats) they can inadvertently introduce persistent plastics into the environment. This is because the temperature is not hot enough for the synthetic mat to break down.

We must also differentiate between “home compostable” and “commercially compostable”. Commercial facilities are more effective at composting because they operate under more closely controlled conditions.

Learning from our mistakes

Clearly, we need to reduce our reliance on plastics and shift away from linear systems – including recycling into lower-grade products.

Such downcycling may have a temporary role in dealing with existing plastic in the system while circular recycling capacity is being built. But we must not develop downcycling “solutions” that need a long-term stream of plastic waste to remain viable.

What’s more, downcycling requires constantly finding new markets for their lower-grade products. Circular systems are more robust.

So, to the negotiators in Paris, yes the shift to a circular plastics economy is urgent. But beware of good intentions that could ultimately make things worse.

Read more:
Plastic action or distraction? As climate change bears down, calls to reduce plastic pollution are not wasted

Pascal Scherrer currently works on a plastic waste reduction project funded by the Australian Meat Processor Corporation. He recently completed a secondment with the ANZPAC Plastics Pact team. He is also a former member of the Northcoast Regional Advisory Committee by the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service.

– ref. 3 little-known reasons why plastic recycling could actually make things worse – https://theconversation.com/3-little-known-reasons-why-plastic-recycling-could-actually-make-things-worse-206060

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard F. Heller, Emeritus Professor, University of Newcastle

This article is part of our series on big ideas for the Universities Accord. The federal government is calling for ideas to “reshape and reimagine higher education, and set it up for the next decade and beyond”. A review team is due to finish a draft report in June and a final report in December 2023.

As part of the federal government’s bid to overhaul higher education, the Universities Accord discussion paper is seeking to “widen” opportunities for people to access university. It also wants to “grow a culture” of lifelong learning in Australia. As the review team note, most people in Australia who study at university are under 35.

Lifelong learning can help to ensure that workforce skills are up to date and that jobs in high demand can be filled, as well as enabling people to create new job opportunities through innovation.

These issues need to be approached in many ways. And will inevitably include proposals for shorter forms of learning as well as addressing the financial cost of attending university.

My proposal – also outlined in this journal article – is that a proportion of educational resources generated by publicly funded universities should be made public and freely available.

This could radically expand opportunity and flexibility and potentially allow students to design their own degrees, by doing multiple different units from different universities.

This idea is not completely new

There is a precedence for this idea. The international Plan S initiative is led by a group of national research funding organisations. Since 2018, it has been pushing for publicly funded research to be published in open-access journals or platforms.

Australian chief scientist Cathy Foley similarly wants all Australian research to be “open access, domestically and internationally, and for research conducted overseas to be freely available to read in Australia”.

When it comes to university learning, a 2019 UNESCO report encouraged member states to make higher education educational resources developed with public funds free and freely available.

In a March 2023 report, the Productivity Commission recommended the federal government require “all universities to provide all lectures online and for free”. The commission said this would increase transparency in teaching performance and encourage online learning.

Read more:
These 5 equity ideas should be at the heart of the Universities Accord

But this also has the ability to make to higher education more accessible.

There is already plenty of international experience sharing educational materials online – including the global Open Educational Resources public digital library. This includes resources from early learning through to adult education.

The Productivity Commission says universities would not lose income by making educational resources open access. This is because universities “sell” credentials, not resources. It is also argued overworked academics can save time by using materials created by others.

But there is resistance from institutions and academics, including a perception free resources will be poor quality and take a lot of time to create. There is also a lack of technological tools to adapt resources. This may explain why open education has not yet taken off in Australia.

How would this work?

My plan would require open online sites to host educational materials produced by academics. These would need to be moderated or curated and published under an open access license.

It would include a peer review system for educational materials like the one already used for research publications. Academics could get credit for publishing, updating or reviewing resources and the publication of education output would be included in the university metrics.

This could also help reverse the current downgrading of teaching in Australian universities in favour of research.

There could be three types of users:

1. students who access materials through the university that produced them, as per current practice

2. individual students outside the university that created the materials who access materials for their own learning at whatever stage of life they are relevant to them

3. other organisations, including other universities, that then contextualise and deliver the materials to their students.

What kind of materials are we talking about?

The Productivity Commission has talked about “lectures” being made available for free. But lectures are not a good way of transmitting information, especially online. For one thing, they do not promote critical thinking.

My plan proposes whole courses or at least sections of courses with assessments, would be provided. This includes text, videos and software and can include course planning materials and evaluation tools.

An indication of the academic level to which the course speaks, and the amount of possible credit, should also be provided.

Read more:
We need to change the way universities assess students, starting with these 3 things

What about accreditation?

Accreditation of learning should be considered as part of this.

The OERu is an international organisation where partner universities (including Penn State in the US and Curtin University in Australia) offer free access to online courses. Students pay reduced fees if they want to submit assignments, which can earn them microcredits towards a degree offered by one of the partners.

A more radical option would be to develop a system where students collect microcredits from whatever source they wish and present them to an accrediting body for an academic award rather than enrolling in a particular degree course.

Suggested recommendations

As it prepares its draft report, the accord review team should recommend:

• most university-generated educational material should be public and free

• as an interim goal, within three years, 10% of all public university courses should be freely available online

• an organisation should be created to develop the infrastructure needed to do this. This includes, open repositories, a peer review system for open educational materials, and systems for offering microcredits to students and academic credit to academics who take part.

Why is this a good idea?

The Productivity Commission says making this material public will encourage higher quality teaching, empower students and assist in lifelong learning. On top of this, there is the potential for true reform of the educational landscape.

Read more:
Higher education must reinvent itself to meet the needs of the world today. Enter the distributed university

It provides opportunities for collaboration between universities, rather than a competitive business model. And it would make teaching more important, rather than an “inconvenient task” by those seeking academic advancement through research.

Finally, it would genuinely make learning more accessible and more affordable, no matter who you are or where you live.

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

– ref. DIY degree? Why universities should make online educational materials free for all – https://theconversation.com/diy-degree-why-universities-should-make-online-educational-materials-free-for-all-205564

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kerrie Sadiq, Professor of Taxation, QUT Business School, and ARC Future Fellow, Queensland University of Technology

Australia’s federal government has a plan to discourage companies from shifting profits to tax havens. The idea is to impose a “global minimum tax” on large Australian and foreign-owned companies with subsidiaries in low or no-tax countries.

Australia’s largest mining companies are notorious for shifting profits to avoid the 30% company tax rate. It is common to use marketing hubs in Singapore, where the headline tax rate is 17% but various incentives often lower the effective rate to about 5%. Paying Singaporean subsidiaries for “services” performed, such as marketing or to use trademarks or patents owned by the group, can reduce a company’s Australian profits, and its tax bill.

The Albanese governent’s proposal, announced in the federal budget, embraces an OECD/G20 program to reduce profit shifting by multinationals through a uniform global 15% tax on all companies. Almost 140 countries have agreed to implement the tax, though to date only a handful have enacted it.

Read more:
$1 trillion in the shade – the annual profits multinational corporations shift to tax havens continues to climb and climb

Any locally or foreign owned company in Australia that has overseas subsidiaries and annual global group revenue of more than €750 million (about A$1.2 billion) will be taxed the difference between the rate paid by the associated entities overseas and the 15% rate.

A 15% minimum tax rate will also apply to domestic companies with revenue of €750 million. Currently generous tax concessions – such as generous deductions or credits for activities like research and development – allow Australian businesses to reduce their tax burden from the headline 30% rate to less than 15%.

At first glance, these new taxes seem like a good idea. Proponents argue that putting a floor on corporate tax rates will slow “the race to the bottom”, which has seen governments lower corporate tax rates to attract or keep corporate capital.

However, for Australia it is likely to accelerate the problem. By implicitly accepting the legitimacy of profit shifting, the government does nothing to address the fundamental problem that enables multinationals to exploit the global tax system.

Recouping a pittance

The budget papers don’t say how many companies will be affected, but globally the OECD says no more than 100 corporations will have to pay the tax.

The budget estimates the Australian government will raise an extra $160 million in 2025-26, and $210 million in 2026-27. This is less than 0.5% of the $93 billion in company tax revenue in 2023-24, and a pittance compared with the tax lost through profit shifting by multinationals

For example, in the Australian Taxation Office’s most recent settlement with a company over disputed profit shifting, fuel company Ampol agreed to pay $157 million for avoided taxes dating back to 2014. This arose from Ampol Australia unnecessarily paying for oil imports acquired through a related Singapore procurement hub, instead of buying oil directly.

Rio Tinto, the world’s second-biggest mining company, agreed in 2022 to pay almost $1 billion to the tax office over money channelled to its Singapore marketing hub.

BHP, the world’s biggest mining company, agreed in 2018 to pay the tax office $529 million in extra taxes for profit-shifting arrangements between 2003 to 2018. This dispute also related to transactions between its Australian headquarters and marketing operations in Singapore.

In each of these settlements the companies admitted no wrongdoing. Details are confidential, so it is impossible to know how tax the Australian Tax Office claimed was due. But it seems likely Australian taxpayers got less than the tax avoided.

Read more:
The Pandora Papers show the line between tax avoidance and tax evasion has become so blurred we need to act against both

Fundamental problem remains

Rather than ending the race to bottom from international profit shifting, the 15% tax is likely to entrench it. It ensures companies that successfully shift profits out of Australia will pay no more than a 15% tax rate.

This will continue so long as different parts of a multinational corporation are treated as if they are separate entities for tax purposes. This is nothing more than a legal fiction.

The only way to prevent this is through real and substantive changes in the way governments tax multinationals.

The obvious solution is to treat multinationals as the global entities they are. Then allocate profits for tax purposes to the countries in which real activities creating those profits take place.

In the case of Australian mining companies, that should be where they dig their riches out of the ground.

Kerrie Sadiq receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

Richard Krever receives funding from the Australian Reseach Council.

– ref. Why taxing the world’s biggest companies at 15% won’t fix the gaping hole in global tax rules – https://theconversation.com/why-taxing-the-worlds-biggest-companies-at-15-wont-fix-the-gaping-hole-in-global-tax-rules-206400

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Louise Pryke, Honorary Research Associate, University of Sydney

Mermaids are multicultural mythical figures, reflecting the continuing human fascination with the sea in stories echoing thousands of years into the past. Mermaids are found in cultures across the globe.

In Australia, special water spirits appear in the rock and bark art of First Nations people in Arnhem Land.

Across the continent of Africa, mermaid-like water deities such as Yemaya and Mami Wata reflect the powerful connection between human communities and their environment.

Among the most well-known mermaid narratives is Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale, The Little Mermaid, now a live-action film from Disney.

By the time of its publication in 1837, The Little Mermaid was already a relative latecomer to the genre. Indeed, Hans Christian Anderson himself was raised with much earlier stories involving mermaids.

His childhood bedtime reading included the works of Shakespeare and the Tales of the Arabian Nights.

Shakespeare’s mermaids from A Midsummer Night’s Dream are noted for their song. Oberon observes beautiful mermaid melodies could calm the sea and draw down the stars:

Since once I sat upon a promontory,
And heard a mermaid on a dolphin’s back
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath
That the rude sea grew civil at her song
And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,
To hear the sea-maid’s music.

Anderson’s other bedtime book, the Arabian Nights, is a collection of Indian and Persian stories assembled over many centuries. Among these are narratives about merfolk, some of whom live in wonderful undersea palaces.

In one story, a human fisherman visits his merman friend under the sea. There he finds communities of Jewish, Christian and Muslim merfolk, before their friendship ends over religious differences.

Read more:
The Little Mermaid has always been a story about exclusion – and its author was an outsider

Ancient wisdom from the deep

Images of human-fish hybrid creatures can be found from the third millennium BCE in ancient Mesopotamia, a geographical area relating roughly to modern day Iraq.

The Apkallu, or the seven divine sages of Mesopotamian myth, can take the shape of human-fish hybrids. This is particularly interesting due to their connection to ancient wisdom traditions predating the great flood. In Mesopotamian literature, as in the Bible, a great flood event destroys most of humanity.

As human-fish hybrids, the Apkallu were well-equipped to survive the flood and carry forward their wisdom traditions. According to Mesopotamian literature, the useful information given to humanity by the Apkallu included knowledge of medicine and building cities.

The connection of mermaids to wisdom and medicine extends to other ancient traditions. In Southern Africa, mermaids play a complex role in ages-old healing rituals.

The ancient Near Eastern connection between mermaids and Flood traditions can be seen in the illustrated Nuremberg Bible of 1483, where merfolk are depicted swimming around the ark with their merdog.

Seafaring friends

Across the world and across traditions, mermaids have been accompanied by many different creatures. Their close connection to the sea extends to animals who share their home.

As in the Nuremberg Bible, mermaids and seadogs are said to swim together in Inuit mythology from North America.

In folklore from the Orkney Islands in Scotland merfolk are instead accompanied by seals, and are described milking whales.

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, mermaids are accompanied by dolphins. In myths from East Asia and South America, they are friendly with turtles.

Similarities with the Danish fairy tale can be found in a famous story from South Korean folklore, dating to the 13th century CE.

In the story, the mermaid Princess Hwang-Ok (also known as Topaz) marries a prince and becomes more human.

The princess is homesick for her underwater life, so her turtle companion helps her to use the moon to turn back into a mermaid and regain her wellbeing.

Turtles and whales appear with mermaids as helpers to the Mesoamerican storm deity Tezcatlipoca. The myth is an aetiological tale about the creation of music in the world.

Read more:
Mermaids in Japan – from hideous harbingers of violence to beautiful enchantresses

Captivating creatures of song

Another theme shared by many mermaid myths is that of music. Powerful and persuasive song is a feature of numerous folkloric tales containing mermaids, including varieties of the Little Mermaid tale and Shakespeare.

In his fairy tale, Anderson’s mermaid uses her special abilities with music to win a contest in the royal court. In a disturbing scene, the voiceless mermaid participates in a song and dance contest against decoratively attired enslaved women, all competing for the prince’s attention.

In 1989, the animated Disney film’s soundtrack won both a Grammy award and two Oscars.

In Shakespeare, mermaids are sometimes conflated with the Sirens of Greek myth by the poet. The two mythical figures were commonly viewed as interchangeable from the medieval times.

Sirens in ancient epics such as Homer’s Odyssey were known for their ability to lure people to their death with their sweet-sounding songs – and their promise to share secret wisdom with their listeners. Sirens, like merfolk, are known as hybrid creatures with powerful voices, but are usually depicted with bird-like, rather than fish-like, qualities.

The power of merfolk to seduce with their charms may reflect the ability of the sea to capture the hearts of seafarers, and keep them away from their homes on land – by accident or design.

Mysterious depths

The dynamic nature of mermaid mythology contributes to their continuing popularity in the 21st century.

Mermaids build bridges between land and water (at times in Southeast Asian and South American myths, quite literally), between human and animal, and between wilderness and civilisation, giving a human face to the mysteries of the deep.

Read more:
Disney’s Black mermaid is no breakthrough – just look at the literary subgenre of Black mermaid fiction

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

– ref. A long and fishy tail: before Disney’s Little Mermaid, these creatures existed in mythologies from around the world – https://theconversation.com/a-long-and-fishy-tail-before-disneys-little-mermaid-these-creatures-existed-in-mythologies-from-around-the-world-204677

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

The Voice to Parliament is supported by nearly 90% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and provides an opportunity for an intergenerational solution to Indigenous problems, Anthony Albanese will say in a Monday address.

Delivering the Lowitja O’Donoghue Oration in Adelaide the Prime Minister will say the coming referendum, to be held later this year, “can be a moment of Australian unity”.

It will be “an extraordinary opportunity for every Australian to be counted and heard – to own this change and be proud of it, and truly live the spirit of the fair go,” Albanese says in his speech, issued ahead of delivery.

“After the tumult of colonisation, we have lived through a silence, a long tide of denial gnawing away at the shores of our spirit,” he says.

“And an entire people have been kept so long in the margins, surviving against the odds, surviving even against misguided good intentions.”

The Prime Minister’s speech comes ahead of a vote in the House of Representatives this week on the legislation to enable the referendum. The Liberal party, while advocating a no vote in the referendum, will not oppose the bill to hold that referendum. Some Liberals have broken ranks and are advocating for a yes vote in the referendum.

The debate about the Voice is becoming increasingly divisive – including among some high profile Indigenous leaders. But Albanese says it is supported by nearly 90% of Indigenous people.

In his address he ridicules the fearmongers saying, “It’s only a matter of time before they tell us that the Voice will fade the curtains”.

Albanese says Australia has “to come to grips with the past because a country that does not acknowledge the full truth of its history is burdened by its unspoken weight.

“But we learn. We acknowledge. And bit by bit, as we each admit each truth into our midst like a shaft of light, we are easing that burden. Moments of truth that include the Freedom Rides, the 1967 referendum, Mabo, Wik, the Redfern Speech, the Apology to the Stolen Generations and the red sand that was captured in a photograph on that brightest of days, forever flowing from Gough Whitlam’s hand into Vincent Lingiari’s.

“None stands as an answer in itself, but each step forward sees us narrowing the distance between reality and our perception of ourselves – and the people we aspire to be.

“We’ve always been at our best when we’ve looked to the future with excitement and hope – that’s when we make progress. 

“And we are saying not just to each other but to the world that we are a mature nation coming to terms with our history, assured of our values, and shaping our own destiny.”

Albanese repeats his often-used line that the Voice referendum is not about politics or politicians but “about people”.

“People striving to make themselves heard across our great nation. In the regions and beyond in the remotest corners of our vast continent.

“All those voices rising across Australia like the headwaters of a thousand creeks and rivers joining into a mighty and wonderful current that will converge around each one of us as we step into the booth on referendum day.”

The referendum is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for change, he says.

“We are fortunate to be here in this moment in history, where we have within our hands the chance to make a positive change that will last for generations.”

Meanwhile Indigenous crossbencher Lidia Thorpe, who defected from the Greens, indicated she may abstain when a vote is taken on the referendum bill in the Senate.

She told the ABC she is definitely not in the no camp and never had been.

But the yes vote was to allow “for a powerless Voice to go into the Constitution. We don’t know what this looks like. It could be one person. It’s up to the
parliament to decide what the Voice looks like. So I can’t support
something that gives us no power.

“And I certainly cannot support a no campaign that is looking more like a white-supremacy campaign that is causing a lot of harm.”

She said Indigenous people wanted a treaty, and they wanted the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody implemented.

“The government have an opportunity to show good faith and
implement those recommendations. They might get my vote if they do.”

Thorpe also flagged she planned to lodge a complaint with the Human Rights Commission about alleged racism she had experienced in the Greens.

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

– ref. Albanese says nearly 90% of Indigenous people support the Voice, which embodies the ‘spirit of the fair go’ – https://theconversation.com/albanese-says-nearly-90-of-indigenous-people-support-the-voice-which-embodies-the-spirit-of-the-fair-go-206581

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Changlong Wang, Research fellow, Monash University

The race to net zero is accelerating. Just last week, United States President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unveiled a climate pact to boost cooperation. The move signifies Australia is becoming a global leader in the renewable energy roll-out and critical mineral supply.

Australia’s rich iron ore deposits and cheap solar offer yet another way we can lead. If we locate green hydrogen plants near green steel facilities, we can shift the highly polluting steel industry away from fossil fuels.

Our new research shows co-locating plants in sun-rich, iron-rich places like Western Australia’s Pilbara and South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula can help overcome the “first mover problem” for green hydrogen: you can’t have a hydrogen industry without buyers for it and can’t have buyers without hydrogen.

How would it work? Cheap solar power would be used to crack water into hydrogen and oxygen. This green hydrogen would be piped a short distance to a green steel plant, which uses hydrogen and electricity to produce iron from the ore, and then an electric arc furnace to smelt steel.

As we grapple with ways to decarbonise the steel sector, which uses 8% of the world’s energy and produces 7% of all energy-related carbon emissions, we should urgently look for opportunities like this. As a bonus, cheap power from solar and wind could make Australian-made iron and steel more competitive globally.

Why is Australia so well placed?

We’re the world’s largest iron ore exporter. Under our red dirt lies an estimated 56 billion tonnes of iron ore, as of 2021. Export earnings reached A$133 billion in 2021–22. We also profit from the current emissions-heavy way of making steel, by exporting $72 billion worth of metallurgical coal.

Australia’s potential as a green hydrogen provider is often promoted. This year’s federal budget allocated $2 billion to help make it a reality. But our distance from the rest of the world makes pipelines prohibitively expensive, and shipping hydrogen is difficult.

Read more:
Cooperation with the US could drive Australia’s clean energy shift – but we must act fast

One solution is to use it here. Green hydrogen could make it possible to onshore more iron and steel production.

Clean steelmaking will bring major change to our iron ore exports if other countries take it up. Traditionally, 96% of our exports are the most common type of ore, hematite. But this is currently not suited to green steelmaking.

By contrast, magnetite ore only accounts for 4% of exports but can be used in hydrogen-based green steelmaking.

Australia has vast reserves of magnetite ore, which previously hasn’t been in as much demand. But these ore bodies will become valuable under the right economic conditions.

And while we can solve steel’s carbon problem with much better recycling of this valuable material, we’ll still need new steel equivalent to about 50% of the current rate of production in 2050, due to issues with converting scrap to reusable steel and removing contaminants.

Where should we co-locate these plants?

Major iron ore centres in the Pilbara and Eyre Peninsula already have ports, a workforce and other infrastructure. That makes them the logical first choice to co-locate solar, wind and hydrogen with iron and steelmaking.

We modelled what would happen if these sites expanded wind and solar power to make hydrogen and found the cost of green steel could drop substantially to around $900 per tonne by 2030 and $750 per tonne by 2050.

Read more:
Red dirt, yellow sun, green steel: how Australia could benefit from a global shift to emissions-free steel

By exporting green iron and steel, Australia could boost trade value, reduce global greenhouse emissions, and link our exports with global decarbonisation efforts. Steel will become even more important given it’s so vital to manufacturing solar and wind.

Our recent modelling has found key benefits in linking hydrogen hubs and future iron ore operations.

First, it avoids the problem of transporting hydrogen, which, especially in liquid form, can be expensive and energy-intensive to transport.

And second, co-locating green hydrogen gives an immediate boost to the industry. At present, green hydrogen is at the early stage before increased scale and knowledge drives costs down.

To compete with coking coal, green hydrogen must get cheaper. Part of this will come from falling renewable energy prices, better electrolysers to make hydrogen, and carbon pricing. But part of it will be locating hydrogen production where it can be used.

Choosing a site is the most important consideration. While access to infrastructure and cheap ore are important, the cost of green steel largely depends on low-cost hydrogen and cheap renewables.

Australia’s state and federal governments are backing hydrogen as an industry of the future. To go from paper to reality will require policy incentives, low-interest loans, research and development funding, and investment in infrastructure.

Policies to boost renewable energy and develop the hydrogen economy will create a more conducive environment for green steel production.

If we combine our wealth of solar, hydrogen and iron ore, we can help make global steel production green, and also create the conditions for a green hydrogen export industry.

Read more:
Australia’s main iron ore exports may not work with green steelmaking. Here’s what we must do to prepare

Changlong Wang is currently funded by Geoscience Australia through the Exploring for the Future program. He is affiliated with the Monash Energy Institute at Monash University and Melbourne Climate Futures at the University of Melbourne. Changlong participates in IEA Hydrogen TCP Task 41.

Stuart Walsh receives funding from Geoscience Australia through the Exploring for the Future program. He is affiliated with the Monash Energy Institute and the Monash Hydrogen Energy Research Node at Monash University.

Andrew Feitz, Marcus Haynes, and Zhehan Weng 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.

– ref. Picture this: green hydrogen plants next to green steelworks to boost efficiency and kickstart both industries – https://theconversation.com/picture-this-green-hydrogen-plants-next-to-green-steelworks-to-boost-efficiency-and-kickstart-both-industries-205845

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter McNeil, Distinguished Professor of Design History, UTS, University of Technology Sydney

Sydney has awoken to the smouldering ruins of its largest city fire in 55 years.

The “abandoned building” in Randle Street, Surry Hills, adjacent to Central Station was once the R.C. Henderson Ladies Hat factory, a six-storey brick structure built in 1912.

Empty for some time, the space was slated to become a boutique hotel. Full of wooden trusses and likely old machinery oil, the building collapsed in a spectacular bonfire.

How did Surry Hills come to be the centre of the fashion manufacturing industry, or “rag trade”, for New South Wales?

Dressing in New South Wales

Ready-made clothing developed in 1860s Australia with the uptake of Isaac Singer’s sewing machine. As the population became more prosperous, it needed better clothes.

The New South Wales fashion industry was one of the most locally concentrated in Australia. Apart from some large men’s suiting and shirt factories, most men’s, women’s and children’s clothes and hats were made in or near Surry Hills.

Electric-powered machines that sped up production were introduced from 1914.

David Jones assembled its garments in a modern purpose-built factory in Marlborough Street, Surry Hills in 1915.

Until the 1980s, most Australians wore Australian-made clothes. High import duties meant there was enormous impetus for local production. Although many women made their own clothes, they rarely made men’s outer clothes.

As more women worked, they had less time and needed to buy store-bought clothes.

From 1928-68, the clothing and footwear sector was marked by small plants, low levels of capital investment, a rate of profit nearly 65% above the average for all industries, high risk, uncertainty and, of course, regularly changing fashions.

As a result, the industry favoured those with fashion and style knowledge: skilled owner-managers who understood craft skills and production. In 1939, 94% of establishments were operated by working proprietors.

Personal interactions between boss and worker were close. The shop floor was often set up as a “family”, with all the tensions that entails.

The large CBD retailers enjoyed close relationships with the manufacturers. Buyers made frequent visits, sometimes daily.

In the 1940s, half of the women working in manufacturing in Sydney were working in the rag trade.

Read more:
Dressed for success – as workers return to the office, men might finally shed their suits and ties

The look and feel of Surry Hills

Surry Hills was covered in cheap terrace houses built as worker’s rentals from the 1850s. The new Central Station opened in 1906 on the site of a former cemetery.

As the terraces deteriorated, the area was widely considered a “slum”, finely captured in Ruth Park’s novel The Harp in the South (1948).

Multi-storey factories allowing for multiple occupancies were the norm.

Women’s fashion was made in small batches with frequent variation. The goods were light and compact, meaning lifts and staircases could be used for deliveries. Equipment used in the industry was also light and easily installed on floors above ground level.

Surry Hills was the main buying centre for fashion; department store, suburban and country buyers would walk from factory to factory to inspect the goods.

Labour for the Surry Hills industry was drawn from the entire metropolitan area. Women immigrants made up 70% of employees.

Labour became less skilled as detailed hand-tailoring and dressmaking were superseded by machines in the 1950s.

Post-war Surry Hills

Between 1947 and 1966, 1.8 million migrants arrived in Australia.

Many worked in factories. A large proportion of the Jewish Europeans who arrived in the 1930s and 1940s worked in the clothing industry; in turn they employed many southern-European migrant women who arrived with little or no English.

Fashion and clothing knowledge enabled many Jewish migrants to re-establish their livelihoods and identities across the globe. Between 1938 and 1961, Sydney’s Jewish population doubled.

Low rents due to deteriorating building stock and the lack of demand for office space in Surry Hills meant clothing manufacturing continued. Factory buildings replaced some terrace houses from 1958, when Surry Hills was zoned for “B class” industry.

European Jews, mainly from Poland and Czechoslovakia, acquired old properties and redeveloped them as two-storey factories. The owners occupied only a portion of the building and rented out the remaining space to fellow countrymen. The capital required to enter the industry was small; machines could be hired and floor space rented on a weekly basis. The average Sydney clothing factory employed 15 workers.

The number of married women working in Australia rose to around 30% by 1966. Fewer had time to do home sewing. This created opportunities for cheaper ready-to-wear lines that could keep pace with rapid fashion changes.

The household spend on clothing, footwear and drapery climbed dramatically, tripling from 1946 to 1960.

The shift to this ready-to-wear trade was amplified by Jewish entrepreneurship and retailing. Jewish migrants introduced new and brighter colours into everyday clothing. They helped to create the demand for lighter clothes, such as finely knitted garments of contemporary European fashion, modern lines in coats, and the Swiss machine-lace that adorned the short mod-dresses of the 1960s.

Read more:
Global shift: Australian fashion’s coming of age

End of the rag trade

The Whitlam Government cut tariffs by 25% in 1973 to reduce inflation and as a new approach to national industry planning. At the time, fashion amounted to 10% of Australia’s total manufacturing employment.

The reduction of tariffs and subsidies, price gouging, discounting and off-shore production decimated the industry. Employment fell by nearly one third in two years after 1973. The market share of imports doubled. Business people moved their capital from manufacturing into property.

Clothing production moved to areas such as Marrickville, with Vietnamese entrepreneurs and workers replacing the Greeks who had once worked in the trade there. By 1985, one third of workers in the local clothing industry were Asian.

If we time travelled back to 1950 in Randle Street, the scene would be very different from today.

Rather than urban professionals and baristas, we would see rag trade seamstresses, finishers, designers, managers, retailers, salespeople and promoters.

We might see bundles of the new synthetic corded fabrics, satin lastex miracle yarn, sanforised shrunk fabrics and fiesta nylons. Or reps showing the new Goldner Triflex zipper, Perkal brothers shoes, Rain’N Shine coats, or Hestia bras.

We would see many of Sydney’s 9,000 workers in clothing and tailoring, 4,300 in dress and hat-making, and 8,000 in shirt-making who spent their working lives in Surry Hills. With this fire, another piece of Sydney’s rag trade and workers’ history is lost.

Peter McNeil received funding from UTS and the Sydney Jewish Museum for a large collaborative project ‘Dressing Sydney: The Jewish Fashion Story’ (2011). Many of the findings were published with the Sydney Jewish Museum as ‘Dressing Sydney’ (2012). The project also benefited from a UTS Grant ‘Culture, Work and Economy in the Surry Hills Clothing Trade, 1900-1990’. Participants: Peter McNeil, Paula Hamilton, Paul Ashton, Giorgio Riello, Roslyn Sugarman (SJM), Norman Seligman (SJM), Cameron White, Charles Rice. The publication received additional support from Dr Gene Sherman.

– ref. Surry Hills was once the centre of New South Wales’ ‘rag trade’: a short history of fashion manufacturing in Sydney – https://theconversation.com/surry-hills-was-once-the-centre-of-new-south-wales-rag-trade-a-short-history-of-fashion-manufacturing-in-sydney-206490

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis B. Desmond, Lecturer, Cyberintelligence and Cybercrime Investigations, University of the Sunshine Coast

This week the Five Eyes alliance – an intelligence alliance between Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and the United States – announced its investigation into a China-backed threat targeting US infrastructure.

Using stealth techniques, the attacker – referred to as “Volt Typhoon” – exploited existing resources in compromised networks in a technique called “living off the land”.

Microsoft made a concurrent announcement, stating the attackers’ targeting of Guam was telling of China’s plans to potentially disrupt critical communications infrastructure between the US and Asia region in the future.

This comes hot on the heels of news in April of a North Korean supply chain attack on Asia-Pacific telecommunications provider 3CX. In this case, hackers gained access to an employee’s computer using a compromised desktop app for Windows and a compromised signed software installation package.

The Volt Typhoon announcement has led to a rare admission by the US National Security Agency that Australia and other Five Eyes partners are engaged in a targeted search and detection scheme to uncover China’s clandestine cyber operations.

Such public admissions from the Five Eyes alliance are few and far between. Behind the curtain, however, this network is persistently engaged in trying to take down foreign adversaries. And it’s no easy feat.

Let’s take a look at the events leading up to Volt Typhoon – and more broadly at how this secretive transnational alliance operates.

Uncovering Volt Typhoon

Volt Typhoon is an “advanced persistent threat group” that has been active since at least mid-2021. It’s believed to be sponsored by the Chinese government and is targeting critical infrastructure organisations in the US.

The group has focused much of its efforts on Guam. Located in the Western Pacific, this US island territory is home to a significant and growing US military presence, including the air force, a contingent of the marines, and the US navy’s nuclear-capable submarines.

It’s likely the Volt Typhoon attackers intended to gain access to networks connected to US critical infrastructure to disrupt communications, command and control systems, and maintain a persistent presence on the networks. The latter tactic would allow China to influence operations during a potential conflict in the South China Sea.

Australia wasn’t directly impacted by Volt Typhoon, according to official statements. Nevertheless, it would be a primary target for similar operations in the event of conflict.

As for how Volt Typhoon was caught, this hasn’t been disclosed. But Microsoft documents highlight previous observations of the threat actor attempting to dump credentials and stolen data from the victim organisation. It’s likely this led to the discovery of compromised networks and devices.

Living-off-the-land

The hackers initially gained access to networks through internet-facing Fortinet FortiGuard devices, such as routers. Once inside, they employed a technique called “living-off-the-land”.

This is when attackers rely on using the resources already contained within the exploited system, rather than bringing in external tools. For example, they will typically use applications such as PowerShell (a Microsoft management program) and Windows Management Instrumentation to access data and network functions.

By using internal resources, attackers can bypass safeguards that alert organisations to unauthorised access to their networks. Since no malicious software is used, they appear as a legitimate user. As such, living-off-the-land allows for lateral movement within the network, and provides opportunity for a persistent, long-term attack.

The simultaneous announcements from the Five Eyes partners points to the seriousness of the Volt Typhoon compromise. It will likely serve as a warning to other nations in the Asia-Pacific region.

Who are the Five Eyes?

Formed in 1955, the Five Eyes alliance is an intelligence-sharing partnership comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US.

The alliance was formed after World War II to counter the potential influence of the Soviet Union. It has a specific focus on signals intelligence. This involves intercepting and analysing signals such as radio, satellite and internet communications.

The members share information and access to their respective signals intelligence agencies, and collaborate to collect and analyse vast amounts of global communications data. A Five Eyes operation might also include intelligence provided by non-member nations and the private sector.

Recently, the member countries expressed concern about China’s de facto military control over the South China Sea, its suppression of democracy in Hong Kong, and threatening moves towards Taiwan. The latest public announcement of China’s cyber operations no doubt serves as a warning that Western nations are paying strict attention to their critical infrastructure – and can respond to China’s digital aggression.

In 2019, Australia was targeted by Chinese state-backed threat actors gaining unauthorised access to Parliament House’s computer network. Indeed, there is evidence that China is engaged in a concerted effort to target Australia’s public and private networks.

The Five Eyes alliance may well be one of the only deterrents we have against long-term, persistent attacks against our critical infrastructure.

Read more:
Deterring China isn’t all about submarines. Australia’s ‘cyber offence’ might be its most potent weapon

Dr Desmond previously received funding through an ARC Linkage Grant and has worked with the US intelligence community and Five Eyes partners in the past.

– ref. The highly secretive Five Eyes alliance has disrupted a China-backed hacker group – in an unusually public manner – https://theconversation.com/the-highly-secretive-five-eyes-alliance-has-disrupted-a-china-backed-hacker-group-in-an-unusually-public-manner-206403

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison Lullfitz, Research Associate, The University of Western Australia

Noongar Country of southwestern Australia is home to the world’s largest parasitic plant, a mighty mistletoe that blooms every December. That’s why it’s commonly known as WA’s Christmas Tree. But it also goes by other names, mungee and moodjar. And it holds great significance for Noongar people including the Merningar people of the south coast.

While the unique biology and charisma of the species (Nuytsia floribunda) has been recognised by Traditional Owners for millennia, such rich Indigenous knowledge is barely known to Western science. Our research team includes three generations of Merningar alongside non-Indigenous scientists. In our new research, we set out to explore mungee’s physiology, ecology and evolution from both Indigenous and Western science perspectives.

The plant’s ability to access a wide array of resources is remarkable, enabling it to prosper in the hostile, infertile, but biologically rich landscapes of southwestern Australia. This is also the case for Noongar people, whose traditional diet reflects the biological richness of their Country.

Mungee is a revered teacher to Noongar people, with lessons for us all about living sustainably and in harmony with one another.

Read more:
Ancient knowledge is lost when a species disappears. It’s time to let Indigenous people care for their country, their way

A sand-loving parasite

Nuytsia floribunda is widespread across Noongar Country (Boodja) and known to most Noongar as moodjar. But it’s also called mungee by Merningar and other southern Noongar groups. Being mostly Merningar, we call it mungee and use that term here.

Mungee is a mistletoe tree that grows up to 10m tall in sandy soils. It’s endemic to southwestern Australia, but widespread throughout. The parasitic capability of the plant comes from highly modified, ring-shaped roots (haustoria) that act like secateurs to mine other plants for water and nutrients.

We used “two way science” (cross-cultural ecology) methods – including a literature review, shared recording of visits on Country, and an author workshop – to investigate mungee more thoroughly than would be possible through Western science alone.

Read more:
To address the ecological crisis, Aboriginal peoples must be restored as custodians of Country

A revered teacher offering divine guidance

Like other Indigenous Australian knowledge systems, Merningar lore is place-based. It inextricably links people, specific places, other organisms and non-living entities of Country. Mungee tells specific stories through where it lives, the plants it lives with, and when it flowers.

The species is widely held as sacred among Noongar peoples. For Merningar, it has the highest status of all plants. Mungee holds important lore about how we as humans relate to each other and with the world around us, similar to a cornerstone religious text such as the Christian Bible.

For Merningar, mungee is a powerful medium that helps restless spirits move on to the afterlife, known to us as Kuuranup. This enables those of us still living to be untroubled by their presence.

Senior elder Lynette describes mungee as her teacher, providing guidance on how to exist in Merningar Boodja. The annual summer flowers represent her ancestors returning to their Country, reminding her to cherish and respect both her old people and her Boodja.

Lynette calls the ring-shaped haustoria of mungee her “bush lolly”. Under Merningar lore, digging for these sweet treats is not allowed when mungee is flowering. This is when bush lollies are scarce, so the rule is about living within seasonal constraints.

An example of living sustainably

Mungee primarily reproduces by cloning, sending out suckers up to 100m from the parent plant to produce identical copies. This results in patches of mungee clones gathered together in tight-knit populations.

We saw parallels between patches of mungee and the communal kinship structures of Noongar society, where family is more important than individuals.

Before European settlement, extended Noongar families lived in largely separate groups, interconnected with other family groups as part of a wider geopolitical system. We see mungee as a botanical exemplar of putting community before individuals, for the greater good.

Mungee accesses water and nutrients by tapping into a wide range of host plants. This diversity of hosts enables mungee to live in many different landscapes. This parallels with the sophisticated, but often place-specific knowledge of Noongar peoples across their botanically rich Boodja, which has enabled use of a wide range of traditional plants.

Living a prosperous life within environmental boundaries is achieved by conservatively drawing upon a wide range of resources. It provides a lesson for all who live in dry and infertile regions such as southwestern Australia.

A tree to be celebrated

Mungee’s bright orange flowers bring joy to all who witness their display during the celebratory summer months in southwestern Australia. The plant’s unique biology, ingenuity and charisma has long been recognised by Noongar peoples and their lore.

Prolific annual flowers are a memorial to the many old people who have cared for their Boodja through millennia. They also remind us to protect the old peoples’ legacy.

To Merningar, mungee is a valuable teacher and exemplar of prosperous biological (including human) existence in the southwest Australian global biodiversity hotspot. It has much to teach the rest of us, too.

Read more:
Connecting to culture: here’s what happened when elders gifted totemic species to school kids

All authors work on the Walking Together project, which is delivered by UWA in partnership with South Coast NRM and supported financially by Lotterywest. A second project worked on by Alison Lullfitz and Steve Hopper is funded by an ARC Discovery Indigenous grant.

Please see statement under Alison Lullfitz

Please see statement under Alison Lullfitz.

– ref. ‘WA’s Christmas tree’: what mungee, the world’s largest mistletoe, can teach us about treading lightly – https://theconversation.com/was-christmas-tree-what-mungee-the-worlds-largest-mistletoe-can-teach-us-about-treading-lightly-205568