Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kris Gledhill, Professor of Law, Auckland University of Technology

The sentencing of the Christchurch mosque killer was always going to be tense. Having admitted his guilt in March, his declaration that he would now represent himself at the hearing on August 24 only adds to that tension.

Can he do this? Essentially, yes. Legal representation is a right, but people can choose not to exercise a right. His lawyers informed the court of his wish to represent himself and the judge, Justice Mander, allowed them to withdraw from the case – after checking that the defendant was clear about waiving his right.

The criminal courts deal with horrendous cases regularly, so squeamishness cannot be the touchstone for what is permitted.

Parliament has introduced some limits. For example, the Evidence Act 2006 prevents defendants in sex cases and family violence cases from cross-examining the complainant. Nor can they question child witnesses without the court’s permission.

The importance of victim impact statements

More pertinent to this case, there are limits relating to victim impact statements under the Victims’ Rights Act 2002, which prevents defendants from keeping those statements.

The Christchurch killer’s sentencing hearing is set to last several days in large part because of the number of victim impact statements that will have to be presented.

The judge can direct that statements not be shown to the defendant to protect the safety or security of the victim, but that material cannot then be taken into account at sentencing.

This in turn explains why defendants are entitled to see statements – they are designed to have an effect on their sentence. It would not be a fair trial if the defendant was subject to secret evidence, and any impression there has not been a fair process is to be avoided.

Read more: Explainer: will life mean life when the Christchurch mosque killer is sentenced?

The role of stand-by counsel

Multiple issues of law may arise in this sentencing. For example, who is the “victim” of a terrorism offence and so allowed to give a victim impact statement? Is it the entire Muslim community?

The most obvious question is whether this crime merits a whole life sentence. A life sentence is inevitable given the number of murders and the terrorist motivation. But will this be the first time a New Zealand judge declares there will never be eligibility for parole?

To assist the court the judge has said “stand-by counsel” will be appointed. Their job will be to help the court reach a correct decision on those questions of law.

They may also be asked to help identify points in favour of the defendant from medical and pre-sentencing reports, and perhaps ensure that victim impact statements address what the law permits.

Will the defendant appear in person?

Because the person speaking for the defendant is the defendant, this may affect some rulings. Firstly, it may be more likely he attends in person.

The defendant has already appeared before the High Court via audio-visual link. Under the Courts (Remote Participation) Act 2010, this is permitted in most instances. While it can’t be used for a trial unless the defendant consents, it may be used for sentencing if it is “not contrary to the interests of justice”.

Although the defendant has confessed to the crimes, his sentencing hearing may still involve disputes about the facts of his offending, which could require a mini-trial to resolve them.

Read more: Life in prison looms for Australia’s Christchurch gunman, now NZ’s first convicted terrorist

There may be evidence called from the authors of medical and pre-sentencing reports. There may be disputes about the victim impact statements. And the defendant’s right to see those statements presents challenges if he is not there.

These and other issues that might arise will require a high level of confidence that an audio-visual link is suitable if the defendant indicates he wants to be present.

What are the risks of hate speech?

It’s unwise to speculate about the defandant’s motives for waiving the right to representation. Nevertheless, there may be legitimate concerns about any attempt by him to use the hearing to grandstand.

The key point here is that the hearing is not about his guilt but about the proper sentence. So, unless he can show that his guilty pleas were improper, the hearing will be concerned with a narrow range of issues governed by the Sentencing Act 2002.

This imposes a structure on the sentencing process. The judge needs to consider the facts of the offending, any aggravating factors and any mitigation that can be offered. As such, submissions and statements from the defendant have to be relevant to these issues. They will usually be notified in writing in advance.

The defendant’s motivation for his crimes is relevant to sentence. However, because he has admitted the terrorism charge, his motivation is not in dispute. That should allow the judge to control the hearing firmly.

A fair process is both possible and essential. Giving a terrorist murderer any grounds to complain about unfairness must be avoided.

– ref. How will the court deal with the Christchurch mosque killer representing himself at sentencing? – https://theconversation.com/how-will-the-court-deal-with-the-christchurch-mosque-killer-representing-himself-at-sentencing-142554

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kerrie Davies, Lecturer, School of the Arts & Media, UNSW

Review: A Room Made of Leaves, Text Publishing

Some time ago, during the renovation of a historic house in Sydney, a tin box, sealed with wax and wrapped in oiled canvas, was found wedged under a beam in the roof cavity. The house was Elizabeth Farm…

So begins A Room Made of Leaves’ editor’s note, detailing the discovery of the “long lost secret memoirs” of Elizabeth Macarthur, wife of colonial wool baron John Macarthur. The “editor and transcriber” is Kate Grenville, author of the acclaimed colonial novel based on her family history, The Secret River.

The discovery scenario is irresistibly believable. This month, a WWII diary was found at a Woolworths in Sydney’s North Shore. In 2011, James Bell’s 1838 account of his journey to Australia was published after being discovered at a market stall. In 2018, Miles Franklin’s final 1954 diary was discovered in an old suitcase.

Elizabeth Macarthur’s actual journal detailing her voyage on the Second Fleet was discovered at her daughter’s home in England, extracts of which were published as Some Early Records of the Macarthurs of Camden in 1914.

Grenville’s imaginary memoir of Elizabeth slips into the space between hoax and history, the paradox of purporting to be true while declaring it is not. Grenville openly plays with memoir’s “autobiographical pact”, where the reader unquestionably accepts an autobiography as truth. While a novel requires a suspension of disbelief, Grenville asks the reader to suspend their belief, akin to Peter Carey’s “feat of imposture”, True History of the Kelly Gang.

Read more: True History of the Kelly Gang review: an unheroic portrait of a violent, unhinged, colonial punk

Grenville so convincingly creates Elizabeth’s voice it is easy to forget her opening warning: “Do not believe too quickly!”

Remains unsaid

In Grenville’s telling of Elizabeth’s telling of her marriage to John Macarthur, Elizabeth astutely understands how to manage the patriarchy rather than be a “true helpmate” to her husband as she is introduced in the family history.

She writes of the notoriously difficult John: “He could not be trusted not to destroy our hopes.” Elizabeth believes John is “dangerously unbalanced”.

Through her revision of the Macarthurs’ relationship, Grenville’s imaginary memoir joins the litany of (imaginary and authentic) revisionist biographies of wives overlooked or derided because of their husband’s fame.

Read more: #ThanksforTyping: the women behind famous male writers

Elizabeth’s friendship with astronomer William Dawes is the central relationship. Grenville’s 2008 novel The Lieutenant was loosely based on Dawes, and she was inspired to write this imaginary memoir after reading Elizabeth’s passing reference to Dawes in an actual letter describing her astronomy lessons with the scientist and naval officer: “I blush at my error”.

This blush becomes a motif throughout A Room Made of Leaves: of the true nature of their friendship, and for what remains unsaid. “I blush at my error” was, in Grenville’s eyes, a rare glimpse of Elizabeth’s feelings hidden in what Grenville describes in her editor’s note as otherwise “unrevealing” and “dull” correspondence.

As in The Secret River, Grenville once again writes of a brutal history of colonisation and resistance. Sensitive to previous suggestions of whitewashing (which she has refuted at length), in A Room Made of Leaves Grenville expresses her gratitude to the Darug Custodian Aboriginal Corporation and the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council for their assistance in writing the book.

After being told of the Battle of Parramatta led by resistance leader, Pemulwuy, Elizabeth visits the battle site and alludes to dominant colonial accounts:

There was nothing to show what had happened. Only the words of that story, snipped out and pasted onto the air.

Filling the silence

There is historical precedence for reading Elizabeth’s actual letters with the eye for the unsaid. 18th and 19th century women’s life writing was written with the expectation it was not private and adhered to social conventions of behaviour. Self-censorship and “silences in the archives” abound.

As Elizabeth, Grenville fills the silences:

I composed a glorious romance about all this for my mother. I would not lie, not outright. I set myself a more interesting path: to make sure that my lies occupied the same space as the truth.

Michelle Scott Tucker’s referenced biography, Elizabeth Macarthur: A Life at the Edge of the World is a tempting companion to come back to reality after reading A Room Made of Leaves. But Grenville’s Elizabeth stays with you.

As you see more curls of truth in Tucker’s biography that appear in Grenville’s imaginary memoir, you wonder about how the real Elizabeth felt — rather than what actually happened.

– ref. Review: Kate Grenville’s A Room Made of Leaves fills the silence of the archives – https://theconversation.com/review-kate-grenvilles-a-room-made-of-leaves-fills-the-silence-of-the-archives-141985

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rohan Clarke, Director, Monash Drone Discovery Platform, and Senior Lecturer in Ecology, Monash University

This article is part of Flora, Fauna, Fire, a special project by The Conversation that launched this week. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and animals after last summer’s bushfire tragedy. Explore the project here and read related articles here.

As we stepped out of a military helicopter on Victoria’s east coast in February, smoke towered into the sky. We’d just flown over a blackened landscape extending as far as the eye could see. Now we were standing in an active fireground, and the stakes were high.

Emergency helicopter rescues aren’t usually part of a day’s work for conservation scientists. But for eastern bristlebirds, a potential disaster loomed.

Our mission was to catch 15-20 bristlebirds and evacuate them to Melbourne Zoo. This would provide an insurance population of this globally endangered species if their habitat was razed by the approaching fire.

As climate change grows ever worse, such rescues will be more common. Ours showed how it can be done.

The plight of the eastern bristlebird

Such a rescue may seem like a lot of effort for a small, plain brown bird. But eastern bristlebirds are important to Australia’s biodiversity.

They continue an ancient lineage of songbirds that dates back to the Gondwanan supercontinent millions of years ago. They’re reminders of wild places that used to exist, unchanged by humans.

Read more: Yes, the Australian bush is recovering from bushfires – but it may never be the same

These days, coastal development has shrunk the eastern bristlebird’s habitat. The birds are feeble flyers, and so populations die out when their habitat patches become too small.

Fewer than 2,500 individuals remain, spread across three locations on Australia’s east coast including a 400-strong population that straddles the Victoria-New South Wales border at Cape Howe. Losing them would be a huge blow to the species’ long term prospects.

A rollercoaster ride

On the day of our rescue, bushfires had been raging on Australia’s east coast for several months. The so-called Snowy complex fire that started in late December had razed parts of Mallacoota on New Year’s Eve then burnt into NSW. Now, more than a month later, that same fire had crossed back over the state border and was burning into Cape Howe.

Our 11-person field team had two chances over consecutive mornings. Using special nets, we caught nine eastern bristlebirds on one morning, and six the next. As we worked, burnt leaves caught in our nets – a tangible reminder of how close the fire was.

The captured birds were health-checked then whisked – first by 4WD, then boat and car – to a waiting flight to Melbourne. From there they were driven to special enclosures at Melbourne Zoo.

On the second day a wind change intensified the bushfire and cut short our time. As we evacuated under a darkening sky, it seemed unlikely Cape Howe would escape the flames.

In the ensuing days, the fire moved agonisingly close to the site until a favourable wind change spared it.

But tragedy struck days later when fire tore through eastern bristlebird habitat on the NSW side of Cape Howe. Many of the 250 individuals that lived there are presumed dead.

And despite the best efforts of vets and expert keepers at Melbourne Zoo, six of our captive birds succumbed to a fungal respiratory infection in the weeks after their arrival, which they were all likely carrying when captured.

Return to Cape Howe

Against the odds, bristlebird habitat on the Victorian side of Cape Howe remained unburnt. So in early April, we released a little flock of seven back into the wild.

We’d initially planned to attach tiny transmitters to some released bristlebirds to monitor how they settled back into their home. But COVID-19 restrictions forced us to cancel this intensive fieldwork.

Instead, each bristlebird was fitted with a uniquely coloured leg band. As restrictions ease, our team will return to Cape Howe to see how the colour-banded birds have fared.

A model for the future

The evacuation involved collaboration between government agencies and non-government organisations, with especially important coordination and oversight by Zoos Victoria, the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, and Parks Victoria.

This team moved mountains of logistical hurdles. A rescue mission that would ordinarily take more than a year to plan was completed in weeks.

Read more: After the bushfires, we helped choose the animals and plants in most need. Here’s how we did it

So was it all worth it? We strongly believe the answer is yes. The team did what was needed for the worst-case scenario; ultimately that scenario was avoided by a mere whisker.

But climate change is heightening fire danger and increasing the frequency of extreme weather events. Soberingly, further emergency wildlife evacuations will probably be needed to prevent extinctions in future. Our mission will serve as a model for these interventions.

– ref. Our helicopter rescue may seem a lot of effort for a plain little bird, but it was worth it – https://theconversation.com/our-helicopter-rescue-may-seem-a-lot-of-effort-for-a-plain-little-bird-but-it-was-worth-it-138818

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jess Marsh, Research fellow at the Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University

This article is part of Flora, Fauna, Fire, a special project by The Conversation that launched this week. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and animals after last summer’s bushfire tragedy. Explore the project here and read related articles here.

I’m standing on a hill in Kangaroo Island’s Western River Wilderness Protection Area, looking over steep gullies and sweeping hillsides. As far as I can see, the landscape is burnt: bright patches of regrowth contrast with skeletal, blackened trunks. It’s stark, yet strangely beautiful.

It’s late May, five months after the catastrophic summer fires burned 90% of the park. I’m here to assess the damage to some of our tiniest Australians.

Much attention has been given to the plight of Kangaroo Island’s iconic birds and mammals – the Glossy Black Cockatoo and the Kangaroo Island Dunnart, for example. However, the invertebrates – spiders, insects and myriad other groups – have largely been overlooked. These groups contain some of Australia’s most threatened species.

Among the invertebrates listed by the federal government as a priority for intervention is an unassuming, brownish-black spider with squat legs and a body about the size of a A$2 coin. Its name: the Kangaroo Island Micro-trapdoor spider (Moggridgea rainbowi).

The trials it now faces offer an insight into the enormous challenges ahead for invertebrates – the tiny engines of Australia’s biodiversity – in the wake of last summer’s cataclysmic fires.

Read more: Don’t like spiders? Here are 10 reasons to change your mind

The sea-faring spider

The Kangaroo Island Micro-trapdoor spider has an interesting history. It is the only member of its genus found in Australia, its closest relative being in Africa. Studies show it arrived here between 2 and 16 million years ago, likely rafting across the ocean on vegetation! A true voyager.

Kangaroo Island Micro-trapdoor spiders exist only on Kangaroo Island. They live in short, 6cm burrows, built neatly into creek banks. They are slow, calm spiders, spending most of their time in their burrow, determinedly holding the door shut with their fangs.

The females care for their young; I have opened a trapdoor to find 20 tiny spiders living together with their mother. When ready, the young disperse short distances to build burrows of their own, tiny versions of the adult’s.

Assessing the damage

My colleagues and I are in this conservation park today to locate patches of less fiercely burnt land in which to look for survivors. Sadly, all the known western populations of this enigmatic spider were destroyed. I am yet to find any survivors in the fire ground, but it is early days.

We will be out here for the next year or so, walking hundreds of kilometres of creek lines, searching for signs of life. There is a lot of land out there. Around 210,000 hectares was burnt, almost half of Kangaroo Island. I remain hopeful that some colonies have survived.

If we find some Kangaroo Island Micro-trapdoor spiders – what then?

Surviving the initial blaze is the first step in the struggle for survival. The post-fire environment has many threats – habitat loss, exposure to hungry predators, weeds. Today, I noticed areas where soil, loosened by fire, has washed into creeks, completely burying them.

If we find some surviving individuals, we’ll protect them by installing sediment control, removing weeds and monitoring them in future.

Why should we care?

Not everyone loves spiders. I get that. But the functions invertebrates perform are vital. Our ecosystem relies on them; humans rely on them. Yet collectively our understanding of invertebrates – their importance and their value – is dangerously low.

The Kangaroo Island Micro-trapdoor Spider plays its own role the ecosystem. It is a predator, but we don’t really know what it eats. It’s a food source for birds, mammals or reptiles, but we don’t know what eats it. So, why should we care?

Firstly, I firmly believe every species has its own intrinsic value; every extinction, although a natural part of life, is a loss.

Secondly, the ecosystem is so complicated we don’t know exactly how the loss of one species will impact its prey, the parasites that live on it or its predators. And when we’re facing multiple extinctions, these effects could be devastating.

The Kangaroo Island Micro-trapdoor spider, the Kangaroo Island Assassin Spider, the Green Carpenter Bee – we only know these species are threatened because scientists like me have spent years or decades studying them.

But the majority of Australia’s invertebrate species are yet to be discovered. Many will be similarly at risk, but we have no way of measuring the scale of risk or the repercussions. That’s a fact we should all find scary.

There is hope, though. It’s not yet over for these species. Work such as ours is a step towards understanding how worsening bushfires will affect these vital, but often forgotten, members of our ecosystem.

Read more: Bushfires: can ecosystems recover from such dramatic losses of biodiversity?

– ref. I’m searching firegrounds for surviving Kangaroo Island Micro-trapdoor spiders. 6 months on, I’m yet to find any – https://theconversation.com/im-searching-firegrounds-for-surviving-kangaroo-island-micro-trapdoor-spiders-6-months-on-im-yet-to-find-any-139556

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Lintermans, Associate professor, University of Canberra

This article is part of Flora, Fauna, Fire, a special project by The Conversation that launched this week. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and animals after last summer’s bushfire tragedy. Explore the project here and read related articles here.

On a coastal holiday last summer, I was preoccupied. Bushfires were tearing through southeast Australia, and one in particular had me worried. Online maps showed it moving towards the last remaining population of a plucky little fish, the stocky galaxias.

I’ve worked in threatened fish conservation and management for more than 35 years, but this species is special to me.

The stocky galaxias was formally described as a new species in 2014. Its only known population lives in a short stretch of stream in Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales. A single event could wipe them out.

On January 2 the bushfires forced my family and I to evacuate our holiday home. As we returned to Canberra, I was still worried. Fire maps showed the stocky’s stream virtually surrounded by fire.

A few days later, I prepared for an emergency rescue.

In critical danger

The stocky galaxias is the monarch of its small stream; the only fish species present. I’ve been trying to protect the stocky galaxias before it was even formally recognised.

Over the last century or more, the species has seen off threats from predatory trout, storms, droughts and bushfires. Snowy 2.0 is the latest danger.

It’s listed as critically endangered in NSW and is being assessed for a federal threatened listing. Before the fires, there were probably no more than 1,000-2,000 adults left in the wild.

Read more: After the bushfires, we helped choose the animals and plants in most need. Here’s how we did it

As the fires burned, I knew we had to move quickly. I wanted to collect up to 200 stocky galaxias and take them away for safekeeping.

Rainfall after bushfires is major threat to fish, because it washes ash and sediment into streams. Storms were forecast for the afternoon of January 15. So early that morning, myself and two colleagues, escorted by two staff from the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, drove to the stocky galaxias stream.

A colleague and I waded in and began electrofishing. This involved passing an electrical current through water, stunning fish momentarily so we could catch them.

After 45 minutes we’d collected 68 healthy stocky galaxias. Woohoo! Further downstream we collected 74 more. By now, fire burned along the stream edge. We packed the fish into drums in the back of my car and drove out.

We headed to the NSW Department of Primary Industries’ trout hatchery at Jindabyne, where we measured each fish and took a genetic sample. I felt immensely relieved and satisfied that we’d potentially saved a species from extinction.

The fish have been thriving in the hatchery building. Stocky galaxias have never been kept in captivity before, but our years of field work told us the temperatures they encountered in the wild, so holding tanks could be set up appropriately.

Read more: Conservation scientists are grieving after the bushfires — but we must not give up

Back to the stream

The captive fish can be used for breeding, but the species has never been captive-bred before and this is not a trivial task.

When they’re reintroduced to the wild, the sites must be free of trout, and other invasive fish like climbing galaxias. Natural or artificial barriers should be in place to prevent invasive fish invasion.

In late March I finally got back to the stocky galaxias’ stream to see whether they’d survived. At the lower stretch of its habitat, the fire was not severe and the stream habitat looked good, with only a small amount of ash and sediment.

Upstream, the fire had been more severe. At the edge of the stream, heath was razed and patches of sphagnum moss were burnt. Again, sediment in the stream was not too abundant. But fish numbers were lower than normal, suggesting some there had not survived.

The fight’s not over

The stocky galaxias species might have survived yet another peril, but the battle isn’t over.

Feral horse numbers in Kosciuszko National Park have increased dramatically in the last decade. They’ve degraded the banks of the stocky galaxias’ stream, making it wider and shallower and filling sections with fine sediment. This smothers the fish’s food resources, spawning sites and eggs.

Before the fires, plans were already afoot to fence off much of the stocky galaxias habitat to keep horses out. Fire damage to the park has delayed construction until early 2021.

Read more: Snowy 2.0 threatens to pollute our rivers and wipe out native fish

The biggest long-term threat to the species is the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro development. It threatens to transfer an invasive native fish, the climbing galaxias, to within reach of stocky galaxias habitat. There, it would compete for food with, and prey on, stocky galaxias – probably pushing it into extinction.

Despite this risk, in May this year the NSW government approved the Snowy 2.0 expansion, with approval conditions that I believe fail to adequately protect the stocky galaxias population. The project has also received federal approval.

Future in the balance

The stocky galaxias is unique and irreplaceable. I want my grandchildren to be able to show their grandchildren this little Aussie battler thriving in the wild.

The damage wrought by Snowy 2.0 may not be apparent for several decades. By then many politicians and bureaucrats now deciding the future of the stocky galaxias will be gone, as will I.

But 2020 will go down in history as the year the species was saved from fire, then condemned to possible extinction.

– ref. Double trouble: this plucky little fish survived Black Summer, but there’s worse to come – https://theconversation.com/double-trouble-this-plucky-little-fish-survived-black-summer-but-theres-worse-to-come-139921

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jodi Rowley, Curator, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Biology, Australian Museum

This article is part of Flora, Fauna, Fire, a special project by The Conversation that launched this week. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and animals after last summer’s bushfire tragedy. Explore the project here and read related articles here.

Bushfires are a threat to most animal species. But for one rare lizard living on a rocky island in the sky, a single blaze could wipe the species off the planet.

The Kaputar rock skink (Egernia roomi) is thought to have have one of the smallest ranges of any reptile in New South Wales – at the summit of a single extinct volcano, Mount Kaputar.

The existence of this mysterious skink was informally known for decades, and in August last year the species was finally scientifically described. But months later, it may already be headed for extinction.

Late last year, bushfires are thought to have ripped through more than half the Kaputar rock skink’s habitat. We don’t yet know what this means for its survival, but the outlook is not good.

A very special skink

The Kaputar rock skink is handsome lizard, typically around 10 centimetres in body length, with dark chocolate brown and grey scales and an orange belly.

It’s found in the Nandewar Ranges near Narrabri. The ranges – weathered remnants of ancient volcanic eruptions between 21 and 17 million years ago – rise out of the surrounding plains in a series of breathtaking rock formations.

Read more: Double trouble: this plucky little fish survived Black Summer, but there’s worse to come

The Kaputar rock skink lives on one of these outcrops, Mount Kaputar. It exists on a narrow band of rock at the summit, more than 1,300 metres above sea level.

This high elevation areas is cooler than the surrounding plains, which suits this cool-adapted species perfectly. But the species’ tiny range means it’s highly vulnerable. When danger strikes, the Kaputar rock skink has nowhere to go.

When the fires hit

Bushfires tore through the Nandewar Ranges in October and November last year, reportedly burning more than 17,000 hectares of bush. More than half of Kaputar rock skink habitat is believed to have burned.

The expert panel advising the federal government on bushfire recovery has named the skink as one of 119 severely-affected species needing urgent conservation intervention. But the species’ rugged, remote habitat, combined with COVID-19 restrictions, have delayed efforts to assess the extent of the damage.

Read more: After the bushfires, we helped choose the animals and plants in most need. Here’s how we did it

It’s likely that many Kaputar rock skinks died during the fires themselves, although we hope others survived by crawling deep into rock cracks.

But after the fires, threats remain. Vegetation loss may make the skinks easy prey, and in a charred landscape, there may be little for the reptiles to eat.

History tells us fires do affect high-elevation skinks. For example, fire is thought to have driven the rock-dwelling Guthega skink (Liopholis guthega) to become locally extinct at some sites on the Bogong High Plains in northeast Victoria.

A mountain of threats

Species restricted to a small area are vulnerable to any loss of habitat. And fire is not the only threat to the Kaputar rock skink.

Climate change is a big concern. While many species respond to increasing temperatures by migrating uphill to cooler climes, that’s not possible for the skink, which is already precariously perched on a summit.

Read more: Sure, save furry animals after the bushfires – but our river creatures are suffering too

Introduced goats may also be taking a toll as they trample through the rocky terrain.

Evidence suggests humans are also a disturbance to the Kaputar rock skink’s habitat. The reptiles live close to the edge of cliff lines that are readily accessible by walking tracks. Trampling of low vegetation has been observed at many sites, as have disturbed rocks – the latter possibly from people wanting to find and photograph the species.

Where to now?

Scientists know relatively little about the Kaputar rock skink. One thing we’re sure of, though, is that the species’ existence is threatened.

Surveys are needed at known skink locations, as well as surrounding areas where it might lie undiscovered. Understanding where the species occurs and how it responds to fires, drought and other disturbances is critical to conservation efforts.

Read more: Our field cameras melted in the bushfires. When we opened them, the results were startling

Of course it’s the middle of winter now, so the skinks may not be very active on their cold mountain top. But my colleagues and I hope to travel to Mount Kaputar soon to survey the skink’s habitat and find out how the species fared.

It’s just months since science officially welcomed the Kaputar rock skink to the world. It’s far too early to say goodbye.

Dane Trembath, an Australian Museum biologist with a focus on reptiles, contributed to this article.

– ref. A few months ago, science gave this rare lizard a name – and it may already be headed for extinction – https://theconversation.com/a-few-months-ago-science-gave-this-rare-lizard-a-name-and-it-may-already-be-headed-for-extinction-140356

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Matisoo-Smith, Professor of Biological Anthropology, University of Otago

How did the Polynesian peoples come to live on the far-flung islands of the Pacific? The question has intrigued researchers for centuries.

Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl brought the topic to public attention when he sailed a balsa-wood raft called the Kon-Tiki from Peru to Polynesia in 1947. His goal was to demonstrate such voyages were possible, supporting theories linking Polynesian origins to the Americas.

Decades of research in archaeology, linguistics and genetics now show that Polynesian origins lie to the west, ultimately in the islands of southeast Asia. However, the myth of migrations from America has lingered in folk science and on conspiracy websites.

New evidence for American interlopers?

A new study published in Nature reports genetic evidence of Native American ancestry in several Polynesian populations. The work, by Alexander Ioannidis and colleagues, is based on a genetic analysis of 807 individuals from 17 island populations and 15 indigenous communities from South and Central America.

Other researchers have previously found evidence of indigenous American DNA in the genomes of the modern inhabitants of Rapa Nui. (Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, is the part of Polynesia closest to South America.)

The estimated timing of these interactions, however, raised concerns. Analyses of DNA from ancient Rapa Nui skeletal remains found no evidence of such mingling, or admixture. This suggests the “Amerindian” genetic component was likely introduced later via Chilean colonists.

Ioannidis and colleagues found southern South American Indigenous DNA in the genomes – the genetic material – of modern Rapa Nui, but they claim it represents a second pulse of contact. They also found signs of earlier contact, coming from as far north as Colombia or even Mexico.

More novel was the fact that this earlier signal was also found in modern DNA samples collected in the 1980s from the Marquesas and the Tuamotu archipelagos. The researchers argue this likely traces to a single “contact event” around 1200 AD, and possibly as early as 1082 AD.

Both suggested dates for this first event are earlier than those generally accepted for the settlement of Rapa Nui (1200-1250 AD). The earlier date predates any archaeological evidence for human settlement of the Marquesas or any of the other islands on which it was identified.

Ioannidis and colleagues make sense of this by suggesting that perhaps “upon their arrival, Polynesian settlers encountered a small, already established, Native American population”.

Read more: What wind, currents and geography tell us about how people first settled Oceania

Follow the kūmara

The 1200 AD date and the more northerly location of the presumed contact on the South American continent are not unreasonable. They are consistent with the presence and distribution of the sweet potato, or kūmara.

This plant from the Americas is found throughout Eastern Polynesia. It gives us the strongest and most widely accepted archaeological and linguistic evidence of contact between Polynesia and South America.

Kūmara remains about 1,000 years old have been found in the Cook Islands in central Polynesia. When Polynesian colonists settled the extremes of the Polynesian triangle – Hawai’i, Rapa Nui, and Aotearoa New Zealand – between 1200 and 1300 AD, they brought kūmara in their canoes.

So contact with the Americas by that time fits with archaeological data. The suggestion that it was Native Americans who made the voyage, however, is where we think this argument goes off the rails.

A great feat of sailing

Polynesians are among the greatest navigators and sailors in the world. Their ancestors had been undertaking voyages on the open ocean for at least 3,000 years.

Double hulled Polynesian voyaging canoes were rapidly and systematically sailing eastwards across the Pacific. They would not have stopped until they hit the coast of the Americas. Then, they would have returned home, using their well proven skills in navigation and sailing.

While Heyerdahl showed American-made rafts could make it out to the Pacific, Indigenous Americans have no history of open ocean voyaging. Similarly, there is no archaeological evidence of pre-Polynesian occupation on any of the islands of Polynesia.

Read more: Chickens tell tale of human migration across Pacific

The limitations of genetic analysis

Genetic analyses attempting to reconstruct historical events based on data from modern populations are fraught with potential sources of error. Addressing questions where only a few hundred years make a major difference is particularly difficult.

Modelling population history needs to consider demographic impacts such as the massive depopulation caused by disease and other factors associated with European colonisation.

Ioannidis and colleagues took this into account for Rapa Nui, but not for the Marquesas. Estimates of population decline in the Marquesas from 20,000 in 1840 to around 3,600 by 1902 indicate a significant bottleneck.

The choice of comparative populations was also interesting. The only non-East Polynesian Pacific population used in analyses was from Vanuatu. Taiwanese Aboriginal populations were used as representatives of the “pure” Austronesian ancestral population for Polynesians.

This is wrong and overly simplistic. Polynesian genomes themselves are inherently admixed. They result from intermarriages between people probably from a homeland in island southeast Asia (not necessarily Taiwan) and other populations encountered en route through the Pacific.

Polynesian Y chromosomes and other markers show clear evidence of admixture with western Pacific populations. Excluding other Oceanic and Asian populations from the analyses may have skewed the results. Interestingly, the amount of Native American admixture identified in the Polynesian samples correlates with the amount of European admixture found in those populations.

Finally, like many recent population genetic studies, Ioannidis and colleagues did not look at sequences of the whole genome. Instead, they used what are called single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays.

SNP arrays are designed based on genetic variation identified through studies of primarily Asian, African and European genomes. Very few Pacific or other indigenous genomes were included in the databases used to design SNP arrays. This means variation in these populations may be misinterpreted or underestimated.

Summing up

While the results presented by Ioannidis and colleagues are very interesting, to fully understand them will require a level of scholarly engagement that may take some time.

Did contact between Polynesians and indigenous Americans happen? Significant evidence indicates that it did. Do these new data prove this? Perhaps, though there are a number of factors that need further investigation. Ideally, we would like to see evidence in ancient genetic samples. Engagement with the Pacific communities involved is also critical.

However, if the data and analyses are correct, did the process likely occur via the arrival of indigenous Americans, on their own, on an island in eastern Polynesia? This, we argue, is highly questionable.

– ref. Did ancient Americans settle in Polynesia? The evidence doesn’t stack up – https://theconversation.com/did-ancient-americans-settle-in-polynesia-the-evidence-doesnt-stack-up-142383

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Phillips, Associate Professor, Centre for Social Research and Methods, Director, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), Australian National University

New research on disadvantage in Australia has found the gap between rich and poor is very wide in Sydney, while much of Queensland struggles with educational disadvantage and regional NSW and Victoria are both more disadvantaged when it comes to health.

Previous research on poverty has placed a heavy emphasis on income and economic outcomes at a given point in time. But disadvantage often goes beyond just economic factors. It’s also necessary to analyse the educational, health and social inequities in society to get a more accurate understanding of disadvantage.

At the core of our new research, published in our Mapping the Potential report, is the idea that disadvantage in Australia is more varied and complex than many people may think.

How we conducted our research

This research, conducted by the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods and commissioned by Catholic Social Services Australia, expands on the socioeconomic indexes produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics by adding more detailed variables across health, education, social and economic domains.

We also incorporated a “persistence” element to disadvantage – in that, disadvantage isn’t tied to a singular point in time, but persists for a longer period.

In our research, disadvantage was data-driven. And to quantify disadvantage, we chose variables that were generally considered relevant for each area. For economic disadvantage, for instance, we looked at low incomes, low-skilled jobs and unemployment. Areas with a large share of people with these characteristics tended to be more disadvantaged.

Health disadvantage was based on various chronic health conditions, such as diabetes, heart and circulatory conditions, and obesity.

Educational disadvantage focused on levels of educational attainment and child educational disadvantage – both cognitive and physical development. We used data from the Australian Educational Development Census to gauge this.

Social disadvantage was less clearly defined. We focused on variables that contribute to social capital, or the interpersonal networks that help a society function effectively. Regions with social disadvantage, for example, tended to have low rates of volunteering, internet connection and social cohesion.

Geographically, we analysed these variables at the SA2 level (areas comprised roughly of suburbs and towns) across Australia. We then aggregated the results to the federal electorate level to avoid singling out and possibly stigmatising individual suburbs.

For comparison purposes, each index was standardised to an average score of 1,000 across all SA2s. Nearly all SA2s (95%) had a score between 800 (high disadvantaged) and 1,200 (low disadvantage).

To better understand differences between our major populations, we further aggregated our results to nine larger geographic entities: the five major capitals, the regional areas of NSW, Queensland and Victoria and a “catch all” remainder of Australia region. This last grouping was used due to the small number of electorates in some states and territories.

The most disadvantaged parts of Australia

The key finding of the report is there is considerable variation in the types of disadvantage experienced across Australia. Moreover, the types of disadvantage varied between locations, as well.

Australia’s most disadvantaged electorate overall was Hinkler in regional Queensland. Hinkler ranks poorly in three of the disadvantage domains we tracked: health, economic and social.

Australia’s least disadvantaged electorate is North Sydney.

When we looked at each type of disadvantage individually, we found that electorates had very different needs.

From an economic perspective, for example, our most disadvantaged electorate is Blaxland in Western Sydney. Our most disadvantaged health electorate is Braddon in regional Tasmania.

The most disadvantaged educationally was Spence in the northern suburbs of Adelaide. Socially, the most disadvantaged electorate was Parkes in regional NSW.

When comparing the larger regions in our report, we found Adelaide faces the most disadvantage overall, while Sydney and Perth have, on average, the least overall disadvantage.

Even the best-performing regions have pockets of high disadvantage. For example, while Sydney has a relatively strong overall result, it also has the most economically disadvantaged electorate in Australia (Blaxland) and several suburbs with scores below 800.

The research also shows the vast disparities between urban and regional areas in Australia. For example, according to our data, nearly the whole of regional NSW is considered disadvantaged. In contrast, the inner suburbs of Sydney are much better-off.

Most concerning was the deep level of disadvantage found in predominantly Indigenous communities, mostly in the Northern Territory. The electorate of Lingiari, for instance, has a marked split between the relatively advantaged suburbs around Darwin and the deeply disadvantaged areas outside the city.

We also found a number of electorates in coastal NSW, Queensland and Tasmania with significant health disadvantage. This is concerning given the threat of future outbreaks of COVID-19.

Read more: Educational disadvantage is a huge problem in Australia – we can’t just carry on the same

Why this data matters

The indexes remind us that despite nearly 30 years of continued economic growth in Australia, prosperity has not come to all parts of the country. Nor is economic advantage necessarily an indication of other facets of well-being, such as educational or health equality.

This data is important because it can help non-profit organisations make better-informed decisions on where and how to allocate future resources and investments.

It will also help governments at all levels gain a deeper understanding of the types of disadvantage that exist within regions and how their programs and other methods of assistance – both financial or non-financial – can be most effective.

Read more: New evidence suggests we may need to rethink policies aimed at poverty

– ref. Where are the most disadvantaged parts of Australia? New research shows it’s not just income that matters – https://theconversation.com/where-are-the-most-disadvantaged-parts-of-australia-new-research-shows-its-not-just-income-that-matters-132428

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Peters, Associate Professor of Wildlife Health and Pathology, Charles Sturt University

This article is part of Flora, Fauna, Fire, a special project by The Conversation that launched this week. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and animals after last summer’s bushfire tragedy. Explore the project here and read related articles here.

I looked through the microscope at the insides of a dead smoky mouse, and could barely believe my eyes. Thousands of tiny smoke particles lined its lungs. But the mouse had been kept more than 50 kilometres from the nearest bushfires. How could this be?

As it turned out, the critically endangered mouse had died from smoke inhalation. Some 45 had been held at a captive breeding facility near Canberra. Nine ultimately died – the first recorded wildlife in the world killed by bushfire smoke far outside a fire zone.

The deaths were a blow for conservation efforts. But in recent weeks, there’s been good news: smoky mice have been spotted at seven sites burnt in the fires. For now, at least, the species lives on.

A unique, bulgy-eyed rodent

The smoky mouse is shy, gentle and small – usually about nine centimetres in body length, plus its tail. They are rather cute, with bulgy eyes and very soft grey fur which inspired the species’ name.

In the wild, the smoky mouse is limited to a few sites in Victoria’s Grampians and East Gippsland, as well as in Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales. It lives in underground communal nests, in heath and forest habitats.

Read more: After the bushfires, we helped choose the animals and plants in most need. Here’s how we did it

Ancestors of the smoky mouse arrived in Australia more than five million years ago when the Australian continent finally drifted close enough to Southeast Asia for rodents to raft across.

These ancient rodents diversified into more than 50 species. Many, like the smoky mouse, are in decline. Others, like the white-footed rabbit-rat have already become extinct.

Several threats are reducing smoky mouse numbers, but feral cats and foxes are a major cause.

Death by irony?

Some 119 animal species were identified for urgent conservation intervention following the fires. The smoky mouse was among them. Modelling showed 26% of its distribution overlapped with burnt areas, and in NSW more than 90% of the species’ habitat burned.

I am a wildlife health and pathology expert based in Wagga Wagga in NSW, and part of my job is to diagnose why animals have died. The first dead smoky mouse I encountered had come from a Canberra breeding facility. It was sent by a vet and arrived via courier in mid-January.

In a note attached, the vet suggested bushfire smoke had killed the smoky mouse – and asked, in a nod to the species’ name, if this was a case of “death by irony”.

Canberra, like many other cities and towns, was shrouded in thick smoke in January. But the breeding facility was more than 50 kilometres from the nearest fire zone, so I thought the vet’s theory was unlikely.

When I and other veterinary pathologists examined organs of the mouse under the microscope, the only abnormality we could find was fluid and congestion in the mouse’s lungs.

Over the following month, eight more smoky mice died. I inspected the lungs of one – to my shock, it contained thousands of brown smoke particles. Once I knew the distribution of particles to look for, I found them in most of the other dead mice too.

The mice didn’t die immediately after inhaling the smoke. They hung on, but when temperatures in Canberra spiked at more than 40℃, they went into respiratory distress and died.

Read more: A season in hell: bushfires push at least 20 threatened species closer to extinction

Death from smoke inhalation has long been suspected in wildlife. But it’s poorly recorded because after bushfires, the bodies of dead animals are usually incinerated or too decomposed to make a diagnosis.

The smoky mouse case shows bushfire smoke can damage wild animals far beyond fire zones. That means the impact of bushfires on wildlife may be greater than we thought.

A bit of good news

There is hope for the smoky mouse. Motion-sensing cameras set up in Kosciuszko National Park after the fires have recorded smoky mice at seven burnt sites. Over the next year, more sites will be surveyed to better understand how many individuals remain, and where they live.

Most smoky mice at the Canberra captive breeding facility survived, and there are plans to release some into the wild. This captive breeding program has also been identified as a priority for federal funding.

But as global warming escalates, fires in Australia are predicted to become even worse. Now more than ever, the future of the smoky mouse, along with many other Australian animals, hinges on decisive climate action. Captive breeding programs and blind hope will not be enough.

Read more: Conservation scientists are grieving after the bushfires — but we must not give up

– ref. ‘Death by irony’: The mystery of the mouse that died of smoke inhalation, but went nowhere near a fire – https://theconversation.com/death-by-irony-the-mystery-of-the-mouse-that-died-of-smoke-inhalation-but-went-nowhere-near-a-fire-139906

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wee Tiong Seah, Associate Professor in Mathematics Education, University of Melbourne

On Sunday, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced government school students in prep to Year 10 in metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire will learn from home for term three. The remote learning period will run from July 20 until at least August 19, and will follow five pupil-free days scheduled for this week.

Students in Years 11 and 12, as well as those in Year 10 attending schools for VCE or VCAL classes, and students with special needs, will resume face-to-face learning today.

Many independent schools had already decided, before the premier’s announcement, they will resume remote learning this week.

We conducted a national survey from April 27 until May 25 of more than 1,200 teachers’ experiences during Australia’s first wave of remote learning. Based on teachers’ responses, we know a sustainable return to remote learning must ensure schools and the government address the concerns around the social and emotional impacts on students, accessibility, and increasing workloads for teachers.

Social development and emotional well-being

Around the same number of teachers said the remote learning period had a positive (33%), negative (36%) or neither positive nor negative (31%), impact on students’ educational progress. But most of them expressed concerns about the impact on students’ social development and emotional well-being.

More than half (58%) of all teachers were concerned about students’ social development. Meanwhile, 68% of primary school and 79% of secondary school teachers felt remote learning was having a negative impact on students’ emotional well-being.

These results were fairly consistent across state capitals, regional and rural areas, as well as across government (73.6%), Catholic (76.5%) and independent (78.2%) schools.

One teacher said

it is the social-emotional well-being of our young people, particularly those at risk in their homes, that is my biggest concern.

Schools play a critical role in supporting student well-being. Feelings of isolation can have serious negative impacts such as increased stress, anxiety and disengagement. It is important there are strategies for maintaining a strong teacher presence online.

Teachers said the level of support students received for remote learning varied depending on the students’ home environment. Some vulnerable students can completely disengage from the school system and we have seen this increased vulnerability during remote learning.

Read more: Disadvantaged students may have lost 1 month of learning during COVID-19 shutdown. But the government can fix it

Some students didn’t attend live lessons, disguised attendance by only logging in but without video or audio, or did not submit work. Use of learning analytics to assist in tracking student access would be beneficial during remote learning.

In some cases, remote learning issues disrupted the capacity for teachers to provide additional support, despite repeated attempts to communicate with students and their families.

Schools play a critical role in supporting engagement and maintaining essential connections, routines and supports during a pandemic, and during recovery.

During the lockdown, schools and the government must take urgent measures to address student well-being. Teachers need support to identify and help students with high needs. They need professional learning programs to help them navigate this territory.

Not everyone is equal

In 2019, 87% of Australians could access the internet at home. But only 68% of Australian children aged 5 to 14 living in disadvantaged communities had internet access at home, compared to 91% of students living in advantaged communities.

In our survey, 49.45% of teachers reported all of their students had access to devices, while 43.28% indicated most of their students had access.

Fewer primary teachers (37.46%) than secondary teachers (56.25%) indicated all their students had access to devices.

Some students had to share devices with other family members, a few used their phones and some didn’t have any access to technology at all. For those who had access to devices, there were other challenges, such as the availability and reliability of apps and programs, with parents and teachers trying to troubleshoot IT problems.

Read more: Schools are moving online, but not all children start out digitally equal

A teacher said one of the challenges was “the large amount of disadvantaged families that [the] school serves [where] most don’t have access to three meals a day”.

Increasing the number of loan devices to students is essential during the upcoming remote learning period, as are engaging and interactive lessons. But it’s also important to plan for accessible tasks that aren’t internet-dependent, for those who don’t have ready access – such as school packs or the possibility of attending school.

During the first wave of remote learning, some telecommunications companies provided relief by waiving internet charges or extending data access limits. The government can play a more active role by working with internet providers to ensure further access to this kind of support is available.

Reasonable work expectations

In our survey, 68% of primary teachers and 75% of secondary teachers reported working more hours than usual during the lockdown period. Nearly 50% worked more than six hours extra a week and 19% worked between 11-15 hours extra per week.

Teachers reported increased stress levels, isolation, excessive screen time and exhaustion.

One teacher said there were

unrealistic expectations of teachers — using multiple platforms concurrently with very little training. The time to prepare per class is limited yet we are supposed to provide technologically advanced methods of delivery.

As a priority, setting realistic expectations for teachers, students and parents will ensure the workload is reasonable and manageable.

Remote teaching is not equivalent to classroom teaching and the same content will not be covered in the same amount of time online. Good teaching and curriculum design will soon address any gaps in learning once students are back in the classroom. But the social and emotional impacts could have a more negative impact in the longer term.

Read more: Students won’t get through all school content while learning at home: here are 3 things to prioritise

– ref. Students in Melbourne will go back to remote schooling. Here’s what we learnt last time and how to make it better – https://theconversation.com/students-in-melbourne-will-go-back-to-remote-schooling-heres-what-we-learnt-last-time-and-how-to-make-it-better-142550

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Phillippa Carnemolla, Senior Research Fellow, School of the Built Environment, University of Technology Sydney

The stated purpose of the Morrison government’s HomeBuilder program is to stimulate the economy and create construction jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our research shows home improvements could do much more than just add capital value and a spare room. They can also restore or maintain a person’s ability to live independently – whether they are older, have a disability, are unwell or have been injured.

In other words, these home improvements could transform life for any one of us at some point in our lives. They greatly improve people’s well-being and reduce dependence on carers. This affects a great many people – including nearly a million who receive some form of aged care in their own home.

Read more: How can we best design housing for Australia’s ageing population?

Our study of 157 people receiving community care found home modifications reduced the overall hours of care they required by 42%. Their quality of life (measured as health-related quality of life) improved by 40%.

By reducing care needs and costs, and increasing independence and well-being, home modifications lead to a multitude of government, community and personal benefits. These include lowering the risk of COVID-19 transmission that providing and receiving personal care entails.

Read more: Confused about aged care in the home? These 10 charts explain how it works

What do home modifications involve?

Home modifications specifically help residents to live safely and independently in their own homes.

The range of possible renovations is diverse, so costs vary widely. Minor modifications might be installing a grab rail in a bathroom to aid stability, or levelling a step at a front door. A major modification could install a ramp or a lift, widen door frames or provide a new bathroom.

Modifications must be tailored to individual needs, as no “one size fits all” – just like every home renovation.

Enabling greater independence for longer

My research measures how home modifications directly influence the amount of care needed to live, and continue living, at home.

The study included 157 Australians aged from 15 to 92 who received community care. Some had arthritis, cancer or a motorcycle injury. Others were born with a disability. All required care in their home.

Read more: NDIS needs the market to help make up at least 60% shortfall in specialist disability housing

Hours of care for participants (most of it unpaid care by family and friends) were compared before and after home modifications. The changes liberated them. Home modifications reduced or eliminated their need for help, restored their confidence in caring for themselves and reduced carer stress.

As people’s confidence grew, they were happier to venture out into the broader community. Importantly, relationships improved.

Stories of lives transformed

Simple home modifications meant David* no longer had to help his mother shower as she could safely do that herself. His mother was saved the embarrassment of her son being involved in what is normally a private activity. Instead, they could enjoy each other’s company with regular activities like shopping and having afternoon tea together.

Ravi* had a spinal injury as a result of an accident. He was glad to be back at home but was sleeping in a converted sunroom at street level because he couldn’t get to his bedroom upstairs. The only bathroom for showering was a small ensuite, up three stairs.

The house was not suitable for a wheelchair, so his wife had to help him get around their home. The effort required to take care of basic daily living activities left them too exhausted to even think about going out.

An accessible bathroom with a hand-held shower was installed, as well as a ramp at the home entrance. Not only was Ravi able to shower independently again, but he and his wife also regained their energy and interest in going out. He attributed home modifications to enabling them to go to the movies and a restaurant for the first time in the three years after the accident.

Genevieve* needed to go to the toilet often at night, but was unsteady on her feet. She had to wake her husband to escort her safely to the bathroom. Installing handrails from the bedroom to the bathroom, as well as reconfiguring the bathroom, meant she could safely take herself to the toilet at night.

Now that he was getting a good night’s sleep, her husband also expressed relief that he was able to continue his full-time job – he had thought he would have to give it up.

People regain choice about where they live

The design of a house can be the single reason that forces a person into an aged care home. A bathroom, kitchen, entrance and exit, as well as how rooms connect, can all dictate whether a person lives independently in later life.

Read more: Meet the nonagenarians: people in their 90s are Australia’s fastest growing senior age group

Research shows how home modifications reduce fall risks. Think about an older bathroom where the shower has a hob or is over a bath. Such features commonly lead to falls, which can dramatically shorten lives or send us straight from hospital into residential aged care.

Of all the home modifications, my research showed those in the bathroom were most central to reducing dependence on others. They provided the freedom to shower and use the toilet without help.

For example, Heath* was 72 with a few overlapping health conditions. He had lost confidence using his shower and toilet on his own. His daughter, who lived five hours’ drive away, was convinced he would fall if he remained at home.

But Heath didn’t want someone coming in to help him shower. He absolutely did not want to go into a nursing home. Home modifications meant he could sit while showering independently and use grab rails to get in and out safely.

Modifications protect lives in a pandemic

The ability to take care of our own bathroom needs during a pandemic is particularly critical. The close proximity required to receive and provide care has been well documented. Who knows how much home modifications have helped to curb the spread of COVID-19 to people most vulnerable to it?

Australia is managing a pandemic while rolling out the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and reforming aged care in the context of a diverse and ageing population.

This research into home modifications highlights why renovations could be so much more than a new pool, kitchen island or cinema room. The government has a golden opportunity to reform HomeBuilder and encourage take-up of grants for home modifications. It would be a win for both tradies and the many Australians who may need help to stay at home.

* Names have been changed to protect anonymity.

– ref. Renovations as stimulus? Home modifications can do so much more to transform people’s lives – https://theconversation.com/renovations-as-stimulus-home-modifications-can-do-so-much-more-to-transform-peoples-lives-140639

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Davidson, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, UNSW

Suddenly, the idea of a “job guarantee” is back in vogue.

Lawyer, academic, land rights activist and founder of the Cape York Institute Noel Pearson has come out of it favour of it, University of Newcastle labour market specialist Bill Mitchell has a document before the prime minister, and the Per Capita think tank is pushing for a youth-only guarantee.

The idea is that the government would make an unconditional job offer at a minimum wage to anyone willing and able to work. There would be no need for the Newstart unemployment benefit (now called JobSeeker).

Read more: Forget JobSeeker. In our post-COVID economy, Australia needs a ‘liveable income guarantee’ instead

The buffer of jobs on offer would “normally be small and would shrink as private sector activity recovers”.

It is not widely known that it’s been tried before, by the Keating government in 1994. The scheme was limited to the long-term unemployed, making it more manageable than a scheme that offered employment to everyone who was unemployed.

Working Nation

The centrepiece of Working Nation, unveiled by Prime Minister Paul Keating in February 1994, the so-called “Job Compact” guaranteed subsidised employment for six to 12 months to everyone who had been unemployed for more than 18 months.

This article draws on my research into what happened, including interviews with senior government officials from that time.

By late 1993 300,000 people had been reliant on unemployment payments for more than 12 months.

The idea was that paid work experience in regular jobs would improve their chances of securing unsubsidised jobs by renewing their confidence and skills, and instilling confidence in employers about their ability to work.

We started off wanting to guarantee the long-term unemployed a job. We thought that’s what this agenda was all about (official, department of prime minister and cabinet)

The original plan was for most of the job placements (70%) to be offered through a private sector wage subsidy scheme, Jobstart, which had a good record for placing people in ongoing jobs.

The other jobs would be provided through the New Work Opportunities program (which offered community organisations a 100% wage subsidy to employ people fulltime for six months) and Jobskills (which offered a combination of part time paid employment and training run by community organisations).

When fewer private employers than expected took on Jobstart wage subsidies (134,000 in 1995) the job guarantee could only be fulfilled by expanding public and community sector jobs (to 123,000 positions).

As has been the case in other overseas public sector job creation schemes, these jobs often turned out to be very different to mainstream jobs, reducing transitions to unsubsidised jobs.

And as the number of subsidised jobs ballooned, their quality declined. And instead of case managers matching jobs and experience to needs, the process became a conveyor belt.

There was some dissatisfaction even within the department of prime minister and cabinet about how it was going. It appeared to be going the [old] way of not treating people as individuals, just putting people into any program that was coming along (official, department of prime minister and cabinet)

And the language of the program became increasingly punitive.

You often start with a great idea and later it gets modified. Focus groups showed the public were really down on the unemployed and sole parents. That got reflected back in the ‘reciprocal obligation’ language, which was not how we originally had it (official, department of prime minister and cabinet)

Only one third of the participants were in unsubsidised jobs three months after the subsidies ended. The official evaluation of the “net impact” of the program (the extent to which it increased the probability of employment) was a 28% improvement from Jobstart, 11% for Jobskills and 4% for New Work Opportunities.

‘High cost, low outcomes’

The Job Compact was expected to reduce the number of people on unemployment benefits for more than 18 months by 50% in its first year, but the actual decline was less than 20%.

The official evaluation pointed to its “high cost and low outcomes”, and concluded it was “not the most appropriate strategy for assisting the long-term unemployed”.

It said subsidised public sector jobs should be created only to help “the most disadvantaged clients who may not meet the job readiness requirements of many private employers”.

Read more: When the Coronavirus Supplement stops, JobSeeker needs to increase by $185 a week

Right now, 700,000 people have been on unemployment benefits for more than a year, making the case for some sort of large-scale investment in paid work experience and training strong.

Subsidised jobs can help reduce long-term unemployment, as shown by the success of the Future Jobs Fund in the Britain and small-scale wage subsidy schemes in Australia.

Britain’s Conservative Government has just announced plans to generate 350,000 subsidised community jobs for unemployed young people.

But Australia’s experience with the Job Compact shows guarantees are no panacea.

Subsidised jobs help, but they’re no panacea

When subsidised jobs schemes are scaled up to offer jobs to everyone who is unemployed, their costs increase and their quality and their impact on future employability diminish.

We will need large-scale programs to create jobs, and we should offer the 700,000 people who are already long-term unemployed all the help they need to secure them.

But that needn’t always mean subsidised jobs. Many who are unemployed will benefit from training, others from their employment service provider partnering with an employer to skill them up.

Higher unemployment is a price we’ve paid to control the virus. It will take a mix of measures to ensure that cost is only temporary.

– ref. There’s serious talk about a “job guarantee”, but it’s not that straightforward – https://theconversation.com/theres-serious-talk-about-a-job-guarantee-but-its-not-that-straightforward-140632

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ann Kayis-Kumar, Senior Lecturer and Tax Clinic Director, School of Taxation & Business Law, UNSW

For some people tax time will result in no tax paid this year, and if past years are anything to go by, about 50 of them will be millionaires.

Not mere millionaires, but millionaires earning more than A$1 million per year.

For some of these 50 or so very high earners, managing tax will be expensive. The two dozen or so that typically claim deductions for the “cost of managing tax affairs” claim an average of about $1.7 million each.

It might have been with this in mind that during last year’s election campaign Labor promised to cap the size of the deduction people could claim for “managing tax affairs”. The proposed cap was $3,000.

Tax agents would still be able to charge more than $3,000 – a lot more if they want to, even an additional million or more – but their clients would only be able to deduct $3,000 of it from their income when submitting their tax return.

Labor wanted to cap deductions

The rationale was straightforward: if people are claiming over $1 million in deductions on money spent managing their taxes, then putting a ceiling on those deductions ought to stop it.

Not so fast.

Often in tax we plug holes quickly rather than stepping back and looking at the whole system and its interactions. And then we have to plug another one.

The question to ask first is whether capping this individual line item would prevent or move the leakage.

We went to the source by conducting a nationwide survey of Australia’s most senior tax professionals to glean their perspectives.

Our findings reflect the views of people who, to paraphrase Mandy Rice Davies, “would say that, wouldn’t they”.

It might not have worked

Nonetheless, the detail of what they told us was surprising.

Here’s what they said.

• Most of the targets would be unaffected. They would be able to switch their deductions into associated corporate entities. This interchangeability of personal and corporate tax deductions highlights the importance of considering the system as a whole.

• Because of this it might, counter-intuitively, have the opposite effect to what was intended, creating a saturation where the truly wealthy could escape the cap, but those of lesser means could not.

• A better solution would be for the tax office to conduct more tax audits. Studies suggest the decisions of high wealth individuals to engage in aggressive tax planning practices are strongly influenced by the probability of being selected for audit.

• There are definitional ambiguities in relation to the subcomponents of the deduction that make it hard to work out what is going on. Sometimes “litigation” includes tax planning, other times it does not. “Other” is a grab bag that can include software costs, travel costs and reference material. It would help if the tax office provided guidance.

• High wealth individuals often employ tax advisers to cope with complexity and uncertainty of the tax system rather than to reduce tax.

As we said, you are welcome to consider the possibility that the observations of the tax professionals are self-serving, but their overwhelming embrace of more tax audits and their pleas for the tax law to be easier to understand also suggest a keenness to ensure that taxpayers do the right thing.

Read more: Be careful what you claim for when working from home. There are capital gains tax risks

Labor’s proposal to cap the deduction for the cost of managing tax affairs at $3,000 (when for most people the deduction is closer to $300) was understandable, although it might not have worked as intended.

It was a reminder of the oft-quoted maxim that for every problem there is a solution that is simple, neat – and wrong.

For further details, please see: Kayis-Kumar A, Evans C and Lim Y, To cap or not to cap? Policy options for dealing with the costs of managing tax affairs deduction in Australia (2020) 35(2) Australian Tax Forum.

– ref. Yes, there are millionaires who pay no tax, but crimping deductions mightn’t help – https://theconversation.com/yes-there-are-millionaires-who-pay-no-tax-but-crimping-deductions-mightnt-help-139279

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip C. Almond, Emeritus Professor in the History of Religious Thought, The University of Queensland

From the 11th century onwards, the Legend of Barlaam and Josaphat enjoyed a popularity in the medieval West attained perhaps by no other legend. It was available in over 60 versions in the main languages of Europe, the Christian East and Africa. It was most familiar to English leaders from its inclusion in William Caxton’s 1483 translation of the Golden Legend.

Little did European readers know that the story they loved of the life of Saint Josaphat was in fact that of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, the founder of Buddhism.

The ascetic life

According to the legend, there reigned in India a king called Abenner, immersed in the pleasures of the world. When the king had a son, Josaphat, an astrologer predicted he would forsake the world. To forestall this outcome, the king ordered a city to be built for his son from which were excluded poverty, disease, old age and death.

But Josaphat made journeys outside of the city where he encountered, on one occasion, a blind man and a horribly deformed one and, on another occasion, an old man weighed down by illness. He realised the impermanence of all things:

No longer is there any sweetness in this transitory life now that I have seen these things […] Gradual and sudden death are in league together.

While experiencing this spiritual crisis, the sage Barlaam from Sri Lanka reached Josaphat and told him of the rejection of worldly pursuits and the acceptance of the Christian ideal of the ascetic life. Prince Josaphat was converted to Christianity and began to practise the ideal of the spiritual life of poverty, simplicity and devotion to God.

To forestall his quest, his father surrounded him with seductive maidens who “tantalised him with every kind of temptation with which they sought to arouse his appetites”.

Josaphat resisted them all.

After the death of his father, Josaphat remained determined to continue his ascetic life and abdicated the throne. He journeyed to Sri Lanka in search of Barlaam. After a quest lasting two years, Josaphat found Barlaam living in the mountains and joined him there in a life of asceticism until his death.

A great saint

Barlaam and Josaphat were included in the calendars of saints in both the Western and Eastern churches. By the 10th century, they were included in the calendars of the Eastern churches, and by the end of the 13th century in those of the Catholic church.

In the book we know as The Travels of Marco Polo, published around the year 1300, Marco gave the West its first account of the life of the Buddha. He declared that — were the Buddha a Christian — “he would have been a great saint […] for the good life and pure which he led”.

Read more: Netflix ‘Chinese Game of Thrones’ charts the life of Marco Polo – so who was he?

In 1446, an astute editor of the Travels noticed the similarity. “This is like the life of Saint Iosaphat”, he declared.

It was, however, only in the 19th century the West became aware of Buddhism as a religion in its own right. As a result of editing and translating of the Buddhist scriptures dating (from the first century BCE) from the 1830s onwards, reliable information about the life of the founder of Buddhism began to grow in the West.

Then the West came to know the story of the young Indian prince, Gautama, whose father – fearful his son would forsake the world – kept him secluded in his palace. Like Josaphat, Gautama eventually encountered old age, disease and death. And, like Josaphat, he left the palace to live an ascetic life in quest of the meaning of suffering.

After many trials, Gautama sat beneath the Bodhi tree and finally attained enlightenment, thereby becoming a Buddha.

Only in 1869 did this new-found knowledge in the West about the life of the Buddha lead inescapably to the realisation that, in his guise as Saint Josaphat, the Buddha had been a saint in Christendom for some 900 years.

Intimate connections

How did the story of the Buddha become that of Josaphat? The process was long and complicated. Essentially, the story of the Buddha that began in India in the Sanskrit language travelled east to China, then west along the Silk Road where it was influenced by the asceticism of the religion of the Manichees.

It was then transposed into Arabic, Greek and Latin. From these Latin versions it would be translated into various European languages.

Years before the West knew anything about the Buddha, his life and the ascetic ideal which it symbolised were a positive force in the spiritual life of Christians.

The Legend of Barlaam and Josaphat demonstrates powerfully the intimate connections between Buddhism and Christianity in their commitment to the ascetic, meditative and mystical religious life.

Few Christian saints have a better claim to that title than the Buddha.

In an era where the Buddhist spirituality of “mindfulness” is very much on the Western agenda, we need to be mindful of the long and positive history of the influence of Buddhism on the West. Through the story of Barlaam and Josaphat, Buddhist spirituality has played a significant role in our Western heritage for the last one thousand years.

– ref. How the Buddha became a Christian saint – https://theconversation.com/how-the-buddha-became-a-christian-saint-142285

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Esterman, Professor of Biostatistics, University of South Australia

Victoria has recorded 288 new COVID-19 cases since yesterday, the largest daily increase we’ve seen so far.

This big jump must have the Victorian government and health authorities very concerned, especially since nearly all of these cases are under investigation, with many likely having no known source of infection.

This rapid spike in numbers is likely to be an extension of the outbreak that began with the private security guard bungle at the quarantine hotels.

The progression of this outbreak was probably compounded when nearly 1,000 people refused testing during the recent testing blitz in hotspot areas.

Read more: Metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire return to lockdown: this is just how vigilant we have to be until a COVID-19 vaccine is found

What will happen next?

Once a person has been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, it can generally take up to 14 days for symptoms to appear (if they do at all).

So cases are likely to keep increasing for the next couple of weeks, until the reintroduced restrictions take effect.

Notably, nearly half of current cases are among people under 30. This probably has a lot to do with the spread of infection within families.

It’s a positive step that residents of Melbourne’s public housing towers who have tested positive for COVID-19 will be offered the option of hotel quarantine until they are well. As much as possible, to prevent spread in families, any infected person living in crowded conditions should be moved to hospital or hotel quarantine.

Read more: Which face mask should I wear?

Knuckling down

The Victorian government has made the right move in reintroducing restrictions and now needs to pull out all stops to crush the current outbreak.

They have today taken the step of advising people in Melbourne to wear masks when they may not be able to practise physical distancing.

It’s also essential the government presents clear messaging around why the restrictions are needed, especially to communities from non-English-speaking backgrounds.

At the same time, they may need to get stricter in enforcing the various facets of their strategy. They should not allow people to refuse testing and should limit exemptions to restrictions as much as possible.

Any person found to be a contact of an infected person should be tested on entry into 14 days quarantine, and then tested again towards the end.

Will Victoria’s woes spread to other states and territories?

New South Wales and South Australia have now closed their borders with Victoria. Nonetheless, there are still many people living near Victorian border areas being granted exemptions.

Because there have been no community-acquired cases in these border areas (there was a recent case in Albury, but he was a contact of a known case), the risk at the moment is not high.

However, in the next couple of weeks, if we see community transmissions spreading outside the current greater Melbourne area, the provision of these exemptions should be re-evaluated.

I have suggested a possible strategy might be to incorporate these Victorian border towns into the states they are close to, just for the period of the epidemic. For example, to make Mildura part of South Australia and Wodonga part of New South Wales. This would be much more convenient for the populations affected, and much easier to police.

Read more: Melbourne’s lockdown came too late. It’s time to consider moving infected people outside the home

There are already epidemiologists who believe New South Wales should reimpose restrictions — though perhaps not as severe as those in Victoria — to eliminate the current steady drip of infections. I think it might be a little bit early for that, but as we’ve seen from the current situation in Victoria, it’s better to be early than late.

In the meantime, all other states and territories should be offering support to Victoria, particularly in lending staff for contact tracing.

– ref. 288 new coronavirus cases marks Victoria’s worst day. And it will probably get worse before it gets better – https://theconversation.com/288-new-coronavirus-cases-marks-victorias-worst-day-and-it-will-probably-get-worse-before-it-gets-better-142481

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Abrar Ahmad Chughtai, Epidemiologist, UNSW

Australia’s chief medical officer Paul Kelly today recommended people in Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire wear masks when leaving the house:

[…] If people have symptoms and they need to go for a test, for example, which we would definitely encourage, they should wear a mask. Other people, where physical distancing cannot be guaranteed, they should also wear a mask in Melbourne and Mitchell Shire.

However, Kelly did not say wearing masks in public in these areas would be mandatory.

Kelly’s recommendation comes after growing concern it was time for people in affected parts of Victoria to wear masks in public, when physical distancing was not possible, and with rates of community transmission rising.

Read more: Victorians, and anyone else at risk, should now be wearing face masks. Here’s how to make one

The different ways to cover your face

There are many different ways to cover your face to protect against infectious diseases, whether that’s with a bought surgical mask, one you make yourself out of cloth, or with a scarf or bandana. Each type has its pros and cons.

The idea is not only to protect other people if you have the coronavirus, but also to protect yourself from catching the virus from other people.

A surgical mask can do both, with the latest evidence coming from a major review of evidence so far of the effectiveness of a range of masks, including surgical and cloth masks.

Read more: Should I wear a mask on public transport?

The evidence prompted the World Health Organisation to strenghthen its advice on people wearing masks in public where physical distancing wasn’t possible and where community transmission was high.

No type of mask provides perfect protection. How well a mask filters out droplets from coughs and sneezes carrying the coronavirus depends on a variety of factors, including the nature of the mask itself and how it’s used.

For the public, the two major options are a surgical mask (also known as a medical mask) or a cloth mask. While you can buy respirators (known as N95 masks), these should really be reserved for health professionals.

Surgical masks

This is the type you not only see surgeons wear in hospital, but are being worn by the public in the community. They are generally blue or green. Put them on by holding by the ear loops and hooking over the ears. Make sure you cover the nose, and pull them down under the chin (see diagram below for the correct procedure of putting on and taking off a mask). Pinch the bridge to ensure a good seal around the top of the nose.

You can buy these online, or from a pharmacy, and are relatively cheap.

Many studies show surgical masks are better filters of particles from coughs and sneezes than cloth masks. You’re also less likely to get infected when wearing a surgical mask compared with a cloth mask.

Cloth masks

If you cannot find a surgical mask, then you can use a cloth mask, which people have used throughout history to protect themselves from various respiratory infections. You can either buy one ready made or make one yourself.

While it’s generally accepted cloth masks don’t do as good a job at filtering out particles from coughs and sneezes as surgical masks, new evidence shows there are several things to look out for when choosing or making a cloth mask:

• use two or three layers of fabric

• choose fabric with a high thread count (so a tighter weave, for instance from a good quality sheet is generally better than a fabric with a looser weave that you can clearly see light through)

• fabrics made with more than one type of thread (for instance cotton–silk, cotton–chiffon, or cotton–flannel) may be good choices because they provide better filtration and are more comfortable to wear

• make sure any cloth mask fits well and seals around the face.

While in an ideal world, we should wait for high quality evidence from robust trials before implementing public health measures, we also need to be pragmatic.

During the current COVID-19 pandemic, not a single country was able to manage the supply of face masks. That’s why cloth masks are an option for the public.

Cloth masks have the added advantage of not depleting stocks meant for health workers and can be re-used. You can wash them with soap and water or household detergents, or preferably in a washing machine (at 60℃). Put the mask somewhere isolated until you can wash it.

Wearing a scarf or bandana

Wearing a bandana or scarf around your face should be a last resort. That’s because it’s hard to get a good fit around your face and the cloth they are usually made from tends to have a loose weave. There have also been no studies to show they work.

But with many cases of COVID-19 arising without symptoms, a bandana or scarf may provide some protection and prevent spread of infection from sick people.

Read more: Coronavirus: how worried should I be about the shortage of face masks? Or can I just use a scarf?

How to put on and take off a mask

Whichever mask you use, it’s important you put it on, take it off and dispose of it correctly, otherwise you risk contaminating your hands and spreading the virus further.

Read more: Are you wearing gloves or a mask to the shops? You might be doing it wrong

Yes, this is a major shift

Wearing a mask in public is more common in Asia, and it’s compulsory in other parts of the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But for most Australians, wearing a mask in public will be a major shift in how they go about their daily lives.

Remember, this latest advice is only for parts of Australia where there are high rates of community transmission. And this needs to be combined with other interventions, like physical distancing and washing your hands.

There is no need for everyone to wear masks in public in other parts of the country where there are only a few locally transmitted cases, most cases are imported, and the risk of catching the virus is low.

– ref. Which face mask should I wear? – https://theconversation.com/which-face-mask-should-i-wear-142373

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rochelle Wynne, Director, Western Sydney Nursing & Midwifery Research Centre, Western Sydney University

Over the past week, we’ve seen a spike in the number of COVID-19 infections among health-care workers in Victoria.

This includes a doctor at Melbourne’s St Vincent’s Hospital, one staff member at Brunswick Private Hospital, nine staff members from the emergency department at Melbourne’s Northern Hospital, and two nurses at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Staff at several aged care facilities have also tested positive.

These cases have meant sending many health-care workers regarded as “close contacts” into home quarantine.

The Northern Hospital emergency department has reportedly had to divert patients elsewhere, while Brunswick Private Hospital (where four patients tested positive too) is closed to new admissions.

Keeping health-care workers COVID-free is critical to delivering care to those who need it during a pandemic. So as Victoria’s second wave rolls on, we need to consider what more we can do to protect our health workers.

Read more: How we’ll avoid Australia’s hospitals being crippled by coronavirus

Why might this be happening?

In the absence of a vaccine, subsequent waves of COVID-19 have always been a possibility.

Health-care workers tend not to contract COVID-19 from patients, as appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) is used in high risk encounters.

But health-care workers are normal people commuting to work and living and interacting in communities. So it’s more likely they contract it outside work.

Undetected, they can then bring it into the hospital or other health-care setting, putting fellow staff and vulnerable patients at risk.

What are the implications for health care?

At the most basic level, the specialised health-care workforce is core to health-care delivery; without nurses, doctors and allied health staff, there’s no health-care system.

Infections in this group — whether confirmed outbreaks or suspected contamination —will reduce health-care workforce capacity.

High rates of staff off work due to COVID-19 may also increase fatigue and burnout in the remaining workforce, adding to the burden.

The greater the scope of these outbreaks, the greater the strain on the affected hospitals and the health-care system. This will be compounded as they’re faced with increased demand due to COVID-19 cases in the community.

Read more: Even in a pandemic, continue with routine health care and don’t ignore a medical emergency

Australia has had time to prepare its workforce with additional skills and capabilities in critical care. But there are always concerns regarding potential workforce shortages in the height of a pandemic, particularly in areas of specialised practice such as intensive care.

Especially in “hotspots”, as we weather this second wave, there remains a risk demand could outweigh supply.

What can the health system do to cope?

A number of possible interventions could increase system capacity and help manage demand.

This may include decreasing elective or non-urgent surgery, as we saw during the first wave of the virus.

Increasing the use of virtual models of care including phone consultations and telehealth, where appropriate, could also help ease the pressure. Quarantined frontline workers could provide virtual care through telephone support, such as helplines or other telehealth services.

Adapting care to minimise the movement and interaction of hospital staff across wards and sites is another important option. For example, some hospitals have shifted from a model where a team of doctors works across multiple wards to a small team of doctors providing care to only one ward.

Most hospitals have also set-up dedicated COVID wards to screen patients for COVID-19 at the first point of contact with the health system.

What about routine testing for health workers?

To sustain a prolonged response to this crisis we need a healthy, COVID-19 free workforce. Especially given we know many positive cases don’t experience symptoms, we should be mass testing health-care workers.

To date, we’ve seen some testing of asymptomatic health-care workers in Victoria, but it has not been commonplace.

Increased routine screening of health-care workers, with or without suspected exposure, will increase the number of days away from work while staff wait for results, reducing service capacity. But the pay-off will be greater — it will limit COVID-19 spread.

Read more: ‘The doctor will Skype you now’: telehealth may limit coronavirus spread, but there’s more we can do to protect health workers

Keeping our health-care heroes safe and well

From this week, staff at several major Melbourne hospitals have been required to wear masks at all times while at work. These precautions have previously been reserved for staff in areas of higher clinical risk such as emergency and intensive care.

This is in addition to a range of guidelines health professionals follow to minimise the spread of COVID-19, including around hand hygiene, cleaning, PPE, and keeping physical distance from patients where possible.

But the responsibility to take precautions and stop the spread falls to all of us.

Hospital patients and visitors are also being encouraged to wear face masks.

In fact, everyone in Melbourne is now advised to wear a mask in public when social distancing is not possible. Hopefully this will go some way to protecting our health-care workers and the entire community.

Read more: Health-care workers share our trauma during the coronavirus pandemic – on top of their own

– ref. Rising coronavirus cases among Victorian health workers could threaten our pandemic response – https://theconversation.com/rising-coronavirus-cases-among-victorian-health-workers-could-threaten-our-pandemic-response-142375

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

University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Paddy Nixon and Professorial Fellow Michelle Grattan discuss the week in politics including the return to lockdown in Victoria, National Cabinet setting to slow the flow of Australian’s returning from overseas, the Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s announcement that the government will be providing more liberalised visa conditions for citizens of Hong Kong, and Kristy McBain, the Labor candidate, winner of the Eden-Monaro by-election.

– ref. VIDEO: Michelle Grattan on the return to lockdown and Eden-Monaro – https://theconversation.com/video-michelle-grattan-on-the-return-to-lockdown-and-eden-monaro-142490

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ou Yang, Research Fellow, University of Melbourne

Donald Trump has ordered US federal agencies to bypass environmental protection laws and fast-track pipeline, highway and other infrastructure projects. Signing the executive order last month, the US president declared regulatory delays would hinder “our economic recovery from the national emergency”.

Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Agreement for international climate action in 2017 for the same reason. The accord, he said, would undermine the US economy “and put us at a permanent disadvantage to the other countries of the world”.

Read more: The EPA has backed off enforcement under Trump – here are the numbers

This idea that environmental regulation costs jobs and hurts the economy is deeply entrenched in pro-business discourse. But it is true?

To assess the impact of greater environmental policy on economic productivity we analysed data of 22 member nations of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) between 1990 and 2007. Our results show little evidence that environmental “green tape” inhibits economic growth over the long run. The opposite, in fact.

Comparing environmental policy stringency

Past studies of the economic impact of tougher environmental policies have tended to be limited by focusing on immediate effects and looking only at individual nations. Such results are of no help to understand the long-term effects and do not allow for straightforward cross-country comparison either.

This is why we analysed cross-country data stretching over a long period. We used data up to 2007 because that is the most recent year for which the OECD provides free access to all the information we needed for our analysis.

We rated nations’ environmental policies using the OECD’s Environmental Policy Stringency Index, developed in 2014. The index calculates a single score based on polices to limit air and water pollution, reduce carbon emissions, promote renewable energy and so on.

Read more: Despite clear skies during the pandemic, greenhouse gas emissions are still rising

All 22 nations improved their stringency scores to varying degrees between 1990 and 2007. The following shows the trajectory of a few example nations – Australia, Germany, Japan and United States against the OECD average. Germany had the second-highest average score over the 17 years. Australia had the worst.

We then did complex calculations to measure what effect more stringent environmental policies had on economic productivity – the value of output obtained with one unit of input – both over the short run (one year) and the long run (after three years).

While results for individual nations varied – reflecting local circumstances – overall our results showed a consistent pattern.

In the short run environmental regulations did increase the cost of production. For example, a carbon tax would make coal more expensive, increasing the costs of things like steel production (which uses coal).

But in the long run tighter environmental policies were associated with greater productivity. This positive effect was greater in countries that took the lead on tougher environmental policies. Germany had the highest average economic productivity growth of the 22 nations.

Healthier environment

This positive association might be due to a cleaner environment in the long run increasing the quality of various “production inputs”, such as better health of workers.

For example, a significant 2017 study showed higher exposure to lead (once added to fuel and paint) in childhood was associated with lower intelligence and job status in adulthood. Bans on lead additives in the 1970s have thus contributed to a smarter workforce – a key input for economic growth, as shown by the work of 2018 Nobel economics laureate Paul Romer.

Environmental regulations may also prompt industries to focus on efficiency, improving their productivity in the long run.

Environmental winners

Our findings suggest stronger environmental protection is compatible with a stronger economy in the long run.

Indeed the evidence is mounting that not taking strong environmental action is likely to have serious economic consequences.

Research suggests, for example, that the continued destruction of natural habitats is making pandemics like COVID-19 more likely, due to pathogens crossing from wild animals to humans.

Read more: Coronavirus is a wake-up call: our war with the environment is leading to pandemics

Air and water pollution contributes to chemical body burden and disease. Industrialised farming practices have contributed to the loss of about a third of the world’s arable land over the past 40 years.

Then there’s climate change. The consequences of burning fossil fuel are no longer a distant concern. Countries around the world are counting the costs of increased or more catastrophic extreme weather events and other climate impacts.

The countries that show leadership on environmental protection will be the economic winners in the longer run. Those that don’t will be poorer for it in more ways than one.

– ref. Actually, Mr Trump, it’s stronger environmental regulation that makes economic winners – https://theconversation.com/actually-mr-trump-its-stronger-environmental-regulation-that-makes-economic-winners-132185

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, President, Australian Association for Professional & Applied Ethics. Senior Research Fellow, Moral philosophy, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Law Futures Centre., Griffith University

Earlier this week, 150 high-profile authors, commentators and scholars signed an open letter in Harper’s magazine claiming that “open debate and toleration of differences” are under attack. Signatories included JK Rowling, Margaret Atwood, Gloria Steinem and Noam Chomsky.

While prefacing their comments with support for current racial and social justice movements, the signatories argue there has been a weakening of the norms of open debate in favour of dogma, coercion and ideological conformity. They perceive

an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism, and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty.

Sackings, investigations and withdrawn words

The letter’s signing by Rowling comes in the wake of widespread backlash against her controversial comments on transgender issues and womanhood.

Actor Daniel Radcliffe (“Harry Potter” himself) joined a chorus of disapproval of her comments, arguing they erased “the identity and dignity of transgender people”. Employees at Rowling’s publisher subsequently refused to work on her forthcoming book.

The Harper’s letter invoked similar cases of what it saw as punitive overreactions to unpopular views, suggesting they formed part of a larger trend:

Editors are fired for running controversial pieces; books are withdrawn for alleged inauthenticity; journalists are barred from writing on certain topics; professors are investigated for quoting works of literature in class; a researcher is fired for circulating a peer-reviewed academic study; and the heads of organizations are ousted for what are sometimes just clumsy mistakes.

The reference to editors being fired is perhaps the most well-known recent incident. Last month, the New York Times published an opinion piece by Republican Senator Tom Cotton calling for the military to provide an “overwhelming show of force” to restore order in US cities during the protests over the killing of George Floyd.

The piece’s publication attracted immediate criticism for promoting hate and putting black journalists in danger. In response, the editorial page editor emphasised the newspaper’s longstanding commitment to open debate, arguing the public would be better equipped to push back against the senator’s stance if it heard his views.

This defence failed, and within days he resigned.

Read more: In publishing Tom Cotton, the New York Times has made a terrible error of judgment

Push-back against push-back

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Harper’s letter has received spirited critique. Some commentators noted past cases where the signatories had themselves been censorious. Others argued that any perceived threat was overblown.

Indeed, the link the open letter makes between a repressive government and an intolerant society may seem a long bow to draw. There is a world of difference between the legal prohibition of speech and a wave of collective outrage on Twitter.

Yet, it is nevertheless worth considering whether important ethical outcomes are threatened in a culture of outrage, de-platforming and cancelling.

Some speech requires consequences, but which speech?

Almost everyone would agree some types of speech are beyond the pale. Racial slurs doesn’t deserve careful consideration. They require “calling out”, social censure and efforts at minimising harm.

Rather than objecting to outrage per se, the Harper’s letter asserts there is a broadening in the scope of views that attract punitive responses. This seems plausible. In recent scholarly work on the tensions between censorship and academic freedom on university campuses, both sides of the dispute acknowledge that in the current environment virtually all utterances offend someone.

Yet, perhaps there are good reasons for this broadening of scope. In each of the cases raised in the letter, there were seemingly sensible reasons for applying social sanctions. These included judgements that:

• the speech was morally wrongful

• the speech was gravely offensive

• the speech would have seriously worrying consequences. It was “unhelpful”, “harmful”, “damaging” or “divisive”.

For someone who is genuinely concerned that speech is wrong in these ways, it will seem not just morally permissible to take action against the speaker. It will feel obligatory.

Read more: No, you’re not entitled to your opinion

Caution about consequences

But several concerns arise when we attach punitive consequences to people’s speech based on its perceived moral wrongfulness (as opposed to simply arguing it is mistaken or false).

First, claims of moral wrongfulness in a debate assume immediate urgency and distract from the debate itself. For example, let’s say in a debate about immigration, one person says something that offends another. Discussion of the original issue (immigration) will be bracketed until the issue of moral wrongdoing (the perceived slight or offence) is resolved.

Second (except in obvious cases), claims about wrongfulness, offensiveness and harmfulness are all open to debate. As philosopher John Stuart Mill once observed:

The usefulness of an opinion is itself a matter of opinion: as disputable, as open to discussion, and requiring discussion as much, as the opinion itself.

Third, allegations of wrongdoing create heat. Few people respond constructively to allegations of wrongdoing. They often retaliate in kind, escalating the conflict.

In a less politicised environment, a contentious claim might be treated as a contribution to a debate to be considered on its merits. But in our current climate, the same claim creates only angry allegations flying in both directions. As a result, the claim isn’t considered or debated.

Should this worry us?

If we think a person’s view is wrong and immoral, we might suppose there is no great loss about a debate being derailed. But there are genuine ethical concerns here.

First, public deliberation is a source of legitimacy. The fact that different views are widely heard and inclusively considered provides a reason for accepting collective decisions.

Democracy itself assumes citizens can hear different arguments, evidence and perspectives. If significant parts of the political spectrum are no longer tolerated, then social institutions lose this important type of legitimacy.

Read more: Actually, it’s OK to disagree. Here are 5 ways we can argue better

Second, listening to others with different opinions, and engaging with them, can help us understand their views and develop more informed versions of our own positions.

On the flip side, being consistently outraged by opposing viewpoints provides a ready reason not to consider them. This feeds directly into confirmation bias and group-think.

Third, shaming people can cause a “persuasive boomerang” to occur. When people feel others are trying to control them, they can become even more attached to the view others are trying to combat.

None of these concerns categorically rule out attaching punishing consequences to hateful or harmful speech. But they do imply the open letter has a point worth serious attention. Seeing mistaken views as intolerable speech carries genuine ethical costs.

– ref. Is cancel culture silencing open debate? There are risks to shutting down opinions we disagree with – https://theconversation.com/is-cancel-culture-silencing-open-debate-there-are-risks-to-shutting-down-opinions-we-disagree-with-142377

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Connor, Lecturer, James Cook University

While many people may enjoy a game of backyard cricket, only a few go on to become elite professional batsmen in Australia.

Cricket batting is example of what human skills can achieve. The fastest bowling delivery speeds can exceed 150km/h. That leaves a batsman with less than half a second to react.

And to complicate the challenge even further, the environment and pitch they play on can change the trajectory of the delivery every time.

Read more: Why does crowd noise matter?

To find out what gives elite cricketers the edge we interviewed eight expert high-performance international or state-level coaches, who themselves were batsmen at those levels.

We asked them a series of questions to capture the skills they saw as underpinning batting expertise. The results were published recently in PLOS ONE.

While the sample was small, there are not many people who were both elite-level players and coaches, so the research provides a unique understanding of the skills needed to become an expert in their field.

Learn to adapt and know your limits

A key finding of our study is that cricket batting can be viewed, at least in the minds of expert batsmen, as a battle for a sense of control of the game.

To gain this sense of control, batsmen must possess the skills to assess all the key environmental conditions, such as the opposition bowler’s plan, the pace of the ball off the pitch, and whether the situation of the game requires scoring or surviving.

An expert batsman’s ability to read these conditions and then adapt their strategy and technique was grounded in an understanding of their own game. One said:

You have to be adaptable to change the momentum of the innings – whether that is by batting through an hour or whether it is counter-attacking during a period.

But it’s not just about knowledge of their own strengths, it’s also about their limitations. As another said:

So if you get on a tough wicket … you’ve got to have the decision-making and planning and discipline to say, right now I can’t do that today, or, I can’t do that for the first hour or two; until the balls a bit older, or the wicket’s a bit flatter, or the ball is a bit closer to me.

Being able to accurately assess the opposition’s plan and the pitch conditions, and adapt accordingly, is no easy feat, and it doesn’t always go to plan.

A batsman’s worst enemy, as any sportsperson knows, can sometimes be themselves. The high-stakes, high-pressure situation within a game can create anxiety, clouding the ability to read the conditions, and have a negative impact on decision-making.

So as cricketers we miss them all the time (a perceived scoring shot), and you have to just reset and refocus.

Routines and reflection

How expert batsmen continually assess the state of the game and keep their emotions in check comes down to what they do between deliveries.

A very important part of batting is … what you think about, and how you let the previous (ball) go, and then prepare (yourself) to be ready for the next one.

Expert batsmen highlighted these periods in between deliveries as crucial. They engaged in a process of reflection to update their knowledge of the key environmental conditions, such as the pitch or the way the opposition bowled.

A brief switch-off period between deliveries was also highlighted as crucial to help overcome mental and physical fatigue during performances that can stretch for hours or across days.

To help with that process, expert players develop routines.

Everybody has a routine. When I talk to people, particularly good players, their routines aren’t that dissimilar. There is a physical aspect to it, at the end of each ball they have a break so they might walk down the pitch and pat down imaginary things, or they might walk out towards square leg, just take a few steps away and walk back in again.

Now you know what’s happening next time you see a batsman walk about the pitch between play.

We can all learn from elite players

Traditionally in sport, expertise has been thought of as the attainment of near-flawless technical abilities. But at the professional level that’s what all players from both sides are hoping to achieve.

Read more: Video explainer: How cricket captains make good decisions

For those players to have the edge, our research shows technical ability is only part of the game. The ability to be flexible, learn and adapt to each environment is seen as critical, including the ability to learn from any mistakes.

Taking that time to reflect on what just happened is crucial. And what happens between each delivery can sometimes be just as important as how they play the delivery itself.

Incorporating these ideas within any coaching practices, be it sport or something else, could greatly benefit the development of any expertise.

– ref. Howzat! We can all learn from elite batsmen, and not just about cricket – https://theconversation.com/howzat-we-can-all-learn-from-elite-batsmen-and-not-just-about-cricket-142280

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee Baumgartner, Professor of Fisheries and River Management, Institute for Land, Water, and Society, Charles Sturt University

This article is a preview of Flora, Fauna, Fire, a multimedia project launching on Monday July 13. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and animals after last summer’s bushfire tragedy. Sign up to The Conversation’s newsletter for updates.

The unprecedented intensity and scale of Australia’s recent bushfires left a trail of destruction across Australia. Millions of hectares burned and more than a billion animals were affected or died. When the rains finally arrived, the situation for many fish species went from dangerous to catastrophic.

A slurry of ash and mud washed into waterways, turning freshwater systems brown and sludgy. Oxygen levels plummeted and water quality deteriorated rapidly.

Hundreds of thousands of fish suffocated. It was akin to filling your fish tank with mud and expecting your goldfish to survive.

Take, for example, the plight of the endangered Macquarie perch (Macquaria australasica), an Australian native freshwater fish of the Murray-Darling river system.

Read more: Fish kills and undrinkable water: here’s what to expect for the Murray Darling this summer

A special fish

Macquarie perch were once one of the most abundant fish in the Murray-Darling Basin. Revered by the community and once responsible for supporting extensive Indigenous, recreational, commercial and subsistence fisheries, they are an iconic species found nowhere else in the world. However, they have very specific needs.

Macquarie perch like rocky river sections with clear, fast-flowing water, shaded by trees and bushes on the banks.

Massive change wrought on our rivers over the past century means Macquarie perch are now only found at a handful of locations in the Murray-Darling Basin.

One habitat – Mannus Creek near the NSW Snowy Mountains – is particularly special because it was relatively pristine before the fires. In fact, this creek contained the last population of the threatened Macquarie perch in the NSW Murray catchment. A study in 2017 found a Macquarie perch population that was restricted to a 9km section of the creek but was doing quite well.

That was until bushfire rapidly swept through the catchment in January this year.

Some of us visited the creek three weeks after the fires. The intensity, ferocity and speed of the fires meant nothing was spared. The former forest floor was literally a trail of death and destruction – dead and charred kangaroos, wallabies, deer, possums and birds were everywhere.

All that remained of Mannus Creek was green pools in a blackened landscape, still smouldering days after the fire front passed. We immediately feared for the Macquarie perch we’d sampled, which were quite healthy less than a year before.

To our surprise, some Macquarie perch had survived. But with most of the catchment fully burnt, and no vegetation to stop runoff, we knew it was a ticking time bomb.

A desperate rescue attempt

With little time, we had to remove as many fish as possible from Mannus Creek before the rains arrived. The plan was to create an “insurance population” in case rain caused the water conditions to deteriorate.

We rescued ten fish. Days later, rain washed ash and silt into the channel. Within hours, the once-pristine creek became flowing mud with the consistency of cake mix.

A government rescue team arrived a few days later to rescue more fish, and despaired at the “wall of ash and mud”.

An ark across Australia

Those ten individual Macquarie perch now live in an “ark” of at-risk species, spanning government and private hatchery facilities.

The ark is housing not only the Macquarie perch but other threatened species too. The rescued individuals, and perhaps their entire species, would have almost certainly perished during runoff events without these interventions.

Now a waiting game begins.

What next for the Macquarie perch?

Nobody knows for sure how many fish survived in Mannus Creek, nor how long it will take for the creek to recover. It could be years.

The challenge now is to support the rescued fish until it’s safe to either return them to the creek, or breed offspring and introduce them to their natural habitat.

Fish must be kept healthy and disease-free in captivity, and enough genetic diversity must be maintained for the population to remain viable.

If these rescued fish are held in captivity for too long, they might die. But equally worrying is that affected waterways may not recover in time to allow reintroduction.

Read more: Sure, save furry animals after the bushfires – but our river creatures are suffering too

While maintaining the rescued populations, we must redouble our efforts to improve their natural habitats.

Burnt areas can allow pest plant and animal species to take hold and change habitats, so these threats need to be controlled. Finding similar, unburnt refuge areas is also crucial to prepare for future events and protect ecosystem resilience.

Working through these considerations – and quickly – is essential to giving these species the best hope of survival.

Funding, equipment and human resources are desperately needed to help our rivers recover. But we know that without an effective on-ground intervention, recovery could take decades.

For the iconic Macquarie perch, that would be too late.

Read more: The sweet relief of rain after bushfires threatens disaster for our rivers

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Podger, Honorary Professor of Public Policy, Australian National University

In Hidden Hand, China scholars Clive Hamilton and Marieke Ohlberg examine the Chinese Communist Party’s influence in Europe and North America in a similar way to how Hamilton dissected the CCP’s influence in Australia in his 2018 book, Silent Invasion.

In my review of the 2018 book, I wrote

Perhaps Hamilton’s book is a useful reminder that we must not be naïve about our relationship with China. But his prescription, premised on China being our enemy and determined to achieve world domination, is precisely the wrong direction for addressing the genuine issues he raises.

The new book warrants a similar conclusion, though President Xi Jinping’s continued strengthening of CCP controls and pursuit of hegemony in our region add to the importance of not being naïve.

Hamilton and Ohlberg chronicle the various ways the CCP has attempted to wield influence in North America and Europe, from political and business elites to the Chinese diaspora, media, think tanks and academia, as well as through espionage and diplomacy.

Central to the book’s thesis is the diagram on pages 124-5 summarising most of the channels of influence from Chinese institutions (particularly party institutions) to various groups and organisations in Western nations. This is a one-direction diagram and assumes a totally coordinated strategy.

The book’s presentation is extremely detailed, including not just the names of Chinese institutions but the individuals said to be directing the strategies of influence. Similarly on the receiving end, the authors describe not only the groups and organisations in the West they claim are being influenced, but many of the individuals involved.

This level of detail is highlighted by the book’s 113 pages of footnotes and a 24-page index.

Read more: Politics with Michelle Grattan: Clive Hamilton and Richard McGregor on Australia-China relations

Despite this, the book is not a balanced, scholarly document. The narrative centres on a single-minded Communist Party that has always sought a Leninist world and is now taking advantage of its increased economic power to advance that objective more effectively.

There is little recognition of the huge shifts in Chinese economic, social and strategic policies over the past 50 years, or of the scale of the changes to its institutional arrangements and the role of government.

The authors also do not allow those in the West who they claim have been successfully (and naively) influenced the opportunity to respond, let alone to present evidence of their influence in the other direction.

Containment vs. ‘engage and constrain’

Hidden Hand is right to remind people that:

• China and the CCP are not one and the same

• China has a party-state system of government that is authoritarian and not democratic

• China does not have Western-style rule of law

• it does not recognise universal human rights in the way we understand them.

What is missing is a balanced discussion of the central debate about the appropriate approach to be taken in the West’s relations with China.

As Peter Varghese, the former head of DFAT, recently put it, the choice for Australia is between trying to “contain” China or “engage and constrain”.

Containment, he argues, is gaining traction in the US and among cheerleaders in Australia, but risks dismantling the global economic system and the supply chains that support it. For Australia, Varghese says, decoupling from our largest trading partner would be “sheer folly” irrespective of legitimate complaints about China’s behaviour.

The “engage and constrain” approach he favours involves expanding areas of cooperation where mutual interests are served, while holding firm to our values and strengthening our capacity to resist Chinese coercion through increased investment in defence and diplomacy.

This would show Beijing that “leverage is a two-way street” and that, with others, we are willing to “push back” if China pursues its interests in ways that do not respect our sovereignty.

While increasing investment in defence may well be justified, boosting our spending in diplomacy is even more important.

Read more: Why do we keep turning a blind eye to Chinese political interference?

In this light, viewing China as our “enemy” is counterproductive and ignores the mutual benefits and increased sharing of interests that have resulted from China’s opening up since 1978. (Hidden Hand does not repeat the explicit description of China as our enemy found in Hamilton’s earlier book, but it comes close, saying for the past 30 years China has viewed both sides of the Atlantic as its enemies).

Diplomacy may influence China’s perceptions of its national interests and, where significant differences remain, help to forge important alliances elsewhere.

Hamilton and Ohlberg seem to favour the “containment” strategy, warning on page 96 that

in fact, today it [the party-state] is more powerful than ever because of market forces.

Engagement can still have a positive effect

The implication, presumably, is that we should no longer contribute to China’s economic growth. This dismisses the remarkable benefits involved in China’s growth, including not only massive reductions in poverty, but also, for most Chinese, freedoms that were unimaginable in the Mao Zedong era. There have also been flow-on benefits for the rest of the world.

China’s opening up has of course not led to Western-style democracy, and is unlikely to do so in the foreseeable future. Indeed, under Xi, the CCP’s position has been consolidated and many of the reforms of the 1990s and 2000s have been wound back. Human rights have been seriously curbed, most recently in Hong Kong.

But Hidden Hand’s presentation of a single, continuous CCP Leninist agenda ignores the existence of different views among the leadership and elsewhere in China, including those who favour further liberal reform (as described in Richard McGregor’s 2019 book, Xi Jinping: The Backlash).

And it fails to appreciate the underlying contradictions of China’s “socialist market economy” and Xi’s “China Dream”, which offer avenues for Western leaders and academics to influence debates in China through engagement – as has happened over the past 30 years.

As the main coordinator of the Greater China Australia Dialogue on Public Administration, which organises annual workshops of scholars and practitioners from across the PRC (including Hong Kong and Macau) and Taiwan, I have witnessed some of the winding back of academic freedoms since Xi’s 2016 restrictions on social science teaching and research. This includes some of the specific CCP restrictions mentioned in Hidden Hand.

Read more: The world has a hard time trusting China. But does it really care?

But this surely makes it even more important to continue the engagement while resisting the pressures involved.

Similarly, I am not at all convinced by the book’s attacks on any cooperation with the Belt and Road Initiative.

While the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has more sound governance, there are similar arguments for participation in BRI, providing support from the inside for transparency, proper cost-benefit analysis of projects and good understanding of debt obligations. It would also limit opportunities for China to pursue improper methods of influence.

How the West should respond to Chinese influence

The book’s afterword provides a slightly more moderate position on what should be done to counter Chinese influence moving forward. It still overplays its hand in promoting an “active pushback strategy” and its recommendation the Western

elites who acquiesce to or actively support Beijing deserve public scrutiny and robust criticism.

But the other recommendations have merit: defending democratic institutions through greater transparency and foreign interference laws, addressing the underfunding of universities and financial challenges facing our media, reducing vulnerability of our industries to CCP pressure and promoting more alliances, including with developing countries.

We cannot lose faith in liberal economics as Hamilton and Ohlberg seem to suggest, relying only on democratic forces to ensure freedom. The truth is, we need both.

– ref. Book Review: Hidden Hand – Exposing How the Chinese Communist Party is Reshaping the World – https://theconversation.com/book-review-hidden-hand-exposing-how-the-chinese-communist-party-is-reshaping-the-world-142058

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luciano Beheregaray, Professor in Biodiversity Genomics, Flinders University

As the global climate shifts, it’s important to know which species have adaptations to survive. Our research published today in PNAS found it largely depends on where they evolved.

We looked at the capacity of life to respond to future climates in three different regions: temperate and subtropical regions, and in deserts. We did this by studying rainbowfishes from Australia.

Read more: How animals are coping with the global ‘weirding’ of the Earth’s seasons

The “winners” – those best at adapting to projected summer temperatures – evolved in the warm, subtropical regions. Those that evolved in cooler temperate ecosystems – the “losers” – risk becoming extinct.

This research is the first of its kind. It helps identify the types of biodiversity and ecosystems most vulnerable to climate change.

When migration is not an option

As local temperatures rise, some animals and plants might migrate from their native homes to colonise more favourable climatic regions elsewhere.

However, human activities, such as agriculture and urbanisation, are destroying and fragmenting habitats around the world. And this makes it impossible for many species to migrate away to safety.

This is where evolution comes in. Evolution creates adaptations over time that make organisms resilient to environmental changes. Species with higher “adaptive resilience” are more likely to keep up with changes in climate and survive.

Read more: How Australia’s animals and plants are changing to keep up with the climate

The problem is, we don’t know which types of organisms might have evolved resilience, and which might be more vulnerable to projected climate change.

We know even less about how patterns of resilience vary across different climatic regions. This is what our research explored.

Using rainbowfish to study climate change adaptation

We studied three similar species of rainbowfishes from different climatic regions of Australia: the subtropics, the desert and the temperate region.

Rainbowfish are diverse, small and beautiful freshwater fishes that can be kept in captivity. Rainbowfish do not migrate, so we can compare populations that evolved in different climatic regions.

We used wild rainbowfishes separated in two groups. One group was kept at a contemporary average summer temperature (21℃). In the other, the temperature was slowly increased until it reached a summer temperature projected for 2070 under a high emission scenario (33℃).

After 14 days in these conditions, we humanely killed the fishes and removed their livers. This organ plays a central role in the body’s metabolism, including during heat stress. We used the liver samples to test how gene expression (which genes are activated within a cell) changed because of our experiments.

Read more: Explainer: what is a gene?

The results were striking. Although the three species activated thousands of identical genes in a contemporary climate, they used very different sets of genes to respond to a future climate.

They also showed different levels of response in a future climate. Subtropical rainbowfish built a much larger response (with 109 genes activated) than the desert (84 genes) and the temperate rainbowfish (27 genes).

Strong association between genetic responses and heat tolerance

Alongside, we did another experiment to measure how much heat each species could tolerate (their “upper thermal tolerance limit”).

Here, rainbowfishes were exposed to increasing temperature until they showed loss of balance. As expected, the subtropical rainbowfish showed the highest tolerance, with their upper limit at 38℃. Desert rainbowfish could tolerate up to 37℃, while the temperate rainbowfish could tolerate up to 35℃.

With both experiments, we discovered a strong association between number of genes responding to projected temperatures and heat tolerance. In other words, “winners” can regulate the expression of a larger number of genes in future climates than “losers” can.

The signal of evolution on heat stress genes

It is difficult to determine whether a gene is responding just because of the environment, or because of a genetic constraint that came about from evolution.

Another fascinating discovery of our study is that evolution left a strong signal on many heat stress genes. These genes are known to play a central role in dealing with heat stress and allowing survival in a variety of vertebrates. This attests to their importance in providing long-term resilience to future climates.

Read more: Biodiversity and climate change: size matters, and it depends on the region

What this means for other species

Our findings indicate that resilience or vulnerability to rising temperatures is expected to be influenced by geographic factors, such as the climatic region where species evolved.

Subtropical species showed greater capacity to adapt to future climates, with temperate species being the most vulnerable. Desert species, which are predicted to be exposed to more extreme heatwaves and longer droughts in the future, are also vulnerable.

This information will help identify the types of biodiversity and ecosystems at high risk of extinction and to develop ways to help them to adapt and survive. This includes restoring lost habitat and actively moving populations to more favourable climatic locations.

The implications of our study can be extended to many non-migratory animals and plants – aquatic and terrestrial – under pressure due to climate change.

Read more: The world endured 2 extra heatwave days per decade since 1950 – but the worst is yet to come

– ref. Which species will win and lose in a warmer climate? It depends where they evolved – https://theconversation.com/which-species-will-win-and-lose-in-a-warmer-climate-it-depends-where-they-evolved-141659

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Warburton, Honorary Senior Fellow, University of Melbourne

Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan released his Job-ready Graduates Package on June 19 2020. In his National Press Club address, he said it would help drive our economic recovery after COVID-19 and “put more funding into the system in a way that encourages people to study in areas of expected employment growth”.

He said the package would deliver an additional 39,000 university places by 2023 and 100,000 places by 2030.

But my analysis shows the growth in student places is illusory. It will not meet any additional demand from the COVID-19-induced economic slowdown or future growth in the university-age cohort.

I show that — over the period from December 2017 (when the government put a cap on demand-driven funding) to 2024 (when the job-ready policies are fully implemented) — the government will deliver itself an annual saving of nearly A$1 billion.

A bit of background

In 2018, the government used a legislative handbrake to stop student subsidies for bachelor degrees from growing by capping funding.

Before that, the government was providing funding to universities based on how many students had enrolled. A two-year freeze on funding was followed by population-based increases of less than the inflation rate.

This stopped new student places being subsidised. And over time, it eroded the number of places receiving a subsidy.

Read more: Demand-driven funding for universities is frozen. What does this mean and should the policy be restored?

There was no coherent plan for longer-term growth. The Job-ready policies are meant to fix this. If legislation passes, they will start in 2021 and be fully phased in by 2024.

New subsidy and student contribution arrangements would replace the current arrangements. The total revenue for a student place would be better aligned with the estimated cost of teaching in each discipline, removing the surplus funding now spent on other things like research.

Student contributions are being set to encourage them to study things like maths and agriculture, and to discourage them from studying things like history and communications. The government subsidy meets the remainder of the cost in each discipline.

These changes save the government money, but it spends some of it on “additional student places”. It also spends some on grants to promote links with industry and on resuming inflation-linked increases of the subsidies for student places.

Read more: Coronavirus and university reforms put at risk Australia’s research gains of the last 15 years

It is a complicated package. There is a three-year transition period in which existing students, whose contributions would otherwise increase, stay on the old funding arrangements.

If a university would get more funding for the same total number of students under the old funding arrangements, the government will make up the difference. Funding will be progressively increased to allow universities to provide more places over this three-year period.

The government didn’t release any analysis of the end point of its changes. What will have happened to university funding by 2024? Will there be more student places than when it first capped the system? Will it be spending more or less than in the past?

My calculations

In the pink scenario (below), I calculate funding for 2018 student load using current 2021 funding rates and no funding cap.

In the yellow scenario, I calculate funding for 2018 student load using current 2021 funding rates and with the funding cap in place at its 2021 value. I calculate how many places are no longer funded due to the operation of the cap using the average funding rate for all places.

In the blue scenario, I calculate how much the 2018 student load, combined with the growth in student places to 2024, would be worth in 2021 (in 2021 dollars) with the new Job-ready graduate funding rates.

Comparing the pink and yellow scenarios

From 2018 to 2021, the funding cap has reduced university revenue by around $266 million, down to $12.6 billion. Using the average bachelor subsidy rate, around 23,000 student places are no longer subsidised.

Comparing the yellow and blue scenarios

University revenue declines by a further $0.5 billion to $12.1 billion. To earn this revenue, universities will have to provide around 11,700 more student places than in the yellow scenario.

Those 11,700 extra places arise from the Job-ready policy providing 3.5% growth for bachelor degrees at regional campuses, 2.5% for high-growth metropolitan campuses and 1% for low-growth metropolitan campuses.

The government is allocating other places to universities too (for national priorities, the University of Notre Dame Australia and Charles Sturt University’s medical school), but the total number of “new” places remains just over 15,000 – fewer than the 23,000 that have their funding taken away by the operation of the funding cap from 2018 to 2021.

Read more: The government is making ‘job-ready’ degrees cheaper for students – but cutting funding to the same courses

While universities lose around $0.5 billion in student place funding, they receive an extra $222 million as Industry Linkage funding. We are yet to find out what they need to do for that funding.

The government makes large savings from two sources – students and universities. On average it increases contributions from students and every extra student dollar reduces what the government pays. It also reduces funding overall to more closely align with discipline teaching costs. My model estimates it goes to 94% of its former value.

Total student contributions rise by around $564 million a year in the change from current to new Job-ready graduate rates. Students will pay an average of 48-49% of costs by 2024.

The bottom line

Over the period from December 2017 to 2024, the government will deliver itself an annual saving of around $988 million. Around $266 million is from capping the system over the four years 2018 to 2021. Around $722 million is from the Job-ready policies.

Student choices will be little affected by changing student contribution levels, due to our income-contingent loan system, but restoring indexation of student subsidies is sensible policy. The lack of growth in student places into the future is not. It is essentially a policy to reduce higher education attainment levels.

– ref. The government would save $1 billion a year with proposed university reforms — but that’s not what it’s telling us – https://theconversation.com/the-government-would-save-1-billion-a-year-with-proposed-university-reforms-but-thats-not-what-its-telling-us-142256

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Seth Lazar, Professor, Australian National University

In the US, tireless opposition to state use of facial recognition algorithms has recently won some victories.

Some progressive cities have banned some uses of the technology. Three tech companies have pulled facial recognition products from the market. Democrats have advanced a bill for a moratorium on facial recognition. The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), a leading computer science organisation, has also come out against the technology.

Outside the US, however, the tide is heading in the other direction. China is deploying facial recognition on a vast scale in its social credit experiments, policing, and suppressing the Uighur population. It is also exporting facial recognition technology (and norms) to partner countries in the Belt and Road initiative. The UK High Court ruled its use by South Wales Police lawful last September (though the decision is being appealed).

Here in Australia, despite pushback from the Human Rights Commission, the trend is also towards greater use. The government proposed an ambitious plan for a national face database (including wacky trial balloons about age-verification on porn sites). Some local councils are adding facial recognition into their existing surveillance systems. Police officers have tried out the dystopian services of Clearview AI.

Should Australia be using this technology? To decide, we need to answer fundamental questions about the kind of people, and the kind of society, we want to be.

Read more: Why regulating facial recognition technology is so problematic – and necessary

From facial recognition to face surveillance

Facial recognition has many uses.

It can verify individual identity by comparing a target image with data held on file to confirm a match – this is “one-to-one” facial recognition. It can also compare a target image with a database of subjects of interest. That’s “one-to-many”. The most ambitious form is “all-to-all” matching. This would mean matching every image to a comprehensive database of every person in a given polity.

Each approach can be carried out asynchronously (on demand, after images are captured) or in real time. And they can be applied to separate (disaggregated) data streams, or used to bring together massive surveillance datasets.

Facial recognition occurring at one end of each of these scales – one-to-one, asynchronous, disaggregated – has well-documented benefits. One-to-one real-time facial recognition can be convenient and relatively safe, like unlocking your phone, or proving your identity at an automated passport barrier. Asynchronous disaggregated one-to-many facial recognition can be useful for law enforcement – analysing CCTV footage to identify a suspect, for example, or finding victims and perpetrators in child abuse videos.

However, facial recognition at the other end of these scales – one-to-many or all-to-all, real-time, integrated – amounts to face surveillance, which has less obvious benefits. Several police forces in the UK have trialled real-time one-to-many facial recognition to seek persons of interest, with mixed results. The benefits of integrated real-time all-to-all face surveillance in China are yet to be seen.

And while the benefits of face surveillance are dubious, it risks fundamentally changing the kind of society we live in.

Face surveillance often goes wrong, but it’s bad even when it works

Most facial recognition algorithms are accurate with head-on, well-lit portraits, but underperform with “faces in the wild”. They are also worse at identifying black faces, and especially the faces of black women.

The errors tend to be false positives – making incorrect matches, rather than missing correct ones. If face surveillance were used to dole out cash prizes, this would be fine. But a match is almost always used to target interventions (such as arrests) that harm those identified.

More false positives for minority populations means they bear the costs of face surveillance, while any benefits are likely to accrue to majority populations. So using these systems will amplify the structural injustices of the societies that produce them.

Even when it works, face surveillance is still harmful. Knowing where people are and what they are doing enables you to predict and control their behaviour.

You might believe the Australian government wouldn’t use this power against us, but the very fact they have it makes us less free. Freedom isn’t only about making it unlikely others will interfere with you. It’s about making it impossible for them to do so.

Read more: Australian police are using the Clearview AI facial recognition system with no accountability

Face surveillance is intrinsically wrong

Face surveillance relies on the idea that others are entitled to extract biometric data from you without your consent when you are in public.

This is false. We have a right to control our own biometric data. This is what is called an underived right, like the right to control your own body.

Of course, rights have limits. You can lose the protection of a right – someone who robs a servo may lose their right to anonymity – or the right may be overridden, if necessary, for a good enough cause.

But the great majority of us have committed no crime that would make us lose the right to control our biometric data. And the possible benefits of using face surveillance on any particular occasion must be discounted by their probability of occurring. Certain rights violations are unlikely to be overridden by hypothetical benefits.

Many prominent algorithms used for face surveillance were also developed in morally compromised ways. They used datasets containing images used without permission of the rightful owners, as well as harmful images and deeply objectionable labels.

Arguments for face surveillance don’t hold up

There will of course be counterarguments, but none of them hold up.

You’ve already given up your privacy to Apple or Google – why begrudge police the same kind of information? Just because we have sleepwalked into a surveillance society doesn’t mean we should refuse to wake up.

Human surveillance is more biased and error-prone than algorithmic surveillance. Human surveillance is indeed morally problematic. Vast networks of CCTV cameras already compromise our civil liberties. Weaponizing them with software that enables people to be tracked across multiple sites only makes them worse.

We can always keep a human in the loop. False positive rates can be reduced by human oversight, but human oversight of automated systems is itself flawed and biased, and this doesn’t address the other objections against face surveillance.

Technology is neither good nor bad in itself; it’s just a tool that can be used for good or bad ends. Every tool makes some things easier and some things harder. Facial recognition makes it easier to oppress vulnerable populations and violate everyone’s basic rights.

It’s time for a moratorium

Face surveillance is based on morally compromised research, violates our rights, is harmful, and exacerbates structural injustice, both when it works and when it fails. Its adoption harms individuals, and makes our society as a whole more unjust, and less free.

A moratorium on its use in Australia is the least we should demand.

– ref. Large-scale facial recognition is incompatible with a free society – https://theconversation.com/large-scale-facial-recognition-is-incompatible-with-a-free-society-126282

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rick Sarre, Adjunct Professor of Law and Criminal Justice, University of South Australia

Facial recognition technology is increasingly being trialled and deployed around Australia. Queensland and Western Australia are reportedly already using real-time facial recognition through CCTV cameras. 7-Eleven Australia is also deploying facial recognition technology in its 700 stores nationwide for what it says is customer feedback.

And Australian police are reportedly using a facial recognition system that allows them to identify members of the public from online photographs.

Facial recognition technology has a somewhat nefarious reputation in some police states and non-democratic countries. It has been used by the police in China to identify anti-Beijing protesters in Hong Kong and monitor members of the Uighur minority in Xinjiang.

With the spread of this technology in Australia and other democratic countries, there are important questions about the legal implications of scanning, storing and sharing facial images.

Use of technology by public entities

The use of facial recognition technology by immigration authorities (for example, in the channels at airports for people with electronic passports) and police departments is authorised by law and therefore subject to public scrutiny through parliamentary processes.

In a positive sign, the government’s proposed identity matching services laws are currently being scrutinised by a parliamentary committee, which will address concerns over data sharing and the potential for people to be incorrectly identified.

Read more: Why the government’s proposed facial recognition database is causing such alarm

Indeed, Australian Human Rights Commissioner Edward Santow recently sounded an alarm over the lack of regulation in this area.

At the moment, there are not strong and clear enough legal protections in place to prevent the misuse of facial recognition in high stakes areas like policing or law enforcement.

Another specific concern with the legislation is that people’s data could be shared between government agencies and private companies like telcos and banks.

How private operators work

Then there is the use of facial recognition technology by private companies, such as banks, telcos and even 7-Elevens.

Here, the first thing to determine is if the technology is being used on public or private land. A private landowner can do whatever it likes to protect itself, its wares and its occupants so long as it doesn’t break the law (for example, by unlawful restraint or a discriminatory practice).

This would include allowing for the installation and monitoring of staff and visitors through facial recognition cameras.

By contrast, on public land, any decision to deploy such tools must go through a more transparent decision-making process (say, a council meeting) where the public has an opportunity to respond.

Read more: Australian police are using the Clearview AI facial recognition system with no accountability

This isn’t the case, however, for many “public” properties (such as sports fields, schools, universities, shopping centres and hospitals) that are privately owned or managed. As such, they can be privately secured through the use of guards monitoring CCTV cameras and other technologies.

Facial recognition is not the only surveillance tool available to these private operators. Others include iris and retina scanners, GIS profiling, internet data-mining (which includes “predictive analytics,” that is, building a customer database on the strength of online behaviours), and “neuromarketing” (the use of surveillance tools to capture a consumer’s attributes during purchases).

There’s more. Our technological wizardry also allows the private sector to store and retrieve huge amounts of customer data, including every purchase we make and the price we paid. And the major political parties have compiled extensive private databanks on the makeup of households and likely electoral preferences of their occupants.

Is it any wonder we have started to become a little alarmed by the reach of surveillance and data retention tools in our lives?

What’s currently allowed under the law

The law in this area is new and struggling to keep up with the pace of change. One thing is clear: the law does not prohibit even highly intrusive levels of surveillance by the private sector on private land in the absence of illegal conduct.

The most useful way of reviewing the legal principles in this space is to pose specific questions:

Can visitors be legally photographed and scanned when entering businesses?

The answer is yes where visitors have been warned of the presence of cameras and scanners by the use of signs. Remaining on the premises denotes implied consent to the conditions of entry.

Do people have any recourse if they don’t want their image taken?

No. The law does very little to protect those who may be upset by the obvious presence of a surveillance device on a door, ceiling or wall. The best option for anybody concerned about this is to leave the premises or not enter in the first place.

What about sharing images? Can private operators do whatever they like with them?

No. The sharing of electronic data is limited by what are referred to as the “privacy principles”, which govern the rights and obligations around the collection, use and sharing of personal information. These were extended to the private sector in 2001 by amendments to the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988.

These privacy principles would certainly prohibit the sharing of images except, for example, if a store was requested by police to hand them over for investigation purposes.

Can private businesses legally store your image?

Yes, private or commercial enterprises can store images of people captured on their cameras in their own databases. A person can ask for the image to be disclosed to them (that is, to confirm it is held by the store and to see it) under the “privacy principles”. Few people would bother, though, since it’s unlikely they would know it even exists.

The privacy principles do, however, require the business to take reasonable steps to destroy the data or image (or ensure there is de-identification) once it is no longer needed.

What if facial recognition technology is used without warnings like signs?

If there is a demonstrable public interest in any type of covert surveillance (for example, to ensure patrons in casino gaming rooms are not cheating, or to ensure public safety in crowded walkways), and there is no evidence of, or potential for, misuse, then the law permits it.

However, it is not legal to film someone covertly unless there is a public interest in doing so.

Read more: Why regulating facial recognition technology is so problematic – and necessary

What does the future hold?

Any change to the laws in this area is a matter for our parliamentarians. They have been slow to respond given the difficulty of determining what is required.

It will not be easy to frame legislation that strikes the right balance between respecting individuals’ rights to privacy and the desires of commercial entities to keep their stock, patrons and staff secure.

In the meantime, there are steps we can all take to safeguard our privacy. If you want to protect your image completely, don’t select a phone that switches on when you look at it, and don’t get a passport.

And if certain businesses want to scan your face when you enter their premises, give them a wide berth, and your feedback.

– ref. Facial recognition technology is expanding rapidly across Australia. Are our laws keeping pace? – https://theconversation.com/facial-recognition-technology-is-expanding-rapidly-across-australia-are-our-laws-keeping-pace-141357

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor of Human Resource Management, University of South Australia

The coronavirus pandemic has forced many of us to work from home, often in less than ideal circumstances.

Many employees had little choice in the decision, limited time to prepare, patchy technology skills, and inadequate home workspaces. Some managers neglected remote workers, while others zealously monitored them.

And yet some people thrived. Having tried it, many employees anticipate they will continue to work from home, and value employers who encourage it.

So if you decide to continue working from home after the pandemic, is it good or bad for your health in the long run?

Read more: Coronavirus could spark a revolution in working from home. Are we ready?

1. Less fit or more fit?

Easy access to snacks meant some employees may have gained weight while working from home during the pandemic. Some employees stared at their screen for hours, sitting in awkward positions with no breaks.

Excessive screen time can damage the retina, and poorly designed workspaces can generate back pain and stress injuries. In the long run, sedentary behaviour is associated with a range of physical health problems, including higher cancer risks.

But properly supported working from home could improve employees’ health. It enables them to work toward aspirational fitness goals by scheduling workouts at convenient times.

It creates opportunities for employees to take breaks from the laptop to toss in a load of laundry, take the dog for a quick walk, vacuum the carpets, or do a few stretches in another room. Small bits of activity, interspersed throughout the day, have long-term positive impacts on physical and psychological health. Ten minutes of energetically climbing the stairs in your house could boost your lung capacity and raise your spirits.

Achieving those benefits requires employees to have control over their work schedule. Organisations can help by providing resources to design better home workspaces and software that nudges employees to take breaks throughout the day.

2. More free time, or just more time working?

Commuting — especially by car in dense communities — exposes employees to air pollution and raises their risk of respiratory or cardiovascular problems. In theory, working from home should let employees breathe easier, both physically and psychologically. Avoiding the commute saves time and money, two crucial resources that can be channelled to improve the quality of employees’ personal lives.

However, the commute serves a valuable function that is often overlooked. It gives employees time to transition between work and non-work roles, which is especially important for people in difficult service and professional jobs.

The loss of a 30-minute commute can blur boundaries and increase stress spillover between work and non-work. When we lose the defined “buffer zone” of a commute, too often the “saved time” is gobbled up by more work. Long work hours are associated with more stress, lower-quality sleep and higher blood pressure.

Working from home therefore needs to incorporate transitional periods that substitute for a commute. This might be as simple as a walk around the block before sitting down at the desk, or doing a meditation practice before cooking dinner.

Organisations need to respect role boundaries too. This involves clarifying when employees need to be available, and establishing clear policies about email and phone access outside business hours.

3. Less distraction, or lonely and disconnected?

Working from home can create opportunities for employees to engage in “deep work” — focusing on a demanding task without distraction. It helps employees fully engage with their work when they are working, and be more psychologically present with their family when they are not working.

Employees who work from home can intersperse their work and family time to benefit the entire family, for example by using a work break to read a story or share a meal. Quality moments of connection with parents have a more significant impact on children’s academic achievement, behaviour, and emotional well-being than the quantity of interactions.

But not every employee has those close family relationships, and contact with coworkers can be an essential source of support for many workers. Employees who participate in office small talk experience more positive emotions, go out of their way to help coworkers, and end the workday in a better frame of mind.

The spontaneity of office small talk is hard to replicate in a virtual context, so employees working from home can experience loneliness. This can lead to depression, insomnia, and substance abuse. In terms of death and disease, loneliness is in the same league as smoking, obesity and alcoholism.

Read more: In praise of the office: let’s learn from COVID-19 and make the traditional workplace better

Organisations can help by providing “virtual cafés” to foster informal interactions. Research also recommends hybrid models of remote work that can achieve the benefits of working from home (more focused time for deep work) alongside those of the office environment (more collaboration with coworkers). For example, employees might work from home four days a week, with the fifth day in the office.

Employees need to be supported

Working from home is not always better or worse for an employee’s health than traditional office arrangements.

It will be most beneficial when employees make wise decisions about their time, and employers provide support in the form of technology, ergonomic equipment, and managers trained to supervise remote workers.

Most importantly, when employees are given choice over the schedule and location of their work, the psychological, physical and productivity benefits can double.

Read more: Working from home: what are your employer’s responsibilities, and what are yours?

This article is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.

– ref. Thinking about working from home long-term? 3 ways it could be good or bad for your health – https://theconversation.com/thinking-about-working-from-home-long-term-3-ways-it-could-be-good-or-bad-for-your-health-141374

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rhona Winnington, Lecturer, Auckland University of Technology

When New Zealanders go to the polls in September, they will also be asked to vote in a referendum on assisted dying.

Parliament already passed the End of Life Choice Act in 2019, but the referendum will decide whether it comes into force.

We will be asked if we accept or decline the right of people to seek an assisted death, without the need for consultation with family and with no stand-down period other than a requirement of 48 hours to prepare the medication. The act would allow people to choose when they die and by what means, whether the medication is self-administered or given by suitably qualified clinicians.

This appears an ideal scenario, affirming the right to choose, but it is a deeply profound decision for the public to make. Many may be unaware of issues beyond the goal of ending suffering for people with life-limiting conditions.

My research shows an assisted death can have repercussions for many people — those left behind or others struggling with a chronic disease. Experiences from countries where assisted dying has been legal for some time have highlighted these challenges.

Read more: One year of voluntary assisted dying in Victoria: 400 have registered, despite obstacles

Social consequences of assisted dying

In the Netherlands, assisted dying has been legal for 18 years. Over time, there have been notable slips in the criteria that have to be met. This includes the level of physical suffering, which is a subjective experience, and the requirement that people must be competent to agree to an assisted death at the point of administration. This may not be possible for people with dementia who have previously given written consent but can no longer consent at the point of death.

While the law hasn’t changed, its interpretation has, and people with mental illness can now also request an assisted death. Data from the Netherlands show one in 30 people now die by euthanasia, compared to one in 90 when the law was introduced in 2002.

In the US, some medical insurance companies pay for an assisted death but not for palliative care. This removes any notion of choice and autonomy from the person.

In Canada, where assisted dying has been legal for four years, the number of people seeking medical help to die has risen significantly, with figures more than doubling year on year. This has exposed unexpected consequences, such as fear of judgement for leaving family members unsupported after an assisted death and stigmatisation of clinicians, whether or not they support people choosing the time of their death.

Read more: In places where it’s legal, how many people are ending their lives using euthanasia?

Impact on those left behind

To consider assisted dying legislation as an issue of individual autonomy denies that we are part of a much larger group with complex connections. This is particularly important when we consider Māori and Pasifika populations, whose voices are notably absent from the current act in New Zealand.

The act proposes people may seek assisted dying without any consultation with whānau (family), but the impact of an assisted death reaches far beyond relieving suffering for the individual. The ripple effects can fracture families and communities. As the act currently stands, it has the potential to cause greater harm than good.

We can already see this oversees, for example in Canada and Switzerland, where those who use assisted dying and their immediate family guard this information closely. This is likely happening because of stigma attached to dying in this way, even when it is legal.

The New Zealand legislation carries this risk. It includes restrictions on disclosure of the use of the law and on individuals being recorded as having died an assisted death, often for insurance purposes.

The contagion effect

There is another significant issue to consider. One person’s assisted death could influence the decisions of others — and this contagion effect could play out in two ways.

Those who are not aware of the legislation but discover a friend or family member is accessing it may consider using it themselves. More concerning is people with chronic conditions may feel obliged to seek assisted dying, should they feel burdensome to their family.

There is a notable difference in the New Zealand population in how support for elders or unwell family members is provided. Māori and Pasifika people tend to care for their sick and elders while pākehā (New Zealanders of European descent) often rely on external support. Our research shows when one family member has an assisted death, others with a chronic illness can feel an expectation for them to consider it.

Such broader consequences of introducing assisted dying legislation are often hidden, but they must be addressed as New Zealand moves towards the referendum. The current binary positioning of the debate focuses on autonomy of the individual versus protecting the public, whereas the reality is that assisted dying is more than merely either of these opposing values. It has already been demonstrated that the effects of assisted dying legislation reach beyond the individual and, as such, must be considered as we enter this referendum. The act lacks the necessary detail to make a fully informed decision.

The idea that choice is being given to a popular vote is, in itself, problematic. It is suggestive of a government unwilling to take responsibility for the fallout, should the referendum produce a supportive vote.

We need to safeguard our families and communities from these social consequences of assisted dying legislation. Vulnerable populations have to remain safe from persuasion to die and there has to be a supportive framework for those left behind after an assisted death, so they can grieve without feeling stigmatised.

– ref. Assisted dying referendum: why NZ’s law lacks necessary detail to make a fully informed decision – https://theconversation.com/assisted-dying-referendum-why-nzs-law-lacks-necessary-detail-to-make-a-fully-informed-decision-141776

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katja Hogendoorn, University of Adelaide

This article is a preview of Flora, Fauna, Fire, a multimedia project launching on Monday July 13. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and animals after last summer’s bushfire tragedy. Sign up to The Conversation’s newsletter for updates.

The green carpenter bee (Xylocopa aerata) is an iconic, beautiful native species described as a “jewel of nature” for its metallic green and gold colouring. Carpenter bees are so named because they excavate their own nests in wood, as opposed to using existing holes.

With a body length of about 2 centimetres, it is among the largest native bees in southern Australia. While not used in honey farming, it is an important pollinator for several species of Australian native plants.

Last summer’s catastrophic bushfires significantly increased the risk of local extinctions of this magnificent species. We have studied the green carpenter bee for decades. For example, after the 2007 fires on Kangaroo Island, we bolstered the remaining population by providing nesting materials.

To see our efforts – and more importantly, most of the habitat these bees rely on – destroyed by the 2020 fire was utterly devastating.

A crucial pollinator on the brink

The green carpenter bee is a buzz-pollinating species. Buzz pollinators are specialist bees that vibrate the pollen out of the flowers of buzz-pollinated plants.

Many native plants, such as guinea flowers, velvet bushes, Senna, fringe, chocolate and flax lilies, rely completely on buzz-pollinating bees for seed production. Introduced honey bees do not pollinate these plants.

Read more: Our field cameras melted in the bushfires. When we opened them, the results were startling

The green carpenter bee went extinct on mainland South Australia in 1906 and in Victoria in 1938. It still occurs on the relatively uncleared western half of Kangaroo Island in South Australia, in conservation areas around Sydney, and in the Great Dividing Range in New South Wales.

Local extinctions were probably due to habitat clearing and large, intense bushfires. The last time the green carpenter bee was seen in Victoria was early December 1938 in the Grampians, which burnt completely during the Black Friday fires of January 1939.

There are several reasons green carpenter bees are vulnerable to fire, including:

• the species uses dead wood for nesting, which burns easily
• if the nest burns before the offspring matures in late summer, the adult female might fly away but won’t live long enough to reproduce again, and
• the bees need floral resources throughout the year.

Nowhere to nest

The bees mainly dig their nests in two types of soft wood: dry flowering stalks of grass trees and, crucially important, large dead Banksia trunks. The availability of both nesting materials is intricately connected with fire.

Grass trees flower prolifically after fire, but the dry stalks are only abundant between two and five years after fire. Banksia species don’t survive fire, and need to grow for at least 30 years to become large enough for the bees to use.

With increasingly frequent and intense fires, there’s not enough time for Banksia trunks to grow big enough, before they’re wiped out by the next fire.

A helping hand after the 2007 fires

In 2007, Flinders Chase National Park on Kangaroo Island burnt almost entirely.

However, in long-unburnt areas adjacent to the park, carpenter bee nests were still present. From there, they colonised the many dry grass tree stalks that resulted from the fire in the park.

In 2012, most flowering stalks had decayed. In an attempt to bolster population size, we successfully developed artificial nesting stalks to tide the bees over until new Banksia, suitable for nesting, would become available.

Since then, each year we’ve placed artificial nesting stalks in fire-affected areas where the bee still occurred. Almost 300 female carpenter bees have successfully used our stalks to raise their offspring.

Then came the January 2020 fires

At the time of the 2020 fires on Kangaroo Island, there were more than 150 nests containing mature brood in the stalks we had provided.

We’d placed these in 12 sites in and around Flinders Chase National Park, to spread risk – to no avail, as they all burnt.

We were horrified to see the intensity and speed of the fire that turned our efforts to ash, along with most of the remnant, long (more than 60 years) unburnt Banksia habitat the bees rely on. In New South Wales, much of the species’ natural range was also burnt.

What’s next for the green carpenter bee?

To fully appreciate the impact, we need to survey the remaining long unburnt areas on Kangaroo Island and in NSW.

Encouragingly, we have already found a few natural nests on Kangaroo Island, but the remaining suitable areas are small and isolated, and densities are likely to be low.

With funds raised through the Australian Entomological Society and the Wheen Bee Foundation, and with help of the Kingscote Men’s Shed, we are making new nesting stalks.

With permission of landholders, we’ll place these new stalks in areas with good floral support, to enhance reproduction and help the bees disperse into conservation areas once suitable.

As we have learnt, success is not guaranteed. Extensive and repeated bush fires, combined with asset protection and fuel reduction burns, are making longtime unburnt habitat increasingly rare. It is this lack of old, continuous, unburnt forest that severely threatens the green carpenter bees’ existence.

The future of fire-vulnerable biodiversity

The carpenter bee is not the only species facing this problem. Many Australian plants and animals are not resilient to high frequency fires, no matter their intensity or time of year.

The ecological importance of longtime unburnt forest needs urgent recognition, as increased fire frequency – both of natural and “managed” fires – is likely to drive a suite of species to extinction.

For Kangaroo Island, this could include several small mammals, glossy black cockatoos, and a range of invertebrate species, including the green carpenter bees.

Given the expected increase in fire frequency and intensity associated with global heating, it’s time we recognise fire-vulnerable species as a category that requires urgent habitat protection.

Read more: After last summer’s fires, the bell tolls for Australia’s endangered mountain bells

– ref. ‘Jewel of nature’: scientists fight to save a glittering green bee after the summer fires – https://theconversation.com/jewel-of-nature-scientists-fight-to-save-a-glittering-green-bee-after-the-summer-fires-139555