Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan J Carr, Professor of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales; Adjunct Professor, Monash University, UNSW
The COVID-19 pandemic has opened fault lines in social, economic and health-care policy in Australia. One area in which all three converge is homelessness.
It’s almost impossible to practise self-isolation and good hygiene if you’re living on the streets or moving from place to place. This puts homeless people at higher risk of both catching the disease and transmitting it to others.
But we need to act now to ensure these people aren’t forced back onto the streets as the pandemic recedes.
This is particularly important given we’re worried about the mental health fallout of the pandemic. Evidence shows homelessness and mental illness are inextricably linked.
The initiative to house the homeless in hotels has been targeted mostly at “rough sleepers”, of whom there are more than 8,000 in Australia.
But people who sleep on the streets make up only a tiny proportion of the Australians we consider to be homeless. Homeless people also include those living in unstable or substandard accommodation, for example.
In 2018-19 more than 290,000 Australians – roughly 1.2% of the population – accessed specialist homelessness services.
So this is only a temporary solution to a national emergency, and addresses only the tip of the iceberg.
Mental illness and beyond
At least one in three homeless people have a mental illness.
Homelessness is often a consequence of mental illness, especially of the more severe kinds that involve hallucinations, confusion, mood swings, depression and intense anxiety.
But homelessness can also be a cause of mental illness, through its associations with poverty, unemployment, emotional stress, food insecurity, discrimination, exploitation, loneliness and exposure to violence, crime and drugs.
The pandemic has momentarily lifted the cover on homelessness as a widespread and, so far, intractable social, economic and health problem.
It’s not only a reservoir of private suffering for those driven to the social margins through unstable or inadequate accommodation.
Homelessness also has broad social impacts, including lost productivity, adverse effects on young people’s health, education and well-being, and increased consumption of mental health services and criminal justice resources, among others.
As catastrophic an event as COVID-19 has been, it has created a unique opportunity to improve the long-neglected and critically poor state of social housing in Australia.
The Productivity Commission and AHURI both advocate increased investment in low-cost, secure and good-quality accommodation, linked where necessary with suitable support services.
Many jurisdictions have excellent programs that help people with mental illness to live independently, such as the Housing and Accommodation Support Initiative in NSW. But these need to be scaled up dramatically.
Affordable social housing combined with government transfer payments (such as pensions, Centrelink and disability payments) sufficient to meet basic living costs would be a major boon to mental health in this country.
Both the Productivity Commission and AHURI highlight bridging the gaps in social housing could promote recovery from mental illness, enabling greater social participation and enhancing well-being. It’s likely this approach would also prevent many cases of mental illness before they take hold.
In the long term this would far exceed the benefits flowing from piecemeal handouts for clinical services, which is the present norm in addressing the mental health fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Home improvements or reducing homelessness?
Last week the Australian government announced HomeBuilder grants of A$25,000 for owner-occupiers for certain works on their homes. This funding will be going to people who already have homes and can afford substantial renovations.
There is a strong case for making similar investments in housing the homeless, which would substantially benefit the mental health of our most disadvantaged citizens.
Now is the time for a nationally coordinated effort by federal and state governments to institute economic, social and health policies to address the nexus between homelessness and mental health, and the poverty that feeds into both.
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.
If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz
Does reducing speed reduce emissions from the average car?
Every car has an optimal speed range that results in minimum fuel consumption, but this range differs between vehicle types, design and age.
Typically it looks like this graph below: fuel consumption rises from about 80km/h, partly because air resistance increases.
But speed is only one factor. No matter what car you are driving, you can reduce fuel consumption (and therefore emissions) by driving more smoothly.
This includes anticipating corners and avoiding sudden braking, taking the foot off the accelerator just before reaching the peak of a hill and cruising over it, and removing roof racks or bull bars and heavier items from inside when they are not needed to make the car lighter and more streamlined.
In New Zealand, EnergyWise rallies used to be run over a 1200km course around the North Island. They were designed to demonstrate how much fuel could be saved through good driving habits.
The competing drivers had to reach each destination within a certain time period. Cruising too slowly at 60-70km/h on straight roads in a 100km/h zone just to save fuel was not an option (also because driving too slowly on open roads can contribute to accidents).
The optimum average speed (for both professional and average drivers) was typically around 80km/h. The key to saving fuel was driving smoothly.
In the first rally in 2002, the Massey University entry was a brand new diesel-fuelled Volkswagen Golf (kindly loaned by VW NZ), running on 100% biodiesel made from waste animal fat (as Z Energy has been producing).
A car running on fossil diesel emits about 2.7kg of carbon dioxide per litre and a petrol car produces 2.3kg per litre. Using biofuels to displace diesel or petrol can reduce emissions by up to 90% per kilometre if the biofuel is made from animal fat from a meat works. The amount varies depending on the source of the biofuel (sugarcane, wheat, oilseed rape). And of course it would be unacceptable if biofuel crops were replacing food crops or forests.
Regardless of the car, drivers can reduce fuel consumption by 15-20% by improving driving habits alone – reducing emissions and saving money at the same time.
When you are thinking of replacing your car, taking into account fuel efficiency is another important way to save on fuel costs and reduce emissions.
Many countries, including the US, Japan, China and nations within the European Union, have had fuel efficiency standards for more than a decade. This has driven car manufacturers to design ever more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Most light-duty vehicles sold globally are subject to these standards. But Australia and New Zealand have both dragged the chain in this regard, partly because most vehicles are imported.
New Zealand also remains hesitant about introducing a “feebate” scheme, which proposes a fee on imported high-emission cars to make imported hybrids, electric cars and other efficient vehicles cheaper with a subsidy.
In New Zealand, driving an electric car results in low emissions because electricity generation is 85% renewable. In Australia, which still relies on coal-fired power, electric cars are responsible for higher emissions unless they are recharged through a local renewable electricity supply.
Fuel and electricity prices will inevitably rise. But whether we drive a petrol or electric car, we can all shield ourselves from some of those future price rises by driving more efficiently and less speedily.
The Black Summer bushfires may have ended, but the cultural cost has yet to be counted.
Thousands of Aboriginal sites were likely destroyed in the 2019 bushfires. But at present, there is no clarity about the numbers of precious artefacts lost.
Though recent by comparison, relics from Australian literary heritage have also been reduced to ash. Last year’s bushfires destroyed a hut built specially for author Kylie Tennant (1912–1988) at Diamond Head, and many High Country huts associated with A.B “Banjo” Paterson’s The Man From Snowy River.
Thankfully, NSW Parks and Wildlife Service are making plans to rebuild Kylie Tennant’s hut. But after this devastating loss, it’s impossible to ever fully recreate the authentic atmosphere of Tennant’s writing retreat.
The undeniable romance of Kylie’s hut
Tennant was best known for her social realist studies of working-class life from the 1930s, including her Depression novels The Battlers (1941) and Ride on Stranger (1943).
During the second world war, Tennant moved to Laurieton with her husband and their daughter Benison, and lived there until 1953. At nearby Diamond Head, she met Ernie Metcalfe, a returned serviceman from the first world war and well-known local bushman.
Metcalfe felt Tennant had paid him too much for the land she bought from him, which was partly why he offered to build the hut. Bill Boyd, who later restored the hut, remembers
Kylie would insist on paying him […] she only paid him about 25 pounds which was a lot of money in that time.
Metcalfe was memorialised in her non-fiction book The Man on the Headland (1971). From the beginning, fire played a part in the hut’s life.
The first summer, as though Dimandead [Diamond Head] had made a sudden bid against this new invasion, a fire leapt the creek and came so close to the house that one window cracked in the heat.
Ernie fought the fire single-handed and when we arrived he was standing sooty with ash in his beard in a blackened desert with the house safe in the middle.
While appearing to be an ordinary bushman’s dwelling, “the romance” of Kylie’s Hut was “undeniable”, according to Andrew Marshall, a marine wildlife project officer in the NSW Parks and Wildlife Service. It’s fondly remembered by locals, tourists and aspiring writers who have visited since the 1980s.
Its location in a campground was unique because it quietly coexisted with holidaymakers rather than being relegated to a specially demarcated, curated space. However, this lack of protection left it exposed to the elements and the predations of climate change.
In 1976, Tennant donated the hut and the surrounding land to Crowdy Bay National Park, partly to try to protect the environment from ongoing rutile mining.
The creation of the Crowdy Bay National Park was facilitated not only by Tennant’s gift, but also by the earlier dispossession of the Birpai peoples and the re-zoning of their land.
The erroneous belief that previous inhabitants had “disappeared”, meant the story of Tennant and Metcalfe’s friendship, symbolised by the hut, effectively obscured earlier stories of the Traditional Owners.
Restoration worthy of preservation
Local bush carpenter Bill Boyd substantially refurbished Kylie’s Hut in the early 1980s. A master of old forestry and timber working tools, Boyd used the restoration of Kylie’s Hut as a way to share his knowledge of the uses of broad-axe and adze (an axe-like tool with an arched blade).
Aside from its association with Tennant, the hut has additional significance because it was built using “unpretentious construction techniques” and displays “a unity of form, design and scale”, according to Libby Jude, a ranger from the NSW Parks and Wildlife Service.
It was composed of “strong, natural textures” associated with the fabric of the place in which it stood. And the specialised restoration methods Boyd used are heritage practices that are themselves worthy of preservation.
Boyd also passed on his knowledge to younger carpenters while restoring many of the High Country huts, some dating back to the 1860s and associated with The Man From Snowy River. Most of these were also razed by the recent bushfires.
Members of the Kosciuszko Huts Association have expressed their desire to restore the huts, but a conversation about when and how they could be reconstructed will be well down the track.
Australian literary heritage is often forgotten
Unlike the United Kingdom, where literary properties are routinely listed on maps, Australia tends not to proudly celebrate sites related to its writers.
Aside from the work done by the National Trust, literary societies and enthusiasts in regional communities mostly drive the protection of Australian literary sites.
Ideally, there should be a more coordinated approach to our literary heritage which could identify vulnerable structures and take steps to ensure that, wherever possible, they’re not wiped out by natural and man-made disasters.
The memorialisation of Kylie’s Hut, which began in the 1980s as a response to her book The Man on the Headland, rendered black history peripheral to the central story of bushmen like Metcalfe living in the area. Nevertheless, it was an accessible literary site stimulating awareness of aspects of our cultural history, which might otherwise remain almost completely unknown.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Redento B. Recio, Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Informal Urbanism (InfUr-) Hub, University of Melbourne
– Ricky sits at one of half-a-dozen entrances to the San Roque settlement in Metro Manila’s North Triangle district. Ricky (not his real name) is part of a large team that guards the settlement 24 hours a day with two specific tasks: to prevent the entry of any construction materials and to stop any building activity or repairs by residents.
San Roque is an informal settlement of about 30,000 people within walking distance of a major transport and shopping hub in Quezon City, in Manila’s north-east. While the settlement, which dates back to the early 1980s, is to be demolished for redevelopment, a golf course on state land across the road will remain untouched. The settlement gained global attention when 21 residents were jailed for protesting in April about a lack of promised aid amid a COVID-19 lockdown.
The “plan” for the area is to build a new central business district for Quezon City. All forms of informality – settlements, street vendors and pedicabs – will be removed. The process has continued even through the pandemic.
While the original land title is contested, the area falls under the jurisdiction of the National Housing Authority (NHA). The state has offered residents a path to secure tenure in the past, only to withdraw it. In 2009, the NHA signed a joint-venture agreement with Ayala Land, a developer of shopping malls, residential compounds and private cities.
Eviction house by house
Over the past decade, the Ayala-NHA alliance has engaged in incremental coercive eviction. Home owners are offered a small compensation package plus relocation to public rental housing if they demolish their house and clear and vacate the site. The community is now pock-marked with vacant sites.
A census in 2009 counted about 9,000 households in San Roque. About 6,000 remain. Only about 2,000 of them qualify for relocation due to long-term residence and ownership.
The unqualified residents are the most vulnerable. If evicted, they will likely move to other informal settlements nearby.
Ayala Land claims to uphold the UN Sustainable Development Goals through developments that have a “positive impact on the community”. The NHA, in its charter to house the urban poor, is notionally committed to efficiency, social equality and justice.
The Quezon City mayor has agreed not to conduct “forced” evictions. She has called on the NHA to find a “win-win” solution.
Informal settlements emerge where people can make a living. San Roque residents work as labourers, street vendors, informal transport operators, security guards – low-paid jobs that make the city work. When the state cannot build much-needed housing, residents build it themselves.
The relocations involve a long-term rental or mortgage agreement for a 24-square-metre dwelling of relatively poor quality and design. The housing is up to two hours away from San Roque. Along with losing the main asset they have invested in over many years, residents will lose access to jobs and income, and the social networks that help them cope with the daily grind of poverty.
Many will be left with rent and mortgage obligations they can’t afford. Little wonder some residents succumb to the coercion, demolish their houses, take the compensation and later return to rent rooms in other informal settlements.
From an urban planning perspective, moving the poor to cheap land on the urban fringe simply makes an already dysfunctional transport system worse.
Some will argue no other land is available for the market-led residential towers, shopping malls, casinos and walkable parks for the growing middle class. Yet just across the street from San Roque is an 18-hole golf course on NHA-controlled state land that is ripe for redevelopment.
This is neither rational urban planning nor the result of villains in smoke-filled rooms. It is more about a lack of imagination and political will.
Most agents of this planning process are trapped within a system where “sustainability” and “social inclusion” are a facade. This is the ugly face of neoliberal planning: market-led development becomes its own justification and the state is left to socialise the cost.
Bring in cheap labour, but remove their homes
The role of Ayala guards in San Roque highlights the paradox of this approach. Flows of capital are at once generating work for the urban poor and stimulating the growth of settlements they are trying to erase. The massive construction projects require huge reserves of cheap labour in the very districts where affordable housing is being demolished to make way for those projects.
Ricky, the Ayala guard, is one of the residents who doesn’t qualify for relocation. He came to Manila over two years ago, escaping the violence in Mindanao. San Roque offered cheap rental housing and work. His job is to paralyse any form of upgrading and so help to erase his own neighbourhood.
This is forced eviction made to appear consensual. Indeed, it looks legitimate from a middle class and elite perspective. Their livelihoods and lifestyles depend fundamentally on the supply of cheap labour. Yet, by displacing the urban poor, shopping malls and enclaves protect the middle class from everyday encounters with urban poverty. They can ignore the contradictions that saturate the city.
San Roque has become divided between residents who believe they can resist and retain their livelihoods and those who feel they should take the relocation package before they are forcibly removed with nothing.
Every demolition weakens this community. However, the reduced density also makes on-site redevelopment more possible with NHA funding plus good design and planning. The Save San Roque Alliance – a group of architects, educators and artists – organised grassroots workshops that produced a community development plan for affordable housing and community infrastructure. After a ten-day intensive study project, urban design and planning students from the University of Melbourne have also offered design ideas.
Effective on-site upgrading is clearly possible. The missing element is a commitment by planning authorities and Ayala to live up to the rhetoric of an inclusive and sustainable city.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shelley Marshall, Associate Professor and Director of the RMIT Business and Human Rights Centre, RMIT University
As many of us gingerly return to our workplaces, we are relying on cleaners to keep us safe.
Employers have extra concerns. High quality cleaning is the key to shielding them from liability should their workers contract COVID-19 and they run the risk of having to shut their workplaces down again.
SafeWork Australia and its state counterparts have prepared guidelines for keeping workplaces safe.
They recommend cleaning at least daily, and in some circumstances more frequently.
Two surveys paint very different pictures of how it is being done.
One is alarming.
Much workplace cleaning is rushed and poorly resourced
A survey of 500 cleaners conducted by the United Workers Union in May found that 91% always, often or sometimes have to rush because they didn’t have enough time. 80% said they didn’t have enough equipment to do a quality job.
not uncommon for cleaners to report that they do not consider they are afforded sufficient time to complete all the required specifications to a high level
Despite the rhetoric about cleaners being “essential workers”, they are often not treated well.
Three quarters of the union’s respondents reported that did not have enough personal protective equipment (PPE) to do their job safely, putting them at risk if COVID-19 is present in a workplace.
Many face barriers to taking sick leave when they are unwell, forcing them to continue working or lose pay.
One third of cleaning companies audited by the Fair Work Ombudsman in 2016 were found to be underpaying their workers.
A further inquiry into the exploitation of cleaners in Tasmania in 2018 found underpayment at 90% of Woolworths sites.
Most cleaning workers are migrants on temporary visas who are vulnerable to exploitation and face risks if they speak up.
A second survey of paints a much better picture.
Yet some of it is excellent
A survey of cleaners working in buildings certified by the Cleaning Accountability Framework in April found 94% felt adequate precautions are being taken to protect their health and safety, 92% were given enough personal protective equipment, 97% were being provided with enough chemicals and equipment and 84% were able to take paid sick leave.
The Cleaning Accountability Framework is an independent not-for-profit entity comprised of representatives from across the cleaning supply chain, including property investors, owners and managers, cleaning companies, employee representatives and industry associations. It aims to promote and recognise best practice.
The vast difference points to a way forward.
Though the SafeWork guidelines heap the burden of keeping workplaces safe on employers, most employers do not have an employment relationship with their cleaners.
Know your cleaners
The 2018 Senate Inquiry was “deeply concerned by the trend in contracting out cleaning services through convoluted supply chains with murky lines of responsibility”.
It found contracting out was rife across all sectors, including the public service. Many employers don’t even see those who clean their workplace, let alone supervise them, as cleaning generally takes place out of office hours, making it difficult to check whether the cleaning is being done in accordance with guidelines.
It would help if the guidelines took account of the reality that cleaning is often outsourced and subcontracted.
And cooperative arrangements between building owners, cleaning contractors and building tenants could go a long way towards lifting standards, making sure that the people responsible for the workplace know whether cleaners are getting paid enough and being given enough equipment, training and time to provide it.
“Smiley face” monitoring systems aren’t enough in the time of COVID-19.
Employers whose employees contract COVID-19 because of poor cleaning practices face serious risks. Cleaners who contract COVID-19 or are injured because of poor conditions are likely to be considered their responsibility, even if they don’t employ them directly.
The best response is to take that responsibility seriously, more closely enforcing contracts, and if necessary varying their terms, to allow for extra, safe and adequately paid and resourced cleaning.
We have seen many changes in Australian’s consumption of media during isolation.
There has been an increase in television viewing; cinemas were forced to close (although some have crafted a new approach); Hollywood release dates were postponed or shifted to streaming.
Across the world, there was also another surprising change: a resurgence of the drive-in. Attendance in South Korea boomed. In Germany, you could attend a drive-in rave. In America, there was even drive-in strip-clubs.
With rules against “unnecessary travel”, Australia’s drive-in cinemas were forced to close. With a heightened sense of personal need to social distance, even as more cinemas across Australia start to reopen, is it time for the drive-in to shine again?
The beginning
The drive-in phenomenon began in the United States. Richard M. Hollingshead Junior, whose family owned a chemical plant in New Jersey, initially commenced tests in his driveway in 1928, before opening a drive-in on June 6 1933.
It ran for only three years, but was the start of a trend that spread throughout the country – and then the world.
Australia’s first drive-in would not open for another 20 years.
The first drive-in in Australia, the Skyline, opened February 17 1954, in Burwood, Victoria, with the musical comedy On the Riviera. The first night created traffic jams, as 2,000 cars vied to gain access to the 600 spaces.
The Argus dedicated a two-page feature to the opening, calling it:
probably the most interesting development in entertainment here since the advent of sound pictures, the drive-in theatre provides the ultimate in relaxation and comfort for movie patrons.
Unlike the cinema, said The Argus, there was no need to dress-up: slippers and shorts were fine. Drive-in patrons could smoke, crack peanuts, and knit “to your heart’s content”.
Not everyone was happy with the introduction of the drive-in in their neighbourhood. Later that same year, a resident of Ascot Vale wrote to The Argus against a local screen:
Surely the experience of people in the Burwood district should be sufficient to prevent similar mistakes being made in other districts. The place for these latest improvements in our cultural life is well beyond outer boundaries.
The rise …
Within a year from the opening of the Burwood Skyline, another three drive-ins in Victoria and one South Australia opened. Within 10 years, the number reached 230 across the country. At its peak there were 330 drive-ins in Australia.
The uptake and success of drive-ins in Australia corresponded with the increase in car ownership in Australia. As more people owned cars, the whole family – even kids in pyjamas – could jump in and enjoy a night out. Parents didn’t need to find a babysitter, nor worry about their kids disturbing other patrons.
I have fond memories of growing up during the 1980s and 90s in Shepparton, Victoria, and attending the Twilight Drive-in Theatre. I vividly remember the large white screen at the front with the playground directly underneath, and the kiosk in the middle of the lot. And who can forget the large speaker you had to attach to the window?
But, like many, the Twilight Drive-in closed to make way for a shopping centre.
… and the fall
There is no one villain we can point to in the downfall of drive-in popularity.
In the 1970s, there was a new addition to TV: colour. Australia had one of the the fastest uptakes of colour television, taking a third of the time compared to the United States to reach a 60% saturation rate. The rise of the VCR in the 1980s allowed even greater flexibility in viewing films at home.
Daylight savings was also introduced in the 1970s, restricting the hours drive-ins could operate during the summer.
Drive-ins were affordable to run because they were generally on the suburban fringe. As Australia’s cities grew, land value also increased; using this land for a cinema was a less attractive proposition than development.
There are now just 16 drive-ins running across Australia, and only 30 in the United States – down from their peak of over 4,000.
A viral resurgence?
The Yatala Drive-in on the outskirts of the Gold Coast reopened in early May. More recently, the Lunar Drive-in in Dandenong reopened on June 1. Even in the pouring Melbourne rain – normally a sure sign people will stay away – the audience came.
As our lives begin to return to “normal”, and more states and territories allow people to return to indoor cinemas, will drive-in attendance continue? I hope so. Experiencing media across different screens provides us with new experiences and new memories which can be far greater than just the film on the screen.
Drive-ins offer us a glance into Australian history, a hit of nostalgia, and, of course, the simple act reviving our love of the silver screen.
Nauru President Lionel Aingimea has accused a “small group” of Fiji officials of “hijacking” the 12-country regional University of the South Pacific and suspending the vice-chancellor.
He has called for an urgent meeting of the University Council to reverse the “illegitimate” action against vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia, which he described as a “personal vendetta”.
“The future of our regional Pacific university is now seriously in jeopardy,” he wrote yesterday in a statement following two days of extraordinary events at the Laucala campus in Fiji.
Staff and students have met in rallies around campus protesting against the treatment of Professor Ahluwalia, a Canadian, and demanding governance and transparency at the institution.
The USP Students Association (USPSA) federal council also issued an open letter yesterday calling for the resignations of the USP Council chair, former Fiji diplomat Winston Thompson; deputy chair Aloma Johansson; and the chair of the council’s audit and risk committee, Mahmood Khan.
– Partner –
The statement signed by Joseph Sua, chair and president of the USPSA federal body, threatened a boycott of exams by students if the University Council did not act.
“The students will not step back from participating in peaceful demonstrations and boycotting exams, classes and other activities from USP’s 14 campuses should the USP Council fail to act,” Sua wrote.
Fiji police investigate Fiji police have launched an investigation into the protests of staff and students at USP, saying they would not hesitate to arrest people breaching the covid-19 coronavirus restrictions, reports FBC News.
Saying he was “appalled” at the developments at USP, President Aingimea wrote in his protest letter: “The executive committee [of the USP Council] met despite the conflicts of interest and the serious concerns expressed by the council members.
“Due process was disregarded. This must not be allowed to rest here and further action is warranted.
“In recent days, the hostility and a lack of duty of care to a council-appointed vice-chancellor shows what a small group of members, who are not direct members, have high-jacked [sic] council processes and failed to accord duty of care and natural justice to a council-appointed vice-chancellor,” the president wrote.
“These actions represent a personal vendetta against the vice-chancellor.”
President Aingimea wrote that it was now “high time” for the “entire [USP] Council to coalesce and begin a process to remove the pro-chancellor [Winston Thompson]”.
Ten council members are needed to support an urgent special meeting.
Another council member, Samoan Deputy Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, posted a statement on social media saying: “Be interesting to see how that [a special council meeting] pans out. USP at tipping point of becoming nationalised and the region looks on!”
FBC News reports that the university’s deputy vice-chancellor for research, Professor Derrick Armstrong, has been named acting vice-chancellor.
‘Fight for justice’ plea It was reported that Professor Ahluwalia had been told to “step aside” to allow for an independent investigation relating to allegations of “misconduct” and breaches of USP policies and procedures.
However, addressing supporters at a protest at the university’s Laucala campus yesterday, Professor Ahluwalia said he had not received any communication about stepping down.
The governments of Nauru, New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga had reportedly called on the USP Council to drop the investigation into the vice-chancellor.
Professor Ahluwalia has been widely regarded by supporters as a whistleblower over practices at the university that he had exposed in allegations contained in a report last year.
Allegations of serious cases of mismanagement and abuse of process surfaced at the USP involving its former vice chancellor and president in May last year and were widely reported on by the Suva-based news magazine Islands Business in June and other Pacific media.
In an interview with RNZ’s Pacific Beat at the time, editor Samisoni Pareti said the allegations involved 11 staff, including a former vice-chancellor, and the claims were being investigated by Fiji’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC).
Investigation report It is understood islands Business is publishing a report today exposing the contents of a hushed up university investigation by international consultants last year.
The USP Students Association said it had its email links to the university’s students blocked and its open letter was sent to Pacific Media Watch.
The open letter addressed to USP Council chair and pro vice-chancellor Winston Thompson said:
Pro-Chancellor
I write this letter on behalf of the students of our 12 member countries and 14 campuses to convey to you our intense displeasure at the way you are handling matters as the Pro-Chancellor of the university.
The student body has cited the letter written to Council by Mr Semi Tukana, whom you appointed to the sub-committee to investigate the Vice-Chancellor Professor Pal [Ahluwalia]. The letter clearly points out that you and Mr Mahmood Khan are using the high office of your council positions to continue the personal vendetta against the VCP and blindsiding members of the University Council.
Despite numerous warnings and alarming concerns raised by the members of the University Council, you disregarded and disrespected these by convening the Executive Committee Meeting on June 8th 2020 to consider the removal of the VCP.
Despite your obvious conflict of interest on matters regarding the VCP, you participated in the meeting and also allowed other members who carry a conflict of interest to be part of the meeting of the Executive Committee yesterday.
You ignored and failed to respond to any of the alarming concerns raised by member countries, staff and students. This is poor governance on your part.
You have defied the intents and resolutions of the USP Council Meeting held in Port Vila last year that sought your commitment to work with the VCP and to let the special commission of the Council to look into matters as such independently.
You have withheld the minutes of the past council meeting and the special council meeting of the University that is supposed to be provided to all members despite numerous requests from members.
You have failed to acknowledge the great conflict of interest that you carry against the VCP since March 2019 when you made it clear to the public that you want to “sack the VCP” .
The Students of the University of the South Pacific have lost confidence in you as the Pro-Chancellor and Chair of the University Council; the Student Body has also lost confidence in the Deputy Pro-Chancellor and Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee.
In summary, we demand the resignation of:
1. Mr Winston Thompson, Chair of Council
2. Ms Aloma Johansson, Deputy Chair of Council
3. Mr Mahmood Khan, Chair of Audit & Risk Committee
The Student Council requests all Member States to urgently look into our concerns and make appropriate arrangements to appoint an interim Pro-Chancellor and Chair of Council and to declare the Executive Committee Meeting held on June 8th 2020 as null and void!
The Students will not step back from participating in peaceful demonstrations and boycotting exams, classes and other activities from USP’s 14 Campuses should the USP Council fail to act.
On behalf of Student Council.
Sincerely,
Joseph Sua Chair and President of USPSA Federal Body The University of the South Pacific Students Association USP Laucala Campus, Suva Fiji
A “fight for justice and good governance” at the University of the South Pacific has continued as staff and students have echoed strong calls for members of the USP Council to allow the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, to carry out his work without interference.
Hundreds of protesting staff and students rallied outside the New Administration Conference Room at Laucala campus in Suva, Fiji, yesterday with placards showing solidarity and support for Professor Ahluwalia as the special executive committee of the council convened a meeting to discuss allegations of “material misconduct” levelled against the vice-chancellor.
The meeting agenda allegedly included discussion about a letter from the deputy pro-chancellor about the claims of material misconduct, a report from the vice-chancellor in response to the allegations and a letter from the pro-chancellor in response to the VC’s report.
Media reports said he had been told to “step aside” after this meeting. Professor Derrick Armstrong was reportedly appointed acting vice-chancellor and president to manage the affairs of the university.
Concerned USP staff member Elizabeth Fong said the show of solidarity for the vice-chancellor was also a call for good governance to prevail at the regional institution owned by 12 countries – not just Fiji.
– Partner –
“We don’t agree with what they are doing to [Professor] Pal. They are not letting him as VC do his work. Actual justice allows him to work by his contract, and if they had issues, there is a process and a way of managing it,” she said.
“The entire council of the university, which is regionally owned, needs to be part of any decision to remove a VC or suspend him so we are here to show that we want good governance to be put in place and to be practised by those who lead and govern us.”
Fong said it may be necessary for the USP Chancellor to step in to resolve the issue.
USP Students Association (USPSA) federal council spokesman Aneet Kumar said the students also wanted a quick resolution to the issue and made clear the student body supported the work done by the vice-chancellor done so far.
Kumar was joined by USPSA Laucala vice-president Shalvin Chand and USPSA deputy chair and vice-president Viliame Naulivou.
“There was a lot of outrage last year when the breaches of past management came to light,” Kumar said.
“Even the academics were pointing out that since we have a compulsory governance course, where is this going, what are we trying to teach and preach?
“There needs to be some common ground to reach. This is very disheartening for students. The student body sent a letter to the USP Council to express our disappointment at the way the matter is being handled.”
Students at Laucala campus also turned up with their placards of support, with student body vice-president Naulivou saying the believed the vice-chancellor had practised good governance.
“There are a lot of needs and wants out there but he [Professor Ahluwalia] came down to ground level and listened to us,” Naulivou said.
“That’s the only thing that pushed us to know the VC, his mission and vision. He visited the Lautoka campus and spoke to students, he begged students to say what they want. And what we want is good governance and transparency.”
Meanwhile, Professor Ahluwalia addressed staff and students yesterday saying he would continue to “fight for justice, transparency and accountability” within the legal framework.
The whirlwind of events started in March last year when the allegations of policy breaches of past financial decisions, such as speedy recruitment, appointments, promotions and questionable allowances for extra responsibility as well as breaches of the staff review procedures surfaced in a leaked confidential 11-page document drafted by Professor Ahluwalia and directed to the USP Council’s executive committee.
The University of the South Pacific journalism newspaper Wansolwara and website collaborate with the Pacific Media Centre.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster announced today that Armed Response Teams will not be part of the New Zealand policing model in the future.
A trial of the teams of police carrying firearms (ARTs) were launched in Counties Manukau, Waikato and Canterbury last year and ended in April.
In recent days, mass protests across New Zealand against police brutality – sparked by the killing of African-American George Floyd in the US on May 25 – have renewed opposition to armed police and the response teams specifically.
Commissioner Coster said the decision to scrap the teams was based on preliminary findings from the trial evaluation – which is yet to be completed – feedback from the public, and consultation with community forum groups.
“It is clear to me that these response teams do not align with the style of policing that New Zealanders expect,” Coster said.
– Partner –
“We have listened carefully to that feedback and I have made the decision these teams will not be a part of our policing model in the future,” he said.
“As part of this, I want to reiterate that I am committed to New Zealand Police remaining a generally unarmed police service.”
Valued community relationships Commissioner Coster said police valued their relationships with the various communities they served, and this meant working with them to find solutions that worked for both.
“How the public feels is important – we police with the consent of the public, and that is a privilege,” Coster said.
The trial aimed to have specialist police personnel ready to deploy and support frontline staff in critical or high risk incidents.
“We can only keep New Zealanders safe if we can keep our staff safe too,” he said.
“That is why police has invested in the new body armour system, we have strengthened training, and given our officers more tools and tactical options.”
Police were looking into “broad tactical capability” to ensure critical response options remained fit for purpose, he said.
“We will still complete the evaluation into ARTs and that will now inform the wider tactical capability work programme.”
Any further options arising from this would undergo consultation with communities, Coster said.
Opposition to trials There had been widespread opposition to the trials, including a Waitangi Tribunal claim being filed by justice advocates arguing the Crown breached Te Tiriti o Waitangi by failing to work in partnership with, consult, or even inform Māori about the trial.
Māori Associate Professor of Law Dr Khylee Quince said the new Police Commissioner had clearly “read the room” in deciding to scrap ARTs.
She said Māori and Pasifika communities were already at the receiving end of a disproportionate amount of police force and adding guns to the mix would have only led to a death.
“It’s important we have a police force that not only the public trusts but that commits to the kind of policing we want in New Zealand.
“And we’ve had a clear public message that people do not want routine arming or militarisation of New Zealand police.”
She said if the ARTs had been rolled out as a permanent fixture it would have only been a matter of time before someone was killed.
‘Someone was going to get harmed’ “I don’t buy the fact that the police only drew their firearms five times. At some stage someone was going to harmed.
“I think the fact that the trial was only six months is the only reason there wasn’t a fatality in that time.”
“While the decision to deploy the ART trial was independently made by the then commissioner of police, and not a government initiative, we as a caucus acknowledge the general feeling of lack of consultation about the trial that exists – especially within Māori,” Labour Māori caucus co-chair Willie Jackson said.
A survey on on the ARTs found 85 percent of participants did not support the trial.
Justice reform advocate Laura O’Connell Rapira said 91 percent of people surveyed were less likely to call the police in family violence situations if they knew the police had guns.
‘Better off’ without armed police Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said she welcomed the decision and communities were “better off” without ARTs.
“This is something to celebrate. We commend the New Zealand Police for listening to the public outcry during and after the ART trials. They have listened to the community, and made the right call,” Davidson said.
“This decision today reinforces the need for people to make their voices heard. We know that people of colour, in particular black and brown communities, do not feel protected with armed police on patrol.”
However, Davidson said there were still systemic problems police needed to address.
“There is still work to do in terms of ending systemic discrimination and systemic racism within the police, it has been well established that is still continuing and that’s why the further arming of police was heading in the wrong direction,” she said.
She said more holistic solutions were needed instead to keep communities safe, such as mental health and youth support.
The party’s justice spokesperson, Golriz Ghahraman, said the move was a step “against the American-style militarisation” of the police force.
National Party police spokesperson, Brett Hudson also agreed that the commissioner made the right choice, saying that firearms were already available to police when needed for public safety.
This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.
If you havesymptomsof the coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 (+64 9 358 5453 for international SIMs) or call your GP – don’t show up at a medical centre.
The word ‘pandemic’ is not entirely defined on narrow public health criteria. (Likewise, an economic depression has no technical definition.) In an important sense it is a word of history, a word to describe significant health events of the past that had substantial diffusion beyond any particular locality.
Since the World Health Organisation (WHO) came into being after World War 2, however, current events could be called official pandemics while they were happening, even in their early stages. This labelling is a necessarily inconsistent process, with 2003 SARS1 not being officially classed as a pandemic, while 2009 H1N1 Swine Flu (for which New Zealand was an early player) was so categorised.
Wikipedia’s list of epidemics is useful here, not because it is authoritative, but because it represents a good indication of which health events we know most about, and how we rated them.
An event seems more likely to be labelled a pandemic if it is due to a new contagion, or a resurfacing after many years of an old and feared contagion. Thus the 2009 Swine Flu had the potential to become the ‘Second H1N1 Influenza Pandemic’, with the first being the 1918 ‘Black Flu’ (inappropriately called by many the ‘Spanish Flu’). With hindsight the 2009 event may have been insufficiently consequential to justify the moniker ‘pandemic’; though it was undoubtedly ‘pan’. Perhaps the 2009 experience led to a delay in calling Covid19 a pandemic in 2020?
There is a case for calling the 2019 Measles outbreak a pandemic, given that Measles had been such a significant contagious disease in the Pacific in the nineteenth century (including an epidemic in New Zealand in the 1850s), and in the Americas before that. For 1919, Wikipedia lists five entries for Measles in 2019, including New Zealand (also Samoa, Philippines, Malaysia, Congo); I was in Canada in April and May 2019, and the same outbreak was happening there and in the United States, though to a lesser extent.
Of the pandemics listed in Wikipedia, one – other than Covid19 – has not been deemed to have ended; that’s HIV/AIDS.
Not listed in Wikipedia is Dengue Fever. Frank Snowden in the penultimate chapter of Epidemics and Society (2019) refers to the “global pandemic of dengue fever that began in 1950 and has continued unabated”, which began little noticed at the beginning of an “age of hubris” in which western scientists convinced themselves that the problem of infectious diseases had been solved. Dengue is particularly interesting in that it has become more dangerous over time, not less. And it alerts us to an ongoing problem in public health science and elsewhere – that the ‘hubris’ referred to was a largely Euro-western phenomenon, that could downplay events outside of Europe and North America. And – as in the case of Covid19 – hubris with racial undertones continues to downplay the Europeanness of the pandemic.
So that’s three current pandemics so far: Dengue, HIV/AIDS, and Covid19. There is, I would argue, a fourth.
Plague
We often talk about not seeing “the elephant in the room”. If we look at the Wikipedia list of epidemics, the elephant is an absence rather than a presence. Between the years 747 and 1346 CE, there is nothing. That’s a period of 600 years, more than half a millennium. Further, there is no obvious reason why the contributors to Wikipedia should have a blind spot about this period, a period that represents the substance of the medieval era, the Middle Ages in Europe; there are plenty of disease outbreaks listed before 750, including Smallpox in Japan. Nor can we argue that the medieval period has been neglected by historians; rather it represents a substantial field of historical literature, and not only for European history.
For many of us the word ‘medieval’ conjures up pictures of disease. There is one main reason for that image; ‘plague’, misleadingly labelled ‘bubonic plague’ which is the best-known variation of Plague. (The other two variations ‘septicaemic plague’ and ‘pneumonic plague’ are more fatal.) Plague is an infection from the Yersinia pestis bacterium.
Before commenting further on Plague, it is important to take stock, and acknowledge that the period from 750 to 1300 was almost certainly one of the most healthy epochs in the history of humankind. It gives context to the ‘Black Death’ that followed.
The problems of the fourteenth century began well before the arrival of Plague. A cooling climate and overpopulation brought famine to Europe in the early decades of that century. And, in the west of Europe, the 100 Years War between England and France began in the 1830s. The Battle of Crecy was fought in 1346, two years before Plague arrived in England.
From my studies of history, I knew about the First Plague Pandemic (about years 550 to 750 CE) and the Second Plague Pandemic, which until the beginning of this year I would have dated 1340 to 1720 CE.
In 1994, I was shocked when the news came out of an outbreak of Plague (bubonic and pneumonic) in Surat, a city in the Indian state of Gujarat. I had previously assumed that Plague had been eliminated if not eradicated. (Further, the story was sufficiently played down in the media that, I expect, most New Zealanders born before 1980 have little memory of that episode in the history of disease.)
Early this century I became aware that Plague had visited California, Sydney, and yes – Auckland – in 1900; this awareness came from reading a newspaper cutting in Mokau’s museum, and also from watching a science documentary which mentioned endemic Plague in California. Plague is indeed endemic in the southwest of the United States, where there are a few human cases of bubonic Plague most years. The American experience shows that Plague is essentially a disease of rodents; fleas carrying Yersinia pestis jump to unaffected hosts mainly when there is a rodent epidemic die-off. Snowden (Epidemics and Society, p.41) reminds us that “underground disasters unknown to humans take place” among wild rodents such as “marmots, prairie dogs, chipmunks and squirrels in their burrows”. “Plague is best understood as a disease of animals by which humans are afflicted by accident”.
Snowden adds (p.52): “Pneumonic plague … spreads rapidly, is readily aerosolized, and is nearly 100 percent lethal. Furthermore, it begins with mild flulike symptoms that delay recourse to diagnosis and treatment, and it frequently runs its course within the human body in less than seventy-two hours. The opportunity to deploy curative strategies is therefore exceptionally brief. This situation is rendered even more critical by the recent appearance of antibiotic-resistant strains of Yersinia pestis.”
(Almost certainly, antibiotic resistance will prove to be the single most important public health crisis this century. Excessive fear of exposure to microbes in the 2020s may prove to be an important aggravating factor to this coming crisis. We may be especially setting up our young children to not acquire basic resistance to common seasonal pathogens.)
This year I learned much more about Plague. In January I was reading a biography of Jane Franklin (after whom an Auckland street and an Auckland district are named). She was an inveterate traveller for most of her life, for most of the nineteenth century. I was surprised to read of references to Plague outbreaks in Istanbul (Turkey), and how that city was often best avoided by travellers.
But it was only after the Covid19 lockdown started that I did some systematic enquiry into Plague, discovering that there was/is a whole Third Plague Pandemic, conventionally dated 1855 to 1960. Also, I discovered that Plague had been significant in and around the (Turkish) Ottoman Empire (which included most of southeast Europe) for around 200 years from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. (This included a final Plague visitation to Malta in 1813; Malta was then part of the British Empire, indeed an important British military base.)
It seems that the correct dating for the Second Plague Pandemic is 1330s to 1856, half a millennium in duration. While substantially a European event, its origin around the 1330s appears to have been Mongolia. It overlapped the Third Plague Pandemic.
For the most part, the Third Plague Pandemic was classic bubonic Plague. It started in China’s southern Yunnan province, and festered in southeast China for many years until breaking out as a major epidemic in British Hong Kong in 1894. It was during the Hong Kong outbreak that the Plague pathogen (Yersinia pestis) was identified; and it was not until the twentyfirst century that the first and second Plague pandemics were confirmed to have in fact been Plague.
The British were very cruel in Hong Kong, literally pursuing a scorched earth policy that was inspired by the 1666 Great Fire of London. (It didn’t work; the affected rats fled to other parts of the city, and the people burned out of their crowded homes had to move to even more crowded accommodations.)
Reading the 1900 NZ Herald article (see list of links, below), it is clear that Plague was then regarded as “a dirt disease, cultivated through living in insanitary surroundings under conditions of poverty and filth”. (Rats were coming to be seen as co-victims of Plague, as shown in the Mokau story. While the diagnosis of Plague as a “dirt disease” has been disabused, rats – seen as the principal villain for most of the twentieth century – now tend to be regarded mainly as co-victims.)
The Third Plague Pandemic was transmitted across the world from Hong Kong, literally through ships carrying rats harbouring infected fleas. Most outbreaks (outside of China) in the Third Pandemic were initiated by infected ship rats; all the ports of the world already had substantial populations of rattus rattus; the ‘ship rat’, the ‘black rat’.
The first and most important new Plague site was Bombay (Mumbai) in British India. The British repeated their Hong Kong policy, treating Plague with fire to cleanse the soil. (Much of the problem is that the experience of the London Plague of 1665 was misleading. The link to rats and fleas was much stronger in the Third Pandemic than in the Black Death Pandemic. Further, because during the Black Death the Plague was transmitted mainly from people to people rather than via rats, that pandemic showed little socio-economic discrimination.) The full understanding of the role of rats and fleas had to wait until the 1908 publication of the Indian Plague Commission (Snowden p.337); while valid for the Indian event, the new explanation arguably overstated rats as the principal vector for local transmission of Plague.
The Third Plague Pandemic reached the European ports of Oporto (1899) and Glasgow (1900). It reached Honolulu, San Francisco and Sydney (via New Caledonia) in 1900. (Recent reports in relation to Glasgow suggest rats were relatively unimportant there. For a reasonably comprehensive list of Third Pandemic sites, see the Wikipedia entry.) San Francisco suffered several outbreaks over the next two decades, with Los Angeles experiencing an outbreak of pneumonic Plague in 1924 (refer “Plague in the City of Angels”, in The Pandemic Century, by Mark Honigsbaum). The final pre-death stages of pneumonic Plague – the Black Death – were similar to the final stages of the 1918 Black Flu; a form of pneumonia that turned live people a kind of dark purple colour. Indeed, given the then recent history of Plague in New Zealand and the United States, many thought the Black Flu was the Plague.
For more about Plague in Auckland, Sydney and Glasgow, at the end of this article is a reference list of links to stories about the Plague in 1900.
Given that the First Plague Pandemic lasted two centuries, and the Second Plague Pandemic lasted five, I would argue we are still in the Third Plague Pandemic. Indeed, following a few quiet decades – 1960s to 1980s – outbreaks of Plague have become more prevalent, with Madagascar and Peru having had significant outbreaks this century. The sites of recent outbreaks are in the same places that had important outbreaks in the early years of the Third Plague Pandemic.
The first two Plague Pandemics had substantial impacts on subsequent global history. (One of the most important events during the First Plague Pandemic was the rise of Islam, and its accompanying first Jihad of expansion into North Africa and Spain.) New Zealand’s own favourite historian, Jamie Belich, at Oxford University studied the Black Death and its impact on subsequent global history (see his chapter ‘The Black Death and the Spread of Europe’, in The Prospect of Global History, 2016). If I am right, and the Third Plague Pandemic has not yet finished, then Plague Three may also prove to be one of the most important turning points in world history.
Dangers in the wake of Covid19
My review of Plague history reminds us that public health is about far more than ‘one epidemic at a time’. Our responses – and over-responses – to one pandemic event may influence, for better or worse, our experiences of future epidemics and pandemics.
While we know that vaccines are important, we also know that certain amounts of acquired immunity gained through the rough and tumble of normal childhood life is important. The highest-impact pandemics have occurred in populations with minimal incidental immunity. The 1918 Black Flu was most lethal to people with less exposure to an earlier less malign Flu wave, and in the United States to people with less exposed to common urban pathogens. Before that, the Black Death was particularly lethal to a population in Europe that had been through centuries with comparatively little contagious disease. And, as most of us know, diseases like Measles (and Smallpox from which New Zealand was largely spared) are specially lethal to populations without prior exposure.
We also need to appreciate that infectious diseases occur in social contexts and environments, and that the outcomes of outbreaks are contingent on the ways we interpret these events. In the case of Covid19 – like the Black Death (Plague 2), a disease of Europe that happened to begin in Asia – we should look to historically acquired attitudes towards Asia to understand why Europe took too long to understand what was happening to it; and to understand why Europe and many Europeans are in denial about this.
One aspect of this denial is the talk in ethnic European countries about the possibility of a future ‘second wave’ of Covid19. Actually, the second wave of this pandemic began in Europe in the third week of February 2020. The second wave of Covid19 is the pandemic. The first Asian wave – like its predecessor SARS1 – could have ended in the same way as SARS1. The difference between SARS1 and SARS2 was the European ‘second wave’ that turned a major regional epidemic into a substantial pandemic. (Europe, North America and Australia did get cases in the first wave. These were largely resolved before the Covid19 second wave began in late February.) While there may prove to be a Covid19 third wave next northern hemisphere winter, it is the second European wave that is now changing the world; especially the world of Europe and the Americas. We do ourselves – and especially Asia – a disservice when we conflate the Asian event with the European event, as a way of absolving Europe.
Mark Honigsbaum noted “the key role played by environmental, social, and cultural factors in changing patterns of disease prevalence and emergence.” “Recalling Dubos’s insights into the ecology of pathogens, [he] argue[s] that most cases of disease emergence can be traced to the disturbance of ecological equilibriums or alterations to the environments in which pathogens habitually reside. … Thanks to global trade and travel, novel viruses and their vectors are continually crossing borders and international time zones, and in each place they encounter different mixes of ecological and immunological conditions.”
In 2020 we are narrowly focussed on Covid19; perhaps rightfully so. Nevertheless, humanity is (arguably) experiencing four public health pandemics; the others are: Dengue, HIV/AIDS, and Plague. There will be other others. The pressures we place on our economic environments, with economic growth treated as our only alleviant to poverty, will continue to create spaces for familiar and unfamiliar pathogens to play.
Reference Links
The Bubonic Plague, New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11263, 5 Jan 1900, Page 5
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Moore, Professor/Deputy Dean Research, School of Engineering and Technology, CQUniversity Australia
How would they bring the International Space Station back down to earth? Grace, age 7, Watson, ACT.
Hi Grace! The good news is we can bring the International Space Station back to Earth. The bad news is it will be a broken mess of melted metal. To understand why, we need to talk about a few other things first, including forces, orbits and gravity.
How did the ISS get to space in the first place?
The International Space Station (or ISS for short) is about as big as a football field. It’s too big to send into space in one go.
It took 37 trips with NASA’s space shuttle to carry all the pieces 350km above Earth – that’s about the same height as 3,850 football fields standing up on end. It took astronauts more than ten years to put it all together up in space!
Why doesn’t the ISS fall down to Earth?
To understand how the ISS stays up there, we need to know about forces.
You can’t see force, but you can feel it. Forces can make things move, and stop them moving.
There are two different forces keeping the ISS in place. The first is gravity. Things that are very heavy such as planets, make a force that pulls smaller things (such as you) towards them. The reason we don’t float into the sky (and the reason you fall down again when you jump into the air) is because Earth’s gravity is always pulling us onto the ground.
When astronauts go far away from Earth, they float because they have escaped the force of gravity. But why doesn’t gravity pull the ISS back to Earth?
To answer that, we have to know about another force called centrifugal force. When things move in a circle, centrifugal force pushes them to the outside of the circle. You may have felt this while riding on a roundabout at the park, or when you’re in a car going around a corner and you get squashed against the door.
The ISS moves in a circle around Earth at just the right speed. The centrifugal force pushing it away is exactly the same as the force of gravity pulling it in. This balance is called a stable orbit. And unless something happens to change it, it will continue.
Can we bring the ISS back to Earth?
In terms of when the ISS will actually be returned to Earth, we’re not sure yet. But it’s likely this will happen after five years from now.
When astronauts return to Earth from the ISS, they come back in the same small capsule that took them there. It can fit three people and not much else. It’s nowhere near big enough to fit in the ISS, even if we broke it into pieces. So what will happen when we no longer use the ISS?
Some parts may be kept in space to be used again in a new space station. But most of the ISS will return to Earth. To do this, the mission controllers (the people who run the ISS) will use rockets attached to the station to drive it closer to Earth. When it’s close enough, gravity will start to pull it in.
Eventually it will hit the atmosphere (the layer of air around the Earth) and burst into flames as it burns up. This is due to another force called friction, which happens when two things try to slide past each other really fast. Friction makes things hot.
Once the ISS passes the atmosphere, it will likely crash into an empty part of the Pacific ocean called the “Oceanic Pole of Inaccessability”. This is one of the emptiest places on Earth, between New Zealand and Antarctica. Other space stations, such as the Russian Mir space station are already there, four kilometres below the sea’s surface.
The protests against systemic racism and police violence sweeping the globe highlight the intersection between two pandemics: COVID-19 and racism. Researchers are pointing out that structural inequalities mean people of colour are hit harder by the coronavirus.
Politicians are also concerned the protests may trigger an increase in the spread of COVID-19, so public health experts are providing tips on how to protest safely.
And while many countries grapple with increasing rates of COVID-19, New Zealand has declared it has eliminated the virus, and is now aiming to keep it that way.
In this week’s roundup of coronavirus stories from scholars across the globe, we explore the disproportionate impact of COVID-19, New Zealand’s success, and the latest on drug trials.
This is our weekly roundup of expert info about the coronavirus. The Conversation, a not-for-profit group, works with a wide range of academics across its global network. Together we produce evidence-based analysis and insights. The articles are free to read – there is no paywall – and to republish. Keep up to date with the latest research by reading our free newsletter.
Pandemics expose inequality
Past pandemics have exposed existing inequalities, and this one is no different. Our experts explain why COVID-19 is having a greater impact on people of colour and other marginalised groups.
Disproportionate impact. Black Americans have been dying from the coronavirus at nearly three times the rate of white Americans, while black people in the United Kingdom are four times more likely to die from COVID-19 than their white compatriots. Medical historian Mark Honigsbaum writes about the relationship between pandemics and inequality.
Social justice is crucial to healthcare. Systemic racism means marginalised groups have limited access to resources that impact health, according to an interdisciplinary team of US health researchers. Doctors need to be trained to understand the social determinants of health to deal with problems like COVID-19, argue researchers from Rwanda’s University of Global Health Equity.
Safely protesting. Public health experts are concerned the protests will increase the spread of COVID-19. An infection prevention researcher at Monash University gives some tips on how to minimise the risk of transmission when taking to the streets.
“Fear of what others might think when they see a Black man in a mask.”. Despite masks providing increased safety during the pandemic, black and other minority groups are often subjected to racist abuse or discrimination when wearing them. Jasmin Zine of Wilfrid Laurier University explores the racial politics of mask wearing.
A lack of clean water. Clean water is crucial for hygiene and hand washing, key elements of infection control. But many people do not have access to good quality water, especially in slums and refugee camps, according to researchers from the National University of Singapore and the University of Glasgow.
New Zealand eliminates the virus
New Zealand has hit the historic milestone of zero active cases, and lifted almost all its coronavirus restrictions. Two of the leading public health experts behind the successful elimination now explain the challenge of maintaining it. Meanwhile, across the Tasman Sea, experts chart Australia’s journey in controlling the virus.
Cautious celebration. New Zealand has successfully eliminated COVID-19, but elimination is not one point in time: it requires ongoing work. Two public health professors from the University of Otago describe five ways the country can protect itself in the long term.
Asymptomatic cases. Removing coronavirus restrictions in New Zealand increases the chance of a new outbreak to 8%, according to modelling from an interdisciplinary research team. This is because there may be hidden asymptomatic cases that haven’t been uncovered by testing.
Australia’s success. On the other side of the Tasman, Australia’s response has also been one of the most successful in the world. Yet small outbreaks continue to crop up. Steven Duckett and Anika Stobart from the Grattan Institute explain four factors behind the success, and four ways Australia’s response could have been even better.
Testing is key. The success of both New Zealand and Australia is supported by a high number of tests per thousand people, according to a researcher from the University of Sydney, who poured over the worldwide data. Bahrain, Qatar, Lithuania and Denmark are also among the countries with the highest rates of testing per thousand people.
The latest on drug trials, spread, contact tracing
As the world awaits a vaccine that might not arrive, intensive research continues into possible drugs to treat COVID-19. Trials of hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug spruiked by US President Donald Trump, continue in the face of ongoing controversy.
Study retracted. One study had previously made global headlines after concluding hydroxychloroquine and the related drug chloroquine were associated with an increased risk of death. But the study has been retracted by prestigious medical journal The Lancet because of concerns over the data. Some clinical trials have been paused, while others continue.
The history of clinical trials. The concept of clinical trials might be new to many of us, but they have an ancient history. One of the earliest experiments happened almost 1,000 years ago in China, writes Adrian Esterman from the University of South Australia.
Will it burn out?. The original SARS virus disappeared in 2004. But Connor Bamford, a virologist from Queen’s University Belfast, says COVID-19 is unlikely to do the same because it spreads more easily than SARS. Instead, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, might become an endemic virus that settles into the human population.
Contact tracing isn’t new. Contact tracing has been an important tool in controlling COVID-19 in many countries. Two researchers from the University of Glasgow examine the history behind the idea, and how it was used to tackle the bubonic plague 500 years ago.
Development risks. Pregnant women have experienced greater anxiety and depressive symptoms since the start of the pandemic. This could affect the development of foetuses, writes Berthelot Nicolas from the University of Quebec (in French).
Get the latest news and advice on COVID-19, direct from the experts in your inbox. Join hundreds of thousands who trust experts by subscribing to our newsletter.
Kua takoto te manuka – the laying down of the manuka leaves – is part of the traditional Māori wero (challenge) that serves to symbolically question another group’s motives or intentions.
As we witness the Black Lives Matter protests spread from the US to Aotearoa-New Zealand, the wero is about facing institutional racism at home.
Among the thousands who marched in solidarity with those protesting George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis, many wondered why the well-documented police bias against Māori and other minorities hasn’t mobilised New Zealanders in the same way.
Could it be that too many of us cling to comforting myths? We became used to hearing the catch cry “this is not us” in the aftermath of the horrific Christchurch attacks. It’s a nice sentiment, and no doubt reflects a deep-seated belief of many that equality and tolerance are core cultural values. But it is not the reality experienced by many in our community.
Police Minister Stuart Nash has denied systemic racism exists in the police force. He prefers the more palatable label of “unconscious bias” – displayed by individual officers and not the force as a whole.
We argue the concept of unconscious bias only masks the problem. The inherent racism that shapes our institutions and their policies and practices, as well as the way we interact with each other daily, is the issue.
Official data support the argument that institutional racism serves to maintain a pipeline of Māori into prison. Police are usually the first point of contact with the justice system. The focus of policing the most socio-economically deprived areas has led to increased interaction with Māori, Pasifika and minority populations.
We saw this occurring in Manukau during the recently completed and apparently deeply flawed Armed Response Team trial. But the disproportionate impact of police actions on Maori has been well understood for much longer.
Compared with Pākehā, Māori are six times more likely to be handcuffed, 11 times more likely to be subdued with pepper spray, six times more likely to be batoned, nine times more likely to have dogs set on them, ten times more likely to be tasered and nine times more likely to have firearms drawn against them by police.
Over the past decade, two-thirds of all victims of fatal police shootings have been Māori or Pasifika.
Poverty and mental health must be addressed
At every step of the justice process, police, court and prison systems treat Māori differently to their non-Māori peers. The overall result is that Māori are one of the most incarcerated peoples in the world. One in every 142 Māori is in prison.
The current pandemic is making explicit many other dramatic inequalities that have long been prevalent in Aotearoa and disproportionately affect Māori. Persistent child poverty and the associated risk factors of being in state care correlate with adult incarceration.
Adding to the problem of unequal treatment of Māori by police and the criminal justice system is the growing involvement of police as first responders to people experiencing mental distress. Correspondingly, most people in prison have been diagnosed with a mental illness or substance use disorder.
Police attend an average of 94 mental health events a day across New Zealand. International research tells us people in distress are inappropriately detained in police cells for assessment and exposed to significant use of force. They experience contact with police as degrading and stigmatising. In Aotearoa, tasers have been used in mental health facilities, spaces purportedly dedicated to health and well-being.
Māori are also over-represented in mental health and addiction statistics. They are often transported or transferred from police custody to mental health facilities by police. Racism in policing and how it influences use-of-force decisions by police poses a significant risk for our most vulnerable communities.
Police must listen to those they serve
Rarely are changes to policing in Aotearoa-New Zealand shaped by the voices of people and communities most affected. Despite data showing Māori would be unequally harmed by the trialling of armed response teams, police did not consult Māori communities.
This lack of consultation with Māori was an egregious lack of good faith and a breach of the partnership principles of te Tiriti, according to advocates Julia Whaipooti and Sir Kim Workman, who sought an urgent Waitangi Tribunal hearing on the matter.
Ultimately, unconscious bias versus conscious bias is a false distinction. Discriminatory actions against people based on skin colour or ethnicity are racist. The experiences of Māori, Pacific and migrant populations show racism exists. For positive change to happen, the police must first listen to the communities they serve.
“The doors of justice, as the doors of the Ritz hotel, are open to anyone,” the late Māori legal pioneer and judge Mick Brown once said. He was quoting the flippant remarks of a 19th-century Irish judge and knew very well that many in Aotearoa were unlikely to walk through either door.
But Judge Brown’s point was deadly serious. Matching the theory and practice of non-discriminatory policing will require leadership that recognises the inherently unequal nature of the system as it exists. Only then will we see true structural and operational change.
The wero lies before the police. Will they pick up the manuka leaves?
Former East Timorese President José Ramos-Horta says it is not opportune for the government to be debating the possible criminalisation of defamation, with the risk of jeopardizing citizens’ rights.
Instead, he says, the Timor-Leste government should concentrate on issues like the economy.
“I don’t think it is a priority issue for the government. Instead of the government and the parliament wasting energy and time discussing new laws, which will constrain our democracy, it is better that they focus on the dynamisation of our economy that is completely paralysed.” he told the Portuguese news agency Lusa.
Ramos-Horta reacted yesterday to the news advanced by Lusa on Saturday that the Timorese government wants to criminalise defamation and injuries in response to situations of offence of honour, good name and reputation of individuals and entities, in the media and social networks.
The proposed measures, introduced in a draft decree-law to amend the Penal Code, prepared by the Ministry of Justice and to which Lusa had access, provide for prison sentences for defamation and injuries, for the crime of offending the prestige of a person. collective or similar, and the crime of offending the memory of a deceased person.
– Partner –
“I appeal to the Prime Minister to tell the government that we have other priorities. Let us give our society total freedom to speak and criticise,” said Ramos-Horta. | “It is what the Prime Minister must do, to show that he is above any suspicion of wanting to hamper public opinion and citizens’ rights,” he stressed.
‘Draconian’ laws Ramos-Horta recalled that some laws already passed in the media sector were considered “draconian” at the international level, contributing to lower Timor-Leste’s rating in terms of press freedom.
“I don’t see how this new law will help freedom of expression in Timor-Leste and the name of Timor-Leste as a full democracy”, he stressed.
The Timorese historical leader also criticised the fact that the proposal mixes social networks – “which are almost like a coffee conversation” with the media, even if using new technologies and platforms.
“I do not see that over the years the proliferation of social networks has affected in any way, the security, peace or development of the country and the dignity or prestige of the government,” he said.
“Governors are individuals like everyone else. It is not because they are President, Prime Minister or deputies that they are suddenly untouchable people,” he said.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner says that it is “preferable for the good name of those who are open to government” and to act only in cases where “incitement to racial violence or hatred” is taken.
Parliamentary assaults As an example, he mentions the incidents last month in the Timorese National Parliament, with assaults between deputies, overturned tables, shouting, shoving and the intervention of police officers.
“There has been no greater unrest than what has happened in Parliament. The media has faithfully reported what happened, as it reports bombastic statements that some leaders have made against each other, from different sides,” he said.
“If we do not want the media and social networks to report embarrassing things that do not dignify, let us behave with greater civility,” he said.
Even so, Ramos-Horta asked journalists to be more careful to prove facts before reporting the news, noting that there have been such examples in the country’s media.
The Pacific Media Centre republishes Antonio Sampaio‘s articles with permission.
The Yarram Standard and Great Southern Star, both of which have covered South Gippsland for well over a century, won’t be returning from their coronavirus-enforced suspensions.
The two papers are the latest in a growing number of news outlets to close their doors. The economic fallout associated with the virus has been described as an “extinction event” for the media – and news outlets in suburban, regional and rural areas are being particularly hard hit.
These challenges have renewed interest in the phenomenon of “news deserts”: towns, communities and local government areas where the supply of news appears to have been reduced to nothing.
In June 2019, the ACCC estimated there were 21 news deserts around Australia, 16 of them in rural and regional areas. This number has almost certainly grown in the period since.
The loss of local news is a concern. Local papers fill a special role in building community spirit and social cohesion in a way that metropolitan papers do not. Research shows that civic leaders believe local media does a better job of reflecting the needs of communities than state or national media.
As a researcher at the Public Interest Journalism Initiative, I have been tracking changes in news production and availability for the Australian Newsroom Mapping Project.
Our approach is simple: we are displaying what has changed in news production and availability in Australia since January 2019.
The changes we are capturing include
the entire closure of a masthead or withdrawal from broadcast license areas
the closure of a specific newsroom
changes to publication or broadcast frequency
the end of print editions.
We have logged over 200 contractions since the end of March alone, clear evidence of the “swift and savage force” with which COVID-19 has affected news.
Two types of change stand out: a greatly accelerated shift to digital-only publishing and the closures of newsrooms, particularly in regional New South Wales. Between them, these two types of change represent about two-thirds of all entries in our data.
Australian Community Media, publisher of about 160 newspapers in regional and rural areas, has closed most of its non-daily papers until the end of June. How many of them reopen next month is a big question: many of the changes in our data that were first described as temporary have become permanent.
News Corp’s recent announcement that dozens of community newspaper titles will be digital-only is the highest-profile example, but far from the only one.
It’s not all gloomy news
Though the map overwhelmingly indicates declining news availability, we are also gathering information about growth.
In Murray Bridge, South Australia, for example, a journalist furloughed from the Standard continued local coverage through his own initiative. In Horsham and Ararat, Victoria, rival publishers from nearby areas stepped in to fill the coverage gap with new papers.
And in the year prior to COVID-19, News Corp opened a dozen new digital community sites, including in regional centres like Wollongong and Newcastle.
Some of the contractions logged on our map have also improved as communities rally around their local papers.
The Cape and Torres News in northern Queensland, the Barrier Daily Truth in Broken Hill, New South Wales, and The Bunyip in Gawler, South Australia, are just a few examples of papers that have been able to return due to public support.
The challenge of news data maps
Any research is only as good as its data, and it is an enormous challenge to build a complete database of all news production across Australia. Missing a single publication can be the difference between listing a region as a news desert and not.
To be manageable, similar projects focus on commercial newspapers at the expense of other media, recognising the role print still has as the primary source of original news. This approach can provide a misleading picture in places where radio, TV or digital news are dominant.
There is also the question of where entries go on a map. We place geographic markers according to either the location of the newsroom or somewhere in the community that it primarily serves. That approach makes sense, but can misrepresent the scale of the problem.
For instance, the closure of the WIN TV newsroom in Wagga Wagga, NSW, last June affected the entire Riverina, but is represented on our map as only a small red dot in the city.
It is possible to overcome these problems, but to do so is enormously resource intensive.
A new project at Montclair University in the US, for example, is mapping local news in New Jersey, including variables such as coverage areas, population density and income. The researchers are analysing the content of each media outlet to determine if the towns it says it is covering are actually showing up in its stories.
The scale of the work required to establish a reliable map just for New Jersey seems overwhelming, and it is hard to imagine how much money and time a research team would need to replicate it nationally.
Feeling ‘in the dark’ when local newsrooms close
Building other variables into our data, such as population density or journalism jobs statistics from the ABS, is an appealing idea that could bring more nuance to our project.
The underlying data for our work is open to public scrutiny and we have benefited enormously from submissions, which help us gain better insight into local media across the country.
Readers sometimes reach out to tell me about the importance of their local paper for community life. One reader of the Dungog Chronicle in Dungog, NSW, which closed in April, wrote
its closure diminishes our strength as a community, our identity as a Shire, and our willingness to take part in local decision-making.
The newspaper was first published in 1888 and covered the city for more than 130 years. The reader told me,
There is less spring in our step without the Chronicle. It has been a faithful conduit for all local news for the 30+ years that I have been here, and I feel in the dark without it.
One-fifth of Australian women still don’t receive mental health checks both before and after the birth of their baby, our research published today has found. Although access to recommended perinatal mental health screening has more than tripled since 2000, thanks largely to government investment in perinatal mental health, our surveys show there is still some way to go before every mum gets the mental health screening needed.
Mental health issues are one of the most common complications of pregnancy. Up to 20% of women report anxiety or depression either during pregnancy or in the first year after their baby is born.
Australia has invested substantially in perinatal mental health screening. From 2001 to 2005, BeyondBlue’s National Postnatal Depression Program screened 52,000 women and reached out to 200,000 families.
National clinical practice guidelines on perinatal mental health care were introduced in 2011 and updated in 2017. In 2019 the federal government committed A$36 million to support the emotional health and well-being of Australian women and families.
Has it worked?
The lack of national government data collection on perinatal mental health screening makes it hard to tell whether this public health investment has paid off.
Our study, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, is the first to track perinatal screening over time in a national sample. It included 7,566 mothers and 9384 children from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, which was started in 1996.
We asked mothers whether a health professional had asked them any questions about their emotional well-being, including completing a questionnaire. We mapped screening rates between 2000 and 2017 and compared them to policy initiatives and clinical practice guidelines.
We found the percentage of women being screened both during and after pregnancy has more than tripled since 2000, from 21.3% in 2000 to 79.3% in 2017. The percentage of women reporting they were not screened at all fell from 40.6% in 2000 to 1.7% in 2017.
Our data shows a clear improvement in access to mental health screening. There was a decline in the percentage of women who were only screened once, and an increase in the percentage who were screened both during and after pregnancy. Notably, this widespread transition from single to double screening (the point marked “b” in the graph above) coincided with the introduction of the Perinatal Mental Health National Action Plan and the National Perinatal Depression Initiative, suggesting these policies have delivered real improvements.
However, the timing of this transition differed by state. For the three states covered by our study, it happened in 2008 in New South Wales, 2009 in Victoria, and 2010 in Queensland. This might be due to state-based differences in the previous policies and clinical practice, and readiness to implement national initiatives.
What is still to be done?
While our results show there’s been real improvement, it nevertheless remains the case that in 2017, one in five women didn’t receive the recommended mental health screening.
What’s more, women who had reported emotional distress were 23% less likely, and older mothers 35% less likely, to be screened both during and after pregnancy.
Screening is not yet universal – and it needs to be.
There are barriers to screening, including lack of time and potential over-diagnosis. Also, some women who screen positive for mental health problems might not engage in treatment. However, women who are asked about their current and past mental health are up to 16 times more likely to receive a referral for further support. We need to ask mothers about their mental health.
Clinical practice guidelines recommend screening for symptoms of anxiety and depression during pregnancy and during the first year after giving birth. This can be done by trained health professionals. Access to well-integrated and culturally safe care is essential.
Systematic national data collection is required if clinical best practice is to be monitored into the future. Perinatal mental health items have been developed as part of the National Maternity Data Development Project, and should be progressed as a priority.
Women have regular contact with the health system both before and after giving birth. This offers a great chance to identify women who need extra mental health support, and it is too important to be missed.
How far away can dogs smell and hear? Georgina, age 8, Warrawee, New South Wales.
Great question Georgina. We know and learn about the world around us through our senses. The senses of smell and hearing in dogs mean they experience a different world to us.
Dogs also have a lot more surface area in their noses and are better at moving air through their noses than us. Watch a dog sniffing and you can see this for yourself. If more air passes through their nose they have more chance to pick up smells.
How far dogs can smell depends on many things, such as the wind and the type of scent. Under perfect conditions, they have been reported to smell objects or people as far as 20km away.
You might be interested to know dogs are not the only great smellers. The scientific family dogs belong to is Carnivora. This includes cats, bears and skunks.
These animals have incredible senses of smell as well. Bears have some of the best senses of smell in the family. Polar bears can smell seals, which they hunt, from more than 30km away.
How would it feel if you knew just by smell when your best friend was in the next room, even if you couldn’t see them? Wouldn’t you love to know where your parents had hidden your favourite chocolate biscuits in the pantry, just by sniffing them out?
Dog the detector
This amazing sense of smell means dogs have some of the most interesting jobs of any animal: the detection dog.
One thing that might still puzzle you is why, when dogs have such a great sense of smell, they like to smell things that are disgusting to us, like other dogs’ bottoms. That’s a story for another day.
Hear and far
Now we know dogs can smell lots of things from far away, what about their hearing? What can dogs hear, and from how far? To find out, first we have to talk about what dogs and all animals (including us) hear: sound frequencies.
Sounds have waves. The frequency of sound is how close together the sound waves are. The closer together the waves, the higher the frequency or pitch. You can think of this like the beach during a storm, when waves hit the beach more often.
Dogs and people hear about the same at low frequencies of sound (around 20Hz). This changes at high frequencies of sound, where dogs hear up to 70-100kHz, much better than people at only 20kHz. Dogs hear sound frequencies at least three times as high compared to people.
You may have wondered how those special silent dog whistles work? They make high-frequency sounds that dogs can hear but we can’t. Because dogs can hear higher frequencies than us, there are a lot more sounds for dogs to hear.
They can also hear sounds that are softer or farther away, as far as a kilometre. That means dogs can be more sensitive to loud sounds. This is why some dogs are scared of fireworks or thunderstorms. It is also why a dog might bark at a sound you cannot hear.
Prick up your ears
Part of how dogs hear so well has to do with their ear muscles. Dogs have more than a dozen muscles that allow them to tilt, lift and rotate each ear independently of one another.
This helps dogs locate where sounds come from. It is also part of why dogs may tilt their heads to some sounds. Police who use dogs say the first sign their dog has located a suspect is when they see their ears move around to focus on a place.
Having great hearing also helps dogs with another one of their interesting jobs: the assistance dog. Assistance dogs work with people who need help in their daily lives, such as those who are blind or deaf.
Excellent hearing means dogs can identify people arriving at a home or oncoming traffic at a walkway. With such great hearing, dogs can help people in need navigate the world around them too!
Thinking about different senses is a great way to learn about all animals. What are their senses like? How does that help them think about the world differently to us?
This was a fantastic question, Georgina, and we hope you enjoyed these answers as much as we enjoyed answering them.
Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au
A recent media report noted student teachers are facing delays in sitting a literacy and numeracy test they need to pass to graduate, due to the pandemic.
The report noted a group of student teachers have petitioned education minister Dan Tehan to scrap the Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education Students (LANTITE) this year, and indefinitely.
The group puts forward a number of reasons for getting rid of the test all teachers must pass before graduating:
the test is discriminatory
it tests only a small subset of the skills teachers need
making LANTITE a requirement for graduation stops the university awarding the degree in which the student is enrolled, even in cases where all university courses have been passed (and more than A$40,000 in HECS-HELP debt accumulated).
So, what is the LANTITE and should it be scrapped?
Why the test was introduced
The LANTITE is a computer based test student teachers must pass before graduating. It consists of two sections – literacy and numeracy – with two hours given for each.
Higher education providers use the national literacy and numeracy test to demonstrate that all preservice teachers are within the top 30% of the population in personal literacy and numeracy.
The need for the test has been widely discussed in education circles. For instance, education experts have put forward the test is unnecessary because Australia’s teachers have among the highest literacy levels in the OECD.
Others have drawn attention to the limitations of what the test measures. Functional literacy and numeracy are, of course, crucial skills for teachers. But there are a wide range of skills that make a good teacher and they can’t all be measured by a multiple-choice test.
In all standardised tests like LANTITE, NAPLAN and PISA (the Programme for International Student Assessment), the questions rely on a context. This brings with it some assumptions around the “right” way to solve problems and vocabulary associated with the context rather than the skill being tested.
For instance, some of the numeracy questions in the LANTITE have been criticised for being too open to interpretation. Multiple answers are possible, depending on the way the question is read and how the reader interprets the vocabulary.
Several research studieshave found standardised testing reduces diverse ways of understanding a problem and has coincided with a decrease in ethnic diversity of the teaching workforce.
Barriers to LANTITE access
Social distancing rules have made it more difficult for student teachers to take the literacy and numeracy test, but there were already significant barriers.
The testing sites are usually in metropolitan areas. There are regional test centres, but these usually don’t have as many places and aren’t available in all four annual test windows.
This means students in regional areas need to plan more carefully and think further ahead to ensure they get a place in the test centre, in the test window, that will allow them to graduate on time.
Many students drive to metropolitan areas and book overnight accommodation so they can arrive at the test centre well rested and ready. This is only possible for those who have the means.
For students who can’t get to a test centre, “remote proctoring” is available, where the space in which the student takes the test is monitored by audio and video through their computer. Access to this relies on having computer hardware that meets minimum standards, a stable internet connection, as well as a quiet environment where the test can be taken at the designated time without interruption.
Unfortunately, Australia’s internet network is not so reliable.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, remote proctoring is the only option available, but the test provider can’t provide enough places for all students who need to take the test this year. Not being able to do the test will delay students’ graduation and future employment prospects.
Cost is another barrier to access. To complete both literacy and numeracy components of the test costs $196, which is a lot for a student living near the poverty line. Research emerging from Murdoch University has revealed the test takes an emotional and financial toll on many student teachers.
Some students want to put off taking the test for as long as possible, to give themselves the best chance of passing the first time.
This means if they fail, they not only need to find the money again, but they have limited time to do so without delaying their graduation.
There is a “three strikes” rule – meaning if a student teacher fails either the literacy or numeracy component three times, they can’t take it again.
As LANTITE success is required for graduation from a teaching degree, all of these barriers create significant problems for student teachers.
Is the test working?
Because LANTITE is part of a suite of reforms, it’s not possible to determine whether the test has made an impact on the number or quality of teachers entering the profession.
A housing boom that lasted from the mid-1980s with only minor interruptions has added to rising income inequality in Australia. Yet an impending housing market bust, triggered by the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting spike in unemployment, will not restore greater equality. On the contrary, recent history shows housing busts can worsen inequality.
Those who benefit most from a boom are not those who pay the price when it busts. And those harmed by the boom often become even more vulnerable during the bust.
Our analysis highlights the risks for people who bought their first home at the peak of the boom. We estimate 24,000 households are at very high risk because they took out large loans that might soon exceed their home value and also work in sectors with high job losses. Another 135,200 are at high risk and 121,000 are at moderate risk.
Experts have long cited an upsurge in unemployment as the main threat to house price growth. This risk became reality with the coronavirus pandemic. Over the seven weeks from mid-March to early May, jobs fell by 7.3%.
Unless employment rapidly recovers, the housing market is facing a major downturn. In one worst-case scenario released by the Commonwealth Bank, house prices could fall by up to 32% over the next two years.
Recent first-time buyers are most vulnerable
Households that can hold on to their homes and weather the storm until the market recovers are not substantially harmed. Established owners, who bought their homes before or early in the boom years, have enjoyed the largest increase in their home values, and the largest reductions in their debt. This puts them in a position of relative resilience to a housing market bust.
In contrast, evidence from the 2008 housing crisis in the United States shows which households are most at risk. These were households that bought their first home with no deposit, or a very low one, in the period leading up to the 2008 crash. The crash left these households “underwater”, trapped with an asset worth less than their mortgage debt. Many defaulted on their mortgages, fuelling the housing market’s downward spiral.
The Australian housing market and financial institutions differ from those in the United States in 2008 in fundamental ways. Still, Australian households that bought their houses at the peak of the boom and have now lost their jobs in the coronavirus pandemic are facing the highest risk.
These include 24,000 recent (2014-5 to 2017-18) first home buyers who borrowed over 80% of the value of their home and were employed in industries where jobs have now collapsed. Another 135,200 recent first home buyers with high loan-to-valuation ratios are also at risk of going “underwater”, with homes worth less than their debt. Many of them are also in precarious employment, irrespective of the pandemic. (These figures do not include first home buyers in 2018-19, for which data are not yet available.)
Many private renters hope a housing downturn will translate into lower rents and perhaps give them a chance to buy their first home in a more affordable market. However, this is not always the case in a downturn. In the US from 2007 to 2009, despite declining house prices, rental affordability stress has only increased.
However, in the longer run, the slowdown in housing construction will create supply shortages, leaving rental vacancies low and rents high. Many landlords, mostly “mum and dad” investors, have taken large loans to finance their property investment. They will need to keep rents high to hold on to their investment properties.
Lower house prices will enable some households to become home owners for the first time, after being locked out of the market during the boom years. These households could benefit from a coronavirus housing bust if the market then recovers. Even so, their gains will do little to change the overall trend of rising inequality made worse by the housing downturn.
We need to flatten out booms and busts
Improved housing affordability is necessary to reduce social and economic inequality. A housing downturn will reduce house prices. But this downturn, when coupled with rising unemployment, will not deliver greater equality, especially if it’s followed by yet another boom.
Australia has flattened the curve of COVID-19 infections. To be successful in reducing inequality, we need to flatten the curve of both booms and busts in the housing market cycle. And only a thorough overhaul of national housing policy will achieve that.
Chronicling four generations of two families, Felicity Volk’s Desire Lines is set against landmarks of 20th century Australian history, encompassing a geographical span that begins in the Arctic Circle and ends in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales.
Desire Lines is a richly textured celebration of Australia – its landscape, sights, sounds, seasons – while holding in close focus the inner lives of its characters. It is epic in scale, but also an unfolding love story that keeps the reader guessing until the very end.
Paddy O’Connor’s trajectory is set by the flip of his gambler father’s “lucky coin” abandoning him (rather than his infant brother) to the systematic cruelties of a London orphanage, and then the hard labour of a farm school far west of Sydney.
This spinning coin makes a recurrent trope for decision-making. The inability to decide; the urgencies and waylaying of desire.
Desire lines are the paths formed not by designers, but by human feet: the paths of dirt traced into grass as people walk the route they desire, not the route of the path laid out for them.
As Paddy, now a successful architect, reflects:
… when deciding where to put footpaths around an edifice, a pragmatic architect would plant grass and watch for where the trampled tracks appeared. A pragmatic architect would pave those.
Evie’s first meeting with Paddy at her grandparents’ market stall initiates love scenes of unusual tenderness and physical immediacy, overseen by a writer whose nuanced style moves with ease between the lyrically descriptive and the gently ironic.
Building and planting and travelling bring the parallel storylines of Paddy and Evie into convergence, setting up their rhythm of meeting and parting and meeting again.
Through the eyes of babes
Paddy and Evie’s inner lives are finely delineated from earliest childhood, to sexual awakening, to “the sweetness of rapprochement” in old age.
Volk acutely observes seven-year-old Paddy’s suffering in the face of his father’s violent abuse of his mother. In the agony of separation and loss he continues to write to Mammy, who “comes to him in dream, her face sharp and familiar”. He is always imagining their reunion. But before long, her sparse replies cease.
The bond Paddy forged with his friends from the orphanage, Rusty and Fionnoula, is shockingly broken when he discovers their dead bodies in a farm shed, covered by brown hessian:
… guttural noises spilled from his mouth. He was a stranger to his ears.
Seeing without fully understanding their grooming and sadistic punishments, he blames himself for not preventing their suicide pact:
It would walk beside him and be buried with him, preparing the way before him, so that he would fall into its abyss over and over again with every step that he took.
The reader understands Paddy’s failures of courage. Evie will find impossible to forgive him.
As a child, in the Edenic space of a lavender maze, Evie becomes aware of a man watching and grunting in an activity that threatens her:
with a dread she didn’t know but seemed to have known for ever […] a truth so ugly it may as well have been a lie; best not to give words to it.
Rescued by a kindly Aboriginal gardener and presented with one of his yam daisies, she is is confirmed in her life’s work as a conservator of botanical species.
The high-point of Evie’s work as a conservationist comes in her depositing Australian seeds in the Global Seed Vault in Norway. Invested in her seeds is hope for the survival of the planet and its ecology; hopes for people and what they hold dear.
Living hope
Volk’s novel asks: to what extent are our lives laid out for us by the determinations of heredity and environment? What degrees of freedom can we claim? And how can the integrity of the self be reconciled with the needs and rights of others?
“Are you still a liar?” Evie fires off in a text message to her estranged lover as the novel’s first sentence. She has learnt lying is endemic in the adult world, and the nation’s history.
Being true to her love for Paddy, she is forced to lose custody of her children. He maintains the lie of a happy and faithful marriage to Ann; his children enjoy the stability and security he was denied.
Eventually, Evie realises she has reached the end of her patience. “Are you still a liar?” she keeps sending on their anniversaries across years and miles: a question that keeps hope alive by its very constancy. Hope that by coincidence, determination and vulnerability, desire will draw them together at last.
In its latest move to spur business investment, the government will extend its $150,000 instant assets write-off until the end of the year.
The six-months extension, which will be legislated, will cost $300 million in revenue over the forward estimates.
As part of the government’s pandemic emergency measures, in March it announced that until June 30 the write-off threshold would be $150,000 and the size of businesses eligible would be those with turnovers of under $500 million.
The government is battling a major investment slump. Bureau of Statistics capital expenditure figures show non-mining investment fell 23% in the March quarter and 9% over the year to March.
Spending on plant and equipment fell 21%, spending on buildings and equipment plunged 25%.
An extra six months
Apart from giving businesses generally more time to claim the write-off, the government says the extension will help those which have been hit by supply chain delays caused by the pandemic.
The write-off helps businesses’ cash flow by bringing forward tax deductions. The $150,000 applies to individual assets – new or secondhand – therefore a single enterprise can write off a number of assets under the concession.
With rain breaking the drought in many areas, farm businesses are getting back into production, so the government will hope the extension will encourage spending on agricultural equipment.
About 3.5 million businesses are eligible under the scheme.
The instant asset write-off has been extended a number of times over the years, and its (much more modest) thresholds altered.
On the government’s revised timetable, from January 1 the write-off is due to be scaled down dramatically, reducing to a threshold of $1000 and with eligibility being confined to small businesses – those with an annual turnover of below $10 million.
But there will be pressure to continue with more generous arrangements, to head off the danger of a fresh collapse in investment.
In a statement, treasurer Josh Frydenberg and small business minister Michaelia Cash said the government’s actions “are designed to support business sticking with investment they had planned, and encourage them to bring investment forward to support economic growth over the near term”.
“Covid-free” New Zealand has moved early today to its lowest restrictions – alert level 1.
The change happened at midnight after New Zealanders had done something “remarkable” by uniting in the fight against covid-19, says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
After praising New Zealand’s response to the virus yesterday, she revealed the country would be moving to alert level 1 from last night.
“At level 1 we expect the continuation of recovery,” Ardern said.
She said the country was ready, now 40 days since the last recorded case of community transmission, 26 days after entering alert level 2, 17 days since a new case, and less than 24 hours since having zero active cases recorded.
– Partner –
Ardern said New Zealand had achieved one of the lowest rates of covid-19 per capita in the world.
“Now under level 1 you can, if you want, go back to your place of work.”
NZ borders remain closed Ardern revealed last week that under level 1 there would be effectively no restrictions on day to day life and business, but New Zealand’s borders would remain closed.
Today she again highlighted that the measures at the border were critical to allowing the move to the looser restrictions.
“They will continue to be critical and that means applying a really critical analysis if and when we come to a position we believe another country is in a similar position to us and therefore we can safely travel between.”
Starting this week, everyone arriving in New Zealand will be tested twice during their 14-day isolation period.
The economic impact of restrictions over the almost three months had also been less than expected, and economic recovery was believed to be quicker than expected, Ardern said.
“We are not immune to what is happening in the rest of the world, but unlike the rest of the world not only have we protected New Zealanders’ health, we now have a head-start on our economic recovery.”
Still a risk of infection She warned, however, that there was still a risk of further infection of covid-19, and that it would continue to be seen overseas.
She asked all New Zealanders to keep a record of where they had been during level 1, either by using the tracing app or keeping their own record.
“If we get one or two cases in the future – which will remain possible for some time to come due to the global situation and nature of the virus – we need to shut down those cases fast. The last thing … we want to do is move up the alert level system again.”
Ardern said businesses and organisations would continue to be encouraged to display QR codes so New Zealanders using the tracing app could use it to keep a record for themselves of where they had been and when, but manual sign-in would be no longer required.
She said the QR codes would remain voluntary for now, but the government was also looking into how it could supply them to businesses rather than having to wait for them to apply.
She said the government was keen to take advantage of flexible working but maintain strong and vibrant central business districts, so had asked the State Services Commission to release new guidance about how best to do that.
“While the job is not done, there is no denying this is a milestone, so let me finish with just a simple ‘thank you, New Zealand’.”
No active cases Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the announcement followed the news today that New Zealand had no active cases.
“Yes we have been cautious but we have not been overcautious.”
He said the ministry had not been “saving that up”.
Ardern said she did “a little dance” when she found out there are no active cases in New Zealand, and Dr Bloomfield said he allowed himself a broad smile.
He said the ministry was confident it had eliminated community transmission in New Zealand.
Cabinet’s deliberations on level 1 were brought forward a fortnight, following better-than-expected case numbers and calls from Labour’s coalition partner New Zealand First.
There would be contact tracing measures and testing and workplaces would have to keep up certain health and safety requirements.
Opposition leader ‘delighted’ Opposition National Party leader Todd Muller said today was “a day of celebration”.
He said that while he made it clear last week that the advice seemed to suggest the country could have made the move earlier, he was “delighted” by today’s decision.
“It’s a day of acknowledgement actually of the collective effort that we’ve all made to get to this point and I think all New Zealanders deserve a moment of quiet satisfaction that between us all we’ve managed to achieve this outcome,” he said.
Muller said most people would be feeling an overwhelming sense of relief at the news, and the focus now needed to be on New Zealand’s economic recovery.
“Talking to businesses over the last few weeks, they have never done it so tough. There are thousands upon thousands of businesses that are holding on by their fingernails,” Muller said.
“And now, of course, with some semblance of normality from tonight, that will give them some confidence, but they’re actually going to need, in my view, a National government with a comprehensive economic recovery plan to give them the true confidence to rebuild.”
Speaking after the announcement, Trusts Arena chief executive Mark Gosling said the decision on level 1 would be good for some venues, but others would continue to struggle.
Gosling said the news was great for domestic-focused venues, but others would find it tough to operate with ongoing border restrictions.
“For a lot of the venues that rely on international content … as in international acts, so the All Blacks being able to play against Wales and venues to have concerts by international artists, none of that kind of content can happen right now.”
Gosling said there needed to be more transparency on what would happen with the borders, especially as it took months to organise international content.
This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.
If you havesymptomsof the coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 (+64 9 358 5453 for international SIMs) or call your GP – don’t show up at a medical centre.
Australian economists narrowly back a wage freeze in the minimum wage case now before the Fair Work Commission, a freeze that could flow through to millions of Australians on awards and affect the wages of millions more through the enterprise bargaining process.
The annual case is in its final stages after having begun before the coronavirus crisis and been extended to take account of its implications.
In its submission, the Australian government called for a “cautious approach”, prioritising the need to keep Australians in jobs and maintain the viability of businesses.
The minimum wage was last frozen in 2009 amid concern about unemployment during the global financial crisis.
The Economic Society of Australia and The Conversation polled 42 of Australia’s leading economists in the fields of microeconomics, macroeconomics, economic modelling and public policy.
Among them were former and current government advisers, a former and current member of the Reserve Bank board, and a former head of the Australian Fair Pay Commission.
Each was asked whether they agreed, disagreed, or strongly agreed or strongly disagreed with this proposition:
A freeze in the minimum wage will support Australia’s economic recovery
Each was asked to rate the confidence they had in their opinion, and to provide reasons, which are published in full in The Conversation.
Half of those surveyed – 21 out of 42 – backed the proposition, seven of them “strongly”.
Nineteen disagreed, seven strongly. Two were undecided.
There was agreement among most of those surveyed that, in normal times, normal increases in the minimum wage have little impact on employment – a view backed by Australian and international research.
But several of those surveyed pointed out that these are not normal times.
Bad times for employers…
Gigi Foster said many businesses were operating closer to the margin of profitability than ever before, and were likely to stay that way for many months.
Rana Roy quoted one the pioneers of modern economics, Joan Robinson, as observing in 1962 that the misery of being exploited by capitalists was “nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all”.
John Freebairn argued that a freeze of labour costs, together with very low expected inflation, could provide a key element of certainty in the uncertain world facing households, businesses and governments.
Robert Breunig and Tony Makin suggested that with prices stable or possibly falling, a freeze in the minimum wage might cost workers little or nothing in terms of purchasing power.
Guay Lim and several others said if the government wanted the economic stimulus that would come from an increase in the minimum wage, it had other ways of bringing it about without making conditions more difficult for employers.
…and bad times for workers
Those supporting an increase saw it as a way to bolster consumer confidence and redress unusually weak worker bargaining power.
Wage growth before the coronavirus hit was historically low at close to 2%, an outcome so weak for so long that in 2018 and 2019 the Commission awarded much bigger increases in the minimum wage, arguing employers could afford them.
James Morley was concerned that a freeze in the minimum wage would “mostly just lock in” inflation expectations that were already too low.
Peter Abelson said labour productivity rose with respect for workers and fell with disrespect. A wage freeze would disrespect workers.
Saul Eslake proposed a middle way, deferring a decision rather than granting no increase. He said the increase that was eventually granted should do no more than keep pace with inflation.
The economists were asked to rate their confidence in their responses on a scale of 1 to 10.
Unweighted for confidence, 45.3% of those surveyed opposed a wage freeze. When weighted for (relatively weak) confidence, opposition fell to 43.5%.
Unweighted for confidence, half of those surveyed supported the proposition that a freeze in the minimum wage would assist Australia’s economic recovery.
Weighted for confidence, support grew to 51.6%
The Fair Work Commission is required to complete its review by the end of this month.
Are there good or bad signature patterns for countries. The most obvious answer is that every country should ideally look like Portugal in 2019. Government sector and foreign sector balances would be close to zero. Private sector balances would also be close to zero, with household surpluses (net household saving) offset by business deficits (borrowing and investment spending). We cannot be sure that the private sector was actually like that in 2019; in the years before the global financial crisis there was actually a common pattern in some countries of business saving offset by substantial extensions to household debt.
In reality, the perfect signature combination for a growing economy is closest to those of Portugal in 1989 or 1992: private surpluses at about four percent of gross domestic product (GDP), with government deficits also about four percent of GDP. Further, while foreign balances are ideally about zero, foreign surpluses of upto five percent of GDP are not necessarily a problem.
In normal years in most of our lifetimes, GDP has grown by about five percent a year – three percentage points on average due to economic growth and two percentage points on average due to inflation. So signature imbalances that are within five percent should not be seen as a problem.
What is interesting from these charts is to see what is the historical norm for a country, and then to see departures from that norm as an important economic story for that country, and maybe for the world economy as a whole. Major world events should show up in all capitalist economies’ charts, as deviations from their normal financial signatures. For example, the Covid19 pandemic will show up as a significant government deficit event for all countries, regardless of what came before.
For Portugal we can see that government deficits and private surpluses are normal, but that a big change occurred from the late 1990s to the early 2010s
Early 1980s
Before 1985, for both countries there is no IMF data available for government deficits that was collected on the same basis as post-1985 data. But we do know that the early 1980s were years of very high oil prices, though ameliorated each year from 1982 by general inflation exceeding oil inflation. (The early 1980s was also a time in which, in most countries, interest rates were lower than inflation; meaning negative effective interest rates.)
Large foreign sector surpluses were normal for all oil-importing countries in the early 1980s. This meant that oil-exporting countries were lending heavily to oil-importing countries; that is, much oil was being purchased ‘on credit’ and not being paid for by commensurate imports.
In New Zealand we know of this time as the ‘late-Muldoon period’. The purple columns represent New Zealand domestic balances – private and government combined into one. We know enough about that time in New Zealand to be sure that, if we had the full information, the purple would have been essentially red.
For Portugal that is also almost certainly true until 1983 (and for the same reasons as in New Zealand), with 1984 being much like 2012 and 1985 looking more like 2013; ie blue above the zero line and plenty of red below it.
The 1990s
New Zealand’s crisis of the 1987 to 1992 period is understated by the chart. It is most evidenced by the few years of private sector surpluses; unusual for New Zealand though normal for most countries.
Portugal shows signs of a financial crisis in 1985 and 1986; after that, until 1996, it looks like a picture of normality. New Zealand moved to its new normal in 1993. Indeed Portugal joined the European Union in 1986, so it was a period of uncertainty that soon eased. In 1996 Portugal had a change of government, and took major steps towards fuller integration into the European Union; and integration that would see Portugal as an enthusiastic adopter of the Euro currency in 1999.
So, what was happening in Portugal from 1996 was a substantial inflow of ‘investment’ mainly from the richer northern European Union countries. We see that this intra-EU investment is partly supporting government spending in Portugal, and partly supporting private spending.
The 2000s and 2010s
This was a period in which Portugal’s private sector emulated New Zealand’s, but without having a floating currency. New Zealand always had the ability to rebalance through a substantial adjustment to its currency, as indeed occurred in the global financial crisis of 2008-09. Further, much of the ‘offshore funding’ to New Zealand’s private sector was conducted in New Zealand dollars, so a fall in the New Zealand dollar would not create an aggravated crisis of foreign debt. New Zealand had found a way to live with private sector deficits as its norm. Few countries have ever been able to do that.
In the 2000s, Portugal experienced about three percent inflation every year, about the norm for any advanced capitalist country. The problem was that it was part of a fixed currency zone in which the dominant country – Germany – had annual inflation rates of under two percent. (So, the easiest way to read the green in Portugal’s chart is to think ‘Germany’.)
Portugal’s economy was becoming mortgaged to, in particular, Germany’s private sector. The forces bringing this about were coming mainly from Germany; Germany’s savers were seeing Portugal as an excellent ‘investment opportunity’. Portugal could not really stop this, even if it had wanted to.
As the 2000s progressed, Portugal’s ‘real exchange rate’ increased relative to Germany’s. This situation meant that economic resources in Portugal shifted towards its non-tradable sectors (most services, and construction) whereas economic resources in Germany shifted towards its tradable sectors (especially manufacturing and tradable services). So, it meant Portugal kept importing more from Germany, and exporting less to Germany, making Portugal’s private and public sectors evermore indebted to German investors.
This situation put Portugal into deflation in 2009 and 2014, and recession from 2009 to 2014.
After that, Portugal returned to its normal signature pattern of balances. Then, from 2018, near zero inflation, slow growth and Eurozone policy seem have modified that norm, creating less willingness from government to run deficit balances.
In the meantime, New Zealand remains a darling of the foreign creditor community, with that community happy to keep enabling substantial private sector deficit spending. That community is safe in the knowledge that New Zealand poses few risks, even when New Zealand makes economic and political reforms.
2020-21
All countries will show government financial deficits in 2020 and most likely 2021. Economic crises always lead to private sector surpluses. So, both Portugal and New Zealand will show blue balances much higher than usual, and red balances much more negative than usual. Because Portugal’s normal private balance is higher than New Zealand’s, so will its Covid19 private balance be higher than New Zealand’s. And because Portugal’s normal government deficit is bigger than New Zealand’s, then Portugal’s Covid19 government deficit will be bigger than New Zealand’s. Further, although Portugal has managed Covid19 better than most of the Eurozone countries, it has still a much greater pandemic problem than New Zealand. Portugal can expect balances like 1987 or 2014 for a few years. New Zealand may have a year with a balance like 1991, then a year with a balance like 1988, and then maybe a few years like 2015.
Both Portugal’s and New Zealand’s economies have similar-sized economies, though Portugal’s GDP is less per person. The countries have very different histories, though both are renowned for their maritime trade. Portugal will continue to have to fall into line with European Union norms. New Zealand will continue to have the freedom to follow its own path, and with the benefit of a more vibrant Asia to trade with.
The University of the South Pacific’s vice-chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, a Canadian, has been told to step down to allow for independent investigations relating to allegations of misconduct and breaches of USP policies and procedures.
FBC News has independently verified that the USP executive committee, which met this morning, has decided that allegations against Professor Ahluwalia need to be looked into.
This arises from a report compiled by the chair of the risk and audit committee, Mahmood Khan, listing numerous incidents of alleged breaches by the USP vice-chancellor.
However, Pacific Media Watch cites a Samoa Observer report at the weekend saying that the students and staff association had called for a halt to the “harassment” of Professor Ahluwalia and for the “investigation” to be dropped.
The governments of Nauru, Tonga and New Zealand have also called on the 12-nation university council to stop pursuing the investigation.
– Partner –
A Fiji coopted member of Khan’s committee resigned today in protest, saying he was “not going to be a party to this surprise move” by Khan.
“What spurred Mr Khan to make this surprise move is a mystery,” said Semi Tukana, founder and chief executive of two companies, Software Factory and CloudApp Laboratories.
“There is no urgency here to warrant a rushed approach to the handling of his complaint as the university is continuing to operate well even under the current health and economic crisis.”
FBC News approached Professor Ahluwalia earlier today, but he referred the reporter to the university’s communications department.
In an email reponse, FBC News was told that the vice-chancellor would not make any public statements on this matter and all responses will be communicated directly to the USP Council.
It also said Professor Ahluwalia had absolute faith that the USP Council would deal with this matter “diligently”.
Edwin Nand is a multimedia journalist of FBC News.
Free childcare will end on July 12, with the government saying it has “done its job” and demand is now increasing for places as the economy is reopening.
The system will return to the previous mean tested childcare subsidy scheme but with some transition funding for the sector and help for parents whose circumstances have been hit by the pandemic.
JobKeeper will end from July 20 for employees of providers, but there will be a $708 million in funding for services to replace JobKeeper from July 13 until September 27.
This funding will pay childcare services 25% of the fee revenue they received before COVID saw the sector crashing.
Two conditions will be imposed on services as part of the transition funding. Fees will be capped at the level they were in late February, and services will have to guarantee employment levels to protect staff who will move off JobKeeper.
The government will ease the activity test until October 4 to support families whose employment has been affected by the pandemic. During this time, these families will be able to receive up to 100 hours a fortnight of subsidised care.
Education Minister Dan Tehan said on Monday “this will assist families to return to the level of work, study or training they were undertaking before COVID-19”.
The removal of free childcare will be a big first test of the political reaction to the government winding back COVID emergency help.
The government’s announcement will also test the fallout when JobKeeper assistance, which was set to run until late September, is taken away in certain circumstances or replaced by industry-specific assistance.
The JobKeeper program in general is currently being reviewed, with the results made public in late July, when the government gives an economic and fiscal update.
The emergency free childcare package was brought in because the sector was experiencing mass withdrawals of children, which threatened its ability to continue providing care, especially for the children of essential workers.
The government budgeted for its three month package to cost $1.6 billion, including the JobKeeper payment. It had left open the possibility of an extension.
Asked for the difference between continuing JobKeeper and moving to the transition payment, Tehan said this was still being worked out, but the transition measure would “probably be a tiny bit less than what JobKeeper would be”. But he said the sector preferred the transition payment because “it spreads more equitably the support right across the sector”.
Tehan said a review of the child care relief package had “found it had succeeded in its objective of keeping services open and viable, with 99% of around 13,400 services operational” on May 27.
“Because of our success at flattening the curve, Australia is re-opening for business and that means an increase in demand for child care places, with attendance currently at 74% of pre-COVID levels.”
Labor’s shadow minister for early childhood education, Amanda Rishworth, said the decision could “act as a handbrake on the economy. If women and families are not able to access affordable childcare, how are they going to get back to work?”
Australian Greens education spokesperson senator Mehreen Faruqi labelled the decision “an anti-women move”.
“We know that a significant proportion of families currently accessing free childcare will now be forced to reduce their work days or completely remove their little ones from care. Let’s be honest: it will mostly be women who are forced out of work now,” she said.
The Parenthood advocacy group said thousands of parents would have to take their children out of early childhood education and care because they would not be able to afford it.
This week’s Newspoll, conducted June 3-6 from a sample of 1,510, gave the Coalition a 51-49 lead, unchanged from three weeks ago. Primary votes were 42% Coalition (down one), 34% Labor (down one), 12% Greens (up two) and 4% One Nation (up one).
Scott Morrison maintained his high coronavirus crisis ratings. 66% were satisfied with his performance (steady) and 29% dissatisfied (down one), for a net approval of +37. Anthony Albanese’s net approval dropped four points to +3; his ratings peaked at +11 in late April. Morrison led as better PM by 56-26 (56-29 three weeks ago).
This Newspoll maintains the situation where Morrison is very popular, but the Coalition is not benefiting from his popularity to the extent that would normally be expected. Six weeks ago, when Morrison’s net approval was +40, analyst Kevin Bonham said the Coalition’s expected two party vote was between 54% and 60%.
Respondents were asked whether various organisations had a positive, negative or neutral impact on the coronavirus pandemic around the world. The World Health Organisation was at 34% positive, 32% negative and the United Nations was at 23% positive, 21% negative. Coalition voters were most likely to give the WHO and UN poor marks.
Xi Jinping and the Chinese government was at just 6% positive, 72% negative. Donald Trump and the US government was at 9% positive, 79% negative.
Seventy-nine percent thought the Morrison government was doing the right thing by pushing for an independent inquiry into the origins and handling of coronavirus against Chinese objections. By 59-29, voters thought Australia should prioritise the US relationship over China. There was more support for China from Labor and Greens voters.
Queensland YouGov poll: 52-48 to LNP
The Queensland election will be held on October 31. A YouGov poll for The Sunday Mail, conducted last week from a sample of over 1,000, gave the LNP a 52-48 lead, a two-point gain for the LNP since the January YouGov. Primary votes were 38% LNP (up three), 32% Labor (down two), 12% One Nation (down three) and 12% Greens (up two). Figures from The Poll Bludger.
Despite Labor’s weak voting intentions, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s ratings surged. Her approval was up 20 points to 49% and her disapproval down 11 to 33%, for a net approval of +16, up 31 points. On net approval, Palaszczuk’s ratings are the same as in a late April premiers’ Newspoll. However, that Newspoll gave Palaszczuk a net approval far lower than for any of the other five premiers.
Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington’s ratings were 26% approve (up three) and 29% disapprove (down four), for a net approval of -3, up seven points. Palaszczuk led as better premier by 44-23 (34-22 in January).
Biden increases lead over Trump
This section is an updated version of an article I wrote for The Poll Bludger, published on Friday. The Poll Bludger article includes a section on the UK polls following the Dominic Cummings breach of quarantine scandal.
In the FiveThirtyEight poll aggregate, Donald Trump’s ratings with all polls are 41.7% approve, 53.9% disapprove (net -12.2%). With polls of registered or likely voters, Trump’s ratings are 42.3% approve, 54.1% disapprove (net -11.8%).
Since my article three weeks ago, Trump has lost about four points on net approval. His disapproval rating is at its highest since the early stages of the Ukraine scandal last November.
In the RealClearPolitics average of national polls, Joe Biden’s lead over Trump has widened to 7.2%, up from 4.5% three weeks ago. That is Biden’s biggest lead since December 2019. Biden has 49.6% now, close to a majority. If he holds that level of support, it will be very difficult for Trump to win.
Trump has over 90% of the vote among Republicans, but just 3% among Democrats. CNN analyst Harry Enten says Trump’s strategy of appealing only to his base is poor, as he has already maximised support from that section. Enten implies Trump would do better if he appealed more to moderate voters.
In the key states that will decide the Electoral College and hence the presidency, it is less clear. National and state polls by Change Research gave Biden a seven-point lead nationally, but just a three-point lead in Florida, a two-point lead in Michigan and a one-point lead in North Carolina. In Wisconsin, Trump and Biden were tied, while Trump led by one in Arizona and four in Pennsylvania.
This relatively rosy state polling picture for Trump is contradicted by three Fox News polls. In these polls, Biden leads by nine points in Wisconsin, four points in Arizona and two points in Ohio. Trump won Ohio by eight points in 2016, and it was not thought to be in play.
Ironically, Change Research is a Democrat-associated pollster, while Fox News is very pro-Trump. Fieldwork for all these state polls was collected since May 29, when the George Floyd protests began.
Other state polls have also been worse for Trump than the Change Research polls. A Texas poll from Quinnipiac University had Trump leading by just one point. Trump won Texas by nine points in 2016. In Michigan, an EPIC-MRA poll has Biden leading by 12. In North Carolina, a PPP poll has Biden ahead by four.
Concerning the protests over the murder of George Floyd, in an Ipsos poll for Reuters conducted June 1-2, 64% said they sympathised with the protesters, while 27% did not. In another Ipsos poll, this time for the US ABC News, 66% disapproved of Trump’s reaction to the protests and just 32% approved.
US May jobs report much better than expected
The May US jobs report was released last Friday. 2.5 million jobs were added, and the unemployment rate fell 1.4% to 13.3%. Economists on average expected 8.3 million job losses and an unemployment rate of 19.5%. An unemployment rate of 13.3% is terrible by historical standards, but it is clear evidence the US economy is already recovering from the coronavirus hit.
The employment population ratio – the percentage of eligible Americans currently employed – rose 1.5% to 52.8%, but it is still far below the 58.2% lowest point during the global financial crisis.
US daily coronavirus cases and deaths are down from their peak, and stockmarkets anticipate a strong economic recovery. But it is likely that a greater amount of economic activity will allow the virus to resurge. A strong recovery from coronavirus would assist Trump, but unemployment is a lagging indicator that is likely to recover more slowly than the overall economy.
New Zealand Labour surges into high 50s in polls
I wrote for The Poll Bludger on May 22 that two New Zealand polls had the governing Labour party taking a massive lead over the opposition National, ahead of the September 19 election. New Zealand now has zero active (currently infected) coronavirus cases, and has had no new cases since May 22. It appears they have eliminated the virus.
A power struggle at the University of the South Pacific is continuing despite students and staff warning that it now threatens the future of the university.
Elizabeth Reade Fong, a representative of the university’s Students and Staff Association, said more than 500 members at USP had signed a petition in support of the current vice-chancellor and president, Professor Pal Ahluwalia.
“No other academic institution in the world would tolerate such interference. This must stop as it threatens USP’s stability,” the association said in a press statement.
Vice-chancellor Ahluwalia had earlier raised concerns about financial mismanagement at the university before the university’s pro-chancellor then announced he was himself being investigated for “material misconduct”.
“Besides the [vice-chancellor], the biggest victims are the students. The council must intervene on students’ behalf and remove [pro-chancellor Winston Thompson], among others, now,” the release said.
– Partner –
Tensions between the pro and vice-chancellor surfaced during the first three months of vice-chancellor Ahluwalia’s tenure, when he uncovered serious governance and management anomalies.
That discovery led to an external audit by accountants BDO that revealed irregular governance and management issues that predated the current vice-chancellor’s appointment.
Investigative team Since then, pro-chancellor Thompson, has reportedly established a team to investigate his colleague Professor Ahluwalia.
The investigation was met with opposition from the university’s owners and attendees alike.
The association is calling on the people and the 12 governments which co-own the university to investigate pro-chancellor Thompson and a range of other senior university executives for their treatment of vice-chancellor Ahluwalia.
The association says that Professor Ahluwalia should be awarded natural justice and be allowed to focus on his position’s key performance indicators.
“Every obstacle [is being placed] in the [vice-chancellor’s] path as he defends himself against […] ongoing harassment,” the association said.
“This is a huge waste of energy and time away from student learning and teaching support”
The association says a year-long tussle at the top of the University’s administrators has come at the expense of students, Pacific taxpayers and donors.
‘Angry at interference’ “Staff and students [are] getting very concerned and angry at this interference and obvious victimisation of the [vice-chancellor].
“The future of the university and the students’ academic programs are being threatened each day as long as [… university executives …] remain in office in any capacity. We will do everything we can to protect this institution and boiling point is on the horizon,” the staff association statement said.
The Samoan government’s Minister of Education, Loau Keneti Sio, formally objected to the investigation of the vice-chancellor in writing and asked for the probe to be dropped.
“In the event that the [pro-chancellor] does not comply, that council will begin proceedings to remove him from office,” Loau wrote to the council.
“This submission is not taken lightly but the viability of our regional university is too important to be put at risk by the actions of one individual.
“I am persuaded by the staff and student letters that this is a matter we must take seriously. They are our constituent bodies and the university does not exist without them.”
Calls to stop investigation Now Nauru, Tonga and New Zealand have called on the USP’s pro-chancellor to stop pursuing the investigation.
The association represents the views of 519 people and the press release was written by Dr Atoese Morgan Tuimaleali’ifano, Emosi Vakarua (Student Association), Dr Elizabeth Reade Fong, Tarisi Vacala, Ilima Finiasi, Gurmeet Singh, Jope Tarai, Rosalia Fatiaki, Dr Shailendra Singh.
A call to pro-chancellor Thompson was not immediately returned on Saturday.
Pro-chancellor Thompson told the Fiji Sun that the investigation was an internal and ongoing matter and so he was not in a position to respond to allegations: “The document will be submitted to the appropriate body within the university for consideration.”
Today is also the 17th day since the last new case was reported. New Zealand has a total of 1,154 confirmed cases (combined total of confirmed and probable cases is 1,504) and 22 people have died.
According to our modelling, it is now very likely (well above a 95% chance) New Zealand has completely eliminated the virus. This is in line with our Te Pūnaha Matatini colleagues’ modelling.
This is an important milestone and a time to celebrate. But as we continue to rebuild the economy, there are several challenges ahead if New Zealand wants to retain its COVID-19-free status while the pandemic continues elsewhere.
It remains important that good science supports the government’s risk assessment and management. Below, we recommend several ways people can protect themselves. But we also argue New Zealand needs an urgent overhaul of the health system, including the establishment of a new national public health agency for disease prevention and control.
Elimination is defined as the absence of a disease at a national or regional level. Eradication refers to its global extinction (as with smallpox).
Elimination requires a high-performing surveillance system to provide assurance that, should border control fail, any new cases would be quickly found. Agreed definitions are important for public reassurance and as a basis for expanding travel links with other countries that have also achieved elimination.
It is important to remind ourselves that active cases are not the ones we need to worry about. By definition, they have all been identified and placed in isolation and are very unlikely to infect others. The real target of elimination is to stop the unseen cases silently spreading in the community. This is why we need mathematical modelling to tell us that elimination is likely.
New Zealand’s decisive elimination strategy appears to have succeeded, but it is easy to become complacent. Many other countries pursuing a containment approach have had new outbreaks, notably Singapore, Korea and Australia.
New Zealand has spent months expanding its capacities to eliminate COVID-19. But maintaining elimination will be challenging. Airports, seaports and quarantine facilities remain potential sites of transmission from overseas, particularly given the pressure to increase numbers of arrivals.
New Zealand’s move to alert level 1 will end all physical distancing restrictions. If the virus is reintroduced, this creates the potential for outbreaks arising from indoor social gatherings. New Zealand is also moving into winter when respiratory viruses can spread more easily, as is seen with the highly seasonal coronaviruses which cause the common cold.
5 key ways to protect New Zealand’s long-term health
Just as New Zealand prepared for the pandemic, the post-elimination period requires “maximum proactivity”. Here are five key risk management approaches to achieve lasting protection for New Zealand against COVID-19 and other serious public health threats.
1. Establish public use of fabric face masks in specific settings
Health protection relies on multiple barriers to infection or contamination. This is the cornerstone of protecting drinking water, food safety and borders from incursions by biological agents.
With the end of physical distancing, we recommend the government seriously considers making mask wearing mandatory on public transport, on aircraft and at border control and quarantine facilities. Other personal hygiene measures (staying home if sick, washing hands, coughing into elbows) are insufficient when transmission is often from people who appear well and can spread the virus simply by breathing and talking.
The evidence base for the effectiveness of even simple fabric face masks is now strong, according to a recent systematic review published in the Lancet. The World Health Organization has also updated its guidelines to recommend that everyone wear fabric face masks in public areas where there is a risk of transmission. Establishing a culture of using face masks in specific settings in New Zealand will make it easier to expand their use if required in future outbreaks.
2. Improve contact tracing effectiveness with suitable digital tools
New Zealand’s national system for contact tracing remains a critical back-stop measure to control outbreaks, should border controls fail. But there is significant potential for new digital tools to enhance current processes, albeit with appropriate privacy safeguards built in. To be effective, such digital solutions must have high uptake and support very rapid contact tracing. Downloadable apps appear insufficient and both New Zealand and Singapore are investigating bluetooth-enabled devices which appear to perform better and could be distributed to all residents.
3. Apply a science-based approach to border management
A cautious return to higher levels of inbound and outbound travel is important for economic and humanitarian reasons, but we need to assess the risk carefully. This opening up includes two very different processes. One is a broadening of the current categories of people permitted to enter New Zealand beyond residents, their families and a small number of others. This will typically require the continuation of routine 14-day quarantine, until improved methods are developed.
The other potential expansion is quarantine-free entry, which will be safest from countries that meet similar elimination targets. This process could begin with Pacific Island nations free of COVID-19, notably Samoa and Tonga. It should be possible to extend this arrangement to various Australian states and other jurisdictions such as Fiji and Taiwan when they confirm their elimination status.
4. Establish a dedicated national public health agency
Even before COVID-19 hit New Zealand, it was clear our national public health infrastructure was failing after decades of neglect, fragmentation and erosion. Prominent examples of system failure include the Havelock North campylobacter outbreak in 2016 and the prolonged measles epidemic in 2019. The comprehensive health and disability system review report was delivered to the Minister of Health in March and was widely expected to recommend significant upgrading of public health capacity. This report and its recommendations should now be released.
We also recommend an interim evaluation of the public health response to COVID-19 now, rather than after the pandemic. These reviews would inform the needed upgrade of New Zealand’s public health capacity to manage the ongoing pandemic response and to prepare the country for other serious health threats. A key improvement would be a dedicated national public health agency to lead disease control and prevention. Such an agency could help avoid the need for lockdowns by early detection and action in response to emerging infectious disease threats, as achieved by Taiwan during the current pandemic.
5. Commit to transformational change to avoid major global threats
COVID-19 is having devastating health and social impacts globally. Even if it is brought under control with a vaccine or antivirals, other major health threats remain, including climate change, loss of biological diversity and existential threats (for example, pandemics arising from developments in synthetic biology). These threats need urgent attention. The recovery from lockdown provides an opportunity for a sustained transformation of our economy that addresses wider health, environmental and social goals.
There is now a 95 percent chance covid-19 has been eliminated in New Zealand, according to our modelling, based on official Ministry of Health data.
As of June 4, New Zealand has had 20 consecutive days of zero new cases, with only one active case remaining. The last new reported case of covid-19 was on May 15 (going by the date the case was first suspected rather than later confirmed).
This still leaves a small chance of undetected cases, and we know that covid-19 is passed on at superspreading events.
New Zealand is now preparing to relax its covid-19 restrictions to alert level 1 from as early as Wednesday, which would end physical distancing and size restrictions on gatherings. But our modelling suggests removing limits on large gatherings will increase the risk of a very large new outbreak from 3 percent to 8 percent.
To reduce this risk, New Zealanders will need to continue avoiding the three Cs of possible infection: closed spaces, crowded places and close contact.
– Partner –
As crowds return, the risks will rise New Zealand is now very close to its elimination target. But there is still a 5 percent chance of undetected cases.
On June 3, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced details of the impending alert level 1 rules. Border closures will largely remain (except for returning New Zealanders) but all other significant restrictions on people’s movement within New Zealand will end.
From the perspective of the virus, the most significant change will be the end of restrictions on the size of gatherings. Airlines can fill up economy class again, nightclubs can pack their dancefloors and universities can open their lecture theatres.
Someone who caught the virus three or four weeks ago may not have developed severe symptoms (which happens in around 30 percent of people) and not got a test. They could have passed the virus on to someone else, who also missed out on a test.
A chain of infections like this could continue for a while before it is detected. Some segments of the population, such as younger people, are less likely to develop symptoms and are therefore more likely to sustain hidden infection chains.
Risk from returning travellers There is also a chance covid-19 could enter New Zealand with an international traveller. Last week, around 200 people, almost all returning Kiwis, touched down in New Zealand every day.
Many came from places like Australia, Hong Kong or Tonga – all countries relatively free of covid-19. Some also arrived from the USA, where the virus is widespread. Between February and April, we know that between 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent of all arrivals tested positive. With these numbers, we should expect one or two new cases to arrive each week.
New arrivals must remain in quarantine for at least 14 days. The incubation period for covid-19 is usually five to six days and it is rare for symptoms to begin more than 14 days after being exposed.
The bigger risk is a symptom-free person arriving and passing the virus onto someone at the same quarantine hotel, who then leaves before their symptoms appear.
Ministry of Health data show eight of New Zealand’s 500 imported cases developed their first symptoms more than two weeks after arriving. Maybe they caught it before they arrived or maybe they caught it during quarantine. Either way, they would have been infectious after they left quarantine.
People who work at the border – airline cabin crew, biosecurity or immigration personnel and staff at quarantine hotels – are at similar risk.
The inevitable new case Our models show the risk of new cases coming from within New Zealand is now comparable to that from international travellers. The risk from international arrivals stays about the same whether we’re at level 1 or 2, while the risk of domestic transmission is decreasing.
The most important question is how we will cope when the inevitable new case arrives.
Each active case is like a small spark waiting to start a fire. Superspreading theory tells us most of those sparks go out, but a small number will ignite. These sparks are the problem: it could be an infected person at a choir rehearsal, at a nightclub, or cheering for their sports team.
New Zealand is fortunate to have highly trained, experienced contact tracers standing by. But they need our help. If you were to test positive, could you remember everywhere you have been for the last week and who else was there? A contact tracer’s nightmare is a large gathering with no record of who attended.
To move to level 1, we first need to ensure our contact tracing systems, including the NZ COVID Tracer app, QR codes and sign-in sheets at shops, are up to scratch. We need to be confident we can manage the risks when hundreds of people gather or attend protest marches. We have to be able to do these things safely while covid-19 is still out there.
Dating and hook-up service Grindr has announced its intention to remove the “ethnicity filter” from its popular app.
The controversial function allowed paying users to filter out prospective partners based on ethnicity labels such as “Asian”, “Black” and “Latino”. Long criticised as racist, the filter also helped to create a culture where users were emboldened to express their racism.
Sexual racism
Alongside other dating apps, Grindr has a reputation for sexual racism – the exclusion of potential partners based on race.
In 2017 Grindr tried to amend this perception with the “Kindr Grindr” initiative. This move banned the use of exclusionary language such as “No Asians” and “No Blacks” in user bios, and attempted to explain to users why these statements are harmful and unacceptable.
However, the “ethnicity filter” remained until last week, when Grindr announced it would be removed as a show of support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
One of us (Gene Lim) is researching how sexual racism impacts gay and bisexual Asian men in Australia. Grindr was repeatedly singled out by research participants as a site where they regularly experienced sexual racism – both in user bios, and interactions with others.
He says “send me a picture of your face”. I send him a picture of my face, and he says “oh you’re an Indian. I’m sorry”. He then quickly blocked me.
– James, 28, Indian
Apps like Grindr are also where many Asian men first encounter such instances of discrimination.
So many profiles had “not into Asians”, “not into this [or that]” … I was just so confused as to why that was. I was skinny, young, cute, and I thought that would be enough …
– Rob, 27, Cambodian
For many people of colour, this sends a message that their skin colour makes them unlovable and unwanted – something that has a negative impact on self-image and self-worth. One participant summarised how he was affected by these messages.
I feel like the bad fruit that nobody wants.
– Ted, 32, Vietnamese
The psychological impact of these experiences adds up in ways that these men carry with them outside of sex and dating. Even as some Asian men withdraw from the gay community to avoid sexual racism, the impacts of these experiences endure.
It scars you in a way that it affects you in [situations] beyond the Gay community … it affects your whole life.
– Wayne, 25, Malaysian
These exclusionary practices are especially jarring in LGBTQ communities which often style themselves as “found families”. Still, the experiences above represent only one dimension of how sexual racism affects the lives of people of colour.
Indistinguishable from general racism
One of us (Bronwyn Carlson) has studied sexual racism experienced by Indigenous Australians on apps including Tinder and Grindr. She found that for many Indigenous users the vitriol often only comes when they disclose their Indigenous heritage, as their appearance is not always an initial basis for exclusion.
An interaction might progress with chatting, flirting, and often an intention to “hook up”, but once an Indigenous user reveals their ethnicity the abuse flows. For Indigenous people, “sexual racism” is often indistinguishable from general racism.
The threat of these experiences always lurks in the background for Indigenous people navigating social media and dating apps. They reveal a deep-seated hatred of Aboriginal people that has little to do with physical characteristics, and much more to do with racist ideologies.
For gay Indigenous men, the potential for love, intimacy and pleasure on Grindr is always counterbalanced against the potential violence of racism.
People who use dating apps develop their own ways of managing risk and safety, but platforms should also have a duty of care to users. Digital spaces and apps like Grindr are important sites of connection, community, and friendship for LGBTIQ+ people, but they are also channels for hatred and bigotry.
Removing the ethnicity filter on Grindr is not a silver bullet that will end racism on the app – here in Australia or anywhere else. It’s a symbolic move, but a step in the right direction.
Getting rid of this feature signals to users that filtering partners based on ethnicity is not “just a preference”, but a form of marginalisation and exclusion. As research has shown, sexual racism is clearly linked to more general racist attitudes and beliefs.
Though Grindr’s action is late and tokenistic, it’s still a good move. But if Grindr and other online dating platforms want to become spaces where people of colour can express themselves and seek out intimacy and companionship, they must put anti-racism at the core of their policies and content moderation practices.
Professor Jenny Hocking recently won her longstanding campaign for the National Archives of Australia to release the so-called “Palace letters” about the dismissal of Gough Whitlam in 1975. This is her account of that campaign.
In August 1975, speaking at a private dinner at Sydney’s Wentworth Hotel, Governor-General Sir John Kerr proudly described himself as “the Queen’s only personal representative in Australia with direct access to her”.
Kerr was a staunch monarchist, and what he saw as his “direct” access to the Queen was of great moment to him:
I am in constant communication with her on a wide variety of matters, on most of which I am communicating directly to her.
We now know just how constant that communication was. Kerr wrote frequently, at times several letters in a single day. There are 116 of his letters to the Queen, almost all of them sent through her private secretary, Sir Martin Charteris, containing extensive attachments including press reports, other peoples’ letters to Kerr, telegrams and articles. There are also 95 letters from the Queen to Kerr, all through Charteris.
These 211 letters in the National Archives of Australia, written during the entirety of Kerr’s tenure as governor-general and with increasing frequency after August 1975, constitute “the Palace letters”. They are without doubt the most significant historical records relating to the dismissal of the Whitlam government in November 1975. Yet, until last week’s landmark High Court decision, they had been closed to us by the archives, labelled as “personal” records and placed under the embargo of the Queen.
Aware of their immense historical significance, and with the support of a legal team working pro bono, in 2016 I launched a Federal Court action against the National Archives in an effort to secure access to the Palace letters.
It was not only the obvious importance of letters between the Queen and the governor-general, her representative in Australia, relating to Kerr’s unprecedented dismissal of the elected government that drove this case. It was also the importance of asserting the right of public access to, and control over, our most important archival records.
It took four years and a legal process through the Federal Court, the full Federal Court, and finally the full bench of the High Court of Australia – at which the federal attorney-general Christian Porter joined with the archives against my action. But in an emphatic 6:1 decision, the High Court ruled against the archives. It found the letters were not “personal” but rather Commonwealth records, and as such must now be available for public access under the provisions of the Archives Act.
Why it matters
This is an immensely important decision, overturning decades of archival practice that has routinely locked away royal records from public view as “personal”. It also provides a rare challenge to reflexive claims of “royal secrecy”, here and elsewhere.
Its implications will be felt broadly in other Commonwealth nations and potentially in the United Kingdom, where the Royal Archives are firmly closed from public access except with the permission of the monarch. Of equal importance is that the High Court’s ruling has brought the Palace letters firmly under Australian law, ending the humiliating quasi-imperial imposition of the Queen’s embargo over our archival records, and over our knowledge of our own history.
What made this case so important was the significance of original documents to the evolving history of the dismissal. A series of revelations in recent years, much of it from Kerr’s papers, has transformed that history and deeply challenged our previous understandings of the dismissal.
As a deeply contested and polarised episode, access to original records – as opposed to subsequent interpretations – was unusually significant. There could be no more significant records than the letters between the governor-general and the Queen regarding what the Federal Court described as “one of the most controversial and tumultuous events in the modern history of the nation”.
What the Palace letters might tell us
I first came across the Palace letters more than a decade ago, when I began exploring Kerr’s papers as part of the research for my biography of Gough Whitlam. When I sought access to them I was told they were “personal” papers -– “non-Commonwealth, no appeal”. This meant I could neither access them nor appeal that denial of access to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. The only way of challenging the label “personal” was a Federal Court action, an onerous and prohibitive prospect.
A series of revelations from Kerr’s papers highlighted their importance and the travesty of their continued closure. These include: a personal journal Kerr wrote in 1980 in which he cites several of the letters and recounts his critical discussion with Prince Charles in September 1975 expressing concern for his own recall as governor-general if he were to dismiss Whitlam; extracts from some of the letters; and his frequent references to the letters in other letters to friends and colleagues. Perhaps the most crucial item of all was a handwritten note, “Points on Dismissal”, in which he refers to “Charteris’ advice to me on dismissal”.
There could scarcely be a stronger indication that the Palace was intensely involved with Kerr’s consideration of the possible dismissal of the elected government. This, along with other materials, suggest that at the very least, Kerr had drawn the Palace into his planning before the dismissal.
Kerr cites a letter to the Queen in August 1975 in which he raised the “possibility of another double dissolution”. Just why he would be raising this two months before supply had been blocked in the Senate, and when the prime minister had held a rare double dissolution just the previous year and was intending to call the half-Senate election which was then due, may be answered when we see the letters.
Kerr writes that his conversations with Whitlam “were reported in detail to the Queen as they happened” for several months before the dismissal itself. This is a simply extraordinary situation: the governor-general is reporting to the Queen his private conversations, plans, matters of governance, and meetings with the Australian prime minister, and this is kept secret from the prime minister himself.
This is the crucial context of secrecy and deception in which the Palace letters must be considered: that Whitlam knew nothing of these discussions because Kerr had decided on a constitutionally preposterous policy of “silence” towards the prime minister, who retained the confidence of the House of Representatives at all times.
It is this extensive communication through hundreds of letters to and from the Queen, when taken in the context of Kerr’s self-described “silence” towards his own prime minister, that shows Kerr’s aberrant perception of his vice-regal role as acting as “the Queen’s personal representative” while failing to consult his own prime minister.
…the British crown was interfering in the 1975 dispute in ways that should offend anyone who wants Australia to be a fully independent nation … the Palace did not stand above the fray … Kerr consulted the Palace and took advice from the Queen’s secretary acting on behalf of the Queen.
Knowing our story, in full
The National Archives’s denial of access to the Palace letters has prevented us knowing the extent of that consultation and advice for too long. The High Court’s resounding rejection of the basis for that secrecy is an historic opportunity for the director-general of the archives, David Fricker, to make good his claim the archives is a “pro-disclosure organisation”, recognise the profound breach with the past the decision represents, and embrace the spirit of public access that underpins it by releasing all 211 of the Palace letters.
It’s time for an open reckoning with our past, a fully informed debate about the events of 1975, and an answer to the lingering questions over the role of the Queen.
No matter how unpalatable this story may be to some, it’s our story and we have a right to know it.
Boogers, snot, bogeys and boogies are the common names for dried nasal mucus. Our nasal mucus is normally a clear, runny substance. However, as it moves closer to the surface of our nose it loses moisture to the air, dries out, and starts to harden.
What is mucus?
Mucus is a stringy and slippery fluid released from inside your nose and other areas of your body such as your lungs and stomach.
This is important as it protects us from breathing in things that might make us sick or may be poisonous.
Sometimes it is runny, or sometimes it looks thick and slimy, or even squishy like chewing gum.
Mucus has something called mucin in it. Mucin helps mucus stick to unfamiliar things you breathe in like pollen, dust, dirt and some germs.
It stops these things getting into your airways and damaging your extremely delicate lungs.
Your body then clears out the mucus by coughing it up or blowing it out through your nose.
You can also get rid of it by swallowing it. If mucus is swallowed it will end up in your stomach where it will be destroyed by the stomach’s acidic juices.
It usually takes about six hours for your body to clear germs and other unwanted things from your airways.
Mucus isn’t only in our airways. We also have mucus in our stomach and guts.
How it looks and what it does depends on where in the body it’s made.
In your airways it’s thin and moves quite a bit. But in the stomach it’s much thicker. This is because it has other roles, like protecting the stomach lining from acid.
What changes when we’re sick?
When you’re sick, your body releases chemicals that make your nose runny.
This helps you to get better faster because mucus doesn’t only get rid of germs, it also has special chemicals in it that stop many germs growing.
It also makes you cough which helps you get rid of germs more often.
When you’re sick your mucus may be full of germs. Be sure to use a tissue, throw it in the bin and wash your hands after you blow your nose.
But mucus is not always easy to clear out.
Sometimes mucus can become very thick, which makes it harder for your body to get rid of. This may be because of germs, or just because you need to drink a bit more water.
Things like herbal teas, a steamy-hot shower or chicken soup also might help when you’re sick, as warmer temperatures soften the mucus and help it move more quickly.
If you’ve looked at a tissue after blowing your nose, you might have noticed the mucus you’ve blown out of your nose can be a range of different colours.
These colours give us information about what’s going on inside our bodies:
See-through and slightly dried nose mucus: the parts of your body that are involved in breathing (like our nose and lungs) are normal and healthy.
White mucus: you might have a bit of a cold.
Yellow or green mucus: you may have infection – but green or yellow mucus shows your immune system is working hard to protect you.
Black mucus: you might have breathed in a bit of dirt. This can can also be related to an infection, or even some diseases.
Red or brown mucus: if your nose is very dry or you have bumped or picked it too hard, a tiny amount of blood may have coloured the mucus.
Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au
The Federal Court recently ruled that a timber harvesting company couldn’t log potential habitat of the critically endangered Leadbeater’s possum.
This decision led to the immediate protection of more Leadbeater’s possum habitat and will lead to further habitat set aside over the next ten years as native timber harvesting is phased out in Victoria.
But these short-term, site-based measures will not guarantee the long-term conservation of this iconic Victorian species.
Our new study modelled changes in forests over the next 250 years, focusing on 280,000 hectares of Victoria’s Central Highlands, home to the majority of remaining Leadbeater’s possums.
We looked at different scenarios of how both climate change and timber harvesting might play out. And we identified three important findings.
First, Leadbeater’s possum habitat is dynamic. It’s transient across the landscape over time as disturbances, such as bushfires, continually change the spatial distribution of hollow-bearing trees and young forests.
Second, while timber harvesting poses a local-scale threat, at a larger scale – across hundreds of thousands of hectares – bushfire poses the greatest threat to the species’ habitat.
Last, we found less than half of the area within current parks, reserves, and timber harvest exclusion zones provided stable long-term habitat for Leadbeater’s possum over the next century.
Future habitat scenarios
Leadbeater’s possums live in ash and snow gum forests. They depend on two key habitat features: hollow-bearing trees for nesting and dense understorey for moving around the forest.
We used a set of four scenarios to explore how climate change and timber harvesting impact long-term habitat availability by focusing on the where and when hollow-bearing trees and dense understorey are found in the landscape.
The scenarios included projecting current climate conditions, and projecting a 2℃ rise in average annual temperature with a 20% reduction in yearly rainfall.
For each of these climate scenarios, timber harvesting at current harvesting rates was either excluded or allowed in areas zoned for timber production.
Bushfires drive long-term habitat loss
Our simulations showed bushfire, not logging, is the biggest threat to habitat availability for Leadbeater’s possum in the Central Highlands. As the cumulative area burnt by fire increased, the quantity and quality of Leadbeater’s possum habitat decreased.
Tthe 2009 Black Saturday fires burned almost half of its habitat, causing its conservation status to jump from endangered to critically endangered.
Bushfires have always been part of Australian landscapes and many species, including Leadbeater’s possum, have evolved alongside them. Eleven years later, Leadbeater’s possum are now recolonising areas burned in the 2009 bushfires.
But as climate change increases the frequency and scale of bushfires, our models suggest the Central Highlands landscape may support less suitable habitat.
Timber harvesting is less of a threat
While timber harvesting compounds the impacts of bushfires on Leadbeater’s possum habitat, across the landscape the effect is small in comparison. Timber harvesting reduced suitable habitat by only 1.4% to 2.3% over 250 years compared to scenarios without harvesting.
Within a coupe (the area of forest harvested in one operation), timber harvesting immediately reduces nesting and foraging habitat. But foraging habitat returns within 10 to 15 years and can be recolonised by Leadbeater’s possum – as long as nesting sites are nearby.
Protecting vegetation around waterways, in particular, was critical for the development and survival of hollow-bearing trees in an increasingly fire-prone landscape.
But while timber harvesting had much smaller impacts than bushfires, the two did interact. Over time, the cumulative impacts of timber harvesting and bushfire homogenised forest structure across the landscape, leading to smaller patches of habitat that were less connected.
This increases the risk of local extinction for populations of Leadbeater’s possum living in these patches.
We need dynamic conservation areas
A core question for the conservation of any threatened species is: how well does the network of protected areas protect the species?
Our modelling framework meant we could test whether current areas set aside for Leadbeater’s possum conservation actually provide long-term protection.
Over the next 100 years, less than 50% of existing parks, reserves and timber-harvest exclusion zones will provide continuous habitat for Leadbeater’s possum due to climate change.
However, we also identified approximately 30,000 hectares of forest outside the current network of protected areas that can provide stable habitat for Leadbeater’s possum over the next century.
It’s vital we put protection zones into the areas possums are likely to migrate to as the climate changes. These areas should be a priority for conservation efforts.
A new conservation strategy
Historically, conservation planning has taken a static, site-based approach to protecting species.
This approach is doomed to fail in dynamic landscapes – particularly in fire-prone landscapes in a warming climate. For conservation planning to be successful, we need coordinated forest, fire, and conservation management that accounts for these dynamics across the whole landscape, not just in individual locations.
We need a vision for how to make our landscapes more resilient to the growing threat of climate change and provide better protection for the unique flora and fauna that inhabit them.
This will require government agencies responsible for land management and conservation to coordinate current management activities across tenures, while simultaneously implementing future-focused conservation planning. Our landscape-modelling approach provides a first step in that direction.
Living, working and playing in the one neighbourhood has often been touted as the ideal outcome for well-planned cities. Yet this goal has been elusive. For most of us, our daily activities are segregated into one-dimensional precincts.
Every morning we emerge from our “cave” and travel to a fixed place of employment. Thus, we are beholden to transport planners to manage our daily commute.
Then came COVID-19. Restrictions changed our behaviour – we adapted.
Those of us who could worked from home. We walked locally, shopped locally, exercised locally, “home-schooled” our children locally and bought take-away locally. For many, our neighbourhoods have become our new “world” where we live, work and play.
We are now at a crossroad. One choice is to circle back to where we came as restrictions are eased. The other is to explore the opportunities our new behaviours have created.
We are in a position to explore the intersections between these new behaviours and how we think about our local neighbourhoods. Can we reach that elusive nirvana of work, rest and play locally?
Re-imagining our neighbourhoods is much more that enhancing the quality of the individual parts. We have an opportunity to strategically build on our behavioural adaptions to shift away from precincts based on simple one-dimensional land use. Just as many planners have been contemplating how autonomous vehicles might change our thinking about transport planning, re-imagining our neighbourhoods requires us to think well beyond our new behaviours.
Are there long-term implications of working from home? Will we change our perceptions of what activities we expect to see in our neighbourhood? What may influence our thoughts?
If we wish to move away from one-dimensional land-use precincts, we need to start at the home and consider where the boundaries between live, work and play lie. Some developers already provide homes with a tailored home office with a separate entrance. How could this evolve? Should we encourage it?
Such questions put into play planning regulations, but more importantly our expectations about the lifestyle of the place where we live. Many employment sectors are relatively benign in terms of nuisance impacts. Do we need to reconsider what activities are permissible as home-based businesses? And how many people can work at a home?
At the same time we can turn our attention to local centres and how they might evolve and grow. Interestingly, for Greater Sydney, the roughly 1,300 local centres account for close to 18% of all the city’s jobs, similar to that of the whole industrial sector. What placemaking and planning considerations require attention?
For both Sydney and Melbourne, the metropolitan plans identify councils as having those responsibilities. Should support come from state government? The role of governments is to be an enabler. For state governments there are tangible benefits to justify transferring and reprioritising resources to accelerate change.
Can we then look one step further and consider if there are opportunities to decentralise activities to the neighbourhood level? This might include post-secondary education and health services, community and social services. Can we turn community nodes into vibrant mixed-use local centres?
Making the shift from commuting
Walking our local streets has reintroduced many people to the human scale of their neighbourhood. The interactions at this scale are in stark contrast to the utilitarian role of many local streets. Their layout seeks to move cars in and out of our neighbourhoods as quickly as possible.
Our desire to “get out” and walk has also directed many people to their local centre. How can we support this new walking and shopping behaviour? The broad societal benefits range from healthier communities to reduced pressure on the transport network.
Do we now have an opportunity to take a long-term view? Can we use today’s disruptions to start re-imagining the structure of our neighbourhoods? This might be a journey of incremental steps such as:
developing a lattice of widened nature strips to restructure and re-orientate neighbourhoods to enhance local connectivity to where we work, rest and play and let us just safely walk our streets
creating “community corridors” by connecting existing local facilities and centres and strategically locating new activities
using the lattice together with the adaption of working from home as a catalyst to re-imagine the activities that can allow communities to live, work and play locally
enhancing local amenity and the human scale of neighbourhoods by expanding urban tree cover and pocket parks. Better street lighting might be an important enabler for a walking community, not just a minimum provision for those who may dare to walk.
For probably the first time in planning’s history, all in the community are acutely aware of the challenges we face. And we all see the opportunity to work together on a pathway to recovery.
Re-imagining our local neighbourhoods might also suggest a new way of thinking about how we plan our cities. Our behaviour response to COVID-19 is shifting the metropolitan planning spotlight from the macro to the micro – the local neighbourhood – and to the importance of applying as much thinking and resources to that area as to the dynamics of whole metropolitan area.
A collaborative approach to a re-imagined neighbourhood will allow local communities to be actively involved in shaping their own and our collective future.
The fork in the road is clear. Which path we take is in our hands.
Pacific nations have largely avoided the worst health effects of COVID-19, but its economic impact has been devastating. With the tourism tap turned off, unemployment has soared while GDP has plummeted.
In recent weeks, Fiji Airways laid off 775 employees and souvenir business Jack’s of Fiji laid off 500. In Vanuatu 70% of tourism workers have lost their jobs. Cook Islands is estimated to have experienced a 60% drop in GDP in the past three months.
Quarantine concerns aside, there is economic logic to this. Australians and New Zealanders make up more than 50% of travellers to the region. Some countries are massively dependent: two-thirds of visitors to Fiji and three-quarters of visitors to Cook Islands are Aussies and Kiwis.
Cook Islands has budgeted NZ$140 million for economic recovery, but this will increase the tiny nation’s debt. Prime Minister Henry Puna has argued for a limited tourism bubble as soon as New Zealand relaxes its COVID-19 restrictions to alert level 1. Cook Islands News editor Jonathan Milne estimates 75-80% of the population is “desperate to get the tourists back”.
A Pacific bubble would undoubtedly help economic recovery. But this merely highlights how vulnerable these island economies have become. Tourism accounts for between 10% and 70% of GDP and up to one in four jobs across the South Pacific.
The pressure to reopen borders is understandable. But we argue that a tourism bubble cannot be looked at in isolation. It should be part of a broader strategy to diversify economies and enhance linkages (e.g. between agriculture and tourism, to put more local food on restaurant menus), especially in those countries that are most perilously dependent on tourism.
Over-dependence on tourism is a trap
Pacific nations such as Vanuatu and Fiji have recovered quickly from past crises such as the GFC, cyclones and coups because of the continuity of tourism. COVID-19 has turned that upside down.
People are coping in the short term by reviving subsistence farming, fishing and bartering for goods and services. Many are still suffering, however, due to limited state welfare systems.
In Fiji’s case, the government has taken the drastic step of allowing laid-off or temporarily unemployed workers to withdraw from their superannuation savings in the National Provident Fund. Retirement funds have also been used to lend FJ$53.6 million to the struggling national carrier, Fiji Airways.
Fiji has taken on more debt to cope. Its debt-to-GDP ratio, which ideally should sit below 40% for developing economies, has risen from 48.9% before the pandemic to 60.9%. It’s likely to increase further.
High debt, lack of economic diversity and dependence on tourism put the Fijian economy in a very vulnerable position. Recovery will take a long time, probably requiring assistance from the country’s main trading partners. In the meantime, Fiji is pinning hopes on joining a New Zealand-Australia travel bubble.
Out of crisis comes opportunity
Supporting Pacific states to recover is an opportunity for New Zealand and Australia to put their respective Pacific Reset and Step-Up policies into practice. If building more reciprocal, equitable relationships with Pacific states is the goal, now is the time to ensure economic recovery also strengthens their socio-economic, environmental and political infrastructures.
Economic well-being within the Pacific region is already closely linked to New Zealand and Australia through seasonal workers in horticulture and viticulture, remittance payments, trade and travel. But for many years there has been a major trade imbalance in favour of New Zealand and Australia. Shifting that balance beyond the recovery phase will involve facilitating long-term resilience and sustainable development in the region.
A good place to start would be the recent United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific report on recovering from COVID-19. Its recommendations include such measures as implementing social protection programs, integrating climate action into plans to revive economies, and encouraging more socially and environmentally responsible businesses.
This is about more than altruism – enlightened self-interest should also drive the New Zealand and Australian agenda. Any longer-term economic downturn in the South Pacific, due in part to over-reliance on tourism, could lead to instability in the region. There is a clear link between serious economic crises and social unrest.
At a broader level, the pandemic is already entrenching Chinese regional influence: loans from China make up 62% of Tonga’s total foreign borrowing; for Vanuatu the figure is 43%; for Samoa 39%.
China is taking the initiative through what some call “COVID-19 diplomacy”. This involves funding pandemic stimulus packages and offering aid and investment throughout the Pacific, including drafting a free trade agreement with Fiji.
That is not to say Chinese investment in Pacific economies won’t do good. Rather, it is an argument for thinking beyond the immediate benefits of a travel bubble. By realigning their development priorities, Australia and New Zealand can help the Pacific build a better, more sustainable future.
As shoppers and retailers do away with cash transactions, we may be witnessing the end of a major source of social and historical information – the coin.
In the modern age, coinage is increasingly seen as cumbersome, a vector for disease and costly to manufacture. Yet for more than 2,600 years, coins have faithfully preserved insights into human society through the eyes of the issuing state.
Coins reveal how rulers wanted their subjects to perceive their politics, their national identity and the social values they wanted to celebrate.
Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev wrote in 1861: “the drawing shows me at one glance what might be spread over ten pages in a book”. Nowhere is this more evident than on coinage, where words are limited.
Coins have always conveyed a message and, helpfully for historians, they are anchored to a specific time and place. Historian Harold Mattingly once called Roman coins the “newspapers of the day” – announcing new emperors, naming of heirs, proclaiming battle wins, holiday celebrations and events.
Coins of the beleaguered Roman emperors of 69CE – during the Roman civil wars, when imperial reign was reckoned in months rather than years – depict imagery designed to bolster public confidence in the emperor of the moment.
Vitellius used imagery of the loyalty of the army. One example depicts clasped hands with the accompanying inscription FIDES EXERCITVVM (loyalty of the armies). The idea was far more aspirational than reflective of reality. That same year, Otho who reigned for 12 weeks, optimistically declared his VICTORIA (“victory”) and PAX ORBIS TERRARIUM (“worldwide peace”) on coins circulated during his fleeting reign.
Coins can offer detail where literary sources are lacking or incomplete. A large bronze sestertius (a denomination of Ancient Roman coin) that Titus had minted in 80-81CE, depicts not only external structures and statues but also intricate details of the Roman Colosseum interior. It also shows spectators, staircases, an imperial viewing box, and even depiction of the engineering mechanism for awning to provide shade.
Ancient coins show that rivalry between cities is not new. In Ancient Rome, a city was honoured with the title neokoros (temple keeper) when permission was granted to build a temple to the emperor or imperial family.
The city of Ephesus was the first to be honoured with such a title during the reign of Nero (54-68CE). Cities vied to have neokoros on their coinage and in the ensuing centuries more than three dozen cities held the title, some multiple times over.
Militaristic exploits were a common theme celebrated on ancient coins. The brutal Roman response to uprising and unrest in Judea resulted in the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70CE. Many coins of the time depicting Judea Capta (Judea captured) were issued by the emperor Vespasian. His son Titus, whose sacking of Jerusalem as military commander was his sole claim to military glory, used coins to exaggerate the Jerusalem victory and secure his own line of succession.
Language used
Roman coins minted in the provinces away from Rome typically were inscribed with Greek rather than Latin. Rome may have conquered the Mediterranean politically by the first century CE, but Alexander’s spread of Hellenistic cultural and linguistic influences long outlived the collapse of his rule.
The linguistic components on coins help provide insight into the terminology used at the time. The word for city founder, ktisths, on coinage helps explain the term’s single appearance in the New Testament – though this has been traditionally translated as “creator” in modern English editions due to the similarity of ktisths to ktizw (meaning: to create).
The term’s use on coins makes it clear Peter the apostle was not referring to a cosmological creator but to a city founder and hence sustainer. When Peter writes to the marginalised and fledgling Christian community, he seeks to encourage them with an image of God as founder.
Even seemingly innocent imagery can reveal darker meaning. Pontius Pilate’s coinage for Judea showed a ladle (simpulum) and curved rod (lituus). These were commonly assumed to lack human representation out of respect for Jewish sensitivities. In fact, they were symbols of Greco-Roman pagan religion and imperial cult. This showed Pilate’s allegiance to Roman ideology rather than any Jewish sensitivities.
Still in circulation
Imagery on older coins are very much current and still in use in modern coinage. The Athenian owl prominently displayed on the the tetradrachm coin from the 5th century BCE still features on recently issued 1 Euro coins.
The modern state of Israel sought to reverse Vespasian’s ancient war cry with a positive variation of the Judea Capta inscription. The new coin contrasts Judea Capta on one side with Israel Liberata on the other.
Money has taken various shapes and forms over human history. This includes feather money, cowrie shells, spade, boat and knife money. But it is the simple circular disk of stamped metal that has endured.
These small pieces of stamped metal have preserved insights into religion, community identity, monumentality, language and imperial power for thousands of years.
Future historians and archaeologists may find creative ways of mining cultural data out of our digital transactions, but for the time being, modern coinage continues the long human tradition of expression and national identity formation through state issued coinage.
News that Australian Associated Press has been saved is being welcomed by media outlets in socially and culturally complex Pacific countries such as Papua New Guinea where dramatic and important stories often emerge.
Media outlets in the Pacific, in particular, are under-resourced due to various structural weaknesses and are, therefore, heavily reliant on credible news from Australia provided by AAP.
The consortium members, including former News Corp CEO Peter Tonagh; Fred Woollard, managing director of Samuel Terry Asset Management; and Kylie Charlton, managing director of Australian Impact Investments; have made an offer to purchase after raising a significant amount of money.
– Partner –
After the proposed closure was announced, Pacnews agency editor Makereta Komai was concerned that this would have a huge impact on the news service she works for and other struggling outlets.
AAP has been “a great and timely source of stories in Australia that are relevant and significant to the Pacific region,” she explained.
Essential tool In countries like Papua New Guinea, the AAP Newswire service in particular has been an essential tool in achieving a Fourth Estate in terms of framing political issues.
Former AAP bureau chief Liza Kappelle said journalists at AAP focused on trying to make its news “interesting, engaging, informative and dead accurate”.
Among the Pacific countries, Papua New Guinea has by far the largest economy and the biggest population (8.6 million). The region includes approximately 600 small islands, and has more than 800 Indigenous languages with only 13 per cent of the population living in urban areas.
The region has seen a lot of closures and restrictions of news coverage by traditional media organisations at a time when international support is crucial.
Years ago, AAP had a bureau in Suva, Fiji, which was an important part of the region’s coverage. Then it was left with just one bureau, in Port Moresby. When that was closed in 2013, Australia broke 60 years of print media coverage on the ground in Papua New Guinea.
This left only the ABC’s broadcast media coverage, which has also been reduced due to the Australian government’s budget cuts.
In West Papua, the war of independence has intensified and Indonesia has banned media coverage of the conflict.
Media independence eroded Successive governments in Papua New Guinea have been accused of eroding media independence.
Former Prime Minister Peter O’Neill was recently arrested under suspicion of corruption, having “bought” some leading journalists. Journalists and the media have increasingly come under threat legally and politically with restrictive legislation, intimidation, assaults, police and military brutality as well as illegal detention.
All this has occurred while Australia’s voice in the region has begun to fall silent.
China’s encroaching influence on the Pacific has made the struggle for media freedom in the region even harder. This is further complicated by Australia’s media freedom being also on a decline.
Pacific Media Centre director Professor David Robie says lack of media diversity in Australia is directly impacting on Australia’s poor press freedom rankings. He made comparisons to when press freedom began decreasing after the country’s media independence had been quite strong.
But then the first two military coups occurred in 1987.
Never known ‘truly free press’ “There is now a generation of journalists in Fiji who have never known what it’s like to have a truly free press,” said Dr Robie, who is also editor of Asia Pacific Report.
Here in Australia, it has become increasingly difficult for journalists to report on political issues. Laws have been introduced in recent years banning journalists from reporting on Australia’s refugee detention centres in Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby, and also on Manus Island.
Australian law enforcement can probe into the identities of whistle-blowers and anonymous sources while seizing journalist’s documents and electronic devices.
The erosion of public interest journalism has left the Australian public with little understanding of what is happening in and around the Pacific Islands.
A survey by the International Federation of Journalists found nearly one in four journalists in countries including Australia, said accessing information from government or official sources was becoming more difficult.
The editor of Croakey Health Media, Dr Melissa Sweet, who has previously worked at AAP, knows this all too well, and said: “Nowadays you’ve got snowballs’ [little chance in hell] of getting people to talk to you, unless perhaps they are whistle blowers.
Tip of the iceberg “Whistle blowers are really the tip of the iceberg in terms of who you need to communicate with to understand what’s going on in governments and organisations.
“I remember… back when I was at the AAP in the eighties, there were various meetings that I could go and report from and on that were open to the public that are now closed. Back in those days I had much better access, whether it was health ministers or health bureaucrats on all sorts of levels,” she recalls.
“People within government or bureaucracies have been unwilling to talk for a very long time. This has been a long-term trend.”
The declining plurality of the media in Australia has led to one of the most concentrated levels of media ownership in the world. Two parties own almost all privately owned media in Australia – Rupert Murdoch’s $16.3 billion dollar company, News Corp, and Nine Entertainment, which is run by a consortium created by company founders, the Packer family.
Prior to the purchase offer announcement, Murdoch’s News Corp, along with Nine Entertainment, were the two main shareholders of AAP, which has been described as the “Australian democracy safety net”.
The shareholders decided in March, that after 85 years in operation the country’s only national newswire service was no longer profitable and they announced plans for its closure on June 26 this year.
The Australian Journalism union, MEAA, blasted the shareholders’ decision, calling it “irresponsible,” “devastating” and “reckless.”
Worst time for Pacific media The announcement could not have come at a worse time for media in the Pacific, where local media companies lack the clout to stand up to authoritarian governments. It is unknown what impact covid-19 will have on the region.
Recently, politicians and authorities in Fiji and Papua New Guinea have been accused of silencing criticism by sheltering behind emergency lockdown laws.
After the announcement in March, speculation arose about the reasons for the AAP closure. Kappelle, said she could not recall the exact words of chairman Campbell Reid. But when asked if the closure was because NewsCorp and Nine were tired of subsidising a breaking newswire service for their competitors, she answered, “That’s definitely the gist of it.”
The closure would certainly weaken competition from other news outlets. Murdoch, who has a personal fortune of $17.6 billion, has recently been accused of using the covid-19 crisis as an excuse to scrap regional newspaper titles within Australia.
Following the announcement, it was revealed that both NewsCorp and Nine had made plans to open their own breaking newswire services. However, both shareholders publicly blamed digital competitors Google and Facebook for the AAP’s demise.
Dr Sweet was devasted to hear of the proposed closure, saying it would impact on journalism globally. She explained it as a situation where people did not understand the current crisis facing many journalists and news outlets and that it was not only related to AAP, but to public interest journalism more broadly.
Vested interest reasons “I guess as an industry we just haven’t done a very good job of explaining it and there’s vested interest reasons around that. No media outlet wants to say to you ‘we are going to hell in a hand basket’. They all want to keep trying to pretend that they are doing good journalism,” she explained.
“Whereas, the industry is obviously showing the strain of losing so many journalists, closing so many newsrooms, leaving so many communities under-served and under-covered.”
Prior to purchase offer announcement, Dr Sweet said it would be terrific if the people investing in the AAP newswire service weren’t just doing it because they wanted to make money, but so that journalism had a “public good model” that would fit with the history of AAP.
Professor Robie described continued coverage of regions such as Papua New Guinea, as vitally important, saying the country had “a treasure trove of dramatic and important stories.
“The security issues with the struggle of the Papuan people seeking independence are highly sensitive. Where the Australian media withdraws in the Pacific, Chinese media influences will take over.”
Jade Bradford is a student journalist at Curtin University in Western Australia. This article was first published in the journalism programme’s online newspaper Western Independent.