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

The New South Wales state election is today. Polls close at 6pm AEDT. Votes cast on election day should be counted quickly, but large pre-poll booths are likely to take until late at night or next week.

ABC elections analyst Antony Green said that as of Friday, 28% of enrolled voters had voted early in-person and a further 10% had applied for a postal vote. All election day votes, some postals and some early votes will be counted by the 10:30pm close of counting on Saturday night. Counting will not resume until Monday.

The final NSW Newspoll, conducted March 18-23 from a sample of 1,205, gave Labor a 54.5-45.5 lead, a 2.5-point gain for Labor since the late February NSW Newspoll. Primary votes were 38% Labor (up two), 35% Coalition (down two), 11% Greens (down one) and 16% for all Others (up one).

Liberal Premier Dominic Perrottet’s net approval slumped 12 points to -3, while Labor leader Chris Minns’ net approval improved six points to +14. Minns led Perrottet as better premier by 41-39, reversing a Perrottet lead of 43-33 in February. Newspoll figures are from The Poll Bludger.

In Monday’s Resolve poll and two polls from Freshwater and Morgan (below), Labor had between 52.5% and 53.5% on a two party count – this would probably not be enough for a Labor majority in the lower house. But analyst Kevin Bonham’s model gives Labor just enough for a one-seat majority (47 of the 93 seats) if Newspoll is right.

Read more:
NSW election preview: Labor likely to fall short of a majority, which could result in hung parliament

Cost of living has been rated the most important issue in polls, and The Poll Bludger reported that last Monday’s NSW Resolve poll gave Labor a 35-29 lead over the Coalition on this issue.

Under optional preferential voting that is used in NSW, a single “1” vote is formal. The Liberals are urging people to just vote 1 Liberal. I am sceptical of this strategy, because those who listen to this message are more likely to be voters for other right-wing minor parties than the Greens, and at the 2019 election the exhaust rate among right-wing minors was far higher than for the Greens.

NSW Freshwater poll: Labor retains 53-47 lead

The Poll Bludger reported that a NSW Freshwater poll for The Financial Review, conducted March 19-21 from a sample of 1,100, gave Labor a 53-47 lead, unchanged since late February. Primary votes were 37% Coalition (steady), 37% Labor (down two), 10% Greens (steady) and 16% for all Others (up two). Perrottet’s lead as preferred premier narrowed from 46-34 to 45-40.

NSW Morgan poll: Labor had 53.5-46.5 lead in mid-March

A NSW Morgan SMS poll, conducted March 10-14 from a sample of 1,013, gave Labor a 53.5-46.5 lead, a one-point gain for Labor since late February. Primary votes were 34% Coalition (up 1.5), 34% Labor (up 0.5), 13% Greens (up two), 2% One Nation (down 6.5) and 17% for all Others (up 2.5).

Previous Morgan NSW polls had assumed that One Nation would contest all 93 lower house seats, and so their slump in this poll is explained by them only contesting 17 seats.

In forced choice questions, Minns’ lead over Perrottet as better premier narrowed from 54-46 to 52-48, while Perrottet had a 51-49 disapproval rating, a reversal of a 53-47 approval in late February.

Federal Resolve poll: Labor increases massive lead

A federal Resolve poll for Nine newspapers, conducted March 12-16 from a sample of 1,600, gave Labor 39% of the primary vote (down one since February), the Coalition 30% (down one), the Greens 13% (up three), One Nation 5% (steady), the UAP 1% (steady), independents 9% (steady) and others 2% (steady).

No two party estimate was provided, but applying 2022 election preference flows to this poll gives Labor about a 59-41 lead, a one-point gain for Labor since February. Resolve has been the most pro-Labor pollster since the 2022 election.

By 55-31, voters gave Anthony Albanese a good rating (56-30 in February). Peter Dutton’s ratings were 43-32 poor (44-29 previously). Albanese led Dutton as preferred PM by 51-22 (55-23 previously).

In the wake of the AUKUS deal, Labor gained a 35-32 lead over the Liberals on national security, after the Liberals led by 35-32 in February. But Labor’s lead on economic management slid to 33-32 from 36-32, and their lead on keeping the cost of living low dropped to 29-22 from 33-24.

Asked about uses of super other than for retirement, 68% supported life-saving medical treatment, 67% palliative care and 58% serious financial distress, but only 37% a deposit for a first home. By 45-24, voters agreed with defining super as for retirement, although it could be accessed in extreme circumstances.

Labor also extends lead in federal Essential and Morgan polls

In Essential’s two party measure that includes undecided, Labor led by 52-43 in a poll conducted before March 21 from a sample of 1,124; they led by 49-44 two weeks ago. Primary votes were 34% Labor (up two), 31% Coalition (down one), 14% Greens (up two), 5% One Nation (down two), 2% UAP (steady), 9% for all Others (up one) and 5% undecided (down two).

Support for the Indigenous Voice to parliament dropped to 59-41 from 65-35 in February.

On the AUKUS deal, 40% said it would make Australia more secure (down four since November 2022), 39% no difference (steady) and 21% less secure (up five). When told the purchase cost of the nuclear submarines, 26% said they were worth it, 27% would like the subs but didn’t think they were worth the money, and 28% did not want the subs.

Morgan’s weekly federal poll gave Labor a 58-42 lead (56.5-43.5 last week, 54.5-45.5 two weeks ago). Primary votes were 37.5% Labor, 32% Coalition, 13% Greens and 17.5% for all Others. This poll was conducted March 13-19.

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

– ref. Final NSW Newspoll gives Labor a thumping lead; federal Labor’s lead widens – https://theconversation.com/final-nsw-newspoll-gives-labor-a-thumping-lead-federal-labors-lead-widens-202332

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Feigin, Postdoctoral Fellow in Genomics and Evolution, The University of Melbourne

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land on the next tree. Many groups of mammals seem to have taken this evolutionary advice to heart. According to our newly published paper in Science Advances, unrelated animals may even have used the same blueprints for building their “wings”.

While birds are the undisputed champions of the sky, having mastered flight during the Jurassic, mammals have actually evolved flight more often than birds. In fact, as many as seven different groups of mammals living today have taken to the air independently of each other.

These evolutionary experiments happened in animals scattered all across the mammalian family tree – including flying squirrels, marsupial possums and the colugo (cousin of the primates). But they all have something in common. It’s a special skin structure between their limbs called a patagium, or flight membrane.

The fact these similar structures have arisen so many times (a process called convergent evolution) hints that the genetic underpinnings of patagia might predate flight. Indeed, they could be shared by all mammals, even those living on the ground.

If this is true, studying patagia can help us to better understand the incredible adaptability of mammals. We might also discover previously unknown aspects of human genetics.

A deceptively simple membrane

Despite being seemingly simple skin structures, patagia contain several tissues, including hair, a rich array of touch-sensitive neurons, connective tissue and even thin sheets of muscle. But in the earliest stages of formation, these membranes are dominated by the two main layers of the skin: the inner dermis and outer epidermis.

At first, they hardly differ from neighbouring skin. But at some point, the skin on the animal’s sides starts to rapidly change, or differentiate. The dermis undergoes a process called condensation, where cells bunch up and the tissue becomes very dense. Meanwhile, the epidermis thickens in a process called hyperplasia.

In some mammals, this differentiation happens when they are still an embryo in the uterus. Incredibly though, in our main model species – the marsupial sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) – this process begins after birth, while they are in the mother’s pouch. This provides us with an incredible window into patagium formation.

Starting with the sugar glider, we examined the behaviours of thousands of genes active during the early development of the patagium, to try and figure out how this chain of events is kicked off.

Read more:
A rare discovery: we found the sugar glider is actually three species, but one is disappearing fast

From gliders to bats

We discovered that levels of a gene called Wnt5a are strongly correlated with the onset of those early skin changes – condensation and hyperplasia. Through a series of experiments involving cultured skin tissues and genetically engineered laboratory mice, we showed that adding extra Wnt5a was all it took to drive both of these early hallmarks of patagium formation.

Interestingly, when we extended our work to bats, we found extremely similar patterns of Wnt5a activity in their developing lateral patagia to that in sugar gliders. This was surprising, since bats (placental mammals) last shared a common ancestor with the marsupial sugar glider around 160 million years ago.

Perhaps even more remarkably, we found a nearly identical pattern in the outer ear (or pinna) of lab mice. The pinna is a nearly universal trait among mammals, including innumerable species with no flying ancestry.

A molecular toolkit

Together, these results suggest something profound. Wnt5a’s role in ushering in the skin changes needed for a patagium likely evolved long before the first mammal ever took to the air.

Originally, the gene had nothing to do with flight, instead contributing to the development of seemingly unrelated traits. But because of shared ancestry, most living mammals today inherited this Wnt5a-driven program. When species like gliders and bats started on their separate journeys into the air, they did so with a common “molecular toolkit”.

Not only that, but this same toolkit is likely present in humans and working in ways we don’t fully understand yet.

There are definite limits to our recent work. First, we haven’t made a flying mouse. This may sound like a joke, but demonstrates we still don’t fully understand how a region of dense, thick skin becomes a thin and wide flight membrane. Many more genes with unknown roles are bound to be involved.

Second, while we’ve shown a cause-and-effect relationship between Wnt5a and patagium skin differentiation, we don’t know precisely how Wnt5a does it. Moving forward, we hope to fill in these gaps by broadening the horizons of our cross-species comparisons and by conducting more in-depth molecular studies on patagium formation in sugar gliders.

For now though, our study presents an exciting new view of flight in mammals. We may not be the strongest fliers, but trying is in our DNA.

Read more:
Mysterious poles make road crossing easier for high flying mammals

Charles Feigin has received fellowship funding from the National Institutes of Health National Institute of General Medical Sciences

– ref. Marsupials and other mammals separately evolved flight many times, and we are finally learning how – https://theconversation.com/marsupials-and-other-mammals-separately-evolved-flight-many-times-and-we-are-finally-learning-how-202152

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Beryl Exley, Professor, Griffith Institute for Educational Research, Griffith University, Griffith University

Last August, the federal government set up an expert panel to look at the continuous improvement agenda in teacher education in Australia.

The panel, led by Sydney University vice-chancellor Mark Scott (who also chairs The Conversation’s board), has just released a discussion paper that is open for consultation until April 21, ahead of a final report due in June 2023.

Remind me, why does teacher education need another review?

There has been a constant stream of reviews into teacher education in Australia. The most recent was finalised in February 2022. Led by former federal education department secretary Lisa Paul, the review recommended an “ambitious reform agenda” to attract “high quality” students and ensure teacher education was “evidence-based and practical”.

The Paul review recommended “strengthening the link” between performance and funding of teaching degrees.

The expert panel was, in part, borne out of the Paul review as well as national concerns about teacher shortages. A key issue raised at a federal government roundtable on teacher shortages in August 2022 was the need to “ensure graduating teachers are better prepared for the classroom”.

What does the 2023 discussion paper say?

The discussion paper seeks advice on four key areas:

• how to strengthen undergraduate and postgraduate “initial teacher education” programs to deliver “confident, effective, classroom-ready graduates”

• linking the funding of graduate outcomes with the funding for higher education providers

• improving professional experience placements in teaching degrees

• helping more mid-career entrants into postgraduate teaching degrees.

Each section of the discussion paper is relatively comprehensive, with useful case studies and a set of discussion questions.

However, the four areas are considered in isolation from one another and without due regard for how they interrelate. Also missing from the review is an appreciation of how initial teacher education degrees are one part of a teacher’s professional learning journey.

All the elements of reform are placed at risk when the sum of the parts don’t equal a whole.

Read more:
Our study found new teachers perform just as well in the classroom as their more experienced colleagues

We need a reality check

There is significant ongoing concern about teacher shortages and the number of graduates from teaching degrees. As Scott said on Thursday, “teaching is a tough job and it is increasingly demanding”. Education Minister Jason Clare has also highlighted the need to “increase [course] completion rates and deliver more classroom-ready graduates”.

At the same time, the Paul review found graduate teachers felt underprepared to teach reading, support diverse learners, manage challenging behaviour, work in regional settings, and engage with parents/carers. It’s important to remember these are all exceedingly complex aspects of classroom teaching – even for seasoned teachers and accomplished school leaders.

We need to have realistic expectations about what initial study can provide to graduate teachers. It can teach fundamental theories and provide professional experience, but teachers will need to keep adapting their skills and expanding their knowledge once they are in the classroom.

What works in one context with one set of participants may be less effective in another context because of another set of underlying factors.

This is why tailored induction programs and ongoing mentorship every time an early career teacher starts at a new school is crucial.

Unfortunately, workplace induction programs are usually only offered to teachers in full-time permanent jobs, and rarely to the army of graduate teachers who change schools on a regular basis because they are working as temporary or contract staff.

Read more:
If Australian schools want to improve student discipline, they need to address these 5 issues

Entry requirements should not shut out aspiring teachers

The discussion paper focuses on increasing the numbers of First Nations students, as well as those from regional and remote communities, and low socio-economic backgrounds who become teachers – and rightly so. These groups of people are underrepresented in teaching degrees and each hold great potential to make significant contributions to the profession and to the lives of children and the community.

We need to be realistic about the number of prerequisites for education degrees.

The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership develops accreditation standards for teacher education programs. State-based regulators, such as the Queensland College of Teachers, can also add their own requirements.

Meeting all these components add extra burdens to aspiring teachers, and there is no evidence to suggest additional entry requirements directly impact graduate teaching quality. For example, in Queensland, aspiring teachers must have successfully completed Year 12 English, mathematics and science before they can start a primary teacher education degree.

This is an issue given the primary teacher workforce is predominantly female, yet boys outnumber girls in Year 12 physics and advanced maths. This means many aspiring teachers need to do an extra science course before they start their primary teacher education degree.

What about linking funding to performance?

The discussion paper canvasses linking government funding for teaching degrees to a set of performance measures such as higher education providers’ capacity to attract high quality candidates from a range of backgrounds, retain those students until graduation, student satisfaction and their employment outcomes.

It suggests publicly reporting data about these measures and providing financial incentives.

We need to be very careful about any changes here and any unintended consequences such as disincentivising higher education providers from offering teacher education degrees.

Given there is a worldwide shortage of teachers, now is not the time to suggest a punitive response to matters of quality in initial teacher education, or to provide a multi-tier funding structure. Rather, we need more understanding of the funding and resources required to support preservice teachers to be the best they can be before they enter the classroom.

Beryl Exley works for the School of Education and Professional Studies at Griffith University. She has been the receipent of research grants to study teachers’ work and teacher education. She is a director on a school board.

– ref. A new review into how teachers are educated should acknowledge they learn throughout their careers (not just at the start) – https://theconversation.com/a-new-review-into-how-teachers-are-educated-should-acknowledge-they-learn-throughout-their-careers-not-just-at-the-start-202433

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jon Wardle, Professor of Public Health, Southern Cross University

Earlier this week, Australian retail giant Woolworths announced a move into health-care delivery via development of its subsidiary HealthyLife’s online portal.

Through this portal, Australians can book a same-day 15-minute virtual GP appointment for A$45 and have any resulting prescription filled and delivered to their home. They can access other services such as a 30-minute virtual appointment with a dietitian or nutritionist for $115. They can also access free 15-minute virtual consultations with naturopaths.

Accessibility has long been an issue in Australian primary health care. With wait times for GPs growing, same-day appointments are becoming almost impossible.

But when a business provides both health advice and therapeutic products for sale, it raises ethical and regulatory questions.

Read more:
More businesses are offering online medical certificates and telehealth prescriptions. What are the pros and cons?

Modern life and medical appointments

Lots of people have difficulties with the logistics and time constraints of having to get to a physical location for an appointment. While the rapid move to telehealth appointments has given many Australians a taste for it, health policy and implementation has largely lagged behind.

“One-stop-shops” that offer health services, advice and information can serve as valuable tools to boost self-care. Yet there are some issues when these services are led by or become dominated by corporate players such as Woolworths.

Read more:
GPs are abandoning bulk billing. What does this mean for affordable family medical care?

Both prescriber and dispenser

Through Woolworths’ proposed model, the same company will be both prescriber and provider of pharmaceutical medications, food products and over-the-counter medicines and supplements. Woolworths’ subsidiary HealthyLife extended its partnership with SuperPharmacy late last year and rebranded it.

The direct-to-consumer and vertically integrated nature of this arrangement creates significant potential for commercial conflicts of interest.

It is also interesting to note that, unlike the other appointments available through the Woolworths’ clinical partners, naturopathic appointments will be offered for free. These will be provided by in-house naturopaths employed by Woolworths.

As naturopathic and public health researchers, we recognise why the company may have done this. Naturopaths have been actively included into corporate health promotion initiatives and health systems overseas. These programs and initiatives suggest potential benefits from naturopathic care.

While Australia has one of the world’s highest rates of consultations with a naturopath, health systems here have been slow to embrace their inclusion. Out-of-pocket costs also remain a barrier to access for people on lower incomes.

But Woolworths isn’t launching this initiative out of altruism – it has identified a clear market gap it thinks it can fill and is meeting a growing and unmet public demand for these services.

‘Medical merchants’

Under Woolworths’ plans, GPs, dietitians and nutritionists will be engaged through partner networks rather than as direct employees. But naturopathic appointments will be delivered by in-house practitioners, employed by the same arm of Woolworths that sells natural health products.

These will also be the only appointments available to consumers for free. This may make them the most attractive option for many consumers. But it could also make these the appointments with the fewest safeguards if not handled correctly.

For example, will products accessible via Woolworths be prioritised over products from elsewhere that may be the best for the patient?

We’ve written about “medical merchants” and how in-house selling of therapeutic products presents ethical concerns previously. The proposed model could take this problem from individual clinicians to an institutional issue operating on a much grander scale.

Supplements are not in the five most commonly recommended treatments in Australian naturopathic appointments. Rather, naturopaths have been shown to most commonly (and effectively) prescribe non-pharmacological dietary, lifestyle, exercise and self-care advice to their patients.

But there is a valid concern that the shorter than usual naturopathic appointments to be offered by Woolworths could prioritise supplement recommendation over these options.

Read more:
Follow a natural health philosophy? Vaccination may have more in common with it than you think

Working for Woolworths

It remains unclear as to whether the naturopaths employed by Woolworths will have the necessary autonomy to provide this comprehensive form of care.

Will they be encouraged to “de-prescribe” unnecessary supplements as well as prescribe necessary ones? Will they be supported if they recommend a non-product dietary intervention as a more effective option than specific nutrient supplementation?

Collaborative arrangements between employed practitioners and Woolworths’ clinical partner networks also remain unclear. Will an employed naturopath be able to refer to other practitioners if needed? Will these referrals be limited to Woolworths’ clinical partners? Fragmentation and under-treatment of potentially serious conditions could result if such issues aren’t transparently addressed.

The employment situation itself also raises potential legal and regulatory issues. If an employer sets product sales targets for a practitioner (and it should be noted there is no indication Woolworths is doing this), who is responsible if this results in inappropriate over-servicing or over-prescribing?

And of course, efforts need to be made to ensure any practitioners delivering the naturopathic appointments for Woolworths are appropriately qualified. For a profession such as naturopathic medicine – which remains an unregistered profession despite every government review of the past two decades recommending registration – the onus will be on Woolworths to ensure proper standards of qualification and practice among their practitioners.

Read more:
It’s after-hours and I need to see a doctor. What are my options?

Filling the gaps

The Australian health system has been traditionally slow to innovate and reform to meet the needs and demands of modern consumers. In this context, the private sector will increasingly view these gaps as commercial opportunities.

In some cases the innovation in delivery and improved accessibility could bring health benefits. But we need to ensure the private sectors’ increasing interest in health service delivery is matched by increased accountability and safeguards, including targeted regulation if appropriate.

As corporations increasingly become involved in delivering health care innovation, we need to make sure the private sector views the people using health services as patients, not just pay cheques.

Jon Wardle receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council. He is Foundation Director of the National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine, which was established with a gift from the Blackmore Family Foundation. He is also convener of the complementary medicine special interest group of the Public Health Association of Australia, and is immediate past-secretary general of the World Naturopathic Federation.

Amie Steel receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Naturopaths and Herbalists Association of Australia. She is affiliated with the Public Health Association of Australia, the Australian Register of Naturopaths and Herbalists and the World Naturopathic Federation.

– ref. Woolworths is getting into telehealth – but patients need to be treated as more than customers – https://theconversation.com/woolworths-is-getting-into-telehealth-but-patients-need-to-be-treated-as-more-than-customers-202361

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Peterson, Adjunct Associate Professor, Auckland University of Technology

Few Adelaideans remember a time before the Adelaide Festival. Formed in 1960 as a civic enterprise and financed against loss by prominent Adelaide businessmen, the festival today remains arguably the most robust international arts festival in our region.

For me, the Adelaide Festival is where I overcame my Melburnian fear of Adelaide as Australia’s serial murderer capital and the uptight “City of Churches”.

When I became South Australian, I saw how signature international festival productions had left a lasting imprint here. Many remembered freezing in an Adelaide Hills rock quarry to witness the nine-hour epic staging of The Mahabharata by Peter Brook at the 1988 festival.

And when Pina Bausch’s Nelken (Carnations) came to the 2016 festival, the lobby post-show was abuzz with people recalling the 1982 festival performance by her legendary Wuppertal Dance Theatre.

For artists and educators, encountering such works can alter the trajectory of our lives. For audiences, they can open doors of perception and create deeply embodied memories that never leave us. This is no small thing.

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Local creations

The 2023 festival is curated by Neil Armfield and Rachel Healy, who stepped down as co-artistic directors in mid-2022.

Given the scale of the programming and because its core identity remains associated with theatre, dance and opera, I endeavoured to witness everything on that side of the program.

One of Armfield and Healy’s many accomplishments during their tenure was increasing the percentage of local and Australian work. Given the long history of high-quality, innovative and relevant work generated by Adelaide-based theatre for youth companies, it was heartening to see world premieres from Windmill Theatre Company/Sandpit and Slingsby in the program.

Hans and Gret brought together playwright Lally Katz, Windmill’s theatre team and the technology and experience design makers at Sandpit.

Their contemporary, highly interactive adaptation placed Hansel and Gretel in a suburban Australian gated community. Clever and engaging, it was full of unexpected surprises.

This show, and Slingsby’s The River That Ran Uphill, with its hand-made aesthetic and compelling storytelling, are equal to the best of theatre for youth anywhere.

For the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, adapted and directed by Kip Williams, a team of black-clad techies and camera operators projected the comings and goings of the play’s two actors, Matthew Backer and Ewen Leslie, in a seamless combination of live theatre and cinema.

With screens behind and above the onstage action, and long narrative passages delivered breathlessly and without a pause, I found it all quite exhausting.

Read more:
A production to satisfy Sydney’s darkest imaginings: Sydney Theatre Company’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

For my money, the outstanding Australian work in this year’s festival was Marrugeku’s production of Jurrungu Ngan-ga [Straight Talk] at the Dunstan Playhouse, conceived by Dalisa Pigram and Rachael Swain with Patrick Dodson.

State-sanctioned Indigenous and refugee incarceration was the focus of this visceral and captivating work. Eight performers, distinctive in individual presentation and styles of movement, invoked the tedium and boredom of incarceration as well as brief moments of hope and dreams of flight.

The work’s brutal honesty, enhanced by staging and lighting that suggested confinement and surveillance, was punctuated by moments of joy, humour and collective solidarity, confidently taking the audience through difficult terrain.

Read more:
‘We are a nation of jailers’: Jurrungu Ngan-ga is a whirlwind of bodily resistance

International offerings

This year’s high-culture, big-ticket international item was Verdi’s Messa de Requiem. The epic music and dance production featured 36 dancers from Ballet Zürich, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, a choral ensemble of 80 and four soloists.

Choreographed by Christian Spuck with Johannes Fritzsch conducting, classical ballet was paired with Verdi’s stirring and emotional oratorio, a reflection on life, death and eternal judgement.

Although the dynamic onstage chorus contributed greatly to the overall visual spectacle, I was not convinced that the relatively conventional, classical boy/girl dyad of classical ballet was best suited for such a dynamic and dramatic musical score.

Given the political and military conflicts that continue to shake our world, not surprisingly two international works were staged by groups comprised largely of displaced persons and exiles.

Remote Theatre Project presented Grey Rock, written and directed by Palestinian playwright Amir Nizar Zuabi. A bereaved husband and former TV repair man living with his daughter in the occupied West Bank sets out to create a rocket capable of landing on the Moon.

Far from being fantasy, the work offers an unblinkered exploration of the psychological toll confinement inflicts on individuals and communities.

More harrowing in content and manner of presentation was Dogs of Europe, presented by the Belarus Free Theatre, a company of political exiles living in the United Kingdom. In their adaptation of Belarusian exile Alhierd Bacharevič’s 2017 novel, Russia has become an anti-democratic superstate, brutally ruling over eastern Europe behind a new Iron Curtain.

There was wild, anarchic energy in this youthful cast, with much played big and to excess. The show offered chilling insights into what a world without poetry or poets might look like, one in which people “are only interested in pictures” and “have stopped talking to one another”.

The acclaimed Belgian theatre collective FC Bergman staged perhaps the festival’s most perplexing work. The Sheep Song sets out a parable in which a lone sheep separates from his flock and seeks to become human — something he can never fully achieve.

This is a strange, cruel and melancholic world, in which the unexpected becomes continually expected, and where ultimately the surreal and the “normal” coexist.

A Little Life, presented by International Theatre Amsterdam, was the most challenging work presented this year. Directed by Ivo van Hove, known for his Roman Tragedies at the 2014 festival, the play was based on Hanya Yanagihara’s critically acclaimed novel.

The play begins with a group of young men in a New York City loft bantering playfully and with ease. Although the actors speak in Dutch, they convey a comfortable intimacy. From the start, it’s clear one of them has a terrible secret.

Containing every possible trigger warning, the work deals with extreme trauma, including horrendous accounts of sexual and physical abuse and realistically staged acts of self-harm. The play unfolds like Greek tragedy, with recollecting past trauma not leading to healing but instead to more pain.

Yet this is ultimately a play about love, and how love is not always enough to tether the people we love to this life.

Read more:
Review: A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

On a lighter note, but no less rigorous in presentation, was Revisor, created by Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young for Kidd Pivot, the same core creative team that brought the sensational and searing Betroffenheit to the 2017 festival.

In equal measure thrilling, astonishing and bewitching, this dance theatre piece adapts Nikolai Gogol’s 19th-century play The Government Inspector.

When a low-level functionary shows up at a government department in a provincial town and is mistaken for an undercover operative, local powerbrokers seek his attention and favour. Mayhem ensues as they offer him fistfuls of money while urging him to overlook reports of “mass graves” or “missing dissidents”.

Read more:
Betroffenheit, when the mind and body get stuck

Ingeniously, all character voices are voiced over. This frees up the dancers to totally embody the words as all energy goes into the physical expression of those words, generating a performance style characterised by estrangement that is oddly very Gogol-like.

This is a sensational production, an example of a superbly successful collaboration where the artistic whole exceeds the sum of its parts.

Understanding the world

Looking at festivals in other capital cities, even before COVID hit, The Melbourne International Arts Festival was to be replaced with Rising, a lively and edgy cross between Hobart’s funky Dark Mofo Festival and Paris’ Nuit Blanche White Night.

Sydney’s festival is now a delightful celebration of Sydney in summer. Brisbane’s excellent festival lacks a significant strand of international programming, while Perth Festival, the nation’s oldest, has increasingly focused on film and the visual arts.

In the larger national festival ecosystem, the Adelaide Festival retains an unbroken line back to the original intent of those who set it up more than 60 years ago: to bring audiences a curated program of exciting new works we would otherwise never be able to see.

We see the world differently through such encounters.

Read more:
Björk was the big-ticket name – but Perth Festival’s heart was found in Bikutsi 3000’s afrofuturist musing on African resistance

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

– ref. At the 2023 Adelaide Festival, the best works shimmer with a brutal honesty on incarceration, exile – and Nikolai Gogol – https://theconversation.com/at-the-2023-adelaide-festival-the-best-works-shimmer-with-a-brutal-honesty-on-incarceration-exile-and-nikolai-gogol-202502

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cathy Buntting, Director, Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research, University of Waikato

Less than a fortnight after teachers staged a national strike, education was back in the headlines with the National Party’s release of its curriculum policy – or “rewrite”, as leader Christopher Luxon described it.

In a nutshell, the policy would require primary and intermediate schools to teach at least an hour a day each of reading, writing and maths. Learners in Years 3-8 would also be tested on their progress at least twice a year – not unlike the controversial (and subsequently dropped) national standards system from 2010 to 2018.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins responded by arguing the school curriculum should ideally be a bipartisan issue rather than a political football: “Parents, kids, teachers deserve to know that we’ve got a stable curriculum regardless of who the government is.”

Clearly, we all want the best learning outcomes for our nation’s children. But there are deep ideological divisions in the debate about how best to teach and test school children. It seems the curriculum will inevitably become a partisan issue as the election year unfolds.

Behind this immediate contest of ideas, however, sits a larger question: does the education system need yet another upheaval when the curriculum is already undergoing a “refresh”?

How the curriculum works

The school curriculum is not set in stone. Since the 1989 Education Act, schools have been self-governing and charged with developing their own curriculum.
These local curriculums are underpinned by the national New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.

The national curriculum and school curriculums work in tandem to balance national consistency with localised enrichment. As part of the curriculum refresh now under way, Te Mātaiaho/The Curriculum Framework will replace the New Zealand Curriculum.

The latest version of Te Mātaiaho, which includes responses to school feedback last year, was released on March 17. It’s open for further input until May 12. Part of the process involves updating the eight learning areas – what many will recognise as the traditional school “subjects” – within a new “understand, know, do” model.

Read more:
The New Zealand Chinese experience is unique and important — the new history curriculum can’t ignore it

This model establishes key learning stage “progressions”. While it doesn’t go as far as National’s proposed year-by-year testing system, it does set out five consecutive phases: for years 1-3, 4-6, 7-8, 9-10 and 11-13. This replaces the current system of eight overlapping levels across years 0-13.

The new progressions are scheduled to be released for consultation in phases, with full implementation planned for 2026. The first “refreshed” learning area – te ao tangata/social sciences – was released last year. It includes the new Aotearoa New Zealand’s Histories curriculum, which schools are now required to teach.

The curriculum refresh also includes improvements to literacy and communication, and numeracy, including explicitly describing outcomes as a component of all learning areas. As part of the literacy and maths strategy, a common practice model is already being developed to create greater clarity, coherence and consistency across the school years.

Teachers on the front line

The upshot of all this is that extensive curriculum work is well under way – and teachers and school leaders are already grappling with the implications. But the National Party curriculum policy implies these changes won’t go far enough.

If enacted, the proposed curriculum rewrite will require teachers to get their heads and hearts around even more change. This will include overseeing a new standardised testing regime in reading, writing and maths for years 3-8 – rather than solidifying their understanding of the current refresh.

Read more:
Has a gap in old-school handwriting and spelling tuition contributed to NZ’s declining literacy scores?

More curriculum change is assuredly not what teachers were calling for when they went on strike on March 16. Rather, they were drawing attention to working conditions and pay scales that haven’t kept pace with inflation.

Mainstream reporting and social media posts overflowed with teachers and principals sharing experiences of increasing concerns about the wellbeing of students and staff. They spoke of overwhelming workloads and inadequate funding to support students with complex learning and behavioural needs.

Christopher Luxon addressed this broader educational complexity head-on, speaking directly to teachers: “In addition to teaching, you have become the front-line response to complex social, educational, housing and wellbeing challenges.”

Read more:
NZ’s key teacher unions now reject classroom streaming. So what’s wrong with grouping kids by perceived ability?

Beyond the school gates

Of course, a strong curriculum and clear milestones for progress are important. But we also need to recognise that quality education occurs within a complex milieu of wider social and economic policies.

If Chris Hipkins’ desire for a bipartisan approach to education were to work, it would be good to see the educational policies of different political parties directly address the funding issue for schools.

Beyond that, how does school funding intersect with other policies targeting inequality and inequity outside the school gates? The same day National announced its curriculum policy, child poverty again made the headlines. A new report showed 10% of the nation’s children are living in material hardship.

Having school children arrive at school properly fed, warm, well dressed and ready to learn is surely the priority. Teachers will then be able to focus on implementing the curriculum for everyone’s benefit.

Cathy Buntting is contributing to the writing of the science learning area within the current New Zealand curriculum refresh.

– ref. Teachers need a lot of things right now, but another curriculum ‘rewrite’ isn’t one of them – https://theconversation.com/teachers-need-a-lot-of-things-right-now-but-another-curriculum-rewrite-isnt-one-of-them-202438

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fan Yang, Research Associate at RMIT and Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University

On March 16, Baidu unveiled China’s latest rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT – ERNIE Bot (short for “Enhanced Representation through kNowledge IntEgration”). The “multi-modal” AI-powered chatbot can generate text, images, audio and video from a text prompt.

However, ERNIE was poorly received by the public. Baidu’s Hong Kong-listed shares fell by 10% during the press conference, and the beta test is only open to a group of organisations approved by the company.

ERNIE Bot will not be a Chinese substitute for ChatGPT, but that might be how the Chinese state wants it. As earlier efforts to make Chinese AI chatbots have shown, the Chinese Communist Party prefers to maintain strict censorship rules and government steering of research – even at the cost of innovation.

Digital sovereignty and ChatGPT

ChatGPT is not directly accessible in China due to the country’s protectionist approach to digital sovereignty. Chinese data are confined within China, and information that conflicts with government propaganda is censored.

Chinese tech companies including Baidu and Tencent prohibit third-party developers from plugging ChatGPT into their services.

However, the prominence of ChatGPT created a booming illicit market. Until a crackdown, ChatGPT logins were sold on the ecommerce platform Taobao, and video tutorials were published on Chinese social media to demonstrate the abilities of the chatbot.

XiaoIce and BabyQ

Baidu isn’t the first or only tech company in China trialling a generative AI chatbot.

In March 2017, Tencent launched two social chatbots, called XiaoIce and BabyQ, on the WeChat and QQ messaging apps respectively.

XiaoIce was developed by Microsoft, while BabyQ was created by a Beijing-based AI company called Turing Robot. Within months, the two chatbots were taken down to be attuned according to China’s censorship rules.

BabyQ never came back, but Microsoft’s XiaoIce returned and has been providing AI companionship services to millions of users on major platforms including WeChat, QQ and Weibo.

Made in China 2025 and the push for AI

China’s government would be on the defensive if China adopted only AI chatbots developed overseas. As chatbots run on human feedback, it would be impossible to prevent transnational flows of data and the political interests of the Chinese Communist Party may be threatened.

Since 2015, during the administration of former premier Li Keqiang, the Made in China 2025 scheme has endeavoured to bolster the country’s technological capacities. AI is a major focus.

Since February 2023, Chinese tech companies across AI, food delivery, e-commerce and gaming have scrambled to catch up with OpenAI and provide their own ChatGPT-like products to the market.

Beijing’s Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology is supporting this ambition, but only for some leading tech companies.

Censorship and culture

We can expect China will witness the short-term proliferation of versions of ChatGPT services, many of which will vanish or be acquired by big tech companies.

Smaller companies, with little support from the government, are unlikely to be able to afford the costs of censorship.

A small startup called YuanYu launched China’s first ChatGPT-style bot in January. Dubbed ChatYuan, the bot ran as a “mini-program” inside WeChat. It was suspended within weeks after users posted screengrabs of its answers to political questions online.

However, Chinese users are still interested in large language models based on the Han Chinese linguistic system.

ERNIE Bot, for example, claims to be more culturally savvy than ChatGPT, with a better understanding of Chinese histories, classical literature, and dialects.

Government steering

Beijing has tightened its governance of the tech industry since a crackdown in 2021.

One upside for industry is a secure flow of funding and talent support. The flip side is that resources are steered towards technologies that serve Beijing’s immediate interests in domestic governance and military defence.

Read more:
China’s big tech problem: even in a state-managed economy, digital companies grow too powerful

China’s ChatGPT imitators are more likely to be designed to benefit enterprises than individuals. For tech giants, the objective is to form a “full AI stack” by integrating generative AI products into every level of their business, from search engines and apps to industrial processes, digital devices, urban infrastructure and cloud computing.

Emotional surveillance and disinformation

AI-driven chatbots can also lead to adverse outcomes. Alongside the universal concerns around job security, copyright and academic integrity, in China there are also extra risks of emotional surveillance and disinformation.

Chatbots can identify users’ emotional status through conversations. This emotion-reading ability extends the power of big data and AI to invade people’s privacy.

Read more:
China’s ‘surveillance creep’: how big data COVID monitoring could be used to control people post-pandemic

In China, such emotional surveillance could further establish “emotional authoritarianism”. Any sentiments that could threaten the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, even if not directly stated, have the potential to attract punishment for the user.

AI-powered chatbots and search engines are also likely to legitimise Chinese state-organised propaganda and disinformation. Users will come to trust and depend on these services, but their inputs, outputs and internal processes will be heavily censored.

Chinese politics and leadership will not be up for discussion. When it comes to controversial events or histories, only the perspectives of the Chinese Communist Party will be presented.

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

– ref. AI chatbots with Chinese characteristics: why Baidu’s ChatGPT rival may never measure up – https://theconversation.com/ai-chatbots-with-chinese-characteristics-why-baidus-chatgpt-rival-may-never-measure-up-202109

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University

Review: Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria.

Melbourne Now 2013 is still spoken about with reverence.

It was a memorable exhibition: a shot of Viagra to the exhibiting of contemporary Australian art by a public art gallery. It was immense, occupying both buildings of the National Gallery of Victoria and surrounds, and it brought to the fore much art that had never been seen before, combined with some well-known artists still making interesting work.

Melbourne Now 2023 is a more targeted exhibition, confined to the Federation Square building, with roughly half the number of exhibitors compared with its predecessor a decade earlier.

The show does combine the work of some well-established artists, including Shaun Gladwell, Christian Thompson, Katherine Hattam and Julia Ciccarone, with a splurge of fresh blood, names largely unknown outside a tight circle within the arts community.

Art is treated within a broad spectrum of the cultural landscape to include not only painters, printmakers, sculptors, photographers, filmmakers and installation artists, but also designers, studios, firms, practising architects, ceramicists, video artists and those working in virtual reality, jewellery, performance, product design and publishing.

These are some of the people who now, or in the near future, will design the way our world looks, feels and operates.

In a vast, sprawling and inspiring exhibition that seems to burst out of its architectural framework, it is pointless to debate omissions in the selection of artists when we are surrounded by so much vital and interesting art that challenges us on so many levels.

Read more:
Melbourne Now – the art of the contemporary city

Intense visual excitement

Many of the artists are making their NGV debut. This is not a “stable” of artists that has been fostered by a gallery, an accusation that has been levelled, with some justification, at several state galleries.

Many of these artists are not new to the institutional exhibiting scene and may have been seen in some regional galleries, public art spaces and dedicated municipal art centres, but they are new to the NGV and the broader public.

There is a sustained and intense visual excitement that pervades all levels of The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia.

We move from Rel Pham’s huge shrine-like “temple” in a darkened room, accompanied by a chorus of 640 computer fans with their cyberspace breeze, to Jenna Lee’s illuminated lanterns in forms reminiscent of traditional Gulumerridjin (Larrakia) dilly bags, and Troy Emery’s quirky nearly three-metre-long textile sculpture, Mountain climber, ready to pounce on the viewer.

Although each of these works is spectacular and packs a considerable wow factor, they cannot be dismissed as purely hedonistic eye candy designed as an escapist parachute out of reality.

Pham questions the ecological sustainability in our reliance on technology with the colours of the neon illumination chosen for symbolic considerations in Asian cultures. He creates an environment where the physical and digital worlds blur.

Lee, a Larrakia, Wardaman and Karajarri artist, views her lanterns as illuminating her ancestry and its mystical complexities.

Emery’s work affected me more directly than I anticipated. I was prepared for an encounter with something approaching high kitsch with brightly coloured pom-poms forming the surface of this creature. For all its playfulness, there is something quite sombre in an encounter with this giant feline, shown like a specimen taken out of the wild, now beautified and preserved in a museum.

It’s possibly something to do with animal extinction and an interrogation of the relationship between us and non-human animals.

It will become a new icon for our time.

Art meets design

The distinction between arts and crafts dissolved many decades ago. Melbourne Now continues the process in dissolving the distinction between the visual arts as studio practice and functional design, fashion and applied photography.

The Design Wall that caused major ripples a decade ago has returned as a large-scale installation representing 23 Victorian design studios that over the past decade created new consumer products from guitars, pink cricket balls to electric motorbikes.

Fashion Now brings together about 20 local fashion designers including J’Aton Couture, Ngali and Kara Baker.

Jewellery Now carries out a similar exercise with contemporary jewellers spread over about 60 new or recent pieces that explore a variety of forms. They include incredible pieces by Inari Kiuru, Tessa Blazey, Kirsten Lyttle and Anke Kindle.

As so much in this exhibition, fundamental questions are raised concerning boundaries. What constitutes jewellery practice today and how is jewellery consumed by society?

Civic Architecture investigates five award-winning civic projects by Melbourne architects where different neighbourhoods have been transformed.

No House Style assembles some Melbourne-based furniture designers and architects who have departed from mainstream trends to create their own unique language.

Vessels examines 15 artists who create containers from materials as varied as ceramics, fibre, mixed media and experimental biomaterials.

The art of photography is interrogated through Slippery Images, a glance at the work of 12 photographers. Printmaking is represented with a Print Portfolio by 12 printmakers plus the irrepressible Gracia and Louise and their bat installation.

A memorable exhibition

Conceived as a snapshot of visual culture in Melbourne and Victoria, this exhibition is challenging, visually exciting and memorable.

If you find it a little bewildering, you can turn to Gee, an AI chatbox developed by Georgia Banks, who has been programmed as a target for your affections, or lie down for Shaun Gladwell’s out-of-body experience.

Read more:
What architects do and how they do it, at Melbourne Now

Melbourne Now is at the The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia until August 20.

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

– ref. Melbourne Now: a vast, sprawling and inspiring exhibition that seems to burst out of its architectural framework – https://theconversation.com/melbourne-now-a-vast-sprawling-and-inspiring-exhibition-that-seems-to-burst-out-of-its-architectural-framework-199872

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julie Jakoboski, Oceanographic Data Scientist, Moana Project’s Te Tiro Moana Team Lead, MetService — Te Ratonga Tirorangi

The world’s oceans are buffering us from the worst climate impacts by taking up more than 90% of the excess heat generated by greenhouse gas emissions. This has warmed them by 0.88℃ (on average globally), according to the latest climate report released this week.

The warming of the ocean affects marine ecosystems, drives changes in ocean circulation and heat distribution, and strongly influences atmospheric weather systems. All these processes are critically important to the health of our planet.

Read more:
Ocean heat is at record levels, with major consequences

Scientists measure subsurface ocean temperature around the world, but there is a coastal gap in those measurements. This is where fishing, aquaculture, recreation and ocean managers need good data the most.

MetService’s Moana Project is changing that. We have joined forces with the commercial fishing sector to deploy sensors on vessels nationwide to gain insights into how ocean temperatures are changing near the coast.

Monitoring coastal changes

Ocean temperature measurements are critical for understanding and accurately predicting extreme events, including severe storms and unusually warm coastal waters, which have serious economic and societal impacts.

During the past few years, Aotearoa New Zealand has been plagued by extreme rainfall and persistent marine heatwaves. This has severely affected marine life, fisheries and aquaculture.

Increased ocean temperatures can exacerbate severe weather events like Cyclone Gabrielle, contributing to the conditions for intense rainfall and potential devastation.

Read more:
Floods, cyclones, thunderstorms: is climate change to blame for New Zealand’s summer of extreme weather?

To prepare for a changing climate and provide early alerts for extreme events, we need to monitor temperature changes below the ocean’s surface. These measurements are usually expensive, often requiring oceanographic research vessels to deploy instruments.

Pioneering international programmes like Argo (autonomous floats that move with the world’s ocean currents collecting measurements) provide unprecedented world coverage of deeper waters.

But they are not primarily designed to measure coastal and shelf seas. The lack of coastal observations is recognised in New Zealand and globally, and is a priority for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science 2021-2030.

Crowd-sourcing ocean observations

As part of the Moana Project, MetService and the commercial fishing industry partnered with Nelson-based company ZebraTech to develop the Mangōpare sensor, a small, lightweight, robust and accurate temperature sensor that attaches to commercial fishing gear.

The sensor was distributed to volunteer inshore and deep-water fishing vessels and citizen scientists. Thanks to more than 200 skippers and crew, there are now 300 sensors on commercial fishing vessels, providing more than one million subsurface observations a month from across Aotearoa New Zealand.

The sensor attaches to any type of fishing gear and automatically collects ocean temperature and depth measurements through the water column. This information is automatically sent to the cloud, quality checked, returned to the fisher collecting it and incorporated into MetService ocean forecasts.

Vital temperature record to improve forecasts

Temperature observations are used to improve ocean forecasting models and verify the depth of marine heatwaves around Aotearoa New Zealand.

Similar to a weather station on land collecting real-time data that improves weather forecasts, sensor data helps improve three-dimensional predictions of ocean temperature, currents and sea level. These forecasts are used to prepare coastal communities for approaching storms, optimise fishing and alert aquaculture to extreme ocean temperatures.

Read more:
Māori hold a third of NZ’s fishing interests, but as the ocean warms and fish migrate, these rights don’t move with them

Scientists use the sensor data to understand how ocean temperature affects our marine ecosystems. Recently, severe marine heatwaves have affected coastal and offshore areas leading to changes in fish distribution and impacts on sensitive species.

The sensor provides measurements exactly where fishing occurs, helping fishers make sense of changes in their catch.

Temperature measurements are an invaluable record of subsurface ocean structure, allowing scientists to determine impacts of marine heatwaves, such as the bleaching of Fjordland sponges. Increased understanding is essential to a climate-resilient future for our oceans and marine species over the coming decades.

Partnering with technology innovators, the commercial fishing sector, citizen scientists and researchers from across New Zealand, this project breaks down traditional barriers.

This approach demonstrates how we can solve critical environmental issues and provide important insight into our changing oceans. The continuation of this system will lead the way toward informing a climate-resilient blue economy and understanding the coastal ocean, providing measurements that will only become more critical in the coming years.

Julie Jakoboski works for the Meteorological Service of New Zealand – Te Ratonga Tirorangi. The Moana Project is funded by New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment – Hīkina Whakatutuki.

João Marcos Azevedo Correia de Souza works for the Meteorological Service of New Zealand – Te Ratonga Tirorangi. The Moana Project is funded by New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment – Hīkina Whakatutuki.

Malene Felsing works for the Meteorological Service of New Zealand – Te Ratonga Tirorangi. The Moana Project is funded by New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment – Hīkina Whakatutuki.

– ref. Fishing for data: commercial fishers help monitor rising temperatures in coastal seas – https://theconversation.com/fishing-for-data-commercial-fishers-help-monitor-rising-temperatures-in-coastal-seas-202115

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Al-Tamini Tapu, Geoscientist, The University of Queensland

Our new study published in Nature Geoscience on an ancient chain of Australian volcanoes is helping to change our understanding of “hotspot” volcanism.

You may be surprised to learn eastern Australia hosts the longest chain of continental hotspot volcanoes on Earth. These volcanoes erupted during the last 35 million years (for 1 to 7 million years each), as the Australian continent moved over an area of heat (a hotspot) inside the planet, also known as a fixed heat anomaly or mantle plume.

But it appears the Australian hotspot waned with time. And we have found the volcanoes’ inner structure and eruptions changed as a result. Our new findings show hotspot strength has key impacts on the evolution of volcanoes’ inner structure, along with their location and lifespan.

Hotspots change Earth’s surface

Hotspot volcanoes can produce very large volumes of lava and have an important role in Earth’s evolution and atmosphere. Today, famously active hotspot volcanoes include the Hawaiian volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean and the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. These are known as ocean island volcanoes.

The Australian hotspot chain provides a continental perspective and covers the life cycle of a hotspot – a unique opportunity to better understand how hotspot volcanoes work, why they erupt, and how they evolve with time.

We found the strength of the hotspot and magma supply controls the duration, make-up and explosiveness of volcanoes at the surface. Around 35 to 27 million years ago, the early Australian hotspot was strong and generated enormous, long-lasting volcanoes across Queensland where magma (molten rock) took a direct route to the surface.

In contrast, the more recent (20 to 6 million years ago) New South Wales volcanoes are smaller and had shorter lifetimes, suggesting the hotspot lost strength with time. Interestingly, reduced supply made the magma’s journey to the surface more complicated, with many stops (magma chambers) and more explosive eruptions.

The tipping point occurred at the stunning Tweed-Wollumbin (Mount Warning) volcanic landscape, which formed 21–24 million years ago at today’s border between Queensland and New South Wales.

The secret journey of magma

To discover the journey of magma inside the volcano, and the stops it made on its way to eruption, we analysed volcanic crystals. These are the little heroes that make it all the way to the surface. Mainly composed of silicate minerals like olivine, pyroxene and plagioclase, the crystals grow in the guts of the volcano at high temperature, and register what happens before eruptions start.

These crystals are quite simple in northern volcanoes like Buckland in Queensland, which means they travel through few, simple magma chambers. In contrast, the crystals become very complex in southern volcanoes like Nandewar and Warrumbungle in New South Wales, which means they had a complicated journey through lots of busy magma chambers – lots of stops.

Importantly, when magma stops in a chamber, it cools down and becomes more viscous and difficult to erupt – a bit like cold toothpaste, instead of hot coffee. This thick, lazy magma may need new, hotter magma (caffeinated!) to come and push it to erupt.

If that happens, the gases trapped in the colder magma may not be able to escape, since the magma is so thick. This results in a pressure buildup, eventually exploding like a shaken bottle of fizzy drink – an explosive volcanic eruption.

Read more:
Volcano crystals could make it easier to predict eruptions

A special clock

The cold and hardened lava flows we see in the form of volcanic rocks contain a special clock – radioactive chemical elements have slowly broken down into stable daughter products that accumulate and increase in concentration as time passes.

The beauty of this process is that we know how fast it occurs. By measuring the ratio of the radioactive element and its stable daughter product we can calculate the age of a volcanic rock. By measuring the age of each lava flow from the bottom to the top of the volcano, we can measure its lifetime.

Our study shows the relevance of Australian volcanoes, even if mostly extinct, in better understanding eruptions that have shaped the evolution of our planet. We demonstrate the fundamental role of hotspot strength and magma supply on Earth’s landscape, as well as the eruption styles and lifetimes of volcanoes.

This breakthrough makes it possible to visualise the inner structure of hotspot volcanoes, and their evolution, uniquely easily accessible in the ancient, exposed Australian landscape.

Read more:
Scientists just revealed the most detailed geological model of Earth’s past 100 million years

Al-Tamini Tapu received RTP PhD Scholarship from UQ.

Paulo Vasconcelos received ARC Equipment grant to construct the UQ AGES lab.

Teresa Ubide received funding from the ARC, UQ and AuScope-NCRIS

– ref. A new study on Australian volcanoes has changed what we know about explosive ‘hotspot’ volcanism – https://theconversation.com/a-new-study-on-australian-volcanoes-has-changed-what-we-know-about-explosive-hotspot-volcanism-202334

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Sussex, Fellow, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University

There’s been a lot of recent shouting about Australia’s national security policy.

It began with the Nine newspapers’ “Red Alert” extravaganza, spread over multiple articles. Featuring a graphic of warplanes approaching ominously from Red China, it predicted Australia could be at war in three years, and speculated about Chinese missiles and cyberattacks pummelling Australian infrastructure. It then cheerily recommended some hackneyed solutions for Australia’s security woes – including bringing back conscription, and hosting US nuclear weapons.

Not to be outdone, former prime minister Paul Keating returned fire, branding the recent decision to acquire nuclear-propelled submarines under the AUKUS agreement as “the worst deal in all history”, that marked Australia’s “return to our former colonial master”.

Few were spared Keating’s rhetorical cudgel. The list included Foreign Minister Penny Wong, whom he described as “running around the Pacific with a lei around your neck”; Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles (“seriously unwise”); and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, whom Keating ridiculed for spending “less than 24 hours” deciding whether to support the AUKUS pact.

Keating saved his most stinging critique for Peter Hartcher, the lead journalist on the Red Alert series, whom he branded a “psychopath”.

All this could be treated as superficially entertaining, or ignored as unimportant tantrums.

But in reality, it’s damaging. For external observers – including hostile ones – it suggests Australian commentators cannot escape knee-jerk reactions when confronted with serious choices. This, in turn, implies we can be prodded and provoked into hypermasculine chest-thumping or panicked pacifism.

That should be worrying. So, too, should the fact that Australians remain ambivalent about it all. In a recent poll, 67% of respondents saw China as a complex relationship to manage, rather than a threat to be confronted (20%) or a positive opportunity (13%).

On the question of Australian nuclear-powered submarines, only 26% of respondents saw them as necessary and value-for-money. In contrast, some 27% of respondents thought they were necessary but not worth the $368 billion price tag, while 28% of respondents thought they weren’t necessary at all.

Read more:
AUKUS submarine plan will be the biggest defence scheme in Australian history. So how will it work?

A failure to communicate

How has this come about? A major problem has been that successive governments have shied away from serious discussions about national security. Instead, they’ve preferred to employ vague motherhood statements about values, or word salad about deterrence.

These are no longer sufficient. Not explaining why governments make the choices they do implies they don’t trust the people who elected them to make informed decisions.

Above all, any national security policy entails risk, and each choice is a calculated bet. And while the much-anticipated Defence Strategic Review may address some of these issues, it’s worth considering the basic contours of our security landscape.

Australia’s strategic geography is both a blessing and a vulnerability. Being a maritime trading state means our economic prosperity depends on unhindered access to a region where a huge proportion of global sea-borne trade transits.

Australia is physically too big (and demographically too small) to win a war against a large and determined adversary, or an attempt to deny us access to the sea.

So, if Australia wants security, it needs to be underpinned by a stronger ally (or a network of them) with abiding interests in upholding its sovereignty.

As a result, Australian strategic policy has revolved around being a security provider – sometimes in conflicts where we have had few obvious interests – in case we need to be a security consumer.

Australia can develop its military capabilities and security resilience so challenging its interests isn’t worth the bother (otherwise known as “deterrence by denial”). There are no two ways about this: it will be costly and time-consuming.

Australia’s strategic environment is becoming the locus for competition between our main trading partner and our main security ally. One is an authoritarian state that seeks to supplant the existing order we benefit from. The other is a democracy that seeks to preserve it.

In national security there are no guarantees:

• we cannot guarantee competition between the US and China will remain peaceful

• nor can we guarantee that future shifts in the US political climate or its power will not lead to a reduction in America’s willingness to uphold order in our region

• and we cannot guarantee China won’t seek to establish a trading system based on tribute instead of open markets.

During contests between big powers, smaller countries have the option of picking a side, or hiding. If you pick a side, you might end up on the losing one. If you hide, you’re unlikely to reap any rewards from victor, and equally run the risk of being punished by them.

Where does AUKUS fit?

How does the AUKUS agreement (of which nuclear-powered submarines are just one component) fit into our strategic calculus? As Australian defence expert Peter Layton has noted, we need to recognise there are good arguments across the spectrum of views in the debate.

Above all, there needs to be a clearer explanation about why the decision was taken.

Certainly, Australia’s acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines will result in an enhanced deterrent capacity. They will be best-in-class, able to stay on station for long periods of time, and highly survivable. Full disclosure: I’m cautiously supportive.

But a number of questions still await detailed answers. Here are a few of the more pressing ones:

Type of deterrent effect sought

Is the purpose of Australian nuclear submarines to have the ability to attack mainland targets in China, and/or Chinese naval assets close to its territory, together with US forces?

In other words, does our acquisition of nuclear submarines lock us into a deterrence-by-punishment approach? If so, what is the rationale for doing so?

Political risk

What’s the likelihood of AUKUS parties reneging on the deal, on the grounds of technology transfer rules and the need to retain sovereign capabilities (the US); shipbuilding capacity (the UK); or cost (Australia)?

Read more:
$18 million a job? The AUKUS subs plan will cost Australia way more than that

Crewing

Nuclear submarines require a highly educated and skilled workforce. Will Australia be able to crew and perform basic maintenance on them by the time the first US Virginia class vessel is delivered in the early 2030s?

Timelines

Australia is (optimistically) slated to receive its first AUKUS-class submarine in 2042. By this time, the main questions about strategic competition in the region may already have been resolved. Shouldn’t we be looking to build our capabilities sooner than that?

Treaty compliance and waste disposal

How does Australia navigate its commitments to the Non-Proliferation Treaty if it is to be operating highly enriched weapons-grade uranium in submarine reactors? And how does it propose to deal with the waste once the Virginia class submarines reach end-of-life?

Read more:
Australia hasn’t figured out low-level nuclear waste storage yet – let alone high-level waste from submarines

Economies of scale

By 2042, Australia will be operating small numbers of three different types of submarines: the ageing Collins class; between three and five ex-US Virginia class nuclear-powered submarines; and the new AUKUS class nuclear-powered submarine. Is the cost of doing so sensible?

Time to grow up

An informed debate on national security isn’t only healthy, it’s overdue. At such an important time, Australians deserve better than dubious scare campaigns. More than that, they deserve a mature national security discussion that treats opposing views with respect rather than ridicule. Achieving that is fundamental to democracy, which draws its greatest strength from the open contest of ideas.

Holding that debate might finally mark Australia’s coming-of-age on questions of national security. In the past, Australia’s rich tradition of commentary on how we view ourselves in the world has typically played on tensions between our geography and our identity, producing depictions that mark us as either lucky or lonely, immature or adolescent.

It’s high time we grew up and left that behind.

Matthew Sussex has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council, the Carnegie Foundation, the Lowy Institute, and various Australian government agencies.

– ref. Time to grow up: Australia’s national security dilemma demands a mature debate – https://theconversation.com/time-to-grow-up-australias-national-security-dilemma-demands-a-mature-debate-202040

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Goldlust, Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University

Earlier this month, regulators flagged electricity price rises in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Like many people, you’re probably wondering how you can minimise the financial pain.

Getting rid of gas and electrifying everything in your home can save you money. Modelling by not-for-profit organisation Renew showed annual bills last year for a seven-star all-electric home with solar power were between 69% (Western Sydney) and 83% (Hobart) cheaper than bills for a three-star home with gas appliances and no solar.

There are other reasons to kick the gas habit, too. As renewables form an ever-growing part of Australia’s energy mix, electrifying the home increasingly helps tackle climate change. What’s more, there are sound health reasons to get rid of gas appliances.

But where do you start? And how do you get the best bang for your buck? Here, I offer a few tips.

A quick guide to home energy use

Australian home energy use can be separated into a few categories:

• space heating and cooling
• water heating
• cooking
• vehicles
• other appliances (many of which are largely already electric).

Of the appliances that typically depend on gas, the largest component (37%) is space heating, followed by hot water (24%) and cooking (6%).

This varies between states. Victoria, for example, is particularly dependent on gas.

But the breakdown above gives some insight into the largest contributors to energy costs in the average Australian home – particularly in the cooler southern regions.

While both gas and electricity costs are rising, as they are now in most states, all-electric homes can expect lower overall increases. Analysis by Renew has shown ditching the old gas heater in favour of a split system/reverse cycle air-conditioner (without solar panels) can lead to average savings of A$546 each year in Canberra, $440 in Adelaide, $409 in Melbourne and $256 in Perth.

Heating a space with a reverse-cycle air conditioner is about four times more efficient than using natural gas. And when the electricity is generated by renewables, it can be done with zero greenhouse gas emissions.

And what about heating water? Using the existing electricity grid, the cost of using an electric heat pump is around half that of using a natural gas water heater.

The costs fall even lower if a household shifts to solar panels subsidised or financed by government, backed by a home battery providing the energy. In this case, heating costs are around a third of using gas.

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

So what’s the payback?

Buying new appliances costs money. So it’s important to examine the “payback” period – in other words, the length of time it takes for energy bill savings to equal the cost of the initial investment in a new appliance.

The payback period can vary depending on:

• cost and quality of the appliance
• an appliance’s energy rating
• size of the system
• for space heating, whether a split system is replacing an existing ducted system or being added on externally.

A report last year by the Climate Council calculated the approximate cost differences between higher and lower-end electric appliances. Lower-end hot water heat pumps, reverse-cycle air conditioner and induction stoves were priced around $7,818 all together, while higher-end appliances cost around $14,936 together.

Both scenarios included installation costs and $3,000 for electrical upgrades and other costs.

The payback period for low-priced appliances ranged from five years in Hobart and Canberra to 15 years in Perth and Sydney. Higher-priced appliances were in the order of eight to ten years for most cities and 12, 16 and 19 years for Melbourne, Perth and Sydney respectively.

Read more:
People are shivering in cold and mouldy homes in a country that pioneered housing comfort research – how did that happen?

Rolled out at scale, household electrification is also a feasible way to reduce gas demand. It may be the only practical option available to decarbonise residential energy.

As research recently suggested, so-called “green” hydrogen – made by using low-carbon electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen – is unlikely to emerge as a cheap replacement for gas boilers. And why look for a technological solution to a problem we already know how to solve?

Modelling by Environment Victoria has shown installing heat pumps for heating and cooling would reduce statewide gas use by 48 petajoules a year, compared to the relatively minimal 0.5 petajoules saved by installing induction cooktops.

At the same scale – and using a similar technology – replacing gas hot water with heat pump hot water reduces household gas use by 10 petajoules each year. That’s an enormous saving of gas.

The bigger picture for all-electric homes

Existing homes can benefit from a combination of electrification, rooftop solar and batteries. They can also benefit from energy efficiency measures such as installing insulation, stopping draughts, closing off rooms and wearing the right clothing for the season.

We can work together to speed up the transition to renewable energy and reduce the demand for gas.

Rachel Goldlust is developing a “Getting Off Gas Toolkit” for Renew. It aims to provide clear, accessible and practical advice to households on replacing gas with renewables. The public is invited to complete a survey to help design the guide.

Rachel Goldlust works for Renew on their forthcoming Getting Off Gas Toolkit. Renew has received funding from Boundless Earth and the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation for this work.

– ref. Want an easy $400 a year? Ditch the gas heater in your home for an electric split system – https://theconversation.com/want-an-easy-400-a-year-ditch-the-gas-heater-in-your-home-for-an-electric-split-system-201941

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Veal, Adjunct Professor, Business School, University of Technology Sydney

A little more than a century ago, most people in industrialised countries worked 60 hours a week – six ten-hour days. A 40-hour work week of five eight-hour days became the norm, along with increased paid holidays, in the 1950s.

These changes were made possible by massive increases in productivity and hard-fought struggles by workers with bosses for a fair share of the expanding economic pie.

In the 1960s and ‘70s it was expected that this pattern would continue. It was even anticipated that, by the year 2000, there would be a “leisure society”. Instead, the trend towards reduced working hours ground to a halt.

But now there are suggestions we are on the cusp of another great leap forward – a 32-hour, four-day week for the same pay as working five days. This is sometimes referred to as the “100-80-100” model. You will continue to be paid 100% of your wages in return for working 80% of the hours but maintaining 100% production.

In Spain and Scotland, political parties have won elections with the promise of trialling a four-day week, although a similar move in the 2019 UK general election was unsuccessful. In Australia, a Senate committee inquiry has recommended a national trial of the four-day week.

Hopes of the four-day week becoming reality have been buoyed by glowing reports about the success of four-day week trials, in which employers have reported cutting hours but maintaining productivity.

However, impressive as the trial results may appear, it’s still not clear whether the model would work across the economy.

An employer-led movement

Unlike previous campaigns for a shorter work week, the four-day workweek movement is being led by employers in a few, mainly English-speaking, countries. Notable is Andrew Barnes, owner of a New Zealand financial services company, who founded the “4-Day Week Global” organisation.

It has coordinated a program of four-day week trials in six countries (Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States). Almost 100 companies and more than 3,000 employees have been involved. (A highly publicised trial in Iceland was not coordinated by it.)

Read more:
The success of Iceland’s ‘four-day week’ trial has been greatly overstated

These trials are being monitored by an “international collaboration” of research teams at three universities: Boston College, Cambridge University, and University College Dublin. The Boston College team is led by work-time/leisure-time guru Juliet Schor, author of the 1991 bestseller The Overworked American.

A number of reports have been published, including one “global” report covering all six countries, and separate reports for the UK and Ireland]. A report on the Australian trial is promised for April.

Overall, these reports have declared the trials a “resounding success” – both for employers and employees.

Employees, unsurprisingly, were overwhelmingly positive. They reported less stress, burnout, fatigue and work-family conflict, and better physical and mental health.

More significant were the employers’ responses. They have generally reported improved employee morale and no loss of revenue. Nearly all have committed to, or are considering, continuing with the four-day-week model.

Four big questions

The trials do not, however, answer all the questions about the viability of the four-day week. The four main ones are as follows.

First, are the research results reliable?

Employers and employees were surveyed at the start, halfway through and at the end of the six-month trials. But only about half of the employees and two-thirds of employers completed the vital final round. So there’s some uncertainty about their representativeness.

Second, did the participating firms demonstrate the key productivity proposition: an increase of almost 20% in output per employee per hour worked?

The firms involved were not asked to provide “output” data, just revenue. This may be a reasonable substitute. But it may also have been affected by price movements (inflation was on the march in 2022).

Third, for those firms that achieved the claimed productivity increase, how did it come about? And is it sustainable?

Proponents of the four-day week argue that employees are more productive because they work in a more concentrated way, ignoring distractions. A much longer period than six months will be needed to establish whether this more intense work pattern is sustainable.

Fourth, is the four-day model likely to be applicable across the whole economy?

This is the key question, the answer to which will only emerge over time. The organisations involved in the trials were self-selected and unrepresentative of the economy as a whole. They employed mostly office-based workers. Almost four-fifths were in managerial, professional, IT and clerical occupations. Organisations in other sectors, with different occupational profiles, may find increased productivity through more intensive working difficult to emulate.

Take manufacturing: only three firms from this sector were included in the large UK trial. Since manufacturing has been subject to efficiency studies and labour-saving investment for a century or more, an overall 20% “efficiency gain” to be had across the board seems unlikely.

Then there are sectors that provide face-to-face services to the public, often seven days a week. They cannot close for a day, and their work intensity is often governed by health and safety concerns. Reduced hours are unlikely to be covered by individual productivity increases. To maintain operating hours, either staff will have to work overtime or more staff would need to be employed.

As for the public sector, in Australia and other countries “efficiency savings” involving budget cuts of about 2% a year have been common for decades. Any “slack” is likely to have been already squeezed out of the system. Again, reducing standard hours would result in the need to pay overtime rates or recruit extra staff, at extra cost.

Read more:
A life of long weekends is alluring, but the shorter working day may be more practical

So what now?

This does not mean the four-day week could not spread through the economy.

One scenario is that it could spread in those workplaces and sectors where productivity gains are achievable.

Those employers and sectors not offering reduced hours would find it harder to recruit staff. They would need to reduce hours, perhaps by stages, to compete. In the absence of productivity gains, they would be forced to absorb the extra costs or pass them on in increased prices.

The pace at which such change takes place would depend, as it always has, on the level of economic growth, productivity trends and labour market conditions.

But it is unlikely to happen overnight. And, as always, it will be accompanied by many employers and their representatives claiming the sky is about to fall in.

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

– ref. 4-day work week trials have been labelled a ‘resounding success’. But 4 big questions need answers – https://theconversation.com/4-day-work-week-trials-have-been-labelled-a-resounding-success-but-4-big-questions-need-answers-201476

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Xavier Ho, Lecturer in Interaction Design, Monash University

Mainstream games are embracing openly queer characters – and so are many of their players and fans.

The Last of Us, the prestige HBO adaptation of the critically lauded game, has been celebrated (and review-bombed) for delivering a strong narrative featuring prominent LGBTQIA+ cast and characters.

In Left Behind, the seventh episode, the show transported us to the time the younger protagonist, Ellie, spent with her childhood friend and love interest, Riley. We also saw in the third episode, Long, Long Time, how Bill and his longtime partner Frank navigated their final moments together.

Since The Last of Us aired, it saw more than 22 million US domestic views within 12 days of its opening. The data suggests that there is a very large TV audience with a healthy appetite for authentic and purposeful LGBTQIA+ representation.

The interesting thing is that much of this queer representation in The Last of Us TV adaptation is lifted directly from the plot of the video game, asking whether there is a similar appetite for LGBTQIA+ representation and stories in the gaming world.

This in turn raises the question: is the gaming audience becoming more inclusive?

Read more:
Review bombing is about power, politics and revenge – but it’s not about art

The growing market for queer games

Queer Games Bundle 2022 along with its Pay What You Can Edition raised more than US$216,000 for 431 queer creators. Indeed, there is a steadily growing market for queer games.

Queer games makers are resisting against public malice against the community. In February 2023, the Trans Witches are Witches bundle, which started in opposition to JK Rowling’s horrifying anti-transgender tirade, raised US$215,893 for 56 queer creators.

In 2022, we found that 90% of queer games are free or “pay what you want”.

This analysis was on itch.io, a platform where independent creators can distribute or sell their games. In March 2022, it hosted 2,499 LGBT and LGBTQIA tagged queer games. One year later, that number has risen to more than 3,376, a 35% increase. However, the ratio of free games remains.

Pride at Play

To explore more about queer games – games made by queer makers for queer folks – we curated an exhibition called Pride at Play.

Pride at Play’s selection was through an open submission whereby anyone in the world can submit their queer games. We focused on games made in Oceania and the Asia-Pacific region, reflecting the ongoing cultural and legal challenges LGBTQIA+ folks are facing in these regions.

As part of the curatorial process, we interviewed all exhibiting developers. Our interviews were akin to casual conversations, and we talked to 20 different queer designers from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia and more.

We asked each person about their background, motivations, queer experiences, their communities, target audiences, and what it means for them to play with pride.

Queerer than ever

Hayley Gordon and Vee Hendro, who founded the game studio Storybrewers Roleplaying in Gadigal (Sydney) were among the folks we interviewed. We asked who their target audience were, and they were convinced they have connected with them.

“It’s queerer than ever. Our market, indie roleplaying games, just gets queerer every year,” they observed.

Younger people in roleplaying are more open about their queerness as well. Games that are going into the indie space specifically are more open, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s reflections in the mainstream too.

“I feel like I’m doing some kind of retroactive rewriting of history,” said Thomas Barrer at the Ōtautahi (Christchurch) studio Fnife Games, who makes Small Town Emo, “by making the kind of game I would have liked to see as a kid and have it work on a Game Boy”.

“Right now I have a vision of the world being more individual,” said Ignacio Bustos, lead developer at the Argentinian studio Team Spicy Bubble that created the multi-awardwinning game Queer and Chill.

In Argentina we have a lot of young people. We’ve put value in the industry as a studio, with all those ideas of diversity and inclusion. And there are things we want to appreciate and make a place for.

“If itch.io didn’t exist, I wouldn’t even be in gamedev at all. itch.io is where I first found small games at a scale that I could make myself,” responded npckc, a Japan-based solo game designer who created Mima and Nina’s Chocolate Workshop.

It’s provided a space for my weird free games. It’s given me the confidence to release paid games after people donated for my free ones. It’s helped me meet other small game devs who’ve become friends who support me and whom I support as we all make our own things.

Queer games have the potential to touch on everyday endearing moments of who we are as humans.

Xavier Ho is the Junior Visiting Chair of Hunt-Simes Institute in Sexuality Studies, which brings together emerging researchers and internationally recognised sexuality studies scholars to reimagine the Queer classroom. He is the lead curator for Pride at Play, jointly funded by Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre (SSSHARC) and Monash Art, Design and Architecture (MADA).

– ref. The gaming audience is ‘queerer than ever’ – so how are game creators responding? – https://theconversation.com/the-gaming-audience-is-queerer-than-ever-so-how-are-game-creators-responding-199598

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Attenborough, Honorary Senior Lecturer in Bioanthropology, Australian National University

Many astonishingly creative people have lived lives cut tragically short by illness. Johannes Vermeer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Jane Austen, Franz Schubert and Emily Brontë are some famous examples.

Ludwig van Beethoven’s life was not quite as short; he was 56 when he died in 1827. Yet it was short enough to tantalise us as to what more he might have achieved, had he had better health.

For much of his adult life, Beethoven was frequently tormented by pain and poor health – not to mention hearing loss. He gave anguished thought to these afflictions, especially his hearing loss, and hoped they would one day be understood and the explanation made public.

At times he despaired and contemplated suicide; at times he stopped composing altogether.

Entire books have been written on Beethoven’s health, based on records from the time. However, my colleagues and I approached the topic from a different perspective. We asked what clues Beethoven’s genome – his DNA – might provide.

We found some answers, and some surprises, as we explain in new research published in Current Biology.

Planting the seed

Our multinational collaboration began with Tristan Begg – a Beethoven enthusiast and student of biological anthropology, then at the University of California Santa Cruz.

While volunteering at the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies at San José State University, Begg encountered the centre’s director at the time, historical musicologist William Meredith.

The seed of the project was sown then, but it took eight years and the input of several other specialists to develop it to the point of being published. All the complex multidisciplinary collaborations notwithstanding, the only person who has worked full-time on the project is Begg himself, now in his final PhD year at the University of Cambridge.

Where did the DNA come from?

It’s very challenging to extract and analyse DNA from the remains of a dead person (or other animal) – much more so than from living tissues. Nonetheless, huge technical advances have transformed the field of ancient DNA studies.

Generally, the best DNA sources from human remains include teeth and the petrous bone in the skull, but none of Beethoven’s bones or teeth were available to us.

What was available was hair. In Beethoven’s day, it was common to collect locks from famous people or loved ones. Dozens of locks attributed to Beethoven are held in public and private collections.

However, hair without roots is a less tractable source of DNA. This DNA tends to exist in short and sometimes degraded sequences. These have to be painstakingly pieced together, using specialised computer software, to construct as much of a complete genome sequence as possible.

How do we know the locks are Beethoven’s?

Our project used samples from eight independently sourced locks attributed to Beethoven. Of these, five yielded DNA from the same male individual, with degrees of damage consistent with origins in the early 19th century.

Working with the ancestry firm FamilyTreeDNA, we traced the ancestry for this person to western-central Europe. We are confident it is Beethoven, since two of the locks exist alongside uninterrupted provenance records going as far back as the 1820s.

Three more locks, genetically identical with the other two, also had good (although not completely uninterrupted) provenance records.

The combination of excellently documented provenances with perfect genetic agreement between five independently sourced samples made it very difficult to doubt these hair samples came from Beethoven.

That left three locks of hair. Two of these were clearly genetically different from the other five: one is a woman’s. We don’t know how these came to be attributed to Beethoven.

One of the misattributions is significant in itself, because it was the basis of earlier research that concluded Beethoven had been subject to lead poisoning. Our findings show this conclusion no longer stands.

The eighth lock yielded too little DNA to be declared authentic or otherwise.

What we learnt about Beethoven’s health

We didn’t expect to find a genetic basis for Beethoven’s most widely known health problem – his hearing loss – and this was borne out. Beethoven had adult-onset hearing loss, which is only rarely attributable to primarily genetic causes.

He was, however, beset for many years by other health problems – particularly gastrointestinal problems (pain and diarrhoea) and liver disease.

Working with the Bonn University medical genetics team, we didn’t find Beethoven to be especially genetically susceptible to any particular gastrointestinal condition, such as inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, coeliac disease or lactose intolerance (as some have hypothesised). Our main discoveries related to liver disease.

We already knew through documentation that Beethoven had attacks of jaundice. Begg’s work has now shown Beethoven had two copies of a particular variant of the PNPLA3 gene, which is linked to liver cirrhosis. He also had single copies of two variants of a gene that causes haemochromatosis, a condition that damages the liver.

Quite remarkably, the analyses also revealed Beethoven was infected with the hepatitis B virus in the final months of his life (and perhaps before). Hepatitis B infection may have been common in Europe at the time, but details on this are scant.

What’s more, alcohol consumption may have exacerbated Beethoven’s liver disease risk. There has been controversy regarding the extent and nature of his alcohol consumption, which is referred to – but not quantified – in surviving records.

Begg reviewed the records carefully and concluded Beethoven’s alcohol consumption was likely unexceptional for the time and place, but may have still been at levels now considered harmful.

Revelations from the Beethoven family

There was one more surprise in store for us. As part of our work, we sought to link Beethoven’s genome with those of living members of the Beethoven lineage. To do this we focused on the Y chromosome, which is inherited in the male line only (following a similar pattern to surnames in most European traditions).

Five men with the surname Beethoven contributed their DNA samples. They were not closely related to each other, and were living in present-day Belgium where the surname originates. They all essentially shared the same Y chromosome, which could be put down to descent from a common male ancestor: Aert van Beethoven (1535-1609).

The surprise was that Ludwig van Beethoven’s locks had a different Y chromosome. Having considered other explanations, we inferred that at some point in the seven generations between Aert and Ludwig, someone’s father for social and legal purposes was not their biological father.

But we couldn’t decipher, based on the evidence available, which generation this might have been.

Read more:
Beethoven 250: analysis of the composer’s letters proves that creativity does spring forth from misery

What’s next?

We will be making the genome we sequenced publicly available, as there may be more to discover from further analyses.

Beyond Beethoven, our project is an example of wider possibilities opening up in the field of DNA analysis. It shows meaningful results can be obtained even from such unpromising DNA sources as historical hair locks.

To date, population genetics has seldom taken its analyses down to the level of a single individual. This is hard to do, but we show it’s not impossible.

Who might be next? Perhaps someone else about whom there is a distinct question to answer – or even someone who may themselves have wanted that question answered.

Acknowledgments: In addition to lead author Tristan Begg (University of Cambridge), I would like to acknowledge all other co-authors including Johannes Krause and Arthur Kocher (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig), Toomas Kivisild and Maarten Larmuseau (KU Leuven), Markus Nöthen and Axel Schmidt (University of Bonn), and all sample donors including philanthropist Kevin Brown.

I have been a student (50 years ago) at the University of Cambridge, and more recently a staff member at the University of Cambridge, a departmental colleague of Toomas Kivisild, and a PhD supervisor of Tristan Begg.

– ref. We used DNA from Beethoven’s hair to shed light on his poor health – and stumbled upon a family secret – https://theconversation.com/we-used-dna-from-beethovens-hair-to-shed-light-on-his-poor-health-and-stumbled-upon-a-family-secret-202440

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

At the end of the emotional news conference in which he unveiled the wording for the Voice referendum, Anthony Albanese touched on a central reason why a “yes” result is vital.

Australia would be seen as a better nation by the rest of the world if the referendum succeeded, the PM said, adding “and our position in the world matters”.

It’s actually not so much a matter of enhancing our international reputation, as of not putting a serious dent in it.

Imagine the impression sent abroad if voters defeated a proposal for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander body to advise the federal parliament and executive government on matters relating to Indigenous people.

Any nuance about why the referendum (which to succeed must be carried in four states as well as nationally) had failed would be lost. It would just come across as Australians slapping the country’s Indigenous people in the face.

This would be particularly bad for the Albanese government, which has recently announced the appointment of the inaugural ambassador for First Nations People, Justin Mohamed.

Among other things, Mohamed is to be responsible “for leading the government’s efforts to embed Indigenous perspectives, experiences and interests” across the foreign affairs department and developing “a First Nations Foreign Policy Strategy”.

It would be an appalling start to his job if he had to explain the collapse of this high-profile referendum.

Mainly, discussion of the consequences of the referendum failing has centred on what that would mean locally.

Read more:
‘We’re all in’, declares an emotional Albanese as he launches the wording for the Voice referendum

For Albanese, who is investing a great deal of political capital in the issue, defeat would be a major blow. It also potentially could have knock-on effects for the government’s plans for a referendum on a republic in a second Labor term.

And a loss would be a massive setback for reconciliation, sparking disillusionment and anger among Indigenous Australians.

But beyond these domestic implications, the impact on Australia’s international standing should be kept front of mind. This constitutes an argument for a “yes” vote, even by those who might think the Voice will not amount to much, or, alternatively, fear it will unleash a lawyers’ picnic.

We are so far down this referendum road that not to reach the destination would have very wide fallout.

But it will be rough going over the next few months. That was clear on Thursday despite the historic celebratory news conference that saw the prime minister flanked by an array of Indigenous leaders, united in the referendum cause.

Conservative constitutional experts are critical of the wording the government has settled on, which varies only marginally from Albanese’s first draft outlined to last year’s Garma festival.

Objections go to the potential scope it would give the Voice in relation to advising executive government, and especially the public service.

Greg Craven, a member of the constitutional expert group that has been advising on the referendum, told 3AW: “The problem is executive government covers the whole of the decision-making of the Commonwealth government […] Now, if you get into a situation where, for example, the Voice hasn’t yet made a representation on some important view and the Commonwealth has not told the Voice and given it that chance, then legally it is entirely practicable for someone to take a challenge to a court to stop that action until the Voice has made a representation.”

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus moved to strengthen the guard rail to prevent such a problem but the First Nations referendum working group – the power centre when it comes to negotiating with the government – bristled. Instead, the group came up with its own form of words, which the government accepted.

Peter Dutton has called for the government to release the advice the solicitor-general provided Dreyfus about that extra guard rail.

Other constitutional lawyers, such as Anne Twomey (who is also on the constitutional expert group), don’t see a problem, believing the slight tweak from the original that has been made is sufficient protection.

Read more:
We now know exactly what question the Voice referendum will ask Australians. A constitutional law expert explains

It’s a case of choose your expert. We would only know definitively who’s right if and when the legal processes played out after the Voice was in operation.

This legal issue in relation to executive government is the most serious question about the Voice, but it’s not the only one.

We know the parliament will be the final arbiter of the detail of the Voice, after a successful referendum. “Parliament” in practice means the Albanese government, advised by Indigenous people and possibly limited by what it can get through the Senate.

But the referendum working group has already set out some design principles, endorsed by the government. One says: “To ensure cultural legitimacy, the way that members of the Voice are chosen would suit the wishes of local communities”.

That might seem fine at first glance, but it does not provide any certainty of a democratic and inclusive local process, which might surprise some referendum voters.

While the argument among lawyers gives Dutton added grist for questions, it does not make any easier his fundamental dilemmas with this referendum, on which the Liberals have yet to declare a position.

Dutton has a split party, with the majority favouring a “no” vote but a vocal minority of moderates firmly on the “yes” side and ready to campaign for it.

Beyond that, Albanese is investing the referendum with a lot of emotion and also tying it to achieving results in “closing the gap”.

If Dutton opposes, he’ll find himself cast on the wrong side of history, whatever the referendum result. If the vote is carried, his opposition would be condemned. If the referendum were lost, he’d receive a lot of blame, and be open to the charge he had helped stymie something that might have contributed to “practical reconciliation”, on which the Liberals focus.

Given his base, Dutton can’t win in political terms.

He might do well to listen to Craven, who was asked whether he’d vote for or against the proposal as it now stands. “I would vote for it because if I was forced to take a position as to the sort of advanced morality of doing justice to our indigenous brothers and citizens, I could not vote against it,” he said.

Craven said he would keep fighting for altered wording, but if he failed and the current wording was put to voters, “I will shut up”.

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

– ref. Grattan on Friday: A ‘No’ vote in the Voice referendum would put a serious dent in Australia’s image abroad – https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-a-no-vote-in-the-voice-referendum-would-put-a-serious-dent-in-australias-image-abroad-201157

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elsa Dominish, Research Principal, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Last month, Victoria banned plastic straws, crockery and polystyrene containers, following similar bans in South Australia, Western Australia, New South Wales and the ACT. All states and territories in Australia have now banned lightweight single-use plastic bags.

You might wonder why we have to ban these products entirely. Couldn’t we just make them out of bioplastics – plastics usually made of plants? Some studies estimate we could swap up to 85% of fossil-fuel based plastics for bioplastics.

Unfortunately, bioplastics aren’t ready for prime time – except for their use in kitchen caddy bins as food waste liners. In Australia, we don’t have widely available pathways to compost or process them at the end of their lives. Nearly always, they end up in landfill.

That’s why many states are including bioplastics in their plastics bans. Avoiding single-use plastics entirely, whether traditional fossil fuel-based plastics or bioplastics, is more sustainable. And as our recycling system struggles, less plastic of any kind is simply better.

Bio-based, biodegradable and compostable are different

Bioplastics is a blanket term covering plastics which are biologically-based or biodegradable (including compostable), or both.

Plastics are materials based on polymers – long-repeating chains of large molecules. These molecules don’t have to be oil-based – biologically-based plastics are made from raw materials such as corn, sugarcane, cellulose and algae.

Biodegradable plastics are those plastics able to be broken down by microorganisms into elements found in nature. Importantly, biodegradable here doesn’t specify how long or under what conditions plastic will break down.

Compostable plastics biodegrade on a known timeframe, when composted. In Australia, they can be certified for commercial or home compostable use.

These differences are important. Many of us would see the word “bioplastic” and assume what we’re buying is plant based and breaks down quickly. That’s often not true. Some biodegradable plastics are even made from fossil fuels.

Are bioplastics broadly more environmentally friendly?

To understand this we need to look at the whole lifecycle of the plastic, how it is made, used and what happens to it at end-of-life. Manufacturing bio-based plastics generally has lower environmental impacts and has less greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuel plastics.

This isn’t always the case. Producing plastics from plants has an environmental impact from the use of land, water and agricultural chemicals. Increased demand for agricultural land could lead to biodiversity loss and can compete with food production.

Read more:
If plastic comes from oil and gas, which come originally from plants, why isn’t it biodegradable?

Bioplastics often sub in for familiar single use items such as plastic bags, takeaway coffee cups and cutlery. Around 90% of the bioplastics sold in Australia are certified compostable. In most of these applications a reusable alternative would be the most sustainable option.

Some applications have beneficial environmental outcomes: compostable bags for kitchen food waste caddies increase the rate of food waste collected, which means less food waste in landfill and fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

What about the crucial question of plastic waste and pollution? Sadly, if bioplastics end up in the environment, they can damage the environment in the same way as conventional plastics, such as contaminating soil and water. A turtle can choke just as easily on a bioplastic bag as a conventional plastic bag. That’s because biodegradable plastics still take years or even decades to biodegrade in nature.

Ideally, bioplastics should be designed to be either recyclable or compostable. Unfortunately, some bioplastics are neither. These pose problems for our waste management system, as they often end up contaminating recycling or compost bins when the only place for them is the tip.

In recent research for WWF Australia, we found widespread greenwashing in the industry, with terms such as “earth friendly” and “plastic-free” adding to the confusion. Regulating the industry and standardising terms would make it easier for us all to choose.

Compostable plastics almost all end up in landfill

Compostable plastics are designed to be broken down in the compost. Some can be composted at home, but others have to be done commercially.

The problem is these plastics aren’t being composted most of the time. Australian Standard compostable plastics are accepted in food organics and garden organics bins in South Australia and some councils in Hobart. But everywhere else, access to these services is limited. Many councils in other states will accept food and green waste – but specifically exclude compostable plastics (some accept council-supplied food waste caddy liners).

Read more:
Do you toss biodegradable plastic in the compost bin? Here’s why it might not break down

This means most compostable plastics used in Australia end up in landfill, where they emit methane as they break down, where it is not always captured. There’s no benefit using bioplastics if they can’t – or won’t – be recycled or composted, especially if they’re replacing a plastic that’s readily recyclable, such as the PET used in soft drink bottles.

Where does it make sense to use bioplastics in Australia?

When you reach for a bioplastic product, you’re probably doing it to reduce plastic waste. Unfortunately, we’re not there yet. We need viable pathways for recycling and composting.

So should we avoid them altogether? If you use compostable bin caddies and compost them at home or your council accepts them, that’s a useful option. But for most other uses, it’s far better to just not use plastic at all. Your reusable coffee cup and shopping bags are the best option.

Read more:
When biodegradable plastic is not biodegradable

Elsa Dominish receives funding from various government and non-government organisations. In 2022-23 this includes WWF-Australia.

Nick Florin receives funding from various government and non-government organisations. In 2022-23 this includes the Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO). He is also affiliated with the Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence.

Rupert Legg receives funding from various government and non-government organisations. In 2022-23 this includes WWF-Australia.

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

– ref. Why bioplastics won’t solve our plastic problems – https://theconversation.com/why-bioplastics-wont-solve-our-plastic-problems-200736

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominic Dwyer, Director of Public Health Pathology, NSW Health Pathology, Westmead Hospital and University of Sydney, University of Sydney

Once more, we’re talking about the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

First the US Department of Energy’s review gave more emphasis to the laboratory leak hypothesis than previously, although the confidence for this conclusion was low.

Second, and more importantly, is the release and analysis this week of viral and animal genetic material collected from the Huanan wet market in Wuhan, the place forever associated with the beginning of the pandemic.

It’s a subject close to me. I was the Australian representative on the international World Health Organization (WHO) investigation into the origins of SARS-CoV-2. I went to Wuhan on a fact-finding mission in early 2021. I visited the now-closed market.

Now we have stronger evidence that places raccoon dogs at the market as a possible animal reservoir of SARS-CoV-2, potentially infecting humans.

If we’d had this evidence three years ago, we need to ask ourselves how different recent history would have been. We would have reduced the enormous energy, media frenzy and political argy-bargy about less likely hypotheses of the pandemic’s origins. We might have better focused our research attention.

Read more:
COVID origins debate: what to make of new findings linking the virus to raccoon dogs

The twists, turns and puzzles

Samples were taken from various places in the market, in January 2020, within weeks of the early COVID-19 cases in Wuhan. SARS-CoV-2 RNA and human DNA were identified in these environmental samples, although no animal swabs were positive for the virus.

This was presented to the WHO team investigating the origins of the pandemic in January 2021, of which I was part.

The work was published as a preprint (posted online, before being independently verified) in February 2022.

The underlying “metagenomic” data to support the conclusions in the preprint – that SARS-CoV-2 and human (but not animal) sequences were present – needed to be provided to allow further analyses. This is something that is generally required by journals and regarded as appropriate in the spirit of scientific openness and collaboration.

However, it wasn’t until early March 2023 that the international community had access to the data.

That’s when there was a “drop” of these environmental metagenomic sequences into the GISAID database, the international open access repository of viral sequences.

This allowed an independent team of international experts to analyse them. In a startling revelation, they identified large amounts of raccoon dog and other animal DNA in conjunction with SARS-CoV-2. Raccoon dogs can be readily infected with SARS-CoV-2 and can transmit it. The international team published their observations as a preprint earlier this week.

Of note was the physical co-location of these virus and animal sequences in the corner of what is a very large market, the corner associated with early human cases. It is now known (but initially rejected by Chinese authorities) that wild and farmed animals were sold in this area of the market.

After the sequences were analysed by the international team, the Chinese scientists who had performed the market testing were contacted for comment and discussion – especially around the important observation that mixed in among the SARS-CoV-2 sequences were a large proportion of raccoon dog and other animal DNA.

The sequences were then withdrawn from the GISAID database within a few hours of the study authors being approached. This is perhaps unusual for an open database such as GISAID, and clarity could be sought why this occurred.

Read more:
The COVID lab leak theory is dead. Here’s how we know the virus came from a Wuhan market

Why is this work important?

This latest work does not prove raccoon dogs were definitely the source of SARS-CoV-2. Presumably, they are likely to have been an intermediate host between bats and humans. Bats harbour many coronaviruses, including ones related to SARS-CoV-2.

However, the data fits the narrative of the animal/human connections of SARS-CoV-2.

This, along with other examination of animal links to SARS-CoV-2, should be taken in the context of the lack of robust data to support the other SARS-CoV-2 origins hypotheses, such as a laboratory leak, contaminated frozen food, and acquisition outside China. Bit by bit, the evidence supports animal origins of the outbreak, centred on the Huanan market in Wuhan.

The length of time taken for this early work to surface and the difficulty in accessing the raw data are unfortunate, points made recently by the WHO.

Sympathetically, one might say, the wrong analysis of the original data collected in early 2020 was undertaken and the researchers missed the animal links.

Cynically, (and without evidence) one might say that the significance of the data was recognised, but not made readily available. This is a question for the Chinese researchers at the Chinese Center for Disease Control to answer.

What are the implications of this delay?

If this had been identified in early 2020 then further studies to understand the viral origins in animals could have been undertaken.

Three years on, it is very difficult to do such studies, tracking backwards from the now closed market to the animal sources and the people who handled these animals.

Clearer answers would have taken some of the the heat out of the debate around the possible viral origins. Of course, all hypotheses should remain on the table, but some of these could have been much better explored with earlier data.

Would it have changed the course of the pandemic? Probably not. The virus had already spread worldwide and adapted very well to human-to-human transmission by the time this work was available. However, it would have driven research in better directions and improved future pandemic planning.

Read more:
Disputes over COVID’s origins reveal an intelligence community in disarray. Here are 4 fixes we need before the next pandemic

What now?

Lessons for the future are obvious. Open disclosure of sequence data is the best way to undertake scientific investigation, especially for something of such international significance.

Making data unavailable, or not reaching out for assistance in complicated analyses, only slows the process.

The resulting political to and fro by all countries, particularly the US and China, has meant that suspicion has deepened, and progress slowed even further.

Although WHO has been criticised for errors in how it managed the pandemic, and in collating data to understand the origins and progress future research, it remains the best international agency to foster open sharing of data.

Scientists, for the most part, want to do the right thing and find the answers to important questions. Facilitating this is crucial.

Read more:
I was the Australian doctor on the WHO’s COVID-19 mission to China. Here’s what we found about the origins of the coronavirus

Member of the 2021 WHO Study of the Origins of SARS-CoV-2 group, Wuhan 2021

– ref. China’s only now revealed crucial COVID-19 origins data. Earlier disclosure may have saved us 3 years of political argy-bargy – https://theconversation.com/chinas-only-now-revealed-crucial-covid-19-origins-data-earlier-disclosure-may-have-saved-us-3-years-of-political-argy-bargy-202344

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

The Productivity Commission’s nine-volume report has a tough central message. It says productivity policy has to focus on the areas that have proven the hardest in the past, rather than those where previously progress has been most readily achieved.

One key take from the report is that Australia is performing poorly in growing its productivity.

The commission makes recommendations across the policy spectrum, from education and health through workplace relations and migration to data and technology.

It points to the difficulty of improving productivity in the public sector, and more generally to the complexities, now that we have become predominantly a services economy.

In this podcast, Michelle Grattan discusses the blueprint for reform with commission chair, Michael Brennan.

Brennan says: “In this project we’ve attempted to go back to basics a bit. I think economists have a tendency to talk about productivity growth in slightly mechanical terms […] What we’ve attempted to do is go more to the particulars and say what productivity growth really represents is all of the ways in which living standards improve.

“For example […] we talk a bit about everyday household items like a loaf of bread and ask, how long would it take a worker at the average wage in 1901 to be able to afford a loaf of bread? And the answer is about 20 minutes. Compare that to today, about four minutes.

“Embedded in that is all of the productivity improvements that have happened on the farm, in the manufacturing plant where bread is being made or in the bakery that have translated into that real cost reduction over time.”

The shift to a predominantly service economy brings its own unique challenges.

“Productivity is a highly intuitive concept in some of the traditional goods industries, which of course, if we rewind 70 years or so to the middle part of the 20th century, made up at least half of the economy.

“If you think about agriculture, manufacturing, mining, these are sectors where at the firm level, even for the individual worker, the concept of productivity – how much output are we getting for every unit of input, for every individual – makes a lot of intuitive sense.

“It probably makes a little less sense to an aged care worker, and I can understand why aged care workers and others in the modern services sector might be kind of pondering, well, what does this all really mean for us?”

But the shift to services “is a common trend across all developed economies”.

“The first thing to point out about the shift to services is that [it] is a common trend across all developed economies, even economies we think of as being very sophisticated manufacturing economies such as Japan or Germany.”

Education is a key focus in the report, and it emphasises that in the shift to a service-based economy, nearly nine in ten new jobs require some form of post-school qualification.

“One feature of those sectors like agriculture and manufacturing, was that they provided really high paying jobs to people with limited formal education, people who left school well before year 12 in many cases. The modern services economy is much less forgiving in that respect.

“There are low skilled jobs, but they tend to be low paying jobs. There is a much higher premium on formal qualifications, and in fact, it’s now estimated that nine out of the ten new jobs being created in the economy require some form of post-school qualification. So the premium on education is rising.”

“As an overall economy, we have in the past gained a productivity dividend from the rise in educational attainment in terms of additional years of schooling, people spending longer in school, but that’s largely reached a plateau at very high levels. And so increasingly the dividend is going to have to come from quality”.

The commission believes that migration is one of Australia’s biggest assets, and it is in a better position on this than other developed countries.

“Migration for Australia is a big asset because we do have the capacity to bring skilled workers into the economy and that’s an important area of comparative advantage for Australia that not every developed economy has to the same extent […] Inevitably in the skilled migration program you have to ration on some basis. And at the moment we tend to ration on the basis of lists, priority lists of skilled occupations that are deemed to be in short supply.”

“It is very difficult for those government-determined lists to remain up to date […] and there is a tendency for the system to be influenced by lobbying to get particular occupations on the list.

“So we do favour something that’s a little more cleaner, I guess a little more market-based, like an income threshold for the skilled migration program, both temporary and permanent”.

Despite Jim Chalmers indicating the government won’t implement some of this report’s recommendations, Brennan is optimistic.

“I’m maybe un-fashionably positive on these issues. I acknowledge that often in the productivity debate or in the economic debate in general, it’s easy for a sort of negative trope to creep in and run through it.

“We often hear that, you know, the public sector capability isn’t there or the politicians aren’t interested or not up to it, or the public won’t accept various reforms or various changes and that somehow this is a lot worse than it’s been in the past.

“I am much more optimistic than that. I don’t really feel that any of those things are true. I think that by any objective standard, Australia is a very well-governed polity and, you know, we produce strong public sector policymakers, good politicians and a public that is quite open, in my view, to cogent argument.”

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

– ref. Politics with Michelle Grattan: Michael Brennan on Australia’s parlous productivity growth – https://theconversation.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-michael-brennan-on-australias-parlous-productivity-growth-202436

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

An emotional Anthony Albanese, flanked by members of the referendum working group, has released the final proposed wording of the question to be put to Australians to incorporate an Indigenous Voice to Parliament in the Constitution.

Despite pressure from conservative lawyers to build in stronger protections against legal challenges under a future Voice, in particular in relation to its interaction with the public service, only tweaking has been undertaken to the original wording released by the prime minister at the Garma festival last year.

The question of potential legal challenge is contested by constitutional experts, with some strongly arguing there is no problem.

In a simply worded question, Australians will be asked to approve altering the Constitution “to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice”.

The change would be inserted into the Constitution’s Chapter IX, a new section reading:

In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia:

1. There shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice;

2. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;

3. The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.“

Albanese’s original wording was:

There shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to Parliament and the Executive government on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to the composition, functions, powers and procedures of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.”

Read more:
We now know exactly what question the Voice referendum will ask Australians. A constitutional law expert explains

The new version has made it clear, as was always intended, that the Voice would advise only the Commonwealth parliament, not the states.

More significantly, the government has reworded the section about parliament’s power, although it has not taken up a proposal from Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, after advice from the Solicitor-General, to add specific wording that parliament could legislate on “the legal effect of its representations”.

This ran into resistance among the referendum working group, which feared the potential to water down the Voice’s power.

Appearing at the Albanese news conference, Dreyfus said: “The process has worked exactly as it should be. I’m proud to be part of it. We have words here that put beyond doubt the power of the Australian parliament to legislate on the broad scope of the functions, powers, of the Voice to parliament.”

Opposition leader Peter Dutton called for the government to release the Solicitor-General’s advice. “In the absence of that advice, and in the absence of detail from the prime minister, how can the Australian public make an informed judgement about a very, very important issue?”

The Liberals have not stated a final position on the Voice. They supported the legislation, passed on Wednesday, for updating the referendum machinery arrangements. The Nationals oppose the Voice.

Conservative constitutional lawyer Greg Craven, a supporter of a Voice, criticised the failure to take up Dreyfus’s suggested change. “That in a sense is a defeat of hopes for some sort of compromise,” he said on Melbourne radio.

“The problem is executive government covers the whole of the decision-making of the Commonwealth government… Now, if you get into a situation where, for example, the Voice hasn’t yet made a representation on some important view and the Commonwealth has not told the Voice and given it that chance, then legally it is entirely practicable for someone to take a challenge to a court to stop that action until the Voice has made representation,” Craven said.

Among those on the platform with Albanese was Ken Wyatt, former minister for Indigenous Australians in the Morrison government.

Like the prime minister, several of the Indigenous leaders present were also emotional during the news conference.

Albanese will introduce legislation for the referendum question next week. It will then go to a parliamentary committee, with the government aiming to have it passed in June.

Read more:
Your questions answered on the Voice to Parliament

The prime minister indicated he was unlikely to be open to changes to the wording, although the Senate could force alterations.

Thursday’s announcement followed a meeting between Albanese and the working group on Wednesday night and federal cabinet’s tick-off of the wording on Thursday morning.

Albanese insisted at the news conference the form of words was “legally sound”. A legal group advised the referendum working group.

The PM stressed the practical value of a Voice in closing the gap of indigenous disadvantage. While this was about recognition, he said, more importantly it was about “making a practical difference, which we have a responsibility to do”.

He urged Australians not to miss the “opportunity to take up the generous
invitation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart”.

Albanese said there were no circumstances in which he would not put the referendum to a vote, because “to not put this to a vote is to concede defeat. You only win when you run on the field and engage. And let me tell you, my government is engaged. We’re all in.”

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

– ref. ‘We’re all in’, declares an emotional Albanese as he launches the wording for the Voice referendum – https://theconversation.com/were-all-in-declares-an-emotional-albanese-as-he-launches-the-wording-for-the-voice-referendum-202435

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa M. Given, Professor of Information Sciences & Director, Social Change Enabling Impact Platform, RMIT University

AI tools can help us create content, learn about the world and (perhaps) eliminate the more mundane tasks in life – but they aren’t perfect. They’ve been shown to hallucinate information, use other people’s work without consent, and embed social conventions, including apologies, to gain users’ trust.

For example, certain AI chatbots, such as “companion” bots, are often developed with the intent to have empathetic responses. This makes them seem particularly believable. Despite our awe and wonder, we must be critical consumers of these tools – or risk being misled.

Read more:
I tried the Replika AI companion and can see why users are falling hard. The app raises serious ethical questions

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI (the company that gave us the ChatGPT chatbot), has said he is “worried that these models could be used for large-scale disinformation”. As someone who studies how humans use technology to access information, so am I.

Misinformation will grow with back-pocket AI

Machine-learning tools use algorithms to complete certain tasks. They “learn” as they access more data and refine their responses accordingly. For example, Netflix uses AI to track the shows you like and suggest others for future viewing. The more cooking shows you watch, the more cooking shows Netflix recommends.

While many of us are exploring and having fun with new AI tools, experts emphasise these tools are only as good as their underlying data – which we know to be flawed, biased and sometimes even designed to deceive. Where spelling errors once alerted us to email scams, or extra fingers flagged AI-generated images, system enhancements make it harder to tell fact from fiction.

These concerns are heightened by the growing integration of AI in productivity apps. Microsoft, Google and Adobe have announced AI tools will be introduced to a number of their services including Google Docs, Gmail, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Photoshop and Illustrator.

Creating fake photos and deep-fake videos no longer requires specialist skills and equipment.

Running tests

I ran an experiment with the Dall-E 2 image generator to test whether it could produce a realistic image of a cat that resembled my own. I started with a prompt for “a fluffy white cat with a poofy tail and orange eyes lounging on a grey sofa”.

The result wasn’t quite right. The fur was matted, the nose wasn’t fully formed, and the eyes were cloudy and askew. It reminded me of the pets who returned to their owners in Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Yet the design flaws made it easier for me to see the image for what it was: a system-generated output.

I then requested the same cat “sleeping on its back on a hardwood floor”. The new image had few visible markers distinguishing the generated cat from my own. Almost anyone could be misled by such an image.

I then used ChatGPT to turn the lens on myself, asking: “What is Lisa Given best known for?” It started well, but then went on to list a number of publications that aren’t mine. My trust in it ended there.

The chatbot started hallucinating, attributing others’ works to me. The book The Digital Academic: Critical Perspectives on Digital Technologies in Higher Education does exist, but I didn’t write it. I also didn’t write Digital Storytelling in Health and Social Policy. Nor am I the editor of Digital Humanities Quarterly.

When I challenged ChatGPT, its response was deeply apologetic, yet produced more errors. I didn’t write any of the books listed below, nor did I edit the journals. While I wrote one chapter of Information and Emotion, I didn’t co-edit the book and neither did Paul Dourish. My most popular book, Looking for Information, was omitted completely.

Fact-checking is our main defence

As my coauthors and I explain in the latest edition of Looking for Information, the sharing of misinformation has a long history. AI tools represent the latest chapter in how misinformation (unintended inaccuracies) and disinformation (material intended to deceive) are spread. They allow this to happen quicker, on a grander scale and with the technology available in more people’s hands.

Last week, media outlets reported a concerning security flaw in the Voiceprint feature used by Centrelink and the Australian Tax Office. This system, which allows people to use their voice to access sensitive account information, can be fooled by AI-generated voices. Scammers have also used fake voices to target people on WhatsApp by impersonating their loved ones.

Advanced AI tools allow for the democratisation of knowledge access and creation, but they do have a price. We can’t always consult experts, so we have to make informed judgments ourselves. This is where critical thinking and verification skills are vital.

These tips can help you navigate an AI-rich information landscape.

1. Ask questions and verify with independent sources

When using an AI text generator, always check source material mentioned in the output. If the sources do exist, ask yourself whether they are presented fairly and accurately, and whether important details may have been omitted.

2. Be sceptical of content you come across

If you come across an image you suspect might be AI-generated, consider if it seems too “perfect” to be real. Or perhaps a particular detail does not match the rest of the image (this is often a giveaway). Analyse the textures, details, colouring, shadows and, importantly, the context. Running a reverse image search can also be useful to verify sources.

If it is a written text you’re unsure about, check for factual errors and ask yourself whether the writing style and content match what you would expect from the claimed source.

3. Discuss AI openly in your circles

An easy way to prevent sharing (or inadvertently creating) AI-driven misinformation is to ensure you and those around you use these tools responsibly. If you or an organisation you work with will consider adopting AI tools, develop a plan for how potential inaccuracies will be managed, and how you will be transparent about tool use in the materials you produce.

Read more:
AI image generation is advancing at astronomical speeds. Can we still tell if a picture is fake?

Lisa M. Given, FASSA receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Annual Review of Information Science and Technology. Her forthcoming book “Looking for Information: Examining Research on How People Engage with Information” (with coathors Donald O. Case and Rebekah Willson) will be published by Emerald Press in May 2023.

– ref. AI tools are generating convincing misinformation. Engaging with them means being on high alert – https://theconversation.com/ai-tools-are-generating-convincing-misinformation-engaging-with-them-means-being-on-high-alert-202062

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Neil G Sipe, Honorary Professor of Planning, The University of Queensland

According to predictions made nearly a decade ago, we should be riding around in self-driving vehicles today. It’s now clear the autonomous vehicle revolution was overhyped.

Proponents woefully underestimated the technological challenges. It turns out developing a truly driverless vehicle is hard.

The other factor driving the hype was the amount of money being invested in autonomous vehicle startups. By 2021, it was estimated more than US$100 billion in venture capital had gone into developing the technology.

While advances are being made, it is important to understand there are multiple levels of autonomy. Only one is truly driverless. As established by SAE International, the levels are:

• level 0 — the driver has to undertake all driving tasks

• level 1, hands on/shared control — vehicle has basic driver-assist features such as cruise control and lane-keeping

• level 2, hands off – vehicle has advanced driver-assist features such as emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, auto park assist and traffic-jam assist

• level 3, eyes off — vehicle drives itself some of the time

• level 4, mind off — vehicle drives itself most of the time

• level 5, steering wheel option — vehicle drives itself all the time.

Read more:
Billions are pouring into mobility technology – will the transport revolution live up to the hype?

Why the slow progress?

It’s estimated the technology to deliver safe autonomous vehicles is about 80% developed. The last 20% is increasingly difficult. It will take a lot more time to perfect.

Challenges yet to be resolved involve unusual and rare events that can happen along any street or highway. They include weather, wildlife crossing the road, and highway construction.

Another set of problems has emerged since Cruise and Waymo launched their autonomous ride-hailing services in San Francisco. The US National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration opened an investigation in December 2022, only six months after the services were approved. It cited incidents where these vehicles “may have engaged in inappropriately hard braking or became immobilized”.

The San Francisco County Transportation Authority stated:

[I]n the months since the initial approval of autonomous taxi services in June 2022, Cruise AVs have made unplanned and unexpected stops in travel lanes, where they obstruct traffic and transit service and intrude into active emergency response scenes, including fire suppression scenes, creating additional hazardous conditions.

In several cases, Cruise technicians had to be called to move the vehicles.

What’s happening now?

Active autonomous vehicle initiatives can be grouped into two categories: ride-hailing services (Cruise, Waymo and Uber) and sales to the public (Tesla).

Cruise is a subsidiary of General Motors founded in 2013. As of September 2022, it operated 100 robotaxis in San Francisco and had plans to increase its fleet to 5,000. Critics said this would increase city traffic.

Cruise also began to offer services in Chandler (a Phoenix suburb), Arizona, and Austin, Texas, in December 2022.

Waymo, formerly the Google Self-Driving Car Project, was founded in January 2009. The company lost US$4.8 billion in 2020 and US$5.2 billion in 2021.

Waymo One provides autonomous ride-hailing services in Phoenix as well as San Francisco. It plans to expand into Los Angeles this year.

Read more:
Driverless cars: what we’ve learned from experiments in San Francisco and Phoenix

Uber was a major force in autonomous vehicle development as part of its business plan was to replace human drivers. However, it ran into problems, including a crash in March 2018 when a self-driving Uber killed a woman walking her bicycle across a street in Tempe, Arizona. In 2020, Arizona Uber sold its AV research division to Aurora Innovation.

Read more:
When self-driving cars crash, who’s responsible? Courts and insurers need to know what’s inside the ‘black box’

But in October 2022 Uber got back into autonomous vehicles by signing a deal with Motional, a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv. Motional will provide autonomous vehicles for Uber’s ride-hailing and delivery services.

Lyft, the second-largest ride-sharing company after Uber, operates in the US and Canada. Like Uber, Lyft had a self-driving unit and in 2016, Lyft co-founder John Zimmer predicted that by 2021 the majority of rides on its network would be in such vehicles (and private car ownership would “all but end” by 2025). It didn’t happen. By 2021, Lyft had also sold its self-driving vehicle unit, to Toyota.

In 2022, Zimmer said the technology would not replace drivers for at least a decade. However, Lyft did partner with Motional in August 2022 to launch robotaxis in Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

Telsa is the world leader in sales of battery electric vehicles. It also purports to sell vehicles with full automation. However, by the end of 2022, no level 3, 4 or 5 vehicles were for sale in the United States.

What Telsa offers is a full self-driving system as a US$15,000 option. Buyers acknowledge they are buying a beta version and assume all risks. If the system malfunctions, Telsa does not accept any responsibility.

In February 2023, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found:

[Fully self-driving] beta software that allows a vehicle to exceed speed limits or travel through intersections in an unlawful or unpredictable manner increases the risk of a crash.

This led to Tesla recalling 362,000 vehicles to update the software.

Another setback for autonomous vehicle sales to the public was the October 2022 announcement that Ford and VW had decided to stop funding autonomous driving technology company Argo AI, resulting in its closure. Both Ford and VW decided to shift their focus from level 4 automation to levels 2 and 3.

Read more:
‘Self-driving’ cars are still a long way off. Here are three reasons why

So, what can we expect next?

Autonomous vehicle development will continue, but with less hype. It’s being recognised as more an evolutionary process than a revolutionary one. The increasing cost of capital will also make it harder for autonomous vehicle startups to get development funds.

The areas that appear to be making the best progress are autonomous ride-hailing and heavy vehicles. Self-driving car sales to the public are further down the track.

Neil G Sipe receives funding from the Australian Research Council Linkage Program.

– ref. We were told we’d be riding in self-driving cars by now. What happened to the promised revolution? – https://theconversation.com/we-were-told-wed-be-riding-in-self-driving-cars-by-now-what-happened-to-the-promised-revolution-201088

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anne Twomey, Professor emerita, University of Sydney

The Albanese government has now released the formal wording of the proposed referendum it will introduce into parliament next week.

It had earlier released a draft proposed amendment at the Garma Festival last year, which was intended to start a debate on the wording. Since then, this wording has been the subject of intense discussion and debate in the Referendum Working Group, comprised of Indigenous representatives, which has been advising the government.

It has also been scrutinised by the Constitutional Expert Group, which has provided legal advice in response to questions raised by the Referendum Working Group.

Many other Australians have raised ideas and concerns in the media and in communications with the government, which have been the subject of analysis and deliberation.

Read more:
The referendum rules have been decided. What does this mean for the Voice?

What do the words say?

The wording of the proposed amendment will be as follows:

Chapter IX – Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

129 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice

In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia:

(1) There shall be a body to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice;

(2) The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;

(3) The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.

What is new?

First, it is now clear this amendment will be placed in its own separate chapter at the end of the Constitution in a new section 129.

The title of the chapter makes clear it is directed at the “recognition” of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Constitution.

This recognition then flows through to some introductory words which form a preamble at the beginning of the section. These words provide “recognition” of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the “First Peoples of Australia”.

The terminology used is careful. It avoids the use of “First Nations”, which is politically more contentious and might have given rise to implications drawn from the term “Nation”.

The description “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples” is long-standing and well-accepted, and the statement that they were the First Peoples of Australia is one of fact and recognition.

The rest of the proposed amendment remains the same except for a minor alteration of words at the end of sub-section (3).

Importantly, the guaranteed ability of the Voice to make representations to the executive government remains.

However, concerns about this have been addressed by the alteration to sub-section (3).

The concern that had been raised was the High Court might draw an implication from sub-section (2) the representations by the Voice must be considered by government decision-makers before they can validly make a decision, potentially resulting in litigation and the delay of decision-making.

While this concern had little to no substance, there was a suggestion some words should be added to the end of sub-section (3) to make it abundantly clear it was a matter for parliament to decide what the legal effects of the Voice’s representations would be.

Parliament could make the decision that in some cases decision-makers would be obliged to consider representations first, but there would be no such obligation in relation to other types of decisions.

This has now been accommodated by a compromise set of words added to the end of sub-section (3).

These words say parliament can make laws with respect to “to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.”

The words “relating to” and “including” broaden the scope of this power.

They are intended to permit parliament to legislate about the effect of the Voice’s representations, so it is a matter for parliament to decide whether the representations of the Voice must be considered by decision-makers when making administrative decisions.

They are also intended to permit parliament to extend the powers and functions of the Voice as and when needed in the future.

The question on the ballot

The ballot paper never sets out the whole constitutional amendment, as in many cases, it would go for pages.

Instead, voters are asked to approve the proposed law, as it is described in its long title.

So the question put on the ballot will be set out as follows:

A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

Do you approve of this alteration?

Voters then write Yes or No.

What now?

The amendment bill is intended to be introduced next week. When it is introduced, a parliamentary committee will be set up to allow the public to make their own submissions about the amendment.

Anyone who has concerns can have their voice heard by the committee and it remains possible that the committee might recommend alterations to the wording.

After the committee reports, the amendment bill will be debated in June and if passed, it will go to a referendum between two and six months after its passage. It will then be a matter for the people to decide.

Read more:
What happens if the government goes against the advice of the Voice to Parliament?

Anne Twomey has received funding from the ARC and occasionally does consultancy work for governments and parliaments. She is a member of the Constitution Expert Group that advised the Referendum Working Group upon the proposed amendment.

– ref. We now know exactly what question the Voice referendum will ask Australians. A constitutional law expert explains – https://theconversation.com/we-now-know-exactly-what-question-the-voice-referendum-will-ask-australians-a-constitutional-law-expert-explains-202143

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Kildea, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney

On Wednesday night, the Senate passed a bill to amend Australia’s referendum machinery laws, ending a long and sometimes tense debate on the rules that will govern the Voice referendum later this year.

Until this week it looked like we would embark on our first referendum since 1999 without broad consensus on the ground rules. Thankfully, the government and opposition reached agreement and the bill passed easily. The House of Representatives is expected to approve it very soon.

The machinery changes range across public education, campaigning and voting. Many of the changes make welcome improvements to our outdated referendum laws.

But there is also a sense of missed opportunity as some well-known problems were left unaddressed.

So, what changes were made and what are the implications for the Voice referendum?

Setting the ground rules

Questions about referendum machinery – that is, the rules on how a national vote on constitutional change is conducted – often take a back seat to debate about the question on the ballot paper. But getting the machinery right is crucial to ensuring that a referendum is fair, transparent and informed.

The Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Amendment Bill 2022 was introduced in December and passed the House of Representatives earlier this month. Its purpose is to modernise the nation’s referendum rules and bring them into line with election laws.

The bill deals with many technical procedural matters alongside a small number of more contentious topics. One surprise was the government’s decision to suspend the usual practice of sending an official pamphlet to each household.

Read more:
The government will not send out Yes and No case pamphlets ahead of the Voice to Parliament referendum. Does this matter?

In January, the parliament’s electoral committee reviewed the bill and heard from a wide range of stakeholders.

The committee recommended measures be adopted to ensure voters have access to “clear, factual and impartial information”. It also supported amendments to foster enfranchisement and participation, particularly among Indigenous peoples.

The opposition, from the outset, supported most aspects of the bill. But it pledged to vote against it unless the government agreed to reinstate the official pamphlet, and establish and fund official “Yes” and “No” campaign bodies.

Until this week, it looked like the government would need the votes of the Greens and the crossbench to pass the bill. Senators Larissa Waters, David Pocock, Lidia Thorpe and Pauline Hanson proposed numerous amendments, including measures to strengthen financial disclosure.

In the end, the major parties brokered a deal that saw the government reinstate the pamphlet and the opposition drop two of its three demands.

The bill ultimately puts in place a set of rules and processes that, in many respects, resemble those used at past referendums.

Educating voters about the Voice

One of the biggest challenges ahead of a referendum is ensuring voters have the information they need to cast an informed vote.

The bill agreed to in the Senate provides for two channels of official information: the pamphlet and a neutral civics education campaign.

The official pamphlet is a mainstay of Australian referendums, having featured at almost all referendums since it was introduced in 1912. The bill retains the design that has been in place for over a century. Later this year, we will all receive in the post a printed booklet that contains “Yes” and “No” arguments, authorised by MPs, of 2,000 words each, and a copy of the proposed amendments to the Constitution.

While the government’s initial scrapping of the pamphlet was unexpected, it is hard to get excited about its reinstatement. If history is any guide, the pamphlet’s educational value will be minimal and could even be counter-productive. The authors of the “Yes” and “No” cases are free to exaggerate, mislead, fearmonger and dog-whistle. There will be no basic factual statement about the referendum proposal.

Thorpe moved for the Australian Human Rights Commission to write the “Yes” and “No” arguments, while Pocock argued that an independent panel should vet the pamphlet for accuracy and hateful content. In the House, independent Zali Steggall pushed for a broader law on truth in political advertising. None of these suggestions were taken up.

More promising is the neutral civics education campaign. It is 24 years since our last referendum and we all need a civics refresher. In the coming months we can expect the government to circulate basic information on the Constitution, Australia’s system of government and the referendum process. The Howard government ran a similar initiative in 1999 ahead of the republic referendum.

The bill makes clear that government spending on civics education will be lawful provided that it doesn’t “address the arguments for or against a proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution”. This is sensible and is aimed at ensuring that the civics education campaign stays neutral on the Voice proposal.

What we don’t know is who will develop the educational materials and what form they will take. It is crucial that the people involved are trusted by both sides and that the information they produce is clear, factual and relevant to voters. It would be good to hear more detail from the government on this.

The ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ campaigns won’t receive public funding

The bill passed by the Senate makes no provision for the establishment and funding of official “Yes” and “No” campaign organisations. This is in line with ordinary referendum practice in Australia, with 1999 being the lone exception.

The opposition had argued that creating official campaign groups would make it easier to enforce rules on financial disclosure. But the Australian Electoral Commission has a lot of experience in educating and overseeing multiple campaigners and should be able to manage a complex campaign environment.

The opposition also called for some public funding to support the campaigns. However, both the “Yes” and “No” sides are fundraising large amounts of money, so adding taxpayer dollars on top of that was arguably unnecessary.

Shining a light on campaign money

The bill makes some long-overdue changes to the rules on referendum campaign finance. Campaigners will be required to publicly report donations and expenditure that exceed A$15,200. This is consistent with ordinary election requirements.

This change improves transparency but falls well short of best practice. The disclosure threshold is way too high and this means some large donations will remain anonymous.

Moreover, Australians will not learn who gave money to the Yes and No campaigns until 24 weeks after the date of the referendum. This is information that people should have before they enter the polling booth and cast their vote.

Both the Greens and Pocock moved amendments for tougher disclosure rules, but they were defeated.

An advertising blackout period

The bill bans referendum advertisements on radio and television in the final three days of the campaign. The same rule applies at elections. Pocock unsuccessfully sought to extend the blackout period to social media.

Maximising enrolment and voting

One concern ahead of the Voice referendum is ensuring that measures are in place to support electoral participation, especially among First Nations people.

Last October, the government committed $16 million to assist Indigenous enrolment in advance of the vote. The bill takes a further step by extending the period available for remote mobile polling from 12 days to 19 days. This will allow more time for the Australian Electoral Commission to visit hard-to-access places across the country.

Both the Greens and Thorpe argued unsuccessfully for the adoption of on-the-day enrolment. This would have allowed new voters to cast a ballot on the day and have it included in the count once their eligibility to vote is confirmed.

It is a shame that on-the-day enrolment was not included in the final bill. It would have fostered referendum participation generally but been of particular benefit to First Nations people, given their disproportionately low enrolment rate.

A robust, if imperfect, referendum process

The eve of a referendum is the worst possible time to negotiate amendments to the rules. Every proposed change is viewed through the lens of suspicion and self-interest.

It is therefore a huge relief that the government and opposition were able to reach bipartisan consensus on the referendum machinery changes. Australians can go to the Voice referendum confident that the rules in place make for a fair and robust process.

The debates in parliament nonetheless show there is room for improvement. A number of promising ideas on public education and campaign finance were not taken up and in some cases were barely debated.

The amendments passed this week are welcome but there remains a need for a in-depth review of our referendum laws, ideally conducted away from the heat of a looming vote.

Paul Kildea has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council.

– ref. The referendum rules have been decided. What does this mean for the Voice? – https://theconversation.com/the-referendum-rules-have-been-decided-what-does-this-mean-for-the-voice-201372

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Newcomb, Lecturer, Queensland University of Technology

The tragic deaths of two small children in an overheated car in Queensland in 2019 highlight just how flawed our child protection system has become.

Darcey and Chloe Conley were known to the child protection system, but repeated warnings about their safety failed to trigger further investigation. One of the officers assigned to their case said she was overburdened at work and unable to do her job properly.

The deaths of children in the child protection system have led to numerous national and state inquiries, reforms, reports and royal commissions. A recent commission report in Queensland, for example, found that 69 children known to the department of child safety died from June 2021-22 – a 44% increase from five years earlier.

All of these inquiries have drawn attention to serious issues with staff retention, adequate resourcing and institutional racism within child protection services.

Innovations such as the use of algorithms and software to guide decision making, a range of legal reforms, and increased consultation with Indigenous communities have also failed to lead to large-scale improvements.

Rather than short-term solutions, it’s time to upend the child protection system entirely.

Problems with the sector

Child protection is a politicised profession governed by strict procedures, as outlined by differing legislation in each state and territory in Australia.

The child protection system began in Australia in the 1960s and has grown rapidly since then. It has also become increasingly complicated by massive reforms, such as the mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse and an increase in foster and residential care know as “out of home care”.

It’s estimated around 178,000 children received child protection services in 2020-21, a slight increase from 2016-17.

More growth of the sector is expected as all Australian states and territories have committed to extending support for children leaving out of home care from the age of 18 to 21.

Despite the sector’s growth, the jobs of child protection workers have only gotten harder. They are constantly assessing the risks of harm and abuse to children within tight and restrictive parameters. The use of structured decision-making tools in this process – and even in some cases computer algorithms – have led to racist and classist results.

The systemic under-resourcing of the sector means it is also difficult to attract and retain workers. Starting salaries are low, despite the fact most child protection staff require a tertiary qualification. And the intense workload, lack of professional support and supervision, and compassion fatigue cause many workers to leave the field for other professions.

Read more:
Yes, we see you. Why a national plan for homelessness must make thousands of children on their own a priority

The impact on disadvantaged communities

Those most impacted by child protection measures invariably come from marginalised and disadvantaged communities.

Families entering the system almost always face a host of issues, such as poverty, homelessness, drug and alcohol addiction, and mental health issues. And many families are unable to access basic necessities, such as housing or support services, prior to entering the child protection system.

Of specific concern is the impact of intervention and the removal of Indigenous children from their families. Indigenous children are ten times more likely to be removed into out of home care than non-Indigenous children, leading to concerns a “second stolen generation” is occurring.

Taking Indigenous children from their families leads to continued disadvantage, a loss of culture and further intergenerational trauma. This is a national shame and should be leading to swift and radical overhauls of our chaotic child protection systems.

Read more:
First Nations children are still being removed at disproportionate rates. Cultural assumptions about parenting need to change

What does it mean to ‘upend’ the child protection system?

The upEND movement started in the United States and its aim is the abolition of the traditional, state-run child protection system.

Rather than policing or separating families, the collaborative movement seeks to find better ways to support children, families and communities which are not grounded in racist assumptions or discrimination. The movement eschews a top-down approach; instead, it seeks to provide parents and families with a greater voice in gaining the support they need to parent.

This means, in part, a further investment in community-led initiatives and programs that allow for more unique and culturally sensitive responses to be developed. While some families may still require statutory interventions, many could be avoided through early intervention and community-led support.

What does this mean from a practical standpoint? As most families within the system experience poverty, the movement calls for increased welfare payments or the introduction of a universal basic income to alleviate the financial stress on families. Further investment in social and affordable housing is also needed to help ensure child wellbeing.

Read more:
How does this keep happening? After so many child protection inquiries and reform efforts, it’s time for a new approach

In such a model, the current practice of drug-testing parents would also cease; instead, parents would be referred to drug and alcohol treatment providers. Survivors and perpetrators of domestic and family violence would likewise be offered greater access to support services.

Increased access to Legal Aid for parents would also likely to lead to fewer child removals and more family reunifications. The use of racist, structured decision-making tools and algorithms would also stop in this new approach.

Chronic under-funding and an emphasis on meeting key performance indicators have left many of these services overburdened with long wait lists, so upending child protection systems would require a reconsideration of how these services operate and are funded.

There is funding available, though. Australia spent over A$7.5 billion on child protection services in 2020-21, an increase of 6.2% in just one year, despite the poor outcomes that children experience. This money could be redirected by governments into other programs, including early intervention and support services.

Isn’t it time we ditch an ineffective child protection system and instead invest in keeping children with their families and communities?

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

– ref. Our child protection system is clearly broken. Is it time to abolish it for a better model? – https://theconversation.com/our-child-protection-system-is-clearly-broken-is-it-time-to-abolish-it-for-a-better-model-200716

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yen Ying Lim, Associate Professor, Monash University

Dementia is an umbrella term to describe a progressive neurological condition that affects people’s cognitive abilities, such as memory, language and reasoning.

Alzheimer’s is the most common form, but other common forms include vascular dementia, Lewy Body dementia and frontotemporal dementia.

It’s not uncommon for people living with dementia to experience fluctuations in their cognitive abilities and levels of awareness.

People living with dementia can sometimes be fully “present”, knowing who is around them, where they are, and what’s happening. And then other times they may be confused, disorientated, unaware of their surroundings and unfamiliar with loved ones.

These fluctuations can be distressing for caregivers, who never know what to expect from one day to the next.

Read more:
Lots of ‘breakthroughs’, still no cure. Do the new dementia drugs bring us any closer?

What causes these fluctuations in awareness?

Several factors can contribute to cognitive fluctuations in people living with dementia. Environmental factors, such as changes in routine or new surroundings, can cause confusion and disorientation.

Fatigue can also play an important role. Tiredness, even in young adults, has known negative effects on a person’s attention and learning ability. This can be much more pronounced in older adults and people living with dementia.

Certain medications used to treat dementia and other related health conditions can also have an impact on a person’s cognitive function.

For example, some medications used to treat depression or anxiety can cause confusion or disorientation, especially in older adults.

Finally, time of day can play an important role in cognitive fluctuations.

People living with dementia often experience “sundowning”, where they can become more agitated or confused in the late afternoon or evening. Sundowning can also lead to pacing or wandering in people living with dementia.

Some scientists think this might be due to changes in the area of the brain that controls the “inner clock”, which signals when we’re awake or asleep. This breakdown can lead to confusion.

Patients with dementia will also often experience a period of lucidity in the week leading up to death. Science still isn’t quite sure why this happens, and studies are ongoing.

Do we know what’s happening in the brain?

The neurobiology that underpins these cognitive fluctuations remains unclear. However, dementia is caused by damage to brain cells and the connections between them.

In Alzheimer’s disease, this gradual deterioration of brain cells begins first in the memory centres of the brain, and gradually spreads to regions that govern attention and awareness.

Changes in the brain’s “default mode network” may also result in these fluctuations. The default mode network is a network of brain regions that remains active when a person is not engaged or focused on any task. It’s thought to help with remembering, developing our concept of the self, and thinking about the future.

This network is active during our “resting state”. In people living with dementia, the default mode network is disrupted and this can lead to changes in cognition and self-awareness.

Read more:
What causes Alzheimer’s disease? What we know, don’t know and suspect

Is there anything that can help?

Despite the challenges associated with cognitive fluctuations in people living with dementia, scientists have found behavioural interventions can provide some relief.

For example, a review of music therapy studies demonstrated music can improve mood and memory outcomes in people living with dementia.

Listening to familiar music can also help to maintain a sense of self and stimulate autobiographical memories in people living with dementia.

Some scientists think this may be because music can help regulate the default mode network, which is crucial for the processing of information about ourselves.

What to do if your loved one isn’t “there”

When visiting your loved one with dementia, it’s important to use short sentences, make eye contact, minimise distractions (such as TV or radio playing loudly in the background), and not interrupt them.

If your loved one with dementia is agitated, it’s important to listen calmly to their concerns and frustrations. Challenging them can often lead to them becoming more agitated.

Changes in behaviour or emotional state of a person living with dementia can be very stressful for the person, and their loved ones and caregivers. These changes in behaviour may be a result of changes in the brain. But often they can also be a result of frustration in the person’s reduced ability to communicate as effectively as they once did.

There are a range of tips to reduce cognitive fluctuations in people living with dementia. These include limiting caffeine intake, exposing them to natural light during the day and warmer lighting in the evening, and getting sufficient physical activity.

However, cognitive fluctuations in people living with dementia are a complex and challenging aspect of the disease. And while some behavioural interventions, such as music therapy, can provide temporary improvements in mood and memory, dementia is a terminal illness.

There are now several drugs that hold promise for slowing memory decline in people with Alzheimer’s. However, the effects are small, and much more research is needed to better understand and treat this devastating disease.

Read more:
How your status, where you live and your family background affect your risk of dementia

If you have a family history of dementia and are interested in learning how to reduce your dementia risk by changing health behaviours, please join us at the BetterBrains Trial. We are currently recruiting Australians aged 40-70 with a family history of dementia.

Yen Ying Lim receives funding from the NHMRC, ARC, MRFF, and the Alzheimer’s Association.

– ref. Why is my loved one with dementia sometimes ‘there’ and sometimes not? – https://theconversation.com/why-is-my-loved-one-with-dementia-sometimes-there-and-sometimes-not-200439

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Green, Host + Producer, The Conversation

Earlier this week, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Synthesis Report, bringing together six previous assessments on the state of the Earth’s climate.

The verdict is sobering. Global temperatures are now 1.1℃ above pre-industrial levels, and they’re likely to reach 1.5℃ in the early 2030s. As climate change experts Frank Jotzo and Mark Howden wrote for The Conversation: “The world is in deep trouble on climate change, but if we really put our shoulder to the wheel we can turn things around”.

So how do the IPCC’s climate scientists know the climate is changing? And what does it feel like to carry that knowledge and do their vital work at this crucial juncture in Earth’s history?

Fear & Wonder is a new podcast from The Conversation that seeks to answer these questions. It takes you inside the UN’s era-defining climate report via the hearts and minds of the scientists who wrote it.

Read more:
Introducing Fear and Wonder: The Conversation’s new climate podcast

The show is hosted by us: Dr Joelle Gergis – a climate scientist and lead IPCC author – and award-winning journalist Michael Green.

In this first episode, we introduce the series and look at long-term observations that help scientists determine how the climate has changed. With help from French scientist Professor Valérie Masson-Delmotte – a co-chair of the IPCC’s Working Group One – they explain what the IPCC is, what its monumental climate reports contain and how they’re put together.

We speak to Professor Kim Cobb, a US-based paleoclimatologist, who describes the coral reef she has researched her whole career and its destruction in the El Niño of 2016. She also shares her experience of what it feels like to be a climate scientist at this important point in human history.

We also speak to Professor Ed Hawkins, who explains how historical weather observations are significantly improving our understanding of extreme events such as severe storms, and how these records can help estimate future climate change risk. Hawkins tells the story of a citizen science project to digitise millions of weather observations from locations such as from Ben Nevis, the highest peak in the United Kingdom.

To listen and subscribe, click here, or click the icon for your favourite podcast app in the graphic above.

Fear and Wonder is sponsored by the Climate Council, an independent, evidence-based organisation working on climate science, impacts and solutions.

Dr Joelle Gergis has received funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australian Government’s Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources in the past. She currently receives funding from the Australian National University.

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

– ref. Fear and Wonder podcast: how scientists know the climate is changing – https://theconversation.com/fear-and-wonder-podcast-how-scientists-know-the-climate-is-changing-202237

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Graham Edgar, Senior Marine Ecologist, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania

Marine heatwaves are damaging reef ecosystems around Australia, but while the tropical north has received the lion’s share of the attention to date, we equally need to worry about the temperate south.

That’s partly because the Great Southern Reef is of immense biodiversity value. Species found here are found nowhere else in the world. Even their distant relatives are long gone. It’s also because these temperate reefs are suffering even more from heatwaves than the Great Barrier Reef.

After 30 years counting thousands of marine species on Australian reefs, we could see the situation was changing rapidly. But our research team wasn’t able to survey enough locations to adequately track the changes. These occurred out of sight, beneath the waves, off coastlines extending thousands of kilometres. We realised we needed help.

So we enlisted the help of enthusiastic volunteer divers to complete the world’s first continental audit of shallow marine life. This unique Australian effort was a tremendous collaborative achievement. But it’s nothing compared to what’s needed in the years to come, to defend our reef ecosystems from the impacts of climate change and other human pressures.

Read more:
Australia’s ‘other’ reef is worth more than $10 billion a year – but have you heard of it?

Answering questions with data

Our goal was to answer crucial questions from managers, including:

• which marine species are rapidly heading towards extinction?

• how can threats to reef species be addressed cost effectively?

• how large do marine reserves need to be, to achieve conservation goals?

• which regulations work best?

Our solution was to headhunt the most enthusiastic and experienced recreational divers, then train them to scientific standards in underwater survey methods.

More than 200 highly trained volunteers have now participated in the Reef Life Survey of Australia. Together they have counted more than 3,000 species of fishes, corals and other invertebrates at over 2,500 sites around Australia, including offshore locations not previously visited by divers.

This information, combined with survey data from the Australian Temperate Reef Collaboration (collected using similar methods) and the Australian Institute of Marine Science in Queensland, has allowed us to produce the first continental audit of shallow marine life completed anywhere in the world. Our new research is published today in the journal Nature.

Our investigation revealed that heatwaves have damaged many (but not all) reef communities over the past decade. The effects have been patchy. Some reef populations have been devastated, other reefs nearby have declined and recovered, and others have flourished.

Species tended to increase numbers in years when water temperatures rose less than 0.5℃ above average, but declined rapidly once this heatwave threshold was passed. Overall, more species were declining than increasing.

Coral density has showed little overall change across the Great Barrier Reef since 2010. Many, but not all, coral reef communities impacted by the 2016 heatwave have recovered. Coral populations tended to decline in the north, show little change in the central region, and increase in the south.

Around Australia, fishes, mobile invertebrates such as crabs, snails and seastars, and seaweeds showed similar responses to warming. Numbers typically declined in the north of species’ ranges and increased in the south. The increasing abundance of warm water species in the south has, however, squeezed populations of cold water species.

At the limit, southern Tasmanian species trapped by the deep Southern Ocean barrier cannot migrate further south. The common sea dragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus), for example, has declined in numbers by 57% over the past decade across monitoring sites.

Many species living on Tasmanian reefs, particularly echinoderms such as sea stars and sea urchins, have shown precipitous population declines over the past decade.

A strong heatwave off southwestern Australia in 2011 also caused seaweed populations to drop rapidly. Most affected seaweeds remain at greatly reduced levels.

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Overall, cool-temperate species inhabiting the Great Southern Reef – the interconnected network of kelp-covered rocky reefs that extends from northern New South Wales to southwestern Australia — are generally declining in number more rapidly and are more threatened with extinction, than tropical species.

This is perhaps not surprising given that Great Southern Reef species live in a climate change hotspot (where sea temperatures are rising more rapidly than elsewhere worldwide) along the most densely populated Australian coast. Impacts from infrastructure development, catchment degradation, pollution and fishing are widespread.

Why the southern reef is so great

Australia’s southern reefs – in temperate waters between the tropical north and the Southern Ocean – are hotspots of biodiversity. Most species are found nowhere else in the world (70% of the temperate species surveyed were endemic to Australia). In contrast, almost all of the tropical species censused in our study are widely distributed across the Indo-Pacific (only 3% endemic to Australia).

Furthermore, temperate Australian species often have no close relatives. Their evolutionary roots run deep. Examples include the red velvet fish (Gnathanacanthus goetzii) and the giant creeper snail (Campanile symbolicum). Both species sit alone in their families, and were found in our census to have rapidly declining populations.

Worldwide, the most threatened fish family is the handfishes. This is a group of 14 species restricted to southeastern Australia, primarily Tasmania. The critically endangered red handfish (Thymichthys politus) and spotted handfish (Brachionichthys hirsutus) have declined to tiny populations of around 100 (red) and 5000 (spotted) individuals living in shallow bays near Hobart. The smooth handfish (Sympterichthys unipennis) is probably already extinct.

What we stand to lose

The loss of most Australian marine species will likely occur unseen. Government funding does not generally support systematic monitoring of native plants and animals.

Data provided by volunteer Reef Life Survey divers has provided the only population trend information for over 1,000 species, while tens of thousands of species lack any information at all. Only the Great Barrier Reef Long Term Monitoring Program run by the Australian Institute of Marine Science receives dedicated funding covering marine habitats.

Until more attention is paid to the conservation of temperate marine species, the living heritage of future generations will continue to slip away. We will also remain in the dark as to what already has been lost. The little public, scientific or management attention paid to the Great Southern Reef belies its status as a global marvel, and one that is highly threatened.

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Graham Edgar is a Board Member of Reef Life Survey Foundation.
Field surveys that provide the basis for this study have been supported by the Reef Life Survey Foundation; Australian Research Council; the Australian Institute of Marine Science; the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies; Parks Australia; Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania; New South Wales Department of Primary Industries; Parks Victoria; South Australia Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources; Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions; The Ian Potter Foundation; Minderoo Foundation; Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment; and the CERF, NERP and NESP Marine Biodiversity Hubs.
Data management is supported by Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System.

– ref. The Great Southern Reef is in more trouble than the Great Barrier Reef – https://theconversation.com/the-great-southern-reef-is-in-more-trouble-than-the-great-barrier-reef-201235

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Burch, Lecturer in Accounting, University of Tasmania

One of the priorities of the federal government’s sweeping Universities Accord is to improve employment conditions in higher education. This is long overdue.

Australia’s university sector once set the standard for working conditions but sadly this is no longer the case. Now the sector is plagued by an over reliance on casual staff, stress, burnout and precarious work conditions.

As of 2021, almost one third of Australia’s academic staff were employed as casuals, or contractors on a part-time basis.

Meanwhile, reports about underpayments and frequent strikes are making headlines. These have been accompanied by continued funding and staff cuts, along with increased expectations around performance.

Despite the high numbers of casual academic staff, surprisingly limited attention has been paid to their working conditions and experiences.

We conducted 20 interviews in the accounting discipline between May 2020 and November 2021. This field of study has a very high number of international students and was hard hit by COVID and job losses. Interviewees were a mix of aspiring academics, industry experts and freelancers (who were working in universities as part of a mix of jobs).

Three themes emerged from our research about their experiences.

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1. Heavy workloads

Previous research on higher education in general has found staff experience stress, poor work quality and burnout. Our casual interviewees spoke at length about huge and unreasonable workloads. This was particularly so when it came to marking, as one interviewee explained:

It’s 1,000 words [per assignment] and we get paid approximately ten minutes [per assignment]. I can’t read, process it, and try to give good feedback. I feel like I’m just chained onto the table like some sort of slave to be honest, because it has to be done by a certain time.

This echoes research on the broader higher education environment, where high workloads impact both casual and permanent staff. Another interviewee told us:

To be honest, for the amount of pay we get, the amount of work we do, if you look at it on is it worth it? No. It’s because of passion. I love what I do.

2. Lack of recognition and respect

Our interviewees emphasised a clear division exists between permanent and casual staff. This can include not having a say in decisions or course content or not having senior staff checking in. It can also extend to being treated poorly by unit coordinators. As one interviewee noted:

You do feel some of them do treat you like an idiot.

This treatment can extend beyond work duties to social events and separate work areas.

there will be a dinner or something that only tenured staff is invited to, you are treated like a second-class citizen.

Another interviewee told us:

The sessionals [casuals] had an area like open plan offices and the tenured people had their own offices. So, it was like, the difference was made quite clear in that way.

3. Constant insecurity

During the pandemic, casual academic staff were the first to lose work when universities faced revenue shortages caused by the loss of international student fees.

Data on full-time equivalent university staff shows between 2020 and 2021, 15% of casuals
lost their jobs, compared to 7% of full-time workers.

Interviewees spoke about their frustrations, not knowing if they would have a job from one semester to the next. For some, it took a toll on their wellbeing and sense of self.

It’s very stressful, particularly with uncertainty […] I feel like I’m worthless.

Another interviewee similarly explained:

Never knowing what amount of teaching you are going to have next semester makes you feel really expendable.

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What the Universities Accord should note

Casual academics have an essential role educating some of the brightest young minds in our society for exciting careers. Yet their own careers do not have the same prospects. And their work does not necessarily give them a sense of dignity or self-worth.

This not only affects casual academics’ morale and wellbeing, but undermines universities’ commitment to quality teaching and learning.

Both casual academics and universities would benefit from better, more respectful working conditions for casual staff. Casuals need their work to be recognised, a greater sense of inclusion and more pathways to progress their careers. Otherwise, it is hard to see how this employment model – that has become so important to higher education – is sustainable.

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

– ref. ‘Some of them do treat you like an idiot’: what it’s like to be a casual academic – https://theconversation.com/some-of-them-do-treat-you-like-an-idiot-what-its-like-to-be-a-casual-academic-201470

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liam Davies, PhD Candidate, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University

Australia is in the grip of a housing crisis, with low-income households hit hardest by rising rents and falling vacancy rates.

Social housing tenants were insulated from the 10.2% jump in advertised private rental prices in 2022. However, the proportion of people in social housing (an umbrella term covering public and community housing) fell by a fifth, from 4.6% to 3.7%, over the past decade. The Productivity Commission reports social housing waiting lists grew by over 17% in just three years, from 148,520 in 2019 to 174,624 in 2022.

The Albanese government has tabled a legislative package to address the housing crisis. The flagship $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund is intended to help pay for 30,000 social and affordable housing units to be built in its first five years. That’s far less than the estimated 216,000-dwelling gap between the level of need for social housing and the current supply.

In the lead-up to the federal budget in May, advocates are pushing for other measures to provide faster relief for low-income households in housing stress. At the forefront are calls to increase Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA). Some academics have made the case for doubling rent assistance, as have the Greens.

However, primarily advocating for an increase in rent assistance risks prioritising short-term and partial relief over much-needed systemic change in how Australia delivers affordable housing. Social housing is a more cost-effective and lasting way of ensuring low-income households have affordable and secure housing.

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Subsidies reflect state shift away from providing housing

The Commonwealth provides financial assistance to eligible individuals or families in private rentals or community housing (where rents are generally set below 30% of income). The payment is meant to help people on low to moderate incomes meet the cost of renting a home in the private market.

To be eligible for the program, an individual or family must be receiving a qualifying social security payment and paying rent to a private landlord or community housing provider. The amount of rent assistance depends on their income, rent and household circumstances.

The program plays a similar role to rental assistance overseas. These programs include the Housing Benefit in the United Kingdom, the Rent Supplement in Ireland and the Housing Allowance in France. All provide assistance directly to people on low incomes in private rental housing. Section 8 in the United States and the Housing Benefit in Canada differ in paying a portion of low-income households’ rent directly to landlords.

These programs are part of a sustained trend away from governments directly providing housing and towards subsidising market participation.

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Can increasing rent assistance solve housing insecurity?

Commonwealth Rent Assistance cost the government about A$4.9 billion in 2021–22. Since eligibility was broadened in 1985, the amount has increased from $250 million a year, paid to roughly 500,000 people, to nearly $5 billion paid to roughly 1.5 million people today.

By comparison, the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement provides $1.7 billion to the state housing authorities and community housing organisations that provided 439,386 tenancies across Australia in 2022.

Despite rent assistance increasing over time, 43.9% of recipients are paying more than 30% of their income in rent – the benchmark for housing stress. So, while government CRA spending is similar to what it spends on social housing on a per-dwelling basis, rent assistance is not as effective at ensuring low-income households have access to affordable and secure housing. This indicates a need to fix the structural problems that are worsening the housing crisis.

Australia’s rental housing system has issues that increases in rent assistance cannot fix. Most CRA recipients rent in the tightening private market. With so few vacancies and rents soaring, finding a new private rental is near-impossible for low-income households.

Adding to their difficulties are tenancy laws that fail to offer long-term tenant security. Some states and territories have ended “no grounds” or “no fault” evictions. Even so, renters can still face housing uncertainty when a lease ends.

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Issues with housing quality in lower-cost private rentals are also widespread. In a recent ACOSS survey, 89% of Centrelink recipients said they couldn’t keep their homes cool in summer and sometimes or always felt unwell as a result.

Renters also often fear eviction or rent increases in response to asking for repairs. As a result, 51% live in homes in need of repairs.

Rent assistance also does little to reduce the concentration of disadvantage in certain areas, as shown below. Lower-income households are increasingly pushed to seek housing in cheaper areas, which have poorer access to infrastructure, services and amenities.

Lasting solution is to rebuild public housing stock

A 2020 Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) study modelled the effects of increasing the maximum rate of Commonwealth Rent Assistance by 30%. It found this would “improve affordability outcomes” for 623,800 private renters, but at a cost of $1 billion to the federal budget.

No doubt a supplementary housing payment akin to rent assistance will be a useful interim measure. Expanding eligibility and a higher rate would both help struggling households.

However, this should be considered a temporary step towards easing housing stress. It needs to be implemented alongside long-term measures that tackle the root causes of the housing crisis. The best systemic solution is a sustained reinvestment in public housing on a scale that matches the hundreds of thousands who need it.

Liam Davies receives funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. He is a member of the Planning Institute of Australia.

Alistair Sisson has received funding from the Australian Council of Social Services, Shelter NSW, QShelter, National Shelter, Mission Australia and Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. He is a member of Shelter NSW.

David Kelly receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.

Priya Kunjan receives funding from the Australian Research Council. They are a member of the Antipoverty Centre.

– ref. Yes, the 1.5 million Australians getting rent assistance need an increase, but more public housing is the lasting fix for the crisis – https://theconversation.com/yes-the-1-5-million-australians-getting-rent-assistance-need-an-increase-but-more-public-housing-is-the-lasting-fix-for-the-crisis-200908

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kristie Patricia Flannery, Research Fellow, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University

It was around this time of year back in 1763 that Filipino rebels rode into Sinait on horseback, shouting “in God’s mercy, the time has come to leave our slavery!”

The residents of this coastal village in Ilocos were among the tens of thousands of peasants across the big northern island of Luzon who joined the armed revolt against Spanish colonial rule that year. The insurgency attracted men and women from diverse ethno-linguistic groups. They were Ilocanos, Pangasinanes, Cagayanes and Tagalogs. Theirs was the biggest rebellion to erupt in the Philippines in the 18th century. It was simultaneously a very radical and profoundly Catholic social movement.

The rebellion coincided with the Christian season of Lent: the 40 days of sombre prayer and self-discipline leading up to Holy Week and Easter, when Christians remember the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Did this sacred time of year make ordinary Filipinos more willing to challenge the empire?

The British invasion of Manila at the end of 1762 triggered the revolt. The walled city had been the seat of the Spanish government in the islands since 1571, until British forces attacked and drove the Spanish governor into exile in the countryside.

This humiliating defeat of the Spanish struck many Filipinos as a rare opportunity to demand a better colonial bargain, or even to try and permanently overthrow the Spanish empire which had intruded into their lives.

Mobs of protesters raided government and convent armouries and marched on government buildings, brandishing weapons and demanding urgent change. They wanted to abolish the tribute, the annual head tax that Indigenous Filipinos (whom the Spaniards called indios) and Chinese migrants were forced to pay to the Crown. They also wanted to get rid of the polo, the system of forced labour that funnelled native men into stints of gruelling work for the state, building forts and cutting down trees to build galleons.

Colonial officials refused to negotiate, and the rebels decided to go to war to secure their demands. Battles broke out between rebel militias and those that remained loyal to Spain.

Lent inspired peasants to join the revolt against empire. The British invasion of the year before had destabilised the colonial government and prompted the armed rebellion. But it was Lent that inspired many peasants to join the rebel uprising.

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A Catholic revolution

The rebellion’s leaders included the husband-and-wife team Diego and Gabriella Silang. The couple are are well known in the Philippines today, where they are celebrated as heroes.

Diego Silang urged his followers to observe Lent. He encouraged fighting men to pray the Rosary, and prohibited them from getting drunk, having sex, or gambling on playing cards or cockfights during this sacred season. Silang was evidently trying to curry God’s favour through these collective sacrifices and devotions, hoping to secure a heavenly intervention that would protect his army and deliver them victory.

Like many Indigenous people in the islands, Silang would have also viewed asceticism in the Lenten season as a method of transferring power to people and to protective amulets known as anting anting, which they believed could potentially shield bodies from enemy cannon shot and arrows. Lots of different objects could be anting anting, including crucifixes and other religious medals or pieces of metal engraved with Catholic images, as well as pieces of paper inscribed with prayers. In this sense, Lent was the perfect time to spiritually prepare for revolution.

Convictions in such potent objects blended Filipino conceptions of power as a real force that could be physically accumulated in physical things, and European Catholic traditions of miraculous objects, including those that purport to cure sickness or protect soldiers in battle.

Christ the general

The Catholic character of the Silang rebellion manifests in other ways. Diego Silang declared that the life-sized wooden statue of Jesus Christ whose sanctuary was in Sinait was the general of the rebel army.

This was a famous miraculous statue. It sweated scented oils and cried salty tears, and locals believed it had ended devastating epidemics. These feats were inexplicable by the laws of nature and were therefore attributed to a divine agency. Silang’s followers fashioned a sceptre and small golden helmet for this image of Christ – symbols of military and political power in the islands – to acknowledge and honour its role in their war.

This statue of Jesus became a defining element of Silanista culture. Soldiers in the rebel Catholic army marched into battle under flags bearing its image. They also wore tiny carved copies of the statue tied to rope necklaces into battle.

The Silang rebellion was ultimately defeated by force. Militant missionaries opposed the rebellion. Priests went on strike, denying Catholic sacraments to communities that supported the revolt. They also helped the Spanish government rally a huge loyalist army that beat the enemy in battle.

Loyalists also believed God was on their side. At the decisive battle of Vigan in Ilocos, the spires of churches appeared as the sails of tall ships carrying an army that was coming to defeat the rebels, terrifying them into submission. This was another miracle.

The Spanish empire would endure in the Philippines until 1898, when the United States invaded and supplanted Spain as the ruling colonial power.

Lent could inspire Catholic anti-colonial uprisings in the early modern Philippines, yet this special religious season also energised movements to destroy them.

Kristie Patricia Flannery receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

– ref. Why Lent is the perfect time to spiritually prepare for revolution – https://theconversation.com/why-lent-is-the-perfect-time-to-spiritually-prepare-for-revolution-200715