Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Phoebe Holdenson Kimura, Lecturer and GP, University of Sydney

Around one in four women of reproductive age experience heavy periods, also known as heavy menstrual bleeding. Periods are a very personal experience and women (and people with uteruses) who have had heavy periods for a long time will often consider this normal, or something to be simply put up with.

A woman with normal periods loses between six to eight teaspoons of blood with each period. On average, bleeding lasts for five days, but a normal period can last for up to eight days. Trying to work out the amount of blood loss can be tricky, but if you have any of these symptoms you probably have heavy periods:

• bleeding through clothing

• having to change pads and tampons every one to two hours

• passing clots larger than a 50 cent coin

• avoiding leaving the house on the heaviest days

• periods that interfere with your physical, emotional, or social life.

Many women with heavy periods also experience severe period pain. If you are having heavy periods, talking with your doctor can help you choose the right treatment option for you.

Read more:
From sharp butt pains to period poos: 5 lesser-known menstrual cycle symptoms

Causes

Heavy periods are most often caused by:

• hormone-related problems. Causes include perimenopause, polycystic ovarian syndrome, or thyroid conditions

• changes within the uterus (womb), such as fibroids or polyps (benign tissue growths from the wall of the uterus). Less commonly, cancer or precancerous changes may be the cause of heavy bleeding. Some of the red flags doctors look for are sudden changes in bleeding patterns or vaginal bleeding after menopause

• blood disorders.

Some women can have more than one contributing cause. However, around half of women with heavy bleeding will not have any recognisable cause, even after testing. Nevertheless, the symptoms will still need treating.

Tests

All women with heavy periods need to have some tests performed to establish the potential cause of their bleeding, and to guide the treatment options. This may include a:

• physical exam

• cervical screening test, if not up-to-date

• blood test to check for low iron levels, and possibly thyroid and clotting function

• pelvic ultrasound.

The doctor may suggest further tests, such as a test for chlamydia, pregnancy or a biopsy of the uterus.

Read more:
I have painful periods, could it be endometriosis?

Treatments

Don’t just put up with heavy periods, there are now many good treatment options.

You can consider starting initial treatment for heavy bleeding before your first visit to the GP. Oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatories such as ibuprofen or naproxen can be taken regularly from the first day of the period for up to five days. Many women are aware anti-inflammatories treat period pain, but they can also decrease the volume of bleeding by up to 50%.

Another oral treatment for heavy bleeding which may be prescribed by your GP is tranexamic acid. This is taken for the first four days of the period. Anti-inflammatories and tranexamic acid can also be taken together.

Another effective medical treatment is the hormone-releasing IUD (brand names Mirena and Kyleena). These provide reliable contraception and reduce bleeding. These can be inserted by a GP who has experience in IUD insertion, by a family planning clinic, or by a gynaecologist.

Oral hormonal options for treatment include the combined oral contraceptive pill or progesterone tablets.

Another important part of treating heavy bleeding is replacement of iron stores if you’re deficient. You can try to increase your dietary iron intake, but your GP may also recommend oral iron supplements. These can cause side effects such as constipation or nausea, so your GP may recommend an iron infusion instead.

Do I need to see a specialist?

Your GP may refer you to a specialist if there are red flags, an abnormality on the pelvic ultrasound or if the bleeding doesn’t improve after six months of trialling treatment.

The gynaecologist may offer a hysteroscopy, where a camera is inserted into the uterus. This can be used to treat abnormalities such as fibroids or polyps.

Endometrial ablation, where the lining of the uterus is purposefully damaged, can be used to reduce or completely cease monthly bleeding. But it’s not suitable for women who are planning a future pregnancy.

The final option for treating heavy bleeding is surgical removal of the uterus via hysterectomy. Historically, this was often used due to a lack of other treatments. While it does permanently resolve heavy bleeding, it has more risks than the other treatments, and is obviously not suitable for women who still wish to bear children. Hysterectomy is considered when other treatments are ineffective or inappropriate, or at the patient’s request.

Read more:
Imagine having your period and no money for pads or tampons. Would you still go to school?

5 tips for getting help for heavy periods

1. Don’t delay. See your GP if you think your periods are heavy or if they’re interfering with your work or personal life

2. keep a diary of symptoms and track your cycle to help your GP understand your periods. Jot down some notes, fill out a period tracking chart or use a free app to keep track

3. allow enough time. Make an appointment specifically to discuss your heavy periods and get answers to any questions you have. Consider making a double appointment

4. don’t be embarrassed to discuss your symptoms or ask your GP questions. This is a common and important problem

5. go back for review if your bleeding isn’t improving after starting treatment. It might be time to discuss other options.

Read more:
Health Check: are painful periods normal?

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. Heavy periods are common. What can you do, and when should you seek help? – https://theconversation.com/heavy-periods-are-common-what-can-you-do-and-when-should-you-seek-help-191511

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabrielle Jenkin, Director Suicide and Mental Health Research Group University of Otago Wellington, University of Otago

It is a niche kind of membership that lets you in behind the doors of an acute mental health facility. Unless you work there or are admitted as an inpatient, these publicly funded private spaces that house people at their most vulnerable are really difficult to get into.

This makes them challenging to study and, without such research, challenging for architects to design well. We opened up the black box of acute mental health care facilities in New Zealand to understand their purpose, how people experience them and what informs their architectural design.

Design matters. Fit-for-purpose psychiatric facility design promotes better mental health and wellbeing. This is a no-brainer for people who work and stay in these units.

Unfortunately, the evidence base for the architectural design of acute mental health facilities has been haphazard, with costly implications.

To understand how these settings serve their populations and if we can do better, we studied four acute mental health facilities around New Zealand, looking at the old, the new and some in between.

We examined policy documents and architectural plans and made site visits to take photographs, conduct a building survey and interview staff, service users and visiting family members.

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How psychological aspects of healing are important for hospital design

Not fit for purpose

In terms of the purpose of acute mental health facilities, we found confusion. Only one facility had a written model of care, which is the critical blueprint for architects to understand what and who they are designing for.

Fortunately, we did find consensus that the underpinning philosophy of care was the “recovery model”. We figured recovery principles, in concert with Indigenous Māori values and models of health and wellbeing, could and should inform the architectural blueprint for these buildings.

A recovery-oriented environment suggests a design that fosters connection, hope, identity, meaning, empowerment and safety. This was not what we found.

While service users were relieved to get sleep, respite and diagnosis or treatment for their distressing symptoms and spoke highly of the staff compassion and quality of care, for many the acute mental health environment was confusing, frightening, disempowering, restrictive, boring and sometimes unsafe and traumatising.

Name in vain

In what feels like institutional gaslighting, the naming of these units is bewilderingly Kafkaesque. We found “open units”, the name given to lower-acuity facilities, typically have their doors locked. Given the voluntary status of some patients, this is counter intuitive.

Then there are the warm-fuzzy, therapeutic-sounding names for the prison-like seclusion wings, often with Indigenous Māori names, implying such spaces are peaceful retreats when inpatients felt they were anything but.

There is hope however. New Zealand has an aspirational goal of zero seclusion. Bafflingly, we are yet to build a facility without a seclusion wing.

Mind numbing

Service users talked about boredom in dilapidated, resource-scarce and low-stimulus environments. There was little to do in many of the wards and, while all had TVs and a few dog-eared books, activities and allocated spaces were often limited.

Often art rooms, sensory rooms and other occupational therapy spaces were locked and completely unused due to a lack of staff or the ability to supervise effectively.

Facility decision-making around recreation sometimes appeared dubious. Some had exercise bikes inappropriately located in the public reception, or a broken basketball hoop, and colouring-in and smoothie-making seemed central to some recreational programmes.

Lack of meaningful activities led some to start or restart smoking, which was the dominant activity observed in the internal ward courtyards, despite hospital smokefree polices. Fear of violence was cited as a major barrier to smokefree implementation.

Beds and meds

We were struck by the paucity of therapeutic options. While all units had occupational therapists, social workers and psychiatrists, the main treatment was medication, or as some staff described it, “beds and meds”.

Although many were grateful for medication, service users complained about the absence of talking therapies, lamented the lack of access to psychologists and many just wanted someone, anyone, to talk to. We found service users counselling each other.

We also found a lack of consideration of various gendered and cultural needs in the models of care, building design and layout. Shared bathrooms were described as “gross” and there were issues with acoustic and visual privacy.

Buildings and models of care did not accommodate or consider Māori values and cultural practices well, although New Zealand’s newest facility, Tiaho Mai in Auckland, boasts bi-cultural features due to co-design with Māori.

At a time when evidence suggests a more “domestic” look and feel of acute mental health care buildings would be more therapeutic, New Zealand’s facilities are more hospital-like or institutional than those in the UK.

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Design makes a place a prison or a home. Turning ‘human-centred’ vision for aged care into reality

Courtyards, critical in locked facilities to access fresh air, sunshine and nature, were also institutional, often no more than a concrete pad with little to no nature. They failed to provide any real therapeutic value.

There were some positives though. Encouragingly, many staff told us, despite all the challenges associated with working in these settings, they stayed because the work was interesting, they loved the people and enjoyed that their work made a difference to people’s lives.

How we can do better

The current model and buildings are not serving people well. While the prospect of bulldozing the current stock might appeal, without places to safely care for people experiencing profound mental distress, our most vulnerable may find themselves dislocated from their homes and communities, or worse, in the criminal justice system.

We should and are making improvements to our existing stock of buildings, and some are being totally rebuilt. In the interim, small changes to these environments to foster more inpatient autonomy can be made, including self-locking bedroom doors, built-in privacy controls and the provision of lockers to store valuables.

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Your home, office or uni affects your mood and how you think. How do we know? We looked into people’s brains

However, a more profound transformation around the model of care itself is required. Fortunately, a major paradigm shift towards alternative models of acute mental health care is brewing. Many countries, including New Zealand, are re-examining care provision with a human rights lens.

We need to work together to re-create a mental health system that reflects values of human rights, autonomy and person-centred practice and aligns with the rights of Indigenous people. We need a suite of options and new models of mental health care to provide the blueprints for our architects to design and upgrade our places of care.

Gabrielle Jenkin received funding from Royal Society of New Zealand (contractUOO1623) (Marsden Fund)

Elizabeth Kathleen Morton et Jacqueline McIntosh ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur poste universitaire.

– ref. Mental blocks: how better design of acute mental health units could aid recovery – https://theconversation.com/mental-blocks-how-better-design-of-acute-mental-health-units-could-aid-recovery-196722

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Phil Bell, Palaeontologist, Earth Science Faculty, University of New England

Have you ever eaten chicken feet? If you haven’t, you might be surprised to learn there’s actually quite a bit of flesh down there. And scales too! They’re wonderful – and informative – pieces of engineering.

As someone whose speciality is working on fossilised dinosaur skin, I have more than a passing interest in bird feet and the scales of other reptiles (yes, birds are reptiles too).

In a paper published today in Nature Communications, we describe how we used some extraordinary fossils to reveal the varied lifestyles in the transition from ground-dwelling dinosaur to flying bird.

Because the carnivorous theropod dinosaurs – a group of bipedal dinosaurs characterised by hollow bones and three-toed feet – eventually evolved into birds, the two groups share a lot of similarities.

So, we can use birds as a model for reconstructing the behaviour and lifestyles of extinct dinosaurs.

Multitasking feet

Birds lack “proper” hands, so their feet have to do twice the work – perching, walking, grasping, manipulating food. They’re naturally well adapted to do those jobs. But all bird feet are not created equal, as the jobs differ between species.

Raptorial birds – think the likes of hawks and falcons – often have large, protruding toe pads that act like little fingers to help them grip their prey. Raptorial birds that specialise in catching fish also have spiky scales on the underside of the foot to assist in restraining their slippery catch.

Meanwhile, birds that spend more time on the ground (such as emus and kiwis) or perching (crows, sparrows, and so on) have entirely different feet altogether, adapted to the task at hand – or foot.

It had long struck me that if we had the right fossils – if we could only look at their feet – we might find out more about how certain dinosaurs and the first birds behaved, or even hunted.

Illuminating scales and feathers

For more than 25 years, extraordinary fossils of feathered dinosaurs have been emerging at a tremendous rate from Early Cretaceous (roughly 145 million to 100 million years ago) rocks in China.

Fossilised feathers on a slew of species show precisely how feathers changed over time. They transitioned from simple hair-like filaments in ground-dwelling theropods to branching and increasingly more complex modern-style feathers in pennaraptorans (the group most closely related to and including birds), and finally birds themselves.

But feathers are only half the story.

Back in 2015, my colleagues Michael Pittman at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Tom Kaye at the Foundation for Scientific Advancement pioneered an almost miraculous form of photography called laser stimulated fluorescence (LSF).

This method quite literally illuminates details in fossils that can’t be seen (or are indistinct) with the naked eye. Using LSF, they pored over more than 1,000 fossils of early birds and their dinosaurian relatives.

They identified about a dozen fossils that preserved not only feathers, but, more importantly, the skin and scales surrounding the feet.

These fossils ranged from dromaeosaurs (the group of predatory dinosaurs that includes Velociraptor), such as Microraptor and Anchiornis, to more conventional-looking primitive birds, such as Sapeornis and Confuciusornis.

Working with my PhD student, Nathan Enriquez, and another expert on bird feet, Leah Tsang from the Australian Museum, we compared what we saw in the feet of the fossils to the feet of modern birds.

At the same time, Pittman worked with his PhD student, Case Miller, examining the sizes and shapes of the claws for further clues on how they were used.

Serious surprises

At one end of the spectrum, we might expect something like Anchiornis – which has feathers but still had the long tail and features of a ground-based dinosaur – to have few or no indications of the aerial lifestyle of a more bird-like species, such as Confuciusornis.

But this turned out to be only partly true, and there were serious surprises along the way.

Most intriguing was Microraptor, the so-called “four-winged theropod” because it had long flight feathers on its legs and arms; a kind of dinosaurian biplane.

Its feet were almost indistinguishable from modern hawks, suggesting that Microraptor too was a skilled aerial predator capable of taking prey “on the wing”. This was not some clumsy dinosaur “learning” to fly.

In fact, a range of fish, lizards and mammals have all been found preserved in the gut of various Microraptor fossils, which supports the notion of a skilled aerial hunter.

Anchiornis, while similar in many respects to Microraptor (including a less developed “biplane” design), also had hawk-like feet. However, with limited flight capability, it would have had a more ground-based hunting approach.

The much more bird-like Confuciusornis and Sapeornis had feet well adapted for perching, but other lines of evidence tell us that Confuciusornis was a generalist, more like a magpie or a chicken.

Sapeornis, on the other hand, was a thermal soarer that might have supplemented its primarily herbivorous diet with meat, similar to some “herbivorous” vultures.

It’s easy to think of evolution as “linear” or with an end goal: walking dinosaur evolves into feathered dinosaur, feathered dinosaur evolves into flying bird. But that’s a blatantly untrue oversimplification.

It’s equally wrong to think the earliest birds were somehow under-equipped compared to their modern relatives. Our findings help show that, just as birds today occupy a myriad of ecological roles, so too did the dinosaurs.

And they were superbly adapted, regardless of how good they were at flying.

Read more:
Curious Kids: did the velociraptors have feathers?

Phil Bell 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. New fossil foot analysis reveals the surprising and varied lifestyles of dinosaur bird ancestors – https://theconversation.com/new-fossil-foot-analysis-reveals-the-surprising-and-varied-lifestyles-of-dinosaur-bird-ancestors-196798

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole Rinehart, Professor, Child and Adolescent Psychology, Director, Krongold Clinic (Research), Monash University

Getting a good night’s sleep is important for children’s learning and development. When young people don’t get enough sleep, it can impact their mood, school performance, health, and behaviour.

The impact of sleep on quality of life is a force everyone can relate to. For children with neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism and attention-defect hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a poor night’s sleep can have even more far-reaching impacts on not only the child’s mental health, but on the mental health and stress levels of parents, too.

Up to 80% of autistic children have trouble with their sleep. Common behavioural difficulties parents report include dyssomnias (problems going to sleep), parasomnias (problems waking up overnight), and early morning waking. These problems tend to persist if they are not treated effectively.

Behavioural interventions are an important first step in the treatment of sleep problems for children. In particular, our research has found sleep problems can be effectively treated in autistic children when sleep strategies are tailored to children’s needs.

And the techniques can be useful for all families struggling with children’s poor sleep.

Read more:
Sleep problems that persist could affect children’s emotional development

Our research

Sleeping Sound is program that tailors strategies to the young person’s sleep needs and preferences. Originally created to help manage sleep problems in children with typical development, Sleeping Sound has been adapted over the past decade to help children with autism and ADHD.

We conducted a randomised controlled trial – the gold standard for determining whether an intervention works – with 245 autistic children aged 5–13 years and their parents. Families were randomly allocated to the intervention group (receiving Sleeping Sound) or the control group (not receiving Sleeping Sound).

Families in the intervention group participated in two 50-minute face-to-face sessions and a follow-up phone call with a paediatrician or psychologist. They received an assessment, sleep education, and personalised practical strategies that were individualised to their child and family.

What did we find?

We found families who received the Sleeping Sound intervention had fewer sleep problems compared with families who did not receive the intervention. These benefits in child sleep were still present up to one year later.

We also saw positive flow-on effects for children (improved quality of life, better emotional and behavioural functioning) and their parents (reduced stress levels, improved mental health and quality of life).

Parents of autistic children said family support and consistency with strategies were important. This is consistent with the future direction of personalised autism health care, which recognises the unique strengths, needs, and circumstances of autistic people and their families.

While the program is still in its trial phase and isn’t available to families in the wider community, it uses strategies that all parents can adopt to improve their children’s sleep.

Tips to improve kids’ sleep

Parents can help their children get a good night’s sleep by using the universal approach to sleep readiness and behavioural sleep strategies. This includes:

• setting a regular bedtime and waking up time
• creating a safe, comfortable sleeping environment (cool, quiet, dark, screen-free)
• following a regular bedtime routine that is calm and sleep-inducing
• avoiding caffeine, electronic devices and excitement before bed
• encouraging physical activity during the day
• avoiding exercise one hour before bed.

Read more:
Regular bed times as important for kids as getting enough sleep

What if good sleep remains elusive?

In addition to practising healthy sleep habits and establishing a bedtime routine, parents can try out different behavioural strategies that might help their child. These include:

The checking method

This strategy can be helpful when children need a parent in the room to fall asleep or find it hard to stay in their bedroom.

Put your child to bed but promise to come back and check on them. Visit your child at regular intervals in the night to check on them and reassure them. Gradually stretch out interval times.

Checks should be boring and brief (around one minute).

Bedtime fading

This strategy can be helpful when children are unable to fall asleep at the desired bedtime.

Temporarily adjust bedtime to when your child is naturally falling asleep. Gradually bring bedtime forward in 15-minute increments every few days until desired bedtime is reached.

Relaxation training

These strategies can be helpful when children are anxious at bedtime or have difficulty falling asleep.

Teach your child progressive muscle relaxation. Encourage your child to lie down with their eyes closed and then tighten and relax all the muscles in their body, one after the other.

Teach your child controlled breathing. Help them learn to take long, slow breaths in through their nose and out through their mouth.

Encourage your child to write or draw the things that worry them during the day and put them away in a “worry box”.

Children may experience one or more sleep problems, so a combination of behavioural sleep strategies may be required. If you’re worried about your child’s sleep, or if sleep problems persist, consult your paediatrician or GP for further guidance.

We are currently recruiting for our new study evaluating the Sleeping Sound intervention via telehealth, through the Krongold Clinic at Monash University. If you are a parent of an autistic child aged 5–12 who is experiencing sleep problems and would like to find out more, visit our website.

Read more:
Many parents use melatonin gummies to help children sleep. So how do they work and what are the risks?

Nicole Rinehart receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC; project grant no APP1101989). She is a board member of Amaze and a clinical psychology consultant at the Melbourne Children’s Clinic. The current Sleeping Sound telehealth study is funded by Jonathan and Simone Wenig and the trial is being conducted at the Krongold Clinic at Monash University. She also receives philanthropic funding from the Moose Foundation, Ferrero Group Australia as part of its Kinder + Sport pillar of Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, MECCA Brand, and the Grace and Emilio Foundation, as well as funding from the NSW Department of Education.

Nicole Papadopoulos received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC; project grant no APP1101989).

Nicole Papadopoulos also receives philanthropic funding from the Moose Foundation, Ferrero Group Australia as part of its Kinder + Sport pillar of Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, MECCA Brands, Wenig Family; and industry partner funding from the Victorian Department of Education, and NDIS to conduct research in the field of neurodevelopmental disorders and inclusion.

Emily Pattison 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. Bedtime strategies for kids with autism and ADHD can help all families get more sleep – https://theconversation.com/bedtime-strategies-for-kids-with-autism-and-adhd-can-help-all-families-get-more-sleep-193862

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Lester, Professor, Aquatic Ecology and Director, Centre for Regional and Rural Futures, Deakin University

Australia is well-positioned to be a global leader in green hydrogen production. Green hydrogen is produced using a renewable power source such as solar or wind. As a substitute for fossil fuels, it will help to meet growing renewable energy needs.

However, high-quality water is needed to produce hydrogen. Supplies of high-quality water must also be secured into the future to support our agriculture, industries, cities, towns and communities. Climate change and population growth will increase pressure on these supplies.

Community discussion is needed to identify where the water to produce hydrogen will come from. We need to ensure this developing industry does not disadvantage other water users, as we discuss in our new white paper.

Read more:
What will power the future: Elon Musk’s battery packs or Twiggy Forrest’s green hydrogen? Truth is, we’ll need both

Green hydrogen industry looks set to boom

Green hydrogen is likely to partially replace petrol and diesel for large vehicles such as trucks and heavy machinery as Australia moves to a carbon-neutral economy. It has the advantage of being a fuel suitable for sectors such as mining and transport that are struggling to reduce emissions.

The green hydrogen market is expected to grow rapidly. Hydrogen energy outputs in Australia are estimated to exceed 100MW by 2025. More than 90 projects representing A$250 billion in investment are planned.

Most demand for hydrogen this decade is likely to be domestic – for chemical production, industrial processes and other uses. In the longer term, major export demand is expected from the Asia-Pacific.

By 2040, Australia’s green hydrogen production cost is predicted to be the equal-lowest in the world. Electrolysis, which splits water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, will be the main method of producing this green hydrogen.

Read more:
Breakthrough in gas separation and storage could fast-track shift to green hydrogen and significantly cut global energy use

How much water are we talking about?

The amount of water needed to generate green hydrogen varies. The exact amount of water required depends on the technology used to produce hydrogen, the water quality and any need for cooling or water purification.

On average, a litre of water can produce enough hydrogen to deliver about 10 megajoules of energy. That’s enough to push a 50-tonne truck 15 metres.

The previous Australian government predicted the hydrogen industry could be worth A$50 billion a year by 2050. At that scale, it would need about 225 billion litres (gigalitres) of water. While that’s roughly as much as residents of a city like Perth use in a year, it’s only about 3% of the water used for agriculture in Australia in 2020-21.

There are many possible sources of water. Surface water, groundwater and recycled water are all available inland. Coastal areas have unlimited seawater, which can be desalinated for hydrogen production.

But there are trade-offs whenever we allocate a water resource. In many areas, the available fresh water is fully allocated to towns, cities, agriculture, industry and the environment. The pressure on water supplies will increase as populations grow and much of Australia becomes hotter and drier under climate change.

Further, most water would have to be treated to be suitable for hydrogen production. Treatment can be expensive and uses additional energy, as does desalination and pumping water long distances.

Read more:
New Zealand is touting a green hydrogen economy, but it will face big environmental and cultural hurdles

Failure to plan for water use could be costly

Current issues in the gas industry provide a cautionary tale. High gas prices in eastern Australia can be deemed the result of failure to consider impacts on domestic customers of developing a gas export industry.

Western Australia, in contrast, reserved enough gas for domestic users. As a result, its prices are among the lowest in the OECD.

A similar failure may arise if corporations buy high-quality water for hydrogen generation, diminishing supplies for agricultural, domestic or environmental use. North Africa exports substantial amounts of green hydrogen to Europe, but this is controversial because of regional water shortages.

In Australia, competition for water will intensify due to climate change and ongoing demands from agriculture – 72% of national water consumption in 2020-21 – industry, mining, households and the environment. Using potable water to produce hydrogen may be at odds with community expectations.

Care must be taken to ensure industry expansion does not adversely affect other users. This will be particularly difficult in Australia because rainfall is highly variable by world standards – not news to those who have lived through recent years of drought then flooding rains.

Read more:
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So what are the likely solutions?

The key challenge is to produce hydrogen in large quantities in a way that is cost-effective and sustainable.

This can be achieved by planning effectively for industry growth. Our white paper identifies public policy and industry-related issues posed by this growth.

We must identify regions likely to support hydrogen production and storage, find nearby sources of water and calculate volumes needed. Then, we must develop plans to support existing water users while providing a viable solution for the green hydrogen industry.

Alternative sources such as recycled water or treated groundwater are likely part of that solution. Harvesting water from industrial and urban wastewater could be a game changer. It would require moderate treatment but have fewer effects on other water users.

We will learn a lot from pilot programs such as the New Energies Service Station in Geelong, which will create hydrogen from 100% recycled water.

In planning to overcome the challenges, we’ll need to develop relevant data, information and analysis to get the settings right.

It is possible to create a vibrant, sustainable and profitable green hydrogen industry to support decarbonisation of Australian and global economies, but it won’t happen by accident. Careful planning is essential, and communities must be involved in deciding where water will come from and how it can be accessed.

Rebecca Lester receives funding from the Australian Research Council, and the Australian and Victorian Governments.

I was Deputy Director-General then Director-General, Water Victoria (1989-92); then Secretary, Department of Energy and Minerals, Victoria (1992-1995). Later I was Deputy Secretary then General Manager, Office of Water, Victoria. During that time I was a Victorian representative on the Murray Darling Basin Commission and then on the Basin Officials Committee (2004-2011). I was Director and MD of a consulting company owned by a law firm (now called Norton Rose Gledhill) from 1995-2003. During that time I was involved with various water and energy projects including the corporatisation of the Snowy Mountains Scheme. I am a shareholder in Xpansiv, a large renewable energy and water exchange, and was formerly a board member. I am a board member and shareholder in Flinders Peak Water, an organisation dedicated to using recycled water for food/agriculture. Through Deakin University I am connected to various water-related projects, including MDB and Drought Resilience programs, funded out of government grants.

Wendy Timms receives funding from the Australian Research Council, CO2CRC, Fluid Potential and the Victorian government.

Don Gunasekera 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. For Australia to lead the way on green hydrogen, first we must find enough water – https://theconversation.com/for-australia-to-lead-the-way-on-green-hydrogen-first-we-must-find-enough-water-196144

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato

It’s that time of year when school and university students eagerly (or nervously) await their end-of-year results – but also an opportunity to see where the country in general might have passed or failed.

Although international and domestic indices and rankings should be read with a degree of caution – measurements and metrics only tell us so much, after all – it’s still possible to trace the nation’s ups and downs relative to past years.

Good global rankings

Overall, the country held its own internationally when it came to democratic values and standards. Transparency International ranked us top, equal with Denmark and Finland, for being relatively corruption-free.

The Global Peace Index placed New Zealand second best in the world for safety and security, low domestic and international conflict, and degree of militarisation. And human rights and civil liberties watchdog Freedom House again scored New Zealand 99 out of 100 – three Scandinavian countries scored a perfect 100.

On the Index of Moral Freedom (a libertarian think tank that benchmarks countries’ levels of “individual
freedom regarding ethics and morality”), New Zealand moved to 14th, up five places on 2020.

The Global Gender Gap Report recorded New Zealand holding its position as the fourth-most-gender-equal country. New Zealand stayed in seventh place in the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index. We went up one spot to 13th on the Human Development Index of life expectancy, education and income.

New Zealand also remained sixth best for internet affordability, availability, readiness and relevance, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. And on the Global Innovation Index, we came in at 24th out of 132 economies – two spots better than last year.

Freedom and happiness

On the other side of the ledger, New Zealand’s rankings fell in a variety of political, economic and health indices.

The Index for Economic Freedom, for instance, which covers everything from property rights to financial freedom, placed us fifth, three spots below last year. And we fell three places to 11th in the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index.

New Zealanders, it seems, aren’t as happy as they were. We fell a place in the World Happiness Report to tenth-cheeriest place – although we’re still a bit happier than Australia. The Social Progress Index had us fall from 12th to 15th position, and we dropped 11 spots in the 2022 Global Competitiveness Report, down to 31.

A little surprisingly, New Zealand placed 41st on the Global Terrorism Index, apparently worse than Russia at 44. Although New Zealand recently reduced its terror threat level from medium to low, the 2021 supermarket attack in Auckland and the ongoing fallout from the Christchurch attacks will have affected our ranking.

Read more:
With a COVID ‘variant soup’ looming, New Zealand urgently needs another round of vaccine boosters

Also maybe surprisingly, Bloomberg’s COVID resilience index, which ranks the “best and worst places to be as the world enters the next COVID phase”, placed New Zealand at 35. This was possibly due to the Omicron wave and increase in deaths since reopening borders, rather than a verdict on the country’s overall response.

And New Zealand continues to struggle environmentally, falling from 19th to 26th on the 2022 Yale Environmental Performance Index, which measures environmental health and ecosystem vitality.

While our overall assessment on the Climate Action Tracker (which measures progress on meeting agreed global warming targets) hasn’t changed, it’s still categorised as “highly insufficient”. The Climate Change Performance Index is a little more generous, pegging New Zealand at 33rd, up two spots on last year.

Mixed news on the home front

Domestically, New Zealand recorded better-than-expected results on four fronts:

• unemployment hit a very low 3.3% in September, better than most comparable OECD countries.

• median weekly earnings from wages and salaries rose by 8.8% to NZ$1,189, the largest increase recorded since records began in 1998

• suicides decreased in the year to June to 538, down from 607 the year before and significantly lower than the average rate over the past 13 years

• incarceration rates continued to fall, with a prisoner population of 7,728 (as of June), well down on the near 10,000 figure from 2020.

On the other hand, inflation is rising. While lower than October’s OECD average, an annual rate of 7.2% is still high by recent standards. Related to this, and either good or bad news according to your perspective, annual average house price growth slowed to 5.5% in the year to June. Real prices are expected to drop considerably from their 2021 peak, however.

Those falls don’t necessarily make houses affordable for many people, although the stock of public housing continues to increase by over 500 dwellings each year to a recent total of 76,834. Even so, demand for social housing is still growing. Recent research suggests one in six New Zealanders have been homeless, and about 41,000 don’t have adequate access to housing.

Read more:
Coalitions, kingmakers and a Rugby World Cup: the calculations already influencing next year’s NZ election

Rich and poor

New Zealand’s poverty rate compares poorly with other OECD countries, and child poverty remains a critical challenge. However, in the year to June 2021, the percentage of children living in poor households had declined since 2018.

At the other end of the scale, the wealthy continue to hold the lion’s share of assets. The top 10% of households hold about 50% of the nation’s total household net worth (the value of a household’s assets, such as real estate, retirement savings and shares, less its debts). Conversely, the lowest 20% hold just 1% of total household assets, but 11% of total liabilities.

In short, while New Zealand can claim some bragging rights in many important areas and is making modest progress in others, that’s far from the whole picture. Any progress we make should not be taken for granted.

The final verdict has to be: a good effort, but room for improvement.

Alexander Gillespie 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. NZ report card 2022: some foreign bragging rights but room for improvement at home – https://theconversation.com/nz-report-card-2022-some-foreign-bragging-rights-but-room-for-improvement-at-home-194626

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

In appointing Kevin Rudd as ambassador to the United States, Anthony Albanese is sending someone with all the qualifications, and more, for what is a highly demanding diplomatic job in extremely uncertain times.

Twice prime minister, and a former foreign minister, Rudd has the special advantage of being a leading authority not just on China but on that country’s leader, when China’s assertiveness is the biggest story in our region. This year he received a doctorate from Oxford for a thesis on the worldview of President Xi Jinping.

Rudd possesses expertise in abundance. But he’ll have to make sure he refits his style to what can be the restraining corset of the job of ambassador, in his case working for political masters who once served as his ministers.

Albanese has always been a supporter but in government, Rudd was a highly divisive figure. His controlling leadership style, micromanagement and temper outbursts were publicly and harshly condemned by various colleagues.

When a reporter, mining the old descriptions, asked Albanese on Tuesday whether he was worried about essentially having a second foreign minister in the US, it was not an entirely unreasonable question.

Rudd will parade his knowledge and opinions with the utmost verbal force to the PM, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and the bureaucracy.

Wong can be a tough cookie but even she must wonder whether the appointment will come, over the long haul, with challenges.

Some in the Foreign Affairs department will already be reaching for their seat belts.

Rudd went out of his way to say, in the long statement he issued after the announcement, “I will of course comply fully with all DFAT and APS [Australian Public Service] guidelines to ensure any institutional associations I retain are consistent with my obligations as Ambassador.”

In his post parliamentary days, Rudd even divided the Turnbull cabinet, when he sought government backing to run for secretary-general of the United Nations. The cabinet left the decision to Turnbull, who said Rudd wasn’t suited to the role. Rudd reacted with a blistering attack on Turnbull.

But Turnbull tweeted on Tuesday: “I cannot think of any Australian with better connections than Rudd has in the Biden administration or with more influence on geopolitical issues in DC. He is also keenly aware of the external, and internal, threats to US democracy.”

Rudd and Turnbull formed a bromance in their assault on the Murdoch media. Both have been ferocious in their comments. Kevin will have to leave the anti-Murdoch mission to Malcolm now.

Shadow foreign minister Simon Birmingham reacted to Rudd’s appointment with a carefully-worded statement containing a subtle sting.

“The next few years in the Australia–America relationship are as important as any in recent times, as we work together to deliver upon the AUKUS partnership and respond to the strategic challenges of our times,” Birmingham said.

“They will require discipline, sensitivity and drive. AUKUS is essential to our national security interests and will be a most challenging undertaking. That will require the unqualified support and attention of our Ambassador,” he said.

Rudd in 2021 lashed out at the Morrison government’s treatment of France in its forging of the AUKUS agreement, and said that “to go from conventional submarines to nuclear-powered submarines, when this country doesn’t have its own civil nuclear program is a very large leap into the dark”.

Making a political appointment to the US is entirely appropriate. The ambassador in Washington is frequently a former senior politician; that sort of background gives them status and access in the US capital.

The present incumbent, former Liberal minister Arthur Sinodinos, has, from all accounts, won considerable respect. Joe Hockey, Liberal ex-treasurer, got close to the difficult Trump administration, which was needed at the time. Kim Beazley, former Labor minister and former opposition leader, was lavishly praised by both sides of Australian politics for his service in the US.

Recently former Labor minister Stephen Smith has been named for high commissioner to London – another post for which a political appointment is appropriate.

In prospective candidates for the Washington position, Rudd had to be at the top of the list. To have overlooked him would have been both unwise – his experience and abilities should be put to the nation’s use – as well as unfair.

In his statement Rudd pointed out he has lived and worked in the US for most of the past decade, including for the last eight years at the Asia Society in New York, becoming global president in 2020.

“In some ways, my new position will not be dissimilar to the work I have been undertaking at Asia Society to support greater co-operation between the US and the countries of our region.”

It will be interesting to see how the Australian public react. Despite the ups and downs of his political fortunes and his volatile temperament, people liked Rudd and, despite the problems at the time, he would probably have done better than Julia Gillard did at the 2010 election. His restoration to the leadership in 2013 saved seats for Labor, although he couldn’t secure victory.

Albanese also announced Heather Ridout, former head of the Australian Industry Group, will be consul-general in New York, the first woman to hold this position. With her extensive contacts in business and impressive networking skills Ridout, who once served on the Reserve Bank board, is eminently suited.

Albanese’s announcement of the Rudd appointment came at joint news conference with Wong, before her Beijing talks on Wednesday. Wong was anxious to manage expectations for her groundbreaking visit.

“There has been a lot of speculation in the last 24 hours or more about what will happen. I will say this: the expectation should be that we will have a meeting, and that dialogue itself is essential to stabilising the relationship.

“Many of the hard issues in the relationship will take time to resolve in our interests,” she said.

“In relation to consular cases […] obviously I will be raising consular cases, as I always do, just as I will continue to advocate for the trade impediments to be lifted. Because […] it’s in both countries’ interests to do so.

“I do want to say this, I want to emphasise that Australian business has done an outstanding job in diversifying its markets, and it’s always going to be in our interest to continue to prioritise that diversification.”

As they step onward to an improved Australia-China relationship, Albanese and Wong are very aware of the need to be measured in the messaging, whether telling China Australia won’t compromise on its national interest, or telling Australians achieving tangible outcomes doesn’t happen overnight.

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. View from The Hill: Rudd is highly qualified for Washington, but might find the diplomatic corset constricting – https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-rudd-is-highly-qualified-for-washington-but-might-find-the-diplomatic-corset-constricting-196877

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Grattan Institute

The federal government is a big spender in the advertising world, regularly spending more than major companies such as McDonald’s, Telstra and Coles. New data released on Friday by the Department of Finance shows that in the lead-up to the May 2022 election, the Coalition government’s advertising spend skyrocketed yet again.

The past financial year was the biggest year on record for taxpayer-funded advertising. The previous federal government spent A$339 million on taxpayer-funded advertising campaigns in 2021-22, well above the 25-year average of about $200 million a year.

In the first six months of 2022, the previous government was the biggest advertising spender in the country.

The Morrison government ran 28 separate advertising campaigns last financial year – the most on record. Many were for legitimate purposes, such as an $89 million campaign encouraging take-up of the COVID-19 vaccine, and a $25 million campaign urging people to fill out the Census.

But sometimes, taxpayer-funded advertising campaigns seek to confer a political advantage. This is often achieved by including party slogans or colours, and/or spruiking government achievements – often in the lead-up to elections.

Why does government advertising spike before elections?

Taxpayer-funded advertising typically spikes in election years, and 2022 was no exception.

In the six months leading up to the 2022 election, the Coalition government spent about $180 million, compared with about $120 million in the six months leading up to the 2019 election.

An otherwise legitimate campaign might be strategically run pre-election to encourage a positive impression of the government. For example, an $18 million federal government campaign on recycling was called out by the then-Labor opposition as “ridiculous and self-serving greenwash”.

But usually, pre-election advertising also contains messages that look politically motivated – promoting the government’s policy platform on key election issues.

For example, the $28.5 million Emissions Reduction campaign – the third most expensive campaign of the year – ran from September 2021 to April 2022, and sought to promote the government’s “good progress” on reducing greenhouse emissions and switching to renewable energy. The campaign clearly used messaging that created a positive image of the government’s performance, and lacked a call to action that might justify it on public interest grounds.

Grattan Institute analysis shows that typically, about a quarter of government spending on advertising is politicised in some way, by both sides of politics. Historically, about $50 million on average each year has been spent on campaigns that are politicised.

The former government’s “COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan” fell into this category, because it blatantly spruiked the government of the day, without requiring any action or behaviour change from citizens.

Officially, the campaign sought “to inform Australians about the government response to the recurring challenges being faced and reassure [us] there was an adaptable and future-focused plan in place for the economy”.

This was criticised by Labor Senator Tim Ayres in early 2022, who asked:

What possible public purpose is there in ‘Australia’s Economic Plan – we’re taking the next step’? […] What is it asking people to do apart from vote Liberal?

Why is politicisation of taxpayer-funded advertising harmful?

Politicisation of taxpayer-funded advertising is wasteful and creates an uneven playing field in elections.

Government advertising budgets are well above the expenditure of individual political parties, even in election years.

We won’t know until February 2023 how much political parties spent in the 2022 federal election. But in the lead-up to the 2019 election, the Coalition spent $178 million, Labor $122 million, and Clive Palmer $89 million, with advertising only a portion of their expenses.

Read more:
How big money influenced the 2019 federal election – and what we can do to fix the system

How things should change

The new federal government has announced it will cut taxpayer-funded advertising, although by how much is not yet clear. Labor has promised to tackle advertising as part of its broader “rorts and waste” audit.

That promise to cut wasteful spending will be best tested by whether Labor tightens the rules and oversight for government advertising.

Public money should not be used to spruik government policies. It should be used only on public-interest advertising campaigns that have a clear “need to know” message and a call to action.

An independent panel should be established to check compliance. The panel should have the power to knock back campaigns that aren’t compliant – whether they are politicised, or more generally don’t offer value for money.

And if the rules are broken, then the political party – not the taxpayer – should foot the bill for the entire advertising campaign.

Establishing a proper process is the only way to truly reduce waste and restore public confidence in genuinely important government messages.

Kate Griffiths and Anika Stobart are coauthors of New politics: Depoliticising taxpayer-funded advertising, Grattan Institute, 2022.

The Grattan Institute began with contributions to its endowment of $15 million from each of the Federal and Victorian Governments, $4 million from BHP Billiton, and $1 million from NAB. In order to safeguard its independence, Grattan Institute’s board controls this endowment. The funds are invested and contribute to funding Grattan Institute’s activities. Grattan Institute also receives funding from corporates, foundations, and individuals to support its general activities as disclosed on its website.

Kate Griffiths 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. The Morrison government spent a record amount on taxpayer-funded advertising, new data reveal – https://theconversation.com/the-morrison-government-spent-a-record-amount-on-taxpayer-funded-advertising-new-data-reveal-196870

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Todd Lane, Professor, School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, The University of Melbourne, The University of Melbourne

You probably know the feeling: you’re sitting on a plane, happily cruising through the sky, when suddenly the seat-belt light comes on and things get a little bumpy.

Most of the time, turbulence leads to nothing worse than momentary jitters or perhaps a spilled cup of coffee. In rare cases, passengers or flight attendants might end up with some injuries.

What’s going on here? Why are flights usually so stable, but sometimes get so unsteady?

As a meteorologist and atmospheric scientist who studies air turbulence, let me explain.

What is air turbulence?

Air turbulence is when the air starts to flow in a chaotic or random way.

At high altitudes the wind usually moves in a smooth, horizontal current called “laminar flow”. This provides ideal conditions for steady flight.

Turbulence occurs when something disrupts this smooth flow, and the air starts to move up and down as well as horizontally. When this happens, conditions can change from moment to moment and place to place.

You can think of normal flying conditions as the glassy surface of the ocean on a still day. But when a wind comes up, things get choppy, or waves form and break – that’s turbulence.

What causes air turbulence?

The kind of turbulence that affects commercial passenger flights has three main causes.

The first is thunderstorms. Inside a thunderstorm, there is strong up-and-down air movement, which makes a lot of turbulence that can spread out to the surrounding region. Thunderstorms can also create “atmospheric waves”, which travel through the surrounding air and eventually break, causing turbulence.

Fortunately, pilots can usually see thunderstorms ahead (either with the naked eye or on radar) and will make efforts to go around them.

The other common causes of turbulence create what’s typically called “clear-air turbulence”. It comes out of air that looks perfectly clear, with no clouds, so it’s harder to dodge.

The second cause of turbulence is jet streams. These are high-speed winds in the upper atmosphere, at the kind of altitudes where passenger jets fly.

While air inside the jet stream moves quite smoothly, there is often turbulence near the top and bottom of the stream. That’s because there is a big difference in air speed (called “wind shear”) between the jet stream and the air outside it. High levels of wind shear create turbulence.

The third thing that makes turbulence is mountains. As air flows over a mountain range, it creates another kind of wave – called, of course, a “mountain wave” – that disrupts air flow and can create turbulence.

Can air turbulence be avoided?

Pilots do their best to avoid air turbulence – and they’re pretty good at it!

As mentioned, thunderstorms are the easiest to fly around. For clear-air turbulence, things are a little trickier.

When pilots encounter turbulence, they will change altitude to try to avoid it. They also report the turbulence to air traffic controllers, who pass the information on to other flights in the area so they can try to avoid it.

Weather forecasting centres also provide turbulence forecasts. Based on their models of what’s happening in the atmosphere, they can predict where and when clear-air turbulence is likely to occur.

Will climate change make turbulence worse?

As the globe warms and the climate changes in coming decades, we think air turbulence will also be affected.

One reason is that the jet streams which can cause turbulence are shifting and may become more intense. As Earth’s tropical climate zones spread away from the equator, the jet streams are moving with them.

This is likely to increase turbulence on at least some flight routes. Some studies also suggest the wind shear around jet streams has become more intense.

Read more:
Could climate change have played a role in the AirAsia crash?

Another reason is that the most severe thunderstorms are also likely to become more intense, partly because a warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapour. This too is likely to generate more intense turbulence.

These predictions are largely based on climate models, because it is difficult to collect the data needed to identify trends in air turbulence. These data largely come from reports by aircraft, the quality and extent of which are changing over time. These measurements are quite different from the long-term, methodically gathered data usually used to detect trends in the weather and climate.

How dangerous is air turbulence?

Around the globe, air turbulence causes hundreds of injuries each year among passengers and flight attendants on commercial aircraft. But, given the hundreds of millions of people who fly each year, those are pretty good odds.

Turbulence is usually short-lived. What’s more, modern aircraft are engineered to comfortably withstand all but the most extreme air turbulence.

And among people who are injured, the great majority are those who aren’t strapped in. So if you’re concerned, the easiest way to protect yourself is to wear your seat belt.

Read more:
Here’s the real reason to turn on aeroplane mode when you fly

Todd Lane receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

– ref. What is air turbulence? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-air-turbulence-196872

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bekessy, Professor in Sustainability and Urban Planning, Leader, Interdisciplinary Conservation Science Research Group (ICON Science), RMIT University

Billed as the event that’ll determine the fate of the entire living world, the United Nations’ COP15 nature summit has wrapped up in Canada with a historic deal, which includes protecting roughly a third of nature by 2030.

The planet is entering its sixth mass extinction event, and new evidence suggests the crisis is twice as bad as scientists previously thought. The new global agreement – called the Kunming-Montreal Global biodiversity framework – saw 196 delegations commit to 23 targets to stem this tide of extinction. Its aim is to pave the way for humanity and nature to live in harmony by 2050.

The framework is a game-changer for global biodiversity, but it isn’t perfect. There remains a few sticking points – primarily regarding funding and firm targets – and not all world leaders are pleased with the outcome.

Australia is a global leader in wildlife extinctions, so has a special part to play in the negotiations. In a refreshing departure from some previous efforts at COP meetings, Australians can be proud of our representation at this one, arguing for strong targets and promising to host an international nature summit in 2024.

Read more:
Children born today will see literally thousands of animals disappear in their lifetime, as global food webs collapse

Bringing down the gavel

After four years of negotiations, including two years of delay due to COVID, the framework was adopted at 3:30am Montreal time. Controversially, the deal was declared despite objections from some wildlife-rich African countries.

In particular, a representative from the Democratic Republic of Congo said the nation couldn’t support the agreement. They argued that a separate fund should be developed from rich countries to support poorer ones to protect their biodiversity.

Australia has a lot on the line at these summits. Like Congo, Australia is one of 17 “megadiverse” countries, which together account for over 70% of Earth’s biodiversity. Yet, we lead the world in mammal extinctions and 19 of our most important ecosystems, such as the Great Barrier Reef, are collapsing.

We’re pleased to see that Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek championed many critical inclusions of the agreement, including:

• “30×30”: 30% of land, freshwater and oceans protected by 2030

• a strong species extinction target, which is to ensure “urgent management” to “halt human-induced extinction” and to recover threatened species

• including targets to restore degraded lands

• stronger regulation and targets for plastics and plastic pollution

• requiring companies to disclose how they depend upon and impact biodiversity

• including targets for nature-based solutions to protect against extreme events and climate change, such as restoring mangroves

• including a reference in the deal to the circular economy, which emphasises reusing materials to produce the things we consume

Read more:
‘Gut-wrenching and infuriating’: why Australia is the world leader in mammal extinctions, and what to do about it

Some of these aspirations were included in the final agreement, most notably including the 30% protection target and targets for restoring degraded lands.

Some were watered down, including the timing of the goal to achieve zero new species extinctions (delaying its achievement until 2050) and relying on generic language of “urgent management action”.

Some, such as language on the “circular economy”, didn’t make it in. And explicit targets were removed from earlier drafts regarding the regulation of plastics and pollution, instead replaced with generic language of “prevent” and “reduce”.

Many positives to celebrate

Hugely important is the target to protect and conserve 30% of the planet. This will focus on areas rich in biodiversity, such as the grasslands of the Victorian volcanic plain, and ensure these areas are well connected and representative of different habitats.

But while declaring new protected areas is critical, declaration alone is insufficient.

To be effective, protected areas need strong investment and active conservation management of, for example, invasive species and climate change. Many of Australia’s protected areas, including national parks, are heavily impacted by deer, rabbits, goats, foxes and feral cats and more.

Another important part of the agreement is to see at least 30% of degraded inland water and coastal and marine ecosystems under effective restoration by 2030. This is in addition to increasing protected areas to be 30% of the planet.

We were also happy to see over a thousand businesses present at COP15, from IKEA to H&M Group to Unilever. More than 330 business leaders called for a strong final agreement, including the requirement for businesses to disclose how their operations impact and depend upon nature.

This is a significant turnaround from previous COPs, and has been hailed by Eva Zabey, from global coalition Business for Nature, as helping “reset the rules of our economic and financial systems”.

Unfortunately, the final text of the agreement removed targets to halve business impacts on biodiversity, and disclosure of impacts is only required for large and transnational companies.

The role and rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities was highlighted in the agreement, recognising the value of Indigenous territories and Indigenous-led conservation models. Indigenous land contains an estimated 80% of global biodiversity, yet Indigenous people comprise less than 5% of the world’s population.

Going forward, it’s crucial to ensure these rights are respected in implementing targets such as 30×30.

Given the important role of Indigenous Protected Areas in the makeup of Australia’s network of protected areas, properly resourcing and supporting these places and communities will be critical for Australia to meet its biodiversity targets.

Read more:
Without Indigenous leadership, attempts to stop the tide of destruction against nature will fail

Some negatives to lament

COP15 saw a strong push for more funding to flow from wealthy countries to support developing countries to protect and recover their biodiversity. But representatives from Latin American, Africa and South East Asia walked out of meetings last week in protest that they weren’t being heard.

The eventual agreement was for US$30 billion per year to flow from wealthy to poorer countries by 2030. But these commitments are not legally binding and detail is yet to be negotiated.

The biggest disappointment in the new Global Biodiversity Framework is the slow pace of key targets. For example, Australia has now committed to prevent any further human-caused extinctions by 2030 – an aspiration the rest of the world should have formally adopted.

Read more:
Invasive species threaten most protected areas across the world – new study

We can’t wait until 2050. 28 years of more species loss will leave the diversity of life depleted, undermining our environments, food systems, culture and way of life.

In the original text drafted ahead of the summit, there was explicit reference to achieving a “nature positive world” by 2030. “Nature positive” refers to world where nature is regenerating rather than depleting.

But this framing didn’t make it into the final agreement, and will need to be progressed in other ways.

How can Australia do better?

Australia was less vocal on how the 70% of land outside global protected areas is to be managed, and on ensuring sustainable consumption.

These are areas requiring stronger ambition and leadership, given so many native, threatened species depend private land. Indeed, habitat loss is a prevailing driver of extinction in Australia.

An estimated A$2 billion of targeted threatened species recovery funding is needed each year to avoid extinctions and recover Australia’s threatened plants and animals.

But Australia has been criticised for the lack of funding committed to biodiversity and threatened species recovery, compared to less biodiverse countries such as Germany and France.

Time for action

Ultimately, there is plenty to be hopeful about. Biodiversity has never been so high on the agenda of political and business leaders worldwide. We now have a new global commitment to “halt and reverse” the extinction crisis with some tangible targets that the 196 signatories must respond to.

With this crucial agreement in place, governments, businesses and communities must now figure out how to put the agreement into practice.

But time is of the essence. If we let our planet sink into the depths of the sixth mass extinction, generations to come will not see the end of it. It will take tens of millions of years to recover.

Governments have consistently failed to meet targets set for nature in previous global meetings. So we must now develop mechanisms to hold governments accountable and to collectively undertake the serious work ahead, to ensure we protect and recover our biodiversity.

Read more:
National parks are not enough – we need landholders to protect threatened species on their property

Sarah Bekessy receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Ian Potter Foundation and the European Commission. She is a Councillor of the Biodiversity Council, a Board Member of Bush Heritage Australia, a member of WWF’s Eminent Scientists Group and a member of the Advisory Group for Wood for Good.

Brendan Wintle has received funding from The Australian Research Council, the Victorian State Government, the NSW State Government, the Queensland State Government, the Commonwealth National Environmental Science Program, the Ian Potter Foundation, the Hermon Slade Foundation, and the Australian Conservation Foundation. Wintle is a Board Director of Zoos Victoria. Brendan Wintle is a member of the Biodiversity Council

Jack Pascoe receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Australian Commonweath Government and The Ian Potter Foundation. He is affiliated with the University of Melbourne and the Conservation Ecology Centre. Jack is a member of the Biodiversity Council.

James Fitzsimons is Director of Conservation and Science with The Nature Conservancy Australia, is a Councillor of the Biodiversity Council and a Board member of the Australian Land Conservation Alliance

Rachel Morgain is Acting Executive Director of the Biodiversity Council. She receives funding from the Ian Potter Foundation, the Rendere Trust, the Hermon Slade Foundation, the Victorian Government, the Nature Conservancy, the Australian Conservation Foundation. She is a knowledge broker with NRM Regions Australia.

Rebecca Spindler is Executive Manager for Science and Conservation at Bush Heritage Australia, is a Councillor of the Biodiversity Council and a member of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Advisory Committee.

– ref. The historic COP15 outcome is an imperfect game-changer for saving nature. Here’s why Australia did us proud – https://theconversation.com/the-historic-cop15-outcome-is-an-imperfect-game-changer-for-saving-nature-heres-why-australia-did-us-proud-196731

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Kidson, Senior Lecturer in Educational Leadership, Australian Catholic University

All year, we have heard reports of a “crisis” in Australian schools, thanks to a shortage of teachers around the country. Federal education department modelling shows there will be a high school teacher shortfall of about 4,000 by 2025.

In August, Education Minister Jason Clare and his state and territory colleagues met and agreed this was a huge problem. Their big, set-piece policy response is a new plan for the “national teacher workforce”.

A draft was released in November and late last week, we got the final version.

After all the talk and consultation – will it work? To use the language of a school report, the teacher shortage plan is a good effort and a positive start. But there are areas that need improvement.

Remind me, what’s in the plan?

The final plan, like the draft, identifies five priority areas to attract and retain high-quality teachers to the profession:

1. improving teacher supply

2. strengthening teaching degrees

3. keeping the teachers we have

4. elevating the profession

5. better understanding of future teacher workforce needs.

There were more than 650 submissions to the draft. Initially there were 28 recommendations or “actions”. The final version has 27, after one initial idea – a “teacher of the year” award – was scrapped based on teacher feedback.

The final plan still includes measures such as a national campaign to raise the status of teachers and A$30 million to reduce teachers’ workloads.

Read more:
Jason Clare has a draft plan to fix the teacher shortage. What needs to stay and what should change?

A good effort

Bringing together diverse jurisdictions and sectors is an ongoing challenge for Australian education. But this plan involves governments, their bureaucracies and education authorities, employers, teachers, and unions.

This includes plans to streamline accreditation processes for teachers and reduce unnecessary administration (that weighs down their daily workloads).

Importantly, the plan has an inclusive and aspirational tone. It talks about “the work we will do together”. This is not always the case in the complex world of education policy-making in Australia.

A positive start

Nearly half the plan (13 of the 27 actions) focuses on how to recruit and establish teachers in the profession. The increased priority on mentoring for early career teachers is welcomed, given the particular significance it plays in supporting, and so retaining, early career teachers.

Strategies to develop and support First Nations teachers are complemented by strategies to facilitate easier entrance to the profession for a range of equity groups, including those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, as well as for mid-career professionals.

A commitment to increase the number of permanent teachers and provide professional learning for casual teachers is also positive, given many of these teachers feel overstretched and emotionally exhausted by the uncertain nature of casualised teaching.

Importantly, the critical roles played by teaching assistants, teaching students and other support and administrative staff within schools is also acknowledged.

And further improvement needed

However, paradoxes and tensions remain. On the one hand, there is a clear commitment to reduce workload. But there is no nationally consistent view on what the workload issues are.

Meanwhile, several of the “key next steps” look likely to repackage, rather than reduce, some of the work. For example, action 13 seeks to “develop, monitor and evaluate reductions in teacher workload”, then requires “states and territories and non-government school authorities […] to report back to education ministers on actions they have taken”. It’s naive to imagine a new form of reporting will reduce teachers’ workloads.

Read more:
The teacher shortage plan must do more to recruit and retain First Nations teachers

There is also a danger politics will confuse the matter. A new tool to assess how new policies will impact teachers workloads is set to be developed as part of the next National School Reform Agreement, which ties federal, state, and territory funding mechanisms to lifting student learning outcomes.

While it’s a good idea to consider the impact new initiatives will have on workloads, combining this with complex issues of school funding arrangements risks becoming bogged down and overly politicised. The surprise announcement the next schools agreement will be delayed by another 12 months to December 2024 has only added to these concerns.

There is still more significant work to come. There is an ongoing review into teacher education, led by Sydney University Vice-Chancellor, Mark Scott. Until we see the findings in June 2023, we don’t have clear answers on how governments will strengthen teaching degrees.

Read more:
‘They phone you up during lunch and yell at you’ – why teachers say dealing with parents is the worst part of their job

A charitable view and a cynical one

The plan includes an extensive appendix of more than 200 initiatives already underway across all states and territories, and across all three sectors (government, Catholic, independent), to address teacher shortages.

A charitable view is this plan will complement and build on these, increasing the total effort and funds applied.

A cynical view is these initiatives aren’t yet having their desired impact, so planning to do even more of them may not be effective either.

Paul Kidson 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. Australia has a plan to fix its school teacher shortage. Will it work? – https://theconversation.com/australia-has-a-plan-to-fix-its-school-teacher-shortage-will-it-work-196803

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lucas Walsh, Professor and Director of the Centre for Youth Policy and Education Practice, Monash University

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services have dramatically changed the landscape of personal lending, largely by being easy to access and not charging interest – thus avoiding national credit laws.

In the 2021-22 financial year, according to data from the Reserve Bank of Australia, the number of active BNPL accounts in Australia rose from 5 million to 7 million. Collectively, these users spent A$16 billion, about 37% more than the previous years (and about 2% of all card purchases).

With the federal government now considering options to better regulate the industry, we’ve been researching how this largely unregulated but growing corner of the debt market is affecting BNPL’s biggest users – young adults.

Our annual survey of people aged 18-24, the Australian Youth Barometer conducted in August, indicates 27% of young people used BNPL in the past 12 months. BNPL’s popularity as a credit product is only surpassed by credit cards, used by 31% of young Australians in the past year.

About the Australian Youth Barometer

This is the second year of the Australian Youth Barometer, a nationally representative survey sample of 505 Australians aged 18-24.

In 2021 we asked young people if they had ever used a BNPL service. This year, we asked about BNPL use over the previous year.

In the 2021 Australian Youth Barometer 53% of participants said they had ever used a BNPL service. That result was broadly consistent with research from the Australian Finance Industry Association. In March 2021, AFIA’s surveys found 44% of those aged 18-24, and 52% of those aged 25-35, had used BNPL. By March 2022 those percentages rose to 55% and 58%, respectively.

Financial difficulties are widespread

Our 2022 survey reports that 90% of young Australians experienced financial difficulties at some point during the past year. About a quarter said this happened often or very often.

In our 2021 survey, 82% said they had experienced financial difficulties during the previous two years.

Financial stress is correlated with BNPL use. Our 2022 survey data indicates 30% of those very often in financial difficulties over the previous year used BNPL services, compared with just 8% of those who had never experienced financial difficulty.

But the relationship is not clear-cut, with BNPL use being most prevalent among those who experience financial difficulties only sometimes.

Attitudes to BNPL

Generalisations about young people being “hooked” on BNPL credit are therefore inaccurate. As in any demographic, attitudes vary.

Our 2021 survey results indicate about half are wary of BNPL services, agreeing they have a negative effect on young people’s financial behaviour.

But as incomes fail to keep up with the cost of living – particularly for energy and housing – the high use of BNPL should ring regulatory alarm bells.

The Treasury’s consultation paper on regulating the BNPL industry notes the need to subject BNPL companies to the same type of responsible lending standards and requirements imposed on credit providers through Australia’s National Consumer Credit Protection Act.

Read more:
What’s the difference between credit and debt? How Afterpay and other ‘BNPL’ providers skirt consumer laws

BNPL products are not subject to these credit laws because they don’t charge interest, which is key to the act’s definition of credit provision. As the Treasury paper notes:

This unintended regulatory gap creates the potential for consumer harm due to the absence of key protections available to other products regulated by the Credit Act.

Closing this gap is important to increase protections for young people and BNPL users.

But just as important is to address the underlying causes of financial insecurity that push people into debt in the first place.

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. 90% of young people had financial troubles in 2022, and 27% used ‘buy now, pay later’ services – https://theconversation.com/90-of-young-people-had-financial-troubles-in-2022-and-27-used-buy-now-pay-later-services-195809

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jan Hogan, Senior lecturer, School of Creative Arts & Media, University of Tasmania

In Oceans of Air, the new exhibition at Hobart’s Mona, artist Tomás Saraceno imagines a future where humans become as sensitive to the environment as a spider in its web. He invites visitors to become participants in his multiple networks and projects. He aims to make us aware of our interconnections with each other and the world.

Held in the underground labyrinthine galleries of Mona, we are invited to reconsider the boundaries between natural and cultural worlds.

As we descend through Mona’s central staircases, the reflective sculptural orbs Aerocene 4 and 5 weave Mona’s architecture and collections into the Saraceno world. Stairs and artworks twist and turn in the reflections.

Reminiscent of Escher’s 1923 Relativity lithograph, the laws of gravity are confounded. The binding on the balloons could be tethering them to the building or preventing their fall, like eggs in a spider web.

Before entering the dark subterranean galleries, a photograph shows Saraceno floating below a fuel-free hot air balloon on the boundary between earth and sky.

A multi-sensory experience

Argentinean Tomás Saraceno is a Berlin-based artist, interested in collaborations with research institutes to further our collective knowledge around atmospheres and arachnids.

Submerging into dark gallery spaces may seem a strange phenomenon for an exhibition titled Oceans of Air, however Saraceno and Mona curators Emily Pike and Olivier Varenne have carefully orchestrated the experience. They play with beams of light and the twisting turns of the galleries to make participants slow down and engage in a multi-sensory experience.

Within one darkened room, we encounter Particular Matter(s), 2021, a single light beam travelling across space, landing as a moon formation on the felted wall.

Floating in this light beam (according to the guide), is cosmic dust, PM2.5 (particulate matter), stellar wind, air movement, kinaesthetic feedback and sonic waves.

In other words: the dust and atmospheric conditions present in the gallery today.

Adjacent is a photograph, NORAD 40983 (2015-059B), 2016 displaying the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the closest galaxies to our own Milky Way, with a line revealing the trail of a satellite. Saraceno encountered this image when visiting Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt pan.

Here, the sky is reflected on a large salt flat. We become suspended in space, our bodies becoming insignificant matter. Standing between this photograph and the salt covered ground, we shift from godlike creatures scattering particles with our movements to an insignificant speck in the galaxy.

À lire aussi :
An expanding universe and distant stars: tips on how to experience cosmology from your backyard

Fleetingly visible

The images in We Do Not All Breathe the Same Air are presented in the format of moon charts revealing the natural rhythms of the solar system.

But instead of charting our solar system, these digital prints capture samples of air pollution collected from each state of Australia. The traces of pollutants are a physical reminder of what is invisible in this part of the world, but painfully obvious in cities like Mumbai.

Printed Matter(s) are exquisite images of cosmic dust invisible to the naked eye that surround us. They are printed with black carbon PM2.5 pollution extracted from the air in Mumbai on featherlight handmade paper.

Distantly spotlit, the images shift in and out of focus in response to currents of air. The invisible is made fleetingly visible, the insubstantial paper accentuating what is held in currents of air.

In Webs of At-tent(s)ion, 2022, Saraceno convincingly lays claim to the cultural activity of the “More Than Human World”: a phrase coined by the ecologist and philosopher David Abrams to include humans within a broader understanding of the natural world.

We are presented with glass and metal frames containing exquisite spider web architectures. The constellations of webs were made from spiders invited by a thread to weave within the carbon-fibre frames provided in the space of the studio.

The resilience of the fully formed webs when preserved in glass boxes is made testament through surviving shipping from Saraceno’s Berlin studio.

These intricate universes are spotlit in the darkened gallery. Walking around these forms in the gallery reveals innovations in materials and forms undreamed of by humans.

À lire aussi :
Explainer: what are the environmental humanities?

New ways of being

The video Living at the bottom of the ocean of air takes us into the life of the diving bell spider who gathers a bubble of air to live under the surface of water. It is in keeping with the sensation of being in the subterranean depths of Mona where air has been trapped and circulated for our survival.

In the many rooms, we begin to realise the networks Saraceno has set up. He is weaving interconnections around the world using human technology to question itself, ask new questions and imagine new ways of being in the world.

Nearing the end of the exhibits we encounter Sounding the Air, 2022, which has threads of spider silk suspended between poles, inspired by ballooning – where some spiders release threads to take flight on currents of air. As the threads here drift in the air, their physical undulations are translated by video into sound.

As we exit the exhibition and once again encounter the silver orbs floating in the Mona staircases, we connect again with Saraceno’s invitation to become explorers in sympathy with the rhythms of the earth.

Tomás Saraceno: Float on Oceans of Air is at Mona, Hobart, until July 24.

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

– ref. Artist Tomás Saraceno wants to improve our knowledge about atmospheres – and arachnids – https://theconversation.com/artist-tomas-saraceno-wants-to-improve-our-knowledge-about-atmospheres-and-arachnids-196035

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Belinda Wheaton, Professor, School of Sport, Health and Human Performance, University of Waikato

With summer here, families and tourists will flock to New Zealand’s beaches, rivers and lakes to paddle, swim, surf, fish, boat and kayak. But despite our love of the water, New Zealanders have a terrible record of drowning deaths.

Last summer was the worst year for drownings in a decade. Our ten-year average beach and coastal drowning rate is 44% per capita higher than Australia’s. According to Water Safety NZ chief executive Daniel Gerrard, “Drowning is the leading cause of recreational death and the third-highest cause of accidental death.”

The data also reveal that Asian and Māori communities are over-represented in both fatal and non-fatal drownings. New Zealand research suggests Western approaches to water safety have not worked for Māori. Water safety educators and advocates are now working to strengthen the connection Māori have with water through whakapapa (genealogy), mātauranga (knowledge) and tikanga (custom).

Our research with the Auckland Chinese community suggests the same may be needed for Asian New Zealanders, who are expected to make up 26% of the population by 2043. Asian drowning fatalities in 2021 more than doubled from 2020, from seven to 19. This was 72% more than the five-year average of 11. Understanding how best to educate the Asian community about water safety is a clear priority.

More support for migrants

Many first-generation Chinese grew up in urban areas where outdoor swimming in lakes and reservoirs was either not allowed or seen as dangerous. They arrived in Aotearoa with little interest or experience of the outdoors, often avoiding water out of fear.

Many are overprotective of their children around water. As one explained: “I don’t feel safe enough for my kids to go to play in the sea.” Another parent told us: “We think many sports that locals love to do are very dangerous and adventurous and we are afraid of doing those […] and ocean activities are one of those dangerous and adventurous sports.”

Read more:
When is the right time for children to learn to swim?

The general manager of Sir Peter Blake Marine Education Recreation Centre, Yuin Khai Foong, argues that new Asian migrants need greater support to understand and navigate their new environment – especially the water.

In New Zealand, you cannot avoid it […] Water skills need to be for everyone, because you never know when you’re going to end up interacting with the water intentionally or unintentionally […] when you could be a bystander to someone in need of assistance in the water. Having water skills is good for us as individuals and as a community.

Support organisation ActivAsian has found Chinese parents – especially those who have been in New Zealand for some time – want their children to learn to swim. Matching that desire with access to learning opportunities – and funding – is the challenge.

Declining water skills

There is already a problem with New Zealand children in general not learning basic water skills. As one 2018 media report put it bluntly: “Kiwi kids may be losing the ability to swim”.

A report commissioned this year by Water Safety NZ showed 48% of children weren’t having swimming lessons. Water safety skills, however, involve more than the ability to swim in a pool. The Water Skills for Life program incorporates 27 core skills, but only 301,226 children aged five to 13 completed it in 2021, leaving 174,753 missing out.

Furthermore, according to a recent international study, vital water skills should include the ability to identify risks such as rips and tide changes, as well as awareness of one’s personal ability.

Read more:
Rip currents are a natural hazard along coasts – here’s how to spot them

A 2020 study using Muriwai beach near Auckland found only 22% of those surveyed were able to successfully identify a rip (experienced local surfers and body-boarders scored much higher).

Research consistently finds men are more likely to overestimate their ability and underestimate the risks, too often with fatal results.

And it appears some Chinese men share this trait. One interviewee described Chinese men as “daring”; another said they were “really brave – they want to give it a try”. But many were also “ignorant about the sea [with] no reverence for nature”.

Rock fishing was identified as a particularly dangerous but increasingly popular activity. Unprepared participants try to access dangerous fishing spots, wearing inappropriate clothing such as gumboots.

Reluctance to wear lifejackets was also highlighted. Figures show two-thirds of small-boat drownings involve people not wearing life jackets. Water Safety NZ has called for urgent changes to regulations so everyone on small boats is required to wear a life jacket.

Read more:
Summer ‘revenge travel’ could raise drowning risk at beaches, but new tech might help

Culture and safety

As well as co-ordinated strategies for water safety education, and better resourcing of school programs, community providers like ActivAsian (Auckland) have shown there is a clear need for culturally specific support in order to change attitudes and behaviours.

Greater inter-generational involvement is also needed. As one interviewee said: “There’s no point having a whole bunch of kids come in [if] mum and dad don’t see it. They don’t get it. They don’t support it.”

Water Safety NZ and its partners do provide funding, information and training, but the key messages are not having the desired impact – especially with men and Māori and Asian communities.

The beach is an important cultural and health resource. As the Environment Aotearoa 2022 report argues, “Recreational activities create strong bonds between people and the coastal places they visit, as well as providing stress relief and promoting mental and physical wellbeing.”

Making this a safe reality for all New Zealanders, including Asian migrants, will require targeted funding and culturally relevant knowledge and education. Otherwise, we risk a repeat of last year’s tragic drowning statistics.

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. Too many Māori and Asian people are drowning – can better cultural understanding reverse the trend? – https://theconversation.com/too-many-maori-and-asian-people-are-drowning-can-better-cultural-understanding-reverse-the-trend-196576

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee-Fay Low, Professor in Ageing and Health, University of Sydney

Almost 400,000 Australians are living with dementia. A million or more family members and friends care for and support them. About two-thirds of people with dementia live in the community.

Deciding to move a loved one into a nursing home is an incredibly difficult one. I found it difficult and stressful considering this move for my own loved one, even with 20 years of experience in dementia and aged care. Sometimes the decision has to be made quickly, such as when the person is in hospital. Sometimes the decision takes much longer and is made over months, or even years.

There are some important things you should consider when trying to decide the best option for you and your loved one. I’ve outlined six here.

1. Your loved ones’ views around going into care

We don’t want to force our loved one to do something against their wishes. It’s unusual for someone to want to go into a nursing home. It may take many conversations and a decent amount of time before your loved one accepts they might need more care and that a nursing home is the right place to get that care.

Read more:
Why people with dementia don’t all behave the same

2. Your loved one’s current quality of life

If you think your loved one has an overall good quality of life, and that their quality of life may decrease when they go into a nursing home, this could be a sign you should keep trying to support the person to live at home.

However, if their quality of life is currently poor, particularly if this is due to not having enough day-to-day physical care, health care or emotional support, then moving into a nursing home might help meet their daily needs.

Spend some time observing to figure out how your loved one is doing at home.

You could perhaps make a list of the things they need to lead a good life (company, three square meals, help taking medicines, going out into the community) and see if these are currently being met.

3. Risks if your loved one stays at home

People often go into a nursing home because we think they are no longer safe living at home.

It might be possible to reduce some of the risks of them being at home through modifying the home and using technology (personal emergency alarms, GPS trackers, stove timers) or services (meals on wheels, community care, physiotherapy for mobility).

Read more:
Older people who get lost sometimes sadly lose their lives. But those with dementia are more likely to survive

4. Capacity of your loved one’s family and friends to keep supporting them

The availability and capacity of family carers is probably the most crucial part in supporting someone with dementia to keep living well at home. Carers often have other responsibilities such as work and children, which means they can’t support their loved one as much as they would like.

Being a carer is physically and emotionally demanding, and over time caring can take its toll. Carers should seek help and support from other family and friends, learn more about dementia, use services including respite care and Dementia Australia.

Carers often face a difficult choice between their own health and wellbeing, and supporting their loved one to remain at home. If carers are caring as much as their time, energy and physical and mental wellbeing will allow, and that care is not enough for their loved one’s needs, then more help is needed – and residential care is one way of getting that help.

5. Alternatives to nursing home care

Community care services are government-subsidised services to support older people to keep living at home. You can get up to 14 hours of care a week depending on need, though there is an assessment process and often a waiting time for services. You can pay for community care privately as well, although this can be very expensive.

An Aged Care Navigator (or from 2023 an “aged care finder”) can help you search for suitable available home care services.

Some families choose to move in with the person with dementia, or have them move in with family. This may be an option if there is suitable accommodation, and they are able to live together comfortably.

6. Availability of quality nursing home care

It’s emotionally easier to place a loved one in a nursing home if carers are confident the home will provide suitable care. Often, family want a nursing home that is geographically close so they can visit, has a suitable room (such as a single room with an ensuite), sufficient and kind staff with training in supporting people with dementia, a pleasant environment, nutritious appealing food, and quality clinical care.

It takes time to visit and pick a suitable nursing home, check it’s appropriately accredited, and understand how much it will cost. You might have to wait for a bed in a quality home. You can often trial the nursing home by having your loved one stay for two weeks of respite care.

When your loved one enters nursing home care, you’ll still be caring for them. You want to ensure you can continue to support your loved one emotionally and practically in partnership with the nursing home.

Read more:
What do aged care residents do all day? We tracked their time use to find out

Getting help

Usually there is no “right” or “wrong” decision. You might struggle and there might be family conflict around what the “right” decision is.

Speaking to a counsellor at Dementia Australia might help work through the options and your feelings, you can talk to them as an individual or attend as a family.

Lee-Fay Low works with Dementia Australia and the Forward with Dementia campaign. She has received research funding from the NHMRC, MRFF, Dementia Australia, Federal and NSW governments, and the Benevolent Society. She collaborates with many residential and community aged care providers including HammondCare, The Whiddon Group and Calvary Aged Care.

– ref. Should we move our loved one with dementia into a nursing home? 6 things to consider when making this tough decision – https://theconversation.com/should-we-move-our-loved-one-with-dementia-into-a-nursing-home-6-things-to-consider-when-making-this-tough-decision-189770

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Juliet Sefton, Assistant Lecturer, Monash University

Sea levels in Micronesia rose much faster over the past 5,000 years than previously thought, according to our new study published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

This sea-level rise is shown by the accumulation of mangrove sediments on the islands of Pohnpei and Kosrae. The finding may change how we think about when people migrated into Remote Oceania, and where they might have voyaged from.

Formidable voyagers

While recent decades saw significant advancements in linguistic, bio-anthropological and archaeological research in the region, the exact pattern and timing of human settlement of Remote Oceania is still debated.

Humans began migration into Remote Oceania – the area of the “open” Pacific Ocean east of New Guinea and the Philippines – some 3,300–3,500 years ago. This migration required formidable long-distance ocean voyaging of the likes never seen before in human history.

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

The region of Micronesia extends many thousands of kilometres and contains thousands of low-lying atolls. Many of these atolls formed roughly 2,500 years ago when the sea level in the region stabilised close to where it is today.

Before that, the sea level might have been up to two metres higher than at present. People could only settle these atolls successfully once sea levels had lowered and stabilised.

But there are also older and higher volcanic islands in Micronesia. Across Remote Oceania, these higher islands were more desirable for settlement than low-lying atolls because they have more reliable freshwater sources, more developed soils for agriculture, and are less vulnerable to storm surges.

We looked at the published ages of settlement across the western part of Remote Oceania and found that high islands tend to show earlier ages of settlement compared to atolls, which is what we would expect. But we don’t see this pattern in Micronesia: the high islands of Pohnpei and Kosrae show settlement ages about 1,000 years later than other similar islands. Why?

Mangrove clues

Deep within the mangrove forests of Pohnpei and Kosrae, previous researchers found mangrove sediments up to five metres deep. The only explanation for such deep mangrove sediments is sustained sea-level rise.

Mangroves live at the coast, between low tide and high tide. Therefore, as sea level rises, organic carbon and sediments accumulate beneath the mangrove forests, creating deep soils.

We visited the mangroves on Pohnpei and Kosrae and collected sediment cores to find out how old the sediments beneath them were. Our new data, as well as previous works, show that the oldest mangrove sediment is about 5,700 years old.

From this, we calculated that over the past 5,700 years, sea level rose by about four metres. The most likely cause for this rise is that the islands are sinking: the land is going down relative to the sea surface.

In our new study, we suggest this sea-level rise obscured the archaeological record on Pohnpei and Kosrae. Consequently, evidence of earlier settlement – in line with other high islands – may be submerged today.

It is possible that people settled this region of Micronesia much earlier than previously thought, which also raises questions about whether people voyaged from the west or from the south to reach these islands.

A testament to rising seas

The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Nan Madol on Pohnpei may also stand as a testament to rising seas. Nan Madol is an impressive array of abandoned megalithic buildings constructed from dark basalt columns and crushed coral.

This site has been dubbed the “Venice of the Pacific” because of the characteristic network of waterways around the buildings, resembling canals and islets.

Our record of sea-level rise from the mangrove sediment shows that when Nan Madol was constructed (around 1180 to 1200 CE), the sea level was nearly one metre lower than it is today.

We suggest that it is unlikely Nan Madol was built with canals and islands in mind. Rather, the canals and islets are a result of sea-level rise over nearly 1,000 years.

Much like island nations today, large stone walls may have been constructed to protect the site from waves that were slowly encroaching higher and higher.

Read more:
Islands lost to the waves: how rising seas washed away part of Micronesia’s 19th-century history

Juliet Sefton received funding from the US National Science Foundation (award number OCE-1831382) and was hosted by Tufts University while conducting this research. Juliet now works at Monash University.

Andrew Kemp receives funding from the US National Science Foundation (award OCE-1831382).

Mark D. McCoy has received funding from the US National Science Foundation, New Zealand’s Marsden Fund, and National Geographic.

– ref. 5,700 years of sea-level change in Micronesia hint at humans arriving much earlier than we thought – https://theconversation.com/5-700-years-of-sea-level-change-in-micronesia-hint-at-humans-arriving-much-earlier-than-we-thought-196655

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julian Koplin, Lecturer in Bioethics, Monash University & Honorary fellow, Melbourne Law School, Monash University

Neuralink, the biotechnology company co-founded by Elon Musk, has been accused of animal cruelty and is under federal investigation in the United States for potential animal welfare violations.

The company has tested its brain-implant technology in animals including monkeys, sheep and pigs. Whistleblowers allege it has killed about 1,500 animals since 2018.

They claim testing was rushed, which caused significant animal suffering and required botched experiments to be repeated – harming more animals than necessary.

This scandal highlights an old but important question: when is it acceptable to harm non-human animals for human ends?

Read more:
Neuralink’s monkey can play Pong with its mind. Imagine what humans could do with the same technology

Moral confusion

The condemnation of Neuralink suggests many people view animal suffering as a serious moral problem. We find similar attitudes when people are outraged by pet owners neglecting or abusing their pets.

But our responses to animal suffering are complicated. Surveys show many people think at least some forms of animal research are ethically acceptable, such as medical research where alternatives aren’t available. Most people also think it is not morally evil to buy a hamburger, animal welfare concerns aside.

Our attitudes towards animals are confusing – and arguably self-serving. We need to think more carefully about how animals ought to be treated.

Do animals matter?

In the 17th century, philosopher René Descartes famously described animals as mere “automata”. He believed they lack a soul and a mind, and are therefore incapable of suffering.

But progress in fields such as ethology and the cognitive sciences has improved our understanding of animal behaviour, and we have come to appreciate animals have rich mental lives. There is now scientific consensus that mammals, birds and many others are capable of feeling pain and pleasure.

One might argue that, even if animals can suffer, ethics should only concern how we treat fellow humans since animals are not “one of us”. But this view is unsatisfying.

If somebody were to say it doesn’t matter how we treat people with a different skin colour, because they are not “one of us”, we would (rightly) call them racist. Those who claim the same about animals can be accused of making a similar mistake.

Our treatment of animals has come under increasing philosophical scrutiny since the time of Descartes. Some of the most powerful challenges have come from utilitarian philosophers such as Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and Peter Singer, whose 1975 book Animal Liberation was a rallying point for critics of livestock farming and animal research.

But the case for animal welfare isn’t just utilitarian. Thinkers from diverse philosophical traditions share this position.

Philosophical views on animal welfare

Philosophers usually think about animal suffering in accordance with one of three moral theories: utilitarianism, deontology and virtue ethics.

Utilitarians believe we should do what best promotes the overall wellbeing of everybody affected by a choice. They typically hold that all suffering matters equally, regardless of who experiences it, or even what species they belong to.

In 1789, Bentham argued that when it comes to animal welfare:

[…] the question is not, can they reason? Nor, can they talk? But can they suffer?

Deontologists emphasise duties and rights over welfare. They maintain we are not morally permitted to violate rights, even when doing so would promote overall wellbeing.

The great deontologist philosopher Immanuel Kant held that humans have rights because of our rationality (which more or less refers to our abilities to reason and make moral decisions). Kant believed animals aren’t rational and therefore don’t have rights (although he claimed we should still refrain from mistreating them since, according to him, that might make us more likely to mistreat humans).

Kant’s rejection of animal rights faces two challenges. First, some argue certain intelligent species, such as elephants and chimpanzees, are also rational and hence deserve rights.

Second, many contemporary deontologists argue we should set a less demanding threshold for moral rights. Rather than requiring rationality, they suggest it might be enough for an animal to have desires and interests.

Virtue ethicists take yet another approach. They think morality is a matter of developing and practising good character traits, such as honesty and compassion, while avoiding traits like dishonesty and cowardice. Virtue ethicists who deal with animal ethics have argued animal experimentation displays and reinforces vices like callousness and cruelty, particularly when research is unlikely to achieve morally important goals.

Neuralink revisited

In Australia and the United States, animal research is governed largely by the “three Rs”: directives to replace animal research with other strategies when feasible, reduce the number of animals used as much as possible, and refine experimental techniques to minimise animal pain.

If the reports about Neuralink are correct, the company failed to adhere to these. But what if Neuralink had conducted experiments in line with the three Rs – would this have resolved all ethical concerns?

Probably not. The three Rs are silent on one crucial question: whether the scientific gains from a particular study are great enough to justify the harms that research may inflict.

So long as an experiment is scientifically sound, one could, in principle, follow the three Rs to the letter while still inflicting severe suffering on a great many animals, and with little prospect of benefiting humans. If animals have moral worth, as the utilitarian, deontological and virtue ethical views state, then at least some scientifically sound animal research should not be conducted.

Neuralink has admirable goals, which include curing paralysis, blindness and depression.

But utilitarians might question whether the expected benefits are great enough (or likely enough) to outweigh the significant harms to animals. Deontologists might question whether any of the species used have moral rights against being experimented on, particularly intelligent ones such as monkeys and pigs. And virtue ethicists might worry the testing performed involves vices such as callousness.

Where are we headed?

Animal research is widely practised in Australia, with more than 6 million animals reportedly used per year. Some (but not all) of this research involves significant pain and suffering. Mice are the most common animal used, though species such as dogs, cats and non-human primates are also used.

The vast number of lives at stake mean it is imperative to get the ethics right.

This means developing a more comprehensive set of principles for animal research than the three Rs: one that will help us more effectively balance scientific benefit against harms to research animals. At least among philosophers, this work is already under way.

It might also involve revisiting the question of when (if ever) certain species should be used in research. Australia imposes special restrictions on the use of non-human primates. Other jurisdictions have banned or considered banning ape research. What other intelligent species ought to receive additional protections?

We need to look beyond the three Rs for a full assessment of the ethics of animal research – both for Neuralink and beyond.

Read more:
What is ethical animal research? A scientist and veterinarian explain

Julian Koplin receives funding from Ferring Pharmaceuticals.

– ref. Can we ethically justify harming animals for research? There are several schools of thought – https://theconversation.com/can-we-ethically-justify-harming-animals-for-research-there-are-several-schools-of-thought-196387

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Walker, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University

In the annals of Australian foreign policy, it is arguable that no moment in history has been as significant as December 21 1972. With the possible exception of the ANZUS Treaty of 1951, no other document matches the formal agreement establishing full diplomatic relations between Australia and China 50 years ago this week.

In the maelstrom of events in the meantime, it is easy to forget where we were in 1972, and where we are now in relation to the emerging dominant power in our region.

History is important to better comprehend the present.

Read more:
Wong to visit Beijing as ‘strategic dialogue’ restarts in new breakthrough in Australia-China relations

Whitlam opens the door

In July 1971, Australia’s then opposition leader, Gough Whitlam, effectively rolled the dice politically by going to China. The trip was ostensibly to discuss trade. In reality the purpose was to lay the ground for full diplomatic recognition should he become prime minister after the 1972 election.

Read more:
50 years ago today, Gough Whitlam was elected. There are some lessons for Albanese in what came next

Whitlam took a calculated political risk in an environment in which a perceived China “threat” remained a useful wedge in the conservative political arsenal.

The Whitlam visit could hardly have been more propitious. No sooner had he left China and discussions with Premier Zhou Enlai than it was revealed that Henry Kissinger, then national security adviser to US President Richard Nixon, had paid a secret visit to China to negotiate the terms for Nixon’s mission to Beijing and Shanghai the following year.

Before the Kissinger visit became public knowledge, then Prime Minister William McMahon claimed Whitlam had been played “as a fisherman plays a trout” by Zhou. As it turned out, McMahon had hooked himself. Whitlam was well on the way to becoming Australia’s 21st prime minister, if he was not destined for that outcome anyway.

Then, as now, China played an outsize role in Australian domestic politics.

Establishing diplomatic relations

This brings us to a document of great significance in the country’s diplomatic history.

On December 21 1972, envoys to Paris of Australia and China initialled the Joint Communique of the Australian Government and the Government of the People’s Republic of China Concerning the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between Australia and China.

The document’s title was portentous, its implications momentous.

After 23 years, from the moment Mao Zedong had, on October 1 1949, proclaimed the People’s Republic from the Gate of Heavenly Peace overlooking Tiananmen Square, Canberra ended the fiction the Kuomintang regime on Taiwan represented all of China.

The Labor government was elected on December 2. Whitlam and his deputy, Lance Barnard, governed as a duumvirate at first until a full ministry was sworn in. Formalising relations with China was high on the Whitlam-Barnard agenda.

What is striking, and sometimes overlooked, in the December 21 document is the extent to which the formula for dealing with the vexed Taiwan issue differed little from other such agreements with China entered into by comparable countries.

Canada had established full diplomatic relations on similar terms under the Pierre Trudeau Liberal government in 1970. The United Kingdom, Germany and Japan all did so in 1972. France and China had exchanged ambassadors in 1964.

In other words, Australia was aligned with its Western friends.

The key words in the December 21 communique as they relate to Taiwan are these:

The Australian Government recognises the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal Government of China, acknowledges the position of the Chinese Government that Taiwan is a province of the People’s Republic of China […].

In President Jimmy Carter’s announcement of diplomatic relations with China on December 15 1978, Washington settled on a simpler formula that amounted to the same thing in one important respect. Both the Australian and American communiques “acknowledge” China’s claim in relation to Taiwan.

The Government of the United States acknowledges the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China.

In Documents on Australian Foreign Policy: Australia and Recognition of the People’s Republic of China, 1949-1972, Australia had argued hard for the neutral word “acknowledges”, as opposed to Beijing’s demand that the definite “recognises” be used.

In the end Australia prevailed, after giving ground on its preferred option of “takes note” of China’s position on Taiwan.

In Chinese translation, “acknowledges” is less neutral than it is in English and is closer in meaning to “recognises”. Such are the vagaries of diplomatic-speak.

An interesting sidelight to the Whitlam visit to China in 1971 is that in 1954, as the new member for Werriwa, he had called for recognition of China in his first speech.

As Stephen Fitzgerald, who accompanied Whitlam on his initial foray to China and later became Australia’s first ambassador the China, put it in The Australian Financial Review:

He believed we must accept that China is a permanent and significant part of the international landscape, whatever its government or what we think of it […]

All these years later, that seems like a reasonable proposition.

An evolving relationship

Viewed from the vantage point of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, what is most striking is how far and fast the relationship has evolved since 1972.

This is to the point where history has found it difficult to keep up. No-one – not Whitlam, nor Mao, nor Zhou, and certainly not the rest of the world – could have foreseen what would happen in the meantime.

In 1972, China’s GDP stood at US$113.69 billion. Per capita, GDP was US$132. A vast segment of mainly rural-dwelling Chinese lived in poverty. China’s economy then was less the size of Italy’s, and a fraction that of the US.

Australian trade with China, mostly wheat, totalled about US$100 million. In other words, it was negligible.

A half century later, China’s economy is the world’s second largest. GDP in 2021 was US$17.7 trillion compared with the United States’ US$23 trillion. What is most remarkable, however, is the stratospheric growth in per capita GDP – from US$132 in 1972 to US$12,556 in 2021.

At the same time, Australian trade with China, including services, had leapt to A$188.9 billion in 2021 with imports of A$93.3 billion. Chinese students in Australia last year totalled 170,741, up 30% on the pandemic-affected year before.

Read more:
Grattan on Friday: A lot may be changing in China-Australia relations, but a lot is staying the same

Occasions such as the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations provide an opportunity to take stock of what has been achieved and to reflect on what lies ahead.

This includes the epic challenge of managing relations with a rising power that is squeezing Australia’s cornerstone security ally in our immediate region.

Based on an extraordinary last five decades economically, it would be foolish to bet against China’s continued rise and rise. If nothing else, that has been the China lesson of a remarkable past 50 years.

Tony Walker 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. 50 years after Gough Whitlam established diplomatic relations with China, what has changed? – https://theconversation.com/50-years-after-gough-whitlam-established-diplomatic-relations-with-china-what-has-changed-195705

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Ball, Professor of Community Health and Wellbeing, The University of Queensland

Christmas lunch is at your friend’s house this year, and they’ve asked you to bring a plate. Money is tight. So, you find yourself wondering, “What’s cheap, healthy but also looks impressive?”

While a tray of mangoes would certainly be a cheap, healthy and colourful contribution, you want to look as if you’ve put in a bit of effort.

If you’re struggling for inspiration, here are some tried and tested ideas.

Read more:
Your tendency to overindulge these holidays could relate to your ‘eating personality’. Which type are you?

First, choose your ingredients

Check your pantry for inspiration or ingredients. Crackers, dried fruit or nuts are great ideas for a charcuterie board. You can use herbs and spices to add flavour to dishes, or you could use up packets of dried pasta to make a pasta salad. This is also a great way to clean out your pantry.

Focus on fruit and vegetables that are in season, so are cheaper and more readily available. Keep an eye out at your local fruit and veggie shop or market as it will usually have in-season fruit and vegetables in bulk quantities at reduced prices. Check out this seasonal food guide to help you plan your Christmas menu.

Ask around for deals by chatting to your local butcher, fishmonger or grocer and let them know your budget. They may suggest cheaper cuts of meat (such as, oyster, blades, rump caps). Try cooking corned beef or roast chicken in a slow cooker with lots of vegetables. Slow-cooked meals can be frozen and can come in handy for left-overs.

Lean into legumes. These are packed with fibre, protein, vitamins and minerals. They are also budget-friendly and a great way to add texture to salads. Tinned chickpeas, or cannellini, kidney, or butter beans are quick and easy additions that can make filling dishes go further. You could even turn tinned chickpeas into homemade hommus for a healthy and delicious side dish. Check out these healthy legume recipes.

Read more:
Are home-brand foods healthy? If you read the label, you may be pleasantly surprised

7 ways to keep food costs down this Christmas

1. Plan ahead

Plan your menu by asking how many people are coming and checking for any food preferences or dietary requirements. Check for items you already have at home, and make a shopping list for only what you need.

2. Use free recipes

Use free online recipe collections and e-books tailored for budget cooking that can help you design your Christmas menu to meet your budget. This one was created by a group of accredited practising dietitians and has healthy, budget friendly recipes and ideas. You could also try this budget friendly collection of Christmas recipes from taste.

3. Involve the family

Get together with other family members and make it a challenge to see who can make the cheapest, most delicious dish. Get the kids involved in fun activities, such as making a DIY gingerbread house or putting together mixed skewers for the barbecue.

4. Pool your resources

Larger quantities of a single dish will be cheaper than multiple different dishes (and easier to prepare).

5. Frozen is fine

Use frozen fruits and vegetables if you need to. These can have just as many vitamins and minerals as fresh, are often cheaper than fresh produce and last longer. Try using frozen berries to decorate the pavlova or add them to your favourite cake, muffin or pie.

6. Make your own drinks

You could make your own drinks, such as home-brewed iced tea. See if anyone in your family has a soda stream you can borrow to make sparkling mineral water. Add some freshly squeezed lemon or lime for extra flavour.

7. Reduce waste

Use your own crockery and re-use leftovers to reduce waste. After all, washing up is cheaper than buying plastic or paper plates and better for the environment. Remember to save any leftovers and re-use them. Leftover fresh vegetables could be used to make a hearty soup or chutney.

It doesn’t have to be perfect

Christmas comes and goes quickly. If your cooking ideas don’t work out, it’s not the end of the world. Choosing healthy foods on a budget is important all year around, so you may like to think about trying these tips throughout 2023.

Read more:
A festive feast of fish and fruit: the creation of the Australian Christmas dinner

Lauren Ball works for The University of Queensland. She receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, OzHarvest, VicHealth and Queensland Health. She is a Company Director of Dietitians Australia, Company Director of the Darling Downs & West Moreton Primary Health Network, Associate Director for the NNEdPro Global Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health and Honorary Member of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.

Amy Kirkegaard works for The University of Queensland. She is a member of Dietitians Australia.

Breanna Lepre works for the Mater Research Institute and the University of Queensland, and is a member of Dietitians Australia, and the NNEdPro Global Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health.

Emily Burch works for The University of Queensland. She is a member of Dietitians Australia.

– ref. Bring a plate! What to take to Christmas lunch that looks impressive (but won’t break the bank) – https://theconversation.com/bring-a-plate-what-to-take-to-christmas-lunch-that-looks-impressive-but-wont-break-the-bank-196565

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Bean, Research Fellow, Centre for Energy Data Innovation, The University of Queensland

Almost one in three Australian households have solar panels on their roofs. Most are motivated by rising electricity prices and environmental concerns.

Households are paid a so-called feed-in tariff for surplus energy they export to the grid. While customers would love to get paid for every bit of energy they’re able to export to the wider grid, operators have imposed a fixed or “static” limit on how much energy each household can export. This helps keep network voltages – or electric pressure – within a safe range.

The limits are needed because of uncertainty about the impacts on the network of fluctuations in households’ energy use and exports.

The network is connected to households via “low voltage” transformers that reduce the voltage to a level customers can use. The uncertainty arises because operators can see what’s happening at each transformer, but not what’s happening in each household.

We are working on a data-monitoring project to enable network operators to see household voltage and current data in real time. The idea is to enable them to manage network voltage fluctuations more precisely.

This could allow households to safely export more solar, depending on local network conditions. People would arguably receive more money while speeding up the transition to zero-emissions electricity by providing more renewable energy to the network.

Read more:
What’s a grid, anyway? Making sense of the complex beast that is Australia’s electricity network

Managing a tricky transition

The electricity network was originally set up for “bulk” generation from centralised power stations. The flow was in one direction from coal, gas or hydroelectric stations to energy users, including households.

However, economic forces and ageing systems mean many of these power stations are being rapidly retired. They’re being replaced, in part, by so-called “distributed energy resources”. These resources include rooftop solar, household or community batteries, and electric vehicles.

The household export limit to the network is usually around 5 kilowatts (kW), regardless of time of day or what households are generating or consuming. But, because of the falling cost of solar, 10kW residential systems (capable of producing twice the export limit) are increasingly common.

The Australian grid operator, AEMO, envisages distributed solar generation will make up 69GW of network capacity by 2050, compared to around 21GW now.

Integrating this energy generation is a big challenge for the energy market, transmission and distribution network operators.

The Australian Standard for household voltage has “allowable” and “preferred” operating zones around 230 volts. Keeping the voltage within these zones is better for energy efficiency and appliance life.

But when energy flow is “two-way” and unpredictable, both to and from houses, it becomes more challenging to keep the voltage within these zones. When lights flicker or appliances are damaged, that’s a sign the voltage is outside these safe limits.

Read more:
4 ways to stop Australia’s surge in rooftop solar from destabilising electricity prices

How much household data do operators need?

If the operators could see household voltage and current data in real time, they might be able to set “dynamic” limits on households for the import and export of energy. That means limits are allowed to fluctuate depending on local network conditions, instead of being static. Households might then be able export more energy overall than they do now.

A long-term project of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, Project SHIELD, aims to answer a key question here. That is, how much data do operators need to allow this flexibility, while still safely co-ordinating energy flows to and from the grid?

The project involves The University of Queensland, network operators and the private sector. A project partner, Luceo Energy (an offshoot of a company that formerly employed one of the authors), working with Energex and Ergon, has rolled out 20,000 devices in households across Queensland that collect their energy data at one-minute intervals.

Smart meters installed in Victoria typically record energy data every 30 minutes. The new devices measure multiple electricity parameters, such as voltage and current, every minute.

This creates extraordinary amounts of data, which can be used in electricity studies and simulations. It also creates storage and analysis challenges.

The data collected are used to answer “what if?” questions. If an operator had perfect knowledge of conditions at every house attached to a transformer, they could create a safe dynamic limit. But would it still be safe if they could see the data for only 50%, or even 20%, of houses?

World-first simulation systems developed by Queensland company GridQube enable the operators to answer such questions. Data collected by the devices provide a key input.

Several representative locations and time periods have been chosen to see how network visibility can affect the envelope. The local network is simulated using a “power flow” with different network parameters, such as voltage. Then the key questions around safe limits can be answered.

Read more:
Thinking of buying a battery to help power your home? Here’s what you need to know

Benefits for both consumers and operators

Of course, this is only one level of the electricity network. We still need to build considerable amounts of high-voltage transmission to integrate increasing distributed energy resources. This will help provide a reliable and secure power supply.

The data generated by Project SHIELD will inform electricity modellers and data scientists about what is happening at the household level (both electricity usage and solar generation). It can improve forecasting and modelling as data on this scale have not been previously available.

As the roll-out of devices and gathering of data continue at speed, operators can start to relax the limits on household solar energy exports. Greater visibility of local networks offers clear benefits for both consumers and operators.

Richard Bean is a past employee of Redback Technologies (a company related to Luceo Energy) and is a participant in their employee share option plan.

Neil Horrocks works for the University of Queensland as Director of The Centre for Energy Data Innovation. The Centre is a collaborator on a project that the partners co-fund together with additional key funding from ARENA.

– ref. How closely monitoring households’ energy data can unleash their solar outputs and (possibly) make them more money – https://theconversation.com/how-closely-monitoring-households-energy-data-can-unleash-their-solar-outputs-and-possibly-make-them-more-money-196134

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James A. T. Lancaster, Lecturer in Studies in Western Religious Traditions, The University of Queensland

The Christmas tree is a modern invention. It is a largely secular symbol, having no basis in the Bible. There are many trees in the Bible, from the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life in Genesis to the reference to Christ’s cross as a “tree” in Acts. But there is no Christmas tree.

The same is true of ancient, pagan sources. While it might be tempting to draw connections between the Christmas tree and pagan gods and festivals, such as the Egyptian god Ra and the Roman festival Saturnalia, the Christmas tree as we know it is completely unrelated.

The same goes for the legend of Saint Boniface and the Germans, which is just that: a legend. Almost all religions, ancient and modern, have used trees in their rituals, but not Christmas trees.

Even when we get to the 16th century, the Christmas tree we are familiar with is still 350 years in the future.

The story of Martin Luther, to whom the origins of the tree have been popularly attributed, is not supported by scholarship. As wholesome as it sounds, Luther was not overwhelmed by the beauty of a snow-covered tree while contemplating the infant Christ.

The truth is the Christmas tree is a relatively new tradition. It originated as a minor, localised tradition in the 17th century in a single place: the Alsatian capital of Strasbourg.

Read more:
Christmas trees can stay fresh for weeks – a well-timed cut and consistent watering are key

A German tradition

German citizens of Strasbourg included a tree as part of a judgement tradition on Christmas day. Children would be judged by their parents. If good, bonbons would be left under a tree. If bad, there would be no bonbons – a hint of what was to come on Judgement Day.

The ritual spread to other parts of Germany in the 1770s. The German romantic novelist Goethe offered the first account of the Christmas tree to reach a wide audience in Sorrows of Young Werther (1774). But it wasn’t widely adopted in Germany until the 1830s, after the Christmas tree began to gain popularity in America.

The tradition came to Britain in the 1830s, introduced by German merchants in Manchester around the same time the courts of George III and William IV, themselves of German descent, introduced it to British aristocracy.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert popularised the tradition in Britain, when Albert set up a Christmas tree at Windsor in 1840.

The scene was immortalised in The Illustrated London News in 1848, when an engraving was printed showing Victoria, Albert and their children around a candlelit tree with glass ornaments.

Avoiding the excess

The Christmas tree with gifts hidden under its boughs is derived from America, first introduced in Pennsylvania as early as 1812.

The Christmas tree was adopted into American culture as an attempt to remove the gross debauchery of the season.

Before the middle of the 19th century, Christmas was celebrated as a carnival, in which revellers – usually the poor and working classes – would parade around towns, knocking on the doors of the wealthy and demanding to be feasted or given drink. This practice, “wassailing”, evolved to involve drunkenness, vandalism and lewd acts.

The rowdiness of the Christmas season was to be mitigated by the indoor, child-friendly Christmas tree around which the middle-class family would gather.

Children would no longer be permitted outside to revel in the season. The outside would be brought inside: a tree cut down and brought indoors so Christmas could ensue in the safety and comfort of the home.

Savvy marketing

Adopted to mitigate the excesses of the season, American merchants and manufacturers popularised the Christmas tree. Presents were not placed under the tree until savvy manufacturers recognised the potential of the new indoor festivities.

The gross overindulgence of Christmases past – drinking, feasting and sex – made a comeback in a new, middle-class way with the giving of gifts.

The gift-wrapped Christmas present is an American invention of the 1840s that took the world by storm. Wrapped gifts began to be placed under trees by parents in response to the marketing strategies of book publishers.

American families learned about the new tradition not from German immigrants, but from these exact books: books in which the Christmas tree was depicted as a means to keep children happily indoors with what essentially amounts to a bribe. What better way to convince your children to stay inside, away from the revelry and out of trouble, than leave gifts under the tree?

Booksellers published collections of short stories and poems, such as Kriss Kringle’s Christmas Tree (1845), in which children received presents of books, but also swords, drums or dolls.

The genius of the book publishers was to present the new scheme of purchasing gifts for children as an old “folk tradition”. Parents were led to believe placing gifts under the Christmas tree was a ritual as old as the biblical Magi, with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Despite its name, the modern Christmas tree has little connection to an imagined Christian past.

From the 1830s when it became a widespread, middle-class ritual to bring a tree indoors and decorate it with lights, ornaments, angels and stars, the Christmas tree has been a largely secular symbol of the season, whose success remains tied to the forces of a consumerist economy.

Read more:
The sordid underbelly of Christmas past

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

– ref. A story of legends, families and capitalism: a candid history of the Christmas tree – https://theconversation.com/a-story-of-legends-families-and-capitalism-a-candid-history-of-the-christmas-tree-196278

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Steele, Associate Professor in Philosophy, Australian National University

In 2017, the Scottish philosopher William MacAskill coined the name “longtermism” to describe the idea “that positively affecting the long-run future is a key moral priority of our time”. The label took off among like-minded philosophers and members of the “effective altruism” movement, which sets out to use evidence and reason to determine how individuals can best help the world.

This year, the notion has leapt from philosophical discussions to headlines. In August, MacAskill published a book on his ideas, accompanied by a barrage of media coverage and endorsements from the likes of Elon Musk. November saw more media attention as a company set up by Sam Bankman-Fried, a prominent financial backer of the movement, collapsed in spectacular fashion.

Critics say longtermism relies on making impossible predictions about the future, gets caught up in speculation about robot apocalypses and asteroid strikes, depends on wrongheaded moral views, and ultimately fails to give present needs the attention they deserve.

But it would be a mistake to simply dismiss longtermism. It raises thorny philosophical problems – and even if we disagree with some of the answers, we can’t ignore the questions.

Why all the fuss?

It’s hardly novel to note that modern society has a huge impact on the prospects of future generations. Environmentalists and peace activists have been making this point for a long time – and emphasising the importance of wielding our power responsibly.

In particular, “intergenerational justice” has become a familiar phrase, most often with reference to climate change.

Seen in this light, longtermism may look like simple common sense. So why the buzz and rapid uptake of this term? Does the novelty lie simply in bold speculation about the future of technology — such as biotechnology and artificial intelligence – and its implications for humanity’s future?

Read more:
What do we owe future generations? And what can we do to make their world a better place?

For example, MacAskill acknowledges we are not doing enough about the threat of climate change, but points out other potential future sources of human misery or extinction that could be even worse. What about a tyrannical regime enabled by AI from which there is no escape? Or an engineered biological pathogen that wipes out the human species?

These are conceivable scenarios, but there is a real danger in getting carried away with sci-fi thrills. To the extent that longtermism chases headlines through rash predictions about unfamiliar future threats, the movement is wide open for criticism.

Moreover, the predictions that really matter are about whether and how we can change the probability of any given future threat. What sort of actions would best protect humankind?

Longtermism, like effective altruism more broadly, has been criticised for a bias towards philanthropic direct action – targeted, outcome-oriented projects – to save humanity from specific ills. It is quite plausible that less direct strategies, such as building solidarity and strengthening shared institutions, would be better ways to equip the world to respond to future challenges, however surprising they turn out to be.

Optimising the future

There are in any case interesting and probing insights to be found in longtermism. Its novelty arguably lies not in the way it might guide our particular choices, but in how it provokes us to reckon with the reasoning behind our choices.

A core principle of effective altruism is that, regardless of how large an effort we make towards promoting the “general good” — or benefiting others from an impartial point of view — we should try to optimise: we should try to do as much good as possible with our effort. By this test, most of us may be less altruistic than we thought.

For example, say you volunteer for a local charity supporting homeless people, and you think you are doing this for the “general good”. If you would better achieve that end, however, by joining a different campaign, you are either making a strategic mistake or else your motivations are more nuanced. For better or worse, perhaps you are less impartial, and more committed to special relationships with particular local people, than you thought.

In this context, impartiality means regarding all people’s wellbeing as equally worthy of promotion. Effective altruism was initially preoccupied with what this demands in the spatial sense: equal concern for people’s wellbeing wherever they are in the world.

Read more:
The cold logic of doing good

Longtermism extends this thinking to what impartiality demands in the temporal sense: equal concern for people’s wellbeing wherever they are in time. If we care about the wellbeing of unborn people in the distant future, we can’t outright dismiss potential far-off threats to humanity – especially since there may be truly staggering numbers of future people.

How should we think about future generations and risky ethical choices?

An explicit focus on the wellbeing of future people unearths difficult questions that tend to get glossed over in traditional discussions of altruism and intergenerational justice.

For instance: is a world history containing more lives of positive wellbeing, all else being equal, better? If the answer is yes, it clearly raises the stakes of preventing human extinction.

A number of philosophers insist the answer is no – more positive lives is not better. Some suggest that, once we realise this, we see that longtermism is overblown or else uninteresting.

But the implications of this moral stance are less simple and intuitive than its proponents might wish. And premature human extinction is not the only concern of longtermism.

Speculation about the future also provokes reflection on how an altruist should respond to uncertainty.

For instance, is doing something with a 1% chance of helping a trillion people in the future better than doing something that is certain to help a billion people today? (The “expectation value” of the number of people helped by the speculative action is 1% of a trillion, or 10 billion – so it might outweigh the billion people to be helped today.)

For many people, this may seem like gambling with people’s lives – and not a great idea. But what about gambles with more favourable odds, and which involve only contemporaneous people?

There are important philosophical questions here about apt risk aversion when lives are at stake. And, going back a step, there are philosophical questions about the authority of any prediction: how certain can we be about whether a possible catastrophe will eventuate, given various actions we might take?

Making philosophy everybody’s business

As we have seen, longtermist reasoning can lead to counter-intuitive places. Some critics respond by eschewing rational choice and “optimisation” altogether. But where would that leave us?

The wiser response is to reflect on the combination of moral and empirical assumptions underpinning how we see a given choice. And to consider how changes to these assumptions would change the optimal choice.

Philosophers are used to dealing in extreme hypothetical scenarios. Our reactions to these can illuminate commitments that are ordinarily obscured.

Read more:
Speaking with: Peter Singer on effective altruism

The longtermism movement makes this kind of philosophical reflection everybody’s business, by tabling extreme future threats as real possibilities.

But there remains a big jump between what is possible (and provokes clearer thinking) and what is in the end pertinent to our actual choices. Even whether we should further investigate any such jump is a complex, partly empirical question.

Humanity already faces many threats that we understand quite well, like climate change and massive loss of biodiversity. And, in responding to those threats, time is not on our side.

Katie Steele will be a visiting scholar at the Global Priorities Institute, University of Oxford, in 2023.

– ref. Longtermism – why the million-year philosophy can’t be ignored – https://theconversation.com/longtermism-why-the-million-year-philosophy-cant-be-ignored-193538

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

Australia’s relations with China will take another major step forward this week with Foreign Minister Penny Wong travelling to Beijing for the resumption of the bilateral Foreign and Strategic Dialogue, which has been on hold since 2018.

The latest breakthrough follows the meeting between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

Wong’s Wednesday talks will coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Whitlam government establishing diplomatic relations with China on December 22 1972 – an anniversary the Chinese government had been indicating it wanted to mark.

Australian exporters will hope the meeting paves the way to China easing the trade restrictions it has imposed on Australia. The improved relations may also be positive for detained Australians Cheng Lei and Yang Hengjun.

In a statement Albanese and Wong said: “In 1972, then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam took a bold decision, recognising the importance of engagement and cooperation between our two nations and peoples.

“In the decades since, China has grown to become one of the world’s largest economies and Australia’s largest trading partner.

“Trade between Australia and China, as well as strong people-to-people, cultural and business links have delivered significant benefits to both our countries.”

They said Wong was going to Beijing at the Chinese government’s invitation “to meet China’s State Councillor and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wang Yi, and hold the 6th Australia–China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue”.

Albanese and Wong said they welcomed the opportunity to mark the anniversary of diplomatic relations.

“Australia seeks a stable relationship with China; we will cooperate where we can, disagree where we must and engage in the national interest.”

Albanese flagged this latest breakthrough on Friday’s podcast with The Conversation, although he did not specify the form it would take.

He said: “China is our major economic partner and I think in coming weeks you will see further measures and activities which indicate a much-improved relationship, which is in the interests of both of our countries, but importantly as well is in the interests of peace and security in the region.”

The thawing in relations, which began with overtures from China as soon as Labor was elected, came after the Chinese government had previously refused to even return the Morrison government’s phone calls.

China had been angered by the Coalition’s tough line on foreign interference and by its harsh rhetoric, for which then defence minister Peter Dutton was notable. Australia’s pressure for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 was a high-profile source of tension.

The Albanese government has been aware of the need for caution as it looks to stabilise the relationship, repeatedly making it clear Australia would not give any concession to get an improvement.

Shadow foreign minister Simon Birmingham said the Coalition welcomed Wong’s plans to visit.

“Engagement between governments is essential to advance areas of mutual interest and to manage differences,” he said, but added that “the ultimate test of any dialogue lies in the outcomes achieved”.

“Minister Wong’s visit will be judged on progress towards the removal of unwarranted tariffs and sanctions on Australian exports; achieving fair and transparent treatment of Australians currently detained in China; advancing regional security via respect for international law; and securing greater transparency on human rights issues of concern,” Birmingham said.

Australia should also continue to appeal for China to use its influence on Russia to end the immoral and illegal invasion of Ukraine.“

Birmingham said the Wong visit would be the first by an Australian minister since his final visit as trade minister in November 2019.

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. Wong to visit Beijing as ‘strategic dialogue’ restarts in new breakthrough in Australia-China relations – https://theconversation.com/wong-to-visit-beijing-as-strategic-dialogue-restarts-in-new-breakthrough-in-australia-china-relations-196799

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian A Wright, Associate Professor in Environmental Science, Western Sydney University

Australians are fortunate to have access to safe and healthy drinking water in our towns and cities, which is acknowledged as a basic human need globally. Sadly, the World Health Organization estimates about 2 billion people across the world are not so lucky.

Drinking water is important for our health, but water-borne diseases are a common cause of illness. Avoiding water-borne illnesses is particularly important for people with weakened immune systems, or for the very young or aged. Many people travelling around Australia over the summer holidays might wonder if it is still safe to drink the water when they are far from home.

This is a particularly important question this year. After months of very heavy rain across much of eastern Australia, flooding has contaminated many rivers and waterways.

Is taste an indication of water quality? And are they some places where you should avoid the tap water altogether?

Waterways and alerts

The flooded waterways are the water supply for many regional towns. Poor quality water has made their job of supplying clean and healthy water much more difficult.

In some cases, contamination from flood waters has entered town water treatment and supply systems. Even Sydney’s giant water supply reservoir, Warragamba Dam, has limited clean water available due to the inflow of poor quality water from a catchment still impacted from bushfires of two summers ago.

As a consequence of flooding, many regional water authorities in Victoria and New South Wales have declared “boil water alerts” at various times this year. Most have now been lifted.

At the time of writing, there are still four alerts active in NSW (Eugowra, Narranderra, Forbes and nearby small towns). The Victorian town of Echuca issued a boil water alert in October, since lifted, after stormwater entered its water system.

The Australian Drinking Water Guidelines set the standard for all states and territories.

If you are travelling to a town that has been affected by flooding, you should check with your accommodation provider to see if any boil water alerts are active.

You can also check with the local water authority. In many cases this is the local council. The NSW Health Ministry lists water alerts and incidents.

Read more:
Drinking water can be a dangerous cocktail for people in flood areas

Going bush?

But what if you are travelling or camping in a more remote area and are planning to drink from a local stream or an isolated water supply? You might be taking an unnecessary risk if you drink local water without precautions.

If you can’t be certain of the water quality, it is probably best to drink bottled or boiled water. Other water treatment options include chemical disinfection or filtration, but these can be quite complex and technical. Testing water yourself is also difficult and expensive.

If you boil water, it needs to be a “rolling boil” with big bubbles erupting on the surface. Let it bubble for or at least a minute and store cooled water in a closed container.

Read more:
Mozzies are everywhere right now – including giant ones and those that make us sick. Here’s what you need to know

Tasting notes

If you do drink water from an untreated water supply, your senses can give some clues to its safety and quality. Does the water appear clean? Does it smell OK? Is there any cloudiness, discolouration or anything floating or suspended in the water? These signs don’t always mean water is unsafe to drink, but can be an indicator of poor water quality.

That said, water tastes different in different locations around Australia and it might not taste like what you’re used to. Every year the Australian water industry holds a competition to judge Australia’s best-tasting water. This year Casino, in northern NSW took the top prize.

A common complaint from travellers is the smell of chlorine (or perhaps more accurately chloramines) in town water. These are a family of chlorine compounds added in low doses to water to kill any disease causing microorganisms in water supply systems. These compounds can be reduced to taste by boiling or by using a commercial water filter.

Read more:
It’s natural to want to feed wildlife after disasters. But it may not help

And don’t swim in it either

Flooding continues to affect many rivers and communities. Flood waters are working their way down river systems. South Australia is currently affected by flooding of the Murray River, with SES warning of a bigger flood peak later in December.

Even if a flooded river looks inviting for a cooling swim this summer, don’t swim in it. Apart from the drowning risk, or entanglement with debris, medical advice is to avoid contact with flood waters as they are highly contaminated with disease-causing organisms, including from sewerage overflows.

Even if you’re not drinking it, you don’t want to accidentally ingest this dangerous cocktail.

Ian Wright has received funding from industry, as well as Commonwealth, NSW and local Government. He formerly worked in the water industry for Sydney Water Corporation.

Jason Reynolds receives funding from Australian Research Council Research Hub Nutrients in a Circular Economy (NiCE) and Sydney Water.

– ref. Travelling around Australia this summer? Here’s how to know if the water is safe to drink – https://theconversation.com/travelling-around-australia-this-summer-heres-how-to-know-if-the-water-is-safe-to-drink-196294

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 Poll Bludger reported on two Queensland polls on December 12. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted December 1-8 from a sample of 1,000, had a 50-50 tie, unchanged since June. Primary votes were 38% LNP (steady), 34% Labor (steady), 13% Greens (down one), 11% One Nation (up one) and 4% for all Others (steady).

Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had a 41% disapproval rating (up two) and a 40% approval (down five), for a net approval of -1, down seven points. LNP leader David Crisafilli had a 31-27 approval rating (31-23 in June). Palaszczuk’s lead as preferred premier slipped to 39-28 from 41-28 in June.

Analyst Kevin Bonham strongly criticised The Courier Mail for the anti-Labor slant they put on this poll.

The first Resolve Queensland state poll, conducted from August to December from a sample of 924 for The Brisbane Times, gave Labor 37% of the primary vote, the LNP 35%, the Greens 11%, One Nation 6%, independents 7% and others 4%.

Resolve does not give two party estimates until close to elections, but Bonham estimated this poll would be 53-47 to Labor. This Queensland poll was presumably conducted with the five federal Resolve polls from August to December.

Asked whether they held positive, neutral or negative views of the leaders or were unfamiliar with them, Palaszczuk had a 39-31 positive rating and Crisafulli a 23-15 positive rating. Palaszczuk led as preferred premier by 42-30.

The next Queensland election is not until October 2024. Currently Labor appears to be just ahead, and Bonham thinks Labor would be likely to hold onto enough seats to form government with a 50-50 two party tie.

By the 2024 election, Labor will have held power since the January 2015 election, so there’s time for the polling to worsen for Labor. But Victorian Labor just retained government after eight years in power with 56 of the 88 lower house seats, up one since the 2018 election.

Read more:
Final Victorian election results: how would upper house look using the Senate system?

NSW Resolve poll on cashless gaming card

The New South Wales state election is in March 2023. We have been getting NSW voting intentions after every second federal Resolve poll. The last voting intentions was in early November, and there’s only been one federal Resolve poll since. I don’t expect NSW voting intentions until after the next federal Resolve poll.

A NSW Resolve poll for The Sydney Morning Herald, presumably conducted with just the federal December Resolve poll, had voters supporting a mandatory cashless gaming card by 62-16. However, the question wording included arguments in favour of the cashless gaming card, but none against.

If the cashless gaming card were to go ahead, 32% wanted it introduced immediately for all gamblers, 24% to have a voluntary trial of the card statewide and 19% a mandatory trial in specific areas.

By 47-28, voters thought pubs and clubs have been poor instead of good on problem gambling. By 30-26, voters trusted Labor and Chris Minns over the Liberals and Dominic Perrottet to get the right outcome on gambling reforms.

Federal polls: Essential and Morgan

In last week’s federal Essential poll, Labor led by 51-44 on Essential’s two party measure that includes undecided (51-43 in late November). Primary votes were 35% Labor (up two), 30% Coalition (down one), 13% Greens (steady), 17% for all Others (steady) and 5% undecided (down one). Respondent allocated preferences were friendly for the Coalition.

In other findings from this poll of 1,042 respondents conducted in the days before December 13, Anthony Albanese’s ratings were unchanged since November at 60-27 approval (net +33). An Indigenous Voice to parliament was supported by a 63-37 margin (65-35 in August).

Probably due to the change in federal government, 2022 was considered a good year for trade unions over a bad year by a net +13, up from -13 in 2021. Small business was up from -45 to -25 in 2022, after the end of COVID lockdowns. The Australian economy had a net -27 rating in 2022, down one point on 2021.

Thinking about 2023, 40% thought it would be better for Australia than 2022, 25% no difference and 24% worse. On economic indicators, 78-80% expected the cost of living, energy prices and interest rates to be up in the year ahead, while 43% expected unemployment to be up, 30% about the same and 18% down.

A Morgan federal poll, conducted December 5-11, gave Labor a 56.5-53.5 lead, a two-point gain for Labor since the previous week. Morgan’s polls have been better for the Coalition than others since the May election. This is Labor’s highest two party vote in Morgan polls since the election.

US Senator Kyrsten Sinema switches from Democrat to independent

Shortly after United States Democrats won the December 6 Georgia Senate runoff election to seal a 51-49 federal Senate majority, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema defected from the Democrats to become an independent.

I have not seen any polls of Arizona conducted since Sinema defected, but Slate reported on a September poll that showed Sinema was unpopular with all Arizona demographics sampled. Sinema was at net -17 overall, net -20 with Democrats and net -18 with Republicans. She performed better with independent voters, but was still at net -10 with them.

Sinema is up for re-election in November 2024. Democrats are likely to run their own candidate against Sinema and a Republican. I do not know which side she will take most votes from, but it’s very unlikely Sinema will win given her unpopularity across the board.

Republicans’ worse than expected performance at the US midterm elections has resulted in some polls of the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 showing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis now leading former president Donald Trump, although Trump still leads in others.

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. Labor just ahead in two Queensland polls and retains large federal poll lead – https://theconversation.com/labor-just-ahead-in-two-queensland-polls-and-retains-large-federal-poll-lead-196478

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Ratuva, Director, Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury

When the final election results were announced around 4pm on Sunday, many Fijians, at home and around the world, breathed a collective sigh of relief: the government of coup-maker Frank Bainimarama looked like it had finally been defeated at the ballot box.

Could it be that the militarised political culture, pervasive in Fiji since the 1987 coups, was finally being effectively challenged – peacefully?

Bainimarama’s FijiFirst Party (FFP) collected 42.55% of votes, well short of the majority needed to return to power. The closest rival, the People’s Alliance Party (PAP), led by 1987 coup leader Sitiveni Rabuka, won 35.82%, followed by the National Federation Party (NFP) on 8.89% and the Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) with 5.14% of the votes.

Total voter turnout was 68.28%, less than the 71.92% at the 2018 election. With the Unity Fiji and Fiji Labour parties not reaching the required 5% threshold to gain seats under Fiji’s proportional representation system, the maths now points to a dead heat – and some anxious coalition horsetrading.

The vote shares mean FFP will have 26 seats in the new 55-seat parliament, the PAP 21, NFP 5 and SODELPA 3. The PAP and NFP have already signed a pre-election agreement to form a coalition, meaning they are tied with the FFP on 26 seats.

Led by Viliame Gavoka, SODELPA has suddenly been thrust into the role of kingmaker. Given its fraught history with both FFP and PAP, the stage is set for some hard bargaining on all sides.

Family ties

The PAP, in fact, is a breakaway faction of SODELPA. The divorce was bitter and littered with bruised souls. A faction within SODELPA wanted nothing to do with Rabuka and the PAP.

On the other hand, SODELPA’s relationship with FijiFirst has been equally strained. The founding leader of SODELPA, the late prime minister Laiseni Qarase, was deposed, arrested and jailed following Bainimarama’s 2006 coup.

Read more:
As Fiji prepares to vote, democracy could already be the loser

But there is a personal link between SODELPA and the FFP, whose secretary (as well as attorney-general and minister for the economy in the previous government) is Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum. An Indo-Fijian Muslim, Sayed-Khaiyum is the son-in-law of SODELPA leader Viliame Gavoka, an indigenous Fijian (Taukei).

While this multi-racial connection may have its political advantages, the reality is that many in SODELPA vehemently oppose Sayed-Khaiyum for what they view as his imposing and arrogant style.

Return of Rabuka

There are early indications that SODELPA may go with the PAP and NFP partnership to form a grand coalition. Ideologically and politically, SODELPA and PAP share the same basic vision and strategies regarding indigenous Fijian issues – after all, they were once the same party.

Gavoka and Rabuka are similar in various ways. They both have ethno-nationalist tendencies and embrace fundamentalist evangelical Christian doctrines. Gavoka has advocated setting up a Fijian embassy in Jerusalem, and Rabuka has been known as an admirer of Israel since he was commander of Fijian peacekeepers in the Middle East in the 1980s.

Read more:
Fiji’s other crisis: away from the COVID emergency, political dissent can still get you arrested

Furthermore, SODELPA has been under pressure from its international and local branches (which fund the party) not to entertain any FFP coalition proposals. The message coming through from supporters is that their votes for SODELPA were also votes against FFP.

There have also been fears that an alliance between SODELPA and FFP could provoke old grievances and escalate into wider political instability.

Lastly, “non-negotiables” laid down by SODELPA include enacting policies that promote indigenous Fijian interests (including the reinstatement of the Great Council of Chiefs (which Bainimarama abolished), forgiving scholarship debt and setting up a Fiji embassy in Jerusalem. These are similar to the PAP policies in the party manifesto but quite different from the FFP positions.

Culture change

If the election sees FijiFirst finally leave power, there is the potential for democratic progress. One of the major challenges for an incoming new government will be reform of the country’s civil service, judiciary, education and health systems, and the economy in general.

Over the years, Fiji society has been configured in ways that suit the narrow ideological interests and centralised control of the FFP. Security, public order and media laws have been used to undermine democratic debate, free expression and public engagement.

Democratising the institutions of state and making them more relevant will be a huge task. It will require significant financial, political and intellectual resources. It also has ramifications in the wider Pacific region, given Fiji’s role as an economic, communications and political hub.

Read more:
Two past coup leaders face off in Fiji election as Australia sharpens its focus on Pacific

Many Pacific leaders, including in Australia and New Zealand, have been unhappy with Fiji under the Bainimarama-Kaiyum axis. Actions such as the government’s refusal to release more than FJ$80 million in funding for the University of the South Pacific – creating a major crisis at the regional institution – only reinforce such perceptions.

This time, Rabuka and Bainimarama – both former military leaders and coup makers – have used the democratic electoral system rather than guns and force to try to win to power. But behind them sits a culture of command and control that will be difficult to dislodge.

This is subtly woven into various aspects of the 2013 Constitution, such as the role of the military as the nation’s constitutional security watchdog. But there is growing confidence that the chances of another military coup following this election are virtually nil.

Fiji’s civil service and operations of state have incorporated micromanagement, authoritarianism and coercion as part of the institutional culture. The test will be to ensure that a coalition of parties can rule together in a way that expands political participation and enhances democracy.

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

– ref. A knife-edge election in Fiji sees power shift – and a chance to bring back real democracy – https://theconversation.com/a-knife-edge-election-in-fiji-sees-power-shift-and-a-chance-to-bring-back-real-democracy-196465

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Bongiorno, Professor of History, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University

Two summers did for Scott Morrison. The first was that of 2019-20, with its fire, smoke and ash. The second occurred two years later when, having earlier muddled the vaccine program, the federal government failed to secure sufficient access to rapid antigen test (RAT) kits. The removal from the country early in 2022 of an unvaccinated Novak Djokovic ahead of the Australian Open tennis tournament provided some diversionary drama but contributed to the overall impression of pandemic mismanagement already etched on public opinion.

2022 was a year of three elections. The first seems almost forgotten outside South Australia, but the March 19 election there mattered beyond its borders, because it saw the first pandemic-era government ejected from office when Peter Malinauskas defeated the Liberal government of Steven Marshall on a two-party preferred swing of more than 6.5%.

There were also changes of leadership, although not of government, in Tasmania and the Northern Territory. All this looked like a thinning of the ranks of those leaders who had steered it through the crisis, even a changing of the guard.

Would Morrison be next? Not if he could help it, but public reaction to his ukulele performance on 60 Minutes suggested that he would not be able simply to reprise the “daggy dad” routine that worked a treat at the 2019 election. This time the public wasn’t buying.

A stench of decay clung to his government. It had to endure a revolt from members of its own ranks over the issue of the rights of transgender children and teachers in connection with the effort to legislate against religious discrimination. It lacked credibility on climate change policy, adopting a 2050 net zero emissions target too late and without a satisfactory pathway. It flaunted its refusal to legislate a workable anti-corruption commission. Relations with China were in a dreadful state.

As the Omicron variant of COVID-19 spread through the community, Australia’s infection rates climbed dramatically, although these now received less intense media publicity than before. Undaunted, thousands of freedom protesters descended on Canberra in February.

The federal election campaign was, for the major parties, an uninspiring affair and for the mainstream media, a nadir that should have prompted more soul-searching than it did. Morrison said he was a bulldozer, assured us he could change, and then bulldozed an eight-year-old boy during a soccer match. Albanese spoke often of his personal story in the campaign as the son of an invalid pensioner who grew up in public housing.

The election of May 21 saw Labor return to office with a narrow majority and a primary vote in the low 30s, the lowest for a winning party since the adoption of the preferential system in 1918.

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Did Australia just make a move to the left?

But the scenario for the Coalition was far worse. Not only had it lost seats to Labor and the Greens, community independents or “teals” made massive incursions into its old metropolitan heartland. Even Robert Menzies’ old seat of Kooyong went, with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg losing to paediatric neurologist Monique Ryan. The successful teal candidates were all professional women, reflecting a wider dissatisfaction among women with the government and Morrison personally.

The story of the campaign seemed to be a two-party system groaning under the strain of the challenges from minor parties and independents who had taken about a third of the primary vote in the House of Representatives. The Greens expanded their numbers, winning three new seats in Brisbane. An independent with strong environmental credentials, former rugby international David Pocock, even managed to wrest a Canberra Senate seat from the Liberals, the first time the major parties had failed to share the representation between them.

Once the dust settled, attention turned away from the banalities of the campaign and the novelties of results to the new Labor government led by Anthony Albanese. He and ministers such as Penny Wong, who took on foreign affairs, sought to improve relations with China and remind Pacific nations that Australia was “family”.

By the end of the year, there was legislation to create an anti-corruption commission, and to strengthen the ability of workers to push for higher wages after years of stagnation. With war raging in Ukraine and energy prices soaring, the new government was dogged by inflation, but it has now legislated to cap gas prices and reached an agreement with the states for controls on the price of coal. Interest rate increases from a Reserve Bank whose 30-year shine was wearing off threatened the well-being of people whose cost of living was rising faster than many, after decades of low inflation, had ever known.

The government came under pressure to abandon its predecessor’s commitment – supported by Labor – to a third round of income tax cuts that would deliver a windfall to high-income earners.

But amid such competing pressures, most commentators thought Labor’s first six months had been among the more successful for a new federal government. Its image of orderliness was helped by the contrast produced by the revelation that Morrison had secretly taken on five ministries during the pandemic. Meanwhile, new Opposition Leader Peter Dutton sought to rebuild a party that now leaned even further to the right as a result of losses by Liberal moderates in metropolitan seats.

It was the year’s third election, held on November 26, that caused the most surprise. It was not so much the result, for most polling indicated that Labor, under Daniel Andrews, would win the Victorian election. It was the scale of Labor’s victory that shocked. Victoria had endured prolonged and frequent lockdowns, fierce protests against them, and much else that supposedly indicated a faltering government and premier falling out of favour.

Yet Labor, while losing votes in some places, increased its tally of lower-house seats by one. It was another epic media fail, with wishful thinking, especially in the Murdoch press, generating hopelessly inaccurate punditry.

À lire aussi :
The Liberal Party is in a dire state across Australia right now. That should worry us all

The Liberals in Victoria are in a deep malaise, contributing to a bleak national picture for the Coalition parties. The question of whether the Australian centre right, after its unwise flirtations with right-wing populism, can now begin to reconnect with mainstream constituencies, policies and ideas remains one of the central questions in Australian politics.

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

– ref. ‘He played his ukulele as the ship went down’: Frank Bongiorno on the political year that was – https://theconversation.com/he-played-his-ukulele-as-the-ship-went-down-frank-bongiorno-on-the-political-year-that-was-194063

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anita Foerster, Associate Professor, Monash University

Australian company directors have long had legal obligations to identify, disclose and manage material financial risks to the company. Where risks result from climate change, or from measures to mitigate climate change, they have an obligation to address and report these.

But until now there have been no clear rules on how to report.

A new proposal from Treasurer Jim Chalmers on which the government wants comment by February 17 will require a standardised internationally‑aligned form of disclosure of climate‑related risks and opportunities, phased in from 2024-25.

It follows on the heels of the government’s legislated climate targets and proposals to require big emitters to reduce emissions year by year under the previously-leglislated “safeguard mechanism”.

Voluntary best-practice, international standards for climate reporting have been available for some time, developed by the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures.

Commitments have been hard to compare

Around three-quarters of large Australian companies are already using these standards.

An increasing number have also set long-term net-zero emissions targets.

But much of the reporting focuses on the easier aspects of the TCFD standards, which deal with governance and identifying risks, rather than setting out robust transition strategies with clear and measurable decarbonisation pathways aligned to the international Paris accord.

The companies that have adopted climate targets have been using a variety of definitions. Some refer to absolute emissions, some to reducing emissions intensity, and some only to certain business lines.

Very few submit their targets for external verification by bodies such as the Science-based Target Setting Initiative, an international accreditation platform for Paris-aligned targets.

Greenwashing concerns

There are also valid concerns about greenwashing, particularly in relation to net-zero pledges and claims of Paris alignment.

Corporate regulators are increasingly alert to greenwashing risks and some companies are facing litigation over the veracity of their claims.

An ongoing case in the Federal Court against oil and gas company Santos alleges it has been misleading and deceptive in disclosing a net-zero target, while continuing to pursue new high-emitting projects and relying on contentious offset strategies and immature carbon capture and storage technologies.

Completing the jigsaw

The proposed reforms offer a real chance to address these problems.

They would support companies to set out transition strategies, including decarbonisation targets, and to report on their progress using standardised metrics. They would also require clearer reporting of corporate emissions, including, where relevant, the Scope 3 emissions that companies are associated with.

The consultation paper also proposes options to strengthen and streamline the standard-setting, monitoring, and oversight functions of Australian regulators.

Sitting alongside the government’s legislated climate targets and the strengthened safeguard mechanism, the new reporting standards will help line up the puzzle pieces to drive corporate decarbonisation in Australia.

À lire aussi :
Half of Australia’s biggest companies have net-zero emissions plans, but climate action may come too late

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

– ref. Clearer rules on reporting companies’ climate risks could soon put us on a path to decarbonising corporate Australia – https://theconversation.com/clearer-rules-on-reporting-companies-climate-risks-could-soon-put-us-on-a-path-to-decarbonising-corporate-australia-196381

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ausma Bernot, PhD Candidate, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith University

A group of researchers studied 15 months of human mobility movement data taken from 1.5 million people and concluded that just four points in space and time were sufficient to identify 95% of them, even when the data weren’t of excellent quality.

That was back in 2013.

Nearly ten years on, surveillance technologies permeate all aspects of our lives. They collect swathes of data from us in various forms, and often without us knowing.

I’m a surveillance researcher with a focus on technology governance. Here’s my round-up of widespread surveillance systems I think everyone should know about.

CCTV and open-access cameras

Although China has more than 50% of all surveillance cameras installed in the world (about 34 cameras per 1,000 people), Australian cities are catching up. In 2021, Sydney had 4.67 cameras per 1,000 people and Melbourne had 2.13.

While CCTV cameras can be used for legitimate purposes, such as promoting safety in cities and assisting police with criminal investigations, their use also poses serious concerns.

In 2021, New South Wales police were suspected of having used CCTV footage paired with facial recognition to find people attending anti-lockdown protests. When questioned, they didn’t confirm or deny if they had (or if they would in the future).

In August 2022, the United Nations confirmed CCTV is being used to carry out “serious human rights violations” against Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region of Northwest China.

The CCTV cameras in China don’t just record real-time footage. Many are equipped with facial recognition to keep tabs on the movements of minorities. And some have reportedly been trialled to detect emotions.

The US also has a long history of using CCTV cameras to support racist policing practices. In 2021, Amnesty International reported areas with a higher proportion of non-white residents had more CCTV cameras.

Read more:
After Roe v Wade, here’s how women could adopt ‘spycraft’ to avoid tracking and prosecution

Another issue with CCTV is security. Many of these cameras are open-access, which means they don’t have password protection and can often be easily accessed online. So I could spend all day watching a livestream of someone’s porch, as long as there was an open camera nearby.

Surveillance artist Dries Depoorter’s recent project The Follower aptly showcases the vulnerabilities of open cameras. By coupling open camera footage with AI and Instagram photos, Depoorter was able to match people’s photos with the footage of where and when they were taken.

There was pushback, with one of the identified people saying:

It’s a crime to use the image of a person without permission.

Whether or not it is illegal will depend on the specific circumstances and where you live. Either way, the issue here is that Depoorter was able to do this in the first place.

IoT devices

An IoT (“Internet of Things”) device is any device that connects to a wireless network to function – so think smart home devices such as Amazon Echo or Google Dot, a baby monitor, or even smart traffic lights.

It’s estimated global spending on IoT devices will have reached US$1.2 trillion by some point this year. Around 18 billion connected devices form the IoT network. Like unsecured CCTV cameras, IoT devices are easy to hack into if they use default passwords or passwords that have been leaked.

In some examples, hackers have hijacked baby monitor cameras to stalk breastfeeding mums, threaten parents that their baby was being kidnapped, and say creepy things like “I love you” to children.

Beyond hacking, businesses can also use data collected through IoT devices to further target customers with products and services.

Privacy experts raised the alarm in September over Amazon’s merger agreement with robot vacuum company iRobot. A letter to the US Federal Trade Commission signed by 26 civil rights and privacy advocacy groups said:

Linking iRobot devices to the already intrusive Amazon home system incentivizes more data collection from more connected home devices, potentially including private details about our habits and our health that would endanger human rights and safety.

IoT-collected data can also change hands with third parties through data partnerships (which are very common), and this too without customers’ explicit consent.

Read more:
How the shady world of the data industry strips away our freedoms

Big tech and big data

In 2017, the value of big data exceeded that of oil. Private companies have driven the majority of that growth.

For tech platforms, the expansive collection of users’ personal information is business as usual, literally, because more data mean more precise analytics, more effective targeted ads and more revenue.

This logic of profit-making through targeted advertising has been dubbed “surveillance capitalism”. As the old saying goes, if you’re not paying for it, then you’re the product.

Meta (which owns both Facebook and Instagram) generated almost US$23 billion in advertising revenue in the third quarter of this year.

The vast machinery behind this is illustrated well in the 2021 documentary The Social Dilemma, even if in a dramatised way. It showed us how social media platforms rely on our psychological weaknesses to keep us online for as long as possible, measuring our actions down to the seconds we spend hovering over an ad.

Loyalty programs

Although many people don’t realise it, loyalty programs are one of the biggest personal data collection gimmicks out there.

In a particularly intrusive example, in 2012 one US retailer sent a teenage girl a catalogue dotted with pictures of smiling infants and nursery furniture. The girl’s angered father went to confront managers at the local store, and learned that predictive analytics knew more about his daughter than he did.

It’s estimated 88% of Australian consumers over age 16 are members of a loyalty program. These schemes build your consumer profile to sell you more stuff. Some might even charge you sneaky fees and lure you in with future perks to sell you at steep prices.

As technology journalist Ros Page notes:

[T]he data you hand over at the checkout can be shared and sold to businesses you’ve never dealt with.

As a cheeky sidestep, you could find a buddy to swap your loyalty cards with. Predictive analytics is only strong when it can recognise behavioural patterns. When the patterns are disrupted, the data turn into noise.

Read more:
Don’t be phish food! Tips to avoid sharing your personal information online

Ausma Bernot 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. Not Big Brother, but close: a surveillance expert explains some of the ways we’re all being watched, all the time – https://theconversation.com/not-big-brother-but-close-a-surveillance-expert-explains-some-of-the-ways-were-all-being-watched-all-the-time-194917

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Oliver Baumann, Assistant Professor, School of Psychology, Bond University

You’ve driven home from work along the same route for the past five years. But lately, you’ve been stopping at the same intersection, struggling to remember if you need to turn left or right.

Many occasions in everyday life can make us question whether lapses in memory are normal, a sign of cognitive decline, or even the beginning of dementia.

Our first instinct might be that it’s due to deterioration in our brains. And it’s true that like the rest of our body, our brain cells shrink when we get older. They also maintain fewer connections with other neurons and store less of the chemicals needed for sending messages to other neurons.

But not all memory lapses are due to age-related changes to our neurons. In many cases, the influencing factors are more trivial, including being tired, anxious, or distracted.

Read more:
It’s not just doorways that make us forget what we came for in the next room

Some forgetfulness is normal

Our memory system is constructed in a way that some degree of forgetting is normal. This is not a flaw, but a feature. Maintaining memories is not only a drain on our metabolism, but too much unnecessary information can slow down or hamper retrieving specific memories.

Unfortunately, it’s not always up to us to decide what’s important and should be remembered. Our brain does that for us. In general, our brain prefers social information (the latest gossip), but easily discards abstract information (such as numbers).

Memory loss becomes a problem when it starts to affect your typical day-to-day living. It’s not a huge issue if you can’t remember to turn right or left. However, forgetting why you are behind the wheel, where you are meant to be going or even how to drive are not normal. These are signs something may not be right and should be investigated further.

Then there’s mild cognitive impairment

The road between ageing-associated memory loss and the more concerning memory loss is coined as mild cognitive impairment. The degree of impairment can remain stable, improve, or worsen.

However, it indicates an increase risk (around three to five times) of future neurogenerative disease such as dementia. Every year, around 10-15% of people with mild cognitive impairment will develop dementia.

Read more:
Are ‘core memories’ real? The science behind 5 common myths

For people with mild cognitive impairment, the ability to undertake usual activities becomes gradually and more significantly impacted over time. Besides memory loss, it can be accompanied by other problems with language, thinking and decision-making skills.

A mild cognitive impairment diagnosis can be a double-edged sword. It affirms older people’s concerns their memory loss is abnormal. It also raises concerns it will develop into dementia. But it can also lead to the exploration of potential treatment and planning for the future.

Losing your way can be an early marker

Impairment in navigation is thought to be an early marker for Alzheimer’s disease, the most common type of dementia. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have shown the areas that crucially underpin memories for our spatial environment are the first to be affected by this degenerative disease.

So, a noticeable increase in occasions of getting lost could be a warning sign of more pronounced and widespread difficulties in the future.

Given the predictive link between declines in the ability to find your way and dementia, there is an incentive to develop and use standardised tests to detect deficits as early as possible.

Currently, the scientific literature describes varying approaches, ranging from pen-and-paper tests and virtual reality, to real-life navigation, but there is no gold standard yet.

A specific challenge is to develop a test that is accurate, cost-effective and easy to administer during a busy clinic day.

We have developed a five-minute test that used scene memory as a proxy for way-finding ability. We ask participants to remember pictures of houses and subsequently test their ability to differentiate between the pictures they have learned and a set of new images of houses.

We found the test works well in predicting natural variations in way-finding ability in healthy young people, but are currently still evaluating the effectiveness of the test in older people.

Get help when your memory lapses are consistent

While everyday memory lapses are not something we should unduly worry about, it is prudent to seek professional health care advice, such as from your GP, when those impairments become more marked and consistent.

While there is currently still no cure for Alzheimer’s, early detection will allow you to plan for the future and for more targeted management of the disorder.

Read more:
Is there really a benefit from getting an early dementia diagnosis?

Oliver Baumann is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Bond University.

Dr. Cindy Jones (cjones@bond.edu.au) is an Associate Professor of Behavioural Sciences at Bond University, Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine (Medical Program) and an Adjunct Research Fellow at Menzies Health Institute, Queensland.

– ref. How much memory loss is normal with ageing? – https://theconversation.com/how-much-memory-loss-is-normal-with-ageing-193217