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

A key part of the Albanese government’s political strategy is to fill the news cycle with its presence and messaging. Ministers are deployed to the maximum, even when they’ve little to say.

This week we’ve seen an opposite tactic. The government has done its best to limit, to the extent possible, ministerial visibility on a story that is bad for it.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles went to ground after it was reported one of the about 150 former immigration detainees, released late last year, was among three people who allegedly committed a violent house invasion in Perth in April.

In the incident, the perpetrators allegedly posed as police officers to get into the house of the elderly couple. The wife, Ninette Simons, suffered severe injuries to her face. Her husband was allegedly tied up.

After the matter was reported, the ministers did a single interview each: Giles on ABC radio late Tuesday, and O’Neil on her regular Seven Sunrise spot on Wednesday. There should have been a full scale news conference.

The ministers tried to justify avoiding the media by arguing the former detainee, Majid Jamshidi Doukoshkan, is before the courts. He’s charged with aggravated home burglary, robbery, impersonating a public officer, assault and detaining a person.

The ministers’ excuse for their reticence doesn’t wash, because the matter goes to wider issues around inadequacies in how these detainees, including Doukoshkan, have been handled. There are serious questions about ministerial responsibility and administrative competence (or incompetence) that need to be answered.

It is not as though we’re dealing just with history. Given what’s happened so far with this cohort, it’s possible – even likely – there will be future incidents (indeed, another man was charged on Thursday over curfew breaches).

A significant number of the former detainees have run foul of the law since their release. On figures from early February, revealed in Senate estimates, some 18 had been charged with state or territory offences. Five people have been charged with visa breaches since March 13. There were others before that but because it was found invalid visas had been issued to the ex-detainees, those cases were dropped.

The government insists it has put in place all the measures it can to ensure the ex-detainees are monitored so they don’t pose threats to the community.

The opposition contests this. It also argues all these people shouldn’t have been let out in the wake of the High Court decision that related specifically to one person. The government says it had no choice but to release them all.

Let’s assume the government is right in its insistence about the mass release. What followed that release has been a shemozzle.

The ex-detainees are supposed to be fitted with ankle brackets, where that’s considered necessary for their close monitoring. This is done on the recommendation of an expert Community Protection Board the government set up.

Doukoshkan earlier had a bracelet; before his alleged role in the home invasion, this was apparently removed, on the recommendation of the board.

Pushed for an explanation on this on Thursday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the ABC: “Well, the Community Protection Board is, of course, a board that’s independent of politicians”. As to whether the board had failed, “It’s not appropriate for me to comment on individual cases, particularly ones that are before the courts”.

This is a brush-off. Apart from the fact the board provides “recommendations” to the immigration minister (or his delegate), the public deserves to be told why this person was not wearing a bracelet. It’s hard to see how providing that information would interfere with the court case.

Born in Kuwait, 43-year-old Doukoshkan had been convicted in 2017 of drug trafficking.

This year he was released on bail three times. He was charged with a visa breach for curfew breaks – a federal offence. The other instances related to offences under WA law. He received bail the third time in mid-April after he faced a state drug charge.

There’s been much confusion on what precisely was the Commonweath’s position on bail in the federal case. Federal government talking points – revealed by Sky this week – wrongly said it had opposed bail. According to a report in the West Australian at the time, “Counsel for the Commonwealth did not oppose bail but warned: ‘Further breaches may not have the same response’”. The magistrate involved told Doukoshkan he was on thin ice and she wouldn’t have granted bail had the Commonwealth not been so “generous”. (Eventually that charge was withdrawn, because of the invalid visa hitch.)

State as well as federal authorities are involved in dealing with former detainees. But overall responsibility must be sheeted home to the federal government.

The Albanese government rushed through legislation to give it the power to apply to a court to preventatively detain these people if they were judged at a high risk of committing serious, violent or sexual crimes.

So far, no applications have been made. The government says it takes time to prepare strong cases. Albanese had all sorts of qualifications when pressed on Wednesday but said, “I want to see it happen as a matter of urgency”.

Next week we will get the report of the Senate inquiry into the government’s proposed legislation relating to people it is trying to deport. This legislation was driven by fears about another High Court case that, if the government loses, would pave the way for more people to be released. (The conventional wisdom is that the government will probably win this case.)

The legislation targets non-citizens who refuse to cooperate with their removal. They’d face a mandatory year’s jail, with a maximum of five years. Countries refusing to accept involuntary returnees would also face sanctions, with their citizens (with some exceptions) unable to get visas to come to Australia.

The government in the last sitting tried to accelerate this legislation through parliament on the assumption – which proved wrong – that the opposition wouldn’t dare delay it.

The bill has faced extensive criticism, but that coming this week from the Tamil family in Biloela must have been particularly galling for the government. Priya Murugappan said: “If this deportation bill was around a few years ago, my husband and I would have been put in jail because we did not agree to go back to Sri Lanka. Our girls would have been taken away from us by the government. We might still be in jail, instead of living safely here as a family. This shouldn’t happen to other people like us.”

One of the Albanese government’s first acts was to return the family to Biloela, promising them permanency.

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

– ref. Grattan on Friday: O’Neil and Giles dodge the spotlight shining on blunders over ex-detainees – https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-oneil-and-giles-dodge-the-spotlight-shining-on-blunders-over-ex-detainees-229187

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Brakenridge, Postdoctoral research fellow at Swinburne University, Centre for Urban Transitions, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute

People have a pretty intuitive sense of what is healthy – standing is better than sitting, exercise is great for overall health and getting good sleep is imperative.

However, if exercise in the evening may disrupt our sleep, or make us feel the need to be more sedentary to recover, a key question emerges – what is the best way to balance our 24 hours to optimise our health?

Our research attempted to answer this for risk factors for heart disease, stroke and diabetes. We found the optimal amount of sleep was 8.3 hours, while for light activity and moderate to vigorous activity, it was best to get 2.2 hours each.

Finding the right balance

Current health guidelines recommend you stick to a sensible regime of moderate-to vigorous-intensity physical activity 2.5–5 hours per week.

However mounting evidence now suggests how you spend your day can have meaningful ramifications for your health. In addition to moderate-to vigorous-intensity physical activity, this means the time you spend sitting, standing, doing light physical activity (such as walking around your house or office) and sleeping.

Our research looked at more than 2,000 adults who wore body sensors that could interpret their physical behaviours, for seven days. This gave us a sense of how they spent their average 24 hours.

At the start of the study participants had their waist circumference, blood sugar and insulin sensitivity measured. The body sensor and assessment data was matched and analysed then tested against health risk markers — such as a heart disease and stroke risk score — to create a model.

Using this model, we fed through thousands of permutations of 24 hours and found the ones with the estimated lowest associations with heart disease risk and blood-glucose levels. This created many optimal mixes of sitting, standing, light and moderate intensity activity.

When we looked at waist circumference, blood sugar, insulin sensitivity and a heart disease and stroke risk score, we noted differing optimal time zones. Where those zones mutually overlapped was ascribed the optimal zone for heart disease and diabetes risk.

You’re doing more physical activity than you think

We found light-intensity physical activity (defined as walking less than 100 steps per minute) – such as walking to the water cooler, the bathroom, or strolling casually with friends – had strong associations with glucose control, and especially in people with type 2 diabetes. This light-intensity physical activity is likely accumulated intermittently throughout the day rather than being a purposeful bout of light exercise.

Our experimental evidence shows that interrupting our sitting regularly with light-physical activity (such as taking a 3–5 minute walk every hour) can improve our metabolism, especially so after lunch.

While the moderate-to-vigorous physical activity time might seem a quite high, at more than 2 hours a day, we defined it as more than 100 steps per minute. This equates to a brisk walk.

It should be noted that these findings are preliminary. This is the first study of heart disease and diabetes risk and the “optimal” 24 hours, and the results will need further confirmation with longer prospective studies.

The data is also cross-sectional. This means that the estimates of time use are correlated with the disease risk factors, meaning it’s unclear whether how participants spent their time influences their risk factors or whether those risk factors influence how someone spends their time.

Australia’s adult physical activity guidelines need updating

Australia’s physical activity guidelines currently only recommend exercise intensity and time. A new set of guidelines are being developed to incorporate 24-hour movement. Soon Australians will be able to use these guidelines to examine their 24 hours and understand where they can make improvements.

While our new research can inform the upcoming guidelines, we should keep in mind that the recommendations are like a north star: something to head towards to improve your health. In principle this means reducing sitting time where possible, increasing standing and light-intensity physical activity, increasing more vigorous intensity physical activity, and aiming for a healthy sleep of 7.5–9 hours per night.

Beneficial changes could come in the form of reducing screen time in the evening or opting for an active commute over driving commute, or prioritising an earlier bed time over watching television in the evening.

It’s also important to acknowledge these are recommendations for an able adult. We all have different considerations, and above all, movement should be fun.

Christian Brakenridge 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. How much time should you spend sitting versus standing? New research reveals the perfect mix for optimal health – https://theconversation.com/how-much-time-should-you-spend-sitting-versus-standing-new-research-reveals-the-perfect-mix-for-optimal-health-228894

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Haskell-Dowland, Professor of Cyber Security Practice, Edith Cowan University

Responding to a resurgence in gender-based violence and deaths in Australia, the National Cabinet has committed almost A$1 billion to a range of strategies.

Tackling “online harms” was among the new commitments, including the introduction of a pilot program to explore the use of age-checking technologies to restrict children’s access to inappropriate material online.

Under-age exposure to adult content is considered to be a contributory factor to domestic violence through fuelling harmful attitudes towards relationships. Controlling access to adult material is also aligned with debate over access to social media sites and other age-related restrictions.

While the details are yet to come, a roadmap for this was proposed more than a year ago by the eSafety Commissioner. Recent events have clearly spurred action, but there are questions over the effectiveness of tools to check the age of website visitors.

Implementing and enforcing these will be challenging and there is the potential for people to bypass such “age assurance” controls. But while there’s no easy fix, there are some checks that could help.

What’s being proposed?

In March 2023, the eSafety Commissioner published a “Roadmap for age verification”, which outlined the risks of children accessing inappropriate content (primarily online pornography). This was a comprehensive report, identifying current approaches, views from various industry representatives, and highlighting existing legislative and regulatory frameworks.

Disappointingly, this was not the first such offering. A 2020 Parliamentary paper “Protecting the age of innocence” also discussed similar issues and made similar recommendations:

It’s now not a matter of “if” a child will see pornography but “when”, and the when is getting younger and younger.

Some of the data in the 2023 report is quite shocking, including:

• 75% of children aged 16–18 have seen online pornography
• one third of those were exposed before the age of 13
• half saw it between ages 13 and 15.

The report made extensive recommendations, including:

Trial a pilot before seeking to prescribe and mandate age assurance technology.

Assurance versus verification

While they may sound similar, there are distinct differences between age assurance and age verification.

Age assurance is most often seen in social media settings where an individual is asked for their date of birth. It’s effectively a self-declaration of age. This can also be found in certain applications (such as Facebook’s Messenger Kids) where a parent is nominated to confirm a child can have access to a service. It may also use biometrics to attempt to determine a person’s age, for example by using a webcam to visually classify a person’s age range based on appearance.

Age verification is a more rigorous approach, where some form of identity is provided and verified against a trusted source. A simple example can be seen in online systems where identity is verified using a driver’s licence or passport.

Will it work?

The concept of checking a person’s age seems to be a simple and effective solution. The challenge is the reliability of the mechanisms available.

Asking a user to enter their date of birth is clearly open to misuse. Even seeking secondary approval (say, from a parent) would only work if there was a mechanism to confirm the relationship.

Similarly, a biometric approach depends on access to a webcam (or other sensor) and would itself raise concerns over privacy.

In verifying a person’s age, we are really talking about verifying identity – a topic steeped in controversy itself.

While ID verification is potentially a more reliable approach, it depends on trust and the secure access and storage of our identity records.

Given recent data breaches (including Outabox just this week, as well as Optus and Medibank incidents), any proposed system would have to rely on more than simply entering a passport number or other identifier. Perhaps it could use the myGovID service the government is currently expanding.

It needs coordinated effort

It is worth noting that any solution would likely see a verification request pushed from the content provider to an Australian-based (likely government managed) service.

This would simply provide a confirmation to the content provider that a user has been confirmed as an “adult”. It is unlikely any proposed system would require the entry of identity data into an overseas website that would then be stored outside Australia.

But with so much of the adult content itself hosted overseas, it will require a coordinated effort to enforce and to ensure that providers have the ability to connect to age verification systems in Australia.

Won’t kids just bypass it anyway?

The reality is, no system is perfect. With age assurance, children can enter fake details – or genuine information from another person – to claim they are older. Even the use of biometrics can potentially be bypassed with the cooperation of an older relative, photo filters or future AI applications.

Age verification offers potential. But for it to work, the verification process must confirm not just the age of the claimed identity, but the authenticity of the person attempting to verify their age. For example, a child could access stolen identity documentation to enter a legitimate driver’s licence or passport.

Finally, these checks are likely to be specific to Australia, with service providers implementing a solution for connections originating within the country. With easy access to virtual private networks (VPNs) or the use of anonymised browsers, such as Tor, there are many ways to potentially evade these controls.

While we may not have a simple solution, imposing constraints that affect the majority of underage access is still a worthwhile project.

Some children will always seek to access illicit materials. Those determined enough will always find a way, just as plenty of children still find a way to smoke and drink.

But doing nothing is not an option – and this may well protect at least some impressionable minds.

Paul Haskell-Dowland 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 will trial ‘age assurance’ tech to bar children from online porn. What is it and will it work? – https://theconversation.com/australia-will-trial-age-assurance-tech-to-bar-children-from-online-porn-what-is-it-and-will-it-work-229184

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Priestley Habru, PhD candidate, public diplomacy, University of Adelaide

Former foreign minister Jeremiah Manele has been elected the next prime minister of Solomon Islands, defeating the opposition leader, Matthew Wale, in a vote in parliament.

The result is a mixed bag for former prime minister Manasseh Sogavare’s Ownership, Unity and Responsibility (OUR) Party. The party won just 15 of 50 seats in last month’s election, while the opposition Care coalition won 20. But even though Sogavare declined to stand for PM this week, his party still had the upper hand in the vote after courting independent MPs.

So, what kind of leader will Manele be? Will he bring big changes to the country or its relationships with China, Australia and the United States?

Quality-of-life issues remain paramount

One of the authors here (Claudina) voted in Solomon Islands’ general election in November 2014. At that time, political campaigns were low-key and largely localised to particular areas in the country.

Ten years on, we have noticed a huge change in the way campaigns are staged. This year, the livestreaming of campaign events was ubiquitous on social media, which amplified and sensationalised the messages of candidates like never before. Frenzied parades involving floats and legions of supporters were common.

Despite all the fanfare leading up to polling day, the primary concern of ordinary Solomon Islanders was not political wrangling, but the dire state of services in the country. The healthcare system is dilapidated, road conditions and infrastructure are poor and power cuts are constant.

The increased cost of living and lack of educational and job opportunities have only made daily life more difficult for residents.

For example, one voter in Isabel Province told us as part of our research that he did not care what political party his preferred candidate aligned himself with. His main concern was for his MP to continue to provide financial support through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF). The fund pays for iron roofing for homes, school fees, outboard motor engines for transport, chainsaws and other material needs.

Many voters similarly wanted their MPs to join the majority coalition so they would be able to access more benefits through the government. This was why nine of the independent MPs who unseated incumbents from the governing coalition came back to join that same coalition going into the PM’s election this week.

Manele got 31 votes from lawmakers, which included 15 from his OUR Party, three from Solomon Islands People First Party, one from the Kadere Party, nine independents and three other MPs who switched allegiances from Wale’s camp.

It was a smart move for Sogavare and his coalition to select Manele as their candidate.

Sogavare’s popularity has waxed and waned over the past two decades. He was forced to vacate the PM post after no-confidence votes in both 2007 and 2017. He survived another no-confidence vote in 2021, which led to violent protests on the streets of Honiara and the destruction of Chinatown.

Though Sogavare managed to hold onto his seat in last month’s election, he won by just 259 votes. It was his narrowest margin of victory since he was first elected to parliament in 1997.

To avoid a similar backlash from voters who did not want to see Sogavare become PM again, the sensible thing for his coalition was to select another candidate.

The 55-year-old Manele is from the same village (Samasodu) in Isabel Province as the governor-general, Sir David Vunagi, which means the two men in the highest offices in the country are closely related.

Manele will likely be an inclusive leader. He has a friendly and humble personality, as reflected in his maiden speech in which he acknowledged his rival, Wale, and members of his coalition.

A more matter-of-fact foreign policy

One of the main reasons Sogavare courted controversy was his increasingly cosy relationship with Beijing since his government switched Solomon Islands’ diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to China in 2019.

He signed a secretive bilateral security deal with China in 2022 that raised alarm bells in Australia. Last year came another deal to boost co-operation with China on law enforcement and other security matters.

With Manele now at the helm, the country should return to a more business-as-usual approach to diplomatic ties with China. His experience as a career diplomat, public servant, opposition leader and foreign minister will help him navigate the country’s complex relationships without the fiery rhetoric his predecessor had become known for.

In addition, we may finally be able to see what the 2022 security agreement entails now that a former foreign minister is in charge.

Asked by the ABC whether his government would keep the deal, Manele said “yes”, then added:

If there is a need to review that, it will be a matter for China and Solomon Islands to discuss.

However, he may face some pressure from the opposition. Peter Kenilorea junior, the political wing leader of the Solomon Islands United Party (SIUP), has publicly expressed a desire to scrap the security agreement with China.

Manele should also maintain a cordial and perhaps more engaged relationship with Australia. When announcing his PM candidacy this week, he reiterated he would continue the long-held Solomon Islands foreign policy stance of “friends to all and enemies to none”.

What matters most to Solomon Islanders

The broader region must continue to see the plight of ordinary Solomon Islanders as separate from the decisions of its leaders, who at times may not necessarily reflect the wishes of the people.

Ask any Solomon Islander in a rural area what he or she thinks of the security agreement with China and the implications for traditional partners like the US, Australia and New Zealand. Chances are he or she might just shrug it off without uttering a response.

This is because Solomon Islanders have other pressing issues to worry about, such as how to pay school fees, how to feed their families, how to get their kids to school when the river floods and how to get fuel to take an expecting mother to the nearest health centre. This is what matters most to people’s lives, not diplomatic tussles between global powers.

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. Will Solomon Islands’ new leader stay close to China? – https://theconversation.com/will-solomon-islands-new-leader-stay-close-to-china-227905

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shaun Eaves, Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

How often do mountains collapse, volcanoes erupt or ice sheets melt?

For Earth scientists, these are important questions as we try to improve projections to prepare communities for hazardous events in the future.

We rely on instrumental measurements, but such records are often short. To extend these, we use geological archives. And at the heart of this research is geochronology – a toolkit of geological dating methods that allow us to assign absolute ages to rocks.

In recent years, we have been using a state-of-the-art technique known as cosmogenic surface exposure dating which allows us to quantify the time a rock has spent on the surface, exposed to signals from outer space.

Using cosmic rays as a clock

Earth is constantly bombarded by high-energy charged particles, known as cosmic rays, coming from the depths of our galaxy. Most are intercepted by Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere. But some are sufficiently energetic to reach Earth’s surface.

On impact, they break apart atoms of common elements in Earth’s crust, such as silicon and oxygen, to create new rare elements known as cosmogenic nuclides.

The presence of cosmogenic nuclides in rocks and sediments at the Earth’s surface is a clear indicator of atmospheric exposure. Their abundance tells us how long the rock has been exposed.

Cosmic rays were first discovered in the early 1900s, but it took almost a century until sufficiently sensitive particle accelerators became available to accurately count the small number of rare atoms produced when they hit Earth.

Today, cosmogenic surface exposure dating represents a primary technique for quantifying the rates and dates of several processes on Earth’s surface.

Timing mountain collapse

In southeast Fiordland, the Green Lake landslide is one of the largest landslides on Earth. Its large size is especially unusual given the relatively small stature of the mountains from which it came.

Previous research suggested the landslide was induced by the retreat of a large glacier that formerly supported the mountainside.

Given ongoing glacial retreat today, we sought to test this hypothesis by collecting boulders on the surface of the Green Lake landslide. These rocks had previously been shielded from cosmic rays in the mountain interior before becoming exposed by the landslide.

Our measurements yielded an exposure age of about 15,500 years, which postdates the end of the last ice age in the Southern Alps by 3,000 to 4,000 years. From this result, we conclude that deglaciation is unlikely to have been the primary cause of this spectacular mountain collapse. Instead, our findings point to an extremely large earthquake as the more likely trigger.

How often do volcanoes emit lava?

Effusive (lava-producing) volcanic eruptions have built the large cone of Mt Ruapehu, the highest mountain in the North Island.

Despite some explosive episodes during the 20th century, there is no observational record of eruptions producing lava flows. Future effusive events could fundamentally reshape the volcanic cone, with potential implications for local infrastructure.

But how often do such eruptions happen?

Supported by the Resilience to Nature national science challenge, we tested whether cosmogenic dating could help us determine recurrence intervals of lava-producing eruptions on Mt Ruapehu over the past 20,000 years.

We found the mountain ejected lava in clusters of eruptive activity which could last for millennia. The cosmogenic data also provided more precise dates for recent prehistoric eruptions, compared to those produced by other common volcanic dating techniques such as palaeomagnetic and radiometric methods.

Tracking the melting of ice

Before cosmogenic nuclide measurements, glacial geologists trying to determine the age of sediments relied on serendipitous discoveries of fossil plant material for radiocarbon dating. In alpine and polar regions, where most glaciers are, such matter is rarely available.

Cosmogenic nuclides solve this problem as glaciers quarry rocks from their base and transport them to the surface where they rest on hill slopes and moraines and begin accumulating their cosmic signal.

With support from the New Zealand Antarctic Science Platform, we have applied this technique to reconstruct the recent evolution of Byrd Glacier – a large outlet of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Glacial cobbles, transported from the Antarctic interior and deposited on hillsides on either side of the flowing glacier, track how high the glacier was in the past.

Our study shows that the glacier thinned by at least 200 metres about 7,000 years ago during an interval of relative global climate stability. These results provide rare three-dimensional information that can be used to evaluate computer models used to simulate past, present and future ice sheet change.

Rising sea level is one of the biggest challenges facing civilisation this century. However, the uncertain response of ice sheets to climate change currently hampers projections.

Cosmogenic nuclide specialists are now ambitiously attempting to recover rock samples from beneath sensitive portions of the present ice sheets. Testing them for cosmic signals will yield important insights about the potential of future melting of ice sheets.

Shaun Eaves receives funding from the New Zealand Antarctic Science Platform.

Jamey Stutz receives funding from the New Zealand Antarctic Science Platform and the United States National Science Foundation .

Kevin Norton receives funding from Te Apārangi.

Pedro Doll receives funding from the Resilience to Nature national science challenge.

– ref. A clock in the rocks: what cosmic rays tell us about Earth’s changing surface and climate – https://theconversation.com/a-clock-in-the-rocks-what-cosmic-rays-tell-us-about-earths-changing-surface-and-climate-228094

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Flood, Professor of Sociology, Queensland University of Technology

Most young adult men in Australia reject traditional ideas of masculinity that endorse aggression, stoicism and homophobia. Nonetheless, the ongoing influence of those ideas continues to harm men and the people around them. These are some of the findings of a new survey of men in Australia.

The Man Box survey, led by The Men’s Project at Jesuit Social Services in partnership with Respect Victoria, spoke to 2,523 Australian men aged between 18 and 30.

We asked men how much they agreed with a stereotypical model of how to be a man. In this model, men are expected to always act tough, be aggressive, take risks, be stoic, heterosexual, homophobic and transphobic, emotionally inexpressive, hostile to femininity, and dominant.

Read more:
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Masculinity expert Michael Flood on boys and men behaving badly

The results showed most men don’t endorse this model of manhood, and most don’t think society is encouraging this version of manhood among them. This suggests healthier, more gender-equitable, and more inclusive norms of manhood are relatively common among young adult men in Australia.

That said, one-quarter to one-third of young men did agree with some of the attributes.

Although the results are largely encouraging, it’s discouraging that men’s levels of endorsement of traditional masculine beliefs have remained steady over the past five years.

Comparing the most recent Man Box survey with the previous survey in 2018, there has been little change in men’s attitudes towards male aggression, stoicism and self-sufficiency, domestic labour as women’s work, homophobia, and hypersexuality.

The only substantial areas of change in young men’s own beliefs have been in their comfort with men spending time on grooming and fashion and their acceptance of men not always knowing where their intimate partner is. That is, young men these days may be spending a little more time in front of the bathroom mirror, and checking up a little less on where their wives or girlfriends are.

Although only a minority of young men support male dominance and control in relationships and families overall, this has not declined much in the past five years.

On the other hand, young men report less societal pressure to conform to those stereotypical masculine norms than five years ago. While they now report feeling less pressure to be self-sufficient, stoic, and act strong, large numbers say it remains an issue for them.

Read more:
Like father, like son: new research shows how young men ‘copy’ their fathers’ masculinity

Harmful for all genders

Young men’s endorsement of traditional masculine norms plays out in a range of problematic behaviours. These include behaviour that is harmful to women and also to men themselves.

Our survey shows one-quarter of young men have used physical violence against an intimate partner, and one-fifth have used sexual violence against an intimate partner. Both behaviours are more likely among the young men who more strongly endorse more traditional stereotypes of masculinity.

Traditional masculine norms also limit young men’s own health and wellbeing. Among the men we surveyed, some had considered suicide and self-harm, were drinking at dangerous levels, taking risks while intoxicated or drug-affected, or problem gambling. Again, all of these are more common among the men with the highest conformity to traditionally masculine stereotypes.

Promoting healthy masculinity

To address the harms of stereotypical masculine norms, three tasks are crucial.

First, we must highlight why these are harmful in the first place. This means alerting policy makers, service providers and the community to the costs of men’s and boys’ blind conformity to masculinity.

Second, we must weaken the cultural influence of stereotypical masculine ideals, particularly the ones that cause harm to men and the people around them. That may involve highlighting the positive diversity among men and boys, promoting spaces where men can support each other in breaking free of rigid masculine stereotypes, and amplifying alternative male voices.

Third, we must promote healthy alternatives to rigid masculine ideals, based on qualities such as gender equality, non-violence, respect and empathy. This can be done through schools as part of respectful relationships education. There can also be social marketing and communications campaigns and changes to the policies and workplace cultures that constrain men’s parenting, among other strategies.

Building work with men and boys

The “healthy masculinities” field is taking off in Australia. There are new programs aimed at boys and men, national violence-prevention frameworks for men and boys, and new funding opportunities. Most people in Australia agree men and boys will benefit from breaking free from traditional masculine stereotypes.

If this growing field is to make a real difference, however, there are some important ways forward. The work must be scaled up, beyond programs reaching small numbers of boys in schools.

Because gender norms and patterns of interaction are embedded in organisations and communities, work must be done in those spaces too.

Intensive intervention is needed in the settings that sustain unhealthy and gender-inequitable forms of masculinity. These may include particular workplaces, informal male peer groups, and online platforms and networks on Reddit, X/Twitter and elsewhere.

There is a rich body of scholarship on how stereotypical masculinity shapes men’s and boys’ poor health, use of violence, and other social problems.

Read more:
Why ‘toxic masculinity’ isn’t a useful term for understanding all of the ways to be a man

However, we need to know more about the positives. What are the factors that shape healthy attitudes, behaviours and relations among men and boys? How do we then build on them?

We need to build services’ and practitioners’ capacity to work well with men and boys: through university teaching, professional development and practitioner networks.

Finally, we need standards for effective practice in work with men and boys, so initiatives and programs in Australia are not merely well-intended but actually make a difference.

Michael Flood has received funding from the Australian Research Council, the Department of Justice and Community Safety in the Victorian Government, the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute (APHCRI) Foundation, and other organisations. He was commissioned by Jesuit Social Service to contribute a commentary within the Man Box 2024 report.

– ref. Aggressive? Homophobic? Stoic? Here’s what thousands of Australian men told us about modern masculinity – https://theconversation.com/aggressive-homophobic-stoic-heres-what-thousands-of-australian-men-told-us-about-modern-masculinity-228187

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassy Dittman, Senior Lecturer/Head of Course (Undergraduate Psychology), Research Fellow, Manna Institute, CQUniversity Australia

With winter sports swinging into action, adults around the country have volunteered or been volunteered by others (humorously known as being “volun-told”) to coach junior sports teams.

While most coaches are eager to work with children to build their skills, confidence and passion for sport, one aspect of the job that coaches may approach with trepidation is working with parents.

This can be especially difficult for the many coaches who are also parents, as they need to balance dual roles and relationships.

As researchers in sports coaching and family psychology, we know parents play a central role in supporting children’s participation, enjoyment and development in sport.

However, as coaches of junior teams ourselves, we understand that working with parents can be challenging. Indeed, lack of support from parents has been identified as a major reason for coaches deciding not to continue.

Community sports clubs rely on volunteers to coach teams but coaches often receive limited or no training or guidance about how to work effectively with parents.

Our approach is to consider the coach-parent relationship a positive dimension of the job, working together as partners to develop young people through sport.

So, what can coaches do to build strong partnerships with parents?

Help parents feel a part of the team

In the past, most parents had an arm’s length interest in their children’s sport. Today, parents develop social connections via their children’s sport.

Parents build an identity as a “sports parent”, viewing active involvement in their children’s sport as an important part of the parenting role, helping to cultivate their child’s character and development.

As a result, parents are looking for ways to be positively involved, but may not be sure what will be most helpful. Some parents may not have the confidence to assist directly with training or games.

As a volunteer coach, you can think of practical ways parents can help and actively invite them to give you a hand in ways that support, rather than interfere with your coaching. This might include asking them to assist with setting up and packing up after training, taking turns bringing fruit for halftime, or running the player substitutions on and off the field.

For younger children, you can ask parents to assist with “crowd control” at training, keeping younger children on task and listening to the coach. And for older children and teenagers, parents can be asked to keep team statistics and provide input into the player-of-the-day award.

As many leagues don’t keep score, this last suggestion presents an opportunity for teams to focus on things beyond winning or losing – parents might record the number of “touches” each player gets or note “highlights” for each player based on what they worked on in training.

More adventurous teams might work out how players can rate the performance of their parents as spectators.

It helps to view the team you are coaching as an extended team of players and parents. In the same way you would build your relationship with a child by praising and encouraging them for being valuable team players, remember to show your appreciation for parents and family members for their efforts.

Get on the same page as parents

Parents invest considerable time, money and emotional energy into their children’s sport.

Our research has shown that in some cases, this significant personal investment can result in unhelpful sideline behaviour from parents, like yelling and shouting, contradicting the coach or giving unsolicited advice.

Coaches sharing with parents their goals and expectations for the team is a good way to turn their personal investment into positive and constructive involvement.

In our experience, an open conversation at the start of the season about everyone’s expectations can help build alignment on goals between coaches, players and parents, providing a strong foundation for establishing parent and coach relationships.

A coach might say to parents:

As coaches of junior teams, we face a few trade-offs. We need to consider the different objectives of winning and performance, sports skill development and children’s personal enjoyment and development. I would be interested in your views on this. If you had 100 points to allocate, what would be your priorities regarding the number of points to: (1) winning the game, (2) sports skill development, and (3) player personal development?

While the weight of priorities might differ between parents of an under-7s team compared to an under-16s representative side, parents’ responses will help coaches see what values are important to them.

Coaches can then share their goals and invite discussion about how this might be similar or different to the priorities among parents or between parents, players and the coach.

Keep the communication channels open

Such a frank conversation sets the stage for open, transparent and regular communication throughout the season.

Encouraging parents to listen to post-match team debriefings is a good way to continue that communication, as are informal check-ins with parents sharing your observations about how their child is progressing.

Many coaches use messaging apps to stay in touch with parents about games and training schedules, but these can also be useful tools for reviewing team goals for the week or reinforcing expectations and priorities.

This effort from the coach to share goals and maintain open communication may not reduce the prospect of having difficult conversations across the season. But it should help parents feel comfortable approaching the coach in a way that is respectful and considerate of the partnership that already exists.

Building coach-parent partnerships is about finding constructive ways for helping parents feel included, positively involved and valued in their children’s sport.

An effective coach-parent partnership will help coaches stay in the sport and support children to have a positive sporting experience into the future.

Cassy Dittman receives funding from the Commonwealth-funded Manna Institute, which aims to improve place-based mental health research for regional, rural and remote Australia, and in the past has received research funding from the National Rugby League (NRL). She holds an Honorary Senior Research Fellowship with the Parenting and Family Support Centre, which is partly funded by royalties stemming from published resources of the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program, which is developed and owned by The University of Queensland (UQ). Royalties are also distributed to the Faculty of Health and Behavioral Sciences at UQ and contributory authors of published Triple P resources. Triple P International (TPI) Pty Ltd is a private company licensed by UniQuest Pty Ltd on behalf of UQ, to publish and disseminate Triple P worldwide. Cassy Dittman has no share or ownership of TPI, however as an author on Triple P Programs, she receives royalties from TPI.

Steven Rynne has previously received research funding from the National Rugby League (NRL). He has research links with the Parenting and Family Support Centre, which is partly funded by royalties stemming from published resources of the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program, which is developed and owned by The University of Queensland (UQ). Royalties are also distributed to the Faculty of Health and Behavioral Sciences at UQ and contributory authors of published Triple P resources. Triple P International (TPI) Pty Ltd is a private company licensed by UniQuest Pty Ltd on behalf of UQ, to publish and disseminate Triple P worldwide. Steven Rynne has no share or ownership of TPI, however as an author on Triple P Programs, he may in the future receive royalties from TPI.

Michael John O’Keeffe 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. You’ve been ‘volun-told’ to coach junior sport – here’s how to best handle the parents involved – https://theconversation.com/youve-been-volun-told-to-coach-junior-sport-heres-how-to-best-handle-the-parents-involved-227767

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karleen Gribble, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University

Parents are often advised to burp their babies after feeding them. Some people think burping after feeding is important to reduce or prevent discomfort crying, or to reduce how much a baby regurgitates milk after a feed.

It is true babies, like adults, swallow air when they eat. Burping releases this air from the top part of our digestive tracts. So when a baby cries after a feed, many assume it’s because the child needs to “be burped”. However, this is not necessarily true.

Read more:
5 expert tips on how to look after your baby in a heatwave

Why do babies cry or ‘spit up’ after a feed?

Babies cry for a whole host of reasons that have nothing to do with “trapped air”.

They cry when they are hungry, cold, hot, scared, tired, lonely, overwhelmed, needing adult help to calm, in discomfort or pain, or for no identifiable reason. In fact, we have a name for crying with no known cause; it’s called “colic”.

“Spitting up” – where a baby gently regurgitates a bit of milk after a feed – is common because the muscle at the top of a newborn baby’s stomach is not fully mature. This means what goes down can all too easily go back up.

Spitting up frequently happens when a baby’s stomach is very full, there is pressure on their tummy or they are picked up after lying down.

Spitting up after feeding decreases as babies get older. Three-quarters of babies one month old spit up after feeding at least once a day. Only half of babies still spit up at five months and almost all (96%) stop by their first birthdays.

Does burping help reduce crying or spitting up?

Despite parents being advised to burp their babies, there’s not much research evidence on the topic.

One study conducted in India encouraged caregivers of 35 newborns to burp their babies, while caregivers of 36 newborns were not given any information about burping.

For the next three months, mothers and caregivers recorded whether their baby would spit up after feeding and whether they showed signs of intense crying.

This study found burping did not reduce crying and actually increased spitting up.

When should I be concerned about spitting up or crying?

Most crying and spitting up is normal. However, these behaviours are not:

• refusing to feed

• vomiting so much milk weight gain is slow

• coughing or wheezing distress while feeding

• bloody vomit.

If your baby has any of these symptoms, see a doctor or child health nurse.

If your baby seems unbothered by vomiting and does not have any other symptoms it is a laundry problem rather than something that needs medical attention.

It is also normal for babies to cry and fuss quite a lot; two hours a day, for about the first six weeks is the average.

This has usually reduced to about one hour a day by the time they are three months of age.

Crying more than this doesn’t necessarily mean there is something wrong. The intense, inconsolable crying of colic is experienced by up to one-quarter of young babies but goes away with time on its own .

If your baby is crying more than average or if you are worried there might be something wrong, you should see your doctor or child health nurse.

Not everyone burps their baby

Burping babies seems to be traditional practice in some parts of the world and not in others.

For example, research in Indonesia found most breastfeeding mothers rarely or never burped their babies after feeding.

One factor that may influence whether a culture encourages burping babies may be related to another aspect of infant care: how much babies are carried.

Carrying a baby in a sling or baby carrier can reduce the amount of time babies cry.

Babies who are carried upright on their mother or another caregiver’s front undoubtedly find comfort in that closeness and movement.

Babies in slings are also being held firmly and upright, which would help any swallowed air to rise up and escape via a burp if needed.

Using slings can make caring for a baby easier. Studies (including randomised controlled trials) have also shown women have lower rates of post-natal depression and breastfeed for longer when they use a baby sling.

It is important baby carriers and slings are used safely, so make sure you’re up to date on the latest advice on how to do it.

So, should I burp my baby?

The bottom line is: it’s up to you.

Gently burping a baby is not harmful. If you feel burping is helpful to your baby, then keep doing what you’re doing.

If trying to burp your baby after every feed is stressing you or your baby out, then you don’t have to keep doing it.

Read more:
No, stress won’t dry up your milk. How to keep breastfeeding your baby in an emergency

Karleen Gribble is a volunteer breastfeeding educator and counsellor with the Australian Breastfeeding Association, a member of the Public Health Association of Australia and the World Public Health Nutrition Association.

Nina Chad has been the Infant and Young Child Feeding Consultant for the World Health Organization since 2021. She is a member of the Public Health Association of Australia, the World Public Health Nutrition Association and the Australian Breastfeeding Association.

– ref. Do we really need to burp babies? Here’s what the research says – https://theconversation.com/do-we-really-need-to-burp-babies-heres-what-the-research-says-223306

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Hooker, Senior Lecturer and Coordinator, Health and Medical Humanities, University of Sydney

What’s been described as the largest underpayment class action in Australian legal history has just been settled. Who was allegedly underpaid? Thousands of junior doctors who, subject to court approval, are set to share back-pay of more than a quarter of a million dollars.

Amireh Fakhouri, who brought the claim on behalf of junior doctors in New South Wales, alleged that when they worked in the state’s public health system from December 2014 to December 2020, NSW Health had failed to pay the overtime and weekend meal break entitlements she and her colleagues were owed.

More than 20,000 claimants are now set to be eligible for a share in the nearly A$230 million settlement.

But repayment was never the main goal of the class action. Fakhouri, who is now training as a GP in Victoria, said she hoped instead it would change the work culture in medicine.

A rite of passage?

Our health-care system has routinely relied on the labour of junior doctors. These include interns (those who have completed their university medical training and are in their first year of being practising doctors), residents (who have completed their internship and hold a general registration) and registrars (specialists in training).

Junior doctors often provide much of the staffing for night and weekend shifts and complete burdensome administrative tasks for consultants (senior doctors).

Overworking junior doctors has been normalised for decades. We see this depicted in books (such as The House of God and This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor) and TV shows (such as House and Scrubs).

This is a safety issue. Doctor fatigue has considerable effects on patient safety through potential medical errors, poor quality patient care, longer patient recovery, reduced physician empathy and impacts on the doctor-patient relationship.

A 2020 study found that when doctors reported even moderate tiredness their chance of making a medical error rose by 53%.

Put simply, stretched, demoralised and tired doctors will do harm. Eventually, that will affect you.

It’s not just long hours

The expectation of working long hours is only part of the culture of medicine.

Our research and global evidence shows “teaching by humiliation” and other forms of verbal mistreatment have also been normalised.

A 2018 study of NSW interns and residents found more than 50% experienced bullying. Some 16-19% (mostly female) experienced sexual harassment.

Some of the junior doctors who are victims of mistreatment later become the perpetrators, perpetuating this harmful culture.

Junior doctors are suffering

The impact of long hours on junior doctors and of the abuse they are subjected to is vividly evident through research, including ours. Junior doctors have significantly high levels of depression, anxiety and thoughts of suicide.

As we’ve been saying for almost a decade, there is a desperate need for better work-life balance for junior doctors and deep culture change in our health-care system.

But there is often little sympathy for junior doctors. In 2022, one hospital threatened to remove comfortable lounges to prevent juniors napping on quiet night shifts. Just last week, we heard of a similar case involving junior doctors at another hospital, who were told “sleeping is not part of your job description”.

A culture of silence

This class action was needed because on a day-to-day basis, junior doctors mostly do not complain.

They internalise distress as failure (not being tough enough) and fear that a diagnosis of depression or anxiety will result in patients and colleagues avoiding them.

They don’t report mistreatment or reject overwork as, often, their
senior doctors control their career progression.

This is important, because contrary to perceptions of doctors as wealthy elites, our research shows junior doctors often find it hard to progress, get a job in their city of choice, or find full-time roles. The pressure on junior doctors to “make it” in an increasingly competitive environment grows stronger. Such professional problems reinforce the culture of not complaining for fear of blow-back.

Most of those who do take action, report ineffective or personally harmful outcomes when reporting to senior colleagues. This fulfils a vicious cycle of silence as junior doctors become ill but do not seek help.

We wanted to lift the silence

We used theatre to lift the culture of silence about health-care worker distress due to workplace pressure.

We conducted interviews with junior and senior doctors about their experiences and used their verbatim stories to craft the script of the play Grace Under Pressure.

The aim is for this “verbatim theatre” to facilitate conversations and actions that promote positive culture change.

What needs to be done?

It often takes brave public legal action such as this lawsuit to catalyse culture change – to nudge hospitals to prevent junior doctors from working back-to-back shifts, to protect time off for a personal life, ensure meal breaks, and provide means to hold powerful senior doctors to account.

Culture change is hard, slow and requires multi-pronged strategies. We need a safe way for junior doctors to report their concerns, and training so they know their options for responding to mistreatment. We need senior doctors and hospital managers to be trained in how to encourage and respond constructively to complaints.

Our research shows that when this happens, culture change is possible.

Claire Hooker receives funding from the ARC and NHMRC. In 2024 she is President of the Arts Health Network NSW/ACT.

Alex Broom receives funding from the Australian Research Council

Karen Scott receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

Louise Nash has previously received funding from AVANT Foundation, NSW Institute of Psychiatry Fellowship, NSW Health HETI grants.

– ref. What junior doctors’ unpaid overtime tells us about the toxic side of medicine – https://theconversation.com/what-junior-doctors-unpaid-overtime-tells-us-about-the-toxic-side-of-medicine-228608

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Chartres, Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Medicine & Health, University of Sydney

You go to the gym, eat healthy and walk as much as possible. You wash your hands and get vaccinated. You control your health. This is a common story we tell ourselves. Unfortunately, it’s not quite true.

Factors outside our control have huge influence – especially products which can sicken or kill us, made by companies and sold routinely.

For instance, you and your family have been exposed for decades to dangerous forever chemicals, some of which are linked to kidney and testicular cancers. You’re almost certainly carrying these chemicals, known as PFAS or forever chemicals, in your body right now.

And that’s just the start. We now know exposure to just four classes of product – tobacco, alcohol, ultra-processed foods and fossil fuels – are linked to one out of every three deaths worldwide. That is, they’re implicated in 19 of the world’s 56 million deaths each year (as of 2019). Pollution – largely from fossil fuels – is now the single largest environmental cause of premature death. Communities of colour and low-income communities experience disproportionate impacts; For example, over 90% of pollution related deaths occur in low middle income countries.

This means the leading risk factor for disease and death worldwide is corporations who make, market and sell these unhealthy products. Worse, even when these corporations become aware of the harms their products cause, they have often systematically hidden these harms to boost profits at the expense of our health. Major tobacco, oil, food, pharmaceutical and chemical corporations have all applied similar techniques, privatising the profits and spreading the harms.

Profit and loss statements

When companies act to conceal the harm their products do, they prevent us from protecting ourselves and our children. We now have many well-documented cases of corporate wrongdoing, such as asbestos, fossil fuels, pesticides, herbicides) sugar, silica, and of course tobacco. In these instances, corporations intentionally manufactured doubt or hid the harms of their products to delay or prevent regulation and maintain profits.

Decades of empirical evidence shows these effective tactics have actually been shared and strategically passed from one industry or company to the next.

For instance, when large tobacco companies Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds bought food companies Kraft, General Foods and Nabisco in the 1980s, tobacco executives brought across marketing strategies, flavouring and colourings to expand product lines and engineered fatty, sweet and salty hyperpalatable foods such as cookies, cereals and frozen foods linked to obesity and diet-related diseases. These foods activate our reward circuits and encourage us to consume more.

Or consider how ‘forever chemicals’ became so widespread. A team of scientists (including this article’s co-author) investigated previously secret internal industry documents from 3M and DuPont, the largest makers of forever chemicals PFOA and PFOS.

The documents showed both 3M and DuPont used tactics from the tobacco industry’s playbook, such as suppressing unfavourable research and distorting public debate. Like Big Tobacco, 3M and DuPont had a financial interest in suppressing scientific evidence of the harms of their products, while publicly declaring in-demand products such as Teflon were safe.

For decades, forever chemicals PFOA and PFOS have been used to make Teflon pans, Scotchgard, firefighting foam and other non-stick materials. By the early 2000s, one of these, PFOS, ended up in our blood at 20 times the level its manufacturer, 3M, considered safe.

As early as 1961, the chief toxicologist at DuPont’s Teflon subsidiary reported the company’s wonder-material had “the ability to increase the size of the liver of rats at low doses”, and recommended the chemicals be handled “with extreme care”. According to a 1970 internal memo, the DuPont-funded Haskell Laboratory found the chemical class C8 (now known as PFOA/PFOS) was “highly toxic when inhaled and moderately toxic when ingested”.

Both 3M and DuPont did extensive internal research on the risks their products posed to humans, but they shared little of it. The risks of PFOA including pregnancy-induced hypertension, kidney and testicular cancers, and ulcerative colitis was not publicly established until 2011.

Now, 60 years after DuPont first learned of the harms these products could cause, many countries are facing the human and environmental consequences and a very expensive cleanup.

Even though the production of PFOA and PFOS is being phased out, forever chemicals are easily stored in the body and take decades to break down. Worse, PFOA and PFOS are just two of over 15,000 different PFAS chemicals, most of which are still in use.

How can we prevent corporate injury to our health?

My co-author and I work in the field known as commercial determinants of health, which is to say, the damage corporations can do to us.

One of the key ways companies have been able to avoid regulation and lawsuits is by hiding the evidence. Internal studies showing harm can be easily hidden. External studies can be influenced, either by corporate funding, business-friendly scientists, legal action or lobbying policymakers to avoid regulation.

Here are three ways to prevent this happening again:

1) Require corporations to adhere to the same standards of data sharing and open science as independent scientists do.

If a corporation wants to bring a new product to market, they should have to register and publicly release every study they plan to conduct on its harms so the public can see the results of the study.

2) Sever the financial links between industry and researchers or policymakers.

Many large corporations will spend money on public studies to try to get favourable outcomes for their own interests. To cut these financial ties means boosting public health research, either through government funding or alternatives such as a tax on corporate marketing. It would also mean capping corporate political donations and bringing lobbying under control by restricting corporate access and spending to policymakers and increasing transparency. And it would mean stopping the revolving door where government employees or policymakers work for the industry they used to regulate once they leave office.

3) Mandate public transparency of corporate funding to researchers and policymakers.

In 2010, the United States introduced laws to enforce transparency on how much medical and pharmaceutical companies were spending to influence the products doctors chose to use. Research using the data unearthed by these laws has shown the problem is pervasive. We need this model for other industries so we can clearly see where corporate money is going. Registries should be detailed, permanent and easy to search.

These steps would not be easy. But the status quo means corporations can keep selling dangerous or lethal products for much longer than they should.

In doing so, they have become one of the largest influences on our health and will continue to harm generations to come – in ways hard to counter with yoga and willpower. And your health is more important than corporate profits.

Read more:
Chemicals, forever: how do you fix a problem like PFAS?

Nicholas Chartres receives funding from The JPB Foundation, The World Health Organization and Health Canada

Lisa Bero received or receives funding from Cochrane, NHMRC, Health Canada, the State of Colorado.

– ref. We think we control our health – but corporations selling forever chemicals, fossil fuels and ultra-processed foods have a much greater role – https://theconversation.com/we-think-we-control-our-health-but-corporations-selling-forever-chemicals-fossil-fuels-and-ultra-processed-foods-have-a-much-greater-role-227776

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jacqueline Hendriks, Research Fellow and Lecturer, Curtin University

Children and young people may be seeing news headlines about men murdering women or footage of people rallying to call for action. Perhaps they or their friends have even gone to the protests.

As Australia confronts the shocking numbers of men murdering women, children and young people may have questions or want to talk about violence against women and children.

If you are a parent you may also be wondering how you can help your child develop the attitudes and skills they need to have healthy and respectful relationships throughout their lives.

While there has been consistent messaging that “we all have a role to play” when it comes to stopping violence against women, actual guidance on what parents should do can be difficult to find.

Talking to your kids about recent events

If current headlines are leading your child to ask questions, it is certainly OK to answer them. In fact, this is an excellent opportunity to talk about these issues.

Be guided by the questions your child asks and keep your response simple. Young people will typically ignore anything that exceeds their current needs. But don’t be afraid to ask your child about their thoughts first. It can be a useful way to know what they understand.

If your child is showing distress, reassure them the media attention is a positive thing. As a nation we are much more aware these issues are occurring, we are talking about it more openly, and we want to keep an eye on our friends and family.

Governments are funding various programs and Australians are holding them accountable. These issues will not be resolved quickly, but we are moving in the right direction.

Ask your child if they have any followup questions and remind them they can check back with you at any stage.

If you feel they are overly anxious about these events, it could be a good idea to seek professional advice from someone like a school counsellor or GP.

How to approach gender and relationships

There are many things parents and carers can do to help the children and young people in their lives develop healthy ideas about gender and relationships. Here are seven ideas:

1. Model respect

One of the most important things adults can do is to model respect for others, both offline and online.

This includes respecting other people’s boundaries. For example, you might seek permission before hugging someone, or ask people if it’s OK to share a picture of them on social media.

Showing respect means genuinely and politely communicating with others. This should include how you speak about people, or a group of people, when they are not present.

This is particularly important as research shows young people want less fear-based messaging from adults and more practical guidance on how to have good partnerships.

2. Point out and talk about stereotypes

Television shows, movies, popular music and online influencers can provide young people with unrealistic or harmful messages about gender roles, relationships, dating, sexual activity and our bodies.

Take advantage of these opportunities to instil more accurate messages. You can tell your child most relationships don’t play out like a romantic comedy film or “reality” dating show. Falling in love might be easy, but staying in love often takes work and communication.

The bodies and sexual acts we might see on screens have also been heavily curated and most people don’t look or act like that. Sexual activity shouldn’t be violent or aggressive and both partners should enjoy the process equally.

Discuss how gender norms and stereotypes are problematic for everyone, no matter our gender. They create unhelpful expectations about how we are supposed to look, feel and act and can pressure us to conform to certain ideals. For example, boys can and should express their emotions. They don’t have to love football or want a six pack.

Encourage your child to dress, play, study and engage in activities that bring them joy with less concern for what society might “expect” them to do.

3. Teach your child to stick up for themselves and others

Talk to your children about how to respond to sexist or inappropriate behaviour that might happen to them or to others.

There are various ways to approach this. You might encourage them to speak up and challenge the behaviour, to use their body language to show they don’t approve of what is happening, or at least redirect everyone’s focus onto something else.

They might also be able to ask a third party to get involved and help intervene.

Sometimes, there isn’t much you can do in the moment, or it might not be safe to directly involve yourself. The best thing to do in these moments is to at least check in afterwards with the person who has been harassed to make sure they’re OK.

4. Don’t have different messages for boys and girls

Try not to have different messages for boys or girls. Partly, this is because many young people today see themselves as something other than male or female, but more importantly we want everyone to receive the same key information and to develop the same skills.

5. Avoid lectures and look for everyday opportunities to chat

Your conversations don’t need to be lengthy sermons. Drip feed your thoughts and little bits of information throughout your everyday activities.

For example, you could share your thoughts about a news report, a movie scene you’re watching together, or a song on the radio.

6. Provide other information

Not all young people are big talkers, so it can be helpful to provide your child with other materials from books and websites.

If, for whatever reason, a child won’t listen to their parents, ensure they have a support network of other trusted adults they can rely on. This could be people like another family member, a close family friend, a school teacher or a sports coach.

7. Think about your own upbringing

Parents may need to reflect upon their own backgrounds before having some of these conversations. Perhaps there was a lack of correct information, positive attitudes, or modelling of appropriate behaviours when you were growing up.

Attitudes and understanding about gender-based violence and gender relations have changed a lot in recent years.

So it can be a good idea to challenge or discount anything that is unhelpful, or impacts our ability to model or speak openly about respectful relationships.

More resources

Here are some websites and podcasts with information and advice for parents on how to talk to their children about gender, sexuality, violence against women and respect.

• Talk Soon. Talk Often is a free West Australian government resource to help parents talk to children (from infancy to 18) about sex.

• Yarning Quiet Ways is a free WA government resource for Aboriginal parents and carers to talk about safe and healthy relationships with their kids.

• The Conversation Guide is a free federal government resource for parents to talk to their children about respect for women and gender inequality.

• Project Ari is a free podcast by the federal government’s Stop it at the Start Campaign and NOVA Entertainment. It follows the story of 10-year-old Ari, “the world’s first artificial intelligence prototype, as he tries to wrap his ‘data brain’ around the human experience”. It is designed to be a funny series to teach kids about respectful behaviour.

• Sex Ed Rescue has free and paid resources for parents about sex education and pornogrpahy, split into topics and ages. The site is run by sex educator Cath Hakanson.

• Talking the Talk is the website of sexual health educator Vanessa Hamilton, with free tips, scripts for talking to your children and book recommendations.

• Doing “IT” is a free podcast by Sexual Health Victoria. Every episode contains different relationships and sexuality advice for parents and carers. Topics vary from gender pronouns, to pornography and taking care of your body.

Jacqueline Hendriks (she/her) is Project Lead of the Curtin University Relationships and Sexuality Education Project and is part of the Management Team for SiREN. She receives funding from the WA Department of Health (Sexual Health and Blood-borne Virus Program) and various other Australian government and non-government organisations. They are a founding member of Bloom-ED, a collective action group to promote improved relationships and sexuality education throughout Australia, and is current Vice President of the Australian Association for Adolescent Health. Jacqui was engaged as a subject matter expert in the most recent revision of the Talk Soon. Talk Often resource and interviewed for the Doing “IT” podcast both mentioned in this article.

– ref. Here’s how you can talk to your kids about gendered violence, and 7 ways to model good behaviour – https://theconversation.com/heres-how-you-can-talk-to-your-kids-about-gendered-violence-and-7-ways-to-model-good-behaviour-228898

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Balanzategui, Senior Lecturer in Media, RMIT University

“Bluey mania” shows no sign of abating. Bluey’s season finale, The Sign, was the most viewed ABC program of all time on iView.

A “hidden” follow-up episode, aptly named The Surprise, created a storm of headlines around the world, many of which have a decidedly adult tone.

As highlighted in social media fan communities and articles, the show has struck a chord with adults, many of whom aren’t parents. What do they get from a show that is ostensibly “for kids”?

Parents love Bluey (sometimes more than kids)

Our research with children aged 7-9 and their parents provides evidence of how enraptured adults are by Bluey. Our findings also suggest it’s the parents who often drive household Bluey obsessions.

As one mum told us:

If we could tell the Australian TV gods something that we’d like to have on Australian TV, it would be more Bluey, don’t get rid of Bluey. […] Bluey is loved by mums a lot.

Another explained how the show provided learning for parents:

It’s the gentle parenting, kindness, empathy for the children, the humour […] And helping kids [and] families work through real life situations with kindness and compassion.

When one eight-year-old and his mum told us about their favourite shows, the following exchange took place:

Mum:: What about Bluey?
Son: I sometimes [watch it]…
Mum: You don’t want to say. He doesn’t want to say he watches Bluey. Bluey’s fantastic.
Son: I sometimes-
Mum: He wants to be a big boy. […] Everyone in this room probably loves Bluey. It’s not just for kids.
Son: Enough about that.

Beyond families, Bluey has also attracted teen and adult fans without kids – in part thanks to a vibrant TikTok community (aka #blueytok). While some commentary suggests this adult fandom is “weird”, Bluey is only the latest in a long line of “children’s” shows with a passionate adult fanbase.

Shifting barriers in television

The distinction between “children’s” and “adult” television has long been crucial to our cultural understandings of what separates a child from an adult.

In the 1950s, academics were concerned children were watching TV content that was too mature for them, turning them into “adultised children”, and that adults watching kids’ shows were becoming “infantile adults”.

The industry took note. In 1957, a reduction in children’s TV production in the United States made space for so-called “kidult” shows designed for both age groups.

Since then, the boundaries between children’s and adult television have continually shifted. In television’s early days, science fiction was associated with child audiences (which is why many initially assumed Star Trek was a kids’ show).

These boundaries were also influenced by television scheduling. Warner Bros’ early animation shorts were initially all-ages theatrical releases, but in 1960 were packaged into the Bugs Bunny Show – pitched for kids and aired on Saturday mornings. As a result, by 1967 animation was considered kids’ fare.

The boundaries shifted again in the 1980s as adult Japanese anime such as Akira (1988) became popular in the West.

In 1989, The Simpsons debuted on TV. Our research reveals even today there is confusion regarding the show’s suitability for young children. Some of our seven-to-nine-year-old participants described secretly watching it without their parents’ knowledge.

Childhood healing

Bluey’s adult appeal is credited to the show’s playful yet emotionally complex content. One reason adults tune into today’s kids’ TV is because it’s far more diverse than the shows they could access growing up.

Take 19-year-old Bluey fan Darby Rose, who points to an episode in which a Jack Russell terrier has ADHD. “As a neurodivergent person myself, this representation makes me ecstatic,” Rose says. This is also true of many teen programs, with the queer-friendly high-school romance Heartstopper attracting a large adult following.

It’s not just childhood nostalgia that drives adults to kids’ shows (although this is one aspect). Watching kids’ shows can be self-affirming for adults who missed out on seeing their identity onscreen growing up. Some adult fans even say Bluey has helped them heal childhood wounds.

Children’s television meets adult fan cultures

Watching “adult” television enables kids to feel more grown-up. Conversely, adults can watch children’s television to embrace aspects of their personality they feel social pressure to repress.

The latter is often the case for “Bronies” (a portmanteau for “bro” and “pony”): adult male fans of the animated kids’ show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (2010-20). The community has attracted much controversy. But research has found the reasons behind being a Brony aren’t suspicious or bizarre, but are empowering in unexpected ways.

As Bronies themselves have explained, the fandom allows them to rethink what masculinity means to them, with the support of other fans online and at events such as BronyCon.

Why can’t “manliness” include watching a cute show about ponies with friendship at its heart?

The changing nature of children’s television

The rise of streaming has led to yet another shift. On-demand viewing means freedom from the constraints of TV scheduling, which historically set the terms for “child” and “adult” viewing.

As our book details, Netflix has invested in the expansion of cultural expectations around what makes “child-appropriate” television.

Netflix’s mega hit Stranger Things deliberately pushes at these boundaries to attract a wide audience, from children and teens, to families, to adults without kids. As co-creator Matt Duffer explains, the aim was to get children hooked on the show, and then later in the season “scare the shit out of them. Then the parents can get mad.”

Parents certainly aren’t mad about their children getting hooked on Bluey. They may even be the secret to its global success: to keep the children watching, get the adults hooked.

Jessica Balanzategui receives funding from the Australian Children’s Television Foundation. The child audience study outlined in this article is part of the project Australian Children’s Television Cultures in partnership with the Australian Children’s Television Foundation, a project based at Swinburne University of Technology in collaboration with RMIT University.

Djoymi Baker receives funding from The Australian Children’s Television Foundation.

The child audience study outlined in this article is part of the project Australian Children’s Television Cultures in partnership with the Australian Children’s Television Foundation, a project based at Swinburne University of Technology in collaboration with RMIT University.

– ref. Why are adults without kids hooked on Bluey? And should we still be calling it a ‘kids’ show’? – https://theconversation.com/why-are-adults-without-kids-hooked-on-bluey-and-should-we-still-be-calling-it-a-kids-show-228610

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suze Wilson, Senior Lecturer, School of Management, Massey University

Christopher Luxon’s sacking of two struggling cabinet ministers last week was praised by pundits as a sign of decisive – even “brutal” and “ruthless” – leadership. But this week’s 1News-Verian poll suggests the public is far less convinced of his leadership performance.

Based on those poll numbers, the National-led coalition would be out of office if an election were held now. And Luxon’s “preferred prime minister” rating fell further to 23%.

Politics is often a brutalising business. Machiavelli famously argued it is safer for leaders wanting to keep their job to be feared rather than loved. Countering perceptions of weak leadership may have been the motivation for Luxon’s decision to demote two ministers this early in his government’s term.

But those perceptions have been fuelled by the manner in which the prime minister’s coalition partners have tested, if not undermined, his authority and credibility.

We can trace this back to November last year, with the press conference announcing the coalition agreement, the ministerial swearing-in ceremony and the first cabinet meeting. NZ First leader and deputy prime minister Winston Peters repeatedly stole the limelight with a series of provocative, headline-grabbing statements.

Peters is a highly experienced politician, so would have known he was taking centre stage from the prime minister. But the mere fact he could do this was an early indicator of Luxon’s tenuous grip on power.

Coalition collisions

ACT Party leader David Seymour has also more than once undermined Luxon’s authority and credibility.

When the prime minister finally confirmed National would not support ACT’s contentious Treaty Principles Bill beyond its first reading, Seymour’s response was to openly state he didn’t believe Luxon’s commitment to that position.

Luxon brushed off the incident. But more recently he sought to publicly reprimand both Seymour and NZ First minister Shane Jones for critical comments each had made about the Waitangi Tribunal, which could have breached the cabinet manual.

Seymour’s response this time was to say it was Luxon who had erred by publicly stating those concerns.

Some of this can be put down to the policy tensions and competing political ambitions inherent in a three-party coalition. It’s the first such arrangement since New Zealand adopted the MMP proportional system.

But does Luxon’s leadership style make him unusually vulnerable to these kinds of tactics from his putative parliamentary allies?

Leadership and power

Power is a fundamental aspect of both politics and leadership. Complex, dynamic and multifaceted, it is neither a zero-sum game nor solely rooted in laws or formal authority.

Leaders can enhance their power, in the sense of securing more respect and influence, through personal characteristics that garner admiration and support. They can demonstrate expert knowledge and skills, and use reason, logic and evidence to persuade others.

They can gain power through rewarding supporters. But least effective in most circumstances is the power to punish others, which risks turning erstwhile supporters into enemies.

In theory, Luxon has access to all these bases of power. But so far he has struggled to mobilise them in ways that command the respect of his coalition partners.

According to this week’s 1News-Verian poll, this is also increasingly evident to the public: only 51% said Luxon is the decision-maker in the coalition government.

Luxon’s relative lack of political experience (compared to Peters, in particular) may be a contributing factor. But his continued low poll rating as preferred prime minister also likely weakens his sway over cabinet – possibly even his own caucus.

Live by the sword …

Should that lack of popularity continue, it imperils National’s chances of success at the next election. Regardless of the formal reality that he has the lawful mandate to be prime minister, Luxon needs to convince the public he deserves their support.

The signs so far aren’t promising. His party did not see a post-election bump in the polls and hasn’t enjoyed a traditional honeymoon effect.

Lack of judgment over his “entitlement” to an accommodation allowance preceded Luxon’s drop in “net favourability” (favourable minus unfavourable results) in the March Taxpayers Union-Curia poll – to below Labour leader Chis Hipkins, who recently led his party to a historic defeat in the election.

In a subsequent poll from Talbot Mills (one of whose clients is the Labour Party), Luxon’s net favourability was –7%. By contrast, former National prime minister John Key scored around +58% at a similar time in his tenure.

In that same survey, the words people associated with Luxon’s character are indicative of the problem. While “business” and “leader” likely hold reasonably positive connotations, “greedy”, “unsure” and “arrogant” clearly do not.

Luxon claimed his sacking of the cabinet ministers demonstrated an ability to “adapt very quickly and dynamically to changing circumstances and situations”. He will need those qualities if he is to turn around public opinion about his character and his government’s performance.

Unless his personal standing with the voting public becomes a key source of his political power, such that his colleagues feel he can carry them to re-election, Luxon may learn the hard way what “live by the sword, die by the sword” means in politics.

Suze Wilson 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. Luxon’s leadership test: what would it take to win back unimpressed NZ voters? – https://theconversation.com/luxons-leadership-test-what-would-it-take-to-win-back-unimpressed-nz-voters-229103

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

The Prime Minister and state and territory leaders met on Wednesday as the national cabinet to discuss a crisis gripping Australia – the horrific number of women murdered this year.

The killings have shocked the nation and led to mass demonstrations across the country last weekend.

In this podcast, we’re joined by Dr Anne Summers, a longtime writer and advocate on women’s issues.

Half a century ago, Summers helped start Elsie, Australia’s first women’s refuge. She’s currently a professor at the University of Technology Sydney’s business school, where she specialises in domestic and family violence issues.

On what came out of the national cabinet meeting, Summers says:

I found it was quite reassuring that the meeting had addressed a lot more than just some of the sort of, if you like, sexy items to do with deepfakes and regulating the age at which children can watch porn.

The First Ministers recommitted their, to my view, somewhat controversial pledge that they made two years ago that they would end violence against women in a generation. Now they have recommitted to that today and having done so in this context suggests they better get busy with how they’re going to make that happen.

The explosion of technology has brought some extremely harmful effects for women, with the spread of cyberstalking:

It’s the fastest growing form of abuse. What is very disturbing about this is that the kind of equipment that guys are using against, women is very sophisticated. It’s the kind of stuff that, you know, ASIO would only […] have had access to 10 years ago.

A predator […] can install spyware on the telephone of his former partner, remotely, without her knowledge. That enables him to listen in to all her calls, read her texts, read her photographs, and generally keep tabs on her.

Summers says it’s vital we find out more about the perpetrators of the crimes against women, instead of only focusing on the victims:

We have to learn more about the perpetrators – who they are, what they do, how many there are, what their patterns of behaviour are, where they come from. You know, what the issues are in their lives. And we know so much about the women. I mean, the women are researched to death. Every four years the federal government does a personal safety survey which documents in immense detail what women suffer. And that’s great. We know a huge amount about that. But we need to have the same level and depth of information about the men.

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

– ref. Politics with Michelle Grattan: Anne Summers says we need much more information on male perpetrators of violence against women – https://theconversation.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-anne-summers-says-we-need-much-more-information-on-male-perpetrators-of-violence-against-women-229123

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Radhika Raghav, Teaching Fellow, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Otago

Indian director Sanjay Leela Bhansali is known for his big-budget Bollywood production, featuring grand sets, star casts, meticulously choreographed dance sequences and lavish costumes, jewellery and furnishings. His new series for Netflix, Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, lives up to these expectations.

Against this visually rich backdrop emerge the scheming, menacing and murderous courtesans of Heeramandi.

The series is set in Heeramandi, a historical red-light district of Lahore in present-day Pakistan. It unfolds against the backdrop of the Indian freedom struggle against British rule.

The show is an entanglement of plot lines – a murder investigation, a war of succession, a budding love story and a courtesan’s secret involvement in a rebellion against British rule.

Eventually, all characters and storylines converge around the central theme of anti-colonial nationalism. Driven by nationalist fervour, the courtesans call themselves “patriots” and willingly sacrifice their careers and lives for the country.

But who were the real courtesans?

Role models for female independence

The show takes creative liberties by distorting the lives and timelines of the historical courtesans.

The North Indian tawa’ifs (courtesans), or nautch-girls (dancing girls, as the British called them), were cultural idols, female intellectuals and entrepreneurs.

Dating back to ancient India, these women were trained in music, dance, fashion, poetry, repartee, etiquette, languages and literature from a young age. Typically following a system of matrilineal inheritance, courtesans passed down their professional knowledge and skills to talented daughters of the household.

Once trained, courtesans attracted patronage from royal courts, feudal aristocrats and colonial officers.

This unique class enjoyed privileges not afforded to most women in Indian society, such as education and personal income. They led glamorous lifestyles, wielded power and wealth, and paid taxes.

As independent professionals, they contributed to Indian arts and culture, travelled extensively, made connections with chosen kin and often embraced gender fluidity.

Their financial, political and sexual independence challenged patriarchal gender norms and restrictive Hindu moral laws that dictated the lives of women from upper-middle-class families.

Complicated relationships

In Heeramandi, the courtesans turn patriotic to avenge the British police officers for raping and killing the natives. While these actions are dramatic, the historical relationship between courtesans, the British empire and Indian nationalism was more complex.

The politically engaged Bibbojaan (Aditi Rao Hydari) mirrors Azizan Bai, a courtesan from Kanpur who is said to have financially supported the 1857 mutiny against the British East India Company.

While the mutiny was one of the most widespread anti-colonial revolts of the 19th century, Indian nationalism was not its primary aim, but a consequence. Azizan’s interest was in maintaining her patronage from the native rulers for her social and economic wellbeing.

After 1857, India’s governance shifted from the East India Company to the Crown, leading to the spread of British rule across India alongside Western education and Victorian morality. Meanwhile, nationalist leaders envisioned a nation as a pure land of sacred Hindu ancestors and valued chastity in women.

Both the imperial and nationalist ideals clashed with the courtesans’ sexual freedom.

In the 1890s, Hindu reformers and bourgeois nationalists joined Christian missionaries in organising anti-nautch campaigns that advocated boycotting them to “rescue” art and culture from perceived immorality. This led to the downfall of the courtesan class.

In Heeramandi, patronage diminishes and the women’s dreams of marriage fade. The courtesans shut down their salons, give up their careers and sacrifice their lives for the nation.

But historical courtesans were quick to reinvent themselves in the face of declining patronage and social stigma.

They turned to the power of modern technology. Gauhar Jaan, a famous courtesan, became a celebrated concert singer and gramophone artist, earning the title of “India’s Melba” in the international press.

In 1921, Gandhi asked Gauhar Jaan to perform for the Swaraj Fund. Aware of the ambiguous position courtesans held in nationalist discourse, she agreed on the condition that Gandhi attend her performance. When Gandhi failed to show up, she contributed only half of the raised amount to the cause.

Courtesans contributed significantly to the founding of the Indian film industry through their artistry, star power and capital investment. The first generation of female film stars came from courtesan backgrounds: Jaddan Bai, Kajjan Bai, Akhtaribai Faizabadi and Naseem Banu entered the industry as actors, singers, composers, directors and studio owners.

Later, some acted as managers and costume designers for their daughters, the emerging actors of the next generation.

By becoming modern-day artists, the courtesans preserved their art. They remained visible and relevant in a society that was increasingly obliterating women’s cultural contributions and diminishing their role as citizens in an emerging nation.

Patriarchal nationalism

In the show, a woman’s value is judged by her respectability, marital status and the presence of a male guardian controlling her sexuality. Courtesans refer to themselves as “birds in gilded cages” and dream of freedom from their courtesan lifestyle.

Here, the courtesans’ nationalism resonates with present-day far-right Hindu nationalists, seemingly promising women empowerment in nationalism but, in reality, reserving only regressive roles for women.

Heeramandi oversimplifies the multilayered persona of tawa’ifs. The series portrays them as melancholic victims yearning for patriarchal married bliss, while remaining marginalised in respectable society. But these women should be remembered as celebrated figures filled with joie-de-vivre, gusto and spiritedness.

They should be honoured for their strategies of self-representation and processes of self-determination, as they turned resilience into a way of life.

Radhika Raghav 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. Who were the real courtesans at the heart of Netflix’s Heeramandi? – https://theconversation.com/who-were-the-real-courtesans-at-the-heart-of-netflixs-heeramandi-228600

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University

Violence against women is not a women’s problem to solve, it is a whole of society problem to solve; and men in particular have to take responsibility.

Those were the words of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as he reported on the outcomes of today’s National Cabinet meeting on gender-based violence.

This is a crucial moment.

It’s not the first time Australian government leaders and senior officials have met to discuss strategies to address violence against women. But it’s the first time the National Cabinet has met specifically to commit to greater action. Seen in recent protest marches across the country, there’s a lot of public demand for rapid change.

Out of today’s meeting there is a renewed commitment for “national unity”, across all governments, towards the shared mission to end gender-based violence.

We know why this mission continues to be urgent.

At least 28 women have died, allegedly at the hands of men’s violence, so far this year. And many more women are living with the harms of men’s violence all across the country.

One in four women have experienced violence by an intimate partner or family member since the age of 15. One in five women have experienced sexual violence and one in five women have experienced stalking. While we seem to be making progress in reducing 12 month prevalence rates of intimate partner violence, our Personal Safety Survey also indicates the rates of sexual violence and stalking have not been changing. It’s clear we need more action.

What came out of National Cabinet?

The biggest announcement from today’s meeting is a new federal government investment of A$925 million over five years to permanently establish the Leaving Violence Program. This is to be included in the upcoming budget and builds on the existing pilot scheme. The scheme delivers up to $5,000 in crisis support for women leaving violent relationships, as well as risk assessments and access to support services.

There was also a big focus on online measures to combat online harms and to reduce the exposure of children and young people to violent and misogynistic content. This included commitments to new laws banning sexualised “deepfake” images, as well as a review of classifications to reduce exposure to violent sexualised content. And $6.5 million will be committed to pilot age assurance technologies to restrict children’s exposure to inappropriate content, including violent pornographic material.

Read more:
Whether of politicians, pop stars or teenage girls, sexualised deepfakes are on the rise. They hold a mirror to our sexist world

The government will also bring forward a review of the Online Safety Act and fast-track already proposed anti-doxing laws. The aim of these steps is to protect victims from online harms, including the non-consensual disclosure of their personal information.

The prime minister also highlighted several existing federal government commitments. These included the funding commitments to women’s homelessness and housing services and funding increases for the eSafety Commissioner. Also mentioned was the next phase of the national Stop It At the Start campaign, which is due to be released mid-year and will focus on how to have preventative conversations with young people around their attitudes and behaviours.

Importantly, there is an agreement for National Cabinet to meet again on violence against women next quarter and to report back on progress made and crucial next steps. The states and territories also agreed to collaborate and share their own best-practice evidence and initiatives.

What further changes might be on the horizon?

To end gender-based violence we need to do everything we can. We need a range of short, medium and long-term actions. The outcomes of the National Cabinet meeting today indicated some further areas earmarked for ongoing discussion.

There were suggestions of the need for greater harmonisation of laws between states and territories. This is vital if we are to ensure women have equal protections and justice mechanisms in place no matter where in Australia they live. What was not mentioned, however, was the need for adequate resourcing of specialist police, legal and court services to support access to justice for victims of family and sexual violence.

There was also mention of improved information sharing between states and territories to promote greater accountability for repeat violent perpetrators. This is not a straight-forward area, but there are good examples of coordinated system responses that show when and how the sharing of information might be vital for women’s safety.

Workforce issues were also referred to, with an urging for a more rapid rollout of the federal government’s existing commitment of 500 extra domestic and family violence support workers. If you speak with these support services, it is clear they are under high demand from victim-survivors. There are often unacceptable wait lists. The extra workers are much needed, but it will also take accessible and affordable training to extend this specialist workforce.

Albanese also highlighted both the effectiveness of respectful relationships education in schools and the need for a national approach to respectful relationships education across the country. To date, both Victoria and Queensland have led the way in this work but certainly we need to scale-up our prevention efforts with young people if we want to end gender-based violence for the next generation.

Delivering on the National Plan

The National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children (2022 to 2032) and its first action plans already identify a shared roadmap across prevention, early intervention, response, and recovery. Each of these four priority areas are crucial to a holistic strategy to end gender-based violence.

And for the first time, we have a stand-alone Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander action plan with an already-announced federal government commitment for a National Plan for First Nations women. This is especially vital in light of the over-representation of First Nations women experiencing violence.

Delivering on these strategies must continue to be a priority. The National Plan has been developed over many years of research evidence, consultation, as well as both sector and lived-experience expertise. And it is arguably world-leading in its comprehensive approach.

But as Micaela Cronin, Australia’s first Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner, remarked today:

No plan in such a complex area can be a “set and forget plan”.

It’s vital we draw on evidence-based approaches and best practice as we continue to refine our actions to address and prevent gender-based violence. This includes addressing the gender inequality and intersecting inequalities that drive violence against women. And also directly addressing the reinforcing factors that can contribute to violence and its escalation, such as prior experiences of violence, drug and alcohol misuse, problem gambling and poverty.

There is also a pressing need for governments to continue to work collaboratively to coordinate action and adequate investment across all levels of government. This is not the time to play politics between parties.

No Australian government has yet solved this problem. Every Australian government can and should do more to advance women’s safety.

Perhaps the most important outcome from today’s National Cabinet meeting is not just a renewed national commitment on action to end gender-based violence, but an Australia that will hold all governments to account on delivering their promises.

The National Sexual Assault, Family and Domestic Violence Counselling Line – 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for any Australian who has experienced, or is at risk of, family and domestic violence and/or sexual assault.

Anastasia Powell receives funding from the Australian Research Council and Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS). Anastasia is also a director of Our Watch (Australia’s national organisation for the prevention of violence against women), and a member of the National Women’s Safety Alliance (NWSA).

– ref. National Cabinet has committed to a range of strategies to stop violence against women, but has it done enough? – https://theconversation.com/national-cabinet-has-committed-to-a-range-of-strategies-to-stop-violence-against-women-but-has-it-done-enough-229106

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Allen, Senior Lecturer in Chemical and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of Newcastle

Plans to revive an old coal-fired power station using bioenergy are being considered in the Hunter region of New South Wales. Similar plans for the station have previously not gone ahead. As we grapple with decarbonisation, bioenergy (energy derived from harvested trees and other plants) is often put on the table as an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels.

But is it environmentally sound? The annoying answer is: it depends.

Trees and other plants soak up carbon from the atmosphere and store it as biomass. When they are burnt for electricity production the same carbon is released. This would suggest bioenergy is “carbon-neutral”.

But it’s not that simple. Many things can change the environmental credentials of a bioenergy project. Every project is unique and must be considered independently.

So let’s break down the five key questions we should ask about every bioenergy project.

1. What is the source of the biomass?

The bewildering array of plants on our planet means a huge amount of biomass “feedstock” is available. So what should we use?

First, we do not want to be cutting down native forests. Even using native forestry “residues” (by-products like bark and ends of trees that can’t be directly used) is problematic. The residues are made regardless of the bioenergy project, but tethering a power station to the native forestry industry, and creating a reliance on it continuing, is contentious. Some states have already flagged the end of native logging.

Fast-growing biomass species such as mallee could instead be harvested as purpose-grown energy “crops”. This can seem like an attractive option, but the sheer amount of land needed for energy crops on any reasonable scale can be prohibitive.

Agricultural residues and “waste” biomass, such as organic material sent to landfill (from household bins, for example), are also readily available. The Australian Bioenergy Roadmap shows large amounts of potentially usable waste biomass nationally.

In most cases waste biomass would otherwise go into landfill, be burnt in an open field or be left to decompose without emission controls. The most pressing issues for using waste biomass then come from our next question.

2. How much energy is needed to collect the biomass?

Biomass energy literally grows on trees. But it’s spread out over a large area and requires a central processing facility.

Collecting biomass, processing it and getting it where it needs to go takes energy. At present, that’s mostly fossil-fuelled energy, including diesel trucks and chippers.

The more spread out the biomass is, the more energy is used for harvest and collection. Transport and processing usually accounts for most bioenergy-related emissions.

And the need for biomass is continuous. It must be collected and delivered to the central facility every day without fail.

The electrification of transport, including electric or hydrogen-fuelled trucks, might help offset this energy use. However, this is still a costly option and not often considered in bioenergy projects.

3. What would happen without the bioenergy project?

What would happen to the biomass if it wasn’t being used for bioenergy? If it is expected to remain in a stable carbon form (such as a tree), burning it would be a comparative net-positive carbon release.

If, however, the biomass is contributing to emissions or causing local environmental problems, such as invasive weeds, using it for bioenergy might be a better environmental outcome. The Hunter Valley project proposes to use woody weeds cleared from rural properties for part of its inputs.

What about the land used? Should we use land to harvest energy (bioenergy or otherwise)? Or can it be used to restore habitat?

We need to minimise land use for energy and be as efficient as possible. We need to be thinking regeneratively and taking back wild places for vulnerable fauna and flora.

4. What are the (real) alternatives?

If we compare a bioenergy plant with a coal-fired power station, biomass is usually greener. But new coal-fired electricity is not on the table in Australia.

Solar and wind are the true competitors for future electricity generation. These energy sources are readily available and have very low associated costs and emissions.

Solar and wind are inherently variable. Biomass electricity generation is more like traditional coal-fired power, operating continuously. That might sound like a good way to produce an energy “baseload”. However, it might not be particularly useful in a future grid where variation is a design feature, not a flaw.

We can make things other than electricity with biomass. Sustainable aviation fuels, methanol, or gases like hydrogen and biomethane are some examples. These products can replace fossil fuels in hard-to-abate sectors.

Biochar, a charcoal-like product made by heating biomass without air, could also be produced. It has several environmental advantages when used to improve soil, including increasing the carbon content. Even so, suggestions to use biochar as a strategy to reduce emissions must be approached with great caution.

Since biomass is made of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, the same starting elements as fossil fuels, more advanced bio-derived products can also be made as substitutes for petrochemical products.

5. What other impacts would the project have?

Irrigating bioenergy crops can create water stress. Soil quality and land degradation must also be considered.

And transporting and processing biomass might create other emissions such as particulates that would affect project neighbours.

The reality is that modern-day humans and our technologies are bad for the environment, full stop. Every technology will have an impact. So the question is: which option has the least impact?

Getting bioenergy right is a challenge

The best bioenergy projects should make useful products or offer a substitute to fossil fuels. They should complement renewable energy generation.

They should use readily available waste or sources of biomass that would otherwise cause environmental problems. They should also minimise (or electrify) energy use for collecting and processing biomass.

Yes, bioenergy can be environmentally sound. It’s not impossible. But it’s not always easy to get it right.

Jessica Allen 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. Is bioenergy ever truly green? It depends on 5 key questions – https://theconversation.com/is-bioenergy-ever-truly-green-it-depends-on-5-key-questions-228202

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrea Carson, Professor of Political Communication, Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy, La Trobe University

Since Australia’s First Nations Voice to Parliament referendum in October 2023, diverse commentaries have sought to explain why it failed. But what does an analysis of media and polling data tell us about the outcome six months on?

Our expert team analysed over 3 million social and mainstream media posts and stories, thousands of online political ads, and scores of public opinion polls to address common misconceptions about the outcome. We identified key factors that contributed to the defeat. They are:

1. Lack of bipartisan support. As history has shown, bipartisan support is critical for success in Australia referendums. The Voice was no different.

Public support nose-dived after Peter Dutton’s announcement of opposition to the Voice in April 2023, following the Nationals’ decision to reject the “yes” case in November 2022.

As indicated by opinion polls, support for “Yes” dropped 25 percentage points in the year leading up to the vote. The decline accelerated after Dutton’s announcement.

Averaging public opinion polls over 2022-23, support peaked around 65% in October 2022. This is a long way from the final result of 39.94% of voters nationally supporting a change to the Constitution, compared to 60.06% rejecting it.

But this initial majority backing for the Voice was likely due to early surveys overstating support. This was a function of the issue’s low salience, the superficially positive character of the “Voice” label, and biases in survey responses attributable to social desirability and acquiescence.

Even by historical standards, this was a significant shift in public opinion over a short time and shows the influence political elites have on public opinion. It also underscores the structural difficulty of constitutional change without bipartisan consensus.

2. Labor voters divided. Labor voters were equivocal about the Voice, affecting the outcome. We find wide variation in support for the Voice across Labor-held seats, which was a principal contributor to the referendum’s failure.

Only 21 of Labor’s 78 seats in the House of Representatives returned “yes” majorities. Most of these most were inner-city electorates. Three Labor-held seats – Spence (outer Adelaide), Hunter (regional NSW) and Blair (Qld) – had “no” votes exceeding 70%.

In contrast to Labor, Greens and Teal voters overall supported the Voice. If the 2022 federal election results were to be transposed directly onto the Voice referendum, the Voice would have prevailed.

3. Demographic fault lines. Generally speaking, voters in inner metropolitan electorates in capital cities were more likely to back the Voice proposal. Rural and regional seats recorded the largest “no” votes.

Support for the Voice also cleaved along lines marked by age, educational attainment and wealth. In the small number of locations where it is clear Indigenous people comprised the bulk of voters, we see Indigenous Australians overwhelmingly supported the Voice.

4. The “no” campaign was simple, repetitive and targeted. While it is impossible to draw direct lines between campaign messaging and electoral outcomes, we see patterns in paid online advertising and free mainstream and social media data that offer insights into the success of the “no” campaign. It was highly targeted.

While its message was channelled through a range of entities such as “Referendum News”, “Not Enough”, “Not My Voice” and “Fair Australia”, these were all overseen by conservative lobby group, Advance Australia. Their focus-group-tested messages were simple – “the voice will divide us” and “if you don’t know, vote no” – and repeated frequently across Australia’s diverse media ecosystem.

When it comes to media coverage, content volume mattered less than strategy. While “no” attracted less overall mainstream media coverage, according to our analysis of Meltwater data, it honed its key messages much earlier and embraced social media, particularly TikTok.

Spearheading these narratives were Indigenous campaigners Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Nyunggai Warren Mundine. Both were household names by polling day. They were a potent team and bolstered the credibility of arguments against the referendum for non-Indigenous Australians.

Refining the “no” narrative early on enabled proponents to amass more followers across social media platforms than “yes” – with the exception of the Uluru Statement’s Instagram presence.

Media coverage by Sky News Australia amplified the “no” case. Sky had a vast reach through its YouTube channel (over 9 million views from 500 Voice clips), subscription TV and free regional TV programs. Its commentators and conservative politicians also used story snippets to spread the “no” message on social media.

In contrast, the “yes” campaigns were disparate. These consisted of at least three major groups – “Yes23”, “Uluru Statement from the Heart” and “Liberals for Yes” – offering a range of messages and messengers. This diversity of actors and narratives, including business, unions and civil society groups, may have generated voter confusion, message overload and, in some instances, backlash.

5. Mis- and disinformation and targeted attacks. This was prevalent during the referendum across both mainstream and social media spheres. It coincided with unprecedented attacks on third-party fact-checkers, notably RMIT FactLab. Our post-referendum survey showed subsequent falls in trust for RMIT FactLab among right-leaning voters.

The referendum also prompted unsubstantiated American-styled attacks on the Australian Electoral Commission, with accusations of “vote rigging” including from the opposition leader. But unlike the US, these claims were by the victors, not the vanquished.

Some reporting – including by the BBC – also linked this “disinformation ecosystem” to the amplification of racist memes and commentary during the campaign.

6. Crowding-out by other issues. As the Voice campaign unfolded, other concerns, notably the cost-of-living crisis, dominated the policy agenda and polls. The “no” campaign strategically utilised voter concerns about personal finances and the economy in its paid advertisements, highlighting the referendum’s cost and future implementation expenses.

Critics leveraged the economic downturn to downplay the Voice as a secondary issue.

Together, we argue these six factors contributed to the Voice to Parliament defeat. You can read the full report here.

Andrea Carson receives funding from Meta and a La Trobe University Synergy grant to undertake this project.

Rebecca Strating receives funding from a La Trobe University Synergy grant to undertake this project.

Simon Jackman was a paid consultant on this project.

– ref. Why did the Voice referendum fail? We crunched the data and found 6 reasons – https://theconversation.com/why-did-the-voice-referendum-fail-we-crunched-the-data-and-found-6-reasons-228383

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

The Albanese government will introduce legislation to ban deepfake pornography and provide more funding for the eSafety Commission to pilot age-assurance technologies.

The contribution of internet sites to gender-based violence was one major issue at Wednesday’s special national cabinet meeting on the issue of violence against women.

After the meeting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the federal government would devote $925.2 million over five years to establish permanently the Leaving Violence Program. Those eligible will be able to receive up to $5000, as well as help with referral services, risk assessment and safety planning.

A $5000 “escaping violence” payment was introduced under the Morrison government. The Albanese government stresses that was a “trial” program.

The role of the access to pornography and other misogynistic material has become an increasing matter of concern in gendered violence.

Deepfake pornography is visual content created using AI technology.

“I understand parents want to protect their kids from harmful material online,” Albanese said. “Social platforms have important social responsibilities and we need them to step up. Taken together, these reforms will give Australian families some of the tools they need to navigate the complexity of the digital world.”

He said the legislation would carry “serious criminal penalties”.

The prime minister admitted it was hard to police the internet. “We don’t under-estimate how difficult this is,” he said. But “online players need to understand exactly what the consequences are of a free-for-all online”.

The age-assurance pilot was recommended by the eSafety Commissioner and has also been supported by the federal opposition.

Communication Minister Michelle Rowland said the pilot would address access to age-inappropriate material including pornography.

“Taking steps to prevent access for minors to age-inappropriate content like pornography is one tool that can help protect young minds from damaging and misogynistic behaviours,” Rowland said.

The leaders at national cabinet agreed there needed to be more focus across jurisdictions on “high-risk perpetrators and serial offenders to prevent homicides”.

Police ministers and attorneys-general will develop “options for improving police responses to high risk and serial perpetrators, including considering use of focused deterrence and fixated threat strategies”.

There will be reports back to a later national cabinet meeting.

Bail has become a hot-button issue after New South Wales woman Molly Ticehurst was allegedly murdered by her former partner who was on bail.

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. Albanese government flags measures to tackle online misogyny in the battle against violence towards women – https://theconversation.com/albanese-government-flags-measures-to-tackle-online-misogyny-in-the-battle-against-violence-towards-women-229109

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dimitrios Salampasis, FinTech Capability Lead | Senior Lecturer, Emerging Technologies and FinTech, Swinburne University of Technology

In the digital era, the job market is increasingly becoming a minefield – demanding and difficult to navigate. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the number of job vacancies fell by 6.1% between November 2023 and February 2024. Every click on a job ad can either open doors to amazing opportunities, or plunge job seekers into perfectly set up cyber traps.

The latest annual Targeting Scams report shows a seemingly encouraging 13.1% decline in scam losses reported by Australians – down to A$2.74 billion in 2023. But it doesn’t mean we should get complacent. Scammers are continuously refining their techniques and expanding their reach.

Particularly alarming is the volume of job scams (also known as employment or recruitment scams). These scams were among the top ten scam categories in 2023, with a dramatic 150% increase in financial losses compared to the year before.

How exactly do job scams work? And how can job seekers distinguish between legitimate job offers and deceptive schemes?

What is a job scam?

Job scammers attract people by promising fake jobs that require little effort but promise a substantial financial reward or “guaranteed” income, or perhaps even a “dream job” at a real company they’re impersonating. The end goal in all cases is to extract money and/or personal details from the victim.

Employment scams may take many forms, but there are several tell-tale signs.

Scammers use social media, unsolicited emails, encrypted chat applications (such as WhatsApp or Telegram), phone calls or even legitimate employment websites to advertise non-existent jobs.

Job scammers may also impersonate recruiters from genuine organisations, including high-level executives or even hiring managers conducting interviews for jobs that do not exist.

For some of these jobs, the scammer will ask for some type of upfront fee to secure the employment, pay for onboarding, or to purchase (non-existent) products the job seeker is supposed to sell. The moment the fee is paid, the scammer will instantly disappear.

Sometimes, job scammers promise a high commission if the person uses their own bank account to transfer existing funds into an offshore account, cryptocurrency exchange or gift cards. This is likely money laundering.

Depending on the type of job scam, cyber criminals conducting a fake application and onboarding process may even gain access to sensitive information such as your passport number, driver’s licence and other credentials. This puts you at high risk of identity theft.

Who is vulnerable to job scams and why?

Scammers target their victims based on their online behaviour, financial situation, needs and even vulnerability to certain types of persuasion.

The increasing cost of living in Australia is creating a fertile ground for job scams. People in desperate need of employment, those who have been unemployed for a very long time and those seeking additional income via part-time (usually remote) jobs are all at high risk of becoming victims to these job scams.

These individuals are driven by economic need and will easily overlook or not recognise red flags. University students and recent graduates looking for valuable work experience in tough job markets are increasingly becoming targets of job scams, too.

Immigrants can be particularly susceptible to job scams, mainly because they may not be familiar with legitimate employment processes, standard recruitment practices and Australian employment rights.

In extreme cases, employment scams can even result in international human trafficking, as shown by an incident in Cambodia last year, with victims being locked into compounds, having their passports confiscated and being trained to scam others. Captors would release them only upon receiving a ransom fee payment.

How can I avoid a job scam?

Apart from using a “stop, think and protect” approach, here are more tips on how to protect yourself from job scams:

• Use only legitimate job boards and networking sites. For example, LinkedIn verifies recruiters with a visible badge on their profiles.

• Critically evaluate and check job listings by looking for comprehensive information and list of qualifications. Seek advice from trusted professionals to validate the legitimacy of the job offer.

• Don’t respond to non-corporate emails, texts or other messages offering “too good to be true” unsolicited employment opportunities with high returns.

• Conduct thorough research by always verifying the legitimacy of the offer. Check the company’s official website, read trusted reviews, call or even visit.

• Avoid providing credentials including passport details, a driver’s licence, Medicare number, or financial information (a bank account number or PayID) during the application or onboarding process.

• Don’t provide an upfront payment and don’t pay fees for training, equipment or software as a condition of being hired.

• Never agree to receive or transfer funds through your own bank account on behalf of someone else for a commission.

Overall, stay vigilant. If you do come across any job scams, make sure to report them to the Scamwatch website.

Dimitrios Salampasis is a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia and member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

– ref. Job scams are on the rise. What are they, and how can you protect yourself? – https://theconversation.com/job-scams-are-on-the-rise-what-are-they-and-how-can-you-protect-yourself-228996

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Talitha Best, Professor of Psychology, CQUniversity Australia

How do sugar rushes work? – W.H, age nine, from Canberra

What a terrific question W.H! Let’s explore this, starting with some of the basics.

What is sugar?

Sugar is an important substance for our body and brain to make energy.

Sugar comes from foods called carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates help our bodies to keep strong muscles. They help our brains to think and learn. They support our organs like the heart and liver to work well, and help our intestines to digest our food and remove waste.

When we eat fruits, vegetables, cereals and grains, we get helpful sugar that the cells in our body and brain need to make energy.

When we eat processed foods like lollies, ice creams and soft drinks, we get extra or added sugars that can be unhelpful in large amounts.

These added sugars were thought to provide extra energy – a “sugar rush” that makes us feel good, happy and energetic.

When we eat sugary treats, it was thought that they make us do more jumping, playing, thinking and learning.

But this is where it gets interesting. A sugar rush is a myth because the body and brain work hard to keep sugar steady. This means you probably feel good from having a treat, not the sugar!

If a ‘sugar rush’ is a myth, what happens?

It can be hard to stay away from sugary treats and lollies when they are right in front of us.

When we eat lollies, we get an extra amount of sugar in our bodies. Our bodies, taste buds and brain like it because we can use the sugar to do things.

Sugar is taken up into your bloodstream quickly. Cleverly, our body then moves the sugar around in the bloodstream to your cells, muscles and organs, like your heart and brain.

The sugar in your bloodstream is very carefully handled.

Your body will make sure all the muscles and organs have just the right amount of sugar that they need to make energy and do their job.

This means that the flow of sugar in the body is kept steady and there is no “sugar rush”.

The body and brain have lots of support systems in place to make sure there isn’t too much or too little sugar.

Sometimes, if there is too much sugar in the bloodstream and the body doesn’t use all the sugar at once, the sugar will be stored. There are lots of storage places in the body. In fact the body is very good at storing the sugar for use later so that your muscles and organs have just the right amount of sugar when they need it.

Because the body and brain are very busy making sure there is just the right amount of sugar, it can get tired. When this happens, this is called a “sugar crash”.

Huh?! We get a sugar crash instead?

Many experiments with lots of people show us that when we eat lots of sugar, we can get a “sugar crash”.

Scientists have shown that even just 30 minutes after eating lots of sugar, you can end up feeling not quite as good as you did before. A sugar crash is why, after eating sugary treats, you may find yourself feeling sad and tired – even a little bit grumpy.

So this means that if you’ve had a sugary treat and you’re feeling good, you’re probably feeling good because you’re having fun with family and friends, rather than from the sugar.

Doing fun things, playing and trying new games and activities will help your body and brain to feel good, with or without sugar!

Hello, Curious Kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au

Talitha Best 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. Curious Kids: how do sugar rushes work? – https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-how-do-sugar-rushes-work-224512

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karinna Saxby, Research Fellow, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne

Increasing income support could help keep women and children safe according to new work demonstrating strong links between financial insecurity and domestic violence.

Our mapping of local government areas in Melbourne and Sydney reinforces the relationship between unemployment and the greater risk of violence.

At a time when the nation is speaking out against the killing of women by men – with at least 27 deaths recorded since the start of this year – the federal government is under increasing pressure to help those at greatest risk.

How money might help

Financial dependence can trap people in abusive relationships. The dependency creates barriers to leaving, as victim-survivors may not have the money necessary for alternative housing, legal help and basic living expenses.

Higher income support for women can change the dynamics within relationships by enhancing their financial decision-making and bargaining power within the household.

However, the relationship between economic factors and domestic violence is complex.

While higher income generally corresponds with lower domestic violence, overseas evidence suggests higher unemployment benefits may lengthen unemployment spells. In such situations, joblessness could lead to violence
due to increased exposure between perpetrators and victim-survivors at home.

Economic downturns and personal financial crises can also cause uncertainty and household stress, which may escalate into abuse.

These economic patterns are clear in Australia. Areas with low-income and high-unemployment tend to have the highest levels of domestic violence.

Problem areas

The graphics below illustrate this by mapping unemployment and violence rates across local government areas in greater Sydney and greater Melbourne. The patterns are striking. High rates, marked in darker red, often occur in similar locations.

In Melbourne, the areas with the highest levels of both unemployment and domestic violence are greater Dandenong, Frankston, Casey, Cardinia, Maribyrnong, Brimbank, Melton and Hume. They are marked in red.

In Sydney, the highest rates are in Campbelltown, Liverpool, Canterbury-Bankstown, Fairfield, Penrith, Cumberland, Blacktown and Hawkesbury.

The economic disparities in domestic violence have also increased in recent years. In 2001, rates of violence in the most disadvantaged parts of New South Wales were about 5.6 times higher in the most advantaged suburbs. In 2023, these differences were almost 6.5 times higher.

Long lasting impact

Domestic violence disproportionately impacts women and children and can create significant long lasting social, health, psychological and financial damage.

Estimates suggest the lifetime cost of domestic violence for every victim-survivor is in the tens of thousands of dollars. Healthcare costs alone are close to A$50,000 for every person directly affected.

And the broader costs are staggering.

National data from 2016 which looked at costs including medical care, lost productivity, legal fees, and extended social services, puts the total annual costs at about $22 billion.

This shows the problem is not just a critical social and health issue, but a major economic challenge for victim-survivors and the nation.

Helping to solve the problem

Providing adequate financial support to vulnerable people during times of economic uncertainty is critical to reduce domestic violence and its harmful effects.

But unemployment benefits in Australia are much lower than in other OECD countries. JobSeeker is only $386 per week – 43% of the full-time minimum wage. Australia is ranked among the lowest of all OECD countries when it comes to unemployment benefits, second only to Greece.

International evidence, based on more generous support schemes, suggests raising benefits may lead to extended periods out of work and therefore greater exposure to violence at home.

But this is unlikely to occur in Australia if JobSeeker payments are raised. Given the current low rate, there will still be a considerable financial incentive for JobSeeker recipients to get paid work if the rate is increased.

Analysis of the almost doubling of payments during 2020 supports this conclusion.

Improving economic safety nets could help prevent environments that breed violence. Investing in safety is an essential step towards combating Australia’s domestic violence crisis.

David Johnston receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

Karinna Saxby and Rachel Knott 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. Our research shows a strong link between unemployment and domestic violence: what does this mean for income support? – https://theconversation.com/our-research-shows-a-strong-link-between-unemployment-and-domestic-violence-what-does-this-mean-for-income-support-228409

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark A Gregory, Associate Professor, School of Engineering, RMIT University

The telecommunications industry faces a major shakeup following the release of the post-incident report on last November’s 12-hour Optus outage. Telecommunications companies will have to share more information with customers during future outages, and set up a body to manage the Triple Zero emergency service.

The Optus outage affected more than 10 million mobile and broadband services. Thousands of people who tried to call Triple Zero were unable to get through.

Hospitals, schools, and businesses could not connect to mobile and fixed networks. Commuters were delayed on their way to work, and thousands of small businesses were unable to use EFTPOS.

The post-incident review, led by former deputy chair of the Australian Communications and Media Authority Richard Bean, has made 18 recommendations. They aim to make the industry more accountable and improve oversight of the Triple Zero service.

Government response

The government has agreed to all 18 of the review’s recommendations.

Communications minister Michelle Rowland said:

Australians need to have confidence in our telecommunications services, particularly when it comes to Triple Zero.

This review is the most comprehensive examination of the Triple Zero ecosystem in over a decade. It means we have a workable blueprint to implement changes that will help improve the resilience of telecommunications in this country.

The review involved a range of stakeholders. They included communications providers as well as federal, state and territory government entities, regulators, and industry and consumer representative bodies.

Major recommendations

Some of the report’s recommendations are about structural issues in the telecommunications ecosystem. Others address the role of government in managing and responding to national service outages. A third group tackle how carriers communicate with customers and deal with post-incident complaints and compensation.

Key recommendations include:

• new rules mandating how, what and when telecommunications carriers communicate with their customers during and after an outage

• a comprehensive testing regime across telecommunications networks and devices to ensure callers can reach Triple Zero

• a Triple Zero custodian which will provide end-to-end oversight of the Triple Zero service and ensure the service is working

• a review of all legislation and regulation relating to the delivery of Triple Zero

• a review of the government’s contract with Telstra to operate the Triple Zero emergency service system

• an industry agreement on working together to manage and resolve outages.

What will change

The government has set a timeframe of 12–18 months to implement the report’s recommendations.

The 18 recommendations will be implemented by the government and various agencies, as well as the telecommunications industry. They will need to act quickly.

The establishment of the Triple Zero custodian framework will initially be led by the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.

The carriers will implement the systems and practices necessary for carriers to share real-time information about outages with emergency services and authorities.

Carriers will collectively be required to make an agreement to work together to manage and resolve outages.

Government will need to develop new guidelines for communication and collaboration. These will ensure ministers, state and territory authorities and government agencies can work together during telecommunications outages.

The government will review the legislation and regulations relating to the Triple Zero emergency service and, if necessary, introduce new legislation.

What does this mean for customers?

The Bean review and the government’s acceptance of its 18 recommendations should make our telecommunications system more robust. Telecommunications companies will work together to minimise the effect of future outages, particularly if they impact Triple Zero.

One key improvement will be how telecommunications companies respond to customer concerns about outages. There will also be changes to how customers can make complaints and seek compensation. Small business will be looking for a compensation process that is less onerous than the current one.

A small step

The Optus outage and the Bean review show up weaknesses in our telecommunications system. The industry still has some way to go before Australians can be confident in using telecommunications safely, securely and reliably.

The industry has largely been left to its own stewardship since it was deregulated in the late 1990s. Some of the review’s recommendations are small steps towards minimum performance standards.

The next step should be a broader review to look at how minimum performance standards can be developed and implemented.

Mark A Gregory 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 major shakeup’: the Optus outage has been investigated. What’s going to change now? – https://theconversation.com/a-major-shakeup-the-optus-outage-has-been-investigated-whats-going-to-change-now-229000

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Douglas, Honorary Senior Lecturer, UNSW Aviation., UNSW Sydney

The history of budget jet airlines in Australia is a long road littered with broken dreams. New entrants have consistently struggled to get a foothold.

Low-cost carrier Bonza has just become the industry’s latest casualty, entering voluntary administration on Tuesday after abruptly cancelling all flights.

Losing the airline would be heartbreaking for the 24 regional Australian locations that were not connected directly by any other airline. It would also mean even less competition in a heavily concentrated domestic air travel market. Over 85% of routes are operated by just three airline groups.

But Bonza hasn’t just fallen into this situation by chance. Strategic missteps likely played a key role from the very beginning.

What went wrong

First, running an airline is an expensive business – any cost savings airlines can find are extremely valuable.

Bonza chose to enter the Australian market with a very small fleet of Boeing B737 jet aircraft. But these had no operating cost advantage over the B737s already flown by Qantas, Virgin and Rex. Bonza’s small fleet also lacked any scale advantage in scheduling aircraft or crew.

Second, to sell tickets, Bonza adopted a radically different “app first” approach. The only place customers could search for and book tickets directly was the official Bonza app. But this meant potential customers using conventional search tools – such as search engines or booking websites – often couldn’t find Bonza flights.

The fact Bonza struggled to gain traction on its routes to Gold Coast airport, which handles a sizeable 250,000 domestic passengers each month, underscores this issue with the company’s approach.

And third, although it served a unique range of locations, Bonza’s flight schedule across its network was far from optimal. In some cases, routes were flown only once weekly, compared to much more frequent gateway city services on Rex and QantasLink.

For European airlines like easyJet or Ryanair, less-than-daily flights to smaller tourist destinations might be viable. But these airlines have the scale and connectivity to offer customers alternative pathways across their networks. Unlike Bonza, small regional routes are not at the core of their business model.

Making an airline succeed

Bonza isn’t the first Australian budget carrier to fail, and likely won’t be the last. Why are so many new entrants doomed to fail?

Making a jet airline succeed hinges on optimising three key factors – market scale, airport access, and geography. For would-be budget airlines, Australia offers a brutal starting ground on all three.

Market scale

Low-cost carrier and ultra low-cost carrier airlines have successfully gained strong footholds in Europe, the US, and Southeast Asia. But these markets are orders of magnitude larger than Australia.

The US, for example, offers airlines a market of large cities across a large area. New York’s population is approaching 20 million, Chicago 9.6 million, Houston 7.1 million, and Miami 6.1 million.

The population of the European Union is close to 450 million. And if you include the UK, there are over 30 cities in Europe with populations over 1 million. Australian carriers have only a handful of cities on that scale.

Australia lacks both the population density of Europe, and the range of secondary airports that European low-cost carriers have leveraged to access nearby markets and to drive down operating costs.

After more than a year of operation, Bonza had only achieved an overall market share of about 2%.

Airport access

Airport access is the next key barrier facing low-cost and ultra low-cost market entrants. The main routes between large Australian cities are all in a corridor along the east coast, and the largest flow into Sydney.

Use of Sydney airport is heavily constrained, both by the incumbent operators who hold most of the slots, and by regulations that artificially limit the flow of aircraft at peak times to just 80 movements (take-offs or landings) per hour.

In contrast, London Heathrow, another constrained two-runway airport, delivers a capacity of 88 movements per hour.

Completion of the new Western Sydney Airport will provide some relief from this capacity constraint. But it will not alter the fact Sydney Airport operates under an imposed constraint on operations.

Geography

Geography is the third constraint in Australia. Unlike Europe, the US, or Southeast Asia, most of our major cities are in a line on the east coast. There is no hub to connect our major cities with smaller regional points.

Towns that are too distant for convenient rail or road links often have populations that are too small to support viable – let alone frequent – flights to the larger centres.

Some regional routes are successfully serviced by small “turboprop” aircraft. Operating these incurs a higher cost per passenger than the passenger jets connecting the major cities. But it makes no sense to fly larger aircraft on these routes if the planes are half empty.

A big loss for regional Australia

The combination of Australia’s small population, the capacity constraints imposed on Sydney Airport, the presence of strong incumbent airlines, and our linear east coast market make new entry difficult.

Virgin Blue occupied the space created by the collapse of Ansett. But Impulse, Tiger, Air Australia, Ozjet, and two versions of Compass were unsuccessful market entrants. Even Air New Zealand – which has the fleet, brand strength, and market access to support entering the market – chooses not to operate domestically in Australia.

Understanding why new entrants fail offers little consolation to underserved regional towns in Australia. But given Bonza’s small footprint, capital city travellers looking for more competition on the major east coast routes will hardly notice a change.

Read more:
Under ‘open skies’, the market, not the minister, would decide how often airlines could fly into Australia

Ian Douglas is affiliated with the Air Transport Research Society, the German Aviation Research Society, the School of Aviation at the University of New South Wales, and the Singapore Aviation Academy.

Seena Sarram is affiliated with UNSW’s School of Aviation as a casual academic. He previously worked for Qantas from 2018 to 2021 and Qatar Airways from 2013 to 2018.

– ref. What just happened to Bonza? Why new budget airlines always struggle in Australia – https://theconversation.com/what-just-happened-to-bonza-why-new-budget-airlines-always-struggle-in-australia-228995

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rosalind Dixon, Director, Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law, UNSW Sydney

Australia is finally having a sustained conversation about violence against women
and what we can do about it.

It is more than time. Australian women and girls continue to experience
unacceptably high rates of domestic, family and sexual violence. An Australian
woman dies every 15 days at the hands of a current or former partner, and most
partner homicides follow a history of male-perpetrated violence.

As part of this conversation, many Australians are asking how we can do better at addressing such a complicated issue. Some suggested solutions are institutional and legal, but others point to the need for cultural change. While everyone can agree on the need for action, what’s the best way forward?

Read more:
‘Stop talking and start doing.’ Rosie Batty on trolls, accidental advocacy and treating domestic violence for what it is: terrorism

Legal options

Institutional reform to address gendered violence could operate across four broad
levels.

First could be criminal justice reforms such as improving risk assessment in bail decisions and appropriately restricting bail. Police-monitored GPS tracking of those subject to an apprehended violence order (AVO) who are identified as posing an especially high risk could also be implemented. Some forms of tracking of high-risk domestic and family violence offenders have been shown to deter violence in the US and Spain.

These reforms would aim to improve the enforcement of apprehended violence orders and the visibility of people who use serious violence. It is clear such orders can work, but they don’t work well enough to protect victims.

Any such reforms would also need to be accompanied by training and support for
police responders and judicial decision-makers in the fair but robust use of these
powers, as well as a moratorium on police mixing responses to family violence with other forms of enforcement action. In other words, police should not show up with other warrants when they come to protect victims.

Secondly, institutional reforms could include changes to family, property and tenancy laws to give victims greater short and long-term protection.

For instance, the Commonwealth currently gives only limited funding in family law matters, based on
strict means and merits testing. Increasing funding could give women greater support if they decide to leave an abusive relationship.

So too could state property and tenancy laws be improved to allow women to exclude an abusive partner from joint property, even without an apprehended violence order in place.

Thirdly, institutional reforms could extend to issues adjacent to domestic and family violence. This includes mental health support, drug and alcohol regulation and improved service provision, aiming to reduce the role these factors play in gendered violence. More funding for social workers, psychiatrists and acute crisis teams, for example, would be a good start. So would more state-funded drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs.

Read more:
New homicide statistics show surge in intimate partner killings – and huge disparity in First Nations victims

Fourthly, institutional reforms should surely include increased funding for support
services, including psychological, financial, housing and specialist service support. These services, often referred to as “crisis services” can support victims in the immediate aftermath of violence or in their recovery.

And longer-term options, like social housing, provide a path from leaving an abusive relationship to building a new life. Yet there are clear shortages and delays in accessing such housing in many states. This obviously needs to be fixed.

There is evidence from Australia and overseas that reforms of this kind can make a
difference.

For criminal justice reforms in particular, legitimate concerns can be raised about their impact on civil liberties and their negative impact on marginalised
or over-criminalised groups such as First Nations people. Any such reforms must
therefore be considered extremely carefully, with these concerns in mind, and we
need to carefully scrutinise how they can be justified.

A culturally entrenched problem

That still begs the question, however, of how much institutional reforms can achieve in the absence of deeper cultural change.

Our society needs to better understand gendered violence is a form of violence. For kids and young people, violence may be normalised in computer games and
online, but we need to do a lot more to educate them about the harms of violence
offline.

This includes ensuring young people understand the dangers of material like violent pornography, but also that online behaviours such as stalking and harassment can themselves amount to violence.

We also need to better recognise gendered violence is a problem of gender norms
and attitudes.

We have made huge strides compared to prior decades in how we think and talk
about gender inequality. Over the past decade our knowledge of gender violence has
also improved. Many men are doing much better than their fathers to set the right example for their sons, friends and co-workers in this context.

But men and boys are still often raised to expect women will meet their needs,
when asked, whether it be at work, in the home or sexually. And they are
conditioned to think it is okay to be angry with women who say no to these
expectations. We still have a deep-seated problem of both “mantitlement” and misogyny.

Read more:
We’re all feeling the collective grief and trauma of violence against women – but this is the progress we have made so far

Without addressing these twin problems and changing how we view and what we
expect of women, we are also very unlikely to see any fundamental change in
patterns of sexual and family violence.

Any response to the current gender-based violence crisis, therefore, must include a focus on cultural and educational change, alongside appropriate and considered
institutional reform. It must include a focus on, and government investment in,
meaningful prevention including prevention targeted towards those who need it the
most: men and boys.

Act immediately and continuously

At the same time, we must be careful to ensure that we don’t use the importance of cultural change as yet another reason to stall or avoid hard decisions about institutional reform. The two must go together.

Institutional change is something governments often have a lot more control over
than culture. There is more evidence in this sphere about what works, compared to
in the context of educational and cultural change. And it is something that can
deliver real gains this month or this year.

Cultural change, in contrast, is likely to take longer. It requires resetting how
we talk to young people about violence and gender, including at home and in
schools, and then waiting the one to two decades it’s likely to take for this to filter through into their intimate relationships.

Of course, we can also educate adults about respectful relationships. And we can
educate women about their options, and police about their powers and responsibilities. This is part and parcel of good institutional reform.

But true cultural change is likely to be a longer game, and hence one we need to
pursue along with more short and medium-term measures.

Institutional change may be the only hope for our sisters and mothers and it will be cultural change that benefits our daughters.

Rosalind Dixon receives funding from the Australian Research Council and Manos Foundation. She is also Director of the Pathways to Politics Program for Women funded by the Trawalla Foundation.

Emma Buxton-Namisnyk receives funding from the Australian Institute of Criminology and the Department of Communities and Justice. She previously held the role of Research Analyst on the NSW Domestic Violence Death Review Team.

– ref. Violence against women is both a legal and cultural problem. What can we do to address it? – https://theconversation.com/violence-against-women-is-both-a-legal-and-cultural-problem-what-can-we-do-to-address-it-228889

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne

Preliminary bulk billing data released this week shows a 2.1% rise in bulk billing up to March. This comes after the government tripled the incentive payment for GPs to bulk bill concession-card holders and children under 16 for most consultations.

The new data confirms the December-quarter data, which shows the increased bulk billing incentive, announced in the 2023 budget, arrested the decline in bulk billing caused by the almost decade-long freeze in rebates under the previous government.

The decline in bulk billing rates was affecting access to care. About 1.2 million people missed out on or delayed seeing a GP in 2022–23, about double the rate in 2021–22. This negates the promise of Medicare: that Australians should not face financial barriers to accessing care.

But progress on bulk billing rates is being undermined by changes to state government tax rules.

About one-quarter of state government tax revenue comes from payroll tax. States have been looking around to increase tax revenue from any source and have tightened their payroll tax rules.

An increase in a practice’s payroll tax reduces its profits. Clinics will seek to make up the shortfall in revenue by other means – and this could include reducing the number of patients they bulk bill.

Read more:
Medicare turns 40: since 1984 our health needs have changed but the system hasn’t. 3 reforms to update it

What’s the change to state payroll taxes?

Payroll tax law is complex but essentially it says anything that looks or smells like an employee payment is subject to payroll tax.

But what if the relationship between the practice and the GP is a contractual one? What if the GP is a “contractor” and pays the clinic a share of fees but is not really an employee? It was thought such cases were exempt from payroll tax.

But in March 2023, this perception was shown to be a misunderstanding of the law. The New South Wales Court of Appeal ruled that where a practice has a “fee-sharing arrangement”, payments to those GPs are liable for payroll tax.

In the NSW case, this meant the practice billed the patient on a GP’s behalf. The practice paid 70% of the fee to the GP and retained 30%. Tax was payable on the 70%. GPs in the same practice who billed patients directly and paid 30% to the practice were not within the scope of the case.

To date, general practices had assumed contractual payments were not liable to payroll tax and so are now facing new ongoing costs and, in many cases, large back payments as well.

Some states have indicated they will clarify the law in the general practices’ favour, specifying what contractual arrangements may escape any payroll tax obligation. Some state revenue offices, such as Queensland, have issued public rulings to clarify obligations. However, this is not happening in every state, leaving practices uncertain about their obligations.

Even in the case of the Queensland ruling, practices may begin to disintegrate. They may stop sharing common services and quality-improvement activities (such as working together to improve monitoring of diabetes in the practice) to make it clearer that GPs are more like tenants and less like employees, to avoid being captured by the payroll tax obligation.

What’s this got to do with bulk billing?

General practice owners, who are increasingly big companies and private equity investors, argue that if they have to pay payroll tax, they will need to increase patient out-of-pocket fees to cover the cost.

This runs up against recent Commonwealth health policy and budget initiatives to encourage an increase in bulk billing.

So the benefits of the Commonwealth investment in bulk billing might be wiped out by state action, as bulk-billing rates start to fall again.

Read more:
If you live in a bulk-billing ‘desert’ it’s hard to see a doctor for free. Here’s how to fix this

States vs the Commonwealth

The Commonwealth government recently announced a significant injection of funds into state public hospital systems, as part of a new five-year National Health Reform Agreement.

However states are reportedly not willing to recognise this as a trade-off against pursuing payroll tax on GPs’ contractual relationships.

The change in tax administration – of starting to chase payroll tax obligations of general practices – is a recent one with relatively small amounts of tax being raised at present.

So, the standoff is that a relatively new and expensive Commonwealth policy to boost bulk billing is being undermined by a relatively recent change in payroll tax policy by states.

What could the Commonwealth do?

The Commonwealth could be tougher on the states. The Constitution gives the Commonwealth power to make laws about “medical benefits”. Those laws would override state laws because of section 109 of the Constitution.

Of course, state governments might argue this is a law about taxation rather than about medical benefits, and so it is not a valid exercise of the Commonwealth’s power. However, past experiences show that carefully crafted Commonwealth tax legislation which effectively overrides state tax powers can survive a Constitutional challenge.

The Commonwealth’s position might be further strengthened if the law is specifically about bulk-billing payments, which are entirely Commonwealth payments and have no patient contribution.

The Commonwealth should use its constitutional powers to insist that, where a percentage of a bulk-billing payment passes through a general practice to a GP, that transaction is not subject to state payroll tax. This would reduce the amount of payroll tax a practice pays, so long as it bulk bills.

Such a law would not cost state governments much, because the payroll tax administration changes are only recent. But it would protect the Commonwealth policy of encouraging an increase in bulk-billing to support access to primary health care.

Read more:
Why the pathology bulk-billing campaign is more about driving industry profits than saving you money

Fiona McDonald receives funding from the Medical Research Council (UK).

Stephen Duckett 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. GP clinics are going to pay more payroll tax, which could reduce bulk billing – https://theconversation.com/gp-clinics-are-going-to-pay-more-payroll-tax-which-could-reduce-bulk-billing-228882

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Schulz, Senior Lecturer, University of Adelaide

Australia is once again grappling with how we can stop gendered violence in our country. Protests over the weekend show there is enormous community anger over the number of women who are dying and National Cabinet meets on Wednesday to specifically discuss the issue.

There is no single solution here. We need to look at the whole of our society when we consider how to make it safer for women.

One huge part of our society is schools, where Australians spend about 13 years of their lives.

As part of an ongoing, broader study into how online worlds are shaping students and teaching, colleagues* and I are surveying South Australian teachers about sexist and other anti-social views among the students.

The survey is ongoing, but our results so far paint a disturbing picture where female teachers are subjected to sexist and abusive language and behaviour by male students.

Our research

Since February, we have advertised an anonymous survey on the Teachers of Adelaide Facebook group, which involves teachers from across public and private school sectors and in co-ed and single sex environments.

The survey calls for short answer responses to questions about sexism, racism or homophobia by students at their schools.

The survey is still open, to date we have 132 responses. Almost 80% of the responses are from female teachers, who come from both primary and high schools.

‘Make me a sandwich’

One theme to emerge so far is a heightened use of misogynistic language and behaviours by male students, some as young as five.

A high school teacher reported how when she talks about gender in her classes, some boys got defensive about what female students were saying. The boys call the girls liars and repeat untrue statements they have seen online:

For example, the pay gap doesn’t exist, women lie about rape, men are superior.

Teachers are also reporting a heightened use of vulgar, sexualised and aggressive language being used primarily by boys/young men during their interactions with women and girls.

Another teacher told us:

Boys are increasingly using misogynistic language towards female students and teachers, telling them to ‘make me a sandwich’ [a well-known misogynist meme].

Other respondents noted the use of terms such as “slut” and describing women as “rapeable”. They also reported male students making animal noises (“meowing or barking”) or making offensive gestures (“grabbing their genitals and making other rude gestures”) at girls and women in the school.

One primary school teacher described how several students in her Year 1 class have been making “sex sounds” to herself a co-teacher and other students.

It turned out that one student had been watching his brother’s YouTube/Tik Tok channels […] We have met with the boys’ parents at least half a dozen times this year and we are slowly seeing it replaced with more prosocial behaviours but honestly, [the students] do it so often that they do it without intention or thought now.

Read more:
There are reports some students are making sexual moaning noises at school. Here’s how parents and teachers can respond

The behaviour can be physical

A second theme from the survey is how male students are working in groups to physically intimidate their female teachers and peers. This includes corralling girls/women into corners, out of sight of male staff.

As one high school teacher told us, male students will walk “quickly behind female teachers to rush them down stairs”. Another high school teacher said she had noticed a trend of male students invading her personal space.

[this includes] entering my classroom at break time/ coming up to my car window and pointing for me to wind it down to just stand there or getting their friends to call out my name when I walk past. They do this when I am alone and there are no witnesses.

The teacher noted how at face value, they are all “innocuous behaviours” and if challenged, the students would just say they were being friendly.

But I know these behaviours are intended to be intimidating and to make me uneasy. I find it disconcerting that by the age of 14 or 15 they know how to use their presence to menace […] if they are behaving like this with me, what are they like with young women their own age or the women in their families?

Most respondents described insufficient or zero school support. Some female teachers in our survey said they plan to leave the profession because they do not feel safe. As one teacher told us:

I know I shouldn’t let it affect me but it is draining and I have anxiety and dread going to class.

Why is this happening?

Our broader research has been prompted by conversations with teachers who note the growing influence of people like online “manfluencer” Andrew Tate (currently facing human trafficking charges in Romania) in their schools.

Such influencers champion a style of populism entangled with racism, xenophobia, trans and homophobia, which believes boys and men are victims of feminist gains. Acts of “male supremacy” are therefore needed to restore a supposedly natural gender order.

The findings of our survey so far echo other recent studies in Victoria as well as in the United Kingdom and Canada, which have found a link between Tate’s views and the behaviour and attitudes of male students.

Read more:
The draw of the ‘manosphere’: understanding Andrew Tate’s appeal to lost men

What now?

This growing body of research strongly suggests we need a national response to anti-social language and behaviours in schools.

All schools now have consent and respectful relationships education. This is welcome, but we need more.

We could start by identifying, reporting and responding to gendered or other forms of anti-social violence, abuse and harassment via a nationwide code of conduct and reporting guide.

This would be just one part of the solution. But if we have an understanding of the scope of the problem and clear guidelines to address it, these would be crucial steps towards making our schools and our society safer for everyone.

*The research this article is based on is also being done by Daniel Lee, Edward Palmer and Eszter Szenes and the University of Adelaide and Sarah McDonald at the University of South Austalia.

Samantha Schulz 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. ‘Make me a sandwich’: our survey’s disturbing picture of how some boys treat their teachers – https://theconversation.com/make-me-a-sandwich-our-surveys-disturbing-picture-of-how-some-boys-treat-their-teachers-228891

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University

What if the government was doing everything it could to stop thieves making off with our money, except the one thing that could really work?

That’s how it looks when it comes to scams, which are attempts to trick us out of our funds, usually by getting us to hand over our identities or bank details or transfer funds.

Last year we lost an astonishing A$2.74 billion to scammers. That’s more than $5,200 per minute – and that’s only the scams we know about from the 601,000 Australians who made reports. Many more would have kept quiet.

If the theft of $5,200 per minute seems over the odds for a country Australia’s size, a comparison with the United Kingdom suggests you are right. In 2022, people in the UK lost £2,300 per minute, which is about A$4,400. The UK has two and a half times Australia’s population.

It’s as if international scammers, using SMS, phone calls, fake invoices and fake web addresses are targeting Australia, because in other places it’s harder.

If we want to cut Australians’ losses, it’s time to look at rules about to come into force in the UK.

Scams up 320% since 2020

The current federal government is doing a lot – almost everything it could. Within a year of taking office, it set up the National Anti-Scam Centre, which coordinates intelligence. Just this week, the centre reported that figure of $2.74 billion, which is down 13% on 2022, but up 50% on 2021 and 320% on 2020.

It’s planning “mandatory industry codes” for banks, telecommunication providers and digital platforms.

But the code it is proposing for banks, set out in a consultation paper late last year, is weak when compared to overseas.

Banks are the gatekeepers

Banks matter, because they are nearly always the means by which the money is transferred. Cryptocurrency is now much less used after the banks agreed to limit payments to high risk exchanges.

Here’s an example of the role played by banks. A woman the Consumer Action Law Centre is calling Amelia tried to sell a breast pump on Gumtree.

The buyer asked for her bank card number and a one-time PIN and used the code to whisk out $9,100, which was sent overseas. The bank wouldn’t help because she had provided the one-time PIN.

Here’s another. A woman the Competition and Consumer Commission is calling Niamh was contacted by someone using the National Australia Bank’s SMS ID. Niamh was told her account was compromised and talked through how to transfer $300,000 to a “secure” account.

After she had done it, the scammer told her it was a scam, laughed and said “we are in Brisbane, come find me”.

How bank rules protect scammers

And one more example. Former University of Melbourne academic Kim Sawyer (that’s his real name, he is prepared to go public) clicked on an ad for “St George Capital” displaying the dragon logo of St. George Bank.

He was called back by a man using the name of a real St. George employee, who persuaded him to transfer funds from accounts at the AMP, Citibank and Macquarie to accounts he was told would be in his and his wife’s name at Westpac, ANZ, the Commonwealth and Bendigo Banks.

They lost $2.5 million. Sawyer says none of the banks – those that sent the funds or those that received them – would help him. Some cited “privacy” reasons.

The Consumer Action Law Centre says the banks that transfer the scammed funds routinely tell their customers “it’s nothing to do with us, you transferred the money, we can’t help you”. The banks receiving the funds routinely say “you’re not our customer, we can’t help you”.

That’s here. Not in the UK.

UK bank customers get a better deal

In Australia in 2022, only 13% of attempted scam payments were stopped by banks before they took place. Once scammed, only 2% to 5% of losses (depending on the bank) were reimbursed or compensated.

In the UK, the top four banks pay out 49% to 73%.

And they are about to pay out much more. From October 2024, reimbursement will be compulsory. Where authorised fast payments are made “because of deception by fraudsters”, the banks will have to reimburse the lot.

Normally the bills will be split 50:50 between the bank transferring the funds and the bank receiving them. Unless there’s a need for further investigations, the payments must be made within five days.

The only exceptions are where the consumer seeking reimbursement has acted fraudulently or with gross negligence.

Read more:
5 big trends in Australians getting scammed

The idea behind the change – pushed through by the Conservative government now led by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – is that if scams are the banks’ problem, if they are costing them millions at a time, they’ll stop them.

New Zealand is looking at doing the same thing, as is Singapore.

But here, the treasury’s discussion paper on its mandatory codes mentions reimbursement only once. That’s when it talks about what’s happening in the UK. Neither treasury nor the relevant federal minister is proposing it here.

Australia’s approach is softer

Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones is in charge of Australia’s rules.

Asked why he wasn’t pushing for compulsory reimbursement here, Jones said on Monday prevention was better.

I think a simplistic approach of just saying, ‘Oh, well, if any loss, if anyone incurs a loss, then the bank always pay’, won’t work. It’ll just make Australia a honeypot for these international crime gangs, because they’ll say, well, ‘Let’s, you know, focus all of our activity on Australia because it’s a victimless crime if banks always pay’.

Telling banks to pay would certainly focus the minds of the banks, in the way they are about to be focused in the UK.

The Australian Banking Association hasn’t published its submission to the treasury review, but the Consumer Action Law Centre has.

It says if banks had to reimburse money lost, they’d have more of a reason to keep it safe.

In the UK, they are about to find out. If Jones is right, it might be about to become a honeypot for scammers. If he is wrong, his government will leave Australia even further behind when it comes to scams – leaving us thousands more dollars behind per day.

Peter Martin is Economics Editor of The Conversation.

– ref. Australians lose $5,200 a minute to scammers. There’s a simple thing the government could do to reduce this. Why won’t they? – https://theconversation.com/australians-lose-5-200-a-minute-to-scammers-theres-a-simple-thing-the-government-could-do-to-reduce-this-why-wont-they-228867

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Erin Harrington, Senior Lecturer in English and Cultural Studies, University of Canterbury

It seems to be a time of old favourites.

This month our experts have recommended two new seasons – the second season of Alone Australia (although oddly enough with that name, it takes place in Aotearoa New Zealand) and the third season of Bluey – a Patricia Highsmith adaptation, and, following the hot new trend, an adaptation of a video game. For a sadder hit of nostalgia, Edith Jennifer Hill has watched Quiet on Set, which casts a new light on old Nickelodeon favourites.

Rounding out the bunch is a new drama After the Party. Erin Harrington recommended it back in December, but only our New Zealand readers could watch it then. It’s finally made its way across to Australia, and Erin still wholeheartedly recommends it.

As the weather drops, grab a blanket and sit down with one of these shows.

After the Party

iView and TVNZ+

After the Party is a morally complex psychological drama about accusations, abuse and accountability that’s quickly become appointment viewing.

Robyn Malcolm is incendiary as Penny, a prickly high school biology teacher who opens the series by giving the boys in her class a frank lecture about the porn she’s finding on their phones. Shots fired.

Five years ago, at a boozy party, she publicly accused her husband Phil (Peter Mullan) – rightly? wrongly? – of a sex crime against a friend of their teenage daughter. This torpedoed their lives and lost Phil his teaching job, but also exposed the extent to which charismatic men will be given the benefit of the doubt, while women who persistently transgress behavioural norms will instead be punished.

Now Phil is back in town, as charming as ever, sliding back into his roles as teacher and father. Penny’s not letting it go as she pedals furiously around windy, moody Wellington, trying to get anyone to listen to her, no matter the cost. Tense flashbacks and unsettling shifting perspectives slowly flesh out the show’s queasy core, offering a nuanced account of trauma, denial and memory.

This exceptional show, now streaming in Australia, has been developed in conjunction with the NZ Film Commission with a strong local voice but international distribution in mind. Global viewers with a love of difficult women have something to seriously look forward to.

– Erin Harrington

Alone Australia season two

SBS On Demand and TVNZ+

The hit series Alone captivated the world a few years ago, showcasing survival experts venturing into the wilderness to find food and shelter with limited tools and cameras to self-document. The last person standing wins a significant cash prize after enduring challenging conditions and typically losing around a third of their body weight.

When SBS introduced Alone Australia last year, I was sceptical. How would it compare to international versions? However, season one surpassed my expectations. Set in the temperate rainforests of Tasmania (lutruwita), bushcraft educator Gina Chick emerged as the winner, making history as one of the few women to succeed (Woniya Thibeault won Alone: Frozen in the Arctic in 2022).

Season two of Alone Australia is streaming and has started strong in the challenging climate of Te Waipounamu, South Island of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Contestants now battle the abundance of sandflies and hunt feral red deer with bows and arrows.

Although I consider myself an outdoorsy person, I don’t think I could handle the torment required by this show for more than a few days. I will continue to wish the survivalists best of luck as I watch from the comfort of my couch.

– Phoebe Hart

Read more:
What Alone Australia tells us about fear, and why we need it

Ripley

Netflix

When we meet Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott), he is a luckless grifter living off low level cons. He has a stroke of luck when wealthy shipbuilder Herbert Greenleaf (Kenneth Lonergan) sends him to Italy to bring his son Dickie (Johnny Flynn) home to America. However, once Tom arrives, he becomes obsessed with Dickie and his lifestyle. Tom kills Dickie and steals his identity.

And this is only the first of Tom’s many crimes.

As an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 crime novel The Talented Mr Ripley and coming after two previous cinematic adaptations – René Clément’s Plein Soleil (1960) and Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr Ripley (1999) – Ripley stands on the shoulders of giants, but also has big shoes to fill.

Some fans want it to be more like Minghella’s sumptuously sexy film: they must sit patiently through the first two episodes. Ripley is less interested in homoerotic desire than it is in crime (although there is plenty of queerness). However, once episode three starts, the series’ momentum really gets underway. Reasons to watch include wonderful twists and turns, gorgeous black and white cinematography, ascetic sound design, darkly comic corpse play, and Scott’s reptilian performance in the title role.

– Joy McEntee

Read more:
Critics can’t decide if Andrew Scott’s Ripley is mesmerising or charmless – just as Patricia Highsmith wrote him

Bluey season three

iView and TVNZ+

New and existing fans have lots to love with the three recent Bluey episodes. A collection of little specials/mini stories, Ghostbasket, The Sign and Surprise! are a delight.

A mini-mystery flows through episodes: will Bluey and her family sell up and move away from their lovely Queenslander home (and lovely Queensland generally)? Along the way there is a wedding, a ghost(ish) presence and the return of lots of favourite characters including The Grannies (think Kath and Kim if they were in their 80s and played by animated puppies).

It’s also fun to play “whose voice is that?” with a huge cast of guests, including Claudia O’Doherty, Patrick Brammall, Myf Warhurst, Sam Simmons, Rose Byrne, Joel Edgerton, Deborah Mailman, Brendan Williams and Rove McManus.

As well as lovely stories, the soundtrack again doesn’t disappoint, with special mention to Megan Washington, a voice actor and writer/performer of Lazarus Drug, a song re-recorded and repurposed in The Sign. The song plays almost in full, bringing the story to a climax and tugging hard on heartstrings.

You don’t have to be a kid, or have one close, to love Bluey. It’s nuanced storytelling that is fun, funny and relatable – well worth the repeat viewings it inevitably receives.

– Liz Giuffre

Read more:
Something borrowed, something Bluey: why we love a TV wedding

Fallout

Prime

Adapted from the wildly popular post-apocalypse game franchise, Fallout is a wild ride. Rather than adapting the storyline from one of the games, the series creates new characters within the existing story world.

Following the nuclear holocaust, many wealthy Americans have sought refuge in self-sustaining vaults, hiding themselves away from the wasteland above; 200 years later, and Lucy (Ella Purnell) from Vault 33, is forced to venture to the wasteland to track down her kidnapped father, Hank (Kyle Mclachlan). The backstory to the Fallout world and truth to the vaults is also explored through characters The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) and Lucy’s brother, Norm (Moisés Arias).

The series captures the mix of gore and humour fans would be expecting. The Cold War lives of the vault-dwellers are presented with a satirical humour. Above ground, the inhabitants of the hostile world cope with their lot through humour that is sometimes surreal and other times dry wit.

Dale Dickey is a particular standout as a cranky shopkeeper in the wasteland, Ma June. “I thought all you dipshits were dead!” she laughs at Lucy upon hearing she is from the vaults.

The show’s violence is also visceral. Horrifying creatures, mutated as a result of the world’s radiation are the stuff of nightmares. Matt Berry voices an organ-harvesting robot that somehow exudes pathos, a tribute to how the show manages to balance gore and humour.

Adaptations of video games haven’t always been successful. Shows, such as Fallout and Last of Us, prove they can be sources for fantastic television.

– Stuart Richards

Read more:
Fallout: an expertly crafted TV adaptation that manages to incorporate some of the best elements of gameplay

Quiet on Set

Binge (Australia) and ThreeNow (New Zealand)

The compelling docu-series Quiet on Set highlights the disturbing world of the child-entertainment industry, focusing on children’s television channel Nickelodeon.

The five-part series highlights the abuse many child actors faced while working for the network. The child stars on these shows – now adults in their 30s – share their experiences working on the Nickelodeon sets.

The series spotlights three convicted child-predators who worked for the network: Brian Peck, Jason Handy and Ezel Channel. Peck, convicted of sexually abusing Drake Bell, is at the centre of much of the series. The series explores how men like Peck are put in positions of power over children in the industry who were in their care, or under their supervision.

The docu-series comes at an opportune time when many child stars from the 2000s and 2010s have shared their stories of abuse. Famously, Jennette McCurdy (also a Nickelodeon star) recently released her memoir, I’m Glad My Mum Died, where she shares the details of her exploitation as a child-star. Others like Alyson Stoner from the Disney Channel, and Mara Wilson (famous for her role as Matilda) have spoken out about harsh working conditions, and the sexualisation and exploitation they experienced as young actors.

Quiet On Set’s combination of former child-star interviews, parent interviews and reflections from show writers creates a rounded series that exposes those who exploited children, and makes us seriously consider how we should be protecting working children.

–Edith Jennifer Hill

Read more:
Quiet on Set highlights how we don’t keep child stars safe – in Hollywood or online

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. Psychological drama, wilderness reality and everyone’s favourite dog: the best of streaming this May – https://theconversation.com/psychological-drama-wilderness-reality-and-everyones-favourite-dog-the-best-of-streaming-this-may-228612

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland

Meteors – commonly known as shooting stars – can be seen on any night of the year. But some nights are better than others.

As Earth moves around the Sun, we encounter streams of dust and debris from comets and asteroids. That debris gives birth to “meteor showers” – times when the number of shooting stars you are likely to see increases dramatically.

Currently, we are passing through the outskirts of one such debris stream, left behind by Halley’s comet. It creates the Eta Aquariid meteor shower, one of the best visible from the southern hemisphere. Every year, when Earth reaches this point in its orbit, you can see the Eta Aquariids in the morning sky.

This year’s display promises to be extra special. The peak coincides with a new Moon, meaning skies will be extra dark in the hours before dawn – perfect conditions to watch fragments of a famous comet rain down. There are even hints the shower might be more “active” than usual.

Fragments of the most famous comet

Halley’s comet (1P/Halley by its official name) orbits the Sun every 76 years or so, and has spent thousands of years on its current path.

Every time it swings through the inner Solar System, the comet sheds dust and gas. This dust has slowly spread through space, shrouding the comet’s orbit in a broad swathe of debris.

Earth runs through that debris twice per year, giving birth to two famous meteor showers. In October, we get the Orionid meteor shower, visible from both hemispheres and relatively well known.

But the better of the two showers from Halley’s debris peaks in early May – the Eta Aquariid meteor shower. Earth begins encountering that debris in mid-April, and then spends approximately six weeks traversing the broad debris stream left behind by the mighty comet.

For much of that time, Earth passes through the outskirts of the stream, and the number of meteors produced remains low. But for around a week centred on May 6, Earth moves through the densest part of the stream, and the Eta Aquariids reach their peak.

How can I watch the meteor shower?

The Eta Aquariids are actually one of the best meteor showers of the year, but are relatively poorly known for a simple reason – they are best seen from the southern hemisphere, and are very hard to observe from locations north of the equator.

The reason is that in northern locations, the Eta Aquariid radiant (the point in the sky from which the meteors appear to radiate) does not rise until it is already morning twilight. As a result, all but the brightest meteors get lost in the rising daylight.

Southern observers are more fortunate. For most Australian locations, the radiant – located in the constellation Aquarius – rises at around 1:30am to 2am local time. This gives us several hours before dawn to observe the spectacle.

A general rule of thumb when observing meteor showers is the higher in the sky the radiant rises, the better the display will be as your location on Earth is turned into facing the oncoming shower of cometary dust.

The first hour after radiant rise will likely not produce many meteors. It is still worth staring skyward though, as the few meteors you do see will be crashing into the atmosphere at a very shallow angle, allowing them to streak from horizon to horizon. These are known as “earthgrazing” meteors.

As the radiant climbs higher, so, too, will the number of meteors you observe. At their peak (on the morning of May 6th), in the hour or two before dawn, the Eta Aquariids could easily produce 20 to 30 meteors per hour. Similar rates should be visible for a couple of mornings either side of the maximum, making the weekend of May 4 and 5 a perfect time to do some morning meteor spotting.

However, meteors don’t come at an even rate. You can wait 15 minutes and see none, then four may come along at once. So remember to wrap up warm, get comfortable and gaze towards the eastern sky as you relax to enjoy the show.

An extra special year?

The Eta Aquariids are always a fabulous autumn treat for observers in Australia, but this year promises to be extra special. First, the skies will be dark thanks to a new Moon, making meteors easier to spot.

But there’s more. Scientists modelling the behaviour of the Eta Aquariids over the past few decades have found tantalising hints that this year could see significantly enhanced rates. In fact, they suggest the 2024 Eta Aquariid meteor shower could prove to be the strongest of the entire 21st century.

Predicting the activity of meteor showers is really hard, however. Other researchers have argued this year might just be “business as usual”.

Even if the latter is true, this is still an excellent meteor shower to try to catch. With perfect conditions, and the peak falling on the morning of May 6 (a public holiday in Queensland and the Northern Territory), it’s the ideal time to plan a weekend trip to the country – to settle down somewhere dark, and wake up to spend a few hours enjoying a display of natural fireworks before watching a beautiful autumn sunrise. What’s not to love?

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. The Eta Aquariid meteor shower is about to peak and could be the best this century – here’s how to catch it – https://theconversation.com/the-eta-aquariid-meteor-shower-is-about-to-peak-and-could-be-the-best-this-century-heres-how-to-catch-it-226628

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Flannery, Honorary fellow, The University of Melbourne

Current concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in Earth’s atmosphere are unprecedented in human history. But CO₂ levels today, and those that might occur in coming decades, did occur millions of years ago.

Wouldn’t it be useful to go back in time and see what Australia looked like during those periods in the distant past? Well, scientists – including us – have done just that.

These studies, which largely involve examining sediments and fossils, reveal a radically different Australia to the one we inhabit.

The continent was warmer and wetter, and filled with unfamiliar plant and animal species. It suggests Australia may be much wetter, and look very different, in centuries and millennia to come.

Then and now: measuring CO₂

Atmospheric CO₂ is measured in “parts per million” – in other words, how many CO₂ molecules are present in each million molecules of dry air.

The concentration of CO₂ influences Earth’s climate. The more CO₂ present, the warmer it gets.

Right now, atmospheric CO₂ is about 420 parts per million. This concentration last occurred on Earth between 3 million and 5 million years ago – a period known as the Pliocene.

If humanity keeps burning fossil fuels at the current rate, by mid-century CO₂ concentrations will be around 550 parts per million. This level was last approached 14 million to 17 million years ago, in the mid-Miocene period.

In both these periods, Earth was warmer than it is today, and sea levels were far higher.

In the Pliocene, research shows CO₂ was the cause of about half the elevated temperatures. Much of the rest was due to changes in ice sheets and vegetation, for which CO₂ was indirectly responsible.

In the mid-Miocene, the link between CO₂ and warmer temperatures is less certain. But climate modelling does suggest CO₂ was the primary driver of temperature increases in this period.

By examining the plants and animals that lived in Australia during these epochs, we can gain insight into what a warmer Australia might look like.

Obviously, the Pliocene and mid-Miocene far predate humans, and CO₂ concentrations in the atmosphere in those periods increased for natural reasons, such as volcanic eruptions. Today, humans are causing the CO₂ increases, and it’s happening at a much faster rate than in the past.

Read more:
Humanity is compressing millions of years of natural change into just a few centuries

Australia in the Pliocene

The fossil and sediment record from the Pliocene period in Australia is limited. But the available data suggest much of the continent – and Earth generally – was more humid and warm than today. This helped determine the species that existed in Australia.

For example, the Nullarbor Plain, which stretches from South Australia to Western Australia, is today extremely dry. But studies of fossilised pollen show during the Pliocene it was home to Gymea lilies, banksias and angophoras – plants found around Sydney today.

Similarly, the western Murray-Darling Basin is today largely saltbush and grassland. But fossil pollen records show in the Pliocene, it was home to araucaria and the southern beech – rainforest trees found in high-rainfall climates.

And preserved remains of marsupials dating back to the Pliocene have been found near Hamilton in western Victoria. They include a dorcopsis wallaby – the nearest living relative of which lives in New Guinea’s ever-wet mountains.

Hot and moist in the mid-Miocene

A rich fossil and sediment record exists from the mid-Miocene. Marine sediments off WA suggest the west and southwest part of Australia was arid. In contrast, the continent’s east was very wet.

For example, the Riversleigh World Heritage area in Queensland is today a semi-arid limestone plateau. But research has found in the mid-Miocene, seven species of folivorous ringtail possums lived there at the same time. The only place more than two ringtail possum species coexist today is in rainforests. This suggests the Riversleigh plateau once supported a diverse rainforest ecosystem.

Similarly, McGraths Flat, near Gulgong in New South Wales, is today an open woodland. But mid-Miocene fossils from the site include rainforest trees with pointed leaves that help shed water.

And mid-Miocene fossils from the Yallourn Formation, in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, also include the remains of rainforest plants. Before colonisation it supported eucalypt forests and grasslands.

This evidence of rainforest suggests far wetter conditions in the mid-Miocene than exist today.

Read more:
If warming exceeds 2°C, Antarctica’s melting ice sheets could raise seas 20 metres in coming centuries

An uncertain future

You may be wondering, when climate change projections tell us Australia will be drier in future, why we are suggesting the continent will be wetter. We concede there is a real contradiction here, and it requires further research to unravel.

There’s another important point to note. While conditions in the Pliocene or Miocene can help us understand how Earth’s systems respond to elevated CO₂ levels, we can’t say Australia’s future climate will exactly replicate those conditions. And there are lags in the climate system, so while CO₂ concentrations in the Pliocene are similar to today’s levels, Earth hasn’t yet experienced the same extent of warming and rainfall.

The uncertainty comes down to the complexities of the climate system. Some components, such as air temperature, respond to increased CO₂ levels relatively quickly. But other components will require centuries or millennia to fully respond. For example, ice sheets over Greenland and Antarctica are kilometres thick and as big as continents, which means they take a long time to melt.

So, even if CO₂ levels remain high, we shouldn’t expect a Pliocene-like climate to develop for centuries or millennia yet. However, every day we add CO₂ to Earth’s atmosphere, the climate system moves closer to a Pliocene-like state – and it cannot be easily turned around.

Tim Flannery is affiliated with the Australian Museum Research Institute and Ambassador to Regen Aqua, water treatment company, and Odonata, biodiversity restoration on private lands

Josephine Brown receives funding from the National Environmental Science Program and the Australian Research Council.

Kale Sniderman receives funding from the Australian Research Council

– ref. Wondering what Australia might look like in a hotter world? Take a glimpse into the distant past – https://theconversation.com/wondering-what-australia-might-look-like-in-a-hotter-world-take-a-glimpse-into-the-distant-past-227058

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Usmar, Lecturer in Critical Media Literacies, Auckland University of Technology

With the coalition government’s ban of student mobile phones in New Zealand schools coming into effect this week, reaction has ranged from the sceptical (kids will just get sneakier) to the optimistic (most kids seem okay with it).

In a world where nearly everyone has a smartphone, it’s to be expected nearly everyone will have an opinion. The trick is to sort the valid from the kneejerk, and not rush to judgement.

Anecdotally, schools that implemented the ban ahead of the deadline have reported positive changes in attention and learning. The head girl of Hornby High School in Christchurch said the grounds are now “almost louder during intervals and lunches”. Her principal said, “I wish we had done the phone ban five years ago.”

On the other hand, hard evidence in favour of banning phones in schools has been found to be “weak and inconclusive”. But the policy’s aim to create a “positive environment where young New Zealanders can focus on what matters most” is not without merit.

Above all, the policy raises a crucial question: is an outright ban the most effective approach to addressing the problem of digital distraction and its impact on education?

Connection and distraction

Since Monday, students have had to store their phones in bags or lockers during school hours. As in the pre-digital era, parents can now only contact their children through the school office.

The aim, according to the National Party’s original election promise, is to “eliminate unnecessary disturbances or distractions” and improve student achievement, which by various measures has declined over the past three decades.

While avoiding generalised assumptions, we know many young people can’t put their devices down, as both a recent Education Review Office report and a 2021 OECD survey concluded.

Read more:
We looked at all the recent evidence on mobile phone bans in schools – this is what we found

In one US survey in 2022, approximately one-third of teachers asked students to put away their phones five to ten times per class, while nearly 15% asked more than 20 times.

So, it’s hard to argue phones aren’t a distraction, or that social media-fuelled bullying and isolation don’t warrant critical examination of digital habits. At the same time, phones have their constructive uses, from organising schedules for the neurodivergent, to facilitating social interactions and learning.

No phone ban advocate is arguing that limiting phone use in schools is a silver bullet for related issues around cyberbullying, mental health and behavioural challenges. But the personal device’s capacity to distract remains a legitimate concern.

Meaningful digital engagement

The heart of the debate lies in education’s evolving landscape. The push to ban phones does not extend to digital devices in general, after all. Their utility in learning environments is well recognised.

But as we embrace artificial intelligence and other technological advances in education, we must also ask: at what point does reliance on these digital tools begin to erode critical thinking skills?

The future job market, filled with roles that do not yet exist, will undoubtedly require those skills. Therefore, distinguishing between meaningful digital engagement and detrimental distraction is crucial.

Perhaps the better question is: would fewer distractions create the opportunity for young people to be more curious about their learning?

Read more:
Do smartphones belong in classrooms? Four scholars weigh in

Curiosity: the engine of critical thinking

Curiosity is essential for educational success, citizenship and media literacy in the digital age. But curiosity is stifled by distractions.

Education research is heading towards treating curiosity as a “provocation” – meaning we should, in effect, “dare” young people to be more curious. This involves encouraging mistakes, exploration – even daydreaming or being creatively bored.

All of this is challenging with the current level of distractions in the classroom. On top of that, many young people struggle to cultivate curiosity when digital media can provide instant answers.

Read more:
How smartphones weaken attention spans in children and adults

Consider the distinction between two types of curiosity: “interest curiosity” and what has been termed “deprivation curiosity”.

Interest curiosity is a mindful process that tolerates ambiguity and takes the learner on their own journey. It’s a major characteristic of critical thinking, particularly vital in a world where AI systems are competing for jobs.

Deprivation curiosity, by contrast, is characterised by impulsivity and seeking immediate answers. Misinformation and confusion fuelled by AI and digital media only exacerbate the problem.

Making room for real life

Where does this leave the phone ban in New Zealand schools? There are some promising signs from students themselves, including in the OECD’s 2022 report on global educational performance:

On average across OECD countries, students were less likely to report getting distracted using digital devices when the use of cell phones on school premises is banned.

These early indications suggest phone bans boost the less quantifiable “soft” skills and vital developmental habits of young people — social interactions, experimentation, making mistakes and laughing. These all enhance the learning environment.

Read more:
Banning cellphones in classrooms is not a quick fix for student well-being

Real life experiences, with their inherent trials and errors, are irreplaceable avenues for applying critical thinking. Digital experiences, while valuable, cannot fully replicate the depth of human interaction and learning.

Finding the balance is the current challenge. As a 2023 UNESCO report advised, “some technology can support some learning in some contexts, but not when it is over-used”.

In the meantime, we should all remain curious about the potential positive impacts of the phone ban policy, and allow time for educators and students to respond properly. The real tragedy would be to miss the learning opportunities afforded by a less distracted student population.

Patrick Usmar 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. Will New Zealand’s school phone ban work? Let’s see what it does for students’ curiosity – https://theconversation.com/will-new-zealands-school-phone-ban-work-lets-see-what-it-does-for-students-curiosity-228893