Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Heffernan, Postdoctoral fellow, UNSW Sydney

From meatballs and cakes to soups and seafood, Sweden is known for its hearty cuisine. It’s also renowned for its quality of life, topping many countries in happiness, equality and social connection.

Perhaps this is why news on Reddit and Twitter that Swedes don’t feed child guests dinner caused a stir online. As one poster explained, while over at a friend’s house as a child, the family ate dinner together – and the friend was expected to wait.

Some Swedes supported these claims, saying unannounced child guests often weren’t accounted for in meal planning, that it could be down to class, or food wasn’t offered “out of respect” for the parents of the visiting child – they might have planned dinner which would then be “wasted”.

Who is allowed to go without in a prosperous and inclusive society was debated under the hashtag #Swedengate, and ignited discussion about expectations of hospitality in Sweden and further abroad.

The anthropology of food

The act of eating is steeped in cultural practice. Food and eating possess cultural meanings that impose order on what is eaten, when, how and by whom.

Social anthropologists have long studied how people eat and what this says about cultural norms.

In the 1960s, Claude Lévi-Strauss’ work among Brazilian Indigenous peoples highlighted ingrained cultural habits about food preparation and how these practices can inform a culture’s system of knowledge.

In the 1980s, Pierre Bourdieu’s analysis of French society showed how a person’s ability to exercise “good taste” is connected to the operation of power and their position in society.

The company we keep during mealtimes has also been explored by anthropologists. Maurice Bloch famously quipped:

in all societies, sharing food is a way of establishing closeness, while, conversely, the refusal to share is one of the clearest marks of distance.

It is easy to observe this in our own lives. We prefer to eat with friends rather than strangers. It is possible to sit too closely to people we don’t know and sometimes not sit closely enough to loved ones. There are observable differences in expected behaviours when consuming finger food versus a sit-down dinner.

The kindness of a meal

The #Swedengate controversy demonstrates how cultural norms regulate behaviour and produce expectations.

In Australia – and seemingly most countries, accounting for the ensuing discussion on Reddit and Twitter – we believe physical presence should lead to a meal invitation.

As Lévi-Strauss wrote, eating with others is based on reciprocity: receiving guests is repaid through offering a meal.

Twitter users quickly suggested meals were similarly not offered to unaccounted for children in other Nordic countries, with comparisons made to more “hospitable” areas of Europe and Asia.

Connections were also made with Nordic Viking culture from antiquity and how a meal or gift was similar to a debt.

There is limited evidence of the honour and debt practices of the Vikings bearing on contemporary Nordic culture. But we can clearly see how differences in eating practices can highlight the different meanings different communities attach to sharing a meal.

Read more:
In America’s sandwiches, the story of a nation

Sharing meals in Iceland

The culture of not extending an invitation to guests for dinner is certainly not standard across all Nordic cultures.

In research I conducted among Icelandic families after the 2008 global financial crisis, I observed the way I was received at mealtimes as a cultural “outsider”.

At one gathering, I sat as an invited guest among a family of seven spaced out around a large dining table, highlighting the formality of the afternoon.

At another event, a farewell party, several people known to one another crowded around a four-seat kitchen table, picking at food on a few plates. The closeness of bodies at this event gestured at its informality and social intimacy.

But meals aren’t always to be shared. One woman I interviewed recalled her decision to walk out of a restaurant when a banker associated with the economic crisis arrived:

I just looked at him and walked out. We don’t forgive or forget, not these men. Most people wouldn’t scream or anything, we’re a little more polite. We walk away. They can have the restaurant to themselves.

The meaning of a meal

The offer or denial of a meal can be telling of social relations. #Swedengate shows how invites can be dependent on historical precedent, parental expectation or food wastage.

Localised norms have existed in all cultures across history. Denial isn’t necessarily an act of inhospitality – it just points to cultural norms, contested as they may be, as seen through the #Swedengate controversy.

Hasty judgements about food and eating are not always accurate. Deeper meanings have always been behind mealtime offerings.

Perhaps what is most interesting about #Swedengate is not what it tells us about Sweden, but what it tells us about ourselves.

Read more:
Will European countries ever take meaningful steps to end colonial legacies?

This research was supported by the Australian Government’s Research Training Program (RTP). Timothy Heffernan is also affiliated with ANU College of Health and Medicine as a research assistant.

– ref. Should you feed child guests dinner? What #Swedengate tells us about food culture and social expectations – https://theconversation.com/should-you-feed-child-guests-dinner-what-swedengate-tells-us-about-food-culture-and-social-expectations-184142

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

As well as her interviews with politicians and experts, Politics with Michelle Grattan includes “Word from The Hill”, where she discusses the news with members of The Conversation politics team.

In this podcast Michelle and politics + society editor Amanda Dunn canvass Anthony Albanese’s ministry, with its record number of women in cabinet but one woman, Tanya Plibersek, having her portfolio unexpectedly switched.

Peter Dutton, on being elevated to Liberal leader, flagged he’d pitch to the suburbs and small business. Meanwhile the Nationals showed that holding all the party’s seats (and winning an extra one) doesn’t guarantee the leader keeps his job. Barnaby Joyce was dispatched, in favour of the rather less flamboyant David Littleproud, to the relief of many Liberals.

Meanwhile, Anthony Albanese will be off to Indonesia next week, in his second overseas trip since winning office.

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

– ref. Word from The Hill: Albanese’s ministry mixes stability and surprise – https://theconversation.com/word-from-the-hill-albaneses-ministry-mixes-stability-and-surprise-184244

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoff Cockfield, Honorary Professor in Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development, University of Southern Queensland

You might look at the recent election result and conclude it was a reasonable one for the National Party. Its MPs held their seats despite several swings against them, and gained strength within the Coalition, after the Liberal Party suffered major losses.

But as the leadership change yesterday makes clear, the National Party has internal tensions. Its new leader David Littleproud must work out how to approach climate action, given the party’s regional heartland has tended to be sceptical of anything smacking of environmentalism.

Arguing that climate change isn’t happening or is insignificant is no longer viable, given farmers are on the front line in adapting to new climate regimes.

Littleproud has staked a claim to the middle ground. That’s understandable, given the north-south divide sometimes apparent in the parliamentary party room over personalities, differences in state party priorities and regional development strategies, including coal and gas.

Over the next three years, we can expect the Labor government to accelerate the shift to renewables and electric vehicles. Littleproud will have his work cut out for him in getting his party to accept the idea of an energy transition.

But it could be possible. The Nationals could reset and focus on new regional jobs in renewables and energy independence for farmers to avoid soaring diesel costs. Or they could keep preaching the word of coal. While electorally successful in central Queensland in 2019, this may have limited resonance come 2025.

Pro-coal Nationals may have to change tack

The Coalition won in 2019 in an upset, with the Nationals focusing on resources seats in Queensland and New South Wales. While the same rhetoric probably helped the Nationals keep such seats, it did not resonate more widely even in the coal electorate of Hunter they hoped to win from Labor.

Within the party, the coal crowd is vocal, but doesn’t represent all views. In Queensland, the Nationals tend to be pro-coal and support the big-personality style of former leader Barnaby Joyce. But southern MPs such as Victoria’s Darren Chester follow the Victorian party’s lead in focusing on agricultural and rural community development through infrastructure and business development – even though Chester lives in coal territory in Gippsland. Some NSW Nationals MPs are little affected by coal, while some further north have to deal with constituents who are angry over gas exploration on farmland.

Read more:
New Nationals leader Littleproud says ‘sensible centre’ is where elections are won

The pro-coal push is also about ideological positioning, signalling that the Nationals stand for “traditional” nation-building industries and oppose the “impractical” ideas of the Greens.

It’s not just signalling though. Given the lack of broad plans for regional development in Australia, long-term coal jobs can be appealing. Modest business grants, road repairs and toilet blocks at election time are no substitute for major investment. It’s no wonder regional politicians want to secure these big investments.

So could we see the Nationals change course? Littleproud may have sniffed the winds of change, perhaps aided by some retirements from Queensland at this recent election. The Coalition has finally endorsed the concept of net-zero greenhouse emissions, with National support secured through major concessions from the Liberals.

Plenty of rural residents have no great love for extractive industries. Three years of Labor government will likely shift climate and energy policy signficantly. Private investment in coal-fired power stations will also fall.

It will be tricky to change course. If the Nationals move away from traditional resources and fossil fuels, what will they focus on? Could they pivot to focusing on renewables and directing cheap, clean energy into agricultural and rural communities? They would have support from the changing demographics of the bush, given so many city-dwellers have fled the city during COVID. But it would be a painful shift for party traditionalists.

We don’t have to talk about climate change to take action

One answer might be to avoid talking about climate change, and focus on energy transitions to cut soaring electricity and fuel costs. Diesel at A$2 a litre is hitting farmers hard. High fuel costs also make fertiliser more expensive.

If Littleproud is up for it, he could focus on energy independence for farmers, backing rural renewable co-operatives as a form of country self-reliance, and promote hydrogen and electric tractors and solar/battery-powered farms to save money and protect farmers from forces the Nationals cannot control, such as war in Europe.

Some farmers are already powering pumps with solar energy and switching smaller vehicles to battery-electric. There’s a pathway emerging, but accelerating the rural transition requires sustained effort.

Read more:
From field to store to plate, our farmers are increasingly worried about climate change

When you live in a regional area, as I do, you come across three responses to climate change. One is outright scepticism. This has dropped over time, as the older generations have retired and climate events have intensified.

Most people fall into the second group, who know the climate has changed but don’t focus much on the cause. And then you have the front-foot brigade such as Farmers for Climate Action, who are researching and trialling different methods of plant breeding, changing water collection to catch what water is now available, and finding new ways to keep moisture in the soil and manage irrigation more smartly.

In short, many farmers are already adapting to climate change, whether they use that name or not. They have to. They’re cropping more flexibly. Wine growers are moving around the country, chasing specific climatic conditions. No matter what they say publicly, they’re adapting.

Even if Littleproud is forced to double down on support for coal, change will soon be forced on him. Environmental tariffs from major trading partners such as the European Union could put in place a carbon “tax” on our exports and those of other nations where carbon pollution is not priced.

That will hurt farmers, who will see their exports cost more and sell less. This poses a real predicament for the Nationals. How will they balance coal, agriculture and the cost of living and farming in rural Australia?

Geoff Cockfield 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. With diesel $2 a litre and a new leader, the Nationals could pivot on climate to focus on energy independence – https://theconversation.com/with-diesel-2-a-litre-and-a-new-leader-the-nationals-could-pivot-on-climate-to-focus-on-energy-independence-183828

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Forsyth, Distinguished Professor of Workplace Law, RMIT University

Real wages in Australia have been stagnating for the better part of a decade. Now, with higher inflation, they’re declining. So what can the new Albanese government, having campaigned hard on the previous government’s failures, do about it?

Making a submission to Australia’s industrial relations umpire, the Fair Work Commission, to lift the minimum hourly wage from A$20.33 to A$21.36, is one thing. If that push is successful, it would help the 2% of workers paid the minimum wage, as well as the 23% (about 2.2 million workers) on awards, whose rates would also lift.

Read more:
Lifting the minimum wage is anything but reckless – it’s what low earners need

But there’s a bigger systemic problem the Albanese government needs to address – a flaw designed and implemented by a previous Labor government. Enterprise bargaining, the mechanism introduced 30 years ago for workers to collectively negotiate better wages and conditions, is broken.

It’s failing low-paid workers lacking bargaining power in particular, and is a big part of the reason for such poor wages in female-dominated professions such as aged care and child care.

Origin of enterprise bargaining agreements

Enterprise bargaining was introduced during the Hawke-Keating Labor era in the early 1990s, in partnership with the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the support of employer groups.

The Business Council of Australia had lobbied strongly for an enterprise focus for negotiating employment conditions, on the basis it`was the best way to tie wage claims to gains in productivity.

After 30 years, though, enterprise bargaining is in terminal decline, with ten years of shrinking agreement coverage in line with stagnant wages growth.

Research by labour law and policy experts Andrew Stewart, Jim Stanford and Tess Hardy published in May shows the total number of enterprise agreements fell by more than half between 2013 and 2021 (from 23,500 agreements to 10,000).

Worse, the share of employees covered by a current enterprise agreement declined from an average of 27% in 2012 to just 15% by late 2021. This is shown in the following graph.

The Australian Industry Group and other business representatives blame this on the Fair Work Commission’s strict approach to the “better off overall test” and other statutory protections of employees’ interests in agreement-making.

Unions see it differently. In their view, the reason enterprise bargaining is in free-fall is because of design flaws in the current laws, meaning workers have very limited negotiating power and employers can “game” the system to avoid their obligation to bargain.

The main problem: enterprise bargaining was designed for an economy that no longer exists.

Read more:
Cabinet papers 1992-93: the rise and fall of enterprise bargaining agreements

Workplaces have changed

Allowing employees and unions to only bargain and take industrial action for an agreement with a single business, or part of a business, works fine with large worksites, such as factories, with hundreds or thousands of workers with the same employer.

But these types of workplaces are increasingly rare. Now, many employers in sectors such as food production, logistics, warehousing, building management and “big box” retail stores have hived off large parts of their operations, and workers, to other entities.

They’ve used labour hire, independent contracting and outsourcing to distance themselves from responsibility for minimum employment standards – and collective bargaining.

To lift wages, workers need the boost to bargaining power that comes from being able to negotiate – and strike – across entire industries.

Labour hire workers must be able to bargain not just with the agency that technically employs them, but with the business for whom they are working – such as Amazon, which has relied heavily on outsourced labour in its Australian operations.

Workers who clean and provide security services in commercial buildings need to have the capacity to pursue pay increases from the lead firms that ultimately control labour’s share of profits.

What Labor has promised to do

Federal Labor’s 2021 national policy platform contains a commitment to “improve access to collective bargaining, including where appropriate through multi-employer collective bargaining”.

It notes this access is a particular issue for low-paid employees lacking industrial power, and that the Fair Work Act does not adequately facilitate it.

These points, however, were not mentioned in the run-up to the election. Nor did the Australian Council of Trade Unions make an issue of it, in contrast to its “Change the Rules” campaign between 2017 and 2019.

Instead, Labor pledged to address other problems in the enterprise bargaining system: the weak requirements for employers to negotiate in “good faith”, and the ease with which employers can have agreements terminated.

However, the Albanese government may well be pushed to “go bolder” – not just by unions but also the Australian Greens, whose 2022 election policy states:

Workers should be free to collectively bargain at whatever level they consider appropriate and with whoever has real control over their work, whether at a workplace, industry, sector or other level.

The Greens’ platform also states:

Workers should have the right to engage in industrial action, including the right to strike, consistent with international law and not limited to artificially restricted bargaining periods.

The government may not need Greens’ support to pass legislation in the House of Representatives, but it will need it in the Senate.

So expect the future of enterprise bargaining, along with properly tackling insecure work, to be a hot topic for the government’s planned jobs summit.

With employers already talking up the need for productivity gains to underpin any changes, we’ll have to wait and see how serious the new government is about fixing a broken bargaining system.

Anthony Forsyth is affiliated with the Centre for Future Work (Australia Institute) and the Migrant Workers Centre in Victoria. He has received funding from the Australian Research Council Linkage Program (industry partners: Australian Council of Trade Unions & The Union Education Foundation).

– ref. There’s one big reason wages are stagnating: the enterprise bargaining system is broken, and in terminal decline – https://theconversation.com/theres-one-big-reason-wages-are-stagnating-the-enterprise-bargaining-system-is-broken-and-in-terminal-decline-183818

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Moro, Associate Professor of Science & Medicine, Bond University

Do you, or someone you know, often complain of having constantly cold hands and feet? In most cases, this is not a problem, and simply due to the body maintaining its temperature.

For our bodies, blood is a fantastic store of heat. By diverting blood to the skin, heat is transferred to the outside air, helping to cool us down. This is why we might look a bit “flushed” on a hot day.

On the other hand, when we are feeling cold, the blood vessels in our skin narrow so less blood is diverted there. Less blood means less warmth, and this becomes particularly noticeable in the hands and feet.

It’s a normal process, and shows that our body is doing its job of maintaining a normal internal temperature and protecting our organs.

Normally, the feeling is only temporary. But if someone always has cold hands and feet, even when their body is quite warm, it could be a sign that something else is contributing.

Read more:
Why do my armpits smell? And would using glycolic acid on them really work?

Could there be other causes?

Anything that induces a narrowing of blood vessels can impact how warm your extremities feel.

This could be from causes such as Raynaud’s phenomenon, in which some blood vessels going to the extremities temporarily narrow.

People with Raynaud’s typically present with very pale and cold fingers or toes.

In some cases, it is not clear why people exhibit symptoms of Raynaud’s. In other instances, it may be a result of more serious underlying causes, such as an immune deficiency or associated with high blood pressure.

But other factors could also be behind unusually cold hands. Anything that blocks blood getting through the vessels can result in colder extremities.

For example, people with uncontrolled diabetes have a higher chance of fatty deposits forming inside blood vessels, making them narrow and hard, and inhibiting blood flow.

Trauma or tissue damage could also result in inhibited blood flow to the area. If someone has undergone hand or arm surgery, or had a past injury, it may impact how warm their extremities feel.

Another possible cause is anaemia, which can impair the transport of oxygen-rich blood around the body and result in cold hands and feet.

Smoking can also be behind a case of icy fingers and toes; nicotine causes the blood vessels to narrow and reduces blood flow.

Read more:
Curious Kids: why do our toes and fingers get wrinkly in the bath?

When is it a concern?

Under normal circumstances, cold hands and feet are not a worry.

But just keep in mind that it’s due to a reduced blood supply reaching the extremities. Over time, this can result in brittle nails, dry or cracked skin, discoloured skin, and a feeling of tingling or numbness in the areas.

These regions may also be less sensitive when cold; and it can even become quite painful to use your fingers or feet when they are ice cold.

A reduced blood supply might make the hands and feet slower to heal if injured, potentially allowing infections to persist and grow.

Over time, inhibited blood flow can also damage the nerves as well. The impact on the nerves, alongside increased risks of infection, can sometimes result in the requirement for amputations.

So if consistently cold hands and feet are a worry, it’s always worth mentioning this to your family doctor.

Read more:
What causes dry lips, and how can you treat them? Does lip balm actually help?

What should I do about my cold hands and feet?

If you do start to feel a temporary chill in your extremities, stick to the basics. You can:

• pop on a pair of thick socks; this is also beneficial for sleep, as research shows warming up the feet can help with sleep quality

• wear gloves or mittens

• wash your hands in warm water and immediately dry them afterwards

• avoid abrupt changes in temperature by wearing layers of warm clothing to maintain your core temperature

• steer clear of air-conditioned rooms where possible and find cozy spots in the sun during the day.

In the long term, improving your circulation is key. It helps warm your hands and feet, by ensuring the body efficiently pumps blood to where it needs to go.

This can be achieved with daily exercise, moving around at regular intervals during the day, and stretching your arms and legs. And of course, maintaining a healthy diet.

This way, even if you get a temporary chill, you’ll be back to warm in no time!

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Why are my hands and feet always cold? And when should I be worried? – https://theconversation.com/why-are-my-hands-and-feet-always-cold-and-when-should-i-be-worried-184154

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bhiamie Williamson, Research Associate & PhD Candidate, Australian National University

The election of a new Australian government offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to promote the self-determination of Indigenous peoples to Care for Country.

Indigenous peoples have been leading Australia’s response to the climate crisis, such as by harbouring deep-time knowledge of the land and water, and managing the land through cultural burning. Yet climate change continues to erode our cultural heritage and threatens our ongoing connection to Country.

In its pre-election budget, the former Coalition government committed A$636 million to expand the Indigenous ranger program and Indigenous Protected Areas. The new parliament, with its greater hunger for climate action, can think even bigger and create a new, exciting and just agenda.

I have previously written about ways everyday Australians can support Indigenous people to heal Country. Here, I lay out practical steps and big ideas that expand the realms of possibility in this new parliamentary era.

Read more:
‘Although we didn’t produce these problems, we suffer them’: 3 ways you can help in NAIDOC’s call to Heal Country

What Indigenous people have at stake

Climate change and industrial development – dams, land clearing, mining, urban development and more – are bringing more native wildlife to the edge of extinction and are degrading the environment they, and we, rely on.

This environmental damage impacts the ability of Indigenous peoples to remain connected to Country, as our ancestors have before us.

Compounding this is the disproportionate impact bushfires, floods and other disasters have on Indigenous peoples.

For example, 6.2% of those affected by the recent flooding in regional areas outside Sydney were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, despite making up just 3.3% of the general population.

Adding to this is damage feral animals, invasive weeds, and unmanaged fire inflict on biodiversity, cultural values, and the overall health of ecosystems.

These crises disrupt Indigenous peoples ways of life. They degrade or destroy our cultural heritage and natural resources such as plants, grasses, native timber, and clean running water, which provide a basis for our peoples to practice culture.

In this way, Indigenous peoples have much at stake in a changing climate, perhaps more so than others, and in ways that are different to all others.

Read more:
Strength from perpetual grief: how Aboriginal people experience the bushfire crisis

Caring for Country

Indigenous peoples have enormous capacity to make Australia more resilient to the climate crisis, as we have an extraordinary database of cultural knowledge reaching back to ancient climate change events.

In Victoria, Gunditjmara people have kept knowledge of Australia’s last volcanic eruption, estimated to have occurred 37,000 years ago. While off the coast of Western Australia, Aboriginal groups maintain knowledge of camps their ancestors occupied off the continental shelf.

Our peoples continue to draw on and apply this long history of knowledge to manage land and seascapes today.

Contemporary Caring for Country programs – ranger groups, Indigenous Protected Areas, and co-management arrangements – are now key elements in defending Australia’s biodiversity from further degradartion.

This includes developing extensive management plans to protect native species, managing invasive weeds and feral animals, and exploring economic development opportunities such as renewable energy investment.

Read more:
The world’s best fire management system is in northern Australia, and it’s led by Indigenous land managers

Aboriginal ranger groups have also had a demonstrable impact in reducing bushfires and protecting biodiversity throughout northern and central Australia using cultural burning. Indeed, Indigenous fire management here is one of Australia’s most effective emissions reduction practices.

And during the 2019-2020 bushfires in western Victoria, Gunditjmara people and local fire authorities worked together to respond to a large bushfire, safeguarding both Gunditjmara and non-Indigenous values.

Where to now?

The significant increase in funding for Caring for Country programs in the pre-election budget was welcomed by all sides of politics. Now, with a new Labor government, we must ensure this immense and generational opportunity is not squandered.

Caring for Country programs are complex operations. What works for one community, at one point in time, may not work in others. Yet the programs I’ve observed generally share three common pillars:

1. Environmental management: restoring ecosystems for greater biodiversity and to mitigate against threats

2. Community development: ensuring we have the infrastructure, skills, capabilities, and funding to implement projects

3. Indigenous governance: supporting and resourcing groups to come together, discuss important matters, and make and enact decisions

Read more:
Like many disasters in Australia, Aboriginal people are over-represented and under-resourced in the NSW floods

Expanding Caring for Country programs requires the knowledge and skills of these three interrelated pillars. This has traditionally been the strong point of a properly resourced federal environment department, one with collegial relationships with front-line Indigenous land managers.

This work also requires a “two-toolbox” approach: harnessing Indigenous and western science, and working together respectfully and collaboratively. These skills should be front of mind for a federal public service seeking to support Caring for Country.

Time to think big

As people uniquely impacted by – and with demonstrable knowledge and practices to mitigate against – climate change, Indigenous peoples must be at the table in all climate change talks.

We cannot allow climate change mitigation and adaptation to become another colonial process of dispossession and disempowerment.

Everyone stands to lose when Indigenous people are locked out of climate change discussions including, for instance, in recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Excluding our voices will inevitably mean opportunities will pass us by, or negatively impact us, even when we’re expected to contribute our knowledge and skills to support larger climate mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Here are three practical ways the new parliament can address climate change and promote Indigenous self-determination and development simulatenously:

1. Formally recognising Caring for Country as a key pillar in Australia’s response to the climate crisis through policies and legislation

2. Committing all Australian national parks and protected areas to have some form of joint management with Traditional Owners within ten years

3. Drawing these and other opportunities together in a National Indigenous Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Strategy.

These changes will take time. But supporting them will lay a foundation of stone and establish a generation of unbridled opportunity.

The door is open for an ambitious parliament to consider climate change and justice as tandem pursuits. Doing so opens opportunities to address climate change, heal Country and, perhaps most importantly, heal the relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

Read more:
IPCC reports still exclude Indigenous voices. Come join us at our sacred fires to find answers to climate change

Bhiamie Williamson is a director of the environmental charity Country Needs People. Bhiamie co-chairs the development of the National Strategy for Just Adaptation through Future Earth Australia.

– ref. Caring for Country means tackling the climate crisis with Indigenous leadership: 3 things the new government must do – https://theconversation.com/caring-for-country-means-tackling-the-climate-crisis-with-indigenous-leadership-3-things-the-new-government-must-do-183987

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew King, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science, The University of Melbourne

Anyone living in the southeast of Australia will have noticed the chill that has set in the last few days. After relatively mild conditions last week, an early blast of winter has arrived.

These temperatures are well below average, even for the middle of winter.

So why is it so cold? And how long is the chill going to last?

Read more:
‘One of the most extreme disasters in colonial Australian history’: climate scientists on the floods and our future risk

An Antarctic blast

Much of southeastern Australia is currently under a cold air mass that has come from the south.

This is because a low pressure system that brought heavy rain, strong winds, and even a possible tornado to South Australia, has moved eastwards.

Air moves clockwise around low pressure systems in the Southern Hemisphere, so low pressure over Tasmania and the Tasman Sea means we have strong southerly and south-westerly winds over Victoria and New South Wales.

As the low pressure moves east, cold fronts and troughs have crossed the region. This has led to most of southeast Australia experiencing rain or snow.

While a high pressure system briefly dominates our weather on Thursday, a new low brings cold and wet conditions again through the weekend. Another cold front is forecast to cross Tasmania, Victoria and southern New South Wales on Friday night.

Read more:
‘A vigorous cold front’: why it’s been so cold this week, with more on the way

How unusual is this?

For many Australians this cold snap will have been an unpleasant shock to the system. But it is not unusual to have cold spells bringing wet and windy conditions to Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales.

However, this cold air outbreak has come quite early and has brought significant rain totals and persistent below-average temperatures.

For example, Melbourne is forecast to have nine days in a row where maximum temperatures are below long-term averages.

That includes five days where the daytime highs are more than 3℃ cooler than normal.

Melbourne’s daytime temperatures are highly variable in summer – days over 30℃ as well as days where it doesn’t reach 20℃ are pretty common.

But at this time of year and throughout winter our daytime temperatures are much less variable.

The cold temperatures we’re seeing right now are only a few degrees below normal, but five days in this cold spell are in the bottom 10% of daytime temperatures we have seen at this time of year.

The cold weather is widespread across southeast Australia and is bringing significant early winter snowfall to some ski resorts.

Is this a sign for a cold winter to come?

Today is the first day of meteorological winter which covers June, July and August. With cold weather already here and forecast to persist over the coming days, does that mean we can expect a particularly cold winter?

The Bureau of Meteorology’s seasonal outlook suggests cooler than normal conditions are likely over the interior of the continent.

This is remarkable since the average conditions the seasonal outlook is compared with are for 1981–2018. Over the last few decades Australia has warmed significantly making cooler than average conditions more unusual.

The rainfall outlook is for widespread wetter-than-average conditions this winter.

This continues the pattern of rainy conditions we’ve seen in recent months which resulted in the devastating floods seen in February and March in southeast Queensland and coastal New South Wales especially.

Read more:
‘One of the most extreme disasters in colonial Australian history’: climate scientists on the floods and our future risk

Australia’s climate is most strongly tied to conditions in the Pacific and Indian Oceans in winter and spring.

This increases skill in the Bureau of Meteorology’s seasonal outlooks compared with warmer times of year.

The cool and wet outlook is related to the persistent La Niña and the forecast development of a negative Indian Ocean Dipole (a natural climate phenomenon that influences rainfall patterns around the Indian Ocean).

Both of these phenomena are associated with warmer ocean temperatures near Australia, and are conducive to more moisture over the continent and stronger low pressure systems over southern Australia.

This in turn raises the probability of wetter than normal conditions and suppressed daytime temperatures.

Cold air outbreaks like we’re currently seeing over southeast Australia are a normal part of our cool season weather.

The outlook suggests we may see more of these cold spells than normal in winter 2022.

Read more:
A wet winter, a soggy spring: what is the negative Indian Ocean Dipole, and why is it so important?

Andrew King receives funding from the National Environmental Science Program.

– ref. Why is it so cold right now? And how long will it last? A climate scientist explains – https://theconversation.com/why-is-it-so-cold-right-now-and-how-long-will-it-last-a-climate-scientist-explains-184155

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Sinclair, Senior Research Fellow, The University of Western Australia

Next time you go diving or snorkelling, have a close look at those wondrously long, bright green ribbons, waving with the ebb and flow of water. They are seagrasses – marine plants which produce flowers, fruit, and seedlings annually, like their land-based relatives.

These underwater seagrass meadows grow in two ways: by sexual reproduction, which helps them generate new gene combinations and genetic diversity, and also by extending their rhizomes, the underground stems from which roots and shoots emerge.

To find out how many different individual plants are growing in a seagrass meadow, you have to test their DNA. We did this for meadows of ribbon weed seagrass called Posidonia australis in the shallow sun-drenched waters of the Shark Bay World Heritage Area, in Western Australia.

The result blew us away: it was all one plant. One single plant has expanded over a stretch of 180 km making it the largest known plant on Earth.

We collected shoot samples from ten seagrass meadows from across Shark Bay, in waters where the salt levels range from normal ocean salinity to almost twice as salty. In all samples, we studied 18,000 genetic markers to show that 200 km² of ribbon weed meadows expanded from a single, colonising seedling.

How did it evolve?

What makes this seagrass plant unique from others, other than its enormous size, is that it has twice as many chromosomes as its relatives. This makes it what scientists call a “polyploid”.

Most of the time, a seagrass seedling will inherit half the genome of each of its parents. Polyploids, however, carry the entire genome of each of their parents.

There are many polyploid plant species, such as potatoes, canola, and bananas. In nature they often reside in places with extreme environmental conditions.

Polyploids are often sterile, but can continue to grow indefinitely if left undisturbed. This seagrass has done just that.

How old is this plant?

The sandy dunes of Shark Bay flooded some 8,500 years ago, when the sea level rose after the last ice age. Over the following millennia, the expanding seagrass meadows made shallow coastal banks and sills through creating and capturing sediment, which made the water saltier.

There is also a lot of light in the waters of Shark Bay, as well as low levels of nutrients and large temperature fluctuations. Despite this hostile environment, the plant has been able to thrive and adapt.

It is challenging to determine the exact age of a seagrass meadow, but we estimate the Shark Bay plant is around 4,500 years old, based on its size and growth rate.

Other huge plants have been reported in both marine and land systems, such as a 6,000-tonne quaking aspen in Utah, but this seagrass appears to be the largest to date.

Other huge seagrass plants have also been found, including a closely related Mediterranean seagrass called Posidonia oceanica, which covers more than 15 km and may be around 100,000 years old.

Read more:
100,000-year-old seagrass could be the world’s oldest organism

Why does this matter?

In the summer of 2010–11, a severe heatwave hit land and sea ecosystems along the Western Australian coastline.

Shark Bay’s seagrass meadows suffered widespread damage in the heatwave. Yet the ribbon weed meadows have started to recover.

This is somewhat surprising, as this seagrass does not appear to reproduce sexually – which would normally be the best way to adapt to changing conditions.

Read more:
Climate change threatens Western Australia’s iconic Shark Bay

We have observed seagrass flowers in the Shark Bay meadows, which indicates the seagrass are sexually active, but their fruits (the outcome of successful seagrass sex) are rarely seen.

Our single plant may in fact be sterile. This makes its success in the variable waters of Shark Bay quite a conundrum: plants that don’t have sex tend to also have low levels of genetic diversity, which should reduce their ability to deal with changing environments.

However, we suspect that our seagrass in Shark Bay has genes that are extremely well-suited to its local, but variable environment, and perhaps that is why it does not need to have sex to be successful.

Even without successful flowering and seed production, the giant plant appears to be very resilient. It experiences a wide range of water temperatures (from 17℃ to 30℃ in some years) and salt levels.

Despite these variable conditions and the high light levels (which are typically stressful for seagrass), the plant can maintain its physiological processes and thrive. So how does it cope?

We hypothesize that this plant has a small number of somatic mutations (minor genetic changes that are not passed on to offspring) across its 180 km range that help it persist under local conditions.

However, this is just a hunch and we are tackling this hypothesis experimentally. We have set up a series of experiments in Shark Bay to really understand how the plant survives and thrives under such variable conditions.

The future of seagrass

Seagrasses protect our coasts from storm damage, store large amounts of carbon, and provide habitat for a great diversity of wildlife. Conserving and also restoring seagrass meadows has a vital role in climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Seagrasses are not immune from climate change impacts: warming temperatures, ocean acidification and extreme weather events are a significant challenge for them.

However, the detailed picture we now have of the great resilience of the giant seagrass of Shark Bay provides us hope they will be around for many years to come, especially if serious action is taken on climate change.

Elizabeth Sinclair receives funding from the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine Biodiversity Hub and Australian Research Council.

Gary Kendrick receives funding from the ARC, through ARC Discovery Grants, and the Australian National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine Biodiversity Hub

Martin Breed receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

Jane Edgeloe 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. Meet the world’s largest plant: a single seagrass clone stretching 180 km in Western Australia’s Shark Bay – https://theconversation.com/meet-the-worlds-largest-plant-a-single-seagrass-clone-stretching-180-km-in-western-australias-shark-bay-184056

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thomas White, Senior lecturer, University of Sydney

Reproduction is the ultimate goal in life for most animals, but securing a mate is hard work. You must not only find a potential suitor, but hold their attention, identify yourself, and advertise your quality.

To achieve this, animals use “sexual signals”. These conspicuous displays or ornaments help beat out the competition in the contest for mates. And some of the most beautiful aspects of the animal world have evolved for this purpose.

Sexual signals are costly, though, and not just in terms of the energy it takes to sing or dance. One seemingly obvious and profound cost is predation. The idea is simple. Just as your private phone call may be overheard by nosy passersby, so too may the bright colours and loud calls of sexual displays catch the eyes and ears of predators seeking a meal.

From the shimmering wings of butterflies, to the sweet songs of birds, we admire these signals in other species daily – even though they’re not meant for us. So how often are they intercepted by predators? And is the risk equal across all kinds of signals?

My colleagues and I sought to answer these questions in a recent publication. We found the dangers to signallers are real, although much more varied than we once thought.

Eavesdropping on private conversations

Biologists describe the illicit interception of sexual signals as “eavesdropping”, and it has been formally studied since at least Charles Darwin. The Tungara frogs of Central and South America are a classic example; their loud mating calls attract the unwanted attention of parasitic flies in search of a blood meal.

To make sense of the wealth of work available on this topic we scoured the literature for every published study of predatory eavesdropping, and found 78 in total. Most were similar in design, in that they placed fake models of animals or their signals out in the wild and recorded how often these were attacked by predators.

After statistically combining the results of these studies we found that, as expected, communicating with mates does increase the risk of being predated. Animals bearing sexual signals were roughly five times more likely to be attacked than those that were not actively signalling.

Digging deeper, however, we discovered the risk of being eaten depends on how the animals are communicating with each other. Those that use calls or pheromones to attract mates are in far greater danger than those using visual displays, which surprisingly experience no increased risk at all.

Read more:
Here’s how we proved that tropical birds are more colourful – and why colour helps them survive

Not-so-risky business

The dangers of booming calls or strong pheromones are intuitive enough, but why do bold colours not raise the risk of being eaten? We suspect there are two related reasons.

One is that most predators are fussy eaters. Even those with broad diets such as insect-eating birds and lizards prefer to eat familiar prey, and only rarely try new things. Since most animals present their sexual displays intermittently, colourful ornaments may be unfamiliar to predators, who will then avoid them out of caution.

The other possible reason is that many animals use vivid colours as warning signals. Consider the striking black and red abdomens of redback spiders, which advertise the fact that they are dangerous and well defended. Predators may be generally wary of conspicuous patterns, then, since the animals bearing them are often more trouble than they’re worth.

So what do these results tell us about the evolution of communication? For one, we might expect visual displays to be more conspicuous and elaborate than other types of signals such as calls or pheromones, given predators pose little threat in the face of extravagance.

And in populations where predation is a persistent threat, we should expect to find that adaptive evolution favours the use of less risky signals, such as colour or motion (or the abandonment of signalling altogether). We can see this take place among the Pacific field crickets of Hawaii, where males have lost the ability to sing in response to intense predation by parasitic flies.

Read more:
Tug of war between survival and reproductive fitness: how chameleons become brighter without predators around

Weaponizing the language of sex

Predators aren’t the only ones interested in eavesdropping on prey; humans are too. Pests such as aphids and grasshoppers are not only a nuisance in our gardens, but also wreak havoc on Australian crops to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

Enterprising researchers have shown we can hijack the sexual signals of these pests to combat them in two ways. One is by using said signals to attract and trap the pests themselves, as in the case of artificial acoustic signals mimicking field crickets and grasshoppers.

Or we can tap into the existing interests of predators to lure them toward pests in greater numbers. This has proven effective in managing aphids, for example, where we now commercially synthesise the sex pheromones of females. This attracts predatory wasps which lay their eggs inside the aphids, and ultimately kill them.

Of course, our study only offers a brief guide to bio-inspired pest management. More generally, it shines new light on what was thought to be a fundamental cost of sex, and shows that while attracting mates can be a dangerous game, it depends entirely on how you play.

Thomas White receives funding from the Hermon Slade foundation and the Australian Research Council.

– ref. In the animal kingdom, mating calls and pheromones can attract a mate – or a canny predator – https://theconversation.com/in-the-animal-kingdom-mating-calls-and-pheromones-can-attract-a-mate-or-a-canny-predator-184011

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gavin Moodie, Adjunct Professor, Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, OISE, University of Toronto

This essay is longer than our usual articles, so please set aside a little extra time to read and enjoy.

Australian higher education could arrive at a turning point in the next three years. Not because the incoming Albanese government is likely to increase funding greatly. And not because it has ambitious plans to change higher education.

The reason is likely to be the universities accord promised by Labor. The turning point is likely to emerge from rebuilding shared understandings of how to manage the pressures that built up over the past decade and how to negotiate a transition to a different higher education sector over the next decade.

These pressures have fractured a sense of a common purpose within the sector and among its interest groups.

Read more:
3 big issues in higher education demand the new government’s attention

Pressures for a new settlement

Pressures for a new settlement in higher education arise not just from the replacement of a government widely perceived within the sector as being unsympathetic to it, though that didn’t help. The new government’s appointment of former University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Glyn Davis to head the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has been welcomed as a positive sign.

We have seen relations fracture along three lines:

• between university staff and many of their managements that they regard as exploitative
• between students and universities that they see as driven to maximise “profits”
• between communities and government and universities that they consider to be self-serving.

Read more:
‘Universities are not corporations’: 600 Australian academics call for change to uni governance structures

The sources of these tensions are substantial long-term and widespread changes in the nature of higher education, its relations with work, its globalisation, the transforming role of research, broader economic and social changes, and their management by universities and governments.

Accords past and imminent

As Labor’s shadow education minister, Tanya Plibersek foreshadowed the universities accord in August 2021. She said:

“The accord would be a partnership between universities and staff, unions and business, students and parents, and, ideally, Labor and Liberal, that lays out what we expect from our universities. […]”

“The aim of an accord would be to build consensus on key policy questions and national priorities in a sober, evidence-based way, without so much of the political cut and thrust. Building that consensus should help university reform stick. […]”

“The accord process would be led by the minister with advice from a small group of eminent Australians from across the political spectrum. No aspect of the higher education system will be out of bounds.”

Labor leader Anthony Albanese stressed this change in approach in his election victory speech. He promised to “seek our common purpose and promote unity”, “find that common ground” and “work in common interests with business and unions”.

Albanese has often said he wants to emulate the consensus style of governing of Bob Hawke, the Labor prime minister from 1983 to 1991.

The promise of a universities accord consciously invokes the Prices and Incomes Accord, the series of agreements negotiated by the Hawke government from 1983 to 1991. Those accords traded off pay rises for increases in the “social wage” such as Medicare, pensions and unemployment benefits and, eventually, superannuation.

Read more:
Australian politics explainer: the Prices and Incomes Accord

Plibersek didn’t seem to contemplate a grand bargain in higher education, but said last August a Labor government would want the accord to address “big questions”.

“There are big questions that need to be answered about how higher education is structured and funded – so that it can keep offering affordable, high-quality teaching and produce world-class research, and so that knowledge translates to prosperity and jobs. We must look at the whole system rather than tinkering around the edges if we want to make sure we have the educated workforce necessary to drive economic growth. Australia’s future prosperity depends on it.”

Participation is still growing

These questions emerge as Australia absorbs its transition over the past half century from elite higher education (less than 16% participation) to mass participation (16%-50%).

Australia and other wealthy countries are now moving towards universal access to higher education (more than 50% participation). The UK government, for example, removed controls on student numbers in England from 2015. Australia lifted caps on funded enrolments from 2012 to 2017.

No government in Australia is likely to reinstate demand-driven funded student places soon. However, enrolments are likely to expand to accommodate growing numbers of school leavers and increased social, occupational and economic aspirations to undertake higher education.

Public universities currently offer 82% of higher education, TAFE and other vocational colleges 10%, non-university higher education institutions 6% and private universities 2%. Whether this is the ideal balance will presumably be one of the “big questions” for the accord to consider.

Read more:
Who’ll teach all the students promised extra TAFE places? 4 steps to end staff shortages

Education and work

The expansion of higher education has been fuelled by human capital theory, the idea that education increases productivity and, in turn, incomes. Nonetheless, concerns persist that Australia has too many graduates who are not well matched to their jobs and still less to future employers’ needs.

This is due in part to employers’ substantial cuts in their investment in their employees’ induction and training since the 1990s in Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA.

The gaps in the mythical conveyor belt from education to work have been one cause of students’ disenchantment, leading to the insistence by them, employers and governments that universities produce “job-ready graduates”.

Further narrowing the supply of graduates to meet predicted labour force needs does not improve the match between education and work. Apart from anything else, there’s the changing demand and structuring of jobs in the labour market to consider. But it would be good to develop a more sophisticated understanding and management of the relations between higher education and work.

Read more:
Pandemic widens gap between government and Australians’ view of education

Research and innovation

Universities have also benefited from the idea of a linear relation between research, experimental development, innovation and economic development. And, again, it has narrowed and distorted university research’s priorities, funding and management. The relations between research and innovation are far more complex and uncertain than the linear model assumes.

And just as some argue that Australia relies too heavily on its comprehensive teaching and research universities for higher education participation, so it relies too heavily on these universities for applied research and development.

Governments and others should stop pressuring universities to fill gaps in innovation. Australia already has many of the elements of a sophisticated innovation ecosystem. They need more careful tending and stronger support.

The rise of international education

Australian universities were at first reluctant to expand international enrolments when they were allowed and then required to charge these students full fees, another Hawke government decision. However, these enrolments had started to increase strongly by the time Labor lost office in 1996.

Now, of course, international education is such a success that it is deeply enmeshed in and supports universities’ core activities, especially research.

Universities, their staff and their students managed shocks magnificently during the pandemic. The dependence on international students doesn’t make universities as vulnerable as some feared before COVID, but it is still a serious weakness.

How the other half thinks

Australia performs relatively well in higher education equity research, policy and implementation. There is also a relatively good understanding of how economic, social and educational inequalities shape inequality in higher education, and how higher education may ameliorate it.

Like many other countries, Australia builds higher education policy on redressing the disadvantages of under-represented groups. But perhaps a different type of inequity remains unaddressed. Brexit and Trumpism have shown around 30% of adults are deeply alienated from the pursuit of rational inquiry from evidence.

A similarly sizeable body of Australians seems to be alienated from higher education and its values.

Many unionists and employers constructed competency-based training from the 1990s to “teacher proof” vocational education. It may be worth considering how higher education may serve those who are alienated or at least disengaged from further education.

And what about funding?

HECS income-contingent loans, an Australian policy innovation introduced by the Hawke government, have partly financed the transitions from elite to mass higher education and towards universal access. While universities are as keen for increased funding as governments are to cut it, there is no crisis in Australian higher education financing.

Read more:
Universities had record job losses, but not as many as feared – and the worst may be over

But tensions about financing will increase as participation increases. A major advance may be more structural than financial, by having most increases in higher education enrolments in TAFE institutes. These already offer high-quality baccalaureates and have campuses across the country.

Decision-making and employment structures

The transition to mass higher education was governed by the managerialism and later the metricisation or datafication of higher education so despised by academics.

Clearly, there is scope for improving government direction and oversight of higher education, and for improving universities’ own decision-making. There are legitimately different views on the balance between collegial and managerial governance of universities. However, examples of universities’ wage theft and exploitative employment practices reflect problems with many universities’ management.

Australian universities have a very high reliance on casual employment, even more so than in many other areas of the economy. Indeed, the growth of insecure alongside secure employment in universities and colleges reflects a dualisation of employment protections in many OECD countries, as part of a general liberalisation of employment regulation.

This suggests the need for more comprehensive protections against insecure employment throughout the economy.

Read more:
Here’s what the government and universities can do about the crisis of insecure academic work

An early test of government

Many other substantial issues confront Australian higher education. It is hard to see the accord addressing all of these.

An early indication of the new minister and government’s governing style will be the extent to which the most important issues to be addressed are identified just within government, in private consultations with privileged “stakeholders”, or openly with students, staff and the public.

Gavin Moodie has received various research grants from bodies funded by the Australian and state governments, and was employed by Australian universities for 35 years. He is currently employed by the University of Toronto and is a co investigator on a grant funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

– ref. Labor’s promised universities accord could be a turning point for higher education in Australia – https://theconversation.com/labors-promised-universities-accord-could-be-a-turning-point-for-higher-education-in-australia-183810

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Travis Holland, Senior Lecturer in Communication, Charles Sturt University

The Jurassic Park and Jurassic World series of films have long featured iconic female characters.

Laura Dern’s Dr Ellie Sattler from the 1993 original has been lauded as “a female heroine unlike any other”. Julianne Moore’s Dr Sarah Harding from 1997’s The Lost World was equally as competent and compelling.

Bryce Dallas Howard’s Claire Dearing in Jurassic World (2015) initially provoked different reactions, critiqued for wearing in heels while deep in the jungle.

But we think these heels – and the rest of her outfits – are actually one of the most interesting things about Dearing, neatly tracking her character arc across the three films.

When audiences first meet Dearing she is presented with two major characteristics: she is a bad aunt, and she is in charge of major components of the dinosaur theme park’s operations.

Dearing ignores calls from her sister to schedule a visit to the park by her nephews, Zach (Nick Robinson) and Gray (Ty Simpkins), and then palms the boys off to her assistant.

Meanwhile, she is entertaining park investors, leading them on a rapid-fire tour of lab facilities while pitching the introduction of a new attraction.

Over the course of Jurassic World and its sequel Fallen Kingdom (2018), Dearing went on to become an action star. The soon-to-be-released Jurassic World: Dominion promises more of the same.

Read more:
Jurassic World: if you make a monster it will always bite back

A boss in heels

The first shot of Dearing in Jurassic World pans up her body – heels, a white skirt, a neat shirt – as she arrives for a meeting with the three investors, repeating her speaking notes in a detached tone.

In the following shots, Dearing commands the space and attention of both the investors and the camera. She rattles off facts about the park’s turnover and coming attractions.

This is a woman in charge.

Throughout the film, Dearing largely remains in charge of responding to the chaos unfolding as the fearsome Indominus rex escapes. She commands the park’s staff, makes the decision to shut down and evacuate all guests and, eventually, to release the Tyrannosaurus rex in a bid to combat the Indominus.

The white suit that Dearing wears when introduced in Jurassic World becomes increasingly dishevelled as the film’s dinosaurs make their presence felt and her role moves from office to jungle.

In a somewhat comedic scene, she makes a point of altering her clothing to a form more “acceptable” to raptor trainer Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) – tying her shirt off and rolling up her sleeves before he will allow her to help find her lost nephews.

But those heels remain.

They feature as Dearing, no longer in a white business shirt and instead wearing an improbably clean lavender tank top, lures the Tyrannosaurus to confront the Indominus.

This is the outfit Dearing wears as she closes out the film, now with a few carefully placed scraps of dirt and dust from the action that has unfolded around her, as she reunites with her sister, nephews … and Owen Grady.

No longer the white-clad businesswoman, Dearing is now more in tune with her family and the people around her, having reckoned with the dangers of nature.

Read more:
From outsized dinosaurs to outrunning hot lava in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

The making of an action star

In Fallen Kingdom, Dearing has established the Dinosaur Protection Group, a charity devoted to protecting the creatures at the centre of the Jurassic films.

In this role she is managing staff, running lobbying efforts, and directing missions to capture and transport dinosaurs in the face of pending doom for their island home.

Early shots of Dearing in Fallen Kingdom also have her in heels.

Howard insists the choice was hers, telling USA Today:

It was originally written for me to wear sneakers. And I was like, ‘No, no, no, no. I am going to wear heels.’

In revisiting the heels, the character (and actor) claims typically feminine traits, even as she transitions more into the action hero role.

As the film develops, Dearing leads an expedition to the island to save its dinosaurs despite the dangers. Here, she wears a jungle-green shirt and tank top with a khaki jacket and boots.

Still later, Dearing dons a heavy gun designed to lure the new hybrid dinosaur – the Indoraptor – and helps Grady lead the creature to its death.

Dearing’s clothing in the sequel is more suited to the running, jumping, driving and shooting role than the white business suit from Jurassic World. She is no longer the uptight business woman; she is now a saviour.

This evolution appears set to continue in Dominion.

She appears jumping across rooftops and crawling through the jungle in a green shirt and versatile pants while pursued by dinosaurs new to this film.

Jurassic World: Dominion features multiple strong female characters. Laura Dern’s Dr Ellie Sattler returns, joined by teenager Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) and pilot Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise).

We no longer have one woman in heels. As Dearing sheds her unsuitable footwear and is joined by a team of women, the films finally show us female action stars can be featured for what their bodies can do – rather than what they look like.

Read more:
Sci-fi and Jurassic Park have driven research, scientists say

Travis Holland has received a Jurassic World toy from Mattel/Universal and appeared in a review video.

Lisa Watt 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. Toss aside those high heels: how Jurassic World’s Claire Dearing lights a path for women in action films – https://theconversation.com/toss-aside-those-high-heels-how-jurassic-worlds-claire-dearing-lights-a-path-for-women-in-action-films-182334

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Hobbs, Senior Lecturer in Public Health and Co-Director of the GeoHealth Laboratory, University of Canterbury

As Aotearoa New Zealand heads into the colder winter months, the pressures on our health system and staff are growing significantly.

On top of the ongoing impact of COVID-19, flu cases have begun to spike.

Conditions are also primed for potential outbreaks of other illnesses including measles, whooping cough and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

If we are to weather the coming storm, there will need to be a recommitment to public health measures that slow the spread of respiratory infections, as well as a renewed drive for widespread vaccination.

The first wave of Omicron swept through Aotearoa New Zealand in late February and March.

Unfortunately, as seen in many other countries, the fall in case numbers has been much slower than the rise, with infections reaching a plateau in all age groups.

Case numbers have been driven by a high number of infections in young people between the ages of 10 and 29 years old. But the elderly have borne the brunt of hospitalisations, largely due to the higher risk of severe outcomes for older adults.

Age stratification aside, persistent inequities have also left Māori and Pasifika at the sharp end of the outbreak both in terms of cases and severe outcomes.

Hospitalisation rates and reinfections are rising in many age groups, mirroring trends seen elsewhere.

An unwanted COVID-19 resurgence

New Zealand can expect another resurgence of COVID-19 this winter.

While 95% of New Zealand has received the second dose of the vaccine, one of the highest rates in the world, fewer have received a booster. We also have lower than optimal levels of childhood vaccination.

Long COVID will add a layer of complication for our medical services.

A recent report by the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) suggests one in five COVID-19 survivors aged 18 to 64 years old, and one in four survivors aged 65 years and above, experienced at least one condition that might be attributable to previous COVID-19 infection.

Despite being labelled as one of this generation’s disability challenges, there is currently no test for long COVID.

Worryingly, COVID-19 deaths in Australia have started to trend upwards. Evidence from Australia has shown that the overwhelming majority of people are dying from, not with, COVID-19.

Winter will bring more than COVID-19

Health professionals are not just worried about COVID-19. The flu and other viruses are also expected to hit hard this year.

Thanks to closed borders, managed isolation and quarantine, and lockdowns, the last time New Zealand experienced a flu season was in 2019.

We are now more vulnerable to the virus. There has already been a reported surge in Dunedin.

In response, the government has made two million vaccines available and has the widened eligibility for people to get vaccinated for free.

Unfortunately, there is growing concern that part of the population may not get vaccinated due to immunisation fatigue, or may be unable to due to structural inequities in access to vaccines.

As with COVID-19, looking across the Tasman can help us understand what is likely to happen in New Zealand.

Much like New Zealand, flu rates in Australia have, until now, been very low due to closed borders.

The latest Australian national surveillance for influenza shows a steep rise in rates of the flu, as well as rising hospital and ICU admissions.

Vaccination gaps exist for other diseases

Before the COVID-19 pandemic even started, our research highlighted declines in childhood immunisation for vaccine-preventable diseases.

Public health officials are now noticing further significant declines in routine childhood immunisations.

In April, the World Health Organization reported a 79% increase in measles cases in the first two months of 2022.

Meaningfully addressing long-standing inequities in childhood vaccination programmes takes on new urgency in the face of these vaccination gaps.

Lessons can also be learned from the COVID-19 vaccination programme regarding the success of handing leadership to Māori and Pasifika community providers to improve vaccination rates.

The health system is under unprecedented pressure

We have long been warned that an underfunded health system might struggle with a seasonal surge in demand.

Pressure points have appeared across the country. On May 23, Dunedin Hospital’s COVID-19 ward was at capacity. Two days later, Nelson Hospital also hit capacity limits, leading to temporary ambulance ramping at the emergency department.

Canterbury District Health Board, Hawke’s Bay District Health Board, and MidCentral District Health Board have recently urged people to consider alternative care for minor conditions to help alleviate the pressure.

Community health providers are also struggling to meet demands.

What can you do?

During the winter, we spend more time in indoor spaces with inadequate ventilation. We are also becoming more complacent with our mask wearing as policies relax.

In the future, vaccines will need to improve.

But for now, it’s important to remember that three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine remain effective against hospitalisation even for newer variants, as well as lowering the risk of infection.

But there are things we can all do to avoid the worst this winter has to offer, including to:

• ventilate indoor spaces – especially in crowded rooms
• wear appropriate masks where social distancing is not possible, particularly indoors
• get vaccinated against COVID-19, which helps to protect you from the most severe form of COVID-19, as well as protecting others by decreasing transmission. Other routine vaccinations for flu and measles will also be important to consider.

Finally, workplaces should continue to support people to stay home and isolate if required.

Dr. Matthew Hobbs receives funding from the New Zealand Health Research Council, Cure Kids/A Better Start National Science Challenge and IStar. He was also previously funded as a researcher by the New Zealand Ministry of Health.

Lukas Marek has previously received funding from the Ministry of Health, New Zealand Health Research Council, Cure Kids and National Science Challenges.

Alex Kazemi 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. Resurgent COVID-19, flu and other viruses are pushing New Zealand’s health system to the limit – and now winter is coming – https://theconversation.com/resurgent-covid-19-flu-and-other-viruses-are-pushing-new-zealands-health-system-to-the-limit-and-now-winter-is-coming-183536

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

Anthony Albanese has switched Tanya Plibersek from education to environment and promoted Clare O’Neil into the plum home affairs ministry in a 23-member cabinet that contains a record 10 women.

There are 13 women in the ministry overall, and 19 across the total frontbench (including assistant ministers), which has seen a more extensive shakeup of Labor’s team than Albanese flagged before the election.

Announcing his line-up on Tuesday night, Albanese declared Labor would hold the NSW regional seat of Gilmore – which the Liberals had hoped to win with former NSW minister Andrew Constance – giving his government 77 seats in the House of Representatives. This is one more than the 76 required for a majority.

“What this means is that the Coalition failed to take a single seat from the Australian Labor Party at the election,” Albanese said.

Earlier, at the first meeting of the new caucus, Albanese set his troops’ sights on a second term with a bigger majority.

In the campaign Albanese suggested most of his shadow ministers would have the same portfolio in government.

Asked why the changes are more substantial he pointed to the election loss of two frontbenchers, Kristina Keneally, who was shadow for home affairs, and Terri Butler, the shadow environment minister.

But he has taken the opportunity to go further.

Plibersek’s move to environment and water is a surprise, and there will be some disappointment in the education sector, where she was respected by stakeholders.

She has lost responsibility for women, which has recently increased in importance and prominence as a policy area. This goes to the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, adding to the heavy load she will carry as a key minister in budget preparation.

The fact Albanese did not have Plibersek, who is popular with the public, campaigning with him much was widely commented upon in the run-up to the election.

Labor sources said Plibersek had not wanted or asked to be moved. But she said on Facebook on Tuesday night she was “delighted” to be appointed a cabinet minister with responsibility for the environment and water and “I look forward to the challenge”.

Jason Clare, who received extensive praise for his performance as a campaign spokesman, has been given education.

As anticipated, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles takes defence. He was defence spokesman for a substantial time in opposition but moved to national reconstruction to boost Labor’s pre-election firepower.

Brendan O’Connor, shadow defence minister before the election, becomes minister for skills and training.

Read more:
Labor likely to get a friendly Senate and secures House of Representatives majority

A number of senior ministers continue in their opposition areas. Chris Bowen is minister for climate change and energy. Mark Butler has health and aged care. Tony Burke adds employment to workplace relations and the arts, which he held in opposition.

Mark Dreyfus will be attorney-general, a position he held in the last Labor government, and now has the urgent task of preparing the blueprint for the national integrity commission Labor has promised to legislate by year’s end.

Bill Shorten also has continuity, becoming minister for the NDIS as well as minister for government services. Catherine King remains in infrastructure and Michelle Rowland in communications.

Don Farrell, who had to make way for Keneally’s ambition to be Labor’s deputy senate leader, has regained that position and becomes trade minister. He retains special minister of state.

Amanda Rishworth takes on social services. Julie Collins, who struggled in agriculture in opposition, will have housing, homelessness and small business.

Linda Burney is minister for Indigenous Australians, with Patrick
Dodson, who will not be on the frontbench, appointed special envoy for reconciliation and the implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

Albanese stressed this was a priority for his government, particularly its plan for a constitutional referendum to enshrine a Voice to Parliament.

O’Neil and Murray Watt fill the cabinet vacancies left by Keneally and Butler.

O’Neil, from Victoria, has been shadow for senior Australia’s and aged care services in the outer shadow ministry in opposition. Her promotion to the sprawling home affairs portfolio will see her in the inner circle of national security ministers.

Watt, who was high profile during the floods, becomes minister for agriculture, fisheries and forestry. He continues in emergency management, after being opposition spokesman.

Read more:
Albanese appoints former University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Glyn Davis to head PM&C

Three women join the outer ministry.

Kristy McBain, who won the vital Eden-Monaro byelection during the last term, has regional development, local government and territories. Anne Aly, from Western Australia, becomes minister for early childhood education and minister for youth. Anika Wells, from Queensland, becomes minister for aged care and minister for sport.

Under Labor’s system the factions choose who is in the ministry, which is ratified by caucus, and the prime minister allocates the portfolios.

Albanese said the new parliament would sit in the last fortnight in July.

Several ministers, including Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Gallagher and Marles were sworn in last week. The full ministry will be sworn in Wednesday morning.

Albanese told the caucus meeting he wanted to “grow” the numbers in the government at the next election.

“If we can keep our discipline, implement the program which is there, there is no reason why we can’t continue to be even more successful,” he said.

He told his news conference the government was determined “to not waste a single day in office”.

On the promotion of Kristy McBain ahead of people who had been in caucus longer, Albanese recalled he had personally approached her to run for the by-election. “If we hadn’t have won that seat of Eden-Monaro, politics might have been a bit different,” he said.

Asked about the move of Plibersek he highlighted the Murray Darling Basis plan. “It’s very important that that actually get delivered. Tanya is someone who can get things done. She’s an experienced former minister as well as a former shadow minister.”

Noting that many of his ministers had served in the previous Labor government, Albanese said his was “the most experienced incoming Labor government in our history since federation”.

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

– ref. View from The Hill: Record 10 women in Albanese cabinet, and surprise move for Plibersek to environment – https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-record-10-women-in-albanese-cabinet-and-surprise-move-for-plibersek-to-environment-184191

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Helen Dickinson, Professor, Public Service Research, UNSW Sydney

Labor’s election win sees a return of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) to the control of the party that first passed legislation for it. Bill Shorten’s appointment as NDIS Minister makes him responsible for the scheme he championed and helped establish.

Many in the disability community feel the NDIS has moved a long way from its initial design and recent proposals have created a rift between the scheme and those it is supposed to serve.

Getting the NDIS back on track will be a big task but we have some sense of what Labor’s plan will be given its campaign commitments.

First priority: rebuild trust

Over the last few years it has become clear that things are not well with the NDIS.

The former government spoke widely about its concerns NDIS costs would blow out over the next decade. While committing to fully funding the scheme in the last budget, a number of changes have been undertaken in recent years aimed at curbing spending.

Last year the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA – the agency that runs the NDIS) created a taskforce to cut growth in funding packages and participant numbers. Around the same time we saw a failed proposal for the introduction of Independent Assessments.

Many participants reported significant cuts to their budgets, forcing them to miss out on essential supports and their family members to give up work.

About one in ten participants dispute planning decisions, resulting in an internal review. Participants going through this process are much less likely to be successful now than in the past. Between January 2021 and March 2021, 70% of these reviews saw changes to plans. Just 12 months later, only 21% were successful.

Participants and supporters report the NDIA justifies its decisions on the basis the requested supports are not “value for money” and a lack of evidence. Faced with unsuccessful reviews, participants have increasingly turned to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) with the number of appeals in the first quarter of 2022 some 244% higher than in the same quarter of 2021. By the end of April, NDIA’s legal spend had reached A$41 million for the financial year to date.

Read more:
Labor vows to tackle the NDIS crisis – what’s needed is more autonomy for people with disability

Haves and have-nots

The NDIS is an incredibly important source of support for people with disability but in recent years a large gap has opened between those who make it on to the scheme and those who don’t. Of the 4.4 million Australians with disability, only around 12% are eligible for the NDIS.

The original intent was that all levels of government would continue to provide supports for Australians with disability who were not eligible for the NDIS. But we have seen governments withdraw funding from these services such as Partners in Recovery funded by the then Commonwealth government for people with severe mental illness. This has seen some people with disability with no services or incurring significant out-of-pocket expenses to pay for supports such as allied health.

Read more:
From glasses to mobility scooters, ‘assistive technology’ isn’t always high-tech. A WHO roadmap could help 2 million Australians get theirs

6 NDIS election promises, now mandated

Labor has outlined six strategies it hopes will return the scheme “to its original vision” because being on the NDIS shouldn’t be like “having a second full time job”.

1. Removing the NDIA staff cap
While originally designed to have just under 11,000 staff, under the Abbott government the number of staff at the NDIA was restricted to 3,000. While this has been gradually lifted it is still well short of the amount needed, meaning external labour hires are widely used.

2. Fewer lawyers, less waste
Labor committed to reducing the use of external lawyers such as those associated with tribunal hearings. They will also seek to cut down on waste through criminal activities and fraud.

3. Better planning
Labor will streamline the planning process to ensure plans are more “efficient, fair and investment focused”.

4. Justifying cuts to plans
There has been a commitment to stop arbitrary cuts to plans and to introduce an expert review process to sort out disagreements. This should reduce the number of people who are forced to take the government to tribunal.

5. Regional service improvements
In regional areas of Australia, there are often insufficient numbers of providers to deliver services to those with plans, leaving some individuals with allocated funds but no ability to use them. Nationally the average proportion of allocated budgets spent sits at about 71%, in East Arnhem this sits at just 38%.

6. Collaboration with people with disability
Labor committed to co-designing changes with people with disability. Previously proposed initiatives have been formulated without their input. Labor also promised more people with disability on NDIA’s board. It is likely the new minister will seek to remove the current chief executive officer and to employ more people with disability at senior levels in the agency.

Read more:
‘It’s shown me how independent I can be’ – housing designed for people with disabilities reduces the help needed

What to look for

More money for advocacy and changes to improve disability access housing and support have been promised. Importantly, there is also a commitment to bridge the gulf between people with disability who don’t get on to the NDIS and those who do.

Once the short-term personnel changes are effective and staffing shortfalls (including the lack of staff with disability) are addressed, the sector can reassess. We will see whether these initiatives rebuild trust with the community and move away from the defensive dynamic that has developed.

Helen Dickinson receives funding from Australian Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council, ACT government and Commonwealth governments, CYDA and WISE.

Anne Kavanagh receives funding from Australian Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council, and the Victorian, Queensland and Commonwealth governments, and WISE. She is past member of the National Disability Insurance Agency Independent Advisory Council.

– ref. With a return to Labor government, it’s time for an NDIS ‘reset’ – https://theconversation.com/with-a-return-to-labor-government-its-time-for-an-ndis-reset-183628

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland

Labor will form a majority government with a climate policy carefully calibrated to provide a clear point of distinction with the Coalition, while doing as little as possible to alienate any significant group of voters.

While Labor’s emissions reduction target is stronger than the Coalition’s, Labor refused to commit to any policies phasing out domestic use of coal, oil and gas, or any restrictions on exports.

For the record number of Australians who voted for Greens and independent candidates, the prospect of a Labor majority may be a worrying sign climate action in Australia will be stunted.

Winning majority government means Labor doesn’t have to negotiate with crossbenchers to control the House of Representatives, though it will need Green and independent support to get legislation through the Senate.

Indeed, the strong pro-climate vote this election means a more ambitious policy will be needed if Labor is to have any hope of retaining majority government for a second term.

Here are a few ways the government can bolster its emission reduction policies.

Setting a meaningful target

The different 2030 emissions reduction targets of each party is the issue attracting most attention so far.

Existing policies, largely implemented by state governments, will likely reduce Australia’s emissions by around 35%, relative to 2005 levels. Labor has promised a reduction of 43%, which will require only marginal enhancements to existing national policies.

Initially, at least, Labor will probably resist any push from the Greens to raise their stated target. But this won’t last.

Labor will surely set a higher target by the next election. If the aim is to secure the support of teal independents, the target could jump to a 60% cut by 2030. This would still present Labor as the moderate alternative to the Greens target of 75%.

And if Labor is serious about pushing for Australia to co-host the United Nations’ Conference of Parties (COP) with Pacific island neighbours, the government will need to commit to a more ambitious target even before the next election.

For the moment, however, what matters is not the symbolism of a target, but the policies needed to get us there.

Labor has tied its hands with a clear rejection of any economy-wide carbon price, and with a commitment to maintain coal exports as long as there’s a market for them.

As a result, it will need to adopt a sector-by-sector approach, strengthening Labor’s policies in all areas.

Labor’s electricity policy is weak

Labor’s electricity policy centres on Rewiring the Nation, a public corporation similar in concept to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

The idea is to use the borrowing power of the public sector to finance private investment in upgrading the national electricity grid, enabling the connection of more solar and wind generators. This is a useful initiative, but more is needed.

Read more:
Expect more power price hikes – a 1970s-style energy shock is on the cards

Developments since the election have raised the possibility of a more rapid decarbonisation of the electricity system.

First, it has become clear failures in coal-fired power stations and high prices paid by generators for coal and gas will lead to higher electricity prices for consumers?.

We’ve seen this both in the default offers set by the Australian Energy Regulator, and in the prices offered by competing retailers, some of whom may drop out of the market altogether.

Second, the failure of the proposal to demerge AGL Energy – Australia’s biggest corporate polluter – raises the prospect these plants will close well ahead of schedule.

Labor can respond to these developments substantively by increasing the capacity of Clean Energy Finance Corporation to support the success of solar and wind investments. One immediate move in this direction would be to cancel the Hunter Power Project, a gas-fired power station at Kurri Kurri proposed for construction over the next couple of years.

It can also break with the previous government rhetoric by emphasising the benefits of rapidly transitioning to low-cost renewable technology, rather than seeking to maximise the life of existing coal and gas plants, let alone building new ones.

As part of this shift, Labor should break with the Morrison government’s misconceived idea of a gas-led recovery.

Improving the safeguard mechanism

To reduce emissions from industry, Labor is relying on a beefed-up version of the so-called “safeguard mechanism” it will inherit from the previous government. This mechanism creates a carbon price, though in its weakest possible form.

Businesses covered by the mechanism are encouraged to reduce emissions over time, and are required to buy carbon offsets if they don’t achieve sufficiently rapid reductions.

The policy could be improved by expanding the number of businesses covered, accelerating the planned rate of reduction and tightening up the requirements for offsets.

Read more:
No, Mr Morrison – the safeguard mechanism is not a ‘sneaky carbon tax’

A total overhaul of transport policy

Labor’s biggest difficulties relate to transport, particularly to electric vehicles. Australia is at the back of the pack in the global shift to electric vehicles, but Labor’s election policy consists of little more than some tweaks to sales taxes.

What’s needed is for Australia to follow the rest of the developed world in imposing a fuel efficiency requirement on new vehicles. This should lead to a phase-out date for the sale of internal combustion engine cars, as has already been announced by Britain.

Unfortunately, Labor ruled out a fuel efficiency requirement before the election. It seems that despite former Prime Minister Scott Morrison already disowning his 2019 jibe about electric vehicles abolishing the weekend, Labor strategists were still too scared to touch the idea.

Australia is reliant on overseas suppliers of petrol, and our reserve stocks are not held here, but are based on stocks held in the United States.

Thus, we are vulnerable to a cut-off in supplies. Added to this is the large increase in global oil prices associated with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Perhaps the best response here would be a major public inquiry leading to a complete reset of policy. The goal of electrification should be central to the terms of reference of such a policy.

The need for urgent action on climate has become increasingly evident in recent years, but has had little impact on Australian government policy. Action is now an electoral imperative for Labor, if it is to retain majority government after the next election.

Read more:
Australians could have saved over $1 billion in fuel if car emissions standards were introduced 3 years ago

John Quiggin is a former Member of the Climate Change Authority

– ref. Will a Labor majority stunt climate action? If the government wants a second term, more climate ambition is essential – https://theconversation.com/will-a-labor-majority-stunt-climate-action-if-the-government-wants-a-second-term-more-climate-ambition-is-essential-184136

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rosalind Archer, Professor, Griffith University

In the tropics, the deep sea is cold and the sea surface is very warm. That temperature difference can be harnessed and turned into electricity. If we can improve the technology, this method of producing power could be a godsend for island nations reliant on expensive and polluting diesel for their power.

For more than a century, researchers have explored the idea of ocean thermal energy conversion. There’s nothing fundamentally new to the idea of extracting power from temperature differences. In fact, the underlying technology is similar to the way coal, gas and geothermal power plants create electricity, by using vapour to spin a turbine.

The challenge is finding the right spot, where the temperature differences make it worthwhile. That means relatively close to the equator – think north of Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and off the coast of southern Japan.

At present, pilot plants are only able to generate a fraction of what a large wind turbine can. But on the positive side, ocean thermal plants can generate power 24 hours a day.

How does it work?

These power plants operate by running liquids with low boiling points, such as ammonia, through a closed loop. The heat from warm sea water (between 20 and 30℃) heats the liquid until it turns into vapour and can be used to spin a turbine. Then, the vapour is exposed to cold sea water (around 5℃), which turns it back into a liquid so the cycle can continue. To get this cold water, these plants have pipes stretching down 600 metres into the deep sea.

The benefits of the system are clear: it’s a closed loop, heated and cooled by heat exchangers with no discharge of the fluid to the ocean. And it’s available at all times, in contrast to the well known intermittency challenges of better developed renewable technologies like solar and wind.

Read more:
Small tropical islands could become the world’s first 100% renewable nations

The downside is at present, the technology isn’t ready for prime time. A pilot plant in Hawaii installed by Makai Ocean Engineering in 2015 has a capacity of 100 kilowatts. That’s 20–30 times less than a typical wind turbine when operating, or the equivalent of around 12 solar arrays on homes or small businesses in Australia.

The main technical challenge to overcome is getting access to the large volumes of cold seawater required. Makai’s pilot uses a pipe one metre in diameter which plunges 670 metres into the ocean depths.

To scale up to a more useful 100 megawatt plant, Makai estimates the pipe would have to be ten metres in diameter and go as deep as one kilometre. This kind of infrastructure is expensive, and must be built to withstand corrosion and cyclones.

If the plants are built offshore, the cost of transmission lines adds to overall expense. Makai estimates 12 commercial scale offshore plants could cover Hawaii’s total electricity needs.

If OTEC plants can be built large enough, the cost will come down. But there’s another challenge too. To get close to wind and solar’s cost – now as low as 1–2 cents per kilowatt hour – ocean thermal plants would need around four Niagara Falls worth of water flowing through the system at any one time.

Why is such a huge volume of water required? In short, a thermodynamic bottleneck. The physics of any energy conversion mean it’s impossible to convert all the heat energy into mechanical work like spinning the turbine. This efficiency issue is a real challenge for ocean thermal plants, where the energy conversion process has a relatively small temperature difference between warm and cool seawater. In turn, that means only a very small percentage of the heat energy in the seawater is converted to electricity.

Could OTEC find a use despite the cost and technical challenges?

While these plants couldn’t compete with wind and solar in large mainland markets, they could have a role for the small island states dotting the Pacific and Caribbean, as well as islands far from the main grid, such as Norfolk Island or many of the smaller Indonesian islands.

Island nations, in particular, tend to have high retail electricity prices, low electricity demand and a reliance on imported diesel for electricity generation. Researchers from Korea and New Zealand have made the case that OTEC could be a viable source of baseload power for island states – but only after more pilot plants are built to help perfect the design of larger plants.

Read more:
Many small island nations can adapt to climate change with global support

If I was tasked with helping an island state produce its own clean energy, I would first look at geothermal, a more mature technology with better economics. That’s because the areas most favourable for OTEC plants typically have significant potential for geothermal electricity, produced by drilling wells on land and using high temperature fluids from those wells.

Still, OTEC could play a useful role tackling several challenges at once. Take cooling. You can take the cool seawater and use as a form of air conditioning, as two resorts in French Polynesia are doing. You can also use this cool water in aquaculture to raise cold-water fish such as salmon, or as a way of keeping surface water cool during marine heatwaves threatening fish farming in New Zealand. It may even be possible to use OTEC plants to produce hydrogen as an export commodity in small island states.

To meet our urgent emission reduction goals, it is worth exploring all renewable energy options.

We shouldn’t write off OTEC just yet. At this stage, however, it’s hard to see how ocean thermal plants can become competitive with better established renewables, such as wind, solar and even geothermal, given the vast volumes of cold seawater required. File this under “has potential, but needs more work”.

Rosalind Archer 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. Electricity from the cold ocean depths could one day power island states – https://theconversation.com/electricity-from-the-cold-ocean-depths-could-one-day-power-island-states-180413

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Starling, Postdoctoral researcher, University of Sydney

As winter sets in, you might be wondering: how do you know if your dog is warm enough? And how cold is too cold to take them for a walk?

It’s a tricky one; much depends on their natural coat. We go through this question on a daily basis in my household in winter because one of my dogs is small and hasn’t got much coat – she is currently wearing a jumper and on my lap, under a blanket.

But the majority of breeds are probably OK in most Australian temperatures. In many ways, it’s easier to keep a cold dog with a thin coat warm than to keep a hot, thick-coated dog cool when the mercury climbs.

That said, there are some good general rules to follow to ensure your canine friends don’t suffer when an Antarctic blast hits.

Read more:
How hot is too hot? Here’s how to tell if your dog is suffering during the summer heat

Some guidelines to follow

My rule of thumb is to feel their extremities. If I can feel their ears or feet are a bit chilly to touch, that suggests their core temperature might be a bit low.
Then I would provide a coat or put the heater on (if we’re staying in).

Much depends on whether your dog has a double coat or not – many dogs do. You can see if your dog has an undercoat by parting their hair and seeing if there is a downy layer of pale hair between the glossy top coat and the skin.

Breeds that have a double coat include most kelpies, cattle dogs, German shepherds, and huskies. Some breeds, like Samoyeds, have really dense undercoats and can tolerate cold really well. A dog with a thick undercoat doesn’t need anything more to stay warm on a cold day.

If your dog has a single coat, you might need to think a bit more carefully about the cold. Breeds in this category include maltese, cavaliers, greyhounds, whippets, and staffies.

In addition to coat, also consider the golden rule of surface area to volume ratio.

Smaller animals have more surface area for their weight than larger animals, which means they have more surface area to lose heat from compared to a dog that is bigger and heavier.

Small, lean dogs will generally struggle with the cold a bit more than other dogs for this reason. For example, Italian greyhounds are much more vulnerable than regular greyhounds.

If we feel cold then they probably do too. A thicker coat helps slow down heat loss, which is good if you live in a cold environment, but not so great if you live in a warm environment.

What behaviours can we look for?

If your dog is shivering, hunched with tail tucked, trying to tuck their paws in close to their body or lift them off the cold ground, they’re uncomfortably cold.

If the dog is being still, they are at more risk of getting cold. For example, we wrap our smallest dog in a blanket when she’s in the car – but once she’s running around, she seems to generate enough heat to stay comfortable.

At home, pay attention to where the dogs are sleeping. If they are curled up in a tight ball on the thickest bed they can find, or nuzzling under blankets, they are trying to keep themselves warm.

My small dog has learned to show me if she wants a jumper on by wagging her tail and sticking her head in it if I hold it out to her. So we might be able to teach our dogs to answer the question “Do you want another layer on?”

If dogs are not sleeping well at night or getting up a lot in the wee hours, it’s a good idea to check how cold they feel and try offering them some warmer sleeping options.

If you’ve got a dog in the yard, make sure they have access to shelter and a bed to get them off the cold ground, especially when there is a cold wind.

Letting your dog choose

In Australia, a cold day is generally easier to manage for dogs than a hot day.

So yes, you could have an Italian greyhound as a pet in southern Tasmania, as long as you add layers when needed and maybe accept they are going to sleep in bed with you under the covers.

I like to let dogs choose, as much as possible, what they need to manage their core temperature.

For example, you might provide a bed with a cover, or extra bedding and blankets on a cold day, so they can use what they need and move away from it when they have warmed up enough.

Once I put a jacket on my dog, she is unable to take it off herself, so I am relying on being able to tell somehow that she doesn’t want it on anymore.

Still, this is an improvement on her simply climbing into my jacket with me all the time, which she still does sometimes even when she’s got her own extra layers on.

Sometimes you just want to cuddle up to a warm friend, though. It’s hard to argue with that!

Melissa Starling owns an animal behaviour consulting business called Creature Teacher.

– ref. Is my dog too cold? How cold is too cold for a walk? Here’s how to tell – https://theconversation.com/is-my-dog-too-cold-how-cold-is-too-cold-for-a-walk-heres-how-to-tell-184141

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Egliston, Postdoctoral research fellow, Digital Media Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology

Video games are increasingly incorporating blockchains, the decentralised databases that underpin cryptocurrencies, as well as NFTs and other “digital assets”. New games are emerging expressly to support blockchain technology, while traditional games are being updated to incorporate blockchains.

As of October 2021, “crypto gaming” accounted for more than half of the blockchain activity over that quarter. At the same time, a treasury inquiry has led to consumer groups calling for regulation in the crypto market.

Crypto evangelists say blockchains are the future of gaming, and crypto gaming is ushering in “Web3” – the so-called next iteration of the internet built on blockchain technology. How true are these promises?

How video games use blockchains

The advent of crypto gaming roughly coincides with the rise of the Ethereum blockchain, launched in 2015.

Ethereum emerged as a platform for building and hosting of decentralised apps (applications designed to run on a blockchain, rather than a singularly owned computer network), as well as ownership over digital assets within those apps.

Video games have a history of sophisticated virtual economies. Games such as World of Warcraft and EVE Online – where items are bought and sold for virtual currencies – became a popular test case for these Ethereum features.

The promise of ‘retaining value’

A common model in crypto games is to include two types of crypto tokens. One is a governance token, which generally allows players a say in the governance of a game, and in some instances a share in its revenue. The other is a utility token, which is used to perform certain actions within the game.

Game assets (such as a sword or an e-sports trading card) can also take the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), with each unique token represented on the blockchain.

It’s common for NFTs and governance tokens to double as speculative assets that can be bought and sold across crypto or NFT exchanges. But it’s questionable whether they have any fundamental value. Many gaming tokens are at best volatile and at worst worthless.

Yet proponents of crypto gaming try to sell it as the future. Take crypto venture capitalist and Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, who says crypto gaming will allow players to “actually earn value” through accruing assets that have some value in traditional or “fiat” money.

In essence, he says people would no longer need to “waste time” gaming for leisure. Crypto gaming advocates often don’t understand why one might play games for no reason other than to have fun or unwind (or myriad other motivations).

In the crypto gaming vision, play becomes the act of seeking “valuable” tokens, and extending the game into a 24/7 market that pressures players to constantly seek profit. This marketisation of all activity is the very thing that has turned so many off of crypto gaming, and crypto more broadly.

The notion of retaining value is also framed in terms of developers and audiences being better remunerated for making and playing games. On game-distribution platforms such as Phantasma, developers deposit a given amount of the platform’s cryptocurrency in exchange for having their game hosted.

But it’s difficult to see how this differs from the current model, in which distributors charge a flat fee. In fact, hosting in exchange for cryptocurrency is arguably more problematic when you consider that token prices are subject to volatility.

Read more:
Apple, Google and Fortnite’s stoush is a classic case of how far big tech will go to retain power

Some people, including Web3 advocate Greg Isenberg, believe blockchain-enabled games might redistribute some of the revenue generated by game companies to players.

Players create value for these companies through practices such as “modding” (which refers to modifications, and other in-game activities), and even by contributing to a game’s culture.

Isenberg and others claim blockchains would provide a reliable record of players’ contributions, and therefore help set up a base for remuneration.

Playing to earn

An increasingly common pitch from blockchain game projects is “if tokens are valuable, then play itself can become a form of work”. Players can “play to earn” (commonly referred to as “P2E”).

The best known example is Axie Infinity, a Pokémon-style game where playing yields tokens that (at least at some point) had a high monetary value.

Read more:
Microsoft buys Activision Blizzard: with the video game industry under new management, what’s going to change?

In one podcast on P2E games (hosted by the venture capital fund Andreesen Horowitz, which has invested heavily in them), Gabby Dizon, the co-founder of a P2E gaming guild, claimed P2E was a “way to escape … economic hardship”.

Like the gig economy, P2E promises convenience, flexibility and prosperity at a time of widespread immiseration. Also like the gig economy, it’s deeply exploitative in practice.

As recently reported, Axie and other companies like it have a setup in which players must buy an expensive NFT before they can even start playing and participating in the P2E model.

A popular business tactic among some wealthy investors is to lease out their Axies (which are linked to NFTs) and take a cut of any money made by players, many of whom are from developing countries such as the Philippines. The result? All but the best players end up earning below minimum wage.

Responses from industry

Some traditional game developers have embraced blockchains. Last year, French gaming giant Ubisoft launched its own crypto gaming platform called Quartz.

Others have been reluctant. Big distributors including Valve have rejected blockchains, whereas Epic Games has embraced them under strict conditions.

Many indie game developers have pushed back, saying blockchains (and particularly NFTs) are scams that have a disastrous environmental impact, and which exacerbate the negative effects of capitalism.

A crash in the crypto market earlier this month has seen most crypto gaming tokens lose value. Yet this hasn’t deterred fervent investment.

More importantly, ups and downs in the crypto market don’t affect the fundamental problems in the value proposition of crypto gaming.

While blockchains and Web3 are viewed as an investment opportunity by large tech companies and investment funds, ordinary people continue to get scammed out of their money.

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

– ref. Like the gig economy, crypto gaming is sold with promise of convenience and riches. In practice it’s deeply exploitative – https://theconversation.com/like-the-gig-economy-crypto-gaming-is-sold-with-promise-of-convenience-and-riches-in-practice-its-deeply-exploitative-181714

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jon Piccini, Lecturer in History, Australian Catholic University

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and an image of deceased people.

Victories of three Greens candidates in the federal election have thrown political certainties into doubt.

While the “teal wave” in Sydney and Melbourne blue-blood electorates resulted from the Liberal Party’s rightward drift, Green wins in inner-city, youthful seats of Griffith, Brisbane and Ryan defy simple explanation. After all, isn’t Queensland the “deep north”, a bulwark that secures conservative hegemony?

Read more:
Good timing and hard work: behind the election’s ‘Greenslide’

While there is of course some truth here, Queensland historian Humphrey McQueen long ago diagnosed this perspective as a “state of mind”. Queensland’s “hillbilly dictatorship” excuses Southern critics, in McQueen’s interpretation, “from doing much about what is wrong in their own states”.

It also conveniently ignores the long history of Queensland left-wing radicalism, obscuring the continuities that underlay last Saturday’s result.

The Red North

Queensland was, of course, the birthplace of the Australian Labor Party. The Australian Workers Union (AWU) that emerged from a wave of shearers’ strikes in the 1890s was the party’s backbone in Queensland, ensuring it stayed in office for 40 almost uninterrupted years (1915-57).

Racism was the AWU’s modus operandi. It worked diligently to expel South Sea Island labourers in the 1900s and then treated the southern European – and primarily Italian – migrants who replaced them with contempt. As historian Diane Menghetti explained, this racism was fertile ground for the Communist Party, which established one of its strongest branches in the nation among the multicultural sugar cane workers of the far north, many of whom were refugees from fascism.

Their struggle, particularly for decent conditions in that dangerous industry, was depicted in Jean Devanny’s 1936 novel Sugar Heaven. It also saw Australia’s only Communist member of parliament – Fred Paterson – elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly. Elected twice (in 1944 and 1947), Queensland Labor employed the gerrymander that premier Joh Bjelke-Peterson would later exercise with such aplomb to redistribute Paterson’s electorate.

‘A community of the left’

Seen as a millstone by the left today, Queensland’s resources sector has long been host to radicalism.

In 1964, an unprecedented 32-week strike and lockout at the Mt Isa Mines was led by anarchist Pat Mackie. Soon expelled from the AWU and fired from his job at the mines, Mackie’s militant challenge saw a state of emergency declared in the regional town. Mackay’s leadership garnered national infamy, and an attempted deportation to his native New Zealand.

At the same time, Indigenous activists were forging links with white unionists that would fundamentally shape Australian history. The Cairns Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advancement League, an Indigenous-led rights organisation, was founded in 1960 – a time when such organisations were led by well-meaning whites. The league flourished amid what historian Sue Taffe calls a “community of the left” in that small Queensland town.

The Communist Party’s local branch, although much depleted since the 1930s, was still a substantial player in the local trade unions – particularly on the wharves. It also favoured self-determination for Indigenous peoples in line with decolonisation struggles in Asia and Africa.

Led by Joe McGuiness and Gladys O’Shane, the Cairns league forged a close working relationship with the Communists on the basis that, as O’Shane put it:

Stirring up prejudices between the coloured people and the whites…cause[s] divisions among the workers thereby […] break[ing] down hard-won conditions.

Many activists, including Eddie Koiki Mabo – a member of the Communist-controlled Waterside Workers Federation – first became politically active in the Cairns League. It is also worth noting that in the 2022 election, O’Shane’s daughter Pat outpolled the United Australia Party in the far north seat of Leichhardt, as candidate for the tiny Socialist Alliance.

Radical Brisbane?

To understand the Greens’ successes in southeast Queensland, then, it is insufficient to say Brisbane is a city that has outgrown its state. If anything, Brisbane has long mirrored the broader state’s rebellious streak.

This is evident in the right to march campaigns of the 1960s and 1970s, anti-uranium and nuclear weapons actions in the 1980s, as well as climate marches and Indigenous rights protests today.

It is instead fruitful to pull out some continuities between then and now. The campaign waged by the Queensland Greens reflects two vital traditions. One was pointed out by Greens councillor Jonathon Sri:

Queensland is not a conservative state. It is an anti-establishment state where voters have a healthy scepticism of authority and of whoever they perceive as being ‘in charge’.

Furthermore, the campaigns in inner Brisbane were based not on speaking over people, but to them about the material issues that affect their lives. Rental prices, the unaffordability of dental care, and of course climate change, were these campaigns’ key talking points.

By seeking to mobilise as many people as possible around unifying, radical demands, these campaigns show the “Red North’s” continued legacy today.

Jon Piccini has campaigned for the Queensland Greens at previous elections

– ref. The Greens’ election wins are not so surprising when you look at Queensland’s political history – https://theconversation.com/the-greens-election-wins-are-not-so-surprising-when-you-look-at-queenslands-political-history-184049

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Lee, PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland

Two in three Australians will have a skin cancer in their lifetime, nearly all of them basal cell carcinomas (BCC), squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) or melanomas.

If the spot removed was more like a sore or lump than a mole, it’s likely your doctor is talking about basal or squamous cell carcinoma, also called keratinocyte cancer or non-melanoma skin cancer. (See our piece on melanomas, which look more like moles, here).

Read more:
The doctor says my mole is a melanoma. What happens next?

About 80% of all cancers treated in Australia are skin cancers – most of which are BCCs or SCCs. But because BCCs and SCCs are not notifiable diseases, there is no official tracking system for them.

It’s difficult to know how many are diagnosed each year, but based on Medicare data, there are more than 900,000 treatments for BCC and SCC each year – some of these will be separate treatments of the same cancer.

Although they are less likely to be fatal than melanoma (around 560 deaths per year in Australia) the sheer number of them costs more than A$700 million a year to diagnose and treat.

When diagnosed early, BCCs and SCCs are usually straightforward to treat. But don’t be complacent. Left untreated, they will grow wider and deeper, as much as 20cm across. They will invade and destroy surrounding tissue, even bone.

What’s the treatment?

The treatment path for SCCs and BCCs is much less clear-cut than for melanomas. There are few firm guidelines and many treatment options, but here are the most common tactics.

Excision is the first-line treatment because it is the most likely to be curative and prevent recurrence, and the tumour can be sent to a pathologist for microscopic examination.

The pathology report will indicate if there are any signs of an unusually aggressive variant of the tumour, and if the whole tumour and a safety margin of surrounding healthy skin has been removed. If not, your doctor will remove a bit more to ensure the whole tumour is gone. The safety margin size depends on the size, type and location of the tumour, and can range from 2mm to 1cm.

Many BCCs and SCCs require only a simple excision to cure. However, those on delicate parts of the face with many nerves and small muscles, or close to bones and cartilage, are difficult to safely cut out. If they have grown down into underlying fat, muscle or bone, surgery might not be appropriate.

The right treatment in this case depends on the size and location of the tumour, whether it has well-defined or blurry edges, is scar-like or gelatinous. Informed patient preference is also important. Your doctor may freeze the tumour off, cut it out with a sharp scoop and cauterise the wound, or prescribe a cream that encourages a strong immune reaction or reacts with light to damage the cancer cells.

Your doctor may also refer you to a specialist for radiotherapy, which involves a very targeted dose of radiation, generally x-rays, to kill the tumour by damaging its DNA, and is performed by a specialist radiation oncologist.

Read more:
Health Check: do I need a skin cancer check?

Can it spread?

If the pathology report shows the cancer has invaded a nearby nerve, or if you have painful, tingling or crawling symptoms indicating a nerve is compromised, more aggressive excision or radiotherapy might be suggested. In the case of SCC, you may also be offered an MRI scan to see how far it has spread.

In this case you will be referred to a radiation oncologist to discuss whether radiotherapy would be helpful. Radiotherapy may also be considered if a BCC has invaded underlying bone, or if there is evidence of BCC cells in the nearby lymph nodes.

It’s extremely rare for BCC to spread away from the original site: only about 0.1% spread into the rest of the body. However, if it is very thick, has returned multiple times, or has other aggressive features, your doctor may also refer you to a specialist to examine your lymph nodes.

SCCs are somewhat more likely to spread, but due to the lack of compulsory reporting it’s difficult to tell the actual rate. Some studies report about 4% of SCCs spread to the lymph nodes, but these are often drawn from higher-risk cases, so the true rate is likely to be lower.

Your doctor may refer you for lymph node examination if your SCC was more than 2cm wide, or has spread into the fatty tissue just below the skin. SCCs on the head and neck, those with poorly defined edges, tender, inflamed lesions and lesions sitting at the edge of the lips may also require more attention.

Read more:
Why does Australia have so much skin cancer? (Hint: it’s not because of an ozone hole)

What follow-up is needed?

Your GP or dermatologist will want to see you for regular full-body skin checks after your initial treatment. This is because 44% of people with a basal cell carcinoma and 18% with a squamous cell carcinoma will have another one.

How often the checks are recommended depends on the original location, pathology report and treatment choice, but is usually once a year. You will also be taught what to look out for so you can bring any suspicious skin spots to your doctor early.

People with strongly suppressed immune systems, such as organ transplant recipients, need to take special care to have regular checks for skin cancers as their immune systems will not be doing their regular job of finding and destroying all sorts of cancers at an early stage. Regular checks can reduce skin cancer-related ill-health and deaths by as much as a third in organ transplant recipients.

Read more:
Common lumps and bumps on and under the skin: what are they?

In areas of skin that have significant UV damage and signs of early superficial skin cancers, your doctor may suggest a “field treatment” to remove the damaged skin cells. The most common is a cream used for four weeks, but other options include laser treatment.

It’s never too late to reduce your risk of further keratinocyte cancers. Recent research has shown taking up sun-smart behaviour – slip, slop, slap, seek and slide – even late in life, significantly slows down the rate of new skin cancers and in some cases even seems to allow the body to heal some precursor lesions.

Katie Lee receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council.

H. Peter Soyer is a shareholder of MoleMap NZ Limited and e-derm consult GmbH, and undertakes regular teledermatological reporting for both companies. He is a Medical Consultant for Canfield Scientific Inc, MoleMap Australia Pty Ltd, Blaze Bioscience Inc, and a Medical Advisor for First Derm. He holds an NHMRC MRFF Next Generation Clinical Researchers Program Practitioner Fellowship (APP1137127) and several other NHMRC and MRFF grants. He is a Board Member of Melanoma and Skin Cancer Trials Limited and the Queensland Skin and Cancer Foundation. He is employed by The University of Queensland and works as Visiting Medical Officer at Metro South HHS.

Erin McMeniman 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. 80% of all cancers are on the skin. What happens if I have one? – https://theconversation.com/80-of-all-cancers-are-on-the-skin-what-happens-if-i-have-one-182414

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bindi Bennett, Associate Professor First Nations Health, Bond University

“Be Brave, Make Change” is the mantra for this year’s National Reconciliation Week. This is a call urging all non-Indigenous Australians to be allies and take up unfinished reconciliation actions for a fairer nation for all. But often reconciliation actions are observed as insincere and tokenistic. Instead, non-Indigenous people’s actions need to be real, effective and aimed at long-lasting change.

Historical acceptance is one of the five dimensions of reconciliation. Acceptance would mean all Australians acknowledge this nation’s history of injustice, colonisation, dispossession, displacement, exploitation and violence against First Nations people. However, this endeavour to learn is often hindered by hesitant white educators who don’t feel confident or capable to include Indigenous perspectives in their classrooms.

The topic of Australia’s difficult history is also often rebutted as First Nations people’s failure to move on and simply “get over it”.

If non-Indigenous people are to be honest about our nation’s efforts to achieve reconciliation, it’s time to stop trying to being “seen” to be engaged in First Nation issues, and instead take the time to educate themselves about what is often uncomfortable to learn.

Read more:
‘More than a word’: practising reconciliation through Indigenous knowledge-sharing in tourism

Reconciliation Week is an opportunity to listen and reflect

Reconciliation Week asks all Australians to create meaningful, long-lasting change and strengthen race relations with First Nations people in Australia. However, taking the time to learn about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their histories can make many people feel very uncomfortable.

For many years, the fear of causing offence or making cultural mistakes can leave some people feeling tentative, preferring to hold onto the security blanket of ignorance or indifference. However, many people have expressed feelings of guilt, shame, anger, and embarrassment at being white, privileged, and ignorant of the true history of First Nations people in Australia.

My research has found that trauma underlies the lives of many Aboriginal people in Australia, which many Australians do not realise. Research has found non-Indigenous people can feel Australia’s tainted history is at odds with their own faith-based values or cultural world views (for example, not to be rude or to speak out). This can lead to a kind of culture shock, bringing another barrier to learning about the cultural politics of this country.

Culture shock can lead to people feeling their identity is under attack when being educated. This can lead to defensiveness, feelings of guilt and culpability, animosity and fragility.

Read more:
Oral testimony of an Aboriginal massacre now supported by scientific evidence

Recognising your biases is the first step

Many people claim to start their educational immersion as a “clean slate” with little to no knowledge about the plight of First Nations people. However, each person brings with them their own unique values, beliefs, and worldviews. Unfortunately this can include already established prejudices or assumptions about First Nations people.

In 2020, Australian National University researchers tested more than 11,000 Australian participants for implicit, unconscious bias. This research found 75% of participants held a negative or unconscious bias against Indigenous people. This correlation between negative bias could mean the development of racist attitudes, which is in stark contrast to the utopian initiatives of Reconciliation Week.

The nature and impact of racism on the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across health and education has been the focus of emerging research literature over the last decade. Non-Indigenous people choosing not to learn or engage with Aboriginal issues because it makes them uncomfortable is a microaggression of racism. Essentially, Aboriginal matters are devalued for someone else’s comfort.

Researcher Sarah Pierce has found microaggressions can be potentially more powerful than other forms of insidious types of racism, described as being “death by a thousand cuts” given their ubiquity and deniability.

Read more:
Why words matter: The negative impacts of racial microaggressions on Indigenous and other racialized people

Self-education is pivotal work for truth and reconciliation. However, the process of being uncomfortable in learning follows this process: identifying the feeling, holding and embracing the feeling, naming the feeling, and processing the feeling, before letting it go.

To become a better learner, people need to embrace critical self-awareness to identify biases and gaps in knowledge. American author Robin DiAngelo recommends people map what they don’t know about race, so they can identify resources to start to learn about the gaps they have identified.

Feeling awkward? That might be a good sign

Being awkward, inept and making mistakes is a fundamental part of building cultural responsiveness. Our research speaks about cultural courage, which includes being willing to feel and name strong and uncomfortable emotions, gaining confidence each time you engage.

Much of being uncomfortable is in the process of unlearning and decolonising our hearts and minds. Decolonisation means unlearning the racist rhetoric and malicious stereotypes peddled as “facts” by society and the media.

If more people address their ignorance and biases, and sit with their fear and discomfort, there could be more genuine allies and less racism.

Addressing racism within Australia is not just a cognitive exercise. True change requires constant education, critical reflection and self awareness. When we ignore engaging with emotive content and fundamental learning, we are ignoring the very real human suffering occurring within this country.

Reconciliation becomes nothing more than preformative allyship, enacted one week of every year. This National Reconciliation Week, I urge every Australian to be brave enough to engage in tough, deep conversations to make real change for First Nations people.

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

– ref. The courage to feel uncomfortable: what Australians need to learn to achieve real reconciliation – https://theconversation.com/the-courage-to-feel-uncomfortable-what-australians-need-to-learn-to-achieve-real-reconciliation-183914

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Lee, PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland

Two in three Australians will have a skin cancer in their lifetime, nearly all of them basal cell carcinomas (BCC), squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) or melanomas.

If the spot removed was more like a sore or lump than a mole, it’s likely your doctor is talking about basal or squamous cell carcinoma, also called keratinocyte cancer or non-melanoma skin cancer. (See our piece on melanomas, which look more like moles, here).

Read more:
The doctor says my mole is a melanoma. What happens next?

About 80% of all cancers treated in Australia are skin cancers – most of which are BCCs or SCCs. But because BCCs and SCCs are not notifiable diseases, there is no official tracking system for them.

It’s difficult to know how many are diagnosed each year, but based on Medicare data, there are more than 900,000 treatments for BCC and SCC each year – some of these will be separate treatments of the same cancer.

Although they are less likely to be fatal than melanoma (around 560 deaths per year in Australia) the sheer number of them costs more than A$700 million a year to diagnose and treat.

When diagnosed early, BCCs and SCCs are usually straightforward to treat. But don’t be complacent. Left untreated, they will grow wider and deeper, as much as 20cm across. They will invade and destroy surrounding tissue, even bone.

What’s the treatment?

The treatment path for SCCs and BCCs is much less clear-cut than for melanomas. There are few firm guidelines and many treatment options, but here are the most common tactics.

Excision is the first-line treatment because it is the most likely to be curative and prevent recurrence, and the tumour can be sent to a pathologist for microscopic examination.

The pathology report will indicate if there are any signs of an unusually aggressive variant of the tumour, and if the whole tumour and a safety margin of surrounding healthy skin has been removed. If not, your doctor will remove a bit more to ensure the whole tumour is gone. The safety margin size depends on the size, type and location of the tumour, and can range from 2mm to 1cm.

Many BCCs and SCCs require only a simple excision to cure. However, those on delicate parts of the face with many nerves and small muscles, or close to bones and cartilage, are difficult to safely cut out. If they have grown down into underlying fat, muscle or bone, surgery might not be appropriate.

The right treatment in this case depends on the size and location of the tumour, whether it has well-defined or blurry edges, is scar-like or gelatinous. Informed patient preference is also important. Your doctor may freeze the tumour off, cut it out with a sharp scoop and cauterise the wound, or prescribe a cream that encourages a strong immune reaction or reacts with light to damage the cancer cells.

Your doctor may also refer you to a specialist for radiotherapy, which involves a very targeted dose of radiation, generally x-rays, to kill the tumour by damaging its DNA, and is performed by a specialist radiation oncologist.

Read more:
Health Check: do I need a skin cancer check?

Can it spread?

If the pathology report shows the cancer has invaded a nearby nerve, or if you have painful, tingling or crawling symptoms indicating a nerve is compromised, more aggressive excision or radiotherapy might be suggested. In the case of SCC, you may also be offered an MRI scan to see how far it has spread.

In this case you will be referred to a radiation oncologist to discuss whether radiotherapy would be helpful. Radiotherapy may also be considered if a BCC has invaded underlying bone, or if there is evidence of BCC cells in the nearby lymph nodes.

It’s extremely rare for BCC to spread away from the original site: only about 0.1% spread into the rest of the body. However, if it is very thick, has returned multiple times, or has other aggressive features, your doctor may also refer you to a specialist to examine your lymph nodes.

SCCs are somewhat more likely to spread, but due to the lack of compulsory reporting it’s difficult to tell the actual rate. Some studies report about 4% of SCCs spread to the lymph nodes, but these are often drawn from higher-risk cases, so the true rate is likely to be lower.

Your doctor may refer you for lymph node examination if your SCC was more than 2cm wide, or has spread into the fatty tissue just below the skin. SCCs on the head and neck, those with poorly defined edges, tender, inflamed lesions and lesions sitting at the edge of the lips may also require more attention.

Read more:
Why does Australia have so much skin cancer? (Hint: it’s not because of an ozone hole)

What follow-up is needed?

Your GP or dermatologist will want to see you for regular full-body skin checks after your initial treatment. This is because 44% of people with a basal cell carcinoma and 18% with a squamous cell carcinoma will have another one.

How often the checks are recommended depends on the original location, pathology report and treatment choice, but is usually once a year. You will also be taught what to look out for so you can bring any suspicious skin spots to your doctor early.

People with strongly suppressed immune systems, such as organ transplant recipients, need to take special care to have regular checks for skin cancers as their immune systems will not be doing their regular job of finding and destroying all sorts of cancers at an early stage. Regular checks can reduce skin cancer-related ill-health and deaths by as much as a third in organ transplant recipients.

Read more:
Common lumps and bumps on and under the skin: what are they?

In areas of skin that have significant UV damage and signs of early superficial skin cancers, your doctor may suggest a “field treatment” to remove the damaged skin cells. The most common is a cream used for four weeks, but other options include laser treatment.

It’s never too late to reduce your risk of further keratinocyte cancers. Recent research has shown taking up sun-smart behaviour – slip, slop, slap, seek and slide – even late in life, significantly slows down the rate of new skin cancers and in some cases even seems to allow the body to heal some precursor lesions.

Katie Lee receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council.

H. Peter Soyer is a shareholder of MoleMap NZ Limited and e-derm consult GmbH, and undertakes regular teledermatological reporting for both companies. He is a Medical Consultant for Canfield Scientific Inc, MoleMap Australia Pty Ltd, Blaze Bioscience Inc, and a Medical Advisor for First Derm. He holds an NHMRC MRFF Next Generation Clinical Researchers Program Practitioner Fellowship (APP1137127) and several other NHMRC and MRFF grants. He is a Board Member of Melanoma and Skin Cancer Trials Limited and the Queensland Skin and Cancer Foundation. He is employed by The University of Queensland and works as Visiting Medical Officer at Metro South HHS.

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

– ref. The doctor says I have skin cancer. What happens next? – https://theconversation.com/the-doctor-says-i-have-skin-cancer-what-happens-next-182414

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Lee, PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland

So your doctor removed a mole from your skin and now says it’s cancerous. What happens next?

Firstly, you’re not alone! Two in three Australians will have a skin cancer in their lifetime, nearly all of them basal cell carcinomas, squamous cell carcinomas, or melanomas.

If you have a “mole” – brown, round spots than can be flat or raised – removed and diagnosed as cancer, though, you’re probably talking about a melanoma. The other types are more likely to be pink, scaly lumps or sores that sometimes bleed. (See our piece about these more common types – basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas – here).

Melanoma is the rarest of the main skin cancers, and also the most likely to spread around the body, which is called metastasis. How likely this is mostly depends on how deeply into the skin the melanoma has spread by the time it’s diagnosed. This is why earlier, and hopefully thinner, detection is so important to your outcome.

Read more:
Why does Australia have so much skin cancer? (Hint: it’s not because of an ozone hole)

In 2021, nearly 40,000 melanomas were excised in Australia. About 23,000 are very thin “in situ” melanomas, where the cancer is confined to the very top layer of the skin and can spread locally but not around the body yet. The others are invasive melanomas, meaning they have grown into the deeper parts of the skin. “Invasive” sounds scary, but most actually only have very shallow invasion and an excellent prognosis.

So it’s a melanoma, what’s next?

After the initial excision of the melanoma, it’s sent to a pathologist to be examined under a microscope. They will generate a report describing the melanoma in detail to help your doctor know what to do next.

The most important detail is the thickness of the melanoma from the skin surface to its deepest edge. In situ melanomas are so thin they have no official measurement, and invasive melanomas are measured in millimetres. Over 1mm thick is where your doctor will start to be much more concerned about the risk of spread.

The report will also tell your doctor whether the melanoma was ulcerated, invaded by immune cells, or near a blood vessel or nerve.

If your melanoma is less than 1mm thick, the first step is a wide local excision. This is removing more skin around the original melanoma site. How much is removed depends on how thick the melanoma was and what type it was.

In-situ melanomas generally need an extra 5mm of skin removed on each side of the original wound. For invasive melanomas under 1mm thick, it’s 1cm extra clearance.

The pathologist will check the re-excision under a microscope to check the edges of the melanoma are far enough away from the edge of the cut. If it’s not, more skin will need to be removed and checked again.

For most people with in-situ melanoma, that’s the end of their cancer treatment, although your doctor may want to set you up with ongoing regular skin checks. Melanomas less than 1mm thick (also called stage 1 melanomas) are also very unlikely to have spread and have a five year survival rate of 99%.

Read more:
Health Check: do I need a skin cancer check?

What are the chances it’s spread?

The most important risk factor for spreading is again the tumour thickness. Melanomas more than 4mm thick are of the most concern. If the melanoma was ulcerated, or was touching a blood vessel or nerve, the risk of spread is also higher.

If your melanoma is more than 1mm thick, your doctor will discuss with you the possibility of a sentinel lymph node biopsy and refer you to a specialist surgeon.

Read more:
Spot the difference: harmless mole or potential skin cancer?

Your lymph nodes are part of your immune system, and are clustered in basins at your armpits, groin and neck. Melanoma cells that spread are carried there first, and the one that receives it is called the draining lymph node.

To find the draining lymph node, you will have an injection containing a tiny dose of radioactive tracer dye into the melanoma site, so it will travel to the lymph node and be detectable with a nuclear medicine camera. This allows a surgeon to plan where to operate.

Then, while you’re under a general anaesthetic, a blue dye is injected into the site of your melanoma to stain the draining lymph node, so the surgeon can remove the correct node and leave all the others. They will also perform the wide local excision of the original melanoma site at this point – 1-2cm extra clearance, depending on the original tumour thickness.

If the node has no melanoma cells, you won’t need any further treatment besides a six-monthly or yearly follow-up physical exam. This checks for unexpected recurrences by checking for swelling at your lymph nodes and any concerning symptoms such as unexplained weight loss, pain or fatigue. This check will also look for new primary melanomas on the skin.

Read more:
Sun damage and cancer: how UV radiation affects our skin

If there is a positive lymph node, you might be invited to participate in clinical trials with immunotherapy drugs. There will also be further investigations to check whether the melanoma has spread further, and if so, where.

These scale up from ultrasound checks of the rest of the lymph nodes, to PET/CT scans of the rest of the body, or even MRI scans if there are signs of spread to the brain. If there are metastases, you’ll work with an oncologist to discuss surgical removal and what drug treatment you might need.

Having one melanoma means you are at risk of having more in the future, so the final part of your treatment program will be regular skin checks with your doctor. Your GP might do these themselves, or refer you to a dermatologist or another GP who has specialised in skin cancer.

You should also learn to check your own skin between visits, so you can bring a new or changing lesion to your doctor’s attention early.

Katie Lee receives funding from the NHMRC and The University of Queensland.

H. Peter Soyer is a shareholder of MoleMap NZ Limited and e-derm consult GmbH, and undertakes regular teledermatological reporting for both companies. He is a Medical Consultant for Canfield Scientific Inc, MoleMap Australia Pty Ltd, Blaze Bioscience Inc, and a Medical Advisor for First Derm. He holds an NHMRC MRFF Next Generation Clinical Researchers Program Practitioner Fellowship (APP1137127) and several other NHMRC and MRFF grants. He is a Board Member of Melanoma and Skin Cancer Trials Limited and the Queensland Skin and Cancer Foundation. He is employed by The University of Queensland and works as Visiting Medical Officer at Metro South HHS.

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

– ref. The doctor says my mole is a melanoma. What happens next? – https://theconversation.com/the-doctor-says-my-mole-is-a-melanoma-what-happens-next-180019

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Saeid Baroutian, Associate Professor, University of Auckland

Rotting seaweed has plagued the Caribbean for more than 10 years – but our research shows how we could clean up beaches and emissions at the same time, by turning what’s now rubbish into renewable electricity and fertiliser.

Pelagic sargassum is a brown seaweed that floats at the surface of oceans, particularly in the Atlantic.

Over the last decade, unprecedented amounts of this seaweed have washed up on coastlines of the Caribbean region, Gulf of Mexico, United States and West Africa, triggering human health concerns and negatively impacting the environment and economy.

Recent satellite images have spotted more sargassum at sea than in previous years. Experts fear this year’s influx could be the worst since the catastrophic 2018 season.

Given the noxious hydrogen sulphide gas emitted by the seaweed as it decomposes and the frequency with which these influxes have recurred since 2011, sargassum has devastated Caribbean economies that depend on tourism and fisheries for survival.

But there is something we can do.

Our team of researchers has developed a new approach to turn sargassum into bioenergy and fertiliser – a solution that could help restore beaches, create jobs and produce renewable electricity.

The problems with sargassum

Tourism is a major sector in the Caribbean region, accounting for 30-40% of the gross domestic product of some of the small nations.

Rotting seaweed has resulted in reduced visitor arrivals.

Sargassum has also triggered a state of emergency in the fisheries sector of several islands. The seaweed has resulted in reduced visibility, higher occurrences of fishing net entanglement, widespread boat damage and lower fish capture.

Read more:
Can we turn sewage ‘sludge’ into something valuable?

The marine ecosystem is further affected because sargassum accumulation on beaches and along shallow coastlines impairs the nesting of sea turtles and causes fish die-offs due to deoxygenation and toxins in water.

Sargassum also promotes coral bleaching and reef mortality.

Human health and the integrity of infrastructure have also been compromised by the hydrogen sulphide, a corrosive and toxic gas with a rotten-egg smell, emitted as the seaweed decomposes.

Though some small-scale attempts have been made to make sargassum useful, landfilling remains the primary way to manage the influxes. This approach is an expensive practice, with high labour and energy demands.

Our new solution for stinky seaweed

Sargassum is promising as component in anaerobic digestion systems – a process through which bacteria break down organic matter without the presence of oxygen, resulting in biogas.

The seaweed is rich in polysaccharides, a good source of energy, and low in lignin and cellulose, which are difficult to digest.

However, sargassum doesn’t readily biodegrade.

To overcome this challenge, our research takes a new approach: for the first time, combining the technologies of super hot water pre-treatment with anaerobic digestion system.

Hydrothermal pre-treatment is a green technology that uses high pressure to make water super hot (140°C), while keeping it in a liquid state. Treating sargassum in this super-hot water for 30 minutes helps break it down.

Read more:
What’s driving the huge blooms of brown seaweed piling up on Florida and Caribbean beaches?

This means hydrothermally pre-treated sargassum yields more energy than unprocessed sargassum.

Hydrothermal pre-treatment also reduces the hydrogen sulphide content in the generated biogas from 3% to 1%.

In the second step, hydrothermally pre-treated sargassum is processed with food waste or other organic wastes in the anaerobic digestion system.

Putting different organic wastes together helps balance out the feedstock, meaning more biogas can be produced.

What’s more, the substance that remains after biogas production is nutrient-dense and pathogen-free, making it safe and useful as an organic bio-fertiliser or soil conditioner.

The potential for a Barbados biorefinery

Building a sargassum-based biorefinery equipped with hydrothermal pre-treatment and anaerobic digestion technologies would offer a number of socio-economic and environmental advantages to Caribbean countries.

Most obviously, a biorefinery would supply electricity to the national grid and produce a bio-fertiliser for local and international use.

A proposed biorefinery in Barbados could handle an annual feed input of 15,750 tonnes of hydrothermally pre-treated sargassum mixed with raw food waste. This would handle a significant portion of sargassum influx, keeping it out of landfills.

Read more:
Why we need to stop thinking of the Caribbean as a tourist ‘paradise’

This feed input could yield 0.69 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity, 1.04 GWh of heat and 15,000 tonnes of solid-liquid biofertiliser for Barbados.

While sargassum is available only seasonally, a biorefinery could run solely on food or other organic waste when there is no seaweed, making the refinery a sustainable, year-round source of green energy.

Implementing this technology would also help increase the economic sustainability of the tourism and fisheries sectors, assist with waste management and help develop industry and infrastructure in the Caribbean.

However, the cost of development and management of a biorefinery in Barbados has to be carefully managed and will require substantial support from the local community.

According to our analysis, the biorefinery will not break even on power generation alone. Maximum profits could be achieved through selling all of the fertiliser to international markets – but this approach provides zero support to local food security. Our recommended option would be to split the waste 50/50 between local farmers and international markets.

While this solution can’t directly prevent sargassum influxes, the biogas produced would help reduce carbon emissions.

Since climate change appears to be a factor in the increased sargassum blooms of the past decade, contributing to global efforts to mitigate climate change may eventually improve the situation.

In the meantime, we could have an effective way to deal with the stinking mess ruining Caribbean beaches.

This research was part of a PhD project (Student: Dr Terrell Thompson, Supervisor: A/Prof Saeid Baroutian). Terrell Thompson received a PhD Scholarship from the Government of New Zealand.

Dr. Terrell Thompson works for Export Barbados (formerly the Barbados Investment & Development Corporation), an agency of the Government of Barbados. His PhD research on Sargassum seaweed was conducted at The University of Auckland, New Zealand and funded by the Government of New Zealand through a Manaaki New Zealand Scholarship.

– ref. Stinky seaweed is clogging Caribbean beaches – but a New Zealand solution could turn it into green power and fertiliser – https://theconversation.com/stinky-seaweed-is-clogging-caribbean-beaches-but-a-new-zealand-solution-could-turn-it-into-green-power-and-fertiliser-183807

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon D Angus, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Monash University

“We say sorry”.

With just three words, then-prime minister Kevin Rudd said in 2008 what his predecessor wouldn’t say in parliament.

And so swelled the tears, emotion and silent pain of generations of Indigenous Australians who looked on from the gallery above, together with those glued to the broadcast all over the country.

Sometimes words really do matter.

But this significant step towards Indigenous reconciliation in Australia didn’t occur in a vacuum. Sometimes our discourse – our narratives of disadvantage, freedom, hope and fear – take on a momentum all their own.

Read more:
Forgiveness requires more than just an apology. It requires action

Can discourse be quantified?

But demonstrating this momentum is hard.

The federal election is a case in point. Indigenous people tell us time and again that First Nations concerns are often excluded from the public conversation. Major surveys suggest many voters don’t seem to care.

But what if we could quantify our discourse? What if we could apply statistical tools to chart trends, shifts and deflections in our national narrative around First Nations issues? What would we learn?

To answer these questions, we analysed more than 82 million words of Australian public discourse. We obtained nearly 500,000 Australian news and opinion articles from 1986 to 2021 and filtered these down to 143,923 pieces speaking to broad issues of disadvantage in Australia. You can explore the data for yourself in our interactive dashboard.

So what did we find?

Discourse momentum and the Apology

Our analysis revealed the relative attention our news and opinion pieces gave to First Nations peoples began to grow steadily from around 2005, with a huge peak (58%) in May 2007 coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Bringing them Home report, which was about the Stolen Generations.

This peak was followed in February 2008 around the Apology itself. Remarkably, in that month, over two thirds (68%) of the news and opinion pieces that spoke to issues of disadvantage referred to First Nations peoples.

You can see from the chart above the Apology was almost like a pressure valve being released: the relative share of First Nations discourse dropped steadily thereafter, bottoming out in 2012. Just in time protests of 2012 around Australia Day, or what many First Nations people call Survival Day or Invasion Day.

But we can also see that in the last few years, First Nations discourse is once again on the move. Like arms being lifted to the air, First Nations discourse share in our public media is rising up.

Some peaks speak to external triggers: Rio Tinto’s destruction of the sacred, 46,000 year old Jukkan Caves (May 2020), followed in quick succession by Australia’s own Black Lives Matter marches (June 2020) both stand out.

But then there’s also a metronomic drum beat visible in our recent First Nations discourse.

The beat’s name? January.

When we talk about First Nations – and when we really don’t

To explore these trends further, and put some stronger statistical basis to our initial findings, we undertook a second form of analysis.

This time, instead of simply eye-balling line-plots, we used models that can uncover significant shifts in relative narrative intensity around certain key events in our national conversation.

Specifically, we fed in the exact date of federal budget night, and the federal election, dating back to 1986, and added to these dates the annual Australia Day/Invasion Day date across all years (January 26).

The models we used effectively ask, “did the relative share of First Nations discourse in Australian news and opinion change significantly during this week?”

To give some context, we also checked whether our discourse relating to a range of other groups shifted, and widened the search to the five weeks before and after these key events.

If anything, our work stands right behind Indigenous voices who’ve been saying the same thing for years.

Over the last four decades, in the weeks leading up to the federal budget and the election, Australian news and opinion talks relatively, and statistically significantly, less about First Nations peoples than at other times of the year.

The magnitudes may seem small (-6 to -8%), but these should be read against the background of average First Nations discourse intensity of around 20%.

So the deflection to our normal discourse is, in fact, very large, comprising a 25-50% decline against the baseline.

In collaboration with Paul Ramsay Foundation, Monash University researchers have created an interactive visualisation system to showcase the data and analysis resulting from this research. The visualisation allows visitors to read data-driven stories about narratives of disadvantage discussed in the Australian media and parliament over recent decades.

So what of the January bump?

Without question, the biggest single deflection we uncovered in our national discourse was towards First Nations during the week of Australia Day/Invasion Day each year: a huge 14% point climb during the week, and 4% in the week after.

But our results broadened the conversation. Not only do we discuss First Nations more at Australia Day/Invasion Day, we also significantly expand our share of discourse for migrants, refugees, and racial minorities.

January 26, it seems, is the closest Australia has to a national discourse of identity day. In effect, we collectively ask, “Who are we, and where have we come from?”

A new day

With a new government comes new opportunities.

With the Albanese Labor government committing to significant progress on the Uluru Statement from the Heart, coinciding with a new grassroots campaign to build support for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, the indications are there that 2022 may see a significant shift in our national discourse.

We were surprised then, when we checked our most recent data.

First Nations discourse share in our national news and opinion flatlined during the weeks leading into the election campaign.

Granted, this was an improvement on the significant negative shift in First Nations discourse share the models had uncovered over the last decades.

However, for the week starting Monday May 23, two days after the election, something remarkable happened in our discourse. First Nations share doubled from 14% over the week of the election to over 31%.

What a difference a new week can bring.

Read more:
Thirteen years after ‘Sorry’, too many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are still being removed from their homes

Simon D Angus receives funding from the Paul Ramsay Foundation, the Judith Neilson Institute, and the Defence, Science & Technology Group (Department of Defence). He is a co-founder of SoDa Laboratories, Monash Business School, and co-founder and the Director of the Monash IP Observatory, Monash University, and co-founder and director of KASPR Datahaus Pty Ltd. He serves on the board of City on a Hill Movement Pty Ltd. This story is part of The Conversation’s Breaking the Cycle series, which is about escaping cycles of disadvantage. It is supported by a philanthropic grant from the Paul Ramsay Foundation.

Tim Dwyer currently receives funding from Paul Ramsay Foundation, the Defence Science and Technology Group and Victorian Institute for Forensic Medicine. He is a Professor at Monash University and directs the Monash Data Visualisation and Immersive Analytics Lab within the Faculty of Information Technologies. A philanthropic grant from the Paul Ramsay Foundation supported the development of the visualisation system mentioned in the article.

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

– ref. The way we talk about First Nations issues is striking, as our analysis of 82 million words of Australian news and opinion shows – https://theconversation.com/the-way-we-talk-about-first-nations-issues-is-striking-as-our-analysis-of-82-million-words-of-australian-news-and-opinion-shows-179480

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Manisha Caleb, Lecturer, University of Sydney

The discovery of a neutron star emitting unusual radio signals is rewriting our understanding of these unique star systems.

My colleagues and I (the MeerTRAP team) made the discovery when observing the Vela-X 1 region of the Milky Way about 1,300 light years away from Earth, using the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa. We spotted a strange-looking flash or “pulse” that lasted about 300 milliseconds.

The flash had some characteristics of a radio-emitting neutron star. But this wasn’t like anything we’d seen before.

Intrigued, we scoured through older data from the region in hopes of finding similar pulses. Interestingly, we did identify more such pulses which had previously been missed by our real-time pulse detection system (since we typically only search for pulses lasting some 20-30 milliseconds).

A quick analysis of the times of arrival of the pulses showed them to be repeating about every 76 seconds – whereas most neutron star pulses cycle through within a few seconds, or even milliseconds.

Our observation showed PSR J0941-4046 had some of the characteristics of a “pulsar” or even a “magnetar”. Pulsars are the extremely dense remnants of collapsed giant stars which usually emit radio waves from their poles. As they rotate, the radio pulses can be measured from Earth, a bit like how you’d see a lighthouse periodically flash in the distance.

However, the longest known rotation period for a pulsar before this was 23.5 seconds – which means we might have found a completely new class of radio-emitting object. Our findings are published today in Nature Astronomy.

Read more:
A brief history: what we know so far about fast radio bursts across the universe

An anomaly among neutron stars?

Using all the data available to us from the MeerTRAP and ThunderKAT projects at MeerKAT, we managed to pinpoint the object’s position with excellent accuracy. After this we carried our more sensitive follow-up observations to study the source of the pulses.

The newly discovered object, named PSR J0941-4046, is a peculiar radio-emitting galactic neutron star which rotates extremely slowly compared to other pulsars. Pulsar pulse rates are incredibly consistent, and our follow-up observations allowed us to predict the arrival time of each pulse to a 100-millionth of a second.

Apart from the unexpected pulse rate, PSR J0941-4046 is also unique as it resides in the neutron star “graveyard”. This is a region of space where we don’t expect to detect any radio emissions at all, since it’s theorised the neutron stars here are at the end of their life cycle and therefore not active (or less active). PSR J0941-4046 challenges our understanding of how neutron stars are born and evolve.

It’s also fascinating as it appears to produce at least seven distinctly different pulse shapes, whereas most neutron stars don’t exhibit such variety. This diversity in pulse shape, and also pulse intensity, is likely related to the unknown physical emission mechanism of the object.

One particular type of pulse shows a strongly “quasi-periodic” structure, which suggests some kind of oscillation is driving the radio emission. These pulses may provide us with valuable information about the inner workings of PSR J0941-4046.

These quasi-periodic pulses bear some resemblance to enigmatic fast radio bursts, which are short radio bursts of unknown origin. However, it’s not yet clear whether PSR J0941-4046 emits the kind of energies observed in fast radio bursts. If we find it does, then it could be that PSR J0941-4046 is an “ultra-long period magnetar”.

Magnetars are neutron stars with very powerful magnetic fields, of which only a handful are known to emit in the radio part of the spectrum. While we’ve yet to actually identify an ultra-long period magnetar, they are theorised to be a possible source of fast radio bursts.

Brief encounters

It’s unclear how long PSR J0941-4046 has been active and emitting in the radio spectrum, since radio surveys typically don’t usually search for periods this long.

We don’t know how many of these sources might exist in the galaxy. Also, we can only detect radio emissions from PSR J0941-4046 for 0.5% of its rotation period – so it’s only visible to us for a fraction of a second. It’s pretty lucky we were able to spot it in the first place.

Detecting similar sources is challenging, which implies there may be a larger undetected population waiting to be discovered. Our finding also adds to the possibility of a new class of radio transient: the ultra-long period neutron star. Future searches for similar objects will be vital to our understanding of the neutron star population.

Read more:
This object in space flashed brilliantly for 3 months, then disappeared. Astronomers are intrigued

Manisha Caleb acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 694745), an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award (project number DE220100819) funded by the Australian Government and the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), through project number CE170100013.

– ref. This newly discovered neutron star might light the way for a whole new class of stellar object – https://theconversation.com/this-newly-discovered-neutron-star-might-light-the-way-for-a-whole-new-class-of-stellar-object-184050

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sonia Palmieri, Gender Policy Fellow, Australian National University

The 2022 federal election was a win for women candidates, and a historic moment in Australia’s journey towards a parliament that truly endorses and promotes gender equality in all its work.

At this stage of counting, it looks as though the House of Representatives will have at least 57 women, making 38% of the chamber female. This is our highest proportion of women ever in the lower house.

The Senate reached and exceeded 50% in the last parliament, and will maintain this in the new parliament. These new levels will see Australia reverse a 20-year decline in the international ranking of women in national parliaments, from 57th up to around 37th, ahead of Portugal, Tanzania and Italy.

Read more:
Women stormed the 2022 election in numbers too big to ignore: what has Labor pledged on gender?

How did this happen? And what will this mean for the culture at Parliament House?

First, look at the numbers

The simplest explanation is numerical: more women won because more women than ever contested seats in 2022, rendering true the maxim “you gotta be in it to win it”. Women represented just under 40% of all candidates in Saturday’s poll – an increase, says analyst Ben Raue, from about 32% in 2016 and 2019, and under 28% in 2013.

The 2022 numbers also indicate women candidates actually outperformed men candidates.

And consider the swing

The depletion of the Liberal Party vote was accompanied by a wave of unexpected wins for women.

Women won as challengers in safe or fairly safe seats previously held by incumbent MPs and ministers. This includes the well-publicised wins of independent and minor party women in Curtin, Fowler, Goldstein, Kooyong, Mackellar, North Sydney, Ryan and Wentworth.

But it also includes the wins of Labor party women who took the seats of Boothby, Chisholm, Hasluck, Higgins, Pearce, Reid, Robertson and Swan.

In this, there’s a historical comparison with the 1996 election in which John Howard’s landslide election saw an unprecedented 23 women swept into the House of Representatives. The Liberal Party had also placed these women in unwinnable seats, but the magnitude of the swing away from Labor changed the meaning of a safe, as opposed to a marginal, seat.

In fact, those women consolidated their positions in the 1998 election, and the number of women increased further. The swing towards the Coalition in 1996 was so great it was hard for the Labor Party to come back. However, women in the “class of 1996” also kept their marginal seats through concerted work in their electorates. The class of 2022 would do well to heed this lesson.

Community campaigning was vital

In 2022, Australian voters took advantage of the alternatives presented by independent and Green women candidates. Raue, again, was the first to notice the seismic change in the proportion of women running as independents in 2022: a whopping 65%, up from about 22% in 2019.

Women made the deliberate choice not to run as candidates for the major political parties. And for good reason: Australian major parties have proven, time and time again, that their pre-selection processes are top-down, out of touch and impervious to increasingly loud calls for equality and diversity.

Read more:
Preselection and parachuting candidates: 3 reasons parties override their local branch members, despite the costs

These campaigns were also driven by record numbers of volunteers, knocking on record numbers of doors, having record numbers of conversations with local communities. These community-based campaigns followed the model established by Cathy McGowan in Indi in 2013, and serve as a key lesson not just in Australia, but around the world.

It’s also true that the swing and community based campaigns resulted in the loss of female talent. Moderate Liberal Katie Allen could not stem her electorate’s dissatisfaction with the government in Melbourne’s Higgins. Likewise, Labor’s Terri Butler could not prevent the “Greenslide” in Brisbane’s Griffith. Parachuted Labor candidate Kristina Keneally could not convince the people of Fowler that she would be their best representative.

Voters wanted something different

In what was arguably one of the country’s most blokey electoral campaigns, it appears Australian voters wanted something different.

Gender equality was not top of the list of issues considered important in this election, in fact it was well below climate change and the cost-of-living.

But voters across the country chose candidates who explicitly articulated a desire to shift our political culture. Climate 200 candidates, for example, had Women’s safety and equality one of their headline policies.

The last parliament brought the toxic work culture of Parliament House into the headlines.

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins’s Set the Standard report late last year found the “win-at-all costs” mentality of major party politics was one of the key drivers of unsafe parliamentary workplaces. Deep-seated partisan differences have also prevented cross-party collaboration in the name of gender equality.

The election of so many women and so many women from beyond the major parties is a huge opportunity to change this.

The incoming Labor government will need to engage with a new brand of women in parliaments: women, importantly, who are new to the parliamentary area but who have worked in professional workplaces. They will carry those standards and expectations into the chamber.

The new cross-bench will not be encumbered by the need to protect a party. In fact, their electorates have given them a mandate to keep the parliament accountable, not only on the full set of recommendations of the Set the Standard report, but on the 55 recommendations of Jenkins’ Respect@Work report on sexual harrassment.

Read more:
The Jenkins review has 28 recommendations to fix parliament’s toxic culture – will our leaders listen?

The women on the cross-bench will not always agree with each other, let alone with the new government, but there is a sense that they will approach the job differently. As new independent Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel told the ABC’s Insiders after the election, “independents already communicate and collaborate [with each other]”.

If this approach continues, it will make a big difference to the way parliament works.

In 2021, Sonia Palmieri received funding from the Australian Human Rights Commission as a contributor to its Set the Standard report. She is a Research Affiliate of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at the Australian National University.

– ref. Our new parliament will have record numbers of women – will this finally make it a safe place to work? – https://theconversation.com/our-new-parliament-will-have-record-numbers-of-women-will-this-finally-make-it-a-safe-place-to-work-181598

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Neera Bhatia, Associate Professor in Law, Deakin University

Voluntary assisted dying is now lawful in all Australian states. There is also widespread community support for it.

Yet some residential institutions, such as hospices and aged-care facilities, are obstructing access despite the law not specifying whether they have the legal right to do so.

As voluntary assisted dying is implemented across the country, institutions blocking access to it will likely become more of an issue.

So addressing this will help everyone – institutions, staff, families and, most importantly, people dying in institutions who wish to have control of their end.

Read more:
Voluntary assisted dying will soon be legal in all states. Here’s what’s just happened in NSW and what it means for you

The many ways to block access

While voluntary assisted dying legislation recognises the right of doctors to conscientiously object to it, the law is generally silent on the rights of institutions to do so.

While the institution where someone lives has no legislated role in voluntary assisted dying, it can refuse access in various ways, including:

• restricting staff responding to a discussion a resident initiates about voluntary assisted dying

• refusing access to health professionals to facilitate it, and

• requiring people who wish to pursue the option to leave the facility.

Read more:
Planning for death must happen long before the last few days of life

Here’s what happened to ‘Mary’

Here is a hypothetical example based on cases one of us (Charles Corke) has learned of via his role at Victoria’s Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board.

We have chosen to combine several different cases into one, to respect the confidentiality of the individuals and organisations involved.

“Mary” was a 72-year-old widow who moved into a private aged-care facility when she could no longer manage independently in her own home due to advanced lung disease.

While her intellect remained intact, she accepted she had reached a stage at which she needed significant assistance. She appreciated the help she received. She liked the staff and they liked her.

After a year in the facility, during which time her lung disease got much worse, Mary decided she wanted access to voluntary assisted dying. Her children were supportive, particularly as this desire was consistent with Mary’s longstanding views.

Mary was open about her wish with the nursing home staff she felt were her friends.

The executive management of the nursing home heard of her intentions. This resulted in a visit at which Mary was told, in no uncertain terms, her wish to access voluntary assisted dying would not be allowed. She would be required to move out, unless she agreed to change her mind.

Mary was upset. Her family was furious. She really didn’t want to move, but really wanted to continue with voluntary assisted dying “in her current home” (as she saw it).

Mary decided to continue with her wish. Her family took her to see two doctors registered to provide assessments for voluntary assisted dying, who didn’t work at the facility. Mary was deemed eligible and the permit was granted. Two pharmacists visited Mary at the nursing home, gave her the medication and instructed her how to mix it and take it.

These actions required no active participation from the nursing home or its staff.

Family and friends arranged to visit at the time Mary indicated she planned to take the medication. She died peacefully, on her own terms, as she wished. The family informed the nursing home staff their mother had died. Neither family nor staff mentioned voluntary assisted dying.

Read more:
We all hope for a ‘good death’. But many aged-care residents are denied proper end-of-life care

Staff are in a difficult position too

There is widespread community support for voluntary assisted dying. In a 2021 survey by National Seniors Australia, more than 85% of seniors agreed it should be available.

So it’s likely there will be staff who are supportive in most institutions. For instance, in a survey of attitudes to voluntary assisted dying in a large public tertiary hospital, 88% of staff supported it becoming lawful.

So a blanket policy to refuse dying patients access to voluntary assisted dying is likely to place staff in a difficult position. An institution risks creating a toxic workplace culture, in which clandestine communication and fear become entrenched.

Read more:
Where can you choose to end your life?

What could we do better?

1. Institutions need to be up-front about their policies

Institutions need to be completely open about their policies on voluntary assisted dying and whether they would obstruct any such request in the future. This is so patients and families can factor this into deciding on an institution in the first place.

2. Institutions need to consult their stakeholders

Institutions should consult their stakeholders about their policy with a view to creating a “safe” environment for residents and staff – for those who want access to voluntary assisted dying or who wish to support it, and for those who don’t want it and find it confronting.

3. Laws need to change

Future legislation should define the extent of an institution’s right to obstruct a resident’s right to access voluntary assisted dying.

There should be safeguards in all states (as is already legislated in Queensland), including the ability for individuals to be referred in sufficient time to another institution, should they wish to access voluntary assisted dying.

Other states should consider whether it is reasonable to permit a resident, who does not wish to move, to be able to stay and proceed with their wish, without direct involvement of the institution.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Victoria’s Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board.

A/Prof Charlie Corke is Deputy Chair of the Victorian Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board

Neera Bhatia 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. What happens if you want access to voluntary assisted dying but your nursing home won’t let you? – https://theconversation.com/what-happens-if-you-want-access-to-voluntary-assisted-dying-but-your-nursing-home-wont-let-you-183364

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anita Parbhakar-Fox, Principal Research Fellow/ Group Leader- MIWATCH, The University of Queensland

To go green, the world will need vast quantities of critical minerals such as manganese, lithium, cobalt and rare earth elements. But to some environmentalists, mining to save the planet is a hard pill to swallow if it leads to damage to pristine areas.

The good news is that in many cases, the mining for these minerals has already been done. After Australia’s major miners dig up iron ore, billions of tonnes of earth and rock are left over. Hidden in these rock piles and tailing dams are minerals vital to high tech industries of today and tomorrow.

In recent years, we have seen a welcome focus on remining – the extraction of valuable minerals and metals from mining waste. While Australia has been slow to adopt this approach, it holds real promise. We don’t necessarily have to mine more. We can mine smarter.

Why do critical minerals matter?

For our new government to deliver net-zero by 2050, we will have to mine more critical minerals. In Australia, these minerals include lithium, cobalt, rare earth elements, tin, tungsten and indium. These metals are essential for manufacturing the wind turbines and electric vehicles required to transition to a low-carbon economy.

In May, Four Corners explored the potential for critical minerals mining in Australia, such as Western Australia’s major lithium deposits, cobalt resources in New South Wales and Tasmania’s opportunities in tungsten and tin. For nearby communities, new mining can mean socioeconomic rejuvenation.

But some environmentalists are sceptical, with the Bob Brown Foundation calling it a form of “greenwashing”. They point out that increasing mining would mean more damage to the environment, and produce much more waste. Globally, mining produces over 100 billion tonnes of solid waste annually. This waste is usually deposited in tailings dams or waste rock dumps, which both have risks if not done properly. Tailing dams breaking due to geotechnical issues have caused lethal disasters. Another issue is acid mine drainage, when highly acidic water laden with heavy metals escapes containment.

If Australia does want to make the most of its critical minerals, it is important to improve mining methods. If we don’t, we are likely to see extremely high waste to product ratios, as we already do for traditional commodities like gold, copper and iron.

Read more:
Australia has rich deposits of critical minerals for green technology. But we are not making the most of them … yet

Balancing these concerns is difficult. For instance, the multi-metal Rosebery mine in Tasmania requires a new way to store tailings to continue operations. If it doesn’t, the mine’s operators say they may have to close. But the Bob Brown Foundation is strongly protesting its construction, due to the threat to a rare owl.

One solution? Mine the waste

How can we resolve these issues? One approach is to look to circular economy principles. By treating this waste as a source of value, we could reduce the environmental footprint of mining while producing critical minerals and other vital products such as sand.

For instance, at the Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag mine in Sweden, the tailings from iron ore mining now comprise one of the largest deposits of rare earth elements in Europe. Recognising this, the mine’s owners are planning a circular industrial park to recover these valuable elements.

Similarly, the world’s annual phosphate production is estimated to contain around 100,000 tonnes of rare earth elements, a large proportion of which ends up in waste streams.

Copper deposits are a well-known source of many critical metals such as antimony and bismuth, as well as cobalt and indium.

Even in coal ash – the deposits left after burning coal – we can find valuable minerals such as gallium, scandium, vanadium and rare earth elements.

A growing area of interest

There is growing interest in extracting minerals from mining waste, with conferences held in the new area of remining in Europe and new prospecting ventures under way in Australia exploring mine waste.

The first to invest in this secondary prospecting was the Queensland government, which has funded sampling across 16 sites. Early results have found cobalt deposits rich enough to draw overseas investment.

New South Wales has recently launched a similar program, while work is under way by Geoscience Australia, the University of Queensland and RMIT to produce the first-ever atlas of mine waste in Australia.

Once complete, this atlas will be a valuable resource for companies keen to position themselves as tailings extraction experts such as New Century Resources.

Major miners are also paying attention. Rio Tinto has invested A$2 million into a new startup, Regeneration, which uses income from mine waste mineral recovery to pay for mining site rehabilitation.

Do we have the right technologies for the task?

Existing technologies are being put to work to extract manganese from waste from South 32 mines using aqueous solutions.

Read more:
Critical minerals are vital for renewable energy. We must learn to mine them responsibly

Another proven technique, gravity separation, is being used to recover tungsten from mine waste at Mt Carbine.

For some deposits, however, we will need more advanced techniques. These might include emerging methods such as fine particle flotation, and even using remarkable plants to mine metal in a process called phytomining.

Given the federal government has committed A$240 million to develop critical mineral processing facilities, we should explore the use of mine waste as feedstock.

Early days for re-mining

Australia’s mineral wealth could see us become a renewable and critical mineral superpower. But to ensure this shift gains widespread support, we must do the best we can to tackle environmental concerns. To spur on this change, we can vote with our wallets. Companies like Volkswagen and Apple are looking for new providers of critical minerals, given ethical and geopolitical concerns around existing supplies.

If we as consumers call for a percentage to be sourced from mine waste, we could drive clean economic growth and reduce the need for new mines, while funding the rehabilitation of Australia’s 50,000 abandoned mine sites.

Dr Kamini Bhowany, Dr Kristy Guerin, Dr Laura Jackson and Dr Partha Narayan Mishra were interviewed for this article.

Anita Parbhakar-Fox receives funding from the Geological Survey of Queensland and Geoscience Australia. She has consulted to MMG Ltd, Rio Tinto and EQ Resources.

– ref. Tapping mineral wealth in mining waste could offset damage from new green economy mines – https://theconversation.com/tapping-mineral-wealth-in-mining-waste-could-offset-damage-from-new-green-economy-mines-183232

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hannah Matthews, Policy Fellow, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University

Cheaper childcare was Labor’s largest single election promise, at an estimated cost of A$5.4 billion a year. Anthony Albanese went so far as to outline universal childcare as one of his new government’s three main policies for economic reform.

While the cost of childcare for families is a major concern, many other issues confront the sector. Foremost among these is a lack of childcare places in many parts of Australia and low pay for childcare workers, who are increasingly in short supply.

Read more:
More than 1 million Australians have no access to childcare in their area

With the election now behind us, how do the new government’s promised polices compare to the challenges the early learning sector is facing?

What was promised?

Labor has committed to increasing the subsidy to up to 90% for the first child in childcare from July 2023. There will also be higher subsidies for families with more than one child in childcare, including school-age children in care outside school hours.

Labor predicts 96% of families who use childcare will be better off under the new policy.

Labor has also promised to task the Productivity Commission and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) with ensuring further reform.

The ACCC will be directed to develop a mechanism to regulate the cost of childcare, with the aim of making it more affordable.

The Productivity Commission will be tasked with a review of the early childhood system, with a view to supporting a universal 90% childcare subsidy for all families. But it is not clear exactly what the review will examine. The terms of reference are not yet known.

Read more:
COVID chaos has shed light on many issues in the Australian childcare sector. Here are 4 of them

What are the other problems?

There are many other issues in the sector. One of the biggest is access. Many families struggle to find the care they need.

Our research shows around 35% of Australians live in regions classified as a “childcare desert”. This is where more than three children aged four and under are vying for every available childcare spot.

Rural and regional areas have the worst problems with finding childcare places.
Of the 1.1 million Australians with no access to centre-based day care within a 20-minute drive, almost all are outside major cities.

Areas with the highest fees generally have the highest childcare availability. This better access suggests providers establish services not only where there is demand, but where they are likely to make greater profits.

When it comes to work, mothers with a child aged under five years who live in a childcare desert have lower levels of workforce participation.

Read more:
If governments were really concerned about tax and the cost of living they would cut the cost of childcare

As for workers within the early learning system, there are widespread problems with low pay and retention. Attracting staff is becoming increasingly difficult. The latest employment data show vacancies in childcare occupations are at a record high.

A 2021 survey of almost 4,000 early childhood educators showed 37% do not intend to stay in the sector long-term. Of this group, 74% intend to leave within the next three years and 26% within the year.

Pay and conditions as well as professional recognition and professional learning opportunities all influence the attraction and retention of early educators. Regional, remote and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforces are the worst affected by these issues.

Read more:
Early childhood educators are leaving in droves. Here are 3 ways to keep them, and attract more

How do the promises stack up against all these problems?

While Labor has committed to making childcare more affordable, the other systemic issues that riddle the sector have been neglected.

Early learning has an important role to play in overcoming disadvantage. But it is the most disadvantaged communities that have the least access – focusing on cost alone will not improve access for those in childcare deserts. There is not yet enough information about the scope of Productivity Commission review to determine whether these issues will be identified and rectified.

If Labor is serious about moving towards universal childcare, access will be an important barrier to overcome.

Also unclear at this stage is whether the review will look at alternative methods of funding childcare. Australia’s childcare system is funded using a parent-subsidy-based model. Governments pay part of the cost of childcare through a means-tested subsidy.

There is some evidence that direct funding of services can improve early childhood services. This is where governments fund providers directly for each child, as happens for preschools and schools. According to the OECD, direct public funding models can bring “more effective governmental steering of early childhood services, advantages of scale, better national quality, more effective training for educators and a higher degree of equity in access compared with parent subsidy models”.

The issues of attracting and retaining staff in the early learning workforce are complex. Increased pay and better conditions must be front of mind for any real progress, accompanied by career pathways and support for professional learning, regardless of location.

The new government has an opportunity to take a strong stance on early learning and deliver a system that works for children, families, educators and the economy. It won’t be easy, but meaningful action for long-term change will deliver benefits for everyone.

Hannah Matthews works for the Mitchell Institute who receive funding from Minderoo and the Thrive by Five campaign to undertake research on Australia’s early learning sector.

Peter Hurley works for the Mitchell Institute who receive funding from Minderoo and the Thrive by Five campaign to undertake research on Australia’s early learning sector.

– ref. High childcare fees, low pay for staff and a lack of places pose a huge policy challenge – https://theconversation.com/high-childcare-fees-low-pay-for-staff-and-a-lack-of-places-pose-a-huge-policy-challenge-183617

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cherine Fahd, Associate Professor, School of Design, University of Technology Sydney

In 1979, the American artist Allan Kaprow wrote Performing Life, an important essay in the history of Western art arguing for the blurring of art and life.

Kaprow suggested we perform art in our everyday living by paying attention to invisible sensations and the details of existence we take for granted.

He wanted us to notice the way air and spit are exchanged when talking with friends; the effects of bodies touching; the rhythm of breathing. Kaprow’s essay has served as an instructive piece for living. As an artist, I see and make art from anything and everything.

Take long-distance running, for example.

When a friend began coaching me to run long distances, I consequently began drawing as well.

Running in the 21st century involves drawing lines. More important than sneakers are GPS devices (like smartphones and watches that sync with exercise apps) to track and analyse every meaningful and meaningless detail of your performance.

Drawing lines

I use the app Strava. It visualises my routes, average pace, heart rate, elevation and calories burned.

Driven by competition, self-improvement and the well-being revolution, it is easy to become fixated on this data. But I am fixated for other reasons as well.

When I run, Strava maps my route with a meandering GPS line. I have become absorbed in this line – literally sensing it when I’m running.

As each foot touches the ground I feel myself drawing the GPS line slowly and incrementally. This embodied connection to my data changes my runs. I spontaneously vary my routes to achieve a particular line.

Run around a pole ten times, burst into a zig-zag, make a circle in the park. I manoeuvre to affect the graphic form to one of my imagining.

Cyclists and runners worldwide have recently discovered the creative possibilities of GPS data. This is called GPS Art or “Strava Art”. Cycling or running routes to visualise a predetermined shape or thing proved popular during the pandemic. Rabbits, Elvis and the middle finger have been plotted, cycled and run. The data version of skywriting.

As novel as Strava Art is, I am not creating it. Running and drawing are both “body techniques” connected to gesture, touch, feeling, listening, looking and imagining.

While GPS data can visualise every quantifiable detail about my run, it can’t tell me how it felt to run.

Anyone who runs long distances knows that performance is impacted by how you feel on the day, what the run is soothing. Life problems, levels of stress, hormones, depression, happiness, whether you slept well, how much you ate and the weather all impact a run.

Read more:
Yearning for touch — a photo essay

Revealing what is hidden

While self-tracking data appears infallible – that is, numerical, scientific and objective – we know it is biased. Data scientists Catherine D’Ignazio and Lauren Klein argue in their book Data Feminism that data science is skewed towards to those who “wield power”, which is “disproportionately elite, straight, white, able-bodied, cisgender men from the Global North.”

Data feminism reveals how systems of counting and classification hide inequalities. The role of data feminism is to use this understanding of what is hidden to visualise alternatives, and they suggest converting qualitative experience into data.

This is where the outmoded art of drawing and the antiquated technologies of charcoal and pencil can extend exercise data and bring new meaning to the personal experience of running.

I have been re-drawing my data to make visible what Strava cannot. The unheroic stuff: emotions, persistent thoughts, body sensations like the pressing of my bladder, the location of public toilets, social interactions with strangers, lyrics from the songs I listen to, and the weather.

The drawings are deliberately messy scribbles, diaristic and fragmented, smudged and imprecise. They re-label information to reflect what is missing – that I’m a middle-aged woman artist mother who is happy to remain mediocre at running.

Picture a nagging bladder instead of speed; scribble the arrival and departure of joy and anxiety instead of pace; zig-zag through neurotic repetitive thoughts instead of calories burned; trace desires, dreads and dreams instead of personal bests.

That’s not to say I don’t enjoy Strava or that I don’t have running goals. But the drawings offer different data that short circuits the dominance of quantifying every aspect of human experience.

The effects of bringing art and life (or running and drawing) together are confrontational. As Kaprow noted, “anyone who has jogged seriously […] knows that in the beginning, as you confront your body, you face your psyche as well.”

The longer more testing runs produce more data; they also produce more complex encounters with the self and more convoluted drawings.

These drawings offer alternative data not tied to endurance or personal glory. They undo the slick corporate aesthetic of exercise apps and their socially networked metrics, leader boards, badges and medals.

This is a feminist practice that builds on the work of Catriona Menzies-Pike and Sandra Faulkner who give alternative accounts of running from the perspective of women.

Running and drawing can be autotelic activities: activities where the purpose of doing it is doing it. In this highly surveilled, techno-obsessed, capital driven, multi-tasking time, the value of sporting or creative activities delivering no measurable (or financial) results may appear old-fashioned.

But then again, so can running without a self-tracking device. This is something I am willing to try.

Read more:
The ‘runner’s high’ may result from molecules called cannabinoids – the body’s own version of THC and CBD

Cherine Fahd 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. Drawing data: I make art from the bodily experience of long-distance running – https://theconversation.com/drawing-data-i-make-art-from-the-bodily-experience-of-long-distance-running-182762

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

Anthony Albanese is bringing in an outsider, former University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Glyn Davis to head his Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Davis, who is close to former prime minister Kevin Rudd, was speculated on as a possible head of the department in Rudd’s time. In 2008 Davis co-chaired the Rudd’s government’s Australia 2020 Summit.

Currently Davis is CEO of the Paul Ramsay Foundation, Australia’s largest philanthropic trust.

He replaces Phil Gaetjens, who as secretary of the department under Scott Morrison came under criticism for being too political and, in the eyes of some bureaucrats, for not standing up strongly enough for the public service.

Davis was director-general of the Queensland department of premier of cabinet from 1998 to 2002.

He then became vice-chancellor of Griffith University, and in 2005 moved to be vice-chancellor of Melbourne University, a position he held until 2018, and from which he drove a major academic restructure. He retains a range of academic connections. His research interest has centred on public policy.

Announcing Davis’ appointment Albanese said he would bring to the role of secretary, “a deep understanding of public policy and will work with my government in bringing about positive change for the Australian people”.

Davis was a member of the Thodey review into the public service.

The Morrison government rejected a number of the more ambitious of that inquiry’s recommendations which would have constrained the hand of government in dealing with the public service.

There will be intense interest within the public service about whether Davis will urge the new government to revisit some of these Thodey recommendations.

Davis delivered the 2010 Boyer Lectures , which were published under the title The Republic of Learning. His appointment has been enthusiastically welcomed by the higher education sector.

Chief executive of Universities Australia Catriona Jackson said: “This is a pivotal appointment at a pivotal moment for Australia and Australians.

“Professor Davis’ extensive and distinguished experience in public policy and deep understanding of the importance of a strong university sector to Australia’s future, is well proven.

“As we emerge from challenging times, we look forward to working with Professor Davis to deliver the productivity gains that highly-skilled people and technological and social advances provide to the economy.”

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 appoints former University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Glyn Davis to head PM&C – https://theconversation.com/albanese-appoints-former-university-of-melbourne-vice-chancellor-glyn-davis-to-head-pmandc-184059

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Humphery-Jenner, Associate Professor of Finance, UNSW Sydney

Billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes has won a major battle against Australia’s biggest energy company, AGL Energy, thwarting its plan to split up the company’s coal-heavy generation and power distribution assets.

AGL’s board announced it was dumping its demerger proposal this morning. Heads have rolled too. Chief executive Graeme Hunt, chairman Peter Botten and non-executive director Jacqueline Hey have resigned. Another director, Diane Smith-Gander, will go in August.

But it remains to be seen if Cannon-Brookes and his allies can achieve their ultimate goal – to force AGL, Australia’s biggest carbon emitter, to accelerate the closure of its coal and gas-fired power stations.

Cannon-Brookes’ hard campaign

The plan to split AGL was due to go to a shareholders vote in mid-June, at which it required 75% support.

Earlier this year, Cannon Brookes – Australia’s third-richest person – led two unsuccessful takeover bids for AGL, with the goal of taking the company private and retiring its fossil fuel generators. He has campaigned hard against the demerger on the basis it would hinder his plan for AGL to lead Australia’s energy transition to renewables.

Read more:
The battle for AGL heralds a new dawn for Australian electricity

He strengthened his hand by spending, through his investment company Grok Ventures, about A$650 million to acquire a 11.3% stake in AGL – almost half the shares needed to thwart the demerger vote. This has made him AGL’s single biggest shareholder.

Securing super allies

Only 10 days ago, then chief executive Graeme Hunt called Cannon-Brookes’ opposition to the demerger “out-of-touch, undeliverable and irresponsible nonsense”.

But late last week, Cannon Brookes gained a symbolically significant ally in HESTA, the superannuation fund for health and community service workers. It announced it would vote against the demerger “because it will not adequately support economy-wide decarbonisation”. It said a “proactive and orderly transition to net zero emissions” was “in the best financial interests of our members”.

HESTA holds just 0.36% of AGL shares, but its siding with Cannon-Brookes was a sign AGL’s board was losing the war of words over what was best for shareholders.

AGL’s board confirmed that this morning when it withdrew the demerger proposal.

Why did AGL’s board want to demerge?

The board’s proposal to split (or demerge) AGL into two entities was to increase returns to shareholders.

“AGL Australia” would focus on energy distribution and trading. “Accel Energy” would own AGL’s existing half-dozen fossil-fuel generators – such as the Bayswater black coal-fired plant in NSW, the Loy Yang brown coal-fired station in Victoria and the Torrens Island gas-powered station in South Australia – as well as its wind, solar and hydroelectric assets.

The board argued this was good for shareholders in three key ways.

First, it would create two “pure-play” companies – focusing on only one line of business – which would be more attractive to investors wanting specific assets (such as energy distribution) but not others (such as coal generators). This could lead to a takeover bid offering more money than what Cannon-Brookes and his partners offered.

Second, each company would have focused managements, empowered to pursue strategies and opportunities “based on their unique assets and capabilities”.

Third, shareholders would have the choice to divest from fossil fuels while still keeping their investment in distribution.

The AGL board also argued the demerger could accelerate “decarbonisation beyond what could be achieved” under the existing structure.

This appeared to be based on the new AGL Australia being partly freed from the old AGL’s legacy fossil-fuel generation, and Accel Energy having more focus and better access to capital as a pure-play company.

Why oppose the demerger?

Cannon-Brookes (through Grok Ventures) argued three notable objections.

First, splitting and duplicating management structures would cost at least A$260 million, and $35 million a year thereafter.

Second, the two new companies would have more volatile cash flows and be less able to withstand financial shocks. Accel especially would be at “high insolvency risk” due to having so many assets in coal-fired generation.

Third, and most importantly, the demerger would eliminate the benefits of AGL being a vertically integrated electricity generator and distributor. “We believe that retaining vertical integration strategically positions AGL to lead Australia’s energy transition,” Grok Ventures argued.

Read more:
3 ways the Albanese government can turn Australia into a renewable energy superpower – without leaving anyone behind

What now for AGL?

AGL is now in for a tumultuous period. It’s unclear who will replace Hunt as chief executive or Botten as chair.

Cannon-Brookes has reportedly demanded two board seats. But shareholders cannot merely demand and receive board seats, even if they are the largest or loudest. The board must act for all shareholders – the majority of which may well have supported the demerger.

By law, the board’s primary obligation is to the corporation’s best interests – which means maximising returns to shareholders.

On that basis it had solid ground on which to propose the demerger. Research shows that, on average, demergers, spin-offs and divestitures do benefit shareholders, while mergers and acquisitions tend to destroy shareholder value.

The board cannot adhere to what a minority of shareholders want – no matter how worthy their cause. It should generally not pursue social or policy goals unless they also maximise shareholder wealth.

On the other side of the ledger, the market has turned against fossil fuels. There is declining long-term shareholder value in coal-fired power stations. Banks are reportedly reluctant to lend to AGL given its ownership of coal and gas generators. However, it would seem logical for them to be willing to finance renewable energy investments.

AGL could potentially become a takeover target, though the question is at what price. On Monday, its share price dipped as low as $8.52 – but that’s still more than the $8.25 the Cannon-Brookes-led consortium offered in March. It’s possible, though, that they might revive that bid.

Read more:
AGL said no to a $5 billion bid, but it isn’t over – here’s how takeover bids work

Aside from Cannon-Brookes being positioned to play a larger role, the future is uncertain. AGL has announced another strategic review. But it is not clear what, if anything, this will achieve – given its previous strategic review led to the now scrapped demerger.

Mark Humphery-Jenner owns AGL shares as part of his superannuation fund.

– ref. Australia’s biggest carbon emitter buckles before Mike Cannon-Brookes – so what now for AGL’s other shareholders? – https://theconversation.com/australias-biggest-carbon-emitter-buckles-before-mike-cannon-brookes-so-what-now-for-agls-other-shareholders-183534

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

Former agriculture minister David Littleproud has ousted Barnaby Joyce to become Nationals leader.

Perin Davey, a senator since 2019, has been elected his deputy.

Littleproud, 45, who was deputy leader, is from Queensland; Davey, 50, is from New South Wales. Bridget McKenzie, from Victoria, remains the party’s senate leader.

The Liberals, as expected, elected Queenslander Peter Dutton, 51, and Sussan Ley, 60, from NSW, as leader and deputy, respectively, after the pair stood unopposed.

Dutton immediately pitched to the suburbs and small business. He told a news conference: “I want our country to support aspiration and reward hard work,” as well as to “take proper care of those Australians who short-term or long-term can’t take care of themselves”.

“Our policies will be squarely aimed at the forgotten Australians in the suburbs across Australia. Under my leadership, the Liberal party will be true to our values, that have seen us win successive elections over the course of the last quarter of a century.” The Liberals would not be “Labor-lite,” Dutton said.

Joyce won back the Nationals leadership last year, and the Nationals held all their seats at the election and gained a senate seat. But Joyce cost the Liberals votes in the “teal” seats, with teal candidates saying moderate Liberal MPs in those seats, whatever their attitudes on climate change, had voted with Joyce.

Read more:
Littleproud ousts Joyce in Nationals leadership spill, as Liberals give Dutton clear run

Littleproud was prominent in the last term, arguing for the Nationals to embrace the net zero 2050 greenhouse emissions target, which they eventually did.

He entered parliament in 2016, having previously been an agribusiness banker.

Littleproud said after the vote that “a sensible centre is where you win elections”. He said “chasing extremities” would not win.

He hailed having “two bright, articulate” women in the Nationals leadership team.

Dutton stressed he wanted to send “a clear message to those in the suburbs”, and said policies would be targeted to small and micro businesses. But, asked about the “teal” seats, he said, “I am not giving up on any seats”.

While the Liberals would work with big business, Dutton said these days a lot of chief executives were closer to other parties than to the Liberals. He lamented that these business leaders, unlike years ago, were not advocating for tax reform and industrial relations reform.

“I think we are a poorer country for that. I think many of them are probably scared to step up because they are worried of an onslaught by Twitter.

“I hope that we can continue to work with them but I need them to work, to speak up on many policies, not just social policies but economic, not just climate change.”

On China, on which Dutton has taken a strong and uncompromising position in government, he said: “The issue of China under President Xi is the biggest issue our country will face in our lifetimes.”

Read more:
View from The Hill: Peter Dutton faces his own ‘long march’

Dutton again acknowledged he had made a mistake in boycotting the Rudd government’s apology to Indigenous people and particularly the stolen generations.

“I worked in Townsville. I remember going to many domestic violence instances, particularly involving Indigenous communities, and for me at the time I believed that the apology should be given when the problems were resolved and the problems are not resolved.”

Asked about the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament, he said the Liberals would look at what Labor proposed but said he wanted the symbolic policies on Indigenous affairs to be accompanied by practical responses, on issues such as child abuse.

He also said he favoured an anti-corruption commission: “I believe in transparency.”

Dutton once again said there was more to him than the public image. “I’m not going to change but I want people to see the entire person I am.”

Ley said her message to the women of Australia was: “We hear you. We’re listening. We’re talking. And we are determined to earn back your trust.”

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

– ref. New Nationals leader Littleproud says ‘sensible centre’ is where elections are won – https://theconversation.com/new-nationals-leader-littleproud-says-sensible-centre-is-where-elections-are-won-184041

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mischa Bongers, Sessional Lecturer, CQUniversity Australia

Many of us have heard of “Kegels” or pelvic floor exercises, and probably have a vague sense we should be doing more of them. For many women, our social media news feeds are full of ads for the latest gizmos and gadgets for exercising our pelvic floors. There are brands with game-like apps including Perifit and Elvie, and there are Kegel balls for sale too.

As technology advances and the need for pelvic floor rehabilitation after pregnancy, childbirth and menopause continues, the demand for innovation in these devices has increased. Then there is the global pandemic that has restricted access to face-to-face medical treatment – prompting many of us to take our health into our own hands.

But what exactly are these devices used for, and do they actually work? The short answer: pelvic floor strengthening; and, it depends.

4 things the pelvic floor does and why it often fails

The pelvic floor is a group of muscles that run from our pubic bone to tailbone, and between our sit-bones, lining the base of our pelvis. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to lie on the floor to exercise your pelvic floor.

The role of the pelvic floor muscles is to:

1. keep all our organs (bladder, uterus, bowel) inside the pelvis
2. keep the sphincters to our bladder and bowel closed (until we’re ready to relax them on the toilet)
3. provide sexual sensation
4. work together with other deep core muscles to help with trunk stability.

The pelvic floor doesn’t always work the way it’s meant to. Bladder leakage (also known as urinary incontinence) and pelvic organ prolapse are common pelvic floor complaints for women of all ages.

About one in three women will experience urinary incontinence at some point in our lives, especially if we’ve had a baby. Other risk factors include repetitive heavy lifting, straining due to constipation, carrying extra weight, pelvic surgery, and hormonal changes.

Read more:
‘Are Kegel exercises actually good for you?’

Getting the pelvic floor into shape

Pelvic floor muscle training is recommended as the first line of treatment for incontinence and prolapse, along with lifestyle changes such as healthy bladder and bowel habits, good general fitness, and weight management.

Pelvic floor physiotherapists are health professionals specially trained to give you individualised advice for your pelvic floor symptoms based on an assessment and your circumstances. They will likely recommend daily exercises that may include rapid contractions of the pelvic floor muscles, coordination tasks and longer holds.

Those who have trouble sticking to the prescribed exercises, or who don’t have access to a suitable physio for geographical or financial reasons, may be interested in trying biofeedback devices. These devices and their associated apps are designed to give you more information on how and when to do your exercises, remind you to do them, and help you to stick with the program.

Maintaining motivation can be tough. Research shows it usually takes at least 6–12 weeks of regular pelvic floor training to see results (just like visiting the gym, we can’t build muscle overnight).

Read more:
Urinary incontinence can be a problem for women of all ages, but there is a cure

Do pelvic floor biofeedback devices work?

There’s some evidence to suggest pelvic floor reminder apps and biofeedback devices can be helpful for improving pelvic floor function and bladder control. This might be superior to pelvic floor exercises alone. Then again, it might not make a difference.

Some women do not find the use of technology helpful for pelvic floor training. Barriers can include connectivity or set-up issues, need for privacy, tech being distracting, and price. Insertable devices also require caution for use, as most are not appropriate during pregnancy, within the first six weeks after having a baby or pelvic surgery, or when there is unexplained bleeding, pain or active infection. If in doubt, it’s always best to consult your medical provider.

The benefits of pelvic floor trainers with game-like apps that sync with an inserted device include:

• giving real-time feedback on the screen for pelvic floor performance and correct technique
• allowing women to work with their physio remotely
• measuring and tracking strength, endurance and coordination improvements over time
• providing reminder prompts via phone notifications to complete workouts
• adjusting the workout difficulty of each session based on how the body is responding (this accounts for time-of-day fluctuations and fatigue)
• entertaining the user with a variety of games and tasks, making them more likely to stick with their pelvic floor program!

Read more:
Why you shouldn’t make a habit of doing a ‘just in case’ wee — and don’t tell your kids to either

The bottom line

The evidence definitively supports pelvic floor exercises for incontinence and prolapse, and this is best done with the support of a suitably trained professional such as a pelvic floor physiotherapist.

While early research looks promising, the evidence for commercially marketed pelvic floor feedback devices has not yet caught up to their hype. But if you are keen to try a pelvic floor biofeedback device or app to improve pelvic floor tone for better bladder control, prolapse symptoms, or sexual function – then go for it (especially if your specialist physio agrees).

After all, the best kind of pelvic floor exercise regime is the one you’ll stick with.

m.bongers@cqu.edu.au is the Founder and Principal Physiotherapist at Pelvic Fix Physiotherapy. She is affiliated with CQUniversity as a Sessional Lecturer, Curtin University as a Physiotherapy Clinical Supervisor, and Queensland Health as a Senior Women’s Health Physiotherapist.

– ref. Playing games with your pelvic floor could be a useful exercise for urinary incontinence – https://theconversation.com/playing-games-with-your-pelvic-floor-could-be-a-useful-exercise-for-urinary-incontinence-182431

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Toby Walsh, Professor of AI at UNSW, Research Group Leader, UNSW Sydney

It was the veritable search for a needle in a haystack. With drug-resistant bacteria on the rise, researchers at MIT were sifting through a database of more than 100 million molecules to identify a few that might have antibacterial properties.

Fortunately, the search proved successful. But it wasn’t a human who found the promising molecules. It was a machine learning program.

One compound has been patented under the name Halicin in homage to HAL, the artificial intelligence (AI) in Arthur C Clarke’s classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. Halicin works differently from existing antibiotics, disrupting the bacteria’s ability to access energy, and researchers hope bacteria may struggle to develop resistance to it.

Halicin might be the first antibiotic discovered using AI, but AI programs have played an important role in other patented inventions from electrical circuits, through meta-materials and drugs, to consumer products such as toothbrushes. As we argue in a recent article in Nature, society urgently needs to consider the impact of AI on the innovation system, particularly on laws regarding intellectual property and patents.

AI patents in court

Can software be an “inventor”? This question has been the focus of some recent high profile court cases about an AI system called DABUS (Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience), created by Stephen Thaler, president and chief executive of US-based AI firm Imagination Engines.

Thaler claims DABUS is the inventor of a new type of food container with a specially patterned surface, as well as a light that flashing with a special pattern of pulses for attracting attention in emergencies. The inventions are perhaps not very noteworthy, but the attempts to patent them certainly are.

Thaler’s international legal team, led by Ryan Abbott from the University of Surrey, has filed applications to patent offices around the world in which DABUS is named as the sole inventor. These cases are likely the first to test whether an AI system can be recognised as an inventor under existing intellectual property laws.

For now, inventors must be human

Patent registration offices have rejected the DABUS patent applications in multiple jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, United States, the European Patent Office, Germany, South Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand and Australia. The one outlier is South Africa, where a patent has been granted but without substantive examination of the patent application having yet occurred.

Read more:
In a world first, South Africa grants patent to an artificial intelligence system

In Australia, a challenge against the rejection was initially accepted but overturned on appeal. Thaler has sought “special leave to appeal” the case to the High Court of Australia, though it remains to be seen whether this will be granted.

In Germany, the Federal Patent Court set aside the initial patent refusal, instead accepting a compromise position in which “Stephen L. Thaler, PhD who prompted the artificial intelligence DABUS to create the invention” was listed as the inventor. Meanwhile, DABUS cases continue to be fought in other jurisdictions around the world.

For now at least, it seems courts have largely concluded that, for the purposes of patentability, inventors must be human. Nevertheless, the cases have thrown up a range of important questions we need to answer as AI takes on ever more roles in our lives.

Can an AI invent?

Given the ever-increasing power of AI, it’s not a wild leap to suppose that AI will take on a greater role in coming up with inventions.

We don’t claim that computer-aided design (CAD) software “invents”. But such software lacks the increasing autonomy that AI is starting to have.

Can an AI be named as an inventor?

Patent systems are currently premised on a (human) inventor who owns or assigns the rewards coming from the patent.

Who might own the rewards from an AI patent? The programmer? The owner of the computer on which it runs? And what about the owner(s) of the data on which the AI might be trained?

Will AI change invention?

AI might speed up the rate at which inventions are made, potentially overwhelming the patent system. This might widen inequality between the haves who possess AI systems that can invent, and the have-nots who don’t.

It might also change the character of invention. Under well established patent principles, an “inventive step” occurs when an invention is considered “non-obvious” to a “person skilled in the art”. But an AI system might be more knowledgeable and skilled than any one person on the planet.

A path forward

In response to these sort of questions, we argue that the patent system must be re-examined to ensure it remains fit for purpose, and that it continues to reward and encourage innovation appropriately.

We suggest society might benefit from a new type of intellectual property designed specifically to deal with AI inventions (which we call “AI-IP”).

Read more:
If machines can be inventors, could AI soon monopolise technology?

The principles underpinning patent legislation are more than 500 years old and have evolved to deal with fresh technological changes from genetic sequencing to human-made living organisms. However, the fresh tests presented by AI inventiveness might be so significant that they push those patent principles to breaking point.

AI presents a watershed challenge that requires us to think once again carefully about how to reward and encourage innovation.

Toby Walsh receives funding from the Australian Research Council in the form a Laureate Fellowship.

Alexandra George 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. Artificial ‘inventors’ are pushing patent law to its limits – https://theconversation.com/artificial-inventors-are-pushing-patent-law-to-its-limits-184047

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Simpson, Senior Lecturer, International Studies, University of South Australia

The Australian Labor Party is edging towards 76 seats and possible majority government after the electorate abandoned the Coalition at the federal election.

But regardless of whether it can reach a majority or not, Labor needs to learn the right lessons from the Morrison government – as well as from its last two terms in power between 2007 and 2013.

These experiences could point to adopting either a more take-it-or-leave-it antagonistic approach to politics, prevalent in the Anglosphere countries of the US, UK and Australia, or a more European, collaborative style.

Politics is the art of compromise – nobody gets exactly what they want. But adopting a European approach to parliamentary negotiations could usher in an enduring golden era of stable and progressive government, with more generous and compassionate national politics.

Read more:
Labor likely to get a friendly Senate and still hoping for House of Representatives majority

The take-it-or-leave-it Anglo approach

The first term of Labor’s previous government between 2007 and 2010 was dominated by Kevin Rudd’s prime ministership and his attempts to pass his climate change legislation.

The Greens considered the package too generous to polluters and ineffective in addressing climate change, so they blocked it in the Senate where they held the balance of power.

Despite Labor’s rhetoric that the Greens are therefore largely to blame for Australia’s subsequent history of climate inaction, the reality is far more complicated.

Bob Brown, then leader of the Greens, wrote to Rudd after the first vote on the legislation in late 2009 seeking talks but received no reply. The Greens then put a compromise plan to Labor after the second vote, but it was again rebuffed.

Despite these overtures, in April 2010 Rudd announced his government had abandoned the legislation, which was the beginning of the end for his tenure as prime minister.

In retrospect, perhaps the Greens should have just passed the bill. But the government’s take-it-or-leave-it approach was extremely unhelpful in progressing the legislation. This approach is somewhat typical of the aggressive style of parliamentary politics in Anglosphere countries.

Most Anglosphere parliaments, including Australia’s House of Representatives, have single-member electorates, which generally results in having two combative parties that take turns in governing.

This is very different to the more cooperative European models of government.

The collaborative European approach

After the 2010 election, Julia Gillard’s Labor entered minority government in a power-sharing agreement with Adam Bandt of the Greens and two independents in the lower house.

This approach was more reminiscent of European politics, where most parliaments have multi-member electorates. In these electoral systems (also employed in Australia’s Senate) small parties have a greater chance of entering parliament and the large parties rarely achieve a majority.

It’s therefore common for European parties to enter post-election negotiations to form ad hoc coalitions or power-sharing arrangements.

This happened in Germany in 1998, when the left-leaning Social Democrat Party formed a national governing coalition with the German Greens, with the latter supplying the foreign minister.

A similar arrangement resulted from German national elections last year, with the addition of the liberal Free Democrats to create a three-party coalition. The Greens again supplied the foreign minister, as well as the economy minister.

In South Australia, Labor has adopted aspects of this approach by strategically offering independents in regional and traditionally conservative seats – and even a Nationals MP – ministries in its governments, even if Labor doesn’t require their votes. This collegiality has been continued by the recently elected Malinauskas government, even though it has a governing majority. This canny strategy will have contributed to Labor being in power for 20 out of the previous 24 years by the end of this term.

The Gillard government’s minority position forced it to adopt this more European-style consultative posture and it resulted in the most productive parliament in Australia’s history, measured by acts passed per day.

It legislated a price on carbon, which, if it hadn’t been repealed by the Abbott government, would have resulted in 72 million tonnes less carbon emissions according to research in 2020 by the Australia Institute.

Which style will Albanese take?

Labor must learn the right lessons from its last stint in office.

It will face a parliament unlike any previous government, with a significantly enhanced third force comprising the Greens, the “teals” and other independents.

Labor could entrench a progressive majority in parliament for the foreseeable future by rejecting the antagonistic, duopolistic Anglo approach to parliamentary politics that characterised Labor’s first term of government last time around. Instead, it should shift towards the more negotiated, collaborative Euro approach of its second term from 2010 on.

Negotiating in good faith with the crossbench will show teal electorates their MPs are making real progress in the halls of power on the issues they were elected to pursue – primarily climate change, an integrity commission and gender inequality. These electorates would therefore be more likely to vote teal again in future.

Single member electorates make it difficult for independents or small parties to win elections, but once they’re in they can be hard to dislodge, as the experience of Adam Bandt, Andrew Wilkie, Rebekha Sharkie, Bob Katter, Cathy McGowan and Helen Haines demonstrates.

If the teal seats continue to elect independents, the Coalition will struggle to regain majority government again.

Whether Labor manages to achieve a governing majority in the lower house or not, it will still need support from the Greens and progressive independent David Pocock in the Senate to pass legislation.

Fortunately, Albanese seems to have the temperament that would favour a Euro approach. On election night, he promised to promote “unity and optimism, not fear and division”.

Nevertheless, both Albanese and other senior Labor members have already been out in force since the election stating they have a mandate from the electorate to deliver their election policies, including a 43% cut in carbon emissions from 2005 levels by 2030 – but no more. This is despite the ALP receiving less than 33% of the primary vote.

Most of the teal independents have policies of a 60% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030. And the Greens, who received almost 12% of the primary vote, want a 75% cut. A significant chunk of the electorate therefore voted for much stronger action on climate change.

Labor would do well to compromise with the crossbench in those areas where common ground can be found to build and consolidate an enduring progressive future for Australia.

Adam Simpson 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 should adopt a collaborative, European approach to governing – not the take-it-or-leave-it Anglo style we’re used to – https://theconversation.com/albanese-should-adopt-a-collaborative-european-approach-to-governing-not-the-take-it-or-leave-it-anglo-style-were-used-to-183721

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole Lee, Professor at the National Drug Research Institute (Melbourne), Curtin University

Drug use and addiction are popular themes in movies and television, but they often get things very wrong. Here are eight common myths about drugs you’ll see on the silver screen.

1. Rehab goes for 28 days

In the movie 28 Days, Sandra Bullock is given a choice between prison and 28 days in a rehab centre.

The 28-day program, popular in the United States, actually has nothing to do with the optimum treatment period.

Health insurance companies in the US are only prepared to fund 28 days in rehab. So the 28-day rehab model was developed around funding, not effectiveness.

We now think about three months of treatment is optimal. Treatment completion may be as important as treatment length. So completing a shorter treatment is better than dropping out of a longer one.

2. Rehab is a luxury retreat

In the Netflix series Cobra Kai, Shannon is in residential drug rehabilitation. It’s a luxurious vacation retreat with art and yoga classes, wide open spaces and Michelin-starred food.

Some luxury private rehabs are pretty fancy, but these can cost A$35,000 a week or more, which is out of reach for most people.

The public residential rehabilitation system is is far less glamorous because it is severely underfunded, resulting in long waiting lists and little money to spend on pleasant surrounds.

There is no evidence the more you pay the better your success in treatment. And yoga and a private chef won’t solve your drug problem. What’s important is developing specific skills that can help prevent going back to problematic drug use. For that, you need trained professionals and good supports.

Take care, because currently the private rehab sector is unregulated so anyone can set up a rehab without the knowledge, skills or experience to do so.

3. ‘Once an addict, always an addict’

In the original Sherlock Holmes books, Holmes used morphine and cocaine (legal at the time) whenever he was bored between cases, without any problems. In the TV series, Sherlock, he is shown as an “addict”, always on the edge of relapse. Watson starts out as his “sobriety coach”.

The idea that alcohol and other drug use is an incurable disease comes from 12-Step programs. It has been a widely held view, especially in the US, for many decades, despite evidence against the idea.

Many people return to “controlled drinking” or move from problematic to low or moderate illicit drug use, especially if they access help early. It’s just as realistic as abstinence-based recovery.

There’s also no such thing as an “addictive personality”.

But for many people, a period of abstinence (sometimes a year or more) may help them gain the skills they need to go back to moderate use and to understand the reasons behind their use. For some it is easier to be abstinent for life, but that’s not universal.

4. Recovery only comes after ‘rock bottom’

Movies, like Requiem For A Dream and Trainspotting, often show people at their lowest point as a turning point for recovery. But the idea that someone has to hit “rock bottom” before they will seek help is not true.

First, it’s impossible to know what “rock bottom” is for any one individual. Potentially, aside from death, there is always something worse. Second, many people successfully change their alcohol or other drug use early, even after the very first signs of a problem.

If someone isn’t ready to go into rehab it’s not because they’ve not yet reached their lowest point. People tend to seek help when something else outweighs the importance of using alcohol or other drugs, such as family, friends or career.

The “rock bottom” idea can be dangerous because people may delay treatment until things are really bad. But the earlier someone seeks support, the better the outcome.

5. ‘Tough love’ works

Tough love is acting harshly with the aim of helping a person in the longer term. This might include locking them out of the house if they refuse to go to rehab, refusing money for food if they are still using, or refusing to pick them up if they are intoxicated.

In Four Good Days, Glenn Close’s character shuts the door on her distressed daughter, played by Mila Kunis, telling her she can come back when she is “clean”.

There might be good intention behind tough love, but not only does it not work, it often makes things worse. Leaving someone homeless or starving or in a dangerous situation when they are intoxicated or dependent on alcohol and other drugs may be harmful.

There are better ways to set clear and consistent boundaries and still maintain relationships that can provide support for recovery.

6. Addiction happens after one use

The main character tries a drug for the first time and then spirals into unbridled drug use. This dramatic shorthand saves time in the plot, but gives the impression that anyone trying a drug will become dependent on it instantly.

In the 1991 movie Rush, Jennifer Jason Leigh is an undercover cop who has to use heroin to show a dealer she is for real, then spirals into a well of addiction.

But dependence (the more technical term for “addiction”) is a gradual process in which your brain and body get used to having a drug regularly.

It’s impossible to become dependent after a single use of any drug. This is evidenced by the fact nearly half of Australians have tried an illicit drug, but only a minority of those are dependent.

What might happen is the first time someone tries a drug they might like it. A lot. Then they might use it frequently over time until they become dependent.

7. All drug use is to ‘self-medicate’

Some people use alcohol or other drugs to help manage the difficult emotions they experience as a result of trauma or other mental health issues – like Rue in the television series Euphoria, who descends into drug problems after the death of her father.

There is a much higher rate of alcohol or other drug use among people with mental health problems. But even among people with mental health problems, around two-thirds don’t have an alcohol or other drug problem.

Most people use alcohol or other drugs because it makes them feel good and is fun. Most typically use occasionally for a short period in their lives, never experiencing significant problems.

8. ‘Interventions’ help

Picture this scene: a character returns home only to be greeted by family and friends sitting in the living room to confront them about their drug use. This popular trope was brought to life by the show “Intervention”.

When family and friends raise their concerns, it can influence a person’s decision to get help. But taking a confrontational approach will probably backfire. Confronting a person is likely to make them feel embarrassment and shame, both key barriers to entering treatment.

Taking a supportive approach or seeking family therapy usually results in better outcomes.

If you are worried about your own or someone else’s alcohol or other drug use, you can contact the National Alcohol and other Drug Hotline on 1800 250 015 for free, confidential advice.

Nicole Lee works as a consultant in the alcohol and other drug sector and a psychologist in private practice. She has previously been awarded funding by Australian and state governments, NHMRC and other bodies for evaluation and research into alcohol and other drug prevention and treatment.

Jarryd Bartle is a consultant for a drug and alcohol consultancy.

Paula Ross is a guest lecturer at Australian Catholic University and a psychologist consultant for a drug and alcohol consultancy.

– ref. 8 things film and TV get wrong about drug and alcohol treatment – https://theconversation.com/8-things-film-and-tv-get-wrong-about-drug-and-alcohol-treatment-180946