For many teachers, news coverage of education seems to be unrelentingly negative. They say this is particularly noticeable in reporting of results of standardised tests such as NAPLAN and the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which seems to place most of the blame for perceived problems on them.
Australian students have reportedly been falling behind many other countries in literacy and numeracy in the PISA tests, for years. The results are nuanced, but the reporting often isn’t. For instance, Australia’s score in science in PISA 2015 was 510, significantly above the OECD average of 493. But the reports tend to focus on areas where we have fallen behind than other countries, rather than where Australia may have done well.
There is constant anxiety our education system is going downhill and needs urgent improvement.
In my interviews with Australian schoolteachers, most of the participants accepted standardised testing was necessary. But they opposed the results of NAPLAN testing being released due to the inevitable comparisons of student progress and schools in the related news coverage.
A growing body of research from Australia and overseas suggests teachers’ perceptions about education news are justified. Education news focuses on student discipline, teacher quality, comparisons of testing results and standards. All these subjects tend to be framed negatively.
While individual success stories of students, teachers or schools are celebrated, they are usually portrayed as the exception.
What teachers say
In my 2017 study, I interviewed 25 teachers from around Australia about their perceptions of news reporting of education — 88% of participants considered it to be predominantly negative.
A teacher from a Queensland public school acknowledged that from “time to time” good news stories about schools did appear but said most the coverage was
shock, horror, look at all these dreadful things that are happening in the school system.
The mostly negative portrayal presented in major metropolitan news outlets was unfair and inaccurate, according to the teachers, and the positive elements tended to be overlooked.
One used the reporting of testing results as an example:
When the NAPLAN data was published our federal minister had quite a lot of material published about how we were slipping down the league tables, but when our 15 year-olds were rated the fifth top all rounders [in the PISA tests] […] that barely got a squeak.
Several participants referred to the prevalence of news coverage that portrayed teachers as low achievers.
We continually hear about low entrance scores to get into teaching. We continually hear about teacher under-performance.
Some of those interviewed believed teachers were treated differently to other professionals in news coverage, and were subjected to greater scrutiny and pressure. “What I do each day is questioned at every level,” one teacher said.
A particular frustration related to news coverage that did not capture the true nature of contemporary teaching. A principal argued there was “an absolute failure” on the part of the news media to recognise the complexity of teachers’ work. She said:
Teachers are not going to school, they are going to work and it’s highly complex and highly technological.
Other Australian research has found some teachers have named misleading and negative reporting of education as a factor in their decision to quit teaching.
Parents feel the same way
Our new research has found some Australian parents share teachers’ views. Of the survey group of 268 teachers and 206 parents, 85% of teachers and 74% of parents considered news coverage of the Australian education system to be generally negative.
Half of the parents surveyed reported feeling demoralised by such reporting. For teachers, that figure increased to 81%.
Significantly, we also found positive news can be inspiring. Around 64% of both teachers and parents reported they feel inspired “quite a bit” or “a lot” when they encounter a positive news story about teachers, schools or the education system.
While it is not the role of reporters to appease teachers, the evidence about the predominantly negative nature of education news and teachers’ concerns about superficial and inaccurate coverage should be taken into account. And it can just be a matter of shifting the angle.
Readers turned off by negative news
There are also sound commercial reasons for rethinking the approach to reporting education. In covering education, news editors are aiming to appeal to the high numbers of parents among their audiences.
Our research suggests parents are interested in education news. But they may be less likely to engage the more negative it is. We know from other research that the most common reason people avoid news is because it has a negative impact on mood.
So, if editors want to attract readers with education news, coverage that includes more positive elements could achieve more success.
Kathryn Shine 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.
A submerged coconut palm on Kadavu Island, Fiji.Ethan Daniels/shutterstock
The small boat sliced its way through the waveless ocean. The Fiji air was warm and still, the silhouettes of distant islands like sentinels watching our progress. It seemed a perfect day to visit the Solo Lighthouse and the “drowned land” reputed to surround it.
As we entered the gap through the coral reef bordering the Solo Lagoon, we all removed our headgear and bowed, clapping gently with cupped hands to show our respect to the people locals say live on the land beneath the sea.
The Solo Lagoon lies at the northern extremity of the Kadavu island group in the south of Fiji. In the local dialect, solo means rock, which is all that is left of a more extensive land that once existed here. Ancient tales recall this land was abruptly submerged during an earthquake and tsunami, perhaps hundreds or even thousands of years ago.
Our boat raced on, towards the lighthouse built on remnant rock in 1888. The people with me, from Dravuni and Buliya islands, told how on a still night when they come here to fish, they sometimes hear from beneath the lagoon the sounds of mosquitoes buzzing, roosters crowing and people talking.
Every local resident learns strict protocols upon entering the realm above this underwater world … and the perils of ignoring them. It is believed if you fail to slow and bow as you enter the Solo Lagoon, your boat will never leave it. If you take more fish from the lagoon than you need, you will never take your catch home.
The Solo Lighthouse stands on a rock in southern Fiji. Vasemaca Setariki
It is deceptively easy to ridicule such beliefs in underwater worlds but they likely represent memories of places that really were once submerged. Several groups of people living throughout Fiji today trace their lineage back to Lomanikoro, the name of the drowned land in the Solo Lagoon. Though there is no written record of the event, its believed submergence reconfigured the power structures of Fijian society in ways that people still remember. Similar traditions are found elsewhere.
In northern Australia, many Aboriginal groups trace their lineage to lands now underwater. A story told decades ago by Mangurug, a Gunwinggu elder from Djamalingi or Cape Don in the Northern Territory, explained how his people came from an island named Aragaládi in the middle of the sea that was later submerged. “Trees and ground, creatures, kangaroos, they all drowned when the sea covered them,” he stated.
Other groups living around the Gulf of Carpentaria claim their ancestors fled the drowning land of Baralku, possibly an ancient memory of the submergence of the land bridge connecting Australia and New Guinea during the last ice age.
In northwest Europe, meanwhile, there are countless stories of underwater lands off the coast where bells are said to toll eerily in drowned church steeples. Such stories abound in Cardigan Bay, Wales, where several “sunken cities” are said to lie. In medieval Brittany, in France, fisher-folk in the Baie de Douarnenez used to see the “streets and monuments” of the sunken city named Ys beneath the water surface, stories of which abound in local traditions.
Coast line near Tresaith, Cardigan Bay. shutterstock
Indeed in many cultures across the world there are stories about underwater worlds inhabited by people strikingly similar to ourselves, cities where benevolent bearded monarchs and multi-tentacled sea witches organise the lives of younger merfolk, many of whom aspire to become part of human society. Fantasy? Undoubtedly. Arbitrary inventions? Perhaps not.
Such ideas may derive from ancient memories about submerged lands and the peoples who once inhabited them.
And if we allow that some of these stories may actually be founded on millennia-old memories of coastal submergence, then they may also have some practical application to human futures. For coastal lands are being submerged today; birthplaces in living memory now underwater.
The annual Mermaid Parade in Coney Island, New York. Peter Foley/EPA
Context
In the 200,000 years or so that we — modern humans — have roamed the earth, the level of the ocean, which currently occupies over 70% of the earth’s surface, has gone up and down by tens of metres. At the end of the last great ice age, around 18,000 years ago, the average ocean level was 120 metres or more lower than it is today.
As land ice melted in the aftermath of the ice age, sea level rose. Coastal peoples in every part of the world had no choice except to adapt. Most moved inland, some offshore. Being unable to read or write, they encoded their experiences into their oral traditions.
We know that observations of memorable events can endure in oral cultures for thousands of years, plausibly more than seven millennia in the case of Indigenous Australian stories of volcanic eruptions and coastal submergence. So how might people’s memories of once populated lands have evolved in oral traditions to reach us today?
Initially they would have recalled the precise places where drowned lands existed and histories of the people who had occupied them. Perhaps, as time went on, as these oral tales became less convincing, so links were made with the present. Listen carefully. You can hear the dogs barking below the water, the bells tolling, the people talking. You might even, as with Solo, embed these stories within cultural protocols to ensure history did not disappear.
A mosaic depicting Triton. Wikimedia Commons
Traditions involving people of the land interacting with their submarine counterparts are quite old; the Greek story of a merman named Triton is mentioned in Hesiod’s Theogony, written almost 3,000 years ago. In Ireland, there are stories hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years old that tell of high ranking men wedding mermaids, begetting notable families, and even giving rise to taboos about killing seals, whom these mermaids regarded as kin.
Stories of people occupying undersea lands also abound in Indigenous Australia. They include those about the yawkyawk (or “young spirit woman” in the Kundjeyhmi language of western Arnhem Land), who has come to be represented in similar ways to a mermaid.
Like mermaids in Europe, Australian yawkyawk have long hair, which sometimes floats on the ocean surface as seaweed, and fish tails.
Contemporary representations of Australian mermaids (yawkyawk) by Kunwinjku artists Marina Murdilnga, left, and Lulu Laradjbi. These mythical beings have the tails of fish and hair resembling algal blooms. Dragi Markovic, NGA
In the central Pacific islands of Kiribati, meanwhile, it was once widely believed worlds existed parallel to the tangible one we inhabit. Entire islands moved between these, wandering through time and space, disappearing one day only to reappear some time later in a different place. Humans also moved between these worlds — and I suspect this was once a widespread belief of people occupying islands and archipelagos.
Sometimes the inhabitants of these worlds were believed to be equipped with fish tails, replaced with legs when they moved onshore. An ancient ballad from the Orkney Islands (Scotland), where such merfolk are often called silkies, goes:
I am a man upon the land
I am a silkie in the sea.
At one time, the people of the Aran Islands (Galway, Ireland) would believe they had spotted the island of Hy-Brasail far to the west; scrambling to reach it in their boats. No-one ever did. On the other side of the world, the fabulous island named Burotukula that “wanders” through Fiji waters is periodically claimed to be sighted off the coast of Matuku Island.
Matuku Island, Fiji. shutterstock
Anxiety and solutions
In oral societies, such as those that existed almost everywhere a thousand years ago, knowledge was amassed and communicated systematically by older people to younger ones because it was considered essential to their survival. Much of this knowledge was communicated as narrative, some through poetry and song, dance, performance and art
In harsh environments, where water and food were often scarce, it was vital to communicate knowledge fully and accurately. Australia provides excellent examples, where Indigenous law was cross-checked for completeness and accuracy when transmitted from father to son.
Part of the law considered essential to survival was people’s experiences of life-altering events. This included bursts of volcanic activity and the multi-generational land loss that affected the entire Australian fringe in the wake of the last ice age, reducing land mass by around 23%.
Recent research has shown some ancient Indigenous Australian “submergence stories” contain more than simply descriptions of rising sea level and associated land loss. They also include expressions of people’s anxiety.
For instance, a story told in 1941 by Sugar Billy Rindjana, Jimmy Moore and Win-gari (Andingari people) and by Tommy Nedabi (Wiranggu-Kokatato) recalled how, millennia earlier, their forebears living along the Fowlers Bay coast in South Australia “feared the sea flood would spread over the whole country”.
These stories also talk about people’s practical responses to try to stop the rising waters. The Wati Nyiinyii peoples from the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia once “bundled thousands of [wooden] spears to stop the ocean’s encroachment” on the lands that once existed below the Bunda Cliffs.
In a story told by the Gungganyji people of the Cairns district in northeast Australia, they heated boulders in a mountain-top fire, then rolled these into the face of the encroaching ocean to stop its rise.
Today the ocean surface along most of the world’s coasts is rising faster than it has for several thousand years. It is placing growing stress on coastal societies and the landscapes and infrastructures on which they have come to depend. Anxiety is building, especially in the face of scientific projections involving sea-level rise of at least 70 cm by the end of this century.
A family stand outside their submerged huts near Beira, Mozambique, in 2019. Much of the city is below sea level on a coastline that experts call one of the world’s most vulnerable to global warming’s rising waters. Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP
We are responding with practical solutions, building hard structures such as walls and wooden palisades along coastlines. We look to science to curb climate change but many people still feel anxious and powerless.
Our ancient ancestors, confronted with a seemingly unceasing rise in the ocean surface — and associated loss of coastal lands — also felt anxiety and built structures. And, as some people do today, many almost certainly sought spiritual remedies too. Of course we know little about the latter, but there are clues.
In many places along the coasts of Australia and northwest Europe, there are stone arrangements, ranging from simple stone circles to the extraordinary parallel “stone lines” at Carnac in France, kilometres long.
Part of the stone lines of Carnac, considered to represent a spiritual response by people in this part of coastal Brittany more than six millennia ago to the rising sea level. Patrick Nunn
These stone lines, built more than 6,000 years ago have been interpreted by French archaeologists as a “cognitive barrier” intended to stop the gods interfering with human affairs, specifically to stop the rapid and enduring rise of the sea level along this part of the Brittany coast. Ritual burials of people and valuables along the shore in northwest Europe may once have served a similar purpose.
We can take hope from our ancestors’ experiences with rising sea level. Most people survived it, so shall we. But the experience was so profound, so physically and psychologically challenging, that the survivors kept their memories of it alive as stories passed on from one generation to the next. Their stories became enduring oral traditions — intended to inform and empower future generations. And to show us that the past is not without meaning; it is not irrelevant to our future.
Patrick Nunn’s new book Worlds in Shadow: Submerged Lands in Science, Memory and Myth is published by Bloomsbury Sigma.
Patrick D. Nunn receives funding from the Government of Australia (Department of the Environment and Energy), the British Academy (UK), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Natural Environment Research Council (UK), and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France).
A family taking refuge in a makeshift camp for displaced people near Kabul.GettyImages
With a Defence Force Hercules now en route to Afghanistan to assist with rescue and evacuation, New Zealand joins a 60-country response to the unfolding calamity. Yet doubt still surrounds just who is eligible for the mercy mission.
We know the thin lifeline via Kabul airport extends first to those with foreign nationality — 53 people in New Zealand’s case. All states have obligations to protect their own citizens, so this is entirely right.
The second eligible group are those Afghan citizens who were associated with the foreign militaries that fought the Taliban and are now at risk. So far, this includes 37 Afghans who worked for the New Zealand Defence Force or other agencies and up to 200 members of their immediate families.
This is an ethical rather than legal obligation, but it is New Zealand’s responsibility to help those who once helped this country’s efforts during the war and occupation.
But there is a third group about which the New Zealand government has been silent — refugees. Afghanistan is yet again about to see a surge in people fleeing persecution, adding to the 2.6 million already displaced before the Taliban returned.
This dire situation has existed for over 40 years and is now likely to get much worse. At least 400,000 people have been displaced since the beginning of the year, and retribution by the Taliban has not even begun.
Demonstrators, including former interpreters for the British Army in Afghanistan, protest in London about the Western evacuation. GettyImages
Other countries are stepping up
What should New Zealand do, then? While these people aren’t eligible for a New Zealand passport and didn’t work for our military, they are at risk largely because of their support for the Western presence in Afghanistan that New Zealand was part of.
The list of who could be considered traitors or face persecution by the Taliban is long. They include religious and ethnic minorities, dissidents, women, journalists, human rights workers and those previously in positions of power.
At this stage, Britain is planning to take 20,000 refugees over several years, prioritising women, girls and religious and other minorities. Canada also intends to resettle 20,000, focusing on women leaders, human rights workers and reporters.
The United States has not yet set a figure, but a number of individual states have opened their arms. Australia, too, has pledged to take an initial 3,000, with this number expected to grow.
But there are precedents when it comes to emergencies such as the one in Afghanistan. The annual refugee quota might have been introduced in 1987 by the fourth Labour government of David Lange, but it had been his National Party predecessor, Robert Muldoon, who advanced refugee policy after the war in Vietnam.
Then, too, New Zealand had been involved in a military conflict that ended in defeat and created a refugee crisis. New Zealand ramped up its effort in 1977 as the “boat people” fled the new Vietnamese regime.
New Zealand initially accepted 412 Vietnamese refugees, with the intake rising between 1979 and 1980 when about 1,500 arrived.
The same should happen again. New Zealand should work with its allies, focus on the priority groups that most need sanctuary, move them to safety temporarily and bring them to the country when the time is right.
The opening target should be a one-off intake of 1,500 additional refugees on top of the existing quota.
Save as many as possible
The war in Afghanistan is lost. Despite 20 years’ effort, over US$2 trillion spent and at least 170,000 deaths, the Taliban have won.
It cost ten New Zealand lives and the country spent at least NZ$300 million on its contribution to the occupation.
The last time the Taliban took control in the mid 1990s there was a human rights disaster. This time may be worse. Having achieved outright victory, they are not planning anything resembling democratic government. Their statements about respecting human rights have been vague and unconvincing.
Not everyone can be saved from what is a foreseeable disaster. But, having been a part of a failed mission in Afghanistan, New Zealand now has an obligation to do what it can to save as many as is reasonably possible.
Alexander Gillespie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison this week pointed to the government’s closure of Australia’s embassy in Afghanistan in May as a good decision for which he had been criticised.
More credibly, it was a bad decision, on principle but also very likely for practical reasons.
The scramble by Western countries to evacuate their nationals and Afghans who had assisted them was always destined to be chaotic.
But it is possible, if we had retained a small contingent of embassy staff in place to the end, we might have been able to process the Afghans more efficiently, thus smoothing — even slightly — the exit.
When shutting the embassy, the government emphasised the security danger. That could have been minimised, as some other countries did. Anyway, diplomats should be the last to turn off the lights, not the first.
The Morrison government’s slowness in processing the Afghans helpers has left it open to the criticism of “too little too late” (inevitably it was likened to the vaccine rollout).
Viewed broadly, its reaction to the Taliban takeover has found the government scoring relatively low on the compassion meter, and relatively high on that measuring risk avoidance. And keeping an eye on the politics.
The crisis has put three cohorts of Afghans in the spotlight – the former interpreters and others who assisted the Australians; people offshore (in Afghanistan or elsewhere) who will seek entry as refugees; and those in Australia on temporary protection visas (TPVs) who arrived by boat.
The government says 430 former local staff and their family members have been brought out since April (before the current evacuation). But there are more former helpers to come.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton is particularly concerned with risk minimisation in the assessment process.
Dutton told the ABC’s Patricia Karvelas, “You and many other journalists would be screaming down the line at me if one person was brought in that committed an atrocity in our country”.
Dutton is highly attuned to security issues; he also probably has in mind the Coalition base.
Nobody denies there must be stringent vetting. In some cases, people who assisted Australia later changed allegiance – that’s the nature of Afghanistan. Obviously they don’t get through.
But while all reasonable care has to be taken, it is impossible – realistically – to avoid a small element of risk (on a strict no-risk principle, many people would never be let out of our gaols).
A number of Australian veterans who served in Afghanistan have been vocal about doing the right thing by the interpreters. Given how solicitous it is of the veterans community, criticism from them — which is also mixed with their wider critiques of the war and the withdrawal – is uncomfortable for the government.
Separate to the evacuation of Afghans, the government announced Australia will take 3,000 refugees this financial year, while anticipating the number would be higher.
The modest figure was immediately (to Morrison’s annoyance) set against the ambition of countries such as Canada, which has pledged to accept 20,000. Then there were comparisons with the performance of former prime ministers (Fraser, 55,000 Vietnamese refugees; Hawke 42,000 Chinese students after the Tiananmen Square massacre; Abbott, 12,000 Syrians after the civil war).
Moreover, the government said Afghans would be accommodated within Australia’s 13,750 annual humanitarian program (which, incidentally, has a lot of spare capacity due to COVID). So the bottom line was substitution – more Afghan refugees and fewer refugees from some other places.
It was quickly clear demand for places would be strong. Andrew Hastie, assistant minister for defence who fought with the SAS in Afghanistan, said his office had been “deluged over the last four or five days with requests. I know other MPs and senators across the country are having the same experience.”
After a meeting with Afghan community leaders on Thursday Morrison, who’s under pressure to do more, said: “We see that as a floor, not a ceiling, so we think we can achieve more than three. If the overall program has to be expanded[…] it will be.
“Our humanitarian program runs every single year, and I foresee […] the Afghan cohort in our humanitarian program having a very strong presence in years to come.”
Both the refugees and evacuees will have permanent residency, which brings a secure future as well as the opportunity to sponsor the arrival of family members.
Access to family reunion is a right the Afghans living here on TPVs don’t have (although their family members will be able to apply for the dedicated refugee intake).
All but a handful of the more than 4,500 Afghans on TPVs came here by boat, many years ago. The current crisis has prompted calls for them to be given permanent settlement.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese said: “We need to give them the certainty of Australian citizenship on a permanent basis, rather than some pretence that somehow their circumstances are temporary. They are not. And they need to be given that security.”
But Morrison is adamant. They did not come “the right way”, and affording them permanent status would breach the government’s border control policy.
“I want to be very clear about that. I want to send a very clear message to people smugglers in the region that nothing’s changed,” he said on Wednesday. “I will not give you a product to sell and take advantage of people’s misery. My government won’t do it. We never have and we never will.”
It’s a trade-off of risk and politics on one hand versus compassion on the other. There is no possibility these people will ever be repatriated to Afghanistan. Would giving them permanency really set off the people smugglers? Even if there was any attempt to test the border, we know the navy has capability to deal with that.
The political element is obvious. Labor has always been vulnerable on the border protection issue, and Albanese has given possible ammunition to the government. The Coalition would have to be careful using it, however, when there is a lot of public sympathy for the Afghans.
On the government’s policy, these Afghans who have become members of the Australian community, many of them working in occupations where labour is in demand, are forever to be denied the assurance about their futures that permanent residency brings. They deserve better.
In this Afghanistan moment – which is one of reflection and regret for the failure of the allies’ aspirations for that nation – we show the world what sort of country we are. We should display a more generous character.
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.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nancy Baxter, Professor and Head of Melbourne School of Population & Global Health, The University of Melbourne
We’ve been keeping track of how old these people were, and have observed 85% of the COVID deaths up to August 18 (51 out of 60) were among people aged over 60.
We’ve also been taking note of reports on their vaccination status. It appears 96% of those over 60 who have died (49 of 51) were not vaccinated, or had only received one dose.
These deaths are tragic and, in all likelihood, were preventable. So if you’re over 60 and are yet to be vaccinated, now is not the time to hesitate.
Older age increases your risk from COVID-19
Age is a major risk factor for serious illness and death from COVID-19.
A person aged 65-74 is at six times greater risk of hospitalisation and 95 times greater risk of dying compared to an adult under 30.
People over 85 are 15 times more likely to be hospitalised and 600 times more likely to die than 18 to 29-year-olds.
This is why Australia’s vaccination program has prioritised older adults.
So why do people in this age group remain unvaccinated?
This ranges from 71% for 60 to 64-year-olds, to 86% for 75 to 79-year-olds.
So despite the criticism of Australia’s vaccination program, more than three-quarters of Australians aged 60+ have at least partial protection from COVID-19.
Still, that leaves 1.2 million Australians aged 60+ yet to receive a first dose of any COVID vaccine, despite having been eligible for vaccination for several months.
For a variety of reasons, no vaccine ever achieves 100% take-up. But most Australians over 60 want to be vaccinated. Surveys have shown over 65s are the least hesitant age group. As of August 7, only 6.75% of adults over 65 were unwilling to be vaccinated.
Some people have experienced difficulty accessing the vaccine. In particular, we need to improve access in areas which are more vulnerable to COVID outbreaks.
But according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics published last month, around 25% of unvaccinated people over 70 are waiting for a different vaccine option.
We can read this to mean they’re waiting for what they perceive to be a “better” vaccine — an mRNA vaccine from Pfizer or Moderna.
Sadly, with the NSW outbreak escalating, and the increasing frequency and likelihood of COVID outbreaks across Australia, some of these folks may die waiting.
AstraZeneca is a highly effective vaccine
The vaccine for which all people aged 60+ in Australia are currently eligible is AstraZeneca.
While adequate supply of the Pfizer vaccine has been an ongoing issue and shipments of the Moderna vaccine are yet to commence, AstraZeneca is being produced in Australia and is widely available.
Some of the lack of enthusiasm surrounding the AstraZeneca vaccine relates to the perception it is less effective than Pfizer.
The most important outcome, however, is prevention of serious illness from COVID-19, and both vaccines perform similarly well on this metric after two doses. Recent modelling from the Doherty Institute assumed an 86% reduction in hospitalisation with the Delta variant after two doses of AstraZeneca, compared to 87% after two doses of Pfizer.
For deaths from Delta, the difference is also very small. The AstraZeneca vaccine is believed to achieve a 90% reduction after two doses, compared to 92% with Pfizer.
Although milder COVID-19 infections occur more commonly in people who have been fully-vaccinated with AstraZeneca, “breakthrough” infections also occur with Pfizer.
So, the benefits of AstraZeneca are clear and the differences between AstraZeneca and Pfizer in terms of effectiveness against the most worrisome outcomes of COVID-19 are very small.
But what about the risks?
Both vaccines have common side effects including pain at the injection site, fatigue and headache. While these side effects are more common with AstraZeneca, they don’t last long with either vaccine.
So that brings us to blood clots. In March, just weeks into the launch of Australia’s vaccination program, reports emerged of a rare clotting syndrome following use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Named thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) to describe the unusual combination of serious blood clots with a low platelet count, the discovery of this significant complication saw changes to COVID-19 vaccination guidelines in many countries, including Australia.
Deaths from TTS have received extensive coverage in the media, and concern about this condition is undoubtedly a key reason for reluctance towards AstraZeneca.
But importantly, the risk of TTS is small, and becomes lower as you get older (the opposite of the risk from COVID-19). The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation has estimated below age 60, the incidence of TTS is 2.7 per 100,000 doses. Over age 60 the incidence is thought to be 1.8 in every 100,000 doses.
Of 112 cases of confirmed or probable TTS that have occurred in Australia to date, a total of six people have died. One was over 60 (a 72-year-old woman).
Based on these statistics, if the 1.2 million Australians over 60 not yet vaccinated all received AstraZeneca, we would expect about 22 to develop TTS and one or two of them to die.
While these are serious albeit rare complications, remember that in NSW, in an outbreak with close to 10,000 cases of COVID-19 diagnosed to date, more than 50 people over 60 have already died and more will unfortunately follow.
Balancing risks and benefits is key to informed decision-making before taking any medication; none are risk-free.
For those 1.2 million Australians over 60 yet to be vaccinated, the benefits of taking the vaccine available now — AstraZeneca — are high, and for most people will outweigh the small risks.
The threat of COVID-19 is no longer theoretical, especially for those living in Sydney and other major metropolitan cities.
And this year’s jabs will not be the last over 60s receive. While it’s very likely mRNA boosters (Pfizer and Moderna) will be offered in 2022, you’ll need to be alive to get one.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. Click here to subscribe to Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup and New Zealand Politics Daily.
This week provided a first tiny glimpse into the labour-market fallout from Australia’s recent lockdowns.
Australian Bureau of Statistics published the wage price index for the June quarter yesterday, showing sluggish wages growth, below forecasts. The labour force figures for July, out today, is an impressive 4.6%, but tempered by the number of people who have stopped looking for work and a higher underemployment rate.
These numbers tell us how the labour market is recovering from last year’s massive pandemic hit. It’s also a sneak peak into how it might be affected by the current lockdowns.
The Greater Sydney lockdown officially began on June 26 – right at the end of the June quarter (the virus had been circulating in Sydney since mid June). So the June quarter figures give us a baseline for the labour market before the big hit from what looks like several months of lockdowns in Sydney, NSW and maybe beyond. We also have a glimpse of the first two weeks of the “self-lockdown” in Sydney, where people pull back on economic activity due to the virus circulating.
Annual wages growth of 1.7%
The wage price index — measuring wages growth — increased by 0.4% in the June quarter. This was below consensus forecasts of 0.6%, and put the annual rate at 1.7%. This just above the 2020 low of 1.4%.
Wage price index, annual growth
Total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses, seasonally adjusted. Change from corresponding quarter of previous year. ABS Wage Price Index
All that anecdotal chatter about how it has been impossible to get workers in this industry or that certainly didn’t make its way into the aggregate data.
There were sectoral differences in wage pressures. Three sectors recorded annual increases in wages above 2% — construction (2.2%), professional services (2.5%) and other services (2.6%). The smallest increases were in rental, hiring and real estate services (1.1%), administrative and support services (1.0%) and arts and recreation services (0.9%).
Unemployment rate hits 4.6%
Thursday’s labour force figures came on the back of a stunningly good June rate of 4.9%. July’s rate is stunning again. Kind of.
The monthly unemployment rate dropping to 4.6% represented 39,900 fewer unemployed persons and a slight increase in employed persons, by 2,200 to 13,156,400.
Less positive was that the 4.6% rate also reflected a drop in labour force participation, from 66.2% to 66.0%, and that the official underemployment rate jumped from 7.9% to 8.3%.
The fuzzy demarcation between what makes one unemployed versus underemployed as well as the effect of people leaving the labour market is why I always focus in all jobs figures on the “total hours worked”.
This remained effectively steady in July, at 1.778 billion hours.
Overall, therefore, these figures represent very good news. Perhaps the most important implication is that all the naysayers who suggested we could never get unemployment down to or below 4% look — at least so far — wrong.
Speaking of folks being wrong, the jobs data also bear on Reserve Bank of Australia governors Philip Lowe’s recent statements about the effect of immigration and wages.
In a speech in early July Lowe suggested high levels of immigration in recent years was an important reason for low wages growth.
Others, including myself, think this view is not supported by the data. Low wages growth since 2013 has a lot more to do with global shifts in technology, the phenomenon of “secular stagnation”, and the fact the Reserve Bank kept interest rates too high, for too long, until finally giving into pressure to cut them in 2019.
The latest data — if looking at the data is your thing — show that, with effectively zero immigration wages, growth remains low. It’s barely moving even in the sectors where immigration is meant to play the biggest role, such as services and construction.
Moreover, even with unemployment falling to 4.6%, there’s relatively little upward pressure. This suggests getting unemployment down to or below 4% not only might be achievable but necessary to get inflation back into the RBA’s target band of 2–3%.
Lockdown impacts still to come
That said, this might be the last good news for a while.
The next quarter’s figures will capture the effect of lockdown for perhaps the entire three months in Greater Sydney, as well as a signifcant amount of time elsewhere. Fiscal support measures such as JobSaver and the Disaster Payment definitely help but they will only stem a flow of bad labour-market numbers.
In the longer term, though, we can and should expect our policy makers — fiscal and monetary — to show us an unemployment number with a 3 in front of it in 2022 or 2023.
Richard Holden is President-elect of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.
In a new series, writers nominate the TV series keeping them entertained during a time of COVID.
As the lockdown continues, I find myself looking for Indigenous content to watch on TV to feel a sense of nourishment and joy I miss from seeing my extended family, my friends and my fabulous work colleagues.
While Zoom has almost become an everyday activity, chilling out watching a series or movie has filled my evenings. I have exhausted the full range of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content on iView. I thoroughly enjoyed the second watch of one of my favourite actors, Aaron Pedersen, in Mystery Road, and catching up on episodes of Black Comedy.
But I have also been indulging in Indigenous films and series on streaming services, particularly from North America. One I have enjoyed recently is Rutherford Falls (2021), currently streaming on Stan.
Set in a fictional town in New York State, neighbouring the fictional Minishonka Nation, Rutherford Falls is ostensibly about Indigenous-settler relationships, through the story of the friendship between Nathan Rutherford (Ed Helms) and Reagan Wells (Mniconjou and Sicangu Lakota woman Jana Schmieding).
At the centre of the titular town is a colonial statue of Lawrence Rutherford, said to be the founding father of Rutherford Falls.
The statue is fondly referred to as “Big Larry” by his descendant Nathan — but is derided by the many drivers who crash into it each day.
The story reveals how settler politics continue to uphold the unequal distribution of power that plays out in themes such as how we remember or commemorate the past. And it does so while being full of insider jokes, good humour and joy.
Who’s history do we celebrate?
Monuments such as Big Larry serve as a permanent marker. They are a link between present and past generations, committing particular figures to memory and assigning them with importance and meaning — regardless of whose lands they stand on and the often brutal histories they represent.
The series makes fun of the ludicrous nature of some of these monuments. Big Larry is situated in a hazardous position in the middle of the main road but, regardless of car crashes, Nathan continues to fight to ensure the statue remains in this position of prominence.
It is, he argues, about history.
Reagan and Nathan are best friends. Nathan has had a relatively privileged life, as a member of the founding family of the town.
Reagan, as an Indigenous person, is not subject to the same privileges as her friend. While Nathan’s relative stands tall in the middle of town, Reagan has to work incredibly hard to raise funds to create a museum commemorating her ancestors.
In an episode that stands out for me, Nathan’s friend gets drunk and vandalises a local historical site.
Both Nathan and Reagan want to tell the stories of their ancestors, but they have very different resources available to them. NBCUniversal
Nathan, while taking his friend home, asks Reagan to leave a note for the state parks official to “give him a call” in the morning about the defacing of the historical site.
“Vandalise public property and leave a note?” Reagan mutters to herself in disbelief.
This series is particularly interesting to me because it involves a number of Indigenous writers and a large cast of Indigenous actors.
Four of the first season’s 10 episodes were directed by Sydney Freeland, a Diné (Navajo) person. Indigenous actors are cast in leading roles, including Schmeiding as Wells, and Plains Cree actor Michael Greyeyes as Terry Thomas, CEO of the Minishonka’s casino.
While Terry may be an avowed capitalist his intentions are always grounded in the collective benefit of the Indigenous community in what he describes as “Tribal capitalism”.
Rutherford Falls features Indigenous lives in all of our complexities. It shows strained relationships between Indigenous people and settlers, but also friendships. It tells stories of young Indigenous people: how they are engaged in maintaining and sharing cultural practices, and the happiness they experience in doing so.
The long history of oppressive policies targeting Indigenous people globally has meant that Indigenous fun, joy and humour are invariably political.
reveals the ignorance of outsiders of how we operate in and understand our world and many a merry laugh we have all had at whitefellas’ expense.
Indigenous comedy is where we make fun of each other and, most importantly, make fun of colonisation. Rutherford Falls, like Black Comedy, does this by having Indigenous writers, actors and storytellers telling the realities of our lives and histories.
Fun and joy are a big part of our lives. As actor Jana Schmeiding told Vanity Fair: “our joy is as vast and sacred as the land we’ve inhabited for thousands of years”.
Bronwyn Carlson 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.
In a bid to better understand how misinformation spreads online, Twitter has started an experimental trial in Australia, the United States and South Korea, allowing users to flag content they deem misleading.
Users in these countries can now flag tweets as misinformation through the same process by which other harmful content is reported. When reporting a post there is an option to choose “it’s misleading” — which can then be further categorised as related to “politics”, “health” or “something else”.
According to Twitter, the platform won’t necessarily follow up on all flagged tweets, but will use the information to learn about misinformation trends.
Past research has suggested such “crowdsourced” approaches to reducing misinformation may be promising in highlighting untrustworthy sources online. That said, the usefulness of Twitter’s experiment will depend on the accuracy of users’ reports.
Twitter’s general policy describes a somewhat nuanced approach to moderating dubious posts, distinguishing between “unverified information”, “disputed claims” and “misleading claims”. A post’s “propensity for harm” determines whether it is flagged with a label or a warning, or is removed entirely.
In a 2020 blog post, Twitter said it categorised false or misleading content into three broad categories. Screenshot
But the platform has not explicitly defined “misinformation” for users who will engage in the trial. So how will they know whether something is indeed “misinformation”? And what will stop users from flagging content they simply disagree with?
Familiar information feels right
As individuals, what we consider to be “true” and “reliable” can be driven by subtle cognitive biases. The more you hear certain information repeated, the more familiar it will feel. In turn, this feeling of familiarity tends to be taken as a sign of truth.
Even “deep thinkers” aren’t immune to this cognitive bias. As such, repeated exposure to certain ideas may get in the way of our ability to detect misleading content. Even if an idea is misleading, if it’s familiar enough it may still pass the test.
In direct contrast, content that is unfamiliar or difficult to process — but highly valid — may be incorrectly flagged as misinformation.
The social dilemma
Another challenge is a social one. Repeated exposure to information can also convey a social consensus, wherein our own attitudes and behaviours are shaped by what others think.
Group identity influences what information we think is factual. We think something is more “true” when it’s associated with our own group and comes from an in-group member (as opposed to an out-group member).
Research has also shown we are inclined to look for evidence that supports our existing beliefs. This raises questions about the efficacy of Twitter’s user-led experiment. Will users who participate really be capturing false information, or simply reporting content that goes against their beliefs?
More strategically, there are social and political actors who deliberately try to downplay certain views of the world. Twitter’s misinformation experiment could be abused by well-resourced and motivated identity entrepreneurs.
Twitter has added an option to report ‘misleading’ content for users in the US, Australia and South Korea. Screenshot
How to take a more balanced approach
So how can users increase their chances of effectively detecting misinformation? One way is to take a consumer-minded approach. When we make purchases as consumers, we often compare products. We should do this with information, too.
“Searching laterally”, or comparing different sources of information, helps us better discern what is true or false. This is the kind of approach a fact-checker would take, and it’s often more effective than sticking with a single source of information.
At the supermarket we often look beyond the packaging and read a product’s ingredients to make sure we buy what’s best for us. Similarly, there are many new and interesting ways to learn about disinformation tactics intended to mislead us online.
One example is Bad News, a free online game and media literacy tool which researchers found could “confer psychological resistance against common online misinformation strategies”.
There is also evidence that people who think of themselves as concerned citizens with civic duties are more likely to weigh evidence in a balanced way. In an online setting, this kind of mindset may leave people better placed to identify and flag misinformation.
We know from research that thinking about accuracy or the possible presence of misinformation in a space can reduce some of our cognitive biases. So actively thinking about accuracy when engaging online is a good thing. But what happens when I know someone else is onto it?
The behavioural sciences and game theory tell us people may be less inclined to make an effort themselves if they feel like they can free-ride on the effort of others. Even armchair activism may be reduced if there is a view misinformation is being solved.
Worse still, this belief may lead people to trust information more easily. In Twitter’s case, the misinformation-flagging initiative may lead some users to think any content they come across is likely true.
Much to learn from these data
As countries engage in vaccine rollouts, misinformation poses a significant threat to public health. Beyond the pandemic, misinformation about climate change and political issues continues to present concerns for the health of our environment and our democracies.
Despite the many factors that influence how individuals identify misleading information, there is still much to be learned from how large groups come to identify what seems misleading.
Such data, if made available in some capacity, has great potential to benefit the science of misinformation. And combined with moderation and objective fact-checking approaches, it might even help the platform mitigate the spread of misinformation.
Kate Reynolds has received funding from the Australian Research Council related to the impact of social identity on well-being attitudes and behaviour.
Eryn Newman 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.
Selwyn Manning and Paul G. Buchanan discuss supposed intelligence failings leading up to the US-led withdrawal from Afghanistan.
A View from Afar
PODCAST: Buchanan and Manning on Afghanistan - Were Intelligence Failures a Prelude to a Taliban Takeover
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A View from Afar: Selwyn Manning and Paul Buchanan present this week’s podcast where they analyse the crisis, the tragedy, unfolding in Afghanistan, including an apparent intelligence failure.
Unanswered questions considered, include:
Why were United States intelligence unable to predict how poised and ready the Taliban were?
How did the Taliban prepare to take every province, every city in Afghanistan, and keep their readiness a secret while they waited for the final phase of the US-led withdrawal to begin?
What should we make of the Taliban leadership? Should we be reassured or concerned at the Taliban’s words of transition?
And, has United States president Joe Biden damaged his reputation beyond repair, in justifying the method of the US’s withdrawal in a speech laced with a cold indifference toward the human carnage that unfolded at Kabul airport?
You can comment on this debate by clicking on one of these social media channels and interacting in the social media’s comment area. Here are the links:
Threat.Technology placed A View from Afar at 9th in its 20 Best Defence Security Podcasts of 2021 category. You can follow A View from Afar via our affiliate syndicators.
NSW MP Victor Dominello has said he has Bell’s palsy, after appearing at a press conference this week with what he described as a “droopy eye”. Google searches for the term “Bell’s palsy” sky-rocketed overnight.
I have worked in the area of rehabilitation following facial nerve disorders for 30 years and have co-authored several studies involving people with Bell’s palsy.
If the term is new to you, here’s a quick explainer on what you need to know.
What is Bell’s palsy?
Bell’s palsy involves a sudden onset of a facial nerve paralysis.
The technical term is “idiopathic lower motor neurone facial nerve paralysis”. Idiopathic means of unknown origin; we can’t say for sure what causes it, however it is likely to be associated with a viral, inflammatory cause.
People experience drooping and loss of movement on one or both sides of their face, usually just one. It is very rare to have it affect both sides.
Symptoms can include:
difficulty smiling and expressing emotions on your face
incomplete closure of the affected eye
a change in taste
things sounding a bit louder in one ear
difficulty with some speech sounds or with keeping food or drink in the mouth.
You might find people are misinterpreting your expression. For example, a smile night be interpreted as a sneer and it can be embarrassing.
Bell’s palsy is not generally painful, although some people report pain behind the ear or a change in taste prior to onset.
It can be misinterpreted, in the early stages, as someone having a stroke but it’s important to know Bell’s palsy is not caused by stroke. Stroke affects many parts of the body but Bell’s palsy affects only the face.
What causes it?
We don’t yet know for sure.
Researchers believe it may be associated with viral infection and related inflammation.
Is it associated with a COVID vaccine?
A recent study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal found the risk of Bell’s palsy is slightly higher after the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine known as CoronaVac, but that the overall benefit outweighs the risk.
CoronaVac is not available in Australia. It is a type of mRNA vaccine, as is the Pfizer vaccine.
The study said:
Our findings suggest an overall increased risk of Bell’s palsy after CoronaVac vaccination. However, the beneficial and protective effects of the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine far outweigh the risk of this generally self-limiting adverse event.
What are the treatments?
People with Bell’s palsy are usually treated by healthcare professionals from a range of different disciplines.
Corticosteroids are usually given in the first 72 hours of diagnosis to manage inflammation. Sometimes, antiviral drugs are prescribed.
If the person with Bell’s palsy is having trouble closing an eye, eye drops or gels may be used to protect the eye while the eyelid is not working properly.
Physiotherapy is also very effective to maximise recovery and address long term problems. That involves specific, targeted facial exercises tailored to the individual.
There is no evidence to support the myth that electrical stimulation of the face helps with recovery.
Can it be cured?
About 80 to 85% of people have a spontaneous, complete recovery usually over a period of a few weeks to a few months.
However, about 15-20% of people who have Bell’s palsy have long term problems associated with their face, such as asymmetry and spasm.
If your face is starting to improve in the first three weeks, then your recovery usually goes well.
If you don’t start getting any movement on your face for a period about two to four months, you are more likely to experience longer term problems.
The risk factors for Bell’s palsy are diabetes, high blood pressure and if you are in the third trimester of pregnancy, you have a slightly greater chance of getting Bell’s palsy. However, as it is still quite a rare condition, your overall risk remains low.
What are the myths?
The main myth is that electrical stimulus to the face helps; there is no evidence to support this idea. In fact, it can cause problems for your face.
Bell’s palsy is not caused by being generally unwell or “run down”.
And if you get Bell’s palsy, it’s important to understand it’s not your fault.
Where can people go to read more?
The Sydney Facial Nerve Clinic has some well evidenced information on Bell’s palsy. Or, you can go to a GP or an ear, nose and throat surgeon or physiotherapist.
Susan Coulson also works in private practice as a physiotherapy consultant. She has received funding from the Garnett Passe and Rodney Williams Memorial Foundation. She is a member of the Sydney Facial Nerve Clinic and of the NSW Physiotherapy Council.
“New Zealand versus the killer robots” might sound like a science fiction B-movie, but that was essentially the focus of an event at parliament earlier this month.
Hosted by Minister of Disarmament and Arms Control Phil Twyford, the “Dialogue on Autonomous Weapons Systems and Human Control” looked at how New Zealand might take more of an international lead in regulating these highly contentious new technologies.
Twyford warned of the danger of warfare “delegated to machines”. He referred to a recent survey showing widespread public opposition to the deployment of autonomous weapons in war and strong support for government action to ban or limit their development and use.
The prospect of New Zealand’s leadership has been warmly received by activists and campaigners involved in the “killer robots” debate.
Human Rights Watch’s Mary Wareham has argued New Zealand leadership could act as “a total catalyst for action”, while the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots listed Twyford’s commitment as one of the “key actions and achievements” of its campaign to date.
Yet New Zealand has not joined the 30 states that have formally called for a ban on autonomous weapons, and Twyford’s statements have tended to waver between bullish and reserved. During the event at parliament he acknowledged the clear ethical problems with autonomous weapons, but also the complexity of making policy.
Sensitivity to military allies
If the mood of the people and government of New Zealand is strongly behind regulation, what makes the issue so difficult?
The short answer is politics and economics. A major obstacle for Twyford is allowing the New Zealand Defence Force to work with allies and partners.
Both the US and Australia are heavily invested in pursuing cutting-edge military technologies, including robotics, artificial intelligence and autonomy. A key pillar of their strategy is building systems that allow more coordination on the battlefield.
Leading a movement to have these systems regulated or banned could see New Zealand’s military shut out of joint exercises where such technologies are being trialled or used.
Given the political pressure to take a stronger stand against China, it seems unlikely New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs and Trade or Defence ministries will want to risk further discord with key defence partners.
Protecting high-tech industry
The second hurdle lies in the economic promise of technologies developed in New Zealand that could potentially be used in autonomous weapons programmes elsewhere.
Many leading engineers and technologists have advocated for the regulation or banning of autonomous weapons, but others are attracted by the potential rewards of military-related projects.
These tensions have already surfaced in the debate about US military payloads being launched from New Zealand by US-owned aerospace company Rocket Lab.
Autonomous weapons could well see similar questions raised about other technologies developed by New Zealand companies or researchers — most obviously in the fields of computer vision, robotics and swarm intelligence — that could be used in military systems.
Regulating autonomous weapons without also inhibiting potentially lucrative AI and robotics research and development remains a challenge.
Public opinion not enough
The hope that regulation of autonomous weapons could represent another “anti-nuclear moment” in New Zealand’s disarmament and foreign policy history therefore seems premature.
While it’s clear there is support for some form of regulation, there’s little evidence at this stage to suggest public opinion will sway the government’s current conservative and watchful position.
So, what should be done? In the absence of international agreement, New Zealand could press ahead with its own domestic legislation to regulate these technologies, as proposed in a petition from local Campaign to Stop Killer Robots coordinator Edwina Hughes.
This has the potential to expose a lack of serious commitment to principle in the government’s position, but it would still come up against the political and economic interests opposed to action on autonomous weapons.
Acknowledging those political and economic obstacles is a critical first step for meaningful public debate.
In the near term, a stocktaking exercise should be undertaken to understand what research and development is being carried out in New Zealand universities and companies.
Efforts should also be made to understand which autonomous technologies are likely to be developed and possibly deployed in the coming years by New Zealand’s major defence partners, particularly Australia and the US.
Serious, sustained dialogue with commercial interests and defence partners is a necessary precondition for the advancement of Twyford’s agenda. While there is some evidence this work is underway, it needs greater transparency to ensure public understanding of what’s at stake.
Without that, New Zealand will probably struggle to take an international leadership role on this critical issue.
Jeremy Moses receives funding from The Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund.
Geoffrey Ford receives funding from the Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund.
Sian Troath receives funding from The Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund.
New Zealand police are out again today enforcing the rules of the level 4 lockdown concentrating on dealing with any illegal gatherings, ensuring all travel is essential and providing reassurance patrols at places like supermarkets.
Yesterday there were eight arrests at anti-lockdown protests in Auckland and Whangarei and drivers across the country were checked to ensure travel was for essential purposes only.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said the delta variant was different and needed a firmer approach because any gathering was problematic.
He said so far police had been pleased with people’s compliance with the rules.
“Very good, we’re really pleased with the way things are going, you know it always takes a couple of days to settle down into the rhythm of this, but the vast majority of people have been doing exactly the right thing, so we’re very happy,” he said.
Coster said yesterday’s anti-lockdown protests were disappointing and although police respected people’s right to protest now was not the time to be gathering.
He said they expected that further protests could be a possibility and police would take a similar approach to yesterday when arrests were made.
‘We need to knuckle down’ “You know people are entitled to express their views but we really just need to knuckle down and get through this and the more we do that the shorter this lockdown is likely to be.”
Coster said about 40 percent of police staff were vaccinated but they would like that to be at 100 percent.
“Clearly they’re out protecting our communities and obviously their risk level is higher as a result of doing that.
“They’re all wearing protective equipment but we’re working as hard as we can to speed up that vaccination rate dependant on the ability to access vaccines and get it done.”
Coster said the police internal vaccination programme would start up again tomorrow and it looked like they should be able to speed up the rate of vaccinations.
He said today police would be focusing on any gatherings to ensure they were dealt with quickly, ensure that any movement on the roads was only for essential purposes and then reassurance patrols in areas such as supermarkets.
Infected cluster could reach 120 RNZ News reports the number of people infected with the delta variant could grow to 120 before the outbreak is brought under control, according to expert estimates.
New Zealanders are being warned to expect more cases of covid 19 over the next few days, but a mathematician says the numbers depends how long it has been spreading undetected.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop has lashed out at the Papua New Guinean Department of Lands and Physical Planning for failing to maintain and manage portions of land in urban centers for public use.
He said public space in NCD was “diminishing” and the department had not been helpful in retaining public land use over the years.
“I want to say that from the outset, public space in NCD is diminishing,” he said.
“The Department of Lands has not been helping us [NCDC] to manage public space properly, not just public recreational space but also spaces like drainage reserves, road reserves — a lot of other reserves are there for the benefit of the public,” Parkop said.
He said the continuous change to the Minister for Lands and Physical Planning and its Department Secretary over time by successive governments was also a contributing factor to a backlog of issues.
“The Department of Lands continues to override us, continues to ignore planning, zoning and the public interest. Not only on this occasion but many other occasions.
“I want to inform the general public that NCDC is here to ensure that all recreational parks will be maintained for the benefit of all the public.”
Jack Pidik Park controversy Parkop raised his concern in relation to the controversy over the popular Jack Pidik Park that was formerly used as a recreational area.
“From the outset, we respect TST Group of Companies [responsible for a large development involving most of the part, we have no dispute and personal grudges with that but it is our responsibility as the government to protect the public and recreational space,” he said.
The governor claimed that the department had created the problem over time and it should be held accountable to “fix the problem”.
“The Jack Pidik Park was traded by the Minister for Lands or the government at that time without consulting NCDC.
“The national government made the decision and is the only one able to correct it,” he added.
Parkop also lashed out at the National Appeals Tribunal for overruling NCDC decisions on land issues.
“In the last two years, the company has appealed against our decision and the National Appeals Tribunal and sadly again, Department of Lands through the Appeal Tribunal overruled us (NCDC Physical Planning Board) and accepted the re-zoning for commercial purposes,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lands and Physical Planning Minister John Rosso said he was speaking to Governor Parkop and would address the land issues in NCD.
The last portion of the Jack Pidik Park left as a public space is on the corner of Hubert Murray Highway and Boroko Dive. Image: Post-Courier
The challenges experienced by Tongan students having to study overseas will soon be over after the government has announced plans for the establishment of the kingdom’s first national university.
The news has been hailed as a solution to the financial, social and mental stresses Tonga’s international students have faced.
The kingdom’s Parliament is expected to process a bill which set out the details of the university later this week. The public had until yesterday to make submissions on the Tonga University Bill 2021.
The university is expected to unite various institutions, including the Tonga Institute of Education, Tonga Institute of Higher Education, Tonga Institute of Science and Technology, Tonga Maritime Polytech Institute, Queen Salote Institute of Nursing and Allied Health, as well as the Tonga Police College.
It will offer academic, technical and vocational programmes and qualifications from certificate to post-doctorate level.
Former Tongan MP and government teacher Lepolo Taunisila said the proposal had been in the pipeline for a while and involved previous governments and education ministers such as the late Dr Hu’akavameiliku and Dr ‘Ana Taufe’ulungaki.
It had been “absolutely long overdue”, Taunisila said.
‘Frustrating challenges’ A former student at the University of the South Pacific (USP), Fīnau Leone, said the move could help resolve the problems he and other Tongan students had encountered in the past.
Leone said he faced “frustrating challenges” studying in Fiji.
He said his family struggled to pay for his studies because he did not have a scholarship.
His parents could sometimes only afford to pay for his school fees and not for his shopping and living costs.
“I have no choice but to use all that money to pay for my school fees and begged for food from other Tongan students at USP and also asked them for a space to sleep in their apartment.
“Leaving home for the first time to stay with different people from various ethnicities were challenging, especially as I was just finishing from high school,” he said.
Leone said he still remembers an incident in which one of his best Tongan friends at USP was killed in Fiji while they were on a night out.
Tonga is one of 12 Pacific Island countries which fund USP.
Two private universities currently operate in the kingdom – ‘Atenisi University and Christ’s University in Pacific.
This article by Kaniva Tonga editor Kalino Lātū was first published by Te Waha Nui and is republished here as part of our collaboration with Kaniva Tonga.
With more than half the country in lockdown and many of the social support systems we rely on having been put on hold, it’s no wonder people are feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. For some, such feelings may ultimately culminate in burnout.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, burnout was, for the most part, considered a work-related issue. But in our research, we have identified burnout in people outside of the workplace, including those who are dealing with other life stressors, such as caring for loved ones full-time.
Now, because of the pandemic, rates of burnout appear to be rising, especially since working from home means workers are often required to “do more with less” and be online and available 24/7, as well as home-school children.
loss of empathy towards service recipients or cynicism directed towards one’s job
reduced professional accomplishment.
But the MBI has been widely critiqued. One concern is it overlooks key symptoms that are prominent in burnout and may be especially debilitating, such as cognitive dysfunction (which might include forgetting things or not being able to concentrate).
Another concern is it was derived solely from researching burnout in those who work directly with patients or clients, such as health-care workers and those in other caring professions. Nuances of burnout that occur in other contexts may have been overlooked.
Our alternative – the Sydney Burnout Measure
In ourstudies, we asked more than 1,000 participants who said they’d experienced burnout to report their main symptoms. They worked across a range of contexts, from paid employment positions to more “informal” work positions such as caring for elderly parents and/or children.
We found the syndrome comprised of not just exhaustion, but also cognitive dysfunction, withdrawal and disconnection from the world and those around you, and reduced work performance (whether that be in paid work or in tasks you are responsible for at home), commonly accompanied by depression, anxiety and insomnia.
Burnout can include withdrawal or disconnection from the world and those around you. Annie Sprat/Unsplash
We collated the burnout symptoms we identified into our own measure. The Sydney Burnout Measure, or SBM, is a checklist of 34 burnout symptoms, with a high score on our measure indicative that you might have burnout.
But it’s also possible to get a high score because of some other underlying condition that shares several of burnout’s symptoms, such as depression. To assess for this possibility, approaching a GP or mental health professional may be necessary.
These professionals will use their clinical experience to assess whether the symptoms you have are likely the consequence of burnout, or whether they could be due to some other mental health condition. Such clarification is important as different psychological conditions often require disorder-specific treatment strategies.
Once you know you have burnout, what can be done about it?
As a first step, the causes of your burnout need to be identified, so you can work to reduce their impact.
External causes of burnout can come from your workplace (such as being overloaded, being overlooked for a promotion, working overtime) or from the home (including caring for multiple children and/or elderly parents, being primarily responsible for domestic duties).
A combination of both factors could be at play, especially during our current state of lockdown, where many are juggling working-from-home demands, financial difficulties and home-schooling children.
Many people are currently juggling multiple demands as they work from home in the pandemic. Shutterstock
Seeking resolution from your boss or manager may be useful in overcoming some work stressors. Can they extend your deadlines, or arrange flexible working hours around your child-rearing responsibilities?
For factors in the home, asking family members to assist in juggling tasks, or researching whether some tasks can be outsourced (for example, can you hire a cleaner or a babysitter once a week?) may be of use.
Applying de-stressing strategies
When escaping these stressors isn’t possible, you may have to bring on some de-stressing strategies to help curb your burnout symptoms. Things like exercise, meditation and practising mindfulness are consistently nominated by our study participants as most helpful.
Such practices not only help you to distract and relax, but also have proven biological benefits, such as reducing levels of stress hormones throughout the body.
Consulting a mental health professional can also be useful here, as they will have several specific cognitive strategies to help reduce anxiety and stress.
Addressing a predisposing factor: perfectionism
While stressors experienced at work or at home may set the wheels of burnout in motion, our analyses indicated burnout may also develop as a result of predisposing personality traits, especially perfectionism.
People with perfectionistic traits are usually excellent workers, as they’re extremely reliable and conscientious. However, they’re also prone to burnout as they set unrealistic and unrelenting standards for their own performance, which are ultimately impossible to live up to.
We therefore suggest managing burnout requires not only addressing precipitating work stressors and employing de-stressing strategies, but also tweaking any predisposing personality style.
Several strategies can assist in modifying perfectionistic thoughts and behaviours. For example, learning to focus more on the “big picture” rather than the finer details can help prevent procrastination, which is a common consequence of perfectionism.
So, when starting a task, you want to approach it with the goal of getting it done (no matter how poor the quality) rather than ensuring it’s perfect from the get-go. You can go back and fix it later.
Learning to avoid black and white thinking (“If this goes wrong, I will definitely lose my job”) is another important strategy for addressing perfectionism. Consider instead the shades of grey (“If this goes wrong, I can try to approach it from another angle”).
A mental health professional may also be of assistance here, as they can offer therapeutic techniques, often taken from cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), that help people notice and modify unhelpful thinking patterns that are common in perfectionism and make them prone to stress and anxiety.
Overall, the key to managing burnout is identifying whether the presenting problem actually is burnout and not another condition. If it’s burnout, the key drivers (including any personality contribution) need to be determined. Only then can management strategies targeting each causal factor be applied.
Gordon Parker receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (grant number GNT1176689).
Gabriela Tavella 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.
When BHP announced it would sell its stake in its oil and gas business to Woodside Petroleum to form a merged oil and gas business, it appeared welcome news. A big miner finally takes climate change seriously.
But decisions to sell fossil fuel assets are not good news at all. BHP did not do the right thing by selling its oil and gas operations for the simple reason that the climate is still no better off. BHP’s new oil and gas assets will continue to produce oil and gas — just with new shareholders.
Decisions to sell mines or set up “dirty” parallel companies are coming thick and fast as the big polluters scramble to cut their losses. One of Australia’s biggest polluters, AGL, announced in March it will create a separate company for its emissions intensive assets.
What BHP and other companies are doing is banking profits from their failing assets, while washing their hands of the responsibility to do something about their past and ongoing contribution to climate change. Instead of selling these assets, companies should retire the assets and wear the costs.
Passing the buck
BHP is one of Australia’s biggest-emitting companies. In 2019, the emissions produced by BHP’s products globally were 567 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent — more than Australia’s total domestic emissions in 2019.
Even chief executive of mining company Glencore, Ivan Glasenberg, said in June this year:
Disposing of fossil fuel assets and making them someone else’s issue is not the solution and it won’t reduce absolute emissions.
So what should fossil fuel producers do if they are truly serious about their climate responsibilities? If they really want to depart from fossil fuels to help the climate, four things need to happen:
1. Ensure assets can no longer produce emissions
Fossil fuel producers should retire their mines or wells instead of selling them. This will inevitably involve foregoing any remaining value in their assets (if it has not already returned to them via past profits).
A report commissioned by the oil industry peak body, the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA), found the cost of decommissioning Australia’s 65 offshore oil platforms could reach A$60 billion over the next 30 years. This doesn’t include onshore gas, Australia’s huge coal mines and export terminals.
The cost of decommissioning Australia’s 65 offshore oil platforms could reach A$60 billion over the next 30 years. Shutterstock
2. Fund any remediation costs out of general revenue
Fossil fuel companies should pay for the cost of restoring mined land, such as back filling voids, replacing vegetation, repairing water sources or ensuring mines do not leak gas.
In the case of BHP, this would mean its super profits from iron ore could be diverted to meet their climate and environmental debts. BHP made a profit of over US$11 billion in the last year. Most of that is not going towards fixing climate harms such as bushfire and flood damage.
3. Establish a national inventory of liabilities
State and federal authorities should establish a central register of environmental damage and climate harms caused by fossil fuel companies. This would mean damage to waterways or soil contamination, as well as damage caused by climate change itself, could be accurately calculated.
Such an inventory is crucial to establishing which costs ought to be born by fossil fuel companies, and will help establish the costs involved in retiring mines.
4. Establish an independent body to monitor safety of former mine and well sites
Mine remediation is too important to be left to the companies themselves, who may sell up or go broke, leaving taxpayers to fix the problem. In cases where remediation is complex and dangerous, governments could consider taking over mines or wells to ensure remediation was done properly.
For example, in 2019 the federal government took ownership of the Northern Endeavour production vessel, which is an oil production ship moored off the coast of Darwin. The vessel was used by gas company Woodside, who then sold it to Northern Oil and Gas Australia, who then went out of business. In this case, the government imposed a levy on the industry to pay for the costs.
Environmental concerns aside, there are economic reasons for governments to take tighter control of fossil fuel assets.
The Bank for International Settlements released a report last year arguing that central banks like the Reserve Bank of Australia ought to be prepared to buy the stranded assets of fossil fuel companies.
Duties to shareholders don’t trump duties to the rest of society not to severely damage the climate. Shutterstock
Failure to do so will, the report notes, pose a real risk of triggering severe financial disruption. It warns of “extremely financially disruptive events that could be behind the next systemic financial crisis”.
The Bank for International Settlements draws on the analogy of the Global Financial Crisis. Just as a failure in mortgage lending led to a generalised financial crisis with impacts across the whole economy, the collapse in asset prices of fossil fuel industries could trigger a similar effect.
Companies forced to sell their assets to governments for a cheap price will no doubt complain they have other duties, such as getting a good return for shareholders. They will likely argue that not selling to another company for a premium price will reduce dividends paid to investors.
Yes, companies might have a duty to make a profit. But duties to shareholders don’t automatically trump duties to the rest of society not to severely damage the climate.
Just as we don’t condone companies selling unsafe medicines or faulty appliances to benefit shareholders, nor should we allow them to harm the climate on those grounds.
Until governments step in to regulate the phase out of Australia’s fossil fuel assets, the environment and economy will be at risk.
BHP did not respond to The Conversation’s request for comment.
Jeremy Moss receives funding from the Australian Research Council. His book ‘Carbon Justice’ will be published in November with UNSW Press.
Review: Hibernation by Finegan Kruckemeyer, State Theatre Company South Australia
What lengths would you go to in order to save the planet from climate crisis?
Stop eating meat and start composting? Recycle and “make do”, instead of buying new?
How about lock yourself securely in your home, climb into bed, and hibernate for a full year, giving the planet a chance to recharge and reset?
This is the provocative premise behind playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer’s bold new play Hibernation.
Performed in three acts, Hibernation introduces a global cast of characters in the year 2030: close enough to the present so as to feel timely and familiar; yet distant enough it is not impossible to imagine the realisation of this dystopian narrative.
Eighteen months ago, the thought of stay-at-home orders and “snap lockdowns” were otherworldly and extreme. Now, they are simply part and parcel of our collective efforts to keep our community safe.
Who knows what else could change between now and 2030?
2030 is close enough to the present to feel timely and familiar. Matt Byrne/State Theatre Company South Australia
The polished, crisp scenes of press conferences, the emotionally inflected media statements and a growing sense of turmoil are eerily familiar. Thousands of people are dying; or seeking refuge in other nations. Towns are flooding. Resources are scarce. Something has to change, urgently.
Enter the plan: to send the world into a forced, year-long slumber for the greater good.
Under Mitchell Butel’s dynamic and rhythmic direction, Hibernation explores the relational and emotional response to this bold plan for healing the planet.
In the Canberra of this speculative future, chauvinism is alive and well. We meet the politicians claiming ownership of this daring plan and the policy maker who actually conceived it. They call for trust in the science, and promise no harm will come to the human population from the hibernation-inducing drug 54E–501E.
A young family in Africa pack for the “most not-going-anywhere-year” of their lives.
Ernesto and his husband in South America share a zoom call with his mother Cassandra, who foreshadows how the impact of this singular universal act will not be experienced in a universal way.
How different is the sacrifice of a year in the life of someone in their 70s compared to a year in the life of someone in their 20s?
Sacrifices aren’t made equal: what does someone in their 70s lose, compared to someone in their 20s? Matt Byrne/State Theatre Company South Australia
We witness the strength of conviction of American news hosts as they refuse to follow the auto-cue and, instead, attempt to communicate with care and consideration for the listeners on the other side of the screen.
Serving as a stark juxtaposition, act two focuses our attention in a vividly local way. Two Adelaideans, immune to 54E–501E, have free reign over the city. They share rich verbal illustrations of birds overtaking shopfronts and forests germinating from cricket pitches: businesses and ovals have become green houses and bio domes.
This scenario: the only two souls awake in a city where lions and hyenas — set free from the zoo on the eve of hibernation — roam the streets, is not as joyously poetic as it might first seem.
In act three, we return to our global characters and witness the impact and fall out of this experiment in planetary survival. As Cassandra laments, “we are what we are.” The human response to change and loss is messy and hopeful; loving and flawed.
Theatre in a time of crisis
Jonathon Oxlade’s set design is elegantly symbolic and sleek, with the lighting (Gavin Norris), sound (Andrew Howard) and video (Matt Byrne) cohesively supporting our immersive connection to each location. These integrated design elements direct our gaze across the stage, inviting the audiences’ imagination to fill the spaces between the pops of colour, light and rhythm.
It is an utter joy and privilege to be treated to this cast of 10 who deliver nuanced, heartfelt and compelling performances.
The cast deliver nuanced, heartfelt and compelling performances. Chris Herzfeld/State Theatre Company South Australia
Hibernation makes the most of this large cast, with the full ensemble filling the stage for striking movement sequences, stylised depictions of parliamentary question time and a collage-like arrangement of characters preparing for their 365-day rest and reset. At a time when so many across the nation are distancing and isolated, the choreography and presence of a large cast on stage is a delight.
Hibernation balances a tripartite tightrope: telling a story on an ambitiously global scale; representing heartfelt human connection in the local and personal; and offering challenging food for thought, which will continue to linger in the back of your mind long after the lights go down.
Stories wrestling with what it means to exist, to navigate relationships, and to make good choices in a contemporary context are just one of the glorious gifts theatre can offer its community.
Hibernation plays at the Dunstan Playhouse until August 28.
Sarah Peters 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.
The judgment has cleared a major obstacle to carrying out death sentences for the first time in nearly 70 years. It makes execution a real possibility for 15 individuals who are on death row.
The then Australian administration abolished the death penalty in PNG in 1970. The PNG government reintroduced it in 1991.
Despite its reintroduction in law, PNG has not carried out any executions since 1954. Even so, the death penalty, or at least the threat of its implementation, has been used as a form of social control and has remained part of PNG’s criminal justice system. As of August 2021, there are 15 prisoners on death row.
In the past ten years, the death penalty has been part of the domestic political debate in PNG. In 2013, the parliament expanded the scope of the death penalty. Sorcery-related murder, aggravated rape, and robbery all became punishable by death under the Criminal Code (Amendment) Act 2013.
In 2015, the PNG cabinet endorsed guidelines for execution by approving three modes of execution: hanging, lethal injection and firing squad. It also determined the location for the execution.
By 2020 it had become such a part of political discussion that the government promised a nationwide consultation to examine the level of public support for the death penalty.
On the international stage, PNG has so far resisted the trend towards abolition of the death penalty. At its most recent UN Universal Periodic Review(2016), PNG did not accept recommendations to move away from the death penalty.
Indeed, in 2020, PNG actively opposed the resolution, appearing to commit itself to a position in direct tension with the abolitionist majority of the international community.
PNG’s justification for retaining the death penalty has centred on it being an effective deterrent to heinous crimes. In 2013, the then prime minister, Peter O’Neill, proposed the expanded use of the death penalty to tackle violent crimes. He claimed the “majority of our people are demanding it”. The then opposition leader, Belden Namah, also supported these measures, viewing it as an effective deterrent.
As prime minister, Peter O’Neill proposed expanding the use of the death penalty to tackle violent crimes. Aaron Favila/AP/AAP
Resorting to increasing the severity of punishment to tackle serious crime has achieved little across different jurisdictions. These include the US, the UK and, more recently, Australia. In this sense, there is nothing new in PNG attempting to solve problems of violence through the use of harsher criminal punishments. But a consequence of PNG’s punitive turn could be dire.
There is no doubt PNG experiences a severe range of violent crime, including tribal fighting and sorcery-related deaths. In violence related to sorcery accusations, many of the victims are women who have been gang-raped and sometimes beaten or burnt to death. But victims are reluctant to report these crimes to police for fear of being targeted again or of their family being attacked. Unless beliefs about sorcery change, it is unlikely any criminal punishment will serve to curtail violent incidents, especially if the community does not trust the police to intervene and offer protection to the victims.
Furthermore, there is no scientific evidence that proves the death penalty is an effective deterrent compared to other sentences such as life imprisonment.
Two-thirds of countries have abolished the death penalty or have not executed anyone for ten years or more. While Asia lags behind this global trend, the Pacific Island countries are at the forefront of the abolitionist movement.
Every Pacific Island state apart from PNG and Tonga has abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes. If PNG was to resume executions, it would entrench itself as an outlier among Pacific Island states.
PNG is not bound to proceed with executions. In the Supreme Court’s judgment, Justice Manuhu’s dissent is particularly instructive. He endorsed the National Court’s finding that
[…] it is now too late to execute any of these prisoners, as their right of protection against inhuman punishment has been infringed.
Indeed, of the 15 on death row in PNG, 13 have been in prison for more than five years. Some have been there for more than 17 years.
PNG is next scheduled to participate in the UN’s Universal Periodic Review in October 2021. It will be an opportunity for a direct and meaningful diplomatic exchange with abolitionist states.
Taking steps towards the abolition of the death penalty at law would not constitute a substantial change for the PNG community, given its moratorium for nearly 70 years.
Mai Sato receives funding from Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. She is Deputy Director of CrimeInfo, an NGO based in Japan (https://www.crimeinfo.jp).
Matthew Goldberg has received funding from Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He is a board member of the Capital Punishment Justice Project.
We knew the Delta variant would eventually arrive in Aotearoa, but real-time sequencing, which produces full genomes from positive cases in less than 12 hours, will ensure the lockdown is as short and effective as possible.
There are now ten cases and we can expect more to be reported over the coming days. Genome sequencing of the first case, identified on Tuesday, did not show any direct matches to cases found in managed isolation facilities, but it is linked with the current Delta outbreak in New South Wales. This means the source was very likely someone arriving from NSW.
We may well find matches as samples from cases in MIQ are fast-tracked for sequencing. But since all NSW cases come from the same source, their genomes are all very similar and a match of an MIQ case to a community case will not be enough to prove they are the source.
The genomes and cases we have found so far cannot tell us how many cases there are, but modelling by Te Pūnaha Matatini, which takes into account the number of people with COVID-like symptoms getting tested, suggests the outbreak was already between 30 and 75 active cases by the time we discovered it. Whatever the number is, it is almost certainly still growing.
Because of its higher transmissibility, Delta has become the dominant strain in many parts of the world, including in Aotearoa. All cases found at our border over the past three months have been the Delta variant 170 full genomes found so far.
While this is the first community transmission of the Delta variant we’ve seen in Aotearoa, that is mainly because our border detection and management has been successful in keeping it at the border until now.
Lockdown measures along with tracking, tracing and isolation will dramatically reduce the opportunity for the virus to spread and hopefully bring the R number below 1 so that the number of new cases will eventually start dropping.
As we find more cases that are not directly linked to each other, their genomes will give us some information about how large the outbreak might be. Essentially, the greater the diversity in the genomes we see, the older and larger the outbreak is likely to be.
If all the cases have identical genomes, it would mean the outbreak has not been around long enough to pick up mutations. But if there are several mutations that separate cases, it would mean there is probably a longer chain of transmission between the cases and a potentially large number of as yet undiscovered cases.
What makes Delta different
The Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) was first seen in India in late 2020 and is the most recent “variant of concern” to have been identified. Variants of concern are lineages that are either more transmissible, cause more serious disease or show greater ability to evade vaccines.
Delta is a variant of concern first and foremost because it transmits at a much higher rate than previous variants. Its basic reproduction number, R0, is estimated to be around 5 or 6. In an unvaccinated population with no other prevention measures, this means an infected person would likely infect five or six others, compared to about two or three for the variants that were dominant in 2020.
Like other variants of concern, Delta has a large number of mutations that distinguish it from other SARS-CoV-2 lineages. It is characterised by over 20 mutations, including nine on the spike protein which enables the virus to stick to and infect cells. Essentially, these changes make the virus more sticky and more successful at infecting cells and replicating.
This results in much higher “viral loads” (the overall number of viral copies an infected person has) and people becoming infectious and symptomatic more quickly. Combined, this results in faster transmission and larger outbreaks.
Superspreading events
We know that SARS-CoV-2 transmission depends on superspreading events — when a small number of cases (perhaps 10-20%) are responsible for most (80%) of the transmission.
We saw this in Aotearoa’s first wave in 2020, which was dominated by a few large clusters. It was also evident in various lucky breaks we have had since then, when cases in the community have not transmitted the virus to household contacts.
Delta is different in that fewer Delta cases have no onward transmission but it seems likely this is just a function of the overall higher transmissibility, rather than a change in super-spreading behaviour.
But people with breakthrough infections can pass the virus on to others, albeit at a lower rate.
Vaccines therefore give us multiple lines of protection. They make us less likely to get infected, and even if we do, much less likely to get seriously sick and less likely to transmit the virus.
The speed at which the Delta variant spreads means we cannot vaccinate fast enough to change the course of the current outbreak. But if we eliminate this outbreak and rapidly roll out the vaccine in the next few months, future outbreaks will be easier to control.
David Welch is affiliated with the University of Auckland and receives funding from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE)
Jemma Geoghegan receives funding from the Marsden Fund and is a Rutherford Discovery Fellow.
Nigel French receives funding from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE). He is affiliated with Massey University and is a member of the Ministry of Health COVID-19 Technical Advisory Group.
Twenty years ago, Australian forces followed the US into Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11 attacks with a simple mission: to hunt down Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda leadership and remove the Taliban government that had sheltered them. That mission has ended in abject failure.
Its costs have been significant: 41 combat-related deaths, 260 wounded, more than 500 veteran suicides, thousands afflicted by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and around A$10 billion expended with precious little to show for it.
Uruzgan Province, the centre of Australian operations from July 2006 until the main Australian Defence Force troops withdrew in December 2013, fell to the Taliban in early August with scarcely a shot fired. All those years spent equipping, training and mentoring the Afghan National Army to stand up and fight for the gains made since 2001 had clearly achieved nothing.
But the failures don’t end there.
Over the past weeks, there has been a great deal of hand-wringing about the potential loss of the gains made in Afghanistan in the 20 years between the Taliban rule. Those gains were many: a generation has profited from improved access to educational opportunities, key health indicators have markedly improved, a massive influx of foreign aid has stimulated the economy, the private sector has flourished, and a free media has reported on and critiqued the emerging society’s advances and shortcomings. Women especially benefited from new freedoms and took up prominent roles in politics, the public sector and the media.
All these gains are now in peril as the newly re-installed Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan looks set to return women to obscurity and chatteldom.
With the Taliban retaking control, the gains made by Afghan women will be lost and they will be returned to the status of chattels. AAP/AP/Vincent Thian
While this is true of life in Afghanistan’s capital and larger cities, improvements in Uruzgan were less marked and never so far-reaching. Despite the Australian government’s “perennial airbrushed optimism” about the benefits brought by the ADF and its security and reconstruction efforts, the lot of Uruzganis beyond the provincial capital, Tarin Kot, changed little.
In late 2012, little more than a year before the ADF’s withdrawal, Australian journalist Jeremy Kelly was struck by the disparity between the ADF’s “mission accomplished” rhetoric and what he saw when he travelled through the province. He wrote:
Australian military officials are quick to list achievements by its development arm: three times as many healthcare facilities since 2006 and a rise in the number of schools from 34 in 2006 to 205 now. They are impressive numbers, but they don’t tell the whole story. In Chora, only one of the 32 schools open actually has students attending […] The rest are “just for teachers taking a salary” […]
Meanwhile, in the western district of Deh Rawood, government and foreign officials were shocked last year when they found land surrounding three vacant schools, all built with foreign money, was being used to grow opium and cannabis.
In November 2020, an independent Afghan NGO, The Liaison Office, assessed the state of Uruzgan province ten years after the withdrawal of the ADF’s erstwhile security partners, the Dutch. Despite the doubling of health facilities and workers ensuring greater availability of antenatal and postpartum care for Afghan women, access to these facilities remains fraught.
Taliban control of all major roads in the province and ongoing clashes with security forces restricted access to healthcare and education and stunted economic activity. Insecurity and internal displacement compounded by drought and disease severely affected agriculture with a marked increase in fallow land. Fewer schools were open in 2020 than a decade earlier. Though the Taliban had permitted the re-opening of some, they enforced a strict prohibition on girls’ education.
If Uruzganis profited little from the Australian presence, the ADF has emerged from the campaign damaged and diminished. Australian forces were bit players in the Afghan venture. Faithful followers of their US masters, they brought limited resources, exercised no control over strategy and so cannot be held responsible for the failure of the larger mission.
As the Taliban once again takes control in Afghanistan, the gains of the past 20 years have been lost. AAP/EPA/Stringer
In this regard, the nation’s political leaders and the ADF itself have persistently measured the military’s performance by its adherence to the mythical yardstick of ANZAC virtue. From this perspective, the success or failure of the ADF mission rested less on what they did than who they showed themselves to be.
There is no doubt many thousands of servicemen and women served honourably and did what they could to improve the lives of the Afghans they encountered. Sadly, their efforts have left few permanent marks and will be largely forgotten. Instead, Afghanistan will be remembered for the alleged atrocities detailed in the Brereton Report.
Afghanistan’s reputation as the graveyard of empires rests less on the prowess of its forces than the country’s capacity to expose the failings inherent in the armies that come to campaign there. This includes the dysfunctional leadership and supply of the Soviet military, and the hubris of the US’s faith in the force of arms.
Lazy platitudes about Australian moral and military exceptionalism were put to the test in Afghanistan, and found wanting. To retrieve something positive from this 20-year debacle it is vital the ADF owns up to its failures in Afghanistan. Only then can it hope to recover its ethical balance and rebuild its moral authority.
Kevin Foster’s book, Anti-Social Media: Conventional Militaries in the Digital Battlespace, will be released by Melbourne University Press on August 31.
Kevin Foster has received funding from the Australian Army Research Scheme.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Donna Green, Associate Professor, Investigator for Digital Grid Futures Institute, UNSW; Affiliated Investigator NHMRC Centre for Air Pollution, Energy and Health Research, Associate Investigator the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, UNSW
Shutterstock
The smell of hazard reduction burn smoke in Sydney this week is an unwelcome reminder the bushfire season is almost upon us, and with it, the torment of having to breathe toxic air.
Even before the last of the 2019–20 Black Summer smoke dissipated, another deadly reminder of the importance of access to safe air arrived. COVID forced many of us to take a crash course in how to avoid respiratory viruses.
One of the most effective ways to reduce indoor COVID transmission is to open windows. Maximising outdoor air coming inside, known as the air exchange rate, is a good way to reduce transmission risk.
But opening windows during the bushfire season can let toxic smoke in, changing the risk calculation.
Keeping windows closed and re-circulating air through standard aircon systems can cool the air, but doesn’t remove smoke or viruses.
So how can schools reduce exposure to COVID and bushfire smoke simultaneously?
This dilemma has a solution we can implement immediately. We’ve calculated about A$50 million would provide all NSW primary and secondary school classrooms, and other shared spaces within schools, with High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) grade air purifiers.
This initial outlay pales compared to the roughly A$220 million-a-day cost of Sydney’s lockdown.
The added benefit of installing air purifiers with HEPA filters is they can help reduce the risk of asthma attacks too.
Air purifiers with HEPA filters can remove over 99% of tiny particles
Most people catch COVID by inhaling it from shared air, and COVID particles often linger in the air in indoor spaces. Simple and relatively cheap air purifiers with HEPA filters have been shown to clear potentially infectious aerosols quickly and effectively.
HEPA air purifiers work by mechanical filtration — they force air through a fine mesh which traps particles. Off-the-shelf air purifers with HEPA filters can remove more than 99.97% of all particle sizes down to 0.30-1.0 microns (one millionth of a metre).
This means they can help filter airborne viruses, bacteria, and tiny particles known as “particulate matter” from bushfire or hazard reduction burn smoke. They can’t completely eliminate COVID transmission, but they can help reduce the risk especially when used with other best practices like wearing masks and other public health measures.
These calculations assume each NSW primary and secondary school student, of which there are approximately 706,000 and 534,000, respectively, are grouped in classes of 25 and 20 pupils, respectively.
Each of these classrooms would require an air purifier designed to work in a standard classroom of approximately 60 square metres. We’ve allowed for each of the 3,100 schools in NSW to have six extra units to include shared spaces such as the library or resource room, staff room and administration area.
Approximately 73,500 units would be needed in NSW. We’ve applied a bulk buy discount of 30% on a currently available, high-quality HEPA air purifier retailing for A$1,000 to arrive at our estimate.
Of course, this doesn’t only affect NSW — schools across the nation would likely benefit from this approach.
Because these units are already available for purchase online and can ship via existing delivery services, the logistics are neither complicated nor expensive.
Installation of the units can be carried out in minutes, and one of the only concerns is the need to ensure proper PPE when changing the filter.
Unfortunately, upgrading existing aircon systems in schools by incorporating higher-grade HEPA filters is slow, expensive and not always technically possible.
In combination with other risk-reduction strategies, air purifiers could be an affordable way to reduce the risk of unmitigated COVID spread between unvaccinated students and staff, and the inevitable spread between, and within, these children’s households.
This approach would buy time until vaccines are approved and rolled out for Australian children. This is unlikely to occur before mid-2022 at the earliest.
There are multiple other benefits too
An added benefit is that for future years, these air purifiers might be able to reduce asthma attacks triggered by smoke from the inevitable, and increasingly intense, bushfire season. That’s because for many people, asthma can be triggered by the small particles in smoke which, once inhaled, can go into the lungs causing inflammation.
Their tiny size means some of them can enter the blood stream and affect our lungs, heart and immune systems.
One in ten Australian children suffer from asthma, so keeping hazard reduction burn and bushfire smoke out of schools is a top priority.
Using HEPA filters will likely result in health savings associated with reduced asthma attacks from avoided smoke inhalation, and a lower burden from COVID cases stemming from school-based transmission. This will place less pressure on NSW’s overwhelmed health system.
It’s hard to comprehend why we haven’t raced to take such an effective no-regrets strategy.
It’s one strategy of many
Installing air purifiers with HEPA filters throughout the entire school system might be one of the most important, and cost effective, ways to improve the health and safety for millions of families in NSW, and around Australia.
We also need to deploy a range of strategies to reduce the risk to school children and staff of exposure to airborne viruses, as well as smoke and other air pollutants.
We know we need to:
promote outdoor sports over indoors
stagger outside playground access times
move non-essential person-to-person interactions online (for example parent-teacher meetings)
perform rigorous daily checks for symptomatic children
constantly encourage people with even the most minor symptoms to stay home and get tested
mandate masks in schools and on public transport
stagger drop off and pick up times where possible.
Donna Green has received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer. She currently receives funding from the Digital Grid Futures Institute, UNSW.
She works on Clean Air Schools www.cleanairschools.com.au which measures indoor and outdoor air pollution in schools.
Ben Harris-Roxas receives research funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and NSW Health. In the past he has received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Australian Research Council, the World Health Organization, the Australian Government Department of Health, the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Heart Foundation NSW, NPS MedicineWise, the Sax Institute and the City of Gold Coast.
The new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change paints a sobering picture of the warming climate in coming decades. Among the projections is an increase in fire weather, which will expose Earth’s landscapes to more large and intense megafires.
In our paper, published today in Global Change Biology, we considered what this fiery future might mean for the planet’s wildlife. We argue a lot can be learned by looking at how wildlife responds to a very different threat: predators.
Australia has seen the brutal consequences that occur when native wildlife is exposed to introduced predators. Australian animals have not evolved alongside introduced predators, such as cats and foxes, and some are what scientists call “predator naive” — they simply aren’t equipped with the evolutionary instincts to detect and respond to introduced predators before it’s too late.
Now, let’s take that idea and apply it to fires. Some animals have evolved excellent tricks to detect when a bushfire is nearby. But some areas where infernos were once rare are growing increasingly bushfire-prone, thanks to climate change. The wildlife in these spots may not have the evolutionary know-how to detect a fire before it’s too late.
Just as being “predator naive” has decimated Australian wildlife, will being “fire naive” wreak havoc on our native species?
Behaviour forged in fire
A growing list of studies show the tricks animals from fire-prone areas use to survive the flames.
Sleepy lizards have been shown to panic at the smell of burnt pastry, reed frogs leap away from the crackling sounds of fire, and bats and marsupials wake from torpor after smelling smoke.
And one study found that, when exposed to smoke, Mediterranean lizards from fire-prone areas reacted more strongly than Mediterranean lizards from areas where fire was rare.
These studies show some animals can recognise the threat of fire, and behave in a way that increases their chance of survival. Those that can are more likely to live through fire and pass on those abilities to their offspring.
That’s where the parallels between fire and predation become striking — and potentially worrying.
Reading the cues
It’s well known predators and prey are in an ongoing evolutionary race to outmanoeuvre one another.
One tool prey draw upon to avoid becoming predator food is to recognise cues — such as smells, sights and sounds — that indicate a predator is lurking nearby. Once they do, prey can change their behaviour to minimise the risk of becoming dinner.
Decades of research has shown that when prey evolve alongside a predator, they can become highly adept at recognising their predator’s cues, such as a scent markings or territorial calls.
But what about animals that haven’t evolved alongside these lethal threats?
When a new predator enters an ecosystem, prey that have not evolved with it can be naive to its cues. They might fail to recognise the threat implied by the new predator’s scents, signs, or sounds, placing them at substantial risk.
This “predator naivety” helps explain why introduced predators are global drivers of extinction. Naive prey just don’t hear, smell, or see them coming.
Research on how animals respond to fire cues has focused on animals from fire-prone regions, probably because that’s where you’d expect to find the strongest responses. But more research is needed about animals from regions that rarely burn.
Do these animals also recognise the cues of fire as an approaching lethal threat?
Do they have finely tuned behaviours that help them survive fire?
If they are naive to fire, species in these ecosystems might be more at risk than previously thought.
The search for fire naivety
We urge researchers around the world to assess fire naivety of animals, particularly in areas experiencing a change in their fire regimes, such as from rare to frequent fire or increased fire severity.
Evidence suggests recognition of predator cues is at least partly genetic. It will be important to determine whether the capacity to recognise and respond to fire also has a genetic basis.
If those behaviours can be passed on from one generation to the next, then perhaps we could take fire-savvy individuals from fire-prone areas and place them into fire naive populations, in the hope their favourable behaviours will spread rapidly via genes passed onto their offspring. Scientists call this “targeted gene flow”.
As the world continues to warm and megafires rage across the globe, we will need all the knowledge and tools at our disposal to help avoid an acceleration of Earth’s biodiversity crisis.
Dale Nimmo receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, the World Wildlife Fund, Consolidated Minerals, the Hermon Slade Foundation, and the National Environmental Science Program (Threatened Species Hub)
Alex Carthey receives funding from Macquarie University, the Australian Research Council, The Hermon Slade Foundation, The World Wildlife Fund, Aussie Ark, and Greater Sydney Local Land Service.
Chris J Jolly receives funding from National Environmental Science Program (Threatened Species Hub).
Daniel T. Blumstein receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the Australian Research Council.
Giving good feedback is an art. It can be challenging for supervisors and managers, whether in an educational setting or any other workplace. Our newly published review of the past decade’s research on this issue confirms the key elements of improving feedback are to make it meaningful, constructive, timely and regular.
Feedback is centred on giving information about actual performance against set requirements. Good feedback enables people to learn from both successes and weaknesses in performance.
Focusing only on people’s shortcomings does not help learning, but hinders it. Bad feedback can be destructive.
An earlier review found one feedback intervention out of every three actually decreased performance. Postgraduate students’ experiences of feedback from research supervisors mirrors employees’ experiences of feedback from managers. Our analysis of the past decade of academic literature on feedback to postgraduate research students confirms the problem is widespread.
And large numbers of people are affected. Australia has more than 66,500 higher degree research students. In the US, 55,703 doctorates were awarded in 2019.
Poor feedback to such students leads to a negative experience. But there is not one feedback strategy that works positively for all situations.
Effective feedback is built on a relationship of trust, with the supervisor often likened to a ‘critical friend’. Shutterstock
Our study found the problems in giving and receiving feedback related to content, process, people and expectations.
Low-quality feedback with inadequate information or vague content from managers does not lead to better work performance. Equally, managers and supervisors need to find a good balance between overwhelming their supervisees with too much feedback and not providing enough or infrequent and delayed feedback.
Feedback does not stand alone – it is part of the broader relationship between supervisor and supervisee. A lack of trust is harmful for the giving and receiving of feedback.
Feedback is a two-way process between the giver and receiver – both parties contribute to the experience. Some individuals actively seek feedback. Others try to avoid it at all costs.
Not all feedback receivers are willing to take feedback on board. On the other hand, many feedback givers lack appropriate feedback skills or awareness of their own style of feedback, including its timing and tone. Often, feedback is less than effective because of a mismatch of expectations between givers and receivers.
Providing effective feedback is essential to improve learning and performance. Managers and research supervisors continually give and receive feedback. But, before giving feedback, supervisors should manage expectations and negotiate supervision arrangements. These include how often and when to give feedback, as well as the length and depth of feedback content.
In all organisations, supervisors should aim for a positive supervisory relationship. Such relationships are based on trust, respect, open communication and shared meaning.
Supervisors’ style of feedback often parallels their own experiences, whether it was helpful or not. As feedback can often be misunderstood, supervisors should critically reflect on their feedback style so it becomes a satisfying two-way process.
Constructive regular feedback should highlight both strengths and weaknesses. It should also suggest improvements. Fifty-seven percent of employees prefer to hear corrective feedback that provides suggestions for improvement and points out things that weren’t done optimally.
So, supervisors can assume the role of a “critical friend” who is encouraging and supportive but provides candid feedback on performance.
Using technologies such as videoconferencing, messaging, social media and email can help in providing timely feedback.
Our review sums up the research findings on the characteristics of effective feedback as:
“suggestive and constructive, brief, frequent and regular, actionable, specific and tailored, explicit, honest but empathetic and tactful, formal, supportive and encouraging, advising, appreciative and respectful but critical”.
Improving the feedback environment can lead to benefits that include higher work satisfaction. For example, in higher education, the triad of institutions, supervisors and students/supervisees can all help improve feedback processes. The same is true of the triad of the organisation, supervisors/managers and employees in other workplaces. Each has a role to play in making feedback effective.
Institutions and organisations can provide administrative, technical and financial support to supervisors. Training, mentoring and personal development opportunities can help both supervisors and supervisees succeed.
Supervisors need to engage in professional development, regularly communicate with their supervisees, be culturally sensitive and use a blend of the previously outlined feedback strategies.
Supervisees should develop reflective skills and engage critically with feedback as integral to their learning and improvement.
No ‘one size fits all’, but key principles apply
Every supervisory relationship is different. However, developing a constructive feedback culture is critical. In the supervisor-supervisee relationship, lessons need to be learnt from problems in the process, and a mix of positive feedback strategies can be adopted.
As our study shows, there is no “one size fits all” approach to providing feedback. Ultimately, supervisors and managers should ensure feedback is supervisee-centred, focuses on improvements and is actionable.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
On May 29, the government announced by way of media release the extension of an emergency COVID measure.
The temporary halving of minimum drawdown rates for retirement superannuation accounts — introduced in March 2020 while the Australian stock market was in freefall — would continue for another year.
The explanation was terse and does not stand up to scrutiny.
The biggest beneficiaries of the extension are the wealthy retirees, who use super to escape tax on funds they are building up to hand on to their children.
It provides no benefits to less well-off retirees who need to use money in super to live on in retirement.
Before the temporary halving of drawdown requirements in March 2020, a retiree aged between 65-74 would be required to withdraw at least 5% of their account balance each year.
The minimum withdrawal rate increased with age.
The merit in the requirement (even if the numbers used have an unavoidable element of arbitrariness) was that it limited the ability of wealthy retirees to use super as a pure tax dodge.
Super is meant to be for retirement
Funds in super retirement accounts have a zero tax rate on earnings and are untaxed when withdrawn.
The original decision in March 2020 to halve minimum withdrawals possibly made some sense. Following a peak on February 20 2020, stock markets plunged and super funds suffered negative returns (minus 10.3% in the March quarter, according to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority).
Withdrawing funds, possibly not currently needed, from a tax-preferred portfolio at a time when its value was (hopefully temporarily) depressed was not an optimal wealth management strategy.
Those sufficiently well-off and able to draw on assets outside super, could now draw down less in order to maximise super tax benefits.
The less well-off (without significant financial assets outside of super) got no such benefit. They still needed to draw down at a similar rate for living expenses, or cut back consumption.
There are possibly some (probably not many), between these two groups, for whom the policy change meant improved whole-of-retirement living standards given the subsequent recovery in super fund returns. And the announcement may have had some beneficial psychological effects!
So, it was possible to give the original decision a tick of approval.
The S&P/ASX 200 has more than recovered from last year’s crisis
But what about the decision to extend the halving of minimum withdrawal rates for another entire financial year?
The explanation in the media release is little more than unsubstantiated waffle.
Today’s announcement extends that reduction to the 2021-22 income year and continues to make life easier for our retirees by giving them more flexibility and choice in their retirement.
For many retirees, the significant losses in financial markets as a result of the COVID-19 crisis are still having a negative effect on the account balance of their superannuation pension.
The second sentence certainly warrants scrutiny.
APRA statistics show that in the year to March 2021 the rate of return for institutional super funds was 18.2%
This is well in excess of what was required to reverse the temporary loss in the March quarter of 2020 that prompted the original decision.
These APRA statistics for March 2021 were published on May 25.
The information underlying them was presumably available to the government well before its announcement on May 29.
The APRA figures are aggregates. There might be some individual funds that have not recovered from the losses of a year earlier, but each of the categories of institutional funds in the APRA statistics appear to have done so.
The APRA statistics do not include self-managed funds, and some of them might not have fully recovered (we don’t know). But even if so, that would reflect decisions about asset allocations in the control of the fund members.
This means the second sentence of the explanation reproduced above is at best unproven, and likely wrong.
The first sentence is, of course, tautologically true. The extension will indeed give retirees more flexibility in their retirement.
Super as a tax dodge
But the rationale for the drawdown requirement was to limit the use of super as a wealth maximisation strategy for the benefit of heirs.
The purpose of super is meant to be to provide income security and a reasonable standard of living in retirement.
That’s what the 200-page report of the retirement income review commissioned by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told him in November.
The key beneficiaries of the extension will be the well-off who already get the most benefit from Australia’s super system.
Retirees who need super to live on won’t benefit in the least.
Kevin Davis is a Board Member of Super Consumers Australia, but this is a personal perspective, and nothing in the article should be inferred to represent views or policies of that organisation.
A 2007 photo shoot from The Bold and The Beautiful in a time before social distancing.10play
In a new series, our writers nominate the TV series keeping them entertained during a time of COVID.
In The Bold and The Beautiful last week, Steffy Forrester (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) married Dr John “Finn” Finnegan (Tanner Novlan). It was an unusual wedding for a soap opera. Not because Finn’s villainous, absent birth mother was about to leap from the shadows and reveal herself (that’s par for the course).
Rather, because for almost the entire trajectory of their characters’ romance, Wood and Novlan were not permitted to touch.
When the pandemic hit in March 2020, American television production shut down. In June that year, The Bold and The Beautiful was the first US network TV drama to resume shooting. Strict COVID guidelines included regular testing and mandatory masks and face shields off camera. Scenes featuring only one or two actors, rather than ensembles, became commonplace. On camera, actors were unmasked but maintained strict social distancing.
This presented problems, because soaps revolve around romance. How do you make a soap opera without kissing?
In other instances, actors kissed mannequins. One kiss between Carter Walton (Lawrence Saint-Victor) and Zoe Buckingham (Kiara Barnes), where Zoe was strangely rigid, went viral.
The mannequins became a cult hit, ending up with a plotline of their own featuring troubled fashion designer Thomas Forrester (Matthew Atkinson), who began to hallucinate that a mannequin designed to look like the woman he was in love with actually became her.
This plotline kicked off a narrative trajectory (involving mistaken identity, an unplanned pregnancy, an altered paternity test and a wrongful arrest) that ultimately ended with Steffy and Finn’s wedding.
It kept me company during the long, long days of last year’s second lockdown in Melbourne: one reliable bright spot in a time that was anything but.
I have been a soap viewer since I was 12. I used to watch Days of Our Lives, The Young and the Restless and Passions during school holidays or when home sick. The Bold and The Beautiful, though, has always been “my” show. I’ve watched it steadily now for over 20 years. A lot in my life has changed in that period, but Bold has always been there, consistent in its melodrama. (Found at 4:30pm on Channel Ten, every day of the week).
The Bold and The Beautiful, for those who have never caught five minutes of it before the news, is an American soap opera set in the world of high fashion in Los Angeles.
It centres on three key families — the Forresters, the Logans, and the Spencers — who have been falling in love with each other, trying to murder each other, and stealing fashion designs from each other since 1987.
Clayton Norcross as Thorne Forrester, Joanna Johnson as Caroline Spencer and Ron Moss as Ridge Forrester, circa 1988. 10play
For many years, the central focus was designer Ridge Forrester (Ronn Moss) and his love triangle with Brooke Logan and Taylor Hayes. Ridge and co are still around (although Ridge is now played by Thorsten Kaye), but the central action now focuses on their children — including our most recent newlywed, (for the fifth time,) Steffy.
In Melbourne, we’re now in our sixth lockdown. It’s not fun, but knowing I can sit down every afternoon at 4:30 for half an hour of high fashion hijinks helps get me through.
For half an hour, I don’t need to think deeply: all I need to wonder is how Steffy is going to feel about her new evil mother-in-law, and what will happen if Thomas ever encounters that mannequin again.
I also exchange text messages with my own mother about the more disastrous fashion choices.
Jacqueline MacInnes Wood (Steffy) and Tanner Novlan ‘Finn’ in The Bold and The Beautiful. Bell-Phillip Television Productions
Slow drip TV
Free to air is not, generally speaking, how we watch TV now. We’re accustomed to bingeing entire seasons. Currently, 10play has episodes of Bold going back to 2020 (so you could watch the mannequin arc), and a good collection of classic episodes. But this barely scratches the surface. There are over 8,000 Bold episodes and counting.
The show is designed for slow-drip, routine watching. Soaps are for returning to day after day, not bingeing. They’re also made with a distracted viewer in mind, so key plot points are always reiterated several times. And during lockdown, this has been exactly what I needed.
No matter what the case numbers look like, The Bold and The Beautiful will be there for me, as it has been since I was 12. The plot will always be bananas (although a few weeks ago, with the advent of COVID vaccinations, the actors returned to kissing each other instead of mannequins). If I somehow manage to miss an episode (unlikely, during lockdown), they’ll always explain things again the next day.
Everything in the world might be unstable and disquieting, but I can always rely on one thing: the Forresters, Logans and Spencers will never stop fighting and falling in love at 4:30pm.
Jodi McAlister 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.
New Zealand’s streets were largely silent today as the three-day nationwide alert-level 4 lockdown kicked in with 10 cases of covid-19 reported so far — the first outbreak for more than six months.
As test results rolled in this morning, it was announced four other people were covid-19 positive. The new cases were linked to Case A, a 58-year-old Devonport tradesman, diagnosed with the virus yesterday.
It was subsequently confirmed he had the delta variant, something health experts already took for granted.
Two more cases were announced at the 1pm media briefing by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield, again all linked to Case A, and another three were added to the total towards the end of the day.
The three include a 60-year-old woman who has no known link to the existing cluster, but does have a link to the border.
The other two are a man in his 20s who is the partner of a known case who was reported as a positive case this morning; and a woman in her 20s who has a connection with another case reported today.
Two of the cases announced at 1pm today have also now been linked to existing cases, including a female teenager who was a close contact of a case reported today and a man in his 20s who visited the household where three of the cases reported today live.
AUT student among cases An Auckland University of Technology student who was at a lecture yesterday is also among the new cases of covid-19 reported in the community today. The student was infectious when attending a social institutions lecture in room WG403 on AUT’s City Campus between 11.30am and 1pm yesterday.
The first seven cases in the delta variant outbreak of covid-19 New Zealand. A further three have been announced – two connected to the cluster, and one who is not, but has a link to the border. Graphic: Vinay Ranchhod/RNZ
Other positive cases
A 29-year-old workmate of Case A
A 25-year-old female teacher at Avondale College who is a flatmate of Case A’s workmate.
A 20-year-old man, a flatmate of Case A’s workmate.
Two friends of those living in the flat tested positive – a 21-year-old woman and a man aged 19.
A man in his 20s who is the partner of a known case, and a woman in her 20s who has a connection to the other cases.
A woman in her 60s who does not have a connection to the other nine cases but does have a connection to the border.
Further details about the three most recent cases will be announced at the 1pm update tomorrow.
Ardern this afternoon also confirmed genome sequencing had linked Case A to the New South Wales outbreak.
She said three people had tested positive with this covid strain in New Zealand managed isolation facilities, including two this month. It will be known later this evening if Case A’s strain matched either of these strains in managed isolation.
It was announced that one of the women infected had visited a North Shore church on Sunday morning and also gone to a nightclub in Auckland’s central city on Sunday night.
Central Auckland Church of Christ in Freemans Bay and SkyCity Casino are being treated as important locations of interest.
Dr Bloomfield and modeller Professor Michael Plank said cases of the delta variant could exceed 100, but that the hard lockdown would give authorities time to stamp it out.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern kept media informed of developments. Image: Samuel Rillstone/RNZ
Mask-wearing made mandatory The government made it mandatory to wear masks while visiting essential services, including supermarkets and petrol stations.
Speaking to media this afternoon, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said: “From 11.50pm tonight, it will be mandatory for everyone aged 12 and over to wear a mask when they are visiting any of the essential services that are currently open, including supermarkets, pharmacies and service stations.”
Staff will also be required to wear a mask. Mandatory mask use includes places like bus terminals and taxis.
Supermarket panic buying Meanwhile, supermarkets have experienced a run on products, with stocks being diminished as people panic-buy items during lockdown.
Supermarket chain Countdown is continuing to limit the amount of some products people can buy in Auckland and the Coromandel, as shelves empty fast.
Countdown also says it has purchased an extra 2000 crates of fresh fruit and vegetables to boost its fresh produce supply.
Finance Minister backs recovery Also addressing media today was Finance Minister Grant Robertson, who said he was confident the the economy would be resilient in the face of the current outbreak.
Robertson yesterday announced businesses that had a 40 percent drop in revenue would be eligible for the wage subsidy scheme and could also apply for the resurgence support payment.
He said the government did not need to take on additional borrowing at this time.
“Clearly if we were in a situation as we were last year and we had a very extended lockdown, the Reserve Bank would look at what its role is.”
Fear of Aucklanders taking delta to holiday homes Residents in Northland said today they were concerned to see high traffic levels heading up highways, fearing Aucklanders were coming en masse to stay in holiday bachs, potentially bringing the delta variant with them.
Police turned back vehicles heading into the Coromandel and urged the public not to set up their own checkpoints.
Vaccinations to resume Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced this afternoon a resumption of vaccinations, paused to ensure public safety during the transition to alert level 4 lockdown.
Ardern said plans are being activated for all DHBs to resume vaccinations under level 4 conditions, and in some cases they would resume today.
She said people who had booked in for a vaccine for tomorrow onwards should go to receive the jab, even if they had not heard anything.
“To put it bluntly if you’ve had the vaccine you are less likely to catch covid-19 and much less likely to get sick or die,” she told the 1pm media briefing.
Approximately 50 people attended an anti-lockdown protest in Auckland’s CBD.Photo: RNZ / Katie Doyle
Conspiracy theorist arrested While people adjusted to the new health crisis, other less well-adjusted came out on the the streets to protest what they claimed was an unjust infringement of civil liberties.
Prominent conspiracy theorist Billy TK led the small crowd of about 50 protesters outside TVNZ’s HQ in Auckland and was arrested by police. Police confirmed four arrests and four further arrests at a protest in Tauranga.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said police would not hesitate to arrest people at unlawful gatherings during lockdown.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Scott Morrison has said Afghans in Australia on temporary protection visas who came by boat will not be given permanent residence.
These people had not come “the right way”, Morrison told a news conference on Wednesday.
“I want to be very clear about that. I want to send a very clear message to people smugglers in the region that nothing’s changed.
“I will not give you a product to sell and take advantage of people’s misery. My government won’t do it. We never have and we never will.”
Government sources say there are more than 4500 Afghans in Australia on temporary protection visas, almost all of whom arrived by boat.
Although Morrison is adamant they will not get permanent residency, the government is making it clear there will be no attempt to return them to Afghanistan as things stand.
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese is among those who have called for them to be granted permanent residence.
The government announced on Wednesday an initial 3,000 humanitarian places would be allocated to Afghan nationals within Australia’s 13,750 annual program which runs over a financial year.
Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said the government would give Afghan nationals “first priority” within the offshore humanitarian program. The priorities would be family members of Australians, and those facing persecution including women and girls, the Hazara, and other vulnerable groups.
Some 8,500 Afghans have been resettled in Australia since 2013 under the humanitarian program.
Hawke said the government anticipated the initial allocation would increase further over the course of the year.
Morrison stressed: “We will only be resettling people through our official humanitarian program going through official channels.
“We will not be allowing people to enter Australia illegally, even at this time.
“Our policy has not changed. We will be supporting Afghans who have legitimate claims through our official and legitimate processes. We will not be providing that pathway to those who would seek to come any other way. That is a very important message. The government’s policy has not changed, will not change.”
As the government scrambles to evacuate people who assisted Australian forces in Afghanistan, Australia’s first evacuation flight from Kabul took only 26 people. Morrison said they included Australian citizens, Afghan nationals with visas, and one foreign official who had been working with an international agency.
The Afghans being brought to Australia in the evacuation are not included in the 3000.
Morrison emphasised the difficulty of assessing those Afghans seeking to come to Australia on the grounds of having helped Australian forces.
“They may have worked for us four years ago or five years ago. And we knew where they were then.
“And we may not have heard from them for a very long time. And we don’t know what they’ve been doing in that intervening period in what has been a very unstable situation.
“So it isn’t just a matter of people coming along and presenting, you know, a payslip from the Australian government saying, ‘I used to work for you’. I wish it were that simple.”
The Refugee Council of Australia said in a statement: “Permanent protection is needed for the 4300 Afghans on temporary protection visas, recognising that members of this group are unlikely to be able to return in safety for many years to come and need the assurance that they can continue to live in Australia without the constant fear of forced return.”
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.
As well as her interviews with politicians and experts, Politics with Michelle Grattan now includes “Word from The Hill”, where she discusses the news with members of The Conversation politics team.
In this episode, politics + society editor Amanda Dunn and Michelle discuss the lost war in Afghanistan, as Australia tries to secure the evacuation of its citizens and Afghans who assisted the Australian Defence Force. They also canvass the government’s hard line towards Afghans who came to Australia by boat and are on temporary protection visas.
Additional audio
Gaena, Blue Dot Sessions, from Free Music Archive.
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.
As well as her interviews with politicians and experts, Politics with Michelle Grattan now includes “Word from The Hill”, where she discusses the news with members of The Conversation politics team.
In this episode, politics + society editor Amanda Dunn and Michelle discuss the lost war in Afghanistan, as Australia tries to secure the evacuation of its citizens and Afghans who assisted the Australian Defence Force. They also canvass the government’s hard line towards Afghans who came to Australia by boat and are on temporary protection visas.
Additional audio
Gaena, Blue Dot Sessions, from Free Music Archive.
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.
An Auckland University of Technology (AUT) student who was at a lecture yesterday is among the 10 new cases of covid-19 reported in the community in New Zealand.
The first case of the highly infectious delta variant in this outbreak was announced yesterday.
Since then there have been nine new cases of covid-19, including three reported this evening by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s office.
The AUT student was at a social institutions lecture at the school’s City Campus between 11.30am and 1pm yesterday.
The school has identified 84 other people who were at the lecture.
Speaking to RNZ Checkpoint, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins also confirmed there had been new cases.
“We’re seeing more cases coming through, I don’t have details of those cases. But yes, I can confirm that we have further positive test results since the press conference today.”
Not the index case Hipkins also said it was “almost certain” the first case announced yesterday, a 58-year-old Devonport man, was not the index case connected to the border.
“Almost certain they were given covid-19 by someone else. What we’re trying to do is identify how many steps in that chain of transmission there are before we got to the Devonport case.”
He added that a decision on vaccinating people under 16 years old for covid-19 would come soon.
“I’m not announcing something on your show tonight but you can expect to hear more very shortly on that.”
Meanwhile, the Countdown supermarket chain is continuing to limit the amount of some products people can buy in Auckland and the Coromandel, as shelves empty in the latest lockdown.
The supermarket applied a limit of six on some products yesterday evening, which includes toilet paper, flour, bags of rice, dry pasta, UHT milk, frozen vegetables, baby formula and pet food.
It says it will monitor stock levels around the country and will make changes to limits if needed.
Countdown also says it has purchased an extra 2000 crates of fresh fruit and vegetables to boost its fresh produce supply.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Selwyn Manning and Paul G. Buchanan discuss cyber-warfare, Pegasus, and the rise of hybrid tactics.
A View from Afar: Selwyn Manning and Paul Buchanan will present this week’s podcast, A View from Afar, LIVE at midday Thursday where they will analyse the crisis, the tragedy, unfolding in Afghanistan, including an apparent intelligence failure.
Unanswered questions, to be considered, include:
Why were United States intelligence unable to predict how poised and ready the Taliban were?
How did the Taliban prepare to take every province, every city in Afghanistan, and keep their readiness a secret while they waited for the final phase of the US-led withdrawal to begin?
What should we make of the Taliban leadership? Should we be reassured or concerned at the Taliban’s words of transition?
And, has United States president Joe Biden damaged his reputation beyond repair, in justifying the method of the US’s withdrawal in a speech laced with a cold indifference toward the human carnage that unfolded at Kabul airport?
WE INVITE YOU TO PARTICIPATE WHILE WE ARE LIVE WITH COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS IN THE RECORDING OF THIS PODCAST:
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Compulsory COVID vaccination is in the news again now Qantas has just announced its employees will need a shot.
This follows fruit and vegetable processing company SPC announcing vaccines would be compulsory for onsite staff, a move that’s attracted some backlash.
If you are an employer and thinking about a vaccine mandate for your workers, there are many things to consider. And if you want to go down that pathas a last resort here’s how to do it ethically.
In Australia, public health orders have paved the way for mandates in workplaces, such as quarantine and construction. Now attention is turning to vaccine mandates in businesses.
The federal government says in the absence of specific health orders, it’s up to businesses to decide if a vaccine mandate is appropriate. Aside from vaccine mandates in aged care, the federal government says vaccine mandates are not for government to impose. Not everyoneagrees. Employers are also receiving updated messages about whether a vaccine mandate is legal and under what circumstances.
If vaccine mandates are introduced at work, it’s critical they are introduced ethically. And the World Health Organization has guidance on this.
Of the issues it raises, two stand out as being directly relevant to workplaces — necessity and trust.
In other words, is a vaccine mandate a necessary, reasonable and proportionate response to a public health problem? This is not an easy or one-off decision. This is because the background risk of COVID infection can change rapidly, as we are seeing in Australia.
Second, how can employers approach the issue, while fostering mutual trust between them, their workers and public health agencies? The issue of fostering trust is what we’ll focus on.
Promote choice first
You might not actually need a vaccine mandate. Offer alternatives before mandates, where possible, as a way of promoting trust.
Here are things businesses can and should try to promote choice:
make getting the vaccine easy. This could include making it available at work or facilitating appointments for any staff who want help booking in. Pay particular attention to those who are not online or need help navigating the system. Government assistance to help people book an appointment is extremely limited. So businesses who want high uptake among staff should be prepared to take on this responsibility
make sure there are no financial burdens associated with receiving the vaccine. All staff, including casual staff, should be givenpaid time off to receive the vaccine and sick leave if they feel unwell following it
if staff are concerned about being vaccinated, facilitate access to reliable information and opportunities to ask questions/receive information in person. This is more than providing a link to a website. It must include working with local health workers to ensure time is given for on-site information sessions (in a language other than English if needed)
offer alternatives where they are feasible and effective. If a mandate is deemed necessary, consider whether it is possible to achieve the same outcomes (for example, reduced infection in the workplace) by using other public health measures for people who do not want to be vaccinated. Such measures could include alternative work arrangements and frequent COVID testing.
The second way employers can foster trust, is to make decisions in a way that’s fair and to ensure stakeholders feel supported and included. This procedural justice or fair decision-making process is intended to promote legitimacy — the idea that the decision is a good one — and deal with any disagreements.
One such approach argues decisions must be fully transparent, relevant, revisable and enforceable.
Here are some ways businesses can help ensure processes are fair when they are considering a mandate and whether they should decide to impose one:
involve stakeholders. Mandates should never come as a surprise. Do staff support a mandate? What is the justification for a mandate? Have open conversations and, if a mandate is agreed on, include staff in the team that develops communication materials for it. Include unions in discussions.
be clear about the justification for and the goal of the mandate. How long will a vaccine mandate be required? Is the mandate a response to an immediate threat or envisaged as ongoing company policy? If the latter, the business must be able to argue it will continue to be necessary and proportionate, and this may be difficult
support enforcement. Any mandate must be enforceable. Have a plan for how this will happen and make sure people who are responsible for enforcing colleagues’ compliance are supported. Any vaccine mandate must include medical exemptions and these should follow government guidance. It is not appropriate for businesses to create their own medical exemption policies.
Qantas consulted with staff to better understand the appetite for a mandate. More than half the company’s workers responded to a questionnaire, and three-quarters of those who answered supported a vaccine mandate.
A questionnaire is a good start, as is the company’s policy of providing paid time off to receive the vaccine.
Without more information, it’s difficult to know how well supported workers who didn’t support the mandate or didn’t respond to the questionnaire might be feeling, or what Qantas is doing to address this as part of its mandate process.
We also don’t know whether the company used less liberty restricting methods to try to maximise vaccination. (Telstra, for example, offered every vaccinated worker a voucher for use in its store).
Qantas has announced that the mandate applies to all staff. But such a blanket mandate is difficult to justify. Staff should feel safe at work, but there are many different kinds of roles in a company the size of Qantas and not all of those roles take place in high exposure settings.
In a nutshell
Maintaining and promoting trust is important when it comes to vaccine mandates. It matters to people subject to mandates and it matters to the public more broadly because mutual trust is a cornerstone of effective public health engagement.
People should feel supported in their health decision making and they should trust and feel respected by their employers.
We’re seeing increasing politicisation about COVID public health measures, in Australia and internationally. This is a social harm we should avoid.
Holly Seale is an investigator on research studies funded by NHMRC and has previously received funding for investigator driven research from NSW Ministry of Health, as well as from Sanofi Pasteur and Seqirus. She is the Deputy Chair of the Collaboration on Social Science and Immunisation.
Jane Williams 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.
The announcement by BHP, the world’s second-largest mining company, that it will shift its oil and gas assets into a joint venture with Australian outfit Woodside is a clear indication the “Big Australian” is getting out of the carbon-based fuel industry.
BHP has also been offloading thermal coal assets. It sold its share in the Cerrejon coal mine in Columbia to Glencore (the world’s biggest mining company) in June. It has written down the value of its Mt Arthur mine in Australia’s Hunter Valley while it looks for a buyer.
But if the oil wells, gas fields and coal mines are still there, what difference do these asset sales make? To answer this question, it is necessary to understand the broader logic of divestment, as championed by the divestment movement.
The divestment agenda
The immediate aim of the divestment movement is to end new investment in oil, gas and coal, with the ultimate aim of decarbonising the economy.
Over the past few years, with much prodding, financial institutions around the world have adopted divestment policies aiming to end or reduce their involvement in the carbon economy.
The initial focus has been on thermal coal, used in electricity generation. Coal mines and coal-fired power stations have been excluded almost entirely from global financial market. New developments now rely almost exclusively on finance from China, largely through the Belt and Road Initiative (and even this source is drying up).
In Australia, all the major banks and insurers, along with many superannuation funds, having now adopted policies to end their involvement with thermal coal. Now attention is turning to oil and gas.
Divestment policies, like those of Westpac and the Commonwealth Bank, now commonly exclude new oil and gas projects (though there are often escape clauses for companies with policies “aligned with the Paris climate goals”).
The recognition that oil and gas has a limited future is reflected in the massive drop in “upstream” capital expenditure on exploration and development. Capital expenditure in 2020 fell below half the peak level of 2014, and only a modest recovery is expected after the pandemic.
BHP’s choice
BHP and others therefore face a choice.
They can join the divestment movement, by selling carbon assets and focusing on other mining activities or on renewable energy.
Alternatively, they can become “pure play” coal, oil and gas businesses, profitable in the short run but increasingly excluded from investment portfolios and, ultimately, from normal financial transactions like banking and insurance.
This is the likely fate of the Woodside-BHP joint venture. The effect is similar to the “bad bank” structures created in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis to acquire non-performing loans and other dubious financial assets built up during the pre-2008 boom.
By offloading these assets, taking some losses in the process, the major global banks were able to recapitalise and resume their customary place at the centre of the financial universe.
Keeping institutions happy
The result will leave BHP shareholders with two separate holdings — one in BHP and one in the joint venture. The institutional shareholders who pushed for the divestment will now be able to dump these joint-venture shares and retain their holdings in BHP, which will (once the remaining coal assets are sold) now be safe from pressure for divestment.
Pressure didn’t come only from shareholders. Banks and other key institutional players were also key. Reports indicate the “all-stock” deal with Woodside was chosen precisely because it would have been impossible to arrange bank financing for the new venture.
Banks will now be free to continue dealing with BHP, one of their biggest customers, while leaving the oil and gas venture to lower-tier lenders willing to take the financial and reputational risk.
A justifiable exit strategy
It may be argued that, rather than disposing of its oil and gas assets, BHP should have taken action to shut them down.
This argument has been put forward both by environmentalists and Ivan Glasenberg, the chief executive of Glencore, the only major global miner to have chosen to stay in the coal business. Glasenberg has argued divestment is pointless because it simply makes fossil fuel assets “someone else’s issue”. Better to retain ownership of coal mines and phase them out gradually, he says.
Whether Glencore ever delivers on this strategy remains to be seen. But in light of the whole divestment agenda, BHP’s move is clearly more than a portfolio rearrangement.
For now, “pure play” oil, gas and coal companies can continue to generate profits. As global corporations, banks and insurers withdraw from the sector, however, the capacity of the remaining firms to resist regulatory and legal pressures to shut down will diminish.
Sooner or later, for example, it’s likely courts will find those responsible for carbon emissions liable for the damage caused by fires, sea level rise and other effects of climate change.
Without backing from banks and insurers, the costs of this litigation will fall directly on carbon-based corporations and their shareholders.
BHP, which was founded in 1885 and plans to be around for the long term, has seen the writing on the wall. It is getting out while it can.
John Quiggin owns shares in BHP. He has given his proxy vote to Market Forces, a shareholder organization which advocates divestment.
The Auckland Hospital nurse who has tested positive for covid-19 worked four shifts not knowing she had the virus, says New Zealand’s Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield.
The 21-year-old nurse is a flatmate of a man who worked with the first case to be discovered and announced yesterday. She was fully vaccinated, the Ministry of Health said earlier.
Auckland Hospital had written to all staff asking them to stay home if unwell, to wear masks and to restrict their movement around the central city buildings as much as possible.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there had not been any cases from New South Wales at Auckland Hospital.
Dr Bloomfield said there was no suggestion that the nurse worked in any other health facilities.
There are two new cases of covid-19 in the community, in addition to the four announced earlier today.
All case friends He said the two new cases were linked to the current outbreak and were in Auckland. They are friends with the four cases reported this morning.
NZ’s Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield … with the latest cases being active young people in their 20s, many locations of interest are expected. Image: Samuel Rillstone/RNZ
Dr Bloomfield said there were also three cases in managed isolation.
The other four cases found earlier today include a work colleague of the case found yesterday, who is a 20-year-old man. He has three flatmates — including the Auckland Hospital nurse — and has been working in recent days.
There is also a 25-year-old teacher at Avondale College and a 29-year-old man.
The two more recent cases found today include a 21-year-old woman and 19-year-old man who both live in Auckland and are linked to the current cases as friends.
The wife of the original case has returned a second negative test.
Dr Bloomfield said contact tracing capacity had been increased, and with the latest cases being active young people in their 20s, there were expected to be many locations of interest.
Locations updating Those locations would be constantly updated as more information comes to hand, he said.
Dr Bloomfield said calls to Healthline should be restricted to seeking a test.
On genome sequencing, Prime Minister Ardern said overnight it has been confirmed that the outbreak was the delta variant, and that it was linked to the NSW outbreak.
She said only three positive cases had arrived into MIQ from Sydney since 1 July. One on August 9 on their day 1 test, and two on August 14 on their day three test.
These three cases were being genome sequenced right now, as part of the usual processes, Ardern said.
Ardern said everyone who came from NSW and Queensland was compliant with the travel restrictions.
She said despite that, the government was preparing to contact all cases who had arrived from Australia should they find the community case was not linked to the three positive cases from MIQ.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Cook Islands has suspended the travel bubble with New Zealand after NZ officials reported new covid-19 community cases in Auckland.
Four new community cases have been reported by health authorities — including an Auckland nurse — taking the total to five.
The new cases are all linked to yesterday’s first case in Auckland, which has been confirmed as delta variant.
“While the epidemiological variance and transmission link for the community case in New Zealand is still being investigated, we must act swiftly here to minimise exposure risk for the Cook Islands so we remain safe,” said Prime Minister Mark Brown.
This alert level change will mean that international inwards passenger arrivals for 72 hours through to Thursday have been suspended.
The pause on international arrivals will allow Te Marae Ora Ministry of Health to test arriving passengers from August 11.
This also means domestic travel to the Pa Enua from Rarotonga is suspended until Thursday.
Passengers can return to NZ Passengers can return to New Zealand from Rarotonga. Passengers from Pa Enua can return back to Rarotonga.
The alert level change and travel bubble suspension was announced after a 58-year-old Devonport man tested positive yesterday in Auckland, New Zealand, after visiting a GP. He was infectious from August 12.
The man, who was not vaccinated, and his wife travelled to Coromandel over the weekend. His wife was fully vaccinated.
He is considered to have become infectious on August 12. There were 23 locations of interest, 10 in Auckland and 13 in Coromandel.
Auckland and Coromandel went into level 4 lockdown for seven days – and the rest of New Zealand for three days – from 11.59pm (NZ time) last night.
While announcing the nationwide alert level change last night, Prime Minister Brown said the Cabinet made the decision based on the information available “at this time, all necessary precautions have been considered”.
“While the epidemiological variance and transmission link for the community case in New Zealand is still being investigated, we must act swiftly here to minimise exposure risk for the Cook Islands so we remain safe,” Brown said.
Cooks Cabinet to meet “This is a good time to remind ourselves of the need to practice good hygiene measures, and to actively tag in with Cooksafe and Cooksafe+.”
The Cook Islands Cabinet will meet again today to consider new updated information received and next steps.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said last night the positive case could not be confirmed as delta until genome sequencing was confirmed today, but every recent MIQ case had been delta.
“We’ve seen the dire consequences of taking too long to act in other countries, not least our neighbours … the (family) bubble is back,” she said.
Ardern said the delta variant was potentially twice as infectious and more liable to cause severe illness.
“We are one of the last countries in the world to have the delta variant in our community. This has given us the chance to learn from others.”
She said delta was a “game-changer” and there needed to be a rapid response to stop the spread.
“We only get one chance.”
Ardern said physical distancing was even more important given how easily delta can be transmitted – including through the air. There would be a 48-hour window for people to relocate in New Zealand.
Cook Islands News stories are republished by Asia Pacific Report with permission.
Immigration Secretary Yogesh Karan has confirmed that 13 Fijians who are currently stuck in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover last Sunday are safe and officials are working to repatriate them as soon as possible.
Karan said two worked for private contractors and the other 11 were with international organisations.
He said they had had a discussion with the Australian High Commission which gave an assurance that they would make every effort to “include our people in the evacuation flight”.
Karan said it was very difficult to contact them because Fiji did not have a mission in Afghanistan and they are trying to contact them via New Delhi.
He added Fiji was also working with UN agencies and the Indian government to get them out of there as quickly as possible.
Karan was also requesting anyone who had contacts with anyone in Afghanistan to let the ministry know so they could note their details.
NZ promises repatriation RNZ News reports that people promised help in getting out of Afghanistan were desperate for information, saying they did not know where they should be or who to contact.
New Zealand citizens and at least 200 Afghans who helped New Zealand’s efforts in the country were expected to be repatriated.
Diamond Kazimi, a former interpreter for the NZ Defence Force in Afghanistan, who now lives in New Zealand, has been getting calls from those who helped the military and wanted to know when help is coming.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to 104 New Zealanders in Afghanistan but would not say where they were, what advice they were being given, or how they planned to make sure they were on the repatriation flight.
As the Taliban has taken control of the country, Afghanistan has again become an extremely dangerous place to be a woman.
Even before the fall of Kabul on Sunday, the situation was rapidly deteriorating, exacerbated by the planned withdrawal of all foreign military personnel and declining international aid.
In the past few weeks alone, there have been many reports of casualties and violence. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes.
The United Nations Refugee Agency says about 80 percent of those who have fled since the end of May are women and children.
What does the return of the Taliban mean for women and girls?
The history of the Taliban The Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 1996, enforcing harsh conditions and rules following their strict interpretation of Islamic law.
The Taliban have taken back control of Afghanistan with the withdrawal of foreign troops. Image: Rahmut Gul/AP/AAP
Under their rule, women had to cover themselves and only leave the house in the company of a male relative. The Taliban also banned girls from attending school, and women from working outside the home. They were also banned from voting.
Women were subject to cruel punishments for disobeying these rules, including being beaten and flogged, and stoned to death if found guilty of adultery. Afghanistan had the highest maternal mortality rate in the world.
The past 20 years With the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the situation for women and girls vastly improved, although these gains were partial and fragile.
Women now hold positions as ambassadors, ministers, governors, and police and security force members. In 2003, the new government ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which requires states to incorporate gender equality into their domestic law.
The 2004 Afghan Constitution holds that “citizens of Afghanistan, man and woman, have equal rights and duties before the law”. Meanwhile, a 2009 law was introduced to protect women from forced and under-age marriage, and violence.
According to Human Rights Watch, the law saw a rise in the reporting, investigation and, to a lesser extent, conviction, of violent crimes against women and girls.
While the country has gone from having almost no girls at school to tens of thousands at university, the progress has been slow and unstable. UNICEF reports of the 3.7 million Afghan children out of school some 60 percent are girls.
A return to dark days Officially, Taliban leaders have said they want to grant women’s rights “according to Islam”. But this has been met with great scepticism, including by women leaders in Afghanistan.
Indeed, the Taliban has given every indication they will reimpose their repressive regime.
In July, the United Nations reported the number of women and girls killed and injured in the first six months of the year nearly doubled compared to the same period the year before.
In the areas again under Taliban control, girls have been banned from school and their freedom of movement restricted. There have also been reports of forced marriages.
Afghan women and human rights groups have been sounding the alarm over the Taliban’s return. Image: Hedayatullah Amid/EPA/AAP
Women are putting burqas back on and speak of destroying evidence of their education and life outside the home to protect themselves from the Taliban.
As one anonymous Afghan woman writes in The Guardian:
“I did not expect that we would be deprived of all our basic rights again and travel back to 20 years ago. That after 20 years of fighting for our rights and freedom, we should be hunting for burqas and hiding our identity.”
Many Afghans are angered by the return of the Taliban and what they see as their abandonment by the international community. There have been protests in the streets. Women have even taken up guns in a rare show of defiance.
But this alone will not be enough to protect women and girls.
The world looks the other way Currently, the US and its allies are engaged in frantic rescue operations to get their citizens and staff out of Afghanistan. But what of Afghan citizens and their future?
US President Joe Biden remained largely unmoved by the Taliban’s advance and the worsening humanitarian crisis. In an August 14 statement, he said:
“an endless American presence in the middle of another country’s civil conflict was not acceptable to me.”
And yet, the US and its allies — including Australia — went to Afghanistan 20 years ago on the premise of removing the Taliban and protecting women’s rights. However, most Afghans do not believe they have experienced peace in their lifetimes.
Now that the Taliban has reasserted complete control over the country, the achievements of the past 20 years, especially those made to protect women’s rights and equality, are at risk if the international community once again abandons Afghanistan.
Women and girls are pleading for help. We hope the world will listen.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Blair, Emeritus Professor, ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery, OzGrav, The University of Western Australia
Why are middle school students losing interest in physics? Why is Australia falling behind in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)?
We in the Einstein-First project think we have the answer. It is because students’ internet experience of science is in complete conflict with the school curriculum.
For National Science Week, I spoke to 650 students aged from 5 to 11. I asked if they had heard of black holes. At least 80% raised their hands.
Where do we find black holes in the school curriculum? We don’t. You can’t talk about black holes using 19th-century physics because they are all about curved space and warped time.
Students have made it clear to us they think science at school is about “old stuff”.
This is why we must modernise the curriculum. We must replace 19th-century concepts with 21st-century concepts, and teach everyone the language of modern physics, starting in primary school.
Einstein’s discoveries in 1905 started a conceptual revolution. The final steps, Einstein’s theory of gravity in 1915 and de Broglie’s 1924 discovery that all matter and radiation have a combination of waviness and bulletiness (normally called wave particle duality), radically changed physicists’ ideas of space, time, matter and radiation. These discoveries are the foundational concepts for almost all modern technology.
Students explore orbits on a spacetime simulator. Einstein-First, Author provided
Ten years ago I asked: “Is it possible to teach Einsteinian concepts in primary school?” Colleagues said: “Of course not. You have to learn Newton’s physics first!”
I responded bluntly! Newtonian physics is wrong, both conceptually and factually. It says things can travel arbitrarily fast and gravity travels instantaneously, time is the same everywhere, mass and energy are independent of each other, and the universe runs like clockwork.
Our team ran an initial trial teaching Einsteinian physics in a primary school. Our most astonishing discovery was that children were not astonished: they just took the ideas in their stride. This led to eight years of trials in a variety of primary and high schools.
We taught the students that light comes as photons that have a combination of waviness and bulletiness, that space is curved by matter and this changes geometry, and that time is different on top of a mountain. None of this particularly surprised them.
And the children loved it. One year 3 teacher said:
“By the end they were using vocabulary and clearly understanding concepts that would normally not be introduced until high school. It was really hard to drag them away from their activities. What was surprising was that they so easily accepted concepts that most adults and teachers find very difficult.”
Activity-based learning works — and it’s fun
Students use nerf guns to learn about how photons eject electrons. Einstein-First, Author provided
The children love the activity-based learning. And they love toys, so we use toys wherever possible.
We use Nerf gun bullets as toy photons, ping-pong balls as toy electrons and toy molecules made of magnetic tennis balls and ping-pong balls. Sometimes we use toy cars as photons and use objects with increasing mass to increase their bulletiness (i.e. momentum). These toys allow experiments such as the dissociation of toy molecules by toy UV photons to explain why UV light can break our DNA and cause skin cancer, and why radio (and 5G!) photons are safe because they have much less bulletiness.
Einsteinian physics has enormous explanatory power, whether at the level of quantum interactions or gravity. Einsteinian gravity describes space as an elastic fabric. We use lycra as our two-dimensional toy spacetime. The stretching of space and time is easily measured and almost all gravitational phenomena can be observed by rolling various balls on the lycra, as the video below shows.
Students from year 3 and up have taken part in trials of the Einsteinian physics program.
Students at all levels love to play with these spacetime simulators. They study how photon trajectories are deflected when space is curved, how gravity gradient forces tear up comets, how orbits change their orientation in space (called precession), how stars and planets form and how galaxies get their shapes. As a year 7 teacher said:
“[It] makes it much easier to talk to students about interesting things, like the latest black hole discovery.”
Lessons that make sense of our world
The absorption of infrared photons by CO₂ molecules drives climate change. Toy molecules held together by magnets allow students to explore the different ways a CO₂ molecule vibrates compared with an O₂ molecule, and learn how photon absorption causes this.
We combine our toys with real but relatively low-cost devices, such as solar panels, electric drills, LED lights and laser pointers.
Laser pointers allow the waviness of light to be explored in a whole range of interference experiments. Solar panels demonstrate bulletiness, photons ejecting electrons, and are ideal for almost all electricity and energy studies at primary and middle school. A solar panel can drive a 12V electric drill, which can be used for lifting, creating frictional heat and using energy that comes from converting photons to a stream of electrons – the photoelectric effect for which Einstein won the Nobel Prize.
Helping teachers overcome their fears
The biggest obstacle to introducing Einsteinian physics is the scare factor for teachers. People still claim it’s too difficult for teachers. We have found if we put the activity first, like geometry on woks for example, teachers with no science background easily grasp the concept that the shape of space can be measured doing geometry.
Learning about geometry on curved space using an upturned wok. Einstein-First, Author provided
Teaching Einsteinian Physics in Schools is based on international experience involving more than 20 authors. It is presented at the level needed for school teachers, including some material for senior high school.
It is free of scary equations because these, whether Einsteinian or Newtonian, have no place in the school curriculum. Instead we teach lots about how to deal with the huge numbers and tiny numbers we must envisage to deal with the universe, as well as probability and “the maths of arrows” (vectors) because these powerful concepts are important for everyone.
Most students will not specialise in physics. The goal of Einstein-First is that all students should finish the compulsory years of science with the basic knowledge and vocabulary of our best understanding of the physical universe.
After trialling our year 7 program on gravity, a teacher reported:
“The lessons feature the modelling of concepts with hands-on ‘concrete’ materials, an instructional approach that provides multisensory learning opportunities allowing all students to be successfully included.”
“Girls benefit especially from the way the program is presented with group learning and activities. It is not intimidating, and teachers like myself enjoy the program because it makes my teaching feel much more worthwhile.”
“The notable thing about the Einsteinian physics lessons is that students are fully engaged, disruption is rare, and students with learning difficulties are practically indistinguishable from mainstream students.”
Einstein-First is a collaboration led by UWA, Curtin and
ANU, and funded by the Australian Research Council with additional
support from the WA government, the Independent Schools
Association of WA, the Gravity Discovery Centre and the Science
Teacher’s Association of WA.
I wish to acknowledge the enormous contributions of our team members including Jyoti Kaur, Kyla Adams, Shon Boublil, Anastasia Popkova, Darren McGoran, Aishwarya Banavathu, David Wood, David Treagust, Susan Scott, Grady Venville, Li Ju, Marjan Zadnik, Elaine Horne, Richard Meagher, Steve Humfrey and especially my co-editor, Magdalena Kersting, who took on the prodigious task of putting together our book Teaching Einsteinian Physics in Schools.
Swiss researchers at the University of Applied Sciences Graubünden this week claimed a new world record for calculating the number of digits of pi – a staggering 62.8 trillion figures. By my estimate, if these digits were printed out they would fill every book in the British Library ten times over. The researchers’ feat of arithmetic took 108 days and 9 hours to complete, and dwarfs the previous record of 50 trillion figures set in January 2020.
But why do we care?
The mathematical constant pi (π) is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, and is approximately 3.1415926536. With only these ten decimal places, we could calculate the circumference of Earth to a precision of less than a millimetre. With 32 decimal places, we could calculate the circumference of our Milky Way galaxy to the precision of the width of a hydrogen atom. And with only 65 decimal places, we would know the size of the observable universe to within a Planck length – the shortest possible measurable distance.
What use, then, are the other 62.79 trillion digits? While the short answer is that they are not scientifically useful at all, mathematicians and computer scientists will be eagerly awaiting the details of this gargantuan computation for a variety of reasons.
What makes pi so fascinating?
The concept of pi is simple enough for a primary school student to grasp, yet its digits are notoriously difficult to calculate. A number like 1/7 needs infinitely many decimals to write down – 0.1428571428571… – but the numbers repeat themselves every six places, making it easy to understand. Pi, on the other hand, is an example of an irrational number, in which there are no repeating patterns. Not only is pi irrational, but it is also transcendental, meaning it cannot be defined through any simple equation featuring whole numbers.
Mathematicians around the world have been computing pi since ancient times, but techniques to do so changed dramatically after the 17th century, with the development of calculus and the techniques of infinite series. For example, the Madhava series (named after the Indian-Hindu mathematician Madhava of Sangamagrama), says:
π = 4(1 – 1/3 + 1/5 – 1/7 + 1/9 – 1/11 + …)
By adding more and more terms, this computation gets closer and closer to the true value of pi. But it takes a long time — after 500,000 terms, it produces only five correct decimal places of pi!
The search for new formulae for pi adds to our mathematical understanding of the number, while also letting mathematicians vie for bragging rights in the quest for more digits. The infinite sum used in the 2020 recordbreaking effort was discovered in 1988 and can calculate 14 new digits of pi for each new term that is added to the sum.
While breaking the record may be one of the key motivators for finding new digits of pi, there are two other important benefits.
The first is the development and testing of supercomputers and new high-precision multiplication algorithms. Optimising the computation of pi leads to computer hardware and software that benefit many other areas of our lives, from accurate weather forecasting to DNA sequencing and even COVID modelling.
The latest computation of pi was 3.5 times as fast as the previous effort, despite the extra 12 trillion decimal places – an impressive increase in supercomputing performance in just 18 months.
Three point one for the road. Daniel Nydegger/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY
The second is the exploration of the very nature of pi. Despite centuries of research, there are still fundamental unanswered questions about the way its digits behave. It is conjectured that pi is a “normal” number, meaning all possible sequences of digits should appear equally often.
For example, we expect the digit 3 to appear as often as the digit 8, and the digit string “12345” to appear as often as “99999”. But we don’t even know if each decimal digit appears infinitely often in pi, let alone whether there are more complex patterns waiting to be discovered.
The data for the new pi computation have not yet been released, as the researchers are awaiting confirmation from the Guinness Book of Records. But we hope there will be many mathematically interesting treasures within the numbers.
We will never “finish” computing the digits of pi – there will always be more to find and new records to break. If you don’t happen to own a supercomputer, but you have a thirst for computing decimal digits (and a PhD in mathematics), why not try other interesting irrational numbers like √3 (only known to 10 billion digits), the tribonacci constant (20,000 digits), or the Twin Prime Constant (1,001 digits). You may not make the morning news, but it’s arguably an easier way to write yourself into the record books.
Julia Collins 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.
