The word “reparations” comes from the Latin verb reparāre, meaning “to repair.” However, nowadays, many people equate reparations with the payment of compensation or damages.
We need to understand and embrace the true meaning of the word and start to have genuine conversations about reparations for LGBTQ people — a group that has endured a long and painful history of persecution around the globe.
A brief history of gay persecution
Perhaps the most high-profile persecutions of gays were those perpetrated by the Nazis during the second world war. Thousands of gay men were sent to concentration camps where they were forced to wear a pink triangle and ultimately killed.
But the history of gay persecution predates the Holocaust, and has continued after the Nazi regime ended.
From the 12th century, gays in Christian Europe were castrated, decapitated, drowned in swamps and burned at the stake. And in modern times, the state-sanctioned killing of LGBTQ people continues in many countries, including Iran and Saudi Arabia.
There are still 71 countries that criminalise consensual gay sex — half of which are Commonwealth nations — but thankfully this number is going down.
What are gay reparations?
There are numerous forms that gay reparations can take. They often entail a formal government apology to the LGBTQ community for past wrongs and a promise to do better in the future.
They can also include memorialising the victims of state-sponsored repression of gays, as Germany did in 2008 when it unveiled a memorial to gay victims of the Holocaust.
Gay reparations often include pardons to those convicted of the “crime” of being gay.
In 2017, for instance, the UK issued posthumous pardons to thousands of gay and bisexual men convicted of “gross indecency” in the past, including Alan Turing, the mathematician who famously broke the Germans’ Enigma codes during the second world war. He committed suicide two years after he was convicted for “acts of gross indecency”, based on his relationship with Arnold Murray, and underwent chemical castration.
Occasionally, gay reparations can involve financial compensation for wages or pensions lost due to time spent in prison or a mental institution because of a homosexual offense. Such compensation has been available in Spain since 2009 and in Germany since 2016.
There is strong resistance to the idea of gay reparations in some countries, especially the United States.
Some of the opposition is rooted in run-of-the-mill homophobia. Statistics show a rise in hate crimes against LGBTQ people in recent years in many countries, including the UK and Germany. Homophobic hate speech by politicians is on the rise in many places, and in Poland, nearly 100 localities have declared themselves “anti-LGBTQ” zones.
Police scuffle with LGBTQ protesters at a rally against the arrest of an LGBTQ activist in Poland last year. Czarek Sokolowski/AP
But the arguments against gay reparations are more nuanced. Omar G Encarnacion, a US scholar who wrote the new book The Case for Gay Reparations, identified five arguments used by opponents against gay reparations:
it is wrong to apply today’s values to the historic persecution of gays because the discrimination perpetrated against gays in the past was generally legal at the time
this is no more than an exercise in virtue signaling (the conspicuous expression of moral righteousness), with the risk of becoming a slippery slope that could open the floodgates to reparations for just about anyone who has faced hardship or discrimination in life
gay reparations are divisive and take identity politics and “victimhood” to a new level
gay reparations lack justification because, unlike the case of racial discrimination, there is little evidence of intergenerational damage linked to anti-gay discrimination
they are redundant because of the economic success of the gay community.
Encarnacion systematically refutes each of these arguments, noting that critics of gay reparations are misinformed about the purpose of acknowledging and repairing the wrongs perpetrated against LGBTQ people.
Their arguments rely on stereotypes and flawed comparisons between gays and other groups that have been persecuted (especially African Americans), and generally show a lack empathy for the gay community.
What reparations can look like in practice
There is a clear trend towards countries decriminalising homosexuality with Bhutan, Angola, Gabon, Botswana, Mozambique, the Seychelles and Trinidad and Tobago all abolishing these laws in recent years.
While these reforms are welcomed, they are merely the start of the journey towards equality for LGBTQ people — not the end. It is time all countries acknowledge and offer reparations for the mistakes of homophobic laws that have targeted gays and destroyed millions of lives.
Australia provides a useful model. In 2016, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, in a world first, apologised for the homophobic laws of the past in his state. In a moving speech he said,
There was a time in our history when we turned thousands of ordinary young men into criminals. And it was profoundly and unimaginably wrong. […] This parliament and this government are to be formally held to account for designing a culture of darkness and shame. […] We are so sorry. Humbly, deeply, sorry.
Reparations like this must be the ultimate goal. As the writer and philosopher Michael Bassey Johnson once observed:
Sometimes, the mistake is not the problem; the lack of remorse is the real mistake.
Paula Gerber is a director of Kaleidoscope Human Rights Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that works to protect the rights of LGBTIQ people in the Asia Pacific region.
Now, we are seeing a new round of vaccine hesitancy in some corners as the COVID vaccine is rolled out. But that’s nothing new. Anti-vaccination movements have existed for as long as vaccination.
The first modern vaccine was the smallpox vaccine which English country general practitioner Edward Jenner developed from cowpox at the end of the 18th century.
Smallpox was known as the “most terrible of all the ministers of death”, so Jenner’s smallpox vaccine was rapidly adopted around the world. However, some were scared or sceptical.
English satirist James Gillray famously depicted cows emerging from the bodies of terrified people being given cowpox vaccine, as seen below.
Edward Jenner vaccinating patients in the Smallpox and Inoculation Hospital at St. Pancras: the patients develop features of cows. Coloured etching by J. Gillray, 1802. Wellcome Collection., CC BY-NC-ND
In 1853, concerned by pockets of poor uptake of smallpox vaccine, the British parliament introduced the Vaccination Act, making infant smallpox vaccination compulsory. Mandatory vaccination fomented opposition, something we should remember if considering making a modern vaccine mandatory.
In 1885, over 80,000 vaccine dissenters marched through Leicester carrying banners, a child’s coffin and an effigy of Jenner. Dissent spread to the US and Canada. Eventually, the success of Jenner’s smallpox vaccine silenced the anti-smallpox vaccination movement.
Nevertheless, in 1950, over 50 million people worldwide caught smallpox, most in Africa and India. About 10 million died, and it took an extraordinary WHO campaign, in which Australian virologist Frank Fenner played a key role, to eliminate smallpox from the world forever. That was achieved in 1978.
Polio, the silent killer
In the first half of the 20th century, as smallpox began to disappear, polio (infantile paralysis) was the disease most feared in resource-rich countries.
Philip Roth’s novel Nemesis describes the terror of polio, the silent killer, sweeping through Newark, New Jersey, in 1944 killing or paralysing its victims. It is easy to draw parallels with COVID-19.
America was desperate for a polio vaccine. Two Jewish virologists whose families fled the pogroms in Europe, Albert Sabin and Jonas Salk, competed to develop the first polio vaccine.
Salk’s vaccine, made from killed polio viruses, was ready for a large clinical trial in 1954. Families were desperate for their children to be enrolled; children who did so called themselves Polio Pioneers.
Even before the results of the trial were made public, vaccine companies were asked to tender to mass produce the Salk vaccine. Five companies applied, four major pharmaceutical firms and one Californian family firm called Cutter Laboratories. The whole country held its breath and tuned their radios as the trial results were announced.
The press release showed protection against the virus. Reporters cried, “It works, it works”, church bells pealed, sirens blared. Vaccine production began and the vaccine was launched triumphantly in 1955.
The Cutter Incident
But within two weeks disaster struck. Children who received the Cutter vaccine (but not the vaccines made by the four other companies) started to develop paralysis.
Cutter Laboratories had failed to kill the poliovirus incorporated in its vaccine. Of 200,000 children given the Cutter vaccine, 40,000 developed polio, 200 were paralysed and 10 died.
Although the polio vaccination program stalled due to the “Cutter Incident”, the fear of catching polio was so great the public was soon reassured the other vaccines had not caused polio.
This historic 1962 image depicted an aerial view of a long line of people awaiting their polio vaccination. The line was so long, it surrounded a city auditorium in San Antonio, Texas. CDC/Mr. Stafford Smith
What are the lessons from history for COVID-19 vaccination?
Firstly, the public will tolerate risk of harm from a vaccine if their fear of the disease exceeds their fear of the vaccine.
The immediate response of many countries to news of rare but serious cases of blood clotting occurring in people given the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine was to suspend use of the vaccine, at least for younger adults.
In public health, the precautionary principle means acting to prevent harm. Arguably, this is an example of inappropriate use of the precautionary principle (which, in public health, means acting to prevent harm). Perhaps there was not sufficient consideration of the possibility that suspending vaccine delivery was a disproportionate response which would alarm the public and increase vaccine hesitancy.
Although the risk of blood clotting with the AstraZeneca vaccine is extremely low, at times when there is almost no COVID-19 circulating (as sometimes happens in Australia and New Zealand) the risk of dying from blood clotting due to the vaccine is slightly higher than dying from COVID-19.
In Australia, a concentration on individual risk at a single point in time ignores the benefits to the community of widespread vaccine uptake.
This historic image depicts a gathering of people in Columbus, Georgia, who were awaiting their polio vaccination, during the earlier days of the National Polio Immunization Program. CDC/Charles N. Farmer
And as soon as COVID-19 incidence rises, the risk of dying from COVID-19 massively outweighs any slight vaccine risk.
Indeed, COVID-19 itself is far more likely to cause blood clots than the vaccine. However, contravening autonomy by making vaccination mandatory threatens civil liberties and should only be considered in extreme circumstances.
Complacency, inconvenient access to vaccines, and lack of confidence are key factors in vaccine hesitancy.
However, trusted health workers in communities can build public confidence in vaccines and combat hesitancy.
Open and honest communication about vaccine safety is important, but messaging also needs to put vaccine risk in perspective.
History tells us the public can tolerate risk of harm from vaccines when the severity of the disease warrants the risk.
Getting to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and 100% renewable energy might seem the end game for climate action. But what if, like Tasmania, you’ve already ticked both those goals off your list?
Net-zero means emissions are still being generated, but they’re offset by the same amount elsewhere. Tasmania reached net-zero in 2015, because its vast forests and other natural landscapes absorb and store more carbon each year than the state emits.
And in November last year, Tasmania became fully powered by renewable electricity, thanks to the island state’s wind and hydro-electricity projects.
The big question for Tasmania now is: what comes next? Rather than considering the job done, it should seize opportunities including more renewable energy, net-zero industrial exports and forest preservation – and show the world what the other side of net-zero should look like.
Hydro-electric power and wind energy mean Tasmania runs on 100% renewable energy. Shutterstock
A good start
The Tasmanian experience shows emissions reduction is more straightforward in some places than others.
The state’s high rainfall and mountainous topography mean it has abundant hydro-electric resources. And the state’s windy north is well suited to wind energy projects.
What’s more, almost half the state’s 6.81 million hectares comprises forest, which acts as a giant carbon “sink” that sucks up dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere.
Given Tasmania’s natural assets, it makes sense for the state to go further on climate action, even if its goals have been met.
The Tasmanian government has gone some way to recognising this, by legislating a target of 200% renewable electricity by 2040.
Under the target, Tasmania would produce twice its current electricity needs and export the surplus. It would be delivered to the mainland via the proposed A$3.5 billion Marinus Link cable to be built between Tasmania and Victoria. The 1,500 megawatt cable would bolster the existing 500 megawatt Basslink cable.
But Tasmania’s climate action should not stop there.
The Marinus Link would provide a second electricity connection from Tasmania to the mainland. www.marinuslink.com.au
Other opportunities await
Tasmania can use its abundant renewable electricity to decarbonise existing industrial areas. It can also create new, greener industrial precincts – clusters of manufacturers powered by renewable electricity and other zero-emissions fuels such as green hydrogen.
Zero-emission hydrogen, aluminium and other goods produced in these precincts will become increasingly sought after by countries and other states with their own net-zero commitments.
Tasmania’s vast forests could be an additional source of economic value if they were preserved and expanded, rather than logged. As well as supporting tourism, preserving forests could enable Tasmania to sell carbon credits to other jurisdictions and businesses seeking to offset their emissions, such as through the federal government’s Emissions Reduction Fund.
The ocean surrounding Tasmania also presents net-zero economic opportunities. For example, local company Sea Forest is developing a seaweed product to be added to the feed of livestock, dramatically reducing the methane they emit.
Retaining, rather than logging, Tasmania’s forests presents an economic opportunity. Shutterstock
These updates give Tasmania a chance to be a global model for a post-net-zero world. But without firm action, Tasmania risks sliding backwards.
While having reached net-zero, the state has not legislated or set a requirement to maintain it. The state’s current legislated emission target is a 60% reduction by 2050 on 1990 levels – which, hypothetically, means Tasmania could increase its emissions in future.
Also, despite reaching net-zero emissions, Tasmania still emits more than 8,360 million tonnes of CO₂ each year from sources such as transport, natural gas use, industry and agriculture. Tasmania’s emissions from all sectors other than electricity and land use have increased by 4.5% since 2005.
Without a net-zero target set in law – and a plan to stay there – these emissions could overtake those drawn down by Tasmania’s forests. In fact, a background paper prepared for the Tasmanian government shows the state’s emissions may rise in the coming years and stay “positive” until 2040 or later.
The legislation update should also include a process to set emissions targets for each sector of the economy, as Victoria has done. It should also set ambitious targets for “negative” emissions – which means sequestering more CO₂ than is emitted.
Tasmania must cut emissions from industry and other sectors. Shutterstock
Action on all fronts
Under the Paris Agreement, the world is pursuing efforts to limit global warming to 1.5℃ this century. For Australia to be in line with this goal, it must reach net-zero by the mid-2030s.
Meeting this momentous task requires action on all fronts, in all jurisdictions. Bigger states and territories are aiming for substantial emissions reductions this decade. Tasmania must at least keep its emissions net-negative, and decrease them further.
Tasmania has a golden opportunity. With the right policies, the state can solidify its climate credentials and create a much-needed economic boost as the world transitions to a low-carbon future.
Rupert Posner is part of ClimateWorks Australia, which works within the Monash Sustainable Development Institute. ClimateWorks Australia receives its core funding from philanthropic foundations and also undertakes projects which attract funding from industry and government departments and agencies.
Simon Graham is part of ClimateWorks Australia, which works within the Monash Sustainable Development Institute. ClimateWorks Australia receives its core funding from philanthropic foundations and also undertakes projects which attract funding from industry and government departments and agencies.
This is an article from I’ve Always Wondered, a series where readers send in questions they’d like an expert to answer. Send your question to alwayswondered@theconversation.edu.au
Why can’t I flush cat poo down the toilet? Diane, Sydney
When I was a teenager I owned a large dog, a German Shepherd. It was my responsibility to pick up his poo and put it in the bin. I would never have thought to flush it down the toilet.
So, after a quick internet search, I was surprised to find many people do actually flush cat poo down the toilet. I soon discovered training your cat to use a toilet is a hot topic for cat owners, especially for urban cats that live in home units and lack a backyard.
But sharing a toilet with your cat can put your own health in danger. So what do the water authorities say? And is it OK to flush away kitty litter?
It could be dangerous
My first reaction when I read this question was “no”. I suggest you put it in the garbage, like most people do when they walk their dogs. Then, it would be buried in landfill, along with normal household rubbish.
Only flush the three Ps down the loo: pee, poo and paper. The only paper has to be toilet paper. Shutterstock
The main reason is that poo from our pets — and other animals — can be a risk to human health. Animals can spread diseases with other species including humans (called zoonotic diseases).
A common and dangerous zoonotic disease is toxoplasmosis. Cats can carry this disease (among others) and pass it to humans, particularly through human contact with their poo.
Toxoplasmosis can cause serious health issues for people, particularly those with weak immune systems. And it is very serious for pregnant women as they can pass an infection to an unborn baby, with other potentially tragic consequences later in the child’s life.
In fact, a study published last year estimated that toxoplasmosis, cat roundworm and cat scratch disease are linked to more than 8,500 hospitalisations and about 550 deaths in Australia each year.
So it’s best you avoid sharing a toilet with your cat — and always be very careful handling pet wastes.
Cats carry diseases that can be deadly to humans.
To get an industry answer to this question, I asked five Australian water authorities that manage the largest urban sewerage systems across the country, including Sydney Water, Melbourne Water and Icon Water (Canberra).
Their reaction was generally “no”. You should not flush any pet waste down the toilet. But it was not unanimous — at least one water authority told me they thought it was OK to flush away cat poo.
There was one big issue they all agreed on, however. And that’s to only flush the three Ps: pee, poo and paper down the loo, the only paper being toilet paper.
What about kitty litter?
Every single water authority stressed the message that no kitty litter should be flushed down the toilet. So why is kitty litter so dangerous?
Kitty litter, or other materials that aren’t any of the “three Ps”, can block sewer pipes. Kitty litter is made from all sorts of materials, such as recycled products like old newspapers.
But a common ingredient is a clay material called “bentonite”. It has a remarkable ability to absorb up to 15 times its original weight.
Kitty litter can swell and block sewer pipes. Shutterstock
This is the big problem. If you flush kitty litter down your toilet, it can swell up and block sewer pipes, even in the pipes in your home — yuk! Don’t risk it!
Blocked sewer pipes are a horrible, messy and smelly problem. Sinks can block and toilets can stop flushing. They can also cause raw sewage to leak out. Sewage is dangerous for the environment and is very hazardous for people as it can spread infectious disease.
Toilets are not bins
Many of us need to be reminded that we should not use our toilets as flushing garbage bins.
Take wet wipes, for example. Some products are incorrectly labelled “flushable wipes”, and these are particularly dangerous as they don’t break down like toilet paper.
They can form a twisted mess in sewer pipes and block them. In fact, there’s now a new Australian Standard being developed to make sure “wipes” have suitable warning labels.
Taking it to the extreme, consider the “monster fatberg” in the UK in 2017. Thames Water removed a disgusting blockage in sewer pipes that was 250 metres long, and weighed almost as much as a blue whale.
It was a massive and expensive job to remove this. And it was caused by people putting stuff down the toilet and kitchen sink they should have put in the bin.
The bottom line
So while it must take impressive balance and gymnastic skills for a cat to sit on, and use a toilet (there are even books on this topic!), my advice is put your cat’s poo (and poo from other pets) into the garbage bin.
And generally, make sure you don’t flush things down the toilet that really should go into the bin.
I am also yet to see evidence cats can flush the toilet themselves — I suspect this isn’t impossible, though.
Screen-based devices have increasingly become part of our human experience – even more so since the pandemic began. This trend includes watching more and more videos. For example, before COVID-19, the average American watched about six hours of videos a day on devices ranging from televisions to desktop computers and mobile phones. By one estimate, this figure has “surged” more than 40% during the pandemic.
In higher education, the online use of recorded lecture videos has also increased greatly. How is this affecting learning? For undergraduate mathematics, a recently published review confirmed the findings of a 2012 study that, overall, the more often students watched such videos the poorer their performance in their course.
Recent research has identified a possible reason for this. It might help explain why the findings of these two reviews differ from those of studies of learning from videos in other disciplines.
How might videos depress learning?
Of course, correlation is not causation. It’s possible, for example, that weaker mathematics students tend to rely on videos more than stronger students.
However, an equally plausible explanation is that regular use of these videos is somehow depressing students’ learning. A two-part study was designed to investigate this possibility.
The first study involved two groups of students studying engineering mathematics courses in Australia and the UK. At the beginning and end of each course, students completed a questionnaire to assess how they approached their studying.
In both settings, regular video users were found to become more surface learners over the course of the semester. Those accessing few or no videos were unchanged in their study approaches. This was despite regular video users, as compared to low users, being older in Australia and initially better at mathematics in the UK.
This gave rise to a second study that used interviews with Australian participants to explore how they were using the videos to advance their understanding of mathematics. First, to provide some insight into underlying processes and thus the design of the second study, a review of the cognitive research on the use of television was conducted. Kubey and Csikszentmihalyi sum up this research:
“[…] in every sample we have studied, with different demographic groups and with subjects ranging in age from 10 to 82, and with groups from more than one country, it has been found that people consistently report their experiences with television as being passive, relaxing, and involving relatively little concentration.”
For many people, the TV screen is the cue for a passive and relaxing experience, involving relatively little concentration. Shutterstock
With this understanding, cognitive processes associated with the use of lecture videos were considered as a dual-process system, meaning people tend to think using two channels:
“type 1” thinking: fast and intuitive with little to no working memory used.
“type 2” thinking: slow and analytical with working memory used.
Working memory has been defined as “the small amount of information that can be held in mind and used in the execution of cognitive tasks”.
The mathematics videos were viewed outside of typical lecture or classroom settings. Students actively controlled their use. Therefore, the second study interview questions focused on the critical point at which students judge their own learning to determine, for example, whether they move on to new learning or not.
All Australian participants were interviewed at the end of the course. The analysis of their responses showed regular users were more prone to type 1 thinking when judging their learning. They relied mostly on “feelings of rightness” rather than, for example, checking that correct procedures were followed. In mathematics, the former may lead to wrong (“pseudo-analytical”) thinking, while the latter typically results in the correct solution.
Findings differ in other disciplines. Why?
At first glance, this discovery contrasts sharply with findings from a recent systematic review that concluded the use of videos was “consistently good for learning”. However, a closer look at the review reveals almost all the included studies (96%) related to instruction in applied undergraduate disciplines, such as health sciences, which represented over 80% of the included studies. Studies on the use of video in mathematics or other abstract disciplines that demand high-level conceptual thinking were not part of the review.
This might suggest the use of video will help learning if the level of thinking required is relatively low, such as learning medical procedures, but not necessarily where it is high, such as gaining conceptual understanding in mathematics.
More research is certainly needed. We still know very little about thought processes when viewing lecture videos.
One question arising from research in undergraduate mathematics is: have we somehow become conditioned by almost a century of television use so that when presented with a simple video recording of a lecture, the medium subconsciously signals its viewers to tone down any mental effort? This is enough to achieve better learning outcomes where low-level cognitive processing is sufficient, but could be detrimental where high-level processing is required.
Put another way, and more broadly, under what circumstances and with which people can screens act as cognitive cues signalling us to relax mentally, in much the same way viewing food can make us salivate?
Sven Trenholm 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 May 2021 a B-double truck mounted a kerb when turning a corner in Melbourne, injuring five pedestrians. In February 2020 a drunk driver drove onto a footpath in Sydney, killing four children and injuring three others as they walked to get ice-creams. These incidents are just two of many grim reminders that pedestrians are an especially vulnerable group of road users.
“Pedestrians” includes most of us as we walk along or across roads, even if it is just to get to our car. Children, young people, city residents, older people and people on low incomes are especially reliant on walking rather than driving.
Pedestrians, along with cyclists and motorcyclists, are most at risk of injury and death when involved in a collision on the roads. In a crash, pedestrians are four times more likely to be injured than those in a vehicle.
The road toll has decreased over recent decades largely because fewer people in cars are dying. Pedestrian deaths have decreased much more slowly. In the decade to 2019, road deaths of car occupants fell three times as fast as for vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists).
What are governments doing to protect pedestrians?
Australia has had many parliamentary inquiries and state and federal road safety strategies in recent years. A federal Office of Road Safety was created in 2019. However, the recommended road safety measures usually improve safety for people in vehicles or improve traffic flow. These measures do nothing for pedestrian safety.
Government reports and bodies have recently begun talking about the “safe system” approach. This approach is supposed to take a holistic view, sharing the responsibility for reducing risk by improving the safety of roads, vehicles and road rules, as well as driver behaviour. While some versions of this approach consider the safety of all road users, including pedestrians, this has not filtered through to government policies.
Some states have adopted climate change plans or strategies that promote walking and cycling. The South Australian Climate Change Action Plan 2021-2025, for instance, promises the state government will work towards a low-emissions transport system, improve public transport and encourage “active travel” – walking and cycling.
However, since the launch of the plan the state government has privatised trains and announced new roadworks to improve the flow of cars and freight vehicles. They are clearly paying little attention to the needs of pedestrians.
“[…] consider road safety as part of mobility for all people, whether they drive or not, and transport as part of the bigger liveability picture”.
Another possible perspective is “liveable communities”. The concept of liveability promotes the critical factors of access to public transport, and walking and cycling infrastructure.
So, how are Australian state and territory governments recognising our right to mobility and helping to build liveable communities for all?
In 2020, the Commonwealth Parliament’s Joint Select Committee on Road Safety received many submissions from organisations concerned with pedestrian safety. Its final report, released in October 2020, contains 22 recommendations. Yet none of these focus specifically on pedestrian safety, although “pedestrian awareness” is mentioned in relation to driver training.
expanding the range of data collected on pedestrian injuries and fatalities.
The committee’s final recommendations reflected none of these points.
The Office of Road Safety is yet to release its National Road Safety Strategy. It says the strategy will consider “vulnerable road users” as a whole group. This approach fails to adequately consider the needs of pedestrians separately from motorcyclists and cyclists.
The previous National Road Safety Strategy 2011–2020 did include reducing “the number of serious casualties among pedestrians and cyclists” as one of its “major strategic challenges”. This suggests pedestrians are receiving even less attention now than they were a decade ago.
Some government publications recognise pedestrians as “vulnerable road users”. Yet almost no attention is paid to the most vulnerable pedestrians, namely older people, children and people with disability.
Governments are prioritising the flow of traffic, including of freight. They argue that’s good for jobs and economic growth.
There is little political will to discourage people from driving, to reduce speed limits, to prioritise walking (and cycling) infrastructure and to increase public transport funding. All of these measures contribute to mobility for all – including children, older people and people with disability. And that, in turn, will make our communities more liveable and sustainable.
I would like to acknowledge the work of my research assistant Kate Leeson and former colleague Peter Lumb.
I am a frequent pedestrian, which involves crossing major roads without pedestrian safety infrastructure.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martie-Louise Verreynne, Professor in Innovation and Associate DVC (Research – College of Business and Law), RMIT University
RMIT, Author provided
It took a chance meeting between Cameron van den Dungen, founder of a start-up mattress company, and Madhu Bhaskaran, an engineering professor at RMIT University, to see an opportunity to collaborate and commercialise research.
Van den Dungen had a dream of creating a bed for use in aged care to monitor sleep quality and comfort. Bhaskaran’s research team at RMIT were developing flexible wafer-like electronic sensors. The fruits of their collaboration is a smart mattress monitoring system known as “REMi”.
It’s the type of collaboration the Australian government says is its top priority for universities. Federal education minister Alan Tudge reiterated that agenda last week:
Our aim is not just to make incremental progress; we want to fundamentally shift the dial, so that in five or ten years’ time, we start to look more like Israel or California or the UK in terms of how our universities interact with business […]
Tudge is not the first minister with such ambitions. The benefits of commercialising university research have been talked about for decades. Yet Australia remains one of the worst-performing developed economies on this score.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’s most recent data, just 5% of Australian businesses have collaborated with university researchers; and the smaller a company the less likely collaboration is.
Which is a problem given that small to medium enterprises – those employing fewer than 200 people – make up more than 99% of all Australian businesses.
So what to do? That’s a subject we’ve sought to answer through surveying 800 small to medium enterprises for the CSIRO.
Starting the conversation
Half of the SMEs we surveyed had engaged with universities or research institutes before. Half had not. These responses pointed to both the barriers and bridges to greater research commercialisation.
Among businesses that had not reached out to collaborate before, stereotypes about university academics were strong. They commonly thought universities would not understand their business, have different R&D aims or be too slow to progress projects.
The first challenge was just getting a conversation started – like that between van den Dungen and Bhaskaran.
Van den Dungen grew up in the bed business. His father Henk had started working in the bedding department at Myer in the 1960s, then in the 1980s became a founding member of the Forty Winks retailer cooperative.
After years working in the family business, van den Dungen founded his own company, Sleeptite, and began looking for ways to make a better bed for use in aged care facilities.
He wanted a mattress with embedded electronic sensors to monitor a patient. This could replace the more haphazard use of pressure mats next to beds know if a patient had fallen out, and “door checks” by staff members doing the rounds at night.
Then came his chance meeting with Bhaskaran. Four years and several government grants later, their home-grown technology to provide real-time monitoring is ready for to be manufactured (by Melbourne mattress maker Sleepeezee Bedding).
The REMi bed technology developed through the collaboration between Australian company Sleeptite and RMIT University enables real-time monitoring of all residents in a facility. Sleeptite/RMIT, Author provided
Serial collaboration
Businesses said they welcomed the opportunity to commence these conversations, and to establish relationships with researchers through small, entry-level projects such as those funded through Innovation Connections, a federal government program that provides facilitated introductions to researchers and financial support through dollar-matched grants.
Once a relationship was established, like that between Sleeptite and RMIT, further collaboration often occurs without further government funding.
On average, we found collaborating firms had undertaken seven projects with the research sector.
Our findings show that young and micro businesses are especially open to collaborations, yet more targeted funding schemes are required to help them build their new technologies and capabilities.
To improve Australia’s success in commercialising research, funding needs to take a coordinated “pipeline” view – seeing each new project as the start of an ongoing relationship.
Funding needs to be available for training, activities to mitigate mistrust, and for seed and scaling-up collaborations. Universities need to rethink their incentive systems and businesses need to be willing to take strategic risks by venturing into unknown territory.
But most fundamentally a more connected incentive system is needed to enable both businesses and researchers to view collaborations as long-term investments, justifying the upfront money and time associated with initiating those relationships.
Martie-Louise Verreynne received funding from CSIRO to fund this research.
Anne-Laure Mention received funding from CSIRO to support this research.
Rui Pedro Torres de Oliveira receives funding from CSIRO to fund this research. He is affiliated with ARM Hub as an innovation and strategy expert.
George Feast 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.
A statue of James Stirling in Perth.Wikimedia Commons
Today, councillors in Perth’s City of Stirling will vote to decide whether to change their city’s name. This follows a residents’ motion arguing a new name would better “reflect the long standing and relevant history of this land in such a way that is inclusive and in recognition of the Nyoongar community”.
Stirling is named after James Stirling, Western Australia’s first governor (1829–1839). City of Stirling resident Jeff Bullen, who proposed the motion, argues Stirling’s direction of an 1834 massacre in Pinjarra, south of Perth, means we cannot honour him. Doing so dishonours those killed in that massacre, and its survivors, as well as their descendants.
My research shows Stirling was also indirectly embroiled in the British slave trade via his family’s commerce in American and Caribbean slave-produced tobacco and sugar. Prior to arriving in WA, he personally profited from slavery by seizing ships laden with slave-produced goods, which were awarded to him as prizes.
Stirling contended that Noongar attacks on settlers threatened to “tempt other tribes to pursue the same course, and eventually combine together for the extermination of the whites”. On the 28th of October 1834, when he led troops to the region, he sought to provide a “check” on that notion by inflicting, in his words, “such acts of decisive severity as will appall them as people”.
However, extending our frame of reference backwards, to take in Stirling’s life before 1829, is illuminating.
Tobacco, sugar and coffee
Although it hasn’t been acknowledged by past histories, Stirling’s family’s wealth was built on the back of slavery business.
More than a century before he was born, two ancestors pioneered the Glaswegian trade in slave-produced Virginian tobacco, becoming extraordinarily wealthy through it. Scottish trade in tobacco during this period grew enormously, linked to the tenfold growth in the purchase of African slave labour in British North America during its first 50 years
After the American Revolution, the Stirlings pivoted towards trade with Jamaica. In James’ generation, two brothers oversaw the family business, in which James appears to have invested his money. When slavery was abolished in 1833, his brother Walter was compensated by the British government for the loss of 230 enslaved people in Barbados and Guiana to the tune of more than $A1.7 million in today’s money. (The enslaved themselves received no compensation.)
Stirling was a Royal Navy captain for six years leading up to 1818 on the HMS Brazen, before being retired on half-pay like so many veterans of the Napoleonic Wars. The ambitious 27-year-old’s income was reduced to roughly that of an innkeeper.
His one salve was the fortune he had made during those six years, capturing enemy vessels. The Royal Navy awarded prize money from the sale of such vessels and their cargo. Stationed in Jamaica, Britain’s richest slave colony, Stirling’s first captured ship had been transporting slave-produced sugar and coffee from Havana to New Orleans, to be sold up the Mississippi River to southern planters.
As captain, James received around $A22,000 in today’s money from the sale of the vessel and its cargo. Further captures followed and, though this is not yet clear, it is possible that some ships contained enslaved people, leading to higher prizes. While stationed in Jamaica, Stirling also provided defence for the slave colony and its exports.
James’ wife Ellen Stirling (Mangles), 1828, by Thomas Phillips, National Portrait Gallery (Australia), Canberra. Wikimedia Commons
The money that Stirling made from capturing vessels, and the ambition it suggested, was just enough to allow him to marry the daughter of wealthy ship owner, James Mangles. Mangles’ ships had transported enslaved Africans from the West Coast of Africa to Jamaica in the late 18th century, but in the 19th he turned to Indian Ocean trading and convict transportation.
In the years leading up to 1829, Stirling lobbied hard to convince a wary British Colonial Office to establish a penal-free colony on the west coast of Australia, which could support East India Company military and merchant activities. Cheap Indian labour, he proposed, on contracts of indenture, might be imported to cultivate crops in the harsh environs. Further schemes were proposed for non-white labour.
Commercial logic
Once in WA, Stirling’s principal concern was identifying and securing fertile pastoral land — for the colonists, the British investors supporting them, and for himself. The success of the colony hinged on pastoral expansion and profit.
The Pinjarra massacre was, in part, led by the commercial logic of this pastoral expansion. If settlers were too frightened of the “unsettled” regions, they would crowd those “settled” around Perth.
Rewinding back in time provides valuable context for the Pinjarra battle and our decisions around commemoration today.
James Stirling’s actions in WA were driven by the logic of imperial commerce. Can the City of Stirling acknowledge this history, and the violence that followed, at the same time as honouring him?
Georgina Arnott receives funding from the Australian Research Council via the Legacies of British Slavery in Western Australia Discovery Project.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Scott Hocknull, Senior Curator of Geosciences, Queensland Museum, and Honorary Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne
Vlad Konstantinov, Scott Hocknull, Eromanga Natural History Museum, Author provided
Today, a new Aussie dinosaur is being welcomed into the fold. Our study published in the journal PeerJ documents Australotitan cooperensis – Australia’s largest dinosaur species ever discovered, and the largest land-dwelling species to have walked the outback.
Australotitan, or the “southern titan”, was a massive long-necked titanosaurian sauropod estimated to have reached 25–30 metres in length and 5–6.5m in height. It weighed the equivalent of 1,400 red kangaroos.
It lived in southwest Queensland between 92–96 million years ago, when Australia was attached to Antarctica, and the last vestiges of a once-great inland sea had disappeared.
The discovery of Australotitan is a major new addition to the “terrible lizards” of Oz.
Meet Australotitan, Australia’s largest dinosaur species. (Eromanga Natural History Museum / enhm.com.au )
Like finding needles in haystack
Finding dinosaurs in Australia has been labelled an incredibly difficult task.
In outback Queensland, dinosaur sites are featureless plains. Compare that to many sites overseas, where mountain ranges, deep canyons or exposed badlands of heavily-eroded terrain can help reveal the ancient layers of preserved fossilised bones.
An Australian dinosaur site (right) compared to the dinosaur-rich badlands of Canada (left).
Today, the area where Australotitan lived is oil, gas and grazing country. Our study represents the first major step in documenting the dinosaurs from this fossil field.
Australotitan cooperensis was the largest dinosaur species to have walked outback Australia.
The first bones of Australotitan were excavated in 2006 and 2007 by Queensland Museum and Eromanga Natural History Museum palaeontologists and volunteers. We nicknamed this individual “Cooper” after the nearby freshwater lifeline, Cooper Creek.
After the excavation, we embarked on the long and painstaking removal of the rock that entombed Cooper’s bones. This was necessary for us to properly identify and compare each bone.
Excavating one of Cooper’s six pelvic bones, the left pubis. S. Hocknull, Queensland Museum & Eromanga Natural History Museum
Thousands of kilograms bones in a backpack
We needed to compare Cooper’s bones to all other species of sauropod dinosaur known from both Australia and overseas, to confirm our suspicions of a new species.
But travelling from collection to collection at various museums to compare hundreds of kilograms of fragile dinosaur bones was simply not possible. So instead, we used 3D digital scanning technology which allowed us to virtually carry thousands of kilograms of dinosaur bones in one seven kilogram laptop.
These kinds of research projects have created a new opportunity for museums and researchers to share their amazing collections globally, with researchers and the public.
From Dig to Digital Dinosaurs! 3D scanning technology allows researchers an unprecedented way to compare fossilised bones of enormous dinosaurs, and view these digital replicas virtually. S. Hocknull & R. Lawrence, Queensland Museum
And thanks to two decades of effort by palaeontologists, citizen scientists, regional not-for-profit museums and local landowners, there has been a recent boom in Australian dinosaur discoveries.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, we found all four of the sauropod dinosaurs that lived in Australia between 96-92 million years ago (including Australotitan) were more closely related to one another than they were to other dinosaurs found elsewhere.
However, we couldn’t conclusively place any of these four related species together in the same place at the same time. This means they could have evolved through time to occupy very different habitats. It’s even possible they ever met.
The Aussie species share relations with titanosaurians from both South America and Asia, suggesting they dispersed from South America (via Antarctica) during periods of global warmth.
Or, they may have island-hopped across ancient island archipelagos, which would eventually make up the present-day terrains of Southeast Asia and the Philippines.
Meet the Eromanga sauropods. Green bones represent what parts of the skeleton have so far been discovered. S. Hocknull, Queensland Museum
Trampling through the Cretaceous
Digitally capturing gigantic sauropod bones and fossil sites in 3D has led to some remarkable discoveries. Several of Cooper’s bones were found to be crushed by the footsteps of other sauropod dinosaurs.
What’s more, during Cooper’s excavation we uncovered another smaller sauropod skeleton — possibly a smaller Australotitan — trampled into a nearly 100m-long rock feature. We interpreted this to be a trample zone: an area of mud compressed under foot by massive sauropods as they moved along a pathway, or at the edge of a waterhole.
A sauropod trample zone (left) compared to a cattle trample (centre) and elephant trample (right). S. Hocknull & R. Lawrence, Queensland Museum & Eromanga Natural History Museum
Similar trampling features can be seen today around Australian billabongs, or waterholes in Africa where the largest plant-eaters, such as elephants and hippopotamuses, trample mud into a hard layer.
In the case of the hippopotamus, they cut channels through the mud to navigate between precious water and food sources. Life in Australia during the Cretaceous period can be pictured similarly, except super-sized.
In the present, out there in Australia’s dinosaur country, you might find yourself staring across a barren plain imagining what other secrets this world of long-lost giants will reveal.
It will cost the Papua New Guinea state and Australian operator Barrick Niugini Ltd K630 million (US$180 million) to reopen the Porgera gold mine.
The reopening of the mine in early September will see Barrick paying out full benefits of all employees who were retrenched, including those in care and maintenance, and they will be recruited under the new Porgera mine structure.
Barrick chief executive officer Mark Bristow said the refinancing of the mine for a 10-year operation period will be done by Barrick and it will recoup its 36 percent of the state’s share under state-owned Kumul Mineral Holdings Limited for the restart during the mine’s operational life.
PNG Prime Minister James Marape (left) and Barrick’s Mark Bristow (right) with the new Porgera agreement. Image: PNG Post-Courier
The 36 percent is from the 51 percent stake in the Porgera agreement framework with Barrick on 49 percent.
Bristow said it had cost the company K420 million (US$120 million) for the care and maintenance of the mine since the closure in April last year.
“We estimate that to restart will be another K630 million but as discussed with the full state negotiating team last Wednesday the quicker we start the mine the lower that cost is because that cost is funded by everyone,” he said.
“We will fund it and offset that against the revenue so it’s in everyone’s interest to try and reduce that cost but again in the spirit of not forcing taxpayers’ money into this,” Bristow said.
“We fund and recoup the money so that equity will start delivering value once we’ve recoup all the cost, so it focuses on everyone’s mind that one, we are efficient and two we don’t waste any money and three we get this mine running as quickly as possible especially with the gold price as it is because we have the opportunity to fast track the return of some of that investment.”
He said as miners it was their responsibility to take the risk as they were qualified to evaluate and decide whether that risk was manageable.
“We’re starting to plan the prestart of the mine with reemployment programmes under a new Porgera company.
“One of the things we were not prepared to do was put people at risk when the mine is closed so we retrenched everyone that wasn’t required for care and maintenance and we paid them their full dues and those on care and maintenance will get the same,” Bristow said.
“Everyone will start with no service and as soon as we finalise the legal documents and create a new company and when we move people into the new company and those employees who did not get their dues will get their dues,” he said.
The University of the South Pacific staff and student unions have condemned Fiji Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s claim that a new USP contract offer to the vice-chancellor is illegal, saying he has “misled” the Fiji public with a “baseless” statement.
The unions also said he had shown “total disrespect” for the governing USP Council which represents 11 independent regional governments, donors, staff, students and alumni in the Pacific.
In a joint media statement, the Association of USP Staff (AUSPS), University of South Pacific Staff Union (USPSU) and the USP Student Association (UPSA) said today Fiji had the highest number of representatives on the council and was “given ample opportunity by the pro-chancellor and chair of council to share its views” under democratic process.
Fiji was decisively out-voted in the council. A new Samoa-based contract was offered to Professor Pal Ahluwalia who had been abruptly deported along with his wife in February in a widely criticised action.
“In essence the Fiji members of the council failed to convince other members of the council regarding their views on the issues under discussion and now calling a decision illegal and questioning others that are within the purview of the august body,” said the media statement signed by AUSPS president Elizabeth Reade Fong, USPSU president Taris Vacala, and USPSA president (Laucala) Lepani Naqarase.
“This press release serves to rebut as baseless the statements of the AG [Attorney-General] and the Fiji representatives to the USP Council who have reported council outcomes to him.”
Citing many of the university’s governing documents — including the university charter — the statement said: “The council is well within its rights and has determined that the VC/P will be located at the Samoa campus. This was voted for by a clear majority.
‘Within due process’ “The same is applied to the continuation of salary of the VC/P on his deportation by the council at its February 16, 2021, meeting at which the chair of council and chair of the Audit and Risk Committee were not present due to ‘conflicts of interest’ which led to their earlier and continued recusal from council deliberations.
“All of this was within due process. The members must accept that the council has the right to determine whether a conflict of interest exists.”
The statement added that only the University Council could appoint and remove a vice-chancellor.
In response, the university stated its priority during these challenging times was learning and teaching delivery and it wished not to comment further.
The university stated the governing body of the regional institution was the USP Council.
Speaking on the university’s annual report for 2018, Sayed-Khaiyum said the appointment was illegal because it was not in accordance with the university’s charter.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katherine Livingstone, NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow and Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN), Deakin University
Also known as discretionary foods, these include foods such as biscuits, cakes, sausages, sugar-sweetened drinks and alcohol.
Unhealthy diets are a key reason why almost one in every three adults in Australia is obese. Excess weight also increases risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers.
Personalised nutrition involves tailoring dietary advice to improve health, based on the characteristics of the individual. So dietary advice could be tailored based on anything from the person’s eating habits and weight to their cholesterol levels and genetics.
The concept of tailored dietary advice isn’t new — dietitians have been giving personalised advice for centuries. What is new is the rise in popularity of new technologies, apps and wearable devices, which allow for detailed monitoring of individual health. Health-care professionals can then use this information to provide personalised advice.
New technologies have fuelled the rise of personalised nutrition. Shutterstock
To understand whether personalised nutrition advice improves dietary habits, we conducted the Food4Me Study.
Our research
We recruited 1,607 adult volunteers from across seven European countries into a six-month dietary study.
At the beginning, adults were allocated into either a control group, or one of three personalised nutrition groups.
Usual dietary advice
In the control group adults received usual dietary advice. For example, “eat at least five serves of fruit and vegetables each day”. (In Australia the recommendation is at least seven serves daily.)
To help us understand the best way to personalise dietary advice, the three personalised nutrition groups received tailored dietary advice based on different sets of characteristics. All advice was based on behaviour change strategies, such as swapping discretionary foods for healthier alternatives.
Group 1 received advice based on what they ate.
For example, for someone eating a lot of salty meat products, we told them to reduce their intake of processed meats and pies, and swap salami and bacon for turkey or beef.
Group 2 received advice based on their diet and body measurements.
For example, if someone had high waist circumference and cholesterol levels, and was snacking on biscuits and chocolate, we told them they were carrying too much weight around their middle and had high cholesterol levels so would benefit from snacking on fruit and healthy fats, such as nuts, instead.
Group 3 received advice based on their diet, body measurements and genetic information.
For example, if someone had a genetic risk of high cholesterol, and was eating lots of salty meat products, we told them they have a genetic variation and would benefit from maintaining a healthy intake of saturated fat and normal cholesterol levels. We suggested they swap processed meats, for example burgers and sausages, for lean meats or skinless chicken breast.
At the beginning and end of the study we asked our volunteers to complete an online questionnaire, which asked them how often they consumed various foods and drinks.
Interestingly, this improvement in diet was seen across all personalised nutrition groups; regardless of whether advice was personalised based on diet, body measurements or genetics, or a combination of these factors.
That said, we did see some evidence that the addition of genetic information (group 3) helped adults to reduce their discretionary food intake more than those who received advice based on their diet and body measurements alone (group 2).
We found personalised nutrition advice was associated with healthier eating. Shutterstock
Our findings are consistent with the broader evidence on personalised nutrition.
In a recent systematic review we looked at results from 11 personalised nutrition studies conducted across Europe and North America. We found overall, personalised nutrition advice improved dietary habits more than usual dietary advice.
What do these results mean?
Our results show personalised dietary advice can support people to eat less junk food. This should have important implications for how researchers and health-care professionals design healthy eating strategies moving forward.
It’s important to note our sample was made up of volunteers. So they may be more health-conscious and motivated to improve their dietary habits than the general population.
We need research in more diverse population groups, including young males and people experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage. This will be important for understanding whether personalised nutrition advice can benefit everyone.
Lots of commercial offerings for personalised dietary advice are emerging, such as companies that offer genetic testing and provide dietary advice accordingly, but many are not supported by scientific evidence. Health-care professionals, such as dietitians, should remain the first point of call when seeking dietary advice.
Personalised nutrition advice has the potential to improve the diet and health of Australians. But the reasons for unhealthy diets are complex, and include wider social and environmental influences.
So exploring new ways to support people to eat healthier diets is just one potential way to address the burden of unhealthy eating and related ill-health in Australia.
Katherine Livingstone receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council.
The Food4Me Study was supported by the European Commission under the Food, Agriculture, Fisheries and Biotechnology Theme of the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. Food4Me co-authors are acknowledged for their contribution to the publication.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne
Dean Lewins/AAP
This week’s Newspoll had Labor and the Coalition tied at 50-50 on a two-party-preferred basis. This is a one point gain for the Coalition since the last Newspoll, three weeks ago. Primary votes were 41% Coalition (steady), 36% Labor (steady), 11% Greens (down one) and 3% One Nation (up one).
The poll was conducted June 2-5 from a sample of 1,516 people. It breaks a sequence of four Newspolls in which Labor had a two-party lead. Figures are from The Poll Bludger.
While the major party primary votes were unchanged, the Coalition gains on preferences from a lower Greens vote and a higher One Nation vote.
However, Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s ratings took a hit. Of those surveyed, 54% were satisfied with his performance (down four percentage points) and 43% were dissatisfied (up five), for a net approval of +11. That’s Morrison’s lowest net approval since the COVID situation started in March 2020.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese’s net approval was -9, down two points. This is a record low since he became opposition leader. Morrison led Albanese as better PM by 53-32% (the margin was 55-30% previously).
Are voting intentions and approval ratings moving back into line?
Voting intentions and the prime minister’s net approval usually move together. But during COVID, voting intentions were far worse for the Coalition than what would be expected from Morrison’s ratings. Voting intentions and the PM’s net approval may be moving back into alignment.
A possible explanation for the contradictory movements is that voters who supported Morrison for his COVID response — but never intended to vote Coalition — are now blaming him for the slow vaccination rollout and the quarantine problems that have led to Victoria’s current lockdown.
However, voters who swing between the parties could be giving the Coalition credit for a strong economy, and the government may also be seeing a delayed bounce from the May 11 budget.
Last week, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that GDP was up 1.8% in the March quarter — and up 1.1% compared to March 2020, before COVID reached Australia. The Australian stock market has been on a bull run for about a year.
Provided the current Victorian outbreak is brought under control soon, and there are no further major outbreaks of COVID, the economy is likely to do well. That makes the Coalition clear favourites at the next election.
As I’ve written previously, people without a university education appear to be acting contrary to elite opinion, so any recent scorn of Morrison will probably help him.
In last fortnight’s Essential poll, conducted before the recent Victorian outbreak from a sample of 1,100 people, 63% thought it was the federal government’s responsibility to build and manage quarantine facilities, while 37% thought state governments were responsible.
More than half (58%) thought the federal government’s response to COVID was good and 18% poor, down from a 62-17% score in April and 70-12% in March.
Vaccinations are essential
The current Melbourne lockdown is already the longest since the almost four-month Victorian lockdown last year. It demonstrates that Australia cannot keep COVID out of the community indefinitely. Once it enters the community, it is difficult for governments to avoid imposing an economically and socially damaging lockdown to prevent spiralling cases and eventually deaths.
Vaccinations are the only way out. But Australia probably needs to vaccinate a greater share of its population than in countries that have been badly hit. People who have recovered from COVID have some short-term immunity, but Australia’s containment has been so successful that just 0.1% of the population have had COVID.
Only 17% of Australia’s population has received at least one COVID vaccination dose, compared with 40-60% in comparable countries like France, Germany, the US, the UK and Israel. This percentage includes children, who are not yet eligible in many countries.
All the countries above were hit hard by COVID, and a sizeable number have recovered and have short-term immunity. Australia’s vaccinations are way below where they need to be to insure against a COVID outbreak.
Vaccinations greatly reduce the chance of catching COVID or dying from it. Cases and deaths in the UK and US have been massively reduced by the vaccination program.
Minns becomes NSW Labor leader, contested leadership in Tasmania
Last month, Jodi McKay resigned as NSW Labor leader after the party’s disappointing result at the Upper Hunter byelection.
Chris Minns and Michael Daley, who was Labor leader at the 2019 election, were expected to contest the leadership. But Daley withdrew last Friday, so Minns — who has been an MP since 2015 — was elected unopposed.
In other state leadership news, Rebecca White resigned as Tasmanian Labor leader in mid-May after the recent state election at which the Liberals held their majority. The contest to replace her will be between former champion rower Shane Broad and former minister David O’Byrne. The result will be announced on June 15.
In a final addendum to the Tasmanian election, Liberal Adam Brooks had resigned on May 14 owing to firearms charges. Last week, a countback saw Liberal Felix Ellis elected, defeating a fellow Liberal 53.4–46.6%. Party standings remain 13 Liberal, nine Labor, two Greens and one independent.
US Democrats perform strongly in New Mexico special election
At a special election for New Mexico’s first Congressional District on June 1, the Democrat defeated the Republican by a 60.3-35.7% margin. The almost 25-point Democratic victory is two points better for Democrats than US President Joe Biden’s margin over Donald Trump in the same district in 2020, and eight points better than the Democratic incumbent in 2020.
While this election was good news for Democrats, they had a dreadful result in a Texan federal special election on May 1. In a “jungle primary” where all Republican and Democratic candidates run together, Democrats failed to make the top two, so the runoff will be Republican versus Republican.
That was because Republicans overall crushed the Democrats 62-37% in a district Trump won by just three points over Biden.
In the FiveThirtyEight aggregate, Biden’s current ratings are 53.4% approve, 40.4% disapprove (net +13.0%). With polls of likely or registered voters, his ratings are 54.4% approve, 40.5% disapprove (net +13.9%).
Biden’s initial ratings had high disapprovals by the standards of past presidents, and he was ahead of only Trump on net approval. But his approval has since been very steady, and he has now overtaken Bill Clinton and Gerald Ford at the same point of their presidencies.
Adrian Beaumont 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.
Last Friday afternoon, as parliament rose after a bruising sitting fortnight, the Morrison government released a “consultation copy” of the Foster review.
This is one of five reviews or inquiries Scott Morrison initiated in the wake of Brittany Higgins’ allegation she was sexually assaulted in a ministerial office and did not receive adequate support in the aftermath.
The day after Higgins told her distressing story in February, Stephanie Foster, deputy secretary for governance in the Prime Minister’s department, was tasked with looking at
whether we could do more to support vulnerable staff who have been part of a serious incident in our workplace.
Subsequently, Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins was asked to take a comprehensive look at the culture of parliamentary workplaces in a wide-ranging review, with terms of reference negotiated across the parliament. Jenkins will submit her report in November. Accordingly, Foster’s review focuses on “immediate, practical steps” that can be taken while Jenkins completes her work.
What does the review find?
Foster’s review understood “serious incidents” as including rape and sexual assault, sexual harassment, assault, stalking or intimidation, serious and systemic bullying and serious and systemic harassment.
It found current parliamentary workplace procedures are “not able” to respond appropriately to serious incidents. Particularly sexual assaults.
The most significant gap is the absence of readily accessible, timely, independent, trauma-informed services and response mechanisms.
Among its ten recommendations, three critical areas are identified for immediate action:
trauma-informed support services
an independent, confidential complaints mechanism, to “enable proportionate consequences for complaints that are upheld”
tailored education and support for all staff, managers and parliamentarians.
A dedicated 24/7 support line for parliamentary staff has already been established. This was set up in March after an early recommendation from Foster.
But the review also recommends a “serious incident team” on top of the support line. This would provide wraparound support and resolution options to those impacted by a serious incident — including the subject of the complaint and their employing parliamentarian (if the subject is a staffer).
Is this enough?
An obvious question is whether the recommendations, if implemented, would prevent the recurrence of an incident like the one Higgins describes.
The answer is a tentative maybe.
Stephanie Foster oversees governance issues in the Prime Minister’s department. Mick Tsikas/AAP
The review presents a clear, thoughtful analysis of the shortcomings in current procedures and processes for responding to serious incidents. It is informed by research — including risk factors for serious incidents identified in other parliamentary workplaces. And is underpinned by consultations with womens’ safety experts, complaints experts, organisations with established frameworks for responding to serious incidents and current and former parliamentary staff.
Importantly, and reflecting best practice, victim-survivors are prioritised.
[It] places the impacted person at the centre of the response and trusts them to best understand their experience of harm, consistent with the terms of reference.
The review is also pragmatic. It acknowledges that parliament is a “workplace like no other”. The principle of parliamentary sovereignty means only parliamentarians can enforce consequences on fellow elected representatives.
Foster concedes that when it comes to making change, “implementation will be key”. It proposes a small implementation taskforce is established in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, with funding to mid-2022. It also notes that “meaningful change” will only come if parliamentary leaders fully commit to and act on the reforms.
The Jenkins review
Foster highlights the mood for change in the wake of Higgins’s story and other claims of harassment and bullying within parliament:
recent events have generated a genuine desire to make positive changes to the Commonwealth parliamentary workplace environment so it meets the expectations of Australians to observe the highest standards of professional conduct.
But, with the Jenkins review not due to report until November, and a federal election pending, it remains to be seen whether good intentions will translate to parliament becoming a safe and respectful workplace.
The Sex Discrimination Commissioner has been left to do most of the heavy-lifting — particularly around the problems inherent to the “complex and unusual” employment framework for staffers.
The act that regulates the employment of MPs and senators’ staff (the so-called “MOP(S) act”) means
parliamentarians employ their own staff, with the approval of the Prime Minister under certain circumstances, having regard to the duties the parliamentarian performs as a Senator or as a Member of Parliament.
So, each of the 227 parliamentary offices operates independently, as its own self-contained workplace, with back-office support from the Finance Department.
Jenkins’ work must confront the ambiguous role ministerial staff play in Australia’s political system. This is something successive governments, including Scott Morrison’s have been unwilling to do — despite expert advice about the need to do so.
It is worth recalling Higgins’ case involved a senior and valued ministerial staff member. It is ironic to think in late 2019, Morrison rejected David Thodey’s recommendations to strengthen accountability and governance arrangements for ministerial staff, arguing
the government expects all ministerial staff to uphold the highest standards of integrity and it uses a range of mechanisms to ensure they are held to account for these standards.
He is not the first Prime Minister to fiercely guard executive power over ministerial staffing arrangements. But the inadequacies of current legislative arrangements and political practice suggest parliamentary workplaces might be safer if he was the last.
Anne Tiernan has received research funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG). She co-authored a commissioned research paper on ministerial staff for the Independent Review of the Australian Public Service, Chaired by David Thodey and was among the ‘academics and eminent persons’ consulted by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in conducting its Review of the Parliamentary Workplace.
Victoria’s current COVID outbreak took another turn last week when a new variant was discovered by health authorities. It’s not clear whether this new “Delta” variant emerged from Victoria, New South Wales or elsewhere, and it hasn’t yet been matched to any cases in hotel quarantine.
We’ve still got a lot to learn about this variant, and most data we have right now is coming out of the UK. We don’t know yet for sure whether the variant is deadlier or whether it spreads more in kids.
But early data suggests it’s more transmissible than other variants.
The good news is that both the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines still work relatively well against it — though only after the second dose.
What’s the Delta variant?
The World Health Organisation has a new naming system, using the Greek alphabet, for coronavirus variants of concern.
The Delta variant was previously known as the “Indian variant”, as it was first found in India. It’s one of three sub-lineages of the Indian variant, and is also known as B.1.617.2. The Kappa variant — the strain most prevalent in Victoria’s latest outbreak and which originated from South Australian hotel quarantine — is B.1.617.1.
The WHO has introduced this new naming system to avoid stigma associated with attaching country names to variants. There was concern the old naming system might decrease the likelihood of countries reporting new variants in future, for fear their country would be blamed for the variant.
One historical example is the “Spanish flu”. In fact, evidence suggests this flu strain probably didn’t originate in Spain.
The new system is a non-judgemental way to keep track of new variants.
It’s more infectious
The Delta variant has been detected in many different countries across the world, including the UK, US, Fiji, Singapore and now Australia.
In the UK, Delta is outcompeting the Alpha strain, formerly known as the “UK variant”. This alone suggests Delta is more transmissible than Alpha, which is significantly more transmissible than the original strain first detected in Wuhan, China.
We don’t know yet exactly why it’s more transmissible, but data suggests it’s better at replicating in our cells than other variants. In virology, viruses which are better at replicating in cells tend to be more infectious.
Does it have a shorter incubation period?
Probably not.
Public Health England looked at the time it took an index case with the Delta variant to infect someone in their household.
It found the time between the exposure date and the household member becoming symptomatic was four days, which isn’t significantly different to the Alpha variant.
We don’t know if it’s deadlier yet
There’s some evidence Delta is associated with a higher risk of hospitalisation compared to Alpha.
However, we can’t say this with absolute certainty because it’s very early days.
There’s selective pressure on a virus to become more transmissible, because a virus wants to replicate as much as possible.
But there’s not the same selective pressure on viruses to become more lethal, and it’s not in the virus’ interest to kill its host. The ultimate successful virus lives in its host indefinitely.
I was quite surprised to see suggestions that some SARS-CoV-2 variants are potentially deadlier, though factors that make them more infectious might also make them more lethal.
There are also lots of examples of viruses that become more lethal but at the cost of reduced infectiousness.
One example is bird flu. Because this virus targets the lower respiratory tract, it’s quite deadly because that’s the site where oxygen transfer takes place. However, this makes it harder to transmit.
Are there more cases in kids?
It’s hard to answer this question with certainty.
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said there are anecdotal reports of Delta being more transmissible in kids.
This same hypothesis was floated when the Alpha variant was first becoming dominant in some parts of the world.
Early data suggests two doses of AstraZeneca is 60% effective, and Pfizer 88%, against the Delta variant. CDC/Unsplash
My laboratory has recently investigated whether Alpha replicates better in the cells of children and found it did not.
We haven’t been able to test the Delta variant in our lab yet, but I’d treat this idea with caution, for two reasons.
The first is that the strain is likely more infectious in general, which could be leading to more cases in kids (and everyone).
And secondly, kids haven’t been vaccinated, whereas many adults have, which biases the data.
Our vaccines still work well against it
Some data suggest Delta has the ability to evade our immune systems. This is assessed by looking at the number of antibodies in vaccinated people, then seeing how well those antibodies neutralise the virus in the lab.
Indeed there is a drop off in antibody protection with this variant. However, the key thing to note is that a drop in antibodies in lab tests doesn’t necessarily severely hinder vaccines. Lab results should be treated with caution.
The good news is our current crop of COVID vaccines still remain relatively effective against Delta in the real world.
Data from Public Health England found one dose of AstraZeneca or Pfizer was 33% effective against the strain, but two doses was 60% (AstraZeneca) and 88% (Pfizer) effective.
What this shows is we can’t rely on the first dose alone. Everyone really needs to make sure they have their second dose.
Kirsty Short receives funding from the NHMRC and Australian Eggs.
Although sea snakes aren’t usually associated with intimate interactions, our new research is revealing their “sensitive” side.
In a study published today in the Biological Journal of the Linnaean Society, my colleagues and I detail the enlarged touch receptors which evolved in the male turtle-headed sea snake (Emydocephalus annulatus).
We suspect these curious sensory organs help the males keep up with their female counterparts underwater.
As I headed to sea
The sun rises over the calm water of Baies des Citrons in Nouméa, New Caledonia. I don my wetsuit and snorkel out in search of turtle-headed sea snakes.
Once I slip into the water it doesn’t take long to spot one; a yellow and black banded male swims with purpose along the rocky reef. It’s the winter breeding season.
A banded male turtle-headed sea snake swims along the reef, looking for females.
During mating season, a male will search frantically for females and approach nearly everything that moves, including my flippers!
When he does find a female, he begins a curious courtship behaviour — undulating his body over hers, while repeatedly prodding his head into her back.
The female swims to the surface to breathe as the smaller-bodied male rushes to keep up. As she dives back down, he becomes disorientated and swims in the opposite direction. Realising he has lost her, the male erratically circles their last place of contact. She may be metres away, but he’ll probably never find her again.
This is a common story for this species. One study found up to 60% of males will lose contact with females they encounter.
Sea sense: how do sea snakes find their mates?
On land, snakes use tongue-flicking to sense and follow sex pheromones left by other snakes. In the water, however, these chemicals are diluted.
Turtle-headed sea snakes also can’t see very clearly underwater and have been known to court anything long and dark, including sea cucumbers. To make matters worse, once a female is found, the male must overcome buoyancy force so he doesn’t float away from his potential mate.
Given the challenges of living underwater, my colleagues and I hypothesised male turtle-headed sea snakes might have an enhanced sense of touch, to maintain contact with females during close courtship.
Underwater tactile foreplay
Most snakes have a dusting of thousands of touch receptors that look like freckles all over their face. These touch receptors are much larger in sea snakes, potentially so they can sense vibrations made by swimming prey and predators.
A comparison of scale receptors in a land snake (Pseudonaja textilis) and sea snake (Hydrophis schistosus). xx, Author provided
One of the largest touch receptors on any snake is found on turtle-headed sea snakes. And when we took a closer look at museum specimens, we discovered males have larger touch receptors than females overall.
We also found mature males have enlarged scale structures on their snout, chin and their cloaca (which is an all-purpose hole used for reproduction and excretion). The positioning of these enlarged receptors over the body hints at the role they play in sea snake courtship.
The touch receptors on the chin of males (referred to as “genial knobs”) have the same specialised cells as those on the face, but the outer bump is four times larger.
Their position on the underside of the head gives sensory feedback to the male as he swims above females, helping him orient towards the direction of her swimming.
The touch receptors on his anal scales (or “anal knobs”) provide feedback to align both snakes’ cloacae, which is necessary for sex. Genital alignment may seem like a trivial task, but for tube-shaped limbless snakes, touch receptors on the cloaca are essential.
Comparison of male and female turtle-headed sea snakes. Males have rostral spines (RS) and enlarged genial knobs (GK) and anal knobs (AK). Males also have larger scale receptors (SS). H = hemipene, which is a male reproductive organ. Chris Jolly, Author provided
Males also have a tapered scale on their snout known as the “rostral spine”. While courting the female, the male will prod the female’s back with this hardened scale.
We investigated the micro-structure of the rostral spine and found it is made of thickened layers of skin with no specialised sensory cells. As such, we think it may play a role in stimulating female interest in mating.
However, it provides relatively less feedback for the male, especially compared to the touch receptors on his chin and cloaca.
Positioning of the scale structures on a male turtle-headed sea snake. RS = rostral spine and GK = genial knob. Photo of full snake by Max Jackson; photos of tactile receptors by Chris Jolly, Author provided
A similar form of “tactile foreplay” has been observed in species of boas and pythons. These snakes have hard claws known as pelvic spurs near their cloaca, which are vestigial remnants of legs lost through evolution!
During courtship, males will scratch and pry at the female’s scales during mating. Such sinuous courtship can stimulate beneficial hormonal changes and receptive behaviours in females, such as “cloacal gaping” which increase mating success for both sexes.
Could the rostral spine in turtle-headed sea snakes play a similar role in stimulating females?
The mating begins.
Evolutionary transitions
Sea snakes evolved from land snakes some 20 million years ago. Most live their entire lives at sea.
Decades of research have revealed their remarkable morphological adaptations to aquatic life, including paddle-shaped tails, salt-excreting glands and the ability to breathe through their skin. Now, our research is beginning to uncover the importance of touch for social behaviours in sea snakes.
While sea snakes are not typically appreciated for their sensitive side, our discovery suggests an enhanced sense of touch evolved to improve communication within members of a species. This is especially crucial in aquatic environments, where other sensory signals such as vision and pheromones are diminished.
As our work continues, sea snakes are becoming a fantastic example of how evolution can create opportunity from constraint.
Jenna Crowe-Riddell received funding for this study from an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship and a New Caledonia University Scientific Exchange Program Grant.
Frewen, already the commander of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) COVID-19 task force, will now also direct a “military-style scale up phase of the beleaguered vaccination rollout”, as one media report put it.
As someone whose life’s work has been the study of the ADF, my first thought when hearing the news was: Frewen is a good pick, in many ways. He is an exceptionally capable officer, and I have no doubt he will get the job done.
But I have broader concerns about Australia’s growing tendency to call in the defence force to deal with crises outside its usual remit. These are crises that could or should be dealt with by well-resourced civilian government agencies and institutions.
It risks stretching even thinner the already constrained capacity of our relatively small army. It also speaks to a failure to set up Australian society to respond robustly for the likely challenges of the future.
A good pick, but is this the job of the defence force?
Frewen has considerable operational and managerial experience in the context of defence. He had a leading role as part of the police-led, multi-agency intervention in the Solomon Islands in 2003, he helped pick up the pieces in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide, and he has commanded a combat brigade in Darwin and our deployed operational forces in the Middle East. He has also been, for a while, the acting director general of the Australian Signals Directorate.
He is a man for all seasons; talented, capable, urbane, personable, smart and hard not to like. So it is completely understandable if the prime minister has thought, “I like this guy and I think he’d do a good job.”
And he’s right. Frewen will get on with the job and will make it work.
But is this what we should do with our defence force? Isn’t a vaccine rollout something we should be resourcing our state-based emergency response agencies to do better?
In recent years, we have expected the defence force to respond to crisis after crisis, rather than properly resourcing civilian-led government or community agencies to perform these tasks.
The federal government has defaulted to the one federal implement it completely controls, which generally exercises its agency with political aplomb. (Yes, the Brereton report revealed problems but, by and large, the defence force remains very well regarded in the community.)
We keep telling ourselves this latest crisis is an aberration. But it’s the new normal. That’s my concern. If it’s not pandemics, it’s fires, floods, pestilence — or all of the above concurrently.
And if what pundits are saying is correct, these challenges are not going away, as I’ve argued in a recent Geostrategic SWOT analysis for Australia (SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats).
We may be able to lean on the defence force to help manage these challenges consecutively. But what happens when, as predicted, they start to happen at the same time?
A new vaccination taskforce has been announced. AAP Image/Joel Carrett
A comparatively small force taking on more and more
The ADF is, in reality, a boutique force. It’s smaller than many realise — and very expensive to run. It’s only a fraction the size of the defence force in Indonesia — let alone China, India and South Korea. Comparatively, it is tiny, yet it is being asked to take on more and more.
It is structured for the days when the US was in charge of international affairs and only ever needed niche contributions from Australia.
But now, the ADF is being expected to respond to large and complex disasters which are overlapping more than ever.
We are increasingly getting the defence force to focus on environmental issues (a pandemic counts as one), which leaves less time for what it’s actually meant to do — prepare and conduct operations offshore in defence of Australia and its interests.
And in the meantime, we are not properly resourcing agencies like the Australian Border Force, Australian aid, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, health agencies, the state emergency services, the rural fire services, state and federal police and so on to respond to issues of regional significance. These include pandemics, natural disasters, people smuggling and terrorism.
Brilliant at logistics but we must plan better
It is true, as some have pointed out, the defence force is excellent at logistics. But so are a number of commercial companies and they may be able to help in something like a vaccine rollout at a fraction of the price (the defence force is surprisingly expensive).
For now, we may not have any really viable alternatives to do the vaccine rollout quickly. And I’m not saying the ADF’s involvement is a terrible idea. But we should have been thinking about this before now.
One idea would be to establish a scheme for national and community service, incentivising young Australians to volunteer in local, state and federal agency crisis responses.
The selection of Frewen to head this ramped-up vaccine rollout is, in many ways, no surprise. But as respectable, capable, honourable and competent as he is, his selection speaks to a lack of thinking about the longer term, corrosive ramifications of expecting the defence force to do ever more.
John Blaxland and John Frewen were undergraduate students together at the Royal Military College at Duntroon. Frewen features in John Blaxland’s book The Australian Army from Whitlam to Howard, Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Biodiversity Heritage Library/ Harvard University Archives
Modern palaeontology dates back to the 19th century. But from time to time, entirely new branches of enquiry are developed.
This year marks 100 years since the birth of palaeoneurology, the study of “fossil brains”. Notably, it serves as an important reminder of the late Tilly Edinger, without whom the field could not have evolved as it has.
Tilly Edinger. Wiki
As the name suggests, palaeoneurology combines the study of fossils with neural evolution. It allows us to understand how animal brains evolved through deep time to give rise to the remarkable diversity we see today.
When animals die, their soft parts — including the brain — decay quickly, leaving only the hard parts of the skeleton to potentially become fossilised. Understandably, this makes the study of these soft parts difficult for palaeontologists.
Researchers get around this by creating a mould of the internal space of the skull that would have housed the brain during an animal’s life. This is called an “endocast”.
The size and shape of an animal’s endocast can give insight into their ecology and behaviour. For example, sharks are known for their good sense of smell, whereas fish such as trout are more so considered visual predators.
It’s no surprise then that when we compare the brains of sharks and fish, we see differences in the relative size of the regions associated with smell and vision.
Brain and endocast models created ‘virtually’ from CT-scan data used in palaeoneurology studies today. Author provided
By studying the endocasts of extinct animals, we can identify when major evolutionary innovations likely occurred. And this helps us pinpoint the origins of certain behaviours, such as flight, or the transition to land.
Tilly Edinger and 100 years of ‘fossil brains’
Tilly Edinger (1897–1967), a vertebrate palaeontologist from Frankfurt, Germany, founded palaeoneurology in 1921 by combining her unique training in geology and neurology.
She was the first person to apply a deep time perspective to brain evolution, and consider endocasts from throughout the geological record as more than mere curiosities.
But perhaps what is particularly remarkable is that Edinger pioneered this whole new field of research while living under an increasingly restrictive Nazi Germany, from where she was eventually forced into exile.
During her dissertation studies at Frankfurt University, her supervisor Professor Fritz Drevermann suggested she study the palate (roof bones of the mouth) of an extinct marine reptile called Nothosaurus.
While doing so, she noticed the specimen had preserved a natural endocast, as sediment had filled the skull. Edinger compared this with an endocast of the living alligator for her first paper. Her thesis which followed was published on this day 100 years ago.
A Nothosaurus fossil at Berlin’s Museum für Naturkunde. FunkMonk (CC BY-SA 3.0)
‘The fossil vertebrates will save me’
Despite her social standing and gender (at a time when it was unusual for wealthy women to pursue further education or employment), Edinger became an established and respected scientist.
However, during her time working at the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History in the 1930s, the rise and influence of the Nazi regime gradually restricted her freedoms and eventually forced her to flee.
It was due to her impressive reputation, as well as supporting letters from several influential scientists such as Alfred S. Romer, that Edinger eventually managed to escape in 1939.
Indeed, before she fled she seemingly acknowledged that her research contributions and standing in the scientific community would ultimately play a role in her survival.
In a letter to a colleague she wrote, “warden mich also die fossilen Wirbeltiere retten” — which translates to “one way or another, the fossil vertebrates will save me”.
Harvard Museum of Natural History Complex. flickr
After a period of temporary refuge in London, in 1940 Edinger took up a position at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology in the United States, where she worked until her death.
She was highly respected around the world — receiving three honorary doctorates. She was also the first woman to be elected president of the largest and most prestigious palaeontological association, the Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology.
Edinger’s work extended to amphibians, horses, pterosaurs and whales among others. Her magnum opus — an annotated bibliography titled Paleoneurology 1804-1966 — remains a prominent resource for scientists working in palaeoneurology today.
Tilly Edinger’s grave in Frankfurt’s main cemetery. Creative Commons
Advancing deafness contributed to Edinger’s untimely death. In 1967, aged 69, she was struck by a truck on her way to work and eventually succumbed to her injuries.
Palaeoneurology today
Traditionally, scientists had to rely on rare natural moulds of endocasts, or destroy specimens via serial grinding to study the internal space of a skull. Advances in imaging technology has transformed this field in its most recent revival.
These days, palaeoneurologists routinely use CT-scanning to create digital endocasts without damaging specimens. These advances are enabling increasingly detailed analyses, and a whole new generation of “brainy” scientists are carrying on Edinger’s brilliant and pioneering legacy.
Inside the brain of ‘Ligulalepis’, an ancient fossil fish.
Dr Alice Clement receives funding from The Australian Research Council.
Fiji recorded 83 cases of covid-19 on yesterday — its highest daily figure yet, as authorities moved to cordon off the country’s largest hospital and quarantine an entire village as it battles to bring a rapidly growing outbreak under control.
Health Secretary James Fong said 11 of the cases were of unknown origin and were being treated as cases of community transmission until proven otherwise.
Dr Fong also announced that the country’s largest hospital, the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva, would be sealed off from the community and become a full-time covid care facility, with tightly controlled movement.
“Access to laboratory, maternity and paediatric units will be through escalated screening protocols and package decontamination protocols,” he said in a written statement late last night.
An additional field hospital to treat non-covid patients will be set up in the hospital’s vicinity with support from Australia, Dr Fong said.
The entire village of Mulomulo, in Nadi, has also been locked down after contact tracing investigators found more than 100 people had attended a funeral, which Dr Fong said could become a super-spreader event.
Currently, funerals are restricted to no more than 10 people.
New clusters have also been confirmed in Naitasiri, to the north of Suva, including one patient who was recently discharged from the Colonial War Memorial Hospital.
“The high number of cases confirmed today signals a much larger proportion of cases in the community,” Dr Fong said. “We expect more days of high numbers of confirmed cases.
“We sadly expect more hospitalisations as more severe cases of the disease develop.”
Health Secretary Dr James Fong … “We expect more days of high numbers of confirmed cases.” Image: RNZ/Fiji govt
More than 2700 tests were carried out on Saturday, the government said, with a seven day average of 2819. Dr Fong said this was one of the highest rates in Oceania.
But with the country also contending with one of Oceania’s worst outbreaks of the coronavirus – more than 600 cases have been recorded since the latest outbreak began in April – the government has insisted that more stringent lockdown measures are not needed.
“Thanks to the massive step-up in the pace of our testing, we can continue to fight this virus in a targeted way,” Dr Fong said.
“A way that allows Fijians to access essential services and allows the economy to function as normally and safely as possible.”
The government also said an additional 50,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine would be flown from Australia this week. More than 206,000 people have now received their first dose, while 4599 are now fully vaccinated.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
New Zealand’s largest ever crowd in support of migrant rights gathered in Auckland’s Aotea Square at the weekend in triple protests that also marked solidarity for Palestinian justice and the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing, China.
More than 1500 people filled the square on Saturday proclaiming “migrant lives matter” with speakers calling on them to stand up for their rights.
New Zealand governments over the past few years were accused of cynically exploiting migrant workers and that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s “nation of 5 million people” excluded about 300,000 migrants.
The protesters then marched down Queen Street calling for changes to the “broken” immigration policies.
Among demands were:
Visas to be extended to allow for workers who had been trapped overseas, and
Creation of “genuine pathways” to permanent residence.
Unite union national director Michael Treen said successive governments had built the economy on the back of migrants and then consistently “lied” to them about their prospects.
President of the Migrant Workers Association Anu Kaloti said migrants were suffering at the hands of the “broken immigration system”.
Before the march, Palestinian community leader Maher Nazza declared to the crowd “No one is free until we are all free”, saying that the world community must pressure Israel into honouring the United Nations resolutions and restore justice and hope for Palestinians.
One speaker said: “If I said the truth [about the Chinese Communist Party] as I am saying here today in China, somebody would come within minutes and take me away.”
Palestine, migrant rights and the Tiananmen massacre
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Bongiorno, Professor of History, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University
AAP/James Ross
For many years, surveys indicated declining Australian trust in government. Not anymore.
On the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer, which measures average trust in NGOs, business, government and the media, trust in Australia rose dramatically in 2020. In fieldwork conducted October 19 to November 18 2020, Australia climbed by 12 points, from 47% to 59%, the greatest increase in trust in any country measured.
Among those Edelman calls the “informed public” (200 out of 1150 surveyed), Australia stands at 77%, or eighth. But the figure for the general population, which excludes the “informed public”, is 55%. This 22 point gap – somewhat higher than the global average of 16 – is the largest among the countries considered, suggesting notable differences in levels of trust in the community, according to education, income and engagement with current affairs. (The survey, for some reason, only includes people aged 25 to 64 in this category, so it also contains age biases against the elderly in deciding who is “informed”.)
Trust in government climbed even more dramatically, by 17 points to 61%. Australia is ranked ninth, whereas in past years it occupied the middle of the pack of 27 countries, but among those where government is distrusted (below 50%). To place this in perspective, Britain is now at 45% (up nine points) and the United States at 42% (up three). We are now slightly more trusting than Germans and Canadians, but less so than the Malaysians and the Dutch. China and Saudi Arabia head the pack, but China is down eight points from last time.
The Australian results are in line with other surveys. Democracy 2025 (based at the Museum of Australian Democracy and University of Canberra) had trust in the federal government soaring from 29% to 54% in its May-June 2020 survey, with support for Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s handling of the pandemic at 73%. This is significantly higher than for Britain, the United States and Italy – unsurprising given the much lighter impact of COVID-19 in Australia.
The Scanlon Foundation’s 2021 research also showed trust in both state and federal governments rising. Trust in Canberra to “do the right thing” is 55%, compared with an average since 2007 (when the survey began) of 32%. Moreover, results for July and November 2020 were broadly consistent. Support for the federal government pandemic response was 85%, with some state governments climbing even higher (to an extraordinary 99% in Western Australia in July, and 98% in November). Even in Victoria, while support was at 65% mid-year, it was 78% by November.
State governments’ approval ratings have been high, even in Victoria which has borne the brunt of virus outbreaks. AAP/Luis Ascui
What does this mean? Firstly, we can assume much of the grumbling about federal and state government handling of the pandemic – even with another Victorian lockdown entering its frustrating second week – does not reflect majority disaffection with those responsible. That does not mean Australians have not sometimes been exasperated and angry. Nor does it suggest decision-making has been perfect. If governments have pursued the utilitarian ethic of the greatest good for the greatest number, they might – indeed have – at times have been negligent and even callous concerning some minorities. They also seem to have gone out of their way further to enrich those usually found at the front of the queue when taxpayer money is being thrown around.
We have learned that governments give priority to “Australia” – understood as a land mass and its citizens (and perhaps permanent residents) – over “Australians”, understood as a people who might be found anywhere from Melbourne to Minsk. Many Australians stuck overseas felt abandoned. Some discovered that their citizenship and passport could not stop the federal government from keeping them out of the country, and even threatening them with prison if they tried coming home. This has been a revelation to many of us, a light-bulb bright enough to illuminate thinking on both the left and right. Many disliked what they saw.
Similarly, people working or studying in Australia on one of the numerous visas made available for such activities quickly found themselves surplus to requirements. Morrison told them they should go home. Students were treated as you might an empty ATM. Foreign workers, no longer needed in an economy shutting down, were like mobile phones out of charge, range and credit. Later, when fruit-growers complained their usual supply of seasonal labour was not flowing, there was a great deal of hand-wringing, and a ramping up of the usual angry talk of the unemployed refusing work.
Australians like to think of themselves as an egalitarian people, but the pandemic has underlined that as in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, some are more equal than others. Celebrities and the super-rich came and went as if it were still 2019, permitted to quarantine at home when they arrived while everyone else went into a hotel room. Some commentators were brazen in their views about the dispensability of the old and frail when there was an economy to run. Government did not follow their lead, but vulnerable people living in nursing homes still seemed too far down anyone’s order of priorities when it came to acting rather than talking.
When it comes to federal government support through the pandemic, some Australians have been more equal than others. AAP/Mick Tsikas
Casual workers were seen to have little call on the state for support; they were treated as de facto unemployed, not workers temporarily unable to do their jobs. The unemployed themselves gained more support for as long as it suited the federal government’s macroeconomic goals of propping up an economy falling into recession. Then, they were returned to their customary place under the poverty line. The industries dominated by women received less consideration than those largely made up of men, especially men in high-vis vests. Even when the government announced modest financial assistance for the arts, Morrison couched it as a way of keeping tradies employed.
It’s difficult to know what Australians think of their prime minister after more than a year of a pandemic. His approval rating remains buoyant, but has dropped during those times – the bushfire, and then the sexual assault crisis – when his judgment and empathy have been found most wanting. He’s capable of great callousness, and addicted to publicity and marketing over substance and results. I suspect many Australians don’t quite trust Morrison to find the right way of responding to crises and challenges. But they seem willing to stick by him until something better is on offer, a common enough attitude in the two-horse race that federal politics remains.
The failures of his government on both quarantine and vaccination are problems for Morrison, and may well be reflected in future movements in those trust surveys. The pandemic has exposed many of the frailties of federal government, and a few in the states as well. Canberra has well-developed instruments for transfer payments – which it deployed in JobKeeper and JobSeeker – but its capacity for service-delivery in a wider sense is strikingly limited.
Medical experts have been criticising the inadequacies state government-run hotel quarantine system for months, but until the very recent past, the federal government has resisted acting tooth and nail despite its constitutional responsibilities.
The vaccine rollout has been a disaster by any measure, but whether Australians will punish the Morrison government for it remains to be seen. AAP/James Ross
Its vaccination program has been disastrous by any reasonable measure. Federal government failures in relation to its aged-care responsibilities, which contributed to the loss of life earlier in the pandemic, have been repeated. People with disabilities have been reminded of their lowly status in the pecking order.
The lucky country has been lucky during COVID that it is an island. It has been lucky that its federal system often saved its people from the poor judgement and callousness of individual leaders. But it has been lucky, above all, in its people’s notable discipline – a trait rarely associated with the typical Australian.
Despite the inevitable grumbles, government excesses, opportunistic posturing of this and that politician, a likely increase in racist bullying, and the odd protest from sovereign citizens and others – the existence of this surprisingly wide and deep well of social discipline is by far the most important thing that we’ve learned about Australians in the age of COVID.
Frank Bongiorno 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.
Most people who get COVID suffer the common symptoms of fever, cough and breathing problems, and recover in a week or two.
But some people, estimated to be roughly 10-30% of people who get COVID, suffer persistent symptoms colloquially known as “long COVID”.
Why do some people recover quickly, while others’ symptoms continue for months? This question has proved to be one of the most challenging to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.
While there’s no definitive answer yet, there are a few leading theories put forward by researchers around the world.
So what have we learned about long COVID, and what is the latest evidence telling us so far?
There’s no universally accepted definition of long COVID because it’s such a new phenomenon. A working definition is that it’s a term used to describe the situation where people experience a range of persistent symptoms following COVID-19.
The most common symptoms we (Louis and Alex) hear from sufferers in our long COVID clinic in Melbourne are fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pain, heart palpitations, headaches, brain fog, muscle aches and sleep disturbance. But it can also include very diverse symptoms like loss of smell and taste, increased worry especially in relation to one’s health, depression, and an inability to work and interact with society. In some of these people, it’s almost as if there’s a process that’s affected every part of their body.
Another feature for many in our clinic is the disconnect between the severity of their initial COVID illness and the development of significant and persisting symptoms during recovery. Most of our patients in the long COVID clinic had a milder illness initially, are often younger than those who’ve been hospitalised, and were healthy and active before getting COVID.
Regardless of the specific symptoms, many of our patients are concerned there’s persisting infection and damage occurring, along with a fear and frustration that they’re not improving.
So far we haven’t found any specific test to explain post COVID symptoms. This has confirmed our view that in most patients, long COVID symptoms are probably related to a complex interaction of physical and psychological processes that have arisen following the sudden inflammation caused by the COVID infection.
How many people have long COVID?
It’s very difficult to determine what proportion of people who get COVID end up with persistent symptoms. At this stage we don’t know the exact rate.
In our ongoing study of COVID immunity at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) we found 34% of our participants were experiencing long COVID 45 weeks after diagnosis.
But our study is community-based and not designed to measure the overall prevalence of the condition in the wider population.
The data is still emerging and different sources cite different rates. It depends how the researchers recruited and followed participants, for example, as part of post-discharge follow up or community surveys.
Many doctors are still not aware of long COVID, so many cases may not be recognised and added to studies. Indeed, after some data from our WEHI study aired on the ABC’s 7.30 program, more people with ongoing symptoms came forward to join the study, and some didn’t know there was research being conducted or even that the condition existed.
We need a fully-fledged “population study” to determine the approximate rate. This would mean contacting a whole group of people who contracted COVID and seeing how many have ongoing problems at a set time, such as a year later. Doing these studies is difficult, but it would mean we can answer an important question.
Treating the condition is challenging given there’s no definitive clinical test to determine if someone has it, and there’s no standard treatment yet.
People with mild symptoms may not require treatment, but rather just validation and information.
Others with more severe or persistent symptoms need more. By offering clinical care backed by a coordinated team of specialists, multidisciplinary long COVID clinics ensure patients receive the best care available without the endless burden of multiple independent consultations. These clinics use a holistic approach and build knowledge of the best strategies to support recovery. They include teams of specialists such as respiratory physicians, rheumatologists, immunologists, physiotherapists, and in some cases, psychologists and psychiatrists. A graded exercise program is often useful.
For most people, the outcomes are good. After nine months, half of our patients have returned to close to normal activity and have been discharged from the clinic.
However, there’s a group of patients whose improvement is slower. They’re often young and previously high functioning. They have limited ability to work, exercise and socialise. Their return to work and other activities needs to be carefully managed, and they need to avoid doing too much too quickly.
It’s essential these patients’ persisting symptoms are acknowledged, and that they get support from their family, employer and a multidisciplinary medical team.
What causes long COVID?
We don’t know yet why some people get long COVID while others recover a few weeks after being infected.
If it was simply linked to severe COVID then that would give us clues. But it isn’t, as we’ve seen people with mild disease end up with long COVID symptoms, just as we have with people in intensive care.
However, there are some front-runner ideas that researchers across the globe have put forward.
This includes the idea that long COVID could be a consequence of people’s immune systems misfiring and working overtime in the wake of infection.
One clue that supports this theory is that some people suffering from long COVID say their symptoms markedly improve after getting a COVID vaccine. This strongly suggests the diverse symptoms of long COVID are directly linked back to our immune system. It’s possible the vaccine might help by redirecting the immune system back on track, by directly activating certain immune cells like T cells (that help stimulate antibody production and kill virus-infected cells) or frontline innate immune cells that correct this immune misfiring.
Another theory is that, in the bodies of people with long COVID, there’s a small, persistent “viral reservoir” hidden from detection by diagnostic tests, or leftover small viral fragments that the body hasn’t dealt with. These reservoirs are not infectious but may consistently activate the immune system. A vaccine might help direct the immune system to the right spots to mop up the leftover virus.
Or long COVID might a combination of both of these, or many different elements.
The bottom line is we still need more research, as it’s still in its early stages. There’s no cure yet, but we can support and manage sufferers’ symptoms and we encourage everyone to get their COVID-19 vaccine when it’s available to you.
Vanessa Bryant receives funding from NHMRC, WHO Unity Fund, Pam and Harold Holmes Foundation, Rae Foundation, MJ Maughan Foundation
Alex Holmes receives funding from NHMRC.
Louis Irving 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 Jacqueline Ullman, Associate Professor in Adolescent Development, Behaviour and Wellbeing, Western Sydney University
Bills in the federal and New South Wales parliaments have sought to stop teachers talking about gender and sexuality diversity in the name of either religious freedom or parents’ rights.
If passed in its current form, the NSW Education Legislation Amendment (Parental Rights) Bill 2020 would prohibit teachers from discussing gender and sexuality diversity. It would also make offering targeted, requested support to gender and sexuality diverse (often known as LGBTQ+) students grounds for revoking teachers’ accreditation.
At NSW universities, the bill will mean programs that educate student teachers about the existence of LGBTQ+ students and how best to support them at school would be at risk of losing their accreditation. The same goes for registered professional development of NSW teachers.
My recent report, Free2Be … Yet? — the second national study of Australian high school students who identify as gender and sexuality diverse — shows alarming rates of homophobic language used in Australian schools. And worse, it shows that, at least from the perspective of students, teachers rarely intervene.
What LGBTQ+ students said
The report presents findings from a national survey of 2,376 LGBTQ+ high school students, aged 13–18. The participants went to government, Catholic and independent schools.
The central aim of the research was to investigate the frequency of harassment and violence towards LGBTQ+ students at school. I also wanted to explore associations between elements of the school climate — with respect to gender and sexuality diversity — and the school well-being of these students.
Almost 30% of participants said they had personally experienced or witnessed physical harassment directed at LGBTQ+ students. This group told stories of violence at school, with limited teacher intervention or discussion about the issues.
Of 93% of students who said they had heard homophobic language at school, 37% heard this “almost every day”. Only 6% of students said adults “always” intervened to stop this language.
One year 9 girl who identifies as pansexual wrote:
My classmates call everyone faggots all the time and the teachers just pretend they don’t hear it.
In some cases, students wrote about how the LGBTQ+ student was blamed for the event:
A year 12 boy who identifies as gay said:
[A student] threw a rotten apple at the back of my head after telling me that the common room is for ‘normal straight people only’. The teacher present then told me I had to leave because I was causing trouble by being there.
LGBTQ+ students who went to schools where peers used homophobic and transphobic language more often and with less intervention from adults reported feeling significantly less connected to their school.
They also said they were less confident their teachers could manage bullying and keep them safe. And they were less assured their teachers were personally invested in them and their academic success.
A diverse-positive school climate
A school climate that views gender and sexuality diversity positively is related to LGBTQ+ students’ sense of connection and personal investment in school.
In this survey, LGBTQ+ students scored worse than mainstream peers on nearly every measure of school-based well-being. This included their sense of connectedness to school, a known predictor of academic achievement.
LGBTQ+ students’ well-being at school can suffer depending on how the school sees diversity issues. Shutterstock
However, where LGBTQ+ students attended schools that explicitly named sexual orientation as a protected category in their harassment policy, those students’ school-based well-being exceeded those of their mainstream peers.
Around three-quarters of students who were in year 9 and above said it was “definitely” or “mostly” false they had learned about a range of gender and sexuality diverse identities in their health and physical education classes.
LGBTQ+ students who reported more inclusion of diversity issues in their curriculum had significantly better school-based well-being than LGBTQ+ students in schools with little to no inclusion.
Unsurprisingly, LGBTQ+ students with higher levels of these forms of well-being were significantly more likely to say they would attend university.
Teacher attitudes make a difference
The study also measured how LGBTQ+ students perceived themselves academically — known as “academic self-concept”. This is measured using eight items that include statements such as: “compared to others my age, I am good at most school subjects” and “it is important to me to do well in most school subjects”.
The survey then asked students to indicate how true it was that their “teachers talk about same-sex attraction (lesbian, gay or bisexual people or topics) in a positive way”. Response options ranged from “definitely false” to “definitely true”.
Looking at students’ mean (average) academic self-concept score against their ratings of teacher positivity, results show that where students viewed their teachers as more positive about same-sex attraction across each of the six response options, they also reported higher academic self-concept.
Likewise, students were asked to indicate how frequently their teachers “do something or say something positive, like stop the student(s) or talk to them about using that language” when “negative language about lesbians, gays or bisexual people is used by students and a teacher or school staff member is present”. Response options ranged from “always” to “never”.
As the graph below shows, students who indicated that their teachers “always” intervened had the highest average academic self-concept, with students who indicated their teachers “never” intervened, reporting the lowest average academic self-concept.
These results show more training and encouragement should be given to Australia’s teachers to speak out against homophobic and transphobic harassment and violence in ways that educate students and reduce its incidence. Such efforts, alongside positive inclusion, can enable LGBTQ+ students to reach their full potential.
If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit Headspace.
Jacqueline Ullman receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
In more than a fifth of Australia’s industries, the two biggest firms control at least half the market.
Think of telecommunications, supermarkets, department stores, packaging, airlines, hardware, service stations, cinema chains and commercial television.
In industries like these there’s a temptation to share the spoils — not to compete too hard on price or service.
How much stronger would that temptation be if both dominant firms in each industry were owned by the same shareholder or set of shareholders?
Neither firm might want to put the other out of business.
There’s evidence to suggest this has indeed been the case in the United States where increases in common ownership have been linked to higher airline fares, more expensive pharmaceuticals, and higher bank fees.
It’s enough to make you wonder whether there’s common ownership in Australia.
Competitors share owners
To find out, Andrew Leigh and I collected data from IBISWorld on the firms that compete with each other across Australia’s 443 industries.
We then matched that data to shareholding disclosures for each of the firms listed on the share market and analysed the extent to which competitors were owned by the same investors.
Our findings, just published in Economic Record, are troubling.
They identify common ownership in 49 of Australia’s 443 industries.
They are significant industries. The 49 together account for more than one third of Australia’s total industry revenue.
They include commercial banking, explosives manufacturing, fuel retailing, general insurance and iron ore mining.
In firms in those industries in which we can identify at least one owner, 31% share a substantial owner with a rival.
Concentration is bigger than it looks
Market concentration is traditionally measured by the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) on a scale in which an HHI of less than 1,500 is considered to be competitive, an HHI of 1,500 to 2,500 is considered to be a moderately concentrated, and an HHI of 2,500 or more to be a highly concentrated.
When we modified the HHI to take account of common ownership, the scores of some industries jumped.
The index for banking jumped from 1,534 to 5,850; the index for funds management services jumped from 1,254 to 3,014. The index for department stores jumped from 3,061 to 4,888.
Who are these common owners? They are overwhelmingly institutional investors, predominantly BlackRock and Vanguard.
This is unsurprising given one of either BlackRock, Vanguard or State Street is the largest shareholder in 88% of S&P500 companies in the United States.
BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street
But do they influence corporate decisions? The literature suggests they do.
Documenting the channels through which common owners affect competition, Nathan Shekita identifies 30 cases of common owner intervention across industries including pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, banking and ride-sharing.
In 2019 BlackRock engaged 2,050 times with 1,458 companies in 42 markets.
Multinational investment corporation BlackRock.
Martin Schmalz provides a case study of how this can occur.
An activist hedge fund campaigned in 2015 to have DuPont take a more aggressive approach to winning market share from its competitor, Monsanto.
The campaign was opposed by institutional investors including BlackRock and Vanguard. Upon the news that the activist campaign against DuPont had been defeated, Monsanto’s shares rose 3.5%.
Schmalz believes it’s possible that these institutional investors voted to maximise the value of their entire portfolio, which included significant stakes in DuPont’s competitor.
Our own study has plenty of limitations. We can only see Australian firms that are listed on the securities exchange, we can only observe shareholdings that exceed 5%, we can only see the largest competitors.
These data limitations mean we might have understated common ownership.
Our findings ought to be enough to get policymakers and regulators looking more deeply into common ownership and monitoring its changes.
Only if we “follow money” can we get a true account of what that money does.
Adman Triggs conducted his study with Andrew Leigh, a former professor of economics at the Australian National University who is now a Labor member of parliament.
Biodiversity Heritage Library/ Harvard University Archives
Modern palaeontology dates back to the 19th century. But from time to time, entirely new branches of enquiry are developed.
This year marks 100 years since the birth of palaeoneurology, the study of “fossil brains”. Notably, it serves as an important reminder of the late Tilly Edinger, without whom the field could not have evolved as it has.
Tilly Edinger. Wiki
As the name suggests, palaeoneurology combines the study of fossils with neural evolution. It allows us to understand how animal brains evolved through deep time to give rise to the remarkable diversity we see today.
When animals die, their soft parts — including the brain — decay quickly, leaving only the hard parts of the skeleton to potentially become fossilised. Understandably, this makes the study of these soft parts difficult for palaeontologists.
Researchers get around this by creating a mould of the internal space of the skull that would have housed the brain during an animal’s life. This is called an “endocast”.
The size and shape of an animal’s endocast can give insight into their ecology and behaviour. For example, sharks are known for their good sense of smell, whereas fish such as trout are more so considered visual predators.
It’s no surprise then that when we compare the brains of sharks and fish, we see differences in the relative size of the regions associated with smell and vision.
Brain and endocast models created ‘virtually’ from CT-scan data used in palaeoneurology studies today. Author provided
By studying the endocasts of extinct animals, we can identify when major evolutionary innovations likely occurred. And this helps us pinpoint the origins of certain behaviours, such as flight, or the transition to land.
Tilly Edinger and 100 years of ‘fossil brains’
Tilly Edinger (1897–1967), a vertebrate palaeontologist from Frankfurt, Germany, founded palaeoneurology in 1921 by combining her unique training in geology and neurology.
She was the first person to apply a deep time perspective to brain evolution, and consider endocasts from throughout the geological record as more than mere curiosities.
But perhaps what is particularly remarkable is that Edinger pioneered this whole new field of research while living under an increasingly restrictive Nazi Germany, from where she was eventually forced into exile.
During her dissertation studies at Frankfurt University, her supervisor Professor Fritz Drevermann suggested she study the palate (roof bones of the mouth) of an extinct marine reptile called Nothosaurus.
While doing so, she noticed the specimen had preserved a natural endocast, as sediment had filled the skull. Edinger compared this with an endocast of the living alligator for her first paper. Her thesis which followed was published on this day 100 years ago.
A Nothosaurus fossil at Berlin’s Museum für Naturkunde. FunkMonk (CC BY-SA 3.0)
‘The fossil vertebrates will save me’
Despite her social standing and gender (at a time when it was unusual for wealthy women to pursue further education or employment), Edinger became an established and respected scientist.
However, during her time working at the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History in the 1930s, the rise and influence of the Nazi regime gradually restricted her freedoms and eventually forced her to flee.
It was due to her impressive reputation, as well as supporting letters from several influential scientists such as Alfred S. Romer, that Edinger eventually managed to escape in 1939.
Indeed, before she fled she seemingly acknowledged that her research contributions and standing in the scientific community would ultimately play a role in her survival.
In a letter to a colleague she wrote, “warden mich also die fossilen Wirbeltiere retten” — which translates to “one way or another, the fossil vertebrates will save me”.
Harvard Museum of Natural History Complex. flickr
After a period of temporary refuge in London, in 1940 Edinger took up a position at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology in the United States, where she worked until her death.
She was highly respected around the world — receiving three honorary doctorates. She was also the first woman to be elected president of the largest and most prestigious palaeontological association, the Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology.
Edinger’s work extended to amphibians, horses, pterosaurs and whales among others. Her magnum opus — an annotated bibliography titled Paleoneurology 1804-1966 — remains a prominent resource for scientists working in palaeoneurology today.
Tilly Edinger’s grave in Frankfurt’s main cemetery. Creative Commons
Advancing deafness contributed to Edinger’s untimely death. In 1967, aged 69, she was struck by a truck on her way to work and eventually succumbed to her injuries.
Palaeoneurology today
Traditionally, scientists had to rely on rare natural moulds of endocasts, or destroy specimens via serial grinding to study the internal space of a skull. Advances in imaging technology has transformed this field in its most recent revival.
These days, palaeoneurologists routinely use CT-scanning to create digital endocasts without damaging specimens. These advances are enabling increasingly detailed analyses, and a whole new generation of “brainy” scientists are carrying on Edinger’s brilliant and pioneering legacy.
Inside the brain of ‘Ligulalepis’, an ancient fossil fish.
Dr Alice Clement receives funding from The Australian Research Council.
The Wet Tropics of Australia — rainforest stretching 450 kilometres along Queensland’s coastline — is renowned for its vast array of wildlife and ancient plant species. It’s little wonder the rainforest is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of 20 in Australia.
However, the cultural heritage of the Wet Tropics isn’t recognised or celebrated with quite the same gusto, with the world heritage listing failing to acknowledge the rich, ongoing significance of Aboriginal culture.
Our recent paper assessed existing archaeological, paleoenvironmental, and historical evidence. And we showed the diverse ways these forests are globally significant — not just for their ecological heritage, but also for preserving traces of millennia of human activities.
But there’s much scope for cultural recognition to go further on a national level, too. While the Wet Tropics’ National Heritage Listing recognises Indigenous heritage, Traditional Owners should have more freedom to manage the region in our holistic way. This would lead to better outcomes for the environment.
The cultural significance of these rainforests
Aboriginal rainforest people used a wide variety of forest resources. For example, studies of ancient plant parts and stone tools show these communities were processing often-toxic rainforest nuts for eating from as early as 5,000 years ago.
Cassowaries may have once been tamed and then eaten in ceremonial feasts. Rene van Raders, Author provided
They also hunted local animals, such as tree kangaroos, pythons and wallabies. And they may even have captured and tamed the enigmatic cassowaries, later feasting on them during large ceremonial gatherings.
Rainforest people also used tropical forest plants for medicine and to manufacture artefacts. They also manipulated them – for example, evidence shows Aboriginal people strategically used fire to keep open pockets clear of invading rainforest for campsites and ceremonial grounds.
Their skillful forest management enabled pre-colonial Aboriginal populations to survive all year round in rainforests characterised by high humidity, rainfall, cyclones, heat, and dense vegetation.
Today, we can still see Aboriginal people’s ecological legacy in the region, such as through the clusters of rainforest food trees near cultural sites.
The long fight for recognition
Aboriginal rainforest occupation and land management was majorly impacted with European settlement across the region, and the subsequent clearing of rainforest for agriculture.
Aboriginal rainforest people were forcefully removed from their traditional lands and resettled on reserves and in missions, often far away from their homelands.
Traditional land practices were suppressed, which caused these rainforests to change. Weed infestations and feral pigs became widespread. Likewise, the rainforest understory thickened, as any area not felled by Europeans was left to “look after itself”.
After Aboriginal people were forced from their land, the rainforest understory thickened and became a bushfire risk. Shutterstock
These changes have exposed both biological and cultural heritage to increasingly intense fires, such as those we saw in the horror bushfire season of 2019-2020.
Since the World Heritage Area was declared in 1988, rainforest Aboriginal peoples have campaigned to be included in management plans.
In 1998, they produced the seminal report “Which Way Our Cultural Survival”, which reviewed the significant contribution rainforest Aboriginal people make to managing the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.
Finally, in 2012, the Australian National Heritage List recognised the Wet Tropics’ cultural values. This is extremely important because it gives rainforest Aboriginal people a seat at the table in management decision making.
The northern bettong (or ‘rat kangaroo’) is one of the species benefiting from Indigenous knowledge. inaturalist/Wikimedia, CC BY-NC-ND
Rainforest Aboriginal people’s long fight for recognition in the Wet Tropics is now turning into direct action, as we apply our unique knowledge to Country. Today, Indigenous land and sea rangers manage biodiversity, threatened species, waterways and water quality, and we care for country through fire management programs.
For example, there are numerous management plans for threatened species that need a defined fire regime. This includes the northern bettong, whose forest habitat on the edge of rainforest requires frequent burning to keep the understorey open and grassy. Indigenous knowledge forms the basis of this.
But our campaign isn’t over yet
On a national level, we need to manage Country as a “whole”, not just one species at a time.
Fire is an integral tool for this management, and we need to apply the right fire for the right Country (something we’re showing through the Firesticks Alliance Indigenous Corporation). In traditional fire management, the dominant tree species and soils in a specific area determines the fire to apply to Country, and at what time of year. There’s no “one size fits all” solution.
Indigenous land managers care for country through fire management programs. Gerry Turpin, Author provided
Our research paper makes it clear “long-term” perspectives from oral history, archaeology, history, and paleoecology can make important contributions to conservation management plans for threatened species. This includes the northern bettong, cassowary and tree kangaroo.
Knowledge from Traditional Owners can also add important information on vegetation change over several decades. This knowledge allows us to reconstruct vegetation changes since European settlement. It also provides insights into past Aboriginal use of plants and animals, and mapping cultural sites and walking routes.
One example shows the potential for this. In September 2019, a Queensland government grant supported Jirrbal Traditional Owners to return to Urumbal Pocket, an archaeological site on the upper Tully River. Jirrbal Traditional Owners undertook surveys to identify imprints of past human activities left on the landscape.
A view of Urumbal Pocket from opposite side of the Tully River. Asa Ferrier, Author provided
They found significant changes to the region’s biodiversity since the removal of Aboriginal land management around 100 years ago. They noted, for example, that no new trees were naturally growing, and remnant sclerophyll tree species were dying, enhancing the rainforest takeover.
The visit also helped Traditional Owners reconnect with their Country, and initiated discussions relating to contemporary burning and other land management tools.
We need equal recognition of the Wet Tropics’ natural and cultural values, and more detailed investigations into how people shaped the rainforest. This will help raise awareness of the international importance of the cultural heritage, and eventually help get it recognised by UNESCO.
And this will help more Australians see the rainforest as a cultural landscape – one that has been managed and maintained by people, rather than just a relic unchanged since the dinosaurs.
The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Ellen Weber from the Wet Tropics Management Authority.
Barry Hunter is a member of a Rainforest Aboriginal people think tank, and actively works with Rainforest Aboriginal peoples.
Patrick Roberts receives funding from the Max Planck Society, the European Research Council, and National Geographic.
Alice Buhrich, Asa Ferrier, and Gerry Turpin 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.
Extreme flooding in New South Wales in March triggered a two-week frenzy of media interest. But while the camera crews and journalists have since moved on, communities still face a long recovery.
Many flood-ravaged homes have not yet been repaired and others are infested with mould. Farmers are struggling to fix damaged infrastructure, while dealing with weed outbreaks and the memories of livestock killed in traumatic circumstances.
I’m a water scientist with a growing interest in post-flood recovery, and recently visited several flood-affected areas in NSW. In the Hawkesbury-Nepean River I found nutrient-heavy and contaminated water. In the Southern Highlands, minor flooding persists and many fallen trees and damaged fences remain. And near the Gwidyr River at Moree, as elsewhere, crops and roads remain damaged and weeds are thriving.
Some communities were grappling with the effects of bushfire, drought and COVID-19 before the floods hit. And some flood-affected areas are now also dealing with a mouse plague. In these most difficult circumstances, it’s worth looking at the practical recovery actions most likely to help and the long-term challenges ahead.
Floodwaters may have receded, but the recovery has only just begun. Billy Callaghan/AAP
Yet another farming crisis
Many farmers have months of work ahead to recover from the floods. Some lost livestock to flood waters; cattle were found washed up on beaches, in trees, on streets and in neighbours’ backyards. Farmers spoke of their trauma after hearing the helpless bellows of their drowning cows.
Livestock deaths included this cow that washed up on a NSW beach. Wayne Johnson
The loss of livestock is a major blow after years of drought. And booming stock prices means buying sheep and cattle to rebuild herds is expensive.
Adding to post-flood stress for farmers, they must be extra vigilant about protecting their livestock from disease. Flystrike, cattle ticks and internal parasites can thrive in wet conditions, and persist long after waters recede.
The floods ruined thousands of kilometres of fences and destroyed crops and pastures. In some cases, nutrient-rich flood waters transported weeds to new areas, or caused dormant seeds in the soil to sprout weeds.
When the mould takes hold
The floods caused a wider range of damage to properties than many people realise. Common repairs needed include replacing floor coverings, fixing electrical wiring and plumbing, new insulation and extensive replacement of internal walls and house cladding.
Many homes, schools and businesses are still waiting for repairs. This is a common problem after floods. Six months after the disastrous 2019 Townsville floods, for example, a combination of slow insurance payouts and shortage of tradesmen meant only 1,400 of 3,300 damaged homes had been repaired.
In NSW, some flood-hit homes are currently battling mould . This microscopic fungi penetrates internal walls and ceilings as well as furnishings. In some cases, it is growing in wall cavities, posing an “invisible” health risk.
Mould can be wiped away from impenetrable surfaces such as glass, tiles and metal. But once absorbed by porous building materials, such as plywood, chipboard and plasterboard, mould can be nearly impossble to remove and the materials must be replaced.
Seek expert advice from your local council’s environmental health officers to deal with large areas of mould. It may be possible to clean up small areas of mould yourself, but use protective equipment. Mould can be a health hazard, and breathing it in can trigger asthma, even in people without an existing allergy.
Mould can be cleaned from some non-porous surfaces, but other materials must be replaced. AAP
Insurance woes
By the end of March this year, some 11,700 insurance claims for flood damage had been submitted, and the number was expected to grow.
After natural disasters, people often find their insurance policy does not cover the damage, or their claim is rejected. If you’re struggling with an insurance claim, independent help is available.
The problem of under- or non-insurance is likely to worsen under climate change. Climate Council research shows one in every 19 property owners face the prospect of unaffordable insurance premiums by 2030. Flood-prone properties near rivers are particularly at risk.
Separate research has also linked insurance disputes and rejected claims to depression among disaster victims.
Insurance problems add to the financial stress of lost earnings and flood damage repairs. Flood-affected individuals and businesses currently requiring financial support can seek help fromgovernments, local councils and charities.
Home owners can be shocked to discover their insurance policy did not cover flood damage. AAP
Playing the long game
Six years after the 2011 Brisbane floods, a survey of 327 victims found they continued to suffer adverse physical and mental health effects. The impacts can be worse for people already suffering chronic diseases.
And many people – particularly those living in disadvantage before the floods – have barely begun the recovery process. Some are relying on food vouchers, or living without essential items such as fridges and washing machines.
Local councils are also struggling. In the Northern Rivers, roads remain damaged by floods, leaving multimillion-dollar repair bills.
After a string of catastrophic disasters in recent years, the Australian public may well be suffering from “compassion fatigue”. That’s understandable. But flood victims clearly still need our help.
If you can, donate to the ABC NSW Flood Appeal. And if you’re one of the people struggling, remember you’re not alone. Your fellow Australians do care and there are many avenues for assistance. Please don’t hesitate to ask for it.
This story is part of a series on the nexus between disaster, disadvantage and resilience. It is supported by a philanthropic grant from the Paul Ramsay Foundation. Read the rest of the coverage here.
Ian Wright receives research funding from local and state Government bodies.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Craig Stevens, Associate Professor in Ocean Physics, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
Shutterstock/Longjourneys
People living near the coast are familiar with the power of ocean waves.
What we see when a typical wave breaks on a beach is the endpoint of a global energy conversion story. It starts with the sun’s heat driving winds whose energy generates ocean waves which grow and often travel thousands of kilometres.
In this way, the ocean collects an enormous amount of energy. There’s enough energy in waves coming ashore that every metre of coastline could power around five average homes, and much more during storms.
Capturing this energy is not a new idea, but one that faces many challenges. Our research illustrates the potential of enlisting biology in a reversal of the typical marine engineering view that “bio-fouling is bad”.
Instead, it looks possible to use the added drag generated by allowing marine organisms to grow on a “naked” wave energy extractor.
This model shows marine organisms could be used in wave energy extraction. Video by Christian Fischer.
Decarbonising energy generation
The continuing interest in innovations in wave power is because most economies now have targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the coming decades. New Zealand has promised to reduce net emissions of all greenhouse gases (except methane from livestock) to zero by 2050.
Clearly better energy efficiency is paramount. There is no point investing in clean energy supply and then wasting it, because no form of energy generation is without impact.
Solar and wind power are the fastest growing forms of renewable supply globally, but this puts increasing pressure on valuable land. And during times of high demand, the variability of optimal wind and solar conditions is a challenge.
With two thirds of our planet covered in seawater, capturing the energy embodied within ocean waves and tides makes a lot of sense. While some tidal energy technology is now commercially viable, wave energy is following a more convoluted trajectory, with many options for how the conversion actually happens.
New Zealand excels in marine innovation in extreme yachting and aquaculture, but there is almost no maritime engineering focused on marine energy generation, despite having an exclusive economic zone 15 times larger in area than the country’s landmass.
Untapped wave energy
Regardless of the design, wave energy converters are vulnerable to damage in inevitable storms. Despite this challenge, current technologies like the Wello Penguin are getting close to being able to produce energy at a cost comparable with other renewable energy generation methods.
What has really pushed the marine renewable energy field forward in the last decade has been the growth of offshore fixed-foundation wind farms. This has been a game changer as it socialised the marine setting and, through scale, increased the economic viability of the supply chain.
Offshore wind farms have helped to raise awareness of marine options for energy generation. Shutterstock/Rashevskyi Viacheslav
It is common to look to nature to help in environmental design. Energy converter designs are often inspired by nature, with ideas ranging from nodding ducks to sea snakes. Some designs get more serious in how they use biomimicry.
Our research explores a hybrid solution, combining physics and biology, as a pathway for future marine energy.
The Bio-Oscillator looks at how species like large macroalgae and mussels could be integrated into the submerged structure of a wave-power generator. This is possible because parts of the structure are required only to add drag and inertia and experience only relatively little motion during operation.
Mussel farms could provide existing infrastructure. Niall Broekhuizen, Author provided
Using local species of algae or mussels has several benefits. They grow and regenerate naturally and, importantly, will have only limited impact if they are damaged during storms.
It is also common to look at ways to connect renewable energy sources to existing ocean infrastructure such as navigation buoys or aquaculture farms. Approaches like the Bio-Oscillator could generate both a harvestable crop of shellfish or macroalgae — as well as producing renewable energy.
The United Nations decade of ocean science for sustainable development is a perfect setting for exploring the many opportunities that now exist to reduce energy emissions and, in doing so, head off the forecast threats caused by our present way of living.
Craig Stevens receives funding from the Marsden Fund managed by Royal Society Te Apārangi as well as the New Zealand Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment. He is on the council of the New Zealand Association of Scientists and has previously been Chairperson for the Aotearoa Wave and Tidal Energy Association.
Louise Kregting and Vladislav Sorokin 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.
In this series we pay tribute to the art we wish could visit — and hope to see once travel restrictions are lifted.
We hadn’t packed bags yet, but it was about all that was left to do. I had compiled playlists to keep me diverted, amused, energised on the long flights. We’d pored over pictures and hopeful descriptions of poky little apartments in the right places, or spacious, sleek pads too far away from the action.
It took us three months to get the accommodation and the flights just so. The right amount of layover; the right seats for me and the kid and my sweetheart; the menus, the access options for my travelling companions and their idiosyncratic needs.
All the while, Antoni Gaudí’s dream cast its evening shadow over the park across the Carrer de la Marina. Darkening the playground, the streets of the Eixample and their endless cars; blurring the faces of the crowds that ebb and flow past and through the structure, dwindling at day’s end and disappearing into the larger tide of Barcelona at night.
Gaudí sculpted rather than drew, creating apartments and parks and public buildings whose undulating lines and unexpected textures weren’t really seen again until Frank Gehry’s iconic structures, such as the Olympic Fish Pavilion and the Bilbao Guggenheim, both in Spain. Like the Sagrada Família, these buildings are otherworldly, seeming to exist outside both time and gravity.
Gaudí used hanging chain models, like this one of the chapel in Park Güell, reflected in mirrors for his architectural designs. Allen Gathman/Flickr, CC BY
The first time I saw the Basílica, it was a grey afternoon in late August, 1988. I was on vacation from touring as bassist with The Go-Betweens and fled London with a dear travelling companion to saunter/stagger through southern Portugal, then Lisbon and Spain.
Brisbane friend Peter Loveday was “our man in Barcelona” and graciously led us through the town, cracking open each day as a fresh delight. I loved a wine, back in those days, and a beer. Prawns, vodka, gin and mussels. Barcelona was made of such treats, but the greatest treat was Gaudí.
We lingered in the wonder of Park Güell, where architecture and nature entwine, and the view stretches south across the city to the blue of the Mar Balear. On the clearest of clear days you can see the mountains on Majorca.
We were tourists visiting Casa Milà and Casa Batlló, dumbstruck by the extraordinary colours and finishes (lots of murals and tiles, cool to the touch on a hot afternoon), the bespoke furniture and fittings, and the opulent, sensual design of the facades and interiors.
Towering scale
The Sagrada Família stood apart from these architectural treasures. On that August afternoon, the scale of the cathedral was staggering. Not just in size, towering over this five-storey city, but in the depth of detail.
The Basílica is based on a crucifix, with the two facades — the Passion and the Nativity — at the ends of the transept or crosspiece. Each of these facades is dense with sculpture — flowers, plants, animals, angels, saints and scenes from the Bible — and from each rises four belltowers.
The spiral staircase inside the eastern belltower of the Nativity facade was worn smooth, a fractal path tracing the interior of a Nautilus shell. The towers are just over 100 metres tall (the central tower will top 170 metres when completed sometime after 2026). With little room for passing on the stair and no handrail, the experience was dizzying.
We emerged into the afternoon high above the city, on a little bridge between the towers; the beginnings of the cathedral below us. We saw colourful glazes of the cimborio (domes or cups) capping the belltowers. The sight, as I later noted in my diary, brought tears. I’d been triggered by the vastness of the idea, the astonishing detail and the knowledge that Gaudí didn’t live to see it finished.
Barcelona Eixample’s grid residential district. Shutterstock
God’s architect
In June 1926, at the age of 73 and after almost two decades of working on the Basílica, Gaudí stepped into the path of a tram a few blocks from the cathedral. “God’s architect”, the Catalan Modernist, was buried in the underground crypt of the Sagrada Família below the Basílica he designed.
I have returned to Barcelona a couple of times over the years but never to the Sagrada Família. Much has changed since the 31-year-old me climbed those stairs.
A century and a half in the making.
The nave has been built, with towering columns and stained-glass windows. More belltowers rise above the street, with more to come. It is within a handful of years of being completed, hopefully by the 100th anniversary of Gaudí’s death.
Our carefully laid travel plans would have seen us arrive in Barcelona early in July 2020. The pandemic put those plans (and much else) on hold. I enjoyed the quiet but ache for the trip we had imagined. I think I’ve waited long enough for a second visit to my favourite building.
John Willsteed 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.
International reporting has hardly been a strong feature of New Zealand journalism. No New Zealand print news organisation has serious international news departments or foreign correspondents with the calibre of such overseas media as The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
It has traditionally been that way for decades. And it became much worse after the demise in 2011 of the New Zealand Press Association news agency, which helped shape the identity of the country for 132 years and at least provided news media with foreign reporting with an Aotearoa perspective fig leaf.
It is not even much of an aspirational objective with none of the 66 Voyager Media Awards categories recognising international reportage, unlike the Walkley Awards in Australia that have just 34 categories but with a strong recognition of global stories (last year’s Gold Walkley winner Mark Willacy of ABC Four Cornersreported “Killing Field” about Australian war crimes in Afghanistan).
Aspiring New Zealand international reporters head off abroad and gain postings with news agencies and broadcasters or work with media with a global mission such as Al Jazeera.
Consequently our lack of tradition for international news coverage means that New Zealand media tend to have many media blind spots on critical issues, or misjudge the importance of some topics. Examples include the Samoan elections in April when the result was the most momentous game changer in more than four decades with the de facto election of the country’s first woman prime minister, unseating the incumbent who had been in power for 23 years.
The recent Israel-Palestine conflict in May was another case of where reporting was very unbalanced in favour of the oppressor for 73 years, Israel. Indonesian’s five decades of repression in the Melanesian provinces of West Papua is also virtually ignored by the mainstream media apart from the diligent, persistent and laudable coverage by RNZ Pacific.
There is a deafening silence about the current brutal and draconian attack on West Papuan dissidents in remote areas with the internet unplugged apart from insightful journalists such as Johnny Blades.
No threat to status quo
As national award-winning cartoonist Malcom Evans wrote in a Daily Blog column on the eve of last week’s Voyager Media Awards that whoever won prizes, “it’s a sure bet that, he or she, won’t be someone whose work threatens the machinery that manufactures our consent to a perpetuation of the status quo”.
He continued:
“There will be no awards for anyone like Julian Assange or Edward Snowden, but none either for our own Nicky Hager or Jon Stephenson, who exposed war crimes committed in Afghanistan by New Zealanders, and none for Chris Trotter, Bryan Bruce or Susan St John whose writings have consistently exposed the criminal outcomes wrought on New Zealanders by neo-liberalism.”
Evans also cited “Indonesia’s rape of West Papua and East Timor” and the “damning Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians” as examples of lack of media exposure of “New Zealand duplicity and connivance”.
Palestinian protesters target NZ media “bias” at the first
Nakba Rally in Auckland last month. IMAGE: David Robie/APR
Hanan Ashrawi, the first woman member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), told Middle East Eye in the wake of the conflict that left 256 Palestinians — including 66 children — and 13 Israelis dead that it was illogical to expect Israel to be both the “gatekeeper and to have the veto”.
“Israel has never implemented a single UN resolution at all, since its creation [in 1948]. And Israel has always existed outside the law. So why do you expect Israel suddenly to become a state that will respect others, human rights, international law and the multilateral system.
“Israel is the country, the only country that legislated a basic law that says only Jews have the right to self-determination in this land which is all of historical Palestine.
“Israel has destroyed the two-state solution.
When Israel opens up …
“Only when Israel opens up, when this system of discrimination, repression, apartheid is dismantled, only then will you begin to see that there are opportunities of equalities and so on.”
However, Ashrawi was complimentary about the new wave of youth leadership and support for the Palestinian cause sweeping across the globe. She was optimistic that a new political language, new initiatives for a solution would emerge.
RNZ Mediawatch’s Hayden Donnell was highly critical over the lack of news coverage of the “newsworthy and historic” Samoan elections on April 9, commenting: “For nearly two days, RNZ was the only major New Zealand news website carrying information about the election results, and analysis of the outcome.”
As he pointed out, since 1982, the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) had been in power and the current prime minister, Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi (now caretaker), had been prime minister since 1998.
“It’s very monumental that we’ve had a political party [opposition FAST Party led by Fiame Naomi Mata’afa] come through so quickly within 12 months to challenge the status quo in many different ways.”
Fiame has a slender one seat majority, 26 to 25, in the 51-seat Parliament, and was sworn in as government in still-disputed circumstances. But the New Zealand media coverage has still been patchy in spite of the drama of the deadlock, with the notable exception of journalists such as Barbara Dreaver,Vaimoana Tapaleao, Teuila Fuatai, and Michael Field at The Pacific Newsroom.
Woke up to Samoa crisis
The New Zealand Herald, for example, finally woke up to the crisis and splashed the story across its front page on May 25, but then for the next three days only published snippets on the crisis, all drawn from RNZ Pacific coverage. For the actual election result, the Herald only published a single paragraph buried on its foreign news pages.
As for West Papua, the silence continues. Not a single major New Zealand newspaper has given any significant treatment to the current crisis there described by The Sydney Morning Herald as a “manhunt for 170 ‘terrorists’ slammed as a ‘licence’ to shoot anyone”.
Singapore-based Chris Barrett and Karuni Rompies reported that “Indonesian forces are chasing 170 members of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement [OPM]. The crackdown has reportedly displaced several thousand people.
“Tensions have been high since the separatists’ shooting in April of two teachers suspected of being Indonesian spies and the burning of three schools in Beoga, Puncak.”
This is the worst crisis in West Papua since the so-called Papuan Spring uprising and rioting in protest against Indonesian racism and repression in August 2019.
The Jakarta government was reported to have deployed some 21,000 troops in the Melanesian region, ruled since the fiercely disputed “Act of Free Choice” when 1025 people handpicked by the Indonesian military in 1969 voted to be part of Indonesia. The latest crackdown followed the killing in an ambush of a general who was head of Indonesian intelligence on April 25.
Discrimination against Papuans This latest round of strife marks widespread opposition to Indonesia’s 20-year autonomy status for the region which is due to expire in November and is regarded by critics as a failure.
Interim president Benny Wenda of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) denounces Indonesian authorities who have variously tried to label Papuan pro-independence groups “separatists”, “armed criminal groups”, and “monkeys” (this sparked the 2019 uprising).
“Now they are labelling us ‘terrorists’. This is nothing but more discrimination against the entire people of West Papua and our struggle to uphold our basic right to self-determination,” he says.
Wenda has a message for the United Nations and Pacific leaders: “Indonesia is misusing the issue of terrorism to crush our fundamental struggle for the liberation of our land from illegal occupation and colonisation.”
The West Papua issue is a critical one for the Pacific, just like East Timor was two decades ago in the lead-up to its independence. Why is our press failing to report this?
International reporting has hardly been a strong feature of New Zealand journalism. No New Zealand print news organisation has serious international news departments or foreign correspondents with the calibre of such overseas media as The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
It has traditionally been that way for decades. And it became much worse after the demise in 2011 of the New Zealand Press Association news agency, which helped shape the identity of the country for 132 years and at least provided news media with foreign reporting with an Aotearoa perspective fig leaf.
It is not even much of an aspirational objective with none of the 66 Voyager Media Awards categories recognising international reportage, unlike the Walkley Awards in Australia that have just 34 categories but with a strong recognition of global stories (last year’s Gold Walkley winner Mark Willacy of ABC Four Cornersreported “Killing Field” about Australian war crimes in Afghanistan).
Aspiring New Zealand international reporters head off abroad and gain postings with news agencies and broadcasters or work with media with a global mission such as Al Jazeera.
Consequently our lack of tradition for international news coverage means that New Zealand media tend to have many media blind spots on critical issues, or misjudge the importance of some topics. Examples include the Samoan elections in April when the result was the most momentous game changer in more than four decades with the de facto election of the country’s first woman prime minister, unseating the incumbent who had been in power for 23 years.
The recent Israel-Palestine conflict in May was another case of where reporting was very unbalanced in favour of the oppressor for 73 years, Israel. Indonesian’s five decades of repression in the Melanesian provinces of West Papua is also virtually ignored by the mainstream media apart from the diligent, persistent and laudable coverage by RNZ Pacific.
There is a deafening silence about the current brutal and draconian attack on West Papuan dissidents in remote areas with internet unplugged.
No threat to status quo As national award-winning cartoonist Malcom Evans wrote in a Daily Blog column on the eve of last week’s Voyager Media Awards that whoever won prizes, “it’s a sure bet that, he or she, won’t be someone whose work threatens the machinery that manufactures our consent to a perpetuation of the status quo”.
He continued:
“There will be no awards for anyone like Julian Assange or Edward Snowden, but none either for our own Nicky Hager or Jon Stephenson, who exposed war crimes committed in Afghanistan by New Zealanders, and none for Chris Trotter, Bryan Bruce or Susan St John whose writings have consistently exposed the criminal outcomes wrought on New Zealanders by neo-liberalism.”
Evans also cited “Indonesia’s rape of West Papua and East Timor” and the “damning Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians” as examples of lack of media exposure of “New Zealand duplicity and connivance”.
Palestinian protesters target NZ media “bias” at the first Nakba Rally in Auckland last month. Image: David Robie/APR
Hanan Ashrawi, the first woman member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), told Middle East Eye in the wake of the conflict that left 256 Palestinians — including 66 children — and 13 Israelis dead that it was illogical to expect Israel to be both the “gatekeeper and to have the veto”.
“Israel has never implemented a single UN resolution at all, since its creation [in 1948]. And Israel has always existed outside the law. So why do you expect Israel suddenly to become a state that will respect others, human rights, international law and the multilateral system.
“Israel is the country, the only country that legislated a basic law that says only Jews have the right to self-determination in this land which is all of historical Palestine.
“Israel has destroyed the two-state solution.
When Israel opens up … “Only when Israel opens up, when this system of discrimination, repression, apartheid is dismantled, only then will you begin to see that there are opportunities of equalities and so on.”
However, Ashrawi was complimentary about the new wave of youth leadership and support for the Palestinian cause sweeping across the globe. She was optimistic that a new political language, new initiatives for a solution would emerge.
RNZ Mediawatch’s Hayden Donnell was highly critical over the lack of news coverage of the “newsworthy and historic” Samoan elections on April 9, commenting: “For nearly two days, RNZ was the only major New Zealand news website carrying information about the election results, and analysis of the outcome.”
As he pointed out, since 1982, the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) had been in power and the current prime minister, Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi (now caretaker), had been prime minister since 1998.
“It’s very monumental that we’ve had a political party [opposition FAST Party led by Fiame Naomi Mata’afa] come through so quickly within 12 months to challenge the status quo in many different ways.”
Fiame has a slender one seat majority, 26 to 25, in the 51-seat Parliament, and was sworn in as government in still-disputed circumstances. But the New Zealand media coverage has still been patchy in spite of the drama of the deadlock.
“Tension high in Samoa stand-off” – New Zealand Herald on 26 May 2021. Image: APR screenshot
Woke up to Samoa crisis The New Zealand Herald, for example, finally woke up to the crisis and splashed the story across its front page on May 25, but then for the next three days only published snippets on the crisis, all drawn from RNZ Pacific coverage. For the actual election result, the Herald only published a single paragraph buried on its foreign news pages.
“Democracy in crisis” – New Zealand Herald on 25 May 2021. Image: APR screenshot
As for West Papua, the silence continues. Not a single major New Zealand newspaper has given any significant treatment to the current crisis there described by The Sydney Morning Herald as a “manhunt for 170 ‘terrorists’ slammed as a ‘licence’ to shoot anyone”.
Singapore-based Chris Barrett and Karuni Rompies reported that “Indonesian forces are chasing 170 members of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement [OPM]. The crackdown has reportedly displaced several thousand people.
“Tensions have been high since the separatists’ shooting in April of two teachers suspected of being Indonesian spies and the burning of three schools in Beoga, Puncak.”
This is the worst crisis in West Papua since the so-called Papuan Spring uprising and rioting in protest against Indonesian racism and repression in August 2019.
The Jakarta government was reported to have deployed some 21,000 troops in the Melanesian region, ruled since the fiercely disputed “Act of Free Choice” when 1025 people handpicked by the Indonesian military in 1969 voted to be part of Indonesia. The latest crackdown followed the killing in an ambush of a general who was head of Indonesian intelligence on April 25.
Indonesian police carry a body in the current crackdown near Timika, Papua. Image: seputarpapua.com
Discrimination against Papuans This latest round of strife marks widespread opposition to Indonesia’s 20-year autonomy status for the region which is due to expire in November and is regarded by critics as a failure.
Interim president Benny Wenda of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) denounces Indonesian authorities who have variously tried to label Papuan pro-independence groups “separatists”, “armed criminal groups”, and “monkeys” (this sparked the 2019 uprising).
“Now they are labelling us ‘terrorists’. This is nothing but more discrimination against the entire people of West Papua and our struggle to uphold our basic right to self-determination,” he says.
Wenda has a message for the United Nations and Pacific leaders: “Indonesia is misusing the issue of terrorism to crush our fundamental struggle for the liberation of our land from illegal occupation and colonisation.”
The West Papua issue is a critical one for the Pacific, just like East Timor was two decades ago in the lead-up to its independence. Why is our press failing to report this?
The head of the Fiji’s defence force has rejected claims by opposition MPs in Parliament this week and has called for an apology over the “simply, wrong” allegations.
In a statement, Commander Viliame Naupoto said there was no “factual evidence” to suggest that the defence force had caused the initial breach.
Commander Naupoto said the military was carrying its own investigations.
Health officials have also said medical and military personnel in Fiji who have been infected with covid-19 are not part of the frontline response teams.
The assurance comes amid an escalating number of cases on the main island, Viti Levu, with clusters in both hospitals and the Navy.
Health Secretary Dr James Fong said the frontline public health response teams were conducting surveillance and containment efforts in the communities.
He said the ministry screened and tested its frontline personnel for their safety and the public’s safety because “they come into contact with persons who have been exposed to the virus”.
Risk eliminated Dr Fong said this also ensured the risk to the public from contact with their trace and containment teams was eliminated.
He said the ministry expected all frontline teams would “carefully observe the covid-safe protocol and we appreciate the feedback we get from the public in this regard”.
“Covid-safe behaviour needs to be maintained by all sections of the community, but especially those in the front line of the public health response and clinical response,” he said.
“At this time, when we have seen an escalation of cases, we wish to remind all frontline workers of the higher level of covid-safe behaviour expected by the community and our profession.
“The same is true for all community leaders and persons in leadership positions in our community in setting an example of a high standard for covid-safe behaviour at all times.”
Dr Fong said last night that 23 of the latest count (28) were linked to existing clusters.
The navy cluster began when an officer contracted the virus at a funeral and later infected members of his ship. This cluster continues to grow with 31 more cases this week alone.
The infected officers were isolated onboard three separate ships anchored in Suva.
Military headquarters locked down The military headquarters in Suva has been locked down in recent weeks after four soldiers tested positive.
Mingling between personnel at a quarantine facility in April has also been linked to cases.
The army said it was continuing to provide security services for the covid response teams.
It said two separate bubbles were already in place to contain the spread of the virus at the Queen Elizabeth Barracks (QEB).
Concerns were raised by people on social media over members of the defence forces being infected with the virus.
In Parliament yesterday, opposition MPs Lynda Tabuya and Simione Rasova criticised the military over its handling of officers who had breached managed isolation protocols at a government facility in April.
Tabuya claimed the “military officers caused the original breach and Navy officers also breached Covid borders”.
Rasova said “army and navy officers were spreading covid”.
Commander rejects claims But Commander Naupoto rejected their claims.
He said there was no sharing of cigarettes as mentioned in the earlier press conferences by health officials, adding that one of the soldiers was in his room when the sharing of cigarettes was alleged to have taken place.
He claimed this was proven by CCTV footage.
Commander Naupoto said there was also an allegation that a soldier had come into contact with a repatriated citizen while the officer was carrying out an inspection without wearing any protective clothing, “again this was proven wrong by CCTV footage”.
“The whole border quarantine process is being reviewed by the quarantine experts in the Ministry of Health to plug any gaps that may exist in the current protocols that are being used and there are systemic issues that need to be reviewed.”
Fiji has recorded 536 cases since March 2020, 466 from the current outbreak which began in April while 349 patients remain infected with covid-19.
Four people have died.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Buoyed as he is by [Wednesday’s] court decision, Samoa’s caretaker Prime Minister has shown a character flaw weighing down upon our national politics: an inability to face up to hard truths.
Despite Tuilaepa Dr Sa’ilele Malielegaoi having just alleged the judiciary was conspiring against him, the Appellate Court ruled in favour of his argument that a minimum of six women MPs need to be appointed to meet a mandated quota in our 51-seat Parliament. We don’t expect that contradiction to be explained anytime soon.
The victory has been seized upon by supporters of the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP), many of whom have incorrectly concluded the decision will lead to the installation of Aliimalemanu Alofa Tuuau and a Parliament in which the opposing party cannot form government.
They must read the court’s words, reprinted in today’s edition, more closely. In fact, the court voided Aliimalemanu’s warrant of election.
Aliimalemanu herself acknowledged this very point when she told the Samoa Observer that she did not mind which woman MP ended up being elected nor which party they were from, rather she was pleased to have struck a blow for female representation.
And, like the court we applaud her for her devotion to that worthy cause.
The reason Aliimalemanu’s election was voided was because it will not be until after the Supreme Court sorts through some 28 petitions and more counter-petitions that the rule requiring six women will be applied.
There are another six petitions involving women challenging or defending an election result alone, let alone other women candidates who could be elected if byelections are called if a legal challenge to a result is upheld. The number of women elected to the 17th Parliament of Samoa could be higher than the threshold, or it could be much much lower.
Exactly what role this unforeseen constitutional mandate will figure in the final election results is entirely unknowable.
That means two things of extreme significance for the immediate political future of this nation – neither of which Tuilaepa was willing to face up to when speaking on Wednesday afternoon.
For the time being, the Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party will retain its 26-25 lead over the HRPP until the election is completely finalised.
How long the courts take to settle the dozens of legal challenges before them will likely be a matter of weeks, not months.
Tuilaepa is increasingly being less seen as a strongman who can be depended upon to steer Samoa through choppy waters as an immovable object with whom much of the political deadlock originated.
Until that time, they notionally — depending, of course — on the outcome of a legal case about the validity of the party’s swearing in, the opponents should notionally have some political breathing room to establish government.
But speaking on Wednesday, Tuilaepa sounded like a man who had not familiarised himself with even the most elementary aspects of the judgment.
He asserted the decision cemented Aliimalemanu’s election and a 26-26 tie between FAST and the HRPP and his rightful place and the ongoing future “custodian” of government in Samoa.
No person with basic literacy skills could have reached either of these conclusions after reading what the court had to say in a succinct and articulate 12-page judgment.
Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, the leader of FAST, took a different and more reasonable view of the judgment, which, as it was, a victory in principle for the HRPP but one with few practical consequences for Samoa’s immediate future.
FAST, she said, had the numbers in Parliament for now and was ready to proceed to transition to a new government, just as previous Parliaments have sat while petitions are in progress.
That puts the two leaders on a collision course that cannot spell good outcomes for this nation.
But the decision also casts in stark relief the fact that the caretaker Prime Minister has shown himself at his most arrogant during a week when he should have learned about humility.
For so many years, Tuilaepa’s tendency toward over-the-top statements have merged with his public-political persona. But it is only in recent weeks as he has begun to feel his power ebb in the wake of an election defeat that we have seen the true depth of the caretaker Prime Minister’s unrelenting self-regard.
He dared to allege only a little more than a week ago that there was a conspiracy against him being cooked up by the nation’s judiciary after his party lost four court battles in a row while trying to use the courts to prevent a new government forming.
Tuilaepa then sought to assume for himself a merged role of judge, jury and Prime Minister by condemning FAST for holding an improvised swearing-in ceremony in order to uphold the constitution.
“I am well versed with this law because I own it; it’s mine,” he said.
Only weeks earlier he said that he was “appointed by God” to lead Samoa and that the judiciary had no authority over his appointment.
The recent decisions of the Supreme Court should have disabused him of the idea that the rule of law is something one man can own.
But the public of Samoa, in one way or another, be it by way of the ballot box or making their feelings known will prove decisive in the resolution of this seemingly endless political saga.
In this time of crisis Tuilaepa’s bombastic persona is no longer proving a political asset but rather something which grates upon the voters of Samoa, and he is losing support evidently.
He is increasingly being less seen as a strongman who can be depended upon to steer Samoa through choppy waters as an immovable object with whom much of the political deadlock originated.
The HRPP have been champing at the bit for another election to be called as a recourse to holding onto power.
But despite winning an absolute number of votes in the April election, almost every step taken by the party and its leader in the interim has done little to endear Tuilaepa to the public. If things continue as they are, the political confidence he had in April is likely to have evaporated by this month’s end.
We saw just as much at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral at Mulivai on Monday evening when he became the subject of a sermon and a general character appraisal by the Archbishop of the Catholic Church, Alapati Lui Mataeliga.
Tuilaepa, not known for welcoming differences of opinion, looked every inch a man in a furnace.
With his eyes closed and fan working overtime, he almost appeared to be hoping to deflect the Archbishop’s words.
It did not, of course.
His Grace’s sentiments are still lingering, long since his homily concluded.
The Archbishop referred to himself as Tuilaepa’s “spiritual father” and indeed he performed his role in this respect by dispensing some home truths to a man — and a nation — in need of them.
Speaking on the eve of Independence Day, His Grace noted that Samoa has had a history of oppression before; we have been colonised by Tongan, German and New Zealand forces in our recent history. Our paramount chiefs have had their natural status constrained and our people have suffered under the yoke of colonial governments which have misused their powers for personal gain.
The historical parallel was obvious.
The Archbishop lamented the current state of the nation which became the first in the Pacific to free itself from colonial rule but only after a long struggle.
“There is no peace and there is no unison and it appears as if our forefather’s shed blood for no reason,” he said.
“We are affected by [our leaders] abusing power due to high-mindedness and dictatorship.
“Without Samoa, there would be no leaders and the people should be well aware of that, the power in which is being abused by these leaders was given to them by us, the members of the public.”
Perhaps Monday’s homily dispossessed him of the conviction that he has a divine right to the Prime Minister’s chair.
It is impossible that Tuilaepa does not realise that his recent actions have sown division in this country.
The government’s recent decree that there be no public celebration of Independence Day clearly reflected a political fear of that day’s symbolism. The notional excuse provided, that large gatherings posed a risk to the public health, was undermined completely the day before when the Prime Minister addressed more than one thousand political supporters.
To have the head of your faith tell hurtful and shabby truths about your conduct must, even for a man of Tuilaepa’s bravado, be a wounding experience. For the sake of the country’s immediate future, we must hope against every indication it was also, deep down, a humbling one.
The Samoa Observer editorial of 2 June 2021. Republished with permission.
The International Federation of Journalists has called for the urgent reinstatement of Nasser Abu Bakr, head of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, following his victimisation by the French news agency AFP.
Abu Bakr, who has worked for Agence France-Presse (AFP) for more than 20 years, was sacked without valid reason, in what the IFJ’s leading body has called “a clear case of victimisation for his trade union activities, in contravention of the law and international standards”.
Abu Bakr, who is an elected member of the IFJ’s executive committee, had been instrumental in filing complaints about the systematic targeting of Palestinian journalists by Israeli forces to the United Nations Special Rapporteurs and in documenting and exposing attacks on Palestinian journalists and media.
The IFJ will launch a global campaign to demand justice for Nasser.
Already support has flowed in from public bodies in Palestine, from unions around the world and from the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions.
Journalists in Palestine have staged protests outside the offices of AFP. Unions representing staff at AFP’s headquarters and other offices around the world have pledged their support.
The IFJ has already been in contact with AFP management in Paris.
IFJ general secretary Anthony Bellanger said: “The dismissal of Nasser, an elected trade union leader, for nothing more than giving a voice to Palestinian journalists under threat and facing daily attacks is totally unacceptable.
“He must be reinstated.”
12 plus Palestinian journalists arrested Al Jazeera reports that more than a dozen Palestinian journalists were recently arrested by Israeli authorities after attempting to report the news under often “extremely stressful and dangerous” conditions.
Wahbe Mikkieh, one of the journalists detained and later released, told Al Jazeera the message the Israeli police was trying to send was meant to frighten journalists.
“The occupation forces claimed that I tried to obstruct the arrest of my colleague Zeina [Halawani] and that I assaulted the occupation army. That did not happen,” said Mikkieh, who was hit on the head with the butt of a gun causing him to bleed, describing the five days in prison as the hardest in his life.
Republished from the International Federation of Journalists.
Cardinal George Pell preparing to make a statement at the Vatican in 2017.Gregoria Borgia/AP/AAP
In February, Australian media companies pleaded guilty to contempt of court over their reporting of Cardinal George Pell’s conviction on sexual abuse charges.
The most heavily hit were the The Age ($450,000) and news.com.au ($400,000). Other high-profile programs, such as the Today Show also copped fines ($30,000). These heavy fines were meted out despite the fact that the media companies had apologised to the court and had even agreed to pay the prosecution’s legal costs.
There are many ways the law restricts media freedom in Australia, including laws regarding defamation. But contempt of court, seen here by the media’s breaching of a suppression order, is one of the more controversial mechanisms. It is, however, a limitation the courts impose regularly, and take very seriously.
How did this start?
Back in December 2018, the court placed a suppression order on the Pell conviction when he was initially found guilty by a jury (his conviction was quashed in April 2020).
At the time, various media outlets referred to a trial of great importance and, by implication, a guilty verdict that would have been of great interest to the public.
The implicit, not explicit, nature of the reporting raises an important point. No Australian media company actually named Pell, but some directed their audiences to international online stories. The Herald Sun published a white headline “CENSORED” across a black front page, thereby piquing Victorians’ interest in seeking out international media reports and internet commentary.
As the paper reported,
The world is reading a very important story that is relevant to Victorians.
The point is had any member of the public wanted to find out what the media were talking about, they could have done so.
Why did the court issue the order?
So why was there a suppression order on the conviction?
This was to try and ensure a fair trial. At the time of the guilty verdict in December 2018, Pell was also facing a second trial over different charges related to similar alleged conduct. Ultimately, as it happened, the second trial did not proceed after charges against Pell were dropped in February 2019. But the possibility of a second trial was alive at the time of the first trial guilty verdict.
There is a principle in law that a jury must decide guilt or innocence on the basis of the evidence before them, and not to allow other evidence (for example, a conviction for a similar crime) to taint their deliberations.
So it was important a jury in that second trial (had it gone ahead) could not know of the first conviction. Otherwise, it would be breaking the rule against using “similar fact evidence”.
The rules are clear
Suppression orders are a significant limitation on the freedom of the press to report what happens in our criminal courts, but they exist to guarantee that people who come before the courts get a fair trial.
Contempt of court is a serious offence and can result in jail time. Indeed, journalists have been jailed in the past for similar indiscretions. However, no action was ultimately pursued against individuals here. The court determined the appropriate penalty was for fines to be imposed on media organisations.
In contempt matters, the amount of any fine is open-ended and, in this case, we see very heavy penalties. This is because Justice John Dixon took a dim view of what he surmised were the motives of the media corporations.
constituted a blatant and wilful defiance of the court’s authority […] each took a deliberate risk by intentionally advancing a collateral attack on the role of suppression orders in Victoria’s criminal justice system.
In his view the “timing” of the media apology – made contemporaneously with the contempt guilty plea – “did not demonstrate any significant degree of remorse and contrition.”
The judge added media companies had not only usurped the function of the court, but had taken it “upon themselves” to decide “where the balance ought to lie” between the cardinal’s right to a fair trial and the public’s right to know about it.
While people might debate the politics and huge public interest in the Pell case, the law is clear — that balance is a matter for the courts and the courts alone to determine.
Rick Sarre is affiliated with the SA Council for Civil Liberties
Two COVID-19 cases previously linked to Melbourne’s current outbreak have now been reclassified as false positives.
They’re no longer included in Victoria’s official case counts, while a number of exposure sites linked to these cases have been removed.
The main and “gold standard” test for detecting SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test.
The RT-PCR test is highly specific. That is, if someone truly doesn’t have the infection, there is a high probability the test will come out negative. The test is also highly sensitive. So, if someone truly is infected with the virus, there is a high probability the test will come back positive.
But even though the test is highly specific, that still leaves a small chance someone who does not have the infection returns a positive test result. This is what’s meant by a “false positive”.
First off, how does the RT-PCR test work?
Although in the age of COVID most people have heard of the PCR test, how it works is understandably a bit of a mystery.
In short, after a swab has been taken from the nose and throat, chemicals are used to extract the RNA (ribunocleic acid, a type of genetic material) from the sample. This comprises a person’s usual RNA and RNA from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, if present.
This RNA is then converted to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) — this is what the “reverse transcriptase” bit means. To detect the virus, the tiny segments of the DNA are amplified. With the help of some special fluorescent dye, a sample is identified to be positive or negative based on the brightness of the fluorescence after 35 or more cycles of amplification.
The main reasons for false positive results are laboratory error and off-target reaction (that is, the test cross-reacting with something that’s not SARS-CoV-2).
Laboratory errors include clerical error, testing the wrong sample, cross-contamination from someone else’s positive sample, or problems with the reagents used (such as chemicals, enzymes and dyes). Someone who has had COVID-19 and recovered might also show a false positive result.
There are a few reasons an RT-PCR test can result in a false positive. Shutterstock
How common are false positive results?
To understand how often false positives occur, we look at the false positive rate: the proportion of people tested who do not have the infection but return a positive test.
The authors of a recent preprint (a paper which hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed, or independently verified by other researchers) undertook a review of the evidence on false positive rates for the RT-PCR test used to detect SARS-CoV-2.
They combined the results of multiple studies (some looked at PCR testing for SARS-CoV-2 specifically, and some looked at PCR testing for other RNA viruses). They found false positive rates of 0-16.7%, with 50% of the studies at 0.8-4.0%.
The false positive rates in the systematic review were mainly based on quality assurance testing in laboratories. It’s likely that in real world situations, accuracy is poorer than in the laboratory studies.
A systematic review looking at false negative rates in RT-PCR testing for SARS-CoV-2 found false negative rates were 1.8-58%. However, they point out that many of the studies were poor quality, and these finding are based on low quality evidence.
Let’s say for example, the real-world false positive rate is 4% for SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR testing.
For every 100,000 people who test negative and truly don’t have the infection, we would expect to have 4,000 false positives. The problem is that for most of these we never know about them. The person who tested positive is asked to quarantine, and everyone assumes they had asymptomatic disease.
This is also confounded by the fact the false positive rate is dependent upon the underlying prevalence of the disease. With very low prevalence as we see in Australia, the number of false positives can end up being much higher than the actual true number of positives, something known as the false positive paradox.
Because of the nature of Victoria’s current outbreak, authorities are likely being extra vigilant with test results, potentially making it more likely for false positives to be picked up. The Victorian government said:
Following analysis by an expert review panel, and retesting through the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, two cases linked to this outbreak have been declared false positives.
This doesn’t make clear whether the two people were retested, or just the samples were retested.
Either way, it is unlucky to have two false positives. But given the large numbers of people being tested every day in Victoria at present, and the fact we know false positives will occur, it is not unexpected.
The RT-PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 is highly accurate, but not perfect. Shutterstock
The broader implications
For an individual who received a false positive test result, they would be forced to go into quarantine when there was no need. Being told you have a potentially lethal disease is very stressful, especially for elderly people or those at risk because of other health conditions. They would also likely be worried about infecting other members of their family, and could lose work while in quarantine.
Particularly given authorities initially pointed to these two cases as examples of transmission of the virus through “fleeting” contact, no doubt many people have wondered whether without these cases, Victoria might not be in lockdown. This is just conjecture and we can’t really know one way or the other.
False negative results are clearly very concerning, as we don’t want infectious people wandering around the community. But false positives can also be problematic.
Adrian Esterman 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.
Of these, only Denmark has high official Covid19 death spikes. Chart by Keith Rankin.
Analysis by Keith Rankin.
New Zealand has excess non-Covid19 deaths. Chart by Keith Rankin.
New Zealand’s rosy Covid19 picture does not look so good, once we do an analysis of excess deaths. Calculating excess deaths is the new statistical procedure to evaluate the true toll of Covid19. (I did an excess deaths’ Smithometer analysis of the 1918 influenza pandemic in New Zealand.)
For this chart, I have selected countries comparable to New Zealand, and for which the excess deaths analysis has been done. Australia, unfortunately, seems to be slower than the others in releasing its death statistics.
The first thing to note is that New Zealand, Australia and South Korea all had significant numbers of excess deaths pre-pandemic (although South Korea was getting some Covid19 deaths in March 2020). This suggests that both New Zealand and Australia have a social (or socio-economic) problem that is causing death rates to increase. While an aging population is probably part of the reason, this does not show up in Scandinavian countries which also have aging populations.
Norway had an early Covid19 outbreak, but got it under better control than European Union countries. So, in the second quarter of 2020, Norway had negative excess deaths despite having significant numbers of Covid19 deaths. Excess deaths plunged in New Zealand and Australia, thanks to the lockdowns in both countries; there were very few deaths resulting from winter influenza, and Covid19 deaths barely registered. It was only the big winter outbreak in Melbourne that caused Australia’s reduction in winter deaths to be less than New Zealand’s.
The most alarming feature of the chart is New Zealand’s huge resurgence in deaths in the spring and summer; a resurgence that barely abated in the autumn of 2021. New Zealand – essentially free of Covid19 – outstripped Denmark, which had a major Covid19 outbreak in the northern autumn.
New Zealand’s death surge will have been in part due to deaths postponed by the 2020 lockdown (lockdowns for Auckland). But, this is clearly only a part of the story. New Zealand’s significant socio-economic problems – especially inequality and housing – are almost certainly taking their toll. While something similar may be also happening in Australia, it would appear to be to a lesser extent there.
Of these, only Denmark has high official Covid19 death spikes. Chart by Keith Rankin.
We compare the first chart with the chart that shows the official Covid19 death rates, for these countries.
We can see the deaths in the Scandinavian countries in the early days of the pandemic. And we can see Denmark’s huge December-January spike in Covid19 deaths. Yet that spike was matched in New Zealand by excess non-Covid19 deaths.
For Australia, we can see the early death toll (April 2020) and the much bigger August toll. And, unlike the other four countries in the charts, we see that both Australia and New Zealand had minimal contribution of Covid19 to its death statistics.
New Zealand has big problems which are being reflected in our mortality statistics. And that alarming death data would have been worse were it not for Covid19.
The National Party has a major problem with standards, especially amongst its MPs and election candidates. The latest controversies involve the resignation of their longest-serving MP Nick Smith over an employment dispute, and allegations of abhorrent behaviour by election candidate Jake Bezzant.
The party has been beset by a series of scandals in recent times, including revelations that National had to get rid of their sitting MP Jian Yang who exited (alongside Labour’s Raymond Huo) after an intelligence agency briefing. And then, of course, last year the party was embroiled in scandals involving the downfall of MPs Andrew Falloon and Hamish Walker, alongside senior party figure Michelle Boag.
Does this mean the party is toxic? Or is it incompetence? Either way, who is responsible? And can the party clean up its candidate selection process to fix the problem?
Former National staffer Matthew Hooton has written about all this today in a must-read Herald column that argues the party’s current crisis is due to “poor candidate vetting and selection, and a lack of seriousness when allegations emerge, whether of spying, sexual harassment, bullying, fake CVs, poor business practice or just plain old not being up for the job” – see: National’s woes go right to the top (paywalled).
Hooton goes through a list of seven self-inflicted scandals in “four disastrous weeks” leading up to the 2020 election, involving Jian Yang, Hamish Walker, Michelle Boag, Todd Muller, Andrew Falloon, Nick Smith, Jake Bezzant, as well as the botched candidate selection to replace Nikki Kaye in Auckland Central.
Hooton lays the blame for all of this ultimately at the feet of party president Peter Goodfellow. Here’s his conclusion about the disastrous place National is now in: “That speaks to governance, identified as a serious problem in National’s still secret post-election review. Goodfellow has been party president since 2009. He has taken a close interest in all key candidate selections and all long-term strategic decisions, and would be responsible for them even had he not. After 12 years, whatever shape the party is in now is his legacy. In my opinion it is time for him to take responsibility and go, and for the party membership to elect a new board of competent people willing to deal with the current crisis – if they can find any. National will achieve no long-term operational success until its members demand accountability from those they elect to run the party’s affairs.”
This story reports: “Newshub understands concerns were raised about Bezzant during last year’s election campaign when questions were swirling around embellishments on his CV. National’s campaign team came to the conclusion he should go.” This is all put to party leader Judith Collins, who directs attention to Goodfellow, saying “I think you’d need to take that back to the party president”.
Harman outlines how last year he spoke to a number of Bezzant’s colleagues in a tech company who claimed “Bezzant was a fantasist who had run the company into the ground” and they “also raised questions about his private life”. Harman then put these allegations to the party organisation, which investigated and apparently cleared Bezzant. Harman says: “There the matter rested though there are suggestions that both leader, Judith Collins, and campaign chair Gerry Brownlee, were still concerned that Bezzant could be a liability.”
For Harman, “the whole affair has raised questions about how much due diligence National does when it selects candidates. That has apparently been discussed at some of the party’s regional conferences, with concerns about the Auckland Central selection being highlighted.”
For more on the allegations about Bezzant, see Derek Cheng’sNational candidate Jake Bezzant cuts ties with party following explosive claims. Here’s the key part: “National candidate Jake Bezzant has parted ways with the political party following explosive claims that he impersonated his ex-partner online, shared explicit photos and even pretended to be her during cyber sex. Bezzant’s former partner, Tarryn Flintoft, has gone public with the claims in an hour-long podcast shared online this week. Bezzant, who unsuccessfully ran for the Upper Harbour seat last election, told the Herald there is no truth to the accusations. The National Party touted Bezzant as a promising part of its intake of fresh talent in 2019.”
The Nick Smith scandal
Nick Smith announced his resignation on Monday night, citing an employment investigation about him being carried out by Parliamentary Service, which he believed was about to be made public the following day. The media story never eventuated, and the details have been incredibly murky since then.
For the best overall account of what has happened with Smith, it’s well worth reading Jo Moir’s in-depth story published today on Newsroom, which outlines the whole saga – see: The warning that ended Nick Smith’s career. According to this account, back in mid-2020, “Smith lost his temper and had a yelling match with his young male staffer, which included swearing at him. Another National Party staffer, who didn’t work in Smith’s office, recorded the verbal altercation and reported the incident to Parliamentary Service (the employer of the National Party staffers).”
Moir reports that National insiders say Smith has a long history of volatility: “MPs and staff, both former and current, spoken to by Newsroom say Smith has a history of treating staff poorly, and it was well-known around Parliament. One former senior MP described Smith as having a ‘volatile personality’ and was often ‘outright rude to officials and staffers’. The former MP said Smith had entered politics at a very young age and had ‘never managed anyone and didn’t know how to deal with people’.”
This account is in line with how Hooton sums up the situation in his column today: “he had been behaving in roughly the same way he had been allowed to by successive leaders for 30 years.”
For example, one stated: “Nick’s irrational and verbally abusive behaviour towards his staff was one of Parliament’s worst-kept secrets. Everyone from Ministerial Services, Parliamentary Services, the Prime Minister’s Office and the bullying inquiry knew about it yet Nick’s staff continued to be collateral damage.” In contrast, however, the article also quotes a number of current National MPs denying that the party has any problems with bullying.
Here’s the key part: “Collins told Smith last Friday a story would appear this Tuesday. Smith has said that it was his understanding that a story would appear which persuaded him to resign. But so far, no story has appeared other than those reacting to his resignation. It appears either by accident or intent that Collins forced Smith’s resignation because of her claims of the imminent publication of the story. It also seems likely that she had known about the incident that lies behind the resignation for nearly a year and not acted on that information.”
However, today Jo Moir reports Collins as stating: “Nick Smith is absolutely clear that at no stage was he ever told to leave Parliament”.
The Jian Yang scandal
The other scandal relating to National MP standards is Richard Harman’s revelation last month that both the National and Labour parties made an agreement to quietly get rid of their two China-born MPs, Jian Yang and Raymond Huo, “because of growing security concerns” – see: The cooling of relations with China: Why two MPs retired last year (paywalled). Harman says he “learned from multiple official and political sources” that the “almost simultaneous [retirement] announcements were orchestrated by the offices of Jacinda Ardern and Todd Muller working together”.
Matthew Hooton, who was working for then National leader Todd Muller at the time the two MPs resigned from Parliament, confirmed the report, writing his own account for the Herald, stating the “deal was based on briefings from the New Zealand intelligence agencies expressing concern about the two MPs’ relationships with the Chinese Government” – see: Chinese Government associates alleged to have infiltrated National and Labour (paywalled).
Hooton explained how he thought National had got into this situation: “Selection procedures in both main parties are well known to be lax, as evidenced by the quality of MPs we attract. Both main parties are keen for Chinese-born MPs, both for the votes from new immigrants they might bring, and also because of their fundraising abilities and political and commercial connections with New Zealand’s biggest export market. National Party President Peter Goodfellow, for example, is very proud of his fundraising abilities from the Chinese community.
RNZ confirmed the story, with reporter Craig McCulloch stating that “Another source also confirmed to RNZ that an agreement was reached during a meeting attended by the parties’ chiefs of staff” – see: Labour, National tight-lipped on former Kiwi-Chinese MPs’ departure.
Reforming the National Party
National is in a dysfunctional state, and it’s not clear that it can quickly or easily reform its culture and raise its standards enough to make it fit to govern anytime soon. As Hooton says today, National is “in a world of chaos and pain that not even Labour endured through the 2010s” and “is in worse shape than even Helen Clark’s Labour in 1995 or Bill English’s National in 2003.”
Heather du Plessis-Allan has also argued the party isn’t about to turn its fortunes around, given what the latest scandals say about its culture – see: National is the most toxic brand in Parliament.
Here’s her main point: “It always going to be tough-going for National to have a serious shot at the next election, but after two resignations in a week I’d say their odds just got that much longer. Simply because they are wasting valuable rebuild time on continuing to trash their own brand. Brands take a long time to build, and the clock starts again when you have something as repulsive as an alleged sex scandal and questions over whether the leader has engineered the resignation of veteran MP Nick Smith, who himself is facing bullying allegations.”
Jo Moir’s column today discusses the National Party’s new code of conduct, which sets out behavioural expectations for MPs, noting that Smith’s altercation “pre-dates this”.
Moir also explores the party’s “candidate college” process, used to vet prospective politicians, with the suggestion from both a former MP and a candidate that this is no longer fit for purpose. Moir reports the former MP saying: “Since about 2008 when the party decided it was invincible, the purpose of the College has fallen away”, and believing “the party no longer had any mechanisms operating that would vet the likes of Falloon and Bezzant.” Similarly, a former candidate is reported as being “surprised the vetting process wasn’t more comprehensive.”
This issue of quality assurance is also the focus of a column today by political commentator and National Party member Liam Hehir, who argues his party needs to raise standards, but also move away from looking for “stars”, especially “flashy and ambitious people claiming glittering careers in industries that themselves are known to have toxic cultures” – see: Reforming the National Party.
Hehir also has a number of other suggestions for improving candidate selection: “I believe some form of basic psychometric testing would be a good idea. That kind of thing is hardly foolproof since skilled manipulators are unsurprisingly good at manipulating testing. Still, it would weed out enough bad eggs to be a worthwhile exercise. Personal patronage is also something that ought to be discouraged. It is a serious barrier to renewal when existing party heavyweights do things like drive their champions to candidate selections. Informal practices like expectations around ranking existing members of caucus above newcomers on the party list ought to go.”
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanna Mendelssohn, Principal Fellow (Hon), Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne
Peter Wegner’s Guy Warren in his 100th Year, winner of the 2021 Archibald Prize.AGNSW/Peter Wegner/Photo Jenni Carter
The artist Guy Warren gave the best summary of this year’s centenary Archibald Prize, telling the crowd assembled for the official announcement: “It’s a lot of fun”.
Appropriately, as well as praising Peter Wegner, whose portrait of the centenarian won this year’s Archibald Prize, Warren congratulated the many artists whose works hang alongside his likeness.
Warren is an Archibald realist. He knows the almost random nature of the first cull where the Trustees decide which works have a chance to be considered for hanging, while the great majority go directly to the stacks of rejects.
In 1985 both Warren and his good friend, the artist Bert Flugelman, entered portraits of each other. Portraiture was a departure in style for both men. Although he had worked for some years as a graphic artist, Warren was best known for both experimental work and fluid semi-abstract landscapes. Flugelman had an established reputation as a sculptor.
Flugelman’s portrait of Warren was not hung. Guy Warren’s portrait, Flugelman with Wingman won the prize. With this year’s prize, Warren therefore has the rare distinction of both winning the prize and being the subject of a winning painting.
Our public institutions are keenly aware of gender equity in 2021. Art Gallery of NSW director Michael Brand was at pains to tell the assembled throng of journalists, photographers, film crew, artists and actors (including Rachel Griffiths in prime position to film both the crowd and the podium for her forthcoming documentary) that more works by women than men had been hung this year.
Jude Rae and Pat Hoffie were highly commended by judges. But the tradition of giving the big prize to a portrait of a man, by a man, prevailed.
And it’s not a bad painting. The artist-subject is shown sitting on a chair, with his arms awkwardly placed, staring into the distance. He looks somewhat frail. Because of the echoes of history, it will be both a popular choice and a reminder that, at its core, the Archibald is a prize for social history, not art.
The other prizes announced at the same time reflect both old traditions and the new.
It was not a surprise that Georgia Spain, whose Getting down or falling up was awarded the Sulman Prize. Guest judge Elisabeth Cummings, was one of her favourite artists, the winner told the crowd. Indeed, there are strong echoes of Cummings’ painterly approach in Spain’s work.
Georgia Spain’s Getting Down or Falling Up won the Sulman Prize. Photo: AGNSW, Mim Stirling
The Sulman, unlike the other prizes, is judged by a different artist each year. Those considering entering the prize should always look at the judge’s art before entering their own.
In recent years the Wynne Prize has been dominated by work by Aboriginal artists from either central or northern Australia, and this year is no exception. Yolŋu artist Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu’s Garak Night Sky, is muted in tone, but stunningly beautiful.
It is a retelling of one of the great narratives of Aboriginal Australia — the Seven Sisters, the constellation also referred to in non-Indigenous cultures as Pleiades.
Nyapanyapa Yunupingu’s Garak Night Sky won the 2021 Wynne Prize. Photo: AGNSW, Mim Stirling
The story of the Seven Sisters is repeated in Tjungkara Ken’s painting, which was awarded the Roberts Family Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Prize this year. Just as European artists can paint infinite variations on the theme of the Nativity, so the Seven Sisters remain an ever fertile subject for Indigenous artists.
Leah Bullen’s Arid garden, Wollongong was awarded the Pring Prize for a watercolour by a woman. In times past so few women entered (or were hung) in the Wynne that this prize was sometimes not awarded. This year the competition was stronger.
Now that the judges have spoken, it is time for the people to have their say. For the last 33 years the gallery has awarded the ANZ People’s Choice award, with votes cast by visitors to the exhibition. Occasionally, but rarely, the people agree with the judges.
All finalists in the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes 2021 will be exhibited at the Art Gallery of NSW from 5 June to 26 September 2021, then tour regionally.
Joanna Mendelssohn has received funding from the Australian Research Council
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yogi Vidyattama, Associate Professor, National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, University of Canberra
Among the bolder claims in last month’s budget was that “under the Coalition, home ownership will always be supported”.
Since the Howard government took office in 1996, the proportion of Australian households owning the home they live in has fallen from 70% to 66%.
The proportion having paid off their mortgage has fallen from 40% to 30%.
The proportion renting privately has climbed from 20% to 27%.
In the lead up to the budget, home prices began climbing again, soaring 8.5% in Melbourne and 11% in Sydney.
The response was a series of measures designed to look as if they would help people buy their own homes.
Shuffling the queue
On examination, each measure is less than it could be, although each helps some people more than others.
Usually first home buyers with less than a 20% deposit need to pay lenders’ mortgage insurance.
Under two of the schemes they can effectively get this cost met by the government.
Extending the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme will allow 10,000 more first home buyers to buy newly-constructed dwellings with a 5% deposit.
They add to demand for housing but not its supply.
Not quite helping those most in need
This means that while the schemes assist (doubtless worthy) people buy homes, they do it at the expense of others who miss out.
Homebuilder, used for knockdowns and rebuilds. Twin Sails/Shutterstock
They shuffle rather than shrink the queue.
A separate measure since closed, HomeBuilder, awarded grants for the construction of homes, but it was also available for knockdowns, rebuilds and extensions rather than being directly targeted at increasing supply.
Only three economists responding to the Economic Society of Australia’s post-budget survey referred to the housing measures and none were supportive.
Our calculations using NATSEM’s STINMOD+ model suggest that even if these schemes were not limited to 10,000 applicants, there may not have been many households able to take them up.
Only 5% of private renters, and 7% of single parents, have enough savings to enter the housing market, even with the promised mortgage insurance guarantee.
Young urban professionals
Of these, more than 85% would then be paying more in servicing costs than they currently pay in rent, even at today’s historically low interest rates.
They might not regard this as an improvement in affordability.
In any case, it wouldn’t be the poorest households being helped.
Our calculations suggest the poorest fifth of households would be unlikely to have enough savings to use the deposit insurance schemes.
Those most likely to use them are on higher incomes but still renting. They include young urban professionals in the eastern and northern suburbs of Sydney.
The blue areas on this map show the regions with the most households who might benefit.
The schemes would be more helpful for potential homebuyers in regional areas than in cities, but they are less likely to have the income and savings needed to take advantage of them.
The schemes also have price caps below the median house price in most capital cities, making it hard for people such as parents who need extra bedrooms to take advantage of them.
The downsizer initiative will help
A more promising initiative in the budget is lowering the minimum age at which downsizers can access the downsizer contributions scheme from 65 to 60.
This scheme allows older Australians to downsize and put the proceeds into lightly-taxed superannuation.
This will free up family homes for the younger generations, although it will not help those on low incomes buy them.
Yogi Vidyattama previously received funding from ACT Government for economic research related to housing.
John Hawkins was the secretary to the Senate Select Committee on Housing Affordability in Australia.
