Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Georgina Falster, Postdoctoral Fellow, Australian National University

Droughts can have dramatic effects in Australia – decimating agriculture, threatening water resources and devastating the environment. Much of Australia is drought-prone, and the risk is expected to increase as global warming continues.

That’s why it’s important for Australia to be prepared for droughts, particularly those lasting multiple years.

To have some idea of just how bad things might get, we must look far back in time to see what’s come before. That’s where our new research comes in.

We examined computer simulations of Earth’s climate over the past 1,150 years. Worryingly, we found that given enough time, natural variability in Australian rainfall can produce “mega-droughts” lasting 20 years or more. If we add in human-caused climate change, it suggests future droughts will be far worse than we imagined.

Rainfall records aren’t enough

To understand the full picture of future droughts, we need historical rainfall data. But in Australia these records only go back to around the year 1900. This doesn’t fully record the huge range of natural rainfall variability over many hundreds of years.

To a degree, we can get these long records from features of the environment such as trees, which record information about rainfall changes in their annual growth rings. Unfortunately, these natural “archives” generally only reach back a few hundred years. And they only store information about what’s happened in their local area, not across all of Australia.

Scientists need alternative ways of looking back in time – and that’s what our new research set out to do.

We used computer models of Earth’s climate from the years 850 to 2000 (1,150 years in total) to fill in the picture. The models simulate the interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, ice and land, and so provide a picture of how the climate has changed through time.

Because no single climate model is perfect, we used an “ensemble” of 11 different climate models to explore the range of droughts Australia has experienced.

First, we looked at the characteristics of Australian droughts due to natural fluctuations in rainfall. Then we compared the simulated droughts during the 20th century with those from the pre-industrial period (before the year 1850). This let us test if human-caused climate change during the past century has caused detectable changes in Australian droughts.

We paid particular attention to the Murray-Darling Basin in south-eastern Australia. It contains Australia’s largest river system and is our largest agricultural region, so it’s important to know how bad droughts there could be.

Read more:
Yes, a few climate models give unexpected predictions – but the technology remains a powerful tool

Our results

We found during the 20th century, simulated droughts in southwestern and eastern Australia – including the Murray-Darling Basin – were longer on average compared with pre-industrial times.

This change is consistent with the rainfall trends expected in these regions in future due to human-caused climate change. It suggests that an emerging human influence on our climate has already made southern parts of Australia more drought-prone.

Other characteristics of simulated Australian droughts, such as their intensity or recurrence, didn’t show marked differences last century compared to pre-industrial times. In other words, human-caused climate change had probably not yet caused Australian droughts to be any drier, or changed how often we are in drought. But this influence could still emerge as climate change worsens.

The devastating impacts of Australia’s last major drought from 2017 to 2019, known as the “Tinderbox” drought, are a stark reminder of what we might expect in future. The drought was likely worsened by human-caused climate change, and preceded the catastrophic Black Summer fires.

How bad could Australian droughts be?

One of the most concerning findings from our research is that even without the effects of climate change, natural variability can produce “mega-droughts” in Australia lasting 20 years or more. That is far longer than any drought that has been experienced in Australia since instrumental records began.

Our findings show mega-droughts are possible across the Australian continent. This includes the Murray-Darling Basin where typical droughts last century lasted four to five years. The graphic below shows the worst of these since direct rainfall records began. A 20-year drought would make these extremes seem short-lived.

Mega-droughts are possible in Australia

This new research shows mega-droughts in Australia are possible – even without the influence of climate change. They are a natural part of Australian rainfall variability over the long term. This finding is supported by evidence drawn from ice cores, which suggests a 39-year drought gripped eastern Australia around 800 years ago.

This is concerning, because climate change is also increasing the chance of reduced rainfall across much of southern Australia.

It’s difficult to imagine a drought lasting several decades. But our research suggests it can happen, and future droughts in Australia will be worse than any in our recent historical experience.

Our work highlights the need to consider the unthinkable when it comes to preparing for future droughts. This has implications for industry, governments and communities as they adapt to a warmer future.

Read more:
How 2023’s record heat worsened droughts, floods and bushfires around the world

Georgina Falster receives funding from the Australian Research Council, through the Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes.

Nerilie Abram receives funding from the Australian Research Council through the Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, the Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather, the Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science, and a Discovery Project

Nicky Wright receives funding from the Australian Research Council and industry sources.

– ref. A 20-year ‘mega-drought’ in Australia? Research suggests it’s happened before – and we should expect it again – https://theconversation.com/a-20-year-mega-drought-in-australia-research-suggests-its-happened-before-and-we-should-expect-it-again-223356

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ha Nguyen, Research Fellow, Victoria University

University education for international students is touted as one of “Australia’s most successful exports”.

International education was worth A$36.4 billion to the Australian economy in 2022–23. Many of Australia’s universities also rely on international student fees to fund their research.

But despite this success, COVID border closures showed Australia cannot take international student revenue for granted. Australia also faces ongoing competition for international students from other English-speaking countries as well as rising competition from countries such as China. As the recent Universities Accord final report noted, the international student market is “volatile”.

Our study looks at why international students want to come to Australia. It then suggests ways we can make the international education sector more sustainable.

Read more:
We are hurtling towards a million international students in Australia – migration changes will only slow this growth, not stop it

Our study

Our paper looked at 46 peer-reviewed studies between 1998 and 2023 that examined why international students choose to come to Australia to study.

From this, we identified 22 “pull” factors that drive international students’ choice of Australia as their tertiary education destination.

The pull factors are those that relate to Australia and which we have some control over.

What we found

The five most frequently reported reasons Australia appealed to students were:

1. career opportunities and life experiences

2. quality education and qualification

3. cost of study and living

4. migration prospects and policy

5. reputation of tertiary education institutions and academic staff.

Further analysis showed environmental factors (those related to living in Australia) had more influence on students’ decision-making than academic factors (those related to study).

This means factors such as career and life experiences, a safe environment and a student’s proximity to their home country were more important than a quality education or qualification, or the reputation of an institution.

But the analysis also shows academic factors are still of course important and cannot be ignored.

Our main competitors

Australia needs to be careful to maintain its position as a desirable place for international students to come and spend precious time and money.

The United States and United Kingdom are Australia’s biggest competitors for international students. Both easily outrank Australia in prestigious international university rankings. So it is difficult for Australia to compete with the US and UK on academic terms.

But Australia is facing rising competition in both academic and environmental terms from traditional source countries such as China and Malaysia.

Asian destinations mean students do not have to travel as far from home. More importantly, many Asian universities, particularly in China, are rising in world university rankings.

How does Australia stay competitive?

Australia needs to think carefully about how it will remain competitive and attractive for students. There are four key ways it can do this.

First, it can ensure adequate support for international students to be employable in Australia when they graduate. Australian universities should guarantee international students work experience in their field of study.

Second, there also needs to be a clear migration pathway for international students who graduate and get a relevant job. As the recent migration review noted:

Australia is not focused enough on capturing high-potential international students.

Third, we need to broaden our academic reputation. At the moment, international students are concentrated in some metropolitan universities.

Australia needs to promote the academic and environmental benefits of studying in regional areas. There may be different courses on offer and opportunities to see different parts of Australia. In addition, when studying in regional Australia, international students can earn points towards their skilled visa applications.

Finally, we need to promote pathways between vocational education (such as TAFEs) and universities. At the moment Australia does not do much to promote the possibility of studying at TAFE first and then moving to a university course. We looked at studies that showed some students are deterred by highly competitive university entry schemes. This is especially the case with some Chinese and Vietnamese students who then apply to study in other countries.

By promoting these pathways, Australia can also attract those willing to be trained in areas where there are skills shortages.

Read more:
‘Very few companies are open for international students’: South Asian graduates say they need specific support to find jobs

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

– ref. Why do international students choose to study in Australia? – https://theconversation.com/why-do-international-students-choose-to-study-in-australia-226815

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Garritt C. Van Dyk, Lecturer in History, University of Newcastle

Australia’s coffee culture – a source of great national pride – is usually associated with the wave of Greek and Italian migrants who settled in Melbourne and Sydney following the second world war. But it was very likely in regional Queensland that one of Australia’s favourite brews first took root.

This is the story of how Italian sugar growers in the Sunshine State are said to have inspired the “invention” of the flat white – a drink that would go on to become a global sensation.

Tracing this history shows a different side to how European tastes were imported to Australia beyond the capital cities. It also reminds us big trends can come from small towns, and that multicultural influence can be easily taken for granted in something as basic as your daily cup of coffee.

The Little Italy of Northern Queensland

Popular conceptions of Italian migrants in Australia are often focused on the wave of migration to the capital cities in the 1950s, overlooking the many migrants who were already settled in regional areas.

In 1891, immigration agent and businessman Chiaffredo Venerano Fraire organised a scheme to recruit cane cutters on behalf of the Queensland government. More than 300 Italians came to the region as a result, prompting chain migration and concerns about their ability to assimilate.

North Queensland became an even more popular destination in the 1920s, after the United States introduced quotas for Italian migrants. By 1925, Italians owned 44% of the sugar farms in the Herbert River area.

These Italian communities expanded further after WWII, as did their cultural influence. The Australian Italian festival, established in 1995 by the Italian community in Ingham and Hinchinbrook shire, celebrates and preserves the legacy of Italian culture in the district.

Read more:
What does Australian-grown coffee taste like, and how does it compare? Our research describes its unique ‘terroir’

What’s in a name?

There are many claims regarding the origin of the flat white, from England to New Zealand. But the best case for coining the term comes from Sydney cafe owner Alan Preston, who details his reasoning extensively online. While the origin debate rages on, Preston’s argument has the most solid historical evidence to back it.

The exact phrase “flat white” appeared on the coffee menu in Preston’s cafe, Moors Espresso Bar, in 1985 in Sydney’s Chinatown area. Preston claims he was the first to use the term on a menu, and has documented this use through photographs.

He says he brought this style of espresso-based drink to Sydney from Far North Queensland, where he’s originally from. The drink was supposedly popular in cafes in sugar-producing towns as it catered to the tastes of wealthy Italian growers and their families.

According to Preston, these cafes had the best espresso machines available at the time, imported from Italy. There would be five coffee options on offer. The black options were the short black and long black, and the white options were the cappuccino, Vienna and the “flat”. On his own menu, Preston changed the last one to “flat white” as a more efficient moniker.

After Moors Espresso Bar, Preston opened five more cafes with flat whites on the menu, popularising the name and style. In 2015, global coffee giant Starbucks added the flat white to its menu – a testament to its universality. Google is a fan too, and made the flat white its doodle of the day on March 11 2024.

Why is the flat white so popular?

The flat white’s widespread appeal comes down to its balance of textured (steamed) milk and espresso. The sign of a quality espresso is in its “crema”, the caramel-coloured emulsion of hot water and coffee bean oils.

A flat white blends the natural crema of an espresso shot with a thin layer of microfoam at the cup’s surface. Without the thicker foam of a latte or cappuccino, or the distraction of chocolate sprinkled on top, the flat white delivers a stronger coffee flavour with a unified creamy texture.

Preston says a properly prepared flat white should leave “tide marks” on the sides of the cup, showing the level go down with each sip.

Regional varieties

Perth’s unique “long mac topped up” and the enigmatic Melbourne “magic” are two more examples of how regional influences have given rise to different coffee preferences across Australia.

The West Coast’s long mac topped up has a milk to coffee ratio of 1:4 in a 180ml serving. It’s like a strong flat white where the coffee is no longer just “stained” by the milk (but somehow “double-shot flat white in a smaller cup” doesn’t roll off the tongue).

Similarly, the Melbourne magic is made with a double ristretto (a shorter, more robust espresso shot) and textured milk, and served in a 148ml (5 oz) cup. So it’s an even stronger flat white, in a smaller cup. The name “magic” may not reveal anything about the contents, but the proof is in the drinking.

Read more:
Think $5.50 is too much for a flat white? Actually it’s too cheap, and our world-famous cafes are paying the price

Déjà brew

The presence of coffee in Australia is as old as the First Fleet, wherein plants imported from Rio de Janeiro were grown on Norfolk Island in 1788. Reflecting on its long and nuanced history reminds us of the contributions multiculturalism has made to the nation, and why new iterations of old things ought to be welcomed.

The story of the flat white, along with its regional variations, reflects a dynamic coffee culture that will continues to evolve to cater to new tastes. For now, we can thank the Italian migrants of sugar country.

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

– ref. Who invented the flat white? Italian sugar farmers from regional Queensland likely played a big role – https://theconversation.com/who-invented-the-flat-white-italian-sugar-farmers-from-regional-queensland-likely-played-a-big-role-224747

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

Opposition leader Peter Dutton claims Labor’s policy is pushing Australia “over an energy cliff”, with the outlook a decade from now “dire”.

In a Wednesday speech released ahead of delivery, Dutton once again talks up his nuclear option ahead of a policy he will release before the May budget.

He says the government’s “renewables only” approach is “an engineering feat of pure fantasy”.

“There is zero chance of this roll-out being completed. And yet the government is switching off the old system before the new one is ready. Indeed, some 90% of baseload power will exit the system by 2034.”

Dutton says businesses are already being asked to reduce their energy use in the afternoons to prevent overload on the network.

“No other developed country is inflicting this same energy self-harm.”

A renewables-only approach hasn’t worked anywhere in the world, Dutton says. Moreover, despite the roll-out of renewables, emissions are not coming down, he says.

“Under its current approach, the government can’t credibly meet its 2050 net zero emissions target.”

Dutton says despite Anthony Albanese’s talk about boosting manufacturing and creating jobs, businesses are going offshore.

“We will end up having to import commodities and products from overseas at a much higher price. And there will be far more emissions from producing these commodities and products abroad than would have been the case under our clean industry practices. In short, there is no net benefit to the environment.”

Dutton says to boost cheap and clean power a Coalition government would ramp up gas production and move Australia to adopting the latest nuclear technologies.

“With nuclear, we can maximise the highest yield of energy per square metre and minimise our environmental footprint.” he says.

“A Rolls-Royce two hectare, 470 megawatt nuclear small modular reactor delivers the same output as 4000 hectares of solar panels.”

Dutton in his speech – to be made to a small business conference – berates business executives and chairs who tell him in private that they are frustrated with the government while holding their tongues in public.

“In public their comments lack the same vigour, or they choose to remain quiet – many from the fear of a social media backlash.”

Dutton says in office, the Coalition would wind back excessive government intervention, remove regulatory roadblocks, and simplify the industrial relations system.

It would remove “the complexity and hostility brought back by Labor at the behest of its union paymasters”.

Earlier this week, Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the Coalition had been “flim-flamming around for the last 18 months” on its nuclear policy. “We’ve been rolling out policies in that time. It’s time for Mr Dutton to get on with it and announce the full details of this nuclear fantasy.”

Germany signs off on $1 billion defence deal

Meanwhile, the Albanese government has secured a $1 billion previously-announced deal for Germany to buy more than 100 Australian-made Boxer heavy weapon carrier vehicles to help it re-arm after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The vehicles will be built at the Rheinmetall Defence Australia centre of excellence at Redbank in Queensland.

The agreement, touted as the single largest defence export agreement in Australia’s history, was initiated last year and has now been endorsed by the German parliament.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said next month’s budget would have a big emphasis on the defence industry and manufacturing jobs and a “future made in Australia”.

“This is how we secure our prosperity into the future at the same time as we are attending to our national security needs and concerns,” he said.

Read more:
What’s behind Australia’s $1 billion defence deal with Germany?

Chalmers concerned about fall in iron ore price

Chalmers also said he was “quite conerned” about the fall in the iron ore price, which has strongly boosted revenue in recent budgets.

“When I looked on Thursday it was US$91 a tonne,” he said. “It was US$130 a tonne at the start of the year, so it’s fallen by about a third this calendar year.”

“There’s no use pretending it doesn’t have an impact on the budget bottom line.”

The forecasts in last year’s budget assumed the iron ore price would fall from the then average of US$117 to US$60 a tonne over the course of the year.

“There’s always a premium on responsible economic management,” Chalmers said. “But I think particularly with this one, which is probably a bit harder to land than the first two, because we’re not getting the same kind of revenue upgrades, the balance of risks in the real economy has shifted and is shifting.

“So we will spend the bulk of the next six weeks making sure that we strike all the right appropriate balances, we deliver a responsible budget which is still focused primarily on inflation but recognises we’ve got a growth challenge as well.”

The budget will have only modest revenue upgrades.

Chalmers reiterated the previously-announced reworking of the so-called Stage 3 tax cuts would be the centrepiece of cost-of-living relief in the budget.

But the government had previously said it was “prepared to consider some of these other cost-of-living measures if we can afford to do it in a responsible and in a meaningful way”.

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

– ref. Peter Dutton says Labor is pushing Australia ‘over an energy cliff’ as he talks up nuclear – https://theconversation.com/peter-dutton-says-labor-is-pushing-australia-over-an-energy-cliff-as-he-talks-up-nuclear-226965

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University

How much were prices rising in January when Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said inflation was “rampant”?

The prices that give us a good steer on inflation were falling, by 0.4%.

That’s the change that month in what the Bureau of Statistics calls the consumer price index “excluding volatile items”. The items it excludes (because they are often affected by supply disruptions) are fruit, vegetables and fuel.

Apart from that, the measure of prices I just quoted is the best monthly measure of the prices of everything that households buy in the proportions they buy them.

Not all prices were falling. The price of alcohol was up, the price of bread was down, the price of rent was up, and the price of tourist accommodation was down. It’s only on balance (excluding volatile items) that prices fell.

This is the sort of thing we wouldn’t have known about until just a few years ago. Up until late 2022, the consumer price index was calculated only four times a year, and even that was a herculean feat.

A ten-fold increase in data

The bureau had to collect what used to be 100,000 separate prices for each of those four surveys – a huge number collected in person, either over the phone (“hello, can you tell me your current price for…”) or in stores via handheld devices.

The cost to the bureau, and the number of staff involved, was enormous – big enough to make a monthly measure impossible, as important as that would have been to a Reserve Bank that set interest rates monthly and needed a monthly read on inflation.

But in the last few years the use of supermarket scanner data, “web scrapping” to collect online prices, and data feeds direct from the computers of rental agents and all sorts of other businesses have cut costs enormously and increased the number of prices collected each quarter almost ten-fold to 900,000.

The bureau says the monthly index isn’t as comprehensive as the quarterly index yet, but it will be by the end of 2025, at which time the bureau will use it to replace the quarterly index, delivering something of the same quality 12 times a year.

That’s just one of the ways in which an explosion of previously-inaccessible data is transforming the way the bureau goes about its job and is set to make statistics that used to be only fairly reliable suddenly very reliable.

Retail figures set for the chop

For more than half a century, every month since April 1961, the bureau has published an update on retail spending – how much we are spending in shops.

The survey used to be quite useful. Back when it started, we did more than half our spending in shops. These days it’s only one third, the rest is on services.

And the retail survey was always a pretty rough-and-ready way to find out what we spent in shops. Each month the bureau surveys about 700 large businesses and 2,700 smaller businesses selected at random. It uses phone calls and paper forms.

Meantime, in part due to the national emergency created by COVID, it’s been given access to something better. Australia’s big four banks agreed to give the bureau de-identified card and transaction data to enable it to quickly get a handle on how much we were spending early in the pandemic, and they’ve kept providing it.

It turns out to be very good indeed. It covers far more retail outlets than the retail survey ever did, as well as spending on services and spending overseas, and it divides spending into categories based on the type of merchant.

It doesn’t directly cover what we spend in cash, but there’s a lot less of that than there used to be. It’llreplace the retail survey from the middle of next year.

Millions instead of thousands

The mammoth monthly employment survey of 24,000 households remains in place, as do the doorknocks that begin each household’s eight-month turn at completing the survey, but alongside it the bureau is developing a far more comprehensive measure using payroll data submitted to the tax office.

While payroll numbers can’t tell us everything the employment survey does (they can’t yet tell us the hours people work and whether are looking for work) they cover millions of Australians instead of thousands, and come out weekly.

The bureau is doing the same sort of thing almost everywhere. For more than a century it has surveyed farmers to find out what they are growing. It’s begun supplementing that with data from satellites and the machines used on farms.

The ultimate goal of all of these changes, gathered together under the banner “Big Data, Timely Insights” is to ask as few questions as possible. Why run a survey, when you can find out directly?

Read more:
You can’t fix it if you can’t see it: how the ABS became our secret weapon

Big data, timely insights

It’s far harder than it looks. A lot of the so-called administrative data provided to banks and other organisations isn’t sorted in a way that makes it useful. That’s where the bureau is concentrating its efforts. The more it succeeds, the less it will need to bother us and the better the information it will produce.

In the meantime, here’s an update on those inflation figures, the ones that come out monthly. In February, the consumer price index excluding volatile items did not change, meaning in that particular month, inflation was zero.

Even better, adding the past six months together (and multiplying by two) gives you an annual inflation rate of 2.5% – slap bang in the middle of the Reserve Bank’s 2-3% target band, suggesting things are moving in the right direction.

It’s too early to declare victory over inflation that was at one stage heading towards 8%, but at the moment the monthly figures show things moving in the right direction.

If the direction changes, the bureau will tell us, quick smart.

Peter Martin is Economics Editor of The Conversation.

– ref. From where we work to what we spend, the ABS knows more about us than ever before: here’s what’s changing – https://theconversation.com/from-where-we-work-to-what-we-spend-the-abs-knows-more-about-us-than-ever-before-heres-whats-changing-226814

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Juliana S. Oliveira, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Physical Activity, University of Sydney

Daylight saving ends this weekend. The days are shorter and getting colder. It’s less appealing to cycle to work, walk after dinner, or wake up early to hit the gym. But we all know daily physical activity is essential for our health and wellbeing.

Physical activity releases feel-good neurotransmitters in our brains, which help to alleviate stress, anxiety, and depression. It also helps prevent diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. Regular physical activity can prolong life and improve overall quality of life.

However, many of us find it difficult to achieve the recommended 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity each week. In fact, three out of ten Australians and half of Australians aged 65 and over are inactive.

So, what can you do to stay motivated and keep moving regularly through the darker months? Here are some tips.

1. Nail those goals

Goals can provide us with a sense of purpose, meaning and direction. But just aiming to “get fit” is less likely to cut it than goals that are SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound.

Specific goals are based on an observable behaviour or activity, such as step count, yoga, or competing in an event.

Measurable goals can be tracked, so you can easily tell whether you have ticked them off.

Achievable goals are realistic and based on your current fitness and abilities. But they can and should still be challenging. If you’ve only ever run 5 kilometres, it won’t be realistic to aim for a half marathon in the next month. But you could aim for 10 kilometres.

Relevant goals hold personal meaning for you. Articulating why it’s important will help motivate you to do it.

Time-bound goals include a target date for achieving them. You can always revisit your deadline if you’re ahead of schedule or if it’s too unrealistic.

An example of a SMART goal could be: “I will walk 10,000 steps every weekday within a month.” Then you can break it down into short-term goals to make it more achievable. If you currently walk 6,000 steps each day, you can increase steps by 1,000 every week to reach 10,000 by the end of the month.

2. Keep track

More than 90% of Australians own a smartphone and more than two in ten own a fitness tracker or a smartwatch. These devices can help you track your goals and activity, keep you accountable and increase your motivation.

A 2021 systematic review suggests fitness trackers and smartphone apps can assist people to increase their step count by up to 2,000 steps per day. Our research demonstrated fitness trackers can also be helpful in increasing physical activity among older people. If you don’t have a fitness tracker, you can buy low-cost pedometers or track your activity times using paper and pen.

Read more:
Climb the stairs, lug the shopping, chase the kids. Incidental vigorous activity linked to lower cancer risks

3. Plan for success but prepare for barriers

Take some time to think about the potential barriers that could prevent you from being active and plan solutions to overcome them.

For example, if the cost of physical activity is too high for you, try to find options that are free, such as walking or running. You can also consider free online programs or streaming videos.

If you find it difficult to fit exercise into your busy schedule, try exercising early in the morning before you start your day and laying out your workout clothes the night before. You could consider joining a gym with flexible timetables. A good strategy is to try to fit physical activity into your daily routine, such as walking or cycling to work.

If you are living with a chronic health condition or disability, consider seeking guidance from a health professional such as an exercise physiologist or physiotherapist. Start slow and gradually increase your activity and find something you enjoy so you are more likely to keep doing it.

Read more:
Good news for ‘weekend warriors’: people who do much of their exercise on a couple of days still get heart benefits

4. Team up with a workout friend

Physical activity can be more fun when you do it with someone else. Studies show working out with friends can be more motivating and enjoyable. It can also help with accountability, as some people are more likely to show up when they have a workout partner. So, find a friend who supports your goal of being more active or maintaining your current activity levels.

Read more:
Good news for ‘weekend warriors’: people who do much of their exercise on a couple of days still get heart benefits

5. Plan yourself a little treat

Make an appointment with yourself in your diary to exercise. Approach it as just as important as meeting a friend or colleague. One idea is to delay something you’d rather do and make it a reward for sticking to your activity appointment. If you really want to go out for coffee, do a hobby, or watch something, go for a walk first.

Research shows incentives can dramatically increase physical activity levels.

6. Find a coach

If you want more support, health coaching might be an option.

Trained professionals work one-on-one with people, sometimes via telehealth, to find out what’s reducing their motivation to make healthier choices, such as exercise. Then they employ behaviour change techniques to help them meet their health goals.

Our recent research suggests health coaching can improve physical activity in older people and those with chronic pain. In New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, these sessions are government-subsidised or free.

Read more:
Exercise is even more effective than counselling or medication for depression. But how much do you need?

Anne Tiedemann receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).

Cathie Sherrington receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF). She is affiliated with the Cerebral Palsy Sport and Recreation Association.

Leanne Hassett received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).

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

– ref. Days are getting shorter and colder. 6 tips for sticking to your fitness goals – https://theconversation.com/days-are-getting-shorter-and-colder-6-tips-for-sticking-to-your-fitness-goals-226619

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wooden, Professorial Fellow, The University of Melbourne

Over the last two years, growth in wages and salaries have not kept up with rises in the cost of living.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates the cost of living for the average “employee household” rose by 16.7% in the two years up to December 2023.

In contrast, average wages, as measured by the Wage Price Index, rose by only 7.7% over the same period.

As a result, many workers have had to either cut back on spending or find ways to supplement their regular income. Perhaps the simplest strategy, especially when demand for labour is strong, is for households to increase their working hours.

This might involve family members who previously did not have paid employment seeking work, or individual household members seeking either more paid overtime or a second job.

Making ends meet

Surveys suggest more people are taking up the option of a second job.

One survey released last month by comparison website Finder reported 32% of respondents felt financially pressured to work more than one job.

But it is difficult to take such large estimates seriously when the Bureau of Statistics’ Labour Force Survey suggest fewer than 7% of workers in February 2024 were underemployed and therefore would prefer to work any extra hours, let alone a whole additional job.

Read more:
1 in 5 Australian workers is either underemployed or out of work: white paper

So what then do we really know about how common it is in Australia for people to have more than one job?

The gold standard for measuring the number of people with more than one job is again provided by Bureau of Statistics, this time in the form of its quarterly Labour Accounts, which is drawn from a range of data sources including the Labour Force Survey.

The graph below uses this data to show how the proportion of employed workers with more than one job during a specific week has changed since 2000.

The growing trend

For most of this century the proportion of employed people who report having more than one job has varied between 5% and 6%. But this has been trending upwards in recent years. It reached 6% by the end of 2018 and remained at or near that level until the start of the pandemic.

The rate fell sharply during 2020, reflecting the impact of the lockdowns, but by the end of 2021 (before the surge in the cost of living) it had risen to 6.3%. Two years later, this proportion stood almost half a point higher at 6.7%.

Multiple job holders are therefore estimated to represent a large number of workers as 6.7% of the workforce equals about 970,000 people. More women than men work multiple jobs and most are aged 20 to 24.

As the cost of living has increased, we can assume the number of multiple job holders has only grown.

Read more:
We need more than a definition change to fix Australia’s culture of permanent ‘casual’ work

However, that increase has been relatively small. There are only about 110,000 more multiple job holders than there were two years earlier in December 2021 (when the official interest rate set by the Reserve Bank stood at an historic low of just 0.1%). This compares with a total employed workforce of more than 14.5 million.

Misconceptions about multiple job holders

One possible misconception is the typical multiple job holder works a second job, most likely at nights, or on the weekend, on top of a regular full-time job. While this is accurate for some, most people with more than one job actually work part-time in their main job.

According to yet another large survey, the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey, almost 64% of multiple job holders in 2022 worked part-time (defined here as usually less than 35 hours per week) in their first job.

Multiple job holding is therefore, in part, a result of a lack of full-time jobs in many industries.

This underscores another reason why we would expect multiple job holding to have risen in recent years.

Plenty of jobs, but mainly part-time

While the number of people taking on multiple jobs has increased in Australia in recent years, the rise has been relatively small.

Cost-of-living pressures have driven some of this modest increase, but also at play has been a labour market where jobs are plentiful but many of those jobs are only part-time.

This means some of the rise in people with multiple jobs will be because they can’t get the hours they need in their primary job, not because they want to work more hours overall.

Read more:
Albanese government to Fair Work Commission: Don’t let real wages go backwards for the low paid

From July 2001 until June 2023, Mark Wooden was Director of the HILDA Survey, which is funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services.

– ref. It’s getting even harder to find full-time work. So more people are taking second part-time jobs – https://theconversation.com/its-getting-even-harder-to-find-full-time-work-so-more-people-are-taking-second-part-time-jobs-226719

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Herbert, Associate professor, University of Sydney

The horrific Black Summer bushfires of 2019–20 burned more than 8 million hectares of vegetation across southeastern Australia. An estimated 3 billion animals were caught in the fire zone.

Intense media coverage often included graphic images of koalas and other marsupials fighting for survival. People everywhere became emotionally invested in wildlife rescue and rehabilitation.

Yet despite the courageous efforts of volunteers, our new research has found wildlife rescue and rehabilitation rates were much lower than expected.

We can use this information to improve our response to future disasters. Knowledge of the likely chance of recovery from different injuries can be used to refine treatment for each species. This will allow volunteers and veterinarians to prioritise rehabilitation efforts and minimise animal suffering.

Read more:
200 experts dissected the Black Summer bushfires in unprecedented detail. Here are 6 lessons to heed

Grim statistics on rescue and rehab

Our research analysed marsupial rescue, rehabilitation and release statistics from two of the worst-affected regions: New South Wales and Kangaroo Island.

We compared these statistics to the estimated population size for each species and to typical marsupial rescue and rehabilitation records in NSW. Typical rescue data were not readily available for Kangaroo island.

Despite an estimated 46.8 million marsupials in the NSW fire zones, only 889 marsupial rescues were reported in NSW. Just 618 marsupial rescues were reported on Kangaroo Island.

Why were rescue rates so low? Our research provides some clues.

The peak rescue period was 6–8 weeks after fire ignition, and rescues were mostly clustered around the edge of the fire zone. This suggests that timely access to firegrounds was difficult or unsafe. The scale and intensity of the fires almost certainly limited the capacity of many individual animals to flee. Many likely perished in the fire, or before rescuers could arrive.

Most rescues in NSW were of common species such as kangaroos and wallabies (458) or possums (162). But koalas (204), a threatened species in NSW, were rescued more often than expected relative to their population size.

So what was the fate of animals that were rescued? Sadly, we found more than half the marsupials rescued in both regions did not survive.

Kangaroos and possums were more likely to be euthanised on the fireground or soon after being found. Koalas, on the other hand, were more likely to enter rehabilitation facilities, but many still died.

We found kangaroos had a lower chance of successful rehabilitation (15%) than koalas (47%) and possums (55%). This highlights the need for more research on ways to improve rehabilitation success.

What can we learn?

Our analysis provides valuable insights that could be used to improve outcomes in the future.

The type of injury can be used to predict survival. Animals that had traumatic injuries, such as burns, were less likely to survive. If they were malnourished or immobilised they were in serious trouble. On the other hand, orphaned or heat-stressed and dehydrated animals had a better chance of survival and release back to the wild.

Our detailed analysis of the factors influencing survival for each species can be used to refine decision-making, improve animal welfare and identify areas where more research is needed to improve treatment regimes in the future. If an animal has a poor chance of survival, euthanasia should be considered at the initial assessment.

Read more:
Saving burned or injured animals draws our sympathy. But some don’t survive after release. Here’s why

The way forward

During the 2019–20 fires, the community expected that wild animals would be rescued and rehabilitated where possible. But most people involved in rehabilitation are volunteers who invest an enormous amount of time, money and energy into caring for wildlife. These personal costs are much higher during disasters, and raise questions about whether wildlife volunteers should be compensated for their efforts.

As Australia and the world grapples with the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events, we need better ways to support wildlife and volunteers. Improving partnerships between government agencies and skilled volunteers may form part of the solution.

In response to the 2020 NSW Bushfire Inquiry, new initiatives in wildlife emergency response have recognised the need for timely responses in the aftermath of disasters.

In NSW, firefighters have now receive basic wildlife rescue training. Veterinarians and wildlife volunteers have access to fireground training and protective equipment.

These initiatives aim to improve opportunities for wildlife rescue and animal welfare in the aftermath of future disasters. They also make it safer for workers and volunteers.

Our research supports the need for timely intervention if we want to rescue more animals and minimise suffering.

More consistent data collection is needed on a national scale to fully appreciate the true costs of disasters on wildlife. This should include user-friendly technology to accurately log all wildlife rescues (and euthanasia) in the field and track individual animals throughout rehabilitation. This will help to understand species differences in rates of rescue and rehabilitation, and hopefully improve rescue and rehabilitation outcomes for all species.

Read more:
Wildlife recovery spending after Australia’s last megafires was one-thirteenth the $2.7 billion needed

Catherine Herbert receives funding from the Environmental Trust, Morris Animal Foundation, WIRES Australian Wildlife Rescue Organisation, and NSW National Parks and Wildlife.

Chris Dickman receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

Holly Cope and Rachael Gray do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Hundreds of animals were rescued after the Black Summer bushfires – but how many actually survived? – https://theconversation.com/hundreds-of-animals-were-rescued-after-the-black-summer-bushfires-but-how-many-actually-survived-225699

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Daley, Senior Lecturer, Youth Work & Youth Studies, Social Equity Research Centre, RMIT University

The Victorian government has recently announced a plan to trial electronic monitoring devices for young people on bail and abandon proposed reforms to bail laws for young people. This is at odds with their recent bail reforms in the adult system.

The reforms in the adult system moved back to a model of a presumption of bail. This followed the knee-jerk changes made after the Bourke Street Massacre in 2017, which caused overflowing prisons and disproportionately affected Indigenous people.

Read more:
3 ways the Victorian government’s bail reforms fall short – and why it must embrace ‘Poccum’s Law’

What is bail?

In recent years, “bail” has become a loaded term. Heavy media coverage of offences occurring while an alleged perpetrator was on bail have created a public discomfort with bail altogether.

But many conflate bail with parole, and there is a very distinct difference: people on bail are not convicted of any crime. Twenty-four-hour monitoring of those who may be innocent is ethically fraught, and there is no evidence to suggest it will reduce crime.

Those on parole have been convicted and completed a custodial sentence before being released into the community. In a system that rests on the presumption of innocence, detaining people who are on bail is a breach of a potentially innocent person’s liberty.

Because of this, bail should only be refused in circumstances where the potential threat to the community is so great it warrants the risk of detaining an innocent person.

Electronic monitoring

Victorian Attorney-General, Jaclyn Symes, has made the unexpected proposal to implement a trial of electronic monitoring ankle bracelets for young people who are charged with, but not convicted of, serious crimes. This is in a context of the Allan government under scrutiny from media, and even influencer Bec Judd, for being “soft on crime”.

Symes’ argues electronic monitoring will ensure bail conditions are being met, and that claim certainly appeases community concerns. But ankle monitors do not prevent people from breaching bail – it simply tracks them doing so. It is also a policy that allows 24-hour GPS monitoring of an unconvicted citizen.

When we accept such impingements on people’s right to the presumption of innocence and individual freedoms, we set a precedent for this happening elsewhere in our justice system.

While this idea sounds effective, there is no evidence it will help curb further crime, and some data to suggest it will only entrench offending.

Young people with visible monitoring devices become so stigmatised they are excluded from the broader community. This means those with ankle bracelets often only associate with other accused offenders – none of whom are able to engage in any meaningful activity because of the barriers wearing a monitor creates. Ironically, there is some speculation having a monitor is seen as a “badge of honour” to show off to friends.

Queensland has trialled ankle monitors for young people over 15 who are on bail and facing charges that can face a jury (indictable offences). One of the important eligibility criteria for the ankle bracelet is that they must have previously been convicted of an indictable offence.

So few meet this criterion that in the first 12 months of the trial, only eight young people were eligible to be included. Because of these low numbers it could not be adequately evaluated. The program has been extended until 2025.

Given most young offenders are not committing crimes serious enough to make them eligible for the monitoring devices, it leads one to ask why the government would continue with it at all? A sceptic might suggest it is to save face: sure, it impinges the freedoms of some, yet it placates the fears of many. (Although it might actually increase crime.)

Reducing youth crime

In Victoria, and most of Australia, rates of youth crime are low and serious offending is very rare. Those who are repeat and/or serious offenders are typically known to many other systems prior to their offending. Young people in the criminal justice system have backgrounds so disadvantaged we are almost desensitised to the statistics. For example:

• nationally, 53% of young people in the justice system had had contact with Child Protection in the previous five years

• young people with an acquired brain injury are at risk of entrenchment in the justice system

• people from low socio-economic backgrounds are over-represented in the youth justice system

• the prevalence of past childhood traumas in youth who who enter jail is extremely high. In one South Australian sample, 88% had experienced four or more adverse childhood events.

Often the blame is placed at the feet of the parents, but given how often child protection services are involved, it’s curious more responsibility is not placed at the feet of the state.

Rather than seeing these young people as victims of multiple community and government failures, we seek to treat them as criminals even before they have been tried, almost certainly leading to entrenched crime and lifelong disadvantage.

Read more:
From viral social media ‘pranks’ to hooning, what makes teens behave so badly?

How should we address youth crime?

Youth crime is largely an issue of social inequality. Entrenched crime requires responses that seek to give young people a legitimate and valued place in the community and offer them viable futures.

The numbers of young people committing crime is low. Serious crime is rare. But those who are committing crime are often highly vulnerable, with backgrounds of serious disadvantage.

It’s in everybody’s best interest to understand jailing these people forever won’t work and would come at huge expense to taxpayers. Investing in whole-of-community responses to help those who are on the margins to be included in a meaningful way of life is cheaper, more ethical and safer for us all.

Kathryn Daley is a member of the Women’s Correctional Services Advisory Committee in Victoria.

– ref. The Victorian government wants to trial electronic monitoring devices on young people. It’s a bad idea – https://theconversation.com/the-victorian-government-wants-to-trial-electronic-monitoring-devices-on-young-people-its-a-bad-idea-226498

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martien Lubberink, Associate Professor of Economics, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

The New Zealand Commerce Commission recently released a draft report on the state of personal banking services in New Zealand. Unsurprisingly, the market study found a marked lack of competition among the largest financial institutions in Aotearoa New Zealand.

But will the government bailout of Kiwibank in 2022 or the arrival of fintechs make any long-term difference? If the commission’s report is to be believed – probably not.

The four major banks (ANZ, ASB, BNZ and Westpac) own almost 90% of the assets of all banks in New Zealand. Kiwibank, founded in 2001 to be an industry disrupter, has not been able to consistently impose competitive pressure.

In reality, smaller banks and fintechs are limited by the structural advantage of big banks, the burden of regulation and compliance and difficulties on the customer side with switching providers.

The commission offers some solutions to New Zealand’s banking woes. But regulators need to ensure any course correction doesn’t expose customers to the instability seen in Spain and elsewhere.

Diagnosing the problem in NZ’s banking system

The commission deserves praise for releasing the draft report, which effectively highlights the lack of competition in New Zealand’s banking system. This deficiency has led to a lack of investment, innovation, and disruption, along with minimal customer switching.

A two-tier banking system has emerged, with the four big Australian-owned banks enjoying significantly higher profits and smaller banks lagging behind.

While diagnosing the problem is one thing, finding the right solution is another challenge. The report makes it clear there is no easy fix for the competition issues in New Zealand’s banking sector.

Read more:
Credit Suisse is an anomaly: why Australia and New Zealand are safe from ‘bank run’ contagion

A key reason for limited competition is the large size gap between the “big four” banks (ANZ, ASB, BNZ, Westpac), with combined assets of NZ$580 billion, and the smaller banks (Co-operative Bank, Heartland Bank, SBS, TSB), whose combined assets are $25 billion. This is a 24-fold difference. Let that sink in.

This vast size difference offers the big four banks important advantages, such as wholesale funding at lower cost. Moreover, fixed costs in banking are significant. They include the cost of ever-increasing regulation, systems, cybersecurity and the policing of money laundering. Against the backdrop of these high fixed costs, size provides significant economies of scale.

Large banks can also diversify more easily. If risks in the New Zealand banking system increase, large banks can spread their risks across the world. This measure is more onerous for banks with a domestic focus.

Size matters

Another problem is small banks with a domestic focus are, in practice, beholden to politicians, who may interfere with these banks for electoral reasons. In the aftermath of the commission’s report, New Zealand’s minister of finance Nicola Willis indicated a willingness to look into how the government could better capitalise Kiwibank.

Unfortunately, the benefits of size are difficult to undo: size matters in banking. A country like Spain has shown how small banks can pose a significant risk to financial stability.

The commission appears to recognise the benefits of size. Its report does not propose to break up the big banks. Instead, it recommends helping smaller banks, such as Kiwibank, by softening the burden of regulation (through the Proportionality Framework, for example), improving access to capital and lowering the weight given to certain risks.

Intervention poses risks

But the proposals to help smaller banks, no matter how well-intended, are concerning. These initiatives are reminiscent of the pre-global financial crisis (GFC) era when lower capital ratios were used to boost competition and extend excessive credit to aspiring home-owners.

Regulators in the years leading up to the GFC trusted principles-based regulation only to discover in 2008 such regulations were gamed at the expense of the most vulnerable of our society. And yet the term “principles-based” appeared on page 180 of the commission’s report. Almost as if little has been learnt since the GFC.

Equally concerning is the report’s trust in Kiwibank, the bank stuck in the middle between the big four and the smaller banks.

With a return on equity well below its cost of capital, the bank has shown lacklustre performance for some time now. Among the 10 largest banks in New Zealand, Kiwibank also has the second lowest common equity tier 1 capital ratio. This means the bank is vulnerable to shocks and may struggle to meet the increasing capital requirements going forward.

Infusing billions of dollars in the hope and expectation of turning the bank into a disrupter is playing with fire. Disruption implies an elevated risk that ultimately can affect the stability of the banking system.

Read more:
Why now would be a good time for the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to publish stress test results for individual banks

Likewise, the idea aired by some to float 49% of Kiwibank’s shares is concerning, as it introduces a moral hazard problem: Kiwibank’s managers may take excessive risks, expecting the Crown to provide more capital. Floating shares also creates uncertainty among the new shareholders: at some time a government may regret the float and nationalise the bank, again.

Trying to help weaker banks through deregulation, infusing new capital, or lowering capital requirements may backfire. The commission should instead continue to promote an inclusive banking system that is modern and up-to-date and serves all of us well.

The proposals regarding real-time transfers, ease of switching, market transparency, open banking, fintech, consumer empowerment and any other initiative to improve the customer experience are definitively worth pursuing.

Our banking system is such that consumers will likely bear high costs for some years to come, but all those in our financial system should at least aim for one which is safe and enjoyable to use.

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

– ref. ComCom diagnoses the problem with NZ’s banking industry – but will its solutions offer a real fix? – https://theconversation.com/comcom-diagnoses-the-problem-with-nzs-banking-industry-but-will-its-solutions-offer-a-real-fix-226952

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jacqueline Nguyen, Scientific Officer in Ornithology, Australian Museum, and ARC DECRA Fellow, Flinders University

The largest-ever study of bird genomes has produced a remarkably clear picture of the bird family tree. Published in the journal Nature today, our study shows that most of the modern groups of birds first appeared within 5 million years after the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Birds are a large part of our lives, a sign of nature even in cities. They are popular among the general public and well studied by scientists. But placing all of these birds into a family tree has been frustratingly difficult.

By analysing the genomes of more than 360 bird species, our study has identified the fundamental relationships among the major groups of living birds.

The new family tree overturns some previous ideas about bird relationships, while also revealing some new groupings.

Resolving a messy relationship

Previous studies showed the bird family tree has three major branches. The first branch contains the tinamous and ratites, which include flightless birds such as the emu, kiwi and ostrich.

The second branch holds the landfowl and waterfowl – chickens, ducks and so on. All other birds sit on the third branch, known as the Neoaves, which include 95% of bird species.

The Neoaves branch includes ten groups of birds. Most of these are what biologists have named the “Magnificent Seven”: landbirds, waterbirds, tropicbirds, cuckoos, nightjars, doves and flamingos. The other three groups are known as the “orphans” and include the shorebirds, cranes and hoatzin, a species from South America.

The relationships among these ten groups, especially the orphans, have been incredibly difficult to resolve. Our genome study shows a resolution is within reach.

Meet the ‘Elementaves’

Our genome study revealed a new grouping of birds we have named “Elementaves”. With a name inspired by the four ancient elements of earth, air, water and fire, this group includes birds well adapted for success on land, in the sky and in the water. Some of the birds have names relating to the sun, representing the element of fire. The Elementaves group includes hummingbirds, shorebirds, cranes, penguins and pelicans.

Our study also confirms a close relationship between two of the most familiar groups of birds in Australia, the passerines (songbirds and relatives) and parrots. These popular birds dominate the Australian Bird of the Year polls.

Songbirds make up nearly 50% of all bird species and include birds like magpies, finches, honeyeaters and fairywrens. They had their humble beginnings in Australia about 50 million years ago, then spread across the globe to become the most successful group of birds.

When did birds really emerge?

A further goal of our study was to place a timescale on the bird family tree. We did this by modelling the evolution of genomes using a tool known as the “molecular clock”. By drawing on information from nearly 200 fossils, we were able to constrain the ages of some of the branches in the bird family tree.

Our study shows all living birds share an ancestor that lived just over 90 million years ago. But most groups of modern birds emerged about 25 million years later, within a small window of just a few million years after the end of the Cretaceous period around 66 million years ago.

This coincides with the mass extinction of dinosaurs and other organisms caused by an asteroid striking Earth. So it seems birds made the most of the opportunities that became available after these other dominant life forms were wiped out.

One mystery remains

The genome study is the product of nearly a decade of research, conducted as part of the Bird 10,000 Genomes Project. The ultimate goal of this project is to sequence the genomes of all 10,000 living bird species.

The current phase of the project focused on including species from every major group, or family, of birds. The study of these 363 genomes was a truly international effort led by researchers at the University of Copenhagen, University of California San Diego and Zhejiang University in China.

Even with such a huge amount of genome data, one branch of the bird family tree remains a mystery. Our analysis could not confidently determine the relationships of one of the orphans, the hoatzin. Found in South America, the hoatzin is a highly distinctive bird and the sole survivor of its lineage.

Our study shows that some relationships in the tree of life can only be determined using huge amounts of genome data. But our study also demonstrates the power of studying genomes and fossils together to understand the evolutionary history of life on Earth.

Read more:
We need a single list of all life on Earth – and most taxonomists now agree on how to start

Jacqueline Nguyen receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

Simon Ho receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

– ref. After 10 years of work, landmark study reveals new ‘tree of life’ for all birds living today – https://theconversation.com/after-10-years-of-work-landmark-study-reveals-new-tree-of-life-for-all-birds-living-today-226743

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nasya Bahfen, Senior Lecturer, Department of Media and Communication, La Trobe University

Every Ramadan, volunteers at Westall Mosque and OneSpace in Melbourne hold free weekly iftars (communal dinners to break the fast in Ramadan). This year, volunteers say numbers are up.

To cut down on the resulting landfill, attendees are asked to bring their own reusable food containers and water bottles. In dedicated bins, bottles and cans are collected and recycled under the state government’s container deposit scheme – adding A$12 to A$25 every weekend to each mosque’s coffers, volunteers say.

Many of the attendees are international students from Indonesia or Malaysia. Living away from their families, paying high tuition fees, and juggling precarious work with studies, they represent a segment of Australian society particularly hard hit by rising costs of living. These include a jump in food prices stemming from global warming-induced crop failures.

This is a small example of a global problem. The way Muslims around the world experience Ramadan is changing because of climate change, often for the worse.

Read more:
Explainer: what is Ramadan and why does it require Muslims to fast?

Food insecurity all year round

Like members of Australia’s other Islamic communities, Melbourne Muslims of Indonesian background make up a privileged minority, living in a prosperous, peaceful country.

Muslims in other parts of the world face exacerbated challenges.

Several of the countries thought to be the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change are countries with Muslim majority populations (such as Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Pakistan).

In the Middle East and North Africa where Muslim majority countries abound, the World Food Program describes a “persistent food security crisis”.

In this region devastated by conflict and climate change, the World Food Program says the practice of abstaining from food (temporarily, as a religious tradition) has become an ongoing reality for millions throughout the year.

Food insecurity is made worse in the Middle East and North Africa by the aridity of the region, which contains 12 of the world’s driest countries. These include Algeria, Bahrain, Qatar, the Palestinian Territories, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Yemen.

With forecast reductions in rainfall predicted to decimate the gross domestic product (GDP) of Middle Eastern countries, climate change represents a critical threat to these countries.

Read more:
‘Salam, Ramadan Mubarak!’: 4 ways schools can bring Ramadan into the classroom

Extreme weather driving extreme losses

Food insecurity and water scarcity aren’t the only ways in which the effects of climate change are felt in Ramadan.

Increasing temperatures have led to the forcible displacement of communities from extreme weather incidents such as storms, wildfires and flooding.

In 2022, flooding in Pakistan destroyed water systems and forced more than five million people to rely on ponds and wells. This contributed to a rise in disease as this water was contaminated.

Heatwaves during times of fasting can also prove fatal. In 2018, dozens of people died, also in Pakistan, amid sweltering temperatures at the start of Ramadan.

After an extreme weather incident, a conflict-afflicted country will shoulder four times the hit to its gross domestic product, compared to a stable country.

Permanent GDP losses of 5.5% have been recorded in Central Asia and just over 1% in the Middle East and North Africa, following climate disasters.

Such losses compound the already precarious stability of these Muslim-majority countries.

Over time, extreme weather events such as flooding in Bangladesh impact the production of necessities.

At a practical level, the loss of income that results when entire towns are swept away affects local economies during Ramadan and beyond, as survivors spend less, and opt for more frugal celebrations.

‘Greening’ Ramadan

Wealthier countries, in general, are better equipped to mitigate climate change impacts.

But in Muslim-majority countries in the global south there’s been a push for “greening” Ramadan, and for environmentally sustainable practices to be incorporated into daily Muslim life.

Mosques like Masjid Salman on an Indonesian university campus have incorporated tissue-less and water-efficient areas for wudhu (the ritual ablutions before prayer).

Solar panels installed in 2019 power the largest mosque in southeast Asia – Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque. Its capacity matches that of the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The belief that caring for the environment is an aspect of the Islamic faith holds true for people like Indri Razak, a resident of Sumatra’s largest town of Pekanbaru and a member of the environmental group SRI Foundation.

She’s tried to implement a plastic-free lifestyle in a country where sustainability is just beginning to be embraced.

“As Indonesians whose population is in the hundreds of millions, we need to start taking measures in reducing food waste,” she says.

“I hate composting – it’s so much easier to chuck it all in the bin and off it gets collected by the garbage truck, but if I can do it, anyone can.”

In the meantime, a 1,400 year old fasting tradition continues in a world with a changing climate. Despite centuries of Ramadan, Muslims now practice their faith amid very modern environmental challenges.

Read more:
Calls for a ‘green’ Ramadan revive Islam’s long tradition of sustainability and care for the planet

Nasya Bahfen previously received funding from the Australian Research Foundation and the Judith Neilson Foundation .

– ref. Fasting is a key part of Ramadan, but for many Muslims, climate change is making food scarce all year – https://theconversation.com/fasting-is-a-key-part-of-ramadan-but-for-many-muslims-climate-change-is-making-food-scarce-all-year-225778

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sebastian Furness, ARC Future Fellow, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland

Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide are taking drugs like Ozempic to lose weight. But what do we actually know about them? This month, The Conversation’s experts explore their rise, impact and potential consequences.

Every now and then, scientists develop treatments that end up being even more popular for another condition entirely. Think of Viagra, originally for high blood pressure, now used for erectile dysfunction. Or thalidomide, a dangerous morning sickness treatment that is now a valuable cancer treatment.

The blockbuster drug Ozempic was originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes, a condition that results in too much glucose, or sugar, in the blood. This is because the body can’t effectively use the insulin it produces.

In the 1980s, medications to treat type 2 diabetes would often lead to weight gain, which could worsen the condition. Patients would end up needing insulin replacement therapy.

But the class of drugs Ozempic belongs to would change this and generate A$21 billion of sales in 2023 alone for its maker.

The start of the journey

In the 19th century, French physiologist Claude Barnard sought to explain why large amounts of glucose (the main sugar in your blood) can be taken orally, whereas if glucose is given intravenously, small amounts overload the body’s systems.

In 1922 Frederick Banting and Charles Best discovered the hormone insulin, which controls glucose use. But this didn’t explain the difference between oral and intravenous glucose tolerance.

Read more:
Explainer: what is diabetes?

In 1932, Belgian Jean La Barre identified there was a hormone in the gastrointestinal tract responsible for stimulating insulin secretion. La Barre named this “incrétine” (incretin), a blending of ingestion and secretin, and suggested it may be a diabetes treatment.

In the 1960s, researchers showed the incretin effect was responsible for about two-thirds of people’s insulin response. New and sensitive ways to measure blood hormone levels then allowed researchers to show a hormone called GIP (glucose‐dependent insulinotropic polypeptide) was partly responsible for the incretin effect.

This meant there must be another hormone, whose discovery had to wait until the age of cloning in the 1980s. Cloning the GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide 1) gene, biochemist Svetlana Mojsov demonstrated it stimulated pancreatic insulin secretion at 1/100th of the concentration needed for GIP. So GLP-1 was identified as the other incretin responsible for people’s insulin response.

The glucose-lowering effects of GIP and GLP-1 excited scientists, but they couldn’t be used as medicines because they metabolised too quickly in the body.

Enter a poisonous lizard

In the 1980s John Pisano, a biochemist with a penchant for venoms, and a young gastroenterologist Jean-Pierre Raufman were working with poisonous lizard venom from the Gila monster, a slow-moving reptile native to the south of the United States and north of Mexico. By the 1990s, Pisano, Raufman and colleague John Eng identified a hormone-like molecule they called exendin-4. This stimulated insulin secretion via action at the same receptor as GLP-1.

Excitingly, exendin-4 was not quickly metabolised by the body, and so might be useful as a diabetic therapeutic.

Eng was convinced this would work, but pharmaceutical companies didn’t want to give people a hormone mimic from a venomous lizard. Even the medical centre where Eng was working wouldn’t help fill the patent.

Eventually he and Raufman convinced a small start-up called Amylin Pharmaceuticals. Amylin quickly showed synthetic exendin-4 rapidly normalised blood glucose in type 2 diabetic mice. Exendin-4 then proved safe and effective in humans, leading to the 2005 US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of exenatide, under the name Byetta.

It soon became evident that many taking Byetta were experiencing sustained weight-loss (around 5%, but with some experiencing much more), with the benefit of reversing their diabetic symptoms.

News of this weight-loss effect spread and within six months Byetta was being used off-label for weight-loss, foreshadowing the widespread use of Ozempic.

Read more:
Wegovy was inspired by Gila monster venom – here are some other drugs with surprising origins

From a lizard toxin to Ozempic

Meanwhile, Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk had been developing a long-acting GLP-1-mimicking drug, as it had done for insulin in the past. Its research showed high levels of GLP-1 could correct diabetes in mice and they would lose weight.

During the 1990s, there was controversy over how GLP-1 led to weight loss, however it later became clear there were GLP-1 receptors in the brain that suppressed the desire to eat.

Novo Nordisk’s new GLP-1 drug had been designed to be long-acting. One consequence of this design was it was better at accessing brain GLP-1 receptors.

This new drug, liraglutide, approved as Victoza in 2010 in the United States, was better for weight-loss than Byetta (typically 10% weight-loss), but still needed daily injections.

Daily injections aren’t popular, and Novo Nordisk’s team had been working on an even longer acting drug, semaglutide, approved as Ozempic in 2017 as a once-weekly injection. It had improved brain GLP-1 receptor targeting, further enhancing weight loss.

Due to its safety profile and weight-loss efficacy (of around 15%), a higher dose of semaglutide gained FDA approval as Wegovy in 2021 as a stand-alone obesity treatment.

So how do these drugs actually work?

Your gastrointestinal tract contains specialised cells that measure the quantities and qualities of incoming food (as well as the absence of food) and communicates this with the rest of your body, including your brain.

You may remember Pavlov’s dogs, which were conditioned to expect a meal at the sound of a bell, kind of like what happens when you’re presented with a delicious plate of food. Not only does your brain make you salivate, it also starts the process of releasing digestive juices and even causes insulin levels to rise.

Ozempic and other GLP-1-mimicking drugs slow gastric emptying, which increases your sense of fullness.

Insulin secretion increases because there are nerves with GLP-1 receptors close to the wall of your gastrointestinal tract. This sends messages to the unconscious part of your brain that interpret these and send messages back (via nerves) to your gastrointestinal tract and pancreas to secrete insulin.

What about the new drug, Mounjaro?

Remember the other incretin hormone, GIP? GIP also suppresses appetite and can stimulate insulin secretion, but not as well as GLP-1.

Unlike GLP-1, GIP increases the secretion of another hormone, glucagon. Glucagon promotes energy use but also increases blood glucose during periods of fasting. Many felt the actions of glucagon needed to be blocked for effective anti-diabetic and weight-loss medications. But this doesn’t seem to be the case.

German physician and scientist Matthias Tschöp and American chemist Richard DiMarchi, who had met at Eli Lilly, were working on synthetic versions of glucagon to treat sudden drops in blood glucose when they unexpectedly found long-term dosing caused weight-loss in obese mice. Since GLP-1 and GIP are closely related, they thought it might be possible to target both receptors with a single drug.

In 2013, they showed a dual-acting drug was effective in obese mice. This led to the development of tirzepatide (Mounjaro and Zepbound, which is a slightly higher dose). Compared with GLP-1 drugs, it also stimulated metabolism, particularly fat use.

Read more:
Mounjaro: type 2 diabetes drug more effective than Ozempic to launch in the UK — here’s what you need to know

Clinical trials of Zepbound showed it to be more effective than Ozempic for weight-loss (typically 18% of body weight). Mounjaro was approved for type 2 diabetes in 2022 and Zepbound was approved for obesity in 2023.

GIP and GLP-1 are similar to glucagon so Tschöp and DiMarchi set out to develop a drug targeting all three. In 2014 they showed that a triple-targeting drug, which would become retatrutide, was superior in obese mice. Now in mid-stage clinical trials, Eli Lilly’s drug retatrutide (once-weekly injection) results in a weight loss of around 24% in obese adults.

Why can’t you take them in a pill?

These current drugs are big molecules (peptides) and for this reason must be injected as they’re not absorbed effectively in the gut.

In 2019, Novo Nordisk managed to reformulate semaglutide so some would make it through the stomach intact and enough got absorbed (about 1%) to be clinically effective. It repackaged this as Rybelsus.

But although enough of the drug gets into circulation to assist with type 2 diabetes, it requires 100 times the dose for weight-loss.

Both Pfizer and Eli Lilly have small-molecule drugs targeting the GLP-1 receptor. These are designed to be taken orally, are formulated for once-a-day, and would be less expensive than Ozempic or Mounjaro.

Pfizer’s drug, Danuglipron, has had mixed success in clinical trials. One formulation has been discontinued because of high clinical-trial drop-out rates (due to gastrointestinal side-effects such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and pain). But both formulations do control type 2 diabetes and lead to about 10% weight-loss.

Eli Lilly’s trials of Orforglipron have shown promising weight-loss for obese participants of about 10%.

Plenty of weight-loss drugs have failed, too

Anti-obesity drugs with other targets – such as those sold under the brand names Qsymia, Contrave, Reductil and Accomplia – resulted in weight loss (typically less than 10%) but were accompanied by side effects such as increased heart rate, heart disease and psychological safety concerns such as anxiety and suicidal thoughts.

This resulted in market withdrawals and scared participants away from clinical trials.

Ozempic’s safety profile and effectiveness has reversed this, though there are a number of potential side effects (mainly gastric upsets) and people who stop taking Ozempic typically have big weight rebounds. Clinical trial recruitment is becoming easier and many pharmaceutical companies are playing catch up.

Read more:
Ozempic is in the spotlight but it’s just the latest in a long and strange history of weight-loss drugs

Read the other articles in The Conversation’s Ozempic series here.

Sebastian Furness receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Research Council.

– ref. The rise of Ozempic: how surprise discoveries and lizard venom led to a new class of weight-loss drugs – https://theconversation.com/the-rise-of-ozempic-how-surprise-discoveries-and-lizard-venom-led-to-a-new-class-of-weight-loss-drugs-219721

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

Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide are taking drugs like Ozempic to lose weight. But what do we actually know about them? This month, The Conversation’s experts explore their rise, impact and potential consequences.

After weight-loss drugs like Ozempic exploded onto the market, celebrities and social media influencers were quick to spruik their benefits, leading to their rapid rise in use. In the last three months of 2022, clinicians in the United States alone wrote more than nine million prescriptions for these drugs.

As they’ve grown in popularity, we’ve also heard more about the potential side effects – from common gastrointestinal discomforts, to more serious mental health concerns.

But what does the science say about how well Ozempic and Wegovy (which are both brand names of the drug semaglutide) work for weight loss? And what are the potential side effects? Here’s what to consider if you or a loved one are thinking of taking the drug.

Read more:
The rise of Ozempic: how surprise discoveries and lizard venom led to a new class of weight-loss drugs

Potential benefits

1) It’s likely to help you lose weight

The largest, well-conducted research study of semaglutide was from United Kingdom in 2021. Some 1,961 people who were classified as “overweight” or “obese” were randomly assigned to have either semaglutide or a placebo and followed for 68 weeks (about 1.3 years). All participants also had free access to advice about healthy eating and physical activity.

The study found those taking semaglutide lost weight – significantly more than people who had the placebo (-14.9% of their body weight compared with -2.4% of body weight).

In another study in the United States, one health-care clinic gave 408 people weekly injections of semaglutide. Over the first three months, those included in the final analysis (175 people) lost an average of 6.7kg. Over the first six months, they lost an average of 12.3kg.

Large weight losses have been found in a more recent trial of semaglutide, suggesting weight loss is a very likely outcome of ongoing use of the medication.

2) It may reduce your chronic disease risk factors

When people in the overweight or obese weight categories lose at least 5% of their body weight, physiological changes often occur beyond a change in weight or shape. This might include lowered cholesterol levels, lowered blood pressure and lowered blood glucose levels, which all reduce the risk of chronic diseases.

In one of the semaglutide trials, most people (87.3%) lost at least 5% of their body weight. Although most of the large studies of semaglutide excluded people with metabolic health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, metabolic health gains were observed, including lowered blood pressure, blood glucose levels and fasting blood lipid (fat) levels.

In the UK study from 2021, people taking semaglutide had greater improvements in physical capabilities and risk factors for heart disease and diabetes, including reductions in waist circumference, markers of inflammation, blood pressure and blood glucose levels.

3) It might improve your quality of life, emotional wellbeing or sense of achievement

The original trial of semaglutide did not focus on this bundle of benefits, but further follow-ups show additional benefits associated with the medication. Compared to the placebo, people taking semaglutide saw significant improvements in their physical functioning and perceptions of their general health, social functioning and mental health.

Anecdotally (not based on scientific research), people using semaglutide, such as Oprah Winfrey, report a reclaiming or turning point of their life, social situation and body image.

What about the risks?

1) You may experience gastrointestinal symptoms

In the US clinical trial, nearly half (48.6%) of people taking semaglutide reported experiencing adverse effects. Nausea and vomiting were the most frequently experienced (36.6%) followed by diarrhea (8.6%), fatigue (6.3%) and constipation (5.7%).

In the UK study, nausea and diarrhoea were also commonly reported.

In another trial, many participants (74.2%) using semaglutide reported gastrointestinal symptoms. However, nearly half (47.9%) using the placebo also reported gastrointestinal symptoms, indicating that symptoms may be similar to those experienced during normal daily living.

Most gastrointestinal symptoms were mild to moderate in severity, and resolved for most people without the need to stop participating in the study.

2) You might feel fatigued

Fatigue was the second most common side effect for participants in the US clinical trial, affecting 6.3% of participants.

3) You might be among the minority who don’t tolerate the drug

Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has approved Ozempic as safe to use, for the treatment of type 2 diabetes but it has not yet been approved for weight loss. The TGA has also approved Wegovy (a higher dose of semagtlutide) for weight loss, however it’s not yet available in Australia.

In the US clinical trial, no unexpected safety issues were reported. However, five patients (2.9%) had to stop taking the medication because they could not tolerate the adverse effects. Fifteen (8.6%) had to either reduce the dose or remain on the same dose to avoid the adverse effects.

In other studies, some patients stopped the trial due to gastrointestinal symptoms being so severe they could not tolerate continuing.

More severe safety concerns reported in studies include gallbladder-related disorders (mostly cholelithiasis, also known as gallstones) in 34 patients (2.6%) and mild acute pancreatitis in three patients (0.2%). All people recovered during the trial period.

A 2024 European study analysed psychiatric adverse events associated with semaglutide, liraglutide and tirzepatide (which work in a similar way to semaglutide). Between January 2021 and May 2023, the drug database recorded 481 psychiatric events (about 1.2% of the total reported) associated with these drugs. About half of these events were reported as depression, followed by anxiety (39%) and suicidal ideation (19.6%). Nine deaths and 11 life-threatening outcomes were reported during the study period.

Due to the severity and fatal outcomes of some of these reports, the US Food and Drug Administration investigated further but did not find evidence that use of these medicines caused suicidal thoughts or actions.

4) It might be difficult to access

Despite being considered safe, the TGA has warned significant Ozempic access barriers are likely to continue throughout 2024.

To manage the shortage, pharmacists are instructed to give preference to people with type 2 diabetes who are seeking the medication.

5) You might not always get clear information from vested interests

Given the popularity of Ozempic and Wegovy, health organisations such as the World Obesity Federation have expressed concern about the medication’s marketing, PR and strong social media presence.

Some journalists have raised conflict of interest concerns about the relationship between some obesity researchers and Novo Nordrisk, Ozempic and Wegovy’s manufacturer. The worry is that researchers might be influenced by their relationship with Novo Nordrisk to produce study results that are more favourable to the medications.

Bottom line

Ozempic is a medication that should be used in conjunction with your health care provider. But remember, weight is only one aspect of your health and wellbeing. It’s important to take a holistic view of your health and prioritise eating well, moving more and getting enough sleep.

Read the other articles in The Conversation’s Ozempic series here.

Lauren Ball works for The University of Queensland and receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Queensland Health and Mater Misericordia. She is a Director of Dietitians Australia, a Director of the Darling Downs and West Moreton Primary Health Network and an Associate Member of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

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

– ref. Considering taking a weight-loss drug like Ozempic? Here are some potential risks and benefits – https://theconversation.com/considering-taking-a-weight-loss-drug-like-ozempic-here-are-some-potential-risks-and-benefits-219312

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Erin Roger, Sector Lead, CSIRO

Every weekend, thousands of citizen scientists head into the great outdoors. If they see an unusual animal, plant or fungi, they take a photo and upload it.

This simple act by bushwalkers with smartphones is, in aggregate, increasingly valuable to researchers. Half of all records uploaded to Australia’s largest open-data aggregator, the Atlas of Living Australia, now come from citizen scientists – and this number is likely to keep growing.

Citizen science isn’t just useful in gauging how native species are going. Curious eyes spot invasive species too. The first sighting of the invasive buff-tailed bumble bee (Bombus terrestris) in Victoria was reported by a citizen scientist last year. The first discovery of a virus which turns woodlice (slaters) iridescent purple came from a citizen scientist. To date, reports from citizen scientists strongly favour native species. But as we grapple with damaging new invasive species, we need much more data.

We have been working to track the spread of the lethal plant fungus, which causes the disease myrtle rust, which can weaken and kill hundreds of our most loved tree species, including eucalypts, paperbarks, bottlebrushes, tea trees and lilly pillies. How far has it spread? We just don’t know. We urgently need more reports from bush tracks and backyards.

Why is myrtle rust so bad?

“Myrtle rust” sounds almost cute. It’s not. Austropuccinia psidii is a highly invasive fungal pathogen native to South America, which arrived in New South Wales in 2010. Windborne spores let the fungus spread rapidly up and down the east coast. By 2015, it had arrived in Tasmania and the Northern Territory, and by 2022 it was in Western Australia. Spores have been detected in South Australia, but no infections have yet been reported.

Read more:
From counting birds to speaking out: how citizen science leads us to ask crucial questions

When the spores land on a plant, the fungus begins to feed on the plant’s nutrients and causes myrtle rust disease. In severe cases, the fungus overruns the plant and it suffers dieback. The disease has already driven native guava (Rhodomyrtus psidioides) and scrub turpentine (Rhodamnia rubescens) to localised extinction in areas of Queensland and New South Wales where they were previously common. At least 15 species of rainforest tree are threatened with extinction. The fungus can infect at least 380 Australian species in the Myrtaceae family.

You can spot myrtle rust by its clusters of bright yellow powdery spores on the new leaves, fruits, flowers or stems of plants in the myrtle family. Each cluster has thousands of spores which can be easily carried by the wind or hitching a ride on your clothes to a new host plant to infect. It’s important to avoid touching the rust to reduce its spread.

What role can citizen science play?

We now have more than 130 million observations recorded in the Atlas of Living Australia, ranging from common species such as Australian magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen) to little-known species such as the sand ghost shrimp (Arenallianassa arenosa). Of all these records, only about 2% are of invasive species.

Why? Most citizen scientists get into it because they love native plants, animals and fungi. They may not realise the value of reporting invasive species.

It’s very common to think biosecurity is about the border. But conserving Australia’s wealth of biodiversity doesn’t stop at the airport. Even once an invasive species has arrived, there is much that can be done to reduce the damage. For example, citizen scientists in Queensland have logged reports of highly invasive weed species such as new types of prickly pear cactus (Opuntia spp.). Early warnings like this allow authorities to eradicate plants likely to have been illegally dumped.

We know when communities see an invasive species has become a major problem , they will see the value of recording and reporting it via platforms which feed data into the Atlas of Living Australia.

We know myrtle rust has been observed in most states and territories. But we have little up to date information away from the eastern seaboard.

When an invasive species arrives in a new area, it’s essential we find out as soon as possible. Biosecurity rests on early detection. There’s often a very small window to eradicate the species before it spreads. We couldn’t eradicate varroa mite, which devastates beehives, and are struggling to control fire ants.

Even it’s too late for eradication, as with myrtle rust, occurrence data can help us blunt the damage the new species will do. Of particular interest is understanding how far it has spread and what plant species are most susceptible to myrtle rust. This information can help researchers tailor new chemical tools against the rust.

We know other strains of the rust outside Australia could actually pose an even worse threat. If these strains arrive or if the rust in Australia evolved in similar ways, it could accelerate the damage. Eyes on the ground help us track changes to pathogen behaviour.

We need, in short, data coming in constantly. This challenge is beyond the resources of professional researchers. Combining research fieldwork with citizen science reports is shaping up as an excellent way to get a better picture.

One reason citizen scientists are so valuable is that many have access to areas not usually observed by scientists, such as home gardens, rural acreage and hiking tracks.

Citizen science is remarkably easy. Free, open-source citizen science apps such as iNaturalist and NatureMapr add the photos you take to the repository of species data we are amassing.

Every photo and observation counts. We really do need your eyes.

Read more:
Citizen scientists collect more nature data than ever, showing us where common and threatened species live

Erin Roger works for the Atlas of Living Australia. The Atlas of Living Australia has received funding from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry to build its biosecurity surveillance program.

Alyssa Martino is affiliated with The University of Sydney as a PhD student. She previously received funding from Eucalypt Australia under a Dahl Fellowship to establish the Gum Tree Guardians project on iNaturalist.

rebecca.paxton@csiro.au is affiliated with the University of Adelaide and the Australian National University. She is currently conducting a University of Adelaide funded research internship with the Atlas of Living Australia.

– ref. Myrtle rust is lethal to Australian plants. Could citizen scientists help track its spread? – https://theconversation.com/myrtle-rust-is-lethal-to-australian-plants-could-citizen-scientists-help-track-its-spread-225681

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Gordon, Professor of Statistics and Director, Statistical Consulting Centre, The University of Melbourne

Imagine if you enrolled your child in swimming lessons but instead of a qualified swimming instructor, they were taught freestyle technique by a soccer coach.

Something similar is happening in classrooms around Australia every day. As part of the ongoing teacher shortage, there are significant numbers of teachers teaching “out-of-field”. This means they are teaching subjects they are not qualified to teach.

One of the subjects where out-of-field teaching is particularly common is maths.

A 2021 report on Australia’s teaching workforce found that 40% of those teaching high school mathematics are out-of-field (English and science were 28% and 29%, respectively).

Another 2021 study of students in Year 8 found they were more likely to be taught by teachers who had specialist training in both maths and maths education if they went to a school in an affluent area rather than a disadvantaged one (54% compared with 31%).

Our new report looks at how we can fix this situation by training more existing teachers in maths education.

Why is this a problem?

Mathematics is one of the key parts of school education. But we are seeing worrying signs students are not receiving the maths education they need.

The 2021 study of Year 8 students showed those taught by teachers with a university degree majoring in maths had markedly higher results, compared with those taught by out-of-field teachers.

We also know maths skills are desperately needed in the broader workforce. The burgeoning worlds of big data and artificial intelligence rely on mathematical and statistical thinking, formulae and algorithms. Maths has also been identified as a national skill shortages priority area.

What do we do about this?

There have been repeated efforts to address teacher shortages, including trying to retain existing mathematics teachers, having specialist teachers teaching across multiple schools and higher salaries. There is also a push to train more teachers from scratch, which of course will take many years to implement.

There is one strategy, however, that has not yet been given much attention by policy makers: upgrading current teachers’ maths and statistics knowledge and their skills in how to teach these subjects.

They already have training and expertise in how to teach and a commitment to the profession. Specific training in maths will mean they can move from being out-of-field to “in-field”.

Read more:
Growing numbers of unqualified teachers are being sent into classrooms – this is not the way to ‘fix’ the teacher shortage

How to give teachers this training

A new report commissioned by mathematics and statistics organisations in Australia (including the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute) looks at what is currently available in Australia to train teachers in maths.

It identified 12 different courses to give existing teachers maths teaching skills. They varied in terms of location, duration (from six months to 18 months full-time) and aims.

For example, some were only targeted at teachers who want to teach maths in the junior and middle years of high school. Some taught university-level maths and others taught school-level maths. Some had government funding support; others could cost students more than A$37,000.

Overall, we found the current system is confusing for teachers to navigate. There are complex differences between states about what qualifies a teacher to be “in-field” for a subject area.

In the current incentive environment, we found these courses cater to a very small number of teachers. For example, in 2024 in New South Wales this year there are only about 50 government-sponsored places available.

This is not adequate. Pre-COVID, it was estimated we were losing more than 1,000 equivalent full-time maths teachers per year to attrition and retirement and new graduates were at best in the low hundreds.

But we don’t know exactly how many extra teachers need to be trained in maths. One of the key recommendations of the report is for accurate national data of every teacher’s content specialisations.

Read more:
‘Why would they change maths?’ How your child’s maths education might be very different from yours

We need a national approach

The report also recommends a national strategy to train more existing teachers to be maths teachers. This would replace the current piecemeal approach.

It would involve a standard training regime across Australia with government and school-system incentives for people to take up extra training in maths.

There is international evidence to show a major upskilling program like this could work.

In Ireland, where the same problem was identified, the government funds a scheme run by a group of universities. Since 2012, teachers have been able to get a formal qualification (a professional diploma). Between 2009 and 2018 the percentage of out-of-field maths teaching in Ireland dropped from 48% to 25%.

To develop a similar scheme here in Australia, we would need coordination between federal and state governments and universities. Based on the Irish experience, it would also require several million dollars in funding.

But with students receiving crucial maths lessons every day by teachers who are not trained to teach maths, the need is urgent.

The report mentioned in this article was commissioned by the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute, the Australian Mathematical Society, the Statistical Society of Australia, the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia and the Actuaries Institute.

Ian Gordon is the President of the Statistical Society of Australia, one of the bodies that commissioned the new report mentioned in this piece.

Mary P. Coupland is a co-author of the report mentioned in this piece. She has received funding from the Australian Government for the Maths Inside project in mathematics education. She is currently the coordinator for mathematics retraining courses at UTS.

Merrilyn Goos is a co-author of the report mentioned in this piece. She receives and has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council. She is a member and former President of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, one of the organisations that commissioned the out-of-field mathematics teaching report.

– ref. How do we solve the maths teacher shortage? We can start by training more existing teachers to teach maths – https://theconversation.com/how-do-we-solve-the-maths-teacher-shortage-we-can-start-by-training-more-existing-teachers-to-teach-maths-226725

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis Altman, VC Fellow, La Trobe University

As the weather begins to cool, you might be spending a few more nights in front of the television on the couch (or on your laptop in bed), looking for a new show to lead you into autumn.

This month, our experts are recommending everything from steamy historical dramas (slightly inaccurate, as all the best ones are), to reality shows about the high-octane world of glassblowing, to new Aussie crime mysteries. Whatever you’re looking for, they have you covered with what to stream in April.

Mary & George

Binge

If The Crown can take liberties with the current royals, can we object if television fictionalises a now 400-year-old reign? The series Mary & George is based on the manipulation of King James I by an amoral mother and son, who win control of almost unlimited riches and power.

That much is true: James, the Scottish King who succeeded Elizabeth I after she died childless, had a series of male favourites of whom George (eventually Duke of Buckingham) was the most significant. George’s mother, Mary Villiers, made several strategic marriages aimed at giving her access to and influence at the court.

The dominant figure is Julianne Moore’s Mary, whose steely determination is only shaken when her own favourite, a former prostitute who becomes her lover, is threatened. George is played by the handsome Nicholas Galitzine, who moves from the king’s bedtime playmate to the effective ruler of England.

In time, George becomes a patron of the king’s son, the future Charles I, and is finally stabbed to death by a disgruntled soldier. Least convincing is Tony Curran, whose James rarely seems to take any interest in his regal duties – even as he proclaims his divine right to rule.

The program is sumptuous, bawdy and irreverent. If it leads you to check on its historical accuracy, you may discover that homosex was far more significant in the Stuart court than they taught you at school.

– Dennis Altman

Read more:
Intimacy, ‘secret service’ and social climbing: meet the real Villiers women behind Mary & George

Extraordinary, season two

Disney+

The second season of Extraordinary has just landed, and it proves the show is high-concept television at its best.

What if everyone in the world had special powers except you? What would it mean to be ordinary in a world where extraordinary is the norm? Some superpowers we’ve seen before, such as flight and superspeed. But others are perfectly crafted for comedy – whether that’s knowing exactly when someone will get their period, being a human magnet, or bestowing orgasms through touch.

If Sister Michael was your favourite part of Derry Girls, Siobhán McSweeney is joy-in-human-form as protagonist Jen’s mother. Jen’s superpowers are still absent, while her best friend Carrie (played excellently by Sofia Oxenham) can channel the dead. In the latest season, this ability is used to contact Princess Diana to get advice on how to “win a breakup”.

Even Jen’s cat “Jizzlord” has superpowers. Jizz is actually a shapeshifter who got stuck as a cat for years, and thus began living life as a pet. The first season is easy to catch up on, with short and funny episodes. The second season continues in form, with more wacky adventures and absurd scenarios that prove: even with superpowers abound, life is a challenge.

– Jessica Ford

Population: 11

Stan

Stan’s original series Population: 11 is said to have been inspired by the real Aussie town of Larrimah where, in 2017, Patrick “Paddy” Moriarty and his dog Kellie disappeared without a trace.

The series stars Ben Feldman as Andy, a hapless American banker who travels to Bidgeegud – a tiny town offering “Outback UFO tours” – in search of his estranged father, Hugo. Inevitably, things don’t go to plan.

Andy discovers Hugo is missing, and teams up with fellow outsider Cassie (Perry Mooney) in search for clues. The pair progressively uncover the many secrets of the tiny town, one suspicious resident at a time.

This 12-episode comedic crime-thriller is created by Australian writer Phil Lloyd and draws on the same heavy-handed comedy featured in Lloyd’s previous works. Most heavy-handed is the revelling in Aussie stereotypes, wherein self-centred Andy is frustrated by how “everything bites” and criticises the only person helping him in a mock Australian accent.

Nonetheless, the series finale offers a genuinely satisfying conclusion. It ties up a scatter-gun of loose ends, allows the charismatic Feldman to relax into a more fully-realised Andy, and emphasises what wasn’t always obvious: this is a story about belonging.

– Kelly McWilliam

Read more:
Larrimah-inspired series Population: 11 is a charming watch – if a tad heavy on the Aussie cliches

Blown Away, season 4

Netflix

Craft was the saving grace of many folks during the 2020 COVID lockdowns. A widespread interest in pottery, sewing, baking and flower arranging sparked myriad reality competition shows focusing on artists that make wondrous works by hand.

So what does the 2024 iteration of Netflix’s Blown Away – a show that pits real-life glassblowers against one another – have to offer four seasons in that is new?

The answer is: not much.

Sure there’s a new host, TV personality Hunter March. There’s also a cash prize of $100,000 this season, as well as residencies for the winner – probably due to outcries that exposure alone is not enough to pay the bills.

But much remains the same in Blown Away season four, and happily so. The cast of quirky and sweaty glass artists peering into a searing glory hole, or losing it over dropped or cracked creations, continues to entertain and inspire.

I must give kudos to the series’ cinematographers and editors, who inject much colour and movement into the show at a rocketing pace. I’m looking forward to season five!

– Phoebe Hart

High Country

Binge

“If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are.” That’s what Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford is told early on in the new eight-part crime series High Country.

Andie, played by Leah Purcell, has recently arrived in the remote Victorian High Country with her partner Helen Hartley (Sara Wiseman), both trying to put traumas behind them and start afresh.

New in town, Andie – to the decry of her colleagues – is assigned the case of solving a murder and disappearance of two locals. What follows is a captivating narrative that tackles a range of issues ranging from climate change, to domestic violence, to Indigenous identity and land possession.

In the rich tapestry of Australian crime fiction, High Country adds to the rise of what has been dubbed “rural” noir.

Creators Marcia Gardner and John Ridley (whose backgrounds include scripting the Australian network crime shows Wentworth Prison and Stingers) are joined by Wentworth Prison director Kevin Carlin, who directs five of the eight episodes.

Together, Gardner, Ridley and Carlin have made a suspenseful procedural crime series that never loses pace or focus. And the cliffhangers at the end of each episode make this a very binge-worthy show.

– Stephen Gaunson

The Regime

HBO Max

The team behind the new, twisted, dark satire The Regime is certainly impressive. The series stars Kate Winslet as Elena Vernham, the unhinged Chancellor of a fictional country in central Europe. She is supported by Matthias Schoenaerts, Martha Plimpton, Andrea Riseborough and Hugh Grant.

Vernham struggles to maintain authoritarian control as the relations between her and her Corporal Herbert Zubeck (Matthias Schoenaerts) shift. At first, he is in awe of her power, and will do anything to support her. However, he soon begins manipulating her through her anxieties.

Vernham is paranoid that everything around her, from her environment to her diet, is toxic. She is also out of touch with the working class. Noticing this, he forces her to shun her husband, cabinet and advisors – and the tussle for power between the two continues. Through his influence, she invites poor farmers to a celebratory dinner and, in one scene, they literally eat dirt for breakfast.

The Regime is an interesting satire that explores the corruptive dynamics of power, with Winslet superb in the lead role.

The series is created and written by Will Tracy, who also wrote Succession and The Menu. Directors Stephen Frears and Jessica Hobbs capture Vernham’s grandiose palace beautifully. And the jaunty score, akin to a naff national anthem, is composed by Alexandre Desplat and Alex Heffes.

– Stuart Richards

Read more:
Chemical attraction, a whodunit murder mystery and tensions at the mosque: what we’re streaming this March

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

– ref. Searing glory holes, a shapeshifting cat and outback UFO tours: what we’re streaming this April – https://theconversation.com/searing-glory-holes-a-shapeshifting-cat-and-outback-ufo-tours-what-were-streaming-this-april-226605

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Allan Fels, Professorial Fellow, The University of Melbourne

Australian authorities have never had the power to break up big businesses that behave badly.

It’s a power available to courts in the United States and elsewhere, but not here – at least not unless the Greens succeed with a bill now before the Senate.

The so-called Competition and Consumer Amendment (Divestiture Powers) Bill would enable courts to break up firms that misuse their substantial market power under section 46 of the Competition and Consumer Act.

The Coalition is reported to be examining the same sort of thing, with the breakup powers limited to supermarket chains that abuse their market power.

Section 46 prohibits firms with a substantial degree of power in a market from engaging in conduct that has the purpose, effect, or likely effect of substantially lessening competition in that market.

The new power proposed by the Greens would enable courts to direct corporations that contravene Section 46 to sell assets or do whatever else was necessary to reduce their power within a period of two years.

I recommended such a power earlier this year in my report to the Australian Council of Trade Unions on price gouging and unfair pricing practices.

Australia’s approach to such powers has always been unbalanced.

With one exception, our courts can’t break up corporations

It has long been recognised (and acknowledged in most economics textbooks) that competition doesn’t work well in markets where only one or a few big firms dominate.

Concentrated markets can lead to overpricing, the squeezing of suppliers and outcomes very different from markets with higher competition.

But rather than take action against the cause of many of these problems – market concentration – Australia’s approach has been to merely take action against the problems it creates. With one exception.

That exception is mergers. In cases where firms merge without obtaining the prior approval of the Competition and Consumer Commission and the commission finds the merger contravened the Competition and Consumer Act, it can apply to the courts (within three years) to have the merger undone.

While this power is useful – and effective in getting firms to seek prior approval for mergers – it only allows authorities to stop markets from becoming more dominated. It gives them no power to make markets less dominated.

Overseas, divestment orders are rare but effective

In the United States, courts are able to break up dominant firms that abuse their market power.

Such orders are rare, for the same reason Australian divestment orders relating to mergers are rare. Once the power is in place and has been used, firms at risk of such orders become very careful.

One of the first US divestment orders related to Standard Oil in 1911. After finding that it used aggressive pricing to eliminate competition, US courts ordered it to be broken up into what became 34 companies. Competition improved as a result.

In 1974, US authorities filed a breakup suit against the telecommunications giant AT&T, arguing it had a monopoly on telephone lines. The eventual settlement led to AT&T giving up control of its regional operating companies, so-called “Baby Bells”. This allowed the new firms to compete with each other and lowered the prices of connections and calls.

In 2001, US authorities won a court order to break up Microsoft. It would have created one firm that built operating systems and another that built applications for operating systems. The order, however, was overturned on appeal.

Two decades later, in 2020, a court ordered the Facebook owner Meta to sell Instagram and WhatsApp, which was also overturned on appeal.

Divestment has been considered against Google over the behaviour of its business in the advertising market. It would also be an option in the Department of Justice’s current case against Apple for alleged abuse of market power.

Read more:
We don’t need to break up power companies in order to tame power prices

Divestment isn’t the best solution in every case. Fines are often a more practical way to address misuses of market power.

But divestment is a useful tool in an authority’s armoury. The fact US authorities have only used it every few decades says more about the effectiveness of divestment than any lack of effectiveness. Once firms know the power exists, they behave better.

From Kennett to Howard, we’ve broken up monopolies

Australia is no stranger to divestment. When the Kennett government privatised Victoria’s State Electricity Commission in the 1990s, it broke it up into several sometimes-competing generation, transmission and distribution businesses.

And when Australia’s Howard government privatised airports in the 1990s, it sold them separately in order to avoid market dominance, effectively breaking up the Federal Airports Corporation.

I don’t think Australian authorities should be able to break up corporations just because they don’t like the shape of a market, and I don’t think that breakups of Australia’s big two supermarket chains are likely to be a good idea. They rely on the efficiencies that come from scale.

But I think that where market power is being abused, breakups should be available as one of a number of possible sanctions. It’d keep big businesses on their toes.

Allan Fels is a former chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

– ref. It’s time to give Australian courts the power to break up big firms that behave badly – https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-give-australian-courts-the-power-to-break-up-big-firms-that-behave-badly-226726

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Derek Arnold, Professor, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland

Look at these pictures. Can you see a cube on the left and a face on the right?

Can you imagine seeing things in your mind? Can you hear an inner voice when you think or read?

One of the authors, Loren Bouyer, cannot do any of these things. To Loren the left-hand image looks like a jumble of two-dimensional shapes, and she can only see a mop on the right.

Loren cannot imagine audio or visual sensations, or hear an inner voice when she reads. She has a condition we describe as “deep aphantasia” in a new paper in Frontiers in Psychology.

‘A blind mind’

Both authors are aphantasics – we are unable to have imagined visual experiences.

Aphantasia is often described as “having a blind mind”. But often we cannot have other imagined experiences either. So an aphantasic might have a blind and a deaf mind, or a blind and a tasteless mind.

We are often asked what it’s like to be aphantasic. Some analogies might help.

People have multilingual minds

Most people can experience an inner voice when they think. You might only speak one language, so your inner voice will “speak” that language.

However, you understand that other people can speak different languages. So, you can perhaps imagine what it would be like to hear your inner voice speak multiple different languages.

We can similarly imagine what your thoughts must be like. They may be diverse, experienced as inner visual or audio sensations, or as an imagined sense of touch or smell.

Read more:
Aphantasia: ten years since I coined the term for lacking a mind’s eye – the journey so far

Our minds are different. Neither of us can have imagined visual experiences, but Derek can have imagined audio sensations and Loren can have imagined feelings of touch. We both experience thoughts as a different set of “inner languages”.

Some aphantasics report not having any imagined sensations. What might their experiences of thought be like? We believe we can explain.

While Loren can have imagined sensations of touch, she does not have to. She must choose to have them and it takes effort.

We presume your imagined visual experiences are similar. So what’s it like when Loren thinks, but chooses not to have imagined sensations of touch?

Our subconscious thoughts

Most people can choose to pre-hear their speech in their minds before they speak aloud, but they often don’t. People can engage in conversation without pre-hearing themselves.

For Loren, most of her thoughts are like this. She writes without having any pre-experience of the written content. Sometimes she will pause, realising she is not yet ready to add more, and recommence when she feels prepared.

Most of the operations of our brains are subconscious. For example, while we do not recommend it, we suspect many of you will have experienced driving while distracted, only to suddenly realise you are heading for your home or office instead of your intended destination. Loren feels most of her thoughts are like these subconscious operations of your mind.

What about planning? Loren can experience that as a combination of imagined textures, bodily movements and recognisable states of mind.

There is a feeling of completion when a plan has been formed. A planned speech is a sequence of imagined mouth movements, gestures and postures. Her artistic plans are experienced as textures. She never experiences an imagined audio or a visual listing of her intended actions.

There are vast differences between aphantasics

In contrast to Loren, Derek’s thoughts are entirely verbal. He was unaware, until recently, that other modes of thought were possible.

Some aphantasics report occasional involuntary imagined sensations, often of unpleasant past experiences. Neither of us have had an imagined visual experience, voluntary or involuntary, during our waking lives.

This highlights diversity. All we can do is describe our own particular experiences of aphantasia.

Frustrations and the humour of misunderstandings

Aphantasics can be frustrated at others’ attempts to explain our experiences. One suggestion has been that we might have imagined visual experiences, but be unable to describe them.

We understand the confusion, but this can seem condescending. We both know what it is like to have imagined sensations, so we believe we can recognise the absence of a particular type of imagined experience.

The confusion can go both ways. We were recently discussing an experiment. The study was too long, and had to be shortened. So we were considering which imagined visual scenario to cut.

Loren suggested we cut a scenario asking people to imagine seeing a black cat with their eyes closed. We thought it might be hard to see an imagined black cat against the blackness of closed eyes.

The only person in the room who could have imagined visual experiences started laughing. Apparently it’s easy for most people to imagine seeing black cats, even when their eyes are closed.

Deep aphantasia

Researchers believe aphantasia happens when activity at the front of the brain fails to excite activity in regions toward the back of the brain. This “feedback” would be necessary for people to have imagined experiences.

Loren seems to have a form of aphantasia that had not been described. Unsuccessful feedback in Loren’s brain seems to result in atypical experiences of actual visual inputs. So she cannot see the cube at the top of this article, or the face instead of a mop, or have a number of other typical experiences of visual inputs.

Read more:
We’re just starting to learn more about aphantasia, the inability to picture things with the mind’s eye

We coined the term “deep aphantasia” to describe people like Loren, who not only are unable to have imagined sensory experiences but also have atypical experiences of actual visual inputs.

Our goal in describing our experiences is to raise awareness that some aphantasics might have unusual experiences of actual visual inputs, like Loren. If we can identify these people, and study their brains, we may be able to understand why some people can conjure imagined sensory experiences at will, while others cannot.

We also hope that raising awareness of the different experiences people have when they think might encourage tolerance when people express different thoughts.

Derek Arnold receives funding from The Australian Research Council.

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

– ref. ‘A blind and deaf mind’: what it’s like to have no visual imagination or inner voice – https://theconversation.com/a-blind-and-deaf-mind-what-its-like-to-have-no-visual-imagination-or-inner-voice-226134

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Shortis, Adjunct Senior Fellow, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University

Being second in line for leadership of the most powerful country in the world is not an easy job. But for Mike Pence, vice president under Donald Trump, things were even harder than usual.

As insurrectionists descended on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, they had a specific target in mind – the outgoing vice president. They built a wooden gallows, and called out for him by name: “Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!”

As the extensive congressional hearings into the insurrection later documented, the threats were not hollow. One informant told FBI investigators that “if given the chance”, certain far-right insurrectionists would have tried to kill him. Pence escaped with his life, but only just.

The insurrectionists, as a federal investigation alleges, were drawn to the Capitol by Trump, who had just lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. They were after Trump’s VP because, as one later claimed, he had “betrayed” Trump by not refusing to certify the election results.

The job of vice president of the United States is not a normal one at the best of times. The person chosen to run alongside Trump in this year’s election will no doubt be keeping Pence’s experience in mind. It will likely be someone who can convincingly pledge undying loyalty to Trump. The former president – and his supporters – will expect nothing less.

Speculation over who that person might be is heating up, and Trump, as usual, is relishing drawing out the process in order to gain as much attention as possible. So, who – and how – will he choose?

Making race a priority

A vice presidential candidate is usually chosen based on a political calculation. For instance, the running mate can be seen to offset a presidential nominee’s weaknesses (be they real or perceived).

The relatively young northerner John F. Kennedy, for example, chose the much more politically experienced southerner, Lyndon B. Johnson. Barack Obama, running to be the first Black president, similarly chose the older and more experienced – and reassuringly white – Biden.

In his first run, Trump settled on Pence to offset his perceived weakness with evangelical voters – a critical mobilising base to any Republican candidate.

Read more:
Why ‘wokeness’ has become the latest battlefront for white conservatives in America

Viewed through this lens, the commonly accepted wisdom is that Trump has both a race and a woman problem, and that he should choose a VP candidate who can address at least one of those concerns.

In the first category, the leading candidates appear to be two men who ran against Trump for this year’s nomination – Tim Scott and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Scott – a South Carolinian that Bloomberg has dubbed “Trump’s New Black Best Friend” – is the only Black Republican in the Senate. He has certainly indicated he is keen for the job, professing his love for Trump and recently announcing his engagement (being single is generally regarded as a political liability).

During the Republican campaign for the presidential nomination, Ramaswamy had presented himself as the newer, shinier Trump. In one memorable moment in the debates, he was first to raise his hand when the candidates were asked who would still support Trump if he is convicted of a crime. Ramaswamy also quickly endorsed Trump when he dropped out.

Trump would no doubt be pleased with such public professions of loyalty. But there is no indication Trump considers race to be a problem for his candidacy – in fact, quite the opposite.

Trump has been leaning in to increasingly extreme racist rhetoric. If he thought race mattered to his chances, he would likely be behaving differently. Trump’s political rise began with his racist “birther” conspiracies about Obama. It is not a stretch to suggest many of his supporters would baulk at a ticket that wasn’t entirely white.

Why a conservative woman might make sense

In the second category, the accepted wisdom is that Trump’s “woman problem” is a direct result of the signature achievement of his administration: the appointment of three conservative justices to the Supreme Court, which subsequently led to the overturning of Roe v Wade.

As Biden put it recently, candidates underestimate the political and electoral power of women at their peril.

Among the leading women Republican VP candidates are Elise Stefanik, a congresswoman from New York, and Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota.

The fact both are considered leading candidates reveals the political calculations behind Trump’s possible selection. While Trump has flip-flopped on abortion restrictions himself, both Stefanik and Noem have extremely conservative positions on reproductive rights.

And given what we know about Trump’s views on women, it seems likely his judgement would be almost entirely aesthetic. There is a very specific political reason why Noem has grown out her hair and gotten new teeth.

Congresswomen Marjorie Taylor Green is often added to this list, but may have slimmer chances. While she literally wears her Trump loyalty on her head, she attracts a lot of attention. And Trump does not much like to share the spotlight.

It’s also entirely possible Trump will go with a wildcard candidate. He is increasingly resentful of what we could loosely characterise as “establishment” political advice designed to curb his worst instincts. His campaign is now almost entirely based on a desire for revenge and retribution against the people he believes held him back.

There has never been a reason to believe Trump will follow conventional political wisdom.

The stakes are higher than usual

Given the cult of personality that has developed around Trump, some argue his choice of running mate is unlikely to shift many votes. As a result, it doesn’t actually matter all that much.

Other keen watchers of American politics, though, argue the opposite. Given the advanced ages of both Trump and Biden, the VP pick is more important than usual, not least because of the higher-than-normal chance this person could be elevated to the Oval Office at some point.

Read more:
Biden and Trump, though old, are both likely to survive to the end of the next president’s term, demographers explain

In Trump’s case, some argue that if he wins, he will be a “lame duck” president from day one since it would be his second term in office. So, all eyes will be on his VP as the presumptive nominee for 2028.

This glosses over the very real questions about the continuity of constitutional law under a second Trump presidency, and ignores the noises Trump supporters are already making about trying to remove presidential term limits. It also assumes that, like Pence, Trump’s next VP would choose to put their own political future or American democracy above being an enthusiastic supporter of Trump’s authoritarianism. This is unlikely.

Like everything this time around, the stakes are higher than usual.

Emma Shortis is Senior Researcher in International and Security Affairs at the Australia Institute, an independent think tank.

– ref. Who will Trump pick as his running mate? In 2024, the ‘Veepstakes’ are higher than usual – https://theconversation.com/who-will-trump-pick-as-his-running-mate-in-2024-the-veepstakes-are-higher-than-usual-226510

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Erika Penney, Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, University of Technology Sydney

So Mum or Dad has died, or moved to aged care, and now you’ve got to pack up their house. It’s a huge job and you’re dreading it.

It’s normal to feel grief, loss, guilt, exhaustion or even resentment at being left with this job.

So how can you look after your mental health while tackling the task?

Read more:
Why is a messy house such an anxiety trigger for me and what can I do about it?

It’s OK to feel a lot of feelings

Research has documented how this task can exert an intense physical and emotional toll.

This can be more intense for those who had strained – or even traumatic – relationships with the person whose house they’re packing up.

Decisions around distributing or discarding items can, in some families, bring up painful reminders of the past or end up replaying strained dynamics.

Family members who were carers for the deceased may feel exhaustion, overwhelm, burnout or a sense of injustice they must now continue to be responsible for their loved one’s affairs. Grief can be compounded by the practical challenges of deciding how to store or discard belongings, arrange the funeral, execute the will, deal with the aged care place or, in some cases, navigate legal disputes.

But packing up the house may also be cathartic or helpful. Research has shown how the task of cleaning out a loved one’s belongings can provide an opportunity for family and friends to talk, share memories, and make sense of what has just happened.

It’s also normal to grieve before someone dies. What psychologists call “anticipatory grief” can happen to relatives packing up the house of a parent who has moved to aged care or palliative care.

What to do with all this stuff?

Some treat their loved one’s items with sanctity, holding onto as many of their belongings as possible and creating “shrines” in their honour.

Others alleviate the weight of grief by clearing out a loved one’s house as soon as possible, giving away, selling or discarding as much as they can.

But if you experience a mix of these – enthusiastically getting rid of some stuff, while desperately wanting to hold onto other things – that’s OK too.

One study identified a process punctuated by four key periods:

1. numbness and overwhelm at the task of packing the house

2. yearning to maintain a link to the loved through their belongings

3. working through grief, anger and guilt regarding the loved one and the task of managing their belongings, and

4. healing and making sense of the relationship with the deceased and their belongings.

However, it is important to note everyone’s approach is different and there is no “right” way to do the clean out, or “right” way to feel.

Caring for your mental health during the clean out

To care for your mental health during these difficult times, you might try to:

• make space for your feelings, whether it’s sadness, loss, resentment, anger, relief or all the above. There is no right or wrong way to feel. Accepting your emotions is healthier than suppressing them

• share the load. Research has shown practical support from close friends and family can help a lot with grief. Accept help with packing, planning, dealing with removalists, selling or donating items and cleaning. Don’t be afraid to reduce your mental load by delegating tasks to friends, who are likely wondering how they can help

• take a systematic approach. Break tasks into their smallest component. For example, aim to clean out a drawer instead of an entire bedroom. This can help the mental and physical task feel more manageable

• reflect on what’s meaningful to you. Some belongings will have meaning, while others will not. What was valuable to the deceased may not be valuable to you. Things they probably saw as pretty worthless (a handwritten shopping list, an old sewing kit) may be very meaningful to you. Ask yourself whether retaining a small number of meaningful possessions would allow you to maintain a connection with your loved one, or if clearing out the space and discarding the items is what you need

• share your story. When you feel ready, share your “cleaning out the closet” story with trusted friends and family. Storytelling allows the deceased to live on in memory. Research also suggests we cope better with bereavement when friends and relatives make time to hear our feelings

• remember that professional help is available. Just as a solicitor can help with legal disputes, a mental health professional can help you process your feelings.

The home of your loved one is not merely a place where they lived, but a space filled with meaning and stories.

Packing up the house of a loved one can be incredibly daunting and challenging, but it can also be an important part of your grieving process.

Read more:
We talked to dozens of people about their experience of grief. Here’s what we learned (and how it’s different from what you might think)

If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.

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

– ref. How to look after your mental health while packing up Mum or Dad’s home – https://theconversation.com/how-to-look-after-your-mental-health-while-packing-up-mum-or-dads-home-223956

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vanessa Pirotta, Postdoctoral Researcher and Wildlife Scientist, Macquarie University

Thousands of bus-sized humpback whales are currently on their way to Australian waters. They’ve spent the summer feeding in the cold waters of Antarctica before heading north to breed and calve.

You can see humpback whales as they travel along Australia’s east and west coasts. These migratory routes are generally referred to as the “humpback highway”.

Whale-watching season in Australia officially kicks off from late May or early June and tails off in early November (although this varies depending on your location). I’m hoping to witness the annual spectacle of mothers and calves going blubber-to-blubber (like skin-to-skin in humans), as well as whales breaching, spouting snot and performing other fascinating behaviours.

While humpbacks are the most sighted whale species in Australian waters, we actually know very little about them. In the past few years, however, we have learned more about about how humpback whales have sex and give birth, and how baleen whales – a group of toothless whales that includes humpbacks – make sound.

Whale sex observed for the first time

Until recently, scientists knew relatively little about how humpback whales reproduce. Scientists in the warm tropical waters of Hawaii had documented the occasional extruded (exposed) whale penis. But never before had scientists seen whales actually having sex.

Such a moment was captured on camera in Maui for the first time in January 2022 and published this year. It wasn’t just the first observation of humpback whale sex – it was the first observation of sex between two males.

In this case, one of the male whales was injured and in poor health, while the other, a “seemingly healthy counterpart”, appeared to mate with him. Obviously, two males can’t produce offspring but this does provide insight into the mechanics of how a male and female might reproduce.

Perhaps male-to-male copulation is a way of practising reproductive behaviours, or maybe it’s some form of social activity.

First sighting of a humpback whale birth

Only a handful of near-complete humpback whale births have previously been caught on film. The footage usually involved a tiny tail appearing as the baby emerges from the mother’s body. Never before had the whole event been captured from start to finish: observations of mum prior to calving, the calf coming out of the mum, and the period immediately after the birth.

But in March 2021, footage of the first complete humpback whale birth was captured – again, in Hawaiian waters.

This spectacular moment was captured underwater and from the air. It began with a hot pursuit by more than ten whales, believed to be male humpbacks. This is known as a “heat run”.

In this case the single female being chased by many males, all competing for her attention, was pregnant. It’s not unusual for male humpback whales to show interest in pregnant females or new mothers with calves. When males accompany a female and her calf, this generally is known as a mother-calf with escort.

But the males in this chase soon turned into spectators, as the mother appeared to be close to giving birth – a small tail was emerging from her body. The lead male was then filmed deliberately blowing bubbles underneath her. I’ve never seen this before, other than during feeding activities or the occasional bubble release.

Some humpback whales are known to blow bubbles to help catch food. But we are yet to understand the purpose of bubble-blowing during whale birth. Maui-based whale researcher Rachel Cartwright suggests it’s like the mum whale is “getting a little spa or massage”.

Read more:
Tail first and making an early splash, some whales just can’t wait to be born

Learning how whales make sound

In the last of three big new insights from the humpback whale world, new research has brought us closer to learning how sound is produced by baleen whales, including humpbacks.

We already knew humpback whales can make sound underwater because they recycle air and can go for periods without breathing. Now we are learning more about precisely how they do this.

As with most whale studies, seeing the behaviour in action is not always possible. Fortunately, a new research paper published this year found baleen whales have “evolved unique laryngeal structures” (voice boxes) for sound production. By studying fresh samples of whale voices boxes from stranded humpback, minke and sei whales (all baleen/toothless whales), researchers found a fatty pad at the back of the voice box that helps to make sound by vibrating.

The ability of baleen whales to produce low-frequency sounds enables their calls to travel over long distances. This means baleen whales can have a conversation with each other across the sea. They can also call out to let other whales know they are around or call to find each other.

Unfortunately we humans tend to make the ocean so loud that whales sometimes struggle to hear each other. This is why, when examining humanity’s impacts on oceans, it’s important to consider the consequences we can’t see, such as sound, as well as the problems we can see, such as plastic pollution.

What’s next in the whale world?

There is so much we’re yet to learn about our humpback whale visitors.

Humpback whales live most of their lives underwater, largely out of sight. Being long-lived mammals, with a life expectancy of 50 years or longer, the whales we see this year are likely to take many more round trips along the humpback highway.

Perhaps our next great discovery will be learning what they are saying, or how they know where to go on their incredible journey from Antarctica to Australia.

This article was drawn from material in Vanessa Pirotta’s new book Humpback Highway: Diving into the mysterious world of whales.

Read more:
A Russian ‘spy’ whale? Killer whales biting boats? Here’s how to understand these close encounters of the curious kind

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

– ref. Sex, birth and whalesong: life on the humpback highway – https://theconversation.com/sex-birth-and-whalesong-life-on-the-humpback-highway-225580

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Menzies, Senior Lecturer in International Business, University of the Sunshine Coast

Have you ever met someone, been handed a business card, and found yourself without one to hand back?

Perhaps you offered an alternative, saying “let’s connect on LinkedIn”, or displayed a scannable QR code on your phone that linked to your details, or offered to send a text or email.

Perhaps you thought cards were no longer needed. You might not be right, at least not for all people, in all situations, and, strange as it seems, young people are among those who might find them the most useful of all.

Not dead yet

My own informal survey of 61 contacts on LinkedIn found that more than half used both business cards and LinkedIn for introductions, and another 11% said they used cards only, with only a little over a third eschewing cards altogether.

And business cards are continuing in surprising forms. Some use QR codes to link to very detailed information. Others create contextual information and link users via video.

Some are paywave-style cards that can be tapped, transferring information to the recipient’s phone. An Australian firm, Tapt, is one of the pioneers.

Some send 10-second distributable videos.

Old-school cards are most used by older networkers.

Six in every ten LinkedIn users are aged 28 to 43, meaning they are millennials.

While they are less likely to carry cards than older age groups, there are good reasons why they should.

To get ahead, it’s important to connect with supervisors and potential employers from other firms.

Whether just added to a pile or kept in a wallet, a card is a sign that the person whose name is on it genuinely wants to reach out.

The design can say something about the owner’s professional identity, conveying values, aesthetic sense and distinctiveness.

Unlike an email address scribbled on a Post-It note, a well-designed business card can convey a personal brand.

And the mere act of handing over a card can build a bridge, ensuring that a meeting remains memorable.

At times when time is of the essence, such as in an elevator pitch, cards can offer a swift and efficient medium for exchanging quite a lot of information.

And they are likely to hang around, reminding the recipient of the meeting, all the more so the rare they become.

They are not for everyone, but for quite a while yet they are likely to be for people seriously trying to reach out.

Read more:
Because you’re worth it — how a personal brand helps your career

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

– ref. Despite appearances, digital networking hasn’t killed the business card – yet – https://theconversation.com/despite-appearances-digital-networking-hasnt-killed-the-business-card-yet-223858

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca J. Collie, Scientia Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, UNSW Sydney

Research shows that students who are confident about their ability to succeed at school tend to be more academically successful.

Researchers call the thoughts, actions and emotions behind this confidence “academic agency”. Essentially, it is about students’ sense they are able to do particular things that will help them succeed at school. This might involve perseverance with study, coping with tough experiences (such as exam nerves), and following school rules.

Previous research has suggested students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds tend to be less confident? about school than students from high-socioeconomic backgrounds for various reasons, including fewer resources at home and less access to technology.

But this is not always the case.

Our recent study, published in Social Psychology of Education, looked at what makes students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds confident about their schooling.

Our research

To measure students’ confidence, we looked at survey responses from more than 20,000 students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds from 421 New South Wales government schools.

The responses came from the NSW Education Department’s “Tell Them From Me” survey, which measures student engagement and wellbeing.

The study enabled us to look at five different indicators of academic confidence: students’ sense of being capable at schoolwork; feeling they belong at school; perseverance in schoolwork; ability to bounce back from challenges; and appropriate behaviour at school.

We used students’ scores on these indicators to categorise them into confident “profiles” or low-confidence “profiles”.

To measure academic achievement, we looked at students’ NAPLAN scores in reading and numeracy.

Read more:
What helps students cope with academic setbacks? Our research shows a sense of belonging at school is key

Our findings

Around half of the students we studied had confident profiles. This meant students reported average-to-high levels on the five confidence indicators.

Importantly, their levels within these confidence indicators were similar to or higher than averages found among students from medium-socioeconomic or high-socioeconomic backgrounds in a broader sample as part of our wider research.

These findings suggest there is a significant share of students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds who are thriving in terms of their academic confidence.

Our findings also showed students in confident profiles had high levels of academic achievement.

The remaining half of students had low-confidence profiles. These students had lower academic achievement than the confident students.

What types of teaching support work?

We also wanted to see what types of teaching support help students feel confident. So, via the survey, we looked at whether students received certain types of teaching support. Namely:

1. emotional support or students thinking their teacher is interested and invested in their learning and academic progress

2. instructional relevance or students thinking academic content and tasks are meaningful

3. organisation and clarity or students being taught in clearly organised lessons

4. feedback/feedforward or students thinking their teacher provides clear directions and useful feedback

5. classroom management or students being taught in classrooms with clear rules and expectations.

Our research found all five factors were significantly linked to a student being classified in the confident profiles (rather than the low-confidence profiles). But some types of teaching support seemed to be more important than others.

In particular, “classroom management”, “instructional relevance” and “emotional support” appeared to play a particular role. This means students who knew what was expected of them in class, saw their lessons as important and felt their teachers cared about them were more academically confident than those who did not feel or know these things.

For example, students reporting high levels of classroom management were up to five times more likely to be in the confident profiles than the low-confidence profiles.

Read more:
We looked at all the recent evidence on mobile phone bans in schools – this is what we found

What does this mean for teachers and schools?

The findings are important because they show large numbers of students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds are confident. And they suggest teaching support plays an important role in this.

While there are many factors that impact academic development among students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds (and many of these are beyond their own control, or that of their school or household), our findings provide some insight into how to help.

Previous research, as well as new resources developed as part of our work, suggest some specific approaches for teachers. These include:

• breaking lesson activities into bite-sized chunks, so students get a sense of accomplishment, competence and motivation to keep going

• having “debrief time”, when teachers talk with the class after an assignment is handed back to manage any negative emotions

• teachers making sure they spend time and resources on all students

• clearly explaining why a task is important and meaningful

• clearly explaining why behavioural expectations are important.

The “Tell Them From Me” survey mentioned in this article is the intellectual property of education resources company, The Learning Bar.

Rebecca Collie receives funding from the NSW Department of Education.

Andrew J. Martin receives funding from the NSW Department of Education

– ref. How do we help students from disadvantaged backgrounds feel confident about school? – https://theconversation.com/how-do-we-help-students-from-disadvantaged-backgrounds-feel-confident-about-school-222895

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gary Mortimer, Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Queensland University of Technology

This morning, breakfast television shows will be reporting obscure, although mildly believable, announcements from organisations and brands about new products, services or discoveries. Social media platforms will also be awash with similar claims.

Then customarily, at the strike of midday, these organisations “come clean”, explaining the alleged new product, service or discovery was nothing more than a simple April Fools joke.

Perhaps you recall Burger King’s “Chocolate Whopper”, McDonalds “Sweet ‘N Sour sundae” or the end of Oporto’s famous Bondi Burger. In 2022, Subway’s April Fools “subdog” even became a reality, when the prank ignited genuine demand.

So why do brands love jumping on the April Fools bandwagon?

A long history

While the origins of April Fools’ Day remain a mystery, there are some theories.

Some suggest April Fools’ Day can be traced back to classical Roman times, quite possibly an equinox celebration, recognising the end of the European winter and the coming of spring. Similarly to the Roman festival of Hilaria, celebrated in late March and marked with fun, gaiety and the wearing of disguises.

An alternative theory offers April Fools’ Day originated in 16th century France, at a time when the beginning of the New Year was observed on April 1, before the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar.

In France, the first reference to “poisson d’avril” (“April fish” – the name for a person tricked on April Fools’ Day) appeared in poem by Eloy D’Amerval in 1508.

In 1686, English antiquarian John Aubrey first mentioned “Fooles Holy Day”, observed on April 1.

Possibly the earliest April Fools advert appeared in Britain on April 1 1698, inviting gullible people to bring a friend to the Tower of London to “see the washing of the Lions”.

Organisations began to truly leverage the day from the 1950s.

In 1955, Popular Electronics magazine ran an article about “contra-polar energy”. The hoax article claimed the government had lifted restrictions on secret second world war electronics developments, which enabled the magazine to finally report on a new “negative energy” innovation that would cause electrical devices to produce the opposite effect of what they normally would do. For instance, a table lamp that generates “darkness” rather than “light”, or an electric hotplate that freezes water, rather than boils it.

Most famously, the BBC current affairs programme Panorama reported on a “spaghetti tree” on April Fools’ Day 1957. The man largely responsible for the hoax was Austrian-born Panorama cameraman Charles de Jaeger, who liked to play practical jokes.

The segment showed farmers apparently picking spaghetti from trees and laying the strands out to dry. BBC reporter Richard Dimbleby was in on the joke and his authority lent credence to the ruse – reportedly, hundreds called the BBC asking where they could buy their own spaghetti trees.

Since then, a myriad of April Fools’ Day Pranks have been played by global corporations and brands around the world, using the start of April to embrace “prankvertising”.

Read more:
Principle behind Google’s April Fools’ pigeon prank proves more than a joke

The power of prankvertising

In contemporary marketing, prankvertising – a mash-up of the words “prank” and “advertising” – is used for online branding purposes.

These “professionally developed” pranks are created by advertising agencies, often planned well ahead of execution and with anticipated results. In digital media, prankvertising has become a tactic for individuals’ attention in a highly crowded market.

Research has found a carefully crafted “prankvertisement” can increase an individual’s perception of brand “friendliness” and “love”, generate greater engagement and memorability, leading to a stronger willingness to buy – even when the product or announcement they are advertising is fake.

Why humour works to humanise brands

Humour, jokes and pranks are more greatly associated with humans, rather than organisations or brands. We all have a member of the family or a friend who we consider a lot of fun or a bit of a prankster.

Individuals generally desire partners who have a “good sense of humour”. In a workplaces, humour between colleagues can build relationships.

Organisations and brands want to attain these same outcomes.

Advertising or promoting firm-initiated amusing media are more likely than non-humourous posts to encourage positive comments, likes and re-posts.

Incongruity theory says humour arises when two contrasting ideas are mingled. For instance, the CSIRO, police forces and emergency services are important, credible and “serious” organisations we normally don’t associate with pranks.

When they participate in April Fools’ Day events they generate greater levels of engagement, humour and fun, because we don’t associate these organisations with pranks.

By engaging in April Fools’ Day pranks, organisations and brands can build relationships and connect in the same way humans do, by creating positive emotions though entertaining (hopefully viral) campaigns.

So today, when you see stories about “iced coffee-inspired deodorant” or “Nutella-flavoured Tic Tacs”, take a moment to think if you’ve just been sucked into prankvertising.

Read more:
Why are some people more gullible than others?

Gary Mortimer has received funding from governments and industry grants, including Department of Social Services, Australian Airports Association, Arrotex Pharmaceuticals Pty Ltd, Sunshine Coast Regional Council, Registered & Licensed Clubs Association of Queensland, Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, Plenty Foods Pty Limited..

– ref. Will you be this year’s ‘April fish’? Businesses have a long history of using April Fools’ Day to try and prank us all – https://theconversation.com/will-you-be-this-years-april-fish-businesses-have-a-long-history-of-using-april-fools-day-to-try-and-prank-us-all-224861

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jocelyn Jones, Research Associate in Justice Health and Social Issues, Curtin University

The 1997 Bringing Them Home report into the removal of Aboriginal children from their families was a turning point in Australia’s history. The inquiry rejected past government policies of assimilation and endorsed the importance of keeping Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children with their families.

Reducing the over-representation of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care is now a target of the federal government’s Closing the Gap policy.

Yet the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care is increasing. Between 2021–2022 around 4,100 Indigenous children were placed in out-of-home care nationally. The highest rates were among children under one year old.

Across all age groups, Indigenous children are placed in out-of-home care at almost 12 times the rate of non-Indigenous children. In Western Australia, Indigenous children are placed in out-of-home care at 20 times the rate of non-Indigenous children.

Alongside the Closing the Gap target, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle recognises the rights of Indigenous children in maintaining connections with their culture, family and community.

Yet until recently, fewer than half of Indigenous children removed from their families were placed with kin or in their community. National efforts to better meet best-practice standards has led to a small increase in Indigenous children placed in kinship arrangements from 50% in 2017 to 54% in 2022. Clearly this situation must improve.

Read more:
We checked the records of 6,000 kids entering care. Only a fraction received recommended health checks

What is kinship care?

Studies show institutional racism, trauma, violence, homelessness, socioeconomic disadvantage and poverty present significant challenges for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families.

Out-of-home care means overnight care of a temporary or permanent nature for children under 18 who aren’t able to live with their family for risk-related issues determined by the state. Common types of out-of-home care include foster care, residential care and kinship care.

A kinship carer is an Indigenous person who is a member of the child’s community, a compatible community, or from the same language group. Kinship care aims to maintain a child’s social and cultural connections.

Compared to foster care, children in kinship care tend to have more contact with their parents, family and community. Children may visit their country, learn their languages and learn about their cultural and family background.

A kinship carer involved in the Indigenous Child Removals Western Australia (I-CaRe) study spoke about how he connects the children in his care with their culture. The grandfather, aged 60, from Perth, Boorloo, said:

Yeah, I’ll take them to sites and explain to them what the site is all about. We will go up to Yagan memorial site there. We’ll go to the statue. We’ll talk about the river and the Derbarl Yerrigan, and I’ll tell them why that name is there. I take them downtown to [Tuyim] Park, for example, and say, this is where all the Noongars used to hang around here. Look, see here?

Research shows Indigenous children with strong cultural identity and knowledge are less likely to experience emotional and social problems. So, the risks of placing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in non-kinship care arrangements are serious.

Indigenous children aren’t always placed with kin. Why?

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle recognises kinship care as the preferred placement and is included in child protection laws. Child protection practices, research and policies are increasingly promoting contact with parents and family members, where possible.

All jurisdictions have committed to the principle, however, non-Indigenous departmental staff and judicial officers can readily make contrary decisions and place children in non-Indigenous care. While child protection workers across the nation must develop “cultural support plans” for Aboriginal children in out-of-home care, such plans often lack content and can be tokenistic. They are no replacement for kinship care.

Aboriginal researchers have highlighted that while connection to culture is critical to Aboriginal children’s health and wellbeing, it is poorly understood by departmental staff.

Also, child protection’s reliance on western psychological theory (“attachment theory”) is being used to displace kinship care. Aboriginal children’s placements with non-Aboriginal carers is given priority over the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle and reunification with their Aboriginal family and kin. This is identified as systemic racism on the part of child protection systems.

The Indigenous Child Removals WA research found further significant barriers facing Indigenous kinship carers. This included complex and demanding interactions with government departments, lack of support, health risks, and difficulty meeting the needs of children impacted by trauma. Kinship carers may receive a subsidy payment, but this depends on the nature of the care arrangement and whether it’s formalised through a court order.

Read more:
‘We had to Google a lot’: what foster and kinship carers looking after babies told us about the lack of support

There are considerable screening requirements including working with children clearances, health checks and criminal checks, household inspections, and screening of all family members living in the household.

Some kinship carers described their experiences as very hard and even traumatic. As one Aboriginal kinship carer, a 51-year-old grandmother from Geraldton, explained:

Apparently, I wasn’t fit enough for my grandchildren, so I had to go through the court cases and everything to prove that we were fit enough […] I just went downhill and yeah, we just kept fighting and then it got to that stage where we’re getting interrogated and I’ve had enough, because it went over a period of six months.

The high rate of Indigenous children in non-kinship arrangements has concerned Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over many years. South Australia’s Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People, April Lawrie, recently said unless changes are made, Aboriginal children will enter care at rates similar to those of the Stolen Generations.

And SNAICC, the National Voice for our Children, has warned that when the Bringing Them Home report was issued more than 25 years ago, one in every five Aboriginal children were in out of home care. Today, one in every three Aboriginal children is in care.

Australia cannot continue to harm First Nations children in this way, and kinship care must be improved urgently is we are to address this dire situation.

Read more:
‘Life changing’ – what 50 years of community-controlled housing at Yumba-Meta tells us about home and health

Jocelyn Jones receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council

Hannah McGlade is a member of the Noongar Family Safety and Wellbeing Council (NFSWC), a peak body in WA for Noongar children and families.

Sasha Moodie is affiliated with the Australian Red Cross (volunteer), National Drug Research Institute (employment) and Melbourne School of Population and Global Health (employment).

– ref. What is kinship care? Why is it favoured for Aboriginal children over foster care? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-kinship-care-why-is-it-favoured-for-aboriginal-children-over-foster-care-219115