Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Smith, Professor of Archaeology, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University

The destruction of Notre Dame cathedral is lamentable. A wonderful icon has been largely destroyed by fire. However, we should not despair.

Part of the reason this loss is so upsetting is because we are immersed in a Western way of thinking that equates authenticity with preserving the original materials used to create an object or building.

But not all societies think like this. Some have quite different notions of what is authentic. Iconic buildings such as the Catherine Palace in Russia and Japan’s historic monuments of Ancient Nara have been successfully restored, sometimes after great damage, and are today appreciated by millions of people.

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with firemen at the cathedral. Yoan Valat/EPA

The preamble to the International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites, (the Venice Charter 1964), states that, “Imbued with a message from the past, the historic monuments of generations of people remain to the present day as living witnesses of their age-old traditions … It is our duty to hand them on in the full richness of their authenticity”.

But in our diverse world, the definition and assessment of authenticity is a complex matter. The World Heritage Convention guidelines state that properties may be understood to meet the conditions of authenticity if their cultural values “are truthfully and credibly expressed”.

Accordingly, a building’s authenticity is determined in relation to its location and setting, use and function, spirit and feeling, and well as form and materials.

Japan’s NaraTodaiji. Wikimedia

Japan’s historic monuments of Ancient Nara – comprised of Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines and the excavated remains of the great Imperial Palace – provide important insights into the nation’s capital during the 8th century. These buildings are not less authentic because they were extensively restored after the enactment of the Ancient Shrines and Temples Preservation Law in 1897.

A palace gutted

The Catherine Palace at Tsarskoe Selo (Pushkin), south of Petersburg, was gutted during the second world war. When Russian people first saw the damage, they must have despaired.

Nevertheless, the government provided the resources to allow room-by-room restorations. The restoration of the Amber Room, one of the most famous palace interiors of the 18th century, is a triumph.

Panels that had been looted by the Nazis were recreated over 25 years with an investment of $11 million. Today, the Palace is fully restored, a spectacular icon that attracts millions of visitors a year.

The Catherine Palace ballroom. Wikimedia

What about the relics and artworks?

The fire at Notre Dame has endangered a vast collection of Christian relics and artworks housed within the building and on its grounds, including the crown of thorns. First responders saved many, but not all, objects. We do not yet know which ones have survived.

Does the argument regarding authenticity also apply to these relics and precious artworks? Well, yes and no.

Couronne d epines, Crown of Thorns, Notre Dame Paris.

There are two scenarios. The first is that the relics and artworks are partially damaged by fire, smoke and falling building materials. Within this scenario, the focus will be on restoration – and marvellous things can occur in the realm of materials conservation.

The second scenario is that relics or artworks are virtually, or entirely, destroyed. Within this scenario, the artworks can only be replicated, not restored. Such replication would have a precarious tie to the original works.

From the viewpoint of restoration, there is a crucial difference between portable and non-portable artefacts. Other than those that were part of the fabric of the building, the relics and artworks were not made on site. The building itself, however, has a continuity of identity and function through being located within a specific landscape.

What now for Notre Dame?

One way forward is to use the Venice Charter (1964) to guide restoration. This would mean that the new materials used in preserving this historic structure would be kept distinguishable from the original construction.

Conservation of the city gate in Lecce, Italy, undertaken according to the Venice Charter. Gary Jackson

Another way forward would be to restore the structure in a similar manner to that of Catherine I’s palace, in which an untutored eye finds it difficult to distinguish between the old and new parts of the structure. Given the extent of the damage, this would be the more aesthetically pleasing and less jarring approach.

Unlike other places of deep cultural significance, which may be destroyed forever due to commercial development, Notre Dame can be rebuilt. With modern technology, it is entirely possible for the cathedral to be recreated with near-accuracy to the original. We can do this and keep the original building’s spirit and feeling.

– ref. Don’t despair about Notre Dame – a rebuilt cathedral could be just as wonderful – http://theconversation.com/dont-despair-about-notre-dame-a-rebuilt-cathedral-could-be-just-as-wonderful-115551

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Smith, Professor of Archaeology, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University

The destruction of Notre Dame cathedral is lamentable. A wonderful icon has been largely destroyed by fire. However, we should not despair.

Part of the reason this loss is so upsetting is because we are immersed in a Western way of thinking that equates authenticity with preserving the original materials used to create an object or building.

But not all societies think like this. Some have quite different notions of what is authentic. Iconic buildings such as the Palace of Catherine the Great in Russia and Japan’s historic monuments of Ancient Nara have been successfully restored, sometimes after great damage, and are today appreciated by millions of people.

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with firemen at the cathedral. Yoan Valat/EPA

The preamble to the International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites, (the Venice Charter 1964), states that, “Imbued with a message from the past, the historic monuments of generations of people remain to the present day as living witnesses of their age-old traditions … It is our duty to hand them on in the full richness of their authenticity”.

But in our diverse world, the definition and assessment of authenticity is a complex matter. The World Heritage Convention states that properties may be understood to meet the conditions of authenticity if their cultural values “are truthfully and credibly expressed”.

Accordingly, a building’s authenticity is determined in relation to its location and setting, use and function, spirit and feeling, and well as form and materials.

Japan’s NaraTodaiji. Wikimedia

Japan’s historic monuments of Ancient Nara – comprised of Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines and the excavated remains of the great Imperial Palace – provide important insights into the nation’s capital during the 8th century. These buildings are not less authentic because they were extensively restored after the enactment of the Ancient Shrines and Temples Preservation Law in 1897.

A palace gutted

The Palace of Catherine the Great at Tsarskoe Selo (Pushkin), south of Petersburg, was gutted during the second world war. When Russian people first saw the damage, they must have despaired.

Nevertheless, the government provided the resources to allow room-by-room restorations. The restoration of the Amber Room, one of the most famous palace interiors of the 18th century, is a triumph.

Panels that had been looted by the Nazis were recreated over 25 years with an investment of $11 million. Today, the Palace is fully restored, a spectacular icon that attracts millions of visitors a year.

The Catherine Palace ballroom. Wikimedia

What about the relics and artworks?

The fire at Notre Dame has endangered a vast collection of Christian relics and artworks housed within the building and on its grounds, including the crown of thorns. First responders saved many, but not all, objects. We do not yet know which ones have survived.

Does the argument regarding authenticity also apply to these relics and precious artworks? Well, yes and no.

Couronne d epines, Crown of Thorns, Notre Dame Paris.

There are two scenarios. The first is that the relics and artworks are partially damaged by fire, smoke and falling building materials. Within this scenario, the focus will be on restoration – and marvellous things can occur in the realm of materials conservation.

The second scenario is that relics or artworks are virtually, or entirely, destroyed. Within this scenario, the artworks can only be replicated, not restored. Such replication would have a precarious tie to the original works.

From the viewpoint of restoration, there is a crucial difference between portable and non-portable artefacts. Other than those that were part of the fabric of the building, the relics and artworks were not made on site. The building itself, however, has a continuity of identity and function through being located within a specific landscape.

What now for Notre Dame?

One way forward is to use the Venice Charter (1964) to guide restoration. This would mean that the new materials used in preserving this historic structure would be kept distinguishable from the original construction.

Conservation in Lecee, Italy, undertaken according to the Venice Charter. Gary Jackson

Another way forward would be to restore the structure in a similar manner to that of Catherine the Great’s palace, in which an untutored eye finds it difficult to distinguish between the old and new parts of the structure. Given the extent of the damage, this would be the more aesthetically pleasing and less jarring approach.

Unlike other places of deep cultural significance, which may be destroyed forever due to commercial development, Notre Dame can be rebuilt. With modern technology, it is entirely possible for the cathedral to be recreated with near-accuracy to the original. We can do this and keep the original building’s spirit and feeling.

– ref. Don’t despair about Notre Dame – a rebuilt church could be just as wonderful – http://theconversation.com/dont-despair-about-notre-dame-a-rebuilt-church-could-be-just-as-wonderful-115551

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Brookhouse, Senior lecturer, Australian National University

Every autumn we are treated to one of nature’s finest seasonal annual transitions: leaf colour change and fall.

Most of the autumn leaf-shedding trees in Australia are not native, and some are declared weeds. Nevertheless, Australia has a spectacular display of trees, from the buttery tresses of Ginkgo biloba to the translucent oaks, elms and maples.

Autumn colour changes are celebrated worldwide and, when the time is right, autumn leaves reconnect us to nature, driving “leaf-peeping” tourist economies worldwide.

However, recent temperature trends and extremes have changed the growing conditions experienced by trees and are placing autumn displays, such as Canberra’s, at risk.

Autumn leaf colour changes and fall are affected by summer temperatures. Shutterstock

This year, Canberra, like the rest of Australia, endured its hottest summer on record. In NSW and the ACT, the mean temperature in January was 6°C warmer than the long-term average. So far, autumn is following suit.

These extremes can interrupt the ideal synchronisation of seasonal changes in temperature and day length, subduing leaf colours.

In addition, hotter summer temperatures scorch leaves and, when combined with this and the previous years’ low autumn rainfall, cause trees to shed leaves prematurely, dulling their autumn leaf displays.

Read more: Smart city planning can preserve old trees and the wildlife that needs them

The subtlety of change

We learnt in childhood autumn colour change follows the arrival of cooler temperatures. Later we learnt the specifics: seasonal changes in day length and temperature drive the depletion of green chlorophyll in leaves. Temperature can also affect the rate at which it fades.

In the absence of chlorophyll, yellows and oranges generated by antioxidants in the leaf (carotenoids) as well as red through to purples pigments (anthocyanins), synthesised from stored sugars, emerge. Temperature plays a role here too – intensifying colours as overnight temperatures fall.

We’ve also come to understand the role of a leaf’s environment. Anthocyanin production is affected by light intensity, which explains why sunny autumns produce such rich colours and why the canopies of our favourite trees blush red at their edges while glowing golden in their interior.

However, early signs show this year’s autumn tones will be muted. After the record-breaking heat of summer and prolonged heat of March, many trees are shrouded in scorched, faded canopies. The ground is littered with blackened leaves.

Of course, we’ve seen it before.

During the Millennium Drought, urban trees sporadically shed their leaves often without a hint of colour change. Fortunately, that was reversed at the drought’s end.

But we’re kidding ourselves if we believe this last summer was normal or recent temperature trends are just natural variability. If this is a sign of seasons future, we need to prepare to lose some of autumn’s beauty.

Read more: Are more Aussie trees dying of drought? Scientists need your help spotting dead trees

Lost synchronicity

Long-term and experimental data show that the sensitivity of autumn colour change to warmer temperatures varies widely between species. While large-scale meta-analyses point to a delay in the arrival of autumn colours of one day per degree of warming, individual genera may be far more sensitve. Colour change in Fagus is delayed by 6-8 days per degree.

Warming temperatures, then, mean the cohesive leaf-colour changes we’re accustomed to will break down at landscape scales.

In addition, as warm weather extends the growing season and deep-rooted trees deplete soil moisture reservoirs, individual trees are driven by stress rather than seasonal temperature change and cut their losses. They shed leaves at the peripheries of their canopies.

The remainder wait – bronzed by summer, but still mostly green – for the right environmental cue.

For years, careful species selection and selective breeding enhanced autumn colour displays. This rich tapestry is now unravelling as hotter summers, longer autumns and drought affect each species differently.

Read more: How tree bonds can help preserve the urban forest

Paradoxes and indirect effects

It seems logical warmer temperatures would mean shorter and less severe frost seasons. Paradoxically, observations suggest otherwise – the arrival of frost is unchanged or, worse, occurring earlier.

When not preceded by gradually cooling overnight temperatures, frosts can induce sudden, unceremonious leaf loss. If warm autumn temperatures fail to initiate colour change, autumn displays can be short-circuited entirely.

At the centre of many urban-tree plantings, our long association with elms faces a threat. Loved for the contrast their clear yellow seasonal display creates against pale autumn skies, elm canopies have been ravaged by leaf beetles this year. Stress has made trees susceptible to leaf-eating insects, and our current season delivered an expanse of stressed, and now skeletal, trees.

Autumn leaf displays drive tourism. Norm Hanson/flickr, CC BY-NC-SA

Read more: Where the old things are: Australia’s most ancient trees

Change everywhere?

This dulled image of autumn is far from universal. Climates differ between locations. So too will the climate changes we’ve engineered and their impact on autumn displays.

Increased concentration of anthocyanins associated with warmer summers has, for example, created spectacular leaf displays in Britain’s cooler climates.

Of course, we’ll continue to experience radiant autumn displays too.

In years of plentiful rain, our trees will retain their canopies and then, in the clear skies of autumn, dazzle us with seasonal celebrations. However, that too may be tempered by the increased risk of colour-sapping pathogens, such as poplar rust, favoured by warm, moist conditions. And there are also negative consequences for autumn colour associated with elevated carbon dioxide concentrations.

Of course, we need to keep it in perspective – the dulling of autumn’s luminescence is far from the worst climate change impacts. Nevetheless, in weakening our link with nature, the human psyche is suffering another self-inflicted cut as collective action on climate change stalls.

– ref. Why climate change will dull autumn leaf displays – http://theconversation.com/why-climate-change-will-dull-autumn-leaf-displays-114750

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Freestone, Professor of Planning, Faculty of Built Environment, UNSW

The conventional approach to commercial city building is for private developers to enlist their preferred architect for a design that satisfies planning and building regulations. For major projects, the architect would likely have had a previous association and a good track record in matching their client’s commercial priorities to what the approval authority demands in terms of uses, floor space, height, design features and respect for surroundings.

Over the past two decades, though, and largely unknown to the public, Sydney has adopted a mandatory competitive design process for the projects that have transformed the city skyline.

The scale of developments captured by these protocols underscores their impact. Between 2000 and 2017, 46 proposals were granted planning approval. These represented a total investment estimated at over A$7 billion and producing nearly 2 million square metres of commercial floor space.

Our research found competitive processes are delivering demonstrable benefits such as higher quality, innovation and an improved public realm. Of 26 completed projects by the start of 2018, 62% have won major industry awards and 50% have received awards from the Australian Institute of Architects.

Architectural design competitions go back centuries in Europe and are not uncommon for major public buildings everywhere. Yet what has been instituted appears to be unique for any Australian or indeed global city. Sydney’s mandatory “compare, critique and commission” model for private development is truly pioneering and innovative.

Read more: Utzon Lecture: Re-imagining the Harbour City

So how did this happen?

In 2000, Sydney City Council, led by independent lord mayor Frank Sartor, turned the time-honoured arrangements on their head.

This was a time when the connection between global city aspirations and good architecture was becoming better appreciated. There were concerns, too, that Sydney’s major architectural practices were often not as innovative as they could be.

So the council inserted in the Sydney Local Environmental Plan provisions to enforce “design excellence” for all development. In particular, developers of the biggest projects (in terms of site area, height and development cost) were required to organise an approved competitive design process to determine their choice of architect.

There was resistance from some leading architects whose comfortable relationships with developers would be disrupted. The development industry was also discomforted by yet another regulatory hoop to jump through – one that would add time and money. They were offered a generous sweetener: allowance for up to 10% extra floor space or height if the council accepted the jury recommendation that “design excellence” was achieved.

The wider public was and largely still is none the wiser about these procedures, which have received little promotion or independent scrutiny. The process takes place behind closed doors marked commercial-in-confidence.

Conceived as a new method of privately procuring design services, the requirements nonetheless slip seamlessly into the development application procedures stipulated by the New South Wales Environmental Planning and Assessment Act.

How well has this model worked?

The accent on competition with developer incentives on offer sounds like a policy approach truly befitting the neoliberal age, but is it successful?

Early projects were not always exceptional. But in the past decade most of central Sydney’s best new buildings are the product of design competitions. These include the EY Tower in George Street, Liberty Place in Castlereagh Street, and 1 Bligh Street.

The EY Centre at 200 George Street, Sydney.

All are vastly superior in design, efficiency and sustainability terms to the buildings they replaced. Our research confirmed a high proportion of projects have been recognised as outstanding.

Read more: Green buildings must do more to fix our climate emergency

Competitions encourage a fuller exploration of possibilities for a site. This enhances prospects of the best outcome. Working to a detailed brief but independent of an actual client enables design considerations to be prioritised and public interest considerations to be explicitly integrated.

With experienced jurors, expert front-end advice on the technical soundness of proposals, and advice and effective oversight from council staff, the process creates a unique forum for dialogue and consensus between key stakeholders. As the council’s director of city planning development & transport, Graham Jahn, said in 2015, this interaction helps “close the gap” between public and private interest.

Not surprisingly, developers like the incentive of securing extra floor space, the airing of any design concerns or related issues ahead of a detailed development application, and the increased certainty of approval for a successful competition outcome.

Putting architects in competition with one another drives design creativity. In some cases the local environmental plan has even been amended when statutory regulations would have frustrated an innovative outcome that’s clearly in the public interest.

The old design oligopoly has certainly been smashed. To the end of 2017, 88 different firms participated in competitions, with 52 firms winning in their own right or in partnership.

A quarter of the winning firms are based overseas. This signifies a greater global connectivity in design processes but belies the perception of a takeover of local business by offshore “starchitects”.

What are the drawbacks?

At the same time, concerns have surfaced. These include:

• the high costs and risks for competing architects even when partly remunerated for their participation
• the risk of hyper-gentrification as the quality stakes constantly rise
• a striving for iconic ‘look-at-me’ architecture at every turn
• a missed opportunity to engage the public more deeply in design matters.

The resource and time demands on the city council have certainly escalated.

Read more: Iconic building alert: waiting for the Frank Gehry effect in Sydney

Nevertheless, the competition idea is set to be an ongoing fact of life. The council has already extended the competitive regime to major projects outside the CBD. It was a timely move to pick up the wave of apartment building in urban renewal precincts like Green Square.

The council’s design competition policy, after nearly two decades of practice and improvement, is now a mature urban intervention of some note. It has been an influential shaper of the state government’s recent roll-out of design excellence initiatives to local authorities across the state.

The authors’ book, Designing the Global City: Design Excellence, Competitions and the Remaking of Central Sydney (2019), has just been published by Palgrave Macmillan.

– ref. Reshaping Sydney by design – few know about the mandatory competitions, but we all see the results – http://theconversation.com/reshaping-sydney-by-design-few-know-about-the-mandatory-competitions-but-we-all-see-the-results-111839

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leanne Wiseman, Associate Professor, Griffith Law School, Assoc Director Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture (ACIPA), Griffith University

Most of us are familiar with cases of data being used in ways that go beyond consumer expectations – just think of the Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal.

However this is also an issue relevant to Australia’s agricultural sector. Modern farms create a huge amount of data, but farmers have very little control over the collection, aggregation and potential distribution of that data.

Agricultural data collected by governments, agribusinesses and banks is regulated in a piecemeal fashion, and ends up beyond the reach of the very farmers who generated the data.

There are signs this may be starting to change.

Read more: Royal commission shows bank lenders don’t ‘get’ farming, and rural economies pay the price

Privacy and data rights

On April 4, animal activists engaged in widespread protests that disrupted Australian cities and farming communities.

The next day Federal Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources David Littleproud took the extraordinary step of including Aussie Farms Incorporated – a self-described animal rights charity that publishes a map of farming and animal processing locations – as an “organisation” under the Privacy Act.

Littleproud said:

Federally, we’ve done our bit – we’ve brought Aussie Farms and its attack map for activists under the Privacy Act so that misuse of personal information results in enormous fines.

This is the first time in Australia such collation and publication of farming data has been addressed with a significant legal response.

Read more: Here’s why well-intentioned vegan protesters are getting it wrong

It comes at a time when the new consumer data right (CDR) is imminent. This right, soon to be enshrined in new rules developed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), will provide Australians with greater access to and control over their own data.

On April 15, the ACCC released draft CDR rules for consultation. These are in preparation for the implementation of the first phase of the CDR set for July 1, 2019. The ACCC’s rules set out how the CDR will operate including data sharing and privacy safeguards.

The decision to include Aussie Farms Incorporated under the Privacy Act and the introduction of the CDR feeds into an important conversation about governance and control of Australian agricultural data.

The value of agricultural data

Australian farms generate huge volumes of agricultural data. Examples include the types of crops being grown, crop yields, livestock numbers and locations, types of fertilisers and pesticides being used, soil types, rainfall and more.

This data is typically collected through the use of digital farming machinery and buildings featuring robotics and digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and devices connected to the internet (“internet of things”, or IoT).

Big data, data analytics and machine learning are incorporated into agriculture through electronic livestock tracing systems, electronic weather data, smartphone mapping and other remote sensing applications.

Over the past five years, numerous reports have highlighted the myriad benefits a data revolution can bring to agriculture.

Many think this data revolution will provide an opportunity for farmers to get closer to the consumer, make farms and farmers more efficient, and provide a way for farmers to show banks how sustainable practices lower long-term risk of things like droughts and pests.

Indeed, big data in agriculture is often seen as the solution to the world’s impending food security crisis.

Peacemeal regulation

But a recent review from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics highlights the patchy and fragmented nature of existing government and industry approaches to agricultural data. What that means is Australian farmers are currently not adequately protected from their farm data being collected and used without their knowledge or consent.

Perhaps not surprisingly then, recent research into farmers’ attitudes about sharing their farm data reveals their level of mistrust about the way in which that data may be used or misused. More than 60% of farmers surveyed indicated they had little to no trust in technology providers to maintain their privacy and not engage in unauthorised use of their data.

A strong future for digitally-enabled Australian agriculture needs a data governance framework. Such guidelines must encompass the legal, social and ethical rules we need to protect the agricultural sector, the interests of farmers and farmer privacy.

This latter point is key, as agricultural data is often connected to farmers’ personal information. For example, the location of the farms, or the location of GPS-enabled farming equipment, may be digitally linked to farmer names and financial information.

Within industries, anecdotal stories abound about banks and insurance companies knowing more about the incomes and businesses of farms than the individual farmers themselves.

Towards a solution

Farmers are aware of the changing data landscape, with proposed federal government legislation on data availability and use, and the consumer data right being rolled out across industry sectors. As Shadow Minister for Agriculture Joel Fitzgibbon recently observed:

If given the opportunity, a Labor government will reform the research system and improve data availability. If we want to develop good evidenced-based policy we need more and better data.

Read more: Soft terms like ‘open’ and ‘sharing’ don’t tell the true story of your data

Yet the problem is that many farmers don’t know if, and under what circumstances, they should share their agricultural data.

We argue that Australian agricultural industries need to urgently address issues such as data sharing protocols and governance arrangements. Perhaps the group best placed to coordinate such activities is the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF).

What should those rules look like?

We have seen attempts to improve the position of farmers against anti-competitive practices of supermarkets through the recent re-appointment of Mick Keogh as Agricultural Commissioner to Australia’s competition watchdog, the ACCC.

In other countries, attempts to improve agricultural data management practices have been administered through the introduction of voluntary agricultural data codes of practice in the US, NZ and now the EU.

Australia’s NFF is currently considering developing an agricultural data code for Australia as well.

But an agricultural data code of practice is just one piece of the large puzzle of how best to protect farmers and their data while maximising the potential for agriculture.

Providing guidance around agricultural data is not just about privacy, but also productivity.

– ref. Farms create lots of data, but farmers don’t control where it ends up and who can use it – http://theconversation.com/farms-create-lots-of-data-but-farmers-dont-control-where-it-ends-up-and-who-can-use-it-115228

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hadrian Geri Djajadikerta, Associate Dean Research, School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University

The Indonesian presidential election on Wednesday will be a re-run of the 2014 poll, pitting the incumbent, Joko Widodo (also known as Jokowi), against the same candidate, former major-general Prabowo Subianto.

Various polls over the past few months have consistently shown Jokowi with a sizeable lead. The last survey from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), for example, shows Jokowi with a lead of 51.4% among likely voters, compared to just 33.3% for Prabowo. (The rest are undecided.) The latest poll this week from Indo Barometer, meanwhile, gives Jokowi an even wider lead – 59.9% to 40.1%.

With a total of nearly 200 million registered voters expected to cast ballots at some 800,000 polling stations across the country, the election is a massive undertaking. Making things even more complex this year is the fact that legislative elections are being held at the same time as the presidential election, with some 250,000 candidates running for more than 20,000 legislative seats. However, the legislative elections have not received the same level of domestic or international attention as the contest between Jokowi and his old adversary, Prabowo.

2019 presidential and vice-presidential candidates and political party coalitions. Supplied by authors

Islam and identity politics

Jokowi has spent the past few months highlighting his achievements since entering office in 2014, especially with infrastructure development and the streamlining of bureaucracy for businesses and the general public. Prabowo, on the other hand, has tried to chip away at Jokowi’s lead with a fiery brand of nationalism and promises of change (for example, the halting the importation of food and fuel, lowering prices for staples and reducing inequality) without offering any details on how to achieve them.

Read more: Experts respond to Indonesia’s 4th round of presidential debate: Jokowi defeats Prabowo

Prabowo’s candidacy has made some in Indonesia nervous. He is the former son-in-law of the dictator Suharto, who ruled Indonesia for 32 years before being driven from power in 1998. Prabowo has praised some elements of Suharto’s “New Order” regime and has also been accused of committing human rights violations during his military career. (Prabowo has never been tried for any human rights abuses and denies all the allegations against him.)

Prabowo’s leadership abilities are also unclear – he’s never held elected office.

Prabowo Subianto has played the nationalist card at rallies, railing against foreign interests in Indonesia. Fully Handoko/EPA

Even though Jokowi has a big lead in the polls, he has nonetheless faced questions about his religious credentials and specifically whether he is “Muslim enough” for the hard-line conservatives in his party. Just days before the election, he embarked on a quick trip to Mecca in Saudi Arabia – a move many analysts believe was intended to shore up support among religious voters.

Jokowi has also selected one of the most influential Muslim clerics in the country, Ma’ruf Amin, to be his running mate. Ma’ruf is head of the Indonesian Ulema Council (Majelis Ulama Indonesia), a top clerical body comprised of registered Muslim organisations across the country.

Jokowi’s decision to choose Ma’ruf as his running mate has not been popular with his more moderate supporters. His initial preference for running mate was Mahfud MD, a former chief justice of the Constitutional Court of Indonesia and a former minister when Abdurrahman Wahid was president.

However, this move carried the risk of being perceived as not “Muslim enough” for religious voters, hence the selection of Ma’ruf.

Read more: One party’s lonely battle for minority voices in Indonesia

So far, this decision has seemed successful. The results of surveys indicate that although Ma’ruf’s overall popularity is not as high as Prabowo’s running mate – the former vice governor of Jakarta, Sandiaga “Sandi” Uno – most prospective voters are only looking at the top of the ticket. The contest is squarely between Jokowi and Prabowo.

However, there are also concerns that Jokowi’s more moderate supporters think he has not yet fulfilled some of his promises on human rights, and they may abstain from the election in protest. There is a campaign on social media urging people to abstain or cast blank ballots – known as golput in Bahasa.

What would a second Jokowi term mean for Indonesia?

Should Jokowi win as expected, he is unlikely to bring sweeping changes to the country. The main challenge for him will be continuing Indonesia’s economic growth. Further reforms are needed to reduce protectionism, encourage foreign investment and improve productivity. With the mining industry in decline, more attention should be focused on sectors with growth potential, such as agriculture, manufacturing and services, including tourism and hospitality. The government needs to do more to tackle corruption and cut red tape, too.

Infrastructure and mass transport development also remain key issues, as is boosting financial assistance to university students and expanding health insurance.

Read more: Either Jokowi or Prabowo, Indonesia’s future in human rights enforcement remains bleak

As for foreign policy, Jokowi’s focus will likely remain on economic diplomacy and market expansion. One priority will be implementing the just-signed free-trade agreement between Indonesia and Australia, which will eliminate many tariffs between the countries and increase the number of work visas for Indonesians in Australia. The deal is also expected to allow Australian hospitals to open and universities to set up campuses in Indonesia.

– ref. Indonesia’s presidential election: Is Jokowi ‘religious enough’ for conservative voters? – http://theconversation.com/indonesias-presidential-election-is-jokowi-religious-enough-for-conservative-voters-114353

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jozo Grgic, PhD candidate at the Institute of Sport and Health (IHES), Victoria University

Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world. Nearly half the adult population in Australia drink it.

Aside from enjoying the taste, the main reason we drink coffee is to get caffeine into our bloodstream. Caffeine can help keep you awake, increase alertness, improve your concentration, enhance cognitive performance, and sharpen short-term memory and problem-solving skills.

It can also enhance physical performance.

Read more: Health Check: why do I get a headache when I haven’t had my coffee?

We’ve reviewed the evidence

In a recent umbrella review, we summarised the findings from all meta-analyses that explored the effects of caffeine on exercise performance. A meta-analysis is a method that allows us to combine results from multiple studies to estimate the true effect.

Our review included more than 300 primary studies with more than 4,800 participants.

We found improvements in sports performance following caffeine intake that range from 2% to 16%.

Those who respond most strongly to caffeine might see improvements of around 16%, but this is unusual. For the average person, improvements will likely be between about 2% and 6%.

A cup of coffee before you hop on your bike could help you cycle just that bit further. From shutterstock.com

This may not seem like much in the context of everyday life. But particularly in competitive sports, relatively small improvements in performance can make a big difference.

We found caffeine can enhance our ability to run and cycle for longer periods, or to complete a given distance in a shorter time frame. It could also allow us to perform more repetitions with a given weight in the gym, or to increase the total weight lifted.

Read more: Health Check: what should our maximum heart rate be during exercise?

How does caffeine have these effects?

When we get tired, a chemical called adenosine binds to its receptors in the brain. The chemical structure of caffeine is similar to that of adenosine, and when ingested, it competes with adenosine for these receptors – which tell our brains how fatigued we are.

During waking hours, adenosine slows down brain activity and results in feelings of fatigue. When we have caffeine, the caffeine binds to the adenosine receptors and has the opposite effect of adenosine. It reduces fatigue and our perception of effort (for example, how hard it feels to perform an exercise).

Researchers once thought the effects of caffeine would be reduced in people who regularly drink a lot of coffee, but studies have shown that caffeine has performance-enhancing effects regardless of habits.

Does coffee = caffeine?

In one study, drinking coffee or taking caffeine in a capsule resulted in similar improvements in cycling performance. When the caffeine dose is matched, caffeine and coffee seem to be equally beneficial for improving performance.

But the dose of caffeine in a coffee may vary based on the type of coffee bean, preparation method, and size of the cup. It may also vary between different coffee brands, and even within the same brand at different times.

On average though, one cup of brewed coffee usually contains between 95 and 165mg of caffeine.

About half of Australian adults drink coffee. Nathan Dumlao/Unsplash

Experts believe caffeine doses between 3 and 6 mg/kg are needed to improve performance. That’s 210 to 420mg for a 70kg person, or about two cups of coffee.

For safety reasons, those who don’t normally drink coffee should begin with a lower dose. The optimal dose, of course, varies between individuals, so there’s room to experiment a little.

Aside from caffeine capsules or coffee, researchers are exploring other sources of caffeine for their effects on exercise performance. These include chewing gums, bars, mouth rinses, and energy drinks. But this area of research is relatively new and needs further investigation.

How long before my workout should I drink coffee?

Experts recommend ingesting caffeine roughly 45-90 minutes before exercising. Some forms of caffeine such as caffeine gum are absorbed faster and can elicit a performance-enhancing effect even when consumed ten minutes before exercise.

Does this mean we should all start loading up on caffeine? Well, perhaps not just yet. Although people who ingest caffeine usually improve their performance, for some, the effects may be negligible.

Read more: Exercise: motivation gets you started, but routine keeps you going

And overdosing on caffeine can have some really unpleasant side effects, including insomnia, nervousness, restlessness, stomach irritation, nausea, vomiting, and headaches.

A certain amount of individual experimentation is needed to find out if caffeine will improve your exercise performance, or just give you a headache.

But for those looking for simple ways to gain a slight performance edge, getting more caffeine into your bloodstream might just be the ticket.

– ref. Health check: can caffeine improve your exercise performance? – http://theconversation.com/health-check-can-caffeine-improve-your-exercise-performance-114087

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danielle Wood, Program Director, Budget Policy and Institutional Reform, Grattan Institute

The two major parties have kicked off the election campaign with very different policies for cuts to personal income tax.

The Coalition promises its tax plan will deliver “lower, simpler, fairer taxes” while Labor says its plan is all about the “fair go”.

But putting aside the spin, how do the promised tax cuts compare? Will they make the tax system more progressive, or less? And what do they mean for the budget bottom line?

Tasting each plan

The Coalition plan comes in three stages.

The major part of Stage 1 is the Low and Middle Income Tax Offset (the LMITO, or “lamington” as some are calling it), which gives everyone earning less than A$126,000 a cheque in the mail come July and then another one in each of the following three years.

Stage 2 (2022-23) will lift the thresholds of the 19% and the 32.5% brackets.

The biggest cuts come in stage 3 (2024-25) when the 32.5% tax rate is cut to 30% and the 37% bracket is removed entirely.

The effect would be that everyone earning between $45,000 and $200,000 would face the same 30% marginal tax rate from July 1, 2024.

Read more: A simpler tax system should spark joy. Sadly, the one in this budget doesn’t

The Labor plan gives a slightly higher offset (up to $95 a year more) for people earning less than $48,000 and then matches the lamington for people earning $48,000 or more.

Under Labor the lamington will be permanent, but Labor will not proceed with stages 2 and 3 of the Coalition’s tax plan.

From July 1, 2019, Labor will also increase the top marginal tax rate paid on incomes above $180,000 from 45% to 47% for an unspecified time, making it essentially a return of the Abbott government’s “temporary deficit reduction levy”.

The Coalition’s plan will cost the budget about A$298 billion over the next decade. Labor’s plan is at the moment much cheaper at about A$63 billion over the same period.

Who wins, who loses?

How will different taxpayers fare under the two plans? That depends on what point in time we compare them.

If we focus on the next three years, there will be no difference in tax under the two plans for most people. The lowest income earners won’t pay income tax under either party’s policy.

About a quarter of taxpayers with taxable incomes of between $22,000 and $48,000 will be up to $95 better off under the Labor plan.

At the other end of the income spectrum, the top 5% of taxpayers earning more than $180,000 will pay more under Labor (equivalent to about $400 additional tax for someone earning $200,000).

The big differences between Labor and the Coalition’s tax policies open up when we get to stage 2 (2022-23) and particularly stage 3 (2024-25) of the Coalition’s plan.

Read more: A simpler tax system should spark joy. Sadly, the one in this budget doesn’t

By the end of the next decade, assuming both parties make no further changes to income tax policy:

• The third of taxfilers earning up to $40,000 will pay no tax or be slightly better off under Labor’s plan because Labor retains the Low and Middle Income Tax Offset.

• The third of taxfilers earning $40,000-$90,000 will be a bit better off under the Coalition’s plan. A taxpayer in the middle of the income distribution, earning $63,000 a year by 2029-30, will be approximately $432 a year better off under the Coalition.

• The third of taxfilers earning more than $90,000 will be at least $1,000 better off under the Coalition, and people in the top 8% will be over $10,000 better off.

The Coalition would refund bracket creep only at the top

The top 15% of earners would be fully compensated for bracket creep under the Coalition’s plan, paying the same average tax rate or less in 2029-30 as they do today.

But middle income earners would still face higher average tax rates than today.

If Labor were to make no further changes to income tax policy over the decade, Labor’s plan would see around 80% of taxpayers facing higher average tax rates in 2029-30 than at present. Top income earners would receive almost no insulation from bracket creep. This is why Labor’s plan results in a much healthier bottom line.

But it is difficult to imagine that any government could resist offering tax cuts to compensate for the effects of bracket creep over such an extended period.

Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen has already indicated that a future Labor government would consider tax cuts on a budget-by-budget basis, meaning that today’s policy doesn’t necessarily tell us what policy will be in a decade’s time.

The Coalition would make the system less progressive

The “progressivity” of a tax system — the degree to which it reduces income inequality — can be measured by the Reynolds-Smolensky Index. It shows the tax system will at first become more progressive under both parties’ policies — meaning that post-tax income will become more equally shared.

This is because of the boost to the Low and Middle Income Tax Offset. But the final two rounds of tax cuts, at this stage offered only by the Coalition, will make the system significantly less progressive as the benefit is concentrated among higher income earners.

What Labor is offering at the moment will make the system more progressive and only becomes slightly less so over time.

But both sides are virtue signalling

Despite the hype, the personal income tax system will look pretty similar for the next three years regardless of which party wins office.

Labor will tax high income earners more and low income earners slightly less. But for around 70% of people, personal income tax rates will be identical in three years time whether Scott Morrison or Bill Shorten is prime minister.

The big differences lie in the distant future, beyond 2024-25. Since it is almost unimaginable that either side of politics would leave its tax policies unchanged through another two elections the differences in the announced plans have more to do with signaling philosophy than reality.

The Coalition’s philosophy is about restraining tax as a share of the economy, even if that means it will need to shrink government spending as a share of GDP (in ways that are not yet unexplained).

Labor is signalling that it is more comfortable with the tax share creeping up — mostly thanks to increased contributions from high income earners — but it will make sure lower income earners don’t end up worse off.

Who says elections aren’t a contest of ideas?

Read more: Potentially unaffordable, and it still won’t fix bracket creep. The Coalition’s $300 billion tax plan assessed

– ref. Your income tax questions answered in three easy charts: Labor and Coalition proposals side by side – http://theconversation.com/your-income-tax-questions-answered-in-three-easy-charts-labor-and-coalition-proposals-side-by-side-115450

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Karg, Senior research fellow, Swinburne University of Technology

The AFLW competition rightly celebrated the record grand final crowd of 53,034 and television audience of more than 400,000 last month as a successful conclusion to its third season.

The Adelaide Crows vanquished Carlton by an emphatic 45-point margin to claim their second flag. But after three years, what’s the overall scorecard for the AFLW as a competition, and how should its success be measured?

Read more: The AFLW found instant success, but challenges remain for its long-term sustainability

The AFLW has built a strong, differentiated brand, with new sponsors attracted to a league, teams and athletes perceived to offer something different in a cluttered sport market. While media fees – reportedly worth A$2 million over four years – are modest, the AFLW has secured a free-to-air platform that is coveted by many, but achieved by few leagues of either gender.

There’s strong support for the women’s game among fans and club members, with an embryonic but strong interest in club products, including foundation memberships to support women’s teams.

For the public, league success also depends on key visible measures – one of which is attendance. And despite the AFLW maintaining free entry as a feature, regular season average attendance per game dropped 25% in 2019. This is not surprising. Many new leagues around the world have enjoyed hugely popular inaugural seasons, followed by a downturn as the novelty wanes.

Much like any start-up, however, judging a new league purely on commercial outcomes in its early years is unwise.

The field of play

Sporting organisations and assets should be assessed on a complex range of financial, social, institutional and organisational measures. In the AFLW’s case, a key aim is to challenge the dominance of elite men’s sport and boost the visibility of the women’s league and its athletes as role models. This, in turn, helps to celebrate women’s football, and bolster female participation in community sport.

Recent federal budget announcements recognise this development, with funding allocated to improve grassroots facilities, such as female changing rooms at community ovals, and female-specific investments in sports science and elite performance development programs.

Adelaide’s Jenna McCormick celebrates her club’s second premiership with the fans. AAP Image/Kelly Barnes

But alongside the clear success in these areas, the AFLW has also come in for criticism of the competition’s structure. The third season featured the much-maligned conference system, which split the 10 clubs into two separate groups and led to accusations of a disparity in quality between the two, crowding out some talented teams while giving others an easier path to the finals.

A marketing plan that restricted the league’s visibility in year two and the decision to restrict the regular season to seven rounds has also prompted criticism that the AFLW is not ambitious enough in its expansion plans, choosing instead to confine itself to a two-month window that barely overlaps with the men’s season.

Global games

Women’s sport is booming around the world. So far this year, soccer clubs Juventus and Athletic Bilbao have set new Italian and European attendance records, respectively, for domestic women’s matches – the latter eclipsing any crowd drawn by the men’s club teams this season.

Opportunities to showcase Australian women’s teams on an international stage are more limited, although nevertheless important. Australia claimed the first ever women’s rugby sevens gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. The Matildas soccer team, led by Samantha Kerr, will soon contest the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France. And in cricket, Australia is preparing to host next year’s Women’s T20 World Cup.

Yet while global platforms are exciting, domestic leagues remain the primary vehicle to grow women’s sport. In the past decade, women’s rugby league, cricket, soccer and netball (via a revamped league) have joined the longer established Women’s National Basketball League in creating elite national competitions.

One misconception is that the AFLW and other new leagues should seek to grow quickly by converting existing fans of the sport. Such a view is not strategic and overly simplistic.

Just as cricket’s Big Bash League was not created to cannibalise support for other forms of the game, the AFLW was never solely aimed at attracting existing AFL fans. Rather, it is about attracting a new and growing audience to the sport and providing a platform for women’s sport that can boost investments and participation rates on both the elite and grassroots levels.

Delivering future growth

Ever since 2015, when 301,000 people watched a televised exhibition match between Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs, the AFLW’s development has been fast-tracked.

When the competition launched in 2017, the AFLW’s first job was to attract a small core of committed “early adopter” fans. But subsequent growth requires engaging new consumers by building familiarity and connection with the league and its teams, while also offering something tangibly different from the men’s game.

Read more: Growth of women’s football has been a 100-year revolution – it didn’t happen overnight

From 2020, all but four of the 18 AFL clubs will be represented in the AFLW. On one hand, quickly embracing more clubs – all of which have existing brands and fan bases – provides new opportunities to attract more attendees and more viewers. More games will also result in more income, more media content and a stronger claim for professional status and pay equality among the league’s players (the top-earning players receive just A$24,600 per season, compared with the seven-figure contracts given to the sport’s top male earners).

But this rapid expansion also spreads the available talent pool thinly, which could impact the quality and competitiveness of some games and ultimately even cause fans’ interest to wane.

Read more: Mark! Kick! Tackle! The reality of fast-tracking women into elite AFL

Critics of the AFLW conference system were disappointed that the 2019 season would only feature 25% more regular season games than 2018. Yet the cumulative regular season attendances for this longer season dropped by 6%, suggesting a bigger league schedule doesn’t necessarily attract a proportionally bigger fan base.

Globally, there are examples of going too big, too soon. The Canadian Women’s Hockey League folded this month after being deemed “economically unsustainable”. The circumstances in this league are markedly different from the AFLW. The teams changed frequently and were not aligned with established brands, and the league’s popularity was undercut by a rival US-based competition. But it nevertheless shows that even popular sports (Canadians really love ice hockey) don’t necessarily equate to a sustainable product.

AFLW clubs know their league has come a long way in a short time, but that there is still a long way to go in terms of player development, competition structure and staking a claim as a fan favourite in a crowded sporting market. Looking at the next steps for AFLW, slow and steady may win the race.

– ref. Three years in, is the AFLW kicking goals? – http://theconversation.com/three-years-in-is-the-aflw-kicking-goals-114919

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling

Reader advice: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article may contain images of people who have died.

A few years ago, the State Library of NSW was working with Moree’s Dhiiyaan Centre to pull together archival photographs of the 1965 Freedom Rides, an Aboriginal-led protest against racist segregationist policies in NSW.

Moree – where Aboriginal people were once banned from swimming in the public pool – was an important site in the history of protest against official segregation in Australia, and a key stop on the Freedom Rides route.

Demonstrating outside the Council Chambers at Moree, February 1965 Photo from the Tribune archive, State Library of NSW. Courtesy the SEARCH Foundation. Digital ID: 5606003. Photo from the Tribune archive, State Library of NSW. Courtesy the SEARCH Foundation, Author provided (No reuse)

Kirsten Thorpe – a Worimi woman, professional archivist and now a researcher at UTS – was then at the State Library, working with Mitchell Librarian Richard Neville to dig out old protest photos to share with the Moree community in the lead up to an exhibition.

But in practice, collecting, sharing and storing such digital archives in perpetuity is no simple matter.

Surveying at Bowraville, February 1965. Photo from the Tribune archive, State Library of NSW. Courtesy the SEARCH Foundation. Digital ID: 5606019. Photo from the Tribune archive, State Library of NSW. Courtesy the SEARCH Foundation., Author provided (No reuse)

How to ensure the material is stored safely, so the whole process doesn’t need to be repeated in a few years time? How to capture the outpouring of memories and stories that such an exhibition evokes? What if the exhibition inspires more people to come forward with important historical material or accounts – where does that material end up? And how to ensure Indigenous people are empowered to tell their own stories and have a say over how digital archives are managed?

Enter Mukurtu.

Moree residents look on as the students protest outside the Moree Council Chambers, February 1965. Photo from the Tribune archive, State Library of NSW. Courtesy the SEARCH Foundation. Digital ID: 5606004. Photo from the Tribune archive, State Library of NSW. Courtesy the SEARCH Foundation., Author provided (No reuse)

Mukurtu (pronounced MOOK-oo-too) is an online system that aims to help Indigenous communities conserve stories, videos, photographs, songs, word lists and other digital archives.

Mukurtu is a Warumungu word meaning “dilly bag” or a safe keeping place for sacred materials.

It’s a free, mobile, and open source platform built with Indigenous communities in mind to manage and share digital cultural heritage. Kirsten Thorpe says it’s the kind of thing that would have been really useful back when she was collating Freedom Rides material for the Moree community.

Conserving Indigenous archives for future generations

Mukurtu is/are already being used by Native American communities to store and preserve digital archives, and Kirsten Thorpe – now a senior researcher at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at UTS – is involved in making Mukurtu more widely accessible in Australia.

She works with other key players, such as Professor Kimberly Christen at the Centre for Digital Curation and Scholarship in the US and Richard Neville at the State Library of NSW, to ensure the Mukurtu Project has the institutional support it needs to help Indigenous communities protect their cultural heritage for generations to come.

On today’s episode of the podcast, Kirsten Thorpe and Richard Neville explain why Mukurtu is needed, how it’s being used and what’s at stake if we don’t find better ways to empower Indigenous people with the skills and tech to conserve and manage digital archives.

Freedom rider Charles Perkins (right) surveying members of the Moree community about living conditions, February 1965. Photo from the Tribune archive, State Library of NSW. Courtesy the SEARCH Foundation. Digital ID: 5605027. Photo from the Tribune archive, State Library of NSW. Courtesy the SEARCH Foundation., Author provided (No reuse)

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Podcasts are often best enjoyed using a podcast app. All iPhones come with the Apple Podcasts app already installed, or you may want to listen and subscribe on another app such as Pocket Casts (click here to listen to Trust Me, I’m An Expert on Pocket Casts).

You can also hear us on Stitcher, Spotify or any of the apps below. Just pick a service from one of those listed below and click on the icon to find Trust Me, I’m An Expert.

Additional audio

Kindergarten by Unkle Ho, from Elefant Traks

ABC News 1965 intro music.

Lee Rosevere, Betrayal.

Lead image:

Nina Maile Gordon

– ref. Mukurtu: an online dilly bag for keeping Indigenous digital archives safe – http://theconversation.com/mukurtu-an-online-dilly-bag-for-keeping-indigenous-digital-archives-safe-112949

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maggie J. Watson, Lecturer in Ornithology, Ecology, Conservation and Parasitology, Charles Sturt University

Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might also like the podcast Imagine This, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation, based on Curious Kids.

Why do eggs have orange stuff inside? – Rafael, age 7.

This is a very interesting question. That orange stuff is called a yolk. It’s a great source of vitamins, minerals, fats and proteins packaged up by the female animal for an embryo (the developing cells that turn into a baby).

You probably know that the yellow bit inside a chicken’s egg is the yolk, but in fact a lot of animals lay eggs that have yolks in them. However, not all animal eggs have a yolk!

Having a yolk in the egg allows the developing animal to stay inside the egg a bit longer, which may boost its chances of survival. The downside is the mother will need to work harder to find food to get the nutrients needed to create a nutritious, fatty yolk. Flickr/Kai C. Schwarzer, CC BY

Read more: Curious Kids: Is it true that male seahorses give birth?

A contest called evolution

To understand why different animal species have different types of eggs, you need to know that all living things change slowly over time, through a process called evolution.

When a living thing is born with a special difference – what we would call a “trait” – sometimes this trait helps them live and survive better than someone who doesn’t have that trait. This trait may help them live longer and have more babies.

Because of these differences in survival, eventually, the trait that lets one individual living thing live and prosper will become quite common and be found all throughout a species.

Lots of animals lay eggs. Flickr/Alias 0591, CC BY

Back to eggs

Imagine you are a worm living millions of years ago. You produce heaps and heaps of eggs that develop quickly into little worms. But most of the babies die because they are small and have to find food straight after hatching. They can’t go far because they are very little and so most starve to death (or are eaten by bigger creatures).

But what if some of those eggs happened to contain a little bit of fat from the mother? Compared to its brothers and sisters, the fat will allow the worm to spend just a little bit more time growing inside the egg and less time looking for food after hatching.

The worms that were lucky enough to have that fat inside the egg are more likely to survive long enough to have their own babies. And they pass on the fatty-egg trait to their own worm kids. Soon this fatty-egg trait becomes quite common.

So the worm who was able to feed its babies when they’re still inside the egg had more babies survive, and a yolk evolved.

Which eggs have a yolk and why?

Eggs with tiny bits of yolk are found in animals such as earthworms, leeches, clams, mussels, starfish, sea urchins, and marine arthropods (shrimp, lobsters, crabs) and some insects. These animals produce huge numbers of eggs.

Shrimps/prawns lay a large number of eggs. if you look closely, you can see a lot of small, light pink eggs inside this prawn’s body. Flickr/Klaus Stiefel, CC BY

Most of the babies that grow in these sorts of eggs have to go through a lot of steps before they reach the adult stage. First they have to grow into a larvae (which is what we call a junior body, and often looks a bit like worm).

The babies have to change into a larvae so they can eat, and after having eaten a bit they develop into an adult (think of caterpillars that eventually turn into butterflies).

Animals that produce eggs with a bit more yolk have babies that can fully develop and skip the larvae step, such as in hagfish and snails.

Big yolks for big babies

Eggs with really large yolks are found in animals that produce very few eggs, and the offspring can use the yolk to develop completely. These sorts of eggs are found only in cephalopods (squid, octopus and nautilus) and some vertebrates (animals with backbones).

Here are some squid eggs. Flickr/Elias Levy, CC BY

Vertebrates that produce eggs with large yolks include bony fish, cartilaginous fish (sharks and rays), reptiles, birds and egg-laying mammals (platypus and echidnas).

The rest of the mammals (animals that don’t lay eggs) have found a different system. They have a placenta, which is a kind of a feeding sack linking mother to embryo inside the mother’s body. This system allows the developing embryo or fetus to get nutrients straight from the mother. That’s how you were grown!

Read more: Curious Kids: How does glow in the dark paint work?

Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au

CC BY-ND

Please tell us your name, age and which city you live in. We won’t be able to answer every question but we will do our best.

– ref. Curious Kids: why do eggs have a yolk? – http://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-do-eggs-have-a-yolk-111605

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

A quick scan of political headlines over recent election campaigns will tell you that there is a trust deficit in Australian politics. Alarmingly, surveys uniformly find that public trust is falling in Australia.

The Murdoch tabloids (Daily Telegraph and Courier Mail) posed this question on their front pages with the headline “ScoMo vs Shorten: Who do you trust?” on March 28, perhaps implying trust was a one-sided political proposition.

But by the following week, the headline read: “Aussie voters short on choice” after their commissioned YouGov Galaxy poll revealed low public regard for both political leaders.

The poll showed 30% of respondents believed Scott Morrison to be “untrustworthy”, compared to Shorten on 34%. And when asked if they believed the leaders to be “well-intentioned”, the results were grim: just 34% believed Morrison to be well-intentioned, and 30% for Shorten.

Read more: Trust in politicians and government is at an all-time low. The next government must work to fix that

Why is this? One oft-cited reason is that politicians from all sides of politics don’t keep their promises. Veteran columnist with the Sydney Morning Herald, Ross Gittins, summed it up after the defeat of the Liberal National party in the Queensland state election in 2015. Then-Premier Campbell Newman was unceremoniously ousted from office after record wins in the previous election. Gittins wrote:

The biggest problem, of course, is decades of broken promises by both sides. Gillard broke her promises to balance the budget and not to introduce a carbon tax. Campbell Newman promised not to sack public servants. Abbott campaigned on the restoration of trust and high standards, but also made promises he can’t have intended to keep – and didn’t need to make to win.

But are broken promises really to blame for falling levels of public trust in politicians?

We know from extensive research about other western democracies, that political parties make serious efforts to keep their political promises and, despite popular rhetoric, the majority of promises made are kept. Our latest research tested whether this was also true of the Australian experience.

Using the same methods of the Comparative Party Pledges Project (CPPP), which has examined over 20,000 election promises made in 57 election campaigns in 12 countries, we analyse the fulfilment of election promises in six policy areas by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under the leadership of Prime Minister Julia Gillard during the 43rd Parliament.

Among the reasons why we chose to analyse the Gillard government’s performance was the common criticism that it had broken its much-publicised pledge not to introduce a carbon tax, creating a perception that the government could not be trusted.

Read more: If politicians want more trust from voters, they need to start behaving with civility and respect

Sections of the media and political rivals openly called Julia Gillard a liar following the policy backflip. Also, the Gillard government was the first minority federal government since 1941. When the 2010 election produced a hung parliament, many commentators predicted chaos, as Brenton Prosser and Richard Denniss have reminded us. Some argued the government would be unable to fulfil its mandate or that the government would be forced into an early election.

We collected 232 promises (from party documents and the media) at the official start of the election campaign in 2010 until polling day. To measure if a promise was kept, we used sources like Hansard, official political communications, budget papers and, as a last resort, media reports.

We found most promises made were specific rather than general, and most – 87% – were kept (see table below). But, some of those needed to be altered in some way and were only partially kept. This reflected the compromise required to get bills through the two houses, neither controlled by the Labor party.

Table 1. Authors. Notes: N=232 promises. Note: the outcome of three promises could not be determined. Hence, the percentages in the table do not add to 100 per cent.

That the Gillard government was able to keep the majority of its pledges but be tarred with perceptions of deception is what some academics label the “pledge puzzle”.

So why is there a disconnect between perceptions and reality? One reason is that not all promises are equal. Implementing a carbon tax was seen as a big promise to break. Other famous examples include Bob Hawke promising at his 1987 election launch that no Australian child would live in poverty by 1990, and John Howard promising in 1996 to “never ever” introduce a goods and services tax. Measuring the importance of a promise to voters (salience) is an important aspect that may help us better understand the “pledge puzzle” and mistrust of politicians.

The pledge puzzle also suggests that broken promises are only one aspect of how voters regard their politicians. it also tells us that there are other factors to consider – such as media coverage, negative campaigning and political infighting and rorting – to better explain why public trust in Australian politicians is falling. We also know that citizens who are more trusting of politicians are more trusting individuals generally and vice versa.

Overall, our findings give cause for optimism about the role of election promises in representative democracy. We found that politicians do take promises seriously, and that they do try to keep them. Yet, this finding by itself is unlikely to bolster Australians’ trust in their elected representatives at this election until politicians’ report cards improve on other measures.

Dr Andrea Carson will be available for a Q+A from 1pm – 2pm, AEST on Tuesday, April 16 to take questions on this topic. Please post your questions in the comments below.

– ref. And now for a newsflash: politicians actually do keep their promises – http://theconversation.com/and-now-for-a-newsflash-politicians-actually-do-keep-their-promises-114357

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Allen Cheng, Professor in Infectious Diseases Epidemiology, Monash University

Flu vaccines work by exposing the body to a component of the virus so it can “practise” fighting it off, without risking infection. The immune system can then mount a more rapid and effective response when faced with a “real” virus.

Three types of influenza vaccines are available in Australia:

• “standard” vaccines that contains four different strains of influenza

• a “high-dose” vaccine (Fluzone High Dose) that contains three strains of influenza at a higher dose than standard vaccines

• an “adjuvanted” vaccine (Fluad) that contains the standard dose of three strains of influenza, along with MF59, an immune stimulant designed to encourage a stronger immune response to the vaccine.

Read more: When’s the best time to get your flu shot?

The high-dose and adjuvanted vaccines are designed for use only in people aged 65 and over because they can stimulate a better immune response than the standard vaccine. Standard vaccines should be used those younger than 65 years.

This year, the Australian government is offering the adjuvanted vaccine for free for over-65s. The standard vaccine is available for free for some groups under 65 under national and state programs. The high-dose vaccine will only be available to buy through pharmacies and general practices on prescription.

Is the high-dose vaccine better?

Clinical trials have compared the high-dose vaccine with older forms of the standard vaccine that contained three strains.

One US study in over-65s found 1.4% of recipients who were given the high-dose vaccine were diagnosed with influenza, compared with 1.9% of those who received the standard vaccine.

A flu vaccination doesn’t completely eliminate the risk of getting the flu, but it’s likely to make the illness less severe. From shutterstock.com

Subsequent studies also found people who got the high-dose vaccine were less likely to be hospitalised with influenza-related complications. A similar trial in nursing home residents also found a reduced risk of hospitalisation.

Although clinical trials are generally regarded as the gold standard when testing vaccines, it’s also important to consider data from other studies, where different flu strains circulate and where the vaccine may be used in groups that were excluded from clinical trials.

These studies have generally found that the high-dose vaccine is better than the standard vaccine. However, some studies have shown a lesser degree of benefit.

What about the adjuvanted vaccine?

Clinical trials have not been designed to show the different rates of flu infection after taking the adjuvanted vaccine compared with the standard vaccine. But studies have examined the effectiveness of this vaccine in preventing hospitalisations with influenza.

One trial found a small decrease in influenza infection in people who had been given adjuvanted vaccine, compared with standard vaccine, but this difference was not statistically significant.

Another recent trial has been performed in nursing home residents. Preliminary results suggest a very small reduction in hospitalisations compared with those who took the standard vaccine.

With different vaccination options available, it can be hard to work out which is likely to provide the most protection. From shutterstock.com

Despite a lack of clinical trial data, several observational studies have found getting the adjuvanated vaccine means you’re less likely to be hospitalised with influenza than if you receive the standard vaccine.

As with the studies of the high-dose vaccine, the estimated degree of protection varies between studies, reflecting differences in circulating strains, study types, and populations.

Which is better?

There is not yet sufficient data to know whether one enhanced vaccine is better than the other.

One observational study suggests the high-dose vaccine is more effective than the adjuvanted vaccine at preventing hospital admissions with influenza. But this study was not designed to address this question specifically, and the differences observed were small.

Read more: A strong immune system helps ward off colds and flus, but it’s not the only factor

Both enhanced vaccines are safe. Although a higher proportion of patients who receive enhanced vaccines report a sore arm, compared to those who receive the standard vaccine, this is generally mild and rarely requires medical attention.

Immunisation expert groups in Australia, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom have not recommended either enhanced vaccine over the other.

Can you get two for better coverage?

The currently available enhanced vaccines protect against three flu strains, whereas the standard vaccine protects against four.

But for most people, there is no evidence that receiving multiple doses of different vaccines in any one year is any better than getting a single dose of vaccine.

There’s no evidence that two shots are better than one. By Nyvlt-art

In theory, the four-strain vaccines protect against one more strain than the enhanced three-strain vaccines. But in most seasons, few infections are caused by the fourth strain.

There are some specific groups of people for whom two doses may be recommended, including young children receiving the vaccine for the first time, and some people with bone marrow or organ transplants. Seek advice from your doctor if this describes you or your children’s situation.

It’s important to note that none of the standard or enhanced flu vaccines are completely protective; they reduce, but don’t completely eliminate, the risk of getting influenza.

A single dose of any influenza vaccine in each season is the most effective strategy to reduce your chance of getting influenza.

Read more: Health Check: how long should you stay away when you have a cold or the flu?

– ref. High-dose, immune-boosting or four-strain? A guide to flu vaccines for over-65s – http://theconversation.com/high-dose-immune-boosting-or-four-strain-a-guide-to-flu-vaccines-for-over-65s-112224

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jake Whitehead, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland

Australian politicians, including Prime Minister Scott Morrison, have raised the question of electric vehicles’ capacity for “grunt”.

Now I’m by no means a “grunt” expert, but when it comes to performance, electric cars are far from lacking. In fact, Australian electric car owners have ranked performance as the top reason for their purchase choice.

The V8, fuel-guzzling, rev-heads, who are supposedly worried that electric cars mean they will be left driving around golf buggies, should first check out this drag race between a Tesla and a Holden V8 Supercar.

SPOILER ALERT: The Tesla wins, and by a fair amount.

CarAdvice.com: Tesla Model S v Holden V8 Supercar v Walkinshaw HSV GTS Drag Race.

Read more: Don’t trust the environmental hype about electric vehicles? The economic benefits might convince you

Internal combustion engine vs electric motor

Internal combustion engines and electric motors are very different. In an internal combustion engine, as the name suggests, small amounts of fuel are mixed with air, and are exploded to drive a series of pistons. These pistons drive a crankshaft, which is then connected to a gearbox, and eventually the wheels.

This is a rather simplified overview, but there are literally hundreds of moving parts in a combustion engine. The engine must be “revved-up” to a high number of revolutions in order to reach peak efficiency. The gearbox attempts to keep the engine running close to this peak efficiency across a wide range of speeds.

All of this complexity leads to a significant amount of energy being lost, mostly through friction (heat). This is why combustion engine cars are very energy inefficient.

Read more: Why battery-powered vehicles stack up better than hydrogen

So how are electric motors different? Electric motors are actually pretty simple, consisting of a central rotor, typically connected to a single gear. The rotor is turned by a surrounding magnetic field, which is generated using electricity. The added benefit of this design is that it can operate in reverse, acting as a generator to charge the batteries while slowing down the vehicle (this is called regenerative braking).

On the other hand, the electric motor reacts instantly as soon as the accelerator is pushed. Given the minimal moving parts, electric motors are also highly reliable and require little to no maintenance. Their simplicity also means that almost no energy is lost in friction between moving parts, making them far more efficient than internal combustion engines.

Does simplicity translate to more or less grunt?

Combustion engines need to be “revved-up” to reach peak power and torque. Torque is a measure of how much rotational force can be produced, whereas power is a measure of how hard an engine has to work to produce the rotational force.

As shown below, the power and torque characteristics of a combustion engine means that although a conventional car might have a top capacity of 120 kW of power and 250 Newton metres of torque, this is only when the engine is running at high speeds.

Power and torque characteristics of a typical internal combustion engine. Victor Barreto

In contrast, an electric motor provides full torque from zero kilometres an hour, with a linear relationship between how fast the motor is spinning and the power required. These characteristics translate to a vehicle that is extremely fast at accelerating, with the ability to push you back into your seat.

Power and torque characteristics of a typical electric motor. Victor Barreto

What about pulling power?

For over a decade electric motors have been used in mining trucks, sometimes with a capacity greater than 100 tonnes, due to their powerful, instant torque and ability to pull large loads at slow speeds.

While most of these vehicles have been diesel-hybrids, fully electric mining trucks are now being introduced due to their high power-to-weight ratio, low operating costs, and ability to use regenerative braking to – in some cases – fully recharge their batteries on each mine descent.

A 590 kW, 9,500 N.m electric mining dumper truck, known as the eDumper, uses 30 kWh to travel uphill (unloaded, and can regenerate 40 kWh of electricity when driving back downhill fully loaded. Andreas Sutter/eMining AG

Electric motors are also increasingly being used in shipping, again because of their ability to push large loads. In Europe, a number of short-haul electric ships are currently in use. One example is the Tycho Brahe, a 238 metre-long, 8,414 tonne electric passenger and vehicle ferry that operates between Helsingborg, Sweden and Helsingør, Denmark.

Tycho Brahe – an electric vehicle and passenger ferry with 4,000 kWh of batteries. Forsea

The future of grunt

The global transition to electric vehicles is underway. Australians must decide whether we want to capture the enormous benefits this technology can bring, or remain a global laggard, literally being killed by our current vehicle emissions.

A Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle). Jake Whitehead

While long-distance towing in fully electric vehicles is currently a challenge, in the near future this will no longer be the case with the introduction of long-range electric utes like the Rivian R1T and Tesla Pickup.

In the interim, alternatives also exist, like my own plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. It can tow, drive on the beach, and drive up to 50 kilometres on electricity alone. Charged using my home solar system or The University of Queensland’s fast-charger, it means that more than 90% of my trips are zero-emission.

It is clear that electric cars can provide plenty of grunt for Australians, so let’s make sure we are ready for an electric performance future.

– ref. Here’s why electric cars have plenty of grunt, oomph and torque – http://theconversation.com/heres-why-electric-cars-have-plenty-of-grunt-oomph-and-torque-115356

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip Almond, Emeritus Professor in the History of Religious Thought, The University of Queensland

This year is the 40th anniversary of the release of Monty Python’s Life of Brian. The film met with instant controversy in 1979 and was banned in Ireland, Norway and parts of Britain. In the US, protesters gathered outside cinemas where it aired.

Life of Brian tells the story of Brian of Nazareth (played by Graham Chapman), who is born on the same day as Jesus of Nazareth. After joining a Jewish, anti-Roman terrorist group, The People’s Front of Judea, he is mistaken for a prophet and becomes an unwilling Messiah. All this eventually produces the film’s most remembered line, courtesy of Brian’s mother Mandy (Terry Jones). “He’s not the Messiah,” she tells us, “he’s a very naughty boy”.

In November 1979, the BBC famously televised a debate between Pythons John Cleese and Michael Palin and two pillars of the Christian establishment, journalist Malcolm Muggeridge and then Bishop of Southwark Mervyn Stockwood. Each side totally failed to understand the other. Muggeridge’s point was that Brian was nothing but a “lampooning of Christ”. The Pythons argued this couldn’t be so because Brian was not Jesus. Technically, they were right. Still, this did not satisfy the Bishop, or the film’s many critics.

How does Life of Brian – which is being re-released to mark the anniversary – stand the test of time? Watching it today, it strikes me that, as parody goes, it is a pretty gentle, even, respectful sort. Ironically, to be properly offended by it or even to get the joke – then or now – requires a good knowledge of the life of Jesus in the New Testament Gospels.

What of the Church’s complaint that Brian was Jesus and thus the film was sacriligious or even blasphemous? There are three places in it where Brian and Jesus are clearly distinguished. Firstly, when the wise men – having worshipped the wrong baby – realise their mistake, they return to the stable to retrieve their gifts. Secondly, Brian is seen in the crowd listening to Jesus deliver the Sermon on the Mount. And in another scene, an ex-leper (Palin) complains to Brian about the loss of his livelihood as a beggar because Jesus has cured him.

Still, Brian is in some sense, “Jesus”. For the film relies on both the similarities and differences between the lives of both men. They are both born in stables. They both meet their deaths through crucifixion, although the one ends in Jesus’s resurrection from the dead and the other in Eric Idle’s nihilistic song Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. (“For Life is quite absurd, and Death’s the final word.”) The Pythons also make the point that there were many others like Jesus at the time (such as Palin’s really boring prophet) proclaiming the end of the world was at hand.

Life of Brian was certainly considered blasphemous in 1979 – and the film itself makes references to the absurdity of blasphemy as a crime.

Today, however, blasphemy is no longer on the cultural agenda of the non-Muslim West. Christians and others look disapprovingly on Islam’s understanding of blasphemy and the severe punishments meted out for it. As a crime, it has been religiously “othered”.

The virtue of the film today is its capacity to offend a whole new generation of viewers for different reasons. It is now more likely to be criticised for breaching the boundaries of “political correctness” around issues of gender, race, class and disability than blasphemy.

It is difficult, for instance, to hear Brian assert his Jewish identity in anti-Semitic terms:

I’m not a Roman, Mum, and I never will be! I’m a Kike! A Yid! A Hebe! A Hook-nose! I’m Kosher, Mum! I’m a Red Sea Pedestrian, and proud of it!

Still, as gender transitioning becomes culturally mainstream, the desire of the revolutionary Stan (Eric Idle) to be a woman, to be called “Loretta” and to have babies, will strike a chord.

And one cannot underestimate the sheer pleasure certain memorable scenes bring: from the misheard Sermon on The Mount (“Blessed are the Cheesemakers”) to the sight of Brian rewriting “Romans Go Home” on the palace walls, after a passing Centurion disgusted at Brian’s faulty Latin grammar, forces him to write out the correct protest message 100 times.

Life of Brian is undoubtedly a criticism of the unthinking nature of religious belief, from the perspective of the freedom and authority of the individual. In a key scene, Brian tells a crowd they are all individuals.

“Yes, we’re all individuals,” the crowd responds.

Then one lonely voice, Dennis, chimes in. “I’m not,” he says.

In this assertion of the freedom of the individual, of the virtue of thinking for yourselves, the film exemplifies modernity. As Immanuel Kant put it in 1784, “‘Have the courage to use your own understanding!’ — that is the motto of enlightenment.”

This notion was at the heart of all of Monty Python’s work and is the central message of Life of Brian.

Monty Python’s Life of Brian – 40th Anniversary will screen at select cinemas from April 18.

– ref. Life of Brian at 40: an assertion of individual freedom that still resonates – http://theconversation.com/life-of-brian-at-40-an-assertion-of-individual-freedom-that-still-resonates-114743

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mirjam van der Mheen, PhD Candidate in Oceanography, University of Western Australia

Great areas of our rubbish are known to form in parts of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. But no such “garbage patch” has been found in the Southern Indian Ocean.

Our research – published recently in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans – looked at why that’s the case, and what happens to the rubbish that gets dumped in this particular area.

Every year, up to 15 million tonnes of plastic waste is estimated to make its way into the ocean through coastlines (about 12.5 million tonnes) and rivers (about 2.5 million tonnes). This amount is expected to double by 2025.

Read more: A current affair: the movement of ocean waters around Australia

Some of this waste sinks in the ocean, some is washed up on beaches, and some floats on the ocean surface, transported by currents.

The garbage patches

As plastic materials are extremely durable, floating plastic waste can travel great distances in the ocean. Some floating plastics collect in the centre of subtropical circulating currents known as gyres, between 20 to 40 degrees north and south, to create these garbage patches.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Here, the ocean currents converge at the centre of the gyre and sink. But the floating plastic material remains at the surface, allowing it to concentrate in these regions.

The best known of these garbage patches is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which contains about 80,000 tonnes of plastic waste. As the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration points out, the “patches” are not actually clumped collections of easy-to-see debris, but concentrations of litter (mostly small pieces of floating plastic).

Similar, but smaller, patches exist in the North and South Atlantic Oceans and the South Pacific Ocean. In total, it is estimated that only 1% of all plastic waste that enters the ocean is trapped in the garbage patches. It is still a mystery what happens to the remaining 99% of plastic waste that has entered the ocean.

Rubbish in the Indian Ocean

Even less is known about what happens to plastic in the Indian Ocean, although it receives the largest input of plastic material globally.

For example, it has been estimated that up to 90% of the global riverine input of plastic waste originates from Asia. The input of plastics to the Southern Indian Ocean is mainly through Indonesia. The Australian contribution is small.

The major sources of riverine input of plastic material into the Indian Ocean. The Ocean Cleanup, CC BY-NC-ND

The Indian Ocean has many unique characteristics compared with the other ocean basins. The most striking factor is the presence of the Asian continental landmass, which results in the absence of a northern ocean basin and generates monsoon winds.

As a result of the former, there is no gyre in the Northern Indian Ocean, and so there is no garbage patch. The latter results in reversing ocean surface currents.

The Indian and Pacific Oceans are connected through the Indonesian Archipelago, which allows for warmer, less salty water to be transported from the Pacific to the Indian via a phenomenon called the Indonesian Throughflow (see graphic, below).

Schematic currents and location of a leaky garbage patch in the southern Indian Ocean: Indonesian Throughflow (ITF), Leeuwin Current (LC), South Indian Counter Current (SICC), Agulhas Current (AC). Author provided

This connection also results in the formation of the Leeuwin Current, a poleward (towards the South Pole) current that flows alongside Australia’s west coast.

As a result, the Southern Indian Ocean has poleward currents on both eastern and western margins of the ocean basin.

Also, the South Indian Counter Current flows eastwards across the entire width of the Southern Indian Ocean, through the centre of the subtropical gyre, from the southern tip of Madagascar to Australia.

The African continent ends at around 35 degrees south, which provides a connection between the southern Indian and Atlantic Oceans.

How to follow that rubbish

In contrast to other ocean basins, the Indian Ocean is under-sampled, with only a few measurements of plastic material available. As technology to remotely track plastics does not yet exist, we need to use indirect ways to determine the fate of plastic in the Indian Ocean.

We used information from more than 22,000 satellite-tracked surface drifting buoys that have been released all over the world’s oceans since 1979. This allowed us to simulate pathways of plastic waste globally, with an emphasis on the Indian Ocean.

Global simulated concentration of floating waste after 50 years. Mirjam van der Mheen, Author provided

We found that unique characteristics of the Southern Indian Ocean transport floating plastics towards the ocean’s western side, where it leaks past South Africa into the South Atlantic Ocean.

Because of the Asian monsoon system, the southeast trade winds in the Southern Indian Ocean are stronger than the trade winds in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. These strong winds push floating plastic material further to the west in the Southern Indian Ocean than they do in the other oceans.

So the rubbish goes where?

This allows the floating plastic to leak more readily from the Southern Indian Ocean into the South Atlantic Ocean. All these factors contribute to an ill-defined garbage patch in the Southern Indian Ocean.

Simulated concentration of floating waste over 50 years in the Indian Ocean.

In the Northern Indian Ocean our simulations showed there may be an accumulation of waste in the Bay of Bengal.

Read more: ‘Missing plastic’ in the oceans can be found below the surface

It is also likely that floating plastics will ultimately end up on beaches all around the Indian Ocean, transported by the reversing monsoon winds and currents. Which beaches will be most heavily affected is still unclear, and will probably depend on the monsoon season.

Our study shows that the atmospheric and oceanic attributes of the Indian Ocean are different to other ocean basins and that there may not be a concentrated garbage patch. Therefore the mystery of all the missing plastic is even greater in the Indian Ocean.

– ref. There’s no ‘garbage patch’ in the Southern Indian Ocean, so where does all the rubbish go? – http://theconversation.com/theres-no-garbage-patch-in-the-southern-indian-ocean-so-where-does-all-the-rubbish-go-114439

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

The election contest continues to focus on tax and health, with the government setting out the tax benefit people in particular occupations would get in the long term under its plan, and Labor announcing funding for pathology from its cancer package.

The government says teachers, nurses, police officers and tradesmen would pay significantly more income tax under Labor.

According to its figures a NSW nurse manager earning $199,029 in 2024-25 would pay $11,740 less tax than under Labor; a Queensland public school principal on $183,201 would pay $9049 less tax than under Labor, and a Victorian public school classroom teacher on $115,745 would be $3699 better off.

Labor has rejected the later stages of the government’s income tax plan, saying it is not fiscally responsible to produce details at this stage. It however has left the way open for a Shorten government to give tax cuts – beyond those promised to be delivered within weeks of the election – when budget circumstances allow.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said: “Anyone earning more than $40,000 will better off under our plan. It means school teachers, nurses, bus drivers and emergency service workers right across the country will have more money in their pocket.

“This is more money to spend as they see fit. Our plan provides greater reward for effort while ensuring top earners continue to pay their fair share.”

“Our tax system will maintain its progressive nature under our reforms, with the top 5% of the taxpayers paying around one third of all income tax.”

Source: Liberal Party of Australia

Tax and health have dominated the first days of the campaign, with the government using numbers from the Treasury to butress its argument about Labor as high taxers and figures from the Health department to claim Labor’s plan to slash costs for cancer sufferers was massively under-costed.

Both Treasury and the Health department distanced themselves from the exercises, saying they had responded to government requests rather than costed opposition policies.

In the case of the attack on the cancer package the government’s attack was based on a false assumption about rebates.

In its latest slicing and dicing of its $2.3 billion cancer package Labor says it would invest $200 million to keep pathology tests free for older people and people with cancer.

“Bulk billing for blood tests is at breaking point – cancer patients will either have to pay, or there will be a reducation in services,” Bill Shorten and health spokeswoman Catherine King say in a statement.

A Labor government would work with the sector and lift the bulk billing incentive. Older people will have about 20 million pathology tests a year; people with cancer have about three million.

The CEO of Australian Pathology, Leisel Well, said that “without adequate funding, pathology services will be forced to stop bulk billing.

“This will impact unfairly on poorer Australians, including pensioners. Many will simply not be able to afford tests, which means diseases will get diagnosed later at a greater cost to taxpayers, and most importantly with a greater impact on thye health outcomes of Australians”.

– ref. Election stays on tax and health battlegrounds – http://theconversation.com/election-stays-on-tax-and-health-battlegrounds-115500

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Burton, Adjunct Lecturer in Education, Edith Cowan University

This article is part of our series on homeschooling in Australia. The series answers common questions including why homeschooling is on the rise and how outcomes of homeschooled children compare with those who attend formal schooling.

Between 2011 and 2017, the number of children homeschooled in Australia grew by more than 80%. In Queensland, it nearly quadrupled during this period. This suggests one in 200 Australian students were home educated in 2017.

Some people believe homeschooled children miss out on socialising with others and are sheltered from the normal pressures of life. Many question how parents can cultivate important aspects of social development such as resilience and effective interpersonal skills in their children if they are not being exposed to peers in a typical school setting.

The “socialisation question”, as it is known in homeschooling research, is frequently encountered by homeschooling families.

We conducted a survey that captured data on various aspects of the homeschooling experience, including socialisation. A total of 385 parents or guardians from across all Australian states and territories, who were homeschooling 676 children, responded to the questionnaire. We then conducted interviews with 12 homeschooling parents/guardians.

Homeschooled children learning archery. Author provided

Our yet-to-be-published survey found homeschooled children have ample opportunities for engagement and socialisation. This includes being involved in various learning and other community groups, and participating in homeschooling co-ops.

The socialisation question

Homeschooling families don’t conform to social norms by virtue of not attending formalised schooling. When people deviate from mainstream expectations, it can provoke strong opinions from other members of society.

Concerns about socialisation are persistent despite a number of research papers that found homeschooled children are not denied opportunities to socialise. As one paper’s authors noted:

Whilst home education does occur from a ‘home base’ many home education approaches extend learning well beyond the bounds of the family home by way of experiential learning and accessing community resources.

A study of 70 US home-schooled children concluded that “homeschooled children’s social skills scores were consistently higher than those of public school students”.

And another study’s author wrote:

Compared to children attending conventional schools, research also suggests homeschooled children often have higher quality friendships and better relationships with their parents and other adults.

Similarly, a 2014 parliamentary review of homeschooling in New South Wales found no concerns in relation to the socialisation of homeschooled children and no recommendations in this area were deemed to be necessary.

An active homeschooling community

Our survey and interviews demonstrated homeschooled children were active members of their community, and were far more socially engaged than public misconceptions suggest.

Read more: How parents can help their young children develop healthy social skills

Nearly 50% of children participated in at least one club activity. This included 24 different sports – from AFL to aerial silks and yoga – and clubs including lego and chess. Around 40% attended at least one regular learning group. Classes included new languages, gardening, Shakespeare and archaeology.

Homeschooled children regularly attend community events and are involved in learning groups, such as this science group at a local library. Author provided

The majority of research participants regularly had “play dates” with homeschooling and/or non-homeschooling families. Children actively participated in their community through the arts, including community theatre, bands, choirs, dance and visual arts classes.

More than 15% of survey participants highlighted the importance of extended family being active in children’s lives and teaching them life skills across multiple generations. The community church played a big part in some children’s socialisation, and 9% participated in junior groups focusing on serving the community, including Scouts, Guides and Cadets.

Homeschooled children engage in activities such as cooking classes. Author provided

Homeschooling co-ops

Nearly 40% of participating families indicated they were members of a homeschooling co-op. These are community groups run by a committee of parents, guardians and sometimes extended family. They provide various courses such as sport or music, STEM classes, ecological conservation, and courses directed at social and emotional well-being.

Children are often active participants in the co-op, making suggestions regarding classes and running events themselves. A growing movement, and a boon for geographically isolated families, is the emergence of virtual home-school co-ops.

A few key themes emerged from the interviews conducted with parents, which can offer some advice to those considering, or who are new to, homeschooling:

• many parents reported initial concerns regarding their ability to teach their child effectively, only to find their concerns were unfounded

• homeschooling does not look like mainstream schooling, so don’t try to make it look the same. It doesn’t work

• schedule time for yourself – self-care is very important

• join a homeschooling group.

A number of groups are available to provide support to homeschooling families in Australia. Lots of resources are available, and seasoned families often provide support for new members. Homeschoolingdownunder is a great starting point. There are also countless homeschooling support groups on Facebook some of which serve specific geographical locations or populations of children.

Read more: Homeschooling is on the rise in Australia. Who is doing it and why?

Next time you meet someone who is homeschooling their child or children, instead of asking them about socialisation (they have heard that one before), consider acknowledging the enormous commitment made by their family and the fantastic opportunities they are providing for their children. Concerns about socialisation in the Australian homeschooling community are not grounded in reality.

– ref. Homeschooled children are far more socially engaged than you might think – http://theconversation.com/homeschooled-children-are-far-more-socially-engaged-than-you-might-think-111353

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Warwick Smith, Research economist, University of Melbourne

Lately, governments and oppositions have been obsessed with “returning to surplus” in order to balance the budget.

It hasn’t always been so. In the lead-up to the 1961 federal election, unemployment had climbed above 2% and was creeping towards 3%. (By today’s standards that doesn’t sound much, but for two decades since the onset of the second world war unemployment had been mostly well below 2%.)

The Labor opposition, led by Arthur Calwell, went to the 1961 election promising that:

Labor will restore full employment within 12 months, and will introduce a supplementary budget in February for a deficit of £100 million, if necessary, to achieve this.

From the end of World War II, there had been a bipartisan commitment to full employment in Australia. As laid out in the Curtin government’s 1945 White Paper, Full Employment in Australia, this was achieved by “stimulating spending on goods and services to the extent necessary to sustain full employment”.

The strongly held view, developed primarily by British economist John Maynard Keynes during the Great Depression, was that government could, and should, use its spending power to fill any gap left by private expenditure, ensuring there was always enough spending to keep operating near (but not above) capacity.

Spending stopped unemployment

The 25 years after World War II in which this happened are often referred to as the “postwar boom” because times were so good. This period had rapid economic growth, steadily improving material standards of living (for most), and falling inequality.

Involuntary unemployment was scarcely heard of. “Long-term unemployment” didn’t exist as a statistical category.

By focusing on keeping the Australian economy at or near full capacity and investing heavily in infrastructure, research and education to improve productivity, the postwar governments of both major parties were able to do what these days would be thought impossible: to run constant government deficits while overseeing a dramatic fall in the ratio of government debt to gross domestic product.

Source: Australian Federal Government deficits, debt and the stock market, Centric Wealth

What’s important to understand is that the postwar boom occurred, at least in part, because of the budget deficits, not in spite of them.

By always spending enough to maintain the economy at full employment, the government ensured a strong economy. Economic growth made the ratio of debt to gross domestic product shrink.

All of this was very much part of the public conversation back in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Very little attention was given to the budget balance, with people instead focused on the level of unemployment. On the rare occasions the budget balance was mentioned, it was often in the context of pushing for greater deficits to reduce unemployment.

Calwell won the fight, if not the election

After the 1961 election Robert Menzies made Arthur Calwell’s policy his own. National Library of Australia

Calwell’s Labor opposition didn’t win the 1961 election, but there was a massive swing towards it and the result was one of the closest in Australia’s history, decided by mere hundreds of votes.

The fact that unemployment had crept up towards 3% was a significant contributor to the Coalition losing 15 seats in the House of Representatives and control of the Senate.

Immediately after the election, to shore up his position, Menzies effectively adopted and extended Labor’s policy delivering a 1962-63 budget that focused squarely full employment and brought down a deficit £120 million, £20 million more than Labor had been proposing.

The debt burden shrank as GDP climbed

By the end of World War II, government debt was 120% of gross domestic product total. This means that total debt was 1.2 times the annual economic output of the country. By comparison, today’s federal government debt is about 18% of GDP, a mere one-fifth of annual economic output.

So, according to the modern political discourse on government debt, the postwar generations must have been terribly burdened by all of that debt, and governments must have had to show incredible fiscal discipline to pay it off, right?

The answer will surprise many who have fallen for the modern rhetoric. Although each loan was paid off as if came due, the total stock of debt didn’t shrink, but the economy grew strongly, allowing the debt-to-GDP ratio to wither to the point at which it approached zero.

Commonwealth Treasury

Australia’s budget history is one of modest deficits leavened with occasional larger deficits and occasional surpluses. It’s been entirely sustainable.

Our postwar governments lived by Keynes’s dictum:

Look after the unemployment and the budget will look after itself.

The economy has changed a lot since then and we can’t simply copy the policies that worked for Curtin, Chifley and Menzies.

But we can learn from them. The reality is that we don’t know how low unemployment could fall in modern Australia because we haven’t made any genuine attempt to push it below 5% for decades.

Read more: Explainer: what is modern monetary theory?

A modern-day policy commitment to full employment, along lines inspired by what we did after the war, could lift wages, reduce inequality, drive increases in productivity and, most importantly, provide full employment for the more than two million Australians who are currently unemployed, underemployed or discouraged attempting to get work.

Treasurer Chifley summed up the goal this way in 1944:

Our objective is not primarily social security, but rather the much higher objective of full employment of manpower and resources in raising living standards.

– ref. Memories. In 1961 Labor promised to boost the deficit to fight unemployment. The promise won – http://theconversation.com/memories-in-1961-labor-promised-to-boost-the-deficit-to-fight-unemployment-the-promise-won-115376

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

While Peter Dutton is fighting for his political life in his marginal Brisbane seat of Dickson, he is being “weaponised” by Labor in its efforts to defeat two of his strongest Victorian supporters, Greg Hunt and Michael Sukkar, despite their relatively solid margins.

Last August, a clutch of Victorian Liberals including Hunt and Sukkar thought the government collectively, and in some cases they individually, would be better off with the rightwinger from Queensland as prime minister.

Greg Hunt aspired to be Dutton’s deputy. If he and Dutton had won their respective ballots Hunt, rather than Josh Frydenberg, would now be treasurer.

Instead, he remains health minister and is facing a tough contest in Flinders, made more difficult by crossbencher Julia Banks running there as an independent. Banks, the Liberal defector who formerly occupied Chisholm, was particularly angered by the overthrow of Malcolm Turnbull and has made a feature of Hunt’s disloyalty.

Sukkar, the member for Deakin, a hard line conservative who was an assistant minister before the coup and a backbencher after it, did numbers for Dutton.

On Monday Labor launched a social media campaign weaponising Peter Dutton in the fight to unseat Hunt and Sukkar in Flinders and Deakin.

The targeting is based on internal tracking research showing Dutton is especially toxic in those two seats.

Quotes from the Labor focus groups included:

Even though I normally vote Liberal I’d love to see Peter Dutton and Tony Abbott stitched up

I am a Liberal voter but this time I can’t because of what Peter Dutton did to Malcolm Turnbull

In usual circumstances Deakin (on 6.4%) and Flinders (7%) should be safe. But after the November state rout of the Liberals – when the overthrow of Turnbull was a major factor and Dutton’s face had been on billboards – nothing is certain.

The Liberals think some of this anger has abated but the Victorian situation remains grim, with a number of seats at risk in a state John Howard has called the Massachusetts of Australia.

Labor has around ten seats on its “target” list for attention. While Dutton may be featured in other seats, there is less of a “hook” for him than in those of Hunt and Sukkar.

When Scott Morrison announced the election last Thursday, Bill Shorten delivered his speech later from a suburban home in Deakin.

On Monday Morrison was campaigning with Sukkar – who was anxious to leave most of the talking to the Prime Minister.

Asked how much Sukkar’s support for Dutton had contributed to the problems the government was facing in Deakin and Victoria, Morrison stonewalled: “That is such a bubble question, I’m just going to leave that one in the bubble”.

One of the Labor posters that will appear in the Victorian seats of Deakin and Flinders.

In the video Labor targets Dutton over a broad range of issues, including his support, as health minister under Tony Abbott, for a proposed $7 Medicare co-payment, which was later dumped.

His co-payment history is expected to get a wider outing in a campaign in which Labor is running heavily on health.

The video asks

How much will Peter Dutton and the Liberals stand up for Victoria? Let’s check. He tried to give a $17 billion tax cut to the banks, cut $14 billion from Australian public schools

It says

Peter Dutton was the health minister who tried to cut more than $50 billion from public hospitals and also tried to introduce the $7 GP tax. He made fun of climate change victims and voted against the banking royal commission 24 times.

And with the other right-wing Liberals he plotted to dump Malcolm Turnbull and voted to make himself prime minister, twice.Right-winger Peter Dutton for the top end of town and himself.“

There are also customised posters in Victoria featuring Dutton, especially for Deakin and Flinders.

Dutton has played into Labor’s hands in the early days of the campaign, with his remark last week attacking his opponent, amputee Ali France, for not moving into Dickson, accusing her of using her disability as an excuse.

“A lot of people have raised this with me. I think they are quite angry that Ms France is using her disability as an excuse for not moving into our electorate,” he said.

“Ali has been telling people that even if she won the election she won’t move into our electorate. She has now changed that position, but I don’t think it is credible.”

Read more: View from The Hill: Dutton suffers reflux after tasty Chinese meal

Morrison initially defended Dutton, claiming he was taken out of context and was just reflecting what his constituents had said to him.

Subsequently Dutton apologised. On Monday Morrison too had changed his tune. “Peter has made his apology appropriately. What I don’t want to see happen in this election campaign is, I don’t want to see people playing politics with disabilities. I have very strong personal views about this topic”.

Nationally, Peter Dutton will have a big footprint in the campaign. It won’t be a helpful one for Morrison.

– ref. View from The Hill: Peter Dutton – Labor’s not-so-secret weapon against Hunt and Sukkar – http://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-peter-dutton-labors-not-so-secret-weapon-against-hunt-and-sukkar-115474

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne

With five weeks until the May 18 election, this week’s Newspoll, conducted April 11-14 from a sample of 1,700 people, gave Labor a 52-48 lead, unchanged since last week. Primary votes were 39% Coalition (up one), 39% Labor (up two), 9% Greens (steady) and 4% One Nation (down two) – One Nation’s lowest primary vote since November 2016.

While the two-party figure was unchanged, this poll is better for Labor than last week’s Newspoll, with Labor gaining two points in primary votes from One Nation’s drop. If we assess this poll as total right-wing vs total left-wing vote, the left (Labor and Greens) gained two points to stand at 48%, while the right (Coalition and One Nation) lost one point to fall to 43%. Analyst Kevin Bonham said this Newspoll was probably rounded towards the Coalition.

One Nation’s drop is likely the result of increased polarisation between the major parties. If One Nation had been affected by the NRA donations scandal, it would have shown up in last week’s polls.

Nominations for the federal election will be declared on April 24. It is unlikely that One Nation will contest the vast majority of lower house seats. Polling conducted after April 24 is likely to greatly reduce One Nation’s vote as they will no longer be an option for most Australians in the lower house. This reduction of One Nation’s vote may assist the Coalition on primary votes.

In the Newspoll, 45% of respondents were satisfied with Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s performance (steady), and 44% were dissatisfied (up one), for a net approval of +1. Labor leader Bill Shorten’s net approval was steady at -14. Morrison led Shorten by an unchanged 46-35 as better PM.

Since Malcolm Turnbull was ousted as prime minister in August 2018, the Coalition has recovered from a 56-44 deficit in Newspoll to 52-48 this week, due partly to the time that’s passed since the spill and partly to the relative popularity of Morrison.

Now that the election campaign is formally under way, some attention will shift to the opposition’s policies and proposals. The danger for Labor is the Coalition can scare voters about its economic policies, but the potential reward is that Labor can appeal to voters who are frustrated by the Coalition’s perceived inaction on climate change and low wage growth.

Read more: Post-budget poll wrap: Coalition gets a bounce in Newspoll, but not in Ipsos or Essential

Large difference in voting intentions by age group

Every three months, Newspoll aggregates all the polls it conducted from that time period to get voting intention breakdowns by state, age, gender and region (the five capital cities vs the rest of Australia). For January to March, the overall result was 53-47 to Labor, a point better for Labor than the last two Newspolls.

This three-month Newspoll showed a large difference in voting intentions by age group. Among those aged 18-34, Labor had 46% of the primary vote, the Coalition 28%, the Greens 14% and One Nation 4%. Among those aged 35-49, it was Labor 39%, Coalition 35%, Greens 9% and One Nation 7%. And among those aged 50 or over, the Coalition had 44%, Labor 35%, One Nation 6% and Greens 5%.

It is still important to poll well with this oldest demographic. According to the 2016 census, those aged 18-34 represent 30.3% of the eligible voting age population and those aged 35-49 represent 26.0%. The share of the voting-age population aged 50 or over, however, is 43.7%.

Results by gender were similar. Men gave Labor 40% of the primary vote, the Coalition 37%, the Greens 7% and One Nation 6%. With women, Labor had 39%, the Coalition 37%, the Greens 10% and One Nation 6%. After preferences, Labor would be doing about one point better with women than men.

The best source for state voting intentions is The Poll Bludger’s BludgerTrack. Perhaps reflecting the Coalition’s victory in the recent NSW election, federal Labor’s lead over the Coalition in that state has been reduced to just 50.1-49.9 from about 54-46 in the last few weeks. This is about a 0.6% swing in Labor’s favour from 2016.

Labor has maintained a larger lead in most other states, however. In Victoria, Labor leads by 55.1-44.9, a 3.2% swing to Labor since 2016. In Queensland, Labor leads by 52.0-48.0, a 6.1% swing to Labor. In SA, Labor leads by 55.7-44.3, a 3.4% swing to Labor.

In WA, the Coalition still leads by 51.0-49.0, but this is a 3.6% swing in Labor’s favour from 2016.

Nationally, BludgerTrack gives Labor a 52.5-47.5 lead, a 2.8% swing to Labor.

One Nation wins two seats in the NSW upper house

In the March 23 NSW election, 21 members of the upper house were elected by statewide proportional representation, with a quota of 1/22 of the vote, or 4.55%.

The Coalition won 7.66 quotas, Labor 6.53, the Greens 2.14, One Nation 1.52, the Shooters, Fishers & Farmers 1.22, the Christian Democrats 0.50, the Liberal Democrats 0.48, Animal Justice 0.43 and Keep Sydney Open 0.40.

The Coalition was certain to win an eighth seat, and Labor and One Nation were best placed for two other seats. On preferences, Animal Justice overtook the Liberal Democrats, Christian Democrats and One Nation to win the second-to-last seat, with One Nation’s second candidate, Rod Roberts, defeating the Christian Democrats for the final seat.

It is the first time since 1981 that the Christian Democrats have failed to win a seat in the NSW upper house. David Leyonhjelm, who resigned from the Senate to run as the lead Liberal Democrat candidate in NSW, did not win.

The Coalition now holds 17 of the 42 total upper house seats (down three), Labor 14 (up two), the Greens four (down one), the Shooters two (steady), One Nation two (up two), Animal Justice two (up one) and the Christian Democrats one (down one). One Green member, Justin Field, resigned from the party, and is now an independent.

Overall, the right now holds 22 of the 42 seats. On legislation opposed by the left-wing parties, the Coalition will require support from One Nation, the Shooters and Christian Democrats.

Read more: Coalition wins a third term in NSW with few seats changing hands

Brexit likely delayed until at least October 31

The European Union leaders have decided to delay Brexit until at least October 31. Without a majority for any plausible Brexit option, the House of Commons could only vote to delay Brexit to prevent a no-deal departure from the EU, but this delay will likely not appeal to the general public or “leave” voters.

Two new polls have the Conservatives slumping to just 28-29% of the UK vote, 4-7 points behind Labour.

– ref. Poll wrap: Labor maintains its lead in Newspoll, while One Nation drops; NSW upper house finalised – http://theconversation.com/poll-wrap-labor-maintains-its-lead-in-newspoll-while-one-nation-drops-nsw-upper-house-finalised-115426

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University

Although Rosslynd Piggott has a high profile in the contemporary Australian art scene, her work is difficult to characterise; meaning in her installations, objects and paintings is elusive and interpretations are ambiguous. Her art is not easily given to verbalisation; it is something that is perceived visually and felt intuitively.

Jane Devery, the curator of this exhibition and the author of the excellent catalogue essay notes that Piggott’s works “have courted the elusive and the ethereal.” From the outset, Piggott’s art has flirted with surrealism and symbolism, she explores a dream-like state, where the process is open-ended – part of a continuum – and the notion of the uncanny is a constant companion.

Rosslynd Piggott Upside-down landscape 1989 oil on linen, 136.0 x 183.0 cm. © The artist Photo: courtesy the artist

Yukio Mishima, one of Piggott’s favourite authors, in his novel Spring Snow (1969), touches on a quality inherent in Piggott’s art. Mishima writes,

Dreams, memories, the sacred – they are all alike in that they are beyond our grasp. Once we are even marginally separated from what we can touch, the object is sanctified; it acquires the beauty of the unattainable, the quality of the miraculous. Everything, really, has this quality of sacredness, but we can desecrate it at a touch. How strange man is! His touch defiles and yet he contains the source of miracles.

Rosslynd Piggott La somnambule (the sleepwalker) 1996–97 (detail) Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Contemporary Collection Benefactors 2003. © The artist Photo: courtesy the artist

Many of Piggott’s pieces could be aptly described as containing “the source of miracles” – where something is sensed, rather than clearly perceived or articulated. We enter into an ethereal zone, where there are no secure touchstones; mirrors and reflections are part of the process and we frequently see the world through a glass darkly.

Piggott observes: “I have long been drawn to an unclear mirror, as an object and an idea, held in fascination with ancient mirrors, darkened by the oxygenation of time”.

Nevertheless, Piggott’s objects, installations and paintings are memorable, even if memorable in an enigmatic way. Her High bed 1998, in the National Gallery of Australia collection in Canberra, is simple, alluring and seductive, but the elements presented for our contemplation lack a rational reading.

Rosslynd Piggott High bed 1998, painted wood, metal, cotton, polyethylene terephthalate, satin, mirror / mirrored synthetic polymer resin, synthethetic polymer paint on existing walls, 370.0 x 200.0 x 230.0 cm (variable). National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased, 2000 © The artist

There is a luxurious but oversized bed, which can only be reached by a ladder; at the foot of the ladder are a pair of gorgeous satin adult party shoes, but much too tiny to fit even the smallest and most dainty adult foot. Perched on top of the bed, where the sleeper should be, is a small model of a house.

A circular mirror, suspended above, in pedigree stretching back to the mirror in Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini double portrait, adds to the sense of disorientation and heightened anxiety experienced in this installation.

In the late 1990s, when the High Bed was made, in art circles there was a growing interest in Freud’s notion of the uncanny that explored strangeness in everyday homely objects. Piggott’s bed in white satin taps into this tradition and enhances it. This is a bed on which no one will sleep, but about which many will dream.

When in December 1919, Marcel Duchamp created his Paris Air, he asked a pharmacist to empty an ampoule that originally contained a serum and to seal it again, once it was filled with Paris air. To this he attached a label, “Serum Physiologique” and later described it as, “Ampoule contenant 50 cc d’air de Paris.” This fragile Paris souvenir “readymade” he gave to his friend and patron, Walter Arensberg.

Piggott has been haunted for decades by Duchamp’s artistic intervention for the containment of air and containment of breath. Her Collection of air 2.12.1992 – 28.2.1993, plots her journey through Europe in 1992-93 in the form of an eccentric “air diary”. She captured air in glass test tubes in 65 locations, sealed each with red wax marked with the letter “R”, both a reference to her name and the sound for the word “air” in French.

Rosslynd Piggott, Collection of air – 27.12.1992 – 28.2.1993 (detail), wood, glass, perspex, satin, glass testtubes, cork, sealing wax, cotton, paper, ink. © The artist Photo: courtesy the artist

The selection of locations was symbolic and included the generic air of Paris (in homage to Duchamp), air near the Pantheon in Rome and near Piero della Francesca’s Legend of the True Cross in Arezzo. In the installation, the glass vials are lined up as if scientific specimens, each with its identifying tag, for example, reading, “Air of Sainte-Chapelle, Paris, 22 1 1993”. Observing the response of her audience, Piggott has observed, “The labelled information seemed to take them on an extended journey into the tiny and yet expansive space of the invisible”.

The artist has continued through to the present day to contain in glass the air of special locations, especially in Japan, where this invisible, but actual presence as in Air of flower cloud, 2002 or Yamazakura, 2006, could act as a starting point for a thought adventure. Piggott also set out in a number of her pieces, including Suspended breath, 1996, Double breath contained, 1996, and Arranged meeting – breath of two men, 1999, to capture the actual breath of her glass blowers.

Sometimes there is a chance encounter of two glass artists, who are physically divided by continents, but whose breath is united in silent communication within an artwork.

Piggott is not an autobiographic artist, although circumstances of her biography will frequently feed into her art-making as her surroundings seep into her work. She has the rare gift of transforming the local and incidental into something memorable and universal.

It is a pity that significant exhibitions by major contemporary Australian artists, such as Piggott in Melbourne and Janet Laurence in Sydney, remain single venue shows.

Rosslynd Piggott: I sense you but I cannot see you, National Gallery of Victoria Australia, Federation Square, level 3, 12 April – 18 August 2019.

– ref. Transforming the incidental into the memorable: the enigmatic art of Rosslynd Piggott – http://theconversation.com/transforming-the-incidental-into-the-memorable-the-enigmatic-art-of-rosslynd-piggott-115452

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Director, Health Program, Grattan Institute

Health is proving a bone of contention in the 2019 election campaign. Labor has positioned health as a key point of difference, and the Coalition is arguing that Labor’s promises are untrue in one case and underfunded in another.

This cheat sheet will help you sort fact from fiction in two key health policy areas: public hospital funding and cancer care.

Public hospitals

In his budget reply, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten promised that Labor would restore every dollar the government had “cut” from public hospital funding.

The government counter-claimed that hospital funding has increased. So who is right?

The short answer is both.

In 2011, the then Labor government negotiated a funding agreement with the states for the Commonwealth to share 45% of the growth in the cost of public hospital care, funded at the “national efficient price”. This price is based on the average cost of the procedure, test or treatment.

The funding share was to increase to 50% of growth from July 1, 2017.

Read more: Public hospital blame game – here’s how we got into this funding mess

At the 2013 election, the then Liberal opposition agreed to match that promise and, indeed, claimed they were the only ones who could be trusted to keep the promise:

A Coalition government will support the transition to the Commonwealth providing 50% growth funding of the efficient price are hospital services as proposed. But only the Coalition has the economic record to be able to deliver.

However, in the 2014 budget the Coalition scrapped its promise. The 2014 budget papers list the savings that were made by the decision. It was a clear and documented cut that the Coalition was proud to claim at the time.

The green line represents the Gillard hospital funding agreement; the blue line is the revised projection from the 2014 budget. Budget 2014-15

Since then, the Turnbull government has backtracked on the 2014 cuts to health but only to restore sharing to 45% of the costs of growth.

Labor has estimated the impact of the gap between 45% and 50% on every public hospital in the country, and spruiks the difference at every opportunity.

Hospital costs increase faster than inflation because of growth and ageing population, the introduction of new technologies, and new approaches to treatment.

As a result, the Commonwealth’s existing 45% sharing policy drives increased spending, and so Commonwealth spending is now at record levels, albeit not at the even higher levels that Labor had promised.

Labor’s promise is, appropriately, phrased as an additional quantum of money to the states, sufficient to restore the 50% share in the cost of growth.

The public hospital funding gap comes down to how much of the growth in hospital funding each party has committed to. Shutterstock

The details of how this funding should be operationalised to the states should be left to detailed negotiations after the election as it is not good practice for all the details of your negotiating position to be aired in the heat of a campaign.

So Labor is right to say hospital funding is lower than it would have been if the 50% growth share commitment had been maintained. But the Coalition is right to say the Commonwealth is spending more on hospital care than when it came to office.

Cancer care

The second major element of the Labor campaign was a high-profile A$2.3 billion package to address high out-of-pocket costs for Australians with cancer. The package has three key components:

• additional public hospital outpatient funding to reduce waiting times
• a new bulk-billing item for consultations
• more funding for MRI machines for cancer diagnosis.

Read more: Labor’s cancer package would cut the cost of care, but beware of unintended side effects

Labor did not promise to eliminate out-of-pocket costs for cancer, not even for consultations. It claimed bulk-billing would increase from 40% to 80% of consultations.

This promise has led to another showdown between Labor and the Coalition. Health Minister Greg Hunt claims to have found a A$6 billion black hole in Labor’s cancer policy.

The Coalition has produced a list of 421 Medicare items used for cancer treatment – including treatment in private hospitals – and noted Labor has not allocated funds to cover the fees specialists charge for these items.

But Labor rightly claims the 421-item list is not what it promised. Labor’s promise was about increasing the rate of bulk-billing for consultations and is based on a new item which is only available if the specialist bulk-bills.

Expect more claims and counter-claims in the weeks ahead.

– ref. As Mediscare 2.0 takes centre stage, here’s what you need to know about hospital ‘cuts’ and cancer funding – http://theconversation.com/as-mediscare-2-0-takes-centre-stage-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-hospital-cuts-and-cancer-funding-115447

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kurt Iveson, Associate Professor of Urban Geography, University of Sydney

With the re-election of the Berejiklian government, New South Wales now has a minister for public spaces, Rob Stokes. This portfolio was first mooted in February, when the premier announced one of the new minister’s tasks would be to identify and protect publicly owned land for use as parks or public spaces.

As important as this task is, we need even more ambition in this portfolio. Public space is crucial to the social, economic, political and environmental life of our towns and cities. As well as increasing the quantity of public spaces, we need to improve their quality.

Read more: Surprise! Digital space isn’t replacing public space, and might even help make it better

Here are ten priorities for government action to make our public spaces more plentiful and more accessible to all.

1. Rein in privately owned public spaces

From Barangaroo to Bonnyrigg, public spaces in new urban developments are often owned and controlled by private developers. The public has little say over the rules that govern these spaces and how those rules are enforced. Restrictions are often excessive, and private security guards are known to overstep their powers.

The minister for public space should map the extent of privately owned public spaces and ensure these are governed by the same, democratically determined laws that cover publicly owned public spaces.

Read more: Making developments green doesn’t help with inequality

2. Strategic purchases of private land

As well as identifying publicly owned land that could be used for parks or public spaces, the minister should identify privately owned land that could be acquired for the same purpose. The gradual purchase of harbour foreshore property in Glebe has resulted in a wonderful and well-used foreshore walk. Similar opportunities to create public space networks should be identified and planned.

3. Unlock the gates

Too much publicly owned public space is under-utilised because it is locked up. Across the city, ovals and public school playgrounds are fenced off from the public for much of the year when they are not in use. We own these spaces – when they’re not in use for sport or school, we should have access to them.

As minister for education, Stokes recently trialled a program of opening some school playgrounds during school holidays. This should be done across the city. And councils should be required to show cause if they want to restrict access to any public spaces they own.

4. Stop the temporary enclosures

A growing number of park authorities and local governments are doing deals with private companies to temporarily fence off public spaces for commercial activities. Sometimes they do this for days, sometimes for weeks and even months. They do it because they’re short of funds and need the revenue.

Read more: Private events help fund public parks, but there’s a cost too

While programming events in public spaces can help attract crowds, we must halt the creeping logic of commercialisation, which results in us being charged money for access to our own spaces. The minister for public space should ensure park authorities do not need to depend on commercial funding for survival.

5. Maintain footpaths

The quality of footpaths makes a world of difference for many people. Think of parents with prams, little kids, people with mobility issues, and older people for whom falls are a big health risk. Our footpaths need to be wide and their surfaces even. They also need to incorporate places to rest.

Read more: Eight simple changes to our neighbourhoods can help us age well

The capacity of local governments to maintain footpaths is highly uneven. Public spaces in wealthy areas are gold-plated, while in other parts of the city footpaths are too often in poor condition or non-existent. The minister must think about the role that state government can play in evening things out, assisting local governments where required.

6. Provide public toilets

As with footpaths, the provision of public toilets can make the difference between going out or staying at home for many people. The minister should use existing data to audit the provision and accessibility of public toilets in public spaces across the city, identify gaps and fund improvements where required.

Read more: Caught short: we need to talk about public toilets

7. Less private advertising, more public expression

While advertising on the Opera House generated controversy, the creeping spread of commercial advertising in public space is also of concern. All this advertising is commercialising our public spaces and crowding out other forms of public expression – from neighbourhood notices about community events and lost cats to murals and street art.

The minister should work with local governments to limit the amount of advertising in public space, and extract more public good from any advertising revenues raised in public space.

Read more: Is there any way to stop ad creep?

8. No more sniffer dogs and strip searches

The policing of public spaces makes a huge difference to its accessibility. Exclusionary policing strategies – especially the use of drug sniffer dogs and rising use of strip searches – should be stopped.

These tactics are not only put to work at festivals, but also around train stations and entertainment precincts. They are ineffective in leading to prosecutions and are too often used to shame, intimidate and harass people without basis.

The minister for public space needs to challenge the minister for police about this form of policing.

9. Care not control

This is not say that safety is unimportant. We know that fear of harassment and assault stops some people using public space, not least women who often experience this.

However, we must not equate “feeling safe” with “more police” and “more surveillance cameras”. Indeed, sometimes these can have the perverse effect of making people feel less safe, by producing atmospheres of threat.

We feel safer when there are others around caring for the space. So, the minister should investigate ways to encourage these forms of care. Simple measures like later opening hours for neighbourhood shops, or staff on railway platforms and train carriages, can make a big difference.

Read more: To create safer cities for everyone, we need to avoid security that threatens

10. Plant more trees

We need more trees in our public spaces – not just in parks, but on residential and commercial streets too. This is especially important in parts of the city where summer temperatures are already extreme for weeks at a time. Not only do trees help to cool these spaces, they also encourage more biodiversity and combat carbon emissions.

The minister should establish, and fund, a meaningful target for tree planting in public spaces.

This list of suggestions is far from exhaustive. But these reforms and others ought to be on the drawing board as the minister for public space sets about his new work.

It must be hoped this new portfolio is more than a tokenistic attempt to create the appearance of action on public space, in the face of criticism of this government’s record on privatisation of public assets.

– ref. New minister for public spaces is welcome – now here are ten priorities for action – http://theconversation.com/new-minister-for-public-spaces-is-welcome-now-here-are-ten-priorities-for-action-115152

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Glenn Kefford, Senior Lecturer, Department of Modern History, Politics and International Relations, Macquarie University

With the federal election now officially underway, commentators have begun to consider not only the techniques parties and candidates will use to persuade voters, but also any potential threats we are facing to the integrity of the election.

Invariably, this discussion leads straight to digital.

In the aftermath of the 2016 United States presidential election, the coverage of digital campaigning has been unparalleled. But this coverage has done very little to improve understanding of the key issues confronting our democracies as a result of the continued rise of digital modes of campaigning.

Some degree of confusion is understandable since digital campaigning is opaque – especially in Australia. We have very little information on what political parties or third-party campaigners are spending their money on, some of which comes from taxpayers. But the hysteria around digital is for the most part, unfounded.

Read more: Chinese social media platform WeChat could be a key battleground in the federal election

Why parties use digital media

In any attempt to better understand digital, it’s useful to consider why political parties and other campaigners are using it as part of their election strategies. The reasons are relatively straightforward.

The media landscape is fragmented. Voters are active on social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, so that’s where the parties need to be.

Compared to the cost of advertising on television, radio or in print, digital advertising is very affordable.

Platforms like Facebook offer services that give campaigners a relatively straightforward way to segment voters. Campaigners can use these tools to micro-target them with tailored messaging.

Voting, persuasion and mobilisation

While there is certainly more research required into digital campaigning, there is no scholarly study I know of that suggests advertising online – including micro-targeted messaging – has the effect that it is often claimed to have.

What we know is that digital messaging can have a small but significant effect on mobilisation, that there are concerns about how it could be used to demobilise voters, and that it is an effective way to fundraise and organise. But its ability to independently persuade voters to change their votes is estimated to be close to zero.

Read more: Australian political journalists might be part of a ‘Canberra bubble’, but they engage the public too

The exaggeration and lack of clarity around digital is problematic because there is almost no evidence to support many of the claims made. This type of technology fetishism also implies that voters are easily manipulated, when there is little evidence of this.

While it might help some commentators to rationalise unexpected election results, a more fruitful endeavour than blaming technology would be to try to understand why voters are attracted to various parties or candidates, such as Trump in the US.

Digital campaigning is not a magic bullet, so commentators need to stop treating it as if it is. Parties hope it helps them in their persuasion efforts, but this is through layering their messages across as many mediums as possible, and using the network effect that social media provides.

Data privacy and foreign interference

The two clear and obvious dangers related to digital are about data privacy and foreign meddling. We should not accept that our data is shared widely as a result of some box we ticked online. And we should have greater control over how our data are used, and who they are sold to.

An obvious starting point in Australia is questioning whether parties should continue to be exempt from privacy legislation. Research suggests that a majority of voters see a distinction between commercial entities advertising to us online compared to parties and other campaigners.

We also need to take some personal responsibility, since many of us do not always take our digital footprint as seriously as we should. It matters, and we need to educate ourselves on this.

The more vexing issue is that of foreign interference. One of the first things we need to recognise is that it is unlikely this type of meddling online would independently turn an election.

This does not mean we should accept this behaviour, but changing election results is just one of the goals these actors have. Increasing polarisation and contributing to long-term social divisions is part of the broader strategy.

Read more: Australia should strengthen its privacy laws and remove exemptions for politicians

The digital battleground

As the 2019 campaign unfolds, we should remember that, while digital matters, there is no evidence it has an independent election-changing effect.

Australians should be most concerned with how our data are being used and sold, and about any attempts to meddle in our elections by state and non-state actors.

The current regulatory environment fails to meet community standards. More can and should be done to protect us and our democracy.

This article has been co-published with The Lighthouse, Macquarie University’s multimedia news platform.

– ref. Digital campaigning on sites like Facebook is unlikely to swing the election – http://theconversation.com/digital-campaigning-on-sites-like-facebook-is-unlikely-to-swing-the-election-115368

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Hamilton, Assistant professor, George Washington University

There weren’t any new tax ideas in the 2019 Budget, which perhaps is to be expected from a six year old government preparing for an election the betting markets suggest it will lose.

Instead what we got were extensions of a few actually-pretty-big tax ideas introduced in last year’s budget: the planned elimination of the 37% tax bracket, the Low and Middle Income Tax Offset, and the immediate expensing of investments for businesses.

Given the looming election it’s worth examining each of these three ideas, which I will do over the next few days.

First, eliminating one of the tax rates. At the moment the income tax schedule has five rates:

Australian Tax Office

By 2024 they are to be “flattened and simplified” to just four.

An entire rate would vanish, and on that part of their income between A$45,000 and $200,000, most people would face a flat rate of 30%, down from the 32.5% proposed in last year’s budget:

Commonwealth budget papers

It’s an idea with a long lineage.

In 2010 the Henry Tax Review told the Rudd Labor government that personal income tax had become “inordinately complex”.

It proposed a simpler, three-rate, system, but, importantly, said most of the complexity wasn’t due to the number of rates but was due instead to the “large suite of complex deduction rules, numerous tax offsets and a variety of exempt forms of income”.

Henry Tax Review

It’s worthwhile considering why simplicity matters.

Setting aside political considerations, simplicity only matters to the extent that it lowers the cost to the economy of the government raising revenue. For every dollar it raises, the tax system imposes compliance costs on taxpayers and others like employers and banks who are required to keep records and report information to the Tax Office, which also bears costs.

The only simplicity we should care about is one that makes the tax system easier to comply with and easier to administer.

The kind of simplicity that matters

The problem with removing a tax bracket is that by itself it does nothing to achieve that objective. It makes the tax system look tidier – the graph is easier to draw, but that’s it. It doesn’t simplify lives and doesn’t bring joy, except to clean freaks who can satisfy their inner Kondo.

The thing to understand is that the tax system is sometimes complicated for a good reason. That might be a desire to tightly target a tax measure so that only those of a certain income or those with children receive it, for example. Not targeting the tax measure would make the system simpler, but it might also make it less fair and more expensive.

If we accept that some income redistribution is desirable, then in an ideal world we would have a smoothly increasing marginal tax rate from middle to high incomes. There would be an infinite number of tax brackets, as in Germany, where income tax rates rise continuously with income.

It would be easy enough to navigate. An online tool would do the trick.

If we must have discrete tax brackets, then the goal ought to be to approximate this ideal system as closely as possible. It would mean having more rather than fewer rates. Having fewer rates forces some people to pay more than they should and others less.

Some have suggested that eliminating tax brackets would reduce the opportunity for taxpayers to manipulate their income so that it bunches around thresholds.

A graph prepared for the Abbott government’s tax white paper shows that bunching does indeed happen, but it is confined to only a narrow sliver of the income distribution and thus very few taxpayers. It’s probably not worth worrying about.

Re:think. 2015 Treasury tax discussion paper

The kind of simplicity that would help

An idea recently endorsed by the Inspector-General of Taxation and originally proposed by the Henry Review is a standard deduction.

It would entitle every taxpayer to claim a standard amount of deductions without needing receipts. Those with deductions in excess of the standard deduction would still be free to claim those. It’s a system that already exists in the United States and other countries.

Deductions aren’t necessarily a bad thing. There are good reasons why some should be allowed (for example, deductions on the debt interest used to fund investment).

But in practice they take up a lot of our time to document and can be difficult for the Tax Office to interpret (is that car really for work purposes or for personal driving?), something the Tax Commissioner has complained about.

My own research suggests deductions are one of the main means of tax avoidance, responsible for 12 times as much avoidance as understatement of income.

The former Labor government was on board with Henry’s proposal. Unveiling the findings of Ken Henry’s review in 2010, treasurer Wayne Swan promised to “remove the hassle of shoeboxes full of receipts”.

From 2012 onwards everyone would get a standard deduction of $500 in lieu of claiming work-related expenses. It would climb to $1000 from 2013.

Read more: What will the Coalition be remembered for on tax? Tinkering, blunders and lost opportunities

Budgetary constraints meant he never got around to introducing the legislation.

In 2017 Treasurer Scott Morrison asked a parliamentary inquiry to look into the possibility of doing it. It found it would be expensive. A standard deduction of $500 would cost an extra $2.3 billion, a standard deduction of $1000, $4.6 billion.

These costs, while considerable, are nothing like the cost of the flatter tax system the Coalition is proposing.

And they would enable most taxpayers to avoid submitting a tax return at all. Deductions are the primary reason for tax adjustments. Without them, taxpayers could set and forget. Most taxpayers, and the Tax Office, could concern themselves with other things, such as going after multinational corporations.

Now wouldn’t that spark joy?

– ref. A simpler tax system should spark joy. Sadly, the one in this budget doesn’t – http://theconversation.com/a-simpler-tax-system-should-spark-joy-sadly-the-one-in-this-budget-doesnt-115370