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In his first major foreign policy test, Morrison needs to stick to the script

November 14, 2018

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Harris Rimmer, Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Griffith Law School, Griffith University

Attending a global leaders summit might look easy – all interesting shirts, family-style photos and unusual handshakes – but these occasions can prove extremely difficult for leaders who focus solely on domestic politics or brand new leaders with uncertain electoral prospects.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is both.

Morrison faces a busy week of foreign policy tests in his first big moment on the global stage. He first travels to Singapore for the ASEAN and East Asia Summit, then hosts Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s historic visit to Darwin before jetting off for the APEC Summit in Papua New Guinea on the weekend. This power week will be followed by the G20 Leaders Summit in Buenos Aires at the end of month.

This week, Morrison will have his first meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, US Vice President Mike Pence and Russian President Vladimir Putin, in addition to new (but not so new) Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

So what can we expect from Morrison’s debut summit season and in particular his meetings with Xi?

Pundits have been speculating whether Morrison might try to use the August leadership spill and appointment of new Foreign Minister Marise Payne as a way of pressing the reset button on relations with China.

Payne’s recent visit to Beijing was viewed by both parties as a success, so Morrison should have a more pleasant meeting with Xi than former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull might have.

Payne’s visit to China was the first by an Australian foreign minister since Julie Bishop’s trip in 2016. Thomas Peter/EPA

But Morrison’s first months in office show a leader who speaks without due care to the reactions of foreign governments – floating the idea of shifting the Australian embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is the most glaring example – and a leader with little political capital to spare.

He needs to stick to the script this week.

Danger signs

Morrison has already courted controversy on foreign policy in a short period of time. He skipped the UN General Assembly in September. He also missed the Pacific Islands Forum in Nauru, forcing Payne to reassure Pacific neighbours that he wasn’t “snubbing” them.

Morrison did go straight to Jakarta in his first overseas trip as leader to meet with President Joko Widodo and sign the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with Indonesia.

But he was then accused of playing “straight from Trump’s songbook” when he mused about moving Australia’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem without consulting diplomats or generals beforehand. It was widely seen as a crude attempt to win the Jewish vote in the Wentworth by-election.

One downfall of Australian leaders is they can sometimes look parochial and small-town while on the big stage. For example, then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott made a cringeworthy speech to G20 leaders in Brisbane in 2014 about GP co-payments and stopping the boats. Opposition leader Bill Shorten described it as “weird and graceless”.

In his case, Morrison failed to realise the negative reception his embassy musings would receive in Indonesia. Now, his meetings with Widodo are likely to be frosty, with no plans to sign the free-trade agreement by the end of the year.

Morrison’s meetings with Xi, Putin and Modi

In his recent headland speech, Morrison seemed to adopt a Malcolm Turnbull-style line on taking a middle path with the US and China, noting that a confrontation between the two powers:

risks unimagined damage to economic growth and the global order. Damage where no-one benefits. Lose-lose.

Nevertheless, the speech was strong on values, many of which China does not share.

It is also not clear how Xi will view the recent Pacific push from Morrison, though he seemed to offer the possibility for partnership in the region.

Morrison’s meeting with Putin at the East Asia Summit will likewise be interesting to watch. This is Putin’s first time at the summit, but by no means his first rodeo. His presence is perhaps indicative of Russia’s intention to pivot more attention towards the Indo-Pacific region, taking advantage of Trump’s absence.

In yet another foreign policy stumble, Abbott once famously vowed to “shirtfront” Putin over the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17. Putin enjoys such displays of toxic masculinity; hopefully, Morrison can restrain himself.

Australia wants to enhance its partnership with India, so we should see Morrison make a beeline for Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the ASEAN meeting, hoping for one of Modi’s signature hugs.

Before meeting Modi, Morrison will hopefully have carefully read the India Economic Strategy to 2035, authored by the former high commissioner to India and head of DFAT, Peter Varghese.

Modi got a hug of his own from Abbott during his high-profile visit to Australia in 2014. Tracey Nearmy/AAP

Our Pacific family

Last week, Morrison made perhaps his most important foreign policy speech – a major strategic announcement on the Pacific. He said Australia would open five new embassies and launch an infrastructure bank in the region to the tune of A$2 billion, and declared the Pacific “our patch”:

This is our part of the world. This is where we have special responsibilities. We always have, we always will. We have their back, and they have ours. We are more than partners by choice. We are connected as members of a Pacific family.

The announcement came after he signed a deal for a joint naval base in Papua New Guinea. Both this and the infrastructure bank were seen as ways of countering Chinese influence in the Pacific, but Morrison did refrain from using any anti-China rhetoric.

This is noteworthy. Tess Newton Cain has pointed out that Australia often misses the right tone of respect and partnership in its announcements to the region.

But despite this new push for Pacific engagement, Australia is still seen as weak on climate policy – a hugely important issue to Pacific leaders. This could result in difficult conversations for Morrison at APEC, as PNG has invited many Pacific nations to attend for the first time.

Sit down, be humble

Even if Morrison puts his best foot forward to overcome his poor start on foreign policy, he will still have difficulty standing out in the crowd.

Even leaders require some political capital to stand out in those big rooms.

The churn in Australian prime ministers means that some foreign leaders may not consider it worth the time or energy to build a relationship of personal trust with Morrison if they view him more like a caretaker. Former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop had spent 10 years building up this diplomatic trust and stability in her various roles, but that was severed abruptly.

My advice to Morrison? Stay humble and listen. Read the briefs, listen to the diplomats and do everything Payne and DFAT Secretary Frances Adamson say to do, to the letter.

– ref. In his first major foreign policy test, Morrison needs to stick to the script – http://theconversation.com/in-his-first-major-foreign-policy-test-morrison-needs-to-stick-to-the-script-106606]]>

The bitter lesson of the Californian fires

By The Conversation -

November 14, 2018

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Bowman, Professor, Pyrogeography and Fire Science, University of Tasmania

California is burning, again. Dozens of peoples have been killed and thousands of buildings destroyed in several fires, the most destructive in the state’s history.

The California fires are just the most recent in a series of major wildfires, including fires in Greece in July this year that killed 99 people, Portugal and Chile in 2017, and Australia.

Why do wildfires seem to be escalating? Despite president Donald Trump’s tweet that the California fires were caused by “gross mismanagement” of forests, the answer is more complex, nuanced, and alarming.

What caused the California fires?

The current California fires reflect a complex mix of climate, social, and ecological factors. Fuels across California are currently highly combustible due to a prolonged drought and associated low humidity and high air temperatures. Indeed, it is so dry fires burn freely through the night. Such extreme weather conditions have the fingerprints of climate change.

Compounding the desiccated fuels are the seasonally predictable strong desert winds (the Diablo and Santa Ana) that help fires spread rapidly towards the coast.

Low density housing embedded in flammable vegetation has created an ideal fuel mix for these destructive fires. Having people scattered across the landscape ensures a steady source of ignitions, ranging from powerline faults to carelessness and arson, making fires a near certainty when dangerous weather conditions arise.

One of the fires burning in California. MIKE NELSON

Decades of wildfire suppression have created fuel loads that sustain intense fires. That these fuels are burning in late autumn is even more alarming. Under severe fire weather forest fires can engulf entire communities, with fires spreading from house to house, and human communities turning into a unique wildfire “fuel”. Suburbs can burn at the rate of one house per minute .

The standard response to wildfires is to fight them aggressively, using a military-style approach involving small armies of fire fighters combined with aircraft that spread fire retardant and saturate fire-fronts with water. Such approaches are extraordinarily costly. Annual spending on fire fighting has been steadily rising. In the US, annual fire-fighting costs now exceed several billion dollars, with individual fire campaigns costing ten to over a hundred million dollars.

Although industrial fire-fighting approaches currently enjoy political and social support, the strategy is economically unsustainable. And they are impotent in the face of climate change driven fire disasters such as those currently occurring in California.

A human disaster

Across the fire science community there is growing recognition this “total war” on fire approach has failed. The key to sustainable co-existence with flammable landscapes is instead managing fuels around settlements, and stopping wildfires from starting in the first place.

Spain and Portugal are good examples of why this is so important. In these Mediterranean lands, humans have sustainably co-existed with flammable landscapes for thousands of year. However, the near ubiquitous depopulation of rural lands following the second world war has led to the proliferation of flammable vegetation that had previously been held in check by intensive small-scale subsistence agriculture.

The Village of Rojas in Catalonia, Spain in 1946. Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya The same Spanish village in 2017. Large-scale rural depopulation has led to widespread abandonment of formerly agricultural land, massive fuel accumulation and subsequent historically unprecedented fires. Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya

With the loss of this traditional agriculture Mediterranean countries are now experiencing regular fire disasters (such as the 2018 Greek fires and the 2017 Portuguese and Spanish fires). These are equivalent to fires in more recently settled flammable landscapes in the Americas and Australia.

This seems to be the story in most flammable landscapes on earth: the removal of traditional landscape management by colonisation and globalisation has combined with climate change to turn these landscapes into tinderboxes.

But just as it is unrealistic for Australia to faithfully restore Indigenous fire management practices, expecting a return to historical practices in the Mediterranean is not realistic. There is little economic or social reason for people to return to traditional rural lifestyles, and the gravitational pull of the social and economic advantages in urban areas is too great to stem rural depopulation.

Living with fire

But we can adapt traditional practices to help us live with fire. In the Mediterranean, people are already experimenting with different ways to manage landscapes, such as managing forests for cork and bioenergy, combined with prescribed burning and grazing.

Cork harvesting, selective cutting of trees for bioenergy, understory clearing, and cattle grazing are used in Catalonia, Spain to manage fire hazard by creating a ‘green fire break’. David Bowman

This can create picturesque landscapes that are fire-resistant and easy to defend. Similarly, in Australia, the Victorian government has created parkland-like green fire breaks that were used for back burning operations to protect communities during 2009 Black Saturday wildfires.

A green fire break in mountain ash forest near Kinglake, Victoria. David Bowman

The Hobart City Council is planning to use similar fire breaks to protect its outer suburbs with dense bushland. Such management could be used on a larger scale to substantially reduce fire risk. The challenge for landscape fuel management is providing financial and regulatory incentives for citizens and local communities to reduce fuel.

Currently, no society is sustainably co-existing with wildfire. Globally, the situation will worsen under a rapidly-warming climate with ballooning firefighting costs, and huge loss of life and destruction of property. This is the bitter lesson of the Californian fires.

– ref. The bitter lesson of the Californian fires – http://theconversation.com/the-bitter-lesson-of-the-californian-fires-106842]]>

Why is everyone talking about natural sequence farming?

By The Conversation -

November 14, 2018

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Rutherfurd, Associate Professor in Geography, University of Melbourne

On the eve of the recent National Drought Summit, prime minister Scott Morrison and deputy prime minister Michael McCormack visited Mulloon Creek near Canberra, shown recently on the ABC’s Australian Story. They were there to see a creek that was still flowing, and green with vegetation, despite seven months of drought.

Mulloon Creek was the legacy of a long collaboration between prominent agriculturalist Peter Andrews, and Tony Coote, the owner of the property who died in August. For decades they have implemented Andrews’ “natural sequence farming” system at Mulloon Creek.

Central to the system is slowing flow in the creek with “leaky weirs”. These force water back into the bed and banks of the creek, which rehydrates the floodplain. This rehydrated floodplain is then said to be more productive and sustainable.

Scott Morrison and Michael McCormack speaking to Chairman of the Mulloon Institute Gary Nairn at the Mulloon Creek National Farm. Lukas Coch/AAP

McCormack, who is also the minister for agriculture, was impressed and declared the success of Mulloon as a “model for everyone … this needs to be replicated right around our nation”. The ABC program suggested this form of farming could reduce the impact of drought across Australia. So, what is the evidence?

The promise of natural sequence farming

There are plenty of anecdotes but little published science around the effectiveness of natural sequence farming. What there is describes some modest floodplain rehydration, little change to stream flows, some trapping of sediment and some improvements in soil condition. These results are encouraging but not miraculous.

How much each of the different components of natural sequence farming contributes is not always clear, and the economic arguments for widespread adoption are modest. At present, there is not the standard of evidence to support this farming method as a panacea for drought relief, as proposed by the deputy prime minister.

But if the evidence does emerge, why wouldn’t farmers simply adopt the methods as part of a sensible business model? Don’t all farmers want to do better in drought?

In the ABC show, and elsewhere, supporters of natural sequence farming argue that it is hard for farmers to adopt the methods because government regulations restrict use of willows, blackberries and other weeds, that they claim, are particularly effective in restoring streams.

Governments are correct to be wary of this call to use weeds, and some research suggests that native plants can do a similar job. This restriction on use of weeds might be galling for proponents of natural sequence farming but it should not be a fundamental impediment to adoption.

A more important frustration for natural sequence farming practitioners is how widely the approach can be applied. In Australian Story, John Ryan, a rural journalist, says:

I am sick of politicians, farmers groups, and government departments telling me that Peter Andrews only works where you’ve got little creeks in a mountain valley … I’ve seen it work on flat-lands, steep lands, anywhere.

Natural sequence farming arose in the attempt to restore upland valleys and creeks in southern NSW that were once environmentally valuable chains of ponds or swampy meadows. But these waterways have become deeply incised, degraded, and disconnected from their floodplains. Not only does this incision produce a great deal of sediment pollution, but it produces many agricultural problems.

In reality, small and medium-sized stream systems across much of Australia have deepened after European settlement. If the leaky weirs of natural sequence farming are effective, then they could be applied across many gullied and incised streams across the country.

We’ve already been doing it

The good news is that landholders and governments have already been using aspects of natural sequence farming in those very gullies for decades to control erosion.

Since the 1970s, across the world, one useful method for controlling erosion has been grade-control structures. They were once made of concrete but are now usually made of dumped rock (called rock-chutes), and also logs.

Rock chutes in Barwidgee Creek, 1992, Ovens River catchment, Victoria. Source: T McCormack NE Catchment Management Authority. T McCormack NE Catchment Management Authority The same creek in 2002. It is now heavily vegetated and has pools of water, just like Mulloon Park. T McCormack NE Catchment Management Authority

These structures reduce the speed of water flow, trap sediment, encourage vegetation, and stop gullies from deepening. These are all goals of natural sequence farming using leaky weirs.

There are thousands of such structures, supported by government initiatives, across the Australian landscape acting as an unrecognised experiment in rehydration and drought protection.

Perhaps governments should already have evaluated these structures, but the rehydration potential of these works has not been recognised in the past. It is time that this public investment was scientifically evaluated.

We may find that natural sequence farming and the routine government construction of grade-control structures have similar effects on farmland and the environment.

But whatever the outcome, gully management is not likely to mark the end of drought in the Australian landscape.

– ref. Why is everyone talking about natural sequence farming? – http://theconversation.com/why-is-everyone-talking-about-natural-sequence-farming-106232]]>

Hospital discharges to ‘no fixed address’ – here’s a much better way

By The Conversation -

November 14, 2018

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Wood, Associate Professor, School of Population and Global Health, University of Western Australia

Why treat people and send them back to the conditions that made them sick? – Michael Marmot, The Health Gap, 2015

“Homelessness is one of the most intractable and complex problems facing cities around the globe,” says my colleague Dr Jim O’Connell from the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP). It is somewhat sobering to hear that Boston is now into its third “ten-year plan” to end homelessness. Despite the success of Boston’s Housing First programs in housing many people who have lived on the streets for years, it has proven difficult to “turn off the homelessness tap”.

The reasons include the lack of affordable housing options and a systemic failure to break the cycle of people leaving the corrections system without somewhere to live. O’Connell has just spent a week in Perth as a Raine Medical Foundation Visiting Fellow at UWA. He recounts that around half the people entering Boston homeless shelters indicate that “a jail” was where they slept the previous night.

These are cautionary warnings for Australia, where concerted efforts to end homelessness are up against an affordable housing crisis and huge public housing wait lists. Alarming numbers of people are released from Australian prisons to homelessness each year.

So while ending homelessness in Australia is a vital aspiration, which needs to be backed by a coordinated national strategy, multisectoral action and greater dedicated funding, our cities also need to be better equipped to deal with the health impacts and other consequences of homelessness until it can be eradicated.

Hospital and human costs are high

One of the most costly consequences of homelessness for any city is the burden on the health system. Although mental and physical health issues can contribute to homelessness, being homeless also increases the risk of many health problems. These include psychiatric illness, substance use and chronic and infectious diseases.

Across Australia, people who are homeless are among the most frequent presenters to emergency departments. Their rate of unplanned hospital admissions is high. The average stay is longer too.

All of this strains the resources of our public hospitals, as shown in our recent analysis of data for homeless patients seen at Royal Perth Hospital.

Globally and within Australia, pressure is mounting on hospitals to shorten stays in costly hospital beds. However, post-discharge care via less costly “hospital in the home” programs is not an option for patients with “no fixed address”.

As a result homeless patients face either longer inpatient admissions or are discharged when too unwell for the challenges of living on the street. And that in turn results in deteriorating health and many unplanned readmissions.

Life on the street is no place for a person to recover after being discharged from hospital. Courtesy of BHCHP, Author provided

Respite centres offer a solution

An innovative solution to these problems is the medical respite model for homeless people. This originated in the United States in the mid-1980s.

A respite centre enables people who are homeless to recuperate after hospital in a more home-like environment. Here they can receive follow-up care, social support and be linked to community services and accommodation providers.

A more homely non-hospital environment is a critical ingredient, as hospitals can be traumatising for homeless people. Many of them have suffered violence, sexual abuse, neglect, incarceration or other forms of trauma, further compounded by the trauma of living on the streets. From the Boston experience, therapy dogs, social connection, recreational activities, art therapy and patient support groups are among the healing benefits that can be provided outside a hospital environment.

One of our reasons for bringing Jim O’Connell to Australia this month has been to draw on his experience as a founder of the first medical respite centre for homeless people in the US. It began as a 25-bed facility in Boston in 1985 and now has 124 beds. Sadly, the demand keeps growing – for every bed that becomes available, there are 20 calls from hospitals wanting a bed for homeless patients.

Video production: Isaac Wood.

What facilities does Australia have?

The respite centre model has flourished in North America, with over 70 in cities across the US and a growing number in Canada. Australia at present has two small examples, in Melbourne and Sydney.

In Melbourne, The Cottage is literally a cottage next to St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne. It has six patient beds, with an average stay of nine days.

The Cottage in Melbourne improves the well-being of people who are homeless and saves on healthcare costs, but has high demand for its six beds. Image: Befekir Kebede, courtesy of St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, Author provided

Our evaluation of The Cottage, published just last week, shows it provides a valuable step-down alternative and period of stability for homeless people. This enables staff to build trusting relationships and increase patient capacity to manage their own health.

Tierney House is a 12-bed short-stay respite unit run by St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney. Support and care is provided for around $400 a day. This is far cheaper than the average Australian hospital bed cost of $2,003 a day in 2015-16.

Perth is seeking to establish Australia’s first 20-bed medical recovery centre for people who are homeless. It’s based on the US respite care model, but with a sharpened focus on connecting people to housing and long-term health and other support to remain housed. Linking people to a general practitioner through Homeless Healthcare will be a critical part of the model, as its GPs and nurses can provide primary care and follow-up in the community to avert future hospital admissions.

As Dr Andrew Davies, of Homeless Healthcare, and I stressed recently in the MJA, the absence of safe and secure housing lies at the core of the health disparities seen among people who are homeless. This is particularly apparent when they are discharged from hospital before they are well enough to return to the streets.

Just imagine trying to recover from a hospital admission without a safe place to rest and sleep, nowhere to wash, no secure storage for medications, not to mention poor access to nutritious food and difficulty maintaining hygienic wound care.

Adapted from Homeless Healthcare evaluation report, Author provided

The need is growing

Australia is facing escalating and unsustainable health care costs, exacerbated by an ageing population and the rising burden of chronic disease. A medical recovery centre presents a cost-effective solution for government given the high rates of emergency department presentations and hospital re-admissions when people remain homeless.

Published evaluations of US respite centres show 24-36% reductions in emergency department presentations. Reductions in inpatient days were between 29% and 58%. The reduced health care use equates to millions of dollars in cost savings.

We need to do more than lament the revolving door between hospital and the street faced by people who are homeless across Australian cities. As Andrew Davies poignantly observes:

Acute hospitals treat acute medical problems. If we fail to address the underlying chronic disease and social determinants of the health of homeless people, we will continue to watch people slowly die on the streets.

The medical recovery centre model provides a critical and cost-effective circuit-breaker. By enabling “hospital in the home” care for people without a home, it reduces hospital readmissions.

Chronic rough sleepers are one of the most marginalised groups in our society. A medical recovery centre offers a safe period of respite where they can be connected to housing and other supports to break the cycle of homelessness.

Jim O’Connell is guest speaker at the National Health, Homelessness and the Vulnerably Housed Roundtable in Brisbane tomorrow, November 15, organised by the Australian Alliance to End Homelessness.

– ref. Hospital discharges to ‘no fixed address’ – here’s a much better way – http://theconversation.com/hospital-discharges-to-no-fixed-address-heres-a-much-better-way-106602]]>

Stamp duty fever: the bad economics behind swapping stamp duty for land tax

By The Conversation -

November 14, 2018

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cameron Murray, Lecturer in Economics, The University of Queensland

To paraphrase former prime minister Paul Keating, walk into any pet shop in the country and you’ll find the resident galah saying we should swap stamp duty for a land value tax.

Just about every economic think tank in the land thinks it’s about the best value tax change there is, among them the Grattan Institute, Per Capita, the Australia Institute, and the Centre for Independent Studies as well as a swag of academics, the Treasury in its work on the draft white paper for tax reform and the Henry Tax Review.

Among the benefits of what I will call SD4LVT are said to be greater ease in upsizing and downsizing, a more mobile population (less reluctant to buy and sell houses) and a more reliable source of revenue for state governments.

One state, the Australian Capital Territory, has already begun a 20-year phase out of stamp duty and a 20-year build up of land tax.

But beneath the near universal enthusiasm for SD4LVT are layers of bad economics.

It is extremely frustrating to me that the leading minds in Australian policy have put their heads together and decided that the best reform they can think of is to replace a good tax on property with another good one that would be even less popular.

The more thoughtful among them don’t even bother to claim that SD4LVT will make housing more affordable, yet still put it forward as the “holy grail” of tax reform.

It is bad economics because of four key points its proponents miss or overlook.

Price effects

Stamp duty comes out of what the buyer is prepared to pay. This means that if you remove it, all other things equal, prices will rise by exactly the amount of the duty removed.

If the average home price is A$500,000, and buyers pay a 5% stamp duty, taking the total to A$525,000, then when stamp duty is removed the price will immediately increase to $525,000 being what the buyer was prepared to pay.

If you replace the stamp duty revenue with revenue from land value taxes, the effects on price are less clear. The change could push them up (enriching sellers) or it could push them down.

Imagine an example economy with:

20 houses
Turnover of one house each year (a turnover rate of 5%)
An average home price of A$500,000
Total stamp duty revenue of A$25,000 per year

Replacing the A$25,000 stamp duty revenue with a land value tax requires taxing all 20 homes at A$1,250 per year each.

Whether the market price of homes rises or falls depends on whether buyers think the cost to them of A$1,250 per year is lower or higher than the A$25,000 upfront stamp duty they avoided. If they thought it was about the same, SD4LVT wouldn’t much affect prices.

But what if turnover was half that, say 2.5%, which in this example would be where one house was sold every two years? In that case, the total stamp duty to be replaced would be A$12,500, which would be only A$625 per house in land tax.

The new buyer could pay A$512,500 for the house plus A$625 per year in land tax and be equally as well off as paying A$500,000 for the house plus A$25,000 in stamp duty.

The net effect would be a price increase from A$250,000 to A$262,500.

If that happened nationally it would mean a transfer of almost A$200 billion to existing owners.

Whether or not that did happen would depend on the turnover and buyer’s views about the future value of money. In short, the price effects of a SD4LVT are ambiguous.

Mobility

While it is said that stamp duties deter Australians from changing addresses and switching jobs, there is little evidence that they are not changing enough.

Most people who relocate for work don’t buy and sell homes in order to do it.

They rent first, becoming both a renter and a landlord for a while, perhaps selling their first home later, but not quickly.

When they do sell, often for a healthy profit, stamp duty ensures they pocket less than would have, grabbing back some of what might otherwise be an untaxed capital gain.

Lower housing turnover from stamp duties mainly falls on the nearly half of sales involving investors who buy speculatively to capitalise on short bursts of capital growth before selling, in the process fuelling the boom and bust price cycle.

To me, anything that slows down real estate turnover and captures capital gains seems like a good idea.

Revenue stability

It is claimed that stamp duty revenues are much more volatile than other taxes. During a boom, they climb more than proportionally to prices since they also depend on turnover. During a bust, they fall more quickly than prices.

If I was to think in the abstract about what sort of taxes are good for the economy, I would say it is those that are pro-cyclical, meaning they automatically increase takings during a boom, and wind them back during a bust.

On this measure, stamp duty is a good tax for stabilising the economy, something important given how much our economic cycles are tied to housing markets.

The land value tax that SD4LVT proponents would replace stamp duty with would make the tax system as a whole less stabilising.

Odd modelling

You might have seen a chart like the Treasury graph below, with stamp duties presented as having enormous flow-on economy-wide costs compared to other taxes. In this example, land tax which is presented as having an economic benefit.

The problem with the graph is that modelling used to prepare it (computational general equilibrium modelling) can’t directly account for transaction taxes because it doesn’t model transactions.

Instead of using a better tool for the job, the modellers assume that stamp duties increase cost of housing to all buyers and renters. It’s this assumption that drives a conclusion they describe as merely “illustrative”.

To sum up

Stamp duties don’t push up the cost of housing. The claim that they impede household mobility is overblown. They do reduce asset churn, and as a result they help maintain price stability.

Their “revenue instability” is actually a huge positive for the economy as a whole. And the modelling that has underpinned the talk of high economy-wide costs is as good as made up.

Yet SD4LVT remains the apparent holy grail of Australian tax policy.

Our best policy wonks continue to push our politicians to use up the precious capital to swap one very good property tax for another, for no obvious economic gain.

– ref. Stamp duty fever: the bad economics behind swapping stamp duty for land tax – http://theconversation.com/stamp-duty-fever-the-bad-economics-behind-swapping-stamp-duty-for-land-tax-106841]]>

Revolution 50: The Beatles’ White Album remixed

By The Conversation -

November 14, 2018

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David McCooey, Professor of Writing and Literature, Deakin University

Last year, the 50th anniversary remix of The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band gained considerable respect from critics and fans alike. Now we have the 50th anniversary remix of The Beatles, universally known as The White Album thanks to its ultra-minimalist artwork.

Before asking whether this remix achieves the same revelatory listening experience of its predecessor, it’s important to note a difference between the two albums. The original stereo mix of Sgt Pepper’s was long seen as inferior, mixed as it was when a mono mix was considered to be the definitive version of an album. By late 1968 that mindset had changed, and The White Album was the first Beatles album conceived primarily as a stereo album.

So is a remix even necessary? In certain genres of popular music, such as R & B, remixing is commonplace. In others, such as rock, it remains an ambiguous practice, especially when applied to classic albums—works which through reputation and repetition seem set in stone. For some fans, remixing a Beatles album is both artistically redundant and cynically commercial.

But remixing the Beatles is not new. Remixed Beatles songs can be heard on the album Let It Be, which was released in 1970, but started life as Get Back in 1969. When Get Back was shelved at the last minute, the session tapes were handed over to the producer Phil Spector — famous for his “wall of sound” aesthetic and currently serving a life sentence for murder — who “re-produced” the work in part by remixing a number of songs, infamously adding intrusive orchestral and choral parts in the process. Let it Be was subsequently reworked and remixed again, appearing (sans Spector’s additions) as Let it Be … Naked in 2003.

The White Album itself was the source of a creative remix when Danger Mouse (Brian Burton) did a mashup called The Grey Album (2004) that combined vocal performances from Jay-Z’s The Black Album with instrumental elements from The White Album. The album became a beacon for supporters of “remix culture”, a movement that supports the use of others’ intellectual property to create new work. The Beatles, perhaps inevitably, did not authorise Danger Mouse’s remix project. As Charles Fairchild writes, though, this project was “a link in a long chain of musical practice that stretches back to the late 1960s”.

The White Album — a sprawling, seemingly unfocused, 30-track double album — has had an odd reception. Long in the shadow of its predecessor, Sgt Pepper’s, its stocks have risen in the last two decades to the point where it is universally regarded as one of the Beatles’ greatest albums. So what does the 2018 remix — put together by producer Giles Martin (son of the album’s original producer, George Martin) and mix engineer Sam Okell — offer us?

The album has a more “modern” sound (wider frequency range, wider stereo field, and greater clarity and separation of parts), without losing its live feel, grit, or eccentricity. As the opener, Back in the USSR, shows, bass frequencies are considerably more present. (In the 1960s, mixing and mastering engineers had to be careful with low frequencies, as they could cause problems at the vinyl cutting stage.)

In addition to its more present low-end, and its (usually subtle) changes to the balance between instruments, the 2018 remix is most notable for adding detail and clarity. This last aspect is particularly welcome in the album’s closing track, John Lennon’s Good Night, with its shmaltzy strings-and-choir arrangement, a style that evoked (even then) an earlier cinematic era. Removing some of the heavy-handed reverb from the choir immediately makes the song clearer and more listenable.

More than anything, The White Album was a return to – and remixing of – rock’n’roll. Julien”s Auctions/Supplied by WE/AAP.

The first postmodern album?

While some might see this remix as a marketing exercise, it undoubtedly allows us to experience the album in a new way. It also draws attention to the “remix” aesthetic found within it.

Revolution 9, a piece of avant garde sound collage made up of found audio samples, is a fine example of early remix culture (an irony that was not lost on a number of Danger Mouses’s supporters). But The White Album engaged in “remix thinking” in less obvious ways. In its wild variety and use of pastiche, it has long been seen as the first postmodern album. Ranging from the mock-1920s style of Honey Pie, to the nursery-rhyme style of Cry Baby Cry, the album could be said to remix popular music itself.

More than anything, though, The White Album — coming in the wake of the Beatles’ psychedelic outputs of 1967 — was a return to, and remixing of, rock’n’roll. (In this respect, it prefigures the Get Back sessions in which the “back-to-roots” aesthetic became programmatic.) Starting as it does with a parody (by way of the Beach Boys) of Chuck Berry’s Back in the USA, The White Album repeatedly revises classic rock’n’roll tropes.

The remix of I’m So Tired makes the evocation of Berry’s guitar style (heard in the choruses) all the more apparent. Helter Skelter, with its use of tape echo and Elvis-esque vocal stylings from McCartney, is a reworking of 1950s rock’n’roll as much as an invention of heavy metal. Meanwhile, Revolution 1 and Happiness is a Warm Gun heavily rely on doo-wop vocals, a key style in the development of rock’n’roll.

This remix of the White Album is a less radical intervention in the Beatles’ canon than Love (a 2006 album of mashups) or Let it Be… Naked. And while it is less technically “necessary” and revelatory than the 2017 remix of Sgt Pepper’s, it gives us a clearer sonic view of the Beatles’ most eccentric and eclectic album.

Indeed, the Martin-Okell remix may well have given The White Album something that early critics of the record said it lacked: a degree of coherence.

– ref. Revolution 50: The Beatles’ White Album remixed – http://theconversation.com/revolution-50-the-beatles-white-album-remixed-106784]]>

Fiji security forces on standby as nation ready for voting

By Pacific Media Centre -

November 14, 2018

Fiji police … on alert for today’s general election. Image: Mailife

By RNZ Pacific

Fiji’s security forces are standing by in case of unrest as Fiji goes to the polls.

More than 550,000 voters are due to vote today at polling stations around the country.

The police chief issued a statement on the eve of the election saying any attempts to disrupt the election process would not be taken lightly.

Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho said the force was aware of rumours circulating about “rogue groups” working towards disrupting the polls and the post election period.

“We are well aware of rumours circulating of rogue groups working towards disrupting the voting process on Election Day and the post-election period if results are not favourable,” Brigadier-General Qiliho said in a statement.

“We are warning rumour mongers to stop creating unnecessary fear among the general populace and any attempts to disrupt the Election Process will not be taken lightly.”

-Partners-

Brigadier General Qiliho said the police force had the full support of Fiji’s military forces and together they “are closely monitoring the security landscape”.

“Their officers are ready to be deployed at any time to assist us if there is information of unrest that could impact the Election process,” the police chief said.

This article is republished under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Refugee, migrant culinary delights boost new diversity cookbook

By Pacific Media Centre -

November 14, 2018

Students who volunteered for the AUT migrant cookbook include Leilani Sitagata (from left), Amina Mohamed and Tiana Lambert, who spoke of their experience last night. Image: Rahul Bhattarai/PMC

By Rahul Bhattarai

Students and staff gathered in Auckland last night to launch a cookbook with a difference celebrating culinary delights from refugee or immigrant families – and to taste some of the special 15 recipes.

The recipes in Tastes of Home, published by Auckland University of Technology to support an educational scholarship for refugees, were an instant success.

Chapters and the recipes have been provided by volunteer student contributors drawing on their family culinary secrets.

“These recipes have been tested and standardised by the culinary art students for the cook book,” says Lian-Hong Brebner, a diversity manager at AUT and one of the co-editors with Professor Alison McIntosh.

“This is more then a cookbook, it’s about celebration of AUT’s diversity that refugee and migrant background students bring to us, and their their tradition of hospitality,” says Brebner.

Foods made from the recipe of the cookbook out on display for customers to taste. Image: Rahul Bhattarai/PMC

-Partners-

Encouraging diversity
AUT as a university encourages diversity and was also the first university in New Zealand to appoint a professor of diversity – Professor Edwina Pio.

“We are also proud to be the first and only New Zealand university to appoint a professor of diversity,” says Dr Andrew Codling, who is the head of the vice-chancellors office.

“We are proud that our students and staff are from over 100 nationalities on our campuses, and in fact over 52 percent of our staff were born overseas – and I am one of them,” says Dr Codling.

Seven percent of the staff are from the Pacific, 6 percent are Maori and 64 percent of the professional staff are female.

AUT scholarship program
Proceeds from the book sales will go towards a scholarship programme for future refugee students.

Part of a chapter in the cookbook that was contributed by AUT student journalist Leilani Sitagata. Image Rahul Bhattarai/PMC

About 50 volunteers from diverse backgrounds worked around the clock to make the book possible.

“I volunteered to be part of the project because I loved that the proceeds would be going towards a scholarship for refugees,” says Leilani Sitagata, who is a final year AUT student journalist.

“As I’m a journalism major, I knew how to write, and I love my food – so I thought why not combine the two and help write a cookbook.”

Homemade cuisines from around the world featured in the book include Afgan, Iranian, Iraqi, Kurdish, Maori and Samoan and many other dishes.

On launch day, 38 copies were sold with a further 100 copies already being pre-ordered online.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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The link between terrorism and mental illness is complicated, and vilifying communities doesn’t help

By The Conversation -

November 13, 2018

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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clarke Jones, Research Fellow, Research School of Psychology, Australian National University

Following another act of fatal violence in Melbourne’s CBD last Friday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison dismissed claims the perpetrator, Hassan Khalif Shire Ali, had a mental illness. He said this was a “lame excuse”, saying he wanted imams and the Muslim community to pay greater attention to people at risk of radicalisation.

Media reports have stated Ali suffered delusions and substance abuse problems in the lead-up to his attack and believed he was being chased by “unseen people with spears”. Ali’s family and religious teacher have also attested to him being mentally ill.

To be sure, most Australians will find it hard to forget the horror of this incident where three people were stabbed. Regardless of our cultural and religious backgrounds, we stand united in grieving for restaurant owner Sisto Malaspina, who was killed in the attack. But we must also try to make sense of it by analysing the perpetrator’s actions and developing ways to prevent further acts of violence.

It is difficult to ignore similarities with an incident that occurred on the same street in 2017, when James Gargasoulas drove his car into a crowd of people, killing six and wounding 30. He too was said to be suffering delusions, though, interestingly this was not labelled as an excuse.

If we blame Muslim communities or cultural minorities as responsible for acts of terrorism, we are likely to continue to alienate at-risk individuals and the communities that support them. This can, in itself, lead to mental health problems. While this doesn’t mean the result will be violence, it can increase the chances of young people dropping out of the social support system, which can lead to criminality, anti-social behaviour, self-harm or suicide.

Terrorism and mental illness

Research consistently shows there is no evidence people living with mental illness are more violent than anyone else. In fact, people with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence that other people. They are also more at risk of homicide, suicide and self-harm.

It is too early to make firm conclusions about the role of mental health problems and terrorism as few studies have examined this relationship. But from these, we can establish not all terrorist incidents have mental illness as a causal factor.

A 2017 study conducted by the Combating Terrorism Centre (which was set up to understand terrorism after the September 11 attacks), analysed media reports of attackers who allegedly had a mental illness.

It found that out of 55 attacks in the West, where 76 individuals involved where possibly influenced by Islamic State, 27.6% had a history of psychological instability. This percentage is comparable to that found in the general population.

Almost half (45.5%) of Australians experience a mental health disorder at some point in the lifetime. And a 2017 survey found one in five, or 20% of the Australian population aged 16-85 years, were found to have experienced mental disorders in the previous 12 months.

James Gargasoulas was also reportedly suffering delusions during his deadly rampage. AAP

The study also notes its results are not conclusive. This is because media reports are often marred by a “tendency to treat all mental health disorders equally” and a fetished way of reporting on mental illness.

Mental illness is a general term that refers to a group of disorders including anxiety, depression, bipolar disorders and schizophrenia. It can significantly affect how a person feels, thinks, behaves, and interacts with other people.

Whether or not mental illness contributes to violent behaviour is likely to differ from case to case depending on an individual’s diagnosis, prior experiences, co-existence of other stressors and vulnerabilities, and lack of protective factors.

Better support for marginalised communities

In the public perception, mental illness and violence often tend to be intertwined. And much of the stigma associated with mental illness may be due to a tendency to conflate mental illness with the concept of dangerousness.

This is further augmented by the media, which sensationalises violent crimes committed by people with mental illness, particularly mass shootings. The focus is often on mental illness in such reports and ignoring the fact most of the violence in society is caused by people without mental illness.

This bias contributes to the stigma faced by those with a psychiatric diagnosis, which in turn contributes to non-disclosure of the mental illness and decreased treatment seeking.

We also know that people who are unemployed, marginalised, isolated, homeless or who have been incarcerated, have significantly higher levels of mental illness than the general population. People living in socioeconomically less affluent areas have higher levels of mental illness, particularly depression.

We need culturally appropriate models of care to help with individual experiences of stigma, isolation, disengagement, and past experiences of torture and trauma.

It is not to diminish our grief and horror at last Friday’s incident to tread carefully in laying blame on culture, religion, or even mental health. We know there are many reasons for acts of terrorism or violent crime. But we can minimise them by ensuring communities of all backgrounds feel part of Australian society.

Sadly, my ongoing research shows there is currently limited capacity for culturally sensitive mental health services to respond to alerts from communities about impending or actual crises. Decreasing funding and support from governments means community services are not equipped to prevent incidents like the attacks in Melbourne or manage young people of concern.

Instead of pointing the finger, perhaps governments at both state and federal levels should ask how they themselves can better support communities in dealing with the causes of violent crime.

– ref. The link between terrorism and mental illness is complicated, and vilifying communities doesn’t help – http://theconversation.com/the-link-between-terrorism-and-mental-illness-is-complicated-and-vilifying-communities-doesnt-help-106778]]>

What is Japanese encephalitis virus and how can I avoid it when I travel?

By The Conversation -

November 13, 2018

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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cameron Webb, Clinical Lecturer and Principal Hospital Scientist, University of Sydney

If you’re travelling to Asia, you’re probably mindful of the risks of malaria, dengue, or Zika. But authorities are warning Australians to take care to avoid another mosquito-borne disease, Japanese encephalitis, when holidaying in the region, after a spike in cases in Indonesia.

Japanese encephalitic virus is part of the flavivirus family, which is also responsible for Zika, dengue and yellow fever.

Japanese encephalitis occurs in Asia and parts of the western Pacific, from Pakistan through to Papua New Guinea and north to Japan and parts of Russia. Almost 200,000 cases are estimated to occur each year.

Most people infected don’t suffer any symptoms. But around 1% of cases will result in severe illness. Symptoms include fever, headache and vomiting, which can progress to neurological complications, such as disorientation, seizures, and paralysis.

Of those who do suffer severe illness, almost one-third will die; while up to half of those who survive are left with long-term neurological impairment.

There is no specific treatment for the disease, but it can be prevented with a vaccine.

How does it spread?

The virus is maintained in nature between mosquitoes and waterbirds, mainly herons and egrets. Pigs are also an important host, especially when they’re kept close to both people and sources of mosquitoes, such as rice paddies or other agricultural areas that use flood irrigation. Outbreaks are also more likely to occur during the monsoon season.

The mosquitoes that spread Japanese encephalitis virus are different to Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus – the mosquitoes that spread dengue, yellow fever and Zika viruses. These mosquitoes are active during the day and closely associated with small water-holding containers in urban areas.

The mosquitoes that transmit Japanese encephalitis virus, especially those belonging to the genus Culex, are usually found in wetlands and drainage ditches, and will be out biting mostly at dawn and dusk.

The Culex group of mosquitoes plays an important role in spreading Japanese encephalitis virus. Stephen Doggett (NSW Health Pathology)

Is Australia at risk?

Given outbreaks of Japanese encephalitis virus have occurred in Torres Strait and neighbouring Papua New Guinea, concern has been raised about the potential introduction and spread of the virus in Australia.

The virus has been detected in sentinel pigs and local mosquitoes from the Cape York Peninsula. These local mosquitoes have the potential to spread a number of closely related viruses. Both wild pigs and waterbirds are also common in northern Australia.

Fortunately, conditions don’t quite seem right for a local outbreak.

Perhaps our local flaviviruses provide some immunity in local wildlife to infection with Japanese encephalitis virus. Research has shown that local mosquitoes may be more likely to bite local native wildlife (such as wallabies) than pigs, providing some protection for Australia from local outbreaks.

Genetic studies also suggest that local mosquitoes are not as efficient at spreading the virus compared to those in countries to our north.

While the risk of a local outbreak is low, Australian travellers should not be complacent.

How can Australian travellers stay safe?

There is a vaccine for Japanese encephalitis, but few travellers choose to have it, as they’re often told the risks are low unless they’re spending extensive time in rural or high-risk areas.

There is less than a one in a million chance you may be infected during travel to a country that experiences regular outbreaks of the disease. But short trips aren’t entirely risk-free; travellers to Asia still need to take suitable precautions.

A study investigating 55 cases of international travellers becoming infected with Japanese encephalitis virus indicated that most spent over a month at their destination but very few were vaccinated against the virus.

Given some uncertainty around the true levels of activity of Japanese encephalitis virus in some regions, there has been a recent call to re-evaluate the recommendations, which could result in more travellers getting vaccinated.

Rice paddies can be a breeding ground for mosquitoes that spread Japanese encephalitis virus throughout Asia. From Flickr user sinta1

The reality is there is a far greater risk that you’ll be infected by dengue while travelling in southeast Asia than Japanese encephalitis virus. But in recent years, Australian travellers have been infected with Japanese encephalitis virus in Thailand and Bali.

Australian travellers heading to Indonesia are being reminded that, although the risk remains low, precautions should be taken to avoid mosquito bites, by:

ensuring your accommodation is mosquito-proof (sleeping under a bed net may also help)
taking measures to avoid insect bites, including using insect repellent (and applying it regularly) and wearing long, loose-fitting, light-coloured clothing.

If you’re venturing out of holiday resorts to rural areas, consider vaccination as well. Even if you’re not, you can still get vaccinated before you go, but discuss this with you local doctor as part of your pre-travel health checks.

It only takes a single bite from an infected mosquito to transmit Japanese encephalitis virus and sometimes you can be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

– ref. What is Japanese encephalitis virus and how can I avoid it when I travel? – http://theconversation.com/what-is-japanese-encephalitis-virus-and-how-can-i-avoid-it-when-i-travel-106775]]>

How research is helping to reduce prejudice between people online

By The Conversation -

November 13, 2018

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fiona White, Professor of Social Psychology, University of Sydney

The internet often gets a bad rap, and for good reason. Social media use can contribute to poorer mental health in teens. It can also be used to manipulate users’ emotions, and to disseminate misinformation and click bait to sway public opinion.

The internet is also home to countless online communities that have been founded on hatred towards social diversity. These online hate groups often incite violence between between political, ethnic and religious groups in the real world.

Despite this, research demonstrates that, when used appropriately, the internet can be a powerful source for social good. When individuals from different groups interact positively and cooperatively online, society may change for the better.

The internet brings people together

The number of people connecting online is increasing every day. Data collected this year by the Pew Research Center shows 69% of adults living in the United States use at least one social media site, up from 21% in 2008. In Australia, almost 80% of the population has a social media account, and many people access these sites multiple times per day.

Most individuals use the internet to stay in touch with people they already know. But many are also using it to meet new people – 57% of teens report making new friends online. One of the benefits of the internet is that it breaks down the barriers that often prevent people meeting offline.

A powerful example of this is the Facebook peace initiative, “A World of Friends”. This ongoing project has documented vast numbers of online friendships between people living on opposite sides of conflict zones. At the time of writing this article, Facebook says that more than 200,000 new Israel-Palestine friendships had formed in the past 24 hours.

Online social networks can connect people from all over the world, even in the most unexpected places.

Online interactions could resolve group conflict

Conflict between groups is evident in many parts of the world: examples include the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in the Middle East, the strained relations between North and South Korea, and the history of hostility between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.

Closer to home, last Friday’s terrorist incident in Melbourne has created a backlash against the Muslim community.

One solution for reducing such conflict is through intergroup contact. First proposed by American psychologist Gordon Allport in 1954, the “Contact Hypothesis” suggests that having a positive interaction – or contact – with a person from an opposing group can improve our attitudes towards that group. It does so by challenging many of the negative stereotypes and feelings that we may have towards that group.

If this interaction is supported by institutions, and facilitates cooperation and an equal status between the individuals involved, then it is even more effective.

There is an impressive body of research that supports the power of contact for improving relations between groups experiencing conflict. However, in reality, interacting with others who are different from ourselves, who we may fear, or who are physically distant from us, can be challenging.

In situations such as these, the internet provides a practical avenue for contact, helping people bridge the gap from the safety and comfort of their own homes. Already, social media sites, online chat rooms, multi-player video games, and support forums connect people from diverse backgrounds.

Current research has found encouraging results

But what does research say about the benefits of online contact for social cohesion? For almost a decade, we have been exploring whether online interactions can improve relations between diverse groups.

To test this question in the research lab, we developed an online program – called E-contact – to simulate a structured chat room interaction between two individuals from different groups. First, a moderator helps the individuals get to know each other by exchanging interests, after which the individuals are guided through a cooperative task. Each individual contributes equally during the interaction, and together they achieve a shared goal. This shifts people from an “us versus them” to a “we” thinking style, to promote a more inclusive mindset.

So far, our E-contact research has connected Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, Muslim and Catholic students from segregated schools in Australia, homosexuals and heterosexuals, and individuals with and without schizophrenia.

In each of these cases, our results have been consistent: online interactions between diverse groups reduce prejudice and promote social cohesion.

Interacting with others online can reduce intergroup conflict. rawpixel/unsplash

The future of research into online interactions

In the digital age, interacting with other groups online is a powerful tool for improving social cohesion. However, motivating individuals to do so voluntarily and outside of the research lab can be difficult.

Many people surf the internet with a heightened sense of “stranger danger”, and rightly so. Future research must look at ways to encourage positive and safe online exchanges between diverse groups.

In addition to finding ways to promote social cohesion, researchers should explore emerging technologies, such as virtual and augmented reality, which may provide a unique and engaging opportunity for people to interact online.

As conflict between groups continues all over the world, the need for effective solutions to combat it only grows. The internet, although commonly part of the problem, may also be part of the solution.

– ref. How research is helping to reduce prejudice between people online – http://theconversation.com/how-research-is-helping-to-reduce-prejudice-between-people-online-106175]]>

On the offensive: why Virgin Australia gets called a publicity hound

By The Conversation -

November 13, 2018

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mehran Nejati, Senior Lecturer in Management, Edith Cowan University

Parading your patriotism might look like a corporate plan that can’t possibly go wrong. ANZAC Day sporting commemorations by the AFL and NRL, for example, are hugely successful, embraced by veterans groups and the general public alike.

But Virgin Australia’s attempt to get in on the action has proven as much a strategic miscalculation as the Gallipoli campaign.

A week before Remembrance Day the airline announced it would jump aboard a NewsCorp-confected campaign by emulating US airlines that publicly honour military personnel on their flights.

Within 24 hours it was retreating in disarray.

Its plan didn’t go quite as far as the Americans do. Other passengers would not be expected to stand up and applaud. Nor would it offer a military discount, as Virgin Atlantic does. But it did promise proclamations of gratitude and priority boarding for military veterans.

Veterans’ representatives described the idea as embarrassing, tokenistic and opportunistic. Chief among the criticisms: Virgin Australia was fatally misreading the local culture by thinking it could import an American practice out of step with the Australian temperament.

How did the airline blunder so badly?

This is a case study in how to get the fundamentals of corporate social responsibility completely wrong. Virgin Australia chose the wrong cause to support, in the wrong way.

There are three key things it apparently failed to do. Other companies should take note, or risk their own embrace of social causes being dismissed as publicity chasing.

No imagination

Virgin Australia apparently didn’t imagine the beneficiaries might think its plan hasty and mindless.

It didn’t factor in that military veterans might be uncomfortable with being singled out for public thanks. As Rodger Shanahan, a research fellow at the Lowy Institute and former army officer noted, there are many others “who provide service to the community more continually, and are exposed to more trauma on a much more regular basis than the average Australian Defence Force member”.

It short, it didn’t put itself in the stakeholders’ shoes.

Understanding stakeholders is essential to the success of a company’s social responsibility initiatives. A better appreciation of military veterans would have led it to a different plan.

Leaping before listening

Being able to see an issue from the perspective of stakeholders is far easier if you listen to them first.

Virgin declared it would consult with veterans’ organisations only after its announcement bombed.

It should have consulted before. Involving stakeholders in the decision-making process could have avoided the controversy.

Nowadays companies can easily use social media to engage stakeholders and gauge community sentiment prior to making or announcing a decision. Sony and Microsoft are good case studies. Both have successfully used social media prior to launching their new game consoles to involve consumers in “cocreation”.

With tools like Social Studio any company can analyse what is being said about it across internet platforms. Reviewing this sentiment can be provide insight and ideas. Like this one:

“I am happy that I served my country to protect the values that we Australians hold dear but do not want to see Australia follow the path of America… Virgin Australia would do better by providing some discounts to airfares or Lounge access rather that what I see proposed today.”

Of course, social media should not be the only medium for obtaining feedback. Other techniques such as focus group and surveys are also important. But feedback from stakeholders is tremendously valuable.

Fitness test

Corporate social responsibility initiatives need to be the right fit. Research shows the importance of stakeholders seeing the connection between a company and the causes it supports.

That’s probably why the AFL and NRL can get away with leveraging the “ANZAC spirit” to promote football games. Those who died at Gallipoli and professional footballers at least share the common attribute of being young men.

In the case of Virgin Australia, simply importing an American idea failed to take account of the need to show a connection between military personnel and the airline’s brand values in the Australian market.

What this proves is that companies need to be smarter and more sensitive than media and politicians that see advantages in sanctifying military service.

Other Australian companies can learn from Virgin’s military blunder. The lesson here is that corporate social responsibility needs to be driven by real engagement, and doing the hard yards, not by short-term opportunism.

Perhaps they can take the sentiments of Rodger Shanahan to heart and put more energy into recognising “all those who work on behalf of the greater good in often traumatic, and always difficult circumstances at home”.

– ref. On the offensive: why Virgin Australia gets called a publicity hound – http://theconversation.com/on-the-offensive-why-virgin-australia-gets-called-a-publicity-hound-106765]]>

Report fake page to Facebook plea from Fiji Times editor

By Pacific Media Centre -

November 13, 2018

Fiji Times appeals to readers on its website today to report the fake page to Facebook. Image: PMC

Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk

The Fiji Times has appealed to readers to report a fake Facebook account purporting to be the official page of the daily newspaper.

In a message posted on the newspaper’s website today, editor-in-chief Fred Wesley says: “We need your support to report this FAKE page https://web.facebook.com/Fiji-Times-254313332110085/ to Facebook so it can be removed.”

The fake page ran a false news item claiming that opposition SODELPA leader Sitiveni Rabuka had been barred from contesting tomorrow’s general election. In fact, a High Court ruling yesterday cleared Rabuka to contest the election to the jubilation of a crowd waiting outside the Suva courtroom.

The fake news item said:

“The Social Liberal Democratic Party (SODELPA) leader Sitiveni Rabuka has been disqualified from running for the 2018 Fijian General Elections.

“All votes cast for Rabuka’s number will not be counted now …”

-Partners-

The official Facebook account of the newspaper can be accessed on this link: https://web.facebook.com/fijitimesonline/

The Fake Fiji Times FB page. Image: PMC

The true Fiji Times FB page. Image: PMC

False news warning
Radio NZ Pacific reports that election authorities in Fiji are warning about false news stories in the run-up to tomorrow’s election.

They were telling people to report any so-called fake news.

Social media users have found fake media sites with items about visa-free access to Australia and a ban on celebrating Diwali.

Ashwin Raj, of Fiji’s media authority, said there was so much fake news that audiences found it hard to decide which was fact or fiction.

Raj said people should report fake news.

A two-day campaign blackout started at midnight on Sunday, but the complaints to the elections office said some material remained on banners and car stickers.

Offenders risk the chance of a hefty fine and up to 10 years in jail.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Why controversial child protection reforms in NSW could lead to another Stolen Generation

By The Conversation -

November 13, 2018

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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison Whittaker, Research Fellow, University of Technology Sydney

Among the most significant powers exercised by governments is that of removing children from their families. Potential reforms before the NSW parliament this week would expand this power in frightening ways.

The reforms contained in the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Amendment Bill represent a radical shift in basic child welfare principles. These changes could make removals more permanent, while dispensing with core safeguards and transparency measures. It is Aboriginal communities who stand to lose the most.

Children are already being removed from Indigenous communities at an unprecedented rate. Indigenous children make up 36.9% of children in out-of-home care in Australia, despite being just 3% of the population.

And stakeholders ranging from the Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation to the peak body for Community Legal Centres NSW are fearful that, if passed, the NSW legislation will force adoptions and create another Stolen Generation.

What’s been proposed?

We’re especially concerned by four fundamental proposed changes:

placing a two-year limit on creating a permanent arrangement for a child
making guardianship orders by consent outside of courts
amending how families can apply for restoration
removing parental consent to adoption for children on permanent orders.

Proponents suggest the reforms are aimed at stopping children “flopping from one foster home to another”, as Pru Goward, NSW minister for family and community services, put it.

Pru Goward says the bill will bring ‘landmark reforms’ to the state’s child protection system. Dean Lewins/AAP

However, we are talking here about legally permanent care arrangements being made with arbitrary deadlines.

As Aboriginal advocates have argued, and as the evidence attests, family and kin support is key to keeping Aboriginal kids home, safe and connected with their culture. The reforms proposed in the bill will make it much harder to achieve that goal.

A permanent placement within two years

The most commonly criticised feature of the bill is the arbitrary maximum period of two years within which a decision about permanent placement has to be made.

As governments increasingly outsource their child welfare responsibilities to private agencies, there is a danger that market incentives can intrude into decision-making. The incentive to cycle children into permanent arrangements, regardless of their suitability, to meet performance indicators and targets is particularly chilling.

In Australia, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse noted the vulnerability of children in care to sex abuse. Yet, once children are placed on guardianship orders or adopted, they are on their own, with no further review or oversight. They are no longer counted in the out-of-home care statistics.

And the factors that cause children to enter into care – especially Aboriginal children – aren’t usually solved within a two-year time frame. They’re often related to poverty and inter-generational trauma. These include insecure housing, drug and alcohol addiction, family violence, and mental health and behavioural problems.

Almost half of all children in out-of-home care in NSW in 2014-2015 had a parent who had contact with the child welfare department themselves when they were a child.

Services to address these problems (such as support for victims of domestic violence and rehabilitation facilities) are either not available or have a lengthy wait list – sometimes two years or longer.

And it’s hard to see how the frequently backlogged NSW Children’s Court could cope with the additional pressure of a looming two-year deadline.

The changes create insurmountable conditions tantamount to permanent removal with no oversight.

Guardianship orders ‘by consent’ outside of courts

Under the bill, permanent care orders can be made “by consent” in alternative dispute resolution without necessarily establishing a child is at risk. As the Law Society of NSW says in its submission to the state government:

While the child’s safety and best interests are of course paramount, these provisions would allow the court to make a guardianship order with the parents’ consent, even where there is no finding that a child is at risk of significant harm or should be subject to a care and protection order.

These decisions will be made in negotiations – without judicial oversight – between families, governments, agencies and carers with vastly different legal resources, powers and goals. Families will be assisted by lawyers who may be ill-equipped to deal with a sudden influx of new cases in an unfamiliar forum.

The legislation provides limited safeguards, but these cannot make the alternative dispute resolution suitable in cases where fundamental legal rights – such as the state breaking up a family – are at stake.

This means thousands of children who have already been transferred from foster care to private guardianship arrangements – over 894 of them Indigenous as of June 2017 – could soon be adopted without their parents’ knowledge or consent.

Once a decision has been made, the reforms narrow the criteria for reviewing them. This makes it virtually impossible for families to get permanent placement decisions changed.

In its own report on the bill, the NSW government conceded most stakeholders opposed these changes.

Rushed process leaving little time for response

Decisions such as these already take place in the context of the unconscious bias and structural racism of the out-of-home care system. And Indigenous child placement principles – which aim to keep children safe while retaining their connections to family, community, culture and country – are not being properly implemented.

We do not yet know the extent of that system failure. The NSW government is not waiting for the results of an ongoing review into how it handles Aboriginal child placements. A similar review in Victoria revealed that systematic failings have contributed to the over-representation of Aboriginal children in care and that over 60% of those children had been placed with non-Aboriginal carers.

It is astonishing this bill is being rushed straight to the upper house in the last sitting days before the NSW election in March, leaving no chance for adequate debate and giving Aboriginal stakeholders just weeks’ notice to respond. A recent motion to send the bill to a short inquiry that would last mere days was voted down.

We know that NSW child protection laws need to change, but not this way. The Commonwealth government has apologised to the Stolen Generations, and the NSW government has apologised to survivors of forced adoptions. Both apologies warned us of the need to learn from past policies. If this bill passes, we will have all but forgotten them.

– ref. Why controversial child protection reforms in NSW could lead to another Stolen Generation – http://theconversation.com/why-controversial-child-protection-reforms-in-nsw-could-lead-to-another-stolen-generation-106330]]>

Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – November 13 2018

By Bryce Edwards -

November 13, 2018

Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – November 13 2018 Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. [caption id="attachment_297" align="aligncenter" width="640"] The Beehive and Parliament Buildings.[/caption] Child abuse inquiry to include faith-based institutions Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): Child abuse inquiry – Brace yourself for NZ’s cruel past 1News: Jack Tame questions Acting PM Kelvin Davis over Government’s decision to limit timeframe for child abuse inquiry Phil Pennington (RNZ): Abuse survivors encouraged to speak as inquiry scope widens Jason Walls (Herald): Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care largest ever undertaken in New Zealand, says Sir Anand Satyanand Chris Morris (ODT): Abuse inquiry widened Chris Morris (ODT): ‘Should have done it sooner’: Survivor on abuse inquiry Lucy Bennett (Herald): Apology needed for people abused in state and church care: sex abuse survivors support group Chris Bramwell (RNZ): Religious institutions to be included in state abuse inquiry Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): Churches to be examined in state care abuse inquiry 1News: Watch: PM widens inquiry into abuse of children in state care to include faith-based institutions Jason Walls (Herald): Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care will now include churches, PM Jacinda Ardern says Stacey Kirk and Tom Hunt (Stuff): Government expands abuse inquiry to churches and ‘faith-based institutions’ Megan Sutherland (Newshub): Government expands state care abuse inquiry to include church abuse Police Herald Editorial: Police commissioner does not come out of Haumaha inquiry well Jared Savage (Herald): New details of bullying allegations against Wally Haumaha outlined in report Gia Garrick (Herald): Louise Nicholas stands by criticism after report clears Wally Haumaha Derek Cheng (Herald):Louise Nicholas concerns not relevant to Haumaha appointment process – Police Commissioner Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): ‘We struggled to get taken seriously’: Women speak out on Wally Haumaha inquiry RNZ: Wally Haumaha: ‘It has not been easy for anyone’ Scott Palmer (Newshub): Police Minister Stuart Nash won’t back Wally Haumaha despite inquiry clearing him Jared Savage (Herald): Wally Haumaha inquiry: Government releases QC’s report into appointment process for Police Deputy Commissioner Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): Haumaha report clears Government Stacey Kirk (Stuff): Wally Haumaha inquiry and the politics of perception Thomas Manch (Stuff): Top cop Wally Haumaha ‘looking forward’ to continuing his work after report clears his appointment Thomas Manch (Stuff): Top cop Wally Haumaha’s appointment cleared by Government inquiry Anna Whyte (1News): Appointment process for Deputy Police Commissioner Wally Haumaha found to be ‘adequate and fit for purpose’ – report Jo Moir (RNZ): Haumaha appointment process was ‘adequate and fit for purpose’ Newstalk ZB: Inquiry into Wally Haumaha finds appointment process was adequate No Right Turn: This is what happens when agencies investigate themselves Derek Cheng (Herald): Wally Haumaha report raises more questions than answers, says National Party Matt Shand (Stuff): Opposition police spokesman says Haumaha sends wrong message for police No Right Turn: We don’t need more terror laws Sinead Corcoran (Stuff): NZ Police and Pride Board in ‘negotiations’ over uniform ban RNZ: Calls for Pride boycott over uniform ban Cleo Fraser (Newshub): ‘You f***ed up’: Nelson man wants compensation after police shoot dog Teachers’ pay dispute Press Editorial: Teachers test the Government Jessica Long (Stuff): Why primary teachers’ and principals’ negotiations have led to strike action 1News: North Island schools closed as week-long primary teachers’ strike rolls into second day John Gerritsen (RNZ): Teachers defend strike decision John Lewis (ODT): Offer ‘too late’ to avert strike: OPPA chairman 1News: ‘This is all we’ve got’ – Government pushed to limit on primary pay offer, says PM Simon Collins (Herald): Education Minister Chris Hipkins says teachers keep asking for more RNZ:Primary and secondary teachers may have combined campaign in 2019 Nicole Bremner (!News): Fighting talk from teachers’ union president, who says fight with Government ‘will get rougher’ Scott Palmer (Newshub): Teachers not ruling out third strike to fix education ‘crisis’ – NZEI Simon Collins (Herald): Striking primary teachers at meeting in Auckland are urged to ‘fight for your professional lives’ Josephine Franks and Collette Devlin (Stuff): Striking Auckland teachers ‘living pay cheque to pay cheque’ take to the streets RNZ: Teachers strike: What you need to know Diane Crate (Stuff): New offer for teachers is misleading, here’s the truth Simon Collins (Herald): Parents taking extra ‘Dad Sunday’ back teachers’ strikes Jodie Rimmer (Herald): As parents we need to get behind the teachers’ strike Point of Order: After expelling the charter schools, Hipkins is pressed to do better on teachers’ pay Josephine Franks (Stuff): Hunger strikes, a 180km march, 3-month walkouts: Teacher protests around the world Education Simon Collins (Herald): Struggling to learn: Brain science reveals why some kids learn differently Jessica Long (Stuff): NZQA’s digital pilot goes offline to affect English students Native Affairs (Māori TV): The digital future of education Rachel Rafferty (Briefing Papers): The costs of choice in the New Zealand history curriculum Bullying Rhonwyn Newson (Newshub): Stand Strong NZ: New series calls for a tougher stance on school bullying Raniera Harrison (Māori TV): Bullying in NZ schools second highest in OECD Zane Small (Newshub): Stand Strong NZ: ‘The fallout is huge’ – Kiwi teen’s death brings cyberbullying into focus Patrick Gower (Newshub): Stand Strong NZ: Patrick Gower – I refused to let name-calling stop me chasing my dreams Alice Webb-Liddall (Newshub): Stand Strong NZ: Beautiful messages flood in for Patrick Gower after bullying revelations Eilish Grieveson (Newshub): When the bullied become the bullies Environment and conservation Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Green MP Eugenie Sage accused of ‘rubber-stamping’ land sales to foreigners Simon Hampton and Zane Small (Newshub): Paris Agreement regulations won’t stop ice sheet collapse – report Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Capital Kiwi: Owner of Te Kamaru Station says he wants kiwi back on his land Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Capital Kiwi: First of 4400 traps set at Terawhiti station Dan Dalgety (RNZ): ‘We think it can be a safe place for kiwi to live’ Laura Macdonald (Newshub): Why kiwi could be seen in Wellington backyards in just five years Rowan Quinn (RNZ): Battle against Dome Valley dump plan gears up Dave Nicoll (Stuff): Environment Southland takes top honours at biosecurity awards ODT Editorial: Back yards an untapped resource Wayne Linklater (Stuff): ‘Facts’ don’t give scientists a monopoly on the truth Justice Victoria University (Newsroom): One law for all or one justice for all? David Farrar: Judicial pensions Vincent Olsen-Reeder (Spinoff): When a judge slaps down a lawyer for a few words of te reo, it’s about power Sam Hurley (Herald): Herald challenges judge’s decision to suppress ‘callous’ man who robbed injured crash victim Housing Phil Twyford (ODT): Setting the record straight on the KiwiBuild scheme Felix Desmarais (Stuff): KiwiBuild signals interest in ‘pocket’ of prime land on Wellington peninsula Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Government ‘risks lack of KiwiBuild buyers’ Armistice centenary Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): A Diet Of Lies Alice Webb-Liddall (Newshub): Winston Peters criticises French President Emmanuel Macron’s Armistice Day speech 1News: Winston Peters criticises Emmanuel Macron’s Armistice Day speech in Paris NZ-Pacific relationship, Pacific Aotearoa Summit RNZ: Cooks delighted as NZ Super qualification eased RNZ: NZ planned Pacific TV service not what is needed – expert Vaimoana Tapaleao (Herald): State of Pasifika community in New Zealand to be revealed at Pacific Summit Defence 1News: New Defence Force boss on working with China – ‘We have discussions about how we can cooperate in the South Pacific’ Newshub: Why terrorists aren’t targeting New Zealand Foreign affairs Laura Walters (Newsroom): Great power rivalry on the agenda Zane Small (Newshub): What Jacinda Ardern plans to tell Australian PM Scott Morrison Government Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Meeting with Adrian Orr among those not disclosed by Shane Jones Katie Kenny (Stuff): Algorithms are everywhere but the public sector seems scared to use them Richard MacManus (Newsroom): How Government algorithms are judging you Point of Order: Ministerial appointments monitor – jobs for the boys (and jobs for the girls, too) Banking and finance Tim Hazledine (Herald): Govt should use Kiwibank to undercut the big four Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Jones accuses the FMA of being ‘chummy’ with banks, the RBNZ of being too independent and the Super Fund of using the wrong investment strategy Transport Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland cycleways overestimated demand to obtain taxpayer funding, says Auckland Transport report Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Cycleways exposed as the sham they are Michael Naylor (Herald): E-bikes, e-scooters and e-vehicles pose a threat to public transport Ruby Macandrew (Stuff):Lime scooters likely to launch in Wellington before the end of summer Ben Strang (RNZ): Pilots seek stricter drone laws as they await improved technology Kate Gudsell (RNZ): Drone disrupting airspace ‘could have been catastrophic’ Local government Matthew Littlewood (Stuff): Economists see lack of detail in Alpine Energy share sale proposal Janine Rankin (Manawatū Standard): Ombudsman decision savages Horowhenua email blocking Herald: Chief Ombudsman asks Horowhenua council to apologise for blocking mayor’s and councillors’ email RNZ: Ombudsman – Council’s blocking of emails wrong No Right Turn: Unreasonable Auckland Bernard Orsman (Herald): Buying a section in a new development north of Auckland will come with an ‘infrastructure payment’; tagged onto rates bill Newshub: North Auckland gets $91m infrastructure package Bill McKay (Newsroom): Yes to Auckland CBD stadium, just not the waterfront Nick Truebridge (Stuff): $1.8b Auckland stadium plan on shaky ground as council pours cold water on funding plea Waitara Lands Bill Robin Martin (RNZ): Hapū divided over Waitara Lands Bill Deena Coster (Stuff): Govt Minister Andrew Little listens to concerns of Waitara leaseholders as bill reading looms Health RNZ: New unit to transform critical care at Dunedin Hospital David Loughrey (ODT): Build will be more complex due to soils Angie Skerrett (Newshub): ‘Virtual campus’ suggested to ease rural doctor shortage Leonie Hayden (Spinoff): Under the Korowai: new approaches to Māori mental health Eric Crampton: Sugar tax advice Ngāi Tahu agreement with Oranga Tamariki RNZ: ‘We are really interested in stepping up’ Regan Paranihi (Māori tV): Oranga Tamariki team up with Ngāi Tahu Employment and training Richard Harman (Politik): Budget to include radical new approach to skills retraining John Boynton (RNZ): Programme builds rangatahi’s confidence to climb leadership ladder One Billion Trees Project David Fisher (Herald): Shane Jones’ One Billion Trees bungle: scrub, weeds mar planting of 1 million seedlings Kate Nicol-Williams (1News): Nurseries call for quicker action on Govt’s plan to plant 1 billion trees by 2027 Canterbury earthquakes, earthquake risks RNZ: Govt to announce details of independent inquiry into EQC Liz McDonald (Stuff): Test case for on-sold homes with botched repairs still nine months away Chloe Ranford (Stuff): Liquefaction report says rivers most at risk Abortion Trish McBride (Stuff): Deciding to abort must be more than a simple solution to a problem Bob McCoskrie: We love them both Amy Brooke: Jacinda Ardern’s priorities aren’t most New Zealanders Media Colin Peacock (RNZ): Rank and file missing from conference coverage Stuff: Journalism figure Brian Priestley dies Primary industries David Williams (Newsroom): Minister challenged over Mackenzie greening Angie Skerrett (Newshub): Misinformation puts extra pressure on M bovis farmers Iulia Leilua (Māori TV): Turning pollution into profit Business, economy RNZ: Low confidence threat to economic growth – Bridges David Cormack (Herald): Silly Simon Bridges should avoid repeating Angry Andy Little’s mistake Native Affairs (Māori TV): Māori enterprise – awakening the taniwha Mainzeal Matthew Theunissen (RNZ): Mainzeal loan generated hundreds of millions in wealth, court hears RNZ: Mainzeal directors should’ve said they’d resign: lawyer Civil defence Alice Webb-Liddall (Newshub): Civil Defence to test another mobile alert this weekend 1News: Nationwide test of Emergency Mobile Alert system announced Other Phil Pennington (RNZ): Controversial Codemark certificates axed Aaron Leaman (Stuff): KiwiRail defends decision to purchase new diesel trains Russell Brown (Public Address): Getting serious about the cannabis referendum RNZ: New Zealanders losing millions to scammers, new data shows Tamsyn Parker (Herald): Scam victim: ‘I felt like vomiting’ Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Meridian: Here’s how households could save $180m Mark Jennings (Newsroom): It was a hurricane with no name: Vector boss 1News: Simon Bridges hints there may be more than just ministerial incompetence behind Karel Sroubek scandal Zane Small (Newshub): ‘Indoctrination?’: Questions over Church of Scientology’s free English lessons Madeleine Chapman (Spinoff): Which MP occupies the worst seat in parliament? A Spinoff investigation Conan Young (RNZ): Race-fixing charges not expected to impact NZ Trotting Cup]]>

Marshall Islands president narrowly survives no-confidence vote

By Pacific Media Centre -

November 13, 2018

Marshall Islands President Dr Hilda Heine … survived challenge to her government’s policies. Image: SPC

By Giff Johnson in Majuro for RNZ Pacific

Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine has survived a vote of no confidence with parliament, the Nitijela, split evenly 16-16

The movers of the motion needed 17 votes to topple Dr Heine. The vote was held yesterday with 32 of the 33 members present, as one was off-island for medical treatment.

Heine, Finance Minister Brenson Wase and Foreign Minister John Silk led 45 minutes of government response to the five issues outlined by the motion movers, with Dr Heine saying the vote was really a “referendum about our own politics.”

Wase said the criticism of the government for moving ahead with a digital currency plan had been overtaken by events, with numerous countries in the Pacific following the Marshall Islands by announcing plans for their own digital currencies and requesting support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He said delays in releasing the Marshall Islands’ “SOV” currency were so the country could meet the requirements of the US, European Union and others.

Silk said the international recognition accorded Heine and her government showed the opposition’s contention that the government had ruined the nation’s reputation internationally was wrong.

-Partners-

He cited donors doubling their annual grants and the country’s chairmanship of various global climate groups.

Lack of transparency
Opposition Senators Casten Nemra, Bruce Bilimon and Alfred Alfred, Jr. fired back, hammering the government on lack of transparency in handling theft of money from its national trust fund in 2017 and saying the government had taken away people’s right to vote by eliminating postal absentee balloting for islanders living offshore.

The parliament chamber was packed with a standing-room only crowd to view the debate and the vote that followed.

Immediately after the results were confirmed, Speaker Kenneth Kedi, who had backed the no confidence move, congratulated Dr Heine and her Cabinet, and then, following a motion to recess, declared Nitijela to be in recess.

Giff Johnson is editor of the Marshall Islands Journal and correspondent for RNZ Pacific. This article is republished under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

]]>

How the use of emoji on Islamophobic Facebook pages amplifies racism

By The Conversation -

November 13, 2018

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ariadna Matamoros-Fernández, Lecturer in Digital Media at the School of Communication, Queensland University of Technology

In the aftermath of the fatal stabbing in Melbourne’s Bourke Street on Friday, Facebook and other social media platforms were flooded with hateful messages towards Muslims and Islam.

Over the weekend, I browsed several Islamophobic Facebook pages, such as “No sharia law – Never ever give up Australia” and “Reclaim Australia”. These groups were using the incident to dehumanise Muslims by sharing mocking memes, GIFs, decontextualised information, and blatantly racist comments.

I noted the “angry” reaction button being widely used in response to posts, while comments on posts were often accompanied by other emoji that emphasised states of rage towards Muslims: angry face, pouting face, swearing face.

Facebook emoji reactions. Screengrabbed by author, November 2018

This kind of emoji use involves overt racist language and practices, but emoji can also be used to cloak everyday microaggressions in humour and play. For example, previous research has found how online harassers often use cues such as smiley emoticons to mitigate their abuse.

Racism on social media is structural too. A larger body of evidence shows that it can be built into, and normalised by, social media platforms, which also have the power to curb it by instituting responsible policies and processes.

Using emoji to amplify Islamophobia

Facebook introduced “reactions” in early 2016. Beyond just a simple “like”, this function allowed users to interact with posts and comments by clicking on emoji-like buttons to signify emotions: love, laughter, surprise, sadness and anger.

Since then, hate groups and other users have appropriated this technical feature to spread anger towards specific targets. One way of doing this involves overlaying a question on an image or video and encouraging users to respond by choosing between two reactions, with the “angry” reaction typically being one of the options.

In the below example, taken from a Belgian far-right political party’s Facebook page, users are asked to respond to the question of whether the school year should be adapted to accommodate Islamic traditions.

Facebook images posted by Flemish far-right political party Vlaams Belang incite its audience to express anger against Muslims. Screengrabbed by author, September 2017

In this way, “reactions” facilitate the performance of rage and antagonism towards other groups by allowing users to click on an angry-faced emoji.

The way Facebook uses this information can have problematic consequences. According to a 2016 blog post, Facebook’s algorithms interpret the clicking of the “angry” reaction on a post as an indication that users want to see more content related to those posts. Islamophobic content that attracts high numbers of “angry” reactions therefore has the potential to become even more visible and shareable.

Facebook also uses these emotional responses to posts to create user profiles to sell to advertisers. The creation of automated categories based on user behaviour has involved Facebook in several public scandals. For example, in the past, Facebook has reportedly allowed advertisers to target “jew haters” and people interested in “white genocide conspiracy theory” – a useful tool for people who wish to spread hate.

How emoji can reproduce cultural stereotypes

In general, emoji are benign and funny digital images. But their design and use can reproduce long-running racist stereotypes.

The US body responsible for the emoji set, the Unicode Consortium, decides what ends up being represented as emoji. At times, these decisions have caused controversies around cultural diversity and race. For example, Apple’s family emojis originally excluded depictions of same-sex couples.

Sticker categories for comments offered by Facebook by default (left), Facebook’s Meep Stickers (centre) and emoji’s facial expressions (right) Screengrabbed by author, September 2017

Racist stereotypes can be further entrenched by the way emoji are used. In my study of the use of Facebook reactions by Belgian far-right political party, Vlaams Belang, I examined how emoji were used to spread anger. I found that users often responded to posts by posting more emoji and Meep stickers.

Facebook’s vomit Meep sticker.

The vomit sticker surfaced as a popular and recurrent choice to express disgust towards Muslims.

A pig sticker is posted in response to a questions asking if policewomen should be able to wear their headscarves.‘ Screengrabbed by author, May 2017

This aligns with other exploitations of the act of vomiting as a cultural trope to convey xenophobia.

For example, the British television series Little Britain used hyperbolic humour to ridicule the racism of Maggie Blackamoor, one of its characters, by having her vomit every time she ate food made by a non-white person, or met people from different ethnicities.

People also used pig emoji, and various stickers, to show opposition to Muslims. According to Islamic law, eating pork is forbidden, and, historically, Western Islamophobia has used pork to attack Muslims.

The practice of posting pig emoji on the comments of Islamophobic posts draws on this long tradition, contributing to the weaponising of pork to antagonise Muslims.

The challenge of moderating social media content

The fact that racist discourse proliferates through emoji and stickers on Facebook suggests a need for new ways to moderate content.

It is not currently possible to switch off the use of emoji and stickers in comments. That means that people can flood Facebook public pages with problematic emoji, without the platform having an easy solution to it. While Facebook has automated filters to moderate certain words and textual expressions, there isn’t yet a filter to ban emoji, even though they are standardised characters.

Reporting emoji and other stickers as hate speech can be difficult, if not impossible. Whether a cute pig emoji signifies Islamophobia depends on the context in which it was posted, and Facebook’s flagging mechanism doesn’t allow users to explain why certain content might be hateful.

As a result, the practice of weaponising emoji to spread racist discourse is likely to continue.

Failing to provide options to report or minimise certain uses of emoji reflects an assumption that emoji and stickers can’t be used for hateful purposes. But it’s clear that user practices on social media, and the way platforms mediate that use, can contribute to structural racism and other forms of oppression, and make them appear normal, mundane and acceptable.

We all have an interest in ensuring that social media companies take proper responsibility to prevent the content that appears on their platforms from being used to spread hate.

– ref. How the use of emoji on Islamophobic Facebook pages amplifies racism – http://theconversation.com/how-the-use-of-emoji-on-islamophobic-facebook-pages-amplifies-racism-105285]]>

Morrison wants Muslim leaders to do more to prevent terrorism, but what more can they do?

By The Conversation -

November 13, 2018

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Greg Barton, Chair in Global Islamic Politics, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation; Co-Director, Australian Intervention Support Hub, Deakin University

With the simple statement “more needs to happen”, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was emphatic. In the wake of the terror attack on the crowded streets of Melbourne’s CBD last Friday, it is difficult to argue against any plan to do more to fight terrorism in Australia.

The question is what can be done and what should be done. Morrison, in part, put the onus on religious leaders by urging them not to “look the other way”:

If you’re an imam or a leader in one of those communities, you need to know who those people are in your community that might be doing that.

But exactly what it is they should be doing to help prevent similar terror attacks is not spelt out.

Lone-actor attacks hard to anticipate

Leaving aside the politically charged nature of comments from government ministers – campaigning ahead of the fast-approaching elections in Victoria and imminent federal elections in the new year – it is important to take an objective look at what reasonably can be done.

Friday’s attack was the sort of terrorist attack that police have identified as being their primary concern.

Clearly Australian authorities, along with counter-terrorism forces around the world, have been very effective in preventing large-scale, ambitious terrorist plots. A lot of hard work and enormous resources have gone into ensuring that the sort of massive attacks that jihadi terrorists carried out in New York, Bali, Madrid and London at the beginning of the century have not being repeated.

But lone-actor attacks continue to worry police precisely because they are so very hard to anticipate and disrupt. When one or two people decide to launch an attack with little planning and no communications across a larger terrorist network, the methods of intelligence that are so successful in preventing large-scale attacks have little utility.

One of the problems with suggesting that Muslim leaders need to “do more” is that it implies they have information they are not sharing, or that they’re failing to take action when they see a problem.

The reality is that Islamic leaders generally have little to do with the troubled young people most likely to be involved in lone-actor attacks like the one in Melbourne. Muslim communities, like many others in multicultural Australia, face a challenge in closing the gap between young people and the older generation recognised as the community’s formal leaders or religious teachers. They live in two separate worlds.

It is not the actively religious young people who are generally the source of problems. Rather, it is the alienated and the angry who turn their backs on community leaders – they are the real concern.

Among those attackers who do become religious, they generally reject mainstream religious leadership, making it difficult for those imams, for instance, to spot troubled youth and intervene.

Community-based outreach can have an impact

More than 250 passports have been cancelled or suspended by the Australian government over the last six years and many more people have had their travel plans stopped on the grounds of reasonable suspicion that they intended to travel to the Middle East and join a terrorist group like Islamic State.

They have not been found guilty of any crime and are under no legal obligation, generally speaking, to participate in rehabilitation programs.

Nevertheless, state and federal police are quietly having considerable success in working with these young people, on a voluntary basis, to reengage them with their families and communities. Some members of the Australian National Imams Council (ANIC) play a key role in this low-key work. Mental health professionals, counsellors and social workers work alongside religious teachers in attempting to turn troubled young lives around.

Can anything more be done? Almost certainly. While dozens of youths at risk of radicalisation currently receive help in this manner, there are hundreds of others who are not benefiting from structured interventions.

The lack of any legal compulsion for them to participate in one of these community-based programs is certainly one of the problems. But so, too, is the lack of resources. In comparison with the many tens of millions of dollars spent at the hard end of countering terrorism, the resources provided to youth workers and community intervention programs remain pitifully small.

If anything more can be done, it is in this area. Simply finding the resources to employ a hundred properly trained and equipped youth workers to engage with at-risk youths would likely yield considerable dividends.

But this will only be achieved with trust and confidence built on mutual respect. The last thing that is needed is to publicly call out Islamic leaders, and Muslims in general, and lay the problem at their feet. This is not fair. We don’t do this with other communities.

And doing this threatens to undermine so much of the good work that is being done away from the spotlight of public attention.

– ref. Morrison wants Muslim leaders to do more to prevent terrorism, but what more can they do? – http://theconversation.com/morrison-wants-muslim-leaders-to-do-more-to-prevent-terrorism-but-what-more-can-they-do-106776]]>

FactCheck Q&A: have 90% of Labor MPs worked in trade unions?

By The Conversation -

November 13, 2018

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ray Markey, Emeritus Professor, Macquarie University

The Conversation fact-checks claims made on Q&A, broadcast Mondays on the ABC at 9.35pm. Thank you to everyone who sent us quotes for checking via Twitter using the hashtags #FactCheck and #QandA, on Facebook or by email.

Excerpt from Q&A, October 2, 2018.

It’s nice for Amanda to say you need to reflect society, but you can’t reflect society if 90% of your members of parliament were chosen from trade unions and worked in trade unions and that’s the background they bring to the table.

– Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham, speaking on Q&A, October 2, 2018

On an episode of Q&A, panellists discussed the extent to which the composition of the Australian parliament reflects the demographic make up of society.

Labor MP Amanda Rishworth said in addition to having women account for 50% of parliamentarians, there needed to be more diversity of skills and experience.

“So we need to move further than just looking at men and women. We need people from a whole range of backgrounds,” Rishworth said.

Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham later suggested to Rishworth that “you can’t reflect society if 90% of your members of parliament were chosen from trade unions and worked in trade unions, and that’s the background they bring to the table”.

Let’s check the records.

Response from a spokesperson for Simon Birmingham

In response to The Conversation’s request for sources and comment, a spokesperson for Simon Birmingham provided a 2015-16 membership application form for the South Australian branch of the Australian Labor Party and said:

Based on this application, and the disclaimer that a person applying for membership must be a member of a union, it would seem the Minister may have underestimated the percentage.

Verdict

On Q&A, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham said “90% of [Labor’s] members of parliament were chosen from trade unions and worked in trade unions”. In terms of federal parliamentarians, this is a gross exaggeration.

According to parliamentary members’ biographies, taken from the 45th Parliamentary Handbook of the Commonwealth of Australia, 2017, about one third (33.7%) of Labor’s currently serving federal MPs have worked in trade unions, or 32 of Labor’s 95 members of federal parliament (the total comprising 69 members of the House of Representatives and 26 Senators).

Regarding the source provided by the Minister’s office

The source provided by Minister Birmingham’s office doesn’t support the statement; it refers to a discounted fee offered for South Australian Labor party membership if the applicant is also a union member. Having been a member of a union isn’t the same as having worked for one, and being a union member isn’t a requirement of becoming a member of the Labor party.

How many Labor MPs have worked in trade unions?

A trade union is a member-based organisation that represents the interests of workers in particular industries, or groups of industries, to employers. The Australian Labor Party grew out of the union movement in the 1890s. Affiliated unions play a significant role in the Labor party today; in its internal structures and forums, and influence in choice of parliamentary candidates.

The proportion of former union officials entering parliament as Labor members peaked in 1901, at 79% of Labor representatives. The proportion has been declining steadily since then.

Minister Birmingham referred to members of parliament (MPs) who had been “chosen from” and “worked in trade unions” and who bring that background to the table. In this FactCheck, we’ll look at members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate who have worked in trade unions.

To see how things stand today, we can look to the Parliamentary Handbook of the Commonwealth of Australia 2017, which includes the biographies of the 76 Senators and 150 members of the House of Representatives in the current (45th) federal parliament. (Four of the Labor MPs listed in the handbook, which was published in July 2017, are no longer in parliament: Sam Dastyari, David Feeney, Katy Gallagher and Tim Hammond.)

Included in these biographies are MPs’ qualifications and occupations before entering federal Parliament.

According to those biographies, the proportion of Labor MPs who have worked in trade unions is about a third (33.7%). That’s 32 of Labor’s 95 members of parliament (the total comprising 69 members of the House of Representatives and 26 Senators).

The proportion has declined since the previous parliament, elected in 2013. In that, the 44th parliament, the proportion of Labor representatives with a union background was 45%.

The number of Labor MPs and Senators with a union background dropped slightly between the 44th and 45th parliaments, from 36 to 32, but the total number of Labor representatives also increased substantially, from 80 to 95.

In terms of how these figures compare to union representation in the broader community: around 15% of the Australian workforce are union members.

Total union membership is now around 1.5 million, however, unions collectively represent 59.5% of the workforce in bargaining for conditions through enterprise agreements or awards.

From which unions have the MPs come?

The three unions with the largest contingents of employees-turned-MPs are the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Union, with six former employees now MPs, the Transport Workers’ Union with three (this was originally four after the 2016 election, but reduced when David Feeney resigned from the seat of Batman and was replaced by Ged Kearney in the March 2018 by-election), and United Voice.

Other unions with two former employees each are the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union, the Australian Workers’ Union, and the Community and Public Sector Union.

Another 11 unions each have one representative, and a couple of MPs did not specify their union background.

Many of those with a union background were university graduates appointed to union positions as political operatives before or after becoming a political staffer. Few came up through the ranks of a union, as their predecessors more commonly did.

What other types of backgrounds do Labor MPs have?

More than half (51.6%) of Labor MPs in the current government were party officials, or staffers for Labor Ministers or back-benchers before being elected.

Some have experience as public servants (18%), lawyers (16%), employees of non-governmental organisations (12%), and small business owners (8%). Small numbers have a background in business, consultancy, journalism, the military and State legislatures. Many have moved between a number of these categories during their careers.

What about the Liberal Party?

The Liberal Party also has a high proportion of MPs who were political staffers or party officials before entering parliament, at 45%. Of those 38 representatives, 14 appear to have entered the Commonwealth parliament directly from political staffer positions, and a further three from State legislatures.

The main difference between the Liberal and Labor parties is that whereas Labor has former union employees, the Liberal Party has many parliamentary members with a background in business (36 MPs), especially in banking and finance (7), and large consulting firms (6).

Some Liberal Party MPs have backgrounds in employers’ associations (9 MPs) and think tanks (6 MPs). – Raymond Markey

Blind review

I agree with the conclusion that about one-third of Labor MPs in the current federal parliament have worked in trade unions. I counted 30 Labor MPs with union backgrounds. The extra two the lead author found could be because a wider definition of union official was used. – Adrian Beaumont

The Conversation FactCheck is accredited by the International Fact-Checking Network.

The Conversation’s FactCheck unit was the first fact-checking team in Australia and one of the first worldwide to be accredited by the International Fact-Checking Network, an alliance of fact-checkers hosted at the Poynter Institute in the US. Read more here.

Have you seen a “fact” worth checking? The Conversation’s FactCheck asks academic experts to test claims and see how true they are. We then ask a second academic to review an anonymous copy of the article. You can request a check at checkit@theconversation.edu.au. Please include the statement you would like us to check, the date it was made, and a link if possible.

– ref. FactCheck Q&A: have 90% of Labor MPs worked in trade unions? – http://theconversation.com/factcheck-qanda-have-90-of-labor-mps-worked-in-trade-unions-104226]]>

Expanding suspension powers for schools is harmful and ineffective

By The Conversation -

November 13, 2018

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Linda J. Graham, Professor in the School of Early Childhood & Inclusive Education, Queensland University of Technology

New research released today reveals extraordinary increases in suspensions and exclusions in Queensland state schools. But these increases don’t necessarily mean student behaviour is getting worse.

Education reform and changes in school policy can also contribute to rising rates of school exclusions and suspensions. Some groups of students can be more adversely affected by these changes than others. It is important to examine policy effects because suspensions and exclusions are more harmful than helpful and tend not to resolve the behaviour in question.

This research is relevant to all education sectors and states as rising school suspension rates are not unique to Queensland. Other states are implementing reforms that could lead to similar problems.

Why were changes to legislation made?

In 2014, the Queensland government introduced legislation to grant school principals greater disciplinary powers. Among these new powers were options to impose community service and Saturday detentions.

The Queensland government also changed the maximum length of short suspensions from five to ten days and axed the appeals process. Parents are now unable to appeal short suspensions and, in the case of a long suspension (11 to 20 days), must apply to the Director-General of the Education Department.

One rationale provided for the Queensland government’s change to legislation was school exclusions were increasing and the government wanted to give principals more flexible options to respond to problem behaviour. In response to early community concern about emerging effects, the Education Minister promised schools would adjust and these changes would soon lead to a reduction in suspensions and exclusions.

They didn’t.

Which students were most affected and why?

Expanding principals’ disciplinary powers adversely affected students in all year levels in Queensland state schools but, particularly, high school students and those entering primary or secondary school for the first time.

In this study, exclusions and suspensions were examined as a proportion of enrolments. This takes into account increases or decreases in student numbers which may affect the number of suspensions reported each year.

Between 2013 and 2014, suspensions in the first or Preparatory year of primary school rose by 51.28% (as a proportion of enrolments) and have continued to increase each year since. Suspensions in year seven increased by 19.92% in 2014 and again, by a whopping 82.54%, in 2015. These rates show no sign of slowing.

Although some of the increases may appear moderate, if suspensions were keeping pace with enrolment growth, there should be no proportional increase. In other words, suspension growth outstripped enrolment growth in the Queensland state school system, which suggests something other than student numbers is driving suspension increases.

Two other education reforms occurred in Queensland around the same time as the expansion of principals’ powers. The first involved a reduction in the school starting age which meant children entering Prep in 2015 can be as young as four and a half years old when they first begin formal schooling. The second reform, also in 2015, involved moving year seven from the primary to secondary schooling phase.

The most powerful indication something other than student behaviour is driving suspension increases is the doubling of the suspension rate for year sevens in 2015. The only observable difference between the year sevens in that year and those every year before them is the school environment.

Why do increases in suspension matter?

Research shows suspension is associated with an increase in anti-social behaviour and contact with the criminal justice system, due to a lack of adult supervision and greater freedom to associate with deviant peers. Contrary to popular belief, suspension does not promote behavioural change.

This is because inappropriate behaviours need to be replaced, and replacement behaviours need to be explicitly taught. Sending kids home doesn’t give them the skills they need to do better next time or help solve the problem that led to the suspension.

There is conclusive evidence suspension leads to academic failure and school dropout, even after controlling for prior achievement. This is because suspension weakens students’ sense of school belonging and makes gaps in achievement worse by taking vulnerable children away from teaching and learning, rather than providing them with the support and positive guidance they need.

Suspension can predict contact with the criminal justice system. from www.shutterstock.com

Disadvantaged children, children with a disability, Indigenous children and children in out-of-home care are all significantly overrepresented in school suspension statistics. These are the children who most need to be at school and for whom suspension is most likely to have serious and long-term negative impact.

Suspension is also known to reinforce problem behaviours. For example, if a student is persistently engaging in task avoidance, disruption or truanting, suspension will reward that behaviour. Rather than decrease the behaviour, suspension will increase it.

In short, there is no evidence to support the increased use of suspension and ample evidence governments should try to limit or even eradicate its use.

When is suspension appropriate and when is it not?

There are times when suspension is appropriate, such as when a student brings drugs or a weapon to school, or engages in physical violence resulting in injury. Hitting a teacher is never OK. But even here, it’s important to make sure a frightened five-year-old accidentally connecting with a teacher mid-meltdown is not construed as a deliberate act of violence.

Sustained bullying (cyber or otherwise) is another example where suspension may be appropriate. But in-school suspension, where students are removed from their regular classes and required to complete their work in a supervised setting, is a better option than out-of-school suspension.

Extreme behaviours are not the only reasons principals suspend and there are instances where it’s done for the wrong reason. Suspending a student to appease teachers or other parents, or to “send a message” to other students are inappropriate uses of suspension.

What are better ideas?

Knowing the source of behaviour is the most important key to solving it. This is because similar behaviours can have very different antecedents and responses that don’t address the root problem will fail.

For example, a common frustration for teachers is when students appear not to listen in class and continually ask for further explanation or don’t follow instructions. Careful observation and clarification with students will provide clues as to why some appear not to be listening.

Some may have a language disorder and may be experiencing difficulty understanding what was said. Others may have attention difficulties or poor working memory and may miss key information.

Such difficulties are common among students receiving suspensions. Without consistent, high-quality responsive teaching, these students will experience failure and frustration, leading to classroom disruption and conflict with teachers.

Negative behaviours need to be replaced with positive ones, not just removed from the classroom. from www.shutterstock.com

For students who have language disorders or attention difficulties, teachers can adopt proactive strategies that benefit all students. These strategies include:

clear and consistent routines
well-designed seating plans
variations in verbal tone and pace with frequent pauses to allow students to process information
clear and simple verbal instructions delivered in logical sequence
visual aids to enhance students’ comprehension of verbally described concepts and/or complementary written instructions
regular reiteration of learning objectives, instructions, and classroom expectations
positive reinforcement of good behaviour and recognition of effort
providing one-to-one clarification and feedback to students who experience learning and behavioural difficulties
in-class pairing with another student who is a friendly and academically supportive role model.

For some students these strategies will not be enough on their own and these students will need more intensive supports, such as targeted interventions to enhance academic skills, counselling, mentoring/monitoring, and skills training for teachers.

Using proactive supports to address underlying issues, de-escalating conflict when it occurs, and using in-school suspension as a last resort will help address rising suspension rates. Governments should be acting in the best interests of everyone by backing approaches that have positive evidence and backing away from those for which there is none.

– ref. Expanding suspension powers for schools is harmful and ineffective – http://theconversation.com/expanding-suspension-powers-for-schools-is-harmful-and-ineffective-106525]]>

Adenomyosis causes pain, heavy periods and infertility but you’ve probably never heard of it

By The Conversation -

November 13, 2018

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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anusch Yazdani, Associate Professor, The University of Queensland

Adenomyosis is a condition of the uterus (womb), where the tissue that grows on the lining of the uterus (also known as the endometrium) is also present on the inside muscular wall of the uterus. Adenomyosis can cause symptoms such as heavy bleeding during your period, bleeding when you are not due for your period, period pain (dysmenorrhea), pain during or after sex (dyspareunia) and infertility.

Although women with adenomyosis often also have endometriosis, they are different conditions. With endometriosis, cells similar to those that line the uterus are found in other parts of the body such as the fallopian tubes, the ovaries or the tissue lining the pelvis (the peritoneum).

The area of the uterus affected by adenomyosis is known as the endometrial-myometrial junction, which is where the endometrium and the myometrium (the muscular part of the uterus) meet.

Adenomyosis is when tissue that lines the uterus is present inside the muscular wall of the uterus. from shutterstock.com

Disruption in the endometrial-myometrial junction is now considered an important contributor to reproductive problems such as recurrent implantation failure, a condition that can prevent women falling pregnant. Adenomyosis can either be quite spread out, known as generalised adenomyosis or localised in one place, also known as an adenomyoma.

Adenomyosis can have a number of causes though none have been definitively identified. There is an association between the presence of adenomyosis and the number of times a women has given birth: the more pregnancies, the more likely you are to have adenomyosis. Women with adenomyosis have also often had a trauma to the uterus such as surgery in the uterus, like during a caesarean section.

How common is adenomyosis?

Like endometriosis, we don’t know exactly how many women may be affected by the condition. What makes the impact of adenomyosis so tricky to determine is that it is quite commonly found during regular screening tests, even when women are not complaining of any symptoms, which means many women may have it and not know about it.

Because it’s often found in women with other conditions like endometriosis, it’s difficult to determine which condition caused the symptoms. We don’t currently know why some women with adenomyosis have symptoms and others don’t.

There are also a number of different criteria for diagnosing adenomyosis, which can differ in important factors. For instance, the number of sections of adenomyosis that need to be affected for a diagosis when looking at tissue samples under a microscope. This makes it a problem when we try to work out how common adenomyosis is.

There can also be differences of opinion among the experts who look at these tissue samples. Experts can look at the same slides and come to very different conclusions.

How is it diagnosed?

Unlike endometriosis, which can only be definitively diagnosed through a key-hole surgery, a diagnosis of adenomyosis can be done through both invasive and non-invasive methods. The most common invasive method is a uterine biopsy (tissue sampling). A biopsy of the uterus can also be performed to make the diagnosis by an abdominal key-hole surgical procedure (laparoscopy) but this remains limited to clinical trials.

Adenomyosis can be diagnosed through ultrasound. from shutterstock.com

Biopsies going through the vagina up to the uterus may have a role in the diagnosis of adenomyosis, but can potentially damage the uterus and therefore are avoided in women wishing to fall pregnant. The ultimate biopsy is a hysterectomy (the removal of the uterus). This is the most accurate method but is obviously a significant surgical procedure and will prevent women having children. A diagnosis of adenomyosis has been made in between 10-88% of hysterectomy specimens showing how common this condition is.

Non-invasive diagnosis can be made by different types of imaging. Ultrasound is commonly available and can be done either using the probe on the abdomen or, preferably, placing the probe in the vagina.

However, ultrasound isn’t always the best choice as it only detects adenomyosis about 50-87% of the time. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a better choice as there are a number of typical features seen during MRI. These vary throughout the cycle and in response to hormonal therapy but can reliably predict adenomyosis.

What are the treatments?

Management options for adenomyosis include hormonal therapy and surgery. These are mainly targeted at reducing symptoms such as pain. There isn’t much research into whether these increase the chance of getting pregnant.

Hormonal treatments focus on suppressing menstruation. This can be achieved by combined oestrogen and progesterone therapy (such as the combined oral contraceptive pill), progestogen-only treatment (such as a Mirena) or placing women into an “induced” menopause (through GnRH analogs).

Hormonal treatments, such as the contraceptive pill, aim to suppress menstruation. Thought Catalog/Unsplash

Surgical treatment is most effective when the adenomyosis is localised to a smaller area and can be removed, and this type of surgery doesn’t prevent women falling pregnant in the future. If the adenomyosis is spread throughout a larger area then treatments include destroying the lining of the uterus (endometrial ablation) provided adenomyosis is not too deep, and hysterectomy, both of which will prevent further pregnancy.

Other treatment options are interventional radiology such as uterine artery embolisation, where the blood supply to the uterus is cut off and magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound where the adenomyosis is destroyed with ultrasound energy.

Does it affect fertility?

There is some evidence adenomyosis can reduce fertility, but this is still controversial. Clinical studies are limited by difficulties and differences in diagnosis and their study designs have problems.

Some MRI studies show changes consistent with infertility, but because patients presenting with infertility in their 30s and 40s are more likely to be diagnosed with adenomyosis, it’s difficult to say if adenomyosis is the cause of their fertility issues.

When couples are undergoing assisted reproduction (such as IVF) there is limited evidence to support a negative impact on oocyte and embryo quality, implantation and pregnancy rates. Overall, there appears to be limited negative impact of adenomyosis on allowing the embryos to implant or overall pregnancy rates.

– ref. Adenomyosis causes pain, heavy periods and infertility but you’ve probably never heard of it – http://theconversation.com/adenomyosis-causes-pain-heavy-periods-and-infertility-but-youve-probably-never-heard-of-it-104412]]>

Kyoto on the path to becoming the Copenhagen of Asia

By The Conversation -

November 13, 2018

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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan F.D. Barrett, Specially Appointed Professor, Center for the Study of Co*Design, Osaka University

Against the backdrop of climate scientists warning that we have 12 years to cut carbon emissions to avoid disastrous climate change, Kyoto is searching for an alternative, sustainable future. The Japanese city is moving away from heavy reliance on cars and towards getting around by public transport, cycling and walking. Already, more than three-quarters of personal trips in the city are not by car.

With the 2010 Walkable Kyoto Declaration, the city aimed to stop being a car-dominated society. Kyoto has an ambitious list of 94 projects promoting walkability.

The results so far are impressive, according to municipal government data. Use of public transport has increased significantly. Car traffic entering the city is declining year on year, as is use of car parking. Only 9.3% of tourist movements in the city were by car compared to 21% in 2011.

As a result of this, emissions from transportation in 2015 were 20% lower than 1990 levels.

Survey by Kyoto municipal government of 1,000 citizens on their mode of transport for personal trips. Kyoto municipal government, Author provided

A city made for cycling

Kyoto is determined to improve on this. The next target is to enhance opportunities for cycling.

Cycling is the best way to see the city. Whether you are a resident or a tourist, cycling is the secret to unlocking Kyoto’s beauty and experiencing its heritage sites. An increasing number of the 50 million tourists a year are choosing to rent a bike.

Kyoto is a compact, flat city with a grid structure. This makes it easy to cycle and navigate. Kyoto has been described as one of the ten best cities to explore by bike.

Navigating the city by bicycle is both convenient and efficient. Bicycles provide mobility that’s accessible for a wide range of demographics, from school kids to parents with their toddlers on board to over-65s taking a short trip to the local shops.

Cycling through the Imperial Gardens. Author provided

In June 2018 one of Japan’s first shared cycle schemes, Pippa, popped up in Kyoto with 100 bikes in 22 locations. There are plans to increase to 500 bikes in 50 locations by the end of the year. Proposals for shared electric bicycles would broaden the variety of users able to navigate the city by bike.

Mobility policy innovation

While we both have cycled extensively around Kyoto and appreciate the many wonders and delights, we are fascinated by the mobility experience for regular people living in Kyoto.

That is one reason we are impressed by the March 2015 New Kyoto City Bicycle Plan, which replaced a 2010 plan.

This new plan identifies the promotion of cycling as healthy across various realms — for the society, economy and sustainability of the city overall.

Cycling trends in Kyoto provide cause for optimism. It now has close to 45km of official cycleways. While not as big as European cycling cities like Copenhagen (which boasts 416km of cycleways), Kyoto’s network is relatively large for an Asian city.

Cycling through the city centre along the Kamo River. Author provided

On-street discarding of bicycles has declined 27-fold since 2001. Bicycle parking space has increased by 65% in the same period.

Two in every three Kyotoites own a bicycle, compared to one in every three owning a car. Car ownership is dropping year by year.

More kids cycle to school in Kyoto than almost any other city in Japan (only Osaka is higher). Cycling is on the increase for people between the ages of 20 and 34, as well as those between 65 and 69.

Need to educate cyclists and drivers

A few obstacles still stand in the way of Kyoto achieving its sustainable mobility goals.

First of all, only 33% of cyclists cycle on the road. Everyone else uses the pavement, meaning neither pedestrians nor cyclists feel safe.

Second, cyclists across Japan are notorious for not following rules. They ignore signals, ride the opposite direction to traffic, listen to music or use their phone while cycling, cycle with a passenger on the back, cycle with an umbrella in the rain, don’t wear helmets and rarely cycle with lights at night.

Bicycle signage on Kyoto roads is becoming ubiquitous. Author provided

In other words, Japanese cyclists are perceived to be, at times, reckless. This explains why a third of Kyoto’s cycling policies focus on improving cyclists’ manners. It also explains why the municipality introduced a mandatory bicycle insurance scheme from April 2018. That’s something other cities could copy.

The Kyoto bicycle plan focuses on measures to enhance the visibility of cyclists with road markings as well as extensive educational programmes for car drivers and cyclists on road etiquette.

The good news is that the number of accidents involving cyclists in the city has declined by 40% since 2004 and represents 20% of all accidents. This is close to what we find in Copenhagen.

New dedicated cycleways in Kyoto are helping to reduce accidents. Author provided

What else can Kyoto do?

A continued focus on social design and innovation is the answer to Kyoto’s mobility challenges. The city’s population is projected to shrink by 13% between 2010 and 2040 (reaching around 1.28 million). At the same time, the proportion of over-65s will increase significantly.

This suggests private car ownership will continue to decline, by an estimated 6-10% a year. The bicycle ownership rate is likely to increase by 7% or more each year.

In this context, the focus on public transport, cycling and walking makes a great deal of sense.

Kyoto could become the world’s most walkable city. Author provided

But Kyoto could still do a lot more to reduce car traffic, especially in the city centre. Manchester in the UK provides a useful example. It recently announced plans to invest £1.5 billion (A$2.7 billion) in a 1,600km cycle network.

Another model for Kyoto to follow is that of the world’s most bicycle-friendly city – Copenhagen.

Today many cities across the world are seeking to “Copenhagenize”. In the future, we want them to be able to follow Kyoto as a model of best practice for Asian city sustainability.

– ref. Kyoto on the path to becoming the Copenhagen of Asia – http://theconversation.com/kyoto-on-the-path-to-becoming-the-copenhagen-of-asia-105368]]>

Unlocking Australia’s productivity paradox. Why things aren’t that super

By The Conversation -

November 13, 2018

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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Triggs, Research fellow, Australian National University

2018 marks the 40 year anniversary of the first Superman film. Starring as Superman, Christopher Reeve fought foes and vanquished villains in an action-packed battle between good and evil.

Four decades on, Superman continues to feature in films, but often not alone.

He now stars alongside Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman and other superheroes. For the fans of DC Comics, it is a delightful coming together of childhood favourites.

But for economists, it symbolises a worrying decline in productivity.

Superman needs help

Where once a single superhero was able to save the world, now two or more are required to complete the same task.

As Oscar Wilde once said, life often imitates art.

Back when the first Superman film was released, average annual total factor productivity growth among advanced economies was almost 10 times what it fell to in 2016.

In Australia, it was three times higher in 1995-96 than in 2016-17.

Real wage growth has been close to zero in the past two years, in line with close to zero productivity growth.

But what is most striking about what has happened is when it has happened. The past 25 years have seen extraordinary advances in technology.

We ought to be much more productive

An extra 3.5 billion people have gained access to the internet, the processing power of computers has skyrocketed, and we now have smartphones, with almost everything on them, and factories and warehouses that are automated in ways that would have once only been dreamt of.

The sharing economy promises to unlock the full potential of our idle cars, our unused bicycles and empty rooms and houses. The accumulated history of human knowledge is at our fingertips.

So where’s the resulting increase in productivity?

US economist Robert Solow once famously remarked that “you can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics”.

Economists have since put forward a variety of explanations for this paradox, but with little agreement.

There’s little agreement about why we’re not

Some, like 2018 Nobel Laureate William Nordhaus, point to historical data showing long lag-times between technological advances and increases in productivity.

For them, a surge in productivity is just around the corner – 10 years away, according to some estimates.

Others, like Harvard’s Martin Feldstein, argue the paradox is driven by measurement failures.

Others argue that the productivity improvements from technology have been crowded out by other factors, like the aftershocks of the global financial crisis, weak demand and investment, slowing trade, stalling growth in global value chains, ageing populations, reduced investment in education, the impacts of automation on demand and inequality, weakening competition and reduced business dynamism.

Harvard’s Marc Melitz suggests that an explanation for the paradox may lie at the firm-level.

Productivity growth might be hidden

While some firms have been highly productive, their effects have been offset by laggard firms. The OECD found that “frontier firms” have consistently achieved productivity growth six times that of laggard firms which have dragged down the average.

Some attribute this to the increased prevalence of “zombie firms” – unproductive firms kept alive by cheap money, low interest rates and nervous investors.

It’s possible to see this at the industry level. John Fernald, from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, finds that productivity gains from information and communications technology have been concentrated in specific industries, the benefits from which have been netted-out by industries that have failed to adopt new technologies.

Northwestern University’s Robert Gordon, however, sees no paradox at all.

Or technology might be holding it back

He says, as much as we might like them, the technological advances in recent decades have been no match for the really big advances between 1870 and 1970, such as electricity and the automobile.

Harvard’s Jeff Frankel goes further.

He points to evidence suggesting the latest advances in technology might be actually cutting productivity by distracting us and reducing our attention spans.

Others are less pessimistic, but still conclude that as firms adopt more and more new technology, the extra returns from those extra investments shrink.

With all this uncertainty, what’s the best approach for an incoming or reelected government?

So what should we do?

It sounds trite, but the best approach is “flexibility”.

More precisely it is well functioning mechanisms that allow us to adjust things such as exchange rates, interest rates, government spending and industry settings.

On the whole we have these mechanisms. We will also need strong laws that encourage competition; that will enable new or suddenly productive firms to displace old ones that have grown used to large market shares.

If we do turn out to be on the cusp of a new productivity surge, a flexible, competitive economy will enable us to spread the benefits quickly.

Allow good firms to grow, bad ones to die

If instead we turn out to be on track for a low productivity future, or if the productivity gains from new technology are crowded out by other effects, then flexibility can also help, redirecting resources away from inefficient firms to more efficient ones.

If it turns out the productivity paradox is no paradox at all but merely a measurement failure, then it is yet another reason to properly fund organisations such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The new government will need to watch, and to some extent it will need to wait. But it will need to be ready.

As American economist Paul Krugman observed a generation ago when productivity growth was much higher than it is today, “productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run it is almost everything”.

– ref. Unlocking Australia’s productivity paradox. Why things aren’t that super – http://theconversation.com/unlocking-australias-productivity-paradox-why-things-arent-that-super-106350]]>

Here’s looking at: George Baldessin’s Mary Magdalene on Rue St Denis

By The Conversation -

November 13, 2018

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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ted Snell, Professor, Chief Cultural Officer, Cultural Precinct, University of Western Australia

The extraordinary sculpture of Mary Magdalene by the 15th century Bavarian carver Tilman Riemenschneider focuses our attention on her hair, which twists, curls and cascades down and around her body. This is the hair that caressed Jesus’ feet, and that grew to cover her modesty in the years after his crucifixion when she lived her reclusive life in the desert.

Ascension of Mary Magdalene from the Magdalena Altarpiece, Münnerstadt (1490–92) by Tilman Riemenschneider. Bayerisches National Museum, Munich, Wikimedia Commons

While historians now believe this later life is a conflation of Magdalene with that of Saint Mary of Egypt, a 4th-century prostitute turned hermit, the focus on hair serves to identify her as someone outside acceptable society.

Women 2000 years ago in Jerusalem would have covered their head and never shown their hair in public. Yet Magdalene had long hair, and in many depictions of her in art, literature and theology, she has been portrayed as revealing this hair and using it to anoint Jesus’ feet. These acts of devotion identified her as a woman of ill-repute.

Although this intepretation was recently comprehensively debunked by theologian Dorothy Ann Lee, it was orthodoxy in the 15th century. The narrative unfolded through the metaphor of her hair is crucial to Reimenschneider’s depiction of Magdalene as she ascends to heaven to be reunited with her saviour.

Hair is also a defining feature of George Baldessin’s portrait of Mary Magdelene on the Rue St Denis: MM of Rue St Denis, 1976. She stands awkwardly, her arms and legs crossed, one hand protecting her modesty, the other cradling a skull wrapped in her long tresses.

George Baldessin MM of Rue St Denis 1976, charcoal and black chalk, 119.9 x 80.6 cm. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Purchased with the assistance of The Docking Drawing Fund (NGV), 2001 (2001.537)© The Estate of George Baldessin

Rue St Denis was a street notorious for prostitution. When Baldessin was working at the Lacourière printworks in Paris in 1975, he and his wife Tess had direct experience of the street and its inhabitants. The girls and their pimps meshed with his newfound interest in medieval images of Magdalene.

The resulting series of drawings and etchings depict a very contemporary Magdalene, either locked into angular architecture or hovering in the open void of the page. She is often alone, in one image spread-eagled on a table, in others in shimmering silver but mostly in prickly black.

The images of Magdalene made in the last years of his life – before his sudden death in a car accident in 1977 – are some of Baldessin’s most powerful works. The ambition of his draughtsmanship fully realises the profound intent of his subject matter. In the best of these works, his penchant for mannerist gestures is restrained, and Magdalene’s figure is rendered emotively, without compromising anatomical accuracy. His elegant line is rooted in its descriptive trajectory around the body.

George Baldessin at RMIT, Melbourne c. 1965. Unknown.

Peering out from the spiky tangle of her hair, the MM on the Rue St Denis seems to be entreating us to empathise with her plight. Unlike Reimenschnieder’s Magdelene, already on her way to heaven, Baldessin’s is plying her trade and enduring the vicissitudes of life. She is aware of her impending death if salvation doesn’t come, evidenced by the skull in her left hand. She has been found guilty by society, and her pleading gaze is unlikely to assuage that judgement.

Many artists have brought the scriptures to life by re-siting them in familiar territory. Arthur Boyd’s relocation of biblical narratives to the streets of Melbourne, Salvatore Zofrea’s resetting of the Psalms in Sydney, and English artist Stanley Spencer, who chose his village of Cookham as the mise en scène for his transcriptions, all contemporise the Bible in this way. Yet Baldessin’s relocation is more literary than factual.

There are no visual indications of Paris, nothing to identify the street or any buildings or landmarks. The yawning gulf of the blank page, with minor geometric intrusions, is the space MM inhabits. The Rue St Denis is a title, a textual frame within which to locate this person. It relies on the viewer providing context to interpret MM’s predicament.

To this drawing, we bring our knowledge of the street as both a route of pilgrimage leading to the medieval Basilica of St Denis and a site of sexual exploitation, which adds poignancy and pathos to our reading.

This drawing and others in the series construct a moral tale. The contemporary Magdalene is vulnerable and at risk, yet she is judged and found wanting like so many others who are ostracised for their beliefs or their situation.

When asked what he was trying to express, Baldessin explained: “I think human weakness through the vulnerable figure, without extracting its dignity, no matter how uncertain.”

It is something he achieved in this image of MM, searching for salvation while confronting her mortality.

Baldessin/Whiteley Parallel Visions is at NGV Australia, Melbourne, until 28 Jan, 2019.

– ref. Here’s looking at: George Baldessin’s Mary Magdalene on Rue St Denis – http://theconversation.com/heres-looking-at-george-baldessins-mary-magdalene-on-rue-st-denis-102412]]>

Health Check: should you take probiotics when you’re on antibiotics?

By The Conversation -

November 12, 2018

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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lito Papanicolas, Infectious diseases specialist and PhD candidate, South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute

If you take antibiotics, there’s a good chance you’ll also get diarrhoea.

Antibiotics kill harmful bacteria that cause disease. But they also cause collateral damage to the microbiome, the complex community of bacteria that live in our gut. This results in a profound, though usually temporary, depletion of the beneficial bacteria.

One popular strategy to mitigate the disruption is to take a probiotic supplement containing live bacteria during, or following, a course of antibiotics.

The logic is simple: beneficial bacterial in the gut are damaged by antibiotics. So why not replace them with the “beneficial” bacterial strains in probiotics to assist gut bacteria returning to a “balanced” state?

But the answer is more complicated.

There is currently some evidence that taking probiotics can prevent antibiotic-associated diarrhoea. This effect is relatively small, with 13 people needing to take probiotics for one episode of diarrhoea to be averted.

But these studies have often neglected to evaluate potential harms of probiotic use and haven’t looked at their impact on the wider gut microbiome.

Pros and cons of probiotics

The assumption that there is little downside to taking probiotics was challenged in a recent Israeli study.

The participants were given antibiotics and split into two groups: the first group was given an 11-strain probiotic preparation for four weeks; the second was given a placebo, or dummy pill.

The researchers found the antibiotic damage to the gut bacteria of those in the first group allowed the probiotic strains to effectively colonise the gut. But this colonisation delayed the normal recovery of the microbiota, which remained perturbed for the entire six month study period.

In contrast, the microbiota of the second group returned to normal within three weeks of finishing antibiotics.

This research exposes a perhaps unexpected truth: we still don’t know what types of bacteria are truly beneficial or even what constitutes a healthy microbiome.

The answer is unlikely to be that individual bacterial strains are particularly helpful.

It’s more likely a diverse community of thousands of different types of microbes working together can provide health benefits. This microbial community is as individual as each one of us, meaning there is not just one configuration that will result in health or illness.

So, it’s unlikely that the addition of one or even 11 strains of bacteria in a probiotic could somehow balance this complex system.

A more effective (but less palatable) alternative?

The Israeli study also explored an alternative approach to microbiome restoration.

One group of participants had their own stool collected and frozen prior to antibiotic treatment. It was then re-instilled into their gut at the end of the antibiotic therapy.

This treatment, known as autologous faecal transplantation, was able to restore the microbiome to original levels after just eight days. The other group took 21 days to recover.

This approach has also been shown to effectively restore the gut microbiome following combined antibiotic and chemotherapy treatment. These patients are predictably at risk of serious complications, such as bloodstream infection, as a result of microbiome disruption.

Research currently underway will help us understand whether microbiome restoration with autologous faecal transplantation will translate into tangible benefits for these patients.

But such an approach would not be a realistic option for most people.

Feed the good bacteria

Good food for gut bacteria. Roosa Kulju

A more practical strategy to aid recovery is to provide the good bacteria in your gut with their preferred source of nutrition: fibre. Fibrous compounds pass undigested through the small intestine and into the colon, where they act as fuel for bacterial fermentation.

So if you’re taking antibiotics or have recently finished a course, make sure you eat plenty of vegetables, fruit and wholegrains. Your gut bacteria will thank you for it.

– ref. Health Check: should you take probiotics when you’re on antibiotics? – http://theconversation.com/health-check-should-you-take-probiotics-when-youre-on-antibiotics-104570]]>

Two past coup leaders face off in Fiji election as Australia sharpens its focus on Pacific

By The Conversation -

November 12, 2018

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominic O’Sullivan, Associate Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt University

Fiji faces a general election on Wednesday, just as Australia’s main political parties devote more attention to the western Pacific, driven by worries about China’s growing influence in the region.

For most Australians, the nation is a handy holiday destination – closer than Bali or Thailand. Last month, its palm-fringed beaches were in the global spotlight when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex took a trip to the former British colony.

Anyone with a longer memory will perhaps associate Fiji with coups – two in 1987 and one in 2006. There was also a putsch – a civilian overthrow of the government – in 2000.

This week’s general election is only the second since Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, who often goes by the name Frank, appointed himself prime minister after the 2006 coup. He was eventually elected in 2014 and is expected to be re-elected this week.

For Australia, the strategic importance of the western Pacific is coming into sharp focus.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced $3 billion in infrastructural spending in the region. He has committed the Australian Defence Force to military training in Pacific nations.

Australia has an abiding interest in a south-west Pacific that is secure strategically, stable economically and sovereign politically.

In a speech to the Lowy Institute last month, Bill Shorten committed a future Labor government to an independent foreign policy with a strong Pacific focus. It would support Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Tonga to develop their military capabilities.

On Fiji, he said:

We want to mend the relationship with the RFMF [Republic of Fiji Military Forces], to ensure that the ADF [Australian Defence Force] is best-placed to develop the Fiji military’s professional capabilities and to ensure Fiji’s security needs.

For Fijian voters, the military is never far from politics.

Bainimarama insists the election will be free and fair . However, the electoral system is unnecessarily complicated. Critics argue this is a deliberate strategy to disenfranchise voters.

However, as he disliked the Constitution put to him by an independent review in 2009, Bainimarama decreed his own in 2013. Section 131 (2) of that Constitution gives ultimate political authority to the military:

It shall be the overall responsibility of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces to ensure at all times the security, defence and well-being of Fiji and all Fijians.

The military has tended to be the arbiter in national affairs since the first coup in 1987.

As Bainimarama put it before the 2006 coup:

[Prime Minister Laisenia] Qarase is trying to weaken the army by trying to remove me … if he succeeds there will be no one to monitor them, and imagine how corrupt it is going to be.

The coups and the putsch were ostensibly statements of indigenous nationalism – indigenous Fijians asserting their rights over the generally wealthier and better educated descendants of Indian indentured labourers brought to Fiji by British colonial authorities between 1879 and 1916.

However, Fijian politics is vastly more complicated than an indigenous non-indigenous binary. The contentious point, according to Professor Brij V. Lal of the Australian National University’s College of Asia and the Pacific, “is not really about having a Fijian head of government,” but rather which Fijian leader would be acceptable to a particular group of Fijians at any given time”.

The prime minister’s main rival clears legal hurdle

Bainimarama’s main opponent is an indigenous former prime minister and coup leader, Sitiveni Rabuka. Bainimarama is also an indigenous Fijian.

Rabuka faced electoral fraud charges that could have seen him declared him ineligible to stand at the election. Rabuka’s acquittal in the Magistrate’s Court was appealed by the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption, and dismissed by the High Court only on Monday afternoon. At his campaign launch in 2018, Rabuka ominously remarked:

I am here to do what I can for as long as I ever can for the good of the country.

However, indigenous nationalism and how the right to self-determination might be played out is important. It is interwoven with class, religion and an urban/rural divide to add to the fragility and complexity of Fiji’s conditional democracy.

Just as it did in 2014, Bainimarama’s Fiji First is campaigning on a range of issues including the building of a multiracial society. Practical measures to improve access to education and healthcare are also important to Fiji First.

Land ownership and rental returns are key political issues

Rabuka’s Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) argues for the restoration of distinctive indigenous voice in public life. It seeks the restoration of the Great Council of Chiefs and of chiefly influence over the distribution of rental incomes.

SODELPA will also begin extensive public consultation on the drafting of a new Constitution.

Ultimately, indigenous prosperity depends on the strength of the national economy. This, in turn, depends on political stability. Contemporary Fiji enjoys neither. While there are signs of improving economic growth, the Fijian people face two obstacles in ensuring that the outcome of Wednesday’s election reflects their collective will.

Firstly, registering to vote then casting a valid and informed vote is difficult. Secondly, as Fiji’s history since 1987 shows, and as the 2013 Constitution confirms, the election’s outcome is ultimately subject to military approval. It may not, then, be in Australia’s best interests to support a stronger Fijian military.

Democratic stability serves Australia’s interests. In Fiji, democracy can be strong only when the military is weak.

– ref. Two past coup leaders face off in Fiji election as Australia sharpens its focus on Pacific – http://theconversation.com/two-past-coup-leaders-face-off-in-fiji-election-as-australia-sharpens-its-focus-on-pacific-106347]]>

SODELPA’s Rabuka cleared for Fiji election – FICAC appeal dismissed

By Pacific Media Centre -

November 12, 2018

media-scrum-at-court-skris-680wide-jpg — ]]>

A media scrum at the Fiji High Court 2 today for the anti-corruption agency FICAC’s unsuccessful appeal against the acquittal of SODELPA leader Sitiveni Rabuka on a false declaration of assets charge. Image: Sri Krishnamurthi/PMC

By Sri Krishnamurthi in Suva

In a dramatic afternoon, more than 1000 people sang Fijian songs of jubilation as Chief-Justice Anthony Gates dismissed the appeal by the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) against former Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka.

In a jam-packed High Court 2, Chief Justice Gates said the magistrate was correct to dismiss the original charges of not guilty of providing a false declaration of assets under electoral rules.

The FICAC took its appeal to the High Court as was its legal right.

Chief Justice Gates said that had Rabuka been found guilty, he would have had the right to appeal his case in the High Court too.

In his 36-page ruling, Chief Justice Gates said the magistrate had been correct in his findings that the prosecution had not been able to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

He said that the interview conducted by FICAC with Rabuka left many answers unprobed or unclarified.

-Partners-

He went on to say such interviews should always be conducted on the basis that reliance may have to be made solely on that procedure.

Acquitted last month
Rabuka was acquitted of the charges last month but FICAC had appealed that decision, taking its case to the High Court.

The hearing lasted more than an hour, after which Rabuka emerged to the cheers of joy from his supporters wearing a white shirt over which he draped a red scarf, all the time smiling but looking relieved.

Now that he is a free man he can stand as a candidate in the Fiji general election as the leader of SODELPA, the second largest political party after the ruling FijiFirst Party.

Voting is on Wednesday.

Vandhana Bhan from Radio Tarana, who got close to Rabuka’s white SUV, asked him the age-old question “how are you feeling?”

Rabuka replied, “great and getting better.”

She asked Rabuka if he had anything to say to the people? “Thank you to all of them for their prayers,” he said before being whisked away.

Sri Krishnamurthi is a journalist and Postgraduate Diploma in Communication Studies student at Auckland University of Technology. He is attached to the University of the South Pacific’s Journalism Programme, filing for USP’s Wansolwara News and the AUT Pacific Media Centre’s Asia Pacific Report.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Detained tourist in West Papua on allegations of ‘treason’ awaits trial

By Pacific Media Centre -

November 12, 2018

abian-skrzypski-tabloid-jubi-680wide-jpg — ]]>

Accused tourist Jakup Febian Skrzypski with Frits Ramandey of the Human Rights Commission Office of Papua. Image: Tabloid Jubi

By Islami Adisubrata in Wamena, West Papua

Indonesian Regional Police in West Papua have handed over the documents of the case of a Polish tourist, Jakup Fabian Skrzypski, who was arrested recently with three Papuans and accused of “treason”, to the Jayawijaya District Attorney.

Skrzypski reportedly entered Indonesia on a tourist visa but was arrested on suspicion of working as a journalist illegally and having contact with an “insurgency” group, report news agencies.

The file was handed over to the District Attorney on November 2 and he is expected to face trial in Wamena along with three co-accused.

“So, the four suspects were handed over, two arrested in Wamena, including Skrzypski, and others arrested in Yalimo,” said Lintong Simanjuntak, Adjunct Police Commissionaire who is also the Chief of Violence and Crime Division of the Directorate of Crime Investigation of Papua Regional Police.

Skrzypski and three other people departed from Jayapura to Wamena and were immediately transferred to Jayawijaya District Attorney Office for re-examination.

-Partners-

The four now are detained by the Jayawijaya District Attorney.

Two of the defendants were sent to the House of Correction Class B Wamena, while the other two have been placed in police custody in Jayawijaya police headquarters.

Foreign Ministry help
Adjunct Commissionaire Simanjuntak, who accompanied the four defendants from Jayapura to Wamena, said that although Papua police would investigate this case of alleged treason, the trial would be conducted in Wamena – the place where the incident occurred.

Simanjuntak said that during the investigation, the police were assisted by the Foreign Ministry and had communicated with the Polish Ambassador in Jakarta, ensuring that all procedures had been completed appropriately.

The Chief of State’s Defence and Public Security of the Papua District Attorney Adrianus Irham Tamana said that the trial would be conducted before 20 days of detention had lapsed.

“The trial before 20 days of detention will be handed over to the court. Currently, they are still under our custody,” said Tamana.

But the public prosecutor’s team objected putting the detainees in the police headquarters jail as it was already overcrowded and this could effect access to the basic rights of the detainees in that overcrowded prison, said the detainees legal adviser Latifah Anum Siregar.

“Does this transfer create a problem of over capacity? What about their access and rights? Can these be fulfilled or not?” she asked.

Cell overflowing
Siregar said that during the detention by Papua regional police, the holding cell had already been overflowing, with 50 people occupying space for 25.

Also, the detainees needed to share the toilet for bathing and washing dishes.

“Security must be compared with humanitarian purpose. Don’tt apply security as the reason to ignore humanity.

“My clients have to get access to lawyers, religious leaders and this shouldn’t be restricted,” Siregar said.

She also said Skrzypski had rejected all allegations against him.

Islami Adisubrata is a journalist with Tabloid Jubi and this article has been translated into English and is republished with permission under a content sharing arrangement.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – November 12 2018

By Bryce Edwards -

November 12, 2018

Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – November 12 2018 Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. [caption id="attachment_297" align="aligncenter" width="640"] The Beehive and Parliament Buildings.[/caption] Supreme Court ruling on prisoners’ right to vote, justice Matthew Theunissen (RNZ): Prison reform charity wants debate on prisoners’ right to vote RNZ: Youth advocacy group disappointed in govt’s stance on prisoner votes Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Prisoners’ right to vote currently not a priority for Parliament – Little Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): In just 7 words did Andrew Little demolish real prison reform? No Right Turn: “Not a priority” Sam Hurley (Herald): Supreme Court upholds decision saying ban on prisoner voting inconsistent with Bill of Rights Laura Walters (Newsroom): Step forward for NZ human rights law Catrin Owen (Stuff): High Court declaration on prisoner voting rights upheld Alex Baird (Newshub): Kiwi prisoners’ right to vote upheld Supreme Court rules No Rigjht Turn: Vindicated Matt Nippert (Herald): Dame Sian Elias’ $3.3m super payout Scott Palmer (Newshub): Duncan Garner slams Dame Sian Elias’ ‘gold-plated’ super scheme Jamie Ensor (Newshub): The ‘compassionate’ way Kelvin Davis slashed New Zealand’s prison population Andrea Vance (Stuff): Greater counter terrorism powers on the cards Andrea Vance (Stuff): Government considers reviving tattoo removal scheme Jared Savage (Herald): Court of Appeal overturns rape convictions for teenage boy and criticises defence lawyer Brandt Shortland in miscarriage of justice Edward Gay (Stuff): Te reo in court is important, says Waitangi Tribunal lawyer RNZ: Law society surprised by resistance to use of te reo in court Stuff: Obituary: Destined from childhood to be well qualified for top judge’s job Hugh Rennie (Stuff): Obituary: Sir John McGrath had reputation for supporting many women lawyers Teachers’ pay dispute Martin van Beynen (Stuff): Pay teachers more or expect more inequality Luke Kirkness (Herald): NZ teachers have biggest workloads, survey finds as NZEI strikes begin 1News: Simon Bridges sympathises with striking teachers as he accuses Government of wasting money Scott Palmer (Newshub): Simon Bridges thinks teachers’ strike justified, blames Government Simon Collins (Herald): Teachers: Govt offer came too late to change strike meetings Katie Scotcher (RNZ): Primary school teachers on strike again today Josephine Franks (Stuff): Auckland teachers strike in first day of rolling nationwide action Newstalk ZB: Teacher’s rep: ‘We didn’t call off strike because venues were booked’ Lucy Bennett and Simon Collins (Herald): Education Minister Chris Hipkins hits back: ‘Other Kiwis would appreciate $9500 pay hike’ Laura Tupou (Newsroom); Government’s latest pay offer to primary school teachers ‘misleading’ RNZ: ‘An air of unreality’ – ERA slams teacher union’s pay demands Newshub: Employment Relations Authority recommends primary school teachers accept pay offer George Heagney (Stuff): Impasse between teachers and Ministry of Education shows no sign of thawing Damian George and Collette Devlin (Stuff): Primary teachers and principals confirm nationwide strike after facilitation talks fail Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): Teachers to begin week of strikes RNZ: Primary teacher strikes to go ahead as last-ditch offer fails Lucy Bennett and Simon Collins (Herald): Education Minister Chris Hipkins disappointed by primary teachers strike action Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Education Minister Chris Hipkins ‘disappointed’ teachers’ strike going ahead David Farrar: Teachers striking again Education Scott Palmer (Newshub): Stand Strong NZ: New Zealand’s ‘deeply disturbing’ bullying rates revealed Simon Collins (Herald): Students who die early 100 times more likely to have been expelled from school – study Simon Collins (Herald): Struggling to learn: kids who learn differently struggle in schools Astrid Austin (Hawkes Bay Today): Hawke’s Bay school expulsion rates reveal drug use frequent factor John Gerritsen (RNZ): Learning revolution or pathway to ignorance? Simon Shepherd and Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): 600 new learning support coordinators ‘too important’ to wait for data Adele Redmond and Laine Moger (Stuff): Local schooling or parent choice? Number of schools with zones hits a record high Lizzie Marvelly (Herald): I wish I’d been taught about same-sex relationships at school Simon Collins (Herald): Henderson Valley School board agrees to consider parents’ concerns over principal Janet Moyle Keith Locke (Daily Blog): SIS persecuting foreign students with allegations of WMD research RNZ: Student investigated over ‘incredibly vague’ WMD allegations Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): ‘No qualifications required’ campaign runs out of steam Siouxsie Wiles (Stuff): Politicians, don’t interfere with science Child abuse Phil Pennington (RNZ): Wellington Catholic school has no records of sex abuse Tom Hunt (Stuff): Jehovah’s Witness child sex abuse survivor urges examination of NZ church Media Graham Adams (Noted): The Jami-Lee Ross saga: Questions around cover-ups continue Colin Peacock (RNZ): JLR’s greatest hits keep coming (audio) Pete George (Your NZ): The non-naming of the National MP raises media issues Colin Peacock (RNZ): Stuff tightens squeeze on community papers Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Stuff threatened to gut journalism if they didn’t get their monopoly – will this spook Government Broadcasting Policy? Jeremy Rose (RNZ): Possible push polling polarises Porirua Arana Taumata (E-Tangata): Māori media: Work hard, but fight hard too Quinton Hita (E-Tangata): Māori media: Broadcasting can’t save te reo Morgan Godfery (E-Tangata): Māori media: Where are our Māori print journalists? Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): Chilling memories of bullying tactics National Party Southland Times Editorial: ‘Moving on’ is not acceptable Audrey Young (Herald): Leaked tape shows a little kindness from Simon Bridges Claire Trevett (Herald): National leader Simon Bridges: Turning the tank of Opposition after Jami-Lee Ross David Farrar: Maybe JLR should join NZ First! Government Gia Garrick (RNZ): Shane Jones fails to disclose 61 meetings Zane Small (Newshub): National MP slams Shane Jones’ failure to disclose meetings Lucy Bennett (Herald): NZ First MP Tracey Martin – no ego, all action Jo Moir (Stuff): Labour Māori caucus needs to face ‘cold harsh reality’ Herald: Book extract: What matters most to Jacinda Ardern Dionne Christian (Herald): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern inspires political play by Sam Brooks Armistice centenary Chris Trotter: What We “Don’t Know And Can’t Know” – The Truth About World War I Bruce Munro (ODT): The prospects for peace Mike Treen (Daily Blog): Why did New Zealand suffer the worst casualty rate in World War One? Andrew Johnston (Spinoff): The Mangel-wurzel, monster of endless war RNZ: Armistice Day: ‘Don’t anyone talk to me of the glories of war’ Jonathan Milne (Stuff): Too many of the real heroes of WWI have been forgotten; let’s do better for today’s heroes John Roughan (Herald): We are fascinated with war for good reason Herald Editorial: A day to remember a nation’s sacrifice Tom Hunt, Dominic Harris and Ben Bathgate (Stuff): Armistice Day silence broken with a cacophony of noise as NZ marks centenary 1News: Gun salutes, silence and sound as New Zealand marks Armistice centenary RNZ: Services mark 100 years since end of WW1 Newshub: Armistice Day commemorated around New Zealand Tema Hemi (Māori TV): 100th anniversary of Armistice Day Jason Walls (Herald): Jacinda Ardern: Armistice Centenary is a time for reflection and looking towards the future 1News: Watch: Jacinda Ardern speaks of ‘peace, multilateralism and inclusion’ during Armistice Day speech AP: Armistice centenary: Winston Peters, Prince Harry lay wreaths before All Blacks Test with England Kate Nicol-Williams (1News): Wairarapa War Camp memorial to be unveiled as part of Armistice Day RNZ: Plaque recognising role of hospital ship unveiled APEC, Foreign Affairs Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): Apec summit highlights the simple price of maintaining Pacific influence: cash Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern leads ministers to APEC and East Asia Summit Richard Harman (Politik): McCully defends the China relationship Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): New Zealand’s tricky balancing act between two trading superpowers Michael Reddell: Some reading for Todd McClay RNZ: Cook Islands to join China’s Belt and Road Thomas Nash (Spinoff): Why it’s time to push NZ foreign policy thinking out of the comfort zone Housing Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): So where’s all the KiwiBuild buyers then? Jason Walls (Herald): The Government’s flagship KiwiBuild policy is on ‘life support’ National’s Judith Collins claims Stacey Kirk and Laine Moger (Stuff): KiwiBuild at threat of going ‘KiwiBust’ over ‘plummeting popularity’ Ben Leahy (Stuff): Twyford says KiwiBuild no lottery after criticism of Auckland ballot Bryce Edwards (Herald): Political Roundup: Is KiwiBuild becoming KiwiSpeculator? Bryce Edwards (Newsroom): Will state housing fix what KiwiBuild can’t? Hayden Donnell (Spinoff): Did Phil Twyford just turn KiwiBuild into a property investor’s paradise? The definitive ruling Donna-Lee Biddle (Stuff): Housing NZ tenant, 84, forced to move as newly renovated home set for demolition 1News: Anti-poverty advocate tells PM to ‘chase up’ compo for state tenants evicted for drug use Mike Wesley-Smith and Finn Hogan (Newshub): Calls for night shelter to stop homeless dying on Auckland streets Tom Dillane (Herald): Starbucks staff report harassment by homeless at Auckland’s Queen St store Anne Gibson (Herald): ‘We look at Bastion Point’: Māori protester plans mass anti-Fletcher action Herald: House price growth slumps, becoming ‘buyers’ market’, ASB chief economist says Anuja Nadkarni (Stuff): ASB housing survey shows confidence in the market is rising Karel Sroubek residency decision Collette Devlin (Stuff): Immigration New Zealand explains how Karel Sroubek case worked Derek Cheng (Herald): Travel to Czech Republic missing from Karel Sroubek case file Martyn Bradbury (Waatea News): The attacks by National on Immigration Minister, Iain Lees-Galloway are ridiculous Steve Braunias (Herald): The secret diary of Iain Lees-Galloway Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald): Iain Lees-Galloway too sloppy to stay Herald: Jacinda Ardern addresses Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway’s future Health Duncan Garner (Stuff): For a country that says kids are our future, we have a funny way of showing it Emma Russell (Herald): New Zealanders biggest consumers in favour of sugary drinks tax, poll reveals Niki Bezzant (Herald): Let’s keep our kids healthy Herald on Sunday Editorial: Long waits for public health services can be fixed Karen Brown (RNZ): NZers’ use of medication not helping mental health – report Deborah Hill Cone (Herald): DHBs must start offering more talk therapy RNZ: Unpaid carers suffer high levels of anxiety and depression – study Mike Houlahan (ODT): Chance to help reform ACC RNZ: Lack of rural health professionals will result in crisis – GPs Jacques Steenkamp and Imogen Neale (Stuff): Billion dollar drug company wants to be ‘reimbursed’ with taxpayer funding Stacey Kirk (Stuff): Who’s really driving the campaign to publicly fund a $1m drug for the orphan disease Spinal muscular atrophy? RNZ: Government to spend more than $7m on Bay of Islands hospital Northern Advocate: Bay of Islands Hospital gets $7.1m primary health centre injection from Government Libby Wilson (Stuff): Rural health school bid not a threat to Waikato med school push: backers Daniel Birchfield (ODT):Health company confident of breaking even Jono Edwards (ODT):Volunteers create health centre Alex Perrottet (RNZ): Checkpoint: Families support GP’s controversial ‘miraculous’ eczema cream Phil Pennington (RNZ): Support for family of dead woman inadequate – principal Hadley Grace Robinson-Lewis (Daily Blog): Alex Pirie a social justice and mental health advocate Banking and finance ODT Editorial: Uneasiness over bank probe Brian Gaynor (Herald): Aussies are banking on bumper profits in NZ Gareth Vaughan (Interest): Why the regulators should take a look at the credit card market Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Union calls for cap on bank chief executive pay Lynda Hallinan (Stuff): Should we overlook the fact it appears to be the banks who are robbing us blind? Torika Tokalau (Stuff): Auckland woman claims she was victim of ‘racist’ treatment at bank Damien Grant (Stuff): The best guardians of a bank’s customers are the customers themselves Kirsty Wynn (Herald): Major bank offers lowest interest rate since after World War II Wealth and inequality Stuff: Plan to target ‘poverty cycle’ in one of country’s most deprived suburbs Katie Doyle (RNZ): Reducing childhood inequity focus of planned Rotorua programme 1News: Financial institutions urged to adopt ‘living wage’ Rob Stock (Stuff): Feeling wealthy? New Zealand ranks sixth in global wealth report Oscar Kightley (Stuff): The joy of six brings rich rewards Joanne Carroll (Stuff): Abusive partners deny women money for food, power, rent and sanitary products Herald: ‘Economic abuse’: Finances used to control Kiwi women, research shows Employment Imran Ali (Northern Advocate): Northland unemployment climbs in September quarter John Boynton (RNZ): Study reveals the effects of gig economy on employment Aimee Shaw (Herald): The gig trap: Study finds ‘gig economy’ workers unlikely to secure ‘regular’ employment Alice Peacock (Herald): Women feel need to bury sexism struggles, office study finds Carrie Buckmaster (Spinoff): Public service employers need to do more to stop sexual harm by staff. Here’s how. Police Thomas Manch (Stuff): Wally Haumaha report expected on Monday, but his fate may remain unclear Herald: Katie Fitzgerald and Simon Shepherd (Newshub): Government commits to date for release of Wally Haumaha inquiry Tom Hunt (Stuff): Nine under-14s laser ‘painted’ and one 15-year-old was Tasered in 2017 Aziz Al-Sa’afin (Newshub): The not-so-inclusive Pride Parade Bridie Chetwin-Kelly (Newshub): Auckland Pride board treasurer Matty Jackson resigns following ban on uniformed police Sinead Corcoran (Stuff): NZ Police ‘banned’ from wearing uniforms to Pride Parade Zane Small (Newshub): ‘Giant backwards step’: Auckland Pride Parade bans cops in uniform Sam Hurley (Herald): Double prison sentence under controversial law for third striker who ‘terrorised’ tourist RNZ: Auckland police HQ to shift to new location Belinda Feek (Herald): ‘The laws need to change’, double fatal crash family urge Harrison Christian (Stuff): Northland man allegedly pepper sprayed while wearing handcuffs and seatbelt Electricity RNZ: Calls for investigation into surge in wholesale power prices Gavin Evans (BusinessDesk): Electricity regulator tells networks to get on with pricing reform Corporate boxing, death of Kain Parsons Stacey Kirk (Stuff): Government rejected calls for a review of corporate boxing – until someone died Meghan Lawrence (Herald): Nearly 14,000 ACC claims for boxing in three years and three known deaths Herald: Kiwi boxing champ’s ‘simple remedy’ to dangers of corporate boxing following Christchurch death Cleo Fraser (Newshub): Safety a priority at first charity boxing match since Kain Parsons’ death Parliament Henry Cooke (Stuff): Three lessons for Kiwi politicians in chaotic US midterms Phil Smith (RNZ): Going through the Motions Peter Wilson (RNZ): Week in Politics: Lees-Galloway’s turn as Ross runs out of steam Angie Skerrett (Newshub): Labour MP Kiri Allan disputes ‘rural experience’ stats Herald: ACT leader David Seymour auctions off Brave Blossoms scarf from Speaker Trevor Mallard Treaty of Waitangi Northern Advocate: Thousands start voting on new Ngāpuhi Treaty negotiations plan Bess Manson (Stuff): National Portrait: Dame Claudia Orange, Treaty witness Welfare Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Taxpayer-funded training organisation left disabled clients sitting idle and bored for long periods Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Survey shows toxic culture at WINZ takes more than Labour’s whitewash renovation Supreme court ruling on swamp kauri Farah Hancock (Newsroom): Draining the swamp kauri swamp Lois Williams (RNZ): Supreme Court decision could shut down swamp kauri trade Linday Laird (Herald): Northland group jubilant as Supreme Court deems swamp kauri export illegal John Anthony (Herald): Swamp kauri cannot be exported unless it’s a finished product, Supreme Court rules Emma Cropper (Newshub): Supreme Court rules swamp Kauri cannot be exported BusinessDesk: Calling swamp kauri a tabletop doesn’t make it true No Right Turn: Ending the pillage Environment and conservation Liz McDonald (Stuff): The industries with a thirst for Christchurch’s pure water Cherie Sivignon (Stuff): Cr Dana Wensley queries basis for claim Waimea dam partner, WIL, was skint Rachael Kelly (Stuff): MP’s feast on whitebait at hearings of native fish bill Phil Pennington (RNZ): Extent of water contamination near air bases confirmed Kirsty Lawrence (Stuff): Councils call for action to fix water-contamination problems at Ōhakea No Right Turn: One way of fixing it Kennedy Warne (E-Tangata): You can’t be a kaitiaki from a distance Te Kuru o te Marama Dewes (Māori TV): Reviving the rivers Matthew Theunissen (RNZ): Likely-extinct bird sighted in Golden Bay Tim Newman (Stuff): Sightings spark hope in the search for New Zealand’s most wanted bird Jamie Ensor (Newshub): South Island kokako spotted by tramper – report Wilhelmina Shrimpton (Newshub): New Zealand’s only kea dog headed for retirement Primary and extractive industries Tony Wall (Stuff): The kiwifruit worker’s death that led to a multi-pronged, groundbreaking prosecution Gerard Hutching (Stuff): Mycoplasma milk testing turns up only three infected farms Rod Oram (Newsroom): Board culture at heart of Fonterra failure Rebecca Stevenson and John Anthony (Stuff): Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell earning ‘substantially less’ than Theo Spierings RNZ: Good riddance Crime Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Winner of Government cyber crime tender now frustrated by ‘weird’ lack of support Kirsty Johnston (Herald): Auckland teen to travel to Denmark to testify against alleged cyber criminal Newshub: A third of Kiwis have fallen victim to scams – Westpac Anuja Nadkarni (Stuff): Kiwis losing up to $500 million each year in scams, Westpac fraud survey tells Tamsyn Parker (Herald): Business email compromise scams costing Kiwis $8000 a day Harrison Christian (Stuff): Auckland’s street gangs: Social media a breeding ground for ‘wannabe’ gangsters RNZ: Drugs from the dark net: Police target importers Herald: Dark net drug importers targeted in major police operation across NZ Aine Kelly-Costello (Newshub): Dark net drug operation about avoiding ‘downward spiral of drug addiction’ – police Phil Taylor (Herald): Soft approach on Dark Net drugs is Government’s doing, says Opposition Transport Alexia Russell (Newsroom): Getting on board with Universal Basic Mobility RNZ: Wellington bus network launches new services in response to complaints RNZ: Lime recalls all e-scooters made by Okai RNZ: Drone leads to controlled airspace closure at Wellington Airport Tracy Neal (RNZ): Council accused of charging ‘illegal’ fee to pilots Cannabis RNZ: Medicinal cannabis regulation ‘could be all sorted in six months’ Chris Hutching (Stuff): Is cannabis another boom and bust investment sector? Matthew Tso (Stuff): Cannabis reform advocates preach education over ‘smoke-ups’ outside Parliament Local government Andre Chumko (Stuff): Councils eye up real-time satellite monitoring for compliance matters Aaron Leaman (Stuff): Hamilton’s only holiday park up for sale RNZ: Stewart Island visitor levy is under review Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland lacks a champion to speak up on its biggest issues RNZ: Kelly Tarlton’s wants nothing to do with wharf development John-Michael Swannix (Newshub): Auckland’s Albert Park Tunnels ‘have to be open before the America’s Cup’ – developer Bill Reid Guy Williams (Stuff): New Zealand, stop building roads and malls on our waterfronts Other Charlie Dreaver (RNZ): Pokie profits on the rise, despite fewer machines Emma Hatton (RNZ): Furniture industry shake-up over flammable foam concerns Laura Walters (Newsroom): Further deaths from synthetics 1News: Defence force wants unmanned aircraft by mid-2020s Christine McCarthy (Newsroom): Saving ‘ugly duckling’ buildings from demolition Stuff: Lawyer in secret passport case concerned talks might be bugged Philip Matthews (Stuff): The week in good news: more jobs, more voters, more donuts RNZ: Criminal case against cowboy a ‘publicity stunt’ Nikki Macdonald (Stuff): The mayoral mistress, the streaker, or the cat? Who is Wiki-worthy? Max Cryer (Herald): Should NZ defend or amend national anthem? RNZ: Company fined $100k after fatal fall from mobility scooter on damaged footpath Zane Small (Newshub): Should New Zealand drop gender for birth certificates, licences? Koro Vaka’uta (RNZ):NZ Samoan recognised for connecting public service with Pasifika]]>

Two past coup leaders face off in Fiji general election as Australia sharpens focus on the western Pacific

By The Conversation -

November 12, 2018

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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominic O’Sullivan, Associate Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt University

Anyone with a longer memory will perhaps associate Fiji with coups – two in 1987 and one in 2006. There was also a putsch – a civilian overthrow of the government – in 2000.

For Australia, the strategic importance of the western Pacific is coming into sharp focus.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced $3 billion in infrastructural spending in the region. He has committed the Australian Defence Force to military training in Pacific nations.

Australia has an abiding interest in a south-west Pacific that is secure strategically, stable economically and sovereign politically.

On Fiji, he said:

We want to mend the relationship with the RFMF [Republic of Fiji Military Forces], to ensure that the ADF [Australian Defence Force] is best-placed to develop the Fiji military’s professional capabilities and to ensure Fiji’s security needs.

For Fijian voters, the military is never far from politics.

Bainimarama insists the election will be free and fair . However, the electoral system is unnecessarily complicated. Critics argue this is a deliberate strategy to disenfranchise voters.

It shall be the overall responsibility of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces to ensure at all times the security, defence and well-being of Fiji and all Fijians.

The military has tended to be the arbiter in national affairs since the first coup in 1987.

As Bainimarama put it before the 2006 coup:

[Prime Minister Laisenia] Qarase is trying to weaken the army by trying to remove me … if he succeeds there will be no one to monitor them, and imagine how corrupt it is going to be.

The prime minister’s main rival clears legal hurdle

Bainimarama’s main opponent is an indigenous former prime minister and coup leader, Sitiveni Rabuka. Bainimarama is also an indigenous Fijian.

I am here to do what I can for as long as I ever can for the good of the country.

Land ownership and rental returns are key political issues

SODELPA will also begin extensive public consultation on the drafting of a new Constitution.

Democratic stability serves Australia’s interests. In Fiji, democracy can be strong only when the military is weak.

– ref. Two past coup leaders face off in Fiji general election as Australia sharpens focus on the western Pacific – http://theconversation.com/two-past-coup-leaders-face-off-in-fiji-general-election-as-australia-sharpens-focus-on-the-western-pacific-106347]]>

When the numbers aren’t enough: how different data work together in research

By The Conversation -

November 12, 2018

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jacqueline Stephens, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of South Australia

This article is in the series This is research, where we ask academics to share and discuss open access articles that reveal important aspects of science. Today’s piece looks at how types of data – quantitative and qualitative – are useful in different ways.

As an epidemiologist, I am interested in disease – and more specifically, who in a population currently has or might get that disease.

What is their age, sex, or socioeconomic status? Where do they live? What can people do to limit their chances of getting sick?

Questions exploring whether something is likely to happen or not can be answered with quantitative research. By counting and measuring, we quantify (measure) a phenomenon in our world, and present the results through percentages and averages. We use statistics to help interpret the significance of the results.

While this approach is very important, it can’t tell us everything about a disease and peoples’ experiences of it. That’s where qualitative data becomes important.

Let’s take the viral disease influenza (flu) as an example.

How many people had flu

Quantitative methods tell me that over the period 2001 to 2014, Influenza B strain was responsible for an average of 17% of the notified cases of the flu in Australia each year, with most remaining cases caused by influenza A virus.

Delve even deeper, and we see variation in incidence from year to year. For example, in 2010, influenza B strain caused 9.6% of the notified influenza cases, while in 2013 it caused 36.9% of the cases.

The number of people diagnosed with influenza types A and B varies from year to year. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses

These two virus strains – influenza A and B – are responsible for our seasonal flu each year, and circulate together in the community at varying levels over the seasons and by geography.

Each year the strains of influenza A and B change through evolution. So vaccinations need to be developed and administered every year to account for this.

Due to the rapid evolution of flu viruses, it makes sense for researchers to monitor influenza, so that steps can be taken to improve vaccines and reduce the number of people that get sick each year.

But that is not the whole picture.

Sometimes researchers want to know more than numbers. Sometimes it’s important to understand more complex issues in health care. Questions such as: how do people make decisions about their health, including risk of flu? What information do they use? Where do they find this information?

The answers to these questions are complicated. People apply reasoning to decisions based on many factors that are influenced by our social, cultural and political backgrounds.

The bigger story

Understanding and fitting the numbers into a bigger story is what qualitative research aims to achieve.

Qualitative methods include a range of techniques – but interviews are one of the most common ways of gathering this sort of data.

Semi-structured interviews use a set of questions to guide the interview. This allows flexibility to explore ideas that arise during the conversation.

An audio-recording of the interview is transcribed and used for analysis, which is typically completed by at least two researchers independently to ensure they both come to the same conclusions.

Here’s another example from flu research that tells the story.

In a report published earlier this year, Australian researchers investigated how parents sought information during the 2009 pandemic of swine flu.

By completing mixed methods research – research that includes both quantitative and qualitative research methods – the researchers were able to gain a deeper understanding of their topic.

Mixed methods research

Applying a quantitative research method known as a cross-sectional cohort study, the researchers surveyed 431 parents recruited from childcare centres. They report that 90% of parents trusted the information that their doctor gave them about the influenza pandemic. Nurses (59%) and government (56%) were also trusted sources of information.

Only 7% of parents trusted information published about the pandemic in the media, and even less parents trusted information published by anti-vaccination groups (6%) and celebrities (1%).

Ranked list of who parents trust for swine flu information:

doctor
nurse
government
childcare centre
family/friends
natural therapist
media
anti-vaccination group
celebrity.

However, these numbers don’t tell us anything about why they did or did not trust these sources of information.

Here is where the qualitative research helps: a group of 42 parents were interviewed to ask more detailed questions.

Their responses revealed that even though parents trusted their GP as a source of information, they would go to their hospital’s emergency department for medical care during the pandemic.

Parents found that the way the media reported the pandemic generated fear among the community, which was not consistent with the mildness of the pandemic.

Finally, parents said they used the internet to supplement the information given by their doctors, nurses, and childcare centres; a finding missed in the quantitative study.

The full picture

Clearly, the information gathered during the qualitative research expanded and gave meaning to the numerical data gathered from the survey.

From the qualitative research we gained a greater understanding of where parents get information about influenza during an outbreak. This is vital information that can help health care workers ensure that parents have the information they want and need.

Traditionally there has been a tension between quantitative and qualitative researchers, with researchers on both sides arguing that their methods are superior to answer complex questions.

However, this tension misses the point that research questions of significant interest almost always can be answered better with the combination of methods.

The open access research papers for this analysis are Epidemiology of influenza B in Australia: 2001-2014 influenza seasons and Much ado about flu: A mixed methods study of parental perceptions, trust and information seeking in a pandemic.

– ref. When the numbers aren’t enough: how different data work together in research – http://theconversation.com/when-the-numbers-arent-enough-how-different-data-work-together-in-research-103907]]>

Worlds and theatre collide in Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land

By The Conversation -

November 12, 2018

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Peterson, Senior Lecturer in Drama, Flinders University

Review: Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land, OzAsia Festival.

I have often heard OzAsia Festival Artistic Director Joseph Mitchell suggest that he looks forward to the day when contemporary work from Asia is so woven into the country’s performing arts landscape that a specialised festival such as this one will be unnecessary.

The fact that Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land has finally received its Australian premiere – over 30 years after it was first staged – suggests that this day has not yet come. The play is directed by Stan Lai, one of Asia’s most esteemed theatre directors, and created by him and Taipei’s Performance Workshop.

The backdrop informing the play’s creation was the historical moment when travel restrictions were lifted and Taiwanese citizens, many of them having fled China in the 1940s and 1950s, could return to China for the first time. As Lai observed in a post-show Q-and-A, many of his parents’ generation went through life unable to be with the people they loved – those they left behind.

This play is in fact two plays woven together, one being a tragic love story. This is the “Secret Love” of the title, dramatized onstage with great emotional clarity and depth by Fan Kuang-yao and Chu Jr-ying. They play the two lovers, Jiang Bin Liu and Yun Zhi Fan respectively, who fall in love in Shanghai during the Japanese occupation and separate just after the second world war.

The backdrop to the play is the lifting of travel restrictions between Taiwan and China. OzAsia Festival

Later in the play, with the ailing Jiang on his deathbed in the Taipei hospital, we learn that he has placed an ad in the local newspaper seeking Yun, the pigtailed girl he left behind, on the chance that she, like himself and so many of their generation, ended up in Taiwan. While such a melodramatic plot, to say nothing of the passage of time might seem to make the play irrelevant, it oddly continues to resonate.

Lai estimates that the play has received over 5,000 productions in China, the majority on university campuses. This speaks to its continued relevance to young Chinese people on the other side of the Formosa Strait. And it is when “Secret Love” intersects with the second play, “Peach Blossom Land,” that we begin to understand why this play has endured in the repertory.

To Chinese people, observes Lai, “Peach Blossom Land” is Shangri-La, the mythical land of eternal bliss and peace, described in a well-known fifth century Chinese poem that has been variously adapted. Thus, the play’s title combines two stories that don’t belong together — clearly, there is no room for a secret love in a perfect world!

OzAsia Festival

But cleverly, the collision between the two plays is not just in differences of tone, content, and style. It also extends from the “real” onstage conflict between actors and the production teams of the two plays as they find themselves booked to rehearse at the same time on the same stage.

In addition, the intrusion of the “Peach Blossom” company into the world of the “Secret Love” company also creates an opening for a contemporary clash between two distinct theatre cultures.

The “Peach Blossom” players burst onto the stage early in the play, interrupting the serious, heartfelt drama of Jiang and Yun saying their goodbyes in a devastated, post-war Shanghai. Unlike the high-brow dramatic company, led by a difficult director who is clearly too personally invested in the play’s content, the actors in “Peach Blossom Land” are pop-culture denizens, casual, daggy in appearance. Their acting style is broad, farcical, and underpinned by physical and situational humour.

OzAsia Festival

As the two plays alternate and the companies increasingly intrude into one another’s dramatic spaces, they begin to overlap emotionally as well. Ultimately, we see that the mythical Peach Blossom Land is not so much a happy place as a boring one, and that the price of happiness for those living in it is not knowing anything of the past.

The delightful antics of Tang Tsung-sheng, who plays the humble fisherman Lao Tao, guide us to this world and back again, while the conventions of this style of theatre, with its silly two-dimensional scenery and bits of comic business are sent up even as we see actors mastering the form.

Improbably, after shedding a tear when Jiang is reunited with Yun on his deathbed and the two plays and two casts collide across “real” and dramatic time one final time, we experience what Lai suggests is “the human experience of laughing and crying,” the feeling the company had, when initially creating this work, that “it should be different sides of the same coin.”

That Shangri-La is only possible without memory suggests that memory, even a traumatic one, is what makes us human.

Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land was staged as part of the OzAsia Fesival.

– ref. Worlds and theatre collide in Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land – http://theconversation.com/worlds-and-theatre-collide-in-secret-love-in-peach-blossom-land-106769]]>

Poll wrap: Coalition, Morrison slip further in Newspoll; US Democrats gain in late counting

By The Conversation -

November 12, 2018

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

This week’s Newspoll, conducted November 8-11 from a sample of 1,800, gave Labor a large 55-45 lead, a one-point gain for Labor since last fortnight. Primary votes were 40% Labor (up one), 35% Coalition (down one), 9% Greens (steady) and 6% One Nation (steady).

This is the second consecutive Newspoll drop for the Coalition, after they recovered somewhat from the post-spill fallout to trail 53-47 four weeks ago. In Malcolm Turnbull’s final four Newspolls as PM, the Coalition trailed by just 51-49; the situation is far worse for them now.

Labor’s primary vote in this poll has returned to 40%, a level only exceeded in the first two polls after Turnbull was ousted. Before those two polls, Labor’s support in Newspoll had only been at 40% or more once since Julia Gillard’s early days as PM.

39% were satisfied with Scott Morrison’s performance (down two), and 47% were dissatisfied (up three), for a net approval of -8, down five points. Bill Shorten’s net approval dropped two points to -15. Morrison led Shorten by 42-36 as better PM (43-35 last fortnight).

By 48-40, voters were opposed to Australia becoming a republic, a dramatic shift from a 50-41 margin in favour of a republic in April. This is the first time since the republic referendum in 1999 that those opposed have outnumbered those in favour. The popularity of Princes Harry and William (see Essential below) probably explains this shift.

This Newspoll was the fifth to gauge Morrison’s ratings. Turnbull’s net approval peaked at +38 in his fifth Newspoll, in November 2015, before starting a long decline. Morrison’s net approval peaked at +7 in his third Newspoll, and he has lost a net 15 points since that peak.

I have said before that the Coalition under Morrison would probably have problems with the educated people who were drawn to Turnbull. To compensate, Morrison needs to outperform Turnbull among those without high levels of educational attainment.

For these people, personal economic fortunes are probably a key concern. As long as wages growth remains low, Labor and the unions will be able to win support from this group. In my opinion, the Coalition’s only realistic chance of re-election is for wages to improve strongly by the time the next election is due in May 2019. The ABS will release data for wages in the September quarter on Wednesday.

Essential: 54-46 to Labor

In last week’s Essential poll, conducted November 1-4 from a sample of 1,028, Labor led by 54-46, a one-point gain for Labor since three weeks ago. Primary votes were 39% Labor (up two), 36% Coalition (down two), 10% Greens (steady) and 6% One Nation (down one). Rounding probably assisted the Coalition in this poll. While it is not as bad as Newspoll for the Coalition, the movement in Essential agrees with Newspoll.

Morrison’s net approval was +4, down 11 points since October. Shorten’s net approval was -6, up six points. Morrison led Shorten by 41-29 as better PM (42-27 in October).

By 44-32, voters supported Australia becoming a republic with its own head of state (48-30 in May). Over 60% had favourable opinions of Queen Elizabeth and Princes Harry and William, but opinion was split 33-30 favourable on Prince Charles.

By 39-35, voters approved of government support for new coal-fired power stations. Just 8% said they had a high interest in horse racing, while 44% said they had no interest.

Queensland Galaxy: 50-50 tie federally, 53-47 to state Labor

A Queensland Galaxy poll, conducted November 7-8 from a sample of 839, had a federal 50-50 tie in Queensland, unchanged from August when Turnbull was still PM. Primary votes were 38% Coalition (up one), 34% Labor (steady), 9% Greens (steady) and 9% One Nation (down one).

This poll would be a 4% swing to Labor from the 2016 election in Queensland, so it is not good news for the Coalition (the national swing in Newspoll would be just over 5%). One of the reasons given for replacing Turnbull was that he was on the nose in Queensland. Under Morrison, the Coalition is matching its position in Queensland compared to Turnbull, but it is performing far worse in the rest of Australia.

The same poll gave state Labor a 53-47 lead, a two-point gain for Labor since August. Primary votes were 36% Labor (up one), 34% LNP (down three), 11% Greens (steady) and 10% One Nation (steady).

46% (up five) approved of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, and 37% (down one) disapproved, for a net approval of +9, up six points. Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington had a +6 net approval, up one point. Palaszczuk led as better Premier by 43-26 (44-23 in August).

Late counting strongly favours Democrats in US midterms

Late counting for the November 6 US midterm elections has heavily favoured the Democrats, and they have reversed some election-night Republican leads in House and Senate seats.

The House is likely to finish at a 234-201 Democrat majority, which would be a net gain of 40 for the Democrats since the 2016 election. That would be Democrats’ highest number of gains in a House election since 1974 – despite the strong US economy and Republican gerrymandering.

The Senate is likely to finish at a 53-47 Republican majority, a two-seat net gain for the Republicans since the 2012 election, the last time these seats were contested; Democrats had a great year in 2012. Democrats lost North Dakota, Indiana, Missouri and likely Florida, but gained Nevada and likely Arizona. A Democrat win in Arizona would be their first Arizona senator elected since 1988.

I wrote in August that Trump’s ratings were well below where they should be given the strong US economy. If he had not been so blatantly right-wing on many issues, Trump’s ratings would probably have been far better at the midterms, and the Republicans would have held the suburban seats that they lost.

Democrats currently lead in the House popular vote by 6.5 points, and it is likely to end at about an eight-point Democrat margin. Rasmussen polls, which always give Trump far better ratings than other pollsters, had Republicans winning the House popular vote by one point.

– ref. Poll wrap: Coalition, Morrison slip further in Newspoll; US Democrats gain in late counting – http://theconversation.com/poll-wrap-coalition-morrison-slip-further-in-newspoll-us-democrats-gain-in-late-counting-106766]]>

Flavourz film festival wows audience with ethnicity, pollution, fun films

By Pacific Media Centre -

November 12, 2018

Banabans of Rabi: A Story of Survival – the trailer.

By Rahul Bhattarai

Nine years on the popular Flavourz Film Festival has grown and grown … with more than 170 people watching the screening of 15 student documentary and feature productions at Auckland University of Technology at the weekend.

The short films – ranging between 2min30sec and 12min – featured topics as wide ranging as birdlife, culture, ethnicity, matchmaking, migration, plastic pollution, racism, the Banabans of Rabi and the closure of Hato Petera College. Some were quirky and funny.

FLAVOURZ FILM FESTIVAL 2018

“Flavourz has evolved over the years. In the beginning it had a small screening and a small lecture hall, now we have got about a 170 people here today,” said senior lecturer and film maker Jim Marbrook.

Part of the audience at the Flavourz Film Festival screening at Auckland University of Technology. Image: David Robie/PMC

“it’s a showcase of some of our really interesting work with the focus on diversity and culture.”

-Partners-

Marbrook was one of the founders of the festival along with Tui O’Sullivan, Isabella Rasch and Pacific Media Centre director Professor David Robie.

“We got the idea to put on a film festival to celebrate diversity,” said Marbrook

AUT has one of the New Zealand’s leading school of communications with the latest facilities and highly experienced staff for the students to learn from.

[embedded content]
A Migrant’s Story, by Irra Lee, one of the films screened at the festival. Trailer

‘Lucky students’
“In a Bachelors of Communications Studies programme students are very lucky because we have a very strong journalism school and we have screen production courses,” said James Nicholson, curriculum leader and a senior lecturer for television and screen production.

AUT filmmakers Tom Blessen (left) and Hele Ikimotu … telling the Pacific stories away from the mainstream. Image: Rahul Bhattarai/PMC

An 11 minute postgraduate documentary, Banabans of Rabi: A Story of Survival, by Hele Ikimotu and Blessen Tom, made as part of the three-year-old Bearing Witness climate change project, was one of the films screened.

It has been accepted as an entry in the Nuku’alofa Film Festival in Tonga later this month.

Banabans of Rabi shows the impact of climate change and on the remote northern island of Rabi in particular.

Hele Ikimotu was inspired to make this film in order to explore his own unknown Kiribati culture and the struggles of the people on the island where the Banaban people had been relocated by the British colonial government.

Such voices are seldom heard in the mainstream media.

“When it comes to climate change it is only about the bigger cities and the islands,” Ikimotu said.

‘Telling the stories’
“In Fiji, it’s always about Nadi and Suva but not so much about the outer islands. So, I thought this would be a good opportunity to tell the stories of those who don’t get the opportunity to talk about what they are going through.

“I had never really experienced that side of my culture, never knew too much about it,” he said.

“So when the opportunity to go to Fiji came with the Pacific Media Centre, I used it to go to Rabi. I knew it was a difficult trip but if I put in some effort it could happen.”

The trip from Suva to Rabi was 15 hours long.

“it was a very gruesome trip, with up to seven hours in a motor vehicle at a stretch, and a boat ride,” said Blessen Tom.

Banabans of Rabi: A Story of Survival will be screened at the 2018 Nuku’alofa Film Festival in Tonga on November 22/23.

[embedded content]
The inaugural Flavourz film festival in 2009.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Curious Kids: How and why do magnets stick together?

By The Conversation -

November 12, 2018

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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Bosi, Senior Lecturer in Physics, University of New England

This is an article from Curious Kids, a series for children. The Conversation is asking kids to send in questions they’d like an expert to answer. All questions are welcome – serious, weird or wacky! You might also like the podcast Imagine This, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation, based on Curious Kids.

Hi my name is Dean and I am 7 years old. My question is: How and why do magnets stick together? – Dean, age 7, Vermont Sth.

Hi Dean!

This is a good question and a bit tricky to answer, but I’ll try my best.

Every magnet has two sides: a north pole and a south pole. We use these names because if you hang a magnet from a thread, the magnet’s north pole points (almost) towards the north direction.

This is because the Earth’s core (its centre) is a large, weak magnet. Your little, strong magnet lines up with Earth’s magnetic core, so it points north. That’s how a magnetic compass works.

If you sprinkle iron filings (a fine powder of iron) around a magnet, you can see an image of the magnetic field. from www.shutterstock.com

Magnets don’t always stick together.

If you hold two magnets the wrong way around, they push apart – they repel! In other words, if you hold two magnets together so that like-poles are close together (two norths OR two souths), they repel. Try it! It feels like the magnets are surrounded by an invisible rubber layer pushing them apart. That invisible layer is called a magnetic field.

Like-poles repel: We can use curvy arrows (called field lines) to draw the shape of the magnetic field around magnets. The arrows always start at the magnet’s north pole and point towards its south pole. When two like-poles point together, the arrows from the two magnets point in OPPOSITE directions and the field lines cannot join up. So the magnets will push apart (repel). Image credit: Author provided.

It’s only when you hold unlike-poles together (a north pointing to a south) that magnets stick together (they are attracted). Now, the magnetic field acts like a stretched rubber band pulling the magnets together. (Be careful; two strong magnets can pinch your skin).

Unlike-poles attract: When a north pole and south pole point together, the arrows point in the SAME direction so the field lines can join up and the magnets pull together (attract). Image credit: Author provided.

So, why do magnets attract or repel?

You have probably heard of energy. Energy is needed to create movement.

A car that’s sitting still will start to move when the petrol inside it burns. That’s because petrol contains stored-up energy which is released when it burns.

When this stored-up energy is released, some of it changes into movement energy. Scientists call this stored-up energy “potential energy” and call movement energy “kinetic energy”.

When you start running, it’s because energy stored in your food is released and some of it changes into movement energy.

What’s this got to do with magnets? Well, the magnetic field that surrounds all magnets contains stored-up energy. But there’s a way to change the amount of stored-up energy surrounding the magnet. And the way you change it will tell you which way the magnet will move.

A rule to remember

Everything in the universe follows a rule. I will tell you the rule in a moment, but first I have to say that it’s not easy to explain why the universe follows this rule without complicated mathematics. The best I can say is “that’s just how the universe behaves”. (I’m sorry. I don’t like answers like that either).

The rule is: wherever there is stored-up energy in an object (and the object is not tied down or stuck in place), then the object will be pushed in the direction that causes the stored-up energy to decrease. The stored-up energy will be reduced and replaced by movement energy.

So if two magnets are pointing with unlike-poles together (north pole to a south pole), then bringing them closer together decreases the energy stored up in the magnetic field. They will be pushed in the direction that decreases the amount of stored-up energy. That is, they are forced together (this is called attraction).

If two magnets are pointing with like-poles together (a south pole to a south pole OR north to north), then stored-up energy will decrease if they move apart.

So our rule says the magnets will be pushed in the direction that decreases the amount of stored-up energy. That is, they are forced apart (repelled).

I should also say that when dropped objects are attracted to Earth and fall down, it’s NOT because of magnetism. It’s because of gravity. Earth is also surrounded by a gravitational field which also contains stored up energy.

Unlike magnetism, gravity never repels because gravity only points one way. There are no north and south poles for gravity.

Can I keep taking stored-up energy from the magnetic field forever?

No.

Once two magnets stick together, you’ll need to put some stored-up energy back into the field by pulling the magnets apart again. You can’t get energy for nothing.

The energy needed to pull the magnets apart comes from you, and you get it from the food you eat. And the plants or animals you eat get their energy from other plants and animals, or from the Sun. All energy comes from somewhere.

Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to us. They can:

* Email your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au
* Tell us on Twitter

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Please tell us your name, age and which city you live in. You can send an audio recording of your question too, if you want. Send as many questions as you like! We won’t be able to answer every question but we will do our best.

– ref. Curious Kids: How and why do magnets stick together? – http://theconversation.com/curious-kids-how-and-why-do-magnets-stick-together-101899]]>

Fiji Elections Office will monitor two-day blackout period

By Pacific Media Centre -

November 12, 2018

Fiji’s Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem … monitoring the media blackout. Image: Jovesa Naisua/Fiji Times file photo

By Litia Cava in Suva

The Fijian Elections Office (FEO) will keep an eye to ensure that the blackout period is respected, says Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem

During a press conference today, Saneem said people must take heed of the legal particulars in relation to the blackout period.

“We urge all Fijians to please take heed of the legal requirements, kindly read all the provisions and make sure that you are in compliance with it,” Saneem said.

“The FEO will be keeping a close eye on the usuals to ensure that the blackout period is respected and that Fijians get the opportunity to make their decision in the two days.”

Saneem also urged all political candidates to remove all their billboards and that all billboards under political parties must be removed.

This also included all the cards that have been distributed around by party supporters around the country.

-Partners-

The two-day blackout period is tomorrow and Tuesday with the election on Wednesday.

Litia Cava is a Fiji Times reporter.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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FijiFirst expected to win Fiji general election – but by how much?

By Pacific Media Centre -

November 12, 2018

taxi-driver-tarun-chandra-skrishnamurthi-680wide-jpg — ]]>

Taxi driver Tarun Chandra … “FijiFirst have done enough.” Image: Sri Krishnamurthi/PMC

By Sri Krishnamurthi in Suva

FijiFirst is expected to win Fiji’s second post-coup general election in eight years – but by what majority?

The opposition Social Democratic Liberal party (SODELPA) leader Sitiveni Rabuka is saying he expects to win 28 seats in the election on Wednesday, while FijiFirst leader Voreqe Bainimarama is confidently hoping to win “51 seats” – because he does not want SODELPA in Parliament.

National Federation Party (NFP), the only other party to have seats in Parliament after the 2014 elections, is taking optimistically about winning 10 seats.

“We can’t work with anyone” Bainimarama said on FijiVillage’s StraightTalk programme in a live debate with Sitiveni Rabuka on Facebook tonight.

While Rabuka extended the olive branch by saying his party would work with “anyone” in a coalition, not so for Bainimarama, who took a no-quarter-given stance.

But, as far as Tarun Chandra, 56, who has been driving a taxi and owns his company, said on the ride from Nausori into Suva, “FijiFirst have done enough”.

-Partners-

“They’ve been good for the country. Yes they may have done something wrong but by and large they have done well for the country,” he said.

‘Good enough for me’
“By my calculations they should win at least 29 seats, and that’s good enough for me.

“I don’t think SODELPA are going to do that well, maybe 15 seats. They will be lucky if Rabuka can beat the appeal by the anti-corruption authority,” he said.

That decision by the High Court is due tomorrow on the appeal by the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC).

He is expecting NFP to do marginally better than the three seats they won the last time.
“NFP could win five seats but they are making big promises like the minimum wage and pensions scheme which is in their manifesto.”

Chandra pointed out the stability in the country as being a large factor in voting on Wednesday, with the stipulated media blackout beginning at midnight tonight.

“All the parties will have to takedown the billboards and banners tonight,” he said sagely.
Which was a far cry from a friendly woman of Indian ethnicity who greeted me at customs when I arrived in the country just hours before the media blackout was to begin.

“Elections, I don’t know about the elections” was all she offered smiling apologetically.
The same went for the people who graced a nearby mall, all going about their business and not wanting to talk about the elephant-in-the-room – the elections.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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A year since the marriage equality vote, much has been gained – and there is still much to be done

By The Conversation -

November 12, 2018

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy W. Jones, Senior Lecturer in History, La Trobe University

November 15, 2018 is the one-year anniversary of Australians voting “yes” to marriage equality. The survey was an unprecedented two-month exercise in engaging with current Australian community values around sexuality and relationships.

The survey returned a clear result, with 61.6% in favour of allowing same-sex couples to marry. Legislation recognising marriage equality passed into law on December 8.

In the six months after the legislation passed, almost 2,500 same-sex couples were married. That’s about 100 gay weddings a week.

LGBT people still have mixed and changing views about marriage. Former high court judge, Michael Kirby expressed these ambivalences well recently, when he and his partner, Johan van Vloten, announced their decision to marry:

we’ve been together now for 49 years and eight months. And so it just seemed a little artificial. It seemed a little late for the confetti. And it also seemed to us a little bit patriarchal… (but) we’ve ultimately decided that we are going to get married.

For very many LGBT people, the postal survey was a deeply traumatic time. Many still live with the ongoing grief of having had the dignity of their lives, and those of their children, up for debate.

A soon to be released collection of queer writing from the marriage equality survey period provides a sensitive and beautiful document of that experience (including a piece of mine).

But the passage of marriage equality legislation was not the end of this episode in our history. Our communities are still healing after the bruising campaign, and its aftermath has exposed a legal and social landscape in which the human rights of LGBT people are still not adequately valued and respected.

In what was presented at the time as a conciliatory gesture to the religious right, then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull convened an expert panel to “examine whether Australian law adequately protects the human right to freedom of religion”.

Far from placating conservative Christians, unsettled by the arrival of marriage equality, the Ruddock review brought into view the considerable exemptions from sexual discrimination legislation that Australian law grants religious bodies.

Australians were surprised and outraged to discover that, in most Australian jurisdictions, religious schools are permitted to expel students and fire teachers for the simple fact of their sexuality or gender identity. This is the case even if those students or teachers are people of faith and living in accordance with the tenets of their church.

When we launched the report of our three year study of LGBT conversion therapy last month, people were similarly surprised and horrified. These harmful and discredited practices – futile attempts to make LGBT people straight and cisgendered – are still present in many Australian religious communities, and remain legal.

Perhaps this moment of realisation of the magnitude of discrimination and harms that the law in Australia still permits is one of the most important outcomes of the marriage equality postal survey.

The postal survey forced the majority of Australian’s to reflect on their values around sexuality, relationships and humanity. The clear majority of Australians came to the conclusion LGBT people are just as human as all other Australians. We decided LGBT people deserve the same opportunities for joy and loss, commitment and recognition, and protection under the law, that marriage provides.

This recognition of the dignity and humanity of LGBT people has brought forward debate about the law in regard to religion and sex. Made aware of the ways current law permits religious bodies to discriminate on the basis of sex, the majority of Australians recognise the state of the law does not reflect their values.

It’s time to renegotiate the balance of rights between the protection of LGBT people from discrimination and the permission we give people of faith to discriminate on the basis of sex.

And this might not be a bad thing for religion in Australia. Religious communities might need to reflect on why they are so obsessed with sex. Sexual values are not present in any of the founding creeds of Australia’s major religions. And there is no consistent view in any religion regarding teachings about gender and sexuality.

A recent study on Faith and Belief in Australia showed only 20% of Australians are actively involved in religion. It also found the biggest block (31%) to Australians engaging with Christianity was the churches’ teaching and stance on homosexuality.

The postal survey has, ironically, made Australia come to grips with religion. Perhaps it’s now time for Australia’s religions to come to grips with sex.

– ref. A year since the marriage equality vote, much has been gained – and there is still much to be done – http://theconversation.com/a-year-since-the-marriage-equality-vote-much-has-been-gained-and-there-is-still-much-to-be-done-106326]]>

Five food mistakes to avoid if you’re trying to lose weight

By The Conversation -

November 12, 2018

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yasmine Probst, Senior lecturer, School of Medicine, University of Wollongong

Many people wonder why they’re not losing weight when they follow a strict diet and exercise routine.

One possible reason is that what look like healthy options aren’t what they seem. Many foods and drinks contain hidden fats, sugars or salt, each of which will curb your weight loss efforts. In addition to the kilojoules, these flavoursome foods leave you wanting more.

Losing weight is largely about tipping the balance of kilojoules in and out. If you’re trying to lose weight or simply seeking a healthier lifestyle, here are five common traps that might be hindering you.

1. All salads are good for you

Vegetables are good for you, absolutely. But salads often include other ingredients, which will hike up your kilojoule (kJ) count.

A Caesar salad looks green and leafy but is filled with hidden fats from the bacon (40g fat; 360kJ), parmesan cheese (6g fat; 340kJ) and creamy salad dressing lathered over the top (20g fat; 770kJ). Even the croutons are fried for added crunch. So a Caesar salad gives you your total daily fat intake for an average adult in one meal.

On par with this is a creamy pasta salad, often seen at family barbecues. A side serve of this comes in at almost 920 kilojoules.

Fats provide the highest kilojoules from food (followed closely by alcohol, but more on that later). So be wary of dressings, sauces, gravies and high fat foods that may be adding kilojoules to your meal.

2. I don’t eat junk food, just ‘healthy’ snacks

Australians consume more than 30% of their kilojoules from discretionary or “junk” foods, such as biscuits, chips and chocolate. None of these are providing us with any vital nutrients. These are the kilojoules we need to shift to lose weight.

But many people make the mistake of swapping junk food for seemingly “healthy snacks”, such as muesli bars and protein balls. While these can claim to be healthy and organic, they’re often processed and high in kilojoules.

While muesli bars are made up of healthy elements, it’s usually sugar holding them together. From shutterstock.com

Muesli bars do contain healthy ingredients such as oats, nuts and seeds. But sticking all the parts together to form a bar is usually achieved with a form of sugar. A yoghurt, fruit and nut bar can contain up to 4.6 teaspoons of sugar.

Next time you feel like a snack, why not substitute your muesli bar with a handful of nuts and seeds. This will provide you with useful vitamins and minerals – minus the sugar sticking them together.

3. Natural sweeteners are better than sugar

There’s recently been a shift towards more natural forms of added sugar, but they contain no additional nutrients and no fewer kilojoules. Adding honey or agave syrup to your dish does not differ nutritionally from adding sugar to the same dish. It may taste different, but you’re still adding sugar.

Next time you feel like something sweet, try adding some fruit instead. It has a natural sweetness and will give you extra vitamins and minerals.

If you find your downfall is adding sugar to coffee, try using soy milk instead of cow’s milk. It has a sweeter taste (but one that may need some getting used to in the first instance).

Or try reducing the amount of sugar you add by half a teaspoon each week. You’ll find you barely notice the difference after a while.

4. Anything fruit-based must be healthy

Think of the humble banana, mashed up into banana bread. This is not a bread at all, but a cake. If you’ve ever made banana bread you’ll realise just how much butter and extra sugar gets added to something nature has already made to be sweet and in its own convenient package.

Meanwhile, fruit drinks generally contain only 25% fruit juice and are very high in sugar. But even when drinking 100% fruit juice, you’re missing out on the important fibre that comes naturally from fruit and helps your body recognise it feels full. So whole fruit is best.

Fruit smoothies, although slightly better than fruit juices, are another one you can easily be caught out on. Smoothies are generally prepared in large servings and may have syrups or ice creams added to them, reducing their nutritional value by comparison.

Smoothies may have unhealthy ingredients added, while juices lose the good bits found in whole fruit. Element5 Digital/Unsplash

5. Drinks can’t have too many kilojoules… right?

If you’re trying to lose weight, you’ll know sugary soft drinks are a no-go. But some of the easiest mistakes to make are those in liquid form.

Many people aren’t aware how many kilojoules are in alcoholic drinks. An average restaurant serving of red wine is equivalent to 1.5 standard drinks and contains 480 kilojoules.

So after two glasses of wine, not only have you exceeded the recommended two standard drinks, but you’ve also consumed the equivalent kilojoules to eating two full cups of corn chips. The same applies for beer, where just one schooner equates to 1.6 standard drinks which is the same as 615 kilojoules.

Of course, many of us don’t stop at one.

A final word

Probably the most common food mistake when trying to lose weight is eating too much. We need to choose the right foods but the amount is also important.

We need to listen to the signals our bodies send when when we’re getting full to stop eating. The best way to do this is to eat slowly, chewing carefully. By slowing our eating we are more likely to be sent the sign of fullness before feeling it at our waistband.

– ref. Five food mistakes to avoid if you’re trying to lose weight – http://theconversation.com/five-food-mistakes-to-avoid-if-youre-trying-to-lose-weight-103678]]>

Climate change will make QLD’s ecosystems unrecognisable – it’s up to us if we want to stop that

By The Conversation -

November 12, 2018

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Boulter, Research Fellow, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Griffith University

Climate change and those whose job it is to talk about current and future climate impacts are often classed as the “harbingers of doom”. For the world’s biodiversity, the predictions are grim – loss of species, loss of pollination, dying coral reefs.

The reality is that without human intervention, ecosystems will reshape themselves in response to climate change, what we can think of as “autonomous adaptation”. For us humans – we need to decide if we need or want to change that course.

For those who look after natural systems, our job description has changed. Until now we have scrambled to protect or restore what we could fairly confidently consider to be “natural”. Under climate change knowing what that should look like is hard to decide.

If the Great Barrier Reef still has a few pretty fish and coral in the future, and only scientists know they are different species to the past, does that matter? It’s an extreme example, but it is a good analogy for the types of decisions we might need to make.

In Queensland, the government has just launched the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Climate Adaptation Plan for Queensland focused on what is considered important for making these decisions. The plan is high level, but is an important first step toward preparing the sector for the future.

Changing ecosystems

For the rest of Queensland’s ecosystems the story is much the same as the Great Barrier Reef. There are the obvious regions at risk. Our coastal floodplains and wetlands are potentially under threat from both sides, with housing and development making a landward march and the sea pushing in from the other side. These ecosystems literally have nowhere to go in the crush.

It’s a similar story for species and ecosystems that specialise on cool, high altitude mountaintops. These small, isolated populations rely on cool conditions. As the temperature warms, if they can’t change their behaviour (for instance, by taking refuge in cool spots or crevices during hot times), then it is unlikely they will survive without human intervention such as translocation.

We are all too familiar with the risk of coral reefs dying and becoming a habitat for algae, but some of our less high profile ecosystems face similar transformations. Our tropical savannah woodlands cover much of the top third of Queensland. An iconic ecosystem of the north, massive weed invasions and highly altered fire regimes might threaten to make them unrecognisable.

Changing fire patterns and invasive species could see dramatic changes in Queensland’s savannah woodlands. Shutterstock

So where to from here?

From the grim predictions we must rally to find a way forward. Critically for those who must manage our natural areas it’s about thinking about what we want to get out of our efforts.

Conservation property owners, both public (for instance, national parks) and private (for instance, not-for-profit conservation groups), must decide what their resources can achieve. Throwing money at a species we cannot save under climate change may be better replaced by focusing on making sure we have species diversity or water quality. It’s a hard reality to swallow, but pragmatism is part of the climate change equation.

We led the development of the Queensland plan, and were encouraged to discover a sector that had a great deal of knowledge, experience and willingness. The challenge for the Queensland government is to usefully channel that energy into tackling the problem.

Valuing biodiversity

One of the clearest messages from many of the people we spoke to was about how biodiversity and ecosystems are valued by the wider community. Or not. There was a clear sense that we need to make biodiversity and ecosystems a priority.

The Great Barrier Reef is already seeing major climate impacts, particularly bleaching. Shutterstock

It’s easy to categorise biodiversity and conservation as a “green” issue. But aside from the intrinsic value or personal health and recreation value that most of us place on natural areas, without biodiversity we risk losing things other than a good fishing spot.

Every farmer knows the importance of clean water and fertile soil to their economic prosperity. But when our cities bulge, or property is in danger from fire, we prioritise short-term economic returns, more houses or reducing fire risk over biodiversity almost every time.

Of course, this is not to say the balance should be flipped, but climate change is challenging our politicians, planners and us as the Queensland community to take responsibility for the effects our choices have on our biodiversity and ecosystems. As the pressure increases to adapt in other sectors, we should seek options that could help – rather than hinder – adaptation in natural systems.

Coastal residences may feel that investing in a seawall to protect their homes from rising sea levels is worthwhile even if it means sacrificing a scrap of coastal wetland, but there are opportunities to satisfy both human needs and biodiversity needs. We hope the Queensland plan can help promote those opportunities.

Cath Moran contributed to developing this article.

– ref. Climate change will make QLD’s ecosystems unrecognisable – it’s up to us if we want to stop that – http://theconversation.com/climate-change-will-make-qlds-ecosystems-unrecognisable-its-up-to-us-if-we-want-to-stop-that-106679]]>

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