Remember the popularity contests of high school? Often our athletic, genetically gifted classmates got the most attention: the school captain, the footy team captain, the prom queen. But popularity contests don’t just exist in school. And in the world of conservation, it can be a matter of survival for the “winners” and “losers”.
If we asked you to list every animal species you can think of, chances are that list would be full of mammals and birds, with very few reptiles, fish, amphibians and invertebrates. So why do we focus so much on some species and so little on others?
Our recent study challenges assumptions that people simply find mammals and birds much more engaging than other species. When these neglected species were posted to Instagram by wildlife organisations and researchers, there were no great differences in the likes they attracted.
This has implications for which species we focus on to enlist public support for conservation. A more complete picture of the wildlife around us would help reduce glaring imbalances in conservation outcomes.
However, mammals and birds make up less than 10% of all animals on Earth. With the media we’re consuming, we’re just not getting an accurate picture of the world of wildlife that surrounds us.
Where this gets worrying is in the fight for species survival. Our planet is in an extinction crisis, with species becoming extinct at extraordinary rates.
However, our focus on mammals and birds means cute and fluffy animals receive more research attention and funding. Conservation outcomes for these species are better than for reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates. Tellingly, 94% of all threatened species on the IUCN Red List are reptiles, fish, amphibians and invertebrates.
Do people really prefer charismatic megafauna?
Our study suggests this issue may be more complex than first thought. Many Australian conservation organisations use social media platforms, such as Instagram, to share their work and connect communities with wildlife. But in the busy, ever-updating world of Instagram feeds, which images are the most effective at grabbing someone’s attention?
We set out to examine which Australian wildlife species were most often posted to Instagram and which had the highest levels of engagement. Based on the belief that people will engage more with charismatic megafauna, we expected mammals and birds to be shown more frequently and to elicit higher engagement than the “creepy crawlies” such as amphibians and insects.
We analysed 670 wildlife images posted to Instagram by wildlife organisations and research group accounts in 2020 and 2021. For each image, we noted the species posted in the image. As a measure of engagement, we recorded the number of “likes” the image received in proportion to each organisation’s follower count.
An example of the Instagram posts that were analysed, and the information collected. Meghan Shaw, CC BY
What did the study find?
Our results were surprising and provide hope for the future of underrepresented wildlife.
Although the majority of wildlife images posted to Instagram by these conservation organisations were of mammals and birds (73.7% to be precise), our analysis of image engagement uncovered a surprising and promising trend. Mammals were, indeed, more engaging than other species, but only by a tiny amount. We found birds, reptiles, invertebrates, amphibians and fish were all equally as engaging for Instagram users.
The amount of engagement posts featuring each group of animal (taxon) received. Categories that do not share letters are significantly different from each other, e.g. mammals (b) received higher engagement than invertebrates, birds and reptiles (a) but not molluscs, fish or amphibians (ab). All significant differences were relatively small (1-2%). Author provided, CC BY
Are we ready to sympathise with weird bugs?
Perhaps it is time to give our creepy crawlies more of the media limelight. The more we see a wide diversity of animals, the more likely we are to support their conservation.
The Theory of Repeated Messaging suggests when we are repeatedly exposed to something, we are more likely to become familiar with, engage with and support it. Research has shown when we put effort into promoting underrepresented species, we can improve their chances of receiving a public donation by 26%.
Will we come to love the hibiscus harlequin bug (Tectocoris diophthalmus)? Magdalena_b/Flickr
Our findings suggest the media and conservation organisations can promote endangered species across all walks of life – from lizards to bugs and fish to frogs – without compromising viewer engagement. This will increase our knowledge of the amazing diversity of animals that we share this planet with. In turn, this will lead to underrepresented species receiving more of the conservation support they need to survive.
Zoos Victoria is already leading the way. The endangered native golden-rayed blue butterfly features in the new Totes for Wildlife campaign to conserve its natural habitat.
Perhaps we tend to prefer mammals and birds because we see them more, and not just because they look a certain way. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Meghan Shaw collaborates with and receives funding from Zoos Victoria. She also receives funding from the Society of Conservation Biology’s Post-Graduate Fellowship Award, and serves on the board of the Society’s Conservation Marketing Working Group.
Bill Borrie has previously received funding from the US Forest Service and is currently a Fellow with PAN Works.
Emily McLeod is the Senior Social Science Research Manager at Zoos Victoria, a not-for-profit zoo-based conservation organisation.
Kelly Miller has previously received research funding from various Australian Government agencies and Non-Government Organisations such as the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, BirdLife Australia, Mars Birdcare, among others. She currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Committee for Earthwatch Australia, is a member of Animals Australia, and Senior Fellow with AdvanceHE.
Shortly after Australian telecommunications company Optus announced the identity data of millions of customers had been stolen, a person claiming to be the hacker announced they would delete the data for US$1 million.
When Optus didn’t pay, the purported hacker published 10,000 stolen records and threatened to release ten thousand more every day until the ransom deadline. These leaked records contained identity information such as driver’s license, passport and Medicare numbers, as well as parliamentary and defense contact information.
A few hours after the data drop, the purported hacker unexpectedly apologised and claimed to have deleted the data due to “too many eyes”, suggesting fear of being caught. Optus confirms they did not pay the ransom.
They’ve said they deleted the data – now what? Is it over?
Communication from the person claiming to be the hacker and the release of 10,200 records have all occurred on a website dedicated to buying and selling stolen data.
The data they released are now easily available and appear to be legitimate data stolen from Optus (their legitimacy has not been verified by Optus or the Australian Federal Police; the FBI in the United States has now been called in to help the investigation).
The question then is – why would the hacker express remorse and claim to delete the data?
Unfortunately, while the purported hacker did appear to possess the legitimate data, there is no way to verify the deletion. We have to ask: what would the hacker gain from claiming to delete them?
It is likely a copy still remains, and it’s even possible the post is a ploy to convince victims not to worry about their security – to increase the likelihood of successful attacks using the data. There is also no guarantee the data were not already sold to a third party.
What next?
Whatever the motivations of the person claiming to be the hacker, their actions suggest we should continue to expect all records stolen from Optus do remain in malicious hands.
Despite the developments, recommendations still stand – you should still be taking proactive action to protect yourself. These actions are good cyber hygiene practices no matter the circumstances.
However it is unclear at this early stage whether free options to change these documents will be made to all data breach victims, or only a subset of victims.
Can I find out whether my data were part of the 10,200 leaked records?
Troy Hunt, the Australian cyber security professional who maintains HaveIBeenPwned – a website you can use to check whether your data are part of a known breach – has announced he will not add the leaked data to the site at this stage. So this method will not be available.
The least technically sophisticated method of targeting Optus customers is to use the details to make direct contact and ask for a ransom. There are reports blackmailers are already targeting breach victims via text message, claiming to have the data and threatening to post it on the dark web unless the victim pays.
The data have already leaked and claims about deleting the data are untrue. Paying anyone who makes these claims will not increase the security of your information.
Data recovery scams – where scammers target victims offering help to remove their data from the dark web or recover any money lost for a fee – have also become prominent. Instead of helping, they steal money or obtain more information from the victim. Anyone who claims to be able to scrub the data from the dark web is claiming to put toothpaste back in the tube. It isn’t possible.
The data could also be used to identify family members to make the “Hi Mum” or family impersonation scam more convincing. This involves scammers posing as a family member or friend from a new phone number, often using WhatsApp, in need of urgent financial help. Anyone receiving this kind of text message should make every effort to contact their family member or friend by other means.
What else can my data be used for?
The scams involved with these data will only grow in the coming days and weeks and may not be confined to the digital world.
Other possible uses involve activities like attempting to take over valuable online accounts or your SIM card, or setting up new financial services and SIM cards in your name. The advice we provided in our previous article applies to these.
Additionally, anyone with reason to be concerned about physical safety if their location is known (for example domestic abuse survivors) should consider the possibility that their names, telephone numbers and address may have leaked or may in the future.
If you have been the victim of fraud or identity theft as a result of this breach or any others, you can contact IDCare for additional aid and Cyber Report to report the crime.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
You might remember your time as a child playing outdoors with friends and walking to school. These activities had tremendous benefits for our health and development.
One way to boost communities is to create “superblocks for kids”. Pioneered in cities like Barcelona, a superblock covers several neighbourhood blocks reserved for shared use by cyclists, walkers and residents who simply want to use the street space. Superblocks allow low-speed access for residents’ cars, but exclude through-traffic.
Superblocks are a low-cost solution to the problem of the residential “stroad” – a street-road hybrid that drivers use to avoid congested main roads, many at unsafe speeds.
These stroads are a troubled mix of two different functions: roads are through routes, and streets connect neighbourhoods socially and physically. Streets connect houses to local parks, shops and through routes, but are also public places themselves. The dual role of stroads comes at the expense of residents and their children.
Superblocks for kids can be retrofitted to existing suburbs to create safer, quieter and more play-friendly streets. They are typically about a square kilometre in area, bounded by main roads and features such as rivers. Ideally, superblocks are clustered together to provide safe access to local amenities and public transport hubs.
Everyone can still drive to their home in a superblock, but they might have to take a slightly longer, more circular route. This can reduce traffic by nudging residents to walk and cycle short journeys within their superblock.
Various low-cost “filters” exclude through traffic. These filters include:
pocket parks – small areas of community green space
modal filters – bollards, gates or planters exclude cars but allow access for walkers and cyclists
The resulting superblocks are places where kids play on the streets, which are quiet and easy to cross. There’s shade and shelter, places to stop and rest, things to see and do, and the air is clean. People feel safe and relaxed. Neighbourhoods like this promote public health and community camaraderie.
Four examples of streets that could be transformed in this way are shown below:
Lyall Street, Redcliffe, Perth
A pocket park breaks up a rat run to the airport.
The Avenue, Mount St Thomas, Wollongong
Plantings and bollards eliminate a known rat run.
Lithgow Street, Abbotsford, Melbourne
Wider kerbs make school drop-offs and pick-ups safer.
Meymot Street, Banyo, Brisbane
A pocket park and residents-only car access create a safer and quieter street.
Rat-running is a big problem
Almost twice as many cars are on Australian roads today as 20 years ago. Coupled with the rise of satellite navigation technology, this has led to more drivers using residential streets as rat runs to avoid congested main roads.
Decades of prioritising cars in Australian communities have created a serious safety issue. Overall, serious road injuries are on the rise. Despite small declines in road deaths, deaths on local streets haven’t fallen.
People feel less safe on their local streets, but we know what we can do to improve safety. Preventing rat-running leads to cleaner air, less noise, safer streets and more walking, riding, wheelchairs and mobility scooters. These results all promote stronger communities.
Everyone benefits from kid-friendly neighbourhoods
A remarkable feature of building neighbourhoods for kids is how quickly residents reoccupy their streets. People emerge from their houses to talk, their voices no longer drowned by vehicle noise. Thoroughfares become communities. Children come out to play.
Neighbourhoods for kids help everyone enjoy the benefits of becoming more active. For kids, the street can connect them to nature and help them develop movement and independent travel skills for life.
Our research highlights the need to listen to communities, and kids in particular, when designing neighbourhoods.
In the vast majority of cases, any initial opposition to creating kid-friendly neighbourhoods soon dissipates. Residents see the benefits of safer and more pleasant streets for themselves and their families.
Two-thirds of Australians support improving their neighbourhood to help them be more active. We should start by creating neighbourhoods for the communities that need it most — those with the poorest access to green space and public transport, most through traffic and crashes, and highest levels of childhood obesity.
Get your community talking again! You can start by hosting a temporary play street! Demonstrating its success will help when asking your council for permanent changes.
The authors encourage the reuse of the re-imagined streets. They are freely available to download in multiple open-access formats.
Matthew ‘Tepi’ Mclaughlin (preferred name: Tepi) is affiliated with the Telethon Kids Institute, the International Society for Physical Activity and Health and the Asia-Pacific Society for Physical Activity.
Hayley Christian receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Research Council and Health Promotion Foundation of Western Australia (Healthway). Hayley Christian is supported by an Australian National Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellowship (102549).
Jasper Schipperijn previously received funding from the European Union, the Danish Cancer Society, KOMPAN, TrykFonden, and RealDania. Jasper Schipperijn is affiliated with the University of Southern Denmark and the International Society for Physical Activity and Health (ISPAH)
Trevor Shilton previously received funding from the ARC, the NHMRC and Healthway, he is currently a member of the Board for the Australasian Society for Physical Activity and a member of the Advocacy Committee for the World Heart Federation.
When the World Turns by Polyglot Theatre and Oily Cart. Photographer: Theresa Harrison
Review: When the World Turns, by Polyglot Theatre and Oily Cart
When the World Turns is a beautiful new work designed for children with complex disabilities and their families.
Australian children’s theatre company Polyglot are renowned for their approach to child-centred arts experiences. Their work has a reputation for fostering the creative agency of children as audience and artists.
UK company Oily Cart creates shows for all children regardless of age and perceived ability.
Their new theatre work, When the World Turns, emerges from this combined artistic creation philosophy. At its heart is an inclusive, child-led approach.
When the World Turns begins in the foyer. Performers emerge dressed in safari suits like explorers, with torches and maps at the ready.
Each family group is greeted by one of these performers; they become the guide for the family throughout the experience.
The invitation is to help explore and discover things in a new wondrous, breathing, rustling world.
As the performer engages with us in the foyer, they introduce a scrunched-up paper ball made from a heavy, brown paper and invite us to unfold the ball to see what mysteries it reveals: the words “when you are still, you can feel the earth moving”.
The performer animates and puppeteers the map, encouraging a sensory exploration with the sounds and tactile experience of the paper.
We are then guided into the performance, a beautifully lit world held by a gentle soundscape and a scenic design consisting of hundreds of plants creating pathways throughout the space.
Each family group is led to a “pod” enveloped by plants, which acts as a home base throughout the experience.
Audience members can leave and explore, but they can always return to their family in this slightly protected zone throughout the performance.
Audience members can always return to their family. Photographer: Theresa Harrison
The performers slowly introduce sensory and story elements to this pod and interact with us. By introducing sensory elements to the audience in small direct ways, they are demystified and made familiar. The artists are then able to expand and develop the sensory possibilities of the performance as it progresses.
A large paper snake (made out of the same material as the map introduced earlier) winds its way in and around our pod, landing on shoulders and sliding over knees, before it is handed to us to animate ourselves.
A pine-cone and a mandarin are revealed as wondrous objects by the performer. We are invited to explore each item by smell and touch.
Throughout, the sound design is building slowly, with repeated motifs and intimate sonic elements gradually layering to soothe, relax and familiarise.
The performers appear in costume and with puppets to become animal-like creatures that visit the pods and engage with the audience.
The bush-like world we are in comes completely alive. A parade of creatures is formed behind a performer carrying a large glowing orb, and merrily weaves its way around the space. In the show I saw, two audience members gleefully join the parade with their own torches, at times leading the procession and at times following.
A very large sheet of paper, again the same type of paper as the map from the foyer, is placed over our pod and we shelter as the sky darkens and the sound of rain begins. Scratching and dropping noises can be heard on the material over our heads.
We shelter as the sky darkens and the sound of rain begins. Photographer: Theresa Harrison
The canopy is removed and the space all around us begins to transform, as plants are rearranged by performers to break apart the pods and open up the central performance area to the audience.
Some performers remove shoes, some lie down or lean on the plants around them. Slowly, as audience members start to call out and vocalise, the performers echo and repeat the sounds in a call and response sonic landscape. While the vocal tics of children with disabilities are often experienced as disruptive and a cause for anxiety and concern for family members, here they are celebrated and folded into the work.
Eventually, the child audience members realise they are leading the performance. The performers are responding to their noises and sounds; these are creating the shape and experience of the performance.
The performance has been handed over to the children with complex disabilities. There is an exquisite sense of joy and play permeating the room.
With that, we are told the performance has ended. A final ball of crumpled paper is unwound to reveal the words, “now this world is listening to you”.
Profoundly moving
It is hard to describe the profoundly moving experience of watching audience members arrive at the Arts Centre Melbourne and viscerally sensing the mix of excitement and uncertainty of coming to see a show, even one billed as inclusive and specifically designed for their families.
During the show, the children, earlier vocal and restless, are suddenly silent and still.
The work has been designed for these children to interact. Photographer: Theresa Harrison
Families visibly relax as they realise the work has been designed to specifically accommodate the way their children will interact with the performance.
When the World Turns reveals new possibilities for child-led approaches in sensory and participatory performance and this might expand our understanding of the transformative potential of theatre.
When the World Turns played at Arts Centre Melbourne for Alter State. Season closed.
Sarah Austin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
The Halton independent review of Australia’s COVID vaccine and treatment procurement has been handed to the federal government, which released the review’s recommendations yesterday. Topping the list of priorities are
public health campaigns designed to encourage sustained booster uptake for
those that will benefit […] delivered during 2023 and 2024 to improve coverage.
Around 72% of the eligible population in Australia have received their third dose. Fourth dose uptake is reasonably high among older adults (73% of eligible people aged over 65), but only 40% of eligible adults aged 30 to 65 (those with health conditions or a disability) have had their “winter booster”.
Around the world, authorities are rethinking how they encourage maximum vaccine protection.
A ‘new phase’
Earlier this month, the United States government announced the start of a “new phase” of its pandemic response. Under its new plan, most Americans could receive a COVID vaccine once a year, in the same way we line up to get an annual influenza vaccine. However, some vaccine experts in the US are concerned the government is “jumping the gun” without the data to justify its plan.
There are a few issues with adopting an annual COVID vaccination plan. First, the SARS-CoV-2 virus hasn’t been following a predictable annual pattern of peaks and troughs like influenza does. That makes it hard to predict when the next wave might come. And the way the virus mutates is also unpredictable – we don’t know whether there are new variants of concern on the horizon. But perhaps most importantly, we don’t know how people will feel about getting an annual COVID vaccine.
Internationally, the blame for plateauing vaccine uptake has been placed on missing or inappropriate communication. As suggested by David Grabowski, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School,
Public health officials have not communicated clearly when you should get a booster and that it is an important step.
Communication failures
Impersonal, mistranslated and uninspiring government communication efforts have dogged the COVID vaccination program from the start. However, is communication failure the biggest issue now? Or does it come down to general fatigue about COVID?
“People are ready to put COVID behind them, and they just want to return to a more normal way of life,” suggests William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
A recent systematic review looked at factors associated with acceptance of the first COVID booster dose, based on 14 studies including 104,047 fully vaccinated individuals. This review reported 79.0% intend to accept a booster, while 12.6% said they were unsure.
Not surprisingly, people who have previously received a COVID vaccine are more likely to roll up their sleeves again. Those who may decline the option are those who experienced or have ongoing concerns about adverse reactions and discomfort following COVID vaccination.
While these acceptance figures fluctuate a bit based on current disease patterns and public health policy requirements, it does suggest we’re not likely to see booster coverage climb beyond 80%.
This is a concern because boosters are key to keeping people out of hospital, especially people from high-risk groups.
Confusion damages trust
So how can we continue to encourage uptake? A recent online experiment from Israel suggests positive and negative monetary incentives, such as fines or monetary payments, could help get people on board with a seasonal COVID vaccine.
The study authors also mention the use of mandates, but such policies would be extremely difficult to justify at this stage in the pandemic, when vaccination is primarily for ongoing individual protection.
While information campaigns alone might not drive uptake like they did earlier in the COVID vaccine program, clear and consistent messaging remains critical. Changing vaccine recommendations has the potential to confuse the public and damage trust and confidence. If any country is going to shift towards a routine periodical COVID vaccine, this must be communicated early and with appropriate justification.
These communication efforts will require coordinated funding as well as support for primary health-care workers responsible for explaining, promoting and delivering COVID vaccines. Unfortunately, we are already seeing reductions in funding for COVID vaccine community engagement programs and vaccine promotional efforts, such as those in the UK.
Finally, messaging also needs to be designed based on evidence and take community perceptions, motivators and challenges into account.
The US Federal Drug Administration recently released a new promotional campaign calling on people to “install that update” with a bivalent COVID booster vaccine.
The backlash was swift, with some highlighting potential conspiracy theories that could be inferred from the campaign wording and others suggesting the US is “now treating its citizens like smartphones”.
As authorities consider another potential shift in the COVID vaccination program, they’ll need to listen to the community and invest in evidence-based approaches to maintain public confidence.
Holly Seale is an investigator on research studies funded by NHMRC and has previously received funding for investigator driven research from NSW Ministry of Health, as well as from Sanofi Pasteur and Seqirus.
Jessica Kaufman receives research funding from the NHMRC, DFAT and the Victorian Department of Health.
In March 2022, the author of node-ipc, a software library with over a million weekly downloads, deliberately broke their code. If the code discovers it is running within Russia or Belarus, it attempts to replace the contents of every file on the user’s computer with a heart emoji.
A software library is a collection of code other programmers can use for their purposes. The library node-ipc is used by Vue.js, a framework that powers millions of websites for businesses such as Google, Facebook, and Netflix.
This critical security vulnerability is just one example of a growing trend of programmers self-sabotaging their own code for political purposes. When programmers protest through their code – a phenomenon known as “protestware” – it can have consequences for the people and businesses who rely on the code they create.
Malignant protestware is software that intentionally damages or takes control of a user’s device without their knowledge or consent.
Benign protestware is software created to raise awareness about a social or political issue, but does not damage or take control of a user’s device.
Developer sanctions are instances of programmers’ accounts being suspended by the internet hosting service that provides them with a space to store their code and collaborate with others.
Modern software systems are prone to vulnerabilities because they rely on third-party libraries. These libraries are made of code that performs particular functions, created by someone else. Using this code lets programmers add existing functions into their own software without having to “reinvent the wheel”.
The use of third-party libraries is common among programmers – it speeds up the development process and reduces costs. For example, libraries listed in the popular NPM registry, which contains more than 1 million libraries, rely on an average of five to six other libraries from the same ecosystem. It’s like a car manufacturer who uses parts from other manufacturers to complete their vehicles.
These libraries are typically maintained by one or a handful of volunteers and made available to other programmers for free under an open-source software license.
The success of a third-party library is based on its reputation among programmers. A library builds its reputation over time, as programmers gain trust in its capabilities and the responsiveness of its maintainers to reported defects and feature requests.
If third-party library weaknesses are exploited, it could give attackers access to a software system. For example, a critical security vulnerability was recently discovered in the popular Log4j library. This flaw could allow a remote attacker to access sensitive information that was logged by applications using Log4j – such as passwords or other sensitive data.
What if vulnerabilities are not created by an attacker looking for passwords, but by the programmer themselves with the intention to make users of their library aware of a political opinion? The emergence of protestware is giving rise to such questions, and responses are mixed.
A blog post on the Open Source Initiative site responds to the rise of protestware stating “protest is an important element of free speech that should be protected” but concludes with a warning:
“The downsides of vandalising open source projects far outweigh any possible benefit, and the blowback will ultimately damage the projects and contributors responsible.”
What is the main ethical question behind protestware? Is it ethical to make something worse in order to make a point? The answer to this question largely depends on the individual’s personal ethical beliefs.
Some people may see the impact of the software on its users and argue protestware is unethical if it’s designed to make life more difficult for them. Others may argue that if the software is designed to make a point or raise awareness about an issue, it may be seen as more ethically acceptable.
From a utilitarian perspective, one might argue that if a form of protestware is effective in bringing about a greater good (such as political change), then it can be morally justified.
From a technical standpoint, we are developing ways to automatically detect and counteract protestware. Protestware would be an unusual or surprising event in the change history of a third-party library. Mitigation is possible through redundancies – for example, code that is similar or identical to other code in the same or different libraries.
The rise of protestware is a symptom of a larger social problem. When people feel they are not being heard, they may resort to different measures to get their message across. In the case of programmers, they have the unique ability to protest through their code.
While protestware may be a new phenomenon, it is likely here to stay. We need to be aware of the ethical implications of this trend and take steps to ensure software development remains a stable and secure field.
We rely on software to run our businesses and our lives. But every time we use software, we’re putting our trust in the people who wrote it. The emergence of protestware threatens to destabilise this trust if we don’t take action.
Christoph Treude no recibe salario, ni ejerce labores de consultoría, ni posee acciones, ni recibe financiación de ninguna compañía u organización que pueda obtener beneficio de este artículo, y ha declarado carecer de vínculos relevantes más allá del cargo académico citado.
After 50 years of research, eminent Stanford University sleep researcher William Dement reportedly said the only solid explanation he knows for why we sleep is “because we get sleepy”.
Even though sleep may be, as one researcher put it, “the only major behaviour in search of a function”, it clearly does matter for our health and wellbeing.
But are we doing it right? What does the research say about sleeping position?
Most people prefer to sleep on their side. This is good to hear, as those who lie on their backs are more likely to be poor sleepers or have breathing difficulties during the night.
In most cases, we tend to move around quite a lot during the night. One study of 664 sleepers found, on average, that participants spent about 54% of their time in bed sleeping on their side, about 37% on their back, and about 7% on their front.
Males (especially those aged under 35) tend to be most restless, with more position shifts, and arm, thigh, and upper-back movements during the night.
This may not be a bad thing, as allowing your body to move during the night is generally a good idea.
During sleep, your body will keep track of any pain or discomfort and adjust position accordingly. This is why we usually avoid developing bedsores (or pressure ulcers) in everyday life.
If you find you can’t move because your partner (or dog) is taking up too much room in the bed, consider switching sides or getting a larger bed.
And don’t tuck yourself in too tightly; give yourself some room to move around on either side.
Being comfortable is key. There is no quality research providing clear evidence for an “optimal sleep position”. Your age, weight, environment, activities and whether you’re pregnant, all play a role in which sleep position is best for your body.
Ideally, we can find a position that helps us get a good night’s sleep, and one that avoids us waking up in any pain.
Even with our chosen position, some layouts are better than others. In one study, people who rested in a position where there is a rotation of the spine (such as the unsupported side position), woke up with more pain in the morning.
We all have a preference for a particular sleep position. Christian Moro, Author provided
Nonetheless, although some forms of side-sleeping may cause a bit of load on the spine, it appears the side positions, in general, are still better than the other options.
Choosing the right pillow is vital for a good night’s sleep.
A lack of support for the head and neck during sleep has been found to severely impact spine alignment, and cause muscle problems such as neck pain, shoulder pain and muscle stiffness.
Promisingly, the pillow material does not appear to affect the spine. Instead, the shape and the height is what matters. A U-shaped pillow may help you have a longer night’s sleep, and a roll-shaped pillow can reduce morning pain and bedtime pain in those suffering from chronic pain.
Unfortunately, science has not given us an answer on what is the optimal mattress. With everyone sleeping differently, this would be hard to compare over the long term.
However, there are bad mattresses. If your bed is sagging, has lost its firmness, develops noisy springs, or shows clear signs of wear and tear, consider changing your mattress.
Rotating the mattress can help with its longevity and improve comfort. This should be done at least one to two times per year.
Set a cooler room temperature. The ideal temperature for sleep is 18.3℃ (ranging between 15-19℃); higher temperatures can affect sleep.
Allow some airflow in the room. Besides bringing nice, fresh air, it also clears away any accumulated heat, keeping us nice and cool during the night.
Some medications, such as certain types of antihistamines, may make it easier to get to sleep. On the other hand, stimulants such as caffeine can drastically affect the quality of your sleep.
Finally, be sure not to go to bed with a full bladder, as having to get up at night to wee can impact sleep.
Las personas firmantes no son asalariadas, ni consultoras, ni poseen acciones, ni reciben financiación de ninguna compañía u organización que pueda obtener beneficio de este artículo, y han declarado carecer de vínculos relevantes más allá del cargo académico citado anteriormente.
In June, the American Film Institute presented its 48th Life Achievement Award, the highest honour in American cinema, to the beloved stage-and-screen star Julie Andrews.
On conferring the award, the AFI praised Andrews as “a legendary actress” who “has enchanted and delighted audiences around the world with her uplifting and inspiring body of work”.
As anyone who has seen Mary Poppins (1964) or The Sound of Music (1965) can attest, “uplift” is central to the Julie Andrews screen persona.
It is a sweetness-and-light image that is easy to lampoon. Andrews herself is alleged to have quipped “sometimes I’m so sweet even I can’t stand it”. But it’s an element of feel-good edification that fuels much of the star’s iconic appeal.
The idea of Julie Andrews as a figure of uplift has a long history.
Decades before she attained global film stardom in Hollywood, Andrews enjoyed an early career as a child performer.
Billed as “Britain’s youngest singing star”, she performed widely on the postwar concert and variety circuit with forays into radio, gramophone recording and even early television.
Possessing a precociously mature soprano voice, Andrews was widely promoted in the era as a child prodigy. A 1945 BBC talent report filed when the young singer was just nine years old enthused over “this wonderful child discovery” whose “breath control, diction, and range is quite extraordinary for so young a child”.
Andrews made her professional West End debut in 1947 where she dazzled audiences with a coloratura performance of the Polonaise from Mignon. Newspapers were ablaze with stories about the “12-year-old singing prodigy with the phenomenal voice”.
Reports claimed the pint-sized singer had a vocal range of over four octaves, a fully formed adult larynx and an upper whistle register so high dogs would be beckoned whenever she sang.
On the back of such stories, Andrews was given a slew of lionising monikers: “prima donna in pigtails”, “infant prodigy of trills”, “the miracle voice” and “Britain’s juvenile coloratura”.
While much of it was PR hype, the representation of Andrews as an extraordinary musical prodigy resonated deeply with postwar British audiences. The devastation of the war cast a long shadow, and there was a keen sense a collective social rejuvenation was needed to reestablish national wellbeing.
The figure of the child was pivotal to the rhetoric of postwar British reconstruction. From political calls for expanded child welfare to the era’s booming family-oriented consumerism, images of children saturated the cultural landscape, serving as a lightning rod for both social anxieties and hopes.
In her status as “Britain’s youngest singing star”, Andrews chimed with these postwar discourses of child-oriented renewal.
A popular myth even traced her prodigious talent to the very heart of the Blitz. Like a scene from a morale-boosting melodrama, the story claimed the young Andrews was huddled one night with family and friends in a Beckenham air raid shelter. In the middle of a communal singalong, a powerful voice suddenly materialised out of her tiny frame, astonishing all into silent delight.
One of the most pointed alignments of Andrews’ juvenile stardom with a discourse of postwar British nationalism came with her appearance at the 1948 Royal Command Variety Performance.
Appearing just two weeks after her 13th birthday, Andrews was the youngest artist ever to participate in the annual event. It generated considerable media coverage and yet another grand nickname: “command singer in pigtails”.
Andrews performed a solo set at the event, and was also charged with leading the national anthem at the close.
Ideals of restorative nationalism shaped Andrews’ child stardom in other ways.
Much of her early repertoire was markedly British, drawn from the English classical canon and rounded out by traditional folk songs.
Press reports emphasised, for all her remarkable talent, “our Julie” was still a typical English girl thoroughly unspoiled by fame. In accompanying images she would appear in idyllic scenarios of classic English childhood: playing with dolls, riding her bicycle, doing her homework.
Elsewhere, commentary was rife with speculations about Andrews’ prospects as “the next Adelina Patti” or “future Lily Pons”. The mix of nostalgia and hope helped make the young Andrews a reassuring figure in the anxious landscape of postwar Britain.
All grown up
Little prodigies can’t remain little forever. There lies the troubled rub for many child stars, doomed by biology to lose their principal claim to fame.
In Andrews’ case, she was able to make the successful transition to adult stardom – and even greater fame – by moving country and professional register into the American stage and screen musical.
Still, the themes of therapeutic uplift that defined her early child stardom would follow Julie Andrews as she graduated to become the world’s favourite singing nanny.
Brett Farmer no recibe salario, ni ejerce labores de consultoría, ni posee acciones, ni recibe financiación de ninguna compañía u organización que pueda obtener beneficio de este artículo, y ha declarado carecer de vínculos relevantes más allá del cargo académico citado.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melanie Woodfield, Clinical Psychologist, Te Whatu Ora | HRC Clinical Research Training Fellow, University of Auckland, University of Auckland
Getty Images
Exam season is fast approaching for many senior students in New Zealand and Australia. At the best of times, adolescents may struggle with ambition and drive, let alone after two-and-a-half years of COVID-induced disruption and uncertainty.
But parents can still nurture their teens’ motivation to do what they need to do.
Behind the scenes, the adolescent period is one of huge developmental change, and not only physically. Teens are developing their sense of identity and refining their own values. Their autonomy and individuation is emerging while they still remain somewhat dependent on the family system.
Parents may expect their young people to be intrinsically motivated when it comes to exams. The importance of studying is obvious to many adults. But even the most diligent among us can easily identify behaviours we know we should be doing, but aren’t.
Clearly, knowing that something is important may not be enough to generate the desired behaviour.
Understanding human behaviour
According to clinical psychologist Susan Michie and her colleagues at University College London, three factors interact to produce any human behaviour, whether it’s studying or surfing: capability, opportunity and motivation.
Michie’s team developed the “COM-B” model, which forms the basis for behavioural interventions relating to everything from hand washing to our own efforts to support clinicians to use evidence-based treatments.
Capability (both physical and psychological), opportunity (physical and social) and motivation come together to influence behaviour in an interactive way.
For example, if a young person is very capable (or believes themselves to be very capable) at solving maths equations, those around them are supportive or encouraging (social opportunity), and they have the practical resources they need (physical opportunity), they’re likely to want to do maths homework (be motivated).
Conversely, imagine a young person who starts the school term really motivated to study for two hours online every night, but only has access to the laptop at school (limited physical opportunity), still has fatigue after an illness (limited physical capability), and is surrounded by friends who have other priorities (low social opportunity). Herculean motivation may be required in this situation.
Put simply, parents should “zoom out”. Motivation can’t be produced magically out of thin air, and attempts to force it can have the opposite effect. But parents can support and encourage their young person’s capability and opportunity to study.
1. Motivation fluctuates
Motivation is not something that is simply present or absent. It fluctuates from hour to hour, day to day. So rather than “how can I make him be motivated today?”, a more useful question is “how can I create an environment where he’ll be a bit more motivated than he was last night?”
2. Good foundations
Remember the basics, for teens and parents alike – sleep, exercise and balanced nutrition. If these are in place, it’ll help both physical and psychological capability.
3. Balanced thinking promotes capability
A sense of mastery or capability is important. Stressed teens can fall into black and white thinking traps. “I’m useless at maths” fuels feeling overwhelmed and a sense of futility.
Instinctively, it’s tempting to reply with “no you’re not, you’re amazing!” But that’ll likely bounce right off. Instead, try to encourage your teen’s balanced thinking. “Stats is hard, but I’m okay at algebra and geometry”.
4. Focusing on what teens can control
Praise effort over achievement. Persisting with an hour a day of English revision for six weeks deserves as much acknowledgement as winning the English prize (and unlike the prize, it is within your teen’s control).
Parents should keep in mind that teenagers’ irritability may be caused by underlying anxieties. Getty Images
5. Reinforcing their worth, no matter what
Likewise, be sure to separate your teen’s attributes (who they are) from their behaviour (what they do). They’re not a “lazy” person, but there are particular behaviours they may need to do more (or do less).
6. Behaviour as communication
If young people are irritable or snappy, try to hold in mind that this anger or irritation is likely to be secondary to other emotions, like anxiety, hopelessness or overwhelm. It’s probably not about you.
7. Worry might have a purpose
Lots of anxiety may be incapacitating, but some anxiety in this season makes sense, and a little bit can actually enhance preparation and performance. Paradoxically, perfectionism isn’t always useful.
Motivation to study can fluctuate. Getty Images
8. Validate what you can
Try to validate the emotion, even if the behaviour can’t be justified. Perhaps reflect that it makes perfect sense that things feel overwhelming, many people would feel that way in that situation, and then pause.
It’s tempting to rush to solve the problem, or rapidly fire questions. But often young people just need to be given permission to feel the feeling, and they can sometimes figure out the solution themselves.
9. Collaborating to solve problems
Similarly, try to avoid doing “to” (or “for”), instead aiming to do “with”. Collaborating to solve problems (if they want input) may develop or enhance future independent problem-solving abilities. It also communicates your belief in their capability to do so.
10. Acknowledge to create habits
Parents might consider using targeted, short-term incentives (we don’t see these as bribes, but recognition of hard work or effort) to create new habits or reinforce emerging behaviours.
Finally, try to hold a longer-term view. One exam, one assessment, won’t make or break things. Families and cultures may hold a range of values around what a successful life looks like, but it usually involves more than just exam success.
Good health, connection with others, and meaning or purpose are fundamental to success in life. Try to keep this in mind over the next few months, even if the going gets tough.
Melanie Woodfield receives funding from the Health Research Council of New Zealand.
Jin Russell has previously received funding for research projects from the Starship Foundation, Health Research Council of New Zealand, and The Royal Australasian College of Physicians. She is a board member of the Parenting Place, a not-for-profit organisation in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Source: Council on Hemispheric Affairs – Analysis-Reportage
Danny Shaw Río de Janeiro
(The author has changed certain names and details to protect individuals’ privacy.)
When you arrive in another country, there is nothing more precious than new friends who adopt you, protect you, and teach you about their language, music, culture, and traditions. For an open-minded traveler, ethnographer and anti-imperialist organizer, this new family is more valuable than any air-conditioned hotel, amount of comfort or money.
When I moved to Brazil in May of 2003, Binho, Mateuszinho, Thiago and their family and neighborhood crew took me in and put me up in O Morro do Santo Cristo and O Complexo da Penha, the heart of Río de Janeiro’s favelas and drug war. They walked me through the complex landscape of Rio’s corrupt brutal police who shoot first and rarely ask questions later, their violent blitzes (Río slang for stop and frisks), and a maze of morros (ghettos spread across hills) divided between two major paramilitary drug gangs: O Comando Vermelho and O Terceiro Comando (The Red Command and The Third Command).
Professor Danny Shaw meeting members of the Movimento dos Pequenos Agricultores in Brazil (photo credit: Danny Shaw).
On the eve of what Steve Bannon is calling the “second most important election in the world,” the October 2nd showdown between Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Jair Bolsonaro, I returned to Río nineteen years later.[1] Full of saudades (memories or nostalgia), I surprised the old crew in hopes of getting us all back together.
Everyday Survival
What became of my three friends?
From the outset, it is important to steer the English-speaking reader away from the stereotype that Rio de Janeiro represents Brazil or that my organic contacts represent all of Rio. Only a tiny percentage of favela residents make a living in the drug trade while most families reject lumpen lifestyles and find ways to eke out an income in hostile economic terrain by any means necessary.
Binho went to prison in 2004 for an armed robbery of a bakery that left his three partners in crime dead in a shootout with the police in Jacarepaguá. A police officer who responded to the scene said he didn’t pull the trigger because Binho’s face reminded him of his son. The crime of armed robbery, Article 157 of the penal code, afforded Binho four years in Bangu prison. The vibrant 22-year old sustained brain injuries and psychological trauma from beatings from rival gangs. He contracted AIDS and has not been able to access the necessary medications. His wife Ronenete died of AIDS complications four years ago. I sat by his bedside remembering old times, nostalgic of the once cocky, invincible bandido (thug) who mentored me on why in Rio, “você não pode vacilar” (you can’t get caught slipping.)
Mateuszinho was a low level hustler for the Comando Vermelho, Rio’s largest gang and drug trafficking entity. He was a quick-talking, street smart 24-year old who conversed his way out of every brush with death, laughing it off and embarking upon his next mission. For seven 12-hour shifts per week as a vapor (the highest look out at the top of the morro), he earned $60 (120 reais in 2003) per week. I remember him parading around with other teenagers and young men toting M-16s and other automatic weapons as they protected the open drug operations and patrolled a baile funk, a weekend block party attended by thousands of local residents. With the police in plain view, the CV soldiers fired their weapons into the air in an open show of force sometime after 2 A.M., yelling their signature slogan “É nós.” I tracked down Mateuszinho at the science museum (Museu do Amanhá) where he now works as head of security. He is now one of over 65 million Brazilians, in an Evangelical church, the fastest growing religion in Brazil, second only to the Catholic Church with 105 million members.[2]
Rene continues to coordinate Arte Transformadora which serves 476 youth from O Complexo da Penha, 13 favelas spread over 13 hills where landless families first eeked out an existence when slavery was officially “abolished” in 1888.[3] Brazil was the last nation on earth to officially outlaw slavery. Deprived of forty acres and a mule or any type of support or reperations from the state, millions of newly “freed” slaves were left to fend for themselves in a caste society regimented by race and class. Favelas, named after a type of tree native to the Northeast, home to many slaves and migrant laborers who headed South, emerged as the name of these hilltop shantytowns. Rene matter-of-factly talked about identifying and delivering the bodies of youth soldiers of the Comando Vermelho to their families after they were shot down by the UPP (Police Pacifying Unit). Often, the police only allowed him or another community leader to cross police lines to retrieve the bodies. Rene still jokes with hustlers armed with walkie talkies and automatic weapons, children he held in his own arms only a decade before. Arte Transformadora seeks to plant seeds of hope and success in the minds of preteens and teens who may otherwise become cannon fodder for Rio’s drug war.
Professor Danny Shaw at Arte Transformadora in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, teaching a boxing workshop (photo credit: Danny Shaw).
Visiting these close friends nearly two decades later gave me deeper insight into the two different directions this South American economic juggernaut might take on October 2nd.
The Showdown
156,454,011 Brazilians are eligible to vote next week for the president, 27 governors, 27 senators, 513 Congress people, 1,035 state representatives, and 24 district representatives. 28,274 candidates are squaring off for these positions, representing a vast array of parties, ranging from socialist to far-right.[4]
Jair Bolsonaro is the incumbent president who won the 2018 presidential election over the Partido dos Trabalhadores’ (PT) Fernando Haddad, due largely to the lawfair and misinformation campaign that had been underway against the PT since it first won executive power in 2003. Bolsonaro has employed Trump-esque tactics, preemptively questioning the integrity of the voting machines. Netlab, a unit at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro,[5] found that YouTube was favoring algorithms that promoted these Bolsonaro myths. Bolsonaro and his fellow senators have a history of denigrating and intimidating journalists.[6] As the presidential campaigns began to heat up, this former Army Artillery Officer is actively trying to get the military further involved in politics[7] and positioned to overturn the decisions of the Electoral Commission[8] to verify the elections if he were to lose. Some analysts are contemplating whether his camp has the power to stage an October coup.[9] More recently, however, Bolsonaro has tried to strike a more conciliatory tone saying “If it’s God’s will, I’ll continue (as president). If not, I’ll pass the (presidential) sash and retire.”[10]
For the past two weeks Globo,CNN Brasil and the other mouthpieces of the economic and political establishment have published headlines stating that Datafolha polls give Lula 45% of the vote and Bolsonaro 33%.[11] A student of Trumpian tactics, Bolsonaro has for the past four years positioned himself as the victim of “the liberal media” and “fake news.”[12] A military insider and political “outsider,” Bolsonaro has more recently made a list ditch effort to implement populist economic measures to shore up more votes, approving a $7.7 billion dollar stimulus package, which increases cash handouts to struggling families by 50%. According to the same Brazilian study, 61 percent of voters view this eleventh hour move as politically motivated to cut Lula’s lead in the polls.[13]
50 percent of women are expected to vote for Lula and 27 percent for Bolsonaro. Young people, aged 16 to 24, are twice as likely to vote for Lula. The demographic least likely to vote for Bolsonaro is Black women. Afro-Brazilians in general, and families making less than twice the minimum wage (which is roughly 55 percent of the electorate), are less likely to vote for him. Bolsonaro is leading among white males; and among families making over five times the minimum wage, he polls at 47% to Lula’s 35%.[14]
Professor Danny Shaw participates at a Conference at the Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica Celso Suckow da Fonseca (CEFET). Photo credit: Danny Shaw.
According to another Datafolha study, Lula maintains 53 percent of the Catholic vote versus Bolsonaro’s 30 percent.[15] In the case of other religions — such as the Afro-Brazilian candomblé, the PT candidate is polling four times higher than his Liberal Party rival. Lula has a comfortable lead among self-defined atheists, with 60 percent expected to vote for him and 22 percent for the incumbent. Among Evangelical Christians, Bolsonaro’s main base, he is polling at 52 percent. Bolsonaro’s appeal to this sector comes from the fact that he “promotes conservative family values and opposes abortion and same-sex marriage.”[16] The fact that 34 percent of the people in Bolsonaro’s key demographic now say they will vote for Lula is immensely significant. On September 9th, Lula met with members of the Evangelical Church of São Gonçalo on the outskirts of Río and in an emotional appeal laid out why he is the real candidate for those who believe in God and in justice.[17]
The attempt to build a popular anti-fascist front with more right-leaning and center candidates led Lula to select former São Paulo governor Geraldo Alckman as his running mate. Professor Luis Mergulhāo elucidates why many on the left find Alckman objectionable.[18] Regardless of these valid critiques, seven former Brazilian presidential candidates have come out in support of Lula. His ability to build the largest electoral alliance in the six times he has run for president shows that Lula is an astute political strategist.[19]
There are other exciting historic races under way as well. Though beyond the scope of this article, it is worth highlighting one such race. Black City Councilwoman Carol Dartora is running under the slogan “Paraná is also ours.”[20] Dartora managed to push through Affirmative Action legislation in the southern Curitiba city government even though 70% of the council men and women were right wing, representing the racist politics that have long dominated the region. She joined Lula at a massive campaign rally on September 18th showing that Brazil’s three Southern states, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, which are a majority European descendent, also have a strong PT base.[21]
The Lula and Dilma PT Years: Social base and sister organizations
Brasilwire, a website that closely follows the twists and turns of Brazilian politics through an anti-imperialist lens, offers an overview of the anti-neo-liberal track record of the PT. Between 2003 and the Lawfare coup against President Dilma Rousseff in 2016, the PT helped lift 40 million Brazilians out of poverty,[22] expanded university access for working class and Afro-Brazilian students, granted labor rights to Brazil’s long exploited domestic servants,[23] and stimulated internal production and created a market for nationally manufactured goods.[24] Lula speaks the language of the masses of Brazil, challenging the arrogance and invincibility of the other candidates who represent Brazil’s 0.1 percent. On Sunday, August 27th, in the first nationally televised presidential debate, he stood up to the other candidates who challenged his executive track record, saying “You may not have seen the changes we (the PT) carried out, but your gardeners, your drivers, your bodyguards, and your maids did.”[25] Millions erupted into applause as their Lula spoke truth to power.
Lula’s social welfare programs did not always bring about structural change, but they did lift millions of Brazilians out of poverty. One of Lula’s stated goals, which he speaks about on the campaign trail, is to ensure every Brazilian is able to eat three meals a day. The PT democratized higher education. According to a World Bank study, in 2002, there were zero students from the poorest 20 percent of the population attending college and only 4 percent of college students came from the poorest 40 percent.[26] Two-and-a-half terms of PT leadership changed this dramatically. By 2015, approximately 15 percent of higher education students were from the two poorest quintile of Brazilian society. For the first time, working-class and Black Brazilians could get that critical university education.
To further understand the PT’s defense of the poor, we must look at its base and its sister organizations and the work that they do on the frontlines of the class struggle. The true working class base of the PT is the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT).[27] The largest union in South America and fifth largest in the world, the CUT has 7,847,077 dues-paying members and 23,981,044 associated union members.[28] 48 CUT leaders, representing a vast array of trades from public workers to professors, are running in the current elections. Citing the 1988 Brazilian constitution, the CUT writes: “Article number 1 states all power emanates from the people who exercise it through elected representatives or directly in the terms of this constitution.”[29] The Ibitinga, São Paulo-based teacher and CUT Secretary of Administration and Treasury, Ariovaldo de Camargo,[30] lays out a class-based view of these elections: “Bosses pick bosses. Workers vote for workers. We have a wide array of workers before us to vote for.”[31]
The Movement of Landless Workers, the MST, works closely with the PT and other leftist parties. Since the 1980’s, the MST has mobilized some 370,000 families to carry out 2,500 collective land occupations against latifundios (massive estates held by individuals or corporations).[32] Despite constant threats and attacks from the Military Police, the largest social movement in the history of the hemisphere has liberated 7.5 million hectares of land and set in motion critical education programs, increased agricultural production, cooperatives, and quality health care.
Victories by the PT, the Party for Socialism and Liberty (Psol), and the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) would keep space open for such redistribution and reparations to continue. A Bolsonaro victory would heighten the intensity of violence against society’s most vulnerable social actors and social movements.
Implications for Brazil’s foreign policy
The Bolsonaro administration has been a firm ally in Washington’s drive against left and left-leaning governments in Latin America, and has distanced Brazil from the cause of regional integration. In stark contrast, a third Lula administration would once again make Brazil a champion of regional independence and integration by playing an active role in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) which Brazil left in 2020, and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) which Brazil left in 2019. Lula would also be a strong advocate for Bolivia’s full membership in the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR). And just as Colombian President Gustavo Petro has made amends with the Chavista government of Venezuela, if elected, Lula would cease all hostilities and embrace a cooperative relationship with the Bolivarian Republic. Brazil would play a stronger role in BRICS and the building of a multipolar world. During his presidency, Lula served as an international peace maker trying to help negotiate a “nuclear deal” between the United States and Iran; if elected, he would likely resume efforts to advance world peace.[34]
Lula’s foreign policy will represent the reintegration of Brazil into the Bolivarian family and further momentum for the progressive transformations underway across the continent from Cochabamba to Caracas to Mexico C/ity.[35] Lula has spoken of building a unifying South American currency, the Sur. At a campaign rally, Lula remembered: “The US was very afraid when I discussed a new currency and Obama called me: ‘Are you trying to create a new currency, a new euro?’. I said, ‘No, I’m just trying to get rid of the US dollar. I’m just trying not to be dependent.’”[36]
Despite such massive gains against an entrenched economic and political elite, segments of the U.S. “left” have been very critical of the PT.[37] Though the PT has been subject to legitimate critique, Brazil Wire documented how Jacobin, a magazine affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America, published 38 articles on Brazil from 2014-2017. All 38 presented a negative view of the PT. A far cry from the more radical policies of other Pink Tide presidents like Hugo Chavez or Fidel Castro, most of the left in Brazil today is united behind electing Lula and other progressive candidates as the next step towards challenging Brazil’s status as a neo colony of the West. Up against such a formidable proto-fascist foe, how important is it for the U.S. left to stand with those most under attack?
Bolsonarismo: the Militarization of Brazilian Society
For a country that lived through a two-decade-long military dictatorship from 1964-1984, the specter of the return to a police state is real. The newspaper A Nova Democracia conducted a study of “The Super-Salaries of the Generals” that Bolsonaro has worked alongside, inherited, appointed, and promoted.[38] According to author Gabriel dos Santos, 215 Military Officers receive monthly salaries of R$32,153,77, 30 times more than the minimum wage in Brazil. Other generals such as Vice-president Hamilton Mourão, Augusto Heleno, and former Defense Minister and currentVice-presidential candidate, Walter Souza Braga Netto, have received phantom titles as 4-star marechais (marshalls) and earn a whopping 111.2 thousand reais per month, about 100 times what an everyday worker earns. Bragga gained notoriety when he coordinated the 2014 military occupation of Complexo da Maré, a series of oppressed communities with a population of over 130,000 in the North Zone of the city of Río de Janeiro.[39]
Many of these generals oversaw the 2003-2018 United Nations’ Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). 30,000 Brazilian soldiers, led by generals who today occupy high-ranking positions in Bolsonaro’s cabinet, occupied Haiti and contributed to massacres in Cite Soleil, Fort National, and Belè.[40] These same generals returned to play a role in the occupation of Rochinha and other favelas to conduct “a War on Drugs” that reached its zenith with 1,814 official police killings in Rio in 2019.[41]
Scholar Thiago Sardinha, a specialist on paramilitary groups across Brazil, highlights the training Brazilian military and paramilitary groups have received from both France and the United States.[42] Used for U.S. interventions in Haiti and Central America, the Agency for International Development (AID) has a special department called The Office of Public Security.[43] In Brazil this office is in charge of training foreign police. Sardinha identifies the reign of terror of both the offical police in São Paulo, Goias and beyond, and the role of paramilitary, extra-official militias which control and collect taxes in many Rio communities.
Bolsonaro’s rhetoric has led the New York Times to lead with the following headline: The Question Menacing Brazil’s Elections: Coup or No Coup?[44] The president’s camp recently met with Steve Bannon, who repeated the same unproven claims that “Bolsonaro will win unless it is stolen by, guess what, the machines.”[45] Jason Miller, a Senior Trump Strategist, spoke at Brazil’s bicentennial independence day.[46] Bolsonaro, amidst a sea of yellow and green Brazilian flags, turned “the independence day celebrations” in Copacabana, Brazilia, and throughout the country into campaign rallies. He is now under investigation for illegally combining these two events.
Bolsonarismo: Polarization and the Open Veins of Brazil
FAIR published a scathing critique of a new documentary BBC and PBS released two weeks before the election which present Bolsonaro as a heroic rags to riches story.[47] While the liberal media has traditionally been at odds with the Trumps, Dutertes, and Bolsonaro, why would the Tories ofEngland and sectors of the U.S. ruling class, particularly business interests, so openly embrace such an odious, graceless figure like Bolsonaro?
From the perspective of foreign capital Bolsonaro represents unfettered access to the open veins of Brazil, the world’s tenth largest economy with a GDP of 1.8 trillion dollars.[48] Bolsonaros’s party is called the Liberal Party and the Minister of Economy is Paulo Geudes, who was trained in a PhD program at the University of Chicago under Milton Friedman in the 1970s. Because Lula, Dilma, and the PT would not go along with the Washington consensus, they had to be removed from power and, in the case of Lula, imprisoned. Lula was cleared of all 26 of the bogus charges.[49]
The showdown between a former union leader who lost a finger in a São Paulo factory and a career military man who emerged as the mouthpiece of Brazil’s economic and military elites speaks to the deep divisions in Brazilian society.
The Brazilian Senate approved a 1,100 page report evaluating Bolsonaro’s denial of the COVID-19 pandemic and his disastrous handling of it.[50] Brazil has had the most deaths from COVID, 685,422 in total, after the United States.[51] Despite his disastrous handling of the COVID-19 epidemic, Bolsonarismo has a strong social base. Even a robust win for the PT will not make this base go away overnight. Centuries of white supremacy and class rule have segregated Brazilian society along class, racial, and gender lines.
Black Brazilians continue to face an epidemic of police violence and systemic discrimination. Journalist Jean Wyllys, Brazil’s second openly gay member of parliament and first gay-rights activist congressman, and translator and activist Julie Wark, summarize the struggles of Black and indigenous Brazilians: “The human and physical destructiveness of capitalism, a system in which pretos (Blacks), whose slave labour was essential toits construction, are very far from the spheres of power, wealth, and decision-making. Rather, they are under the yoke and marginalized. In Brazil, Blacks account for 75.2 percent of the population in the lowest income group whereas 25.4 percent of the general population lives in poverty; A Black person earns only 56.1 cents for every dollar a white person earns; 32.9% of Black people live below the poverty line ($5.50 per day); while 8.8 percent live in extreme poverty ($1.90 per day).”[52]
Anti-racist organizers in the U.S. can relate to the situation in Brazil. Just in 2019, Bolsanoro’s first year of governance, 31 activists were murdered for defending their land.[53] There were no convictions against any of the assassins. This is similar to what The Boston Globe calls “vehicle ramming” against Black Lives Matter protestors (The Globe has investigated 139 such hate crimes in the U.S. since the murder of George Floyd).
On September 8th, a Bolsominion, the slang name for Bolsonaro’s supporters, murdered a Lula supporter after a disagreement overpolitics.[54] These incidents have become more and more common. On September 17th, a group called the “Communist Hunters” warned the PT’s Minas Gerais state lawmaker Andréia de Jesus: “We are going to shoot you in the back like a traitor, Marielle (Franco) awaits you. Viva Ustra.”[55]
Recovery, Redemption, and Reparations: Which Way Forward?
I will forever be grateful to Binho, Mateuszinho, and Rene. My dozens of pages of quickly scribbled notes in my pocket notebooks speak to what they taught me. “As viagems formam a juventude,” (Travelling helps define our youth). My greatest tribute to them is helping fight for a world that does not confine our children from O Complexo do Alemão to the Bronx to a suffocating everyday rat-race battle for survival and a shred of dignity.
In his legendary essay, “Fifth Avenue, Uptown,” James Baldwin wrote “A ghetto can be improved in one way only: out of existence.”[56] Capitalism and white supremacy and their inevitable bastard offspring – generational trauma, gangs, drugs, misogyny, prison, and a long list of social ills – guarantee more human suffering and humiliation. Brazil suffers from a crack epidemic and alcoholism that has shattered hundreds of thousands of families. Bolsonarismo deploys rhetoric that enables the most retrograde actors a free reign to enact more violence upon women, the LGBT community, Black Brazilians, and Indigenous communities. What we are witnessing in Brazil is late neocolonialism’s desperate attempts to divide society and scapegoat the most oppressed layers so that society’s overlords can save their own skin.
While Río de Janeiro is butone small piece of the fabric of a diverse society of 210 million people spread across the world’s most diverse lands in terms of fauna, flora, and animal species, these human stories are a microcosm of the lives and struggles of how many millions of working-class Brazilians?[57]
Every victory for the Partido dos Trabalhadores, and other progressive parties like the PCdoB and the Psol at the local, state, and federal level–and chiefly, of course, for Lula at the presidential level–brings Brazil and this generation of fighters that much closer to realizing Baldwin’s dream.
Danny Shaw is Senior Research Fellow at COHA and an academic at City University of New York.
Fred Mills, COHA’s Deputy Director, and Jill Clark-Gollub, COHA Assistant Editor/Translator, edited this essay.
Sources
[1] Estrategista de Trump, Steve Bannon ecoa Bolsonaro em mentiras sobre urnas eletrônicas”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_3WSn7jOfo
[2] “Why Brazil’s Bolsonaro is courting evangelicals in the world’s biggest Catholic nation”,
[4] “Eleição este ano terá mais de 28 mil candidatos; veja os números”, https://www12.senado.leg.br/noticias/materias/2022/08/16/eleicao-este-ano-tera-mais-de-28-mil-candidatos-veja-os-numeros
[5] “YouTube Pushing Pro-Bolsonaro Content To Brazilians, Study Finds”, https://www.brasilwire.com/googles-youtube-platform-pushing-pro-bolsonaro-content-to-brazilians-finds-study/
[11] “Pesquisa Datafolha para presidente: Lula tem 45%; e Bolsonaro, 33%”, https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/politica/pesquisa-datafolha-para-presidente-lula-tem-45-e-bolsonaro-33/
[12] “Mentiras sobre Bolsonaro mostram que ninguém está livre das fake news”, https://www.metropoles.com/brasil/mentiras-sobre-bolsonaro-mostram-que-ninguem-esta-livre-das-fake-news
[13] “Voters see through Bolsonaro’s Economic Populism, Poll Says”, https://brazilian.report/liveblog/2022/08/04/voters-bolsonaro-economic-populism/
[15] “Datafolha: Lula reage entre evangélicos, e vantagem de Bolsonaro recua sete pontos”, https://extra.globo.com/noticias/politica/datafolha-lula-reage-entre-evangelicos-vantagem-de-bolsonaro-recua-sete-pontos-25573698.html
[16] “Why Brazil’s Bolsonaro is courting evangelicals in the world’s biggest Catholic nation”, https://www.wlrn.org/news/2022-08-25/why-brazils-bolsonaro-is-courting-evangelicals-in-the-worlds-biggest-catholic-nation
[22] Cerca de 40 milhoes de pessoas ingressaram na classe aponta pesquisa”, https://oglobo.globo.com/economia/cerca-de-40-milhoes-de-pessoas-ingressaram-na-classe-aponta-pesquisa-da-fgv-2756988
[23] “Dilma assina regulamentação dos direitos das domésticas, diz Planalto”, https://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2015/06/dilma-assina-regulamentacao-dos-direitos-das-domesticas-diz-planalto.html
[24] “Impactos da Redução do Imposto sobre Produtos Industrializados (IPI) de Automóveis”, https://www.ipea.gov.br/portal/images/stories/PDFs/2009_nt015_agosto_dimac.pdf
[26] “The Persistence of Inequity in Brazilian Higher Education: Background Data and Student Performance”, https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-69691-7_4
[29] “Para lutar por direitos sociais e trabalhistas, CUT lança 49 candidatos no país”, https://www.cut.org.br/noticias/para-lutar-por-direitos-sociais-e-trabalhistas-cut-lanca-48-candidatos-no-pais-54a2
[31] “Para lutar por direitos sociais e trabalhistas, CUT lança 49 candidatos no país”, https://www.cut.org.br/noticias/para-lutar-por-direitos-sociais-e-trabalhistas-cut-lanca-48-candidatos-no-pais-54a2
[32] “What is the MST?”, https://www.mstbrazil.org/content/what-mst
[34] “The Most Important Election in the Americas is in Brazil’, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/09/01/the-most-important-election-in-the-americas-is-in-brazil/
[39] “Braga Netto, o general que Bolsonaro escolheu como candidato a vice”, https://www.infomoney.com.br/perfil/walter-braga-netto/
[40] “10 Reasons Why UN Occupation of Haiti Must End”, https://haitiliberte.com/10-reasons-why-un-occupation-of-haiti-must-end/
[41] “Number of deaths caused by police intervention in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 2003 to 2021”, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1007090/number-deaths-police-intervention-rio-brazil/
[44] “The Question Menacing Brazil’s Elections: Coup or No Coup?”, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/world/americas/brazil-election-bolsonaro-coup.html
[52] “Brazil, Amazon, World: Being Black”, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/07/21/brazil-amazon-world-being-black/
[53] “Zero convictions as impunity blocks justice for victims of Brazil’s rural violence”, https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/zero-convictions-as-impunity-blocks-justice-for-victims-of-brazils-rural-violence/
[54] “Apoiador de Bolsonaro mata defensor de Lula a facadas em MT após discussão”, https://www.cartacapital.com.br/politica/apoiador-de-bolsonaro-mata-defensor-de-lula-a-facadas-em-mt-apos-discussao/
The Albanese government’s proposed National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) would have a broad scope but only hold public hearings “in exceptional circumstances and where it is in the public interest to do so”.
The “exceptional circumstances” provision immediately came under some questioning after Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announced the design of the commission on Tuesday. Dreyfus will introduce the legislation for the new body on Wednesday. The government expects to have it passed in November.
Independent MP Helen Haines, who has been in the forefront of the battle for a federal integrity body, said the reference to exceptional circumstances would be the first thing she would look at when the bill came.
Independent senator David Pocock said: “The independent commission should be able to make hearings public if they believe it is in the public interest, not be constrained to do so in ‘exceptional’ circumstances”.
Dreyfus justified setting the bar at “exceptional circumstances” by saying public hearings “raise questions about reputational harm, which are not faced when you hold private hearings.
“And that’s why most of these commissions’ work has been done in private. We would expect the same to occur with this new Commonwealth agency”.
The independent commission, for which the government is allocating $262 million over four years, will be able to investigate “serious or systemic corrupt conduct” across the Commonwealth sector.
This covers politicians and their staff, statutory office holders, employees of all government entities and government contractors.
It will be able to initiate its own inquiries as well as respond to referrals including from whistleblowers and the public; it will also be able to investigate matters that occurred before its establishment.
Dreyfus made it clear the commission – which will be overseen by a parliamentary committee – would have a great deal of discretion in deciding what fell within its remit.
Asked whether various scandals that occurred under the Morrison government, such as the sports rorts affair, would warrant investigation as potentially corrupt conduct, Dreyfus said that would be a matter for the commission to decide.
On retrospectivity, it would be up to the commission how far back it went.
Dreyfus said the commission would be able to investigate third parties “whose conduct influences the improper conduct of a public official, or the failure by a public official to act impartially”.
The bill had “a very broad definition of corrupt conduct”, Dreyfus said.
Pressed on whether people would fear the commission was being given too wide a remit, Dreyfus said: “Well, people should be afraid if they’ve been engaged in corrupt activities”.
The legislation contains whistleblower protections, and separately the government is strengthening general protections for whistleblowers.
The attorney-general dodged questioning on whether anyone in the government might refer Morrison government scandals to the commission, but said it would be inappropriate for him, as minister responsible for the commission, to make referrals to the body.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton, who has had discussions with Anthony Albanese about the commission, said on the ABC Four Corners on Monday, “I’ve indicated publicly and privately to the prime minister that we will support a sensible
integrity commission. I don’t want a show trial. I don’t want people’s
lives destroyed.”
The bill will go to a parliamentary inquiry.
Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania
Australians watched in horror last week as 230 pilot whales became stranded at a beach near Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s west coast. Some whales were saved, but the vast majority died. This left a big problem: what to do with all the rotting whale carcasses?
Authorities decided to tow the dead animals out to sea, hoping they’ll eventually sink to the seafloor.
Such mass whale strandings are sad to witness. But in this case, the aftermath presents a fascinating opportunity for scientific discovery.
As the dead whales decompose, an astonishing and rare chain of events is likely to flow through the marine ecosystem – ultimately leading to an explosion of activity and new life.
Authorities decided to tow the dead animals out to sea, hoping they’ll eventually sink to the seafloor. Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania
A 600-tonne problem
Mass whale strandings happen fairly regularly – especially in Tasmania – yet no one really knows why.
Days before this latest incident, 14 sperm whales became stranded off King Island, northwest of Tasmania.
And in 2020, about 470 pilot whales became stranded at Macquarie Harbour. While many were pulled out to sea, some of those carcasses washed up and were left to rot on the beach – an entirely natural process.
However, pilot whales are big animals. Males weigh up to 2,300kg, which means they take a long time to decompose. The smell of two tonnes of rotting whale blubber soon becomes unbearable, so carcasses are frequently buried.
This time around, authorities decided to tow the dead animals out to sea. The ABC reported local salmon farm workers took almost 11 hours to dispose of 204 dead whales with a combined weight of between 500 and 600 tonnes.
They were tied to a 400 metre-long rope and towed by boats for 40 kilometres, before being dropped into deep water in the Indian Ocean.
Some carcasses may wash back to shore, but most are likely to disperse with the tides and currents.
Mass whale strandings happen fairly regularly, yet no one really knows why. Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania
Shark bait? Probably not
The big question is: what happens to all that whale mass dumped at sea?
Initially, a dead whale tends to float to the surface as it begins to decompose and its innards expand with gas. As this happens, ocean scavengers such as sharks and seabirds are likely to feast on the remains.
Some people can be concerned that whale carcasses attract sharks that might pose a risk to humans.
Granted, encounters between sharks and humans, are on the rise in Australia and elsewhere. But they’re still very rare.
A report to the Western Australian government in 2012 found whale carcasses were a risk factors associated with shark attacks, and said caution should be exercised near a dead whale in the water.
But the same report noted that of 26 shark attacks investigated, the highest number occurred more than a kilometre offshore. While there is no doubt sharks are attracted to dead whales, the data is not clear on whether a whale carcass leads directly to an increase in shark attacks on people.
Research has shown the likelihood of whale carcasses washing towards shore, where shark scavenging can be observed, is low. So as long as the carcass is taken far from shore and people keep their distance from it, the threat to humans from shark encounters appears to be exceedingly low.
Dead floating whales provide a feast for animal scavengers. Pictured: seabirds feed on a large whale carcass floating off Spain in 2018. EFE/SASEMAR
From death comes new life
Inevitably, the whale carcass will start to sink. Most life in the ocean is found relatively close to the sea surface, so if the water is relatively shallow much of what’s left of the carcass will be quickly eaten by scavengers once it reaches the sea floor.
But these carcasses have been disposed of in deep water. The deep ocean can be a barren place, where rich food sources are rare. So the appearance of a single whale carcass can supercharge an entire ecosystem.
New life and activity can erupt around the dead animal in very little time. This process is known as “whale fall” and has been studied by scientists, sometimes using remotely operated vehicles. On the seafloor of the North Pacific, whale fall has been found to support the survival of at least 12,490 organisms of 43 species.
Deep sea sharks will make the most of the carcass. A host of other animals including hagfish, octopus, crabs, lobsters, worms and sea cucumbers will join in too. All the while bacteria work away quietly in the background.
According to Britain’s Natural History Museum, a single whale can provide animals with food for up to two years during the scavenging stage.
Other animals and bacteria survive off the chemicals produced from the rotting carcass.
These organisms, known as “chemotrophs” were thought to be unique to underwater volcanic vents, where they use hydrogen sulphide as the principal energy source. Research has shown a similar suite of animals recruit around dead and decaying whales – generating a completely independent ecosystem based on a gas that smells like rotten eggs.
Only a few organisms can break down the bones that remain, in a process that might take up to ten years.
So take a moment to consider the effect of 204 whale falls in a small part of the ocean off Tasmania. Right now, they are probably generating interconnected marine metropolises, the likes of which are rarely seen.
Culum Brown receives funding from Australian Research Council, Taronga Zoo, Sea World Research and Rescue Foundation
The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) has a new chair and for the first time it is a disabled person – former paralympian Kurt Fearnley. His appointment, along with that of two new directors, Graeme Innes (former disability discrimination commissioner) and Maryanne Diamond (Australian Network on Disability board member), brings the number of people with disability on the board to five.
But will these appointments go far enough in terms of helping to reset the scheme and restore it to its original aspirations?
Over recent years the NDIA has developed a serious trust problem with the disability community.
Last year saw significant debate around the proposal to introduce Independent Assessments, which the NDIA claimed would help address fairness issues in the scheme. The reform was dropped after backlash from the disability community, who believed it was merely an attempt to cut costs.
Research also shows issues with fairness in the scheme have less to do with amounts allocated to individual participant plans, but more to do with participants’ ability to actually spend their funding. This is notable in “thin markets” where fewer service providers are available.
It is especially hard for participants from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people with psychosocial disability (such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and social anxiety disorders) and those in regional and remote areas to utilise their plan allocations.
Earlier this year there were widespread reports of unexpected cuts to plan budgets that meant, for some, funding for existing supports disappeared overnight – participants lost independence and experienced significant disruption to their lives and that of their families.
As a result, the number of participants disputing plan decisions through the Administrative Appeals Tribunal increased significantly. Resolution of these disputes takes time and effort on the part of individuals contesting their plan assessments. And the NDIA spends large amounts (over $A30 million between 2021 and 2022) on legal fees.
And there has been outrage at reports of NDIS fraud, in which as much as $6 billion a year might be being misused, including by organised crime syndicates.
All of these challenges have taken place against a background of the COVID pandemic. People with disability often felt forgotten in public health responses. Even when people with disability were prioritised, plans were often not implemented effectively.
Now many COVID restrictions have been lifted, a number of people with disability feel they have no choice but to remain at home, isolated from the wider community.
Co-design and decision-making by people with disability
In recent years, NDIS co-design with people with disability has been lacking or non-existent and the scheme has moved away from its original vision that gave people with disability voice within it.
People with disability using NDIS services have not been given a role in shaping the scheme, making decisions about it or contributing to innovations. Those making decisions have never experienced what it is like to navigate the complexities of the NDIS or the challenges with securing supports in a way that is meaningful to their lives.
For these reasons, many in the disability community have expressed mistrust in the NDIA to prioritise their needs and secure their rights.
The appointment of a chair and greater number of board members with lived experience of disability means there will be better understanding of the types of issues, challenges and frustrations people with disability face at a day-to-day level in interacting with the scheme and service providers. The board’s new chair has declared his goal to rebuild “a thriving NDIS” that puts people with disability in positions of power “centred around choice and control”.
This should mean the NDIS has better insight into where some of the main challenges of the scheme lie and how to deal with these issues in more effective and insightful ways.
Are these appointments enough?
Alongside the appointment of a new chair to the NDIA board, a new NDIA CEO has also been appointed. Rebecca Falkingham will be the first woman to permanently hold the role, having previously served as the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety Secretary.
Some within the disability community have expressed concern that in not appointing a person with disability to this leadership role, there has been a missed opportunity and this sends a negative message about the capability of people with disability to lead organisations that are central to their lives.
Kurt Fearnley won gold for the men’s marathon T-54 at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games. AP Photo/Petros Karadjias
Whether the NDIS is successful in building back the trust of the disability community and addressing some of the significant challenges it faces, will largely come down to the ability of the new CEO to work constructively with the reformed board. Certainly the appointment of three people with lived experience of disability onto the board is a positive step towards co-design and resetting the scheme closer to its original vision.
But there is some distance to go to fully realise the intents of the scheme.
Global stock markets are tanking on fears of recessions in the US, the UK and Europe, and the OECD is actually forecasting recessions in Europe.
So is recession now inevitable in Australia? Not at all.
The good news is there are several reasons to think Australia might be able to escape a global slide into recession – though it will need careful management.
What could push Australia into recession?
Here’s the worst case scenario. The United States keeps pushing up interest rates until it brings on a recession, and Australia gets pressured to do the same.
Here’s how it’s playing out at the moment. The US Federal Reserve has lifted rates at each of its past five meetings. The past three hikes have been massive by Australian and US standards – 0.75 percentage points each, enough to slow already-forecast US economic growth to a trickle, which is what the Fed wants to fight inflation.
But the Fed is planning to go further. Its chair, Jerome Powell says he expects ongoing increases, and last week countenanced the possibility they would throw the country into recession:
We don’t know, no one knows, whether this process will lead to a recession or if so, how significant that recession would be. That’s going to depend on how quickly wage and price inflation pressures come down, whether expectations remain anchored, and whether also we get more labour supply.
Powell is saying he is prepared to risk a recession to get inflation down.
The UK’s top banker already expects a recession
Powell’s not alone. His UK equivalent, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey, has lifted rates seven times since December. Bailey says he is prepared to do more to fight inflation – “forcefully, as necessary” – and is actually forecasting a recession, which he says has probably started.
So alarmed is the new UK government headed by Liz Truss that on Friday it unveiled a £45 billion (A$75 billion) “growth plan” made up of tax cuts and infrastructure spending, on top of spending of £60 billion (A$100 billion) to cap household and business energy bills.
Given what’s now happening overseas, you might expect Australia’s Reserve Bank to take note and behave differently to central banks overseas.
Except that it’s not that quite easy.
Pressure to follow the US
Whenever the US hikes interest rates (it’s hiked them seven times since March), investors buy US dollars to take advantage of the higher rates. This forces up the price of the US dollar in relation to currencies of countries that didn’t hike.
This means unless countries such as Australia hike in line with the US, the values of their currencies are likely to fall in relation to the US dollar – meaning their values are likely to fall in relation to the currency in which most trade takes place.
This means more expensive imports, which means more inflation.
And Australia’s Reserve Bank is trying to contain inflation.
The upshot is whenever the US pushes up rates (no matter how recklessly) there’s pressure on Australia to do the same, simply to stop inflation getting worse.
The risk of ‘a gratuitously severe recession’
Since March, when the US began pushing up interest rates more aggressively than Australia, the value of the Australian dollar has slid from US0.73 to less than $US0.65, putting upward pressure on goods traded in US dollars of about 11%.
Prime Minister Liz Truss. The British pound has hit an all-time low. Neil Hall/EPA
With Australian inflation already forecast to hit 7.75% this year, way above the Reserve Bank’s 2-3% target, still more inflation is what the bank doesn’t want.
This locks countries such as Britain (whose currency has fallen to an all-time low against the US in the wake of the tax cuts) and Japan (whose government has intervened to try to stop its currency falling) into a semi-dependent relationship with the US.
Failing to follow its lead makes inflation worse.
It is why US economist Paul Krugman says there is serious risk the Fed’s actions “will push America and the world into a gratuitously severe recession”.
Going your own way can hurt your dollar
The risk isn’t merely that the US will go too far. The risk is that other countries, including ours, will ape the US in pushing up rates to maintain the value of their currencies, amplifying the effect of a US recession and making it global.
It’s often said that central banks hunt in packs. What’s less often noted is the pressure they are under to follow each other.
In Australia, AMP chief economist Shane Oliver puts it starkly: if the Reserve Bank doesn’t follow the US Fed, the Australian dollar might crash.
But here’s the good news. We know Australia can avoid the worst of global economic downturns, because we’ve done it before.
How Australia has avoided past recessions – and can again
In part, this has been due to excellent judgement. Our Reserve Bank was able to take clear-eyed decisions about when to follow the US on rates and when not to.
At times it was helped by high commodity prices, which are high again following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and which are supporting our currency, even though we are increasing rates less aggressively than the United States.
At the right moment, Australia’s Reserve Bank would be wise to decouple from the US. If the Fed pushes up rates to the point where it is about to bring on a US recession, Australia would be well advised to stand back and not lift rates, letting the collapse of the US economy bring down inflation by itself.
If Australia’s Reserve Bank thinks that moment is approaching, it should consider shrinking the size of its rate rises (the last four have been 0.5 percentage points).
Its next meeting is next Tuesday. Because of its importance, the Bureau of Statistics is bringing forward the publication of its new monthly measure of inflation to this Thursday, publishing the results for both July and August at once.
But the bank will need more than information. It’ll need the intuition and common sense that has kept us out of trouble in the past.
Peter Martin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
The first rental electric scooters quietly appeared on the streets of Brisbane in late 2018. Four years later, distinctively coloured e-scooters are seemingly everywhere, with trial schemes popping up in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Darwin and Perth.
Outside Australia, scooter share schemes are now operating in dozens of cities worldwide, and growth is expected to continue.
E-scooters offer commuters and tourists a way to cover shorter distances quickly – and without breaking a sweat. It’s for this reason Australian cities are trialling these schemes as part of broader interest in micromobility – small, light and often electric ways of getting around, such as bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters.
But one question previously unanswered is: what about the weather? If the skies open, do e-scooter users switch to cars or public transport? What about intense summer heat?
Our new research on the Brisbane e-scooter trial found trips actually increase as the heat rises, compared to human-powered bikes which see declining use in hotter weather.
When it’s wet, e-scooters remain more popular than bike share schemes – but not by much. We found around 32% of e-scooter trips take place in wet weather – compared to around 28% of bikesharing trips
What else did we find?
We looked at how e-scooter trips, destinations, and patterns of use vary based on weather. A large dataset of trips (more than 800,000) was provided to us by Neuron, one of the two scooter-sharing companies active in Brisbane.
We found e-scooter trips rise alongside the heat index, which measures the combined feeling of heat and humidity. People are likely to turn to them to avoid sweating up one of Brisbane’s many hills on foot.
Overall, and perhaps as expected, e-scooters are more appealing to people in Brisbane when it’s warm but lose appeal in wet conditions. Even so, it seems weather might matter less for e-scooters compared to bikesharing.
We found people tend to use scooters for recreation or to get somewhere fun, more than using them for utilitarian reasons such as going to work. But interestingly, utilitarian trips are becoming more common as people become more used to having scooters around.
As you might expect, e-scooter use is concentrated around the inner city, and trip lengths are mostly under 15 minutes. Users are typically younger, male and more educated – perhaps reflecting scooter locations where university students tend to live.
In Singapore, researchers have found e-scooter ridership actually falls as daytime temperatures rise. By contrast, in the Texas city of Austin, ridership falls when daytime temperatures get cooler and as wind rises.
Most people take e-scooters along dedicated bike paths, such as the popular path along the Brisbane River. In fact, the riverfront bike path which runs through Brisbane is far and away the most popular location to scoot. The bike path is car-free, and connects the CBD to popular restaurant and nightlife strips.
During wet weather, scooter riders show an even greater preference for bike paths – potentially to avoid perceived heightened risk on slippery roads and footpaths.
Where are people going to? We found the overwhelming majority of places people start and end their trips are parks, strips of shops and suburbs, regardless of weather. Around one fifth of all trips are used to go from one residential suburb to another.
Weather plays a part here too. Wet weather trips tend to be shorter and more concentrated around the CBD and the river, possibly because most of Brisbane’s dedicated cycling infrastructure is here.
Bikesharing schemes have daily spikes in use for the morning and afternoon commutes as well as during lunchtime. By contrast, e-scooters see more use during the afternoon and evening. This indicates scooters are being used more as part of a night out or to get to dinner.
Brisbane’s riverside bike paths are the most popular places to scoot. Shutterstock
Why does this matter?
Though you might not think it – especially if you commute by car – weather plays a huge role in our daily decisions about how to get where we want to go. If heavy rain sets in, more people switch from bikes or public transport to cars.
The weather outside your front door influences where, when and how you travel. Scaled up, this means the weather can affect congestion, pollution and the experience of travel.
Weather has the most effect on transport modes where we’re not sheltered from the elements, such as walking and running, as well as micromobility modes such as shared e-scooters, e-bikes, bicycles and skateboards. Importantly, these modes are a vital part of making transport in cities sustainable.
Very few cities are trying to encourage more car traffic. By contrast, many are trying to create the conditions where walking, scooting and other non-polluting, space-minimal transport modes can flourish. Weather plays an important part in this. With climate breakdown looming, understanding weather impacts on travel has become crucial.
Anthony Kimpton has received funding from the Australian Research Infrastructure Netowrk (AURIN), and has been employed on multiple projects funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC).
Dorina Pojani has received research funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN)
Jonathan Corcoran receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN).
Thomas Sigler receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
Julia Loginova and Richard Bean do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Once again, Iran is in the midst of political upheaval and civil unrest. The latest protests, triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the morality police, follow several other protests that have occurred in Iran over recent years.
So what is new about this latest round of demonstrations? Here are three key ways these protests are different.
1. Public support for these protests appears higher and more widespread
At the crux of the latest demonstrations is Iran’s morality police, which is tasked with enforcing strict codes around dress and behaviour.
The morality police arrested Mahsa Amini earlier this month, saying she was wearing her hijab too loosely. She subsequently died. Her family say she was beaten (a claim rejected by the government and police).
Whatever transpired, the Amini case has triggered a groundswelling of public anger around the behaviour of the morality police, with protesters demanding women be given the right to choose what to wear.
The anger this diverse group feels over government interference in people’s personal decisions has found a fitting platform in the present protests.
Since the early 1980s, when the ruling clergy consolidated power by eliminating opposition groups, social regulation and strict rules around lifestyle have formed the crux of their policies.
Government meddling in the private lives of its citizens was once far more pervasive, extensive, and stringent. For example, homes were searched for VCRs and satellite dishes.
In time, such restrictions were relaxed (to some degree). For women, however, the rules remain highly discriminatory. Government dos and don’ts are still heavily enforced. The Iranian government persists in denying women their fundamental rights; the debate over the headscarf and women’s dress is just one visible manifestation of this.
Apart from being demeaning and degrading, these regulations make day-to-day living extremely difficult for a great number of women who do not agree with the clergy.
Today, it’s hard to find someone in Iran who hasn’t been harassed at least once by the ruling clergy in some way.
That is why, compared to previous demonstrations in Iran, the number of people who support the current protests appears quite high and widespread. Protests are underway in cities large and small, neighbourhoods rich and poor.
Women’s rights are at the centre of these protests, while previous protests have focused more on economic or broader political issues.
The government’s intrusion into citizens – especially women citizen’s – private lives is the source of the demonstrations this time around. It has proved difficult so far, for the government to explain their policies in a way that is convincing for many people.
3. The courage shown during these demonstrations is unprecedented
All protest comes at enormous personal risk in Iran. But these latest protesters have done some unusually brave things. The courage shown by protesters is unprecedented.
Some women have removed their headscarves in the street or set them on fire. Some have cut their hair in public.
Many videos appear to show anti-riot police failing to disperse the crowd, and even protesters occasionally pushing back police.
The scale of the demonstrations and the degree of anger among these latest protestors is unusual.
Will these protests bring lasting change?
It is too early to say. Iran’s leaders have shown time and time again they are not interested in yielding to popular demands.
The Iranian leadership may fear appeasing protesters would just encourage further demands and may even trigger their downfall.
And while the latest demonstrations are widespread, they are also dispersed.
There is no guarantee the different demonstrations underway in various cities will be able to coalesce around a single, coherent movement.
The demonstrations are also hampered by the absence of a cohesive leadership and, it would seem, any kind of methodical organisation.
Whether or not these demonstrations result in significant change, they have undoubtedly come at a cost to Iran’s ruling clergy.
Perhaps the most significant of these costs is the effect these protests have had on the already dwindling legitimacy of the Islamic Republic, both domestically and internationally.
Naser Ghobadzadeh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
The changes in our work preferences have highlighted how vulnerable our cities are to economic shocks. Moves to entice (or compel) workers back to the office may be just a short-term fix for precincts now struggling with low levels of foot traffic.
Historic zoning practices created separate areas of residential, commercial and industrial activity in our cities. This practice created whole precincts like the CBD and residential suburbs dedicated to a single use.
The lack of diversity arising from this pattern of development ultimately reduces resilience when conditions change. It is arguably one of urban planning’s greatest failures.
Proposed zoning in 1952, dividing Brisbane into residential, commercial, industrial and recreation zones. Brisbane City Council
The most resilient places during COVID-19 lockdowns were those that had a diverse industrial employment mix. It meant they did not rely on a single sector for jobs – and the lockdown impacts varied from sector to sector.
For example, Melbourne’s last remaining inner-city industrial zone, Port Melbourne, provides a diverse mix of production as well as commercial services. It was among the most resilient places of employment in Australia to COVID impacts. This example offers valuable insight into a truly “mixed use” precinct.
Areas with diverse land uses became the goal of new planning policies that emerged in the 1980s. By introducing zoning changes, policymakers hoped to replicate the vibrant, dense and localised environments of older cities that predated the rise of cars.
However, our research shows policies that aimed to increase land-use mix do the opposite in practice.
Streets of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. vonderauvisuals/flickr
Our research tracked changes in land use and zoning for over 10,000 parcels of land in Brisbane from 1951 to 2021. We selected six precincts 1-10km from the city centre. These precincts are now zoned as mixed-use and high-density, with more diverse land use as the goal.
We created a comprehensive data set by digitising historic land use (1951) and zoning maps (1952 and 1987) and integrating this with data from 2021.
Brisbane City Council’s 1951 Land Use Survey. Brisbane City Council
Our research found a large increase in commercially zoned land across all study areas. Rezoning former industrial precincts accounted for most of this increase. While residential use remained the dominant land use across all study areas, commercial use grew from 2.3% of combined land area in 1951 to 28.9% in 2021.
As a result, by 2021, commercial services provided almost all the jobs in these areas. Most of the land zoned as mixed use, which allows low-impact industry (such as vehicle repairers, shop fitters and printers), was used for housing, shops, gyms or offices.
By allowing open competition between commercial, residential and industrial uses, policy aiming to diversify land uses has the opposite effect of sidelining industrial use. One reason is that centrally located industrial sites are often large and under single ownership, which makes them a prime target for developers.
A riverfront milk factory in Brisbane, one of the last inner-city manufacturers. Rachel Gallagher
Policymakers have sought to minimise the connection between industrial decline and an economic growth model centred on property development. Instead, they often attribute this decline to globalisation or the changing economy.
Yet our research shows industrial zoning does protect industrial land. Areas that were zoned for heavier industrial uses in 1987 retain some kind of industrial use in 2021.
What sort of industry are we talking about?
Industry today, particularly manufacturing, is no longer characterised by large-scale industrial production with heavy machinery. Most Australian manufacturers are small businesses, ranging from micro breweries to clothing and textile producers and custom bike shops.
And inner-city locations attract manufacturers for the same reasons they attract services sector firms. These areas offer access to large markets, skilled labour and specialised suppliers.
A local manufacturer in Brisbane’s West End. Rachel Gallagher
Yet the remaining centrally located, industrially zoned sites, suitable for industrial equipment and containing loading docks and other supporting infrastructure, are vulnerable to displacement by residential and commercial development.
The idea that land should be put to its “highest and best use”, in an economy that values residential and commercial development above all else, undermines the city’s resilience.
If the role of planning authorities is to regulate land use in the community’s interest, it is questionable whether simply giving priority to its most lucrative use does that. Policymakers should reconsider planning that creates open competition between industrial and residential or commercial uses.
Our research contributes to the growing evidence that zoning can be used to protect diverse land use, rather than simply enable land-use conversions. More active planning is required to deliver the goals of truly mixed-use urban precincts.
Rachel Gallagher has worked as a Senior Planner in Queensland’s Department of State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning.
Thomas Sigler and Yan Liu do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
The New South Wales state election will be held in six months, in March 2023. A Newspoll, conducted September 19-22 from a sample of 1,006, gave Labor a 54-46 lead (it was 52.0-48.0 to the Coalition at the March 2019 election). Primary votes were 40% Labor (33.3% at the last election), 35% Coalition (41.6%), 12% Greens (9.6%) and 13% for all others (15.5%).
NSW Liberal Premier Dominic Perrottet had ratings of 47% satisfied, 41% dissatisfied, while Labor leader Chris Minns was at 42% satisfied, 27% dissatisfied. Perrottet led by 39-35 as better premier. Newspoll figures are from The Poll Bludger.
A NSW Resolve poll for The Sydney Morning Herald, conducted with the federal August and September Resolve polls from a sample of 1,170, gave Labor 43% of the primary vote (up nine since February), the Coalition 30% (down seven), the Greens 10% (up two), the Shooters 2% (steady), independents 10% (down three) and others 5% (down one).
Two party estimates aren’t given by Resolve until near elections, but with a 13-point primary vote lead over the Coalition and 10% for the Greens, Labor is in a dominant position in this poll. The Poll Bludger estimated a 60-40 Labor two party margin.
Despite the blowout lead for Labor, the preferred premier measure was tied at 28% each between Perrottet and Minns (32-29 to Minns in February).
Independent support was at 10% in the NSW poll and 12% in the Victorian Resolve poll below. These figures are very likely to be too high, as Resolve is currently asking for an independent in all seats. Once candidate nominations for the election close, Resolve will only ask for independents in seats where a viable independent is contesting.
These two polls are the best results for NSW Labor since they won the 2007 state election. There has been a large swing to Labor since the previous Resolve poll in February, probably somewhat owing to the scandals around former Nationals leader John Barilaro.
The Resolve poll is likely to be a Labor-favouring outlier, but Newspoll also has Labor well ahead. Labor has made large gains in NSW polls since early this year.
I would expect the federal Labor government to drag down state Labor parties, but this isn’t happening so far. Federal Labor is still at “honeymoon” poll ratings, while the NSW Coalition government is nearly 12 years old.
Victorian Resolve poll: Labor way ahead
The Victorian election is on November 26. Primary votes in a state Resolve poll for The Age were 42% Labor (up five since April), 28% Coalition (down five), 12% Greens (up two), 12% independents (up one) and 6% others (down three).
Two party estimates aren’t given by Resolve until closer to elections, but with a 14-point primary vote lead over the Coalition and 12% for the Greens, Labor is in a dominant position in this poll. The Poll Bludger’s estimated two party was 60-40 to Labor.
Incumbent Labor Premier Daniel Andrews led the Liberals’ Matthew Guy by 46-28 as preferred premier (48-31 in April). This poll would have been conducted with the federal August and September Resolve polls from a sample of about 1,100.
The Poll Bludger said Labor was down one point on the 2018 lower house result on primary votes in this Resolve poll, while the Coalition was down seven. If this result were to be applied to the upper house, it would likely be a disaster for the Coalition under group voting tickets, as they would win few seats on filled quotas, and be vulnerable to preference snowballs.
Republic support slumps in federal Resolve poll, but Indigenous Voice has 64% support
In the federal Resolve poll for Nine newspapers that I covered previously, support for Australia becoming a republic slumped from 54-46 in favour in January, to 54-46 opposed. This was a forced choice question.
On whether to hold a referendum on becoming a republic, 32% wanted to wait until after further consideration of King Charles III, 30% didn’t want a vote at all, and 21% wanted a vote as soon as possible.
Queen Elizabeth II was rated good by 75% and poor by just 5%.
For his three years as governor-general, David Hurley was rated good by 30% and poor by 13%. About 45% thought Charles III would perform well, and 14% badly.
In a proposed referendum on establishing an Indigenous Voice to parliament, voters would support it by a 64-36 margin nationally. This result was based on both the August and September Resolve polls for a combined sample of 3,618.
This was done to have sizeable samples for each state, since a successful referendum requires majorities in four of the six states as well as overall. Support for the Voice was lowest in Queensland (59-41 in favour).
About 45% thought the Voice should take priority over the republic, while 27% thought the republic should be prioritised. And 24% said the Voice should only be about issues relating to Indigenous Australians, 26% about all issues and policy areas, and 22% didn’t support a Voice.
Around 75% said they were aware of the campaign for an Indigenous Voice. By 43-33, voters thought it unlikely the Voice would close the gap on issues such as health.
Morgan poll: federal Labor leads by 54.5-45.5
In last week’s Morgan weekly update video, federal Labor led by 54.5-45.5 from polling conducted September 12-18, a one point gain for Labor since the previous week.
This is Labor’s biggest lead in Morgan since the federal election.
Far-right wins Italian election
I covered Sunday’s Italian election for The Poll Bludger. The right coalition easily won majorities in both houses of the Italian parliament. Within that coalition, two far-right parties dominated. Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the Brothers of Italy, will be Italy’s first woman prime minister and first far-right leader since Benito Mussolini.
The article also covers next Sunday’s first round of the Brazilian presidential election, which the far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro is expected to lose to former leftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, or “Lula”. If nobody wins at least 50% next Sunday, there will be an October 30 runoff.
Adrian Beaumont does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeanine Young, Professor of Nursing & Deputy Head of School – Research, University of the Sunshine Coast, University of the Sunshine Coast
Carrying babies in a soft fabric sling or carrier close to their parent or caregiver has been practised throughout the world for centuries. However, the recent inquest into the death of a three-week old baby boy in New South Wales has highlighted the potential risks of this valued aspect of infant care.
Although rare, these tragic deaths may have been preventable. There are protective strategies parents and caregivers can use to reduce the risk of accidents and fatalities.
‘Wearing’ your baby
Baby slings and carriers allow parents to “wear” their baby. First used in traditional societies, baby-wearing has increased in western societies in recent decades.
As with almost all infant care practices, there are benefits and risks.
However, adverse outcomes from incorrect use include hip dysplasia, falls, burns and suffocation.
Commonly used but not well-understood
In Australia, baby-wearing is very common. A study conducted in Queensland with over 3,300 parents with babies aged 3–4 months, found 87% of parents had used a sling or baby carrier in the first three months of their baby’s life. Over one third had used a sling or carrier for baby to sleep in.
But while 65% of parents said they had read about how to use slings, less than one in five had heard of about internationally agreed upon sling safety advice, known as the TICKS rules.
A variety of designs were being used by those studied, including front fabric wrap or structured baby carrier styles, over the shoulder styles, ring slings, and traditional slings. Several of these styles are not recommended for babies under four months.
These findings highlighted that many parents may not be aware of potential dangers from use of infant products that do not match their baby’s growth and development.
Suffocation is the likely cause in most deaths associated with slings and baby carriers. To understand the risks, we need to understand babies’ bodies and how they usually develop.
In particular, we need to know how babies breathe and how the environment they are in can make breathing difficult. Typically, this interaction is dynamic – it changes as a baby grows and develops.
It’s important to note babies can have difficulty with breathing without making any noise or movement.
Compared to older children, babies have smaller and more easily compressed airways. And they have a large, heavy head relative to their body size, with a protruding occiput (that bony bump on the back of their head) that tips the head forward even when lying on their back.
Babies prefer to breathe through their noses. They have less respiratory stamina (their ability to respond to reduced oxygen) and less ability to control their temperature, particularly if their head is covered.
The anatomy and physiology of babies younger than 12 months means they are vulnerable to suffocation in several specific ways.
4 ways a baby’s airway can be at risk
We need to think about the baby’s airway as a tube. It needs to remain open for oxygen to get to the lungs. Everyone who cares for young babies needs to be aware this tube may be
covered
pinched off
bent
pressed on.
Any of these actions increase the risk of suffocation.
Babies under four months of age often lack the strength to move their heads to keep their airways clear. So if baby’s face is covered or pinched off by fabric or the wearer’s body, rapid suffocation can occur.
If baby is lying with a curved back in a C-position – such as in a baby capsule, sling or carrier – and the head is able to tip forward to chin-on-chest, their airway may bend. This too can result in reduced oxygen and slow suffocation.
Finally, if there is pressure on baby’s chest, such as when a carrier or sling is too tight around baby’s body, the infant might not be able to expand their chest to take deep enough breaths.
Babies born preterm, of low birth weight or those who are unwell need extra consideration and support to maintain a clear airway, compared to full term babies.
The 5-point checklist: TICKS
The TICKS checklist extends the idea of the airway as a tube that needs protecting. It is applicable to various circumstances such as infant car seats, bouncers and rockers, as well as slings and baby carriers. The five points promote safe baby-wearing by emphasising caregiver observation and optimal infant positioning to reduce suffocation risk. The baby should be positioned in a way that is
tight (firm enough to position baby high and upright with head support)
Currently there are no Australian standards for the manufacture of baby carriers and slings, despite slings developed in other countries being available for purchase in Australia.
Raising public awareness about safety and the TICKS checklist, together with recommendations for selecting and using slings and carriers appropriate for baby’s age and development, will help parents harness the benefits of using slings and carriers to keep their babies close and safe.
Jeanine Young is affiliated with the Queensland Child Death Review Board. Jeanine is also a volunteer Board Member. for Little Sparklers, a parent consumer and advocacy group. Jeanine was an active member of the Red Nose National Scientifid Advisory Group from 2004- June 2021 and the author of the Red Nose Information Statement: Slings, Baby Carriers and Backpacks.
Political Roundup: Jacinda Ardern’s tilt towards the West continues at the UN
Analysis by Geoffrey Miller
Jacinda Ardern intends to continue a more pro-Western foreign policy strategy, if her agenda from a hectic week of diplomacy is anything to go by.
New Zealand’s Prime Minister met with four G7 leaders – Liz Truss, Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron – in various settings while she was at the Queen’s funeral in London and at the United Nations in New York.
While at the UN, Ardern fitted in a meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and spoke with Olena Zelenska, the wife of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ardern also met with the Chilean president, Gabriel Boric, and with the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres. There were also shorter, more fleeting meet-and-greet opportunities on the UN floor – such as with Iceland’s Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir – and at a US-hosted reception for world leaders, where Ardern talked to Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Ardern addressed Pacific Islands Forum leaders at the launch of the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent plan. And the expansion of a new US-led grouping, the Partners in the Blue Pacific, also took place while Ardern was in New York. The group previously included Australia, Japan and New Zealand, but it has now been widened to bring in Germany and Canada.
The PM’s ability to attract the attention of top world leaders is well-known and is a measure of her international standing. It was certainly not a one-off: this was her third meeting this year with Joe Biden. And it was her second with Trudeau and Macron, after she was an invited guest at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Madrid in June.
Indeed, the common denominator for many of Ardern’s interlocutors seemed to be their commitment to supporting the Western-led coalition that has emerged from Russia’s war on Ukraine.
In a week in which Vladimir Putin mobilised 300,000 reservists and indirectly threatened to use nuclear weapons, it is probably no surprise that Ardern sought to show her solidarity through the company she kept.
The Prime Minister’s speech to the UN General Assembly was also very much in keeping with this theme: Ardern called Russia’s war ‘illegal’ and ‘immoral’, before highlighting New Zealand’s opposition to nuclear weapons.
A notable omission from Ardern’s speech was any mention of the word ‘food’, which stood out as a major theme in addresses from many countries in the Global South.
India’s foreign minister, S. Jaishankar, said that his country was ‘on the side of those struggling to make ends meet, even as they stare at the escalating costs of food, of fuel and fertilizers’, while Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos called food ‘an existential imperative, and a moral one. It is the very basis of human security’.
Indeed, a dedicated food security summit co-hosted by the US, European Union, African Union and Spain was held during UN leaders’ week. Ardern did not appear to attend the event, which was held on the same day as a ‘Christchurch Call’ leaders’ summit she co-hosted with Emmanuel Macron.
Food security did make it into the UN statement made by Australian foreign minister Penny Wong, however, who said the crisis amounted to a ‘growing scale of human suffering that threatens untold global instability’.
Wong also seemed to meet with counterparts from a more diverse range of countries than Ardern did – the Australian foreign minister’s agenda in New York included meetings with counterparts from India, Indonesia, China, Mexico and Turkey.
While many leaders choose to attend the UN personally, such as Ardern, it is also common for foreign ministers such as Wong to attend in their place. China and Russia were two other countries that dispatched their foreign ministers to New York.
A third strategy is to use both figures – an approach the UK pursued by sending both its new Prime Minister Liz Truss and foreign secretary James Cleverly. If New Zealand’s aim had been to maximise meeting opportunities after the Covid-19 pandemic, this tactic might have been considered. But Ardern decided to keep Nanaia Mahuta back in Wellington, where she welcomed new heads of mission and faced questions over domestic issues.
Back in New York, a key difference between the Global North and Global South at the UN unfolded over the approach to the war in Ukraine. Western countries largely pointed fingers at Russia. Joe Biden said ‘it’s Russia’s war that is worsening food insecurity, and only Russia can end it’, while Liz Truss told her audience that ‘we will not rest until Ukraine prevails’.
By contrast, non-Western countries such as India, Turkey and Qatar were keener to contemplate the idea of a negotiated settlement simply to end the war.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, pointed to his country’s success in brokering the recent Black Sea grain export deal and called for a ‘reasonable, just and viable diplomatic solution’ to the war that would ‘provide both sides the opportunity of an “honourable exit”‘.
Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, even called for an immediate ceasefire – a word rarely used in current discussions about the war in Ukraine.
For his part, the Indian foreign minister, S. Jaishankar, argued his country was ‘on the side of peace’ and wanted an ‘early resolution’ to the conflict. He also noted that the global focus on Ukraine meant less attention was being paid to other crises in India’s immediate neighbourhood, such as Afghanistan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
These calls may fall on deaf ears.
With both sides keen on maximising their positions, a resolution to the war in Ukraine appears further away than ever.
As Jacinda Ardern inches New Zealand’s foreign policy towards the West, it is understandable that she might want to spend more time with like-minded counterparts.
It is natural to stand alongside those who we agree with.
But as the UN General Assembly showed this year, it is worth remembering that there are many other points of view.
Geoffrey Miller is the Democracy Project’s international analyst and writes on current New Zealand foreign policy and related geopolitical issues. He has lived in Germany and the Middle East and is a learner of Arabic and Russian.
South Australia’s Naracoorte Caves is one of the world’s best fossil sites, containing a record spanning more than half a million years. Among the remains preserved in layers of sand are the bones of many iconic Australian megafauna species that became extinct between 48,000 and 37,000 years ago.
The reasons for the demise of these megafauna species are intensely debated. But the older the fossils we can find, the better we can understand the species’ evolution and extinction.
To date, determining the precise age of the caves has been difficult. However our research demonstrates, for the first time, how old Naracoorte’s caves really are – and the answer is up to 500,000 years older than previously thought.
Our findings shed new light on the antiquity of this important place. We hope this will aid understanding of how biodiversity responds to a changing climate over time.
Artist’s impression of extinct Pleistocene megafauna in Australia by Julian Hume. Lower left: enormous short-faced kangaroos. Lower right: Thylacoleo carnifex and Wonambi naracoortensis. Centre left and right: Diprotodon optatum and Zygomaturus trilobus. Author provided
A moment in geologic time
Caves can be extraordinary time capsules, often preserving the remains of long extinct plants and animals in exquisite detail. The Naracoorte Caves in South Australia is one such example.
The cave complex is South Australia’s only World Heritage site. Among the remarkably diverse and complete fossil record are the remains of iconic megafauna such as:
Palaeontologists have excavated and dated many of these fossil deposits and reconstructed the skeletons of a number of megafauna species.
The caves formed when groundwater percolated through cracks in limestone rocks, dissolving them and forming cavities. They were previously dated at between 0.8 and 1.1 million years old – an estimate generated by dating a fossil dune ridge that lies over the cave complex.
But the methods used to date the dune ridge were notentirely suitable for the task. As such, a precise age of the caves had not been obtained, until now.
This intricate work involved in our study has taken five years, but it was worth the wait.
Layers of flowstones overlying sandy layers with fossil bone material in Specimen Cave, Naracoorte. Jon Woodhead, Author provided
What we did
The dating method we used involved examining the beautiful calcite formations inside the caves. Collectively, these are called “speleothems” and they include stalagmites, stalactites and flowstones.
When speleothems form, tiny amounts of uranium – a radioactive element – are locked inside them. Over time, uranium slowly decays into the element lead. This occurs at a known, constant rate – which means we can use uranium in speleothems as a natural clock to date them.
Doing so involved extracting uranium and lead from the speleothem in a laboratory. We then measured each element and calculate the sample’s age very precisely.
Whale Bone Cave, one of the oldest caves at Naracoorte. Steve Bourne, Author provided
Because speleothems only start to grow once a subterranean cavity is formed and above the groundwater table, the oldest speleothem age reveals the minimum age of the cave itself.
From this, we found the caves began to form at least 1.34 million years ago – making them 250,000 to 500,000 years older than previous estimates.
The second part of our study sought to determine when the caves first opened to the surface, allowing both air and animals in. We did this by examining microscopic particles of charcoal and pollen captured in the calcite formations as they grew.
We found charcoal and pollen first appeared in the caves around 600,000 years ago. This suggests the caves may harbour exciting new vertebrate fossil material up to 600,000 years old – more than 100,000 years older than the oldest known fossil deposits at the complex.
Lead author Rieneke Weij descending into a cave at Naracoorte. Liz Reed, Author provided
Why this matters
There’s heated debate about whether the extinction of Australia’s megafauna was the result of humans or the climate.
A good chronology is key to understanding when and how quickly natural processes occurred over time. Without precise ages, we cannot know the rate of change to landscapes, climate or biodiversity.
So while the Naracoorte Caves formed at least 1.34 million years ago, they did not open to the surface until 600,000 years ago. This sheds new light on the vast separation in time between landforms evolving and fossils accumulating.
Our findings will also help palaeontologists target new excavation sites to find older fossils – hopefully providing valuable further evidence of how our continent’s unique biodiversity has changed.
Our new approach can help to unravel how old fossil deposits at other cave complexes in Australia and around the world where both speleothems and vertebrate fossils are found.
Australia’s richness of plant and animal species faces an uncertain future, due to climate change and other human impacts. Studying important sites such as the Naracoorte Caves helps us understand not just how climate change influenced biodiversity in the past, but what might happen in future.
Among Picasso’s partners were two formidable female artists: Dora Maar (1907–97) and Françoise Gilot (1921-).
For a long time, these women were known primarily as his muse or lover, but further scrutiny of their extensive careers reveals that they were also his collaborators and innovative artists in their own right.
Both women profoundly influenced Picasso, and both were exceptional talents.
The Picasso Century, currently at the National Gallery of Victoria, offers a rare opportunity to see their work in Australia.
In Dora Maar, with and without Picasso: a biography (2000), Mary Ann Caws writes that Picasso first saw Dora Maar in Cafe les Deux Magots. Sitting alone, she was using a penknife to stab the tabletop between her gloved fingers, staining the white flowers of her gloves with blood.
The pair were later introduced when Maar worked as the set photographer on Jean Renoir’s The Crime of Monsieur Lange (1936). They soon began a relationship.
By all accounts, Maar was intelligent, charismatic and unconventional. When she met Picasso she had a successful and established career as a photographer.
Surrealists had been dismissive of photography until Maar demonstrated its potential, creating some of the movement’s most powerful and important works.
According to NGV’s Meg Slater, Gilot’s centrality to Surrealism arose through experimentation in her commercial photography, as well as her commitment to radical left-wing politics. She was remarkable for a woman at that time.
Dora Maar Untitled (Hand – shell) 1934 Tireur Tirage de Daniel Valet Epreuve gélatino – argentique 56,6 x 38 cm / 23,4 x 17,5 cm (hors marge) Centre Pompidou, Paris, Musée national d’art moderne – Centre de création industrielle Acquisition
Maar has been identified with the nine “Weeping Woman” canvases, which depict how Picasso saw her, profoundly impacted by Guernica’s bombing during the Spanish Civil War.
But these portraits have reductively characterised her as a volatile and emotional woman. Maar said “all [of Picasso’s] portraits of me are lies”.
Maar often photographed Picasso during their relationship, most notably in creating his 1937 anti-war work Guernica. She was represented within the painting as a figure holding a light.
According to Musée Picasso-Paris’ curator Emilie Bouvard, Maar “did not simply document Picasso painting the great mural. In fact, her Surrealist photography influenced the work itself”.
Renowned for moving from one lover to another, Picasso left Maar for Françoise Gilot – notoriously the only woman to leave him.
Critically reflective Françoise Gilot
Gilot had an extraordinary life. Before 25 she had lived through the Nazi occupation of Paris, studied dance under Isadora Duncan’s protégée and taken “morning walks with Gertrude Stein”.
She achieved expertise in ceramics well before she met Picasso. It was during their almost 10-year relationship that he took an interest in ceramics, eventually producing 3,500 works.
Gilot was physically and psychologically abused by Picasso and lived with very little autonomy throughout their relationship. Many of her works testify to this.
In 1953 she left with their children, Claude and Paloma. Outraged, Picasso began to sabotage her artistic career. In 1964 she published a memoir, Life with Picasso, following his three legal challenges to stop it.
She is unusual for writing critically reflective pieces on her own work, situating her as well ahead of her time.
The female gaze
The “female gaze” refers to the way female artists express their own unique experience of living in the world as women. Gendered experiences are only one influence among many, but they profoundly impact any creative work.
My first impression of Gilot’s female gaze is that she takes a micro view of the world around her.
Her 1940s still life works take the domestic and emphasise her seclusion at that time (Picasso had isolated her from family and friends).
She finds inspiration in the small things, the domestic, rather than racing to the monumental or heroic.
Françoise Gilot Plat de cerises et couteau espagnol 1948 gouache, pencil, charcoal and coloured pencil on cardboard 49.5 x 67.0 cm , 63.5 x 78.6 cm (framed) Centre Pompidou, Paris, Musée national d’art moderne – Centre de création industrielle
According to Gilot in an interview in Vogue, she met Picasso in 1943 when he brought a bowl of cherries to her table.
This may be referenced in Plate of cherries and a Spanish knife (1948). Gilot described this painting as “the most ordinary, mundane and non-poetic of things” and offers that she chose the domestic deliberately in an act of resistance to expectations that she be a housewife.
From this painting we can glimpse her her feminism and her female perspective.
Françoise Gilot Sink and tomatoes ( Evier et tomates ) 1951 Oil on plywood 91.8 x 72.8 cm. Acquired by the French State in 1952; accessioned in 1953 Centre Pompidou, Paris Musée national d’art moderne / Centre de création industrielle
Maar’s portraits and advertising images resist objectifying the female figure, directing viewers with the subject’s gaze to something just out of sight.
While often erotic, they don’t present women as objects. The shadow in Assia (1934) emphasises and celebrates both her form and power.
Maar’s iconography emphasises the female. She incorporates wavy locks of hair, spiders and manicured nails in hair oil advertising images such as Publicity Study (Pétrole Hahn) (1934-1935), face cream advertisement Les années vous guettent (The Years are Waiting for You) (1932) and surrealist images such as Untitled (Hand-Shell) (1934).
Maar and Gilot were creative collaborators, not just muses of Picasso.
Before and after him, their artistic achievements – and exceptional volumes of creative work – locate them as important artists. These include Maar’s retrospective at the Tate (2019-20), and Gilot’s many exhibitions.
Across their long careers their output straddled a variety of media and styles, each with her own female gaze.
The Picasso Century is at the NGV until October 9.
This article was based on a discussion as part of the National Gallery of Victoria’s public program ‘Perspectives on Picasso’, an event that ran as part of The Picasso Century exhibition. This discussion was between Meg Slater, Assistant Curator, International Exhibition Projects, and academic Lisa French, who has recently written a book about the ‘female gaze’.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicholas Davis, Industry Professor of Emerging Technology and Co-Director, Human Technology Institute, University of Technology Sydney
The human face is special. It is simultaneously public and personal. Our faces reveal sensitive information about us: who we are, of course, but also our gender, emotions, health status and more.
Lawmakers in Australia, like those around the world, never anticipated our face data would be harvested on an industrial scale, then used in everything from our smartphones to police CCTV cameras. So we shouldn’t be surprised that our laws have not kept pace with the extraordinary rise of facial recognition technology.
But what kind of laws do we need? The technology can be used for both good and ill, so neither banning it nor the current free-for-all seem ideal.
However, regulatory failure has left our community vulnerable to harmful uses of facial recognition. To fill the legal gap, we propose a “model law”: an outline of legislation that governments around Australia could adopt or adapt to regulate risky uses of facial recognition while allowing safe ones.
The challenge of facial recognition technologies
The use cases for facial recognition technologies seem limited only by our imagination. Many of us think nothing of using facial recognition to unlock our electronic devices. Yet the technology has also been trialled or implemented throughout Australia in a wide range of situations, including schools, airports, retail stores, clubs and gambling venues, and law enforcement.
As the use of facial recognition grows at an estimated 20% annually, so too does the risk to humans – especially in high-risk contexts like policing.
In the US, reliance on error-prone facial recognition tech has resulted in numerous instances of injustice, especially involving Black people. These include the wrongful arrest and detention of Robert Williams, and the wrongful exclusion of a young Black girl from a roller rink in Detroit.
Many of the world’s biggest tech companies – including Meta, Amazon and Microsoft – have reduced or discontinued their facial recognition-related services. They have cited concerns about consumer safety and a lack of effective regulation.
This is laudable, but it has also prompted a kind of “regulatory-market failure”. While those companies have pulled back, other companies with fewer scruples have taken a bigger share of the facial recognition market.
Take the American company Clearview AI. It scraped billions of face images from social media and other websites without the consent of the affected individuals, then created a face-matching service that it sold to the Australian Federal Police and other law enforcement bodies around the world.
In 2021, the Australian Information & Privacy Commissioner found that both Clearview AI and the AFP had breached Australia’s privacy law, but enforcement actions like this are rare.
However, Australians want better regulation of facial recognition. This has been shown in the Australian Human Rights Commission’s 2021 report, the 2022 CHOICE investigation into the use of facial recognition technology by major retailers, and in research we at the Human Technology Institute have commissioned as part of our model law.
Options for facial recognition reform
What options does Australia have? The first is to do nothing. But this would mean accepting we will be unprotected from harmful use of facial recognition technologies, and keep us on our current trajectory towards mass surveillance.
Another option would be to ban facial recognition tech altogether. Some jurisdictions have indeed instituted moratoriums on the technology, but they contain many exceptions (for positive uses), and are at best a temporary solution.
In our view, the better reform option is a law to regulate facial recognition technologies according to how risky they are. Such a law would encourage facial recognition with clear public benefit, while protecting against harmful uses of the technology.
A risk-based law for facial recognition technology regulation
Our model law would require anyone developing or deploying facial recognition systems in Australia to conduct a rigorous impact assessment to evaluate the human rights risk.
As the risk level increases, so too would the legal requirements or restrictions. Developers would also be required to comply with a technical standard for facial recognition, aligned with international standards for AI performance and good data management.
The model law contains a general prohibition on high-risk uses of facial recognition applications. For example, a “facial analysis” application that purported to assess individuals’ sexual orientation and then make decisions about them would be prohibited. (Sadly, this is not a far-fetched hypothetical.)
The ‘model law’ for facial recognition would assess the risk of various applications and apply controls accordingly. Bernard Hermant / Unsplash
The model law also provides three exceptions to the prohibition on high-risk facial recognition technology:
the regulator could permit a high-risk application if it considers the application to be justified under international human rights law
there would be a specific legal regime for law enforcement agencies, including a “face warrant” scheme that would provide independent oversight as with other such warrants
high-risk applications may be used in academic research, with appropriate oversight.
Review by the regulator and affected individuals
Any law would need to be enforced by a regulator with appropriate powers and resources. Who should this be?
The majority of the stakeholders we consulted – including business users, technology firms and civil society representatives – proposed the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) would be well suited to be the regulator of facial regulation. For certain, sensitive users – such as the military and certain security agencies – there may also need to be a specialised oversight regime.
The moment for reform is now
Never have we seen so many groups and individuals from across civil society, industry and government so engaged and aligned on the need for facial recognition technology reform. This is reflected in support for the model law from both the Technology Council of Australia and CHOICE.
Given the extraordinary rise of uses of facial recognition, and an emerging consensus among stakeholders, the federal attorney-general should seize this moment and lead national reform. The first priority is to introduce a federal bill – which could easily be based on the our model law. The attorney-general should also collaborates with the states and territories to harmonise Australian law on facial recognition.
This proposed reform is important on its own terms: we cannot allow facial recognition technologies to remain effectively unregulated. It would also demonstrate how Australia can use law to protect against harmful uses of new technology, while simultaneously incentivising innovation for public benefit.
Nicholas Davis is employed by the Human Technology Institute (HTI), which is part of the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). The Facial Recognition Model Law Project, to which this article refers, was undertaken by HTI, with funding from UTS and support from the UTS Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion. UTS has received donations from, among others, Microsoft, which provided a donation to the UTS Technology for Social Good program to advance work on responsible technology.
Edward Santow is employed by the Human Technology Institute (HTI), which is part of the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). The Facial Recognition Model Law Project, to which this article refers, was undertaken by HTI, with funding from UTS and support from the UTS Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion. UTS has received donations from, among others, Microsoft, which provided a donation to the UTS Technology for Social Good program to advance work on responsible technology.
From 2016-2021, Edward Santow served as the Human Rights Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC). As noted in this article, the AHRC undertook a major project on human rights and technology, which he led. It included consideration of facial recognition and other biometric technology.
Lauren Perry is employed by the Human Technology Institute (HTI), which is part of the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). The Facial Recognition Model Law Project, to which this article refers, was undertaken by HTI, with funding from UTS and support from the UTS Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion. UTS has received donations from, among others, Microsoft, which provided a donation to the UTS Technology for Social Good program to advance work on responsible technology.
She also previously worked at the Australian Human Rights Commission on the Human Rights and Technology Project.
As a Four Corners documentary on ABC TV earlier this year showed, parents and schools are struggling to manage this swift rise in vaping, with fears children are addicted and harming their health.
In contrast, very limited research about Australian teen vaping has been published, until today.
We have published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health the first results from the Generation Vape study. The study aims to to track teenagers’ knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours about using vapes (e-cigarettes).
Here’s what we found about where teenagers were accessing vapes and what types of products they use.
We surveyed more than 700 teenagers 14-17 years old from New South Wales. The sample was closely representative of the population, with key characteristics such as age, gender, location and education monitored throughout data collection.
We found teenagers are readily accessing and using illegal, flavoured, disposable vaping products that contain nicotine.
Among the teens surveyed, 32% had ever vaped, at least a few puffs. Of these, more than half (54%) had never previously smoked.
We found most teens (70%) didn’t directly buy the last vape they used. The vast majority (80%) of these got it from their friends.
However, for the 30% who did buy their own vape, close to half (49%) bought it from a friend or another individual, and 31% bought it from a retailer such as a petrol station, tobacconist or convenience store.
Teens also said they bought vapes through social media, at vape stores and via websites.
Of the teens who had ever vaped and reported the type of device they used, 86% had used a disposable vape. This confirms anecdotal reports.
These devices appeal to young people and are easy to use. They do not require refilling (unlike tank-style vaping products) and are activated by inhaling on the mouthpiece.
Disposable vapes can contain hundreds, or even thousands of puffs, and are inexpensive, with illicit vapes from retail stores costing between $20-$30, or as little as $5 online.
This ‘Juicy Fruity’ disposable vape resembles Juicy Fruit chewing gum. Author provided
There is an enormous range of vape flavours likely to appeal to children – from chewing gum to fruit and soft drink, even desserts. So it is unsurprising teens rated “flavourings and taste” as the most important characteristic of vapes they used.
Disposable vapes often contain very high concentrations of nicotine, even those claiming to be nicotine-free. The way these products are made (using nicotine salts rather than the free-base nicotine you’d find in cigarettes) allows manufacturers to increase the nicotine concentration without causing throat irritation.
In our study, over half (53%) of the teens who had ever vaped said they had used a vape containing nicotine. Many, however, were unsure whether they had used a vape containing nicotine (27%).
All vaping products, irrespective of nicotine content, are illegal to sell to under 18s in Australia.
Today, disposable vapes containing nicotine can only be legally sold in Australia by pharmacies to adult users with a valid prescription.
Our results emphasise that teen vaping is increasingly normalised, and the most popular devices are designed to be highly appealing to young people. This is despite product manufacturers and proponents claiming they are smoking cessation aids only for adult smokers who are struggling to quit.
Turning the tide on teen vaping requires strong and immediate policy action, including ending the illicit importation and sale of vaping products.
Education is often the default first action to address unhealthy behaviours in young people. However, unless this is coupled with strong, supportive policy action, this approach is unlikely to have any measurable impact. Education campaigns cannot protect young people from an industry that so freely disregards laws meant to protect health.
We have strong evidence that vaping leads to harms such as poisoning, injuries, burns, toxicity, addiction and lung injury. The odds of becoming a smoker is more than three times higher for never-smokers who vape than for never-smokers who don’t vape.
This study uses data from the first wave of the Generation Vape research project, a three-year study with Australian teenagers, young adults, parents and guardians of teenagers, and secondary school teachers.
It is funded by the Cancer Council NSW, federal Department of Health and Ageing, NSW Ministry of Health, Cancer Institute NSW and the Minderoo Foundation.
Future waves of this repeat cross-sectional study, coupled with in-depth interviews, will allow us to track and monitor changes to adolescent, young adult, teacher, and parent attitudes, perceptions, and knowledge of vaping over time.
Vaping is a rapidly evolving public health crisis in Australia. Our research provides evidence for concerted policy action to prevent young people from accessing harmful and addictive products.
Failure to act will see a whole new generation of Australians addicted to dangerous products.
Christina Watts has received funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, NSW Ministry of Health, Cancer Council NSW, Cancer Institute NSW and the Minderoo Foundation.
Becky Freeman has received funding from Healthway WA, NSW Health, Australian Government of Health, Cancer Institute NSW, Ian Potter Foundation, Mindaroo Foundation, NHMRC, WHO, Cancer Council, Cancer Council NSW, Cancer Council WA, and Heart Foundation NSW. She was an expert member of the NHMRC Electronic Cigarettes Working Committee (2020-2022). She is an expert advisor to the National Tobacco Issues Committee.
Sam Egger has received funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, NSW Ministry of Health, Cancer Council NSW, Cancer Institute NSW and the Minderoo Foundation.
After decades of foot-dragging on climate change, Australia has finally put significant commitments in national legislation. It joins other countries such as Canada and the United States that also recently took big new legal steps.
The new laws may still not be enough, but they mark real progress. Yet, will such progress last or be short-lived?
As we saw with Australia’s carbon price law, which passed in 2011, a change of government can lead to a change in direction. And that direction may be broadly backwards.
For this reason I have, in recent research, called for a new kind of commitment to climate change mitigation: a set of clear numeric targets entrenched in our highest laws, namely our constitutions. Constitutions spell out our most sacrosanct commitments. They are hard to budge once enacted.
At the moment, the focus of constitutional change in Australia is on the recognition of Indigenous people in the First Nations Voice to Parliament – as it should be.
But we must also look over the horizon to the next challenges. After the Voice, climate change commitments should be the next urgent constitutional reform. The republic can wait; climate change cannot.
What would it look like?
An ongoing emergency like climate change calls for an unwavering set of policy solutions well into the future. But a long-term policy – such as a target year for net-zero emissions – may struggle in a democratic system that can promise only occasional and precarious environmental protection.
Entrenching such policies in our national, state or territorial constitutions may help firm up our commitments to resolute action. But that depends on what constitutional climate action looks like.
Ideally it should specify a carbon emissions reduction target – as a minimum or “floor” – and a process for ratcheting up the target over time (similar to the international Paris Agreement). There should also be new enforcement bodies to review the carbon budgets of Australian governments.
On the one hand, if we took these constitutional steps we would be in good company. A majority of national constitutions already protect the environment. On the other, what I suggest here goes beyond most past examples. Most have been decidedly vague.
South Africa’s Bill of Rights, for instance, guarantees everyone the “right (a) to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being; and (b) to have the environment protected”.
Elsewhere, we see rights to a “healthy” environment, or obligations to “protect and improve” the environment.
Unfortunately, these constitutional laws reflect only broad aspirations. They don’t always lead to meaningful environmental protection. This is largely because short-term, myopic economic concerns often act as counterweights blocking effective environmental action. South Africa itself provides one example where courts balance environmental ideals in the constitution against economic factors.
What I call “fixed constitutional commitments” are precise constitutional guarantees, like carbon reduction targets. Since they fix a specific quantity of commitment, they can be resistant to the judicial balancing that usually neuters environmental constitutional clauses.
Precedents abroad, and even in Australia
While this idea is largely novel, it has some precedents. Bhutan, Kenya and New York State each specify a minimum amount of forest coverage. On this, New York was the trailblazer: the state’s constitutional protections for forests date back to 1894.
Just last year in Australia, Victoria constitutionally entrenched a ban on fracking. To do this Victoria used a simple legislative process for constitutional entrenchment available to each state under the Australia Act 1986.
This makes Victoria one of a handful of jurisdictions that have also set precise environmental targets in constitutional law. In this case, a commitment to zero fracking.
After the Victorian constitutional reform, one opposition member raised an important objection: that putting environmental policy in the constitution takes it out of the democratic sphere.
This is true to an extent. But there are important responses.
First, fixed constitutional commitments may correct failures of democracy. Elected representatives often represent the preferences of citizens on the environment weakly, at best.
And despite overwhelming popular support for a strong response to the climate emergency, many politicians worldwide oppose such responses – and not because they know better. Many believe their real constituents to be the businesses and other interests that underwrite electoral campaigns.
Moreover, the “climate wars” have long held Australia in legal limbo. We can’t take significant action on the climate as long as politicians can’t agree for long about what actions to take.
Before a community can begin to hash out new policy, it has to settle its basic policy priorities – such as net-zero carbon emissions by a given year. A democracy that’s stuck at the priority-setting stage can’t go on to work out the details of policy. And deliberation about policy details is where most of our democratic activity generally lies.
Fixing democratic failures on the environment
There has been much talk in recent years about whether the world’s remaining democracies are too prone to division, and too weak to take action against long-term problems.
Can democratic systems still adequately address challenges – such as climate change – almost tailor-made for disinformation, political polarisation and gridlock? Or do we need new tools to avoid the policymaking quagmires that have so often kept democracies from tackling complex problems?
The best solutions will invent new ways of getting things done while preserving, and even improving, democracy. Fixed constitutional commitments on climate change may demonstrate a democratic society can indeed remain responsive to our most complex and urgent problems.
Employers will have duty “to take reasonable and proportionate measures” to eliminate sex discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation as far as possible in workplaces, under legislation to be introduced on Tuesday.
The Albanese government is moving to implement seven legislative changes recommended by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins in her Respect@Work report which were not undertaken by the Morrison government in its response.
The former government was particularly reluctant to impose the positive obligation on employers.
Labor’s bill will charge the Australian Human Rights Commission with assessing and enforcing compliance with this new requirement. The commission will be able to give employers compliance notices if they are not meeting their obligations.
The legislation will expressly prohibit conduct that results in a hostile workplace environment on the basis of sex.
Commonwealth public sector organisations must also report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency on gender equality indicators.
The Jenkins report said a commission survey in 2018 “showed that sexual harassment in Australian workplaces is widespread and pervasive. One in three people experienced sexual harassment at work in the past five years”.
The survey found “almost two in five women (39%) and just over one in four men (26%) have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace in the past five years.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were more likely to have experienced workplace sexual harassment than people who are non-Indigenous (53% and 32% respectively).”
In her report, Jenkins called on employers to create “safe, gender-equal and inclusive workplaces”. She said this would need “a shift from the current reactive model, that requires complaints from individuals, to a proactive model, which will require positive actions from employers”.
The government said in a statement that its bill was part of its broader work to promote gender equality, “recognising that achieving women’s economic equality includes making sure women are safe at work.”
Separately, Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke is having a prohibition of sexual harassment put in the Fair Work Act.
On the eve of the US Pacific Islands Summit in Washington, a key ally in the region called off a scheduled negotiating session for a treaty Washington views as an essential hedge against China in the region.
The Marshall Islands and the United States negotiators were scheduled for the third round of talks this weekend to renew some expiring provisions of a Compact of Free Association when leaders in Majuro called it off, saying the lack of response from Washington on the country’s US nuclear weapons testing legacy meant there was no reason to meet.
Marshall Islands leaders have repeatedly said the continuing legacy of health, environmental and economic problems from 67 US nuclear tests from 1946-1958 must be satisfactorily addressed before they will agree to a new economic package with the US.
Washington sees the Compact treaties with the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau, which stretch across an ocean area larger than the continental US, as key to countering the expansion of China in the region.
“The unique security relationships established by the Compacts of Free Association have magnified the US power projection in the Indo-Pacific region, structured US defense planning and force posture, and contributed to essential defense capabilities,” said a new study released September 20 in Washington, DC by the United States Institute of Peace, “China’s Influence on the Freely Associated States of the Northern Pacific.”
China’s naval expansion is increasing the value of the US relationship with the freely associated states (FAS).
The freely associated states stretch across an ocean area in the north Pacific that is larger than the continental United States and are seen by Washington as a key strategic asset. Image: United States Institute of Peace/RNZ
China’s blue water ambitions China’s naval expansion is increasing the value of the US relationship with the freely associated states (FAS).
“The value of the buffer created by US strategic denial over FAS territorial seas is poised to increase as China seeks to make good on its blue water navy ambitions and to deepen its security relationships with Pacific nations,” said the report whose primary authors were Admiral (Ret.) Philip Davidson, Brigadier-General (Ret.) and David Stilwell, former US Congressman from Guam Dr Robert Underwood.
The Runit Dome was constructed on Marshall Islands Enewetak Atoll in 1979 to temporarily store radioactive waste produced from nuclear testing by the US military during the 1950s and 1960s. Image: RNZ
“As Washington seeks to limit the scope of Beijing’s influence in the Indo-Pacific in concert with regional partners, the US-FAS relationship functions as a key vehicle for reinforcing regional norms and democratic values.”
US and Marshall Islands negotiators have both said they hope for a speedy conclusion to the talks as the existing 20-year funding package expires on September 30, 2023. But the nuclear test legacy is the line in the sand for the Marshall Islands.
“The entire Compact Negotiation Committee agreed — don’t go,” said Parliament Speaker Kenneth Kedi, who represents Rongelap Atoll, which was contaminated with nuclear test fallout by the 1954 Bravo hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll and other weapons tests.
“It is not prudent to spend over $100,000 for our delegation to travel to Washington with no written response to our proposal. We are negotiating in good faith. We submitted our proposal in writing.” But he said on Friday, “there has been no answer or counter proposal from the US.”
US and Marshall Islands officials had been aiming to sign a “memorandum of understanding” at the summit as an indication of progress in the discussions, but that now appears off the table.
US Pacific summit Marshall Islands President David Kabua, who is currently in the US following a speech to the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday last week, is scheduled to participate in the White House-sponsored US Pacific Islands Summit on September 28-29.
Kabua, while affirming in his speech at the UN that the Marshall Islands has a “strong partnership” with the US, added: “It is vital that the legacy and contemporary challenges of nuclear testing be better addressed” (during negotiations on the Compact of Free Association). “The exposure of our people and land has created impacts that have lasted – and will last – for generations.”
The Marshall Islands submitted a proposed nuclear settlement agreement to US negotiators during the second round of talks in July. The US has not responded, Kedi and other negotiating committee members said Friday in Majuro.
In response to questions about the postponement of the planned negotiating session, the State Department released a brief statement through its embassy in Majuro.
“With respect to the Compact Negotiations, which are ongoing, both sides continue to work diligently towards an agreement,” the statement said. “Special Presidential Envoy for Compact Negotiations, Ambassador Joe Yun, is expected to meet with President Kabua while he is in Washington to continue to advance the discussions.”
While the Marshall Islands decision to cancel its negotiating group’s attendance at a scheduled session in Washington is a blow to the Biden administration’s efforts to fast-track approval of the security and economic agreement for this strategic North Pacific area, island leaders continue to describe themselves as part of the “US family.”
“The cancellation of the talks indicates the seriousness of this issue for the Marshall Islands,” said National Nuclear Commission Chairman Alson Kelen. “This is the best time for us to stand up for our rights.”
‘Fair and just’ nuclear settlement For decades, the Pacific Island Forum countries that will be represented at this week’s leader’s summit in Washington have stood behind the Marshall Islands in its quest for a fair and just nuclear settlement, said Kelen, who helped negotiators develop their plan submitted recently to the US government for addressing lingering problems of the 67 nuclear tests.
“We live with the problem (from the nuclear tests),” said Kelen, a displaced Bikini Islander. “We know the big picture: bombs tested, people relocated from their islands, people exposed to nuclear fallout, and people studied. We can’t change that. What we can do now is work on the details for this today for the funding needed to mitigate the problems from the nuclear legacy.”
Kedi said he was tired of US attempts to argue over legal issues from the original Compact of Free Association’s nuclear test settlement that was approved 40 years ago before the Marshall Islands was an independent nation.
That agreement, which provided a now-exhausted $150 million nuclear compensation fund, was called “manifestly inadequate” by the country’s Nuclear Claims Tribunal, which over a two-decade period determined the value of claims to be over $3 billion.
“Bottom line, the nuclear issue needs to be addressed,” Kedi said.
“We need to come up with a dignified solution as family members. I’ve made it clear, once these key issues are addressed, we are ready to sign the Compact tomorrow.”
President Kabua is scheduled to participate in the White House-sponsored US Pacific Islands Summit on September 28-29.
Meanwhile, the members of his Compact negotiating team are in Majuro waiting for a response from the US government to their proposal to address the nuclear legacy.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
A Wellington tauira (scholar) has launched a petition calling for Aotearoa New Zealand’s Reserve Bank to replace the monarch in the next redesign of coins and notes, with images that better represent the country.
Rangatahi Māori, Te Matahiapo Safari Hynes (Rangitāne, Ngāti Kahungunu) said it was a chance for New Zealand to think about the role of the monarchy, and the currency was a good start.
“I think these are the sorts of things we should start thinking about — what are the different things that colonisation and the Crown has entrenched over the years that we can perhaps start to pick at, and that we can perhaps start to peel back on?”
Hynes said although these kinds of conversations had already been happening for a long time, the accession of King Charles III had provided an opportunity.
“There are times where [these conversations] will come into the public eye for a short span, and they’ll dominate the headlines for a little time, and then they’ll go back, and they’ll come back eventually when something else happens,” he said.
The #ourownmoney campaign asks the Reserve Bank “to reconsider ensuring our money represents us as a country, that the people and the symbols on our money are people that are from here, that come from these places, have been in this country, even at a minimum have lived in this country.”
Hynes hoped to honour the people who had contributed to New Zealand, and showcase more New Zealand symbols.
Historical figures, blossoms “We have so many people in our country’s history that have paved the way for us to be where we are today and how we will be in the future. This is an opportunity to acknowledge and recognise their hard work,” the petition says.
He suggested using figures like Dame Whina Cooper, Eva Rickard or Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia on the $20 note. He also proposes putting native plants like kōwhai blossom, harakeke, or kawakawa on the coins.
A constitutional scholar who has participated in the Māori Constitutional Convention, Hynes waited until after the Queen’s funeral to launch his petition, out of respect.
He said the currency conversation is one New Zealand could have without going into the immediate and impulsive calls for a republic, which he believed was a much bigger and more nuanced conversation.
“I’m sceptical of people who are attempting to push a kind of republic-based agenda because they perhaps think in some technical way Māori rights can be extinguished.”
The Reserve Bank has already signalled the next redesign will feature King Charles III, but the change is still a long way off. It will take several years before coins featuring Queen Elizabeth II are replaced, and even longer for the $20 note to change.
“We manufacture these notes infrequently and do not plan to destroy stock or shorten the life of existing banknotes just because they show the Queen. This would be wasteful and poor environmental practice,” the Reserve Bank said.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
“Una vittoria storica” – a historic victory. That’s how the website of one of Italy’s major newspapers, the Corriere della Sera, reacted to the exit polls released after voting closed in Italy’s general election on Sunday night.
With a predicted vote share of between 40-45%, the right-wing coalition led by Giorgia Meloni looks on course to secure at least 230 of the 400 seats in the Lower House, giving it a clear majority.
Meloni’s party, Brothers of Italy, was the big winner on the right, with various agencies estimating it at around 25% of the vote. This was more than the combined total of her two main allies, as Matteo Salvini’s League was tipped to receive approximately 8-9%, with former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia just below that.
In just four years, Brothers of Italy has gone from minor to major player on the right. In 2018, they took 4.4% compared to the League’s 17.4% and Forza Italia’s 14%. And, if we look further back, Italy’s right-wing coalition has moved from having been dominated for over 20 years by a centre-right populist party (Forza Italia), to being dominated now by a far-right populist one (Brothers of Italy).
Brothers of Italy’s victory represents several firsts. Italy will have its first woman prime minister. And both Italy and Western Europe will have their first far-right majority government since the fall of Mussolini and the end of the Second World War.
Who is Giorgia Meloni?
Meloni’s trajectory owes much to that history. Beginning as an activist of the post-fascist Italian Social Movement in the Roman working-class district of Garbatella in the early 1990s, Meloni rose to prominence in a political milieu that didn’t deny its heritage.
She stated in an interview with French TV in 1996 that Mussolini was a “good politician” and “all that he did, he did for Italy”.
While Meloni now says Italy has consigned fascism to history, vestiges of her party’s political roots remain. For example, the flame in the party’s symbol is taken from the post-fascist Italian Social Movement, and there have been recent instances of its politicians and supporters performing fascist salutes.
Meloni and her party’s success can be traced back to Berlusconi’s entry into politics in 1994. His centre-right Forza Italia movement legitimised two smaller radical right parties (the northern regionalist League and the National Alliance) by bringing them into a coalition that easily won that year’s general election.
The coalition that will soon take power almost 30 years later contains the same three ingredients, but their internal balances have now drastically changed.
While some commentators focus on the continuity the new government will represent, there’s a historic change here. The pendulum on the right has shifted from Berlusconi’s centre-right populist governments with a far-right edge in the 1990s and 2000s, to Meloni’s far-right populist government with a centre-right edge in 2022.
What do these results mean for Italian politics?
Within the overall success of the right, there are winners and losers. Meloni is obviously the former, and Salvini is the latter.
Salvini is the politician who, having revitalised his party between 2013 and 2019, has now overseen a huge fall in its support from over 35% in the polls in July 2019 to under 10% today. Only the lack of an obvious successor may save Salvini from losing his party’s leadership.
For the main party on the Left, the Democratic Party, it’s yet another bad day. Having dropped to under 20% in the 2018 general election, they look unlikely to do much better than that this time. Their failure to find a campaign narrative beyond “stop the far right” and to create a broader coalition underlined the strategic ineptitude that has long undermined the Italian left.
Another “first” of this election is the turnout, which has slipped below two-thirds for the first time in Italian post-war history, declining from 73% in 2018 to 64% in 2022. This speaks to the image of a country in which large swathes of the population, especially in the South, are disillusioned with decades of politicians who have promised the earth and delivered little.
In economic and foreign policy terms, Italy may not change much in the short-term. Meloni will be keen to show Italian and international elites that she’s a responsible leader. Powerful domestic interest groups, such as the employers’ federation “Confindustria”, must be kept onside. As must the European Union which supports Italy through its post-COVID recovery plan.
But much could change for the far-right’s “enemies of the people”: ethnic, religious and sexual minorities; immigrants; and those judges, intellectuals, and journalists who dare to criticise the new regime.
Things will also change for those far-right Italians who, as Meloni recently put it, have had to “keep their head down for so many years and not say what they believed”. So, while the Brothers of Italy’s conservation of the post-fascist flame may be more smoke than fire for some groups, for others it will be incendiary.
Duncan McDonnell receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
Sofia Ammassari does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent announcement of a “partial mobilisation” of 300,000 Russian personnel to fight in Ukraine sounded decisive. It isn’t.
The official position, fleshed out by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, was that the new Russian conscripts would be drawn from those with past military experience and individuals with special skills.
But the reality is that this is policy on the fly. It will result in a flood of untrained, often elderly and infirm Russians to the front lines. At best it will buy Putin time over another cold Ukrainian winter. At worst it will result in battlefield chaos and potentially mass slaughter.
Either way, the decision means that still more Russians, as well as Ukrainian military personnel and civilians, will be sacrificed on the altar of Putin’s hubris.
Putin’s haphazard call-up
Paradoxically, Putin’s call-up is at once both highly selective and seemingly random.
Russia’s ethnic minorities – many of whom live far from the main power centres of Moscow and St Petersburg – remain primary objects of Russian mobilisation efforts. In particular, Buryats from Russia’s Far East and Dagestanis from the Caucasus have been disproportionately targeted.
Meanwhile, Putin continues to insulate urban elites, who might cause him the most problems if they become radically opposed to the war. Those studying at Russia’s state universities, typically the privileged children of Putin’s “nomenklatura” who will go on to become the next generation of bureaucrats, are exempt from mobilisation.
But those in the second rank of private education institutions, frequently from Russia’s regions, are eligible to be conscripted into private military companies such as the infamous Wagner group, led by “Putin’s chef” Yevgenyi Progozhin.
So much for arguments, then, from domestic nationalists that Russia is the “Third Rome”, peacefully uniting people from different ethnicities and creeds. In fact, as has been the case repeatedly in Russian history, the nation’s minorities continue to be regarded as objects of suspicion and potential dissent, and used as replaceable labour or cannon fodder in Russia’s wars.
There are also signs little thought has gone into who gets called up, and why. Some local districts appear to be operating under a quota system, with police roaming public places and issuing call-ups to passers-by, including people over 60 and those with chronic health problems.
Elsewhere, anti-war demonstrators – as well as innocent bystanders – have been arrested and immediately drafted into the military.
Some 261,000 Russian males are estimated to have fled the country. Draftees have been presented with ancient and poorly kept old military equipment, including rusty assault rifles.
Others called up in the Russian-occupied Donetsk province of Ukraine have been issued Mosin rifles, which were developed in the late 19th century and are no longer in production.
Why mobilisation?
All this is a recipe for military disaster. But there are clear reasons why Putin decided to agree to the mobilisation he had long resisted.
First, Russian hardliners have been calling for him to do more to support the armed forces and bring the campaign to a close. Having expended a large quantity of its precision-guided munitions, and failing to establish air superiority, it’s difficult for Russian forces to accurately strike Ukrainian command-and-control centres, as well as key infrastructure such as power generation.
Mobilising a huge force (which some claim will ultimately reach over a million people) is one way to show his hard-line domestic critics Putin is listening.
Second, a large portion of Russia’s armed forces (some 60-70% of its total conventional capacity) has already been committed to Ukraine, and is nearing exhaustion after seven months without respite. Sending new recruits to the theatre will allow Russian front-line forces to rest and regroup for a fresh effort in the European spring.
All this means Russian offensive operations in Ukraine are effectively on hold. The best that Putin’s conscript army can achieve is to act as a blocking force while Moscow tests European patience and willingness to bear the cost of diminished energy supplies.
At the same time, the Kremlin has upped the ante on its nuclear threats, strongly hinting it would consider using tactical nuclear weapons if the territory it holds in Ukraine’s East (which will be formally annexed by Russia after the sham referenda in four provinces) is attacked by Ukrainian forces.
But Putin’s statement that he is “not bluffing” on the nuclear question should hardly inspire confidence about the power of his position.
Increasingly his are the actions of a damaged leader seeking to convey strength.
A weakened Putin
That in itself raises a conundrum for both Ukraine and the West: might a weakened Putin decide to lash out, and at what point?
As Caitlin Talmadge, a senior expert on nuclear strategy in the United States has recently suggested, leaders faced with certain defeat can decide to take courses of action that might otherwise be irrational.
While using tactical nuclear weapons against Ukrainian (and even NATO) targets might be viewed by Putin as a bad option, he may come to view it as his least-worst one if the strategic situation continues to deteriorate, or if his own domestic power base comes under significant threat.
However, we should also be mindful that Western capitulation is precisely what Putin wants. That would starve Ukraine of vitally needed military supplies, as well as heavy weapons to push its advantage after the impressive gains from its counteroffensive around Kharkiv.
Putin has been consistent throughout the crisis in pursuing a strategy of compellence: to demonstrate to Ukraine and its Western backers that he has a higher appetite for risk.
Under those circumstances, and given both Ukrainian sovereignty and Western credibility are both on the line, it’s absolutely crucial Putin’s adversaries show him who actually occupies the position of strength.
Matthew Sussex has received funding from the Australian Research Council, the Fulbright Commission, the Carnegie Foundation and various Australian government agencies.
Optus, Australia’s second largest telecommunications company, announced on September 22 that identifying details of up to 9.8 million customers were stolen from their customer database.
The details, dating back to 2017, include names, birth dates, phone numbers, email addresses, and – for some customers – addresses and driver’s licence or passport numbers.
According to the Australian law, telecommunications providers are required to hold your data while you are their customer and for an additional two years, but may keep the data for longer for their own business purposes.
This means that if you are a previous customer of Optus, your data may also be involved – although it remains unclear how long the details of past customers have been held.
Optus has been contacting former and current customers to notify them of the data breach. The Conversation
The stolen data constitutes an almost complete suite of identity information about a significant number of Australians. Optus states they have notified those affected, but there are plenty of questions remaining.
What happens with your data next, and what can the average Australian do to protect against the threats caused by this unprecedented data breach?
Late last week, an anonymous poster on a dark web forum posted a sample of data ostensibly from the breach, with an offer not to sell the data if Optus pays a US$1 million ransom. While its legitimacy has not yet been verified, it is unlikely the attackers will delete the data and move on.
More likely, the data will be distributed across the dark net (sold at first, but eventually available for free). Cyber criminals use these data to commit identity theft and fraudulent credit applications, or use the personal information to gain your trust in phishing attacks.
Below, we outline several steps you can take to proactively defend yourself, and how to detect and respond to malicious uses of your data and identity.
What should I do if I’ve been affected?
Step 1: Identify your most vulnerable accounts and secure them
Make a list of your most vulnerable accounts. What bank accounts do you hold? What about superannuation or brokerage accounts? Do you have important medical information on any services that thieves may use against you? What accounts are your credit card details saved to? Amazon and eBay are common targets as people often keep credit card details saved to those accounts.
Next, check how a password reset is done on these accounts. Does it merely require access to your text messages or email account? If so, you need to protect those accounts as well. Consider updating your password to a new – never before used – password for each account as a precaution.
Many accounts allow multi-factor authentication. This adds an extra layer for criminals to break through, for example by requesting an additional code to type in. Activate multi-factor authentication on your sensitive accounts, such as banks, superannuation and brokerage accounts.
Ideally, use an application like Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator if the service allows, or an email that is not listed with Optus. Avoid having codes sent to your Optus phone number, as it’s at higher risk of being stolen.
Step 2: Lock your SIM card and credit card if possible
One of the most immediate concerns will be using the leaked data to compromise your phone number, which is what many people use for their multi-factor authentication. SIM jacking – getting a mobile phone provider to give access to a phone number they don’t own – will be a serious threat.
Most carriers allow you to add a verbal PIN as the second verification step, to prevent SIM jacking. While Optus has locked SIM cards temporarily, that lock is unlikely to last. Call your provider and ask for a verbal PIN to be added to your account. If you suddenly lose all mobile service in unusual circumstances, contact your provider to make sure you haven’t been SIM jacked.
To prevent identity theft, you can place a short-term freeze (or credit ban) on your credit checks. These can help stop criminals taking out credit in your name, but it makes applying for credit yourself difficult during the freeze. The three major credit report companies, Experian, Illion, and Equifax offer this service.
If you can’t freeze your credit because you need access yourself, Equifax offers a paid credit alert service to notify you of credit checks on your identity. If you get a suspicious credit alert, you can halt the process quickly by contacting the service that requested the report.
Safeguarding your data online involves looking after your passwords properly. Vitalii Vodolazskyi/Shutterstock
Step 3: Improve your cyber hygiene
These breaches don’t exist in a vacuum. The personal information stolen from Optus may be used with other information cyber criminals find about you online; social media, your employer’s website, discussion forums and previous breaches provide additional information.
Many people have unknowingly been victims of cyber breaches in the past. You should check what information about you is available to cyber criminals by checking HaveIBeenPwned. HaveIBeenPwned is operated by Australian security professional Troy Hunt, who maintains a database of known leaked data.
You can search your email accounts on the site to get a list of what breaches they have been involved in. Consider what passwords those accounts used. Are you using those passwords anywhere else?
Take extra care in verifying emails and text messages. Scammers use leaked information to make phishing attempts more credible and targeted. Never click links sent via text or email. Don’t assume someone calling from a company is legitimate, get the customer support number from their website, and call them on that number.
Creating unique and secure passwords for every service is the best defence you have. It is made easier using a password manager – many free apps are available – to manage your passwords. Don’t reuse passwords across multiple services, since they can be used to access other accounts.
If you aren’t using a password manager, you should at least keep unique passwords on your most vulnerable accounts, and avoid keeping digital records of them in email or in computer files while keeping any written passwords in a safe, secure, location.
I’ve been hacked, now what?
Sometimes you can do everything right, and still become a victim of a breach, so how do you know if you’ve been hacked and what can you do about it?
If you receive phone calls, emails or letters from financial institutions regarding a loan or service you know nothing about, call the institution and clarify the situation.
You should also contact IDCare, a not-for-profit organisation designed to assist victims of cyber-attacks and identity theft, for further guidance. You can also report cyber crimes – including identity theft – through CyberReport.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
When the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) was established almost a decade ago, it was envisaged people with disability would be empowered consumers. It was hoped their customer insights would shape new services designed to meet their specific needs and preferences.
But today’s market-based reality is that the National Disability Insurance Agency and its support providers are mostly still in control. In the worst examples, this has been linked to devastating abuse and alleged neglect of participants by support workers. Providers frequently see NDIS participants as a business “commodity”.
The disability sector has not prioritised obtaining and using data about what NDIS participants need and want, though there are notable exceptions like the Housing Seeker snapshot.
For our research, we conducted in-depth interviews with 12 people with acquired neurological disability, such as traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, stroke, or multiple sclerosis. When they spoke about what makes a good support worker, it wasn’t necessarily formal qualifications they were interested in – but rather how they were treated as people.
Disability support workers are the key frontline staff who assist people with daily living, employment, housing and community participation, and achieving their goals. Support work looks different depending on the complexity of the person’s needs, with some people requiring general daily supports but others needing high intensity supports.
Australia spends more than A$20 billion each year on disability support workers. The new Labor government has promised an NDIS reset to bring it closer to its original vision.
However, without an evidence-based approach, the government may be investing in poor quality services that do not meet the needs of participants. Investment in quality support will maximise independence and social and economic participation and reduce the long term liability of the scheme.
They told us that, first and foremost people with disability want support workers to recognise them as an individual, treat them as a person, and see them as the expert in their own support needs and preferences.
Charlie*, spoke to us after moving from poor quality support to good support and said
They didn’t know your name, treat you like you’re just a body in a bed […] Here they treat you like a person, they ask you what you want.
Participants stressed they want to choose and direct their support workers. While participants want support workers to have basic competencies, most importantly they value support workers’ attitude and willingness to listen and learn. Alex* said
Even if the rules seem ridiculous and over-exacting, if I say something’s important, just trust me that it’s important. Respect my perspective.
What participants want most, might not be what you think.
Participants wanted support workers they were compatible with, as compatibility fosters comfortable and respectful working relationships. Some participants valued this connection above and beyond formal qualifications or experience. Sarah* said
Never once have I asked to see her resume or her qualifications. I really don’t care what she’s got, I care about how we gelled.
Managing disability support was a job in itself, said participants. But systemic issues might mean participants feel “stuck” with support workers they don’t want to work with. Alex* expressed the common fear of not being able to find a better match.
You never know what the quality of the next person is going to be […] the energy required to train up and get used to a new person, is quite high. So, it has to get quite bad before I fire someone.
Participants we spoke to said service providers sometimes limited their opportunities to choose their own support workers.
However, the introduction of online matching platforms such as HireUp and Mable provide new avenues for people with disability to build support teams that work for them.
Having new options signifies growth in the disability sector, but we need to ensure there are sufficient options to reflect the diversity of people with disability, and ensure people are supported to make informed decisions within traditional services.
Having real choice over support arrangements and daily living is key to quality support.
But theoretical choice and control are useless if people are not supported and empowered. Solutions need to be led, co-designed and implemented by people with disability.
One recent example is Participant Led Videos. This initiative featured tools co-designed with NDIS participants to help them create personalised videos to direct their support. Further independent evaluation showed they were well-received and considered achievable by people with disabilities and support workers.
NDIS participant Terry provides insights into how support workers can help him.
Every participant is different
Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, our research identifies the need for support workers to get training specific to each person’s needs. Given the value of lived experience, it is imperative people with disability are part of the design and delivery of training for support workers.
With the new government, we have an exciting opportunity to put people with disability front and centre of the NDIS. In the words of Isabella*, people with disability should be
the one[s] calling all the shots. It’s my life – why the hell would anybody else call the shots.
*Names have been changed to protect participants’ identities.
Megan Topping’s doctoral research is supported by a postgraduate award through the Summer Foundation, Melbourne, Australia.
The Participant Led Video research was funded by the Innovative Workforce Fund (National Disability Services – https://workforce.nds.org.au/)
Jacinta Douglas is affiliated with the Summer Foundation through her Professorial role within the La Trobe University, Living with Disability, Summer Foundation Research Partnership.
In a landmark decision, a United Nations committee on Friday found Australia’s former Coalition government violated the human rights of Torres Strait Islanders by failing to adequately respond to the climate crisis.
The Torres Strait Islanders ‘Group of Eight’ claimed Australia failed to take measures such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and upgrading seawalls on the islands. The UN upheld the complaint and said the claimants should be compensated.
This decision is a breakthrough in Indigenous rights and climate justice, including by opening up new pathways for Indigenous communities – who are often on the frontline of the climate crisis – to defend their rights.
The Albanese government, which has stated its commitment to work with the Torres Strait on climate change, must now meet this moment of possibility and challenge.
The decision is a win for the Torres Strait Islanders who lodged the complaint with the UN – but it has far wider implications. Shutterstock
Why is this so significant?
Eight Torres Strait Islanders and six of their children lodged the complaint with the UN in 2019, saying climate change was damaging their way of life, culture and livelihoods.
It was the first time people from a low-lying island exposed to rising sea levels had taken action against a government.
The Torres Strait Islanders hailed from four islands – Boigu, Poruma, Warraber and Masig. In their complaint, they described how heavy rain and storms associated with climate change had devastated their homes and food crops. Rising seas had also flooded family grave sites.
Significantly, deep Indigenous cultural and ecological knowledge, rather than Western climate science, proved key to this UN decision. This marks a departure from broad international climate politics where Indigenous laws, cultures, knowledges and practices are often sidelined or underrepresented.
Major legal breakthrough for Indigenous rights
The UN human rights committee found Australia had failed to protect Torres Strait Islanders against the impacts of climate change and violated their right to enjoy their culture, and to be free from arbitrary interference to privacy, family and home.
These rights respectively form Article 27 and 17 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The complaint also argued on grounds of Article 6, the right to life, but this was not upheld.
In its decision, the UN considered Torres Strait Islanders’ close connection to traditional lands and the central place of healthy ecosystems for the maintenance of cultural practices. Connection to healthy country across land and seas as well as to culture, and the ability to maintain these, were determined to be human rights.
The committee said despite some action from Australia, such as new seawalls for the four islands by next year, additional measures were required to prevent potential loss of life.
Responding to the outcome, Yessie Mosby, one of the Group of Eight and a Traditional Owner of Masig said:
I know that our ancestors are rejoicing knowing that Torres Strait Islander voices are being heard throughout the world through this landmark case […] This win gives us hope that we can protect our island homes, culture and traditions for our kids and future generations to come.
ClientEarth lawyer Sophie Marjanac, who acted for the claimants, said the outcome set a number of precedents. Specifically, it’s the first time an international tribunal has found:
a country has violated human rights law through inadequate climate policy
a nation state is responsible for their greenhouse gas emissions under international human rights law
peoples’ right to culture is at risk from climate impacts.
The decision comes just months before this year’s COP27 climate talks in Egypt, and will add weight to growing international demands for loss and damages to be meaningfully included in international climate negotiations.
Among these are calls to include recognition of and compensation for kinds of loss and damage other than economic, such as health and wellbeing, ways of being, cultural sites and sacred places.
The decision is the first time an international tribunal has found peoples’ right to culture is at risk from climate impacts. Gabrielle Dunlevy/AAP
The rise of Indigenous rights climate litigation
The Torres Strait Islands claim is part of a rapidly growing climate litigation space. Globally, climate change-related cases doubled between 2015 and 2022.
National governments are a key target of legal action. This latest decision is likely to spark more such cases in Australia and elsewhere. As UN Committee member Hélène Tigroudja said when explaining the decision:
States that fail to protect individuals under their jurisdiction from the adverse effects of climate change may be violating their human rights under international law.
The Group of Eight’s win joins similar Australian cases involving Indigenous rights. In the Tiwi Islands, for example, Indigenous people succeeded in stopping a proposal by energy giant Santos to drill for gas offshore from their islands.
Meanwhile, Youth Verdict’s success in the Queensland Land Court ensured First Nations evidence of the impacts of climate change would be heard on Country in their case against Clive Palmer’s Waratah Coal mine.
How will the new Australian government respond?
The UN committee said the Australian government should compensate Torres Strait Islanders for the harms already suffered. They called for meaningful consultation with Torres Strait communities and measures to secure their safety, such as building seawalls.
So will the UN’s decision advance an Indigenous rights agenda in Australia as the climate crisis grows?
Attorney General Mark Dreyfus said the government will consider the decision and respond in due course.
The development puts the onus on the Albanese government to ensure Indigenous rights are upheld as part of climate policy and planning.
It also sends a clear signal that governments must act on climate change. This means not just reducing emissions, but helping more vulnerable regions to adapt to the damage already done.
Parents and students are currently making big decisions about next year.
Some will have just received or be about to receive offers of a selective school place for 2023. Other parents need to decide soon if they will apply for their children to sit selective schools tests next year for entry in 2024. Or if they should be looking at other high school options.
These decisions can seem overwhelming for families. What are some of the issues to consider?
What is selective school?
Selective schools are public high schools where students sit a competitive test to be accepted the year before entry.
They are mostly found in New South Wales, where there are about 50 schools. But there are small number in other states, including Queensland (years 7 to 12), Victoria (years 9 to 12) and Western Australia (7 to 12).
The success rate varies, but is is very competitive. For example, in NSW this. year, there were 15,660 applications for 4,248 places.
The pros and cons
Selective school places are highly sought-after – these schools feature prominently in the top schools for year 12 results. But they don’t have the fees of elite private schools.
Some students feel energised by the “best of the best” atmosphere in which they can focus and find similarly capable peers.
But there is an ongoing debate about whether they should exist in the first place. There is also an obvious focus on test performance, rather than the modern skills students need to learn such as collaboration, tech literacy and creativity.
And while academic streaming does seem to improve the performance of high achievers, it can harm the confidence of those who get in (as well as those who don’t). As Australian Catholic University education scholar Associate Professor Philip Parker has explained, selective schools can create a “big fish little pond” effect where students lose a realistic sense of where they fall within the full student achievement spectrum.
Even if students gain a place at selective school, they can find the competition counter-productive. Australian selective school students are increasingly speaking out about the mental health impacts of studying in a stressful, competitive environment.
Don’t forget tutoring
The Australian tutoring industry is huge, not just for parents seeking to improve their child’s performance in class, but in preparation for selective entry exams.
While the entry tests measure general literacy, maths and logic skills – and do not require study – many students undergo months or even years of expensive and often stressful tutoring to prepare.
A 2010 US study suggested tutoring and coaching for selective entry exams only had a moderate effect on student’s results, but this is far from conclusive. Given the competition to gain entry to these schools, students and their parents may be more confident knowing they’ve had tutoring. That confidence alone may improve their performance.
What should parents think about?
It’s understandable that parents might be confused. How do you know if the selective school is right for your child? Here are some issues to consider:
school culture: are the schools you are considering particularly competitive? Do they have an emphasis on other activities, away from exam marks? Do they encourage sport, music or creative arts? Do they emphasise mental health? Do they have programs to support students from diverse backgrounds and with diverse identities?
location: if your child is successful, will it mean a very long commute for them?
your child’s strengths: does your child enjoy school work and sitting tests? Or do their strengths lie in other, less traditionally academic areas?
your child’s temperament: does your child become anxious in testing situations, or do they enjoy the “performance” aspect of them?
your child’s opinion: is your child self-motivated to go to a selective school, or are you trying to convince them it’s “good” for them? If they are keen, giving them a chance – with the appropriate support – might help them decide.
tutoring: does your child want to do tutoring or exam preparation? Can you afford the fees and time if they do?
your child’s teacher: have you had conversations with your child’s teachers? Do they believe your child has the academic aptitude and emotional capacity to thrive in a selective school environment?
Daniel X. Harris receives funding from the Australian Research Council Future Fellowship scheme.
Illustration of DART before impact.NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben
On September 26 at 11.15pm UTC, NASA’s DART mission (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) will be the first to deliberately and measurably change the motion of a significant body in our Solar System. In other words, it will smash into an asteroid.
The mission will provide the first test of a technique that could be used in the future – to redirect any asteroids we detect on a collision course with Earth.
A binary pair of space rocks
DART was launched on November 24, 2021, its destination a pair of asteroids in orbit around each other, 11 million kilometres from Earth.
The larger asteroid in the pair is called Didymos and is 780 metres in diameter. The smaller asteroid, just 160 metres wide, is called Dimorphos. The two orbit each other at a distance of 1.18 kilometres, and one orbit takes close to 12 hours.
DART is expected to alter the orbit of the smaller asteroid. NASA/Johns Hopkins APL
These asteroids pose no risk to Earth and have been chosen as the target for DART partly due to that fact. But also, importantly, because the asteroids form a binary pair, it will be possible for astronomers on Earth to assess the results of the impact.
As the asteroids orbit each other, the sunlight reflected off them increases and decreases, varying systematically over the 12-hour cycle of the orbit. Astronomers using powerful telescopes from Earth can monitor this variation and see how it changes, from before to after the collision.
The physics sounds simple, and it is. Hit one thing with another thing to change its motion. But the mission execution is very complicated. When DART reaches the asteroids, it will be 11 million kilometres from Earth after a 10 month journey. The spacecraft has to use autonomous targeting, using images of the asteroids it acquires as it approaches.
DART needs to recognise the asteroids by itself, automatically lock onto Dimorphos, and adjust its trajectory to hit it. This is all while moving at a speed of nearly 24,000 kilometres per hour!
The results of the impact, while reasonably straightforward to measure, are difficult to predict. The size, shape, and composition of Dimorphos, and exactly where DART hits and how hard, will affect the outcome.
All these factors are uncertain to some degree. Comprehensive computer simulations of the impact have been undertaken, and the comparisons of the simulations, predictions, and measured results will be the main outcomes of the DART mission.
As well as the measurements from telescopes on Earth, an up-close view of the impact itself will be possible, from an Italian Space Agency CubeSat (a small type of satellite) called LICIACube that was deployed from a spring-loaded box aboard the craft on 11 September. LICIACube will follow along and photograph the collision and its aftermath.
The Lowell Discovery Telescope, located in northern Arizona, one of the facilities that will measure the impact of the DART collision. Lowell Observatory
The results will tell us a lot about the nature of asteroids and our ability to change their motions. In the future, this knowledge could be used to plan planetary defence missions that seek to redirect asteroids deemed to be a threat to the Earth.
An asteroid as small as 25 metres in diameter could produce injuries from an airburst explosion if it hit the atmosphere over a populated area. It is estimated that 5 million such objects exist in our Solar System and that we have discovered approximately 0.4% of them. Such a hit is estimated to occur once every 100 years. While quite frequent, the overall risk is low and the impact risk is relatively low too.
However, it is predicted there are 25,000 objects in the Solar System the size of Dimorphos, 39% of which are known, that hit Earth every 20,000 years. Such an object would cause mass casualties if it hit a populated area.
Asteroid statistics and the threats posed by asteroids of different sizes. NASA
Asteroids that could challenge the existence of human civilisation are in the 1 km plus size category, of which there are less than a thousand in the Solar System; they might hit Earth only every 500,000 years. We have already found 95% of these objects.
So, potential asteroid collisions with Earth range from the frequent but benign to the very rare but catastrophic. The DART tests are being undertaken in a very relevant and interesting size range for asteroids: those greater than 100 metres.
If DART is successful, it may set the scene for future missions that target asteroids, to nudge them out of the way of collisions with Earth. When an asteroid is a long way from Earth, only a small nudge is required to get it out of our way, so the earlier we can identify asteroids that are a potential threat, the better.
Are women as successful as men in securing a patent for their invention?
We set out to investigate gender bias in patent outcomes at IP Australia – the government agency responsible for administering intellectual property rights.
To do so, we analysed 309,544 patent applications from across a 15-year period (2001-2015), and categorised close to one million inventors’ names based on whether they sounded male or female.
We found that having a male-sounding first name increases the odds of securing a patent. This gender bias can have serious implications for women’s health, female career progression and equity policies in STEM. But what’s causing it?
Women are increasingly applying for patents
Patents provide a 20-year monopoly over a new invention and are a well-known measure of the output from STEM-based industries.
Global studies show the number of patent applications from female inventors (while still lower than the number from men) has grown significantly over the past 20 years. What has been less clear is whether these applications convert to granted patents.
The proportion of female inventors associated with patent applications worldwide has grown from 1915 to 2017. Intellectual Property Office UK, Gender Profiles in Worldwide Patenting: An Analysis of Female Inventorship (2019 edition)
Studies of data from the United States Patent and Trademark Office unfortunately reveal inventors with a female-sounding first name are less successful at having their patent granted than those with a male-sounding first name.
This is irrespective of the technical field and the gender of the patent examiner, and despite evidence that female inventor patents are just as good as male inventor patents.
We wanted to investigate whether a similar gender bias exists for patents filed at IP Australia, where most applications come from non-residents. Inventors who plan to operate internationally will often file in multiple jurisdictions, including filing in Australia.
So unlike studies of the US Patent and Trademark Office, where the majority of patents come from US residents, a study of patents at IP Australia reflects more worldwide applications.
A profile of 2020 patent applications to IP Australia. IP Australia
A gender gap persists
Our analysis of 309,544 patent applications submitted over 15 years found 90% of applications had at least one male inventor. Just 24% had at least one female inventor (typically as part of a mixed-gender team).
The percentage of applications per year, per team composition (male, female, ambiguous, unidentified).
We then examined whether these applications converted into a successful patent grant. We found inventors with a female-sounding first name had slightly lower odds of having their patent granted.
Also, as the number of males on a team increased, so did the odds of the team being granted a patent – whereas adding a female had a negligible impact. In other words, bigger teams of inventors had more patent success, unless the additional inventors had female-sounding names.
This graph shows the pattern that emerges when you vary the composition of a single-gender team. You can see more men increases chances of success, whereas more women does not. Author provided
But why is it like this?
One question for us was whether this gender disparity could be explained by the types of fields patents were being granted in, and whether women simply work in less “patentable” fields such as life sciences.
We found more than 60% of female inventors were clustered in just four of 35 technical fields (the 35 science categories recognised in patents). These were all in the life sciences: chemistry, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical technology.
We also found patents in three of these fields had a lower-than-average success rate. In other words, it’s generally harder to get a patent in these fields, regardless of whether you’re a woman or man.
Nevertheless, even after we statistically controlled for the effect of participating in a less successful field, we still found a gender disparity – male-named inventors did better than female-named inventors.
Women are responsible for some of the greatest inventions, yet inventorship remains a male-dominated field. We’ll have to fight historical biases against women if this is to change. Shutterstock
Women in STEM must be supported
The implications of women falling out of the patent system are significant for a number of reasons. For one, patents with female inventors are more likely to focus on female diseases.
Also, getting a patent can be important for career progression and for securing investment capital. And research has shown a lack of female inventors today impacts the rate at which girls aspire to be the inventors of tomorrow.
The next step in our research is to find out why there is a gender gap in successful patent applications.
We don’t believe it’s a simple case of gender bias at the patent office. We suspect the issues are complex, and related to the systemic and institutional biases that hold back women’s progress in STEM more generally.
Country and cultural differences may also be at play, particularly since more than 90% of patent applications received by IP Australia come from non-Australian inventors (and overwhelmingly from the United States).
We want to look deeper into our results to figure out what’s driving the gender disparity, and what we can do to support female inventors.
The first step in fixing a problem is acknowledging it exists. We hope our research starts a conversation that prompts people to reflect on their own biases.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nathan Bartlett, Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle
Vaccines (predominantly mRNA vaccines) have been our front-line defence against COVID and have saved millions of lives.
Despite the emergence of genetically distinct COVID variants throughout the pandemic, we’ve relied on vaccines that target the spike protein from the virus originally detected in Wuhan, China. While still providing excellent protection, mRNA vaccines are less effective against newer variants with immunity waning within months of immunisation.
Australia’s Omicron bivalent (two-strain) COVID vaccine has been approved for use and will be rolled out as stocks of the original vaccines need replacing.
While we hope they will provide better protection than existing vaccines, the little data we have so far suggests they only provide slightly better protection.
So, if you’re eligible for your fourth dose, it makes sense to get boosted with whichever COVID vaccine you’re offered now – rather than waiting until the Omicron-specific boosters enter circulation.
One key technological advance with mRNA vaccines is the ability to modify the mRNA sequence that encodes the spike protein in SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID). This means scientists can target the viral spike protein and respond to the viral variants currently circulating.
But it still takes time to manufacture a recalibrated mRNA vaccine, then test it, distribute it and get it into people’s arms.
Earlier in the pandemic, Moderna produced a bivalent vaccine that also targeted the Beta variant. Initial lab tests showed boosting with this variant-specific vaccine increased antibodies against Beta approximately two times better than the boost provided by the original vaccine.
However development was discontinued because Beta was replaced by other COVID variants.
As long as SARS-CoV-2 evolves, keeping up with it is going to remain a challenge for variant-specific vaccines.
So how do scientists determine if bivalent vaccines work better than existing vaccines?
The gold standard is a clinical trial that assesses protection from disease. Early in the pandemic when few people had immunity to SARS-CoV-2, this was relatively straight forward. Starting with a baseline of no immunity makes it easier to design a trial to assess the protection provided by vaccines.
The situation is a lot more complicated now, with much of the world’s population vaccinated, previously infected or both – often multiple times.
Measuring relative effectiveness in a clinical trial comparing two vaccines in such a diverse population exposed to unpredictable waves of infection requires large numbers of study participants – and lots of time and money.
As an alternative, we can examine indicators of protection. Antibodies are generated by the immune system when we’re exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, either via vaccination or infection. The aim is to generate lots of antibodies that bind to the surface of the spike protein and stop the virus infecting cells.
Scientists can recruit study participants who know their vaccination and infection history and take their baseline antibody levels. Then they can be boosted with either the standard mRNA vaccine or the variant-modified bivalent vaccine. The level of virus-neutralising antibodies in the blood can then be assessed in the lab after boosting.
How effective is the Omicron booster?
The Moderna COVID bivalent booster targets the ancestral virus and Omicron BA.1 subvariant. It has been approved for use in Australia and will be rolled out when our stocks of existing Moderna boosters have been exhausted.
The bivalent vaccine will then be offered to adults who are due to have their third or fourth doses.
Lab-based studies assessing antibody responses suggest the bivalent vaccine offers 1.5 to 2 times improved immunity over the boost provided by the original vaccine.
However, it’s unclear how much better they will be than existing boosters at protecting people from disease, particularly given BA.1 has been replaced by Omicron sub-variants. These have several mutations that distinguish them from BA.1 and so the bivalent Omicron vaccine is no longer a perfect match.
To try and understand vaccine effectiveness in the absence of a dedicated clinical trial, researchers can model the relationship between lab-based antibody studies and previous clinical trials to predict how well new vaccines will protect from disease.
This type of analysis shows the original vaccine is quite good at restoring protection against disease caused by different variants when given as a booster.
Variant-modified vaccines such as the newly approved Omicron booster are predicted to improve that by 5–10%, depending on the variant and level of existing immunity. This might seem like a small improvement but it could mean additional lives saved.
That said, you are at much greater risk of disease if it has been several months since your last booster. That’s why it’s best to get boosted as soon as you’re eligible, rather than waiting for an Omicron-specific booster.
The government has accepted the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) advice to wait until current Moderna booster stocks run out before putting the bivalent Omicron boosters into circulation.
This seems like the right call, given the Omicron boosters probably offer only a modest improvement in protection against the Omcicron sub-variants currently circulating.
In the future we might see annual COVID boosters adapted to the currently circulating strains or predicted strains, like season flu shots. There appears to be a desire to do this in the United States with the Federal Drug Administration fast-tracking authorisation of booster mRNA vaccines that target the Omicron BA.4/BA.5 subvariants, before data is available on how well they work.
Rather than constantly updating COVID vaccines, an alternative approach is to develop a “variant-proof” vaccine that targets multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants. We could combine this with treatments like nose sprays that stimulate immunity against a range of viruses.
For now, bivalent vaccines work as well, if not a little better, than the original vaccines so transitioning to them makes sense.
Nathan Bartlett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Spring has arrived in Australia’s Snowy Mountains. The snow is starting to melt. Wildflowers are emerging in a variety of colours: blues, yellows, whites … hang on. Those aren’t white flowers. They’re scrunched up bits of toilet paper left behind by skiers, boarders and snow-shoers.
When you think of backcountry snow adventures, you think of pristine wilderness. But unfortunately, there’s a problem: what to do with your poo. Many backcountry adventurers just squat, drop and don’t stop. The result, as we saw ourselves on an overnight ski trip, is a surprisingly large amount of poo and toilet paper. It’s become a bigger problem in recent years, as backcountry trips have boomed in places like the Main Range section of the Snowy Mountains.
Our new research explores this issue to find out how to better protect these wild areas. We surveyed backcountry visitors to Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales and found a minority of visitors were carrying out their waste from overnight trips, as recommended. To combat the alpine poo scourge, we recommend building more toilets in strategic locations, making their location readily known, and giving out poo transport bags at entry points and gear shops.
If you’re sceptical, take heart – it wasn’t so long ago many people believed dog owners would never agree to scoop up their pet’s poo and bin it. But for the most part, they did.
As the snow melts, it can carry poo down to watercourses or lakes like Blue Lake in the popular Main Range section of the Snowy Mountains. Shutterstock
So what are you meant to do with snow poo?
You might wonder why this matters. After all, aren’t our snow-covered mountains full of possums, wombats and wallabies, all of which poo? And can’t you bury your poo, like you can in other parts of Australia? The problem here is the snow. Human poo deposited in winter won’t decompose until spring. In popular areas, poo and toilet paper can pile up, which is an unpleasant visual for other visitors. And as the snow melts, it can carry poo into creeks, depositing cold-resistant viruses, bacteria like E. coli, and parasites such as giardia. If another skier eats contaminated snow or drinks the stream water, they can be infected.
That’s why backcountry visitors to Kosciuszko National Park are urged to carry out their poo in biodegradable bags or a home made poo tube (basically a sealable plastic pipe).
This, our survey of 258 visitors found, is not hugely popular. Only a third of highly experienced skiers on multi-day trips carry their poo out, while only a fifth of less experienced visitors did the same.
The options our multi-day skiers preferred were using a toilet at a hut, if available, or burying poo in the snow. This is not ideal – if you can’t carry it out, it’s preferable to bury it in exposed soil (ideally, at least 50 metres away from any water courses). Some visitors reported covering their waste with rocks.
Day visitors largely used toilets at the entry and exit points or at a resort, though around 10% reported burying their poo in the snow or using toilets at huts.
This means overall compliance with the carry-it-out policy is low.
But as one longtime backcountry visitor points out, it’s not actually hard – or disgusting – to carry it out:
It was easy. It was the most satisfying experience I have had, knowing that I had left no trace for the entire journey; the view, the ground, the creeks, the plants had been left unspoilt. No-one would have ever known I had been there. Carrying and taking it out went without mishap and finally disposing of my waste was not a problem.
People prefer toilets as a tried and true method of removing poo. Installing new toilets is the most effective way to prevent open defecation. The problem is where to put them. Installing toilets in remote areas is a delicate matter, as many visitors may see them as taking away from the natural experience which is the major drawcard for backcountry visitors. It’s also expensive to maintain toilets in the snow, as they require helicopters or trucks to pump out the waste.
Other options include digging pit latrines, disposing of it into crevasses, burying in soil, snow or rocks, leaving it on the ground, burning it, or carrying it out in poo tubes or biodegradable bags. You can see why park authorities prefer carrying it out.
Toilets are the gold standard – but they’re hard to come by in remote areas of Kosciuszko National Park. Shutterstock
So how can we make it more inviting for visitors to pack their poo? Clearly, the present messaging isn’t fully effective. It’s time for a new approach, especially given the numbers of people heading to the backcountry is growing.
We recommend a two-pronged approach: better communication and targeted infrastructure at entry points.
Friends, websites and outdoor recreation clubs are important sources of information about how to undertake a backcountry trip. To harness these sources, parks authorities could work with the wider backcountry community on the issue, with simple, targeted messages.
By itself, messaging won’t be enough. That’s why we need more and improved toilets – and bins – at key locations, to make it as easy as possible for visitors to do the right thing with their poo.
Authorities should also make these locations clearly known on visitor maps and online, as well as making biodegradable bags or poo tubes available at entry points, information centres and gear shops.
If we get this right, backcountry skiers will once again be able to enjoy the wildflowers. Let’s aim for spring has sprung – not spring has dung.
Pascal Scherrer has conducted research that has received funding from the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and has served on Regional Advisory Boards of the NPWS.
Isabelle Wolf has conducted research that has received funding from the University of Wollongong and the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS)
Jen Smart conducts research that receives funding from New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Hawkweed Eradication Program and the University of Wollongong.
Parents and students are currently making big decisions about next year.
Some will have just received or be about to receive offers of a selective school place for 2023. Other parents need to decide soon if they will apply for their children to sit selective schools tests next year for entry in 2024. Or if they should be looking at other high school options.
These decisions can seem overwhelming for families. What are some of the issues to consider?
What is selective school?
Selective schools are public high schools where students sit a competitive test to be accepted the year before entry.
They are mostly found in New South Wales, where there are about 50 schools. But there are small number in other states, including Queensland (years 7 to 12), Victoria (years 9 to 12) and Western Australia (7 to 12).
The success rate varies, but is is very competitive. For example, in NSW this. year, there were 15,660 applications for 4,248 places.
The pros and cons
Selective school places are highly sought-after – these schools feature prominently in the top schools for year 12 results. But they don’t have the fees of elite private schools.
Some students feel energised by the “best of the best” atmosphere in which they can focus and find similarly capable peers.
But there is an ongoing debate about whether they should exist in the first place. There is also an obvious focus on test performance, rather than the modern skills students need to learn such as collaboration, tech literacy and creativity.
And while academic streaming does seem to improve the performance of high achievers, it can harm the confidence of those who get in (as well as those who don’t). As Australian Catholic University education scholar Associate Professor Philip Parker has explained, selective schools can create a “big fish little pond” effect where students lose a realistic sense of where they fall within the full student achievement spectrum.
Even if students gain a place at selective school, they can find the competition counter-productive. Australian selective school students are increasingly speaking out about the mental health impacts of studying in a stressful, competitive environment.
Don’t forget tutoring
The Australian tutoring industry is huge, not just for parents seeking to improve their child’s performance in class, but in preparation for selective entry exams.
While the entry tests measure general literacy, maths and logic skills – and do not require study – many students undergo months or even years of expensive and often stressful tutoring to prepare.
A 2010 US study suggested tutoring and coaching for selective entry exams only had a moderate effect on student’s results, but this is far from conclusive. Given the competition to gain entry to these schools, students and their parents may be more confident knowing they’ve had tutoring. That confidence alone may improve their performance.
What should parents think about?
It’s understandable that parents might be confused. How do you know if the selective school is right for your child? Here are some issues to consider:
school culture: are the schools you are considering particularly competitive? Do they have an emphasis on other activities, away from exam marks? Do they encourage sport, music or creative arts? Do they emphasise mental health? Do they have programs to support students from diverse backgrounds and with diverse identities?
location: if your child is successful, will it mean a very long commute for them?
your child’s strengths: does your child enjoy school work and sitting tests? Or do their strengths lie in other, less traditionally academic areas?
your child’s temperament: does your child become anxious in testing situations, or do they enjoy the “performance” aspect of them?
your child’s opinion: is your child self-motivated to go to a selective school, or are you trying to convince them it’s “good” for them? If they are keen, giving them a chance – with the appropriate support – might help them decide.
tutoring: does your child want to do tutoring or exam preparation? Can you afford the fees and time if they do?
your child’s teacher: have you had conversations with your child’s teachers? Do they believe your child has the academic aptitude and emotional capacity to thrive in a selective school environment?
Daniel X. Harris receives funding from the Australian Research Council Future Fellowship scheme.
The Reserve Bank has just reported a loss of A$37 billion, the biggest in its history, and it says it will be unable to pay the government dividends for some time.
The announcement followed a review of its bond-buying program, one of the most important ways it supported the economy during the first two years of the pandemic.
In order to borrow to fund programs such as JobKeeper, the government borrowed on the bond market, issuing bonds on the money market that the Reserve Bank later bought with newly created money. That meant the Reserve Bank was, indirectly, the largest financier of the expanded budget deficit.
The review concluded the bond-buying program worked relatively well. By aggressively buying $281 billion of bonds, the Reserve Bank was able to not only make sure government programs were funded, but also lower the general level of interest rates in the bond market, supporting the economy.
How did buying bonds help?
The review found buying bonds on the money market
encouraged traders to put their money into other parts of economy, such as investing in Australian firms
sent a signal to the market that interest rates would be low for a long time, encouraging firms to invest, confident they will be able to borrow cheaply for years to come
gave investors confidence that, if they bought bonds, they could sell them later to the bank if needed.
The report suggests the $281 billion dollars of bond purchases lowered long-term bond rates by around 0.3 percentage points.
This in turn helped lower the value of the Australian dollar by 1-2%, supported business investment, and encouraged consumers to spend, and boosted gross domestic product by a cumulative $25 billion.
What about the downsides?
The report found the Reserve Bank made a substantial loss on the bond-buying program, estimated to be as high as $54 billion. Its overall loss this financial year will approach $37 billion.
During the crisis investors fled to the safety of the Australian bond market, wanting to put their money somewhere safe: Australian government bonds.
This meant the bank bought bonds at high prices. As the economy recovered and investors ploughed their money back into the stock market and other more risky places, bond prices dropped, giving the bank an accounting loss on the bonds.
While the Reserve Bank doesn’t plan to sell the bonds (it’ll hold them until they mature), if it did, it would have to sell them for much less.
Bankrupt? Not really
The bank is still perfectly capable of operating even if it loses money on investments. Being able to print money at will means it can’t go broke.
But it is unlikely to provide the government with a dividend from its profits for several years. Usually the bank makes a profit from printing money. The notes cost about 32 cents each to print and it offloads them for as much as $50 and $100.
It will use this income to soak up the losses from its bond-buying program, and won’t need to ask the government for more.
This review confirms that bond-buying will remain an important part of the bank’s toolkit. While inflation today is soaring and interest rates are being increased at a breakneck pace, it is highly likely that at some point in the future the economy will go through a rough patch and need lower rates.
When the bank has cut its short-term cash rate to near-zero, as it did in 2020, it’ll need to do something else to bring down other longer-term rates.
It says it will buy bonds only “in extreme circumstances, when the usual monetary policy tool – the cash rate target – has been employed to the full extent possible”, but it concedes it may have to, and it believes what it did was worthwhile.`
Isaac Gross does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
