Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Daniel, Associate Lecturer in Communications, Western Sydney University

“I was really going to be something by the age of 23,” says Lelaina Pierce, played by the radiant Winona Ryder in the 1994 Gen X classic Reality Bites.

She was voicing an anxiety many would say was born in the post-boomer demographic of the film’s disenfranchised central characters – but it is still a familiar anxiety today, 30 years on from the film’s release.

Reality Bites was the first feature for director Ben Stiller, then known mostly for his TV comedy work, and the first script penned by then 20-something writer Helen Childress, drawing from her own life experience.

Lelaina is a dissatisfied university graduate confronting the realities of life after graduation while making a documentary about her equally disaffected friend group.

Despite graduating at the top of her class, Lelaina is stuck in a producer’s assistant role on a Houston morning show – until she is unceremoniously fired. Complicating matters, she is also trapped in a love triangle with corporate Michael (played by Stiller) and slacker Troy (Ethan Hawke), two men who represent a key philosophical fork in the road for many Gen Xers: to “sell out” or not.

Reality Bites continues to resonate with new generations of viewers. It is a timeless story of young adults navigating love, friendship and career uncertainties.

A film for Gen X

At the time of release, The New York Times’ Frank Rich declared:

This is the movie that has been both praised as the last word on X-ers and damned as Hollywood’s slickest effort yet to exploit them.

There are however genuine joys, despite the slickness critique. Among them, the acerbic humour of Janeane Garofolo and Steve Zahn, in memorable roles; the killer 90s soundtrack, featuring Lisa Loeb, Crowded House and World Party; and two career-defining roles for Ryder and Hawke, who may be more familiar to younger audiences for Stranger Things and The Black Phone. Hawke’s brooding intellectual and Ryder’s luminous yet sardonic girl-next-door established personas for the duo that persisted throughout the decade.

Read more:
Nostalgia, VHS and Stranger Things’ homage to 80s horror

The themes of the film are surprisingly relevant given the generational differences between audiences of the early 90s and today. Although the film examines the complicated issues of the AIDS crisis and homophobia of the era, it also adeptly examines the universal anxieties of identity crisis, disillusionment and the search for authenticity.

Despite clear generational differences in fashion, lifestyle and music, the response to the film by new audiences tends to be one of resonance and recognition.

A timeless premise for a romantic drama, the love triangle at the centre of Reality Bites remains compelling. Following Lelaina’s meet-cute car accident with TV executive Michael, the couple start dating. But Lelaina can’t overcome her attraction to Troy, who positions himself as the anti-Michael; he’s more interested in his amateur band and just hanging out than he is in starting a career.

When he and Lelaina finally come together in the aftermath of a fight with Michael over commercialising her documentary, it’s presented as soulful and deeply romantic. However, Troy is unable to handle the intimacy of their burgeoning relationship and walks out on her the following morning. Spoiler Alert: Lelaina forgives him for leaving, and their embrace and kiss is one of the final images of the film.

A worthy rewatch

What has struck me upon multiple rewatches over the last 30 years is how much my personal reaction to Lelaina’s eventual decision to dump Michael in favour of Troy has shifted. Troy is shown throughout the film to be callous, self-centred and in need of therapy, while Michael is generous and kind, if a little dorky

When I first watched the film as a teenager it was easy to get hoodwinked into aligning with Lelaina’s choice of Troy. Watching the film as an adult who is closer in age to Lelaina’s parents, the choice is less clear. Were Michael’s actions so egregious?

In hindsight, the Gen X obsession with selling out no doubt played a significant role in how Michael and Troy were perceived at the time of release. Michael’s attempt to turn Lelaina’s creative work into money was seen as inauthentic, while Troy’s lack of aspirations for his music career were perceived as rebellious and genuine.

A contemporary generation of media creators are seemingly less critical of attempts to monetise their artistry. The act of personal “branding” and building an audience are common to platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, in a manner that Troy and Lelaina would likely find shameful.

But I’m certainly not the first to make the case that Lelaina made an error.

At the Tribeca Film Festival’s 25-year anniversary screening, Ryder herself admitted she thought Lelaina would end up in a lesbian relationship with Garofalo’s Vickie after Troy’s novelty faded.

Whichever side you end up taking, the film’s rocking soundtrack, charming performances and snarky humour make it a worthy rewatch.

Read more:
Baby boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z labels: Necessary or nonsense?

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

– ref. Reality Bites at 30: why the Gen X classic still stands up today – https://theconversation.com/reality-bites-at-30-why-the-gen-x-classic-still-stands-up-today-223185

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anika Stobart, Senior Associate, Grattan Institute

When you send your child to school, you expect they will learn how to read. But according to 2023 NAPLAN results, about one-third of Australian school students can’t read at their grade level.

For Indigenous students, students from disadvantaged families, and students in regional and rural areas, it’s more than half.

This is deeply troubling. When children do not learn to read fluently and efficiently in early primary school, it can undermine their future learning across all subject areas, harm their self-esteem, and limit their life chances.

Our new Grattan Institute report, The Reading Guarantee, outlines a strategy to ensure at least 90% of Australian school students are proficient readers.

This includes measures such as more support for lower-performing schools, coaching and building teachers’ expertise. On top of these, a key part of the strategy is that all schools regularly assess students’ reading progress and provide additional catch-up support – either in small groups or one-on-one – to those who are falling behind.

Read more:
When do kids learn to read? How do you know if your child is falling behind?

Struggling students need early support

As previous Grattan Institute research shows, struggling students need early support so they do not fall even further behind.

Developing foundational reading skills, like decoding (the ability to sound out unfamiliar words on a page), are vital for students’ later reading success. A 2014 study of more than 400,000 students in Years 1, 2, and 3 found if a students’ decoding and vocabulary skills developed normally, fewer than 1% of students had problems with reading comprehension later on.

A focus on these early reading sub-skills is also more likely to instil a love of reading in students.

If students don’t master reading in early primary school, they may struggle with the reading demands of subjects such as biology and history in high school.

Tests can help

The earlier we assess students’ reading skills, the better, so struggling students can be supported to catch-up. For example, a 2017 US study of nearly 200 students found Year 1 and Year 2 students receiving additional help to catch up on their word reading progressed twice as fast as students who didn’t receive this help until Year 3.

The choice of assessment matters too – they need to be quick to administer and give teachers useful information. They should tell teachers what specific areas of reading students are struggling in, so support can be well targeted.

One example of this is The University of Oregon-developed DIBELS (the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills). This has six short assessments of about one minute each of different reading sub-skills, such as “phonemic awareness” (identifying speech sounds in spoken language) and “reading fluency” (how quickly and accurately a child reads with the right expression). It also has benchmarks for the beginning, middle and end of the year.

Most Australian state and territory education departments mandate some specific early reading assessment tools and make recommendations about other assessments to use. But our report argues they are not necessarily recommending effective tests and they do not always provide the information teachers need to monitor reading progress.

Read more:
Some kids with reading difficulties can also have reading anxiety – what can parents do?

We need a national Year 1 Phonics Screening check

There should be a nationally consistent Year 1 Phonics Screening Check to provide governments with a useful “health check” on early reading performance across states. The test was developed in the United Kingdom where it has been mandated for government schools since 2012.

It is also currently mandated in Tasmania, New South Wales and South Australia.

Phonics is not the only important reading skill students should master in early primary school. But having a test focusing on phonics acknowledges how the ability to accurately decode words is a good predictor of students’ future reading achievement.

This test assesses students’ decoding skills across 40 real and made-up words (such as “lig”) of increasing complexity. It takes about seven minutes to complete per student. By assessing 40 words, it can identify the letter-sound combinations a student is struggling with.

Parents would then get a report on their child’s results and aggregate results would also be published at the state and sector levels.

We should also be assessing students at other times

The Year 1 Phonics Screening Check will tell governments how students are tracking on phonics. But schools should also be regularly tracking students’ progress on reading.

Governments should require all schools to assess students’ reading skills (using robust assessments such as DIBELS) at least twice a year from the first year of school to Year 2 and on entry into high school. This would identify students who may not have learnt necessary reading skills in primary school.

Governments should also provide clearer guidelines about which assessment tools are effective. And they should provide guidance on when assessments should be done and advice on what to do with the results.

The alternative is we keep going with a “wait-to-fail” approach, which lets too many students fall through the cracks.

The Grattan Institute began with contributions to its endowment of $15 million from each of the Federal and Victorian Governments, $4 million from BHP Billiton, and $1 million from NAB. In order to safeguard its independence, Grattan Institute’s board controls this endowment. The funds are invested and contribute to funding Grattan Institute’s activities. Grattan Institute also receives funding from corporates, foundations, and individuals to support its general activities as disclosed on its website.

– ref. If we want more Australian students to learn to read, we need regular testing in the early primary years – https://theconversation.com/if-we-want-more-australian-students-to-learn-to-read-we-need-regular-testing-in-the-early-primary-years-223180

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney

Over the past decade, reports of sexual misconduct by Australian health practitioners against patients have increased. While various reforms have tried to curtail “sexual boundary violations”, none has worked.

Now, Australian health ministers have agreed to consider three amendments intended to protect patients in each state and territory.

Where past reforms have tinkered with the disciplinary powers regulators have to sanction health professionals, these new proposals take a different tack.

They seek to reorient the “inherent power imbalance” between practitioner and patient, in favour of patients. The aim is to increase public information about previously sanctioned practitioners and to better protect those who complain.

Read more:
How can the health regulator better protect patients from sexual misconduct?

What are boundary violations?

In health-care regulation, health practitioners’ boundary violations (or boundary crossings) cover a spectrum of sexual transgressions against patients.

These obviously include serious or criminal sexual assaults and exploitation. However, they also cover innuendo, intrusive questions and inappropriate physical examinations. Then there are sexual relationships with former and current patients – consensual or not.

The Medical Board of Australia’s guidelines for sexual boundaries describes how boundary violations breach patient trust, undermine patient safety, and erode public confidence in the medical profession.

As much research indicates, patients who are violated while seeking health care may endure profound distress and experience lifelong trauma.

Read more:
A doctor’s sexual advances towards a patient are never ok, even if ‘consensual’

How common are boundary violations?

Research with patients indicates boundary violations in health care are under-reported.

Still, Australia’s national regulator of health practitioners, known as Ahpra,
received 841 notifications about 728 registered practitioners concerning boundary violations in 2022-2023. This is an increase of more than 220% from 2019-2020.

Of these notifications, 359 related to medical practitioners (including psychiatrists), while 215 related to nurses and 120 to psychologists.

Independent analysis of Australian tribunal cases for boundary violations indicates between roughly 65% and 80% of those accused are male.

Read more:
Rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment: what’s the difference?

Why now?

As reported boundary violations have surged, public interest in the issue and its impacts has sharpened.

Media reports have described practitioners engaged in exploitative sexual relationships, as well as inappropriate touching and physical examinations.

Meanwhile, public inquiries have spotlighted the regulator’s role and responsibilities.

For instance, Tasmania’s inquiry into child sexual abuse examined evidence of Ahpra’s response to sexual abuse by a paediatric nurse. The National Health Practitioner Ombudsman’s review found protections for complainants should be strengthened.

At the same time, several rigorous Australian studies have highlighted regulatory weak spots and proposed options for reform.

Here is what is on the table.

1. More public information about past violations

This proposed reform would allow Ahpra to disclose the “full regulatory history” of any health professional found guilty of professional misconduct for sexual violations in a civil tribunal or found guilty of sexual offences in a criminal court.

This would raise “red flags” on the public register about certain practitioners, which a patient could access.

Currently, regulatory impositions – such as practice conditions, reprimands, suspensions or deregistrations – are recorded on the register but usually removed once they lapse or expire.

2. Consistent reinstatement of deregistered practitioners

This seeks to harmonise across the country how deregistered health practitioners are reinstated.

Currently, only New South Wales law requires disqualified health practitioners to obtain a “reinstatement order” from a civil tribunal before applying to the relevant health profession council for reinstatement. The tribunal’s deliberations are heard in open hearings, its reasons and decision published to the public, and in turn may be reported by the media and read by patients.

Elsewhere, the state health practitioner boards typically reinstate practitioners without any publicly available decision, or the reasons behind the decision.

3. Banning non-disclosure agreements

The 2022 independent investigation into cosmetic surgery practitioners in Australia revealed some doctors who resolved disputes privately with aggrieved patients had used non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements, presumably to shield themselves from liability.

While such agreements would likely be unenforceable, they may lead patients to falsely believe they are legally bound to silence.

This proposed reform seeks to prohibit health practitioners using non-disclosure agreements to eliminate any chance they might stop or dissuade patients from reporting misconduct.

What would the proposed changes mean?

Many publicised boundary violation cases involve practitioners who have been reinstated after disqualification for previous misconduct. This includes where they have changed their names.

Currently, many patients who have been harmed by serial offenders have no way of knowing a practitioner had been previously sanctioned for the same or similar misconduct.

Data on repeat offending are patchy. However, analysis of the available Australian data indicates repeat offending is “the norm rather than the exception”.

While some health practitioners will see these reforms as oppressive or punitive, only those found guilty in an open tribunal or court of the most serious professional misconduct for boundary-crossing transgressions or sexual crimes would be affected.

While promising, the reforms are not laid in stone. Public consultation is now underway until February 19.

Christopher Rudge was engaged as a special research officer at the Medical Council of NSW in 2018.

– ref. Choosing a new doctor? Their sexual misconduct may soon be on the record – https://theconversation.com/choosing-a-new-doctor-their-sexual-misconduct-may-soon-be-on-the-record-223082

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney

Over the past decade, reports of sexual misconduct by Australian health practitioners against patients have increased. While various reforms have tried to curtail “sexual boundary violations”, none has worked.

Now, Australian health ministers have agreed to consider three amendments intended to protect patients in each state and territory.

Where past reforms have tinkered with the disciplinary powers regulators have to sanction health professionals, these new proposals take a different tack.

They seek to reorient the “inherent power imbalance” between practitioner and patient, in favour of patients. The aim is to increase public information about previously sanctioned practitioners and to better protect those who complain.

Read more:
How can the health regulator better protect patients from sexual misconduct?

What are boundary violations?

In health-care regulation, health practitioners’ boundary violations (or boundary crossings) cover a spectrum of sexual transgressions against patients.

These obviously include serious or criminal sexual assaults and exploitation. However, they also cover innuendo, intrusive questions and inappropriate physical examinations. Then there are sexual relationships with former and current patients – consensual or not.

The Medical Board of Australia’s guidelines for sexual boundaries describes how boundary violations breach patient trust, undermine patient safety, and erode public confidence in the medical profession.

As much research indicates, patients who are violated while seeking health care may endure profound distress and experience lifelong trauma.

Read more:
A doctor’s sexual advances towards a patient are never ok, even if ‘consensual’

How common are boundary violations?

Research with patients indicates boundary violations in health care are under-reported.

Still, Australia’s national regulator of health practitioners, known as Ahpra,
received 841 notifications about 728 registered practitioners concerning boundary violations in 2022-2023. This is an increase of more than 220% from 2019-2020.

Of these notifications, 359 related to medical practitioners (including psychiatrists), while 215 related to nurses and 120 to psychologists.

Independent analysis of Australian tribunal cases for boundary violations indicates between roughly 65% and 80% of those accused are male.

Read more:
Rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment: what’s the difference?

Why now?

As reported boundary violations have surged, public interest in the issue and its impacts has sharpened.

Media reports have described practitioners engaged in exploitative sexual relationships, as well as inappropriate touching and physical examinations.

Meanwhile, public inquiries have spotlighted the regulator’s role and responsibilities.

For instance, Tasmania’s inquiry into child sexual abuse examined evidence of Ahpra’s response to sexual abuse by a paediatric nurse. The National Health Practitioner Ombudsman’s review found protections for complainants should be strengthened.

At the same time, several rigorous Australian studies have highlighted regulatory weak spots and proposed options for reform.

Here is what is on the table.

1. More public information about past violations

This proposed reform would allow Ahpra to disclose the “full regulatory history” of any health professional found guilty of professional misconduct for sexual violations in a civil tribunal or found guilty of sexual offences in a criminal court.

This would raise “red flags” on the public register about certain practitioners, which a patient could access.

Currently, regulatory impositions – such as practice conditions, reprimands, suspensions or deregistrations – are recorded on the register but usually removed once they lapse or expire.

2. Consistent reinstatement of deregistered practitioners

This seeks to harmonise across the country how deregistered health practitioners are reinstated.

Currently, only New South Wales law requires disqualified health practitioners to obtain a “reinstatement order” from a civil tribunal before applying to the relevant health profession council for reinstatement. The tribunal’s deliberations are heard in open hearings, its reasons and decision published to the public, and in turn may be reported by the media and read by patients.

Elsewhere, the state health practitioner boards typically reinstate practitioners without any publicly available decision, or the reasons behind the decision.

3. Banning non-disclosure agreements

The 2022 independent investigation into cosmetic surgery practitioners in Australia revealed some doctors who resolved disputes privately with aggrieved patients had used non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements, presumably to shield themselves from liability.

While such agreements would likely be unenforceable, they may lead patients to falsely believe they are legally bound to silence.

This proposed reform seeks to prohibit health practitioners using non-disclosure agreements to eliminate any chance they might stop or dissuade patients from reporting misconduct.

What would the proposed changes mean?

Many publicised boundary violation cases involve practitioners who have been reinstated after disqualification for previous misconduct. This includes where they have changed their names.

Currently, many patients who have been harmed by serial offenders have no way of knowing a practitioner had been previously sanctioned for the same or similar misconduct.

Data on repeat offending are patchy. However, analysis of the available Australian data indicates repeat offending is “the norm rather than the exception”.

While some health practitioners will see these reforms as oppressive or punitive, only those found guilty in an open tribunal or court of the most serious professional misconduct for boundary-crossing transgressions or sexual crimes would be affected.

While promising, the reforms are not laid in stone. Public consultation is now underway until February 19.

Christopher Rudge was engaged as a special research officer at the Medical Council of NSW in 2018.

– ref. Choosing a new doctor? Their sexual misconduct will soon be on the record – https://theconversation.com/choosing-a-new-doctor-their-sexual-misconduct-will-soon-be-on-the-record-223082

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa M. Given, Professor of Information Sciences & Director, Social Change Enabling Impact Platform, RMIT University

Half a century on from its creation, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) continues to attract millions of players across demographics.

The tabletop role-playing game truly has cemented its position in an increasingly competitive market, valued at more than US$15 billion (A$23 billion) in 2022.

How is a fantasy game from 1974 still capturing the imagination of so many people?

How to play

Tabletop role-playing games are driven by players’ own imaginations. They are a collaborative form of storytelling where players collectively control the narrative and “play” their characters through their words and actions.

In D&D, each player creates a character (such as a human, elf or dwarf, to name a few examples) with unique qualities. Do you like spells? You can be a wizard. Interested in sabotage? Become a rogue. Enjoy combat? You may be a barbarian at heart.

Guided by a dungeon master, your party narrates a quest-filled campaign filled with sticky situations and perilous encounters.

Players roll dice, including a 20-sided die, to dictate what actions they can take. The numbers they roll decided their successes and failures, whether they’re casting spells, picking locks, or attacking monsters.

There are abundant rules, minutiae and lore. But, at its heart, D&D is simply a collective effort to tell a great story.

A global success

More than 50 million people worldwide are estimated to have played D&D. This is immense reach for a game that emerged in the 1970s as a fantasy spin-off from strategic war gaming, where predominantly male players used miniatures to simulate military operations.

D&D’s increased popularity, over the past decade in particular, has been driven by the success of the game’s current version (the fifth edition, released in 2014), the growth in online gaming culture, as well as increased social acceptance of what have historically been considered “nerdy” or “geeky” interests.

Franchises such as Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings have also helped bring fantasy narratives into the mainstream.

The current D&D edition hits a sweet spot. It’s complex enough to sustain long-standing players, but approachable enough to draw in new people. Following its 2014 release, celebrities such as Vin Diesel and Joe Mangianello made online appearances playing D&D.

In 2016, Netflix’s Stranger Things introduced the game to a massive new audience, as a portrayal of 1980s suburban nostalgia for carefree creative adventures.

Read more:
‘Satanic worship, sodomy and even murder’: how Stranger Things revived the American satanic panic of the 80s

Cultural representations of the game are plentiful, including in the 2023 film Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, 2023 videogame of the year Baldur’s Gate 3, podcasts such as Critical Role, and live-streamed D&D campaigns available on YouTube and Twitch.

But as D&D became mainstream, scrutiny followed. The subculture has its share of controversies, including an element of toxic fandom that expresses hostility towards the game’s evolution and diversifying fan base.

As with any growing community, some fans have been concerned with gate-keeping. Some players experience bullying and exclusion, while others find themselves in awkward conversations around the table. This has been a recurring concern for women trying D&D for the first time.

On balance, however, the vast majority of people play to have fun, express their creativity and engage with others. The flexible nature of the game means fans have found endless ways to turn their campaigns into something highly personal and treasured.

D&D continues to evolve through the rich contributions of its fan base, for whom it has become an important outlet for creativity and self-expression.

We all need connection

In challenging times, tabletop games provide inexpensive entertainment, escapism and a way to stay connected to friends and family.

One recent Australian study, of community members playing the game over an eight-week period, found playing D&D decreased players’ depression, stress and anxiety, and increased self-esteem. The authors suggest the game could be used as a wellbeing intervention tool or to prevent mental health issues from arising.

Role-playing games in particular offer psychological support to people of all ages, helping to combat anxiety and build confidence.

This is particularly valuable at a time when social isolation is plaguing communities. Australia’s social cohesion index dropped to its lowest level in 2023. People were concerned about rising household expenses and the state of the economy, with almost half of respondents feeling socially isolated some or all of the time.

During the COVID pandemic, many households in lockdown introduced game nights to entertain themselves. Now, even with restrictions lifted, Australia continues to experience a thriving role-playing and board game movement.

The campaign continues

Around the world, shared public spaces, cafés and pubs offer tabletop gaming spaces to foster community engagement. Public libraries have included spaces for gaming since the 1850s, starting with billiard tables and puzzles, and now including video games.

New social media communities, such as the Latrobe Valley Boardgamers Facebook Group, are frequently popping up for people with shared gaming interests.

In April, the British Library will host a live-streamed event to celebrate D&D’s 50-year legacy – one of many events to be held this year. A new rules update is expected later in the year and is sure to entice fans new and old.

Read more:
From the basement to the big screen: how Dungeons & Dragons evolved from a game to a multi-media franchise

Lisa M. Given is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. She receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Australian Library and Information Association.

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

– ref. 50 years on, Dungeons & Dragons is still a gaming staple. What’s behind its monumental success? – https://theconversation.com/50-years-on-dungeons-and-dragons-is-still-a-gaming-staple-whats-behind-its-monumental-success-223085

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassandra Cross, Associate Dean (Learning & Teaching) Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice, Queensland University of Technology

The global superstar Taylor Swift is bringing her Eras tour to Australia later this month, with sold-out shows in Sydney and Melbourne. With Swifties numbering in the thousands, fans who didn’t initially secure tickets are understandably desperate to find some.

Enter the many fraudsters seizing this opportunity. Sadly, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has reported over A$135,000 already lost to ticket fraud for the Swift concerts. The actual losses are likely to be much higher.

Hackers are also targeting the accounts of ticket holders in order to steal and resell legitimate tickets.

So how can you protect yourself if you are looking to buy or sell Eras tickets, or just want to keep your Ticketek account safe?

The problem is ticket fraud

In recent years, there has been a shift to electronic ticketing for events. This uses a unique barcode (or QR code) which can be dynamic. In the case of Ticketek, electronic tickets are linked to the purchaser’s phone number to reduce fraud.

Electronic ticketing aims to overcome a range of problems, such as counterfeit tickets, duplicate tickets and ticket scalping. Unsurprisingly, scammers have updated their techniques, too.

When purchasing tickets, it can be difficult to know if it is an authentic website, a genuine ticket and a legitimate transaction.

For example, scammers are selling non-existent tickets across a range of social media platforms. They are also creating fake, legitimate-looking websites that lure in unsuspecting victims to hand over their personal details and money in return for heartache.

Many fraudsters are also tricking people with ticket sales on Facebook. Excited fans send the requested payment (usually a cash transfer), but will not receive their promised tickets and are not likely to recover the money.

Hacked accounts

The prevalence of hacking drives a lot of the ticket fraud. This is particularly evident through the only official reseller of Eras tickets (and many other events) – Ticketek Marketplace.

Some people have had their Ticketek accounts hacked, and offenders have been able to make transactions without the owner’s consent. By the time they realise, it is too late – the owner may have lost their tickets with nothing in return.

There are also many reports of victims whose known contacts (family or friends) message them on social media offering the chance to buy tickets. This approach reduces red flags or suspicions, as it uses existing trust and relationships to get a payment.

However, victims soon find their family member or friend has had their account hacked. Again, there is no ticket and no chance of recovering funds.

Hacking genuine accounts to perpetrate fraud is common. Recently, hackers gained unauthorised access to hotel provider accounts on the popular accommodation website Booking.com. They then communicated with guests to gain direct payments and financial details.

If I’d only played it safe

There are no foolproof guarantees when trying to buy resold tickets. But you can look out for warning signs and take steps to reduce the risk of fraud or being hacked.

Only buy tickets through the authorised seller website. In the case of Swift, that’s Ticketek Marketplace. While customers are reporting long wait times and less than satisfactory user experiences right now, it is still the most likely place to have genuine tickets.

Do not, under any circumstances, buy tickets on social media such as Facebook. This includes from known contacts. There is no guarantee that the ticket exists or the person is genuine. There is also no recourse for lost payment.

Never provide or confirm your payment details outside of Ticketek. Do not transfer any cash via a bank transfer to a seller. There are no seller fees on Ticketek Marketplace, and no reason to pay outside of the regulated system.

Ensure you have strong passwords on all your accounts. Do not use the same password on several accounts. This is vitally important to protect yourself against many types of harm, not just ticket fraud.

Enable two-factor authentication on any accounts you can. This provides an additional layer of protection should your password be compromised.

Read more:
What is multi-factor authentication, and how should I be using it?

Use a credit card where possible rather than debit card or cash transfers. You may be able to dispute a transaction or charge if you have used your credit card and may be able to recover any lost funds.

Take screenshots of any communications and transactions when purchasing tickets online. While this will not prevent fraud, it does make it easier to report an incident or figure out what happened.

Always confirm in person or over the phone with any known contacts who have messaged an offer or requested funds. With the prevalence of hacking into accounts, you may not be communicating with the person you think you are.

No one teaches you what to do

If you think you have been a victim of ticket fraud, contact your bank or financial institution immediately. The quicker you can do this, the better.

You should also contact the platform through which you made the transaction (such as Ticketek Marketplace).

You can report any financial losses to ReportCyber, which is an online police reporting portal for cyber incidents, as well as Scamwatch, to assist with education and awareness activities.

If you need support or assistance for any compromise of your identity, contact iDcare.

Cassandra Cross has previously received funding from the Australian Institute of Criminology and the Cybersecurity Cooperative Research Centre.

– ref. Desperate for Taylor Swift tickets? Here are cybersecurity tips to stay safe from scams – https://theconversation.com/desperate-for-taylor-swift-tickets-here-are-cybersecurity-tips-to-stay-safe-from-scams-223086

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Parmeter, Research Scholar, Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, Australian National University

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken looked exhausted at his media conference in Israel this week as he tried to remain optimistic about prospects for a truce in the Gaza war.

Despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comprehensively rejecting Hamas’s ceasefire counter-proposal, Blinken said it “creates space for an agreement to be reached”. He pledged the US would continue to “work relentlessly” to achieve a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Putting aside the fact the job description of senior diplomats requires them to remain upbeat in the face of negotiating setbacks, does Blinken’s shuttle diplomacy – he has visited the Middle East five times since Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel – have any chance of success?

Where the negotiations stand

Israel and the US presented a proposal to Hamas via Qatar about a week ago. It was not made public, but Qatar’s Al Jazeera news agency reported sources “close to the talks” as saying it involved an initial 40-day truce, during which Hamas would free the remaining Israeli civilian hostages it holds, followed by Israeli soldiers and the remains of dead hostages.

Hamas’s counter-proposal, delivered on February 7, offered freedom for all remaining hostages and the return of the deceased in a three-stage ceasefire lasting 4.5 months. In return, Israel would first release all Palestinian women and children held in Israeli jails, as well as 1,500 male prisoners, including 500 serving long sentences.

At the same time, the Israeli military would implement a phased withdrawal of its troops from Gaza, and the ceasefire would become permanent. The obvious implication of the proposal was that Hamas would remain in control of Gaza.

It’s not surprising each set of proposals was unacceptable to the other party. Israel didn’t offer any guarantees that it wouldn’t resume its military campaign after the release of the hostages. And Hamas’s proposal was effectively a return to the status quo before October 7, which would be entirely unacceptable to the Netanyahu government.

Each proposal appeared to represent the maximalist positions of each side. As such, the standard technique of practised negotiators is to examine both proposals and look for – or try to create – common ground for a deal. Can that work now?

Will Netanyahu keep negotiating?

Despite Netanyahu’s stern rebuff of Hamas’s counter-proposal, a Hamas delegation has travelled to Cairo this week for more ceasefire talks. But whether Netanyahu is prepared to keep talking will depend on his evaluation of the pressures he faces on three fronts:

First, Netanyahu is beholden to prominent hardliners in his right-wing government, particularly Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Ben-Gvir threatened to bring down his government over any attempt to enter a “reckless” deal with Hamas to free the hostages.

If Netanyahu is forced to hold new elections, opinion polls show he would have very little chance of forming a new administration.

Second, the families of the 136 hostages still held in Gaza and their supporters hold daily demonstrations demanding the government prioritise negotiating their release over the military campaign against Hamas.

The news that 31 of the hostages have been confirmed dead can be expected to raise the families’ anxiety levels and increase the tempo of their protests.

And third, Netanyahu faces increasing pressure from the Biden administration, which is suffering reputational damage across the Middle East and in the Global South because of its unconditional support (including providing weapons) for Israel’s Gaza campaign.

Within the US, Biden is also experiencing blow-back from young, progressive Democrats, horrified at the Palestinian death toll, which now stands at over 27,000. That could affect his re-election prospects if they decide not to turn out for him in the November vote.

For Hamas, pluses and minuses

By comparison, the pressures on Hamas are of a lower order. Obviously, Israel’s military campaign, particularly its current extension into southern Gaza, is causing enormous suffering to the civilian population. But the degree to which this affects the Hamas leadership is uncertain.

In negotiating through Qatar and Egypt for a ceasefire, an increase in aid and, ultimately, an end to the conflict, Hamas is presumably motivated – at least partly – by a desire to reduce civilian suffering.

Read more:
Israel-Palestinian conflict: is the two-state solution now dead?

But its main aim is unquestionably its own survival. What would force Hamas to compromise on its demands would be the capture or deaths of its senior leaders, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif.

It should be noted Hamas derives some benefits from the continuing conflict. What Biden has described as Israel’s “indiscriminate bombing” campaign actually boosts Hamas’s image as a standard bearer for Palestinian rights. The Gaza war, with its horrifying human toll, has brought the Palestinians’ plight to international attention and harmed Israel’s global standing.

Hamas would also be aware that it does not have to defeat Israel militarily in order to win this war. It needs merely to survive. A ceasefire that left Hamas in charge of a Gaza in ruins would thus be a victory.

Do negotiations stand a chance?

Unless there is an unexpected development – Israel’s elimination of Sinwar and Deif, or its military locating and freeing the remaining hostages – the war is likely to continue for some months.

Netanyahu probably feels he has no choice, from a political perspective, but to continue prosecuting the war in the same manner, in the hope of a breakthrough.

His history of staring down US presidents means he almost certainly won’t back down under pressure from Biden. And he will continue to tell the hostages’ families that their loved ones can only be rescued by military action alone, even if their demonstrations grow in size and number.

To appease the families, Netanyahu may be prepared to sanction renewed temporary ceasefire offers to Hamas in an effort to win more hostage releases – but not if doing so puts his governing coalition at risk.

Israel also has to bear in mind the interim ruling of the International Court of Justice last month over accusations its military campaign breaches the Genocide Convention. The court has ordered Israel to produce a report by late February on measures it has taken to prevent genocide.

Though Netanyahu has rejected the ICJ’s ruling, he needs to take account of the views of his Western supporters who place high value on the role of the court.

The entrenched positions of the Netanyahu government and the Hamas leadership mean Blinken’s work is nowhere close to being done. That means more trips to the region, more shuttle diplomacy and, likely, more sleepless nights.

Read more:
Israel isn’t complying with the International Court of Justice ruling — what happens next?

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

– ref. Israel-Gaza war: why did the ceasefire negotiations collapse – and can they be revived? – https://theconversation.com/israel-gaza-war-why-did-the-ceasefire-negotiations-collapse-and-can-they-be-revived-223175

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jaana Dielenberg, University Fellow, Charles Darwin University

Light and sound shows in parks can enthral crowds with their colour, music and storytelling. Lasting for weeks to months, the shows provide entertainment and can boost local economies. But unless they are well-located, the shows can also harm wildlife.

A planned production at a wildlife sanctuary in outer Melbourne has brought these concerns to the fore. In April and May this year, a wildlife reserve on the Mornington Peninsula will host Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience. The event involves a two-kilometre night walk where, according to organisers, characters from the film are “brought to life”.

The event has prompted an outcry from people worried about the effect on the reserve’s vulnerable wildlife. The sanctuary, known as The Briars, is home to native animals including powerful and boobook owls, owlet-nightjars, koalas, wallabies, Krefft’s gliders, lizards, frogs, moths and spiders. A petition calling for the event to be relocated has attracted more than 21,000 signatures.

Research shows artificial light, sound and the presence of lots of people at night can harm wildlife. It’s not hard to see why. Imagine if a music and light show, and thousands of people, turned up at your house every night for weeks on end. How would you feel?

A history of community opposition

In addition to the lights and sounds, these shows can involve artificial smoke and animated sculptures. While they often take place along existing walking trails, they attract huge crowds at a time when animals usually have the place to themselves.

Most of Australia’s mammals and frogs and many bird and reptile species are nocturnal, or active at night. They have adapted to the natural darkness, sounds and smells of the night.

The Harry Potter experience planned for The Briars has taken place elsewhere around the world, including at a nature area near the Belgian capital of Brussels. That event, in February last year, was also opposed by locals on ecological grounds. Belgian Minister for Nature Zuhal Demir has reportedly said the show would not return this year due to concern for wildlife.

Light shows proposed for other wildlife conservation areas have also faced community opposition. In Australia, there were calls to halt the Parrtjima light festival in the Alice Springs Desert Park over potential harm to the threatened black-footed rock wallabies. The Lumina light show proposed for Mount Coot-tha in Brisbane has also attracted concern for wildlife.

Read more:
Predators, prey and moonlight singing: how phases of the Moon affect native wildlife

Light, sounds, action!

Research shows artificial light affects wildlife in many ways. For example, it can change their hormone levels, and the numbers and health of their offspring.

Light also interferes with the ability of many species to navigate. This can cause birds to become disorientated and crash. It can also prevent baby turtles from finding the sea.

Some animals will forgo feeding or drinking and attracting mates. Other animals will try to move to a darker location. In the Belgian case, locals claimed owls left the park to avoid the lights.

Studies of small mammals such as bats, micro-bats, possums and bandicoots have shown many will avoid using habitat that is artificially lit. When there is no alternative dark habitat, species forced to deal with bright conditions – whether natural or artificial – have been found to reduce their activity.

Conversely, some animals are attracted to light. Insects such as moths will cluster around the artificial light source, unable to leave. Some will become so exhausted they will become easy prey.

What’s more, human-caused noise also stresses animals and changes animal behaviour. It masks the natural soundscape, making it harder for animals to find mates or hear the calls of their young. It can also mean animals can’t hear predators or their prey.

When thousands of humans travel through an area they leave strong predator-like smells. This can be stressful for wildlife. It can also mask smells vital for an animal’s survival, such as that of food and predators.

Long-term harm

When faced with all this disruption, many nocturnal animals will hide until a site returns to normal, which in the case of light shows is often close to midnight. This cuts in half the time animals have to go about their life-sustaining activities and exposes them to greater risks when they do go out.

Light and sound shows are usually temporary – but can have major long-term impacts.

In species with low birth rates and short lifespans, a disturbance to breeding can be catastrophic. For example, males of the genus Antechinus (small marsupials) live long enough for just one short breeding season. If they are disrupted, there are no second chances.

The stress of human lights, sounds, smells and disturbance can shorten an animal’s life. Stress can make them more prone to illness and create problems with sleeping, reproduction, development and growth that can last for multiple generations.

Find a better location

The Mornington Peninsula Shire Council has defended the Harry Potter event, saying the placement of props, lights and sounds has been carefully considered.

Organisers may have minimised impacts where they can, but evidence suggests the impact on wildlife will still be extensive.

The sanctuary where the event will be held is billed as “an ark – a place which nurtures, protects and celebrates the unique flora and fauna of the peninsula, now rare but not lost”. Deliberately locating a light and sound show at the reserve seems at odds with this mission.

Events such as this clearly affect wildlife. Finding genuinely suitable locations should be done with care – and should avoid wildlife conservation areas altogether.

Jaana Dielenberg works for the Biodiversity Council. The Biodiversity Council was founded by 11 universities and receives support from The Ian Potter Foundation, The Ross Trust, Trawalla Foundation, The Rendere Trust, Isaacson Davis Foundation, Coniston Charitable Trust and Angela Whitbread. Jaana is employed by the University of Melbourne and is a Charles Darwin University Fellow.

Euan Ritchie receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Action. Euan is a Councillor within the Biodiversity Council, and a member of the Ecological Society of Australia and the Australian Mammal Society.

Therésa Jones receives funding from the Australian Research Council and is affiliated with NERAL (Network for Ecological Research on Artificial Light).

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

– ref. Harry Potter and the Disenchanted Wildlife: how light and sound shows can harm nocturnal animals – https://theconversation.com/harry-potter-and-the-disenchanted-wildlife-how-light-and-sound-shows-can-harm-nocturnal-animals-222390

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniel Eldridge, Senior Lecturer in Chemistry, Swinburne University of Technology

Micellar water, a product found in supermarkets, chemists and bathroom cabinets around the world, is commonly used to remove make-up. It’s a very effective cleanser and many people swear by it as part of their skincare routine.

So, what is micellar water and why is it so good at getting makeup and sunscreen off? Here’s the science.

Read more:
How should I add sunscreen to my skincare routine now it’s getting hotter?

What are micelles?

Oil and water generally don’t mix, which is why you’ll struggle to remove makeup and sunscreen (which both contain oils) with just plain water.

But micellar water products contain something called micelles – clusters of molecules that are very effective at removing oily substances. To understand why, you need to first know two chemistry terms: hydrophilic and hydrophobic.

A hydrophilic substance “loves” water and mixes easily with it. Salt and sugar are examples.

A hydrophobic substance “hates” water and generally refuses to mix with it. Examples include oil and wax.

Hydrophilic materials will happily mix with other hydrophilic materials. The same goes for hydrophobic substances. But if you try to combine hydrophilic and hydrophobic materials, they won’t mix.

How are micelles formed? It’s all about surfactants

The micelles in micellar water are formed by special molecules known as surfactants.

Surfactant stands for surface active agent. These molecules looked at their hydrophilic and hydrophobic brethren and said, why not both? They are typically comprised of two ends: a head group that is hydrophilic and a tail that is hydrophobic.

When a small amount of surfactant is added to water, the two ends of the molecule have competing interests. The hydrophilic head wants to be in the water, but the hydrophobic tail can’t stand water.

Add enough surfactant and, eventually, we will pass a critical micelle concentration and the surfactants will self-assemble into clusters of approximately 20 to 100 surfactant molecules.

All the hydrophilic heads will be pointing outwards, while the hydrophobic tails remain “hidden” at the centre. These clusters are micelles.

These micelles have a hydrophilic exterior, meaning that they are very happy to remain mixed throughout water. However, in the centre remains a hydrophobic pocket that’s very good at attracting oils.

This is very handy, and helps explain why adding some detergent (a surfactant) to water will allow you to wash an oily saucepan. The surfactant first helps lift of the oil, and then the oil can remained mixed into the water, finding a new home in the hydrophobic centre of the micelle.

Micellar water in action

Surfactants are in your dishwashing detergent, your body wash, your shampoo, your toothpaste and even many foods. In all of these cases, they are there to help the water interact with the dirt and oils, and micellar water is no different.

When you apply some micellar water to a cotton pad, another convenient interaction occurs. The wet cotton is hydrophilic (loves water). Consequently, some of the micelles will unravel, with the hydrophilic heads being attracted to the wet cotton pad.

Now, sticking out from the surface will be a layer of hydrophobic tail groups. These hydrophobic tails cannot wait to attract themselves to makeup, sunscreen, oils, dirt, grease and other contaminants on your face.

As you sweep the cotton pad across your skin, these contaminants bind to the hydrophobic tails and are removed from the skin.

Some contaminants will also find themselves encapsulated in the hydrophobic centres of the micelle.

Either way, a cleaner surface is left behind.

Look at how a cotton wipe soaked in micellar water cleans up a small oil spill, in comparison to water alone.

So why shouldn’t I just use dishwashing detergent to wash my face?

Technically, that would work as detergent does indeed contain lots of micelle-forming surfactants.

But these particular surfactants would probably cause a lot of skin and eye irritation, while also damaging and drying out your skin. Not nice.

The surfactants in micellar water are chosen to be mild and well tolerated by most people’s skin. But micellar water isn’t the only skincare product to contain micelles. There are many other face-cleaning products that also make great use of surfactant molecules and work very well too.

Now, it’s not perfect. While it is effective at removing a wide range of contaminants, thick or heavy makeup might not come off easily with micellar water (you might need to do a more vigorous clean).

Some products say there is “zero residue”, although the fine print clearly states this refers to visible residue.

Many products also state there is no rinse off required. Surfactants will remain on your skin after product use, but for many people they don’t cause irritation. If your skin is feeling irritated after using a micellar water product, you can try rinsing afterwards or discontinuing use.

And as is the case with many cosmetic products, you should test it first on a small patch of skin before using it all over your face.

Read more:
What is a paraben and why are so many products advertised as ‘paraben-free’?

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

– ref. What is micellar water and how does it work? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-micellar-water-and-how-does-it-work-219492

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cosmo Howard, Associate Professor School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University

“Fair go” is an expression we hear a lot in Australia. Activists use it to demand social justice, companies use it to promise customers a good deal, and politicians invoke it to persuade us that they understand the plight of ordinary people.

Most political commentators and academics who write about the fair go associate the phrase with Australia’s famed egalitarian traditions, including equality of economic opportunity, universal political rights and the provision of a safety net via minimum wages and welfare programs.

Yet the fair go expression is sometimes used in ways that are distinctly inegalitarian. Former prime minister Scott Morrison repeatedly declared his belief in “a fair go for those who have a go”, suggesting the concept only applies to hardworking, “deserving” Australians. Morrison’s comments drew the ire of critics who argued he was subverting the original egalitarian meaning of the fair go phrase, along with the Australian culture of benevolence to the needy.

So who is right about what a fair go means to Australians? Are some uses more faithful to our “fair go traditions” than others?

Read more:
In Australia, land of the ‘fair go’, not everyone gets an equal slice of the pie

Origins in the sports pages

In our research project, we went back to the earliest recorded mentions of the fair go phrase in colonial-era newspapers to understand the original uses and meanings of this phrase, focusing on the period between 1860 and 1901.

We found the most common uses of the fair go expression did not refer to equality, benevolence and social justice. Instead, the phrase was mainly used to describe spirited efforts in competitive sports such as horse racing, boxing and sprinting. We found this in an article published in New South Wales in 1889:

They were stripped of shoes and everything and had a fair go with the hurdles out about 18 yards.

In sport, a fair go could also mean trying your hardest, as opposed to “pulling” a race or “throwing” a match, such as in this piece from 1892:

With a dishonest jockey aboard […] an owner never knows whether he is to get ‘a fair go’ or not.

A fair go could also refer to a thrilling, close match that entertained spectators, or a lucky win for gamblers, as in the expression “having a fair go for their money”. The fair go phrase was also used in politics in the context of closely
fought elections, such as in Western Australia in 1900:

[…] he can depend on a fair go for it, for it’s a dead certainty he won’t gain the seat unopposed.

“Fair go” could also refer to violent power struggles. In an 1891 telegram sent during the Shearers Strike in Queensland, a union leader advocated achieving a fair go by force:

[…] if a little more devil was put into our actions the better it would be for us in the end. We have tried passive resistance and it appears to have failed. Let us try the other now, and have a fair go.

The expression was sometimes used to refer to fistfights in politics and beyond, such as this piece in 1897:

Fights between members of Parliament or city or municipal councillors are not of rare occurrence in Australia, but a fair “go” between lawyers with the “bare bones” is not often chronicled.

It was even used to describe violence in wartime, such as when an Australian soldier in the Boer war expressed a hope to a reporter that the enemy would “let him have a fair go […] with the bayonet”.

Different contexts, different meanings

While the dominant meanings of the fair go in the 19th century referred to competition and power struggles, we also found uses that resonate more with egalitarianism, social justice and procedural rights. In an 1891 article about politics, a fair go could mean the right to speak:

You are a liar and the father of a liar. Why don’t you let me speak? This is my maiden speech and you might let me have a fair go.

The fair go phrase was also used to advocate for the principle of one person, one vote, as well as ranked voting.

In sport, a fair go was said to require impartial umpires who didn’t favour one side over the other. In the legal system, a fair go required the right to due process, such as the provision of warrants for arrests and adequate defence in the courtroom.

While these ideas resonate with contemporary concerns about equal rights, non-discrimination, and proper process in government, they represented the minority of uses of the fair go phrase in the 19th century. Uses of “fair go” to refer to benevolence to the poor and the need for a safety net were virtually absent in the period we studied.

These findings highlight that the fair go originally meant different things to different people, and in different contexts. In our recent research, we show that 19th-century uses of the fair go can be organised into six distinct meanings. These reflect the fact that the words “fair” and “go” have multiple meanings associated with both “justice” and “strength”.

These different interpretations are alive and well today, and can be used to critically assess public policies on contentious issues such as housing affordability and immigration.

Who is right about the true historical and contemporary meaning of the fair go? Our research shows no political ideology or party has a monopoly on the fair go. How we talk about the fair go reveals the ideas that shaped us as a nation, and the values that influence our political debates.

Cosmo Howard receives funding from the Australian Research Council. This article was funded under the ARC Discovery Project: DP220101911 – Understanding the Antipodean ‘Fair Go’.

Pandanus Petter receives funding from the Australian Research Council. This article was funded under ARC Discovery Project: DP220101911 – Understanding the Antipodean ‘Fair Go’.

– ref. Australians love to talk about a ‘fair go’. Here’s what it meant before we became a nation – https://theconversation.com/australians-love-to-talk-about-a-fair-go-heres-what-it-meant-before-we-became-a-nation-222154

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jon Jureidini, Research Leader, Critical and Ethical Mental Health research group, Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide

Around one in seven Australians take antidepressants; more than 3.5 million of us had them dispensed in 2021–22. This is one of the highest antidepressant prescribing rates in the world.

Guidelines mostly recommend antidepressants for more severe depression and anxiety but not as first-line treatment for less severe depression. Less commonly, antidepressants may be prescribed for conditions such as chronic pain and migraine.

Yet prescription rates continue to increase. Between 2013 and 2021, the antidepressant prescription rate in Australia steadily increased by 4.5% per year. So why are so many Australians taking antidepressants and why are prescriptions rising?

The evidence suggests they’re over prescribed. So how did we get here?

Enter the antidepressant ‘blockbusters’

In the 1990s, pharmaceutical companies heavily promoted new selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) antidepressants, including Prozac (fluoxetine), Zoloft (sertraline) and Lexapro (escitalopram).

These drugs were thought to be less dangerous in overdoses and seemed to have fewer side effects than the tricyclic antidepressants they replaced.

Pharmaceutical companies marketed SSRIs energetically and often exaggerated their benefits, including by paying “key opinion leaders” – high-status clinicians to promote them. This prompted substantial growth in the market.

Read more:
We need new rules for defining who is sick. Step 1: remove vested interests

SSRIs earned billions of dollars for their manufacturers when on patent. While now relatively cheap, they still prove lucrative because of high prescribing levels.

Why are antidepressants prescribed?

The majority (85%) of antidepressants are prescribed in general practice. Some are prescribed for more severe depression and anxiety. But contrary to clinical guidelines, GPs also prescribe them as a first-line treatment for less severe depression.

GPs also prescribe antidepressants to patients experiencing distress but who don’t have a psychiatric diagnosis. A friend dealing with her husband’s terminal illness, for example, was encouraged to take antidepressants by her long-term GP, even though her caring capacity wasn’t impaired. Another, who cried when informed she had breast cancer, was immediately offered a prescription for antidepressants.

There are several reasons why someone may take antidepressants when they’re not needed. A busy GP might be looking for a convenient solution to a complex and sometimes intractable problem. Other times, patients request a prescription. They may be encouraged by an acquaintance’s good experience or looking for other ways to improve their mental health.

Most patients believe antidepressants restore a chemical imbalance that underpins depression. This is not true. Antidepressants are emotional (and sexual) numbing agents – sometimes sedating, sometimes energising. Those effects suit some people, for example, if their emotions are too raw or they lack energy.

Read more:
The chemical imbalance theory of depression is dead, but that doesn’t mean antidepressants don’t work

For others, they come with troubling side effects such as insomnia, restlessness, nausea, weight gain. Around half of users have impaired sexual function and for some, this sexual dysfunction persists after stopping antidepressants.

How long do people take antidepressants?

Most experts and guidelines recommend specific prescribing regimes of antidepressants, varying from months to two years.

However, most antidepressants are consumed by two categories of people. Around half of patients who start antidepressants don’t like them and stop within weeks. Of those who do take them for months, many continue to use them indefinitely, often for many years. Long-term use (beyond 12 months) is driving much of the increase in antidepressant prescribing.

Some people try to stop taking antidepressants but are prevented from doing so by withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms – including “brain zaps”, dizziness, restlessness, vertigo and vomiting – can cause significant distress, impaired work function and relationship breakdown.

Across 14 studies that examined antidepressant withdrawal, around 50% of users experienced withdrawal symptoms when coming off antidepressants, which can be mistaken for recurrence of the initial problem. We are conducting a survey to better understand the experience in Australia of withdrawing from antidepressants.

Antidepressants should not be stopped abruptly but gradually tapered off, with smaller and smaller doses. The recent release in Australia of the Maudsley Deprescribing Guidelines provides guidance for the complex regimes required for the tapering of antidepressants.

Read more:
Antidepressants can cause withdrawal symptoms – here’s what you need to know

We need to adjust how we view mental distress

Overprescribing antidepressants is a symptom of our lack of attention to the social determinants of mental health. It’s depressing to be poor (especially when your neighbours seem rich), unemployed or in an awful workplace, inadequately housed or fearful of family violence. It’s wrong to locate the problem in the individual when it belongs to society.

Overprescribing is also symptomatic of medicalisation of distress. Most diagnoses of depression and anxiety are descriptions masquerading as explanations. For each distressed person who fits the pattern of anxiety or depression, the meaning of their presentation is different. There may be a medical explanation, but most often meaning may be found in the person’s struggle with difficult feelings, their relationships and other life circumstances such as terrible disappointments or grief.

GPs’ overprescribing reflects the pressures they experience from workload, unrealistic expectations of their capacity and misinformation from pharmaceutical companies and key opinion leaders. They need better support, resources and evidence about the limited benefits of antidepressants.

GPs also need to ensure they discuss with their patients the potential adverse effects of antidepressants, and when and how to safely stop them.

But the fundamental problem is social and can only be properly addressed by meaningfully addressing inequality and changing community attitudes to distress.

Jon Jureidini receives research funding from MMRF. He is affiliated with Critical Psychiatry Network Australasia.

– ref. Why are so many Australians taking antidepressants? – https://theconversation.com/why-are-so-many-australians-taking-antidepressants-221857

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jaana Dielenberg, University Fellow, Charles Darwin University

Light and sound shows in parks can enthral crowds with their colour, music and storytelling. Lasting for weeks to months, the shows provide entertainment and can boost local economies. But unless they are well-located, the shows can also harm wildlife.

A planned production at a wildlife sanctuary in outer Melbourne has brought these concerns to the fore. In April and May this year, a wildlife reserve on the Mornington Peninsula will host Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience. The event involves a two-kilometre night walk where, according to organisers, characters from the film are “brought to life”.

The event has prompted an outcry from people worried about the effect on the reserve’s vulnerable wildlife. The sanctuary, known as The Briars, is home to native animals including powerful and boobook owls, owlet-nightjars, koalas, wallabies, Krefft’s gliders, lizards, frogs, moths and spiders. A petition calling for the event to be relocated has attracted more than 21,000 signatures.

Research shows artificial light, sound and the presence of lots of people at night can harm wildlife. It’s not hard to see why. Imagine if a music and light show, and thousands of people, turned up at your house every night for weeks on end. How would you feel?

A history of community opposition

In addition to the lights and sounds, these shows can involve artificial smoke and animated sculptures. While they often take place along existing walking trails, they attract huge crowds at a time when animals usually have the place to themselves.

Most of Australia’s mammals and frogs and many bird and reptile species are nocturnal, or active at night. They have adapted to the natural darkness, sounds and smells of the night.

The Harry Potter experience planned for The Briars has taken place elsewhere around the world, including at a nature area near the Belgian capital of Brussels. That event, in February last year, was also opposed by locals on ecological grounds. Belgian Minister for Nature Zuhal Demir has reportedly said the show would not return this year due to concern for wildlife.

Light shows proposed for other wildlife conservation areas have also faced community opposition. In Australia, there were calls to halt the Parrtjima light festival in the Alice Springs Desert Park over potential harm to the threatened black-footed rock wallabies. The Lumina light show proposed for Mount Coot-tha in Brisbane has also attracted concern for wildlife.

Read more:
Predators, prey and moonlight singing: how phases of the Moon affect native wildlife

Light, sounds, action!

Research shows artificial light affects wildlife in many ways. For example, it can change their hormone levels, and the numbers and health of their offspring.

Light also interferes with the ability of many species to navigate. This can cause birds to become disorientated and crash. It can also prevent baby turtles from finding the sea.

Some animals will forgo feeding or drinking and attracting mates. Other animals will try to move to a darker location. In the Belgian case, locals claimed owls left the park to avoid the lights.

Studies of small mammals such as bats, micro-bats, possums and bandicoots have shown many will avoid using habitat that is artificially lit. When there is no alternative dark habitat, species forced to deal with bright conditions – whether natural or artificial – have been found to reduce their activity.

Conversely, some animals are attracted to light. Insects such as moths will cluster around the artificial light source, unable to leave. Some will become so exhausted they will become easy prey.

What’s more, human-caused noise also stresses animals and changes animal behaviour. It masks the natural soundscape, making it harder for animals to find mates or hear the calls of their young. It can also mean animals can’t hear predators or their prey.

When thousands of humans travel through an area they leave strong predator-like smells. This can be stressful for wildlife. It can also mask smells vital for an animal’s survival, such as that of food and predators.

Long-term harm

When faced with all this disruption, many nocturnal animals will hide until a site returns to normal, which in the case of light shows is often close to midnight. This cuts in half the time animals have to go about their life-sustaining activities and exposes them to greater risks when they do go out.

Light and sound shows are usually temporary – but can have major long-term impacts.

In species with low birth rates and short lifespans, a disturbance to breeding can be catastrophic. For example, males of the genus Antechinus (small marsupials) live long enough for just one short breeding season. If they are disrupted, there are no second chances.

The stress of human lights, sounds, smells and disturbance can shorten an animal’s life. Stress can make them more prone to illness and create problems with sleeping, reproduction, development and growth that can last for multiple generations.

Find a better location

The Mornington Peninsula Shire Council has defended the Harry Potter event, saying the placement of props, lights and sounds has been carefully considered.

Organisers may have minimised impacts where they can, but evidence suggests the impact on wildlife will still be extensive.

The sanctuary where the event will be held is billed as “an ark – a place which nurtures, protects and celebrates the unique flora and fauna of the peninsula, now rare but not lost”. Deliberately locating a light and sound show at the reserve seems at odds with this mission.

Events such as this clearly affect wildlife. Finding genuinely suitable locations should be done with care – and should avoid wildlife conservation areas altogether.

Jaana Dielenberg works for the Biodiversity Council. The Biodiversity Council was founded by 11 universities and receives support from The Ian Potter Foundation, The Ross Trust, Trawalla Foundation, The Rendere Trust, Isaacson Davis Foundation, Coniston Charitable Trust and Angela Whitbread. Jaana is employed by the University of Melbourne and is a Charles Darwin University Fellow.

Euan Ritchie receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Action. Euan is a Councillor within the Biodiversity Council, and a member of the Ecological Society of Australia and the Australian Mammal Society.

Therésa Jones receives funding from the Australian Research Council and is affiliated with NERAL (Network for Ecological Research on Artificial Light).

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

– ref. Love a good light and sound show? Spare a thought for the animals whose homes you’re invading – https://theconversation.com/love-a-good-light-and-sound-show-spare-a-thought-for-the-animals-whose-homes-youre-invading-222390

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olivia Marie Bellas, PhD Candidate, University of Adelaide

Managing menstruation in public can be challenging at the best of times, but imagine being eight years old and having to deal with your period at school. You might need to change your pad during class and explain to your friends why you are not going to the swimming carnival. You might be scared you will bleed through your uniform because there aren’t any sanitary bins in the junior years’ bathroom.

In Australia, the average age of the first period is about 13. But about 12% of children get their period between the ages of eight and 11. Researchers call this “early menarche” or “early onset menstruation”.

But even though a significant proportion of students are getting their first period as early as Year 3 or even Year 2, primary school students are not officially taught about puberty until Years 5 and 6 (when they are aged between 10 and 12).

Our research explores current period education and what support is available for early menstruators. It shows how schools can act as gatekeepers of knowledge about this essential and very normal part of human development.

Period shame exists but is not inevitable

Shame about periods has existed in many parts of the world for centuries. Researchers have noted how children are taught not to talk about menstruation and if they do, it is often negatively (with a focus on pain and discomfort).

A 2021 survey found 29% of 659 menstruating Australian students aged ten to 18 were concerned they would be teased at school for having their period.

Similar issues occur as students grow older. A 2022 Australian survey of 410 university students who menstruate found only 16.2% felt completely confident in managing their periods at university. Just over half believed society thought periods were taboo (and so, not something you talk about).

But the stigma is not inevitable. There are examples of education programs in other countries that celebrate periods and are accessible across ages.

There is a Swedish program that provides information for young people, stories about first periods and advice on how adults can talk to children about menstruation. In the United Kingdom, there are moves to introduce a “period positive” curriculum for school students.

Read more:
‘Dirty red’: how periods have been stigmatised through history to the modern day

What is taught in Australian schools?

The Australian curriculum does not not explicitly mention “period” or “menstruation” in any of its online health and physical education curriculum resources, for any year levels up to Year 10.

We can assume schools would cover it under topics such as “understand the physical […] changes that are occurring for them”. But without explicit mention to menstruation or periods, it is likely what is being taught across classrooms in Australia is variable and insufficient.

It was last updated in 2022, under the former Morrison government.

Our research

We interviewed 15 staff across government, Catholic and private primary schools in Australia. We asked staff about their awareness of students who have experienced early onset menstruation, how their students are educated about periods, and what support is available to them.

Staff spoke about how students who menstruated early “felt isolated” and voiced the need for earlier “matter-of-fact” menstruation education. As one teacher told us:

I think we’ve got to take it down to Years 3 and 4 and be a lot more specific than we have been, because you are going to get more and more being younger.

However, several participants shared apprehension around having discussions about periods with young students. As one teacher explained:

You don’t want to scare young girls, like seven-and eight-year-olds […] if it is happening earlier, it needs to be talked about earlier. But that’s a hard one because a lot of girls […] aren’t really mature enough to understand […]

Another teacher said that talking about periods in Year 3 was “probably a bit too much […] you don’t want to traumatise the child”.

Gatekeeping knowledge and awareness about periods from younger children is a problem on multiple levels. For one, it can deprive children of vital information about their bodies. For another, it frames menstruation as something inherently inappropriate, scary or crude. This in turn can reinforce stigma and taboo.

Can we tell boys about this?

Staff also spoke about how boys were not necessarily included in lessons about periods, and how male teachers may not have experience talking about these issues. As one teacher told us:

It is a discussion that’s been done where they don’t really include the boys in it […].

School staff also raised concerns that teaching boys about menstruation might present an opportunity for bullying or teasing. One school support officer suggested only girls should be taught about periods, noting:

they [boys] might be like ‘oh, I found your pad!‘

However, separating classrooms by gender for these lessons does not encourage the normalisation of periods. A 2016 study explored the attitudes of 48 Australian men towards menstruation. Participants reported being told little or nothing about periods while growing up, and so they grew up believing it was taboo.

Other teachers in our study noted how important it was for male students to be taught about periods.

I found it really frustrating that we’re giving young men who are eventually going to be in workplaces and potentially in positions of leadership, who are being deprived of these matter-of-fact moments of teaching [about menstruation] where they’re going to sort of pick up these things through like hearsay, through sort of uneducated conversation […]

Read more:
First periods can come as a shock. 5 ways to support your kid when they get theirs

What needs to happen instead?

Our study emphasises how a lack of timely and comprehensive education and support for early menstruators in Australian schools is underpinned by menstrual stigma and taboo.

But it also showed how the issue is driven by perceptions of children’s capacity to learn about periods, based on their age and gender.

This research highlights the need for the Australian curriculum to introduce specific menstruation education by at least Year 3 or earlier. The curriculum needs to explain what menstruation is, why it happens, the ways it can be managed and how it will begin happening to their peers and that this is normal.

In the meantime, we encourage all school staff to work towards building menstrual wellbeing by becoming comfortable discussing periods with all students, make period products accessible to all year levels in all bathrooms, and advertise free period product locations to students from Year 3.

This will enable all children who menstruate to manage their periods in school easily and without shame.

Jessica Shipman receives funding from Flinders Foundation.

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

– ref. ‘It needs to be talked about earlier’: some children get periods at 8, years before menstruation is taught at school – https://theconversation.com/it-needs-to-be-talked-about-earlier-some-children-get-periods-at-8-years-before-menstruation-is-taught-at-school-222887

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sophie Couchman, Honorary Research Fellow, Museums Victoria Research Institute

Tomorrow will usher in the lunar Year of the Dragon. Families and friends will gather to feast, red packets will be gifted to youngsters, and dancing Chinese lions accompanied by strings of crackers will scare away evil spirits and bring good fortune to businesses.

In celebration of the new year, much-loved Chinese dragons will parade on Australia’s streets, including Sun Loong in Bendigo and the Millennium Dragon in Melbourne.

While dragon parades are popularly viewed as displays of Chinese or Cantonese tradition and culture, their history demonstrates how deeply Australian they also are.

Our historical research shows that until relatively recently Australia’s dragon parade tradition was closely associated with Chinese-Australian philanthropy and engagement with Australian civic life, rather than with Chinese spiritual practice.

The earliest dragon arrivals

Australia’s Cantonese immigrants and their descendants have long used dragon processions as ostentatious displays of their culture. Some of the organisers of dragon parades have ancestry dating back to the 19th-century gold rushes. The history of these dragons is almost as old.

The first dragon, nicknamed the “Duck Bill” dragon, was imported from Southern China to Bendigo more than 100 years ago and paraded from 1892 to 1898.

Nearby, Ballarat’s first dragon – also the oldest surviving dragon – was purchased in 1897. It was paraded until the 1960s. Ballarat’s dragon is held at Sovereign Hill.

The “Moon Face” dragon was Bendigo’s second dragon, paraded for just one year in 1900. Then, in 1901, Bendigo imported its third dragon, “Loong”. Remarkably, Loong was paraded for more than 100 years (circa 1901-2019) and now resides at the Golden Dragon Museum.

Melbourne also got its first dragon in 1901, which was paraded until about 1915. It’s now held at the See Yup Temple in South Melbourne.

Bendigo’s Chinese communities, their descendants and friends maintained a continuous dragon parading tradition. Ballarat and Melbourne’s fell away – only to be revived in 1954 to mark the visit of Queen Elizabeth II.

Meanwhile in southern China, where these parades originated, the tradition almost died out after the Cultural Revolution.

Read more:
It’s the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac − associated with good fortune, wisdom and success

A valued part of local fundraising

Australian streets have provided a stage for a variety of processions, with public holidays used to stage open-air fundraising activities (particularly for hospitals). Chinese communities were as keen as everyone else to assist with fundraising, display their culture and participate in festivities.

Historian Pauline Rule has shown that Chinese communities have contributed to public fundraising displays in rural cities since at least 1866.

Bendigo’s Chinese community has helped raise funds for the Bendigo Hospital at its annual Easter fair since 1879. In 1884, the organising committee of Castlemaine’s charity parade specifically sought the involvement of the local Chinese community.

The popularity of dragons

Dragons were expensive and valued, and as such were also loaned to other communities for fundraising displays. In 1897, Bendigo’s Duck Bill dragon travelled to Sydney to participate in the Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee fundraiser. Then, both Bendigo’s Moon Face and the Ballarat dragon, as well as costumes from Bendigo, Beechworth and Castlemaine, were loaned to raise funds for the Melbourne Women’s Hospital in May 1900.

That so many Victorian communities could purchase dragons demonstrated their prosperity and joint commitment to Australia philanthropy and public life. It perhaps also encouraged a friendly intercity rivalry.

Processional dragons were so popular that some communities that couldn’t access one would make their own imitation ones.

Royal welcome

By the time the Duke and Duchess of York arrived in Melbourne to open the first federal parliament on May 6 1901, Chinese participation in public processions in Victoria was common. Of the five Chinese dragons brought to Victoria in the 19th century, three participated in Federation celebrations.

As John Fitzgerald shows, many Chinese Australians were as excited about the possibilities of Federation as other Australians. They “shared a grand vision of what Australia might become in the century ahead”. To mark the royal visit, welcome arches were constructed in Melbourne, Ballarat and Perth.

Thanks to early photography, we can identify the two dragons that paraded in Melbourne. Several photographs show Bendigo’s Loong was one of these.

Only a few long-distance photographs of the other dragon survive.

They show that, while the dragon’s beard is positioned differently and some decorations are missing, the striped horns and head match the Melbourne dragon held at the See Yup Temple in South Melbourne. According to a 1903 newspaper article, Melbourne’s Chinese Bo Leong Society had specifically purchased this dragon for the 1901 celebrations, at a cost of 250 pounds.

The third dragon involved in the festivities, the Ballarat dragon, was used to decorate the Chinese arch that welcomed the royal couple during their visit to Ballarat.

A legacy in Australia

Astoundingly, these three Federation-era dragons – three of the five oldest surviving imperial dragons in the world – still survive today.

Traditionally, when dragons reach the end of their life they are ritually burned. That these dragons were not is another expression of their Australianness. For immigrant Chinese communities, they have acquired special value as examples of cultural practices of distant homelands. Their cultural difference and beauty also appeal to others.

Each dragon is significant in its own right, but together they are remnants of a significant history of Chinese Australians’ participation in local fundraising and celebration.

Sophie Couchman has undertaken research work for the See Yup Society on a voluntary basis and formerly curator at the Museum of Chinese Australian History.

Leigh McKinnon is the Research Officer at Bendigo’s Golden Dragon Museum, the home of the world’s oldest complete processional dragon Loong.

– ref. The surprisingly Australian history of Chinese dragon parades – https://theconversation.com/the-surprisingly-australian-history-of-chinese-dragon-parades-221594

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

The government has announced long-awaited fuel efficiency standards, which will place a yearly cap on the total emissions output for new cars sold in Australia. The new regime will move Australia in the direction of comparable countries, but it has its critics.

Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen joins the podcast to discuss this policy, as well as the government’s progress on the energy transition, which is facing resistance in some regional and rural communities.

On the fuel standards, Bowen insists there’s no downside.

I don’t see any losers out of this policy because you could still get full range of choice.

He points out the government won’t be forcing anyone to change cars.

We like people having the choice of EVs and like people taking up EVs because they’re good for emissions and good for the cost of living. But it’s a choice for Australians, and I recognise everyone’s on a journey. You know, some people are looking at plug-in hybrids. Some people are just not ready yet, it’s perfectly understandable.

On climate change and the 2030 targets, Bowen admits

Of course, there are challenges along the road. And there’s a big lift […] renewable energy was about 30% when we came to office. And we’re getting to 82%. It’s a big job; of course, there are bumps and challenges. I don’t shy away from that. But we continue with the journey.

Talking about the government’s First Nations Clean Energy Strategy, Bowen says

I’m co-developing it with First Nations people. It’s co-designed. I think that’s very important, because it’s not me sitting in Canberra telling First Nations people what they need and what will happen. […] It’s run very collaboratively across the committee. It’s done a lot of outreach in meetings.

Indigenous people have a lot of energy insecurity in remote Australia. I mean, [they are] amongst the most energy insecure in the world. Their electricity gets turned off a lot. But they live in the hottest, sunniest places in the world. So, you know, we need better harnessed renewable energy. We need to give them more energy reliability.

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

– ref. Politics with Michelle Grattan: Chris Bowen on fuel efficiency standards and the energy transition – https://theconversation.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-chris-bowen-on-fuel-efficiency-standards-and-the-energy-transition-223094

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Munn, Research Fellow, Digital Cultures & Societies, The University of Queensland

What does the Australian supermarket chain Coles have in common with the CIA? As of last week, both are clients of Palantir Technologies, a US tech company “focused on creating the world’s best user experience for working with data”.

In a three-year deal, Coles plans to deploy Palantir’s tools across more than 840 supermarkets to cut costs and “redefine how we think about our workforce”.

The tech company, named after magical seeing stones from the Lord of the Rings, offers comprehensive software that collects, organises and visualises a client’s data in “one platform to rule them all”. For an intelligence agency, Palantir’s tools might help identify a terror cell through phone calls and financial transactions; in a healthcare organisation, they might find ways to save money by shortening emergency department stays.

For Coles, the goal is to “optimise its workforce” by analysing “over 10 billion rows of data, comprising each store, team member, shift and allocation across all intervals in a day, every day”.

The announcement is linked to Coles’ plan to save a billion dollars over the next four years, and follows a 2019 big data deal with Microsoft, an effort to build robotic delivery centres, and the introduction of customer-tracking cameras and other high-tech security measures.

The Palantir process

What might this Palantir–Coles collaboration look like in practice?

Typically, Palantir first sends out “forward-deployed engineers” to begin work with an organisation’s data, which is often messy, incomplete and fragmented. These engineers work with different branches and stakeholders to bring the data together into a single compatible whole called “The Ontology”, which contains all the information deemed relevant.

Then the data can be fed into Palantir’s platforms – in this case, customisable software called Foundry and the Artificial Intelligence Platform.

Read more:
How tech billionaires’ visions of human nature shape our world

The platforms let clients explore the data through dense but user-friendly interfaces populated by columns and rows, boxes and lines. The Artificial Intelligence Platform also brings ChatGPT-like language models into the mix.

Users might compare earnings between branches, flag a store that seems inefficient, or identify an upcoming period of high spending based on historic patterns.

All of this probably seems banal, or even boring. It’s certainly less overtly problematic than Palantir’s work with governments and law enforcement, which has been slammed for enabling data-driven deportation or racist policing, and seen the company described as “evil”.

Read more:
High-tech surveillance amplifies police bias and overreach

However, the deal doesn’t need to be overtly malevolent to be meaningful. A technology of surveillance and control is quietly becoming infrastructure, moving from front-page news to something ticking along silently in the background. In this sense, Palantir shifts from the visible to the operational, imperceptibly but powerfully shaping the lives and livelihoods of Australian supermarket employees and shoppers.

Optimising the workforce

We can briefly sketch out three implications of the deal.

First, by inking this deal, Coles frames itself as future-forward and logistically driven. Groceries and grocery-store labour become more data, just like the hedge funds, healthcare, or immigrants that other Palantir clients coordinate.

Read more:
Coles and Woolworths are moving to robot warehouses and on-demand labour as home deliveries soar

Supermarkets have been under fire over the past year for increasing profit margins through a pandemic and cost-of-living crisis, and accused of underpaying workers.

The Palantir deal continues this extractive trajectory. Rather than paying workers more or passing savings onto customers, Coles has chosen to invest millions in technology that will “address workforce-related spend” as part of a larger effort to cut costs by a billion dollars over the next four years. Food (and the labour needed to grow, pack and ship it) is transformed from a human need to an optimisation problem.

A walled garden

Second, dependence. As my own research found, Palantir clients tend to enjoy the all-encompassing data and new features but also become dependent on them. Data mounts up; new servers are needed; licensing fees are high but must be paid.

Much like Apple or Amazon, Palantir’s services excel at creating “vendor lock-in”, a perfect walled garden which clients find hard to leave. This pattern suggests that, over the next three years, Coles will increasingly depend on Silicon Valley technology to understand and manage its own business. A company that sells a quarter of Australia’s groceries may become operationally reliant on a US tech titan.

A way of seeing

Finally, vision. What Palantir sells is fundamentally a way of seeing. Its dashboards promise a God’s eye view that can stretch across an entire organisation or zoom in to granular detail to locate that “needle in the haystack” insight.

The claim is that this data-driven view is a shortcut to total knowledge, a way to map every operation, reveal every important element, and identify every inefficiency.

Yet the data inevitably excludes significant social, financial and environmental information. The sweat of workers struggling to pack at pace, the belt-tightening of consumers struggling to make ends meet, and the struggle of farmers to survive unexpected climate impacts will go untracked.

Such details never appear on the platform – and if they’re not data, they don’t matter. Will Palantir’s data-driven myopia translate to how Coles views its workers and customers?

By placing Palantir at the heart of its operations, Coles quietly smuggles in several key assumptions: that food is a commodity to be optimised, that paying for labor is a risk rather than a responsibility, and that data can capture everything of importance. At a time of increased food insecurity, Australians should strongly question whether this is the direction one of our major grocery providers should take.

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

– ref. Solving the supermarket: why Coles just hired US defence contractor Palantir – https://theconversation.com/solving-the-supermarket-why-coles-just-hired-us-defence-contractor-palantir-222883

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Evangeline Mantzioris, Program Director of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Accredited Practising Dietitian, University of South Australia

Fermented foods have become popular in recent years, partly due to their perceived health benefits.

For instance, there is some evidence eating or drinking fermented foods can improve blood glucose control in people with diabetes. They can lower blood lipid (fats) levels and blood pressure in people with diabetes or obesity. Fermented foods can also improve diarrhoea symptoms.

But can they help you lose weight, as a recent study suggests? Let’s look at the evidence.

Read more:
What is kombucha and how do the health claims stack up?

Remind me, what are fermented foods?

Fermented foods are ones prepared when microbes (bacteria and/or yeast) ferment (or digest) food components to form new foods. Examples include yoghurt, cheese, kefir, kombucha, wine, beer, sauerkraut and kimchi.

As a result of fermentation, the food becomes acidic, extending its shelf life (food-spoilage microbes are less likely to grow under these conditions). This makes fermentation one of the earliest forms of food processing.

Fermentation also leads to new nutrients being made. Beneficial microbes (probiotics) digest nutrients and components in the food to produce new bioactive components (postbiotics). These postbiotics are thought to contribute to the health benefits of the fermented foods, alongside the health benefits of the bacteria themselves.

Read more:
Space travel taxes astronauts’ brains. But microbes on the menu could help in unexpected ways

What does the evidence say?

A study published last week has provided some preliminary evidence eating kimchi – the popular Korean fermented food – is associated with a lower risk of obesity in some instances. But there were mixed results.

The South Korean study involved 115,726 men and women aged 40-69 who reported how much kimchi they’d eaten over the previous year. The study was funded by the World Institute of Kimchi, which specialises in researching the country’s national dish.

Eating one to three servings of any type of kimchi a day was associated with a lower risk of obesity in men.

Men who ate more than three serves a day of cabbage kimchi (baechu) were less likely to have obesity and abdominal obesity (excess fat deposits around their middle). And women who ate two to three serves a day of baechu were less likely to have obesity and abdominal obesity.

Eating more radish kimchi (kkakdugi) was associated with less abdominal obesity in both men and women.

However, people who ate five or more serves of any type of kimchi weighed more, had a larger waist sizes and were more likely to be obese.

The study had limitations. The authors acknowledged the questionnaire they used may make it difficult to say exactly how much kimchi people actually ate.

The study also relied on people to report past eating habits. This may make it hard for them to accurately recall what they ate.

This study design can also only tell us if something is linked (kimchi and obesity), not if one thing causes another (if kimchi causes weight loss). So it is important to look at experimental studies where researchers make changes to people’s diets then look at the results.

Read more:
Is apple cider vinegar really a wonder food?

How about evidence from experimental trials?

There have been several experimental studies looking at how much weight people lose after eating various types of fermented foods. Other studies looked at markers or measures of appetite, but not weight loss.

One study showed the stomach of men who drank 1.4 litres of fermented milk during a meal took longer to empty (compared to those who drank the same quantity of whole milk). This is related to feeling fuller for longer, potentially having less appetite for more food.

Another study showed drinking 200 millilitres of kefir (a small glass) reduced participants’ appetite after the meal, but only when the meal contained quickly-digested foods likely to make blood glucose levels rise rapidly. This study did not measure changes in weight.

Another study looked at Indonesian young women with obesity. Eating tempeh (a fermented soybean product) led to changes in an appetite hormone. But this did not impact their appetite or whether they felt full. Weight was not measured in this study.

A study in South Korea asked people to eat about 70g a day of chungkookjang (fermented soybean). There were improvements in some measures of obesity, including percentage body fat, lean body mass, waist-to-hip ratio and waist circumference in women. However there were no changes in weight for men or women.

A systematic review of all studies that looked at the impact of fermented foods on satiety (feeling full) showed no effect.

Read more:
How much weight do you actually need to lose? It might be a lot less than you think

What should I do?

The evidence so far is very weak to support or recommend fermented foods for weight loss. These experimental studies have been short in length, and many did not report weight changes.

To date, most of the studies have used different fermented foods, so it is difficult to generalise across them all.

Nevertheless, fermented foods are still useful as part of a healthy, varied and balanced diet, particularly if you enjoy them. They are rich in healthy bacteria, and nutrients.

Read more:
I’m trying to lose weight and eat healthily. Why do I feel so hungry all the time? What can I do about it?

Are there downsides?

Some fermented foods, such as kimchi and sauerkraut, have added salt. The latest kimchi study said the average amount of kimchi South Koreans eat provides about 490mg of salt a day. For an Australian, this would represent about 50% of the suggested dietary target for optimal health.

Eating too much salt increases your risk of high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.

Read more:
Remind me again, why is salt bad for you?

Evangeline Mantzioris is affiliated with Alliance for Research in Nutrition, Exercise and Activity (ARENA) at the University of South Australia. Evangeline Mantzioris has received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, and has been appointed to the National Health and Medical Research Council Dietary Guideline Expert Committee.

– ref. Can kimchi really help you lose weight? Hold your pickle. The evidence isn’t looking great – https://theconversation.com/can-kimchi-really-help-you-lose-weight-hold-your-pickle-the-evidence-isnt-looking-great-222598

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Ruppanner, Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of The Future of Work Lab, The University of Melbourne

With Victorian council elections to be held in October, the state government’s target of reaching 50-50 gender representation at the local level is under threat.

While the state achieved a record 43.8% of women elected to councils in 2020, outperforming most federal and state parliaments, and succeeded in achieving gender parity in 47 out of 76 councils, the overall 50-50 gender representation target by 2025 will still be difficult to reach.

Globally, gender quotas have been a tried and tested way of lifting women’s political representation. But research also shows quotas can divide public opinion, and they work better in some contexts than others. With this in mind, we wanted to test alternative measures to support women in politics, which also attract public support.

Our latest research shows Australians are generally supportive of giving women politicians a range of resources such as better compensation, childcare and housekeeping funds, and more flexibility with online meetings, to help keep them in office.

Australia struggles with women’s representation in its parliaments across our three tier system. Despite a record number of women entering the federal parliament in 2022, Australia is currently ranked 34th in the world for women’s representation in the lower house.

While local governments tend to fare slightly better, they also struggle to achieve equal gender representation. In response, the Victorian government set a target in 2016 for 50% women councillors and Mayors by 2025.

Achieving this goal is important because it makes society more equal, reflecting the fact that women account for just over 50% of the population.

There are other benefits too. Local government can be an excellent training ground for women politicians, which may in turn bolster women’s representation in other tiers of government. And so, women need more support to ensure they can run for local government and be supported once in office.

Read more:
The Liberal Party is failing women miserably compared to other democracies, and needs quotas

Challenges for women politicians

Women face unique challenges as politicians. Our research shows a major issue facing women politicians is their competing work and family roles.

Trying to meet the demands of work, family and politics creates role strain for women politicians. In a previous study with logistical support from the Victorian Local Governance Association (VLGA), we found these demands meant younger women were much less likely to run for local government than older women and men of all ages.

Our research shows this creates stress, strain and high levels of burn-out for women politicians. It can also lead to higher attrition rates, making it harder to close the gender gap. Many men politicians, of course, also had families and paid employment, but most also had a secret weapon – partners at home to manage the domestic demands.

This means women politicians are entering their jobs with heavier loads and the weight of these demands are a source of constant strain.

To counter this, we tested public support in three countries for non-quota measures like additional resources to keep women in public office, to move closer to gender parity.

Gender responsive governments

Governments have long toyed with the question: how do you centre gender in decision-making to create governments that support women and men equally? And, importantly, will the public support this decision-making?

To understand these questions, we conducted an experiment drawing reponses from more than 25,000 people in Australia, Canada and the United States. We presented people with a hypothetical scenario: A politician has young children at home, travels a lot for work and is doing a great job. They are thinking about re-running in the next election but find managing work and family life to be difficult. What kind of resources, if any, should they be provided? We then provided a range of options to measured their level of support for: a pay raise, a childcare allowance, or money to outsource housework.

Testing support at both local and federal levels of office, we found public support across countries for giving women more resources than men to help women stay in politics. We found respondents were especially supportive of extending these resources to women elected to local government, where compensation is less and supports are most needed.

Read more:
The missing women of Australian politics — research shows the toll of harassment, abuse and stalking

Where to from here?

So, what are the lessons we can draw here? Well, it is clear that women need additional resources to remain in office. Our earlier research on women in local government in Victoria showed a missing cohort of young women who are building families at the exact moment that they could be building political careers.

We know from decades of national statistics that women are underrepresented in all areas of government – local, state and federal. Women politicians report significant strain in trying to do it all and do it well.

They need additional resources such as childcare and flexible meeting times to stay in office. Our latest work finds that citizens are supportive of these concrete solutions to support women in politics and lift women’s participation rate.

We know that women bring unique strengths to politics and we know, from decades of research, that we all benefit from more equal parliaments to create a more equal society.

With the Victorian local government elections around the corner, now is the time for fresh thinking and policies to deliver women the resources they need to participate in politics to benefit us all.

Leah Ruppanner receives funding from the Australian Research Council for a grant with the Victorian Local Governance Association (VLGA).

Andrea Carson receives funding from an ARC Linkage grant with the Victorian Local Governance Association (VLGA). This latest research was supported through Professor Carson’s fellowship with the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia (WILA).

– ref. What’s the secret to attracting more women into politics? Give them more resources – https://theconversation.com/whats-the-secret-to-attracting-more-women-into-politics-give-them-more-resources-222159

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Fish, Associate Professor, School of Arts and Media, UNSW Sydney

Australia’s plentiful solar and wind resources and proximity to Asia means it can become a renewable energy superpower. But as the renewable energy rollout continues, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people must benefit.

Renewables projects can provide income and jobs to Aboriginal land owners. Access to clean energy can also help First Nations people protect their culture and heritage, and remain on Country.

This is not a new idea. Policies in the United States and Canada, for example, actively seek to ensure the energy transition delivers opportunities to Indigenous people.

The Australian government is developing a First Nations Clean Energy Strategy and is seeking comment on a consultation paper. Submissions close tomorrow, February 9. If you feel strongly about the issue, we urge you to have your say.

We must get this policy right. Investing meaningfully in First Nations-led clean energy projects makes the transition more likely to succeed. What’s more, recognising the rights and interests of First Nations people is vital to ensuring that injustices of the past are not repeated.

Read more:
Beyond Juukan Gorge: how First Nations people are taking charge of clean energy projects on their land

Good for business, and people

Indigenous peoples have recognised land interests covering around 26% of Australia’s landmass. Research shows Aboriginal land holders want to be part of the energy transition. But they need support and resources.

This could take the form of federal grants to make communities more energy-efficient or less reliant on expensive, polluting diesel generators. Funding could also be spent on workforce training to ensure First Nations people have the skills to take part in the transition. Federal agencies could be funded to support grants for First Nations feasibility studies of renewable energy industry on their land.

As well as proper investment, governments must also ensure First Nations people are engaged early in the planning of renewable projects and that the practice of free prior and informed consent is followed. And renewable energy operators will also need to ensure they have capability to work with First peoples.

The First Nations Clean Energy Network – of which one author, Heidi Norman, is part – is a network of First Nations people, community organisations, land councils, unions, academics, industry groups and others. It is working to ensure First Nations communities share the benefits of the clean energy boom.

The network is among a group of organisations calling on the federal government to invest an additional A$100 billion into the Australian renewables industry. The investment should be designed to benefit all Australians, including First Nations people.

In Australia, the Albanese government has set an emissions-reduction goal of a 43% by 2030, based on 2005 levels. But Australia’s renewable energy rollout is not happening fast enough to meet this goal. Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen has called for faster planning decisions on renewable energy projects.

To achieve the targets, however, the federal government must bring communities along with them – including First Nations people.

As demonstrated by the US and Canada, investing meaningfully and at scale in First Nations-led clean energy projects is not just equitable, it makes good business sense.

Follow the leaders

The US Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 made A$520 billion in investments to accelerate the transition to net zero. Native Americans stand to receive hundreds of billions of dollars from the laws. This includes funding set aside for Tribal-specific programs.

Canada is even further ahead in this policy space. In fact, analysis shows First Nations, Métis and Inuit entities are partners or beneficiaries of almost 20% of Canada’s electricity-generating infrastructure, almost all of which is producing renewable energy. In one of the most recent investments, the Canadian government in 2022 invested C$300 million to help First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples launch clean energy projects.

Policymakers in both countries increasingly realise that a just transition from fossil fuels requires addressing the priorities of First Nations communities. These investments are a starting point for building sustainable, globally competitive economies that work for everyone.

As US and Canada examples demonstrate, the right scale of investment in First Nations-led projects can mean fewer legal delays and a much-needed social licence to operate.

Read more:
Renewable projects are getting built faster – but there’s even more need for speed 

Dealing with the climate risk

First Nations people around the world are on the frontline of climate change. It threatens their homelands, food sources, cultural resources and ways of life.

First Nations have also experienced chronic under-investment in their energy infrastructure by governments over generations, both in Australia and abroad.

Investing in First Nations-led clean energy projects builds climate resilience. This was demonstrated by the federal government’s Bushlight program, which ran from 2002 to 2013. It involved renewable energy systems installed in remote communities in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland.

Bushlight’s solar power meant that communities were not dependent on the delivery of diesel. So they still had power if roads were closed by flooding or other climate disasters.

Read more:
How can Aboriginal communities be part of the NSW renewable energy transition?

Australia must get moving

The Biden government’s Inflation Reduction Act prompted a swift reaction from governments around the world. But after 15 months, Australia is yet to respond or develop equivalent legislation.

We must urgently develop our response and seize this unique opportunity to become world leaders in the global renewables race. That includes ensuring First Nations participate in and benefit from these developments.

The First Nations Clean Energy Strategy consultation paper can be found here. Feedback can be provided here.

Adam Fish volunteers research for the First Nations Clean Energy Network.

He received funding from the Digital Grid Future Institute at the University of New South Wales.

Heidi Norman receives funding from Australian Research Council and James Martin Institute.

– ref. First Nations people must be at the forefront of Australia’s renewable energy revolution – https://theconversation.com/first-nations-people-must-be-at-the-forefront-of-australias-renewable-energy-revolution-222616

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zid Niel Mancenido, Lecturer, Harvard University

Managing 20-30 adults in one room is a challenge for even the best managers. Swap the adults for children and you have what classroom teachers do every day.

Student behaviour and engagement in class are some of the biggest problems worrying Australian teachers and education experts. According to a 2022 report, Australian classrooms rank among the OECD’s most disorderly. This can range from low-level behaviours such as talking, not following instructions and using a mobile phone in class, to destruction of property, physical and verbal abuse.

This makes it harder for students to learn and more stressful for teachers to teach.

For the past year, a Liberal-chaired Senate inquiry has been looking at “increasing disruption in Australian school classrooms”.

Following an interim report in December 2023, the final report was released on Wednesday evening.

What is in the report?

On top of its previous recommendation to introduce a “behaviour curriculum” (to “help students understand their school’s behavioural expectations and values”), the committee now recommends a further inquiry into “declining academic standards” in Australian schools.

The report notes the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results. Released in December 2023, this is an international test of 15-year-olds’ knowledge and skills in science, maths and reading:

while Australia’s relative performance has remained mostly unchanged over the last two cycles, Australian students’ overall performance has actually been in steady decline over the past two decades.

Along with the academic component, a PISA questionnaire asked students how often disruptions happened in maths lessons. This included asking whether students do not listen to what the teacher says and whether there is noise and disorder in the classroom.

Australia ranked 33 out of the 37 OECD countries in the survey. Around 40% of Australian students reported they get distracted by using digital devices in maths lessons, while more than 30% said they get distracted by other students using digital devices.

Read more:
Are Australian students really falling behind? It depends which test you look at

What could help?

The report also noted the Australian Education Research Organisation’s recent work on behaviour, backed by federal government funding.

In December 2023 the organisation released a paper looking at the evidence on what works to manage classrooms. Last month it also released a guide for teachers based on this research.

Below are four key messages from this work.

1. Set expectations, routines and rules

Students don’t arrive at school innately knowing what is expected of them. This includes what to do when they are entering and exiting the classroom, wanting to gain their teacher’s attention, completing tasks or moving through the school.

So classroom rules and routines need to be explicitly taught and regularly revised to help students understand and demonstrate them automatically. This then gives them more headspace for learning.

Some expectations should be shared with families, such as arrival routines or expectations about homework.

Teachers should also role-model what they expect of students. This includes arriving to class on time, being organised, and listening to and speaking to students in a consistent and calm manner.

2. Prepare the classroom environment

The way a classroom is set up plays an important role in creating welcoming, calm and functional learning environments.

This can include the way furniture is arranged – so everyone can see and hear the teacher easily – as well as visual displays that are set up to enhance and not distract from learning.

This includes reminders for where students will put their bags, displaying timetables and routines so students know where they need to be and what they need to do.

3. Build student-teacher relationships

If students have a positive connection with their teacher, they are more likely to have a positive attitude towards school. Some ways teachers can establish a strong relationship include greeting students individually at the classroom door every day and interacting with students outside the classroom.

They should regularly “check in” with every student. For example, ask about their weekend, their activities and interests outside of school, such as how their football team is performing or how their dance performance went.

If there are issues, they should deliver feedback constructively. This involves reminding students of the expectations, identifying what they were doing and what they need to do instead and why. After giving feedback, teachers should let go of the incident and start fresh.

Read more:
There’s a call for a new ‘behaviour curriculum’ in Australian schools. Is that a good idea?

4. Respond to behaviour

Even with the best classroom management practices, there will be times when teachers need to handle disengaged or disruptive behaviours.

Teachers should be familiar with a combination of non-verbal and verbal “corrections” and escalate responses as needs be.

This includes talking to a student privately one-on-one, at a time that does not interrupt the flow of the lesson. They can also remind the group or whole class of expectations.

Teachers can also use non-verbal strategies, such as moving closer to a student who is not behaving, pausing and looking at a student in a deliberate way to demonstrate they are aware of what is happening. They could also make a gesture (such as a finger to their lips). The focus should always be on supporting students to re-engage in learning rather than punishing them.

Acknowledging and praising students who are meeting behaviour expectations is also as important as addressing disruption. This reinforces the expected behaviours for all students.

A complex issue

Student behaviour is a complex issue and is by no means solely an issue for teachers to fix. As the Senate inquiry heard, behaviour can be influenced by socioeconomic factors, bullying, family trauma and disability.

But there are practical things teachers and schools can do to help students engage in their lessons and keep classrooms calm and focused.

Zid Niel Mancenido is Senior Manager, Research and Evaluation for the Australian Research Education Organisation. The project mentioned in this article is funded by the federal Department of Education, through the Engaged Classrooms Through Effective Classroom Management Program.

– ref. A new Senate report sounds alarm bells on student behaviour. Here are 4 things to help teachers in the classroom – https://theconversation.com/a-new-senate-report-sounds-alarm-bells-on-student-behaviour-here-are-4-things-to-help-teachers-in-the-classroom-222874

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

In the 2019 general election, Indonesians voted more women into the national parliament than ever before.

After the first election of the post-authoritarian period in 1999, women’s representation was a paltry 8.8%, so the rise to 20.9% in 2019 seemed worth celebrating. Indeed, women activists had worked long and hard to reach this point.

Disappointed with the results of the first two elections, they had successfully pushed for a candidate quota, requiring parties to nominate at least 30% women.

This will again be tested in next week’s election. But given the barriers women candidates in Indonesia face, is the quota enough to raise representation?

Read more:
Is Joko Widodo paving the way for a political dynasty in Indonesia?

Representation better, but not enough

Under Indonesia’s open list proportional representation system, parties decide on candidate placement on the list, but voters can choose any candidate. In the past three elections, the quota has meant that in every electoral district at all three levels of parliament, women had to make up at least 30% of candidates. Additionally, one in every three candidates on the party list had to be female.

With such a strong institutional framework, it is not surprising that enthusiasm after the 2019 election was muted. Given the 2014 election had seen a slight fall in women’s representation, activists were relieved. But the result was still well below the aspirational 30% target, and below the international average at the time of 24.3%.

The results were also uneven, with more than 20% of electoral districts not electing any women to parliament. At the provincial and district level, the proportion of women elected to office was even lower, at only 18% and 15% respectively; 25 district parliaments had no women at all elected to office in 2019.

Why do women find it hard to be elected to office in Indonesia, and is this likely to change in 2024?

Barriers of patriarchy, money and name recognition

In many countries, it is said that when women run, they win. The main barrier to greater representation tends to be that women don’t stand for office. When they do, political parties don’t nominate them, or put them in unwinnable positions.

The quota in Indonesia gets around this problem. It encourages women to run and forces parties to nominate them. But our research has revealed that women candidates in Indonesia also face significant barriers from patriarchal attitudes held by many voters about whether women should take on political leadership roles.

Support for women’s political leadership has even dropped over the past decade. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s electoral system allows voters to discriminate against women without having to sacrifice party choice, as they would in a majoritarian voting system like that in Australia.

But the challenges don’t stop there.

Indonesia is a new democracy and political parties receive very little public financing. Candidates are expected to raise their own funds to run their campaigns.

The open-list system means candidates run not just against opponents from other parties, but also against their fellow party members, making politics highly personalised. This has led to a dramatic rise in the cost of elections for individual candidates, with “money politics” coming to dominate election campaigns.

Given that women in Indonesia face high levels of economic inequality, the cost of campaigns makes competing difficult.

Read more:
Indonesia is one of the world’s largest democracies, but it’s weaponising defamation laws to smother dissent

Clientelism also shapes the kind of women candidates that parties choose and where they place them on their lists. Elite women and celebrities are more likely to be nominated as they can finance themselves. They also have the networks and name recognition that can garner votes. In 2019, some 44% of the women elected to the national parliament were members of political dynasties.

While some of these women are no doubt capable politicians, their dominance makes it harder for women candidates to come through grassroots organisations. Parties also spend less time developing women cadres to run as candidates, preferring to reach out to such “vote getters”.

What about this time around?

So what are the prospects for women’s representation in the upcoming elections?

The barriers to women’s election have not changed and are unlikely to change in the short term. As a result, incremental progress is the best that can be hoped for.

Several women politicians were instrumental in the passage of the Anti-Sexual Violence bill that passed last year. It’s possible that this increased visibility will give women a bump.

On the other hand, gender issues have not been central to the presidential or legislative campaigns so are unlikely to be uppermost in voters’ minds.

In fact, we may have reason to be more pessimistic. A seemingly minor change to the regulations on quota implementation means that for the first time in three elections, the requirement for a 30% candidate quota will not be applied in every electoral district party list, but instead for the total number of women candidates of each party.

The changes date back to a controversial regulation issued by the Indonesian Electoral Commission (KPU) in April 2023. The regulation allowed rounding down when assessing the number of women a party has on a candidate list. For example, in electoral districts with eight seats, 30% is 2.4 candidates. Previously, a party would have had to field three women candidates. Now, fractions can be rounded down if under 0.5, so in our example, parties are only required to field two women candidates.

Read more:
The professor, the general and the populist: meet the three candidates running for president in Indonesia

A coalition of democracy and gender activists appealed against this regulation to the Supreme Court, and they won. But the electoral commission has indicated it will not enforce the court’s decision in this election. Democracy activists say that this means almost 18% of party lists do not meet the requirement for 30% women candidates.

It could be that these changes will have little impact. After all, we know that most candidates are elected from the first position on the list.

However, it sets a worrying precedent for women’s representation going forward. Our research shows the 30% candidate quota for women is widely supported in Indonesia. Yet, it has effectively been watered down without public discussion and against the advice of the Supreme Court.

The actions of the electoral commission, apparently at the direction of a male-dominated parliamentary commission, underline again how the foundational institutions of Indonesian democracy are being eroded by the political elite.

Sally White receives funding from the Australian Research Council Discovery Project “Political Representation in Indonesia”.

– ref. Even with a 30% quota in place, Indonesian women face an uphill battle running for office – https://theconversation.com/even-with-a-30-quota-in-place-indonesian-women-face-an-uphill-battle-running-for-office-222387

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jenny Stewart, Professor of Public Policy, UNSW Sydney

There is a growing consensus that environmental problems, particularly the effects of climate change, pose a grave challenge to humanity. Pollution, habitat destruction, intractable waste issues and, for many, deteriorating quality of life should be added to the list.

Economic growth is the chief culprit. We forget, though, that environmental impacts are a consequence of per capita consumption multiplied by the number of people doing the consuming. Our own numbers matter.

Population growth threatens environments at global, national and regional scales. Yet the policy agenda either ignores human population, or fosters alarm when perfectly natural trends such as declining fertility and longer lifespans cause growth rates to fall and populations to age.

That there are still too many of us is a problem few want to talk about. Fifty years ago, population was considered to be an issue, not only for the developing world, but for the planet as a whole. Since then, the so-called green revolution in agriculture made it possible to feed many more people. But the costs of these practices, which relied heavily on pesticide and fertiliser use and relatively few crops, are only now beginning to be understood.

The next 30 years will be critical. The most recent United Nations projections point to a global population of 9.7 billion by 2050 and 10.4 billion by 2100. There are 8 billion of us now. Another 2 billion will bring already stressed ecosystems to the point of collapse.

It’s the whole world’s problem

Many would agree overpopulation is a problem in many developing countries, where large families keep people poor. But there are too many of us in the developed world, too. Per person, people in high-income countries consume 60% more resources than in upper-middle-income countries and more than 13 times as much as people in low-income countries.

From 1995 to 2020, the UK population, for example, grew by 9.1 million. A crowded little island, particularly around London and the south-east, became more crowded still.

Similarly, the Netherlands, one of the most densely populated countries, had just under 10 million inhabitants in 1950 and 17.6 million in 2020. In the 1950s, the government encouraged emigration to reduce population densities. By the 21st century, another 5 million people in a tiny country certainly caused opposition to immigration, but concern was wrongly focused on the ethnic composition of the increase. The principal problem of overpopulation received little attention.

Australia is celebrated as “a land of boundless plains to share”. In reality it’s a small country that consists of big distances.

As former NSW Premier Bob Carr predicted some years ago, as Australia’s population swelled, the extra numbers would be housed in spreading suburbs that would gobble up farmland nearest our cities and threaten coastal and near-coastal habitats. How right he was. The outskirts of Sydney and Melbourne are carpeted in big, ugly houses whose inhabitants will be forever car-dependent.

Doing nothing has a high cost

The longer we do nothing about population growth, the worse it gets. More people now inevitably mean more in the future than there would otherwise have been.

We live very long lives, on average, so once we’re born, we tend to stick around. It takes a while for falling birthrates to have any impact.

And when they do, the population boosters respond with cries of alarm. The norm is seen as a young or youngish population, while the elderly are presented as a parasitical drag upon the young.

Falling reproduction rates should not be regarded as a disaster but as a natural occurrence to which we can adapt.

Recently, we have been told Australia must have high population growth, because of workforce shortages. It is rarely stated exactly what these shortages are, and why we cannot train enough people to fill them.

Population and development are connected in subtle ways, at global, national and regional scales. At each level, stabilising the population holds the key to a more environmentally secure and equitable future.

For those of us who value the natural world for its own sake, the matter is clear – we should make room for other species. For those who do not care about other species, the reality is that without a more thoughtful approach to our own numbers, planetary systems will continue to break down.

Let women choose to have fewer children

So, what to do? If we assume the Earth’s population is going to exceed 10 billion, the type of thinking behind this assumption means we are sleepwalking our way into a nightmarish future when a better one is within our grasp.

A radical rethink of the global economy is needed to address climate change. In relation to population growth, if we can move beyond unhelpful ideologies, the solution is already available.

People are not stupid. In particular, women are not stupid. Where women are given the choice, they restrict the number of children they have. This freedom is as basic a human right as you can get.

A much-needed demographic transition could be under way right now, if only the population boosters would let it happen.

Those who urge greater rates of reproduction, whether they realise it or not, are serving only the short-term interests of developers and some religious authorities, for whom big societies mean more power for themselves. It is a masculinist fantasy for which most women, and many men, have long been paying a huge price.

Women will show the way, if only we would let them.

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

– ref. Population can’t be ignored. It has to be part of the policy solution to our world’s problems – https://theconversation.com/population-cant-be-ignored-it-has-to-be-part-of-the-policy-solution-to-our-worlds-problems-219812

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris F. Wright, Associate Professor of Work and Organisational Studies, University of Sydney

Australian workers are set to have the right to disconnect from their workplaces once they clock off for the day.

This will “empower workers to ignore work calls and emails after hours [from their employers], where those demands are unreasonable”, according to Greens Senator Barbara Pocock who has been driving the change.

Last week, the Senate committee reviewing the “Closing Loopholes” amendments to the Fair Work Act recommended introducing a right to disconnect to support “the development of clear expectations about contact and availability in workplaces”. On Wednesday, the Albanese government indicated it supported the amendment.

Why a right to disconnect is needed

Last year, the Senate Select Committee on Work and Care drew attention to “availability creep” where employees are increasingly expected to complete work outside of work hours.

Smartphones have made it easier for managers to contact workers any time. The shift to remote working during the COVID pandemic caused the boundaries between work and personal life to disintegrate further.

Read more:
Switching off from work has never been harder, or more necessary. Here’s how to do it

According to a 2022 report by the Centre for Future Work, 71% of workers surveyed had worked outside their scheduled work hours often due to overwork or pressure from managers.

This led to increased tiredness, stress or anxiety for about one-third of workers surveyed, disrupted relationships and personal lives for more than one-quarter, and lower job motivation and satisfaction for around one-fifth.

Parliamentary inquiries have highlighted the negative consequences of working outside scheduled hours for mental and physical health, productivity and turnover.

Availability creep has led to significant unpaid overtime which “takes workers away from a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay”.

The impacts are especially acute for certain groups of workers. Those on insecure contracts lack the power to resist availability creep. Those with unpaid care responsibilities are likely to experience intensified work/life balance.

“Roster justice”

The right to disconnect provides a solution to these challenges. The Senate select committee on work and care found such a right can provide workers with “roster justice” by giving more certainty over their working hours.

Many countries in Europe, Asia, North America and South America have already established laws or regulations limiting employers contacting workers outside work hours.

At least 56 enterprise agreements currently operating in Australia provide a right to disconnect. This includes agreements covering teachers, police officers and various banks and financial institutions.

Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke has indicated the right to disconnect legislation will provide employers with “reasonable grounds” to contact their employees outside work hours. This might include calling employees to see if they can fill a shift.

If enterprise agreements with existing right to disconnect clauses are an indication, the Fair Work Commission will probably be asked to determine what contact outside of work hours is deemed “reasonable”. This approach seems sensible given the long tradition of the commission being asked to rule on what’s “reasonable” in other areas of employment law.

If an employer “unreasonably” expects employees to perform unpaid work outside of normal hours the commission may be empowered to impose a “stop order” — and potentially fines — to prevent the employer from contacting employees outside hours according to Tony Burke.

Unions including those representing teachers and police officers support a right to disconnect. According to the Police Federation of Australia:

Not only do the police see that trauma, deal with the families’ trauma, deal with their colleagues’ trauma, have to investigate, have to go to court, and get media attention but they also have to go home and deal with their families […] The right to disconnect gives those officers that little bit of breathing space.

Employment law experts and human resource specialists also believe there is a strong case for such a right given the negative impacts of availability creep on worker well being.

Employer associations are less supportive. The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) told a recent a Senate inquiry a right to disconnect would be “a blunt instrument which will do more harm than good, including for employees”. They claim employers will be less accommodating of employee requests for flexible work arrangements during normal work hours if contact outside these hours is no longer allowed.

A banana republic?

According to ACCI chief executive Andrew McKellar, a right to disconnect would be “the final step in Australia becoming a banana republic”.

But it must be remembered that workers effectively had the right to disconnect before the smartphone. Such a protection needs to be explicit now technology has eroded the once-firm boundaries between work and home.

As the nature of work and employer practices change, it’s essential for employment regulations to respond accordingly. Having a right to disconnect to protect workers from employers encroaching upon their free-time is a necessary response.

Chris F. Wright has received funding from the Australian Research Council, the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the International Labour Organization, the Australian and NSW governments, and various business and trade union organisations.

– ref. Smartphones mean we’re always available to our bosses. ‘Right to disconnect’ laws are a necessary fix – https://theconversation.com/smartphones-mean-were-always-available-to-our-bosses-right-to-disconnect-laws-are-a-necessary-fix-222738

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Gunn, Lecturer, Monash University

The bush is full up – no room for more renewables, according to Nationals leader David Littleproud. Instead, renewables should be restricted to large solar arrays on commercial buildings in the cities.

The country-focused minor party presumably hopes to capitalise on rural scepticism of large scale renewable projects – especially angst around new transmission lines. On the coast, there have been protests against proposed offshore wind farms.

Unfortunately, fencing off renewables in the cities won’t work. As our recent research on onshore wind shows, intermittent energy sources such as wind can work very well to support a modern grid – as long as we locate wind farms in different places. This ensures we can keep the lights on even if it’s dead calm in some areas.

Of course, rooftop solar may well stack up for households and building owners. But we will need new renewable projects in spread-out locations. Banning renewables from the bush is no solution. What we can do is make sure we’re not duplicating wind farms. Each new wind farm should be in the best possible location.

The best place to build a wind farm

In 2001, renewables supplied 8% of Australia’s energy. In 2023, they supplied almost 40%.

The federal government’s ambitious goal is to supercharge this growth and get to 82% by 2030. That’s a meteoric rise, but it has to be. Climate change is accelerating
Decisions around where to build large renewable projects cannot be left solely to the market – or derailed by protest.

Renewable energy supply is variable by nature. Solar only works at daytime, hydro can be affected by drought or water shortages, and the wind doesn’t blow consistently.

Read more:
Do we want a wind farm outside our window? What Australians think about the net zero transition

That’s not a deal breaker. It just means you have to have a mix of technologies – and place utility-scale farms in different places. This minimises the need for expensive or resource-dependent energy storage such as pumped hydro and batteries.

At present, wind makes up around a third of Australia’s renewable supply – about 11% of total electricity generation in the first quarter of 2023.

But wind blows, then stops. By itself, a wind farm can’t provide power at a consistent rate or in lockstep with demand. The power generated is at the whim of the weather and, in the longer term, climate.

To make wind power consistent, you have to build wind farms in different locations chosen for their unique local wind climate.

At present, Australia’s supply of wind farms is reasonably varied. But it could be better still.

We analysed over 40 years of climate data and found Australia’s currently operating wind farms could be producing around 50% more energy if they had been built in optimised locations.

If we had built this network of farms in an optimal way, we would have slashed how variable wind energy is. At present, the locations of current farms means year-to-year variability is around 40% higher than it could have been.

When we added all wind farms under construction or with planning approval, we found these inefficiencies persist.

We have to get better at placing renewables

Is this bad news? No. It means we can do better. And it means we can reduce the resistance emerging from some rural and regional residents, who feel their landscapes are being taken over to power far off cities.

Building renewable farms in sub-optimal locations is a burden on the environment, since many more farms have to be built to make up the slack, and can lead to increased energy prices for consumers.

Right now, the cost is masked by the fact that wind’s share in the energy market is small. But that will change. The net zero economy we are building will need wind, both onshore and, increasingly, offshore.

Read more:
A clean energy grid means 10,000km of new transmission lines. They can only be built with community backing

To build a wind farm, what usually happens is an energy company will find a landowner who agrees to having a farm on their land in exchange for regular rent. The company then seeks government approvals.

To approve a site for a wind farm, government agencies have to assess many things. How close is it to wetlands home to rare birds? Is the wind resource good enough? To figure out the quality of the wind, regulators usually take measurements at the site and look at historic data. Usually, this pool of data only goes back a few years.

We could do this much better. First, wind power can vary by up to 16%, year to year. La Niña might bring strong winds to a site, while El Niño might bring the doldrums.

To decide on a site based on a couple of years of data means you don’t know the long term average of wind, which could be better or worse than expected.

Second, approvals are site-specific – we don’t compare how similar this potential wind farm will be to farms already built. That means many wind farms simply don’t meet expectations of how much extra power they can supply to the grid.

Once built, wind farms usually operate for decades. If we choose inefficient locations, we’re locked in.

But there’s good news here for the National Party, rural residents and everyone concerned with the energy transition. We can fix this problem.

All it would take is one extra step for renewable developers: demonstrate how your proposed wind farm would improve electricity supply overall. That’s it.

And for government, make sure our planned new transmission lines increase access to high quality wind resources.

These two actions sound simple, but they would make a real difference. We could avoid building wind farms in sub-optimal locations, build fewer overall, and accelerate the shift to cheap clean energy. That’s something the city and country can agree on.

Read more:
How to beat ‘rollout rage’: the environment-versus-climate battle dividing regional Australia

Christian Jakob receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and is the Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Weather of the 21st Century.

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

– ref. The Nationals want renewables to stay in the cities – but the clean energy grid doesn’t work like that – https://theconversation.com/the-nationals-want-renewables-to-stay-in-the-cities-but-the-clean-energy-grid-doesnt-work-like-that-205490

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute

Wholesale power prices are falling steeply in Australia, following two years of surging prices after the Ukraine war triggered an energy crisis. New data shows annualised spot prices for power in Australia’s main grid fell by about 50% in 2023. That brings the cost of wholesale power down towards the levels seen in 2021.

Is that good news for consumers? It will be – but not yet. Energy retailers buy most of their power in advance at set prices, accepting higher average prices for less volatility. That means the cheaper spot prices won’t flow through to you for a while. But they will.

Here’s how the system works.

Read more:
Surging energy prices are really going to hurt. What can the government actually do?

How is power priced?

The way we price electricity will be different depending where you live in Australia.

If you live in Tasmania, Western Australia, regional Queensland or in the Northern Territory, there’s no competition. The state or territory government runs the power system, and prices are set by a regulator.

In South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, and south-east Queensland, the competitive National Energy Market applies. Here, retailers buy power on the wholesale spot market from generators and compete for your business by offering different prices and bundling electricity with other services such as gas or broadband. (Some energy companies are both generators and retailers.)

While the federal government doesn’t set prices in the market, it does have some involvement. In 2019, it introduced a mandatory default market offer, effectively setting a maximum price a retailer can charge customers. Victoria also implemented its own default offer. These changes stemmed from concerns retail competition was overly complicated and not delivering benefits to all electricity consumers.

Default offers were intended as a fair price for power and to work as a safety net so consumers weren’t overcharged.

Retailers compete in part by offering deals set below the default price. Nearly all of us have now signed up for market offers, leaving fewer than 10% of consumers still on a default offer.

The price of electricity in default offers is set by energy regulators, usually on 1 July each year. Competing retailers tend to mirror changes to the default offers in their market offers. That means most, if not all, consumers should start seeing lower default prices reflected in their bills from this date onwards.

But don’t expect falling wholesale prices to be passed on immediately or in full. Buying electricity wholesale is only around 40% of a retailer’s total cost. Retailers also pass through the costs of transmission and distribution.

Ironing out fluctuations

In the National Energy Market, the spot price of power changes every five minutes – often drastically. Prices can be as low as negative A$1,000 per megawatt hour or as high as +$16,000 a megawatt hour if there are outages or intense demand during a heatwave. (Prices can turn negative if there’s an oversupply of power, such as when millions of rooftop solar arrays are putting energy into the grid in the middle of the day, and act as an incentive to boost demand or cut supply.)

You and I don’t want to be exposed to such price volatility. We rely on our retailers to do it, and they do so by taking out multi-year contracts to smooth out the price of power.

That means we are not exposed immediately to sudden increases in price, but it also means we do not benefit from rapid falls. Retail prices, including default offers, will respond to changes in wholesale prices when those changes are reflected in the retailers’ contract prices.

What about politics?

Power prices are political. Everyone uses electricity and bill shock hurts.

At present, the Albanese government is under real pressure over the cost of living. Successive interest rate rises and more expensive petrol and groceries have left many of us feeling poorer.

Could there be direct intervention? Unlikely. Since the National Electricity Market was introduced in 1998, governments have avoided directly regulating prices.

When partial interventions are tried, they tend to have little impact. When the Coalition was in office federally, they introduced the so-called Big Stick laws, aimed at forcing energy retailers to pass on cost savings. To date, the laws have gathered dust.

What we can expect to see are calls to action. For instance, South Australia’s energy minister recently called on retailers to pass on price falls as quickly as possible.

This makes headlines and can put pressure on regulators such as the Australian Energy Regulator. We can expect the pressure of the election cycle to lead to even more calls for regulators to act.

But regulators should respond in line with their clear guidelines, rather than in response to political pressure. After all, governments have given regulators a difficult job to do: deliver fair prices in a rapidly evolving electricity market.

It would be better for the long-term interests of consumers and energy suppliers if they were allowed to get on with it.

What’s next?

As more clean energy comes into the grid, it should push wholesale prices still lower. But the energy transition isn’t as simple as substituting solar and wind for coal. Big investments in transmission and energy storage are needed to connect more renewables and maintain a reliable system. Prices could once again rise sharply if our ageing coal plants give up the ghost before there’s enough renewable generation and storage to take up the slack.

These challenges and risks were inevitable given the scale of our net-zero transition. But the recent trend towards lower prices should give us confidence that more investment in renewables and storage can cover the closure of coal to deliver a reliable, low-emissions future – without threatening affordability.

Read more:
Unsexy but vital: why warnings over grid reliability are really about building more transmission lines

Tony Wood may have interests in companies impacted by the energy transition through his superannuation fund.

– ref. Wholesale power prices are falling fast – but consumers will have to wait for relief. Here’s why – https://theconversation.com/wholesale-power-prices-are-falling-fast-but-consumers-will-have-to-wait-for-relief-heres-why-222495

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Hoggard, DECRA Research Fellow, Australian National University

Since the first detonation of an atomic bomb in 1945, more than 2,000 nuclear weapons tests have been conducted by eight countries: the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea.

Groups such as the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization are constantly on the lookout for new tests. However, for reasons of safety and secrecy, modern nuclear tests are carried out underground – which makes them difficult to detect. Often, the only indication they have occurred is from the seismic waves they generate.

In a paper published in Geophysical Journal International, my colleagues and I have developed a way to distinguish between underground nuclear tests and natural earthquakes with around 99% accuracy.

Fallout

The invention of nuclear weapons sparked an international arms race, as the Soviet Union, the UK and France developed and tested increasingly larger and more sophisticated devices in an attempt to keep up with the US.

Many early tests caused serious environmental and societal damage. For example, the US’s 1954 Castle Bravo test, conducted in secret at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, delivered large volumes of radioactive fallout to several nearby islands and their inhabitants.

Read more:
315 nuclear bombs and ongoing suffering: the shameful history of nuclear testing in Australia and the Pacific

Between 1952 and 1957, the UK conducted several tests in Australia, scattering long-lived radioactive material over wide areas of South Australian bushland, with devastating consequences for local Indigenous communities.

In 1963, the US, the UK and the USSR agreed to carry out future tests underground to limit fallout. Nevertheless, testing continued unabated as China, India, Pakistan and North Korea also entered the fray over the following decades.

How to spot an atom bomb

During this period there were substantial international efforts to figure out how to monitor nuclear testing. The competitive nature of weapons development means much research and testing is conducted in secret.

Groups such as the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization today run global networks of instruments specifically designed to identify any potential tests. These include:

• air-testing stations to detect minute quantities of radioactive elements in the atmosphere
• aquatic listening posts to hear underwater tests
• infrasound detectors to catch the low-frequency booms and rumbles of explosions in the atmosphere
• seismometers to record the shaking of Earth caused by underground tests.

A needle in a haystack

Seismometers are designed to measure seismic waves: tiny vibrations of the ground surface generated when large amounts of energy are suddenly released underground, such as during earthquakes or nuclear explosions.

There are two main kinds of seismic waves. First are body waves, which travel outwards in all directions, including down into the deep Earth, before returning to the surface. Second are surface waves, which travel along Earth’s surface like ripples spreading out on a pond.

The difficulty in using seismic waves to monitor underground nuclear tests is distinguishing between explosions and naturally occurring earthquakes. A core goal of monitoring is never to miss an explosion, but there are thousands of sizeable natural quakes around the world every day.

As a result, monitoring underground tests is like searching for a potentially non-existent needle in a haystack the size of a planet.

Nukes vs quakes

Many different methods have been developed to aid this search over the past 60 years.

Some of the simplest include analysing the location or depth of the source. If an event occurs far from volcanoes and plate tectonic boundaries, it might be considered more suspicious. Alternatively, if it occurs at a depth greater than say three kilometres, it is unlikely to have been a nuclear test.

However, these simple methods are not foolproof. Tests might be carried out in earthquake-prone areas for camouflage, for example, and shallow earthquakes are also possible.

Read more:
North Korea tests not just a bomb but the global nuclear monitoring system

A more sophisticated monitoring approach involves calculating the ratio of the amount of the energy transmitted in body waves to the amount carried in surface waves. Earthquakes tend to expend more of their energy in surface waves than explosions do.

This method has proven highly effective for identifying underground nuclear tests, but it too is imperfect. It failed to effectively classify the 2017 North Korean nuclear test, which generated substantial surface waves because it was carried out inside a tunnel in a mountain.

This outcome underlines the importance of using multiple independent discrimination techniques during monitoring – no single method is likely to prove reliable for all events.

An alternative method

In 2023, my colleagues and I from the Australian National University and Los Alamos National Laboratory in the US got together to re-examine the problem of determining the source of seismic waves.

We used a recently developed approach to represent how rocks are displaced at the source of a seismic event, and combined it with a more advanced statistical model to describe different types of event. As a result, we were able to take advantage of fundamental differences between the sources of explosions and earthquakes to develop an improved method of classifying these events.

We tested our approach on catalogues of known explosions and earthquakes from the western United States, and found that the method gets it right around 99% of the time. This makes it a useful new tool in efforts to monitor underground nuclear tests.

Robust techniques for identification of nuclear tests will continue to be a key component of global monitoring programs. They are critical for ensuring governments are held accountable for the environmental and societal impacts of nuclear weapons testing.

Mark Hoggard works for the Australian National University. He receives funding from Geoscience Australia and the Australian Research Council.

– ref. Underground nuclear tests are hard to detect. A new method can spot them 99% of the time – https://theconversation.com/underground-nuclear-tests-are-hard-to-detect-a-new-method-can-spot-them-99-of-the-time-222500

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rieneke Weij, Postdoctoral researcher in Geochemistry/Palaeoclimatology, University of Cape Town

During ice ages, dry, frozen terrain extended over much of northern Europe, Asia and North America. Many plants and animals retreated from these desolate, harsh landscapes and sought refuge in pockets of more hospitable territory.

But what was happening in the rest of the world? For a long time scientists have thought that dry conditions prevailed across the globe during ice ages, and that the warm periods between ice ages were much wetter.

This interpretation has shaped our understanding of where plants, animals, and even humans lived during Earth’s past. However, it may not be correct.

Our new research published in Nature shows ice ages were actually much wetter than previously thought – at least in the subtropical regions of the southern hemisphere (from 20° to 40° south).

Ice ages and hemispheres

Over the past million years or so, Earth’s climate has oscillated between cold ice ages (or “glacial” periods) and warmer “interglacial” periods. Currently we are living through an interglacial period known as the Holocene epoch. It began about 11,700 years ago, following the last glacial period which lasted around 110,000 years.

During glacial periods, temperatures were lower, there was less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and ice sheets covered more of the globe. During interglacials, temperatures were higher, there was more carbon dioxide in the air, and large ice sheets remained only in Greenland and Antarctica.

Evidence from the northern hemisphere shows huge ice sheets spread across the northern parts of Europe, northern Asia and North America during glacial periods, and large areas south of the ice were covered with tundra. The idea that glacial environments were extreme and harsh was then extended beyond these regions because of evidence that glacial periods were mostly treeless with dusty atmospheres pretty much everywhere, including Australia.

However, our new research reveals that parts of glacial periods were in fact wetter than today across much of the southern hemisphere.

Developing a 350,000 year climate record

One way to understand how wet it was in the past is to look at mineral deposits called speleothems, found in underground caves. These deposits, which include stalagmites and stalactites, build up over time as rainwater filters down through soil and limestone into the cave.

We can use the extent of speleothem growth over time to understand changes in water availability. More speleothem growth broadly reflects wetter conditions, while less growth suggests a drier environment.

Our understanding of past changes in the climate and environment of the southern hemisphere has been limited by a lack of well-dated and long-term records.

To address this problem, we collected samples from speleothems in two cave regions in southern Australia, the Naracoorte caves in the southeast and the Leeuwin-Naturaliste caves in the southwest.

Using a dating technique based on the decay of naturally occuring uranium, we determined the age of more than 300 individual speleothem fragments from the caves. As a result, we produced a precipitation record spanning the last 350,000 years.

Wetter and colder, warmer and drier

Our study revealed surprising yet extremely consistent trends. Over the past 350,000 years, wetter times always occurred within the cooler, glacial periods, while interglacials were consistently dry.

We also studied fossil pollen trapped within the same speleothems. It is harder to be a tree under the low atmospheric carbon dioxide of glacial periods, but moisture-demanding herbs and shrubs thrived during the glacial periods but were suppressed during interglacials, confirming the dating evidence.

Next, we used our new records from southern Australia as benchmarks for the subtropics around the southern hemisphere, and compared them with other published records from southern Africa and South America. We found wet glacials and dry interglacials were not confined to southern Australia, but in fact, formed a hemisphere-wide pattern.

Climate model simulations also showed a similar pattern over the last glacial cycle.

Stable environments with abundant water

This new understanding of what conditions were like in the southern hemisphere during glacial periods will change how we interpret the movement and expansion of plants, animals and even humans in the past.

It was previously assumed that, during glacial periods, reduced rainfall forced many plants and animals that needed higher levels of moisture into small liveable zones called “refugia”.

However, our research suggests that – at least in the subtropical southern hemisphere – glacial periods were often times of relatively stable environments with abundant water, even if low levels of carbon dioxide meant plants were slow-growing and relatively unproductive.

Our research calls for a big paradigm shift in how we view past ice-age environments across the Earth.

Rieneke Weij receives funding from the University of Cape Town and the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust.

Jon Woodhead receives funding from the Australian Research Council

Josephine Brown receives funding from the National Environmental Science Program and the Australian Research Council.

Kale Sniderman receives funding from the Australian Research Council

Liz Reed receives funding from Australian Research Council.

– ref. Ice ages were not as dry as we thought, according to surprising new Australian cave study – https://theconversation.com/ice-ages-were-not-as-dry-as-we-thought-according-to-surprising-new-australian-cave-study-222184

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family & Sexual Violence, RMIT University

Victorian MP Georgie Purcell recently spoke out against a digitally edited image in the news media that had altered her body and partially removed some of her clothing.

Whether or not the editing was assisted by artificial intelligence (AI), her experience demonstrates the potential sexist, discriminatory and gender-based harms that can occur when these technologies are used unchecked.

Purcell’s experience also reflects a disturbing trend in which images, particularly of women and girls, are being sexualised, “deepfaked” and “nudified” without the person’s knowledge or consent.

Read more:
Nine was slammed for ‘AI editing’ a Victorian MP’s dress. How can news media use AI responsibly?

What’s AI got to do with it?

The term AI can include a wide range of computer software and smartphone apps that use some level of automated processing.

While science fiction might lead us to think otherwise, much of the everyday use of AI-assisted tools is relatively simple. We teach a computer program or smartphone application what we want it to do, it learns from the data we feed it, and it applies this learning to perform the task in varying ways.

A problem with AI image editing is that these tools rely on the information our human society has generated. It is no accident that instructing a tool to edit a photograph of a woman might result in it making the subject look younger, slimmer and/or curvier, and even less clothed. A simple internet search for “women” will quickly reveal that these are the qualities our society frequently endorses.

Similar problems have emerged in AI facial recognition tools that have misidentified suspects in criminal investigations due to the racial and gender bias that is built into the software. The ghosts of sexism and racism, it seems, are literally in the machines.

Technology reflects back to us the disrespect, inequality, discrimination and – in the treatment of Purcell – overt sexism that we ourselves have already circulated.

Sexualised deepfakes

While anyone can be a victim of AI-facilitated image-based abuse, or sexualised deepfakes, it is no secret that there are gender inequalities in pornographic imagery found online.

Sensity AI (formerly Deeptrace Labs) has reported on online deepfake videos since December 2018 and consistently found that 90–95% of them are non-consensual pornography. About 90% of them are of women.

Young women, children and teens across the globe are also being subjected to the non-consensual creation and sharing of sexualised and nudified deepfake imagery. Recent reports of faked sexualised images of teenage girls have emerged from a New Jersey high school in the United States and another high school in Almendralejo, Spain. A third instance was reported in a London high school, which contributed to a 14-year-old girl taking her own life.

Read more:
Taylor Swift deepfakes: new technologies have long been weaponised against women. The solution involves us all

Women celebrities are also a popular target of sexualised deepfake imagery. Just last month, sexualised deepfakes of Taylor Swift were openly shared across a range of digital platforms and websites without consent.

While research data on broader victimisation and perpetration rates of this sort of image editing and distribution is sparse, our 2019 survey across the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand found 14.1% of respondents aged between 16 and 84 had experienced someone creating, distributing or threatening to distribute a digitally altered image representing them in a sexualised way.

Our research also shone light on the harms of this form of abuse. Victims reported experiencing psychological, social, physical, economic, and existential trauma, similar to harms identified by victims of other forms of sexual violence and image-based abuse.

This year, we have begun a new study to further explore the issue. We’ll look at current victimisation and perpetration rates, the consequences and harms of the non-consensual creation and sharing of sexualised deepfakes across the US, UK and Australia. We want to find out how we can improve responses, interventions and prevention.

How can we end AI-facilitated abuse?

The abuse of Swift in such a public forum has reignited a call for federal laws and platform regulations, moderation and community standards to prevent and block sexualised deepfakes from being shared.

Stunningly, while the non-consensual sharing of sexualised deepfakes is already a crime in most Australian states and territories, the laws relating to their creation are less consistent. And in the US, there is no national law criminalising sexualised deepfakes. Fewer than half of US states have one, and state laws are highly variable in how much they protect and support victims.

But focusing on individual states or countries is not sufficient to tackle this global problem. Sexualised deepfakes and AI-generated content are perpetrated internationally, highlighting the need for collective global action.

There is some hope we can learn to better detect AI-generated content through guidance in spotting fakes. But the reality is that technologies are constantly improving, so our abilities to differentiate the “real” from the digitally “faked” are increasingly limited.

Read more:
Celebrity deepfakes are all over TikTok. Here’s why they’re becoming common – and how you can spot them

The advances in technology are compounded by the increasing availability of “nudify” or “remove clothing” apps on various platforms and app stores, which are commonly advertised online. Such apps further normalise the sexist treatment and objectification of women, with no regard for how the victims themselves may feel about it.

But it would be a mistake to blame technology alone for the harms, or the sexism, disrespect and abuse that flows from it. Technology is morally neutral. It can take neither credit nor blame.

Instead, there is a clear onus on technology developers, digital platforms and websites to be more proactive by building in safety by design. In other words, putting user safety and rights front and centre in the design and development of online products and services. Platforms, apps and websites also need to be made responsible for proactively preventing, disrupting and removing non-consensual content and technologies that can make such content.

Australia is leading the way with this through the Office of the eSafety Commissioner, including national laws that hold digital platforms to account.

But further global action and collaboration is needed if we truly want to address and prevent the harms of non-consensual sexualised deepfakes.

Anastasia Powell receives funding from the Australian Research Council and Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS). Anastasia is also a director of Our Watch (Australia’s national organisation for the prevention of violence against women), and a member of the National Women’s Safety Alliance (NWSA).

Adrian James Scott receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Criminology Research Council.

Asher Flynn receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Criminology Research Council and Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS).

Asia A. Eaton receives funding from the National Science Foundation, Meta, SPSSI, and the Australian Research Council. She is Head of Research for Cyber Civil Rights Initiative.

– ref. Whether of politicians, pop stars or teenage girls, sexualised deepfakes are on the rise. They hold a mirror to our sexist world – https://theconversation.com/whether-of-politicians-pop-stars-or-teenage-girls-sexualised-deepfakes-are-on-the-rise-they-hold-a-mirror-to-our-sexist-world-222491

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Treena Clark, Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Indigenous Research Fellow, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney

A few years back, I started collecting vintage Australian tourist scarves that portray First Nations people as primitive caricatures and noble savages. Now, I own more than ten scarves with images ranging from Western depictions of First Nations art and objects, to Indigenous people in tokenistic scenes.

Collecting these tourist wares isn’t new. Kitsch items are often gathered and reclaimed by First Nations peoples, artists, designers and academics.

My fascination with kitsch scarves involves wearing them as outfits, which I recently did at the Darwin Country to Couture runway show.

I did so as a creative response to my academic work on First Nations fashion, art and style and to engage with the practice of First Nations garmenting – the use of clothing and adornment as art.

Aboriginalia and Koori Kitsch

Artists such as Destiny Deacon and Tony Albert use several names to describe items with Western depictions of First Nations people, art and objects, including Koori Kitsch and Aboriginalia.

You can find these depictions in souvenirs and bric-a-brac in the form of tea towels, tablecloths, postcards, ashtrays, dolls, scarves, badges and patches.

Destiny Deacon (KuKu/Erub/Mer) has used Koori Kitsch objects for decades. In one work titled Border Patrol (2006), Deacon photographs a white doll atop a tea towel featuring Australian landmarks, plants, animals and Aboriginal people hunting.

Tony Albert’s (Girramay/Yidinji/Kuku-Yalanji) art often features vintage souvenir ashtrays and textiles. Albert has been credited with creating the term “Aboriginalia” to describe the portrayal of Western stereotypes of First Nations peoples and cultures in kitsch items.

Kait James (Wadawurrung) has decolonised vintage souvenir towels through embroidered embellishments to highlight their problematic designs and reclaim them as First Nations art. James recently also disrupted the Barbie doll by creating a custom Aboriginal flag dress and banner saying “Faboriginal Barbie”.

In Kayla Dickens’ (Wiradjuri) 2022 exhibition, Return to Sender, collage backdrops featured enlarged vintage postcards with superimposed images, symbols and text interrogating colonisation and colonial sexual exploitation.

First Nations garmenting

First Nations peoples are also using Aboriginalia within fashion. Paul McCann (Marrithiyel) has embellished couture outfits with vintage textiles depicting First Nations peoples, animals and plants.

One of McCann’s designs at the 2022 Australian Fashion Week, Blinged Out Warrior, disrupted a kitsch item of an Aboriginal man by placing it front and centre on a bedazzled top. This form of work, termed “garmenting”, emphasises contemporary artists’ use of clothes in their pieces.

While Aboriginalia and Koori Kitsch are popular terms, First Nations garmenting is a recent definition yet to reach mainstream use. It’s an emerging trend adopted by many First Nations artists whose work is interested in confronting or reshaping history, highlighting the current world, or imagining a new future.

This could look like creating modern versions of traditional pieces, or critiquing and talking back to colonial clothing forced upon First Nations peoples. Several artists also create works that reflect contemporary protest wear, or futuristic pieces that depict fantasies or predict trends.

Peter Waples-Crowe’s (Ngarigo) Ngarigo Queen – Cloak of queer visibility (2018) features a reworked possum skin cloak with rainbow colours and a train to reference his two identities of Aboriginal and queer.

Kelly Koumalatsos (Wergaia/Wemba Wemba) uses possum fur as a stamp to create cultural fabrics. Significant works use these fabrics to form colonial and Western outfits that speak back to colonisation.

When displaying her garments in galleries, Koumalatsos also includes old family portraits within the works to further contextualise the forced colonial clothes.

Kyra Mancktelow (Quandamooka) specialises in creating garments in sculptural or print form to interrogate colonial histories of forced Western clothing and the removal of cultural wear. The items she recreates range from forced military jackets, to outfits worn in missions, to contemporary forms referencing the history of activism.

Carly Tarkari Dodd’s (Kaurna/Narungga/Ngarrindjeri) exhibition, Royal Jewels (2022), showcased Indigenised versions of jewellery pieces owned by the English royal family. Using cultural weaving techniques to replicate the English monarch’s jewellery collection, Dodd confronts colonisation by turning the tables and inspiring truth-telling about this country’s history.

The artist Coffinbirth (Charlotte Allingham, Wiradjuri/Ngiyampaa) illustrates designs featuring First Nations people in unique outfits across time. Coffinbirth notably reimages or recreates First Nations culture or issues through pop-culture graphics and comic-style art.

Dennis Golding (Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay) creates hand-painted superhero capes to celebrate the power of First Nations identity. He often works with young First Nations people to develop their own versions.

Disrupting, reclaiming and Indigenising

Many First Nations people have an inherent need to expel harmful histories and channel cultural practices creatively.

This can be through artists exhibiting their works, fashion designers telling their stories, or everyday First Nations people who like to practise culture through outfits. When First Nations artists use colonial souvenirs and garments, they can disrupt colonisation and celebrate their culture.

Wearing my kitsch scarves means I join a distinguished group of First Nations artists who use these objects and clothing within their works and creative expressions.

Read more:
A brief look at the long history of First Nations fashion design in Australia

Treena Clark has received funding through the University of Technology Sydney Chancellor’s Indigenous Research Fellowship scheme.

– ref. How First Nations artists are reclaiming colonial objects and celebrating culture through garments – https://theconversation.com/how-first-nations-artists-are-reclaiming-colonial-objects-and-celebrating-culture-through-garments-221495

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Raquel Peel, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, University of Southern Queensland and Senior Lecturer, RMIT University

Research out today from Finland suggests women may find it harder to adjust to later-life divorce and break-ups than men.

The study used population data from 229,000 Finns aged 50 to 70 who had undergone divorce, relationship break-up or bereavement and tracked their use of antidepressants before and after their relationship ended.

They found antidepressant use increased in the four years leading to the relationship dissolution in both genders, with women experiencing a more significant increase.

But it’s too simplistic to say women experience poorer mental health or tend to be less happy after divorce than men.

Read more:
Why breakups are so hard and how to cope with them

Remind me, how common is divorce?

Just under 50,000 divorces are granted each year in Australia. This has slowly declined since the 1990s.

More couple are choosing to co-habitate, instead of marry, and the majority of couples live together prior to marriage. Divorce statistics don’t include separations of cohabiting couples, even though they are more likely than married couples to separate.

Those who divorce are doing so later in life, often after their children grow up. The median age of divorce increased from 45.9 in 2021 to 46.7 in 2022 for men and from 43.0 to 43.7 for women.

The trend of late divorces also reflects people deciding to marry later in life. The median duration from marriage to divorce in 2022 was around 12.8 years and has remained fairly constant over the past decade.

Why do couples get divorced?

Changes in social attitudes towards marriage and relationships mean divorce is now more accepted. People are opting not to be in unhappy marriages, even if there are children involved.

Instead, they’re turning the focus on marriage quality. This is particularly true for women who have established a career and are financially autonomous.

Similarly, my research shows it’s particularly important for people to feel their relationship expectations can be fulfilled long term. In addition to relationship quality, participants reported needing trust, open communication, safety and acceptance from their partners.

Read more:
How last night’s fight affects the way couples divide housework

“Grey divorce” (divorce at age 50 and older) is becoming increasingly common in Western countries, particularly among high-income populations. While factors such as an empty nest, retirement, or poor health are commonly cited predictors of later-in-life divorce, research shows older couples divorce for the same reasons as younger couples.

What did the new study find?

The study tracked antidepressant use in Finns aged 50 to 70 for four years before their relationship breakdown and four years after.

They found antidepressant use increased in the four years leading to the relationship break-up in both genders. The proportion of women taking antidepressants in the lead up to divorce increased by 7%, compared with 5% for men. For de facto separation antidepressant use increased by 6% for women and 3.2% for men.

Within a year of the break-up, antidepressant use fell back to the level it was 12 months before the break-up. It subsequently remained at that level among the men.

But it was a different story for women. Their use tailed off only slightly immediately after the relationship breakdown but increased again from the first year onwards.

The researchers also looked at antidepressant use after re-partnering. There was a decline in the use of antidepressants for men and women after starting a new relationship. But this decline was short-lived for women.

But there’s more to the story

Although this data alone suggest women may find it harder to adjust to later-life divorce and break-ups than men, it’s important to note some nuances in the interpretation of this data.

For instance, data suggesting women experience depression more often than men is generally based on the rate of diagnoses and antidepressant use, which does not account for undiagnosed and unmedicated people.

Women are generally more likely to access medical services and thus receive treatment. This is also the case in Australia, where in 2020–2022, 21.6% of women saw a health professional for their mental health, compared with only 12.9% of men.

Why women might struggle more after separating

Nevertheless, relationship dissolution can have a significant impact on people’s mental health. This is particularly the case for women with young children and older women.

So what factors might explain why women might experience greater difficulties after divorce later in life?

Research investigating the financial consequences of grey divorce in men and women showed women experienced a 45% decline in their standard of living (measured by an income-to-needs ratio), whereas men’s dropped by just 21%. These declines persisted over time for men, and only reversed for women following re-partnering.

Read more:
Women’s probability of being in poverty more than doubles after separation

Another qualitative study investigating the lived experiences of heterosexual couples post-grey divorce identified financial worries as a common theme between female participants.

A female research participant (age 68) said:

[I am most worried about] the money, [and] what I’m going to do when the little bit of money I have runs out […] I have just enough money to live. And, that’s it, [and if] anything happens I’m up a creek. And Medicare is incredibly expensive […] My biggest expense is medicine.

Another factor was loneliness. One male research participant (age 54) described he preferred living with his ex-wife, despite not getting along with her, than being by himself:

It was still [good] knowing that [the] person was there, and now that’s gone.

Other major complications of later-life divorce are possible issues with inheritance rights and next-of-kin relationships for medical decision-making.

Separation can be positive

For some people, divorce or separation can lead to increased happiness and feeling more independent.

And the mental health impact and emotional distress of a relationship dissolution is something that can be counterattacked with resilience. Resilience to dramatic events built from life experience means older adults often do respond better to emotional distress and might be able to adjust better to divorce than their younger counterparts.

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

– ref. Women take more antidepressants after divorce than men but that doesn’t mean they’re more depressed – https://theconversation.com/women-take-more-antidepressants-after-divorce-than-men-but-that-doesnt-mean-theyre-more-depressed-222878

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Conley Tyler, Honorary Fellow, Asia Institute, The University of Melbourne

A key phrase in foreign affairs at the moment is taking a “whole of nation” approach. It has been cropping up in government documents such as the Defence Strategic Review and International Development Policy.

But what exactly does it mean?

A new report to be launched at Parliament House by the Asia-Pacific Development, Diplomacy and Defence Dialogue provides an explanation.

“Whole of nation” moves beyond the more familiar “whole of government” approach by recognising that foreign affairs should involve, as the name suggests, all facets of Australian life: business and investment, science and technology, education, sports, culture, media and civil society.

At a minimum, a whole-of-nation approach sees global engagement as not just the job of core international policy actors such as the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, but as the role of a far wider constituency.

That means all of us.

Read more:
Foreign policy and the Albanese government’s first 100 days

If you’re in business, you’re potentially a global actor: trade and investment are vital to building Australia’s international relationships. Science and technology co-operation is likewise an intrinsically international pursuit, and where and who you engage with makes a difference to Australia’s international links.

If you’re involved in education, the impact you have on international students informs international perceptions of Australia, while school-and-university-level educational partnerships create important links.

You might be involved in community-to-community links through a faith group, charity or non-government organisation. You might be a farmer or trade unionist interacting with seasonal workers. If you’re a First Nations Australian, you might draw on cultural knowledge and sometimes shared heritage to build links with other peoples. If you’re in the half of the population with recent experience of family migration, you’re part of important diaspora links across the world.

And if you travel, study or work abroad, you’re part of the impressions that other countries’ citizens form of Australia.

So when politicians talk about the “whole of nation” being part of our international engagement, they are talking about all of us. They want to get us thinking about how, as an individual or through a group, we can contribute to Australia’s international goals.

Why is this happening?

There is growing recognition that, given the scale of global problems, governments can’t do it alone.

“Whole of nation” carries a sense of urgency that Australia’s people, economy, society and public institutions must become more alert to their role in the international sphere and better organise themselves to meet these challenging times.

This push for a more purposefully co-ordinated Australian statecraft has been driven by an increasingly challenging and complex external and security environment.

To those focused on the climate emergency, it is self-evident that dealing with a problem of this magnitude will require all Australia’s capabilities to be brought to bear.

Read more:
Australia’s new development aid policy provides clear vision and strategic sense

For those concerned about a worsening geopolitical environment, again it is vital that we take a co-ordinated approach.

There is also a sense of having to do more with what we have. While Australia will continue to grow in most important respects in absolute terms, its relative weight in the Indo-Pacific is likely to diminish as its neighbours continue to grow. A similar shift is happening with relative power moving away from Western countries, including Australia’s traditional allies.

The Indo-Pacific is the epicentre of this century’s great power competition, so it is no small matter for Australia to try to contribute to the region’s stability, prosperity and security.

It means Australia needs to avoid “foreign policy autopilot”. Instead, we need a wider range of participants and resources in Australia’s international policy.

The good news is that Australians see themselves as active in the world, both as individuals and as associations and industries. They are often interested and energetic. The question is how to harness this effectively. A whole-of-nation approach can co-ordinate activity to drive clear and tangible results, tied to foreign policy strategy and goals.

The depth and diversity of Australia’s resources, assets and capabilities need to be identified and harnessed to secure our future. And we will need shared vision and objectives for what Australia’s international engagement is trying to achieve. From there, we will gain a better understanding of the skill sets that each part of our society and economy can contribute.

In short, “whole of nation” means foreign policy isn’t the preserve of a few. In a world of many problems, expect to see more calls for a whole-of-nation approach to international policy.

Melissa Conley Tyler is Executive Director of the Asia-Pacific Development, Diplomacy & Defence Dialogue (AP4D), a platform for collaboration between the development, diplomacy and defence communities. It receives funding from the Australian Civil-Military Centre and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and is hosted by the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID).

– ref. What is ‘whole of nation’ foreign policy and what does it mean for Australians? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-whole-of-nation-foreign-policy-and-what-does-it-mean-for-australians-217907

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sanjoy Paul, Associate Professor, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney

Australians have been hit by large rises in grocery, energy, transport, child and aged care prices, only adding to other cost of living pressures.

While extreme weather and supply delays have contributed to the increases, an inquiry into what’s causing the hikes has confirmed what commentators and consumers suspected – many sectors are resorting to dodgy price practices and confusing pricing.

Headed by the former Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) boss, Allan Fels, on behalf of the ACTU, the inquiry found inflation, questionable pricing practices, a lack of price transparency and regulations, a lack of market competition, supply chain problems and unrestricted price setting by retailers are to blame for fuelling the increases.

The inquiry, which released its final report on Wednesday, is one of four examining price rises. The other three are being undertaken by a Senate committee, the Queensland government and the ACCC, which has been given extra powers by the government.

Prices vs inflation

The inflation rate in Australia peaked at 7.8% in December 2022 and has been gradually dropping since then.

While the inquiry found higher prices contributed to inflation, it reported that businesses claimed it was inflation that caused price rises – making it a chicken-or-egg kind of problem.

Read more:
I analysed more than 10,000 Reddit posts on supermarket pricing. 5 key themes emerged

However, many businesses made enormous profits in 2022-23, which the inquiry said contributed to rising prices and inflation. In most cases, post-pandemic profit margins were much higher than before the pandemic.

How prices are set

Business pricing strategies had a big impact on product prices.

In Australia, businesses often provided partial and misleading pricing information which differed from the actual price. For example, supermarkets were “discounting” products by raising prices beforehand.

These practices helped raise prices and were “exploitative”, the inquiry found.

A lack of transparent pricing information caused a poor understanding by consumers of how prices were set. This was significantly worsened by a lack of competition. While market concentration was a major issue, the inquiry found prices in Australia are way higher than in many other less competitive markets.

Large price increases occurred across many sectors:

AVIATION

While it is free to set any price for airfares, Australia’s largest and highest profile aviation company, Qantas, has been accused of price gouging since the pandemic.

According to the inquiry report, Qantas made a profit of $1.7 billion in 2023 – 208% higher than in 2019. At the same time, its reputation has been badly damaged by unreliable timetables, lost baggage and so-called “ghost” flights (selling tickets for a flight that’s been cancelled or doesn’t exist).

Despite its huge profits and poorer service, Qantas passed on extra expenses to consumers in the form of higher airfares, the inquiry found.

BANKING

The banking industry has a long history of being tardy in passing on the Reserve Bank’s cash rate cuts to consumers. However, when the reserve raised the cash rates, banks immediately increased their standard variable rates and passed them on to customers. This practice keeps the bank’s profit margin higher.

According to the inquiry report, the major banks’ average profit margins have been higher since May 2022 than in the 15 years before the pandemic. For 2022-23, the four big Australian banks’ profit margins were 35.5%, compared to an average of 32.4% from 2005 to 2020.

CHILDCARE

Australian households spent a good portion of their income on childcare, and for many of them, it was unaffordable.

In Australia, the lack of availability and difficulty in switching services makes it even harder for working parents to find alternative options. This indicates parents are forced to pay more if the service providers raise prices.

The inquiry found the childcare sector increased fees by 20% to 32% from 2018 to 2022. Accordingly, Australian households’ out-of-pocket expenses for childcare increased more than the rate of wage growth. For-profit childcare businesses have higher margins than not-for-profit centres.

ELECTRICITY

In recent years, electricity price increases have impacted all Australian households. The inquiry found both wholesale and retail electricity pricing strategies were responsible for these increased prices.

It reported that wholesale price increases were mainly responsible for an estimated 9% to 20% increase in electricity bills in 2022-23.

The report noted the “price bidding system” was largely responsible for increasing wholesale electricity prices.

The inquiry was critical of the profit margin of AGL, a leading electricity retailer:

It would seem that AGL needs to explain why consumers are paying $60.10/MWh more than seems to be justified by cost differentials. That is, for every consumer bill of $1,000 there is an apparent excess to be explained of $205.61 relative to prices charged to large business customers and not accounted for by genuine cost differences.

SUPERMARKETS

Supermarket prices have received the most attention recently with the main providers being accused of price gouging.

As has occurred in other sectors, profit margins were well above pre-COVID levels. In 2023, the margin was more than 3.5% compared to less than 3% in 2017 and 2018.

In Australia, food prices also increased well above the inflation rate.

According to the inquiry, the price increases for groceries between March 2021 and September 2023 varied between 19.2% and 27.3% for different categories, including cheese, bread, milk, eggs, dairy products and breakfast cereals.

Farmers recently accused supermarkets of making too much profit from their crops.

This was backed by the inquiry, which found the disproportionate market power held by supermarkets and food processors was of significant concern.

The report noted that supermarkets increased prices when there was a shortage or cost increase, but the opposite did not happen easily when supplies were plentiful and prices were cheaper.

Issues common to all sectors

Among the issues common to all sectors were weak competition, a lack of price transparency, the difficulty consumers face switching between suppliers and providers, a lack of pricing policies and a lack of consumer awareness.

While the price rises imposed by service providers and retailers were not unlawful, the increases in all sectors were significant and were hurting everyday Australians.

Fels’ recommendations

Many of the recommendations were sector-specific, but the one that applied to all areas related to the lack of regulation and pricing policies.

The ACCC should be empowered to investigate, monitor and regulate prices for the child and aged care, banking, grocery and food sectors, the inquiry found. This was necessary to ensure businesses used fair and transparent pricing.

A review of all existing policies was also recommended. For example, the government should use the current aviation review to remove international and domestic restrictions on competition. It was important aviation stakeholders, such as airlines and airports, were involved in the process.

The report suggested the grocery code of conduct should be mandatory for the food and grocery sector, and a price register for farmers should be created. This should be a government priority to protect farmers from unfair pricing by major supermarkets and food processors.

Change is needed

The current pricing practices for all business sectors must improve for greater transparency and to protect Australian consumers from unfair pricing.

The inquiry report’s findings and recommendations are helpful in ensuring fair and transparent pricing policies and improving the current regulations for price settings.

Implementing the recommendations will improve fair and transparent pricing practices and may help Australians get relief from the cost of living pressure in future.

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

– ref. Supermarkets, airlines and power companies are charging ‘exploitative’ prices despite reaping record profits – https://theconversation.com/supermarkets-airlines-and-power-companies-are-charging-exploitative-prices-despite-reaping-record-profits-222755

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sathana Dushyanthen, Academic Specialist & Lecturer in Cancer Sciences & Digital Health| Superstar of STEM| Science Communicator, The University of Melbourne

King Charles’ cancer diagnosis, which was identified recently during treatment for an enlarged prostate, continues to make news globally.

The type of cancer has not been revealed, but it has been confirmed it is not prostate cancer.

So what can King Charles and the millions of others who are newly diagnosed with cancer each year expect? And how has cancer treatment changed to improve survival rates?

Read more:
The royals have historically been tight-lipped about their health – but that never stopped the gossip

What actually is cancer?

The body constantly makes new cells to help us grow, replace worn-out tissue and heal injuries. Normally, cells multiply and die in a regulated way, so each new cell replaces a cell that is lost. Sometimes, however, cellular processes become dysregulated and cells keep multiplying. These abnormal cells may turn into cancer.

In solid cancers, such as breast or prostate, the abnormal cells form a mass (tumour). In blood cancers, such as leukaemia, the abnormal cells build up in the blood.

Cancerous tumours may spread. They may invade nearby tissue, destroying normal cells. The cancer cells can break away and travel through the bloodstream or lymph vessels to other parts of the body.

The cancer that first develops is the primary cancer. It is considered localised cancer as it has not spread to other parts of the body. If the primary cancer cells grow and form another tumour at a new site, it is called a secondary cancer or metastasis.

Read more:
How does cancer spread to other parts of the body?

Millions of new cases each year

Cancer is becoming more common as the population ages. And King Charles’ diagnosis is one of roughly 19.3 million new cases of cancer diagnosed worldwide each year.

We do not know which cancer King Charles has. However, worldwide,
the most common are lung, colorectal (bowel), stomach, breast, pancreatic, oesophageal, prostate and liver cancers.

The most common cancers can vary between countries, due to a number of factors such as genetics, lifestyle and environment. In Australia, for example, the most common cancers are prostate, breast, skin melanoma, colorectal cancer and lung cancer.

Read more:
I’ve just been diagnosed with cancer, now what?

Cancer accounts for 1 in 6 deaths

Cancer is a leading cause of death, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020 (nearly one in six deaths) globally.

Worldwide, leading cancer-related deaths are from lung, colorectal, stomach, breast, pancreatic, oesophageal, prostate and liver cancer.

In 2023, there were roughly 165,000 cases of cancer diagnosed and 51,000 cancer deaths in Australia. The top cancer-related deaths are attributed to lung, colorectal, pancreatic, prostate and breast cancers.

Read more:
Why are we more likely to get cancer as we age?

But more people are surviving cancer

Often, when cancer is still localised (has not spread to other parts of the body), it can be removed through surgery or killed with radiotherapy. However, as cancer spreads, more systemic treatments that act throughout the body are required.

Advances in medicine and treatments for cancer have led to more people surviving cancer.

Over the years, there has been a huge shift towards personalised medicine, where each patient is treated based on the genetic make-up of their specific cancer.

Treatment usually includes surgery, radiotherapy, and/or systemic therapy (chemotherapy, hormonal treatments, targeted biological therapies) in combination.

Read more:
How cancer doctors use personalised medicine to target variations unique to each tumour

Technological advances have seen traditional surgical methods move towards robotic surgery, using robotic arms to perform precise, minimally invasive surgeries to remove cancer.

The precision of radiotherapy is also improving. This therapy destroys cancer cells using a controlled dose of radiation to kill or damage cancer cells so they cannot grow, multiply or spread, while sparing surrounding healthy tissue.

In recent years, there has been major progress in systemic therapies such as immunotherapy, antibody therapy and bone marrow transplant therapy. There is also “CAR T-cell therapy”, which harnesses the body’s own immune system to fight against cancer.

Thanks to COVID, mRNA technology and other nanoparticle delivery systems are also an area yielding promising results for cancer vaccines.

With the boom in artificial intelligence, we can now potentially predict, diagnose and select treatments for cancer, with greater precision and accuracy.

Read more:
What are these ‘cancer vaccines’ I’m hearing about? And what similarities do they share with COVID vaccines?

Do treatments work?

With such new treatments, cancer survival rates have improved significantly. In Australia, for example, five-year survival rates improved from 52% to 70% from 1989–1993 to 2014–2018.

Survival rates for some cancers are also better than others. In Australia, cancers with the worst survival rates after ten years are cancers of the brain, liver, lung, oesophagus and pancreas.

An individual’s survival rate also depends on a number of factors. These include their age, lifestyle and environment (obesity, infections, UV exposure, alcohol consumption and smoking), ethnicity and genetics, socioeconomic status, access to treatment, stage at diagnosis, metastasis of disease, type of treatment and whether their cancer is resistant to treatment.

In a nutshell

King Charles’ cancer diagnosis, at the age of 75, is one of millions of new cancer diagnoses globally. While cancer remains a leading cause of death worldwide, survival rates are improving thanks to extensive advances in treatments and treatment options.

Read more:
What happens if King Charles can no longer perform his duties?

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

– ref. King Charles is having cancer treatment. What can he, and others with cancer, expect? – https://theconversation.com/king-charles-is-having-cancer-treatment-what-can-he-and-others-with-cancer-expect-222876

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alice Neikirk, Program Convenor, Criminology, University of Newcastle

More than 6.6 million refugees live in camps located largely in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. In these camp communities, unique cultural practices can arise. In our new research, we found the oral histories and healing practices of the Bhutanese refugees in Nepal changed over the decades they spent in camps.

In other words, camps foster new and unique cultural practices.

Camps are dynamic, culturally significant spaces. This finding does not celebrate refugee camps. It does recognise the strength and tenacity of people living in these situations.

But the cultural practices in the Bhutanese camps are now threatened because the refugees and their cultural practices don’t have legal protections. We propose the significance of these cultural practices may provide an alternative pathway to protection.

Protecting remaining refugees

Camps managed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) provide legal protection and basic support for people fleeing persecution. But what happens when camps officially close but refugees remain?

Last a year a Bhutanese refugee, and our long-term research partner, asked us this question. He was part of one of the world’s largest resettlement programs for refugees. After decades in camps, between 2007 and 2015 almost all 100,000 refugees from Bhutan were resettled in the United States, Canada, Europe, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

Not everyone was resettled. Roughly 6,000 refugees remain in Nepal due to old age, ill health and hope for repatriation to Bhutan, and some are newly arrived political prisoners only just released.

These people are still refugees. They cannot go home, and have limited ways to build a new life in Nepal. But the UNHCR has phased out its involvement in the camps. The refugees’ legal protections and food rations are being cut. These refugees are sitting in limbo, with their homes, their community and their unique culture having no legal protections.

For decades Bhutan has refused to take back the people they ethnically cleansed. Nepal refuses to grant them citizenship. There aren’t many pathways to protecting refugees once the UNHCR is not involved.

It is necessary to think creatively to identify possible solutions to protect these remaining refugees.

Read more:
‘They’re really keen for us to do better than they did’: how refugee parents motivate their kids’ learning

Unique cultural practices

We were particularly interested in the refugees’ oral histories and the rituals of their traditional healers, known as jumping doctors.

Oral histories are a key way communities make sense of the past and find meaning in their current situation. While the oldest refugees understood their exile in terms of religious persecution, the generations raised in the camps saw their history primarily in terms of being advocates for democracy.

The oral histories of the Bhutanese refugees changed in the camps as they interacted with the governing organisation, which provided a robust education in democratic values.

Without protections, the remaining refugees may face restrictions in transmitting their oral histories.

Camp management also provided protection and certifications for traditional healers to practice their craft. Their healing rituals involve the creation of healing effigies, drumming, jumping and chanting. In Nepal, the number of traditional healers is dwindling and healers are not recognised via a certification process.

Without the protections from the UNHCR, jumping doctors and their knowledge may disappear.

UNESCO’s Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage might be a way to protect these practices and, by extension, the refugees who remain after UNHCR withdraws from a camp.

We tend to think of UNESCO Heritage Sites as physical places like Notre Dame or the Great Barrier Reef.

But UNESCO also safeguards cultural practices, such as dance, theatre, food and craftsmanship. Through the intangible heritage convention, unique cultural practices and practices at risk of being lost can gain recognition. The hope is recognition will support sustainable development, open up funding pathways and ensure cultural knowledge does not disappear.

To gain recognition, a cultural practice must be nominated. Ideally, communities will self-nominate a cultural practice they recognise as significant, is transmitted and recreated across generations, and provides a sense of identity.

We analysed the nomination process and found significant gaps between the goal of having communities nominate their practices and how it is implemented. This means the culture of communities based in refugee camps are at a significant disadvantage.

Towards a fairer process

Currently, nomination forms are only available in English and French. Communities that lack access to education in these languages may struggle to complete the forms. To be accessible to all communities, the form should be available in a variety of languages.

When examining the nomination process, it became clear some minority groups, refugees and stateless people will struggle to have their cultural heritage recognised. This is because governments of nation-states verify the community practice meets the nomination requirements and they ultimately have responsibility for the protection framework.

It is unlikely nation-states will nominate or accept responsibility for protection of cultural activities in refugee camps. The current process means refugees are subject to the whims of nations’ priorities.

It doesn’t have to be this way. The nomination process could be modified so communities can self-verify. Further, it may be necessary that organisations beyond or outside of the nation-state take on responsibility for the protection of intangible cultural heritage.

Linking to a globally recognised brand like UNESCO could provide livelihood strategies for situations like the Bhutanese refugees. For example, the Bhutanese want to build a memorial centre to ensure their oral histories are recorded. International recognition could help them secure funding and create employment opportunities. Global recognition could attract visitors to the memorial centre.

This is not to suggest refugee camps should become tourist destinations, but it may provide a way for them to make decisions about their own cultural practices.

Refugee camps are not generally thought of as culturally significant sites. But it is clear from our work with Bhutanese refugees the camps are sites of important cultural practice but refugees have limited scope to advocate for safeguarding these practices.

A truly community-driven path for cultural heritage protection through UNESCO could be an avenue to achieve this important goal.

Read more:
How social media is breathing new life into Bhutan’s unwritten local languages

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

– ref. How international recognition of cultural practices could be a new way to protect refugees – https://theconversation.com/how-international-recognition-of-cultural-practices-could-be-a-new-way-to-protect-refugees-220853

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Frew, Lecturer and ARC DECRA Fellow, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University

Just beneath your feet, an ancient and silent alliance endures. This alliance between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi is one of the oldest biological partnerships on Earth.

Going back almost half-a-billion years, this relationship paved the way for plants to make it onto land. These early plants, simple and without the complex root systems of plants today, forged an alliance with fungi. This alliance has been instrumental to the evolution of plant life and has helped shape our ecosystems.

These fungi grow into roots where the plants supply them with the carbon (as sugar and fat) they need to survive. The fungi extend thin root-like threads called mycelia into the soil to make expansive networks that can access nutrients beyond the reach of plant roots.

But these hidden microbes do more than just help plants get nutrients. Plants are constantly dealing with insect pests and diseases, and have done for a long time. To deal with this, they evolved sophisticated defences. AM fungi can dramatically enhance these defences.

So could plants be picking their fungal allies based on their ability to enhance defences against pests and diseases? We recently explored this question and proposed hypotheses around how this could happen. The answer could have huge implications for making agriculture more sustainable.

Harnessing the ancient alliance

Considering the benefits AM fungi can provide plants, it’s no surprise there has been a lot of interest in using them in environmental management. Studies show AM fungi can have huge benefits for ecosystem restoration by supporting the establishment of native plant communities. Their importance to ecosystem function makes it clear mycorrhizal fungi should be included in conservation efforts.

In agricultural systems, fungi can increase crop growth, nutrient uptake and yields. These benefits have been a major focus for researchers since the 1950s.

While there is ample evidence of the benefits AM fungi can provide for crops, results in the field are inconsistent. There can be a mismatch between the nutritional needs of the crops and the ability of the fungi that are present or introduced to the soil to meet those needs.

Do plants pick their fungal partners for defence?

Within the roots of a single plant, numerous fungal species can co-exist, forming complex communities. The species that make up these communities may each offer different capabilities – some are better at defence, while others are better at nutrient uptake. The benefit a plant gets from its fungal partners is, in part, determined by which species are present within its roots.

We can apply AM fungi to the soil but this doesn’t mean these fungi will actually partner up with the plant.

So what determines which fungi gain entry to the roots? Do plants have a say in this? And, if so, how do they choose? These questions have long been on the minds of ecologists and biologists.

At the core of this relationship is a complex exchange system. Plants provide the fungi with carbon they need, and the fungi provide benefits to the plants.

Research has shown a plant will play favourites (at least in some cases) with the fungi. They will partner up and give more carbon to the fungi that provide the most nutrients.

Yet there are significant challenges to exploiting these nutritional benefits in agriculture, where large inputs of nutrients are added to the soil. This can limit our ability to use the fungi in this way by removing plant reliance on the fungi for nutrients.

But can we exploit this partnership for plant defences? Globally, insect pests consume up to 20% of the major grain crops alone.

Given that we know plants can play favourites, could they select their fungi to boost defence? We have developed hypotheses to try to better understand this question, to set the stage for future research.

A complex question with big implications

There are many complications. When a plant is under attack by pests, this compromises its ability to supply carbon to its fungal allies, as its carbon resources are strained. It is still not known how these changes affect the plant’s “choice” of fungal partners.

We need a better understanding of how such choices happen and how herbivores can interfere with the ability of plants to reward those fungi providing the most benefit.

However, if plants can pick out the fungi that help them fight off pests and diseases, it could change the way we think about nature’s partnerships. It has big implications for farming, conservation and restoring damaged environments.

Knowing how plants select fungal allies would pave the way for better-defended crops, reducing the need to apply synthetic pesticides. It would open up exciting possibilities for helping ecosystems recover and thrive.

The possibility that plants can identify and select fungi based on the benefits they derive opens up exciting new frontiers in ecological research. As we explore these underground interactions, we inch closer to harnessing the potential of one of the Earth’s oldest symbioses. It is a reminder of the complex relationships that maintain life on the planet, connections that are as important today as they were 500 million years ago when the first plants reached for the sun above and the fungi below.

Adam Frew receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the British Ecological Society.

Carlos Aguilar-Trigueros receives funding from the Research Council of Finland and the Humboldt Foundation (Germany).

Jeff Powell receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the NSW Department of Planning and Environment and the Future Food Systems Limited Cooperative Research Centre.

Stephanie Watts-Fawkes receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

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

– ref. If plants can pick fungi to help fight pests and diseases, it opens a door to greener farming and ecosystem recovery – https://theconversation.com/if-plants-can-pick-fungi-to-help-fight-pests-and-diseases-it-opens-a-door-to-greener-farming-and-ecosystem-recovery-221994

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katharina Naswall, Professor of Organisational Psychology, University of Canterbury

Most workers will be familiar with this scene: a meeting that goes round and round on a topic – one that may not be important to the priorities of the company. People leave the meeting frustrated and unheard. And the whole experience is repeated the next time everyone meets.

But does this have to be inevitable? Or is there a better way to organise how we interact within teams to support effective decision making?

Team decision making is thought to be critical for organisational success. Yet there are often real challenges that lead to conflict and confusion.

In our ongoing research, we define effective team decision making as a process of understanding a complex problem, identifying alternative solutions, and finally selecting the most appropriate option to meet the team’s objectives.

For this process to work, it is essential there is a culture that promotes diversity of backgrounds and perspectives. This leads to increased experience, intelligence, competence and task-relevant knowledge, as well as better overall problem solving capacity for the team.

Creating a safe environment

But creating an environment where team members feel safe to share their thoughts and opinions, especially if they are not in line with the majority view, is often easier said than done.

This is where the concepts of psychological safety and independent thinking come into play.

Psychological safety means team members can express their ideas and opinions without the fear of negative responses. It permits challenging others – even those in a position of power.

Read more:
Why too many fearless people on a team make collaboration less likely

When team members operate in an environment with high psychological safety, they are more likely to share their diverse perspectives and ideas. This leads to better decision making.

Independent thinking means team members are encouraged to share their perspectives without modifying or moderating them.

This enables them to collectively engage in critical thinking and challenge the status quo. It can lead to more innovative and creative solutions and can also foster a sense of ownership and buy-in among team members.

By supporting independent thinking, teams can develop a culture of continuous improvement and adaptability, essential in today’s rapidly changing business environment.

Feeling safe and included

Our study investigated the relationships between positive team culture factors – psychological safety and independent thinking, as well as inclusion, and their impact on effective team decision making.

Participants from 35 New Zealand-based decision-making teams completed an online survey asking them to recall a complex decision faced by their group. They were also asked whether their group demonstrated effective decision making.

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We found participants who described higher levels of psychological safety were more likely to report effective decision making. For example, over 60% of those who agreed to the statement “I feel safe offering new ideas, even if they aren’t fully formed plans” also agreed with the statement “the selected solutions were of high quality”.

Feeling psychologically safe and able to communicate without fear of negative consequences is important for effective decision making.

Effective decision making was also more likely when team culture encouraged independent thinking. This suggests that to function effectively, teams need different perspectives to improve how information is processed and complexity is addressed. This is further enabled by a psychologically safe environment.

Our findings related to inclusion were mixed and dependent on how it was defined. When inclusion means the appropriate participation of team members in the decision-making process, it was associated with effective decision making.

But when inclusion was defined as being “perceived as an esteemed member of the group and belonging”, it was not significantly related to effective decision making.

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So perhaps feeling “truly part of the team” is not essential, so long as team members are brought into the decision-making process whenever they can add value.

We also found longer tenure within a particular team was positively associated with effective decision making. Familiarity with colleagues has been shown to be especially helpful in ambiguous, uncertain and changing work environments.

Understanding team dynamics for better results

Our study shows both psychological safety and independent thinking are important for effective team decision making.

Leaders play a crucial role in promoting psychological safety within their teams. They can model behaviours that support psychological safety by exhibiting vulnerability, being authentic, and being willing to listen and discuss new and innovative ways of doing things.

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It is essential leaders make creating a positive team culture a priority – one that fosters psychological safety and encourages team members to share their unique viewpoints.

Leaders can do this by:

1. Following an effective decision-making process. This involves considering the team’s objectives, understanding the problem or opportunity being addressed, applying a range of perspectives, considering more than one potential solution, and selecting solutions that are best aligned with the team’s objectives.

2. Fostering psychological safety by having a shared set of values and a clear vision to support constructive discussion. Encourage curiosity instead of allowing defensiveness, and frame decision making as a team sport – not a win (or loss) for the individuals whose ideas are supported (or discarded).

3. Supporting independent thinking and expression by allowing team members to share their view before they are exposed to the views of others. This could involve a poll, or pre-meeting written contribution. Leaders should also avoid unduly influencing team members by sharing their view first, or by very narrowly framing the scope for team discussion.

Following this approach, leaders can unlock effective decision making and improve overall performance – banishing unproductive team meetings for good.

This research was supported by Callaghan Innovation R&D Fellowship.

This research was supported by Callaghan Innovation R&D Fellowship.

– ref. Frustrated by tedious and unproductive meetings? These 2 proven strategies can help teams work smarter – https://theconversation.com/frustrated-by-tedious-and-unproductive-meetings-these-2-proven-strategies-can-help-teams-work-smarter-217434