Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Rich, Senior lecturer in International Relations and Security Studies, Curtin University

The Biden administration hasn’t wasted time in making a significant shift in US policy toward the Middle East.

Over the past week, the US has launched reprisal strikes against Iranian targets in Syria and released damning intelligence overtly linking the crown prince of Saudi Arabia to the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Both decisions represent an important departure from the Trump administration, which acted recklessly in its actions toward Iran and enabled the worst impulses of Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy.

Perhaps less obvious, though, are how Biden’s actions differ from those of his former boss, Barack Obama. Biden is already adopting a bolder approach to dealing with troublesome states than Obama was ever willing to.

A disciplined approach towards Iran

Biden’s decision to launch strikes against Iran-backed militias in Syria showcases what has been described by the US political scientist Joseph Nye as “smart power”. This is when hard power is employed alongside soft power in a carefully calculated way to affect a diplomatic outcome.

In this case, the US worked collaboratively with the Iraqi government and intelligence officials to develop and execute the planned strikes in Syria.

Read more: From ‘America first’ to ‘America together’: who is Antony Blinken, Biden’s pick for secretary of state?

The strikes themselves, which hit militia logistical and staging targets in Syria, were designed to signal US resolve to stand up to Tehran’s provocations. At the same time, they were calibrated in a way that would de-escalate tensions, avoiding a more direct attack on Iran that could provoke its leadership further.

Washington clearly telegraphed its actions as a direct response to attacks by Iranian-backed militias against US targets in Iraq in mid-February.

Within the context of the wider negotiations around Iran’s nuclear program, Biden is clearly communicating that certain behaviours will not be tolerated and Iran cannot affect the negotiations through destabilising behaviour.

Compared to Trump’s bullying behaviour

Contrast this with a similar action undertaken by the Trump administration in early 2020 — the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq.

Here, the US acted unilaterally and provided no forewarning to Baghdad. It also violated its ally’s sovereignty in a manner that damaged its domestic credibility and stoked Iraqi outrage.

The attack was deliberately provocative, brazenly killing an Iranian national hero in a manner that challenged the domestic legitimacy of the regime in Tehran. This forced a rapid Iranian response that could have easily spiralled out of control if not for pure luck.

The strike itself also lacked a clear reasoning beyond the Trump administration’s ambiguous campaign of applying “maximum pressure” against Iran. Indeed, Trump officials made several contradictory justifications for the action, none of which were convincing. Combined with Trump’s personal gloating over the killing, this led to a widespread perception of illegality on the part of the United States.

And coming at a time when the Trump administration was trying to push Iran back to the negotiating table over its nuclear program, the strike had little meaningful effect. It only served to undermine US credibility by showcasing Washington as a shortsighted bully.

Put simply, Biden’s recent air strike was a wrap on the knuckles, designed to urge Iran towards a more constructive path of engagement with the US.

By contrast, Trump’s action was a wild slap in the face, designed to hurt and insult, but offering little credible way forward in the US-Iran relationship.

Read more: Political assassinations were once unthinkable. Why the US killing of Soleimani sets a worrying precedent

Acting to restrain Saudi Arabia

Biden has also diverged sharply from Trump in his handling so far of Saudi Arabia.

By releasing US intelligence linking Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Khashoggi’s killing, Washington made it clear that its days of running interference for Saudi Araba’s own provocative actions were drawing to a close.

Similarly, Biden has also indicated that while he remains committed to Saudi national defence, he expects the kingdom to wind down its ruinous six-year war in Yemen and embrace a more progressive position on universal human rights.

Biden’s commitment to these ideals, combined with the increasingly anti-Saudi sentiment across the other branches of the US government, suggest the president will have an extensive array of tools to punish the Saudis for their intransigence, should it come to that.

Obama’s more cautious approach

Biden’s divergences with the Obama administration in its Middle East policy are more subtle, yet just as important.

Generally speaking, Biden is considered to be the spiritual successor to Obama, his former commander-in-chief. But his own style, approach and worldview differ in significant ways.

In the case of Iran, Biden has shown that unlike Obama, he is willing to use force within the wider context of multilateral negotiations, and is less dovish about the threats posed by potential Iranian reprisals.

Indeed, Obama was strongly adverse to employing a “smart power” approach when it came to Tehran, worrying that any use of force would jeopardise diplomatic wrangling around the Iran nuclear agreement.

Such reticence was reflected in a number of major policy decisions by Obama in response to the norm-breaking activities of other states. This included his infamous walking back from the “red line” over Syria’s use of chemical weapons against its own people and his lack of response to Russian meddling in the 2016 US election.

This inaction generated a perception of US passivity and risk adversity that emboldened its rivals and undermined the confidence of its allies.

While Obama was willing to rhetorically protest against Saudi provocations and human rights abuses, there was little serious effort on the part of the administration to materially curtail them.

Indeed, Obama oversaw what was at the time the largest-ever US arms sales to the kingdom and supported its war in Yemen, even after numerous high-profile atrocities came to light.

In contrast to Obama’s hypocrisy on Saudi Arabia, Biden appears to be gearing up to walk the talk. Not only is he using the bully pulpit of the presidency to call out bad behaviour, he has enacted specific policies to discourage such activities.

Read more: Arab Spring: when the US needed to step up, it stood back – now, all eyes are on Biden

A difference in styles

The key difference in the characters of the two presidents is boldness.

While deeply thoughtful and reflective, Obama was known at times for timidity and paralysis-by-analysis in foreign affairs. (This was in stark contrast to his decisive actions against terrorist and insurgent groups).

This left his administration with a track record of missed foreign policy opportunities, as he mulled the pros and cons.

Biden, by contrast, has a longstanding political history for calculated risk-taking. While he has not always been correct in his decisions, he is willing to back up his words with actions.

Biden fundamentally believes in the liberal international order and is willing to employ smart power to defend and reinforce it where he feels necessary. He will also not likely baulk from the hard realities and choices such an approach will inevitably bring.

This is what both the Saudis and the Iranians are now discovering.

– ref. Biden is already carving out a different Middle East policy from Trump — and even Obama – https://theconversation.com/biden-is-already-carving-out-a-different-middle-east-policy-from-trump-and-even-obama-156206

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato

New Zealand’s COVID-19 response might be the envy of the world, but that hasn’t stopped New Zealanders themselves getting angry about it this week.

In short, there appeared to have been breaches of isolation orders by people linked to the Papatoetoe cluster that sent Auckland into level 3 alert last weekend.

It subsequently emerged that confused messaging and contradictory advice might have been responsible. The official Unite against COVID-19 website appeared to contradict the prime minister’s claims that a KFC worker had broken the rules and failed to isolate.

Public health and political considerations collided and 1.5 million Aucklanders were left wondering precisely what happened that caused them to be locked down again.

Clear laws, unclear communication

This latest controversy is part of a wider fraying of trust as a few push back against the rules, including an Australian woman in managed isolation refusing a COVID-19 test and ongoing problems with mask wearing and tracer app scanning.

Between May and September last year, with the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act in force, some 1,000 people were charged with breaches of the law, with 159 convictions.

Read more: Before we introduce vaccine passports we need to know how they’ll be used

As well as that piece of law, the Health Act, the Epidemic Preparedness Act and the Civil Defence and Emergency Act are all relevant to New Zealand’s pandemic response. Even the Crimes Act could be used in cases of criminal nuisance or when people knowingly endanger the lives, safety or health of the public or an individual.

Simply put, there is no shortage of law. There may, however, be a shortage of order. The government needs to accept responsibility for this, as it has made two mistakes.

‘Calling out’ rule-breakers is not enough

Firstly, New Zealanders have been urged to call out rule-breakers without this being an explicit instruction to tell the authorities.

If there is no shared bridge of reason and respect, this kind of message from those in power can backfire. Situations involving individuals and crowds, armed with a sense of self-importance or a belief they should enforce the rules, can become dangerous.

At a time when tension is already elevated in the community, what might start with the best of intentions can end up with undesirable and disproportionate outcomes. From confrontations over mask wearing to social media pile-ons over what someone may or may not have said or done, the risks are high.

Read more: Widespread testing in Auckland now key to ruling out possible undetected COVID-19 outbreak

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has consistently emphasised the importance of kindness and would not condone anything dangerous or distasteful. But simultaneously encouraging the public to confront rule-breakers while not requiring them to involve the authorities is problematic.

To safely harness public sentiment to ensure compliance with the rules, any such messages must be tethered to encouraging people to contact the correct authorities and to work through specific channels.

This largely occurred during the main level 4 lockdown last year. A website was even set up to report price-gouging.

Increasing the awareness, utilisation and resourcing of the existing and specific COVID-19 compliance portal would go a long way in harnessing the knowledge and concerns of the public — and help unclog the 105 non-emergency line the police use.

Who makes the decision to prosecute?

The second mistake the government made lies in the notion that decisions about prosecution might rest with Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield.

His stated reluctance to refer self-isolation breaches to the police is a problem, even if legally correct. While his reasoning is sound — this could deter people from coming forward in the first place — the opposite could also be argued: if people think there are no consequences for wrongful behaviour, they will not behave.

The problem here is not which side of that debate is right or wrong. It is about who makes that decision. If the law has been broken, it should be the police, the judiciary and the legal system that deal with those questions.

A director-general of health should not be making decisions about law and order — any more than a police commissioner should be making decisions about vaccines.

If there is evidence that laws have been broken, especially when public health and safety are concerned, there should be no discretion over whether that information is handed to the correct authorities for them to deal with.

Read more: A year on from the arrival of COVID-19 in NZ: 5 lessons for 2021 and beyond

Trust the existing system

There are two reasons this is important. First, the mechanisms around law and order are designed to be independent from political processes. Second, they have been built over hundreds of years of legal precedent and are robust.

The police operate in accordance with strict principles that govern their mandate. Similarly, the prosecution services operate within sets of guidelines and rules, taking into account the chances of conviction and the public interest.

If necessary, in certain circumstances, even the attorney-general can step in and direct a stay of proceedings.

If and when sentencing takes place, considerations of purpose and principle must be taken into account to ensure justice is done — for both society and the person who broke the law.

We should beware of employing untethered public anger or suspicion as a compliance tool. The existing system, anchored within our free democracy, works very well. We should empower it and let the correct authorities do their jobs.

– ref. Lots of law, not enough order — the government must be clearer about dealing with COVID rule-breakers – https://theconversation.com/lots-of-law-not-enough-order-the-government-must-be-clearer-about-dealing-with-covid-rule-breakers-156370

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Mercer, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, Curtin University

Review: The Cherry Orchard, directed by Clare Watson. Black Swan State Theatre Company for the Perth Festival.

Stories get told over and over, each version sitting atop every other in a never-ending palimpsest. Extracting and extending the metaphors of Anton Chekhov’s classic 1904 play The Cherry Orchard, this production adapted by Adriane Daff and Katherine Tonkin and directed by Clare Watson is as much about its staging at a former hospital as it is about the story and characters.

Reimagined in 1980s Western Australia, the parallels to Chekhov’s treatise on class and land work well: the mining boom, the influx of property developers, Australia (specifically WA) winning the America’s Cup, the Black Tuesday stock market crash, the gross short-sightedness of the Bicentennial celebrating only “200 years of Australian history”.

Set in Manjimup, 300 kilometres south of Perth, known for its annual cherry festival and familiar to all West Australians as the name on the cherry boxes they buy for Christmas, act one begins in the old hospital’s hall.

A mishmash of what was there and what set designer Zoë Atkinson has added, the hall represents a dilapidated home on a country estate. The act seems to be performed under the natural light gradually receding as twilight approaches.

With the audience seated around the edges, our views vary between extreme close-up or way-down-the-other-end. This shifting perspective reinforces the sense nobody in this story ever has the full picture. Wireless microphones strike a disconcerting, disembodied note.

Characters out of time

For act two, we amble down a grassy slope on the bank of the Swan River to sit on fold-up chairs or picnic blankets. The characters gather around a barbecue, wandering in and out of the scene while the sun slowly disappears.

The adaptation has to work the hardest against this site. The strong evening breeze and pace of the setting sun don’t always sync with the script.

Such disconnect, plus the inclusion of original Russian character names in an otherwise “Aussie-fied” script and the disembodied amplified voices, give the piece a televisual quality, like images from some long-forgotten Australian TV show, swarming with fuzzy memories of big hair, Laura Ashley dresses and Casio keyboards.

Peppered throughout are montages of leisurely set-ups and drunken parties to a soundtrack of 80s pop classics. These montages slow the show down, but there is a payoff in this playing with time. Watching these people go about the ordinary business of their lives, it is as if we are hanging out with them.

It also echoes Chekhov’s use of time: his characters act as if they have all the time in the world, until it suddenly catches up with them.

Act three, outside against a festoon-lit verandah, brings us to the tail end of yet another party as the characters, resplendent in fancy-dress costumes, wait for news of the orchard’s sale.

For Lopakhin (Ben Mortley), the “cashed-up bogan” neighbour, it is the culmination of his class-war tightrope walk. Emboldened by his purchase of the property, he cuts sick to Talking Heads’ Burning Down the House. A cross between David Byrne and a drunken used-car salesman, it is a splendidly gauche one-man celebration of his lifelong ambition for status and belonging.

Finally, we return to the hall. Sold, the house has been stripped of furniture and light, and reverberates with the sound of cherry trees being chopped down outside in the long-gone twilight.

Stories out of place

Many of the characters are disconnected from their sense of place.

The matriarch and landowner Ranyevskaya, played with a sexual weariness and fierce fragility by Hayley McElhinney, is a Marilyn-Monroe-little-girl-lost superimposed over Madonna’s Material Girl. In the action to save her home she is pulled taut between inertia and grotesque desperation.

Sam Longley’s long legs, improvisational skills and comedy chops are put to great use as Yepikhodov, the family’s accountant. From his squeaky-shoed entrance to the image of him in fancy dress as a pickle eating a pickle he is an ugly cry waiting to happen.

These dislocated characters make you think about the rite-of-passage exodus from country towns to the big smoke, or from Perth to the east coast. But the play also addresses bigger pictures of displacement: Varya, Ranyevskaya’s adopted daughter, is played by Asian-Australian actor Grace Chow, and Trofimov, the perpetual uni student is played Mark Nannup, a Yamatji Nyoongar man.

Trofimov moves between the philosophical (“Real progress is possible, but you have to give something up”) and the realistic (“Maybe you shouldn’t buy another boat”), and most directly addresses the play’s questions about land “ownership”.

That much of the adaptation’s gravitas is put into the mouth of the only First Nations character makes absolute sense, but it sometimes seems like a burden he carries alone.

Even so, Daff and Tonkin’s adaptation brilliantly occupies the land created by Chekhov and it serves them well.

WA in the 80s is the perfect time and place to tease out the themes of Chekhov’s play. Pining for St Kilda in lieu of Moscow reeks of the requisite cultural shame.

Wrestling with our cultural inheritance should be a core part of the business of our state theatre company. In sewing together these elements of personal, regional and national identity, this production’s conversation with Chekhov’s classic has done just that.

The Cherry Orchard plays until March 20.

– ref. Pining for St Kilda instead of Moscow: The Cherry Orchard grapples with our cultural inheritance – https://theconversation.com/pining-for-st-kilda-instead-of-moscow-the-cherry-orchard-grapples-with-our-cultural-inheritance-153198

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martin Drum, Lecturer Politics and International Relations, University of Notre Dame Australia

Time is running out for the Western Australian Liberal Party. Polling points to a massive Labor landslide at the upcoming state election on March 13.

Following last month’s Newspoll, which put Labor in front by 68-32, two-party-preferred, Liberal opposition leader Zak Kirkup abandoned any public pretence he might actually win the election.

“I accept it’s not my time,” he told The West Australian newspaper last week.

Not following the election script

While not entirely unprecedented (then Labor leader Geoff Gallop said the Court government would be “returned comfortably” three days before the 1996 WA election), it is nonetheless an extraordinary admission from Kirkup. It departs from established practice where political leaders try to preserve hope amongst their faithful, even in the face of extreme adversity.

Some voters may applaud Kirkup — who only took up the Liberal leadership last November — for his honesty. This was certainly the editorial view of The West Australian. It is also a definitive way of capturing the “underdog” status going into election day and emphasising the importance of checks and balances in our political system, while highlighting the importance of the upper house race as well.

But there are significant risks to this approach. One is that voters may feel its disrespectful to the vast majority of people who are yet to vote. Another is, why would voters take any notice of Liberal party policy announcements, if they won’t be in government to deliver on any of them?

Under the circumstances, the Liberal Party could be forgiven for pitching their policy settings firmly towards their own base. Curiously, their one signature policy involves shutting WA’s coal-fired power plants by 2025, backing in renewable energy generation, and achieving net zero carbon emissions in the state electricity system by 2030.

It has certainly attracted the ire of federal colleagues, with Liberal MP Andrew Hastie describing it as a “lemon”. For their part, the McGowan government has borrowed lines from the federal Coalition’s playbook, arguing the policy would see,

many, many billions of extra debt, a huge increase in family power bills, rolling blackouts across the state and huge job losses.

More at stake than forming government

While the headline result of the election looks like a foregone conclusion, there are plenty of reasons for the Liberals to continue to fight hard for every vote.

The first is to try to stop Labor from winning control of the Legislative Council (upper house). While the Coalition almost always win control of the upper house when in government in WA, this is extremely rare for Labor.

A Labor majority (or a Labor-Greens majority) could pave the way for electoral reform to remove undemocratic malapportionment in WA. In the upper house, one regional six-member electorate has fewer than 70,000 voters, while three six-member metropolitan ones have more than 400,000 each.

Read more: Whopping lead for Labor ahead of WA election, but federal Newspoll deadlocked at 50-50

However, this malapportionment is so extreme, it means even a Labor landslide doesn’t guarantee an upper house majority in its own right. The Labor party currently has just 14 seats in the 36 seat chamber, despite winning 41 of the 59 seats in the lower house in 2017.

To win 19 seats they need to pick up additional seats in five of the six upper house regions. They already hold three seats in both the east metropolitan and south metropolitan regions and the quota for four is a whopping 57.14% of the primary vote. This provides us with some sense of magnitude of the victory required to achieve a basic majority.

Being able to be an effective opposition

A second critical reason for the Liberal party to chase every vote is to avoid a wipe out that is so bad it makes them ineffective as an opposition.

The Liberal Party currently has just 13 seats in the 59 seat Legislative Assembly, which is the legacy of a very poor performance at the last election. While they look very likely to sink further, they would be desperate to avoid the most catastrophic outcome — a return of fewer seats in the lower house than the Nationals and the loss of official opposition status.

There is also the possibility their numbers could be so low as to deny them the resources normally allotted to parliamentary leaders and whips as set out by the Salaries and Allowances Act.

This means they would have very few staff and minimal funds to hold the government to account. It also means their capacity to probe during question time and ask useful Questions on Notice would be limited. They would also have a very thin presence on parliamentary committees.

Thinking ahead to 2025

There is also a third, compelling reason for Kirkup and the Liberals to avoid electoral oblivion.

While the modern electorate is a volatile one, if they win just a handful of seats in 2021, the task of winning in 2025 would also become much more difficult — the Liberals may face at least three terms in opposition.

Read more: Labor wins WA in a landslide as One Nation fails to land a blow

An electoral wipe-out could ruin the careers of future leadership aspirants and ensure that the next Liberal premier is yet to enter parliament.

– ref. The Liberals face electoral wipeout in WA, but have 3 good reasons to keep campaigning – https://theconversation.com/the-liberals-face-electoral-wipeout-in-wa-but-have-3-good-reasons-to-keep-campaigning-156123

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

A substantial minority of Chinese-Australians have experienced a backlash from the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 deterioration in bilateral relations, according to a survey from the Lowy Institute.

In the poll, 37% said they had been treated differently or less favourably in the past year because of their heritage and 31% had been called offensive names.

Nearly one in five (18%) said they had been physically threatened or attacked.

When those who’d had bad experiences were asked what they thought caused or contributed to that (COVID, Australia-China relations, other factors) 66% said COVID and 52% nominated the bilateral relationship, while 13% said other factors. Of the latter, 28% said racism.

On the positive side, 40% said someone had expressed support for them because of their heritage.

The Lowy report, Being Chinese in Australia, is based on a poll of 1040 who self-identify as of Chinese heritage. Australia has more than 1.2 million people of Chinese heritage. The poll, which received funding from the federal Department of Home Affairs, was done in November, in English and Mandarin.

It found some significant differences in attitudes and on policy issues between the Chinese-Australians and the general population.

While most Chinese-Australians feel a sense of belonging in Australia (71%), they “also feel a sense of belonging to China, and that affects how they view that country,” according to the report authored by Natasha Kassam and Jennifer Hsu.

The poll found 68% had a sense of belonging to the Chinese people, while 65% had a sense of belonging to China. This was stronger among recent migrants (those coming between 2010 and 2019) of whom more than eight in ten had a sense of belonging to China.

“Levels of trust in China are much higher in Chinese-Australian communities than in the broader Australian population,” the poll found.

“Chinese-Australians are more likely than other Australians to see China as an economic partner rather than as a security threat to Australia.

“They are divided in their views on China’s authoritarian system of government in light of COVID-19, and only a third say democracy is preferable to any other kind of government. In comparison, 71% of the broader Australian population express a preference for democracy. But Chinese-Australians’ perspectives on systems of government do not extend to all aspects of the Chinese system: many are critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

“For example, the majority of Chinese-Australians support sanctions on Chinese officials associated with human rights abuses, and want Australia to reduce its economic dependence on China.”

Less than half (46%) of the Chinese-Australians were concerned about China’s influence in Australian politics, while in a parallel national poll, 82% of the general population expressed concern about Chinese influence in Australia’s political processes.

The vast majority (84%) have almost no contact with the Chinese embassy or consulate and 75% say they have limited or no contact with Chinese community organisations.

Reflecting the “dual ties” Chinese-Australians feel, 74% trust Australia to act responsibly in the world – and 72% trust China to do so. In contrast, the 2020 Lowy poll found only 23% of the general population trust China to act responsibly in the world.

“The majority of Chinese-Australians see China as a benign presence in the region, on a par with Japan , India and the United States.”

The divergence in views between the Chinese-Australians and the general community is particularly notable in relation to systems of government.

“A third of Chinese-Australians (36%) say ‘democracy is preferable to any other kind of government’, a far smaller proportion than the 71% of the broader Australian population expressing that view in the parallel survey.

“Four in ten Chinese-Australians (41%) say ‘in some circumstances, a non-democratic government can be preferable’ and 22% say ‘for someone like me, it doesn’t matter what kind of government we have’.

“These findings align with academic research indicating that migrants leaving authoritarian regimes to settle in a stable democracy do not see democracy as the only game in town’.”

Kassam says that “While the Chinese communist party seeks to collapse the diversity of Chinese-Australian communities into a unified whole, these poll results show the opposite.

“Depending on waves of migration, country of origin, visa status and age, Chinese-Australian have different perspectives on issues from foreign interference to China’s human rights record.”

– ref. Chinese-Australians have a sense of dual ‘belonging’: Lowy poll – https://theconversation.com/chinese-australians-have-a-sense-of-dual-belonging-lowy-poll-156317

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Neeraja Sanmuhanathan, Senior Sexual Assault Counsellor, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Lecturer in Counselling, University of Notre Dame Australia

As a senior sexual assault counsellor working with Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, I often sit across from people on the worst day of their life.

The trauma of being sexually assaulted is an experience filled with violence. It transforms a person’s sense of safety, their worldview and their relationships with others.

When survivors come forward to disclose a sexual assault, they are frequently met with more questions than support in our communities. As a result, silence can be a form of survival.

Victim-blaming is one reason for this. Victim-blaming is a part of rape culture which reinforces the idea a woman is solely responsible for her own safety. One in eight Australians believe if a woman is raped while she is affected by alcohol or other drugs, she is at least partly responsible.

Empathy for the perpetrator contributes to victim-blaming. Victim-blaming can also occur when we try to distance ourselves from the horrific nature of the crime. We can’t imagine this happening to us, therefore it must have happened to someone who is inherently different to us. It can be hard to accept these violations take place in our very own backyard.

Last month, former Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins publicly disclosed she was sexually assaulted, allegedly by a male colleague at Parliament House.

Higgins’s brave disclosure is in spite of the social factors that exist to silence survivors.

It’s impossible to be ‘the model victim’

In Australian society, we often expect sexual assault survivors to show just enough emotion for us to believe them, but not so much they seem hysterical or attention-seeking.

The timing of the disclosure should be just right or we question why they didn’t come forward soon enough. They should be “model citizens” or we question their credibility. If they were intoxicated at the time of the assault, we question their memory. And if sober, we question their choices.

The Goldilocks dilemma of being the perfect victim or survivor is extraordinarily difficult to navigate. It’s little wonder many victims wait decades to come forward, or decide not to report a sexual assault at all.

With public attention focused on recent allegations of sexual assault, it’s the right time to be asking why survivors don’t always come forward straight away.

When a disclosure is met with negative responses, it can lead to feelings of shame for survivors. Negative responses to a disclosure have been labelled as the “second rape” incident, a phenomenon known as secondary victimisation. Survivors who experience negative social reactions after coming forward are more likely to have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In Australia, sexual assault cases have low conviction rates and the judicial process can be lengthy. Data from criminal courts in 2017-18, published by the Australia Bureau of Statistics, found it took an average of 40 weeks to secure a conviction for a sexual assault. The low rates of conviction, combined with the prolonged and complex judicial process, result in reduced reporting.

Indigenous, culturally and linguistically diverse, and LGBTIQA+ women may face further reporting barriers. These can include greater stigma in their communities, reduced access to services, and previous negative experience with the judicial system.

We need to build a culture of acceptance

In my role as a sexual assault counsellor in community health, I practise “trauma-informed care”. This is a survivor-oriented approach and is underpinned by principles of safety, empowerment, choice, collaboration, and understanding of culture. It places the survivor as the expert on their own life.

It is important for sexual assault survivors to be heard, to be believed, and to be told what happened is not their fault.

Many women feel angry at themselves they’d frozen rather than fighting back during an assault. However, the act of freezing is the most protective response we have to avoid further injury when in danger.

During the counselling session, we talk about the option to collect evidence, disclose to the police, and how to safely tell loved ones if that’s what a survivor wants to do.

Maximising choices for survivors in every decision allows them to feel empowered and gain back control.

Statistics may shock us, but stories provide a face to suffering. Every survivor who shares a story of sexual assault indirectly speaks to another survivor and gently reminds them they are not alone.

However, every negative response also speaks to a survivor. There is no perfect victim or survivor, and no perfect trauma response. As a society, we have a collective responsibility to create safe spaces that help build a culture of acceptance rather than a culture of shame.

A survivor’s choice to disclose should be solely based on their readiness to share their story.

If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, please call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.

– ref. I’m a sexual assault counsellor. Here’s why it’s so hard for survivors to come forward, and what happens when they do – https://theconversation.com/im-a-sexual-assault-counsellor-heres-why-its-so-hard-for-survivors-to-come-forward-and-what-happens-when-they-do-156038

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Monique Retamal, Research Principal, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

We all know it’s wrong to toss your rubbish into the ocean or another natural place. But it might surprise you to learn some plastic waste ends up in the environment, even when we thought it was being recycled.

Our study, published today, investigated how the global plastic waste trade contributes to marine pollution.

We found plastic waste most commonly leaks into the environment at the country to which it’s shipped. Plastics which are of low value to recyclers, such as lids and polystyrene foam containers, are most likely to end up polluting the environment.

The export of unsorted plastic waste from Australia is being phased out – and this will help address the problem. But there’s a long way to go before our plastic is recycled in a way that does not harm nature.

Know your plastics

Plastic waste collected for recycling is often sold for reprocessing in Asia. There, the plastics are sorted, washed, chopped, melted and turned into flakes or pellets. These can be sold to manufacturers to create new products.

The global recycled plastics market is dominated by two major plastic types:

• polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which in 2017 comprised 55% of the recyclable plastics market. It’s used in beverage bottles and takeaway food containers and features a “1” on the packaging

• high-density polyethylene (HDPE), which comprises about 33% of the recyclable plastics market. HDPE is used to create pipes and packaging such as milk and shampoo bottles, and is identified by a “2”.

The next two most commonly traded types of plastics, each with 4% of the market, are:

• polypropylene or “5”, used in containers for yoghurt and spreads

• low-density polyethylene known as “4”, used in clear plastic films on packaging.

The remaining plastic types comprise polyvinyl chloride (3), polystyrene (6), other mixed plastics (7), unmarked plastics and “composites”. Composite plastic packaging is made from several materials not easily separated, such as long-life milk containers with layers of foil, plastic and paper.

This final group of plastics is not generally sought after as a raw material in manufacturing, so has little value to recyclers.

Read more: China’s recycling ‘ban’ throws Australia into a very messy waste crisis

Shifting plastic tides

China banned the import of plastic waste in January 2018 to prevent the receipt of low-value plastics and to stimulate the domestic recycling industry.

Following the bans, the global plastic waste trade shifted towards Southeast Asian nations such as Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The largest exporters of waste plastics in 2019 were Europe, Japan and the US. Australia exported plastics primarily to Malaysia and Indonesia.

Australia’s waste export ban recently became law. From July this year, only plastics sorted into single resin types can be exported; mixed plastic bales cannot. From July next year, plastics must be sorted, cleaned and turned into flakes or pellets to be exported.

This may help address the problem of recyclables becoming marine pollution. But it will require a significant expansion of Australian plastic reprocessing capacity.

What we found

Our study was funded by the federal Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. It involved interviews with trade experts, consultants, academics, NGOs and recyclers (in Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand) and an extensive review of existing research.

We found when it comes to the international plastic trade, plastics most often leak into the environment at the destination country, rather than at the country of origin or in transit. Low-value or “residual” plastics – those left over after more valuable plastic is recovered for recycling – are most likely to end up as pollution. So how does this happen?

In Southeast Asia, often only registered recyclers are allowed to import plastic waste. But due to high volumes, registered recyclers typically on-sell plastic bales to informal processors.

Interviewees said when plastic types were considered low value, informal processors frequently dumped them at uncontrolled landfills or into waterways. Sometimes the waste is burned.

Plastics stockpiled outdoors can be blown into the environment, including the ocean. Burning the plastic releases toxic smoke, causing harm to human health and the environment.

Interviewees also said when informal processing facilities wash plastics, small pieces end up in wastewater, which is discharged directly into waterways, and ultimately, the ocean.

However, interviewees from Southeast Asia said their own domestic waste management was a greater source of ocean pollution.

A market failure

The price of many recycled plastics has crashed in recent years due to oversupply, import restrictions and falling oil prices, (amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic). However clean bales of PET and HDPE are still in demand.

In Australia, material recovery facilities currently sort PET and HDPE into separate bales. But small contaminants of other materials (such as caps and plastic labels) remain, making it harder to recycle into high quality new products.

Before the price of many recycled plastics dropped, Australia baled and traded all other resin types together as “mixed plastics”. But the price for mixed plastics has fallen to zero and they’re now largely stockpiled or landfilled in Australia.

Several Australian facilities are, however, investing in technology to sort polypropylene so it can be recovered for recycling.

Doing plastics differently

Exporting countries can help reduce the flow of plastics to the ocean by better managing trade practices. This might include:

• improving collection and sorting in export countries

• checking destination processing and monitoring

• checking plastic shipments at export and import

• improving accountability for shipments.

But this won’t be enough. The complexities involved in the global recycling trade mean we must rethink packaging design. That means using fewer low-value plastic and composites, or better yet, replacing single-use plastic packaging with reusable options.

The authors would like to acknowledge research contributions from Asia Pacific Waste Consultants (APWC) – Dr Amardeep Wander, Jack Whelan and Anne Prince, as well as Phil Manners at CIE.

Read more: Here’s what happens to our plastic recycling when it goes offshore

– ref. Think all your plastic is being recycled? New research shows it can end up in the ocean – https://theconversation.com/think-all-your-plastic-is-being-recycled-new-research-shows-it-can-end-up-in-the-ocean-155208

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cody Reynolds, Researcher & Educator, University of Newcastle

“She’s more crazy than she is female.”

So declared a senior student in a furious critique of Sylvia Plath’s poetry. The classroom was entirely male, myself included. As the teacher, I mediated discussion but had come to expect opposition to conversations about gender in the all-boys’ Sydney private school.

My research into the presumptive biases of single-sex education has affirmed a culture of resistance to talking about gender in all-male schools. Comments like this one can’t be dismissed or excused as teenage bravado. They’re part of an enduring ethos that continues to protect male privilege in the private school system.

Single-sex schools across Sydney are reckoning with sexual violence disclosures in response to a heartbreaking petition from more than 3,000 women. Hundreds have shared their testimony in a document created by a former Kambala schoolgirl Chanel Contos demanding better education on sexual consent.

Contos also calls for a change to the pervasive misogyny of single-sex male schools. And here, we need to recognise the biases that infuse all aspects of school life, including classroom teaching.

My research has found the learning differences assumed by teachers and school leaders in gender-segregated schools impact both programming and practice. In an all-male context, this can marginalise women and galvanise destructive gender stereotypes.

Male schools favour male texts

Neuroscientific research has shown any disparities between male and female ways of thinking are irrelevant to the psychology of learning. In spite of this, studies demonstrate how assumptions about gender guide the type of content selected for study.

A report from the University of Melbourne recognises the enduring misconception among teachers and school leaders that

male – rather than female – authors and creators are more equipped to write about and imagine major social, political and cultural issues.

For the English classroom, where my work is focused, the most visible indicator of this belief is the choice of texts to study. In a single-sex male context there is a tendency to favour fiction deemed appropriately masculine, and literature written by male authors. The result is that gender becomes both invisible and irrelevant to classroom criticism.

This is contrasted in co-educational and single-sex female school settings, where text choice is less likely to be guided by “the inevitable privileges of being a boy”. In these contexts gender remains visible and valuable to classroom discussion, but does not directly inform content selection or curriculum programming.

Read more: Friday essay: the literary canon is exhilarating and disturbing and we need to read it

In 2015 and 2016 I surveyed more than 130 English teachers and curriculum leaders across public and independent schools. I wanted to investigate whether teaching practices beyond content selection were influenced by gender assumptions in all-male environments.

The interviews were striking in their expectations of gender and student success. There was a near unanimous assumption by teachers I spoke to across all school systems that male students should be steered away from overtly gendered literary experiences.

The teachers I spoke to believed male students were more likely to be successful in assessments if they avoided analyses of gender, including their own. While there is no quantifiable data to support this claim, it is almost impossible to measure student achievement separate from the acknowledged biases of practice.

Many teachers speculated that students in all-male schools seldom had cause to recognise or reflect on gender entitlement. As such, they were likely to be limited in their capacity for literary discussion on this aspect of identity.

Female literature and male bias

The issue might suggest a simple solution. By including more literature by female authors and about female experiences, we could seemingly break the silence of gender in male single-sex schools. Unfortunately, the problem is more profound.

The teachers I interviewed from all-male schools spoke about gender being sidelined, even in female-focused texts. They noted in these lessons, discussion shifted to favour other textual concerns, or to prioritise a male perspective of the central female experience.

These observations again differ from research in all-girls schools and in co-educational schools. Here all students appear to benefit from the presence of female students and the lived female experience to which they are able to give voice.

My research has affirmed these outcomes in Australian classroom practice. As a case study, the HSC English Advanced syllabus prescribes a comparative analysis of Sylvia Plath’s Ariel and Ted Hughes’s Birthday Letters. Responses I collected from all-male schools showed they were inclined to marginalise Plath’s womanhood, and favour Hughes’s account of their violent marriage.

Read more: Elite boys’ schools like St Kevin’s were set up to breed hyper-masculinity, which can easily turn toxic

In contrast, responses from all-female and co-educational schools more often presented extensive discussion of Plath’s feminist identity, even when those responses were composed by male students.

More disturbingly, several female teachers I interviewed said they felt intimidated when asked to discuss constructions of gender in all-male school environments. They said a small but vocal portion of older adolescents would become aggressively oppositional, and assert such content was only included as “tokenism” towards a “feminist agenda”.

One senior English teacher based in Sydney’s east recalled a close study of Ophelia’s suicide in Hamlet. The discussion centred on the possibility Ophelia’s death was the ultimate act of passivity. As a woman, the responsibly that burdens Ophelia is too great, and suicide is her only escape. In the all-male class, a student argued he would only write about the sexual connotations of this reading if the teacher could promise his essay would be marked by a male member of staff.

It matters

These accounts are troubling. Dangerous learning assumptions indicate the need for reform across curriculum programming and teaching practice. But their innate influence also hints at a clear path for improvement.

Compelling scholarship shows fiction affects students’ social empathy. The English classroom can foster inclusion and develop appreciation for gender equity.

The need for our private school system to denounce the most conspicuous elements of misogyny is urgent, but we must also contend with the quietly profound role classroom learning plays in affirming or challenging an institutional culture of oppression.

Read more: Not as simple as ‘no means no’: what young people need to know about consent

– ref. We can see the gender bias of all-boys’ schools by the books they study in English – https://theconversation.com/we-can-see-the-gender-bias-of-all-boys-schools-by-the-books-they-study-in-english-156119

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jennifer Stokes, Senior Lecturer in Digital and Information Literacy (Education Futures), University of South Australia

Starting university is usually a time of hope focused on bright futures. This year feels different. As cities move in and out of lockdown, new students are starting university in the face of significant uncertainty. A number of easily applied, quick-win strategies can help students to manage stress and succeed in the fluctuating circumstances of COVID-19.

There is clear demand for guidance, and I have been investigating best-practice approaches to enable learning throughout the pandemic. It is important to be able to switch to online learning quickly and effectively, while also making the most of on-campus opportunities to set yourself up well.

Build adaptable digital technology skills

Being well prepared reduces stress. It means you will be able to move quickly to online learning if necessary. Take the following steps to prepare yourself.

First, ensure you have access to a computer off campus. Supportive family and friends might be able to help with this. Tablets and smartphones will support a range of software, but they are difficult to write an essay on.

Next, search your university website for “IT support” for students. You will find a range of relevant software, much of it free for students.

Ensure you have installed the basics. You should be set up to communicate and interact via email, Office and the omnipresent Zoom.

Revisit how to use your phone as a hotspot. Be prepared for the internet to drop out when videoconferencing. If it does, take a deep breath and tether to your phone hotspot.

Finally, organise access to online learning communities relevant to you, so you have ongoing support in place if you need it. Is there a relevant social media group at your university? Can you form a chat group with classmates? Or even connect to a global knowledge community on Discord?

Foster early connections

Make the most of any available interactions on campus and online. Learn the names of key academic and administrative staff in your area. And aim to make at least one friend in your course in the first week and have a way to reach them, whether by Instagram, text or email.

Listen closely to find out how your course co-ordinator or tutor prefers to be contacted. Strive to make a positive impression in the first week by being attentive in class. Set aside digital devices and interact.

You might have only limited time to lay the foundations for peer networks and to build rapport with academics. Make the most of any contact time and introductory sessions you are offered.

Work out where to go for help

Most universities offer a huge number of support services. However, each institution has its own unique structure and a number of quirky acronyms to learn. The quickest way to find things is often through a knowledgeable guide.

As you wade through the information overload of orientation and the first few weeks, pay close attention to advice on how to connect with support. Write down or screenshot contact information, including the specific names of useful departments such as the inclusion unit. Embrace peer support provided to help you navigate these structures, such as uni mentors.

This way you will have a good idea of what is available and who to contact for help before any issues arise. Once you know how to reach these services, many supports will remain available even if you have to shift online for things like draft-checking services or counsellor appointments.

Take care of yourself

Even setting aside the unusual context of a pandemic, the transition to university is a big change. An effective way to manage stress is to focus on what you can control, which includes looking after yourself.

Remember, full-time study is equivalent to full-time work. You need to allow eight to ten hours a week for a standard subject.

Juggling work, study and life is a challenge, so it is important to establish strong time management early on. Set up a calendar, whether on your phone or on the wall, and use it throughout the year to keep you on track.

Allocate time for sleep and exercise, as this will help you manage any other challenges that come your way during the year. Try to have fun too – it is an exciting time and all of these strategies are sound practice to set you up for success!

While we cannot know what the year ahead holds, effective preparation will make sudden changes easier to navigate. With these strategies in place you can progress toward your personal life goals, regardless of the broader context. This focus on technology, connectivity and well-being will better support you to thrive in these uncertain times and give you the best chance to flourish at university.

– ref. Prepare, connect, care: essential steps for new students to manage and enjoy uni life – https://theconversation.com/prepare-connect-care-essential-steps-for-new-students-to-manage-and-enjoy-uni-life-156106

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Wilson, Professor of Public Health, University of Otago

The Climate Change Commission’s recent draft report and recommendations has helped to kick-start an extremely important process.

But, as others have argued, there remain serious questions about its narrow view and lack of ambition in key areas.

In particular, the commission has not adequately considered the potential health benefits of climate change mitigation — that is, how reducing emissions involves changes in behaviour and environments that would significantly improve people’s general health.

The evidence for these co-benefits — dietary changes, increased physical activity and reductions in air pollution — is substantial.

Indeed, extrapolating recent international evidence to the New Zealand setting suggests these could ultimately prevent thousands of premature deaths per year. Unfortunately, despite this evidence and the likely impact of those health co-benefits, the commission makes no such estimates.

But there is still time to influence its final report. Submissions to the commission close on March 28.

In the table below we summarise our assessment of the draft report’s attention to the co-benefits in key health areas.

Major gains from a dietary shift

While the report considers some aspects of inequality, this relates mainly to income. It does not touch at all on health inequalities, despite these already being a major concern practically, ethically and from the perspective of our obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi (which the report mentions only twice).

The most important gap in the report is arguably the large health gains that could arise from shifts to a more plant-based diet, with reduced consumption of ruminant meat and dairy products.

Read more: NZ’s smoking rates dropped dramatically thanks to a hard-hitting campaign. Could we do the same to bring emissions down?

The report may actually be misleading when it says: “Red meat and dairy products from Aotearoa are already some of the least emissions intensive in the world.”

As one government study last year countered, such claims don’t adequately account for “carbon losses arising from forest harvesting, deforestation and scrub clearance”.

We should also account for the carbon costs of drying milk and the biodiversity damage of importing palm kernel for stock feed.

The report also overlooks specific New Zealand research showing major scope for a shift to dietary patterns that are healthier, cheaper, lower in greenhouse emissions and which could reduce overall health-care costs.

Recommendations to the commission

It seems clear the health co-benefits of reducing emissions should be used as an explicit unifying theme in the commission’s final report. Identifying meaningful value for the public has the advantage of increasing support for meaningful action.

The idea we can reduce emissions and be happier and healthier (with immediate and local effect) is far more appealing than a technical and industry approach to reducing emissions.

The commission should include reducing health inequalities as a co-benefit. It should also do more to ensure the government’s treaty obligations are met in all significant areas.

To help with that, the commission should include both public health expertise and Māori health expertise among its commissioners.

Read more: Why we should release New Zealand’s strangled rivers to lessen the impact of future floods

The commission should also build on the experience of New Zealand’s successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This response has shown the benefits of rapid, science-informed and vigorous all-of-government action — and delivered public health and economic benefits.

The final report should explain the likely cost savings of health co-benefits. By reducing health-care costs, the economic impact of responding to climate change might be even less than the commission has estimated, already under 1% of projected GDP.

Combined with the benefits of preventing potentially catastrophic disruptions to planetary systems, the health co-benefits of combating climate change represent a bargain.

– ref. NZ’s Climate Change Commission needs to account for the huge potential health benefits of reducing emissions – https://theconversation.com/nzs-climate-change-commission-needs-to-account-for-the-huge-potential-health-benefits-of-reducing-emissions-156036

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

The minister accused of historical rape is set to identify himself on Wednesday, after NSW police on Tuesday declared their examination of the claim “closed”.

The push by the friends of the alleged victim – who took her own life in 2020 – for an inquiry into her allegation has rocked the government since they sent a letter to Scott Morrison and several other parliamentarians last week.

The minister has strongly rejected the allegation in his talks with Morrison, and will do so publicly when he identifies himself.

The naming will be a relief to many male cabinet colleagues, who have had a collective cloud hanging over them amid speculation about his identity.

Morrison, who has rejected the calls for him to set up an inquiry, on Monday said the matter must rest with the police. But the federal police referred it to the NSW police, to whom the woman spoke – without making a formal statement – a year ago.

Government sources on Tuesday pointed as a precedent to what then opposition leader Bill Shorten did. Shorten in 2014 went public after a police investigation into an historical rape allegation concluded without any action being taken. The Victorian police said at the time they had “sought advice from the Office of Public Prosecutions, which advised there was no reasonable prospect of conviction”.

The difference between the two situations is the Victorian police were able to investigate fully because they were dealing with a living alleged victim.

The NSW police said on Tuesday that in November 2019, a 48-year-old woman had attended an Adelaide police station “seeking advice about reporting historical sexual offences, which allegedly occurred in 1988 in Sydney.

“The matter was then referred to the NSW Police Force and an investigation by the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad commenced under Strike Force Wyndarra.

“NSW Police Force has been the lead agency in respect to this investigation since February 2020.

“For various reasons, the woman did not detail her allegations in a formal statement to NSW Police. The woman passed away in June 2020.

“Following the woman’s death, NSW Police came into possession of a personal document purportedly made by the woman previously.

“NSW Police have since sought legal advice in relation to these matters. Based on information provided to NSW Police, there is insufficient admissible evidence to proceed.

“As such, NSW Police Force has determined the matter is now closed.”

The minister has hired well known defamation lawyer Peter Bartlett.

Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce said Morrison should get a retired judge to examine the matter and report to the Prime Minister’s department.

– ref. Minister at centre of historical rape allegation ready to name himself – https://theconversation.com/minister-at-centre-of-historical-rape-allegation-ready-to-name-himself-156325

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liz Giuffre, Senior Lecturer in Communication, University of Technology Sydney

In the book 25 years of Mushroom Records, published in 1998, Michael Gudinski described himself as “Chairman, Mushroom Group of Companies and music fan”.

There could be no better description of Gudinski, an icon of the Australian popular music industry, who has died at the age of 68.

His name is synonymous with the biggest artists in Australia for good reason. Gudinski founded Mushroom Records in 1972. One of its first “big bangs” was a triple album, live recording of the Sunbury Festival. Next came Frontier Touring (founded in 1979) and what would eventually become the Mushroom Group.

Two of Gudinski’s biggest artists from the 1970s, Skyhooks and Split Enz, provided the definitive soundtrack to Australian life at the time.

Skyhooks had a string of hits including the era defining Livin’ in the 70s, while some of the original Split Enz members are still making new music (now with kids and grandkids in tow).

There was no one “sound” Gudinski supported. Instead, a diversity of Australian talent came under his wing: from Archie Roach to Kylie Minogue, Jimmy Barnes to Hunters and Collectors, Deborah Conway to Yothu Yindi. Gudinski received an ARIA “Special Achievement Award” in 1992, and an Order of Australia in 2006.

After the news of his death, artists from around the world paid tribute to Gudinski, from Jimmy Barnes and the Foo Fighters, to Bruce Springsteen, Amy Shark and Marcia Hines.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said Gudinski was “a wonderful Victorian, a great Australian, a very good friend of mine”. Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said he was shocked and saddened by the news.

Kylie Minogue, one of so many who got their start with him, tweeted: “My heart is broken and I can’t believe he is gone.”

A music promoter, a record label boss, a music publisher, and a screen producer, Gudinski had a particular love of music television in Australia, beginning in the 1970s with Night Moves (which aired from 1976 to 1984). Although most of the original footage of this pioneering music show is now lost, Gudinksi is noted as the show’s “creator” in Tony Harrison’s The Australian Film and TV Companion.

‘A bold and beautiful idea’

Most recently, Gudinski worked in collaboration with the ABC for its lockdown triumph The Sound, which aired between July and December 2020. The show featured performances from new artists such as Gordi and Miiesha next to established ones such as Minogue and Midnight Oil, as well as “vault” clips from the archives and new tribute collaborations.

As ABC executive producer for The Sound, Janet Gaeta told The Conversation,

It’s a measure of Michael’s love of music and musicians, that when COVID shut down the world, Michael came to the ABC with a bold and beautiful idea; to have Australian artists perform live in empty venues. What eventuated was some of the most hauntingly beautiful performances that sustained and reminded us, in those dark times, of the power and beauty of music.

Gudinski also lead industry charity initiatives such as 2009’s Sound Relief, a multi-city event to support victims of the Victorian bushfires and Queensland floods. Featuring acts such as Coldplay and Midnight Oil performing at both the SCG and MCG, it was broadcast across several networks.

Last year Gudinski developed Music From the Home Front, a COVID-era celebration that brought together artists and audiences in isolation, staged across a socially distanced ANZAC day.

Gudinski leaves behind a multi-generational local music empire (his son Matt is executive director of The Mushroom Group). This includes his most recent venture, Reclusive Records, a label supporting young Australian music talent.

Working to promote Australian music history as well as its future, Gudinski was executive producer for the award winning mini-series Molly in 2016, for which actor Samuel Johnson won a Logie. (In the show, a young Gudinski was played by Aaron Glenane). It featured music from both past and present Mushroom artists.

In 2009, the real Meldrum and Gudinski appeared on a 1970s themed episode of the ABC’s Spicks and Specks. The pair playfully bickered throughout the episode, with host Adam Hills teasing them in a final quiz question.

“Who was the most important man in Australian music in the 1970s?” asked Hills.

In reply, Gudinski took to his feet, while Meldrum turned away in mock disgust. The audience and hosts cheered at the achievements of both men.

Although more punters may have recognised Molly’s face and his wonderful ramblings, few could deny Gudinski’s influence during that time and since.

– ref. Michael Gudinski: how a titan of the industry shaped Australian music for five decades – https://theconversation.com/michael-gudinski-how-a-titan-of-the-industry-shaped-australian-music-for-five-decades-156290

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

Josh Frydenberg has the opportunity to become a transformational Australian treasurer. He has been bequeathed a set of circumstances that comes along rarely.

He has already shown himself able to shift the debate on important topics in order to achieve the previously unthinkable.

Most recently he did it with Google and Facebook, getting them to pay news providers for content using legislation that led the world in its breadth and force.

It’s actually the second time Frydenberg has taken on big tech. As assistant treasurer in 2015 he championed a “Netflix tax” on overseas-based suppliers of online services. They would be required to collect and pass on goods and services tax, just like Australian retailers.

It was a tax experts told him big tech might never pay.

Frydenberg has shown boldness before

Opportunities like the much bigger one in front of him now don’t come along often because Australia isn’t in recession often. Three decades ago in the early 1990s Australia’s then Reserve Bank governor Bernie Fraser seized its mirror side.

In the wake of an appalling recession that had destroyed both jobs and inflation, Fraser opted to finish the job and drive a stake through the heart of inflation.

A biography of then treasurer Paul Keating quotes Fraser as saying “we’ve got the inflation rate down and we are damn-well going to keep it down”.

At the first hint of a resurgence in inflation as the economy got back on its feet Fraser rammed up interest rates an extraordinary 0.75 percentage points in August 1994, then another 1.00 percentage points in October, and a further dizzying 1.00 percentage points in December.

Job finished, inflation has remained tamed ever since, never again returning to the 8% and 10% common in the 1980s.

Recessions create opportunities

Frydenberg’s opportunity is to drive a stake through the heart of unemployment.

From the end of the second world war right through to the mid 1970s Australia’s unemployment rate averaged just 2%. From then onwards until today it has averaged 6.8%, an embarrassment in a country capable of much, much better.

How much better?

The Reserve Bank’s pre-COVID estimate of Australia’s so-called non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU) was 4.5%. NAIRU is the rate below which it is thought inflation and wage growth might start to climb.

Read more: Why the unemployment rate will never get to zero percent – but it could still go a lot lower

If correct, the estimate means there is no danger whatsoever in pushing Australia’s unemployment rate down from its present 6.4% to 4.5%, or lower. We won’t know how much lower until we try. Pre-COVID, US unemployment got to 3.5%.

Far from danger, there would be a huge payoff in permanently lowering the rate of unemployment Australia regarded as acceptable.

At an unemployment rate of 4.5%, an extra 255,800 Australians would be in work and earning money, providing services and paying tax. The government might save $4 billion per year in JobSeeker payments.

We could go for broke

Frydenberg should actually aim for a much-lower unemployment rate than 4.5%.

Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe does not say 4.5% would accelerate inflation, he says he doubts whether anything above 4.5% would accelerate inflation.

And Lowe says this notwithstanding the view of the secretary to the treasury that the recession has pushed up NAIRU to around 4.75% to 5% as people who have lost their jobs have become less employable.

But here’s the thing. NAIRU is the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment — the rate that keeps inflation and wage growth constant.

Wage growth, at 1.4% and inflation, at 0.9% are too low. We need them to accelerate. Frydenberg and the Reserve Bank have agreed to target inflation of 2-3%. It’s a target that would normally mean wage growth of 3-4%, where wage growth hasn’t been for the best part of a decade.

Wage growth below par for years

To get inflation and wage growth back up to where we want them we are going to need an unemployment rate well below the oddly-named NAIRU — well below 4.5% — for quite some time.

In his new book Reset, economist Ross Garnaut says we should be aiming for an unemployment rate of 3.5%.

He says on the way down there would be time to adjust the target “up when high and accelerating inflation becomes a matter of concern, or down (further) if we approach 3.5% without inflation accelerating dangerously”.

As in the US, we don’t yet know how low we can safely push unemployment, but it might turn out to be very low indeed.

Read more: The reset to lift us out of the COVID recession has to be bold: returning to where we were is nowhere near good enough

To get there Australia’s government will have to keep spending, and learn to live with big budget deficits and big debt.

Garnaut says to not do so would be a false economy, condemning us to “endless increases in our public debt-to-GDP ratio because we wouldn’t be producing the GDP we were capable of.

The government would fund the crushing of unemployment by selling bonds to the Reserve Bank directly, bypassing financial markets in order to avoid putting further upward pressure on the dollar.

Low risk, long payoff

To the extent that the continuing flood of bonds further eased mortgage interest rates (which it mightn’t much, because the bonds would be long-term) the Prudential Regulation Authority would have to crack down on investor and interest-only loans as it did successfully before the COVID crisis in order to restrain house prices.

Garnaut believes there will also be a need for less-pleasant reforms to restore the prosperity Australia is capable of, but he says they will only gain widespread acceptance if it is known that anyone who wants a job can get a job — whether that’s at an unemployment rate of 3.5%, the 2% Australia once had or the 1% New Zealand had.

The COVID recession and rapid recovery from it have handed Frydenberg an opportunity to relentlessly drive down and crush unemployment — to finish the job. If he grabs it he will be remembered as the treasurer who changed Australia, perhaps forever.

– ref. Josh Frydenberg has the opportunity to transform Australia, permanently lowering unemployment – https://theconversation.com/josh-frydenberg-has-the-opportunity-to-transform-australia-permanently-lowering-unemployment-156175

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Effie Karageorgos, Lecturer, University of Newcastle

Last year, 56 women were allegedly killed by their partner or ex-partner in Australia. Domestic violence against women is a national issue, and the media plays a key role in setting the public agenda on the issue.

Our comparison of newspaper reporting in each state has revealed there are still many problems with the way domestic violence is reported, with noted differences between the states.

Most previous studies have looked at media reporting of domestic violence at an individual state level. By contrast, our study compared and contrasted how domestic violence was covered across all Australian states.

Read more: #MeToo has changed the media landscape, but in Australia there is still much to be done

We analysed 554 newspaper articles describing cases of male-perpetrated domestic violence in one or two newspapers from each capital city and one or two newspapers from smaller cities and towns in each state from 2000–20.

With data from 23 newspapers over 20 years, we then looked at the varying ways that cases of domestic violence, their perpetrators and victims were portrayed. Although a handful of media conglomerates own most Australian newspapers, we observed clear differences in the coverage at the state level.

Problems with coverage in Australia

Since the 1990s, academics have analysed the power of framing by news media — in other words, how a particular perspective on an issue is portrayed — and how this influences the setting of the public agenda.

Australian and international research has applied this concept to the way violence against women is represented in the media. Researchers have found the failure to frame a domestic violence incident as a systemic issue may distort the seriousness of the problem and distract people from the need for solutions.

Our results indicate that media in all Australian states were more likely to frame domestic violence as an individual event rather than a systemic problem. More than three-quarters (78%) of the articles we reviewed described cases as isolated incidents within specific relationships.

This differed by state and territory. Newspapers in the Northern Territory (85.7%) and the Australian Capital Territory (82.5%), for instance, were most likely to portray domestic violence episodes as individual events, compared to just 59.6% of the articles we reviewed from South Australia.

Read more: Naming the ‘invisible perpetrator’: a big step forward for media coverage of violence against women

Our research also found limitations in the types of domestic violence incidents that received media attention.

Although domestic violence encompasses a range of crimes and behaviours, 90.9% of articles focused on physical violence and homicide. While this may reflect the types of incidents that are reported to police, a lack of attention to other types of violence can obscure how far-reaching the issue is.

In addition, the way the media portrayed victimhood in these cases at times shifted attention away from the woman to the perpetrator (20.4%), a child (9.1%), bystander (1.9%) or pet (0.7%).

Notably, 28.6% of the articles we analysed from the ACT represented the man who perpetrated the violence as a victim of his circumstances, compared to just 13.5% of articles in Tasmania and 10.7% in Western Australia.

Many newspaper reports were also likely to explain the crime in ways that detracted from the specific act of violence.

More than half (52.7%) the articles we reviewed, for example, blamed male domestic violence on relationship difficulties, “jealousy” or infidelity, mental illness, criminality or character flaws, substance abuse issues, or financial difficulties.

This also varied across states. For example, substance abuse issues were identified as a determining factor in 25% of articles from the Northern Territory and 17.5% in Victoria, but only 5.4% of articles in South Australia.

Rather than contextualising the violence as a systemic issue, these explanations often served to rationalise the man’s violence as defensible.

No media getting it exactly right

Our research found that no state or territory has gotten coverage of domestic violence issues exactly right.

South Australian and Victoria media, for instance, were found to be least likely to “explain” the violence of the perpetrator as being caused or influenced by external issues. However, newspapers in these states were also significantly more likely to report on crimes of homicide and physical violence, rather than other forms of domestic violence.

The media in the Northern Territory, meanwhile, were found to be the most likely to individualise domestic violence cases and provided the most external explanations for men’s violence (including linking it to a perpetrator’s cultural background).

However, while the domestic violence itself wasn’t treated as systemic by the media in the NT, the explanations for the violence (such as substance abuse, mental health and well-being issues) were often approached as such.

Read more: Behind media silence on domestic violence are blokey newsrooms

The media can play a key role in the primary prevention of men’s violence against women, but not without keen attention to the way domestic violence, perpetrators and victims are represented.

Our results highlight that all journalists and editors need to be more aware of the way these issues are portrayed — and strive to provide more context on the systemic nature of domestic violence — to improve their coverage of such an important societal issue.

– ref. Australian media is failing to cover domestic violence in the right way: new research – https://theconversation.com/australian-media-is-failing-to-cover-domestic-violence-in-the-right-way-new-research-155477

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Greenwell, PhD Candidate, Murdoch University

Environmental scientists see flora, fauna and phenomena the rest of us rarely do. In this new series, we’ve invited them to share their unique photos from the field.

Each year, oystercatchers, plovers and terns flock to beaches all over Australia’s coastline to lay eggs in a shallow scrape in the sand. They typically nest through spring and summer until the chicks are ready to take flight.

Spring and summer, however, are also when most people visit the beach. And human disturbances have increased breeding failure, contributing to the local contraction and decline of many beach-nesting bird populations.

Take Australian fairy terns (Sternula nereis nereis) in Western Australia, the primary focus of my research and photography, as an example. Their 2020-21 breeding season is coming to an end, and has been relatively poor.

Fox predation and flooding from tidal inundation wiped out several colonies. Unfathomably, a colony was also lost after a four-wheel drive performed bog-laps in a sign-posted nesting area. Unleashed dogs chased incubating adults from their nests, and photographers entered restricted access sites and climbed fragile dunes to photograph nesting birds.

These human-related disturbances highlight the need for ongoing education. So let’s take a closer look at the issue, and how communities and individuals can make a big difference.

Nesting on the open beach

Beach-nesting birds typically breed, feed and rest in coastal habitats all year round. During the breeding season, which varies between species, they establish their nests above the high-water mark (high tide), just 20 to 30 millimetres deep in the sand.

Some species, such as the fairy tern, incorporate beach shells, small stones and organic material like seaweed in and around the nest to help camouflage their eggs and chicks so predators, such as gulls and ravens, don’t detect them easily.

While nests are exposed and vulnerable on the open beach, it allows the birds to spot predators early and to remain close to productive foraging areas.

Still, beach-nesting birds live a harsh lifestyle. Breeding efforts are often characterised by low reproductive success and multiple nesting attempts may be undertaken each season.

Eggs and chicks remain vulnerable until chicks can fly. This takes around 43 days for fairy terns and about 63 days for hooded plovers (Thinornis rubricollis rubricollis).

Disturbances: one of their biggest threats

Many historically important sites are now so heavily disturbed they’re unable to support a successful breeding attempt. This includes the Leschenault Inlet in Bunbury, Western Australia, where fairy tern colonies regularly fail from disturbance and destruction by four-wheel drives.

Species like the eastern hooded plover and fairy tern have declined so much they’re now listed as “vulnerable” under national environment law. It lists human disturbance as a key threatening process.

Read more: One cat, one year, 110 native animals: lock up your pet, it’s a killing machine

Birds see people and dogs as predators. When they approach, nesting adult birds distance themselves from the nest and chicks. For example, terns typically take flight, while plovers run ahead of the threat, “leading” it away from the area.

When eggs and chicks are left unattended, they’re vulnerable to predation by other birds, they can suffer thermal stress (overheating or cooling) or be trampled as their cryptic colouration makes them difficult to spot.

Unlike plovers and oystercatchers, fairy terns nest in groups, or “colonies”, which may contain up to several hundred breeding pairs. Breeding in colonies has its advantages. For example, collective group defence behaviour can drive off predatory birds such as silver gulls (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae).

However, this breeding strategy can also result in mass nesting failure. For example, in 2018, a cat visiting a colony at night in Mandurah, about 70 km south of Perth, killed six adults, at least 40 chicks and led to 220 adult birds abandoning the site. In other instances, entire colonies have been lost during storm surges.

Small changes can make a big difference

Land and wildlife managers are becoming increasingly aware of fairy terns and the threats they face. Proactive and adaptive management combined with a good understanding of early breeding behaviour is helping to improve outcomes for these vulnerable birds.

Point Walter, in Bicton, WA, provides an excellent example of how recreational users and beach-nesting birds can coexist.

Point Walter, 18 km from Perth city, is a popular spot for picnicking, fishing, kite surfing, boating and kayaking. It’s also an important site for coastal birds, including three beach-nesting species: fairy terns, red-capped plovers and Australian pied oystercatchers (Haematopus longirostris).

The end of the sand bar is fenced off seasonally, and as a result the past six years has seen the number of terns increase steadily. For the 2020-2021 season, the sand bar supported at least 150 pairs.

The closure also benefits the local population of red-capped plovers and Australian pied oystercatchers, who nest at the site each year.

What’s more, strong community stewardship and management interventions by the City of Mandurah to protect a fairy tern colony meant this season saw the most successful breeding event in more than a decade — around 110 pairs at its peak.

Interventions included temporary fencing, signs, community education and increased ranger patrols. Several pairs of red-capped plovers also managed to raise chicks, adding to the success.

These examples highlight the potential for positive outcomes across their breeding range. But intervention during the early colony formation stage is critical. Temporary fencing, signage and community support are some of our most important tools to protect tern colonies.

So what can you do to protect beach-nesting birds?

• share the space and be respectful of signage and fencing. These temporary measures help protect birds and increase their chance of breeding success

• keep dogs leashed and away from known feeding and breeding areas

• avoid driving four-wheel drive vehicles on the beach, particularly at high tide

• keep cats indoors or in a cat run (enclosure)

• if you see a bird nesting on the beach, report it to local authorities and maintain your distance

• avoid walking through flocks of birds or causing them to take flight. Disturbance burns energy, which could have implications for breeding and migration.

Read more: Don’t let them out: 15 ways to keep your indoor cat happy

– ref. Birds on beaches are under attack from dogs, photographers and four-wheel drives. Here’s how you can help them – https://theconversation.com/birds-on-beaches-are-under-attack-from-dogs-photographers-and-four-wheel-drives-heres-how-you-can-help-them-155962

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Natasha Yates, Assistant Professor, General Practice, Bond University

Australia is now more than a week into rolling out the Pfizer vaccine, while AstraZeneca shots are due to start from next week. But many of us may still have questions about when and where we’ll get the vaccine.

Overseas, including in the United States and the United Kingdom, many people have been tricked into “signing up” and even paying for vaccines, then discovering they’ve been scammed.

Experts have warned Australians may start to be targeted now too, so it’s essential we are clear on how this process will (and won’t) play out.

Google trends data suggest Australians have been looking for answers to a few different questions.

Do I need to register for a COVID vaccine?

No. If you’re eligible for a COVID vaccine right now, you will know already. Your workplace (or residence, if you are living in aged or disability care) will have given you the option of having it, although you may still be waiting for your turn to actually get jabbed.

The vaccine currently being rolled out (Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine) is both expensive and tricky to administer. That’s why workplaces are being careful to give it only to those in the highest risk category (1A), and not to waste the shots by allocating supplies to people who may be eligible but don’t want them.

So everyone who is eligible should have been offered a vaccine already — and given the chance to decline it — to minimise any waste.

It’s possible at some point the rest of us will be able to register online, so we can be notified when our turn arrives. But the details around any system like this are not available yet.

Be very cautious of anyone texting, emailing or offering you the chance to register for the vaccine or to skip the queue. It could be a scammer wanting your personal details, or your money.

How will I know when it’s my turn to get the vaccine, and how will I be contacted?

A quick and easy way of checking if you’re eligible right now, or when you will be, is to go to this federal government eligibility checker. Even if you know you’re not eligible at the moment, you can use this tool to find out what category you’re in (1B, 2A, etc). Then you can watch out for information specifically relating to your category when it opens up.

At this stage, we haven’t been told exactly how we will be contacted when it’s our turn to receive a vaccine, or if we will be contacted at all. But we do know the government is planning to run large public health education campaigns with clear instructions as the rollout continues.

Read more: Just the facts, or more detail? To battle vaccine hesitancy, the messaging has to be just right

Where will I go to get the vaccination?

Currently vaccinations are being given through workplaces (mainly hospitals) and in aged-care homes.

But once vaccines are available for more of us, the plan is to offer them through a range of venues. For example, general practices across the country are putting in huge amounts of time and effort to ensure they’re appropriately set up to deliver COVID vaccines, and can therefore be approved by the department of health as providers.

This means hopefully a number of people will be able to have their COVID-19 vaccine administered by their usual GP, or at least a GP in their local area. Other possible locations include community pharmacies and GP-led respiratory clinics, but these services are still in the planning phases too.

You’ll almost certainly need to make an appointment, regardless of where you’re going to get the jab.

And it’s important you receive two doses of your COVID-19 vaccine at least three weeks apart for the Pfizer vaccine, and at least four but ideally 12 weeks apart for the AstraZeneca vaccine. So on the day you have your first one you may be asked to make an appointment for your follow-up dose.

Read more: 3 ways to vaccinate the world and make sure everyone benefits, rich and poor

While you wait…

While most of us still haven’t been told when or where we will receive the COVID-19 vaccine, hopefully this helps answer some questions.

In short, if you are eligible right now, you will know it. If someone is trying to get you to “register” for the vaccine, they are probably a scammer.

Keep your eyes open for government-produced information about your personal category. Hopefully many Australians will be able to be vaccinated by their local GP or somewhere else just as convenient for them.

While we wait for our turn, there are some things we can do to get ready. For example, we can make sure our details are up to date with Medicare.

For people with chronic health conditions, it may be wise to visit your usual GP to discuss your personal needs and questions around the vaccine, rather than trying to do this once it’s your turn to get vaccinated.

Read more: COVID vaccine consent for aged-care residents: it’s ethically tricky, but there are ways to get it right

– ref. Do I need to register for a COVID vaccine? How will I know when it’s my turn? Vaccine rollout questions answered – https://theconversation.com/do-i-need-to-register-for-a-covid-vaccine-how-will-i-know-when-its-my-turn-vaccine-rollout-questions-answered-156041

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By P. David Marshall, Professor and Research Chair in New Media, Communication and Cultural Studies, Deakin University

An intriguing documentary about Britney Spears, produced by the New York Times and airing in Australia tonight, marks a change in how we view and engage with celebrities.

A new sense of connection and responsibility to famed individuals is emerging: where once we gawked at the public struggles of Britney, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, now there is a more concerned response. Audiences have become vocal supporters of the vulnerable, exploring cultural issues in new ways.

The documentary promises a “re-examination” of the singer’s portrayal, her infamous scandals and mental health. But it isn’t built on an investigation entirely by the filmmakers. It is driven by a large cohort of fans who are trying to support Britney’s efforts to regain control of her life and finances from her father-conservator — challenging how we remember her past in the process.

Gathering around hashtags like #FreeBritney, today’s audiences appear to be assuming the power to right past wrongs.

Read more: Podcast host, DJ … how the much lampooned Paris Hilton has rewritten the celebrity script

Who’s ‘affecting’ who?

Embedded in this rethink of what happened to Britney’s career is a movement that has coalesced around the hashtag #FreeBritney. In digital culture, hashtags have come to embody pathways for emotional connection across social media platforms. Their sharing is a way to align interests and feelings. The hashtags carry “affective power” in a similar way to the star power of celebrities — that is, they can guide choices.

Paralleling the #MeToo movement and #BLM activism, #FreeBritney is a further cultural coalition that has built activism along digital pathways, then expanded to real protest events.

The film Framing Britney (which I’ve yet to watch) exposes some negative elements of the media and entertainment industry including its sexist positioning of the singer. Certain prominent figures in Britney’s life, including some family members and famous ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake, are flagged through the #FreeBritney movement as advancing non-acceptable behaviour. Timberlake has apologised to Spears and to singer Janet Jackson since the documentary’s US release.

The #FreeBritney movement also shows how the structure of stardom and celebrity is transforming. Questions are being asked of our popular culture: who makes the public identity of stars? What is public and what is private?

Actor Mara Wilson’s recent opinion piece describes how her public identity was shaped to an accepted narrative (based around child stars getting the comeuppance they deserved for seeking fame) by an interview she gave aged 12. “Our culture builds these girls up just to destroy them,” she writes. “Fortunately people are becoming aware of what we did to Ms Spears and starting to apologise to her. But we’re still living with the scars.”

These days the meaning and value of celebrity is being more shaped by collective actions of social media fan activists than by the legacy press and the entertainment industry.

Read more: And I will always love you: how marketers measure Dolly Parton’s magic

Sharing and caring

This reconstruction of public persona is partly because of social media. The personal has become normalised and curated by all of us on social media, including those in the public eye. So, there is a new awareness of both the value of revealing, but also the risks of exposing ourselves. Via social media, fans have developed two-way parasocial relationships with celebrities.

New norms are developing and new shared understanding of past media’s regular shaming are now better understood and reflected upon. See here the recent re-sharing on Twitter and TikTok of celebrity interviews, such as David Letterman poking Lindsay Lohan about her repeated visits to rehab, the character assassination of Megan Fox or Oprah Winfrey snarkily asking the Olsen twins about their dress sizes.

The celebrities are changing too. After decades of keeping their opinions private, those in the public eye are engaging more openly with issues (including hashtags) and their own personal emotional health and feelings.

Singer Taylor Swift described sharing her politics for the first time in the Netflix documentary Miss Americana (2020). Model and cookbook author Chrissie Tiegen shared heartbreaking posts about her family’s experience of stillbirth last year. Meanwhile, stars like Beyoncé are releasing TikTok-ready material and tapping into the collective brand power beyond traditional entertainment and media promotion.

The long-term effects of this affective power-shift, captured in the #FreeBritney movement and the Framing Britney documentary, are hard to predict.

The entertainment industry’s transformation may lead to new entities that know how to curate public identities for sharing more cleverly in this different world. Nonetheless, a new cultural politics is integrating how audiences shape public personas and how they care for the real person behind the headlines.

Read more: Where ‘woke’ came from and why marketers should think twice before jumping on the social activism bandwagon

– ref. Framing Britney Spears shows star power is shifting to the audience – https://theconversation.com/framing-britney-spears-shows-star-power-is-shifting-to-the-audience-156129

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Neal Hughes, Senior Economist, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES)

Water markets have come in for some bad press lately, fuelled in part by the severe drought of 2019 and resulting high water prices.

They have also been the subject of an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission inquiry, whose interim report released last year documented a range of problems with the way water markets work in the Murray-Darling Basin. The final report was handed to the treasurer last week.

While water markets are far from perfect, new research from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) has found they are vital in helping the region cope with drought and climate change, producing benefits in the order of A$117 million per year.

To make the most of water markets, we will need to keep improving the rules and systems which support them. But with few “off-the-shelf” solutions, further reform will require both perseverance and innovation.

Water markets generate big benefits

Australia’s biggest and most active water markets are in the southern Murray-Darling Basin, which covers the Murray River and its tributaries in Victoria, NSW and South Australia.

Each year water right holders are assigned “allocations”: shares of water in the rivers’ major dams. These allocations can be traded across the river system, helping to get water where it is most needed.

Water markets also allow for “carryover”: where rights holders store rather than use their allocations, holding them in dams for use in future droughts.

Our research estimates that water trading and carryover generate benefits to water users in the southern Murray-Darling, of A$117 million on average per year (around 12% of the value of water rights) with even larger gains in dry years. Carryover plays a key role, accounting for around half of these benefits.

Together water trading and carryover act to smooth variability in water prices, while also slightly lowering average prices across the basin.

There’s room for improvement

One of many issues raised in the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission interim report was the design of the trading rules, including limits on how much water can move between regions.

These rules are intended to reflect the physical limits of the river system, however getting them right is extremely difficult.

The rules we have are relatively blunt, such that there is potential at different times for either too much water to be traded or too little.

One possible refinement is a shift from a rules-based system to one with more central coordination.

For example, in electricity, these problems are addressed via so-called “smart markets”: centralised computer systems which balance demand and supply across the grid in real-time.

Such an approach is unlikely to be feasible for water in the foreseeable future.

But a similar outcome could be achieved by establishing a central agency to determine inter-regional trade volumes, taking into account user demands, river constraints, seasonal conditions and environmental objectives.

While novel in Australia, the approach has parallels in the government-operated “drought water banks” that have emerged in some parts of the United States.

Some of the good ideas are our own

Another possible refinement involves water sharing rules, which specify how water allocations are determined and how they are carried over between years.

At present these rules are often complex and lacking in transparency. This can lead to a perceived disconnect between water allocations and physical water supply, creating uncertainty for users and undermining confidence in the market.

Although markets in the northern Murray-Darling Basin are generally less advanced than the south, some sophisticated water sharing systems have evolved in the north to deal with the region’s unique hydrology (highly variable river flows and small dams).

There is potential for the southern basin to make use of these northern innovations (known as “capacity sharing” or “continuous accounting”) to improve transparency and carryover decisions.

Don’t throw the market out with the river water

Governance failures in the water market have led to understandable frustration.

But it is important to remember how vital trading and carryover are in smoothing variations in water prices and making sure water gets where it is needed, especially during droughts.

The ACCC’s final report (due soon) will provide an opportunity to take stock and develop a roadmap for the future.

Water markets will be discussed at Today’s ABARES Outlook 2021 conference in an online panel session at 3-4pm AEDT.

– ref. Water markets are not perfect, but vital to the future of the Murray-Darling Basin – https://theconversation.com/water-markets-are-not-perfect-but-vital-to-the-future-of-the-murray-darling-basin-155880

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mardi McNeil, Postdoctoral researcher, Queensland University of Technology

Mention the Great Barrier Reef, and most people think of the rich beauty and colour of corals, fish and other sea life that are increasingly threatened by climate change.

But there is another part of the Great Barrier Reef that until recently was largely hidden and under-explored.

In the northern section of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park there are large Halimeda algal habitats called bioherms (also known as doughnuts because of their shape).

They are constructed by a type of algae (Halimeda) with a limestone skeleton. The tops of the bioherms are carpeted by a living meadow of the algae, yet much of the plant community includes other types of green, red and brown algae and some seagrasses.

The bioherms cover an area greater than 6,000km², more than twice the area of shallow coral reefs.

Scientists have known for decades of this unusual inter-reef seafloor habitat that lies between the coast and the outer barrier reefs. But they’ve never investigated the diversity of marine life that lives there, until now.

In a new study published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution, scientists examined the community of plants and animals that inhabit these unique areas.

Let’s go deeper

Most studies of tropical marine biodiversity come from shallow coastal and coral reef habitats. We know a great deal about the biodiversity of these parts of the Great Barrier Reef.

But beyond the vision of scuba divers, deeper inter-reef habitats on the shelf, such as the bioherms, have been largely under-explored.

Read more: Gene editing is revealing how corals respond to warming waters. It could transform how we manage our reefs

In our study, we used a dataset of all the plants and animals recorded from the bioherms and surrounding seafloor habitats. The data came from the Seabed Biodiversity Project, a large study published back in 2007 of the inter-reef biodiversity in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

What we found was surprising. An exceptional diversity of marine life and a distinct community was found to be living on the bioherms.

A diverse community

The biodiversity of marine life was up to 76% higher on the bioherms than the surrounding inter-reef habitats. Species richness was especially high for plants and invertebrates.

The average number of fish species per site was about the same in both Halimeda and non-Halimeda habitats. In total, 265 species of fish were observed in the bioherms, including sharks and rays.

Overall, more than 1,200 species of animals were recorded from the bioherms. The majority of these (78%) are invertebrates.

A distinct community

The composition of plant and animal communities on the bioherms was also distinctly different to the surrounding inter-reef areas.

Some 40% of bioherm species were unique to that habitat in the study area. The community included many sponges, snails and slugs, crabs and shrimps, brittle stars, sea urchins and sea cucumbers.

The fish community on the bioherms was also distinct from surrounding habitats. The two-spot wrasse, threadfin emperor and black-banded damselfish were particularly common.

Most interesting about the bioherm fish community was the occurrence of some species such as the yellowtail angelfish generally thought to live mostly on coral reefs. Some of these reef-associated fishes have been increasingly observed in a range of non-reef habitats.

These multi-habitat users may be using the bioherms for shelter, feeding, spawning or as nursery grounds. Understanding the connections between shallow coral reefs and deeper bioherms is important to better understand how the reef and inter-reef habitats function.

An unusual habitat

The Halimeda bioherms are arguably the weirdest habitat in the Great Barrier Reef.

Recent high-resolution seafloor mapping using airborne lasers revealed the bioherms form a seafloor that looks like fields of giant doughnuts 20 metres high and 200 metres across.

The tops of the bioherms lie some 25-30 metres below the surface, so can’t be seen from boats passing over.

Deeper water and the remote location has meant the bioherms have been mostly invisible to marine biologists that work on the nearby shallow coral reefs.

Under threat from climate change

We are only just beginning to understand the importance of Halimeda bioherms as a habitat to support biodiversity in the Great Barrier Reef.

But just as the rest of the Great Barrier Reef is likely to be impacted by the effects of climate change, so too are the bioherms.

Potential threats to the bioherms include marine heating, ocean acidification and changes to circulation patterns.

Read more: Under the moonlight: a little light and shade helps larval fish to grow at night

It has been more than 15 years since the inter-reef Seabed Biodiversity Project. The five-yearly Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report says little is known about any ecological trends in the bioherm habitat.

Our new study provides a baseline of the biodiversity of Halimeda bioherms at a single point in time. But questions remain about the present state of this ecosystem and its resilience on short and long-term physical and biological cycles.

Long-term monitoring of these unique and hidden habitats is critical to more fully understand the overall health of the Great Barrier Reef.

– ref. Life on the hidden doughnuts of the Great Barrier Reef is also threatened by climate change – https://theconversation.com/life-on-the-hidden-doughnuts-of-the-great-barrier-reef-is-also-threatened-by-climate-change-154266

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bri Lee, PhD student, University of Sydney

On Friday, an anonymous letter was sent to the prime minister’s office alleging a current federal cabinet minister raped a woman in 1988.

This was followed two days later by an email alleging another “historical” sexual assault at the hands of a now-MP for Labor.

Both letters come in the wake of Brittany Higgins’ allegations of rape in a minister’s office at Parliament House. These disclosures have contributed to the discussion around the culture of sexual harassment and bullying in Australian politics.

The latest allegations have also raised questions about so-called “historical” cases of rape and sexual assault and the challenges of investigating them and pursuing justice after so many years have passed.

It is not uncommon for survivors of sexual violence to delay reporting to the police, or to family and friends. While there are certainly obstacles to bringing charges when there is a delay in reporting and investigating an alleged assault, there are still avenues for seeking justice.

Why survivors don’t report

There are many legitimate reasons why survivors of sexual violence may not immediately report to police. It may take time to process what has happened to them. Many survivors also do not immediately use the terms “rape” or “sexual assault” to describe their experiences.

There are often deep feelings of shame or guilt associated with sexual violence. The initial response of survivors may be to avoid reliving the experience and carry on with their everyday lives. This is a self-protection mechanism following serious trauma.

Read more: Less than one-fifth of reported rapes and sexual assaults lead to arrests

A further concern for many survivors is whether they will be believed and supported. They may fear being accused of lying or exaggerating. They may also believe they’ll face hostile or sceptical questions about their behaviour before or during the assault.

It is common for victims to experience a “freeze response” where they become immobilised when subjected to sexual violence. Another common reaction is the “fawn response” which involves placating the attacker to avoid escalating the situation.

The “freeze” and “fawn” responses are well-studied physiological reactions to traumatic situations. They are the body’s attempts to protect itself from further injury. However, they may lead survivors to fear being judged for not “fighting off” an attacker.

Police responses to reports of sexual violence also vary widely. Some police officers are supportive and competent when dealing with sexual assault reports, but others may be disinterested, overworked or even openly hostile.

As one of us has commented previously, survivors of sexual assault are playing “Russian roulette” when they report it to police, since they don’t know what type of response they will get. This uncertainty further dissuades survivors from immediately reporting their experiences.

Justice delayed or denied?

It is never too late to report a sex crime – either adult sexual assault or child sexual abuse – to the police. A person can, theoretically, be charged and convicted years or decades after the alleged acts.

But realistically, the longer the wait between the incident and the investigation, the more challenges the complainant will face.

Physical evidence such as DNA or fingerprints are compelling to juries, and are rarely available when any significant amount of time has passed. CCTV or security footage may only be kept for a certain number of days or weeks.

Although it is rare for a complainant in a sexual abuse or assault case to have corresponding physical injuries, these, too, represent compelling evidence that can be “lost” with time.

Read more: Why many people don’t talk about traumatic events until long after they occur

Some survivors are also wary of being cross-examined at trial. Where there has been a delay between the alleged crime and the complaint, this is almost always used as an avenue for the defence to question the credibility and reliability of the witnesses, including the complainant.

It is common for barristers to spend hours going over and over small inconsistencies in a complainant’s statement and testimony.

In recent years, the laws in different jurisdictions have seen some improvements to how historical sexual offences are prosecuted. For example, if the complainant told a friend or relative of abuse around the time it occurred many years ago, that friend or relative can be called as a witness to recount the report.

In most other circumstances, the relaying of conversations about alleged criminal conduct is considered “hearsay” and is therefore inadmissible.

Another complicating factor with investigating and prosecuting “historical” cases is when a victim dies. In the rape allegation that surfaced last week about the current cabinet minister, for instance, the victim has since died by suicide.

Read more: View from The Hill: Linda Reynolds feels the lash after Scott Morrison says he was blindsided by rape allegation

Even in cases where a victim is deceased, it is often still technically possible for a prosecution to proceed because it is the state, not the individual, bringing the case.

However, in practice, it is exceptionally rare for this to happen. The nature of sexual abuse and assault is that there are rarely other witnesses. Even more rare is the existence of any “hard evidence”.

Without the complainant’s testimony, it would be extremely difficult for the prosecution to make its case.

Greater awareness needed

The decision to report a “historical” rape or sexual assault can be challenging and every case is different. Victims may feel the prospects of attaining justice are limited in the years or decades after the event.

However, police can still investigate sexual assaults and bring criminal charges no matter how much time has passed. Survivors who wish to bring their cases forward should feel empowered and supported to do so.

It is important to increase awareness and understanding of why sexual abuse survivors may not initially report. A delay in reporting, in itself, should not affect the credibility of the allegations.

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

– ref. Delays in reporting alleged rapes are common — even years later. This isn’t a barrier to justice – https://theconversation.com/delays-in-reporting-alleged-rapes-are-common-even-years-later-this-isnt-a-barrier-to-justice-156201

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karen Ford, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Nursing, University of Tasmania

During the pandemic, children have been separated from family and friends, schools have been closed and there have been limitations on important activities, such as play.

We know a good deal about the physical effects COVID-19 has on children. But the impact on their mental and emotional well-being is less well understood – particularly from the perspective of children themselves.

Our recently published research highlights the importance of listening to children, about what they have to say and the information they want about COVID-19.

Read more: Why do kids tend to have milder COVID? This new study gives us a clue

Here’s what we did

We took part in an international study with children from six countries – the UK, Spain, Canada, Sweden, Brazil and Australia.

We recruited children through our professional and social networks, for example sporting groups and community groups.

We asked children aged seven to 12 years about how they accessed information about COVID-19, about their understandings of the virus and why they were asked to stay at home.

The survey was open when the highest level restrictions were in place across Tasmania, where the Australian arm of the study was based. In total, 49 children from Tasmania took part in the survey and 390 children internationally.

There were important differences across the countries when we conducted the survey, including the numbers of reported cases and deaths from COVID-19, as well as government responses and levels of restrictions.

For example, the reported deaths and cases were much higher in countries such as the UK and Brazil compared to Australia and children in Sweden continued to attend school, whereas most children in other countries were learning from home.

Read more: Is it time for Australia to implement kids-only COVID-19 briefings?

Here’s what we found

There were many similarities across the different countries in the things important to children, what they had to say and what they wanted to know. But there were also differences across countries and between children.

More than half the children said they knew a lot or quite a bit about COVID-19. Their comments included:

It is a stupid virus.

It spreads really quickly.

People play it down and tell me it can’t kill people, but I know people are dying each day.

But they also had questions:

How and where did it start?

What does the coronavirus actually look like?

How does it make you poorly?

Some said they did not want to know any more about the virus:

It is boring.

I don’t want to know about it because it’s killing people and that makes me sad.

Children expressed different emotions about COVID-19. They said they felt “worried”, “scared”, “angry” and “confused”.

Children knew the virus was particularly dangerous for vulnerable people:

It can possibly kill old and unhealthy people.

And they missed their friends and family:

When can we go back to school?

Children obtained information about COVID-19 from different sources, mostly from parents and teachers. Children also sought information from friends, TV shows and the internet, including social media.

Children understood what the community was being asked to do and they had learnt the meanings of new words and terms. So they knew what social distancing meant and that they needed to stay 1.5m apart.

Children also knew key public health messages about washing your hands, not touching your face and needing to stay at home “to save lives”.

Read more: ‘Stupid coronavirus!’ In uncertain times, we can help children through mindfulness and play

Why does this matter?

Children have had an important role in society’s response to COVID-19. Their significant contributions to limiting the spread of the virus have included being separated from family and friends, and limitations on important activities that are part of their “normal” lives.

However, the impacts on children’s lives and well-being are largely unacknowledged. Their contributions should be acknowledged and they should be thanked for their part.

Children have a right to be provided with information in a form that is appropriate for their safety and well-being. Children need to have the opportunity to ask questions and learn about what COVID-19 means for them with adults they trust, including parents and teachers.

Children have questions about COVID-19. Questions are different for each child and not all children want the same amount of information.

Read more: 8 tips on what to tell your kids about coronavirus

What can adults do?

Adults should make the time and space to have conversations with children. They can ask:

• what would you like to know?

• what would you like to ask?

This approach means children are empowered to identify their needs and concerns, and the information they are provided is relevant and meets their needs.

Andrea Chelkowski, from the Centre for Education and Research — Nursing and Midwifery, Tasmanian Health Service South and University of Tasmania, Hobart, was part of the Australian research team. The lead author of the research mentioned in this article is Lucy Bray, professor in child health literacy, Edge Hill University, UK.

– ref. We asked children around the world what they knew about COVID. This is what they said – https://theconversation.com/we-asked-children-around-the-world-what-they-knew-about-covid-this-is-what-they-said-155567

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Greenwell, PhD Candidate, Murdoch University

Environmental scientists see flora, fauna and phenomena the rest of us rarely do. In this new series, we’ve invited them to share their unique photos from the field.

Each year, oystercatchers, plovers and terns flock to beaches all over Australia’s coastline to lay eggs in a shallow scrape in the sand. They typically nest through spring and summer until the chicks are ready to take flight.

Spring and summer, however, are also when most people visit the beach. And human disturbances have increased breeding failure, contributing to the local contraction and decline of many beach-nesting bird populations.

Take Australian fairy terns (Sternula nereis nereis) in Western Australia, the primary focus of my research and photography, as an example. Their 2020-21 breeding season is coming to an end, and has been relatively poor.

Fox predation and flooding from tidal inundation wiped out several colonies. Unfathomably, a colony was also lost after a four-wheel drive performed bog-laps in a sign-posted nesting area. Unleashed dogs chased incubating adults from their nests, and photographers entered restricted access sites and climbed fragile dunes to photograph nesting birds.

These human-related disturbances highlight the need for ongoing education. So let’s take a closer look at the issue, and how communities and individuals can make a big difference.

Nesting on the open beach

Beach-nesting birds typically breed, feed and rest in coastal habitats all year round. During the breeding season, which varies between species, they establish their nests above the high-water mark (high tide), just 20 to 30 millimetres deep in the sand.

Some species, such as the fairy tern, incorporate beach shells, small stones and organic material like seaweed in and around the nest to help camouflage their eggs and chicks so predators, such as gulls and ravens, don’t detect them easily.

While nests are exposed and vulnerable on the open beach, it allows the birds to spot predators early and to remain close to productive foraging areas.

Still, beach-nesting birds live a harsh lifestyle. Breeding efforts are often characterised by low reproductive success and multiple nesting attempts may be undertaken each season.

Eggs and chicks remain vulnerable until chicks can fly. This takes around 43 days for fairy terns and about 63 days for hooded plovers (Thinornis rubricollis rubricollis).

Disturbances: one of their biggest threats

Many historically important sites are now so heavily disturbed they’re unable to support a successful breeding attempt. This includes the Leschenault Inlet in Bunbury, Western Australia, where fairy tern colonies regularly fail from disturbance and destruction by four-wheel drives.

Species like the eastern hooded plover and fairy tern have declined so much they’re now listed as “vulnerable” under national environment law. It lists human disturbance as a key threatening process.

Read more: One cat, one year, 110 native animals: lock up your pet, it’s a killing machine

Birds see people and dogs as predators. When they approach, nesting adult birds distance themselves from the nest and chicks. For example, terns typically take flight, while plovers run ahead of the threat, “leading” it away from the area.

When eggs and chicks are left unattended, they’re vulnerable to predation by other birds, they can suffer thermal stress (overheating or cooling) or be trampled as their cryptic colouration makes them difficult to spot.

Unlike plovers and oystercatchers, fairy terns nest in groups, or “colonies”, which may contain up to several hundred breeding pairs. Breeding in colonies has its advantages. For example, collective group defence behaviour can drive off predatory birds such as silver gulls (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae).

However, this breeding strategy can also result in mass nesting failure. For example, in 2018, a cat visiting a colony at night in Mandurah, about 70 km south of Perth, killed six adults, at least 40 chicks and led to 220 adult birds abandoning the site. In other instances, entire colonies have been lost during storm surges.

Small changes can make a big difference

Land and wildlife managers are becoming increasingly aware of fairy terns and the threats they face. Proactive and adaptive management combined with a good understanding of early breeding behaviour is helping to improve outcomes for these vulnerable birds.

Point Walter, in Bicton, WA, provides an excellent example of how recreational users and beach-nesting birds can coexist.

Point Walter, 18 km from Perth city, is a popular spot for picnicking, fishing, kite surfing, boating and kayaking. It’s also an important site for coastal birds, including three beach-nesting species: fairy terns, red-capped plovers and Australian pied oystercatchers (Haematopus longirostris).

The end of the sand bar is fenced off seasonally, and as a result the past six years has seen the number of terns increase steadily. For the 2020-2021 season, the sand bar supported at least 150 pairs.

The closure also benefits the local population of red-capped plovers and Australian pied oystercatchers, who nest at the site each year.

What’s more, strong community stewardship and management interventions by the City of Mandurah to protect a fairy tern colony meant this season saw the most successful breeding event in more than a decade — around 110 pairs at its peak.

Interventions included temporary fencing, signs, community education and increased ranger patrols. Several pairs of red-capped plovers also managed to raise chicks, adding to the success.

These examples highlight the potential for positive outcomes across their breeding range. But intervention during the early colony formation stage is critical. Temporary fencing, signage and community support are some of our most important tools to protect tern colonies.

So what can you do to protect beach-nesting birds?

• share the space and be respectful of signage and fencing. These temporary measures help protect birds and increase their chance of breeding success

• keep dogs leashed and away from known feeding and breeding areas

• avoid driving four-wheel drive vehicles on the beach, particularly at high tide

• keep cats indoors or in a cat run (enclosure)

• if you see a bird nesting on the beach, report it to local authorities and maintain your distance

• avoid walking through flocks of birds or causing them to take flight. Disturbance burns energy, which could have implications for breeding and migration.

Read more: Don’t let them out: 15 ways to keep your indoor cat happy

– ref. Photos from the field: beach-nesting birds are under attack from dogs, photographers and four-wheel drives – https://theconversation.com/photos-from-the-field-beach-nesting-birds-are-under-attack-from-dogs-photographers-and-four-wheel-drives-155962

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Coleman, E.G. Whitlam Research Fellow, Whitlam Institute, Western Sydney University

Higher education has long been associated with the promise of a good life. Participation, however, has no guarantees.

Former prime minister Gough Whitlam argued that Australia’s higher education system was not straightforwardly a “great instrument for the promotion of equality”. Instead, it mainly functioned as “a weapon for perpetuating inequality and promoting privilege”.

Scholars, too, have demonstrated how the rewards of higher education are unevenly distributed: it matters who you know, where you go to university and what you study. It also matters where you live.

Read more: Young Australians’ prospects still come down to where they grow up

My research (soon to be published with Bloomsbury) reveals the experience of upward social mobility can be emotionally costly too – particularly for graduates from the working class.

Moving up and becoming different from one’s family and friends can involve losses, not just gains.

How do graduates see a good life?

Young people today, particularly those from underrepresented groups, are encouraged to participate in higher education.

My small-scale qualitative research focused on the experiences of one of these underrepresented groups: working-class students and graduates who were the first in their family to attend university.

Read more: Odds are against ‘first in family’ uni students but equity policies are blind to them

I interviewed six current students and 20 graduates from Cranebrook and its surrounding suburbs in the Penrith area of outer Western Sydney – a region known as Australia’s manufacturing heartland.

I was interested in how class and place shaped their experiences before, during and after attending university.

I was also interested in the “existential” dimensions of the mobility experience: how university becomes a means to a good life and what constitutes a good life.

University isn’t necessarily about escaping

For the research participants, going to university was not necessarily about class escape and escape from place.

“Doing well” involved finding suitable employment close to home and staying put in Penrith – a region not conventionally seen to be the site of a good life. Some outsiders imagine it to be a place of stagnation that lacks opportunities – the “other” Sydney.

Read more: 3 planning strategies for Western Sydney jobs, but do they add up?

For the research participants, Penrith was instead a place of community, familiarity, security and possibility. Here was somewhere they could live out their version of the Australian Dream.

Of the 26 participants I interviewed, 20 continue to live in Penrith. Of the six who live elsewhere, four expressed a desire to return to Penrith.

The participants enjoyed the spaciousness of suburbia, as well as being close to family and friends.

Small-scale class distinctions that operate in Cranebrook, the wider Penrith region and Western Sydney also shaped their visions of a good life. “Doing well” sometimes involved degrees of social mobility in place: moving to a “better” house, a “better” street, or a “better” neighbourhood.

The pull of home limits social mobility

Not all graduates, however, were able to achieve their version of a good life in Penrith. Western Sydney lacks graduate opportunities.

Phillip O’Neill’s research has highlighted how Western Sydney is home to a growing population of degree holders – a quarter of Sydney’s total – yet the region remains disadvantaged, particularly in terms of work opportunities for graduates. These jobs are concentrated in Sydney’s east, not west.

Read more: Jobs deficit drives army of daily commuters out of Western Sydney

O’Neill’s research, like my own, reveals Western Sydney’s graduates are “staying put”.

For ten of the 20 graduates in my study who stayed put in Penrith, this involved long periods of waiting for graduate employment, or reorienting careers and finding work in non-graduate roles.

Elise, for example, has a Bachelor of Communications and works for a marketing agency in Sydney’s CBD. She described the three-hour commute to her workplace as difficult and said her colleagues often made wounding jokes about Penrith.

Rather than move closer to the CBD, Elise was on the lookout for a new job in Penrith, “even like admin”, work that does not necessarily use her qualifications, but is closer to home – a move that also involves effacing class and geographical differences.

The pull of home can, indeed, work to curb the experience of upward social mobility.

‘Moving up’ has emotional costs

Even for those who were able to live their version of a good life in Penrith, the experience of upward social mobility, and small-scale degrees of mobility within the area, could be emotionally unsettling.

It was for Pat. He grew up in Cranebrook’s pocket of social housing, works as an HR professional and now lives in one of Penrith’s more affluent pockets.

“Moving up” has meant Pat has lost those embodied aspects of the self that connected him to his friends in Cranebrook.

For example, Pat’s professional mentor encouraged him to have elocution lessons and he now speaks differently to his working-class friends. Pat described feelings of class difference in his middle-class workplace too. He finds himself floating, not quite fitting into either milieu.

Read more: Does the way we speak affect our future?

Pat’s experience led him to question if the journey was worthwhile:

There’s been times, you know, where honestly I think some days I would be happier still living in Cranebrook on the dole, you know? Living that lifestyle. Like there’s a lot of days where I think I would be happier doing that.

The experience of upward social mobility can be tinged with what sociologist Pierre Bourdieu calls la petite misere, or ordinary suffering.

University is a means to a good life, but it’s a class-differentiated good life that is embedded in place and can become a site of personal and social tension.

– ref. A degree promises a better life but social mobility has a downside too – https://theconversation.com/a-degree-promises-a-better-life-but-social-mobility-has-a-downside-too-150535

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Lesh, Research Fellow, Melbourne School of Design, The University of Melbourne

Knowledge of local heritage protection measures and support for these are often lacking, according to a recent Heritage Council of Victoria report. The report suggests this points to a need for public education.

Our research proposes another solution: reshape heritage governance and practice to take account of community interests and priorities. Heritage conservation should be people-centred, rather than rely too heavily on past practices.

Read more: How can a 17-year-old place gain heritage status? What this means for Melbourne’s Fed Square

The report, State of Heritage Review: Local Heritage 2020, includes Australia-wide comparisons. It is part of an ongoing assessment of conservation approaches by the Heritage Council, an independent statutory body.

Local heritage is the mechanism for conserving the vast majority of places of significance across Australia. In Victoria, local heritage overlays protect 186,000 properties. In New South Wales, local environment plans cover 40,000 primary sites and thousands more of lesser importance.

The major take-away from the report is that many local councils lack the incentives, resources and expertise to adequately conserve heritage places. It recommends sensible measures such as increased state government funding, training and promotion of heritage.

Give people a stake in their heritage

Significantly, the report identifies that knowledge and support for heritage measures are often lacking in the community, but does not speculate why. The report does not consider (and it’s beyond its terms of reference) engagement with the potential of heritage – what it could be for people.

Key themes shaping heritage research, policy and community surveys include social and racial justice, Indigenous heritage, intangible heritage and environmental sustainability. No longer can it be assumed that the key heritage policy objectives are to formulate comprehensive heritage lists or to prevent urban development.

Indeed, an expanding body of research recognises a growing divide between professional and public perceptions of heritage. The report suggests public education could bridge this divide by:

[…] ensuring the community understands the local heritage system and promoting the value of this local heritage to the public.

But this overlooks the place of community interests and priorities in reshaping heritage governance and practices.

In the past, Australia has been recognised for its innovative approaches. Today, approaches seem to have become too reliant on existing ways of doing things.

The existing system is not responsive enough to the powerful and evolving interactions between cultural heritage, social, cultural and environmental imperatives, and people and place. For instance, conservation should not be a barrier to the sustainable re-use and recycling of buildings, nor should it hinder people from shaping heritage places.

Read more: Sustainable re-use and recycling work for heritage buildings and places too

Our new research on people-centred conservation proposes that the deep relationship between communities and their historic places has the potential to reshape heritage processes. An approach is needed that centralises the ever-changing issues that affect human relationships to existing places.

People have long cared about heritage

In the postwar period, communities sought to shape their heritage places. They protested to conserve the Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney, the historic Barracks in Perth and Salamanca Place in Hobart.

And in Melbourne in 1963, as many as 10,000 people gathered at Ripponlea Estate to oppose its “seizure” by the ABC, with federal government backing, so it could expand its Elsternwick television studio. The historic 19th-century mansion was later bequeathed to the National Trust.

In 1972, under the Liberal Hamer government, in line with international trends, Victoria became the first Australian state to introduce historic buildings legislation. Two years later, the federal Labor Whitlam government proposed the objective of heritage was to safeguard “the things that you keep”.

Over the next two decades, every Australian government followed Victoria’s lead. The result was a mosaic of local, state and national heritage protections.

Read more: Preserving cities: how ‘trendies’ shaped Australia’s urban heritage

Subsequently, the field of heritage clarified the 1974 objective, heralding a shift in emphasis from community to expert perspectives. Victorian legislation advanced the values-based approach:

to conserve and enhance those buildings, areas or other places which are of scientific, aesthetic, architectural or historical interest, or otherwise of special cultural value.

By the late 1990s, the field had standardised criteria and historic themes – incorporating periods, architectural styles and customary narratives – to guide consultants and authorities and their assessment of cultural heritage value.

Heritage practices can’t be set in stone

The reliance on these ostensibly objective and seemingly stable instruments creates distinctive challenges. Integrated with the planning system, local heritage too often seems to conflict with evolving questions of development, land use, ownership, sustainability, participation and design.

Yet heritage in the 21st century is fundamental to all those issues. Many are highlighted in the terms of reference of a forthcoming state parliamentary inquiry into local planning and heritage.

Overall, local heritage appears to be neither sufficiently dynamic nor adequately democratic. A number of issues identified in the recent report are almost identical to those suggested in a similar local heritage survey in 2003-04.

Public interest in heritage remains strong. The media report daily about historic buildings and neighbourhoods. People power saved Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum and Melbourne’s Federation Square. Reflecting public opinion, new laws in Victoria aim to prevent a repeat of the illegal demolition of the historic Corkman pub.

Read more: Once a building is destroyed, can the loss of a place like the Corkman be undone?

Historic sites, museums and galleries, adopting new technologies, have recorded strong online and in-person attendance. Innovative local platforms such as PastPort for metro Melbourne and the Historic Urban Landscape in Ballarat offer glimpses of new modes of heritage practice guided by concerns of diversity, inclusion and equity.

Local heritage can promote community empowerment, social and racial justice, and sustainability. People-centred conservation is a way to place the community at the heart of heritage.

– ref. Stuck in the past: why Australian heritage practice falls short of what the public expects – https://theconversation.com/stuck-in-the-past-why-australian-heritage-practice-falls-short-of-what-the-public-expects-152896

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Neal Hughes, Senior Economist, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES)

Water markets have come in for some bad press lately, fuelled in part by the severe drought of 2019 and resulting high water prices.

They have also been the subject of an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission inquiry, whose interim report released last year documented a range of problems with the way water markets work in the Murray-Darling Basin. The final report was handed to the treasurer last week.

While water markets are far from perfect, new research from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) has found they are vital in helping the region cope with drought and climate change, producing benefits in the order of A$117 million per year.

To make the most of water markets, we will need to keep improving the rules and systems which support them. But with few “off-the-shelf” solutions, further reform will require both perseverance and innovation.

Water markets generate big benefits

Australia’s biggest and most active water markets are in the southern Murray-Darling Basin, which covers the Murray River and its tributaries in Victoria, NSW and South Australia.

Each year water right holders are assigned “allocations”: shares of water in the rivers’ major dams. These allocations can be traded across the river system, helping to get water where it is most needed.

Water markets also allow for “carryover”: where rights holders store rather than use their allocations, holding them in dams for use in future droughts.

Our research estimates that water trading and carryover generate benefits to water users in the southern Murray-Darling, of A$117 million on average per year (around 12% of the value of water rights) with even larger gains in dry years. Carryover plays a key role, accounting for around half of these benefits.

Together water trading and carryover act to smooth variability in water prices, while also slightly lowering average prices across the basin.

There’s room for improvement

One of many issues raised in the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission interim report was the design of the trading rules, including limits on how much water can move between regions.

These rules are intended to reflect the physical limits of the river system, however getting them right is extremely difficult.

The rules we have are relatively blunt, such that there is potential at different times for either too much water to be traded or too little.

One possible refinement is a shift from a rules-based system to one with more central coordination.

For example, in electricity, these problems are addressed via so-called “smart markets”: centralised computer systems which balance demand and supply across the grid in real-time.

Such an approach is unlikely to be feasible for water in the foreseeable future.

But a similar outcome could be achieved by establishing a central agency to determine inter-regional trade volumes, taking into account user demands, river constraints, seasonal conditions and environmental objectives.

While novel in Australia, the approach has parallels in the government-operated “drought water banks” that have emerged in some parts of the United States.

Some of the good ideas are our own

Another possible refinement involves water sharing rules, which specify how water allocations are determined and how they are carried over between years.

At present these rules are often complex and lacking in transparency. This can lead to a perceived disconnect between water allocations and physical water supply, creating uncertainty for users and undermining confidence in the market.

Although markets in the northern Murray-Darling Basin are generally less advanced than the south, some sophisticated water sharing systems have evolved in the north to deal with the region’s unique hydrology (highly variable river flows and small dams).

There is potential for the southern basin to make use of these northern innovations (known as “capacity sharing)” or “continuous accounting”) to improve transparency and carryover decisions.

Don’t throw the market out with the river water

Governance failures in the water market have led to understandable frustration.

But it is important to remember how vital trading and carryover are in smoothing variations in water prices and making sure water gets where it is needed, especially during droughts.

The ACCC’s final report (due soon) will provide an opportunity to take stock and develop a roadmap for the future.

Water markets will be discussed at Today’s ABARES Outlook 2021 conference in an online panel session at 3-4pm AEDT.

– ref. Water markets aren’t perfect, but they are vital to the future of the Murray-Darling – https://theconversation.com/water-markets-arent-perfect-but-they-are-vital-to-the-future-of-the-murray-darling-155880

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Honig, Lecturer, The University of Melbourne

Review: RONE in Geelong, Geelong Gallery

In 2004, black-and-white posters of a woman staring into a distant horizon began appearing inexplicably throughout Melbourne. The images — of model Suzanne Brenchley, taken from a fashion magazine ad — were renamed Jane Doe by street artist Rone, who had created them. To avoid criminal prosecution, his paste-ups were applied surreptitiously at night.

These works contributed to the patchwork assemblage of stickers, tags and stencils that formed Melbourne’s burgeoning street art scene at the time. Although it is synonymous with Melbourne’s inner-city cultural identity today, this was a time before Banksy’s meteoric ascendancy, so municipal authorities made no distinction between unauthorised street art and vandalism.

Most of these early works were erased in 2006 in an attempt to beautify Melbourne for the Commonwealth Games.

Following Banksy, street art was propelled from its counter-cultural origins into the mainstream and Rone’s career trajectory followed this cultural arc. He has since painted one of Melbourne’s art trams and murals of Kylie Minogue and Cate Blanchett for the NGV’s Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition. Rone himself has advertised clothing for Uniqlo.

Last month, to underscore this inversion from subculture to peak mainstream, Rone was awarded a $1.86 million RISE Arts grant from the federal government. It was met with surprise: grants of this size usually go to theatre companies or production houses, rather than individual artists (although Rone will employ other practitioners as part of it).

Rone’s latest exhibition at Geelong Gallery in his home city is a comprehensive survey of his work over two decades, tracing the evolution of his Jane Doe motif into states of greater realism, painterly technical proficiency and larger scale murals.

It is styled in decaying vintage opulence, like an ethereal moment in time. There are murals painted directly onto the walls of the gallery but the majority of the exhibition features studio works on varied surfaces, under framed glass: early stencils on canvas, portraits on poster advertising (styled to look torn and weathered) and poster-sized photographs of murals in abandoned, dilapidated buildings.

All street art is ephemeral, but here Rone exaggerates transience in the staging and framing of the work. The smooth porcelain skin of Rone’s “muses” juxtaposed against flaking, crumbling walls provides an arresting contrast of textures. The rooms are styled by Carly Spooner, mixing decadence and disintegration.

The exhibition is accompanied by a musical score by composer Nick Batterham. Highly evocative, the classical arrangement enhances a haunting atmosphere and sense of loss; the music was originally written in response to the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires.

Read more: Latest arts windfalls show money isn’t enough. We need transparency

Empty show

Before Banksy’s success, it was difficult for street artists to exhibit in established galleries. This led to the innovation of the “Empty Show”: street artists would install their works in an abandoned space and then hold unauthorised exhibition openings.

Rone has previously exhibited in non-traditional spaces: the derelict Lyric Theatre in Fitzroy (for Empty Project) and at Burnham Beeches, a dilapidated Art Deco mansion (for Empire). The art functions as an invitation to explore these spaces, which would otherwise be accessible only to trespassers.

It stimulates an imagined history of the buildings and invites speculation about the previous occupants. The spaces also fit with Rone’s apparent intention to use environmental decay as a material resource in his work.

The white cube of a gallery, however, is designed to remove everything else from view, leaving only the artwork for consideration. It’s perfectly climate-controlled to preserve the artworks inside.

So, in Rone’s latest exhibition, the themes of moribundity, transience and imagined historical echoes sit awkwardly in a traditional gallery space: broken bricks and detritus laid out carefully and precisely to mimic an abandoned building; a temporary artifice wall made with crumbled plaster. Translating his work into an art gallery has faded some of the verisimilitude (or the story world’s appearance of truth) and charm of previous exhibitions.

Read more: Getting to the (street) art of a year like no other

Pretty girls

The accompanying exhibition literature outlines the intended reading of the works: “beauty and decay”. But this immediately prompts a counter-reading: What is being presented as “beautiful”? What assumptions are encoded into the visual representation?

Many of the paintings conflate beauty with specific attributes: youth, Caucasian in appearance, female, thin-bodied, full-lipped, big-eyed. With few exceptions, there’s a very specific and narrow type of woman on display: the pretty girl motif via the male gaze. This motif can be found throughout popular culture: advertising, fashion and cosmetics, social media, pornography and the industry of celebrity.

Rather than trying to find beauty in new ways; these works are reproducing the most conventional notions of beauty to an established formula.

That doesn’t make the work necessarily “bad” (although some could argue it’s pernicious), but it does make the images derivative (of this mainstream motif).

Read more: #GallerySoWhite: a digital exhibition exposing racism in contemporary art spaces

Divergent agendas

In the exhibition press release, the mayor of Geelong, Martin Cutter, is quoted as saying:

This exclusive Geelong Gallery exhibition is expected to attract over 25,000 people to the region and contribute approximately $3 million to the local economy.

His high hopes for the show are well-placed. Deputy gallery director Penny Whitehead explained at the launch the exhibition has pre-sold 5,000 tickets, over three times the pre-sales of the touring Archibald Prize at the gallery.

Rone’s use of a proven formula (some would say cliché) is what makes it a favoured project for a risk-averse municipal body, hoping to revitalise a local tourism economy. The motif is familiar to a broad audience. No one feels challenged or lost. It will attract a large crowd.

This prompts an interesting discussion about the balance major public galleries must strike between populism and fostering new art that can be difficult or unfamiliar by virtue of its originality.

Attracting broader audiences is of course good, providing it’s not training them to engage only in superficial experiences. So if you attend the Rone Exhibition, the Geelong Gallery also has an impressive permanent collection of Australian art worth exploring. There are major works by Arthur Streeton and Frederick McCubbin, but I got lost in Charles Blackman’s painting of Joy Hester’s house .

RONE in Geelong, is at Geelong Gallery to 16 May.

– ref. Street art in a white cube: Rone at Geelong Gallery marries ephemeral beauty with a proven formula – https://theconversation.com/street-art-in-a-white-cube-rone-at-geelong-gallery-marries-ephemeral-beauty-with-a-proven-formula-155365

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

Scott Morrison has said the cabinet minister accused of historical rape denies the allegation “categorically”.

As calls for an inquiry into the alleged assault continued, former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull urged the man to identify himself.

“I think for the sake of his colleagues, the government, everybody – he should front up and state who it is,” Turnbull told the ABC’s 7.30.

Facing a barrage of questions about the issue at his news conference on the aged care royal commission report, Morrison insisted the matter should rest firmly with the police – even though they are not able to take it further because the woman is dead.

Morrison would not be drawn on whether he believed the allegation to be false. “That is a matter for the police.”

Pressed on whether it was acceptable to have a cabinet minister remain in his position with this hanging over his head, Morrison said “I think it’s appropriate for the matter to be dealt with by the federal police and the federal police to advise me of the nature of this, which they’re doing.

“At this stage, the commissioner [Reece Kershaw] has raised no issue with me – and the department secretary was present for that call as well – that would cause me to take action under the ministerial code. That’s where we are, right now.”

Morrison appears careful in including time caveats. If the issue escalated politically, there is a feeling he could cut the minister loose.

The Prime Minister was among four parliamentary recipients last week of a letter from anonymous friends of the alleged victim, who claimed she was raped by the man in 1988, when she was 16. The woman took her own life last year but the letter included a statement she had written.

Morrison said he became aware on Wednesday evening that the letter was coming to him, although he did not receive it until Friday afternoon.

That evening he spoke to the minister, Kershaw, and senior officials of his department.

Morrison would not go into details of his conversation with the minister, beyond saying he (Morrison) had raised the matter “and he vigorously and completely denied the allegations”.

The events of Wednesday explain the background to the letter Kershaw sent Morrison on Wednesday stressing “the importance of timely referrals of allegations of criminal conduct”. This letter was subsequently circulated to MPs.

Asked if he had heard of the allegation before last week, Morrison said he’d heard “only rumours of an ABC investigative journalist making some inquiries. That’s all I’d heard. I didn’t know the substance of them.”

Asked if he had known who was being referred to, he said, “I tend to not pay attention to rumours.”

Pushed on whether the rumour was about alleged rape, he said, “Well I wasn’t aware of the substance of it and as a result not in really a position to pursue it. When I was put in a position to pursue it, I did”.

Under further questioning Morrison said he had heard the rumours around the time of the ABC Four Corners story last year on the “Canberra Bubble”, dealing with sexual misbehaviour.

“But I had no idea what or who it was about,” he said.

Turnbull said the “ball is really in the court of the minister concerned. I mean, he knows who he is. Everyone knows who he is.

“He may well have known about these allegations for a long time. One of the things we don’t know is whether he’d had any communication with the woman who’d made the complaint, right? So there’s a lot of questions to be answered.”

– ref. Cabinet minister ‘categorically’ denies historical rape allegation: Morrison – https://theconversation.com/cabinet-minister-categorically-denies-historical-rape-allegation-morrison-156239

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

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety’s final report into aged care has laid out an extensive plan to overhaul Australia’s aged-care system.

Among the 148 recommendations, the report calls for a new system underpinned by a rights-based Act, funding based on need, and much stronger regulation and transparency.

Over two years, through more than 10,500 submissions and 600 witnesses, the two commissioners heard extensive evidence of a system in crisis. Australians might have expected the commissioners to provide one streamlined blueprint for reform.

But the commissioners diverged on a number of large and some smaller recommendations. This makes the already complex path to reform even more confusing. It reduces the power of the final report. More disappointingly, it gives the government room to pick and choose recommendations as the cabinet likes.

Nonetheless, if the major recommendations are adopted, Australia will get a transformed aged care system over the next five years.

Here are our top four takeaways from this landmark report.

Read more: Paid on par with cleaners: the broader issue affecting the quality of aged care

1. Australia needs a rights-based aged-care system

In its recommendations, the final report highlights Australia needs a new Aged Care Act to underpin reform. The new Act should set out the rights of older people, including their entitlement to care and support based on their needs and preferences.

This would be a significant shift away from the current ration-based system, and would bring aged care more in line with the principles of Medicare.

Practically, this would mean the number of people in the system would no longer be capped — the long waiting lists for care would disappear over time. The current aged-care programs, such as home-care packages and residential care, would be replaced by a single program.

Under this new program, all older Australians in need of support would be independently assessed, and allocated care according to their personal needs and preferences — whether at home or in residential care.

This is a huge step forward, and, with the right support, would enable older Australians more choice and control over their care.

2. The system needs stronger governance

Ineffective governance and weak regulation of aged care must end. The final report calls for much stronger governance, regulation of the quality of care, prudential regulation, and an independent mechanism to set prices.

These changes would ensure the “quasi-market” aged-care system, as commissioner Tony Pagone described it, was much better regulated, holding providers to a higher standard of care, and better able to address any service gaps in the system. We might see the introduction of home care in locations where home-care services were not previously available, for example.

This change would require all aged-care providers to be accredited against the new standards. We hope that process would weed out some of the poorest performers in the sector. The new system would have offices across the country, to provide on-the-ground support to older Australians and providers.

Unfortunately, the commissioners diverged on the exact mechanisms for these changes. Pagone wants an independent commission to be responsible for aged care, at arms-length from the health department. Meanwhile, commissioner Lynelle Briggs wants governance to remain with a reformed department, but with quality regulation managed by an independent quality commission.

Given the department’s poor track record on managing aged care, we need to see a major change of culture. We urge the government to accept commissioner Pagone’s recommendation.

3. We need to improve workforce conditions and capability

The final report makes numerous important recommendations to enhance the capability and work conditions of formal carers. It calls for better wages and a new national registration scheme for all personal care workers, who would be required to have a minimum Certificate III training.

Residential care facilities would need to ensure minimum staff time with residents. By July 1 2022, this would be at least 200 minutes per resident per day for the average resident, with at least 40 minutes of that time with a registered nurse.

The facilities would be required to report staffing hours provided each day, specifying the breakdown of residents’ time with personal care workers versus nursing staff.

While these measures are good, they are the bare minimum, and would only give facilities a minimum 2 or 3 star rating. But coupled with recommendations for stronger transparency, including the publication of star ratings and quality indicators to compare provider performance, providers might be incentivised to go above this minimum standard.

4. A better system will cost more

The final report makes a series of complex recommendations about fees and funding, with the commissioners diverging in view as to the specific arrangements. But essentially, the proposed new funding model would provide universal funding for care services, such as nursing.

This means there would be no requirement for aged-care recipients to pay a co-contribution, like public patients in public hospitals. Instead, the expectation is people pay for their ordinary costs of living, such as cleaning, subject to a means test and up to a maximum amount in residential care.

These changes would coincide with the phase-out of the burdensome refundable accommodation deposits, which some residents currently pay as a lump sum to providers when they enter residential care. This approach is a shift away from the current muddled set of means-tested arrangements, and may help offset some of the additional spending needed to pay for a rights-based system.

Unfortunately, the report does not touch on how much the recommended changes would cost. Australia should be prepared to pay the price of a better aged care system.

Read more: View from The Hill: royal commission confronts Morrison government with call for aged care tax levy

The government has been underspending on aged care. Most Australians agree the government should provide more funding for aged care. Commissioner Briggs has the more persuasive proposal for funding the new system. She wants the government to introduce legislation by July 1 2022 that establishes an aged-care improvement levy of 1% of taxable personal income.

Commissioner Pagone is weaker on this point. He wants the Productivity Commission to investigate the establishment of an hypothecated aged-care levy (meaning the money raised by the levy can only be spent on aged care).

Either approach will be politically difficult, but Australians should demand their government lock-in a secure funding supply. That will help produce an aged-care system that protects the rights, upholds the dignity, and celebrates the contribution of all older Australians.

– ref. 4 key takeaways from the aged care royal commission’s final report – https://theconversation.com/4-key-takeaways-from-the-aged-care-royal-commissions-final-report-156109

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

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has recommended a levy to help fund aged care on a sustainable basis, and given the federal government two radically different options for running a reformed system.

Releasing the multi-volume report on Monday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison played down the prospect of the government adopting the levy proposal, which would go against its mantra of not raising tax.

The commission’s long-awaited final report, titled Care, Dignity and Respect, with 148 recommendations, complicates the government’s already massive task in trying to overhaul what is recognised to be an ill-functioning system.

In some areas it leaves questions rather than provides answers – such as how much extra money will be needed.

In other areas, it invites difficult choices between competing options presented by the two commissioners, Tony Pagone and Lynelle Briggs. They have split on the fundamental issue of how best to administer the system, as well as on the best way to improve the present inadequate regulatory arrangements.

Aged care is a federal government responsibility and the pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities in the system, with the majority of COVID-19 deaths occurring among aged care residents.

In an immediate response to the commission report, the government announced $452 million over the forward estimates, for limited initiatives in the areas of home care, residential aged care quality and safety, improving services in residential care; workforce growth, and governance measures.

The government’s main response is due at budget time. But much work will need to be done to craft a policy.

As expected, the commission is damning about the inadequacies in the present system.

“A profound shift is required in which the people receiving care are placed at the centre of a new aged care system. In the words of one commentator, aged care does not ‘need renovations, it needs a rebuild’,” Pagone writes in his preface.

The commissioners found a “gloomy picture” of systemic problems. Many of the sector’s people and institutions “are overwhelmed, underfunded or out of their depth”.

Briggs said that at least one in three people accessing residential care or home care services “have experienced substandard care”.

The commissioners jointly call a new Aged Care Act putting older people first, entitling them to high quality and safe care based on their needs.

While both stress the need for fundamental change, Pagone argues the system should be run by an independent commission, while Briggs favours strengthening the existing system of government administration.

As Pagone writes the decision will be up to the government and, “The adoption of one model over the other will have consequences for many … of the recommendations we make.”

It would be a huge step for the government to go down the road of an independent commission.

Briggs argues that establishing a new Australian Aged Care Commission would only delay important reforms. Such an arms-length body would also “weaken the direct accountability” of ministers for the quality of care.

Her alternative “Government Leadership” model would include greater independence in certain areas such as quality regulation and pricing, but maintain a strong federal government system leadership and stewardship role.

The commissioners propose tougher regulation of the system, with Pagone saying, “The move to ritualistic regulation was a natural consequence of the Government’s desire to restrain expenditure in aged care”.

They advocate different regulation arrangements. With Briggs supporting greater independence. They “both recommend stronger accountability through the establishment of an Inspector-General of Aged Care”.

The findings on home packages contradict the government’s claims about how well it has done in this area.

Pagone writes that people have waited about seven months for the lowest level of need and about 34 months for those with the highest need.

“Something has gone badly wrong when those most in need are forced to wait the longest for care,” he observes.

On funding, Pagone set out a proposal for an Aged Care levy, which would mean “each person will contribute toward the financing of the aged care system through their working life” according to their income. They would then be able to access it when they needed it, without a means test – as happens with Medicare.

Briggs puts forward an “aged care improvement levy” on personal taxable income of 1% to fund the increasing costs of aged care.

Asked about the levy Morrison said: “We’ll consider those things. You know our government’s disposition when it comes to increased levies and taxes. It is not something we lean to.”

He recalled that when he was treasurer, “I once sought to increase the Medicare levy by 0.5% to support the National Disability Insurance Scheme and I wasn’t supported in that by the Labor Party or the Greens for that matter.

“So that’s something that I’ve seen in other contexts that the parliament hasn’t supported before. So you’d forgive me for being a little wary at this point.”

The commission recommends an extensive shakeup of workforce arrangements, including registration of personal care workers, and professionalising the workforce through changes to education, training, wages, labour conditions and career progression.

– ref. View from The Hill: royal commission confronts Morrison government with call for aged care tax levy – https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-royal-commission-confronts-morrison-government-with-call-for-aged-care-tax-levy-156207

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

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has recommended a levy to help fund aged care on a sustainable basis, and given the federal government two radically different options for running a reformed system.

Releasing the multi-volume report on Monday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison played down the prospect of the government adopting the levy proposal, which would go against its mantra of not raising tax.

The commission’s long-awaited final report, titled Care, Dignity and Respect, with 148 recommendations, complicates the government’s already massive task in trying to overhaul what is recognised to be an ill-functioning system.

In some areas it leaves questions rather than provides answers – such as how much extra money will be needed.

In other areas, it invites difficult choices between competing options presented by the two commissioners, Tony Pagone and Lynelle Briggs. They have split on the fundamental issue of how best to administer the system, as well as on the best way to improve the present inadequate regulatory arrangements.

Aged care is a federal government responsibility and the pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities in the system, with the majority of COVID-19 deaths occurring among aged care residents.

In an immediate response to the commission report, the government announced $452 million over the forward estimates, for limited initiatives in the areas of home care, residential aged care quality and safety, improving services in residential care; workforce growth, and governance measures.

The government’s main response is due at budget time. But much work will need to be done to craft a policy.

As expected, the commission is damning about the inadequacies in the present system.

“A profound shift is required in which the people receiving care are placed at the centre of a new aged care system. In the words of one commentator, aged care does not ‘need renovations, it needs a rebuild’,” Pagone writes in his preface.

The commissioners found a “gloomy picture” of systemic problems. Many of the sector’s people and institutions “are overwhelmed, underfunded or out of their depth”.

Briggs said that at least one in three people accessing residential care or home care services “have experienced substandard care”.

The commissioners jointly call a new Aged Care Act putting older people first, entitling them to high quality and safe care based on their needs.

While both stress the need for fundamental change, Pagone argues the system should be run by an independent commission, while Briggs favours strengthening the existing system of government administration.

As Pagone writes the decision will be up to the government and, “The adoption of one model over the other will have consequences for many … of the recommendations we make.”

It would be a huge step for the government to go down the road of an independent commission.

Briggs argues that establishing a new Australian Aged Care Commission would only delay important reforms. Such an arms-length body would also “weaken the direct accountability” of ministers for the quality of care.

Her alternative “Government Leadership” model would include greater independence in certain areas such as quality regulation and pricing, but maintain a strong federal government system leadership and stewardship role.

The commissioners propose tougher regulation of the system, with Pagone saying, “The move to ritualistic regulation was a natural consequence of the Government’s desire to restrain expenditure in aged care”.

They advocate different regulation arrangements. With Briggs supporting greater independence. They “both recommend stronger accountability through the establishment of an Inspector-General of Aged Care”.

The findings on home packages contradict the government’s claims about how well it has done in this area.

Pagone writes that people have waited about seven months for the lowest level of need and about 34 months for those with the highest need.

“Something has gone badly wrong when those most in need are forced to wait the longest for care,” he observes.

On funding, Pagone set out a proposal for an Aged Care levy, which would mean “each person will contribute toward the financing of the aged care system through their working life” according to their income. They would then be able to access it when they needed it, without a means test – as happens with Medicare.

Briggs puts forward an “aged care improvement levy” on personal taxable income of 1% to fund the increasing costs of aged care.

Asked about the levy Morrison said: “We’ll consider those things. You know our government’s disposition when it comes to increased levies and taxes. It is not something we lean to.”

He recalled that when he was treasurer, “I once sought to increase the Medicare levy by 0.5% to support the National Disability Insurance Scheme and I wasn’t supported in that by the Labor Party or the Greens for that matter.

“So that’s something that I’ve seen in other contexts that the parliament hasn’t supported before. So you’d forgive me for being a little wary at this point.”

The commission recommends an extensive shakeup of workforce arrangements, including registration of personal care workers, and professionalising the workforce through changes to education, training, wages, labour conditions and career progression.

– ref. Royal Commission confronts Morrison government with call for aged care tax levy – https://theconversation.com/royal-commission-confronts-morrison-government-with-call-for-aged-care-tax-levy-156207

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Peterson, Associate Professor, Flinders University

Review: The Boy Who Talked to Dogs, directed by Andy Packer. Slingsby and the State Theatre Company of South Australia for the Adelaide Festival.

Telling the story of a living person truthfully is difficult. Adapting the memoir of a trauma survivor for the stage is even harder. The Boy Who Talked to Dogs rises to these twin challenges with brazen theatricality, thrilling acting, rousing Irish music and shadow puppetry, connecting equally with youth and adult audiences.

Irish playwright Amy Conroy’s text draws from Martin McKenna’s 2014 memoir, the story of a boy bullied both at home and school who finds his family in a band of stray dogs. It is a tale of bravery and resilience and of finding love — but without a happy ending.

The real-life McKenna grew up in Limerick, Ireland and came to Australia in 1988. To many Australians he known as “The Dog Man” from his books, videos and ABC radio interviews.

Channelling Martin is the brilliant Irish actor Bryan Burroughs, who began rehearsals virtually from hotel quarantine. Burroughs’ physical and verbal dexterity brings to life the homeless child, and the adult bearing the scars of an abusive childhood.

Early in the play, a young Martin articulates the feelings that created strife at school and at home:

It’s like my brain won’t listen to my body and my body won’t listen to my brain and they’re screaming at each other all the time.

Such a child would likely be diagnosed with ADHD today; no adult in his world knows how to deal with him.

At school, his sadistic teacher Mr. Keeley verbally and physically abuses him and prevails on his classmates to call him “Mr. Stupid”. At home, his alcoholic father beats him, his siblings regard him as a nuisance, and his mother gives up on him.

At 13, Martin ran away from home and for three years lived with a pack of stray dogs. Wisely, the show sticks largely to these early years, resisting the temptation to tell the story of his adult life in Australia.

Challenging stories for young ears

Presented with ingenuity and skill under the direction of Andy Packer, who has a long history of staging challenging subjects that speak to youth, The Boy Who Talked to Dogs will inspire young people to have conversations about how to find the strength to carry on under seemingly impossible circumstances.

Sharing the stage with Burroughs is Victoria Falconer, welcoming us in as emcee and occasionally goading Martin and drawing out aspects of his character.

In one exchange she prevails on Martin to lighten up, noting this is “supposed to be a family show.” The audience was surveyed, she adds, and they expressed a preference for an “heroic tale of overcoming adversity.”

Martin, lacking sentimentality, states dryly: “that’s not my story.”

The show’s chief strength is presenting this harrowing story with honesty. Martin emerges strong but not unscathed. While he finds strength and resilience among his canine companions, trauma cannot be magically overcome by the power of love.

Ireland in Australia

Reflecting McKenna’s Irish heritage, the storytelling alternates with song (composer Quincy Grant and songwriter Lisa O’Neill) in this highly theatrical presentation. Seated at tables of six, lively banter and music create the feeling of an Irish pub.

Martin’s life is narrated and acted out in contained spaces — his childhood home and a ramshackle hut — designed by Wendy Todd. As the story unfolds, three additional playing areas open up like giant books. Burroughs and Falconer move freely throughout the vast space, weaving in and out of the audience.

Martin’s beloved dogs are represented as shadow puppets or as animated cut-outs, moving and leaping through space. These low-tech creations imbue the dogs with a sweet, gentle quality that reflects the intimacy of communication between humans and our canine companions.

In the program notes for the show, director Packer observes “theatre can be an empathy machine”.

“The power we have as theatre makers,” he adds, is “to amplify Martin’s voice.”

Martin’s story is difficult, even extreme. With stories of abuse and neglect acted out by Burroughs using stylised choreography and punctuated by rhythmic beats from the onstage band, the play is recommended for children over age 12.

But in presenting that story with honesty, charm, inventiveness and a spirit of play, Slingsby once again demonstrates its skill in holding up the most difficult of human experiences for scrutiny and understanding.

The Boy Who Talked to Dogs runs until March 14.

– ref. The Boy Who Talked to Dogs: a story of trauma brought to the stage with honesty and grace – https://theconversation.com/the-boy-who-talked-to-dogs-a-story-of-trauma-brought-to-the-stage-with-honesty-and-grace-156111

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bonnie McBain, Lecturer, University of Newcastle

Renewable energy capacity in Australia is expected to double, or even triple, over the next 20 years. There is one oft-overlooked question in this transition: where will it all be built?

Many renewable energy technologies need extensive land area. Wind turbines, for instance, cannot be located too close together, or they won’t work efficiently.

Some land will be in urban areas. But in the transition to 100% renewable energy, land in the regions will also be needed. This presents big challenges, and opportunities, for the farming sector.

Two important factors lie at the heart of a smooth transition. First, we must recognise that building renewable energy infrastructure in rural landscapes is a complex social undertaking. And second, we must plan to ensure renewables are built where they’ll perform best.

Bringing renewables to the regions

My research has examined how much land future energy generation will require, and the best way to locate a 100% renewable electricity sector in Australia.

A National Farmers Federation paper released last week called for a greater policy focus on renewable energy in regional Australia. It said so-called renewable energy zones should “be at the centre of any regionalisation agenda” and that this would give the technology a competitive advantage.

Hosting renewable energy infrastructure gives farmers a second income stream. This can diversify a farming business and help it withstand periods of financial pressure such as drought. An influx of new infrastructure also boosts regional economies.

But successfully integrating renewables into the agricultural landscape is not without challenges.

A wicked problem

Renewable energy enjoys widespread public support. However its development can lead to social conflicts. For example, opposition to wind wind farms, often concentrated at the local level, can be motivated by concerns about:

• perceived health impacts
• changes to the landscape
• damage to wildlife
• loss of amenity
• reduced property values
• procedural fairness.

A proposed A$2 billion wind energy development on Tasmania’s King Island shows the difficulties involved in winning community support. The project was eventually scrapped in 2014, for economic reasons.

Research showed how despite the proponents TasWind using a “best practice” mode of community engagement, the proposal caused much social conflict. For example, the holding of a vote served to further polarise the community, and locals were concerned that the community consultation process was not impartial.

Read more: Against the odds, South Australia is a renewable energy powerhouse. How on Earth did they do it?

The local context was also significant: the recent closure of an abattoir, and associated job losses, had increased the community’s stress and sense of vulnerability. This led some to frame the new proposal as an attempt by a large corporation to capitalise on the island’s misfortune.

The King Island experience has all the hallmarks of a “wicked problem” – one that is highly complex and hard to resolve. Such problems are common in policy areas such as land-use planning and environmental protection.

Wicked problems typically involve competing perspectives and interests. Often, there is no single, correct solution that works for everyone. For example at King Island, the abattoir closure did not mean all locals considered the wind energy proposal to be the answer.

When seeking to address complex policy problems, such as building renewable energy in regional areas, the best approach involves:

• collaboration between all affected parties, including people beyond the property where the infrastructure will be located
• relationship-building between all those involved, to allow each to see the other’s perspective
• shared decision-making on whether the infrastructure will be built, and where.

Competition for land is intensifying around the world, especially as the population grows. High consumption levels in the West require ever-more land for resources such as food, and land degradation is rife.

To help alleviate this pressure, renewable energy developments may need to co-exist with other land uses, such as cattle grazing around wind turbines. And in many cases, renewable energy should not be built on the most productive cropping land.

Recipe for success

A successful energy transition will require strategic, long-term planning to determine where renewable generation is best located.

Our research indicates that while many places in Australia have renewable energy potential, some are far better than others. Wind energy is usually best located near the coast, solar farms in arid inland regions and rooftop solar power in densely-populated eastern Australia.

Read more: Explainer: what is the electricity transmission system, and why does it need fixing?

Traditionally, Australia’s electricity grid infrastructure, such as high-voltage transmission lines, has been located around coal-fired generators and large population centres. Locating renewables near this infrastructure might make it cheaper to connect to the grid. But those sites may not be particularly windy or sunny.

Australia’s electricity grid should be upgraded and expanded to ensure renewables generators are located where they can perform best. Such strategic planning is just what the National Farmers Federation is asking for. Improved connectivity will also help make electricity supplies more reliable, allowing electricity to be transferred between regions if needed.

Making renewables do-able

The economic and environmental benefits of renewable energy are well known. But without social acceptance by communities hosting the infrastructure, the clean energy transition will be slowed. There is more work to be done to ensure new renewables projects better respond to the needs of regional communities.

And to ensure Australia best fulfils its renewable energy potential, electricity grid technology must be upgraded and expanded. To date, such planning has not featured prominently enough in public conversation and government policy.

If Australia can overcome these two tricky problems, it will be well on the way to ensuring more reliable electricity, the best return on investment and a low-carbon energy sector.

Read more: People need to see the benefits from local renewable energy projects, and that means jobs

– ref. Renewables need land – and lots of it. That poses tricky questions for regional Australia – https://theconversation.com/renewables-need-land-and-lots-of-it-that-poses-tricky-questions-for-regional-australia-156031

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Holly Seale, Associate professor, UNSW

Australia launched its COVID-19 vaccination campaign last week, beginning with frontline workers in hotel quarantine, health care and aged care.

But one critical question is whether the immunisation program will meet the needs of people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds.

People from CALD backgrounds form a significant and growing share of Australia’s frontline workforce. This is especially true for aged, disability and community care, as well as hotel quarantine.

For example, 37% of Australian frontline care workers were born overseas according to 2016 statistics. Around 28% are from non‐English‐speaking backgrounds.

Others may have low health literacy skills or find it challenging to track down and understand information about COVID vaccines. Lower health literacy is associated with a reluctance to accept vaccines. Recent studies also suggest those who speak a language other than English at home are less willing to get vaccinated than those who speak English only.

It’s critical we deliver a program aligned with the needs of CALD communities to ensure high levels of public confidence in the COVID vaccine rollout.

To achieve this, in February the federal government released a plan to ensure COVID vaccine rollout information and services are accessible for CALD communities.

The plan outlines the need for clear messaging that’s inclusive, tailored and translated. It also emphasises the importance of working with community leaders and multicultural community organisations.

Our new research, published today, supports the actions outlined in the plan but also highlights areas needing more focus.

We interviewed people working in multicultural and refugee agencies, as well as stakeholders in CALD community organisations, to understand barriers around communication and engagement during the pandemic.

Read more: Can I choose what vaccine I get? What if I have allergies or side-effects? Key COVID vaccine rollout questions answered

Information gaps

Our research found gaps in information available during the pandemic. For example, there have been delays in making translations available.

Many people have sought information and news from their countries of origin to fill these gaps. This information may be irrelevant to the Australian situation, or contradictory to local recommendations.

There’s a divide between governments and individuals, with some people feeling like they’ve been left behind. Issues such as an inability to navigate government websites or difficulties accessing support have contributed to this divide.

Translated COVID information hasn’t always been appropriate for people with low literacy or low health literacy levels. This stems from the original source materials in English not being suitable, or translations not being reviewed to make sure the information makes sense.

Newly arrived migrant communities are most in need, as many don’t have established networks to support them. Translated resources have mostly been developed for larger, established CALD groups rather than new and emerging communities. There’s been a lack of tailoring in how messages and information are communicated, and ethnic newspapers and media haven’t been effectively used.

Some people are worried they’ll lose their jobs if they refuse to get vaccinated. The challenge is they don’t have anyone to ask questions of, and are unable to access trustworthy material online.

One issue that was repeatedly raised was burnout experienced by community leaders and other stakeholders. These leaders are asked to repeatedly translate, turn “government speak into community speak”, spread messages and answer questions. They take on this role in addition to their normal responsibilities, with little to no financial support and often with an emotional burden.

The federal government’s plan recognises we need to work with community leaders, but little detail has been provided about whether support, training or resources will be available.

Here’s how things could change

Beyond the need to support community leaders, we also heard from participants about ways to improve communication and vaccine delivery.

Our research team makes a number of recommendations, including the need to:

• identify other community ambassadors and provide training to build their knowledge and confidence

• employ bilingual engagement officers from local communities, to support action being taken by communities themselves. Similar engagement officers have been used to support participation in Australian Bureau of Statistics data collection. Census engagement officers work within communities telling people about the census and ensuring everyone can take part and get the help they need. Internationally, this strategy has been used to promote HIV testing and counselling by encouraging community members to talk about the issues

• invite local CALD communities to initiate and host forums in media of their choice, and to ensure government officials are available to answer questions

• develop a glossary of immunisation terms. This would enable standard terminology relevant to COVID for community organisations, community and faith-based leaders, translators and interpreters

• set up vaccination clinics in locations where communities feel safe. This could include outdoor facilities, sports clubs, community centres, faith-based locations and schools. Ensure there are transport options available

• undertake ongoing surveys to capture how CALD communities feel, think and act in relation to the Australian COVID vaccination program. Tailoring messages will only be effective when informed by the issues that communities are actually concerned about

• and support alliances between immunisation experts and those working in refugee health and multicultural services.

Participants repeatedly used the phrase “community ownership” during the interviews. It’s critical to genuinely engage communities in the development and testing of communication messages, images and videos. It’s also critical we work with different communities to identify the best ways to pass on information.

And when it comes down to it, word of mouth messages and conversations may be the most effective way to get people involved with the COVID vaccine program.

By supporting the development of community ambassadors to address misinformation and concerns about vaccine safety at a local level, the government will have the best chance of ensuring information reaches those who need it.

– ref. How can governments communicate with multicultural Australians about COVID vaccines? It’s not as simple as having a poster in their language – https://theconversation.com/how-can-governments-communicate-with-multicultural-australians-about-covid-vaccines-its-not-as-simple-as-having-a-poster-in-their-language-156097

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vanessa Berry, Lecturer in Creative Writing, University of Sydney

Review: Playing Beatie Bow, directed by Kip Williams.

Playing Beatie Bow is the coming-of-age story of the teenage Abigail who, from her home in Sydney’s The Rocks, slips back in time to 1873. Here, she is taken in by the Tallisker/Bow family, immigrants from the Orkney Islands who run a confectionery shop. Abigail finds herself cast as the mysterious “Stranger” — the subject of a Tallisker family prophecy — which she must enact before she is able to return to her own time.

In adapting Ruth Park’s 1980 novel for the stage, Kate Mulvany carries forward Park’s detailed, loving attention to the city of Sydney and the lives that play out within it. Her adaptation thrums with heart, humour and a sense of creative legacy.

Ruth Park’s long and distinguished literary career began at the Auckland Star in the 1930s. In 1942, she moved to Sydney, the city which she would go on to capture with such verve and particularity. By the time of her death in 2010, aged 93, she was one of Australia’s most loved and successful authors.

Park’s skill in writing for young adults was to portray the emotional intensity of adolescence alongside a broader sweep of time and history, and this production takes place in almost the very location in which the story is set. The qualities of The Rocks which so captivated Park — the steep topography, the narrow terrace houses, the crooked laneways — still produce a sense of a lingering past.

Many in the audience would have travelled through these streets to arrive at the theatre. There is a clear delight in this proximity, and the opening scenes set in the present day further develop this rapport, referencing the pandemic, distractions of social media, and that inevitable Sydney topic: the excesses of the city’s real estate.

History through present eyes

Names and objects are powerful in Playing Beatie Bow. In Park’s research for the novel she compiled long lists of potential Victorian-era names, deliberating over which would best carry the distinctions of her characters.

Park was rigorous in her historical research, with a particular interest in seeking out the everyday details of nineteenth-century working class life in Sydney. The heavy 19th century garments, chamber pots, ceramic “hot-pig” water bottle and the glass jars of boiled lollies work to as veritable effect on stage as they do in the novel. These details are highlighted in David Fleischer’s spare, dynamic set design.

Mulvany’s inclusion of Aboriginal characters, language and recognition of country is a striking addition to Park’s original story.

In the present day, Abigail (Catherine Văn-Davies) visits her Gadigal neighbours, greets them “worimi”, and knows The Rocks equally as Tallawoladah.

In the 19th century, Abigail continues this connection with the Tallisker’s neighbour with whom she strikes up a friendship. Mulvany converts Park’s characters of the Chinese laundrymen to Johnny Whites (Guy Simon), an Aboriginal laundryman.

Through Whites the trauma and fracture of colonial dispossession for Aboriginal land and people is given voice.

Legacies of women

As Abigail and Beatie (Sofia Nolan) compare observations of each others’ times, Beatie expresses bemusement over the “palm-books” everyone in the future is looking down at and examining with such intensity. What book must it be, Beatie muses, maybe the Gospels?

This is Mulvany, but so absolutely in line with Park’s sensibilities I imagined her laughing along with the audience.

The cast of nine, who play 60 characters between them, revel in their portrayal of these time disjunctions, and in delivering the Tallisker’s Scots vocabulary. Mulvany takes one term in particular, spaewife, as a letimotif in the production.

In Scots, a spaewife is a fortune-teller; a woman possessing a magic enabling communication across time. The Talliskers call it The Gift and it is carried by Granny (Heather Mitchell), the family’s matriarch.

Repeated in speech and song throughout the play, this word takes on an symbolic presence. In a story so much about legacy — particularly the connections and lineages that connect women — spaewife becomes broadly symbolic of women’s power.

This power radiates through the play, in the connections between characters and generations, and in between Park and Mulvany as writers.

There is no better embodiment of this power than in Beatie, played with an electric intensity by Nolan. Her force as a character is her quick tongue and determination to live a life greater than what is prescribed for women of her time.

The character of Beatie Bow was inspired by a girl in a 1899 street photograph from The Rocks, which Park came across in the 1940s. She describes the scene in her autobiography, Fishing in the Styx (1993): how she returned again and again to look at this “sharp-faced” girl who carried a defiant expression. The girl seemed to be speaking to her through time, challenging her not to take her for less than she is.

30 years later, Park wrote Playing Beatie Bow. Now, 40 years on again, through Mulvany’s fierce and fond version for the stage, Beatie’s voice speaks to us with a renewed energy.

Playing Beatie Bow is at Sydney Theatre Company until May 1.

– ref. Playing Beatie Bow is brought to thundering life in a joyous stage production – https://theconversation.com/playing-beatie-bow-is-brought-to-thundering-life-in-a-joyous-stage-production-154647