Scott Morrison’s Monday salvo against the NSW environment minister, Matt Kean, one of the Liberal progressives on climate change, was gratuitous and inept.
Quizzed about Kean’s claim that there’s pressure from senior Liberals for strong climate policies, Morrison let fly on the ABC.
Matt Kean doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He doesn’t know what’s going on in the federal cabinet. Most of the federal cabinet wouldn’t even know who Matt Kean was.
The put down came across as arrogant and rude. As for saying “most” of the federal cabinet wouldn’t know who Kean was … really? Given the centrality of energy and environmental issues, and the fact Kean has hardly been low profile, such alleged ignorance is not something to use as a political weapon.
On Nine Morrison said: “I think Matt should focus on hazard reduction and I’ll focus on emissions reduction”.
The attack on Kean – who had cast his remarks on Sky quite respectfully – can do little for relations with a sister Coalition government charged with the major heavy lifting in the state’s fire crisis. (It also fuelled tensions within that government – deputy premier John Barilaro is a critic of Kean.)
It was a flash of the Morrison temper – another example of the Prime Minister having trouble striking the right tone in responding to these devastating events.
In his Monday round of interviews to spruik the government’s announcement of a package for fire-hit small businesses, Morrison seemed to dig in against any change on emissions policy, putting the emphasis on adaptation and response.
Some Liberal sources believe (or hope) this isn’t so much indicating Morrison will do nothing, as showing he wants anything he does to be on his own terms – a reflection of his personality, as well as the debilitating sensitivity of the climate issue within the Liberal party.
No one thinks there’s any chance of the government toughening its emissions reduction target. But it is likely there will be measures over time to try to speed the achievement of the target. (Electric cars will no longer be a threat to the Australian weekend!)
Whether additional measures collectively will be significant or just at the margin is another matter.
Anything extra done on climate policy (as distinct from changes to bushfire response arrangements, such as for mobilising the army) will be, as far as Morrison is concerned, driven substantially by politics.
The prime minister is not galvanised by the importance of the climate issue itself.
For example when pressed on Monday about whether zero net emissions would be achievable by 2050 – widely recognised as imperative in the battle to contain global warming – Morrison’s emphasis was on the downside.
“We undertook to look at that through the Pacific Islands Forum,” he told 3AW:
But what does that mean for jobs? I can’t answer that question right now about what that would mean for jobs. But I’m concerned that it wouldn’t be a good thing and so I think people who make these commitments need to be able to tell people what that will cost them.
Morrison is focusing on unattainable precision. We are talking about three decades on. Decarbonising will create new jobs as well as costing some old ones. Anyway, the jobs outlook so far ahead will be affected by many factors, including some not on the radar now.
Meanwhile, the government is under increasing pressure on its earlier near-religious commitment to a surplus this financial year – a commitment from which it is being forced to retreat from or hedge.
In the pre-Christmas budget update the projected surplus was revised from about $7 billion to $5 billion. Where the budget bottom line will now land is anybody’s guess.
At the PM’s joint news conference on Monday, treasurer Josh Frydenberg acknowledged the cost to the budget this financial year of the fire relief can be expected to be above the $500 million figure the government has been using.
He refused to be pinned down on the status of the projected surplus.
Asked “do you think it’s likely you will deliver a surplus or you won’t?”, Frydenberg said: “Look, I’m not in a position to give a firm answer to that question because the full economic impact is still uncertain”.
On the other side of politics, Anthony Albanese finds himself in an awkward spot by again declining to be specific about Labor’s future climate policy in his Sunday remarks on the subject.
While this has left him open to criticism when the climate debate is intensifying, it is a sensible strategy for the long game.
To spell out detail now would turn the focus sharply onto Labor, when Albanese wants maximum attention on the government.
Elements in this debate can change over the next year and beyond. Although some will believe Labor should be more decisive, it make political sense for Albanese to retain flexibility until closer to the election.
We already know how deadly this summer’s fires have been for mammals, birds, and reptiles across Australia. But beyond this bushfire season, many of those same species – including our bats, which make up around a quarter of all Australian mammal species – are facing another devastating threat to their survival.
White‐nose syndrome has recently decimated bat populations across North America. While the fungal pathogen responsible for this disease, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, currently doesn’t occur in Australia, the fungus is virtually certain to jump continents in the next decade.
Our recent research, published in the journal Austral Ecology, attempted to quantify this risk – and the results are not encouraging. Up to eight bat species occupy caves in south-eastern Australia that provide conditions suitable for the fungus to grow.
Large parts of southern Australia provides cave habitat suitable for growth by the cold-loving fungus responsible for white-nose syndrome.Turbill & Welbergen 2019
Even before this summer’s fires, seven of those types of bats were listed on state or federal legislation as threatened with extinction. This includes the critically endangered southern bent-winged bat (Miniopterus orianae bassanii), a species whose caves would all provide optimal conditions for growth of the fungus.
All caves occupied by the critically endangered southern bent-winged bat provide ideal thermal conditions for white-nose syndrome.Dr Lindy Lumsden
Millions of bats wiped out in North America
White-nose syndrome was first detected in the United States in 2006 at a popular tourist cave in the state of New York. Since then, the disease has spread across North America, killing millions of bats in its wake, with many local populations experiencing 90 to 100% mortality.
The novel pathogen hypothesis explains why P. destructans has such catastrophic impacts on North American bats: the immune system of these species is evolutionarily naive to this fungal attack. Accordingly, in Europe and Asia, where P. destructans is endemic and widespread, few bats exhibit white‐nose syndrome and mortalities are rare.
Australia’s unique wildlife is inherently at risk from invasive novel pathogens because of its long‐term biogeographical isolation. Thus Australian bats, like their distant North American relatives, probably lack an effective immune response to P. destructans and would be susceptible to developing white-nose syndrome.
Since its detection in the United States in 2006, white-nose syndrome has received extensive media attention globally.
Hibernation is the key risk period
Most fungal pathogens grow best at cool temperatures, and a high body temperature in mammals and birds provides an effective barrier against fungal diseases. The fungus causing white-nose syndrome is also cold-loving, ceasing to grow at temperatures above 20°C. The only time it can infect and kill bats is when they hibernate.
Bats go cold (use torpor) during hibernation to prevent starvation over winter in temperate climates. Hibernating bats that are infected by P. destructans rewarm more frequently than normal. These unscheduled bursts of metabolic heat production prematurely burn up the body fat of overwintering bats. Hence, despite the damage caused by white-nose syndrome to the bat’s skin tissue, they apparently die due to starvation or dehydration.
The infection is easily visible under UV light.Turner et al. 2014
Hibernation is key to predicting the susceptibility of bat populations to mortality from white-nose syndrome: those with less energy to spare over winter are more at risk. Consequently, white-nose syndrome has fuelled a large research program on the winter ecology and hibernation physiology of North American bats.
Bats in south-eastern Australia do enter a period of winter hibernation, but that is about the extent of what we know. This knowledge gap makes it impossible to predict how they will respond if exposed to P. destructans. Even non-lethal impacts, however, will worsen the extinction-bound trajectory of several cave-roosting species, most notably the eastern and southern bent-winged bats.
What can Australia do?
Given the impending arrival of P. destructans in Australia, and our study’s findings of widespread thermal cave suitability in south-eastern Australia, we urge immediate action. This includes tightening biosecurity measures and gaining missing information on bat biology so we are better prepared for a possible white-nose syndrome epidemic.
The importance of this threat has not been missed by Wildlife Health Australia, which has produced guidelines for reporting and response to incursion. Advice is also available from the Commonwealth. Just recently, white-nose syndrome was listed in the national priority list for exotic environmental pests and diseases, ranking in the top five of native animal diseases and their pathogens.
Cave enthusiasts have also been proactive in alerting members to white-nose syndrome and the risk of accidentally introducing P. destructans, especially when returning from overseas caving adventures. And the Australasian Bat Society – a strong advocate for bat conservation – has alerted the public and government agencies to this potential new threat.
Action now is critical
At present, there is little that would prevent P. destructans from making it its way to Australian caves, despite two years passing since experts assessed the risk of incursion as almost certain.
We need effective measures at all levels, from requiring incoming visitors to identify contact with cave environments, to decontamination procedures at caves popular with international tourists.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service’s White-nose Syndrome Response Team produced this infographic, including what you can do to help bats.
Predicting the impact of white-nose syndrome on Australian bats is currently not possible because we know so little about their winter biology. We urge the Australian government to fund specific research to gain this information.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service has injected more than US$46 million since 2008 into research and fieldwork to address the threat. Australian researchers can use this work to focus on the critical data needed to inform models that predict the vulnerability of local bat populations.
Why we need bats to survive
Bats are incredibly valuable in their own right. But the world needs healthy bat populations: a single insectivorous bat can eat up to half its body mass in insects each night, and together colonies of bats provide a service with an estimated value to the agricultural industry alone in the billions of dollars per year.
We hope this terrible disease will not threaten Australian bats. But the precautionary principle dictates we should plan and act now, assuming the worst-case scenario. Alarm bells are ringing.
A selection of Australia’s bat diversity. Top row from left: grey-headed flying-fox; orange leaf-nosed bat; common blossom bat; large-footed myotis. Bottom row: golden-tipped bat; eastern horseshoe bat; common sheath-tailed bat; ghost bat.Justin Welbergen (grey-headed flying-fox, eastern horseshoe bat); Nicola Hanrahan (ghost bat); Bruce Thomson (golden-tipped bat); Steve Parish & Les Hall for remainder of species
Review: Bran Nue Dae, by Jimmy Chi and Knuckles and directed by Andrew Ross for Sydney Festival
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names of deceased people.
It is exciting to see such a range of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander productions offered at this year’s Sydney Festival, including the first major revival of the 1990 award-winning musical Bran Nue Dae.
As my son and I arrived, we were greeted by a crowd of people dressed in their finest. There were many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander theatregoers who, like us, were excited to see a production written and performed by Aboriginal people. There was one particular young Aboriginal girl singing “nothing I’d rather be, than be an Aborigine!”
Despite her mother’s attempts to silence her, she was clearly happy to be at the event.
In Bran Nue Dae, Willie (Marcus Corowa) is expelled from the boarding school he is attending in Perth for “stealing” chocolates.
On the streets of Perth with no way to get home to Broome, he meets up with his Uncle Tadpole (veteran actor Ernie Dingo, in the role he played in both the original production and the 2009 film adaptation). Together they begin their journey to their homelands.
Ernie Dingo revisits the role he first played in 1990.Prudence Upton
Uncle Tadpole throws himself in front of a combi van driven by German tourist Slippery (Callan Purcell) and free-loving hippie Marijuana Annie (Tuuli Narkle), and the travellers feel obliged to give the pair a lift.
Together, they take a road trip 2,200km north, encountering Willie’s love interest Rosie (Teresa Moore); finding themselves in the Roebourne Lockup; swimming in a watering hole on the Roebuck Plains; before making it home to Broome and the mangroves.
A semi-autobiographical play by the late Jimmy Chi and his band, Knuckles, Bran Nue Dae is set in Western Australia in the 1960s: oppressive times for Aboriginal people.
Opening with a song set in the future by an elderly Willie, “Acceptable Coon” is a powerful introduction to the political messages of the work:
They taught me the white ways, and bugger the rest,
Cause everything white is right and the best.
So learn all the white things they teach you in school,
And you’ll all become acceptable coons.
Chi’s lyrics draw attention to Aboriginal deaths in custody, dispossession and assimilation, and the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families.
One of the more sombre songs, “Listen to the News”, asks: “is this the end of our people?”
Thirty years on, their content is still relevant.
Aboriginal resilience
My son had not seen the 2009 film, and I was keen to see what he thought of the performance. Like me, he very much enjoyed the music. The singing is exceptional, highlighting the immense talent of the cast.
But there was a sense for both of us that the music itself was the highlight and the storyline was somehow obscured.
For my son, this was particularly notable: he came to the event fresh and expressed his difficulty in being able to follow the plot, despite being an avid theatregoer.
The core of this production are the songs – and so sometimes the plot gets lost.Prudence Upton
The original stage show had much more dialogue and the film with screen director Rachel Perkins was able to expand the narrative and provide far more context. This production cuts out a lot of the dialogue from the original script.
We both came away feeling that more dialogue would have ensured the audience understood the politics of this wonderful play which, for me, in its original form brilliantly documents many aspects of Aboriginal history in this country.
Both my son and I enjoyed the play immensely, although as a scholar who has a great deal of interest in the politics of identity I was left with a few questions.
I understand the reconciliatory theme of the show and the message that we are all “one race”. However, given the focus on identity we see regularly in the media, some of the “discoveries” of Aboriginal identity hung in the air uncomfortably.
In one scene, Marijuana Annie has an epiphany and announces “I too am an Aborigine!”, remembering Black faces around her as she was removed as a child.
Here, Marijuana Annie is played by an Indigenous actor, unlike previous renditions (Missy Higgins played the role in the screen version), and so her revelations are not as problematic as it has been. But still, the cast break into song, making light of the situation and offering a more palatable version of such histories.
There is more room for the production to explore the violence of colonialism, while retaining Chi’s lightness and humour.
Bran Nue Dae is an Australian classic.Prudence Upton
Bran Nue Dae is an Australian classic. It tells of the enduringness of colonialism and does so in a way that invites audiences into the humour of tragedy and the ways in which Aboriginal people express resilience to colonial rule.
And, like the young girl outside the theatre, by the end of the play the audience – including my son and I – were singing along.
Bran Nue Dae is at Riverside Theatres Parramatta for Sydney Festival until February 1, then tours Perth, Geelong, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide.
Most of our laws are dense, obscure and effectively unintelligible for most people (even some lawyers). In a country where, every year, 25% of the population face serious legal issues yet often cannot afford to protect their rights in court, any move to make the law more comprehensible seems like a good idea.
However, reforms proposed by CSIRO to embrace “legislation-as-code” – where the law would be directly read and applied by machines – is not just misguided and deaf to history, it’s dangerous.
The argument for this idea goes that, as the law is just a series of rules, we should be able to reduce those rules to programmable code. When the legislation is drafted, it will be written both in human-readable words and machine-readable code. The aim is legislation could be directly applied by machines.
This agenda in Australia is being led by Digital Transformation Agency and Department of Human Services in collaboration with Data61, CSIRO’s AI and digital science arm. The approach promises “a world where government rules are easy to find, understand and follow” which should improve compliance while reducing costs. In recent submissions made to the Senate, CSIRO said:
The goal is that computer-assisted reasoning using these logics should give the same answers as judges and lawyers doing legal reasoning about the black-letter law.
The move to experiment with legislation as code is attracting attention across the world, with Australia following Denmark’s and New Zealand’s leads.
Unfortunately, as great as these ambitions sound, they ignore the very nature of law itself.
Law in practice is always dynamic and discretionary. Every law requires interpretation: does a directive to only drive on the left allow you to drive on the right to avoid a child playing in the road? What if it were not a child, but a dog? The law does not and cannot provide a single right answer, and will always depend upon judgement.
The law says cars must drive on the left in Australia. But what if they have to cross the road to avoid hitting a child?from www.shutterstock.com
It follows that judges make law. Not in the same way as parliament which actually passes the laws, but in their complex choices, judges contribute to the changing way we interpret and enforce laws.
The problem with codifying law
To understand the problem, some history is in order. During the French Revolution, the gross misbehaviour of the aristocratic judges of the Ancien Régime motivated the restriction of judicial power.
In the new order judges were expected to be the “bouche de la loi”: the mouthpiece for the law. The great Napoleonic Code of 1804 sought to reduce all French law into a single comprehensive and exhaustive document, clearly written and accessible to all, which judges could apply in an objective, disinterested and purely logical manner.
This conception of the judge held sway for much of the 19th century, yet every attempt to prevent judges considering factors beyond the code, or altering the law by its application, ended in failure. While the concept was politically attractive, it was internally incoherent and bore little relationship to practice.
This period showed that laws are incomplete, logical deduction isn’t always adequate, and judges need to be able to properly evaluate and take extra-legal considerations into account.
[the] life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience.
It is beyond ironic that the “legislation-as-code” movement now shares a name as well as an ambition with the Napoleonic Code. By misconceiving law as a complete system of rules that can be reduced to logical code that excludes discretion and evaluation, it is doomed to repeat the errors of the past.
To allow machines to “interpret” legislation as code does not eliminate the role of values, but rather replaces the evolving values of the judiciary with the values of the programmer and reinforces bias towards past values choices.
The “legislation-as-code” approach risks reinforcing a disingenuous conception of judges as mere dispute-resolvers and not as co-equal governors; the third arm of government.
It distracts from the many ways judges are held to account and promotes an expansive role for parliament and the executive. And as the robodebt saga has already shown, it will inevitably be the vulnerable who suffer most when the technology fails.
One of Australia’s top telescopes will receive an A$2.6 million upgrade to help extend its three-decade record of improving our understanding of the Universe.
The Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), near Narrabri in NSW, has been one of the top few radio telescopes in the world since it began operations in September 1988.
Conceived and run by CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, ATCA ushered in a new era of astronomical discovery in this country. The construction of the telescope was nearly all Australian, triggering the development of Australian communications companies and playing a key role in the invention of fast WiFi.
Prime Minister Bob Hawke and other VIPs at the opening of ATCA in 1988.John Masterson / CSIRO
Fundamental discoveries
Since that opening, thousands of astronomers from around the world have used the telescope to make fundamental discoveries about the evolution of stars and galaxies. Even now, about 450 researchers and students use it each year to study the molecules in our galaxy, the magnetic fields that thread through galaxies, and the black holes that lie at their centres.
Particles emitting radio waves (shown in purple) stream millions of lightyears into space from the supermassive black hole at the heart of the galaxy Centaurus A, as observed with the ATCA by Ilana Feain and colleagues.Author provided.
The ATCA has been instrumental in identifying the sources of gravitational wave signals, such as colliding black holes or neutron stars. It has mapped the gas in nearby galaxies and has, unexpectedly, discovered gas in clusters of galaxies billions of light years away.
Hydrogen gas in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a companion galaxy to our own Milky Way, observed with the ATCA by Sungeun Kim and colleagues.csiroCarbon monoxide gas (shown in blue) in the Spiderweb cluster of galaxies, 10 billion light years away, observed with the ATCA by Bjorn Emonts and colleagues.M. Kornmesser / ESO.
New telescopes
Meanwhile, in the north of Western Australia, CSIRO has just completed construction of the revolutionary A$188 million Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope (ASKAP).
ASKAP is set to survey radio-frequency signals across the whole sky, increasing our knowledge of the radio sky by a factor of about 30, and providing new views of the Universe, potentially leading to unexpected discoveries.
So you might think the 30-year old ATCA could now be retired. However, the demand for the ATCA will increase, not decrease.
ASKAP looks at a huge area but doesn’t see in great detail. But when ASKAP makes a new discovery, ATCA can look at it with higher resolution and using a different range of frequencies. This versatility will be vital for understanding what ASKAP’s discoveries mean.
The ASKAP telescope near Murchison in Western Australia.CSIRO
A new brain
How do you refurbish a 30-year old telescope for a reasonable cost? The answer lies in the fact that the large dishes are only the first stage of a signal processing system, and the ATCA’s dishes are still amongst the best available.
Just as important as the dishes are the computing hardware and software to interpret the signals received by the dishes – these are the brain of a modern telescope. Modern computing techniques mean that this brain can be doubled in speed and versatility for a modest cost.
ATCA will receive A$530,000 from the Australian Research Council towards an A$2.6 million project, led by Western Sydney University and CSIRO, to replace the electronic “brain” of the telescope, which was originally built using custom chips and hand-crafted code. The rest of the funding will be provided by CSIRO and other university partners.
The upgraded telescope will have a state-of-art heart using Graphics Processor Units first designed for Playstations and Xboxes, together with modern signal processing techniques and cutting-edge software.
This will double the amount of bandwidth that can be observed, and make ATCA far more versatile than its old hard-wired hand-crafted brain could manage. The upgrade will vastly increase its ability to understand the science from the discoveries made with ASKAP, and to detect radio signals from gravitational wave events.
For example, using ASKAP we have recently discovered many strange and unexpected objects such as the two “dancing ghosts” show below.
Two ‘dancing ghosts’ recently discovered using ASKAP, which might be a binary system of black holes about to merge.Baerbel Koribalski / CSIRO
The upgraded ATCA will be able to give us a detailed picture of these objects at many different frequencies, helping to locate their parent black holes and clear up what’s happening.
After the brain transplant, the rejuvenated ATCA will begin its second career. It will enable Australian researchers to do more ambitious research despite the increasing radio-frequency interference from radio transmitters, make more discoveries, and perhaps understand some more of the mysteries of the Universe.
Hi, I have mental health issues and I would like to know what makes a good or bad psychiatrist, psychologist or neuropsychologist.
Key points
Understanding the different roles of psychologists and psychiatrists, and how they align with your needs, will help you decide what type of therapist to see
find a therapist you feel safe and secure with, even if that means trying a few before finding one you like
find out how much they charge in advance. If cost or access are issues, or if it would make you more comfortable, consider going online for help.
Who does what in mental health care?
Each type of mental health worker will have a different area of speciality, as well as different qualifications, training and experience.
In your question, you talked about psychologists and different areas of specialisation like clinical psychologists, neuropsychologists and psychiatrists, all of whom play a role in the assessment and treatment of mental health conditions.
Understanding the role of each and how it aligns with your needs may help you in your decision.
Psychologists in general
Psychologists provide assessment and therapy to clients, either through individual or group format and aim to enhance a person’s well-being.
A psychologist typically completes a minimum of six years of training, including university and practical experience, and is required to be registered with the Psychology Board of Australia.
Clinical psychologists
Clinical psychologists provide a range of psychological services to people across their life. Services typically focus on the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of mental illness.
Clinical psychologists complete additional supervision in the practice of clinical psychology beyond their six years of university.
Clinical neuropsychologists
Clinical neuropsychologists assess and treat people with brain disorders that affect memory, learning, attention, reading, problem-solving and decision-making.
Like clinical psychologists, neuropsychologists complete those six years and receive additional supervision in the practice of clinical neuropsychology.
Psychologists and psychiatrists have different backgrounds but both assess and treat mental illness.Kaleidico
Psychiatrists
Psychiatrists are doctors who are experts in mental health. They diagnose and treat people with mental illness and prescribe medications, if appropriate.
Psychiatrists typically complete four to six years of an undergraduate medical degree before undergoing general medicine training within a hospital. Then they complete several years of specialist training in psychiatry and must be registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.
You might need to try a few therapists to find the right one
Therapy requires a person to feel safe and secure and establish trust with another person. So the fit between the two of you matters.
In the same way you may try a few hairdressers or GPs before you feel in safe hands, you may need to try out a few therapists before you find the right one.
Try not to feel disheartened; your persistence in this area will pay off.
Ideally, you should select a therapist who is appropriately qualified but also, one you can connect and engage with. To test this, you should leave the first session with a sense of hope, even in the face of challenges.
This is not to say therapy will always be a comfortable process. It will be your therapist’s job to encourage and support you in making uncomfortable changes, so there may be times where you feel challenged or uncomfortable. It’s helpful to communicate this openly with your therapist and allow space to explore this with their support.
Ask your community for recommendations
Word of mouth can be an excellent tool when sourcing a good therapist. Consider asking your GP, family, friends or local community who they recommend.
Once you have some names, do your homework. Look up their qualifications, read about them if you can, and make sure that they practise in the area that you need.
Mental health is a broad term and as such, therapists may choose to focus on particular areas within it. If the therapist you’ve chosen doesn’t practise in your area, don’t worry – just ask them if they have a referral suggestion for you.
Find out how much they charge
In Australia, there are a lot of different ways to access mental health support. Some options include private practitioners working in clinics or schools, community services and public mental health services. Each of these settings will have a different fee or access structure associated.
For example under Medicare, a person may be eligible for up to ten sessions (individual and/or group) with a registered psychologist per calendar year with a referral from their GP.
These sessions may be bulk billed (with no out-of-pocket expense), or there may be a fee associated and rebates available. Fees can vary greatly, however the Australian Psychological Society recommends a fee of A$251 per 50-60 minute session. Medicare rebates range from A$86 (for psychologists) to A$126.50 (for clinical psychologists and neuropsychologists). This would leave you out of pocket A$124.50 or A$165.
Out-of-pocket costs for private psychiatrists also vary. They may be bulk billed, or charge a fee. An initial consultation may cost around A$400, with a Medicare rebate of A$201.35, leaving you out of pocket A$178.65.
Mental health services at headspace are either free or low cost. And some schools also offer free psychological services.
Ask your GP about the specific costs and rebates when you discuss referral options.
While there is much to be gained from the personal experience of therapy, access can be a problem in some regional and remote area of Australia.
Thankfully, there are a number of excellent online resources available:
Centre for Clinical Interventions provides online resources and self-directed therapy modules for bipolar, anxiety, depression, eating disorders and other mental health conditions
Beyond Blue provides support for anxiety, depression and suicide prevention
Black Dog Institute is dedicated to understanding, preventing and treating mental illness. It has a range of resources, particularly for depression and anxiety
Remember, we all struggle from time to time. For many, therapy plays an important role in improving their mental health and setting them back on their path.
I Need to Know is our series for teens in search of reliable, confidential advice about life’s tricky questions. Here are some questions we’ve already answered.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Coghlan, Senior Research Fellow in Digital Ethics, School of Computing and Information Systems, University of Melbourne
A remarkable combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and biology has produced the world’s first “living robots”.
This week, a research team of roboticists and scientists published their recipe for making a new lifeform called xenobots from stem cells. The term “xeno” comes from the frog cells (Xenopus laevis) used to make them.
One of the researchers described the creation as “neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal”, but a “new class of artifact: a living, programmable organism”.
Xenobots are less than 1mm long and made of 500-1000 living cells. They have various simple shapes, including some with squat “legs”. They can propel themselves in linear or circular directions, join together to act collectively, and move small objects. Using their own cellular energy, they can live up to 10 days.
This time-lapse video shows cells being manipulated and assembled to create xenobots. (Original video: Douglas Blackiston, Tufts University)
While these “reconfigurable biomachines” could vastly improve human, animal, and environmental health, they raise legal and ethical concerns.
Strange new ‘creature’
To make xenobots, the research team used a supercomputer to test thousands of random designs of simple living things that could perform certain tasks.
The computer was programmed with an AI “evolutionary algorithm” to predict which organisms would likely display useful tasks, such as moving towards a target.
After the selection of the most promising designs, the scientists attempted to replicate the virtual models with frog skin or heart cells, which were manually joined using microsurgery tools. The heart cells in these bespoke assemblies contract and relax, giving the organisms motion.
The creation of xenobots is groundbreaking.
Despite being described as “programmable living robots”, they are actually completely organic and made of living tissue. The term “robot” has been used because xenobots can be configured into different forms and shapes, and “programmed” to target certain objects – which they then unwittingly seek.
They can also repair themselves after being damaged.
Possible applications
Xenobots may have great value.
Some speculate they could be used to clean our polluted oceans by collecting microplastics.
Similarly, they may be used to enter confined or dangerous areas to scavenge toxins or radioactive materials.
Xenobots designed with carefully shaped “pouches” might be able to carry drugs into human bodies.
Future versions may be built from a patient’s own cells to repair tissue or target cancers. Being biodegradable, xenobots would have an edge on technologies made of plastic or metal.
Further development of biological “robots” could accelerate our understanding of living and robotic systems. Life is incredibly complex, so manipulating living things could reveal some of life’s mysteries — and improve our use of AI.
Legal and ethical questions
Conversely, xenobots raise legal and ethical concerns. In the same way they could help target cancers, they could also be used to hijack life functions for malevolent purposes.
Some argue artificially making living things is unnatural, hubristic, or involves “playing God”.
A more compelling concern is that of unintended or malicious use, as we have seen with technologies in fields including nuclear physics, chemistry, biology and AI.
For instance, xenobots might be used for hostile biological purposes prohibited under international law.
More advanced future xenobots, especially ones that live longer and reproduce, could potentially “malfunction” and go rogue, and out-compete other species.
For complex tasks, xenobots may need sensory and nervous systems, possibly resulting in their sentience. A sentient programmed organism would raise additional ethical questions. Last year, the revival of a disembodied pig brain elicited concerns about different species’ suffering.
Managing risks
The xenobot’s creators have rightly acknowledged the need for discussion around the ethics of their creation.
The 2018 scandal over using CRISPR (which allows the introduction of genes into an organism) may provide an instructive lesson here. While the experiment’s goal was to reduce the susceptibility of twin baby girls to HIV-AIDS, associated risks caused ethical dismay. The scientist in question is in prison.
When CRISPR became widely available, some experts called for a moratorium on heritable genome editing. Others argued the benefits outweighed the risks.
While each new technology should be considered impartially and based on its merits, giving life to xenobots raises certain significant questions:
Should xenobots have biological kill-switches in case they go rogue?
Who should decide who can access and control them?
What if “homemade” xenobots become possible? Should there be a moratorium until regulatory frameworks are established? How much regulation is required?
Lessons learned in the past from advances in other areas of science could help manage future risks, while reaping the possible benefits.
Long road here, long road ahead
The creation of xenobots had various biological and robotic precedents. Genetic engineering has created genetically modified mice that become fluorescent in UV light.
Robots can incorporate living matter, which we witnessed when engineers and biologists created a sting-ray robot powered by light-activated cells.
In the coming years, we are sure to see more creations like xenobots that evoke both wonder and due concern. And when we do, it is important we remain both open-minded and critical.
As the Australian Open gets underway, one question on every tennis fan’s mind is whether 2020 will be yet another year dominated by the “Big 3”, the nickname given to the three most accomplished players of the Open era – Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.
That success can be best captured by their results at the Grand Slams. Since 2003, the year Federer won his first major title at Wimbledon, there have been 68 majors up for grabs and the Big 3 have collectively won 55 of them – or about 80%.
Federer now has 20 major singles titles, making him the all-time Grand Slam leader among the men, though Nadal (19) and Djokovic (16) are not far behind.
What is especially remarkable is that, with a total of 104.8 years between them, the Big 3 are still at the top of the ATP world rankings. And they will be the favourites to win yet another Grand Slam trophy at this month’s Australian Open as the top three seeds.
Player
World Ranking
Current Age
Grand Slam Finals (2003 – Present)
Grand Slam Titles (2003 – Present)
Rafael Nadal
1
33.6
27
19
Novak Djokovic
2
32.7
25
16
Roger Federer
3
38.5
31
20
The ‘Next Gen’ players most likely to succeed
Although many will expect another Grand Slam sweep by the Big 3 this year, the 2019 season ended with strong indications that the reign of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer could be nearing its end.
The main indicators were several big results from a young crop of players. Seven players born after 1990 all had victories over one or more of the Big 3 last year – Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev, Daniil Medvedev, Dominic Thiem, Nick Kyrgios and Grigor Dimitrov.
Matteo Berrettini can also be added to this group for breaking into the Top 10 and reaching the ATP Finals, despite still having no wins over the Big 3.
Generation Next Player
Birth Year
Country
Career Wins Over Big 3
2019 Wins Over Big 3
Stefanos Tsitsipas
1998
GRE
5
4
Alexander Zverev
1997
GER
8
2
Andrey Rublev
1997
RUS
1
1
Daniil Medvedev
1996
RUS
2
2
Matteo Berrettini
1996
ITA
0
0
Nick Kyrgios
1995
AUS
6
1
Dominic Thiem
1993
AUT
13
6
Grigor Dimitrov
1991
BUL
3
1
One of the notable achievements of these “Next Gen” players (as the ATP Tour calls the younger stars) was a combined 3-2 record against the Big 3 in Grand Slams last year. Djokovic lost to Thiem at the French Open, while Federer fell to Dimitrov at the US Open and to Tsitsipas at the Australian Open.
The two “Next Gen” losses both came in the finals and both at the hands of Nadal: Thiem at the French Open and Medvedev at the US Open.
These rising stars reached their greatest heights in the last quarter of the season. Three “Next Gen” players eliminated the Big 3 before the semifinals of the Shanghai Masters, something that has only happened 11 times out of 72 Masters events played since 2011.
The four who did reach the Shanghai semifinals – Thiem, Tsitsipas, Medvedev and Berrettini – were also the four youngest players to qualify for last year’s ATP Finals, where only the top eight players in the world compete.
Tsitsipas has five career wins over the Big 3, including a victory against Federer at last year’s Australian Open.Dave Hunt/AAP
Rating players over their careers
A Grand Slam title is the final milestone – and the most difficult – for a “Next Gen” player to achieve. Could 2020 be the year when one of them finally breaks through? And who are the best prospects among them?
One indicator is the journey each of the Big 3 took before their maiden Grand Slam titles. This can show us which up-and-comers are following a similar path.
Player ratings, a statistical measure of a player’s strength at any point in time, are a great way to trace a career journey because they are updated with every new result and adjusted for the strength of a player’s opponents, which makes cross-generational comparisons possible.
Most of the top 100 male players in the world are currently rated between 2,000 and 2,300 points on the scale. The Big 3 are far ahead of the field, however, with ratings between 2,560 and 2,670. Djokovic has the highest rating going into the Australian Open, after his success at the ATP Cup earlier this month.
When we chart the ratings of the Big 3 from age 18 until they won their first Grand Slam, we can see each took a different course to get there (these are indicated by the blue lines in each panel below).
Nadal exploded onto the scene, winning his first French Open title in 2005 before his 19th birthday. Djokovic was next-fastest, getting his first major title at the 2008 Australian Open at just 20 years old. Federer, meanwhile, had the longest journey to his first major title, which he didn’t win until Wimbledon in 2003, when he was two months away from his 22nd birthday.
Nadal and Federer before their semifinal match at the 2005 French Open.Olivier Hoslet/EPA
Despite these differences, there were some important commonalities in the ratings of the Big 3 heading into their maiden major win.
Six months before this milestone, all had a rating between 2,000 to 2,200 points and all saw an increase in their rating over that time period of 100 points or more.
Which younger players are poised for a breakthrough?
If we look at the same trajectories for the best prospects of the players born in the 1990s, we find that three of them, Dimitrov, Kyrgios and Thiem, have already surpassed the ages of the Big 3 when they won their first majors.
Tsitsipas and Rublev, by contrast, are the only two among the younger players who still have a chance to stay on track with the progress of one of the Big 3. Tsitsipas’ player rating trajectory is most similar to Djokovic’s path, while Rublev’s chart is tracking closely to Federer’s so far.
Medvedev and Thiem have taken longer in their careers to get closer to the Big 3’s Grand Slam results, but the upward trend of their player rating trajectories indicate a breakthrough could be in the making.
This is especially true for Medvedev, the younger of the two. His player rating plateaued at age 21, much like Federer. Since then, however, he has amassed hundreds of rating points in a short time and has reached one Grand Slam final.
He is now just a few points shy of 2,500, a rating on par with Nadal and Djokovic around the time of their the first Grand Slam wins. On the basis of his ratings curve, Medvedev would seem overdue for a Major win.
Medvedev is currently ranked a career-high No. 4 in the world.Dan Himbrechts/AAP
That is even more the case for Thiem, who is the only other player among the eight with a current rating over 2,400. His comparatively longer journey to a Grand Slam title could be the result of playing in the same era as Nadal, the “King of Clay”. Thiem, a clay court specialist, has come up short to Nadal twice in the French Open final (2018, 2019).
Rublev and Berrettini have only recently surpassed a rating of 2,250, and both are remarkable in how quickly they have risen in recent months.
The paths of Zverev and Kyrgios, on the other hand, were tracking parallel to Djokovic’s until age 21. Since then, however, they have each seen a downturn in their results, putting their hopes for a major title in 2020 in serious doubt.
Of course, no two player paths are exactly alike, so we can never exclude any of these “Next Gen” players from future greatness. But if history does repeat itself, there is a reason to expect big things from Tsitsipas, Medvevdev, Rublev and Berrettini this tennis season.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Bateson, Clinical Associate Professor, Discipline of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Neonatology, University of Sydney
About one-third of people using contraception use the pill. But how effective is it?
There are two types of contraceptive pill – the combined pill, containing oestrogen and progestogen, and the progestogen-only-pill (often referred to as the mini-pill).
While most evidence about pill effectiveness relates to the combined pill, both pill types are quoted as being 93% effective in typical use and 99.5% effective in perfect use.
So what do these figures mean and how were they derived?
To test the efficacy of the pill, women were enrolled in studies and instructed to take their pill at the same time every day. Perfect use was calculated from those who stuck to study rules by never running out of pills, never missing a day, and not taking any medications that can decrease the pill’s effectiveness. The studies assumed the women were all equally fertile and “at risk” of pregnancy.
Under these strict conditions both pill types were around 99.5% effective. This means within a 12 month period, five out of a thousand women could be expected to become pregnant.
But, most people’s lives do not reflect perfect research conditions and it’s more realistic to consider effectiveness in “typical use”. Both pill types have typical use effectiveness of 93% which means seven users in every 100 become pregnant in a 12 month period.
The lower rate of 93% reflects everyday life where pills may be missed, packs run out with no time to get a new prescription, pills are not absorbed because of vomiting or diarrhoea or the pill’s effectiveness is reduced by another medication (including some common herbal over-the-counter preparations such as St John’s Wort).
In reality, the probability of pregnancy is likely to lie somewhere between the 93% and 99.5%. And effectiveness may improve over time as users become more accustomed to taking the pill every day.
Most people won’t be able to consistently take the pill at the same time each day without fail.from www.shutterstock.com
Effectiveness can be increased by also using condoms (which have the added advantage of preventing sexually transmissible infections), and by using emergency contraception if pills are forgotten.
The combined pill primarily works to stop the release of an egg from the ovary each month. While a routine of same-time daily pill-taking is important, the combined pill will continue to be effective if it’s taken up to 24-hours late as ovulation will continue to be prevented.
The less commonly prescribed progestogen-only pill mainly works by thickening the mucus at the cervix to prevent sperm from swimming up into the uterus and fallopian tubes to fertilise an egg.
This effect wears off after approximately 27 hours, which means it needs to be taken within a narrow three-hour window each day. For this reason, the progestogen-only-pill is more likely to sit towards the lower 93% mark than the upper level of 99.5% compared to the combined pill.
Women in their teens and early twenties are likely to have a higher pill failure rate than older users. This might be because they’re more fertile, or because they have more trouble remembering to take the pill each day and fill their repeat prescriptions.
For this reason the progestogen-only-pill is rarely prescribed for this age group and more effective methods such as an implantable contraceptive device or a combined pill are generally recommended.
As a general rule, the less the contraceptive user needs to do in order to make it effective, the more effective it’s likely to be. The long acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) are recognised worldwide as the most effective methods because they don’t depend on human behaviour once they’re put in.
An intrauterine device can be implanted and can last for up to ten years.from www.shutterstock.com
LARCs include the contraceptive implant which lasts for up to three years and the hormonal or copper-intrauterine devices (IUDs) which last up to five and ten years respectively.
They are 99.5-99.95% effective because once inserted there is no need for the user to remember to do anything on a regular basis, which can make them an attractive alternative to the pill for those wanting a reliable method.
Side-effects, risks, costs and additional benefits are just some of the other features that influence how women choose which method of contraception to use, in addition to effectiveness. Understanding what effectiveness means and how it is calculated is an important step towards making an empowered choice.
Calls from industry and unions for increased thinning in forests to reduce bushfire risks have been met with concern from conservation scientists. They suggest forest thinning makes forests more fire prone.
So who’s right? Well, it’s complicated. The short answer is forest thinning is a good way to lower the risk of fire and is a widely-used strategy to improve forest health. However, there are potential downsides. Thinning needs to be carefully planned to avoid effects on soil, water or sensitive habitats.
Unlike clearfell logging and selection harvesting, mechanical thinning for timber involves felling about half the trees in even-aged, uniformly structured forests. Recently, forest managers are using the practice more for ecological outcomes.
If we look to the future, the recent fires have created conditions for forest regeneration on a large scale. These regenerating forests will thin naturally over time, creating more fuel and increased risk of more large-scale fires. Mechanical thinning can remove this potential flammable vegetation.
Forest thinning should be one of the ways we tackle fire management and forest resilience in future, but we need more research to understand the best way to go about it. Here’s what the evidence says.
What is thinning?
Thinning is a natural forest process, where tree numbers in most even-aged forests reduce through competition over time. For example, Mountain ash forests regenerating naturally after a severe fire might have hundreds of thousands of new seedlings per hectare that self-thin to a few thousand after 20 years, and a few hundred after 80 years.
Heavily stocked unthinned forest in East Gippsland. Thinning is increasingly being used for environmentally friendly reasons.Rod Keenan
Mechanical thinning for producing timber is a long-standing commercial forestry practice that uses herbicides, chainsaws or mechanical harvesters. It reduces tree numbers and concentrates growth on fewer trees so they reach a valuable size more quickly. This is to improve commercial timber quality, or to more quickly remove trees that would die through natural thinning.
Thinning for ecological outcomes, on the other hand, is a relatively recent practice being tested in many parts of Australia. It can produce more rapid development of “old-growth” forest features, such as large trees, branches, hollows and coarse woody debris – all important wildlife habitats.
Forest managers are using thinning for other reasons, too. For example, to adapt to climate change by reducing stresses on individual trees from increased drought, heat, insects, disease or wildfire because, among other things, thinning takes away the added stress of competition.
Looking ahead, thinning combined with Indigenous cultural burning may even be a way to restore Australian forests to more open park-like conditions observed at the time of arrival of Europeans.
The case for thinning to reduce fire risk
Thinning to reduce fire risk is intended to slow the rate fire spreads, lower flame heights and improve recovery after wildfire hits. This was shown in a 2016 extensive review of US research, which found thinning and prescribed burning helped reduce fire severity, tree mortality and crown scorch. A 2018 study on Spanish pine forests had similar results.
A mechanically thinned eucalypt forest in East Gippsland.Rod Keenan
Our own research on Australian forests also supported these findings. We found mechanical thinning plus burning in silver top ash reduces fire fuel hazard, with major reductions in dead trees, stumps and understory.
We compared thinned and unthinned alpine ash forests using computer modelling, simulating severe to extreme weather conditions. And we found modelled fire intensity decreased by 30% and the rate of fire spread and spot fires moving ahead of the main fire decreased by 20% with thinning.
Reducing tree density and fuel through thinning can also make it easier and safer for fire-suppression activities, like direct attack with fire hoses, litter raking or back burns, increasing our chances to control the size of wildfires.
Another study from 2015 in East Gippsland forests found that while overall fuel hazard was lower at thinned sites than nearby unthinned sites, larger woody debris from thinning persisted for 15 years or longer.
This is both a good and bad thing. More logs or woody debris may slow fire spreading, but can make it harder to completely extinguish fires after the fire front passes through.
The downsides
Thinning is potentially costly, but selling the wood or other organic matter may offset the cost. Timber harvesting machines can also disturb soils or wildlife habitat, but these can be minimised with modern equipment and careful planning.
What’s more, forests store carbon. Thinning can, in the short term, release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The overall effect on carbon emissions in the long term, however, depends on the extent thinning reduces fire risk and intensity. In some cases, we may need to accept decreased forest carbon storage in return for reduced risks.
A thinned river red gum forest. Thinning has the potential to disturb wildlife habitats and soil.
We’ve seen in the media arguments about using thinning to manage bushfire risks. It’s important conservation and bushfire scientists, the timber industry and government bodies understand all concerns and create space for inclusive dialogue to identify where thinning and prescribed burning are best practised.
In any case, whether you’re for or against the practice, more research is needed to determine how much we should use it. In 2017, the Federal Government funded mechanical fuel reduction trials in three states. But these trials must be expanded to a national program.
This can be done in using adaptive management – trialling the practice at larger scale and monitoring the outcomes.
The evidence from Australia and overseas is compelling, but we need careful planning and thoughtful discussion about how to use thinning to its full potential as part of our strategy in addressing the escalating risks of bushfires in a changing climate.
From Australian superstars such as Cate Blanchet, Russell Crowe, Chris Hemsworth and Nicole Kidman to Hollywood heavyweights including Ellen DeGeneres and Bette Midler, a lengthening list of celebrities are helping to shine a spotlight on Australia’s bushfires.
Some have donated large sums of money and used social media to publicise their donations, encouraging fans to follow suit. Some have used their profile and platforms such as the Golden Globes awards to draw attention to the fires. Others are donating items for auction or appearing in charity events.
For attracting attention and money to a cause, celebrity-driven attention is hard to beat. But there’s also a downside. If that interest is superficial and fleeting, it may actually hinder recovery efforts in disaster-ravaged regions.
Our research into disaster recovery efforts for Victoria’s Gippsland region after the deadly “Black Saturday” fires in 2009 suggests celebrities’ best contribution needs to be in the weeks and months to come – and requires them putting “boots on the ground”.
It’s great that celebrities want to use their influence for good causes. Not all celebrity advocacy, though, should be applauded uncritically. One study has suggested it is less effective than sometimes supposed for development causes, and can simplify a complex issue to a single outcome – usually giving money. This fails to address how people can make an ongoing difference in other ways.
In terms of natural disasters, a very practical way to help communities recover is the resumption of tourism. Perceptions play a big part in this, and celebrities can play a big part in forming images. It’s why they have long featured in tourism campaigns, from Paul Hogan in the 1980s to Kylie Minogue and others in the humorously idealised imagery presented by Tourism Australia to Britons a few weeks ago.
Tourism Australia’s ‘Matesong’ campaign fronted by Kyle Minogue has now been suspended.
Now these images are being replaced by the message globally that Australia is “on fire, literally”, and that much of the country is an “apocalyptic nightmare”.
Tourism effects
Even if celebrities have the best of intentions, their emotional appeals and shared of images of red skies and smoke-filled cities along with heartbreaking images of devastation and loss can contribute to fans cancelling holidays plans, even while they’re donating to bushfire appeals.
US singer Rihanna shared this graphic representation of the Australian bushfires, which was widely mistaken to be an image taken by a satellite.Twitter
It doesn’t help when misleading information is spread, as the American singer Rihanna inadvertently did when she shared an image on Twitter that exaggerated the size of the bushfires. This image suggested huge swathes of Australia were no-go zones.
Our research confirms the further someone is from a destination in crisis, the more likely they are to be confused about the location and think a greater area is affected.
Fires in the Blue Mountains area of New South Wales, for example, were called “the “Sydney fires” elsewhere in Australia. Overseas they were referred to as the “Australian bushfires”, confusing domestic and international tourists.
Where celebrities can really help
So while celebrities might have the very best of motivations, their contribution in generating donations in the short term might be offset by the longer-term effect of amplifying the misconception that Australia is not safe for tourists.
Affected areas and number of casualties from the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires. Gippsland covers all of Victoria east of Melbourne.Nick Carson/Wikipedia, CC BY-SA
This is demonstrated by past experience. After Victoria’s 2009 Black Saturday fires, the the Gippsland region experienced a major tourism downturn, despite just 5% of the region being directly affected.
But celebrites can also use their mass-pull to aid tourism recovery.
Our research suggests their star power is unmatched as a means to encourage tourists back to regions recovering from disaster.
In the case of Gippsland, we surveyed 691 people with nine different advertising messages. Themes included solidarity, community readiness and even short-term discounts. We found celebrity endorsement made the greatest impression, with test subjects indicating it made them more likely to visit the region.
In the months after the Black Saturday bushfires, former Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins and legendary cricketer Shane Warne visited affected towns. These highly publicised events sent the message these towns were ready to welcome visitors again.
Model Jennifer Hawkins, Miss Universe 2004, poses with students in the town of Whittlesea, north of Melbourne, in May 2009, three months after the town was ravaged by bushfires .Julian Smith/AAP
So celebrities can definitely help in the coming weeks and months.
They can share positive stories about local communities’ resilience, and maybe even visit.
This is likely to do more for recovery efforts in the long term than helping to spruik for donations.
Many animals and plants have been incinerated or suffocated by smoke and ash. Others may have escaped the blaze only to die of exhaustion or starvation, or be picked off by predators.
But even these huge losses of individual animals and plants do not reveal the full scale of impact that the recent fires have had on biodiversity.
Plants, invertebrates, freshwater fish, and frogs have also been affected, and the impact of the fires is likely to be disproportionately greater for threatened species.
To delve deeper into the conservation impact, we used publicly available satellite imagery to look at the burnt areas (up to January 7, 2020) and see how they overlapped with the approximate distributions of all the threatened animals and plants listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
We restricted our analysis to the mediterranean and temperate zone of south-east and south-west Australia.
The bad news
We found that 99% of the area burned in the current fires contains potential habitat for at least one nationally listed threatened species. We conservatively estimate that six million hectares of threatened species habitat has been burned.
Given that many fires are still burning and it is not yet clear how severe the burning has been in many areas, the number of species affected and the extent of the impact may yet change.
What we do know is that these species are already on the brink of extinction due to other threats, such as land clearing, invasive species, climate change, disease, or previous fires.
Approximately 70 nationally threatened species have had at least 50% of their range burnt, while nearly 160 threatened species have had more than 20% of their range burnt.
More threatened plants have been affected than other groups: 209 threatened plant species have had more than 5% of their range burnt compared to 16 mammals, ten frogs, six birds, four reptiles, and four freshwater fish.
Author supplied
Twenty-nine of the 30 species that have had more than 80% of their range burnt are plants. Several species have had their entire range consumed by the fires, such as the Mountain Trachymene, a fire-sensitive plant found in only four locations in the South Eastern Highlands of NSW.
Other species that have been severely impacted include the Kangaroo Island dunnart and the Kangaroo Island glossy black cockatoo. These species’ entire populations numbered only in the hundreds prior to these bushfires that have burned more than 50% of their habitat.
The Kangaroo Island glossy black cockatoo has had more than 50% its habitat impacted by fire.Mike Barth
Glossy black cockatoos have a highly specialised diet. They eat the seeds of the drooping sheoak (Allocasuarina verticillata). These trees may take anywhere from 10 to 50 years to recover enough to produce sufficient food for the black cockatoos.
The populations of many species will need careful management and protection to give their habitats enough time to recover and re-supply critical resources.
The figures above do not account for cumulative impacts of previous fires. For example, the critically endangered western ground parrot had around 6,000 hectares of potential habitat burnt in these fires, which exacerbates the impact of earlier extensive fires in 2015 and early 2019.
Threatened species vary in their ability to cope with fire. For fire-sensitive species, almost every individual dies or is displaced. The long-term consequences are likely to be dire, particularly if vegetation composition is irrevocably changed by severe fire or the area is subject to repeat fires.
More than 50% of the habitat of several species known to be susceptible to fire has been burnt – these include the long-footed potoroo and Littlejohn’s tree frog.
The endangered long-footed potoroo has had more than 50% of its potential habitat impacted by fire.George Bayliss
Some species are likely to thrive after fire. Indeed, of the top 30 most impacted species on our list, almost 20% will likely flourish due to low competition in their burnt environments – these are all re-sprouting plants. Others will do well if they are not burnt again before they can set seed.
Rising from the ashes
For fire-sensitive threatened species, these fires could have substantially increased the probability of extinction by virtue of direct mortality in the fires or reducing the amount of suitable habitat. However, after the embers settle, with enough investment and conservation actions, guided by evidence-based science, it may be possible to help threatened species recover.
For species on the brink of extinction, insurance populations need to be established. Captive breeding and release can complement wild populations, as occurs for the regent honeyeater.Dean Ingwersen / BirdLife Australia
Protection and conservation-focussed management of areas that have not burned will be the single most important action if threatened species are to have any chance of persistence and eventual recovery.
Management of threatening processes (such as weeds, feral predators, introduced herbivores, and habitat loss through logging or thinning) must occur not just at key sites, but across the landscapes they sit in. Maintaining only small pockets of habitat in a landscape of destruction will lock many species on the pathway to extinction.
In some cases, rigorous post-fire restoration will be necessary to allow species to re-colonise burnt areas. This may include intensive weed control and assisted regeneration of threatened flora and specific food sources for fauna, installing nest boxes and artificial cover, or even targeted supplementary feeding.
Unconventional recovery actions will be needed because this unique situation calls for outside-the-box thinking.
These fires were made larger and more severe by record hot, dry conditions. Global temperatures have so far risen by approximately 1°C from pre-industrial levels.
We are in a moment of collective grief for what has been lost. A species lost is not just a word on a page, but an entire world of unique traits, behaviours, connections to other living things, and beauty.
These losses do not need to be in vain. We have an opportunity to transform our collective grief into collective action.
Australians are now personally experiencing climate impacts in an unprecedented way. We must use this moment to galvanise our leaders to act on climate change, here in Australia and on the world stage.
The futures of our beloved plants and animals, and our own, depend on it.
Dr David Robie, has been recognised in the King's Honours List and named as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
By Camille Abiel H. Torres, Charm Ryanne C. Magpali, Laurd Menhard Salen of The Varsitarian in Manila
A New Zealand media academic and freedom advocate has warned that shutting down the Philippines’ largest and most popular media network would be a move toward dictatorship.
Professor David Robie, director of the New Zealand-based Pacific Media Centre and journalism professor at Auckland University of Technology, said President Rodrigo Duterte’s displeasure toward ABS-CBN Corporation was not enough reason to deprive it of a franchise.
“There’s no justification in doing that [not renewing the franchise of ABS-CBN]. Doing that is moving towards dictatorship,” Dr Robie said in the recent annual memorial John Jefferson Siler lecture-forum at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila.
Duterte has vowed to block the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise, which is pending in Congress. The president claims ABS-CBN swindled him during the 2016 campaign when the Lopez-led television network did not air his political ad.
The ad was in response to a 30-second spot paid for by then opposition senator Antonio Trillanes IV, showing children reacting to the ex-Davao City mayor’s profanity-laden speeches.
– Partner –
“Your franchise will end next year. If you expect it to be renewed, I’m sorry. I will see to it that you’re out,” Duterte said in remarks at Malacañang Palace last month.
Congress has yet to act on the renewal of ABS-CBN’s 25-year broadcasting franchise, which will expire this March.
Journalists rallied yesterday for a “black Friday” protest in support of the ABS-CBN Corp. urging Congress to “repudiate” President Rodrigo Duterte’s “vindictive assault” on the channel and extend the media company’s franchise.
‘Open season’ against journalists Dr Robie, who is also convenor of the Pacific Media Watch freedom project, talked about human rights and press freedom violations in the Indonesian-ruled region of West Papua, saying it was “open season” against journalists.
He also recalled the 2009 Ampatuan massacre on the southern Philippines island of Mindanao that killed 58 people, including 32 journalists, which marked its 10th anniversary on November 23.
“What you experience in the Philippines is replicated around the world,” Dr Robie said, blaming much of the increased global dangers for journalists on hostile anti-media rhetoric from leaders such as US President Donald Trump and President Duterte.
“We have many leaders around the world…who are basically, constantly attacking and denigrating the media,” he added.
The Rappler video feed on the Ampatuan convictions last month.
For decades, the feared Ampatuan clan held sway in the impoverished province of Maguindanao in Mindanao in the southern Philippines. Through a ruthless private army and a reported “propensity for beheadings”, the clan cultivated a culture of impunity. Now, however, reports David Robie, a courageous judge has challenged the horror by jailing the masterminds of the 2009 Ampatuan massacre for life.
SPECIAL REPORT:By David Robie in Manila
The families of the 58 victims – 32 of them journalists or media workers – had waited for 10 years for justice in the Philippines.
With the judge almost two hours late in arriving at the fortified special courtroom in Camp Bagong Diwa, a police barracks with a jail annex in Manila’s satellite Taguig City, fears were expressed for her safety.
The 101 accused (although three were missing and cited for possible contempt of court) for the heinous crime, dressed in yellow jail tees, were housed in in a barred cage sandwiched between lawyers and some 200 heavily armed police guards and waiting.
The lawyers for both prosecution and defence were waiting.
Live television
The public, glued to their television sets or live streaming from CNN and the state-run People’s Television, were waiting.
In the end, the historic judgment took only 52 minutes.
Many of the victims’ families burst into spontaneous applause for the jailing of the ringleaders; others wept for joy with the convictions. While other families of some of the accused were relieved with the acquittals.
Judge Joycelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon Trial Court Branch 221 announced to the court that she could deliver the shortened verdict rather than the full 761-page judgement or “it could take all day”.
In fact, broadcaster Peter Musngi reckoned it would have taken “43 uninterrupted days” to read the full judgement. Both prosecution and defence lawyers agreed to the short reading with the full judgment being made available online – read it here on Rappler.
Guilty verdicts for the masterminds of the 2009 Ampatuan massacre.
Image: CNN Philippines screenshot/David Robie
Judge Solis-Reyes sentenced the 28 principal accused – including three brothers of the powerful Ampatuan warlord clan from Mindanao – to life in prison without parole and ordered them to pay a total of more than 155 million pesos (almost NZ$5 million) in changes to the heirs of 57 victims killed in the massacre.
The judge reduced the “official” death toll from 58 to 57 because the body of photojournalist Reynaldo Momay was never found. This means that the Momay family was not granted compensation even though it was commonly known that he was with the journalists who were killed and never been seen since. There was also dental evidence linking him found at the multiple murder scene.
Appealing sentences
Some of those jailed announced last week that they are appealing against their sentences, and the prosecution is also appealing over the acquittals and the judge’s Momay finding.
While it has been a long wait for justice for the victims, it had also been a long wait for the judge herself. Judge Solis-Reyes had shelved her own plans for career advancement so that she could see the notorious case through to judgment.
She was forced to brave death threats and political pressure over the case. At least three witnesses were killed during the course of the trial.
The judge had earlier admitted in interviews that she had wanted to pursue a career in broadcast media and had studied journalism at the Lyceum of the Philippines.
Describing the atmosphere in the courtroom with 400 people packed in to hear the verdict of the century” on December 19, Tempo columnist Jullie Y. Daza wrote that the judge “deserves the nation’s gratitude for her dedication and deportment”.
“All I can say is,” she added, “you’re priceless, Your Honour.”
Judge Solis-Reyes broke down her summary into 1. Those guilty beyond reasonable doubt; 2. Accessories; 3. Those released on the basis of reasonable doubt; 4. Those facing arrest warrants.
FLASHBACK: Then ARMM governor Zaldy Ampatuan (left) and his brother Andal Ampatuan Jr. (face covered),
when the latter was turned over to Secretary Jesus Dureza at the compound of the provincial capital in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao, on 26 November 2009. Image: Mindanews
Police officers acquitted
Forty-three people, including leaders of the Ampatuan clan, were convicted of mass murder or being accessories, and 58 other accused – many of them police officers – were acquitted in the infamous case.
The Ampatuan power matrix. Image: CNN Philippines freeze frame
Sentenced to reclusion perpetua, or up to 40 years in prison without parole – effectively life – on 57 counts of murder were prominent clan members Datu Andal “Unsay” Ampatuan Jr; his brothers, former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Datu Zaldy “Puti” Ampatuan Sr, and Anwar Ampatuan Sr, former mayor of Shariff Aguak town.
Another brother was acquitted. Two other prominent members of the clan – nephews Anwar Ampatuan Jr and Anwar Sajid Ampatuan – and 23 others were also found guilty of the multiple murders.
Fifteen other accused – almost all of them policemen – were convicted as accessories to murder and sentenced to between six and 10 years in prison.
The Ampatuan accused in the courtroom cage. Image: CNN Philippines screenshot/David Robie
It took 10 years, 424 trial days, to hear the testimonies of 357 witnesses against 197 who were originally charged.
During the long-running trial, six accused were acquitted and the clan patriarch, Andal Ampatuan Sr, also accused, died in prison from a sudden heart attack in 2015, aged 74.
One of his daughters, Rebecca, told the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) that her father had six wives and 40 children. The PCIJ closely followed the case for a decade with a series of special reports in The Maguindanao Chronicles.
Ampatuan massacre … wheels of justice. Graphic: CNN Philippines News
The killings in 2009 sent shockwaves around the world because of the brazenness of the attack. The victims, including 20 women, were kidnapped and clubbed before they were executed, mutilated and buried in shallow graves.
FLASHBACK: Bodies of the Ampatuan massacre victims being exhumed from the freshly dug
mass graves in November 2009. Image: Mindanews
Mass graves
The backhoe digger, using a government machine, who excavated and filled the mass graves, was among the convicted accessories.
The ambushed electoral convoy had been taking the registration papers to enable challenger Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu to contest the governorship of Maguindanao in defiance of threats by the Ampatuans. He was not with the convoy, but his wife, Genalyn, was shot 17 times: “They shot her on her breasts, her private parts. Such unimaginable cruelty.”
Congressman Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu … his wife was killed in the Ampatuan massacre.
Image: CNN Philippines screenshot/David Robie
He subsequently won the election in a landslide in 2010 and has since been elected to the Philippine national Congress.
The mass murders were widely condemned around the world by governments, global media freedom organisations and human rights groups. The US ambassador at the time, Kristie Kenney, described the killings as “barbaric” and then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the brutal political violence in the southern Philippines.
The Malacañang presidential palace welcomed the convictions last month, saying the rule of law had prevailed in closing one of the darkest chapters of Philippine history.
“The Maguindanao massacre marks a dark chapter in recent Philippine history that represents merciless disregard for the sacredness of human life, as well as the violent suppression of press freedom,” said presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo, who ironically was once one of the lawyers for the Ampatuans.
“This savage affront to human rights should never have duplication in this country’s history.”
Philippine press responses to the Ampatuan guilty verdicts. Image: David Robie/PMC
Editorial opinions cautious
However, most editorial opinion in the nation’s media and human rights groups greeted the “historic” judgment with caution.
“Justice at last, but …” summed up the headline on a Philippine Star editorial, warning “a victory has been achieved, but the pursuit of justice is far from over”. Said the Star:
“Amid the rejoicing are the disappointments and concerns about what might happen next. With 56 defendants cleared, including two members of the Ampatuan clan, there are valid concerns raised by the victims’ families that violence remains a serious threat in the clan’s turf.
“Most of the guns believed owned by the Ampatuans and their private army remain unaccounted for. The claim is believed to continue enjoying control over substantial funds and other assets.
“Harassment of witnesses, victims’ relatives and prosecution lawyers are possible. At least three witnesses were killed in the course of the trial.
“There are 80 suspects still to be brought to justice, and an appeals process that could take another decade to complete. There is the equally complicated task of going after the assets of the Ampatuan clan.
“There are other criminal cases – about 200 of them – still being pursued, including complaints for corruption and obstruction of justice, as well as cases related to the murders and disappearances of witnesses.”
‘Terrible crime’
The Philippine Daily Inquirer noted in an editorial that this daily newspaper – along with other media – had “faithfully reported on the terrible crime that thrust the Philippines squarely on the map for the single deadliest attack on journalists in the world.
“In bearing witness, we strived mightily to ‘piece together the bloody shards of the crime’, and to find the words to ‘approximate the horror’.”
But the Inquirer added that there were significant lessons to be learned – and acted upon – in spite of the hope stirred by Judge Solis-Reyes’ guilty verdicts, such as the “endless delay” caused by defence motions that reflected the “dismaying state of the judicial system”.
“And journalists and media workers remain in peril in the fast-shrinking democratic space.”
Philippine Star columnist Ana Marie Pamintuan described the Ampatuan clan as “Monsters Inc.” and was candid in a wide-ranging article about the challenges ahead after the judgment.
One challenge is to “catch the 80 suspects who remain at large and bring them to justice”. Another is the expected “spirited fight for their acquittal” on appeal for those who were convicted.
“Let’s hope the road to final judgment won’t take another 10 years,” warned Pamintuan.
Another huge challenge is the legal fight to have the Ampatuans’ massive wealth forfeited by the state, and payment of civil damages to the victims’ families.
Property freeze orders
Freeze orders have been issues by the courts on bank accounts, real estate property and other identified assets of the Ampatuan clan.
“Prosecutors believe, however, that substantial amounts of cash have been stashed away by the clan the old fashioned way – not in banks where there is a paper trail, but perhaps in boxes, chests or baul [a Tagalog word meaning a traditional clothes trunk], buried somewhere or concealed within walls the way South American narcos do with their mountains of dirty money,” says Pamintuan.
“In one of the poorest regions in the country, the Ampatuans thrived, driving around in convoys of luxury vehicles with their private armies, living it up in fortified mansions. How do local executives in third-class municipalities and impoverished provinces, with their modest salaries, manage to accumulate that kind of wealth?”
The last challenge – and probably the toughest – is how to “eliminate the environment that creates monsters and breeds impunity”?
Etta Rosales, former chair of the Philippine Commission on Human Rights, described the Mindanao environment as like the “wild, wild west”, warning it remained “compromised injustice” until the private armies and political dynasties were rooted out.
While the Ampatuan massacre remains the worst example of this environment, there are many other regions of the Philippines where the local population are ruled by patronage and fear.
The implications for press freedom in the Philippines have not been lost on students and tertiary journalism schools.
‘Already afraid’
Writing on Rappler, Diwa Donato, a political science graduate from Saint Louis University, Baguio City, who has dedicated 13 years of her life to campus journalism as an advocate for youth empowerment, press freedom and democracy, says she will never forget the day of the massacre.
She was aged 10 at the time – and she was “already afraid to continue my dream of pursuing journalism”.
“The Philippines remains one of the deadliest countries for journalists in Southeast Asia,” she says.
“The fight of professional journalism will always be the fight of campus journalism. We celebrate the Ampatuan massacre verdict, hope for justice, and continue to address the struggles of press freedom.
“For now, democracy and press freedom have won. But we do not fight to win, we fight to be free. There is more to be done.”
NUJP chair Nonoy Espina talks to CNN Philippines in a live interview.
Image: CNN Philippines screenshot/David Robie
National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) chair Nonoy Espina also fears for the future.
“The culture of impunity for crimes against journalists means that massacres like the one in Ampatuan can happen again,” he says. “Without justice, the bloodshed will continue.”
The NUJP played a key role in independent investigations and keeping a watch on government, also sponsoring family members of slain journalists to get to Manila for the trial.
Ruthless warlords
The Ampatuans were the warlords of Maguindanao and the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
“Even Andal Ampatuan Jr’s ruthlessness and sociopathic violence served a purpose,” admits Pamintuan. “Cops and soldiers who were assigned to the ARMM talk of the Islamic separatists being terrified of incurring the ire of Andal Jr because of his reported propensity to decapitate and mutilate anyone who crossed him.”
“There are other political warlords still out there – running their own fiefdoms like gangsters, naming streets and villages and government projects after their family members, freely using public money for private purposes and controlling every aspect of the local criminal justice system.”
Yes, a victory, but the fight to end impunity in the Philippines has just begun.
Professor David Robie, director of the Pacific Media Centre, has been in the Philippines on a research sabbatical.
A primary school in East Gippsland was burnt down in the current bushfire crisis. While Premier Daniel Andrews immediately committed to rebuilding the school as it was, media reported the local CFA captain didn’t want it rebuilt.
Screen Shot from abc.net.au.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-15/bushfire-destroys-clifton-creek-primary-school-gippsland/11860490
Public support for rebuilding in the same disaster affected places is often high. But as fire-fighting agencies are aware, our bushfires are increasing in size, intensity and duration, and a warming climate will continue to worsen these factors. We need to start being more strategic about where we rebuild homes and facilities lost to fire, and how.
Rush now, regret later
As there are sadly many people without homes and many businesses that have suffered lost income from reduced tourism and other activities, urgency in such a response seems reasonable.
But there’s a risk that rebuilding the same buildings in the same areas may not mitigate the current risks or any future risks under new climate scenarios – existing and new communities will be vulnerable. Planning can assist with managing future bushfire risks by helping decide where homes, buildings and infrastructure should be located.
Importantly, we must not rush to rebuild the same buildings in the same location. We need to consider risks from natural hazards in these bushfire prone areas such as ember attack, radiant heat, flammable building materials and safe evacuation routes.
If homes and some community buildings, such as schools, are located in areas that are too risky and likely to be lost in future bushfires then we need to consider our options. These may include changing the land use zoning to allow only lower-risk buildings (for industrial rather than residential use), or increasing building requirements for bushfire protection.
Cobargo, NSW after bushfires tore through the town in December.AAP/Sean Davey
Before commencing rebuilding, planning agencies need to plan how communities can be made resilient and if there is opportunity to use the affected land for houses designed with the highest bushfire attack level or shops or offices with higher fire ratings.
Alternatively, planning agencies can choose to use cleared land adjacent to high bushfire risk as parks or roads to provide additional separation between buildings and vegetation.
Organisations involved in planning need to focus on increasing the separation between buildings and vegetation, as well as additional fire safety measures for buildings.
How to rebuild
We need to consider increased construction standards for buildings to better protect them against bushfires — things like fire resistant walls, thicker glass and metal screens for windows, non-combustible roofs and access to water to fight fires.
However these provide only some protection. Buildings may continue to be lost in future bushfires, so what we construct in these areas needs to be reconsidered.
Options to rebuild in high risk areas should include buildings that are seen as low risk to human life and livelihoods such as storage or warehouse-style buildings and light industrial buildings. Owners of these buildings may need to accept they may be lost to bushfire.
Buildings that contain large numbers of people that need assistance during bushfires such as schools, aged care and hospitals should be located with extensive separation from bushfire risk, as well as with increased construction standards with multiple evacuation routes.
High-risk areas could be used as parks. This could also increase the separation between vegetation and dwellings.from www.shutterstock.com
The speed and intensity of recent fires shows there may be less time to evacuate under existing and future disaster conditions, so continuing to build in high hazard prone areas may no longer be appropriate.
A new national planning policy should guide the states in considering the exposure of communities to these hazards and their capacity to respond, such as evacuation routes, distance to refuge centres and distance from fire services.
A national policy
Before we rush to rebuild our homes, roads and infrastructure we need to review planning policies and bushfire hazard maps produced by state fire services and have their involvement in future decision making around this area.
We need a national bushfire planning policy to address risk that crosses state boundaries and to provide a consistent approach to identifying where communities can locate and what activities can occur in high risk areas.
Australian sea lions are in trouble. Their population has never recovered from the impact of the commercial sealing that occurred mainly in the 19th century.
Low-lying rock islands and outcrops make important breeding sites for Australian sea lions but many are threatened by sea-level rise.J. Hodgson
Currently, the Australian sea lion is a threatened species (listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature or IUCN) with the population estimated at 10,000 – 12,000. More than 80% of these animals live in the coastal waters of South Australia, where their numbers are estimated to have fallen by more than half over the past 40 years.
The sea lions’ survival is threatened by many factors, including bycatch in commercial fisheries, entanglement in marine debris and impacts related to climate change.
With time running out, the sea lions’ survival depends on informed management. One important step is to establish a low-risk way of quickly assessing the health of the current population. The results could help us identify how to stop the population declining.
One common way to get a quick idea of an animal’s health is to assess its body using a measure equivalent to the body mass index (BMI) for humans, which is calculated from a person’s mass divided by the square of their height. But using a tape measure and scales to obtain the size and mass of Australian sea lions is time consuming, costly and involves risky anaesthesia of endangered animals.
With our colleagues Dirk Holman and Aleks Terauds, we recently developed a technique to non-invasively estimate the body condition of Australian sea lions by using a drone to collect high-resolution photos of sedated sea lions. We then used the photos to digitally reconstruct a 3D model of each animal to estimate its length, width and overall volume – and compared these to physical measurements.
Drone-captured photographs were processed to create 2D mosaics of images and 3D models. These were used to measure area and volume, both of which approximated animal mass.J. Hodgson
The measurements were accurate, and we found a strong correlation between the mass of an individual and the area and volume measurements derived from the drone pictures. These are the key ingredients needed to assess sea lion condition without handling animals.
Conserving an iconic species
While simple body condition measurements have limitations, they are useful for conservation because they provide rapid health insights across a species’ range.
Australian sea lions breed at around 80 known sites spanning more than 3,000 km of southern Australian coastline within the Great Southern Reef.
Our technique can be used to study free-ranging animals at colonies across this range, from Kangaroo Island in South Australia to the Houtman Abrolhos Islands in Western Australia, and test for differences in condition.
3D models of animals measured in the study.J. Hodgson
This can give us valuable information about how individual health and colony trends in abundance are related. For example, if a colony is in decline and its members are in poor condition, it could be that factors such as food availability and disease are driving the decline.
However, if there is no difference in the condition of animals from declining and recovering colonies, then declines may be due to direct human impacts such as bycatch in commercial fisheries and entanglement in marine debris. We could then target the most likely threats identified using this technique to better understand their impact and how to protect the sea lions against them.
These two adult male Australian sea lions differed by just 11 cm in length but more than 130 kg in mass.J. Hodgson
This technique could be used to complete a population-wide survey of Australian sea lion condition and help ensure the species’ survival. It would build on past mitigation measures which include successfully reducing by-catch from gillnet fishing along the sea floor.
Australian sea lions are an icon of Australia’s Great Southern Reef. As an important top-order predator in these coastal waters, they are indicators of ocean health. Understanding and mitigating the causes of their decline will not only help the species recover, but it will also help to ensure the unique coastal ecosystems on which Australian sea lions depend remain intact and functional.
It’s hard to estimate the eventual economic cost of Australia’s 2019-20 megafires, partly because they are still underway, and partly because it is hard to know the cost to attribute to deaths and the decimation of species and habitats, but it is easy to get an idea of its significance – the cost will be unprecedented.
The deadliest bushfires in the past 200 years took place in 1851, then 1939, then 1983, 2009, now 2019-20. The years between them are shrinking rapidly. Only a remote grassfire in central Australia in 1974-75 rivalled them in terms of size, although not in terms of material burnt or loss of life.
The term “megafire” is a new one, defined in the early 2000s to help describe disturbing new wildfires emerging in the United States – massive blazes, usually above 400,000 hectares, often joining up, that create more than usual destruction to life and property.
Australia’s current fires dwarf the US fires that inspired the term.
They are 25 times the size of Australia’s deadliest bushfires, the 2009 Black Saturday fires in Victoria that directly killed 173 people, and are so large and intense that they create their own weather in which winds throw embers 30 kilometres or more ahead of the front and pyro-cumulus clouds produce dry lightning that ignites new fires.
The Black Saturday fires burnt 430,000 hectares. The current fires have killed fewer people but have so far burnt 10.7 million hectares – an area the size of South Korea, or Scotland and Wales combined.
There are easy-to-measure costs…
The federal government has promised to put at least A$2 billion into a National Bushfire Recovery Fund, which is roughly the size of the first estimate of the cost of the fires calculated by Terry Rawnsley of SGS Economics and Planning.
He put the cost at somewhere between A$1.5 and $2.5 billion, using his firm’s modelling of the cost of the NSW Tathra fires in March 2018 as a base.
It’s the total of the lost income from farm production, tourism and the like.
Final Report, 2019 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission
It came up with an estimate for tangible costs of A$4.369 billion, which after inflation would be about $5 billion in today’s dollars.
… and harder-to-measure costs
Tangible costs are those easily measured including the cost of replacing things such as destroyed homes, contents and vehicles.
They also include the human lives lost, which were valued at A$3.7 million per life (2009 dollars) in accordance with a Commonwealth standard.
The measure didn’t include the effect of injuries and shortened lives due to smoke-related stroke and cardiovascular and lung diseases, or damage to species and habitats, the loss of livestock, grain and feed, crops, orchards and national and local parks.
Also excluded were “intangibles”, among them the social costs of mental health problems and unemployment and increases in suicide, substance abuse, relationship breakdowns and domestic violence.
Deloitte put the tangible costs of the Black Saturday fires at A$3.1 billion in 2015 dollars and the intangible costs at more than that again: A$3.9 billion, producing a total of A$7 billion, which would be A$7.6 billion in today’s dollars.
Black Saturday is a staring point
2009 Victoria Black Saturday bushfires.ANDREW BROWNBILL/AAP
This season’s megafires are, so far, less costly than the 2009 Victorian fires in terms of human life, roughly on par in terms of lost homes, and less costly for other structures.
But given that considerably more land has been burnt we can expect other costs to eclipse those of Black Saturday.
As of today, 25 times as much land has been burnt.
Scaling up the royal commission’s Black Saturday figures for the size of the fire and scaling them down for the fewer deaths and other things that shouldn’t be scaled up produces an estimate of tangible costs of A$103 billion in today’s dollars.
The Deloitte Access Economics ratio of intangible to tangible costs suggests a total for both types of costs of A$230 billion.
As it happens, the tangible costs estimate is close to an estimate of A$100 billion prepared using different methods by University of Queensland economist John Quiggin.
Each year more than 24,000 Australians experience a sudden cardiac arrest. This means their heart unexpectedly stops beating. A cardiac arrest leads to loss of consciousness and will result in death if not recognised and treated immediately.
So in the instance of a cardiac arrest, in the time before emergency services arrive, help from members of the public can be critical in saving a person’s life.
Many cases of cardiac arrest occur in older people due to underlying heart disease. But cardiac arrest can occur with little or no warning in people who were previously well, including children and young adults. This can be due to heart disease or cardiac rhythm disorders that may be undiagnosed.
Immediate treatment involves CPR. CPR is not the cure, but can save a person’s life by maintaining some blood flow to vital organs until the underlying cause of the cardiac arrest can be treated.
Most cases of cardiac arrest are a result of heart disease that can produce a sudden disruption to the heart’s normal rhythm. Resuscitation in these cases depends on the use of a defibrillator to deliver a calculated electrical current or “shock” through electrodes applied to the patient’s chest. This aims to return the heart to a normal rhythm, which is essential to restore blood flow from the heart.
First aid training includes learning how to operate a defibrillator.From shutterstock.com
Defibrillators in public places
A paramedic or other first responder has traditionally performed defibrillation. But there can be a delay from the time of the emergency call to the arrival of emergency service personnel, due to factors like the location of the incident and traffic conditions.
Public health initiatives to reduce the time to defibrillation have installed automated external defibrillators (AED) in public places. These devices are designed to be used by members of the public without prior training.
The number of AEDs in public spaces has increased significantly in the past few years. AEDs are now commonly found in workplaces and public spaces such as airports, casinos, sporting venues, and shopping centres. Both Woolworths and Coles have recently installed AEDs in stores across Australia.
Bystanders can save more lives
Research shows a marked improvement in survival from cardiac arrest in the past two decades. One study reviewed cases of cardiac arrest in adults attended by Ambulance Victoria from 2000 to 2017 to examine trends in the number of survivors.
This research found an eight-fold increase in patients shocked by bystanders where the cardiac arrest occurred in a public place, from 2.9% in 2000-2002 to 23.5% in 2015-2017. Compared to patients in cardiac arrest shocked by paramedics, those shocked in the first instance by bystanders had double the chance of surviving to hospital discharge (55.5% versus 28.8%).
These results are consistent with international research, which shows defibrillation by members of the public using AEDs is associated with significantly improved chances of survival.
The Heart Foundation found 70% of adults would be willing to use an AED to help someone in an emergency. But only about one-third of respondents would feel confident doing so.
The need to reduce time to CPR as well as the need to quickly locate and operate AEDs in an emergency has led to the development of smartphone apps that enable members of the public to register as volunteer responders.
A screenshot from the GoodSAM app.Author provided
One of the most widely used apps in Australia and New Zealand is GoodSAM (Smartphone Activated Medics), which Ambulance Victoria has recently integrated with its emergency call-taking and dispatch system.
This app allows people with approved first aid or emergency health-care qualifications to register as a responder. Ambulance services that have integrated GoodSAM within their dispatch systems can alert a registered GoodSAM responder at the same time an ambulance is dispatched. So the responder receives the location of the suspected cardiac arrest – as well as the location of the nearest AED – often enabling care prior to the arrival of emergency services.
A map of the GoodSAM responders around Melbourne as of November 2019.GoodSAM, Author provided
Both the South Australian Ambulance Service and NSW Ambulance Service are planning to follow Victoria and integrate the app into their operations. In order to save more lives, all state ambulance services should fully integrate GoodSAM with their ambulance dispatch systems.
And what can you do? Everyone who is able to should undertake first aid and CPR training. If you have the relevant training, I would urge you to sign up to GoodSAM. You never know when you may be able to save a life.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria O’Sullivan, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, and Deputy Director, Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, Monash University
When Australians pay their income tax, they assume the money is going to areas of the community that need it, rather than being used by the government to shore up votes for the next election.
This is why the findings of the Australian National Audit Office into the awarding of community sporting grants by cabinet minister Bridget McKenzie are serious. Not merely for the grant funding process, but also for trust in our system of government.
What did the report find?
The Community Sport Infrastructure Grant Program was established in 2018 to ensure more Australians have access to quality sporting facilities, encouraging greater community participation in sport and physical activity.
The Audit Office was asked to examine this grant program to assess whether the award of funding “was informed by an appropriate assessment process and sound advice”. The focus was therefore on whether proper procedures were followed.
The report was extremely critical of the way in which the A$100 million in sporting grants were awarded by Minister McKenzie ahead of last year’s election campaign.
It found successful applications were “not those that had been assessed as the most meritorious” and that there was “distributional bias” in the way projects were approved. The problem is many of the grants were awarded to bodies within marginal seats or seats the Coalition wanted to win.
This is a serious matter because it represents a politicisation of a grant system which is supposed to be undertaken on merit.
What does this mean for the government?
The fact the Audit Office has made this finding is important. But what happens now and what will the consequences be? Will there be an investigation? If so, by whom?
Importantly, the Audit Office is an independent body. In the absence of a federal integrity commission, it has a significant role to play in ensuring government funds are spent for proper purposes. A central part of the role of the Audit Office is to uncover and report on fraud and corruption in government decisions. But it does not have coercive powers and its report does not have any direct legal effect on Senator McKenzie.
If there is to be a further investigation of this matter, it’s likely to be taken up by a parliamentary forum such as Senate Estimates. What is more significant are the consequences of the Audit report.
Legal consequences
The first point to understand is that the direct legal consequences of the Audit Office finding are minimal. The report made four recommendations for future reform of the sporting grant procedure. While the Audit Office is very well-regarded by decision makers and commands respect, it is not a court. Therefore its recommendations are not binding and can be ignored by government.
What is more significant are the legal implications of the Audit report.
Here the problem is the Audit Office found the minister did not have legal authority to approve the grants in the first place. This is because the legal power to approve the sporting grants is actually given to Sport Australia (under the Australian Sports Commission Act 1989).
That legislation says the minister can give written directions to Sport Australia in relation to the exercise of its powers. But Senator McKenzie actually made the decisions on the grants (rather than merely give written directions to Sport Australia).
This is, however, somewhat of a theoretical argument as it is unlikely anyone will be able to bring this matter to court to invalidate the grant decisions made. Given community sporting groups who were disadvantaged by the improper grant process are community groups in need of funding, it’s unlikely they will be in a position to bring an expensive legal action.
Political consequences
It’s therefore likely the consequences of this report will be political rather than legal.
Here the political convention of “ministerial responsibility” should, ideally, come into play. This gives effect to the broader principle that the Australian people give authority and power to elected politicians and those politicians must be accountable for their actions.
This means McKenzie could be asked to resign. However, the Senator has indicated she will not resign, saying “no rules were broken” and she was given discretionary powers “for a purpose” in the program’s guidelines.
And this is one of the problems with ministerial responsibility today: it largely depends on whether the relevant party feel it’s politically necessary to pressure the relevant minister to stand down.
The current strength of this principle in modern Australia has been questioned, with many saying it’s no longer effective. For instance, journalist Tony Wright wrote in 2019:
Ministerial responsibility in Canberra appears to have all but decayed to no responsibility.
So, there may be no political consequences in this matter at all.
Implications for Australian democracy
The Audit Office of Australia is a respected, independent institution and its findings this week should have consequences.
Trust in government, which should be central to a healthy democracy, is at an historical low in Australia. Governments need to make decisions which are transparent and fair. A government that bends the rules is a danger to the rule of law and to democracy.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Rowe, Emeritus Professor of Cultural Research, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University
It is the year of the Tokyo Olympics, and the International Olympic Committee was quickly out of the blocks with new guidelines regarding athlete protests.
The IOC is worried the biggest stories of the Games will be political gestures rather than sport performances, and so have introduced specific guidelines to prevent “any political messaging, including signs or armbands” and “gestures of a political nature, like a hand gesture or kneeling” during play, opening and closing ceremonies, medal ceremonies, and at the Olympic village.
The IOC has historically shown greater anxiety around the commercial arrangements of athletes, protecting its sponsors. But the rise of the activist athlete now looms as the more immediate threat to the IOC’s image and bank account.
Most Olympians are not household names. But they can become so by taking advantage of the rare moments when the world’s cameras and microphones are within easy reach. No wonder the IOC’s (mostly) elected Athletes’ Commission is keen to ensure athletes do not give in to the “desire to drive change” and “use the platform of an appearance at the Olympic Games to make [their] point”.
The problem for the IOC is that submitting to this temptation is burnt into Olympic iconography.
The Olympic movement has always claimed to be a unifying force – but bringing the athletes of the world together inevitably means they bring along their politics, too.
1906: Irish independence
Peter O’Connor competing at the 1906 Olympic games.Irish National Archive
One of the first documented protests at the modern Olympics was Irish athlete Peter O’Connor’s rejection of having to compete under the Union Jack in Athens. After winning the silver medal in the long jump, O’Connor was expected to stand under the British flag at the medal ceremony.
Instead, O’Connor climbed the flag pole and waved the Irish flag.
1964–1988: The ban on apartheid-era South Africa
In the face of multiple threatened boycotts by nations and athletes opposed to South Africa’s refusal to allow black athletes to compete at the Olympics, the country was banished from Olympic sport for over two decades.
It is widely believed that such sporting bans helped weaken apartheid before its official abandonment in 1991.
1968: Black power
Raised fists for black power on the podium after the 200m race.Wikimedia
One of most famous Olympic images is of the raised arm, black power demonstration on the podium at the Mexico Olympics by African-American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos.
They were silently supported by Australian runner Peter Norman, who was wearing an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge.
Smith and Carlos were sent home and Norman was ostracised by International and Australian Olympic authorities. He received a posthumous apology in the federal parliament.
1980 and 1984: Cold War boycotts
The cover of American magazine Newsweek in January, 1980.
Seven Olympics have been boycotted, but the most prominent were the tit-for-tat boycotts of the Moscow and Los Angeles games by Eastern and Western blocs after the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Ironically, these boycotts were driven by nation-states, not protest groups.
2008: pro-Tibet demonstrations
Pro-Tibet protesters as the Olympic torch was carried through Paris.Ian Langsdon/EPA
The lead up to the Beijing Olympics was marked by protests against China’s treatment of Tibet as the Olympic torch relay proceeded across continents towards the host city. This was a public relations disaster at a time when China was trying to present a more liberal face to the world.
2014: LGBTQI colours
When Vladimir Putin’s Russia was trying to improve its image via the Sochi Winter Olympics, it only drew attention to its homophobic laws and treatment of LGBTQI people. Suddenly, rainbow colours began appearing on the bodies and clothes of Olympians.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meeting with Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee.EPA/KCNA
IOC President Thomas Bach, a strong critic of athlete protests at Olympic venues, was more than happy to play a very political game over North Korean involvement in the PyeonChang (South Korea) Winter Olympics, meeting Leader Kim Jong Un and lobbying the UN to lift sanctions against sports equipment in North Korea.
2020: Towards Tokyo
The Athletes’ Commission has expressed concern other athletes will be the main victims of those who protest alongside them.
Despite the threat of disciplinary action for protesting at the venue – including being stripped of a medal – some committed activist athletes may be willing to pay the price for taking the knee, painting their finger nails in politically meaningful colours or, like Australian swimmer Mack Horton last July, refusing to share the podium with a competitor who has been previously banned for doping.
According to the guidelines, expressing political views – which are differentiated from “protests and demonstrations” – can only take place at media conferences, team meetings and on traditional and social media. Freedom of political speech is still permitted, but not where it is closest to the action and attracting maximum attention.
At the Tokyo Olympics, climate change, racism, homophobia, refugees and other urgent political issues will weigh heavily on the consciences of athletes.
Their decisions to accept or invert political protocol will have a major bearing on how this latest chapter of the Olympic story will be told around the globe.
Will this be the silent athlete Olympics, or one where human rights voices are raised on the podium?
The argument is this: gay sex alone can’t produce children, and for traits to evolve, they have to be passed onto children, who get some form of competitive advantage from them.
From this perspective, some argue homosexuality should not have evolved.
In a paper published yesterday by myself and Duke University professor Brian Hare, we propose human sexuality (including homosexuality) evolved as an outcome of the evolution of increased sociability in humans.
We argue many of the evolutionary forces that shaped human sexuality were social, rather than based on reproductive ability.
This is our “sociosexual hypothesis” for the evolution of gay sex and attraction.
Sex for bonding
For humans, and many other animals, sex is not just about reproduction.
Bonobos and chimpanzees share about 99.6% of their DNA with humans.shutterstock
We shouldn’t limit our thinking about the evolution of sex to its reproductive functions. We must also consider its social functions.
Based on the social behaviour of primates (and other social mammals), we argue our species’ recent cognitive and behavioural evolution was driven by natural selection favouring traits that allowed better social integration. This is called prosociality.
Early humans that could quickly and easily access the benefits of group living had a strong selective advantage. We believe this led to the evolution of a whole range of traits including reduced aggression, increased communication, understanding, social play and affiliation.
Species such as the bonobo, that evolved for high prosociality, evolved to use sexual behaviour in many social contexts. This results in an increase of sex in general, greater diversity in the contexts of sex, and an increase in gay sex.
We believe something similar happened in recent human evolution. Gay sex and attraction may have evolved because individuals with a degree of same-sex attraction benefited from greater social mobility, integration and stronger same-sex social bonds.
However, our argument addresses the early evolution of human sexuality, not how relatively recent phenomena like religion and religion-based legal structures have responded to sexual minorities.
Our hypothesis predicts that bisexuality and people who identify as “mostly straight” should be more common than people who identify as exclusively gay, and this is the case.
We quite randomly inherit half our genes from each parent. Each person’s genetic makeup is unique, so it would be highly unlikely to find two people with exactly the same set of genes influencing their sexuality.
Thus, variation is expected, and individuals fall along a spectrum ranging from a majority who are straight, to a minority who identify as gay.
Our hypothesis for the evolution of homosexuality would predict this kind of variation in human sexuality, and can help explain why it is generally stable across cultures.
We believe sexuality is a highly complex trait, interwoven with sociality. Attraction, sexual behaviour, social bonds and desire all contribute to its complexity.
Asking the right questions
Height is another feature influenced by hundreds of genes, many of which interact with our external environments in complex ways.
We see a continuous variation in human height – some very tall and very short people exist.
We might draw on nutritional ecology to explore the evolution of human height, but would not feel the need to introduce special evolutionary arguments to explain the existence of tall or short people.
No special explanation is necessary. They are simply exhibiting natural, genetically influenced variations in height.
Similarly, we think asking how gay sex and attraction evolved is the wrong question.
A more useful question to ask is: how did human sexuality evolve in all its forms?
In doing do, we acknowledge homosexuality does not present a paradox needing a special explanation. It is simply a result of our species’ recent sociosexual evolution.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassandra Cross, Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Law, Cybersecurity Cooperative Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology
There’s been an overwhelming outpouring of love and support around the world for those impacted by the bushfires, from social-media donation drives to music concerts to authors auctioning off their books.
Sadly, but unsurprisingly, we’ve also seen a number of scams directed at those who want to help, as well as victims of the fires.
In recent days, the ACCC set up a hotline dedicated to the reporting of scams associated with the bushfire crisis. The agency notes some 86 scams have been reported since the fires started in September – and counting.
While it’s difficult to believe offenders would seek to profit from other people’s generosity and heartache, this is entirely to be expected.
In 2018, Australians lost over A$489.7 million to fraud. While a large part of this was through investment and romance fraud schemes ($146.5 million), Australians were also cheated out of A$210,000 in charity frauds. This increased to over A$400,000 in 2019.
The key element to fraud is lying for financial gain. Offenders will use whatever means possible to manipulate and deceive people into giving them money. This can involve obtaining money directly from a person, or by convincing victims to provide personal information to get cash through identity theft.
In charity frauds, offenders sometimes use the legitimate name of an organisation or individual to secure donations from victims, or they might use the pretext of a natural disaster or other negative event to obtain cash.
Harnessing the goodwill of strangers
Fraudsters use natural disasters in a variety of ways. They take advantage of our sense of sympathy and desire to help victims struggling through terrible events unfolding before our eyes. They also convey a sense of urgency aimed at convincing people to immediately part with their cash.
Importantly, offenders also exploit the fact people are highly motivated during times of disaster to donate money they ordinarily would not consider giving.
Social media enables offenders to readily advertise their fraudulent schemes. With online fraud, it is often difficult for victims to authenticate email accounts, websites, individuals or organisations soliciting money. Offenders often create fake documentation to support their schemes, as well.
Social media can also be used by fraudsters in disinformation campaigns. As these posts are shared across platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, offenders can generate traction for their “charity” pitch before it is identified as fraud. By this stage, it can be too late.
Victims vulnerable in disaster recovery, too
It’s important to note the risk of fraud is not limited to the time of the actual disaster, or the immediate aftermath.
Many of those who have experienced loss or damage in the bushfires, for instance, face a long road to recovery and could be susceptible to scams at any time.
Research indicates negative life events can make a person more vulnerable to fraud. Those affected by the bushfires may find themselves the victims of fraudulent investment opportunities, romantic relationships and other schemes claiming to help them get their lives back on track.
For example, offenders may offer to assist with the negotiation of mortgage repayments with banks, obviously for a fee (large or small).
Protecting ourselves against fraud
There are steps people can take to protect themselves from scams as the bushfire crisis is unfolding – and into the future.
In the short term, it’s important to think about how we donate financially to those in need. There are many appeals that have been set up by registered charities and organisations (such as the Red Cross, the CFA, and the RFS). These are the safest ways to send money. Remember requests through social media channels and other platforms may not be genuine.
Importantly, the internet is not the only way offenders operate. Fraudsters still use the telephone and even face-to-face communication to collect money.
Only call organisations you have researched to donate money and always ask for identification from those door-knocking for donations. If in doubt, don’t feel pressured to say yes and simply hang up or walk away.
In the longer term, we also need to be aware fraudsters take advantage of people when they are isolated, so it’s important to rally around family members, friends and others who are facing significant losses and feeling alone.
We need to better understand how fraud works and acknowledge anyone can be targeted. We also need to be able to talk about our vulnerabilities more openly in our homes and communities.
Fraud is an ongoing challenge globally. The current Australian bushfire crisis is simply the latest way for fraudsters to target our generosity and cause additional grief.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Erin Smith, Associate Professor in Disaster and Emergency Response, School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University
Many firefighters will by now be exhausted, having been on the front line of Australia’s bushfire crisis for weeks or months.
This bushfire season has been unrelenting, and the hottest months of summer may still lie ahead.
In part, the toll is physical. The flames are high, they are intense, and they move fast. It’s hard to breathe because the air is so hot.
At the same time, first responders have witnessed widespread devastation. To land and livelihoods, to people and animals. Meanwhile, grief for the death of fellow firefighters feels raw, and the risk to their own lives very real.
We’re right to be concerned about firefighters’ mental health.
Emergency responders already have poorer mental health
Every 4.3 weeks, a firefighter, paramedic or police officer dies by suicide – and that’s when it’s “business as usual”.
Research shows our first responders are more likely to be diagnosed with a mental health condition than the overall Australian population. They are more than twice as likely to think about suicide, and three times as likely to have a suicide plan.
This paints a grim picture of the well-being of a population who dedicate their professional lives to helping others.
It’s likely responding to a disaster on the scale of the current bushfires could increase the risk of mental illness for some.
If firefighters are not coping, they may develop psychological disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, and substance abuse.
PTSD
PTSD develops when a person isn’t able to recover after experiencing a traumatic event.
Some firefighters may develop symptoms while they’re still fighting the fires. They may feel on edge, but push down their fears to get on with the job. However, it’s more likely symptoms will only appear weeks, months, even years down the track.
PTSD is associated with significant impairment in day-to-day functioning socially and at work. For firefighters and others with PTSD, typical symptoms or behaviours will include:
reliving the traumatic event. People with PTSD describe vivid images and terrifying nightmares of their experience
avoiding reminders of what happened. They may become emotionally numb and isolate themselves to avoid any triggers
being constantly tense and jumpy, always looking out for signs of danger.
Exhaustion is likely compounding the mental strain on firefighters.David Mariuz/AAP
Volunteers in regional communities are particularly susceptible to trauma. They have often joined fire brigades to help protect their own communities, and then face trying to save their own homes or those of neighbours and friends.
We also need to be mindful of retired firefighters for whom these current bushfires will have triggered painful and disturbing memories. They may not currently be on the front lines, but they only need to turn on the television, open the newspaper, or look at social media to be taken straight back to Black Saturday or whatever particular event is distressing for them.
The increased prevalence of mental health issues among emergency responders suggests many existing emergency service well-being programs are failing those who need them the most.
In Australia, these programs are largely based on a what’s called a “resilience model” that focuses on people “reaching out” and seeking help when they need it.
First responders may be unlikely to take this initiative in the middle of a mental health crisis, when it’s often a struggle even to pick up the phone to a loved one, friend or colleague.
Some firefighters might not reach out for help when they need it.Jacob Carracher, Author provided
Instead, we need an approach to well-being that removes the onus on the individual. We need to shift our thinking from a model that requires the individual to “reach out”, to a model that also values others “reaching in” to identify those who may be struggling.
Ambulance Victoria’s Peer Support Dog Program, which allows staff to bring in accredited dogs to create social interactions and conversations, is a good example of how “reaching in” helps with first responder well-being. This kind of approach empowers people through social connections and the appreciation they are also supporting others.
While employers need to do more in to facilitate “reach in” programs, anyone can create informal support networks. Whether friendship groups, community groups, sporting groups, or something else, the underlying thread should be a committment to each other’s well-being.
As we continue to contend with this crisis, ensuring firefighters feel supported can make a difference to their well-being. If you see a responder in the street, say thank you. If you see one in a cafe, shout them a cuppa. If you have kids, get them to write a letter or draw a picture and drop it off to the local emergency services station.
We can’t eliminate the risk firefighters will suffer with mental health problems after what they’ve been through, but these little acts of kindness can make a difference.
If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
In a fire-blackened landscape, signs of life are everywhere. A riot of red and green leaves erupt from an otherwise dead-looking tree trunk, and the beginnings of wildflowers and grasses peek from the crunchy charcoal below.
Much Australian flora has evolved to cope with fire, recovering by re-sprouting or setting seed. However, some plants are sensitive to fire, especially when fires are frequent or intense, and these species need our help to recover.
After announcing a A$50 million wildlife and habitat recovery package, the Morrison government recently met with Australia’s leading wildlife experts to steer recovery efforts.
Encouraging native flora to bounce back from these unprecedented fires requires targeted funding and actions to conserve and restore plants and ecological communities, including seed banking.
How do plants naturally recover from fire?
Many plants from fire-prone ecosystems have evolved strategies to survive, and even thrive, with fire. Some resprout after fire, with green shoots bursting from blackened stems. For others, fire stimulates flowering.
Some species are able to resprout from blackened stems following a fire.Lucy Commander, Author provided
Seeds may wait in woody fruits stored on the plant. The fruits’ hard capsules shield the seeds from the fire, but the heat opens the capsules, releasing seeds into the soil below.
We can capitalise on this natural recovery by not disturbing the soil where the seeds are scattered, not clearing “dead” plants which may resprout and provide shelter for remaining wildlife, including perches for birds who may bring in seeds.
We should also stop vegetation clearing, especially unburnt vegetation home to threatened species and communities.
Some species, like this Banksia, have woody fruits that protect the seeds, then open after fire to release them.Lucy Commander, Author provided
When do we need to intervene?
While Australian plants and ecosystems have evolved to embrace bushfires, there’s only so much drought and fire they can take.
Many plants and ecosystems, including alpine and rainforest species, are not resilient to fire, especially if drought persists or they have been burnt too frequently. Too frequent fires deplete the seed bank and put recovery at risk.
Fires which are intense and severe will outright kill other plants, or the plants will be very slow to recover – taking years or decades to reach maturity again. We need comprehensive monitoring to detect which species are not returning, with systematic field surveys starting immediately, and continuing after the first rains to identify which species emerge from the soil.
Some ecosystems are adapted to fire, with trees resprouting and seeds germinating from the soil seed bank. Even so, fencing and weed control may be required.Lucy Commander, Author provided
Invasive plants such as blackberry or veldt grass can also impede recovery after a fire by out-competing the natives. Feral herbivores – such as rabbits, goats and horses – can overgraze the native regrowth. So controlling the weeds and feral grazers with, for instance, temporary fencing and tree guards, is a priority post-fire.
And when ecosystems aren’t able to repair themselves, it’s up to us to intervene. For instance, land managers, supported by volunteer community groups, could sow seeds or plant seedlings in fire-affected areas. This act of restoring ecosystems can be an important healing process for those affected by the fires.
This means unburnt areas are at risk of over-collection from commercial and volunteer seed collectors. Stopping this from happening is possible, however. The agencies giving out permits for seed collection must record where seeds are being sourced and how much is collected. This ensures areas aren’t stripped of seeds, rendering them less resilient.
And what should we do if we lose a population of a threatened plant species? Establishing a new population or replacing a lost one using translocation is one option. Similar to capture-and-release or zoo breeding programs for reintroduction of threatened animals, translocation refers to deliberately moving plants or seeds to a new location.
How can we better prepare for next time?
With potentially more unprecedented bushfire seasons in our future, it’s important land managers are prepared.
They need data on the distribution of species and the fire frequency, severity and season they can tolerate. A nationwide database could identify which species and ecosystems are most at risk, and could be incorporated into fire and restoration planning – including seed collecting – to ensure plant material is available if species fail to recover.
Botanic gardens have a special role to play as many already have conservation seed banks of threatened species, and their living collections provide additional genetic material. Across Australia there is already a network of seed banks collaborating through the Australian Seed Bank Partnership that collect, store and undertake research to better support plant conservation.
A restoration seed bank in Utah, USA. These banks hold huge amounts of seeds, but the Australian equivalents operate on a smaller scale.Lucy Commander
However, restoration seed banks operate on a much larger scale than botanic gardens, and it’s important both approaches are conducted collaboratively. We need more ongoing investment in seed banks, particularly for threatened species and ecosystems least likely to recover from repeat fires like rainforests. Investment in skilled staff to run them is also critical, as well as national guidelines for seed use and training programs for staff and volunteers.
The recent bushfires will push many plant species to their limits. If we want to keep these species around – and the animals depend on them for food and habitat – we need to monitor their recovery and intervene where necessary.
We are being asked to do work experience this year, in a field we might like to work in. We are being asked to think about choosing electives that are directing us towards our career choices.
I have no idea what I want to do! I haven’t yet found anything I am particularly good at. I feel like I am being left behind. That others are making choices about their lives that I am not prepared for yet. Is this normal?
Lachlan, year 10
Key points
Many young people feel this way – it is normal!
locking yourself into one career path too early can be risky
it’s important to be flexible and learn transferable skills
ask lots of questions from people around you.
Hi Lachlan, many young people feel undecided about their career pathway. One study found around one in five teenagers were uncertain about a clear career goal.
The questions you ask are about more than just which subjects to choose in the last years of school. They point towards the bigger decision about what sort of person you want to become. And that is a big decision to make all at once.
Careers advisors, teachers and parents often talk about career choice as a matter of logical decision-making and planning, but it also involves feelings, imagination and knowledge about yourself and the world.
These are constantly evolving so it isn’t surprising you feel confused.
It’s important to be flexible
You say some of your friends already have clear ideas about their futures. But being too rigid can be just as risky as not having a decision. If you set your career sights too narrow, or too early, on just one type of career you might not have a back-up plan.
What happens if it doesn’t work out? Does that mean you will feel like a failure before you even start? You might miss out on possibilities that don’t fit that narrow vision but that might suit you perfectly.
Watch Tim Minchin explain to students at his old university why “You don’t have to have a dream.”
Some research suggests today’s graduates will average five separate careers and around 17 different employers in their working life. This means an important skill these days is the ability to adapt.
The careers you have in the future might be quite different from each other, drawing on new skills and interests developed over time. Changes might happen because a workplace closes, or a new career becomes possible, or you want to move or develop a new interest.
So while having a good idea about you want to do will give you a goal to work towards, it is important to be flexible too. Think of plans as provisional. Be ready to adjust your thinking and recalibrate them as you get more experience.
Develop short-term, medium and long-term goals. You’ll find great resources to help with this at Headspace.
Learning your interests takes time
You say you don’t know what you’re good at yet. That’s OK too. Learning to recognise your skills, interests and values takes time. Talking to other people can help including friends, family, people you know through sport or other communities you are part of.
School subjects don’t test some of the important skills for a successful working life, such as the ability to get along with different people or flexible thinking, so you may not know you have them yet.
It is helpful to think about clusters of jobs that draw on similar sets of skills. Particular skills (such as attention to detail) or interests (such as working outdoors or caring for others) can translate from one area into another.
Work experience in customer service or retail sales will develop your skills in communicating with other people, being organised and understanding record-keeping. These are building blocks for success in many other careers.
Learning skills in one context that you can carry to a different one means you are adaptable – one of most important qualities for success. The more you can learn on the job, no matter which job it is, the better off you will be.
Watch Eddie Woo explaining why “the advice to follow your passion is a terrible idea…”
There are many pathways
Many young people may choose to pursue a career they already know. Perhaps a friend or family member already does this sort of work. That’s a great start but it can also be limiting.
Many careers have changed in recent years. Some are disappearing while new careers are always on the horizon, so going with something a parent does may not be suitable anymore. Some of the fastest growing career areas include the personal care (such as aged care), health and technology sectors.
Take every opportunity your school offers to explore the world of work. There might be industry tasters, VET immersion days, career expos or fairs, presentations, mentoring programs, workplace and university visits, or school-university partnership programs.
When it comes to subject selection, you might decide to combine vocational training with mainstream academic subjects that will help you work towards a university course.
There are also pathway courses and alternative entry programs into univesities if you don’t quite get into what you want. There is no decision now that will lock you in to only one possibility for your future. Do stay at school though as that will set you up well for whatever comes in the future. Keep your options open.
My Future has fantastic resources including quizzes that will help learn more about what might suit you. You can also match up school subjects with career pathways.
Work experience is a good way to develop skills
The work experience you do at school need not match exactly what you will end up doing in the future, but it gives a great taste of full-time work.
Most young people find it is the most useful career related activity they do at school because it is hands on and puts them in direct contact with employers.
Try for something that draws on some of your current interests and skills, but remember this is an opportunity to try things out. A good report from an employer about your willingness to learn might be really helpful in lots of ways, including helping you get part-time work so you can continue to increase your experiences and responsibilities.
I Need to Know is our series for teens in search of reliable, confidential advice about life’s tricky questions. Here are some questions we’ve already answered.
There has already been a fair number of jobs lost to automation over recent decades – from factory workers to bank tellers.
In the coming decade we might see radically larger numbers of jobs lost to automation, thanks to advances in machine learning and other technologies.
Two areas are transport and retail.
In transport, tech company TuSimple has for months been testing autonomous trucks for UPS (the world’s largest delivery company). The trucks, hauling freight between Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, still have a human behind the wheel for safety, but it’s only a matter of time before they become redundant.
In supermarkets, meanwhile, the shift from checkout operators to self-service will be soon be followed by eliminating the checkout system – and attendants – entirely.
I have no doubt in the next 10 years, customers will be able to take the product off the shelf, put it in their basket, walk out and have it all paid for.
Given the concentration of the Australian grocery industry – with Coles, Woolworths, Aldi and IGA having about 80% market share – this could happen in a lot of outlets in a short space of time.
The technology for this already exists. Amazon has been trialling its “no-checkout” Amazon Go technology at more than 20 Amazon-owned convenience stores in major US cities. Customers can walk into an Amazon Go store, “swipe in” with the app on their phone, pick up what they want and then simply walk out.
How it works exactly only Amazon knows, but it seems to involve sensors that identify what you’ve picked and artificial intelligence calculating what you’re likely to pick up based on previous purchases. Those who have used it say it works remarkably well.
The argument against worrying about automation is that it’s always easier to identify the jobs likely to be lost than the new ones that will emerge.
There’s some truth to this. Who knew in 1995, for example, that “social media manager” would be a job 20 years later?
It’s also true the invention of the printing press and the mechanical plough destroyed jobs. But they also created more, as have many other innovations over the past 200 years.
But there are two reasons to be concerned – reasons I explore in a forthcoming book with co-author Rosalind Dixon.
The first is that this time really looks to be different in terms of scale. It has been estimated up to 14% of jobs in OECD countries are highly subject to automation, and a further 32% could face significant changes to how they are carried out.
The second is the jobs created by automation might not be suited to the people who lose their jobs. The cashier replaced by an automated checkout is unlikely to be qualified to work on the artificial intelligence technology that created it.
This has been true in the past to a degree, but a factory labourer who lost their job could at least move into the services sector. They were not be paid as well – a very real issue – but at least they could find another job without signficant reskilling.
You know, Joey, a job is about a lot more than a pay cheque. It’s about dignity, it’s about respect. It’s about your place in the community.
That means the proper response to automation has to be serious retraining to give people the skills to get a new job.
If that is not enough, it may mean the government providing jobs.
This kind of jobs guarantee is being talked about by mainstream economists and centrist politicians for the first time since the 1930s, when it formed a key part of the US government’s New Deal response to the Great Depression through the Works Progress Administration.
If the automation of the 2020s turns out to be a “robocalypse” of self-driving cars, automated baristas and AI-driven professional services, it might indeed be needed.
Be prepared
As US baseball great Yogi Bera said: “It’s hard to make predictions, especially about the future.” But we’ve seen enough evidence of an automation revolution driven by machine learning and big data to know we need to be prepared.
That means thinking now about a range of policies to provide people with work but not give up on the power of markets.
Estimates of the economic damage caused by the bushfires are rolling in, some of them big and some unprecedented, as is the scale of the fires themselves.
These types of estimates will be refined and used to make – or break – the case for programs to limit the impact of similar disasters in the future. Some will be used to make a case for – or against – action on climate change.
But it’s important they not be done using the conventional measure of gross domestic product (GDP).
GDP measures everything produced in any given period.
It is a good enough measure of material welfare when used to measure the impact of a tourist event or a new mine or factory or something like the national broadband network, but it can be misleading – sometimes grossly misleading – when used to measure the economic impact of a catastrophe or natural disaster.
That’s because it measures the positives brought about the recovery from disasters but leaves out some of the negatives caused by the destruction.
For example:
building a new house has a positive impact on GDP, even if the old house was burnt down
a military evacuation has a positive impact on GDP, even though the circumstances that make it necessary are life-threatening and traumatic
bushfires stimulate GDP by creating more demand for health services, even as the victims suffer from smoke inhalation, burns or post-traumatic stress disorder.
It is possible to get at the full story
Economic modelling pioneered in Australia, and used to estimate the impact of terrorism and epidemics makes it possible to prepare measures of welfare that take account of the costs of disasters.
Among the immediate costs in the first months after a bushfire disaster would be:
the direct cost of fire-fighting
the cost of temporarily relocating residents
health costs, such as treatment of burns and respiratory illnesses
loss of work days associated with firefighting, injuries, illnesses, displacement and loss of life
a downgrading of consumer confidence
destruction of assets including homes, farms, businesses and natural resources and the associated disruption of economic activity including tourism, agriculture and housing
the cost of replacing or rebuilding these assets
Longer term impacts would derive from:
health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder leading to negative impacts on quality of life and labour supply
long term damage to ecosystems, including contamination of water, and extinction or severe loss of animal species including those necessary to agricultural production, such as bees
reputational damage leading to possible permanent downgrading of tourism activity in affected regions and in Australia more broadly
potential ongoing reluctance to invest in Australia
potential increases in cost of living in bushfire prone regions due to increases in insurance costs.
It involves going beyond GDP
The longer term impacts of disasters on a nation’s GDP are clearly negative, deriving from a decline in productive capacity (labour, capital and natural resources) which unambiguously detracts from economic welfare.
In the immediate aftermath, expenditure on reconstruction of homes and other assets can add to GDP, but the funding of these activities (whether direct or through insurance) adds to debt and can drag on household consumption, either immediately or in the future. A related measure, Gross National Income (GNI) takes this into account and is generally a better measure of economic welfare.
Bushfire-induced health expenditure stimulates both GDP and GNI but detracts from welfare.
Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, for example, can hardly be considered an improvement in standard of living.
To offset this inappropriate “good news”, it is possible to construct an index of leisure-adjusted GNI which takes into account the downgraded quality of leisure time.
As a starting point for such estimates, the prime minister’s department sets the statistical value of a year of life free of injury, disease and disability at A$182,000 (2014 dollars).
And it depends on where you are
Aggregated measures like GDP, GNI and leisure-adjusted GNI do not show the distribution of economic impact.
An event that strips a small amount from the incomes of everybody is different from one that decimates just a few regions, yet looks the same in a nationwide measure, so it is important that any economic analysis also looks at regional impacts.
The work is yet to be done, but it is safe to say that the conventional link between GDP and economic welfare (“more is better”) breaks down when assessing tragedies, particularly ones with profound regional impacts.
When campaigning to be US president Bobby Kennedy (John F Kennedy’s brother) said that GDP measures “everything… except that which makes life worthwhile”.
It’d be wise to bear that in mind when considering the policy response to the bushfires.
In this series, we look at under-acknowledged women through the ages.
In 1886, a year before American journalist Nellie Bly feigned insanity to enter an asylum in New York and became a household name, Catherine Hay Thomson arrived at the entrance of Kew Asylum in Melbourne on “a hot grey morning with a lowering sky”.
Hay Thomson’s two-part article, The Female Side of Kew Asylum for The Argus newspaper revealed the conditions women endured in Melbourne’s public institutions.
Her articles were controversial, engaging, empathetic, and most likely the first known by an Australian female undercover journalist.
A ‘female vagabond’
Hay Thomson was accused of being a spy by Kew Asylum’s supervising doctor. The Bulletin called her “the female vagabond”, a reference to Melbourne’s famed undercover reporter of a decade earlier, Julian Thomas. But she was not after notoriety.
Unlike Bly and her ambitious contemporaries who turned to “stunt journalism” to escape the boredom of the women’s pages – one of the few avenues open to women newspaper writers – Hay Thomson was initially a teacher and ran schools with her mother in Melbourne and Ballarat.
Hay Thomson, standing centre with her mother and pupils at their Ballarat school, was a teacher before she became a journalist.Ballarat Grammar Archives/Museum Victoria
In 1876, she became one of the first female students to sit for the matriculation exam at Melbourne University, though women weren’t allowed to study at the university until 1880.
Going undercover
Hay Thomson’s series for The Argus began in March 1886 with a piece entitled The Inner Life of the Melbourne Hospital. She secured work as an assistant nurse at Melbourne Hospital (now The Royal Melbourne Hospital) which was under scrutiny for high running costs and an abnormally high patient death rate.
Doctors at Melbourne Hospital in the mid 1880s did not wash their hands between patients, wrote Catherine Hay Thomson.State Library of Victoria
Her articles increased the pressure. She observed that the assistant nurses were untrained, worked largely as cleaners for poor pay in unsanitary conditions, slept in overcrowded dormitories and survived on the same food as the patients, which she described in stomach-turning detail.
The hospital linen was dirty, she reported, dinner tins and jugs were washed in the patients’ bathroom where poultices were also made, doctors did not wash their hands between patients.
Writing about a young woman caring for her dying friend, a 21-year-old impoverished single mother, Hay Thomson observed them “clinging together through all fortunes” and added that “no man can say that friendship between women is an impossibility”.
The Argus editorial called for the setting up of a “ladies’ committee” to oversee the cooking and cleaning. Formal nursing training was introduced in Victoria three years later.
Kew Asylum
Hay Thomson’s next series, about women’s treatment in the Kew Asylum, was published in March and April 1886.
While working in the asylum for a fortnight, Hay Thomson witnessed overcrowding, understaffing, a lack of training, and a need for woman physicians. Most of all, the reporter saw that many in the asylum suffered from institutionalisation rather than illness.
She described “the girl with the lovely hair” who endured chronic ear pain and was believed to be delusional. The writer countered “her pain is most probably real”.
Observing another patient, Hay Thomson wrote:
She requires to be guarded – saved from herself; but at the same time, she requires treatment … I have no hesitation in saying that the kind of treatment she needs is unattainable in Kew Asylum.
The day before the first asylum article was published, Hay Thomson gave evidence to the final sitting of Victoria’s Royal Commission on Asylums for the Insane and Inebriate, pre-empting what was to come in The Argus. Among the Commission’s final recommendations was that a new governing board should supervise appointments and training and appoint “lady physicians” for the female wards.
Suffer the little children
In May 1886, An Infant Asylum written “by a Visitor” was published. The institution was a place where mothers – unwed and impoverished – could reside until their babies were weaned and later adopted out.
Hay Thomson reserved her harshest criticism for the absent fathers:
These women … have to bear the burden unaided, all the weight of shame, remorse, and toil, [while] the other partner in the sin goes scot free.
For another article, Among the Blind: Victorian Asylum and School, she worked as an assistant needlewoman and called for talented music students at the school to be allowed to sit exams.
In A Penitent’s Life in the Magdalen Asylum, Hay Thomson supported nuns’ efforts to help women at the Abbotsford Convent, most of whom were not residents because they were “fallen”, she explained, but for reasons including alcoholism, old age and destitution.
Throughout, she continued writing, becoming Table Talk magazine’s music and social critic.
In 1899 she became editor of The Sun: An Australian Journal for the Home and Society, which she bought with Evelyn Gough. Hay Thomson also gave a series of lectures titled Women in Politics.
A Melbourne hotel maintains that Hay Thomson’s private residence was secretly on the fourth floor of Collins Street’s Rialto building around this time.
Home and back
After selling The Sun, Hay Thomson returned to her birth city, Glasgow, Scotland, and to a precarious freelance career for English magazines such as Cassell’s.
Despite her own declining fortunes, she brought attention to writer and friend Grace Jennings Carmichael’s three young sons, who had been stranded in a Northampton poorhouse for six years following their mother’s death from pneumonia. After Hay Thomson’s article in The Argus, the Victorian government granted them free passage home.
Hay Thomson eschewed the conformity of marriage but tied the knot back in Melbourne in 1918, aged 72. The wedding at the Women Writer’s Club to Thomas Floyd Legge, culminated “a romance of forty years ago”. Mrs Legge, as she became, died in Cheltenham in 1928, only nine years later.
The Rappler video feed on the Ampatuan convictions last month.
For decades, the feared Ampatuan clan held sway in the impoverished province of Maguindanao in Mindanao in the southern Philippines. Through a ruthless private army and a reported “propensity for beheadings”, the clan cultivated a culture of impunity. Now, however, reports David Robie, a courageous judge has challenged the horror by jailing the masterminds of the 2009 Ampatuan massacre for life.
SPECIAL REPORT:By David Robie in Manila
The families of the 58 victims – 32 of them journalists or media workers – had waited for 10 years for justice in the Philippines.
After so long, what is another couple of hours?
The Ampatuan massacre in Maguindanao on 22 November 2009 was the world’s worst single attack on journalists and the worst elections-related violence in a country notorious for electoral mayhem.
With the judge almost two hours late in arriving at the fortified special courtroom in Camp Bagong Diwa, a police barracks with a jail annex in Manila’s satellite Taguig City, fears were expressed for her safety.
The 101 accused (although three were missing and cited for possible contempt of court) for the heinous crime, dressed in yellow jail tees, were housed in in a barred cage sandwiched between lawyers and some 200 heavily armed police guards and waiting.
The lawyers for both prosecution and defence were waiting.
The CNN Philippines live newsfeed on the Ampatuan judgment.
Live television The public, glued to their television sets or live streaming from CNN and the state-run People’s Television, were waiting.
In the end, the historic judgment took only 52 minutes.
Many of the victims’ families burst into spontaneous applause for the jailing of the ringleaders; others wept for joy with the convictions. While other families of some of the accused were relieved with the acquittals.
Judge Joycelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon Trial Court Branch 221 announced to the court that she could deliver the shortened verdict rather than the full 761-page judgement or “it could take all day”.
In fact, broadcaster Peter Musngi reckoned it would have taken “43 uninterrupted days” to read the full judgement. Both prosecution and defence lawyers agreed to the short reading with the full judgment being made available online – read it here on Rappler.
Guilty verdicts for the masterminds of the 2009 Ampatuan massacre. CNN Philippines screenshot/David Robie
Judge Solis-Reyes sentenced the 28 principal accused – including three brothers of the powerful Ampatuan warlord clan from Mindanao – to life in prison without parole and ordered them to pay a total of more than 155 million pesos (almost NZ$5 million) in changes to the heirs of 57 victims killed in the massacre.
The judge reduced the “official” death toll from 58 to 57 because the body of photojournalist Reynaldo Momay was never found. This means that the Momay family was not granted compensation even though it was commonly known that he was with the journalists who were killed and never been seen since. There was also dental evidence linking him found at the multiple murder scene.
Appealing sentences Some of those jailed announced last week that they are appealing against their sentences, and the prosecution is also appealing over the acquittals and the judge’s Momay finding.
While it has been a long wait for justice for the victims, it had also been a long wait for the judge herself. Judge Solis-Reyes had shelved her own plans for career advancement so that she could see the notorious case through to judgment.
She was forced to brave death threats and political pressure over the case. At least three witnesses were killed during the course of the trial.
The judge had earlier admitted in interviews that she had wanted to pursue a career in broadcast media and had studied journalism at the Lyceum of the Philippines.
Describing the atmosphere in the courtroom with 400 people packed in to hear the verdict of the century” on December 19, Tempo columnist Jullie Y. Daza wrote that the judge “deserves the nation’s gratitude for her dedication and deportment”.
“All I can say is,” she added, “you’re priceless, Your Honour.”
Judge Solis-Reyes broke down her summary into 1. Those guilty beyond reasonable doubt; 2. Accessories; 3. Those released on the basis of reasonable doubt; 4. Those facing arrest warrants.
FLASHBACK: Then ARMM governor Zaldy Ampatuan (left) and his brother Andal Ampatuan Jr. (face covered), when the latter was turned over to Secretary Jesus Dureza at the compound of the provincial capital in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao, on 26 November 2009. Image: Mindanews
Police officers acquitted Forty-three people, including leaders of the Ampatuan clan, were convicted of mass murder or being accessories, and 58 other accused – many of them police officers – were acquitted in the infamous case.
Sentenced to reclusion perpetua, or up to 40 years in prison without parole – effectively life – on 57 counts of murder were prominent clan members Datu Andal “Unsay” Ampatuan Jr; his brothers, former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Datu Zaldy “Puti” Ampatuan Sr, and Anwar Ampatuan Sr, former mayor of Shariff Aguak town.
The Ampatuan power matrix. Image: CNN Philippines freeze frame
Another brother was acquitted. Two other prominent members of the clan – nephews Anwar Ampatuan Jr and Anwar Sajid Ampatuan – and 23 others were also found guilty of the multiple murders.
Fifteen other accused – almost all of them policemen – were convicted as accessories to murder and sentenced to between six and 10 years in prison.
The Ampatuan accused in the courtroom cage. CNN Philippines screenshot/David Robie
It took 10 years, 424 trial days, to hear the testimonies of 357 witnesses against 197 who were originally charged.
During the long-running trial, six accused were acquitted and the clan patriarch, Andal Ampatuan Sr, also accused, died in prison from a sudden heart attack in 2015, aged 74.
One of his daughters, Rebecca, told the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) that her father had six wives and 40 children. The PCIJ closely followed the case for a decade with a series of special reports in The Maguinado Chronicles.
The killings in 2009 sent shockwaves around the world because of the brazenness of the attack. The victims, including 20 women, were kidnapped and clubbed before they were executed, mutilated and buried in shallow graves.
FLASHBACK: Bodies of the Ampatuan massacre victims being exhumed from the freshly dug mass graves in November 2009. Image: Mindanews
Mass graves The backhoe digger, using a government machine, who excavated and filled the mass graves, was among the convicted accessories.
The ambushed electoral convoy had been taking the registration papers to enable challenger Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu to contest the governorship of Maguindanao in defiance of threats by the Ampatuans. He was not with the convoy, but his wife, Genalyn, was shot 17 times: “They shot her on her breasts, her private parts. Such unimaginable cruelty.”
Congressman Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu … his wife was killed in the Ampatuan massacre. Image: CNN Philippines screenshot/David Robie
He subsequently won the election in a landslide in 2010 and has since been elected to the Philippine national Congress.
The mass murders were widely condemned around the world by governments, global media freedom organisations and human rights groups. The US ambassador at the time, Kristie Kenney, described the killings as “barbaric” and then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the brutal political violence in the southern Philippines.
The Malacañang presidential palace welcomed the convictions last month, saying the rule of law had prevailed in closing one of the darkest chapters of Philippine history.
“The Maguindanao massacre marks a dark chapter in recent Philippine history that represents merciless disregard for the sacredness of human life, as well as the violent suppression of press freedom,” said presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo, who ironically was once one of the lawyers for the Ampatuans.
“This savage affront to human rights should never have duplication in this country’s history.”
Philippine press responses to the Ampatuan guilty verdicts. Image: David Robie/PMC
Editorial opinions cautious However, most editorial opinion in the nation’s media and human rights groups greeted the “historic” judgment with caution.
“Justice at last, but …” summed up the headline on a Philippine Star editorial, warning “a victory has been achieved, but the pursuit of justice is far from over”. Said the Star:
“Amid the rejoicing are the disappointments and concerns about what might happen next. With 56 defendants cleared, including two members of the Ampatuan clan, there are valid concerns raised by the victims’ families that violence remains a serious threat in the clan’s turf.
“Most of the guns believed owned by the Ampatuans and their private army remain unaccounted for. The claim is believed to continue enjoying control over substantial funds and other assets.
“Harassment of witnesses, victims’ relatives and prosecution lawyers are possible. At least three witnesses were killed in the course of the trial.
“There are 80 suspects still to be brought to justice, and an appeals process that could take another decade to complete. There is the equally complicated task of going after the assets of the Ampatuan clan.
“There are other criminal cases – about 200 of them – still being pursued, including complaints for corruption and obstruction of justice, as well as cases related to the murders and disappearances of witnesses.”
‘Terrible crime’ The Philippine Daily Inquirer noted in an editorial that this daily newspaper – along with other media – had “faithfully reported on the terrible crime that thrust the Philippines squarely on the map for the single deadliest attack on journalists in the world.
“In bearing witness, we strived mightily to ‘piece together the bloody shards of the crime’, and to find the words to ‘approximate the horror’.
But the Inquirer added that there were significant lessons to be learned – and acted upon – in spite of the hope stirred by Judge Solis-Reyes’ guilty verdicts, such as the “endless delay” caused by defence motions that reflected the “dismaying state of the judicial system”.
“And journalists and media workers remain in peril in the fast-shrinking democratic space.”
Philippine Star columnist Ana Marie Pamintuan described the Ampatuan clan as “Monsters Inc.” and was candid in a wide-ranging article about the challenges ahead after the judgment.
One challenge is to “catch the 80 suspects who remain at large and bring them to justice”. Another is the expected “spirited fight for their acquittal” on appeal for those who were convicted.
“Let’s hope the road to final judgment won’t take another 10 years,” warned Pamintuan.
Another huge challenge is the legal fight to have the Ampatuans’ massive wealth forfeited by the state, and payment of civil damages to the victims’ families.
Property freeze orders Freeze orders have been issues by the courts on bank accounts, real estate property and other identified assets of the Ampatuan clan.
“Prosecutors believe, however, that substantial amounts of cash have been stashed away by the clan the old fashioned way – not in banks where there is a paper trail, but perhaps in boxes, chests or baul [a Tagalog word meaning a traditional clothes trunk], buried somewhere or concealed within walls the way South American narcos do with their mountains of dirty money,” says Pamintuan.
“In one of the poorest regions in the country, the Ampatuans thrived, driving around in convoys of luxury vehicles with their private armies, living it up in fortified mansions. How do local executives in third-class municipalities and impoverished provinces, with their modest salaries, manage to accumulate that kind of wealth?”
The last challenge – and probably the toughest – is how to “eliminate the environment that creates monsters and breeds impunity”?
Etta Rosales, former chair of the Philippine Commission on Human Rights, described the Mindanao environment as like the “wild, wild west”, warning it remained “compromised injustice” until the private armies and political dynasties were rooted out.
While the Ampatuan massacre remains the worst example of this environment, there are many other regions of the Philippines where the local population are ruled by patronage and fear.
The implications for press freedom in the Philippines have not been lost on students and tertiary journalism schools.
‘Already afraid’ Writing on Rappler, Diwa Donato, a political science graduate from Saint Louis University, Baguio City, who has dedicated 13 years of her life to campus journalism as an advocate for youth empowerment, press freedom and democracy, says she will never forget the day of the massacre. She was aged 10 at the time – and she was “already afraid to continue my dream of pursuing journalism”.
“The Philippines remains one of the deadliest countries for journalists in Southeast Asia,” she says.
“The fight of professional journalism will always be the fight of campus journalism. We celebrate the Ampatuan massacre verdict, hope for justice, and continue to address the struggles of press freedom.
“For now, democracy and press freedom have won. But we do not fight to win, we fight to be free. There is more to be done.”
NUJP chair Nonoy Espina talks to CNN Philippines in a live interview. Image: CNN Philippines screenshot/David Robie
National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) chair Nonoy Espina also fears for the future.
“The culture of impunity for crimes against journalists means that massacres like the one in Ampatuan can happen again,” he says. “Without justice, the bloodshed will continue.”
The NUJP played a key role in independent investigations and keeping a watch on government, also sponsoring family members of slain journalists to get to Manila for the trial.
Ruthless warlords The Ampatuans were the warlords of Maguindanao and the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
“Even Andal Ampatuan Jr’s ruthlessness and sociopathic violence served a purpose,” admits Pamintuan. “Cops and soldiers who were assigned to the ARMM talk of the Islamic separatists being terrified of incurring the ire of Andal Jr because of his reported propensity to decapitate and mutilate anyone who crossed him.”
“There are other political warlords still out there – running their own fiefdoms like gangsters, naming streets and villages and government projects after their family members, freely using public money for private purposes and controlling every aspect of the local criminal justice system.”
Yes, a victory, but the fight to end impunity in the Philippines has just begun.
Professor David Robie, director of the Pacific Media Centre, was recently in Vinzons, Camarines Norte, Philippines, on a research sabbatical.
News came from Moscow overnight that the Russian government had resigned, followed by the announcement that the current prime minister Dmitry Medvedev would be replaced by the head of the tax office, Mikhail Mishustin.
Why has the government resigned, and what does it mean for the future?
Prior to the government’s resignation, President Vladimir Putin announced a series of proposed changes to the constitution to be placed before the people in a future referendum. In announcing the government’s resignation, Medvedev hinted that their resignation was to facilitate the progression of the proposed constitutional reforms.
Among others, Putin proposed that in the constitution:
international law should apply in Russia only if it does not contradict the constitution or restrict peoples’ rights and freedoms. This, he said, was a question of sovereignty
leading political figures should not have foreign citizenship or the right to live permanently in another state. As well as these qualifications, the president must have lived in Russia for the last 25 years
the president should not be able to hold the presidency for two consecutive terms (although Putin said he doesn’t think this is a matter of principle)
the prime minister and all ministers should be appointed by the State Duma (parliament) instead of the president, who would have no right to reject those appointments
the role of the State Council (an advisory body) should be expanded and strengthened
the independence of judges should be enshrined and protected.
The most important of these proposed changes (along with that of judicial independence) is that of moving the power to form the government from the president into the legislature.
If this was done and a truly accountable form of government was established, it would be a major advance on how the system has worked up until now.
But in the same speech, Putin argued that Russia needed to remain a presidential, not a parliamentary, republic. These two positions seem at odds with one another and a potential recipe for constitutional confusion.
Putin has previously found his way around the rule that a president can only serve two terms. And he’s unlikely to step away entirely when his current term ends.AAP/Alexey Nikolsky
Why has Putin suggested this change?
One reason may be dissatisfaction with the government’s performance. The implication from Putin’s speech, and from many other comments, is that both the governance of Russia and the current government have been deficient.
Governance is seen by Putin to be hampered by the lack of a direct constitutional line between president and ministers, and this would be resolved by making the prime minister the key person in the policy sphere rather than the president.
This would be facilitated by removing the president’s power to choose the identity of the prime minister and some ministers. The government’s resignation could be seen as a response to the dissatisfaction with its performance.
But also relevant is power politics. Putin is due to step down as president in 2024. Thoughts are already turning to the question of the succession, in particular, will Putin go, and if so, who will replace him?
The current Constitution forbids Putin from standing for another presidential term in 2024. The last time he faced this question in 2008, Putin stepped down as president and became prime minister. The potential beefing up of the prime ministership under these proposals might make this strategy again attractive.
But in 2024 Putin will be 73, and it is not clear that he would really want to be involved in the sort of day-to-day policy discussions a prime minister must involve himself in. He has already been showing some irritation with the policy process.
However beefing up and reshaping the State Council could provide a slot into which a post-presidential Putin could move, giving him some continuing oversight powers while not making him drown in policy details and paper.
This is surmise. But what is undoubtedly true is that this is only the first public move in what is likely to be a prolonged process of succession and power transfer in Russia.
In the 1980s, a global race was underway: to find a more efficient way of converting energy from the sun into electricity.
Some 30 years ago, our research team at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) came up with a breakthrough, called the PERC silicon solar cell. The cells have become the most widely deployed electricity generation technology in terms of capacity added globally each year – comfortably exceeding wind, coal, gas, hydro and others.
PERC stands for Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell. By the end of this year, PERC technology will be mitigating about 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions by displacing coal burning. Assuming that its rapid growth continues, it should be reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 5% by the mid-2020s and possibly much more in later years.
The terrible bushfires in Australia this summer, enhanced by the hottest and driest year on record in 2019, underline the need for urgent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. By far the most effective way is driving coal out of electricity systems through very rapid deployment of solar and wind.
Soon, our Aussie invention will be generating half the world’s solar power. It is a pertinent reminder of Australia’s capacity for finding transformative technical solutions to address climate change. But we need the right government support.
A solar farm near Canberra.Lukas Coch/AAP
An Aussie invention
Solar cells convert sunlight directly into electricity without moving parts. More efficient solar cells generally produce cheaper electricity because fewer solar cells, glass covers, transport, land and support structures are needed for a given solar power output.
By the early 1980s, the best laboratory cells around the world had reached 17% efficiency. This means that 17% of the sunlight was converted to electricity, and the rest (83%) of the solar energy was lost (as heat).
During the 1980s, our research team at UNSW led by Martin Green and myself created a series of world-record-efficient silicon solar cells. We reported 18% efficiency in 1984, 19% efficiency also in 1984, and the important milestone of 20% efficiency in 1986.
In 1989 our group reported a new solar cell design called “PERC”, with a record efficiency of 22-23%.
This new, more efficient cell was better than the old ones because we eliminated some defects in the silicon crystal surface, which led to lower electronic losses. The PERC design also enabled us to capture the sunlight more effectively.
In the 1990s, further improvements to laboratory PERC cells were made at UNSW, leading to cells in the 24-25% efficiency range. The global silicon solar cell efficiency record remained at UNSW until recently.
There was a 25-year gap between development of the PERC cell and its rapid commercial adoption, which began in 2013. During this time, many people worked to adapt the PERC design to commercial production.
PERC cells are more efficient than previous commercial cells. Strong incentives for more efficient cells have recently arisen due to the continually falling share of cell costs as a proportion of total solar power system costs (including transport, land and mounting systems).
The big benefits of solar
Currently, solar power constitutes more than 40% of net new electricity generation capacity additions, with fossil, nuclear, wind, hydro and other renewables making up the balance.
Solar is growing faster than the other electricity generation technologies. Over time, as fossil-fuelled power stations are retired, solar (and wind) will dominate electricity production, with consequent large reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Solar power has experienced sustained rapid exponential growth over decades, while other generation technologies are currently experiencing static, falling or negligible sales.https://www.irena.org/publications/2019/Mar/Renewable-Capacity-Statistics-2019
This year, enough PERC solar modules will be sold to generate 60-70 gigawatts of power. According to projections, PERC will reach three quarters of annual solar module sales in the mid-2020s, enough to match the generation capacity additions from all other technologies combined.
About A$50 billion worth of PERC modules have been sold to date. This is expected to reach several hundred billion Australian dollars later this decade.
Just imagine
Australian emissions (excluding those from bushfires) are falling because we are installing solar and wind four times faster per capita than the EU, US, Japan and China.
Our position as a global leader in renewables installation is uncertain because the Renewable Energy Target, which was achieved in 2019, has not been extended.
With supportive policy, such as facilitating more transmission to bring solar and wind power to the cities, Australia could greatly increase the speed at which wind and solar are deployed, yielding rapid and deep cuts at about zero-net cost.
Such policy would entail stronger and sustained government support for renewables deployment, and research and development of new technologies.
Renewables must replace polluting coal-fired power if the world is to tackle climate change.SASCHA STEINBACH/EPA
Looking ahead
Solar energy is vast, ubiquitous and indefinitely sustainable. Simple calculations show that less than 1% of the world’s land area would be required to provide all of the world’s energy from solar power – much of it on building roofs, in deserts and floating on water bodies.
Solar systems use only very common materials (we could never run out), have minimal need for mining (about 1% of that needed for equivalent fossil or nuclear fuels), have minimal security and military risks (we will never go to war over solar access), cannot have significant accidents (unlike nuclear), and have minimal environmental impact over unlimited time scales.
Australia is making major contributions to mitigating climate change both through rapid deployment of wind and solar and technology development such as our PERC cells. But with better government support, much more can be done – quickly and at low cost.
Review: Black Drop Effect, directed by Felix Cross for Sydney Festival
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names of deceased people.
Nardi Simpson’s debut play Black Drop Effect is the “immersive” experience the Sydney Festival program promises. Sitting in the stalls, as the sky darkened behind the outdoor stage, I was immersed in the present moment, in January 2020, and in the past too.
Simpson’s funny, tender and provocative dialogue infuses her narrative with layers of history – of place and ancestral knowledge, of encounter at Kamay (Botany Bay) 250 years ago, and of colonial commemorations and performances.
Her characters turn a fraught Aboriginal dance performance on 26 January into a chance to listen and share knowledge. And ultimately, the dance group has a few lessons to teach about who can control culture, how history can be memorialised, and by whom.
In the accompanying program, Simpson (also a composer, singer-songwriter and performer) suggests this work is “one verse in an ongoing song”. Black Drop Effect, and the rich array of Indigenous productions in this Sydney Festival, build on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander performances at commemorative events throughout Australia’s history.
Reenactment and protest
The production was prompted by festival director Wesley Enoch’s call to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists to be ready for 2020. Some smart programming from Enoch launches a conversation that will heat up as the 29 April anniversary of Cook’s landing approaches.
The last time a Cook anniversary was commemorated on a large scale was 1970. At those events, Aboriginal actors led by Noongar performer Ken Colbung (Nundjan Djiridjarkan) performed the kind of reenactment Black Drop Effect dramatises in front of 20,000 Sydneysiders.
Queen Elizabeth II arrived by sea, just as Cook had done, approaching the shore on the royal barge. As she neared, distant clap stick beats were heard, accompanying the official commentary and reminding viewers Aboriginal people were still there, as they had been when that other boat approached 200 years earlier.
The site of Cook’s landing has seen commemorations and protests.Jenny Evans/AAP
Across the Bay at (Guriwal) La Perouse, Aboriginal protesters threw wreaths into the water to commemorate the invasion. They were joined in protests across the nation.
At Sydney Airport the Queen was greeted with Aboriginal people in funeral dress. Elsewhere there was a torchlight procession to Canberra’s Parliament House, a costumed silent vigil in Brisbane, a March through Melbourne, a mourning demonstration in South Australia and a funerary procession in Perth.
Taking poetic licence with history, new British immigrants bearing the surname Cook or Cooks were recruited in the 1970 commemorations. On 30 April, 1970 the Tamworth Leader reported that “Too many Cooks” arrived in Sydney on a flight landing at Mascot airport, close to Cook’s landing spot.
In 2019, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a replica of Cook’s ship Endeavour would circumnavigate Australia (even though the original Endeavour never made such a journey).
Anniversaries of the First Fleet’s landing in 1788 have also been repeatedly commemorated. In 1938 (150 years) Ngiyampaa and Paakantji residents of Menindee Aboriginal Reserve were brought down to Sydney under duress to perform a reenactment. Many of their own family members joined the group staging a Day of Mourning protest through Sydney streets nearby.
In 1963 (175 years) a Pageant of Nationhood was performed for the Queen featuring non-Indigenous dancers in black face in Burragorang Dreamtime, the brainchild of choreographer Beth Dean and composer John Antill.
Talking back to Cook
Black Drop Effect holds in tension these complex histories of Aboriginal responses to commemoration, making space for protest, reclamation of culture and cross-cultural negotiations. It is a productive response to our times that brings together a cohesive creative team.
Lucy Simpson’s evocative visual designs, with video by Mic Gruchy and lighting by Karen Norris, bring to life themes in the narrative. Swirling stingray and cockatoo projections and watery backgrounds move across a screen, waft through the trees and onto the sand under the actors’ feet. Matt Doyle’s vital choreography is underpinned by James Henry’s sound design, combining song fragments with electro beats and clap stick rhythms in extended time signatures.
Director Felix Cross creatively navigates the challenges of Bankstown Arts Centre’s courtyard and its proximity to the train line. The impressive cast never forget where their performances are happening, intermittently turning their gaze trainwards. The passing trains play a role in the drama, pausing the action or comically highlighting Anthony Hunt’s Cook portrayal and blustering refusal to let place disrupt his monologue.
A strong cast anchors this eloquent debut work with performances that are both comic and poignant.Christopher Woe/Sydney Festival
Experienced performers and newcomers alike shine bright in this strong cast. William McPherson (Binno), Marlene Cummins (Beenie), Jane Phegan (Pip), Googoorewon Knox (Max), Isaiah Kennedy (Brayden), and Ken Weldon (Charley Boy) deliver comedy and poignancy in quick succession, with Knox’s expert singing arriving as a late surprise.
The language of the Gweagal warriors who confronted Cook’s party with “Warra warra wai” also makes a powerful appearance — translated in Simpson’s script as “Go away!”
Black Drop Effect challenges, but it also brings people in, inviting us to listen, feel and rethink what it means for Indigenous Australians to remember Cook’s visit after 250 years. Enoch’s Sydney Festival gives us plenty to think about as 26 January and 29 April 2020 approach.
In the past week, the Australian football players union has been pressuring the A-League to make a major change in the sport – shifting to a winter competition, instead of its current spot in the brutal summer.
Both the A-League and W-League seasons currently run from October-April. One of the main reasons for the summer schedule was to avoid head-to-head competition with the much bigger Australian Football League (AFL) and National Rugby League (NRL), which both play in the winter.
But there’s a growing feeling in the sport that a move to the winter months would be beneficial for football, particularly as our summers grow hotter and bushfires worsen.
Last weekend, A-League officials considered cancelling the match between Sydney FC and Newcastle United due to the air quality in NSW before shifting course at the last minute. However, the W-League match scheduled before it was postponed.
According to former Socceroo John Aloisi, the way the schedule is currently set up widens the gap between amateur and professional football. This separation limits the development pathways for players, coaches and administrators.
It also situates the Australian national competition outside the Asian football schedule, which is also in the Southern Hemisphere winter.
If we want to move forward as a code we need to go, ‘Alright, Asia is played this time of the year, we have to play with them.’
Moving to the winter could have a huge impact on the women’s game, too. It would give the W-League a major opportunity to grow its fan base since no other Australian women’s sport is played at that time of year, other than netball.
Crowds are not coming now anyway, so why not try something new. We need to find our place in the busy Australian sporting landscape.
Hotter temperatures lead to patchier play
Other players have also thrown their support behind the idea, arguing the Australian summer heat and constant need for water breaks impacts the quality of football. The FFA heat policy mandates a 90-second drink break in each half when the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) is between 26 and 27.9 degrees Celsius, or the ambient temperature is over 31 degrees.
A match can be delayed or postponed when the WBGT reaches 28 degrees.
Former Socceroos star Jason Culina said he loses up to four kilograms after games played in the heat and it can take days to recover. He says the fields in the summer months are also “rock hard”, leading to increased injuries.
My career was almost ended by a serious knee injury in 2011 that was caused by wear and tear. … the hard conditions in Australia might have accelerated the deterioration.
The heat may also be a contributing factor to fans staying away from A-League matches. Statistics show that since 2015, crowd attendance at A-League matches has continually declined.
A-League attendance figures (2015-2019)Austadiums
Where will they play in winter?
So, how feasible would a switch actually be? Could this be the “shake-up” many have called for in the A-League?
One of the biggest problems is where A-League games would be played if the main stadiums are busy hosting AFL, NRL and Super Rugby matches.
Part of the A-League season currently overlaps with those leagues in March and April. This already poses problems for footballers, due to the damage caused to fields by scrums and studs.
Sydney FC, for example, has scheduled games at several suburban grounds while the Sydney Football Stadium is being rebuilt. However, last February the team had to move a match from Brookvale Oval after the playing surface was considered not up to “A-League standard”.
Add to that Melbourne Victory player Terry Antonis’ knee injury that was largely attributed to the poor condition of the Sydney Cricket Ground after a Super Rugby match.
In NSW, the Berejiklian government has controversially committed A$2 billion to stadium redevelopment, but most of the money is going toward its main stadiums in Olympic Park and Moore Park.
This has resulted in ongoing criticism from those who believe the money could have been dispersed more evenly to upgrade smaller stadiums. The benefits of investing in smaller stadiums include enhancing the match atmosphere and creating a more family-friendly environment. They are overwhelmingly favoured by fans and football clubs alike
The A-league’s current position in the sporting calendar is already not drawing huge television audiences. The season opener between the Wanderers and Mariners in October attracted just 47,000 viewers on the ABC in the five major capital cities – down from 93,000 a year earlier.
While research shows Australians have multiple loyalties when it comes to sport, the A-League has long struggled to build a strong emotional connection with its fans – hence the poor television viewership and match attendance figures.
A recent study by True North Research highlighted how important the emotional connection is between fans and clubs.
In light of this, a move to winter could pose a serious risk to football’s future. Multiple online fan surveys have shown that if it was a choice between the NRL, AFL or A-League, A-League would not be the winner.
Perhaps instead of a shift to a different season, the A-League should focus on better developing and marketing its summer matches. As it stands now, the league decided not to do any marketing for the 2019-20 season until after the NRL and AFL Finals were over.
If the A-League’s administrators won’t promote the league before the season even starting, what hope does football have against a field of giants?
Why does reading in the back seat make you feel sick? – Jane, aged 10, from Coburg North, Australia.
Hi Jane, your question about why reading in the back seat makes you feel sick is a very good one. The answer has to do with our eyes, our ears and our brain.
Reading in the back seat can make you feel sick because your eyes and ears are having an argument that your brain is trying to settle!
Your inner ear contains cells that have hairs sticking out the top. Scientists call these “hair cells”.
Some of these hair cells help us to hear. When sound hits those hair cells, the hairs move and the cells send signals to the brain. Our brains use those signals to hear.
Other hair cells help us to keep our balance. When the car we’re sitting in moves, that movement makes the hairs on those hair cells move too, and they send different signals to the brain. Our brain uses those different signals to tell we’re moving.
Why doesn’t the brain like this?
Some people’s brains don’t like it when their eyes say they’re still but their ears say they’re moving.
When eyes and ears argue like this, the brain can think that something dangerous might be about to happen.
If this happens, the brain can get the body ready to fight or run away (scientists call this the “fight or flight” response).
The conflict between our eyes and ears make the brain think something dangerous might happen.wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock
One of the things the brain can do is take blood away from the stomach to give to the muscles.
Giving blood to the muscles can help us to fight or run away. But taking blood away from the stomach can make us feel sick.
What can you do about it?
If reading in the back seat makes you feel sick, you might need to settle the argument between your eyes and your ears.
One way to do this is to stop reading and to look out the car window. This could help your eyes to tell your brain that you’re moving as you see the world whizz by, and your ears to tell your brain that you are moving as you feel the car moving.
But this suggestion won’t work for everyone. Some people will still feel sick when they ride in a car, even if they aren’t reading.
This is because while our eyes and our ears help us to balance, so do our skin and our muscles. This creates many opportunities for arguments that our brain has to settle!
Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au
For John Sarkissian, operations scientist at the CSIRO Parkes radio telescope, astronomy has been his life’s passion – starting from the age of six.
“When I was six years old, I watched Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the Moon,” he says of the radio telescope made famous in the film The Dish.
“In fact, on the cover of my year nine mathematics textbook was a painting of the Parkes radio telescope. I remember sitting in the class staring at the painting and daydreaming working there one day. And so here I am now, 40 some years later.”
Today, on Trust Me I’m An Expert, editorial intern Antonio Tarquinio speaks to Sarkissian about the research underway at one of Australia’s most famous astronomical research facilities including:
the role Parkes is playing right now in the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence
how the telescope detects extremely weak signals coming from the most distant parts of the Universe
why even a light breeze can imperil the dish unless it’s in the right position
how the explosion of phones, wi-fi and radio frequency interference is affecting research in the once-deserted Parkes location.
And Sarkissian’s own take on whether Parkes will help find alien life?
“Well, as of today, the only place we know of the entire Universe that there is definitely life is right here on Earth,” he says.
“And what does that say? It says that we should appreciate our place in the Universe a little more.”
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This question has endured across cultures and civilisations. It has given rise to a plethora of religions and spiritual paths over thousands of years, and more recently, some highly amusing apps.
But this question now prompts a different response, as technology slowly brings us closer to accurately predicting the answer.
Predicting the lifespan of people, or their “Personal Life Expectancy” (PLE) would greatly alter our lives.
On one hand, it may have benefits for policy making, and help optimise an individual’s health, or the services they receive.
But the potential misuse of this information by the government or private sector poses major risks to our rights and privacy.
Although generating an accurate life expectancy is currently difficult, due to the complexity of factors underpinning lifespan, emerging technologies could make this a reality in the future.
How do you calculate life expectancy?
Predicting life expectancy is not a new concept. Experts do this at a population level by classifying people into groups, often based on region or ethnicity.
Also, tools such as deep learning and artificial intelligence can be used to consider complex variables, such as biomedical data, to predict someone’s biological age.
Biological age refers to how “old” their body is, rather than when they were born. A 30-year-old who smokes heavily may have a biological age closer to 40.
The use of devices such as fitness trackers will become crucial in predicting personal life expectancy in the future.Shutterstock
With machine learning and artificial intelligence, it’s becoming feasible to analyse larger quantities of data. The use of deep learning and cognitive computing, such as with IBM Watson, helps doctors make more accurate diagnoses than using human judgement alone.
This, coupled with predictive analytics and increasing computational power, means we may soon have systems, or even apps, that can calculate life expectancy.
There’s an app for that
Much like existing tools that predict cancer survival rates, in the coming years we may see apps attempting to analyse data to predict life expectancy.
However, they will not be able to provide a “death date”, or even a year of death.
Human behaviour and activities are so unpredictable, it’s almost impossible to measure, classify and predict lifespan. A personal life expectancy, even a carefully calculated one, would only provide a “natural life expectancy” based on generic data optimised with personal data.
The key to accuracy would be the quality and quantity of data available. Much of this would be taken directly from the user, including gender, age, weight, height and ethnicity.
Access to real-time sensor data through fitness trackers and smart watches could also monitor activity levels, heart rate and blood pressure. This could then be coupled with lifestyle information such as occupation, socioeconomic status, exercise, diet and family medical history.
All of the above could be used to classify an individual into a generic group to calculate life expectancy. This result would then be refined over time through the analysis of personal data, updating a user’s life expectancy and letting them monitor it.
This figure shows how an individual’s life expectancy might change between two points in time (F and H) following a lifestyle improvement, such as weight loss.
Two sides of a coin
Life expectancy predictions have the potential to be beneficial to individuals, health service providers and governments.
For instance, they would make people more aware of their general health, and its improvement or deterioration over time. This may motivate them to make healthier lifestyle choices.
They could also be used by insurance companies to provide individualised services, such as how some car insurance companies use black-box technology to reduce premiums for more cautious drivers.
Governments may be able to use predictions to more efficiently allocate limited resources, such as social welfare assistance and health care funding, to individuals and areas of greater need.
That said, there’s a likely downside.
People may become distressed if their life expectancy is unexpectedly low, or at the thought of having one at all. This raises concerns about how such predictions could impact those who experience or are at risk of mental health problems.
Also, pharmaceutical companies could coordinate targeted medical campaigns based on people’s life expectancy. And governments could choose to tax individuals differently, or restrict services for certain people.
The solution would require input from specialists including demographers, health scientists, data scientists, IT specialists, programmers, medical professionals and statisticians.
While the collection of enough data will be challenging, we can likely expect to see advances in this area in the coming years.
If so, issues related to data compliance, as well and collaboration with government and state agencies will need to be carefully managed. Any system predicting life expectancy would handle highly sensitive data, raising ethical and privacy concerns.
It would also attract cybercriminals, and various other security threats.
Moving forward, the words of Jurassic Park’s Dr Ian Malcolm spring to mind:
Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.
As our country battles the most extensive fires of our lifetime, there are increasing calls for a royal commission into the states and territories’ preparedness and the federal government’s response to the disaster.
A royal commission has coercive powers beyond a government inquiry, and the need for one implies there are facts and evidence that would otherwise be “hidden” to an inquiry or review.
Research I’ve recently conducted with other fire experts has concluded there have been 57 formal public inquiries, reviews and royal commissions related to bushfires and fire management since 1939, most of which are listed here. I have given expert evidence to at least seven of them, including the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission.
That is more than one inquiry every two years in the past 80 years. Do we need yet another?
Many of the recommendations of the subsequent 56 inquiries have not been fully implemented either, so it raises serious questions about whether another royal commission will offer anything new or compelling.
Royal commissions are also expensive and time-consuming. The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission had a budget of A$40 million and ran for about 18 months.
This cost did not include the very considerable time and resources committed by various government agencies, companies and individuals who prepared and presented evidence to the commission. When these costs are taken into account, I estimate the total cost of the commission to Victoria would have been much more.
This begs the question as to how money spent on a federal royal commission could be better used to deal with bushfire management across the country.
A comprehensive fire management plan already exists
This policy statement was signed off by all COAG (Council of Australian Governments) members by early 2012 and published in 2014. As yet, there has been little action on implementing this policy.
The policy had a stated vision that
fire regimes are effectively managed to maintain and enhance the protection of human life and property, and the health, biodiversity, tourism, recreation and production benefits derived from Australia’s forests and rangelands.
Central to this vision is
the role fire plays in maintaining and enhancing biodiversity. Sustainable long-term solutions are needed to address the causes of increased bushfire risk.
To achieve the intent of this policy, 14 national goals were identified.
The first was to maintain appropriate fire regimes with the right combination of size, intensity, frequency and seasonality to properly sustain the ecosystems in Australia’s forests and rangelands.
Another goal was to promote Indigenous Australians’ knowledge of fire management. This recognised the benefits of widespread, low-intensity, patchy fires across the landscape that are sustainable and create landscapes resilient to climate extremes.
And a third goal was to create employment, workforce education and training in bushfire management. This recognised the importance of fire management as an integrated part of our lives.
These goals – along with the 11 others in the statement – still need to be developed into measurable outputs and outcomes, but they set a comprehensive and sustainable fire management strategy for the country.
This policy statement goes much further than just considering how to respond to a bushfire emergency, which seems to be the focus of the call for a new royal commission by Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Morrison said Sunday he would take a proposal to establish a new royal commission into the bushfire disaster to Cabinet.David Mariuz/AAP
A better way forward
Over the past 20 years or so, the tertiary education for land managers, such as professional foresters and rangers, has been reduced to the level of generic “environmental science”. This has largely been due to the politicisation of public land management.
Bushfire science is complex and fire management even more complex, so we need to have highly trained and qualified people managing our parks and forests. Instead, we typically have groups of individual specialists trying to collaborate without the strong leadership and direction such a task requires.
We do not expect a physicist or chemist to build a bridge, even though they could provide great detail about the forces acting on it and the metallurgy of the structure. Instead, we employ engineers. Likewise, we should not expect botanists, zoologists, ecologists or environmental scientists to manage the natural landscape. That, however, is what is happening now.
What’s needed is a better national bushfire management strategy, not a commission into the response to the crisis.STATE GOVERNMENT OF VICTORIA
The responsibility for land and fire management rests with each state and territory government. However, with support from the federal government and coordination through COAG, we should be able to develop an efficient and effective fire and land management program across Australia.
In his 1939 royal commission report, Judge Stretton observed of the Victorian Forests Commission chairman of the time, A.V. Galbraith,
if his Commission were placed beyond the reach of the sort of political authority to which he and his Department has for some time past been subjected, he would be of greater value to the State.
His meaning is clear: good fire and land management needs to be done with long-term perspective, not a short-term political focus.
Stretton also observed the need to have public support, because
without their approval and goodwill, there can be no real plan.
Our changing climate has put more pressure on our natural ecosystems and the weaknesses in our land and fire management are being ruthlessly exposed.
Rather than using time and resources on inquiry No. 58, we should instead commit to fully implement the recommendations of all the previous inquiries, reviews and royal commissions we have already held. Another royal commission will only reiterate what we have known for decades.
Most children in Australia are going back to school in just over a week. Children experience a mix of emotions when it comes to going to school.
Easing back after the holidays can range from feeling really excited and eager to concern, fear or anxiety. Getting butterflies or general worry about going back to school is common.
Among the biggest worries of preschool children are feeling left out, being teased or saying goodbye to their caregiver at drop off. Concerns of school-aged children are about exams (27%), not wanting to return to school (13%), and problems with teachers (14%). Some feel lonely and isolated.
The main concerns for teens are coping with stress (44.7%), school or study problems (34.3%) and mental health (33.2%).
Not thinking about school until it is time to go back is one way to enjoy the last week of holidays. But for some, this can make going back to school more difficult.
Supporting parents, children and young people with back-to-school challenges can help reduce negative school experiences using the below steps.
1. Set up a back-to-school routine
Create structure about going back with a school routine. Be guided by your knowledge and history of what best supports your child during times of change and transition.
Having consistent bed and wake-up times helps too. The National Sleep Foundation suggest starting two weeks before the first day of school to set sleep routine habits. But a week beforehand will help get your kid on their way.
What do your kids need your help with and what can they do on their own?from shutterstock.com
In some way, parents go back to school with their children. Consider adjusting your own schedule to make the transition smoother. If you can’t in the mornings, arrange the evenings so you can give as much time as your child needs, especially during the first week.
2. Talk about going back to school
Most children deal with some level of stress or anxiety about school. They have insight into their school experiences, so find out what worries them by asking directly.
You can offer support by normalising experiences of worry and nerves. Reassure your child the feelings they have are common and they will likely overcome them once they have settled in. Worries and courage can exist together.
Depending on your child’s age, you can also try the following to help:
early years/pre-school – write a social story about going to daycare or school and the routine ahead
primary years – set up a peer-buddy system where a peer or older child meets yours at the school gate or, if neighbours, kids can go into school together
secondary years – establish healthy routines as a family. Support each other around technology use, sleep and schoolwork.
3. Help create a sense of school belonging
A sense of belonging at school can affect academic success and student well-being. Parents can facilitate positive attitudes about school by setting an encouraging tone when talking about it.
Also show an interest in school life and work, and be available to support your child both academically and socially.
Take interest in your child’s schoolwork.from shutterstock.com
More than half of the parents in one survey said homework and schoolwork were the greatest drivers of stress in their children. When parents are more engaged in their child’s schoolwork, they are better able to support them through it.
is more clingy than usual or tries escape from the classroom
appears restless and flighty or cries
shows an increased desire to avoid activities through negotiations and deal-making
tries to get out of going to school
retreats to thumb sucking, baby language or increased attachment to favourite soft toys (for younger students).
If these behaviours persist for about half a term, talk to your classroom teacher or school well-being coordinator about what is happening. Together work on a strategy of support. There may be something more going on than usual school nerves, like bullying.
Encourage questions children and teens may have about the next term. What will be the same? What will be different?
Often schools provide transition information. If the school hasn’t, it might be worth contacting them to see if they can share any resources.
Most importantly, let your child know nothing is off limits to talk about. Set up times to chat throughout the school term – it can help with back-to-school nerves.
The reasons for choosing to go tiny range from reducing debt, inability to afford a conventional home, the search for sustainability, a life crisis, or even preparing for an uncertain future in the face of climate change by going off-grid. Or perhaps a combination of these.
An important first step is to decide what type of tiny house you want. To many, the phrase “tiny house” brings to mind an archetypal tiny house on wheels, a miniature cottage on a trailer, often made of wood, with a pitched roof and dormer windows.
Indeed, most tiny housers prefer some degree of mobility, whether a ready-made or DIY tiny house, converted caravan or bus/van. A survey by the Australian Tiny House Association found most (78% of 109 respondents) lived in tiny houses on wheels, but a small but growing proportion live in converted caravans, vans or buses.
Tiny houses can be established or on wheels.from www.shutterstock.com
First you need to evaluate your motives, which may differ according to your situation or stage of life. The most important question here is, how often do you want to move?
Do you want to be ultra-mobile, and live like a digital nomad, perhaps in a “stealth van” in the city, changing parking spaces every night? Or do you want to travel around Australia like a “grey nomad”, staying in caravan parks or roadside camps for a week or so before moving on?
Alternatively, do you want to be more settled, perhaps moving occasionally, to be closer to work, medical facilities or schools for children? (Yes, some tiny housers have children). Or do you want to travel between the houses of adult children or do petsitting, staying from weeks to months?
Many off-the-shelf caravans are extremely well designed and are accepted everywhere, at caravan parks or roadside parking areas. On the other hand, a tiny house on wheels is less mobile, and not suited to frequent moving (they are also extremely heavy, not aerodynamic and large tow vehicles are costly).
They’re also less accepted in caravan parks, and most local councils consider them caravans, with restricted periods of occupancy and often onerous conditions. Vans and buses are the most flexible (in the “stealth van” or vanlife movement, people live rent-free by parking, mostly illegally, often in industrial estates, and using public or work/gym bathrooms).
They are, however, extremely small and while it may seem glamorous to live in a van like celebrity rock climber Alex Honnold, the reality may not be practical.
Cost will likely be the next factor to consider. Ready-built tiny houses range from around A$50,000 – $120,000; DIY are cheaper, especially if self-built, with some costing under $2,000. The higher end, architect-designed ones are more expensive.
Converted caravans can be affordable, even under $10,000, but prices vary markedly, with some ultra-luxurious five-wheelers costing more than a typical suburban house (>$600,000).
Converting old buses and vans is much cheaper, with the cost of the vehicle tending to be under $20,000. Of note, unless you are living under the radar or free camping, you are going to have to factor in the ongoing cost of renting someone’s backyard or caravan park space.
How sustainable is your choice?
Sustainability is a more nuanced aspect of tiny house living; living small means less energy needed for heating and less room for superfluous stuff, encouraging or enforcing a minimalist lifestyle.
Most tiny houses on wheels are off-grid to some extent, relying on solar power, rainwater and composting toilets. They are often built entirely out of sustainable or reclaimed materials.
On the other hand, most caravans and vans are not particularly sustainable — they’re often built out of mass-produced material and may produce outgassing from carpets and paints. Vans and busses are generally no more or less sustainable than any similar vehicle.
What kind of life do you want?
Tiny houses, whatever the type, are just that: tiny. Space is at a premium and living tiny requires reducing stuff, such as clothes, sporting and hobby equipment. Tiny houses on wheels, where parked more permanently, allow for decks and even sheds, but caravans and vans are self contained, unless in a permanent caravan park.
If you are used to living in a very large space, it may take time to adapt to the practicalities of tiny living; people often complain about cooking smells and composting toilets.
Despite the popularity of tiny houses however, very few people actually live in them. Nonetheless, the vast majority of people who live or have lived tiny, view their experience positively, and feel it has greatly enriched their lives, and helped them re-evaluate their life choices, especially consumerism even after moving to more conventional dwellings.
Typically, a crisis only leads to substantial policy changes if there is also a broader understanding about the need to act, and the shape of the change needed.
The economic theories of John Maynard Keynes provided the basis for policies that ensured full employment during and after World War II.
The monetarist theories of Milton Friedman provided the means to limit inflation in the 1970s and 1980s.
A library of pre-existing publications on national security directed policy in the wake of 9/11.
Theory is needed as well
Crisis and economic theory were essential to some of the big reforms under the Hawke and Keating governments, including a new approach to Australian retirement incomes.
Superannuation had been a patchwork of individual employer arrangements since before federation.
The stagflation crisis of simultaneous unemployment and inflation in the 1970s created the conditions for a new approach. Inflation rose to 15%, unemployment to 6%. It led to government-union Accords and deferred wage increases that were the basis for Australia’s universal employee superannuation scheme.
Many see the 1986 Chernobyl disaster as a turning point in ending the cold war and dismantling the Soviet Union. Mikhail Gorbachev acted decisively in the midst of a disaster that created a groundswell of support for change bringing in an system (capitalism) which had deep theoretical underpinnings.
Not every crisis leads to change
US President Obama hugs Mark Barden, whose seven year old son Daniel was shot and killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School attack in 2012.MICHAEL REYNOLDS/EPA
For decades, gun control has been contentious in the United States, where gun-related homicides are ten times the rates elsewhere. 26 people, including 20 children aged 6 and 7, in a gun massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.
President Obama was personally committed to, and moved fast after the crisis to call for, tighter gun control. But change was stymied by powerful stakeholders.
By contrast, John Howard was successful in moving quickly after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre to tighten gun controls.
The Australian gun lobby lacked the political sophistication of America’s National Rifle Association, and Australia’s political system has fewer veto points than in the US.
The attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941 brought World War II to America, mobilising huge levels of public support for American involvement. Within days, Roosevelt had declared war on Japan.
The nation might not be ready
There are high levels of public support for action climate change in Australia, but can we say it is the same as “war fever”?
Australia’s emissions policy has been stuck for a long time. Australia was recently ranked as having the worst climate policy in the world, and some of the worst outcomes.
Australia’s annual emissions are not expected to change much between 2020 and 2030 – which doesn’t give Australia much chance of getting to near zero emissions by 2050, which is generally regarded as what’s needed to avoid runaway climate change.
Many in public policy have spent years developing credible policy responses to climate change. But Australia has repealed or failed to implement five versions of climate policy since 2007.
There are reasons to believe the summer bushfire crisis won’t be any different.
No-one has accused the Prime Minister of moving too fast or too far in responding to the fires. In his interview with ABC at the weekend, he did not commit to tightening, or even reviewing, Australia’s carbon emissions targets in light of the fires.
Powerful stakeholders continue to deny the need for significant policy change: last month the federal resources minister, Matt Canavan, referred to the “bogeyman of climate change” as a distraction from “shortcomings in managing our land.”
Fake news on social media and in some sections of the mainstream media about an arson emergency has blunted the chance of a broad-based popular groundswell.
There’s hope, but not much
The proposed royal commission might be a means to find a way forward on climate change. But by the time it reports, the fires will be out, and the moment of crisis will have passed.
For now, the fires smoulder on. It’s not too late for the federal government to seize the opportunity for substantial change. State governments may well use the aftermath of the fires to coordinate their responses to climate change – possibly without the Commonwealth. For the moment, they are understandably preoccupied with responding to an ongoing emergency.
There is a real possibility that Australia will have to wait for another crisis – with different leadership, and more public consensus – before there is significant change on emissions policy.
The bushfire smoke that chokes 10 million people in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, and elsewhere will no doubt contribute to changing attitudes, and it might even shift the media’s coverage of climate change, but there’s no guarantee that it will be the policy turning point we need.
