tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/new-zealand-205/articlesNew Zealand – The Conversation2023-12-12T22:28:20Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2197932023-12-12T22:28:20Z2023-12-12T22:28:20ZAnthony Albanese joins Canadian and NZ prime ministers in calling for ceasefire in Israel-Hamas war<p>Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has joined New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in calling for a sustainable ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict. </p>
<p>In a joint statement, the three leaders said they wanted to resume a “pause” in the fighting and supported “urgent international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire”. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, at the United Nations, Australia has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/12/united-nations-general-assembly-vote-ceasefire-israel-gaza-war">voted</a> with an overwhelming majority of countries for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. The United States was among a small minority of nations voting against. Israel’s ambassador to Australia condemned the Australian vote.</p>
<p>In their statement, the three leaders stressed a sustainable ceasefire could not be one-sided. “Hamas must release all hostages, stop using Palestinian civilians as human shields, and lay down its arms”. </p>
<p>While recognising Israel’s right to defend itself, the leaders said that in doing so, “Israel must respect international humanitarian law”. </p>
<p>Australia, Canada and New Zealand mourned every innocent life that had been lost, the prime statement said. </p>
<p>“We unequivocally condemn Hamas’ terror attacks on Israel on October 7, the appalling loss of life, and the heinous acts of violence perpetrated in those attacks, including sexual violence. We condemn Hamas’ unacceptable treatment of hostages and call for the immediate and unconditional release of all remaining hostages.”</p>
<p>Declaring civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected, the statement said: “We are alarmed at the diminishing safe space for civilians in Gaza. The price of defeating Hamas cannot be the continuous suffering of all Palestinian civilians.”</p>
<p>“We remain deeply concerned by the scale of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and ongoing risks to all Palestinian civilians. Safe and unimpeded humanitarian access must be increased and sustained.”</p>
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<p>The prime ministers said there was no role for Hamas in the future governance of Gaza.</p>
<p>“We support Palestinians’ right to self-determination. We oppose the forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, the re-occupation of Gaza, any reduction in territory, and any use of siege or blockade. We emphasise that Gaza must no longer be used as a platform for terrorism. We reaffirm that [Israeli] settlements are illegal under international law. Settlements and settler violence are serious obstacles to a negotiated two-state solution.</p>
<p>"We recommit ourselves to working with partners toward a just and enduring peace in the form of a two-state solution, where Israelis and Palestinians can live securely within internationally recognised borders.” </p>
<p>The leaders expressed concern about the conflict’s impact “spilling across the region” and urged governments in the Middle East to work towards containing the conflict. They also called on the Houthi rebels in Yemen to immediately stop their attacks on ships in the Red Sea.</p>
<p>The statement also condemned “rising antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab sentiment in our countries and around the world”. The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to “combatting prejudice, hatred, and violent extremism”.</p>
<p>Foreign Minister Penny Wong is due to visit the Middle East soon. Shadow Foreign Minister Simon Birmingham is part of a cross-party group of federal MPs <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-07/simon-birmingham-leads-cross-party-delegation-to-israel/103199726">visiting Israel</a> this week. It includes Labor members Josh Burns and Michelle Ananda-Rajah, and Coalition MPs Andrew Wallace and Zoe McKenzie.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219793/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The leaders called on Israel to ‘respect international humanitarian law’, and said Hamas has no place in the future governance of Gaza.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2165302023-11-06T00:08:04Z2023-11-06T00:08:04ZHow Phar Lap’s skin, bones and heart became ‘holy relics’ in colonial Australia and New Zealand<p>When the legendary <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/video/phar-lap-wins-1930-melbourne-cup">Phar Lap won the Melbourne Cup in 1930</a>, the big chestnut horse didn’t just live up to his Thai name, which means “lightning”. He also brought together strands of colonial history and mythology that are only now properly visible.</p>
<p>Much worshipped in life and in death, Phar Lap has occupied a unique place in the story of Australia’s and New Zealand’s evolving national identities. The posthumous division and distribution of his corpse into “relics” – mounted hide, skeleton and heart – represented a form of what I call “<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248984602_Colonial_Sainthood_in_Australasia">new world worship</a>”. </p>
<p>Old world religions were an important part of colonisation. But the early settler experience also saw the appearance of quasi-religious icons and symbols, one of which was the horse. Vital for settling, farming and policing the new land, they became more than mere beasts of burden.</p>
<p>Successful colonisation involved the breeding of introduced species – plants and animals, but also people. Physical strength, egalitarianism, battling against the odds and “mateship” were characteristics of the new colonial societies on both sides of the Tasman. For a while, Phar Lap embodied them all.</p>
<h2>Breeding good colonial stock</h2>
<p>The other thing Australia and New Zealand shared was a “cultural cringe” that expressed itself in a need to prove the new colonies could take on the world and win. National myths based on climate, soil, good pastures and practical skill took shape.</p>
<p>Whether it was soldiers, race horses or rugby players, the goal was to produce the best winning stock in the world. Breeding <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/racehorses-famous-new-zealand-thoroughbreds">champion race horses</a> from overseas bloodlines fitted the narrative perfectly.</p>
<p>By the time Phar Lap was born in Timaru in New Zealand’s South Island in 1926, horse racing was well established as an important industry throughout Australia and New Zealand. Uniquely, it brought together the business of breeding and training with socialising, entertainment and gambling.</p>
<p>Antipodean racing culture mimicked British rituals and traditions, but involved a wider cross-section of society. Many factors made following the horses so appealing: genetics, condition and training, track conditions, riders and of course the field, all contributed to the interest and the odds. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/was-phar-lap-killed-by-gangsters-new-research-shows-which-conspiracies-people-believe-in-and-why-158610">Was Phar Lap killed by gangsters? New research shows which conspiracies people believe in and why</a>
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<p>A big race meeting became a kind of “holy day”. The fun, excitement, dressing up and partying while trying one’s luck on the horses lives on today, nowhere more so than at the Melbourne Cup.</p>
<p>Phar Lap’s famous win by three lengths in 1930 – having survived an assassination attempt shortly beforehand – became part of the legend. Against the grim backdrop of the Great Depression, he offered escapism and even a sense of confidence that things could be better.</p>
<p>When he won the <a href="https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/phar-laps-last-race-agua-caliente">Agua Caliente Handicap in Mexico</a> it thrilled Australians and New Zealanders alike. And his death two weeks later saw shock and public mourning. The attendant <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/how-did-australasias-first-champion-racehorse-phar-lap-really-die/CXJZJIQZPEZZPQY2J3X52FSJP4/">conspiracy theories</a> – killed by gangsters, toxic feed, too much arsenic in his tonic – are seemingly as immortal as Phar Lap’s memory.</p>
<h2>Horse with a big heart</h2>
<p>Like holy relics, the horse’s hide, bones and heart were brought back from the United States and then shared between Australia and New Zealand for the faithful to witness.</p>
<p>Renowned New York taxidermists the Jonas brothers <a href="https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/articles/14229">created the life-like mount</a> that went to the National Museum of Victoria (later the Melbourne Museum). Phar Lap’s skeleton went to Wellington’s Dominion Museum (now Te Papa).</p>
<p>But it’s <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/mystery-over-phar-lap-s-heart-only-strengthens-the-legend-20211218-p59io4.html">Phar Lap’s heart that has seen the most myth-making</a> and mystery. Preserved and displayed at the National Institute of Anatomy in Canberra (later the Australian National Museum), it is extremely large, leading to various claims that it enabled Phar Lap’s success and that it can’t be authentic. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-greatest-ever-or-will-ascot-be-a-lap-too-phar-for-black-caviar-7803">The greatest ever, or will Ascot be a Lap too Phar for Black Caviar?</a>
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<p>Nonetheless, the symbolism of a big heart can’t be denied. And while it evokes the preserved and sacred hearts of old-world saints, it suggests forms of new-world worship are evolving too. All three museums claim their Phar Lap relics are perennially popular.</p>
<p>Phar Lap’s skeleton and hide were temporarily reunited for a special exhibition at the Melbourne Museum to celebrate the <a href="https://www.nma.gov.au/audio/heart-of-australian-racing-the-melbourne-cup">150th anniversary of the Melbourne Cup in 2011</a>. But it’s ironic the remains of a horse that once united Australia and New Zealand should be so separated.</p>
<p>Then again, perhaps it’s a fitting metaphor after all, as the two former colonies find their separate way in the modern world, nearly a century on from Phar Lap’s brief but glorious reign.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216530/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Pickles does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Phar Lap’s famous 1930 Melbourne Cup victory united Australia and New Zealand in celebration. Almost a century on, people still flock to visit his remains, on display at three different museums.Katie Pickles, Professor of History, University of CanterburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2139482023-09-25T20:58:22Z2023-09-25T20:58:22ZSex workers’ rights: Governments should not decide what constitutes good or bad sex<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/sex-workers-rights-governments-should-not-decide-what-constitutes-good-or-bad-sex" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>An Ontario Superior Court justice has dismissed <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/sex-workers-1.6970016">a constitutional challenge to Canada’s sex work laws</a>, saying that the <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/annualstatutes/2014_25/page-1.html">Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA)</a> does not violate sex workers’ Charter rights. </p>
<p>A coalition of 25 sex workers’ rights groups organized a challenge to the legislation, arguing that sex workers are <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/superior-court-hearing-decriminalization-of-sex-work-canada-1.6604546">harmed by the partial criminalization of sex work</a>. Anti-prostitution groups argued that the law discourages men from buying sex and reduces commercial sex, in line with the goals of the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/debating-sex-work-9780190659899">Nordic or Equality Model</a> of sex work. </p>
<p>The judge ruled that while he believes the laws don’t violate the Charter — which is what he was asked to rule on — <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/ontario-court-dismisses-sex-workers-charter-challenge">regulation and decriminalization might be better policy options</a>. But, he wrote, it is up to Parliament to make those decisions, not the judiciary. And it is about time the government did so.</p>
<h2>Canada’s laws on sex work</h2>
<p>The current law was developed by the Conservative government of Stephen Harper. PCEPA makes buying sex illegal while selling sex is legal in some circumstances. This asymmetrical model still leaves sex work in a legal grey area because one side of the transaction is legal and the other is not. </p>
<p>Much research has been done on the benefits of decriminalizing sex work, including work done by <a href="https://www.amnesty.ca/womens-rights-gender-justice/blog-setting-the-record-straight-on-protecting-the-human-rights-of-sex-workers/">Amnesty International</a> and <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/09/18/eu-harmful-prostitution-resolution-passes">Human Rights Watch</a>. These are not fly-by-night organizations. They based their stance on solid research about the harms of criminalization. They are against trafficking and against the abuse of sex workers and they have policies against both. </p>
<p>There is also <a href="https://www.wsanz.org.nz/journal/docs/WSJNZ312Schmidt35-49.pdf">the example of New Zealand</a>, which has decriminalized sex work and uses health and labour laws to regulate the industry. I won’t reiterate the <a href="https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/publications/ten-reasons-decriminalize-sex-work">arguments</a> here in favour of <a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/topic/its-time-to-decriminalize-sex-work">decriminalization</a> because there is <a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/red-light-labour">so much research</a> already <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs13178-021-00636-0">out there</a>. </p>
<p>What I want to discuss in this article is the very conservative (perhaps unconscious) sexual beliefs that underlie many people’s negative view of sex work. The issue is a complicated one, and I recognize how it can be easier to believe that all female sex workers are victims and all male clients are predators, instead of taking a more nuanced view. </p>
<p>That was certainly my opinion before I did <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/slut-shaming--whorephobia--and-the-unfinished-sexual-revolution-products-9780228006657.php">interviews with working escorts</a>. Meeting women who sell sex and do so with respect and dignity changed the way I viewed sex work.</p>
<h2>Conservatism and sex</h2>
<p>Sex has historically been separated into “good sex” and “bad sex” because of what is called the heterosexual conjugal bond, or more colloquially, traditional marriage. Those who defined what was good and bad sex <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sexuality-a-very-short-introduction-9780199298020?cc=ca&lang=en&">were often men</a>.</p>
<p>Traditional socially conservative views see acceptable sex as being with one person, only after marriage, heterosexual and relational, meaning that even masturbation was taboo. Scholars have outlined the detrimental effects of the <a href="https://canadianscholars.ca/book/politics-and-sex/">heterosexual conjugal bond</a> on women and sexual minorities. </p>
<p>Canada has liberalized its laws significantly since <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/david-allyn/make-love-not-war/9780316039307/">the 1960s sexual revolution</a>. Gay sex, premarital and extramarital sex and polyamory are more acceptable than they once were, but the vestiges of this conservative ideology remain. Recent protests against sex and gender identity education <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9972437/anti-lgbtq2-rallies-canada-counter-protests/">in the school system</a> illustrate this. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-parental-rights-movement-gave-rise-to-the-1-million-march-4-children-213842">How the 'parental rights' movement gave rise to the 1 Million March 4 Children</a>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549839/original/file-20230923-17-skg2pr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two pairs of feet on a bed." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549839/original/file-20230923-17-skg2pr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549839/original/file-20230923-17-skg2pr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549839/original/file-20230923-17-skg2pr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549839/original/file-20230923-17-skg2pr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549839/original/file-20230923-17-skg2pr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549839/original/file-20230923-17-skg2pr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549839/original/file-20230923-17-skg2pr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Personal moral beliefs about what constitutes good sex should not determine public policy regarding sex work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>Most feminists would reject the idea that they are complicit with ideas that harm women or LGBTQ+ people because they have no problem with gay sex, premarital sex or extramarital sex. But anti-prostitution activists draw the line at commercialized sex for essentially moral reasons. Sex work remains bad sex.</p>
<p>As the director of an anti-trafficking group <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/slut-shaming--whorephobia--and-the-unfinished-sexual-revolution-products-9780228006657.php">said to me</a>:</p>
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<p>“I don’t believe that every aspect of being a human being can be reduced to labour, to work. I think human sexuality is that part of ourselves, that part of being human that should not be for sale, should not be turned into a commodity that can be bought or sold, so on that front we don’t recognize sex as work so we don’t call anyone a sex worker.” </p>
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<p>In this view, sex should not be commercialized. And to many people that is common sense. If you are raised in any kind of organized religion, you are likely to believe that sex is special and should be limited to heterosexual marriage. But that is a moral argument based on personal views of sex, and not necessarily what we should base public policy on. </p>
<h2>The value of sex work</h2>
<p>The sex workers I interviewed saw the value in sex work. They felt they were helping people, and providing a service and giving others pleasure was a part of that.</p>
<p>This is vehemently rejected by anti-prostitution activists. As one such activist <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/slut-shaming--whorephobia--and-the-unfinished-sexual-revolution-products-9780228006657.php">told me</a>:</p>
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<p>“If you are disabled or in some way unable to have a normal, sexual relationship with another person, so you think that the right way is to buy it? Well, my answer to you is that unfortunately due to your illness and your disability you cannot have sex with another person.” </p>
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<p>So those who might have problems accessing sex because of disability, age or physical attractiveness are simply out of luck. </p>
<p>But if there are women and men who get meaning out of their sex work and see value in what they do, why are we preventing them from doing this work? Why are we creating laws in a way that makes it less safe for them to do so? </p>
<p>If anti-prostitution activists don’t acknowledge that many women do choose to engage in sex work, they are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95947-1">denying the agency those women clearly have</a> and this speaks to a paternalism and saviourism that needs to be faced. </p>
<p>Protections must, of course, be in place for those who don’t consent to sex work and harsh penalties should be taken in place for traffickers. But we do not need to criminalize consenting adults and their expressions of sexuality. We already have laws against sexual assault, trafficking, force, fraud and coercion. We should not want personal morality and religious beliefs being imposed on our public policy.</p>
<p>Many women can and do sex work with respect and dignity. Governments should be looking at those conditions and ensuring that those who sell sex, female and male, cis and transgender, are doing so under the safest possible conditions. </p>
<p>Whether it is a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-sex-workers-plan-co-op-brothel-1.681434">co-op brothel, as was tried in British Columbia</a>, or women working together in their homes or working online, there are many ways to work safely. <a href="https://www.wsanz.org.nz/journal/docs/WSJNZ312Schmidt35-49.pdf">New Zealand has shown through their health and safety regulations</a> how governments can make sex work safer. If the current courts are unwilling or unable to make sex work safer, then Parliament needs to do so.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213948/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meredith Ralston has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>Laws regarding sex work should not be legislated based on personal moral beliefs. They should prioritize the safety of sex workers and their clients.Meredith Ralston, Professor of Women's Studies and Political Studies, Mount Saint Vincent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1995882023-09-19T12:15:26Z2023-09-19T12:15:26Z3 powerful earthquakes strike Afghanistan in one week – here’s how people around the world prepare for disasters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553577/original/file-20231012-17-685tzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C34%2C5760%2C3768&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Survivors search through rubble on Oct. 7, 2023, in western Afghanistan, where a series of powerful earthquakes have killed thousands.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/search-operation-for-the-bodies-and-those-who-remained-news-photo/1715818309?adppopup=true">Anadolu Agency/via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Herat, in western Afghanistan, experienced a 6.3 magnititude earthquake on Oct. 11, 2023 – following <a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-earthquake-herat-c0181a41ae82e68892f7ba8ff988a07b">two more earlier in the same week</a>. </p>
<p>The mountains of Afghanistan are especially prone to earthquakes, but the truth is that earthquakes, flooding and hurricanes can happen anywhere. Nowhere is the risk zero.</p>
<p>But humans can make good decisions to lower the odds of hazards turning into disasters. Technology can help determine where to make investments to save the most lives.</p>
<p>The terrible devastation caused by the three <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/rescuers-race-find-survivors-over-48-hours-after-morocco-quake-2023-09-11/">6.3 magnitude earthquakes</a> in Afghanistan is the result of the presence of centuries-old historic buildings and the continued use of <a href="https://news.northeastern.edu/2023/09/10/morocco-earthquake-construction/">old construction methods</a>, such as clay bricks and unreinforced masonry. These building materials are <a href="https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/14263">prevalent worldwide</a>, particularly in <a href="https://vividbay.com/concrete-vs-wood-developing-countries-use-concrete/">developing countries</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553110/original/file-20231010-17-j3bviw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="In a remote, rural setting, a man searches through the debris of what was once a home." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553110/original/file-20231010-17-j3bviw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553110/original/file-20231010-17-j3bviw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553110/original/file-20231010-17-j3bviw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553110/original/file-20231010-17-j3bviw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553110/original/file-20231010-17-j3bviw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553110/original/file-20231010-17-j3bviw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553110/original/file-20231010-17-j3bviw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Mountainous villages in Afghanistan were devastated by a series of strong earthquakes and aftershocks that began on Oct. 7, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Muhammad Balabuluki/AFP via Getty Images</span></span>
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<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1rRpM1QAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Engineers like me</a> tend to focus on tangible decisions related to how buildings are constructed – for example, the amount and location of steel reinforcement. Over the last several decades, I’ve conducted the world’s largest <a href="http://doi.org/10.1061/%28ASCE%29ST.1943-541X.0000222">shake table tests</a>, placing a full-size apartment building on a platform that simulates seismic activity, and I’ve led teams of experts to investigate earthquakes around the world. But devastation – like <a href="https://miyamotointernational.com/2023-herat-afghanistan-earthquake-preliminary-shelter-and-housing-response/?utm_source=English+Global+List&utm_campaign=aa31d6c71e-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_11_26_05_59_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_544794d98f-aa31d6c71e-33641653&mc_cid=aa31d6c71e&mc_eid=576174da53">we are seeing in Afghanistan now</a> – continues. </p>
<p>Each disaster underlines the need to make our homes, offices and schools safer and more earthquake-resilient. But retrofitting buildings is expensive – and that cost represents a daunting challenge for developing nations like Afghanistan, <a href="https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2023/10/358192/historical-sites-in-earthquake-hit-areas-in-morocco-reopen-for-visitors">Morocco</a> and <a href="https://www.un.org/en/turkiye-syria-earthquake-response">Syria</a> – all three of which were devastated recently by major earthquakes. It is also challenging in developed nations like Turkey, Japan and the United States.</p>
<p>And yet, I am optimistic because I know thousands of engineers around the world are working and collaborating to make earthquakes less deadly.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547569/original/file-20230911-8366-vfgz9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of people walk by buildings devastated by the earthquake." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547569/original/file-20230911-8366-vfgz9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547569/original/file-20230911-8366-vfgz9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547569/original/file-20230911-8366-vfgz9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547569/original/file-20230911-8366-vfgz9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547569/original/file-20230911-8366-vfgz9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547569/original/file-20230911-8366-vfgz9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547569/original/file-20230911-8366-vfgz9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Morocco earthquake in early September 2023 damaged thousands of homes and buildings, including many of the country’s long-standing historical landmarks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/residents-pass-by-damaged-buildings-near-the-epicenter-at-news-photo/1659167845?adppopup=true">Wang Dongzhen/Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>How earthquakes devastate buildings</h2>
<p>Before we can discuss how to make people safer in earthquakes, it helps to understand the forces at work during these destructive events.</p>
<p>The extent of the damage done by an earthquake is determined by several factors, including magnitude – or how much energy the earthquake releases from its fault; depth of <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-a-fault-and-what-are-different-types#:%7E:text=A%20fault%20is%20a%20fracture,millimeters%20to%20thousands%20of%20kilometers">the fault</a> and how far the building is from the epicenter of the quake. </p>
<p>An epicenter is the location on the surface of the Earth above the fault. Essentially, it is ground zero for the quake, where shaking is most intense and buildings are more likely to collapse.</p>
<p>If the columns and walls of a multi-story building are not stiff and strong enough to resist the forces of an earthquake, gravity takes over. The building usually collapses at the bottom floor level, causing the stories above to follow. Anyone inside can be trapped or crushed by falling debris. Stopping this requires significant investment, <a href="https://www.nist.gov/buildings-construction/understanding-building-codes">modern design codes</a> and code enforcement. There are always challenges – but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been some success stories.</p>
<h2>California plans ahead</h2>
<p>Consider the city of San Francisco. More than a decade ago, this densely populated Northern California city realized it had thousands of apartment buildings with parking at the ground level. These are known as “soft-story” buildings and are more prone to collapse because they lack <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/structural/soft-story-seismic-retrofitting.htm">the strength and stiffness of reinforcing</a> at the ground level. Many are likely to collapse in a moderate-to-major earthquake, while many more would require months to repair. </p>
<p>Through a self-study <a href="https://sfgov.org/sfc/sites/default/files/ESIP/FileCenter/Documents/9757-atc522.pdf">completed in 2010</a>, San Francisco recognized that even if nobody was killed or injured in an earthquake, damage to these multi-unit residential buildings would result in a significant number of people losing their homes and leaving the city, changing its character forever. In 2013, the city began <a href="https://sfgov.org/sfc/sites/default/files/ESIP/FileCenter/Documents/10118-Legislation_Final.pdf">a mandatory retrofit program</a>. So far, <a href="https://sfgov.org/sfc/esip/soft-story">more than 700 soft-story buildings</a> have been retrofitted. Federal <a href="https://www.californiaresidentialmitigationprogram.com/How-to-Pay-for-a-Seismic-Retrofit/Earthquake-Soft-Story">grants of up to US$13,000</a> that became available in early 2023 are expected to accelerate this progress.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ladbs.org/services/core-services/plan-check-permit/plan-check-permit-special-assistance/mandatory-retrofit-programs/soft-story-retrofit-program">Los Angeles</a> followed suit in 2015, passing a law that required retrofitting of both soft-story wood-framed and older concrete buildings prone to collapse. As of 2023, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-03-22/poll-large-majority-los-angeles-residents-back-earthquake-retrofit">69% of soft-story buildings in LA</a> had been retrofitted. Progress on the concrete structures has been slower but is moving ahead.</p>
<p>Retrofitting a multi-unit apartment buildings in California costs between $60,000 and $130,000 – but the investment for a typical single-family home in the U.S. <a href="https://www.earthquakeauthority.com/Blog/2020/Benefits-Seismic-Upgrades-Why-Retrofit-Your-Home">starts as low as $3,000</a>.</p>
<p>Communities outside the U.S. have also built back better after earthquakes.</p>
<p>In 2005, Kobe, Japan, was rocked by a major earthquake that resulted in more than 5,000 fatalities and $200 billion in damage. As the city rebuilt, officials took the opportunity to improve their building code using updated <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0958-9465(99)00042-6">strengthening and stiffening techniques</a>.</p>
<p>Christchurch, New Zealand, was devastated in 2011 by two earthquakes that destroyed much of the downtown area. While many buildings didn’t collapse – a sign that the building code worked to some degree – many were damaged beyond repair. Demolishing them presented an opportunity to <a href="https://www.atcouncil.org/docman/atc-15-16-papers/188-p4-01-macrae/file">focus on resilient construction</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547591/original/file-20230911-17-v1m7nf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Amidst the rubble, a team of uniformed firefighters in hard hats search through the debris left by the quake." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547591/original/file-20230911-17-v1m7nf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547591/original/file-20230911-17-v1m7nf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547591/original/file-20230911-17-v1m7nf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547591/original/file-20230911-17-v1m7nf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547591/original/file-20230911-17-v1m7nf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547591/original/file-20230911-17-v1m7nf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547591/original/file-20230911-17-v1m7nf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">In Amizmiz, Morocco, search-and-rescue teams look for survivors trapped beneath the rubble in September 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/firefighters-are-seen-digging-among-the-rubble-in-search-of-news-photo/1659521984?adppopup=true">Davide Bonaldo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Focusing efforts</h2>
<p>So how can people and governments figure out where best to invest to decrease our exposure to natural hazards?</p>
<p>The center I co-direct brings together specialists from <a href="http://resilience.colostate.edu">14 universities</a> to determine how to measure a community’s resilience to natural hazards to enable them to plan for, absorb and recover rapidly from hazards. A <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/02/12/presidential-policy-directive-critical-infrastructure-security-and-resil">policy directive</a> during the Obama administration resulted in funds being focused on improving resilience throughout the U.S.</p>
<p>To improve resilience, we have to be able to quantify and measure it. To do this, we’ve developed a computer model called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rcns.2023.07.004">IN-CORE</a> that communities can use to measure the short- and long-term effects of “what if” scenarios on their households, social institutions, physical infrastructure and local economy. Each interacting algorithm that makes up the model is based on scientifically rigorous research documented in the teams’ <a href="http://resilience.colostate.edu/publications.shtml">almost 200 peer-reviewed publications over the last eight years</a>. Our system allows stakeholders to make resilience-informed decisions and measure the impacts on vulnerable populations. For example, we know that it is vital that social institutions such as schools and hospitals <a href="https://www.asce.org/publications-and-news/civil-engineering-source/civil-engineering-magazine/issues/magazine-issue/article/2021/03/performance-based-seismic-design-succeeds-in-turkey">remain intact</a> after a disaster.</p>
<p>One example of utilizing IN-CORE is the center’s engagement with Salt Lake County, Utah. The county is planning for a major earthquake – an event that is inevitable <a href="https://earthquake.usgs.gov/cfusion/external_grants/reports/G13AP00003.pdf">according to experts from the U.S. Geological Survey</a>. Understanding where investment will have its biggest impact is critical because time and money are limited. Our system will help Salt Lake County determine which building retrofits will provide the most return on investment based on physical services, social services and economic and population stability.</p>
<p>One goal of the <a href="https://www.in-core.org">IN-CORE Project</a> is to assist communities recently identified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, as <a href="https://www.fema.gov/partnerships/community-disaster-resilience-zones">Community Disaster Resilience Zones</a>. These are areas in the U.S. most at risk from the effects of natural hazards and climate change. </p>
<p>More broadly, we plan to partner with communities and regions worldwide, always staying focused on ensuring socially equitable solutions. For example, as recent earthquakes in Morocco and Afghanistan show, it is important to consider not just urban centers, but rural communities that often <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/12/africa/morocco-earthquake-village-atlas-mountains/index.html">suffer a great deal of loss</a>.</p>
<p><em>This article was updated to include details from the Afghanistan earthquakes in October 2023.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199588/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John van de Lindt receives funding from the National Institute of Standards and Technology to co-lead the development of IN-CORE mentioned in the article. </span></em></p>One way to prevent the destruction wrought by a devastating earthquake – like the one that hit Morocco in September 2023 – is to construct resilient homes and buildings.John van de Lindt, Professor of Civil Engineering, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2117282023-08-21T20:18:18Z2023-08-21T20:18:18ZA retiring NZ MP has suggested joining Australia – we should at least think about it (before saying no)<p>Big policy ideas usually don’t come up in parliamentary valedictory speeches – they’re for saying goodbye and thank you. So departing Labour MP Jamie Strange was the exception last week when he <a href="https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/document/HansS_20230815_052860000/strange-jamie">made a case</a> for New Zealand and Australia becoming one country.</p>
<p>The main problem, he joked, would be integrating the Australian cricket team. But he talked up the potential economic benefits, and the option does remain open under sections 6 and 121 of the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/constitution">Australian Constitution</a>.</p>
<p>In fact, New Zealand did seriously consider joining the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Powers_practice_n_procedures/Records_of_the_Australasian_Federal_Conventions_of_the_1890s">Australian federation</a> in the 1890s. After all, it had <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/language/urdu/en/podcast-episode/was-new-zealand-ever-administered-as-part-of-new-south-wales/2fiosb9f9">been administered</a> as part of the colony of New South Wales for about a year after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.</p>
<p>And the relationship was already close. <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/271105/222-years-of-maori-in-australia">Māori traders</a> began visiting Sydney from the 1790s. Settlers moved back and forth across the Tasman from the earliest contact.</p>
<p>Quite how such a union might be forged in the 21st century, however, raises some interesting questions about how similar – or dissimilar – the two countries have since become.</p>
<h2>A simplified relationship</h2>
<p>Political union would simplify the relationship: trade would be more efficient, social and cultural ties might be strengthened, passports wouldn’t be needed and banking would be easier.</p>
<p>Indeed, an Australian parliamentary committee <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/CanterLawRw/2010/2.pdf">recommended political union</a> in 2006, but the New Zealand prime minister at the time, Helen Clark, rejected the idea. The then opposition leader, Don Brash, said it should at least be considered, but found little support. </p>
<p>The committee’s second preference was for a common currency to make trans-Tasman business easier. </p>
<p>But close relationships don’t require political union. Australia and New Zealand hold regular ministerial meetings, share various regulatory standards, and there is military and intelligence cooperation.</p>
<p>There are also important policy differences – such as over the <a href="https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/07/nanaia-mahuta-shuts-door-on-nz-joining-aukus-after-united-states-antony-blinken-says-it-s-very-much-open.html">AUKUS security pact</a> and New Zealand’s nuclear-free policy. Union wouldn’t mean the two countries coming together as equals. New Zealand members of an Australian government would influence those policies, but they wouldn’t determine them. </p>
<h2>From nation to state</h2>
<p>Current constitutional arrangements would mean New Zealand simply became a state of the existing Commonwealth of Australia. It would elect members to the federal parliament, but it would no longer have an independent voice in international forums.</p>
<p>Under the Australian Constitution, the New Zealand state parliament would be responsible for schooling, hospitals and transport, among the reserve powers of the Australian states. </p>
<p>Foreign policy, defence, monetary policy, higher education, pharmaceutical and GP funding would be among the responsibilities transferred to Canberra. A better cricket team might not be compensation enough. </p>
<p>But thinking seriously about the idea would also require both countries to consider how they might forge a different commonwealth together. And that would require an assessment of underlying national values that rarely troubles political discourse in either country.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-australia-could-learn-from-new-zealand-about-indigenous-representation-201761">What Australia could learn from New Zealand about Indigenous representation</a>
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<h2>The Voice and the Treaty</h2>
<p>Nowhere would this be more evident than in the respective debates about whether democracy should be properly inclusive of Indigenous peoples.</p>
<p>In Australia, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/ng-interactive/2023/aug/14/indigenous-voice-to-parliament-poll-results-polling-latest-opinion-polls-referendum-tracker-newspoll-essential-yougov-news-by-state-australia">opinion polls</a> are showing the proposed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander <a href="https://voice.gov.au/">Voice to Parliament</a> doesn’t have the support it needs to pass a referendum later this year. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-voice-isnt-apartheid-or-a-veto-over-parliament-this-misinformation-is-undermining-democratic-debate-205474">tone of that debate</a> also shows just how differently Australia and New Zealand think about such issues.</p>
<p>In my book <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-33-4172-2">Sharing the Sovereign</a>, I argued that while the guaranteed <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/the-house/audio/2018658559/maori-seats-what-are-they">Māori seats</a> in parliament (introduced in 1867) and the role of the Treaty of Waitangi are sharply contested in New Zealand, their influence is gradually increasing.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-voice-isnt-apartheid-or-a-veto-over-parliament-this-misinformation-is-undermining-democratic-debate-205474">The Voice isn't apartheid or a veto over parliament – this misinformation is undermining democratic debate</a>
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<p>Political resistance to the ACT Party’s policy of marginalising the Treaty in public life is likely to be intense if it forms part of the government after the election in October. But even then, the idea that Māori people have a voice in government is largely accepted.</p>
<p>Australia’s <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/address-chifley-research-conference">prime minister argues</a> that the Voice is a matter of justice because “it is common courtesy to consult people when you’re taking a decision that affects them”. The inference being that while First Nations people can have “their” say, “we” are still in charge.</p>
<p>As Wiradjuri scholar <a href="https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/news/2372-new-indigenous-middle-class-finds-place-in-modern-economy">Stan Grant observed</a> about the country he grew up in: “we lived in Australia, and Australia was for other people”.</p>
<h2>Culture and public life</h2>
<p>Based on population, New Zealand would be entitled to about one-sixth of the seats in the Australian House of Representatives. Like the other states it would elect 12 senators. There is no guaranteed Indigenous representation in either house and Australia would no doubt struggle to accept Māori representation. At best, there might be two or three Māori seats in the lower house.</p>
<p>In reality, the Māori presence in public life gives New Zealand a cultural certainty and security that is not so evident in Australia. </p>
<p>And the Treaty of Waitangi extends that place to all migrants. Samoan, Tongan, Chinese and Dutch MPs (among others) occasionally speak their languages in parliament as statements of identity and belonging. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-zealand-claims-barnaby-joyce-as-one-of-its-own-in-new-dramatic-citizenship-turmoil-82463">New Zealand claims Barnaby Joyce as one of its own, in new dramatic citizenship turmoil</a>
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<p>Meanwhile, section 44(1) of the Australian Constitution says people who hold dual or multiple citizenships are not eligible for election to parliament. Although <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/2021-census-nearly-half-australians-have-parent-born-overseas">more than half</a> the Australian population was either born overseas or has a parent born elsewhere, this <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/25/the-47th-parliament-is-the-most-diverse-ever-but-still-doesnt-reflect-australia">multicultural demographic</a> is not represented in its parliament.</p>
<p>Indeed, then-deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce was <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Electoral_Matters/Inquiry_into_matters_relating_to_Section_44_of_the_Constitution/Report_1/section?id=committees%2Freportjnt%2F024156%2F25931">forced to leave parliament</a> in 2017 after it was discovered he held New Zealand citizenship. He was one of many forced out in similar circumstances – a citizen of a “foreign power” only by descent but apparently therefore a threat to national security.</p>
<p>Cultural <em>insecurity</em> seems the more likely explanation. In an article on the section 44 scandal, I pointed out the absurdity by describing myself as “a citizen of Australia, Ireland and New Zealand who supports the All Blacks, drinks Guinness and looks forward to fighting for Tamworth when Dunedin invades”.</p>
<p>Australia and New Zealand may well be similar enough for political union to be an idea worth considering, but rejecting – if only to help us each to understand ourselves better.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211728/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic O'Sullivan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Outgoing New Zealand MP Jamie Strange used his valedictory speech to propose a trans-Tasman political union. Wondering how that might work reveals just how different the two countries really are.Dominic O'Sullivan, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, and Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2097632023-07-25T12:24:41Z2023-07-25T12:24:41ZNATO isn’t the only alliance that countries are eager to join – a brief history of the Five Eyes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538355/original/file-20230719-19-92axgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=47%2C23%2C5182%2C3457&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The July 2023 NATO summit in Lithuania saw movement toward expanding the alliance.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/LithuaniaNATOSummit/379be0fe4c174cd79e040b362b0c85ad/photo">Paul Ellis/Pool Photo via AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After the recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/3-takeaways-from-the-nato-summit-and-where-it-leaves-the-military-alliance-209665">NATO summit</a> in <a href="https://theconversation.com/nato-vilnius-summit-will-reflect-fresh-sense-of-purpose-over-ukraine-war-but-hard-questions-remain-over-membership-issues-208293">Vilnius</a>, Lithuania, it is anticipated that <a href="https://theconversation.com/sweden-a-history-of-neutrality-ends-after-200-years-183583">Sweden</a> will soon become <a href="https://theconversation.com/sweden-is-joining-nato-what-that-means-for-the-alliance-and-the-war-in-ukraine-209539">the alliance’s 32nd member</a>.</p>
<p>The heart of this <a href="https://theconversation.com/at-70-is-nato-still-important-5-essential-reads-128267">alliance</a> – which was <a href="https://theconversation.com/soviet-aggression-prompted-the-birth-of-the-nato-alliance-heres-why-that-matters-now-209608">established</a> in the aftermath of World War II to promote the collective security of its mostly Western European members – is <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_110496.htm">Article 5</a> of the <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_89597.htm">North Atlantic Treaty</a>, which requires that <a href="https://theconversation.com/could-poland-demand-nato-act-in-event-of-russian-attack-an-expert-explains-article-4-and-5-commitments-following-missile-blast-194714">if one member is attacked</a>, then all of the other members will respond as if they themselves had been attacked.</p>
<p>Its most recent addition came in April 2023, when <a href="https://theconversation.com/finland-joins-nato-in-a-major-blow-to-putin-which-doubles-the-length-of-the-alliances-border-with-russia-203217">Finland</a> became <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_213448.htm">the 31st country</a> to join.</p>
<p>At present, NATO currently recognizes <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_49212.htm">Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine</a> as aspiring members.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-nato-new-alliances-could-defend-democracy-and-counter-putin-177683">NATO isn’t the only alliance</a> that countries across the globe are eager to join.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/1338655960">For more than 75 years</a>, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S. have been <a href="https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/newly-disclosed-documents-five-eyes-alliance-and-what-they-tell-us-about-intelligence-sharing">sharing intelligence with one another</a> as part of what they call the Five Eyes alliance.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.afio.com/publications/HOLZER_GIBSON_Ultra_Diplomacy-WIMAD_AFIO_Intelligencer_WinterSpring_2023_Vol28_No1.pdf">I am a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst</a> who now studies and teaches <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vXXZBEkAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">political science</a>. I know from personal experience that the Five Eyes is still very active in the 21st century, even though it’s not as well known as its younger sibling NATO.</p>
<h2>Origins</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538356/original/file-20230719-25-to4yyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An image of a typewritten letter with handwritten markings and a 'Most Secret' stamp across the top." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538356/original/file-20230719-25-to4yyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538356/original/file-20230719-25-to4yyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=732&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538356/original/file-20230719-25-to4yyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=732&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538356/original/file-20230719-25-to4yyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=732&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538356/original/file-20230719-25-to4yyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538356/original/file-20230719-25-to4yyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538356/original/file-20230719-25-to4yyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1941 document in which U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill approved sharing key intelligence secrets with the U.S.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/">Image courtesy of America’s National Churchill Museum</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1940, <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/1083458138">during the prime ministership of Winston Churchill</a>, a secret effort by U.K. codebreakers to deconstruct Germany’s Enigma machine succeeded, allowing the British to read German military messages. These messages ended up being a major source of intelligence throughout World War II, <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/1075737">providing much-needed information</a> about German troop numbers, military maneuvers and technological developments.</p>
<p>British mathematician <a href="https://theconversation.com/imitation-game-will-finally-bring-alan-turing-the-fame-he-so-rightly-deserves-34324">Alan Turing</a> is probably the <a href="https://theconversation.com/alan-turing-visionary-war-hero-and-the-only-choice-for-the-50-note-106470">most widely recognized</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/alan-turing-was-one-of-many-persecuted-by-whitehall-for-their-sexuality-58018">person</a> who worked to help crack the Enigma machine. But in reality it was the <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/575581/geniuses-at-war-by-david-a-price/">collective effort</a> of hundreds of men <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-female-enigmas-of-bletchley-park-in-the-1940s-should-encourage-those-of-tomorrow-36640">and women</a>, including <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/management/organisation-studies/decoding-organization-bletchley-park-codebreaking-and-organization-studies">mathematicians, linguists and even chess champions</a>.</p>
<p>Parallel to these developments, <a href="https://www.afio.com/publications/BROOKS_Stealing_the_Japanese_Codebooks_from_AFIO_Intelligencer_Vol25_No2_Fall_2019.pdf">U.S. codebreakers</a> were able to successfully <a href="https://www.afio.com/publications/OLESON_WIMAD_Breaking_of_JN-25_from_AFIO_Intelligencer_Vol26_No2_WinterSpring_2021.pdf">crack diplomatic codes</a> used by the Japanese.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/16/world/europe/bletchley-park-us-britain-surveillance.html">In February 1941</a>, an American military delegation was invited to visit the U.K. codebreaking operation, based on an estate called <a href="https://bletchleypark.org.uk">Bletchley Park</a>. However, when “approving the visit, Churchill … <a href="https://youtu.be/nLlzHSmI5tw?t=633">prohibited any British discussion of their success against the Enigma</a>” machine, according to a 2016 speech by Richard Ledgett, then the <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/Press-Room/Press-Releases-Statements/Press-Release-View/Article/1621334/richard-h-ledgett-jr-named-nsas-new-deputy-director/">deputy director of the U.S. National Security Agency</a>.</p>
<p>Upon their arrival, the American officers “<a href="https://news.wcmo.edu/features-carousel/conversation-with-nsa-ledgett/">explained how to break the Japanese codes</a>,” Ledgett said, going on to observe that the information “<a href="https://youtu.be/nLlzHSmI5tw?t=698">caused the British to re-examine their initial decision</a>” to keep their Enigma success a secret.</p>
<p>Afterward, <a href="https://youtu.be/nLlzHSmI5tw?t=3001">Churchill approved a request</a> to reveal “<a href="https://www.afio.com/publications/HOLZER_GIBSON_Ultra_Diplomacy-WIMAD_AFIO_Intelligencer_WinterSpring_2023_Vol28_No1.pdf">to our American colleagues the progress</a> … made in probing German Armed Force cryptography.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/1231608251">Throughout the remainder of the war</a>, the U.K. and U.S. continued working together to enhance their codebreaking capabilities. In 1943, this informal relationship was formalized with the Britain-United States of America, or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0161-119791885742">BRUSA</a>, agreement.</p>
<p>This intelligence alliance was further strengthened by <a href="https://www.gchq.gov.uk/information/brief-history-of-ukusa">the UKUSA agreement</a> signed on March 5, 1946. That same day, Churchill was at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA5ISi9yhhs&t=59s">Westminster College</a> in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2FM3_h33Tg">Fulton, Missouri</a> – the <a href="https://www.wcmo.edu">college</a> where I now teach – giving his “<a href="https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1946-1963-elder-statesman/the-sinews-of-peace/">Iron Curtain</a>” speech.</p>
<p>In 2010, <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/70/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/ukusa/agreement_outline_5mar46.pdf">this top-secret agreement was declassified</a> and made publicly available for the first time. </p>
<p>Canada joined the UKUSA agreement in 1948. Australia and New Zealand joined in 1956. Thus, the <a href="https://www.afio.com/publications/HOLZER_GIBSON_Ultra_Diplomacy-WIMAD_AFIO_Intelligencer_WinterSpring_2023_Vol28_No1.pdf">the Five Eyes was born</a>.</p>
<h2>Recent developments</h2>
<p>To address the <a href="https://www.economist.com/china/2021/05/08/china-wants-the-world-to-know-that-resistance-to-its-rise-is-futile">rising power of China</a>, members of the Five Eyes have recently expanded the scope of the alliance <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/five-eyes-blurring-lines-between-intelligence-policy">beyond intelligence sharing into the realm of policy</a>. Five Eyes <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2019/08/five-country-ministerial-and-quintet-of-attorneys-general-concludes.html">attorneys general</a> now regularly <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/quintet-attorneys-general-statement-support-prosecutor-general-ukraine-and-investigations-and">meet</a>, as do <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm1039">finance</a> <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2228642/joint-statement-five-eyes-defense-ministers-meeting/">and defense</a> <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2384146/five-eyes-defence-ministers-meeting-press-release/">ministers</a>. </p>
<p>In November 2020, the once-secretive Five Eyes alliance took the bold step of publicly issuing a joint statement condemning China’s <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-52765838">National Security Law</a> for “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201119004529/https://www.state.gov/joint-statement-on-hong-kong-2/">undermin[ing] Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy</a>.”</p>
<p>China responded by warning that “<a href="http://au.china-embassy.gov.cn/engsghdxwfb_1/202112/t20211221_10473480.htm">attempts by certain countries to meddle in Hong Kong politics</a> … are futile and doomed to fail.”</p>
<p>Notably, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-56970640.amp">China is New Zealand’s largest export market</a>. At the time, New Zealand was also hoping to conclude an <a href="http://fta.mofcom.gov.cn/enarticle/ennewzealand/ennewzealandnews/201911/41742_1.html">upgraded free trade deal</a> with China.</p>
<p>In January 2021, the Five Eyes countries – except New Zealand – issued a joint statement condemning “the <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/marise-payne/media-release/joint-statement-arrests-hong-kong">mass arrests of 55 politicians and activists in Hong Kong</a> for subversion under the National Security Law.” That same month, China and New Zealand signed <a href="http://fta.mofcom.gov.cn/enarticle/ennewzealand/ennewzealandnews/202102/44483_1.html">the upgraded free trade deal</a>.</p>
<p>Since that time, <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3130094/new-zealand-uncomfortable-growing-scope-five-eyes-members">New Zealand</a> has <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/east-asia-pacific_new-zealand-criticized-five-eyes-alliance-stance-china/6205205.html">continued to avoid</a> taking as strong a position <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/03/asia/new-zealand-xinjiang-china-intl-hnk-dst/index.html">as the rest of the Five Eyes</a>. <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2022/07/new-zealand-will-not-join-the-us-coalition-against-china-anytime-soon/">As a result</a>, the U.S. has sought to circumvent New Zealand’s reluctance by formalizing <a href="https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2021/09/22/john-bolton-on-how-a-new-era-of-american-alliances-is-under-way">other agreements</a> without the Kiwis.</p>
<p>For example, in September 2021, Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. announced <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-aukus-pact-born-in-secrecy-will-have-huge-implications-for-australia-and-the-region-168065">the AUKUS partnership</a>. Under this agreement, the three countries “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/04/05/fact-sheet-implementation-of-the-australia-united-kingdom-united-states-partnership-aukus/">will expand and accelerate [the] sharing of sensitive information</a>.” <a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-exclusion-from-the-aukus-security-pact-reveals-a-failing-national-defence-policy-168235">Canada</a> has expressed a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/08/canada-aukus-defence-pact">desire</a> to <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/canadian-membership-aukus-time-action">join</a> the <a href="https://www.economist.com/international/2021/09/19/the-strategic-reverberations-of-the-aukus-deal-will-be-big-and-lasting">AUKUS</a> partnership. This would leave New Zealand as the only Five Eyes member <a href="https://theconversation.com/approach-with-caution-why-nz-should-be-wary-of-buying-into-the-aukus-security-pact-203915">outside of the pact</a>.</p>
<p>The Five Eyes alliance has had to deal with other <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/suspicion-creeps-five-eyes">internal difficulties</a> as well. For example, the U.S. has had several notable intelligence failures, including the leaks of classified documents by <a href="https://theconversation.com/redefining-privacy-in-the-age-of-edward-snowden-21891">Edward Snowden</a> and former President Donald <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-exposure-of-highly-classified-documents-could-harm-us-security-and-why-there-are-laws-against-storing-them-insecurely-207484">Trump’s alleged hoarding of classified documents</a>. Both of those events undermine <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/04/10/ukraine-russia-war-leaks-classified-damage-control/">U.S. assurances</a> to its allies that it can keep a secret.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538358/original/file-20230719-29-c4lisd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A crowd looks at a large sign with the Australian, U.K. and U.S. flags, while three men stand at lecterns just below it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538358/original/file-20230719-29-c4lisd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538358/original/file-20230719-29-c4lisd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538358/original/file-20230719-29-c4lisd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538358/original/file-20230719-29-c4lisd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538358/original/file-20230719-29-c4lisd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538358/original/file-20230719-29-c4lisd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538358/original/file-20230719-29-c4lisd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The leaders of the U.S., U.K. and Australia make an announcement about the AUKUS alliance in March 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/USBritainSunak/65a989fb98ac4a08b7d11a699f2c509c/photo">Stefan Rousseau/Pool via AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Looking ahead</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01495933.2019.1633186">Over the years</a>, several countries have been considered as potential candidates to join the Five Eyes, including <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/could-india-join-five-eyes">India</a>, <a href="https://www.australianjewishnews.com/calls-for-israel-to-join-five-eyes-intelligence-network/">Israel</a>, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/us-lawmakers-push-for-german-entrance-to-five-eyes-spy-alliance/a-17246049">Germany</a> and <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3148806/chinas-top-diplomat-wang-yi-slams-us-move-south-korea-join">South Korea</a>.</p>
<p>Currently, the most likely candidate is probably <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-five-eyes-to-six-japans-push-to-join-the-wests-intelligence-alliance-159429">Japan</a>. At the end of 2016, Australia and the U.S. signed a <a href="https://dod.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/2016-Australia-Japan-U-S-Trilateral-Information-Sharing-Arrangement-Signing.pdf">trilateral agreement</a> with Japan to deepen their covert security cooperation. As of 2020, Japan’s minister of defense was enthusiastically <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Interview/Japan-wants-de-facto-Six-Eyes-intelligence-status-defense-chief">in favor of joining</a> the Five Eyes. In 2021, Japan’s ambassador to Australia argued that “in terms of interests and capability, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/japan-should-join-five-eyes-intelligence-network-says-ambassador-20210420-p57kv6.html">Japan is the best candidate</a>” to consider for enlarging the Five Eyes. </p>
<p>In 2022, the U.S. House <a href="https://armedservices.house.gov/subcommittees/intelligence-and-special-operations-117th-congress">Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations</a> “acknowledge[d] that the <a href="https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AS/AS00/20210901/114012/BILLS-117HR4350ih-ISOSubcommitteeMark.pdf">threat landscape has vastly changed</a> since the inception of the Five Eyes arrangement, with primary threats now emanating from China and Russia.” It recommended “<a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-117hrpt118/html/CRPT-117hrpt118.htm">expanding the Five Eyes arrangement to include … Japan</a>.”</p>
<p>Regardless of whether <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2022/01/01/how-japan-sees-china">Japan</a> – or others – ends up joining the alliance, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman warned in 2020 that “no matter how many eyes they have, five or 10 or whatever, should anyone dare to undermine China’s sovereignty, security and development interests,” they should “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/china-threatens-to-poke-the-eyes-of-five-eyes-nations-over-hk-20201120-p56gep.html">be careful not to get poked in the eye</a>.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209763/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua Holzer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>NATO gets the headlines, but the Five Eyes alliance is another close connection between key Western powers, and it may expand.Joshua Holzer, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Westminster CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2100082023-07-19T12:24:10Z2023-07-19T12:24:10ZWomen’s World Cup will highlight how far other countries have closed the gap with US – but that isn’t the only yardstick to measure growth of global game<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538141/original/file-20230718-25-qo58l9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C0%2C4623%2C2811&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The end of the glory years for the U.S. Women's National Team?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SoccerWWCupWomensWorldCupPreview/3b68e459a55441e9bd321e7f33a899cc/photo?Query=Women%27s%20World%20Cup&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=54882&currentItemNo=25">AP Photo/Claude Paris</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup <a href="https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/womens/womensworldcup">begins on July 20, 2023, in Australia and New Zealand</a>, and the U.S. enters the soccer tournament in a <a href="https://theathletic.com/4694555/2023/07/17/uswnt-womens-world-cup-favourites/">familiar position: favorites</a>.</p>
<p>The U.S. Women’s National Team, or USWNT, is the reigning back-to-back champion, and many pundits are <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/2023-womens-world-cup-odds-futures-uswnt-predictions-picks-best-bets-from-proven-soccer-insider/">expecting it</a> to make history by securing a third successive title.</p>
<p>Certainly, the team is built on solid foundations – it has a tournament history like no other, having reached the podium in all eight editions of the tournament stretching back to 1991 – and lifted the winner’s trophy four times. And it still possesses some of the game’s most recognizable and decorated players, <a href="https://www.ussoccer.com/players/r/megan-rapinoe">Megan Rapinoe</a> and <a href="https://www.ussoccer.com/players/m/alex-morgan">Alex Morgan</a> among them.</p>
<p>Yet the U.S. players are not certain to win the World Cup this time around. No USWNT has experienced more turnover between World Cups than the current squad – it will be sporting a <a href="https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2019/10/vlatko-andonovski-named-head-coach-of-us-womens-national-team">new head coach</a>, and the team will be missing several mainstay players because of retirement and a spate of injuries. And its form heading into the tournament <a href="https://www.insider.com/us-womens-soccer-issues-remain-despite-germany-win-world-cup-2022-11">has been patchy</a>.</p>
<p>Moreover, there are external currents that are also pushing against U.S. dominance. A <a href="https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/womens/womensworldcup/australia-new-zealand2023/news/gender-equality-highlighted-by-2023-leaders">commitment by governing body FIFA</a> to growing the women’s game globally has contributed to nations around the world narrowing the gap with the U.S. on the pitch.</p>
<p>All of those factors should lead to a more competitive tournament in New Zealand and Australia. But having more teams challenging the U.S. is not the only yardstick for success in the women’s game.</p>
<p>As we argue in our forthcoming book, “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-2023-FIFA-Womens-World-Cup-Politics-Representation-and-Management/Beissel-Postlethwaite-Grainger-Brice/p/book/9781032459035">The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup: Management, Politics and Representation</a>,” much more needs to be done by world soccer’s governing body to put in place institutional reforms prioritizing what is right over simply what is profitable in the women’s game. We believe that only then can it play on a level playing field.</p>
<h2>Moving the goal posts (in the right direction)</h2>
<p>Some 22 years after the <a href="https://time.com/6289539/womens-world-cup-2023-history/">first official FIFA Women’s World Cup</a>, the sport is witnessing <a href="https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37633336/women-soccer-growth-unlike-other-sport-fifa-report">dramatic growth internationally</a>. The number of women and girls participating in the sport at all levels is increasing. FIFA’s plan is to <a href="https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/womens/womensworldcup/australia-new-zealand2023/news/gender-equality-highlighted-by-2023-leaders">double the number of women soccer players globally to 60 million by 2026</a> and pump US$1 billion into the women’s game over a four-year period.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.fifa.com/womens-football/media-releases/fifa-sets-the-pace-with-release-of-second-study-into-elite-womens-league-and">more and more countries are launching professional leagues</a>, including recent additions such as Colombia and Mexico. </p>
<p>Accompanying this has been <a href="https://www.complex.com/style/a/backwoodsaltar/nike-commitment-supporting-next-generation-women-athletes">increased sponsorship</a> of women’s <a href="https://www.fifa.com/womens-football/media-releases/fifa-sets-the-pace-with-release-of-second-study-into-elite-womens-league-and">clubs and leagues</a> and a growing number of lucrative sponsorship deals for top players. </p>
<p>Governing bodies and franchises are beginning to invest more in players, coaches and infrastructure, too. And it has yielded success. The past year alone has seen <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1344057/womens-football-record-transfers/">record-breaking player transfers</a>, <a href="https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/womens-fa-cup-final-2023-sets-new-attendance-record-wembley/?zephr_sso_ott=Y0EKTa#:%7E:text=Overall%20record%20for%20a%20women's,the%20highest%20in%20the%20UK">record attendance</a> at games and television viewing figures <a href="https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/the-increasing-popularity-of-women-s-3940195/#:%7E:text=Viewership%20of%20the%20NWSL%20Championship,year%20increase%20in%20TV%20viewership.">hitting an all-time high</a> at both domestic and international levels. </p>
<p>This growth is not restricted to playing fields in Europe and North America. Women’s soccer <a href="https://theconversation.com/morocco-vs-south-africa-as-womens-football-enters-a-new-era-187267">in Africa</a>, <a href="https://globalsportmatters.com/culture/2022/12/21/beyond-qatar-world-cup-womens-football-growing-middle-east-north-africa/">the Middle East and Asia</a> has also benefited. For the first time, the World Cup will see 32 teams participate – up from 24 in the past two tournaments. Among the teams making their inaugural appearance will be <a href="https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37633336/women-soccer-growth-unlike-other-sport-fifa-report">Morocco, the Philippines, Vietnam and Zambia</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/debutants-come-world-cup-with-surprises-up-their-sleeves-2023-07-13/">Noting the growth in such countries</a>, U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski commented: “The world that is catching up is Wales, is Vietnam, is Zambia, Portugal.”</p>
<p>That isn’t to say that a handful of countries led by the U.S. won’t again dominate. But even if they do, that would not negate the strides made in the women’s game since the last World Cup in 2019.</p>
<h2>Leveling the playing pitch (a little)</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, FIFA has displayed a commitment to investing, celebrating and marketing its flagship women’s tournament in ways not seen in previous editions. Prize money, team preparation cash and compensation to players’ clubs has <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fifpro-fifa-equal-pay-ae96bd069231795a283bdc8ec86dde7b">increased 300% over the last World Cup</a>, with the overall prize money <a href="https://apnews.com/article/womens-world-cup-prize-money-fifa-soccer-b27cdd2346b06aff6ee78558be9f6943">standing at $152 million</a>. Each player at the tournament will receive at least $30,000.</p>
<p>Yet the overall prize pool remains a fraction of the men’s equivalent – a gender disparity <a href="https://twitter.com/thepfa/status/1680679071594971136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1680679071594971136%7Ctwgr%5E61e65dfe2c55121b5fcb0eec02bc04689b3233c4%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2023%2F07%2F17%2Ffootball%2Faustralia-matildas-wwc-equal-pay-video-spt-intl-hnk%2Findex.html">called out by Australia’s national women’s side</a> in a recent video message.</p>
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<p>And crediting FIFA for progress on gender pay issues ignores how women footballers had to overcome exploitation, under-marketing and structural and institutional barriers <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-2023-FIFA-Womens-World-Cup-Politics-Representation-and-Management/Beissel-Postlethwaite-Grainger-Brice/p/book/9781032459035">created in part by the game’s governing body</a> in the first place.</p>
<p>Unlike the men’s game, dozens of players taking the pitch in Australia and New Zealand are amateur or semiprofessional footballers at best. Even some of those who are professional endure <a href="https://equalizersoccer.com/2018/12/13/womens-world-cup-platform-players-poor-working-conditions-professional-amateur/">poor working conditions</a>, insufficient facilities and unsafe playing conditions – something that likely plays a part in the recent spate of <a href="https://theconversation.com/female-football-players-are-at-much-higher-risk-of-career-ending-acl-injuries-the-science-on-why-198121">ACL injuries</a> among top female players.</p>
<p>And this is to say nothing of the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/10/03/1126587851/womens-soccer-abuse-nwsl-report">horrific and widespread cases</a> of sexual misconduct, harassment and emotional abuse documented in the women’s game. Women soccer players from Afghanistan to India to Argentina have been subjected to systemic abuse, misconduct and violence stemming in part from labor precarity and a lack of workplace protections.</p>
<p>Here, the U.S. – long the global leader in the women’s game – is not immune, as a 2022 report into the sexual misconduct, and verbal and emotional abuse by <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/10/03/1126587851/womens-soccer-abuse-nwsl-report">coaches in the National Women’s Soccer League</a> has shown.</p>
<p>Going into the 2023 World Cup, the USWNT remains a yardstick by which other teams can be measured. The U.S. players are emblematic of the soaring popularity and commercial value of women’s soccer. But as their labor activism, quest for equal pay and push for better protection reveals, even at the elite level of the women’s game, battles remain both on and off the pitch.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210008/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The US national team is the favorite going into the tournament in New Zealand and Australia. But growth in the global game has seen others catch up.Adam Beissel, Associate Professor of Sport Leadership and Management, Miami UniversityAndrew Grainger, Lecturer in Sport Development, Western Sydney UniversityJulie E. Brice, Assistant Professor, Department of Kinesiology, California State University, Fullerton Verity Postlethwaite, Doctoral Prize Fellow, Loughborough University; Research associate, Japan Research Centre, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2090502023-07-16T20:01:00Z2023-07-16T20:01:00ZPenalties, passes, and a touch of politics: the Women’s World Cup is about to kick off<p>The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off this Thursday night, the first football world cup hosted by Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.</p>
<p>New Zealand opens the tournament by taking on Norway in Auckland, while Australia’s Matildas will play Ireland in front of an anticipated <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/manasipathak-1/2023/06/27/womens-world-cup-opener-will-be-80000-fans-deep-as-match-sells-out-25-days-before-kickoff/?sh=35217d49a1e0">80,000 fans</a> at a sold out Stadium Australia in Sydney.</p>
<p>Despite the persistent delusion of some that <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/20288853/piers-morgan-qatar-world-cup/">politics should be kept out of sport</a>, it has always been suffused with political calculations and meanings. The major question is not whether but what <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Palgrave_Handbook_of_Sport_Politics/wat9zwEACAAJ?hl=en">kinds of politics</a> will be played and by whom.</p>
<p>In the lead up to this tournament, world football’s governing body FIFA announced a suite of eight armbands that could be chosen under its <a href="https://www.fifa.com/social-impact/campaigns/football-unites-the-world">Football Unites the World</a> program. Permitted selections, in partnership with various United Nations agencies, include “Unite for Indigenous Peoples” and “Unite for Gender Equality”.</p>
<p>But notably, the <a href="https://onelove.band/">OneLove</a> armband associated with LGBTIQA+ rights isn’t among them. That was banned at last year’s Men’s World Cup in Qatar, with captains including <a href="https://www.englandfootball.com/articles/2022/Sep/21/one-love-qatar-2022-joint-statement-20222109">England’s Harry Kane</a> threatened with a yellow card if they wore it as planned.</p>
<p>Unlike in Qatar, homosexuality is not illegal in these host countries, but FIFA’s “extensive consultation with stakeholders including players and the 32 participating member associations” produced the same outcome.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-the-qatar-fifa-world-cup-so-controversial-192627">Why is the Qatar FIFA World Cup so controversial?</a>
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<p>Among the latter are three African countries (Morocco, Nigeria and Zambia) where homosexuality is criminalised, as it is in stakeholders including Middle Eastern nations such as Saudi Arabia that are increasingly influential in <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-saudi-arabia-came-to-be-at-the-centre-of-a-global-golf-merger-207203">football and other world sports</a>.</p>
<p>Australia’s captain <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/not-worth-the-risk-sam-kerr-unhappy-with-fifa-s-rainbow-armband-edict-20230703-p5dldk.html">Sam Kerr</a> has been deprived, to her regret, of the opportunity to make a statement with a rainbow-coloured armband.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/jul/13/womens-world-cup-players-launch-footballs-biggest-climate-campaign">44 players</a> have taken the chance to cooperate with climate advocacy groups Common Goal and Football For Future to help compensate for the environmental impact of their world cup related flights.</p>
<p>Already it’s clear that politics will vie with passes and penalties as major talking points at the biggest sport event in the region since the 2000 Sydney Olympics.</p>
<p>Indeed, when the esteemed Brazilian team <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/jul/05/brazil-womens-world-cup-team-plane-tribute-iran-protesters">flew into Brisbane</a> two weeks before the first ball would be kicked, their plane’s tail bore pictures of Iranian human rights activists Mahsa Amini and Amir Nasr Azadani. The plane’s body also declared, “No woman should be forced to cover her head” and “no man should be hanged for saying this”.</p>
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<h2>FIFA scandals and sports diplomacy</h2>
<p>FIFA has an <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315545615/football-corruption-lies-john-sugden-alan-tomlinson">ignoble history</a> of corruption, exploitation and ethical malpractice – despite its professed commitment to <a href="https://www.fifa.com/social-impact/human-rights">human rights</a> and <a href="https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/50d9e7969b79704e/original/h3i41a7kg1nfuopfhbtt-pdf.pdf">transparency</a>.</p>
<p>The BBC podcast <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0dfg11h/episodes/downloads">Powerplay: The House of Sepp Blatter</a> excruciatingly details the disgrace of the former FIFA President. Just before Blatter was re-elected in Zurich in 2015, the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2167479516642206">world’s media</a> were treated to the spectacle of FIFA executives being arrested and taken from their hotel under large bedsheets (Blatter then resigned just days after being re-elected).</p>
<p>His successor <a href="https://beinsports.com/en-mena/football/articles/infantino-reveals-fifa-presidential-manifes-1">Gianni Infantino</a>, the object of much mockery after a pre-Qatar World Cup <a href="https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/world-cup/football-world-stunned-by-fifa-presidents-remarkably-deluded-monologue/news-story/32ca91d4fb8f418e67a888ba64679a7e">speech</a> identifying with the oppressed, promised to clean up FIFA’s act and reinvent itself as a force for global good. Promoting <a href="https://www.fifa.com/womens-football">gender equality</a> in and through football is one such aim. This world cup, both the first hosted by two confederations (Asia and Oceania) and the first in the southern hemisphere for women, seems perfectly to fit that bill.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fifas-mirage-of-unity-why-the-world-cup-is-a-vessel-for-political-protest-195432">FIFA's mirage of unity: why the World Cup is a vessel for political protest</a>
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<p>It undoubtedly has significant geopolitical implications. With the Pacific region the focus of a <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2022/08/china-us-woo-pacific-island-nations/">contest for influence</a> between the US and its allies and China, sport has emerged as a key bargaining chip. Money for sport aid, development and infrastructure has been flowing into the <a href="https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1136553/new-zealand-support-pacific-games#:%7E:text=Australia%2C%20Indonesia%2C%20Papua%20New%20Guinea,it%20switched%20allegiances%20to%20China">Pacific islands</a> from all directions.</p>
<p>Australia’s <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/sports-diplomacy-2030.pdf">Sports Diplomacy 2030</a> initiative has been especially keen on Pacific partnerships, not least in football as part of its “Global Strategy with a Pacific Focus”. The <a href="https://www.oceaniafootball.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/FIFA-Womens-World-Cup-2023-Pacific-Legacy.pdf">Oceania Football Confederation’s</a> and <a href="https://www.footballaustralia.com.au/legacy23">Football Australia’s</a> Legacy Plans frequently invoke the rhetoric of the Pacific family. At the world cup, <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003093862-15/gendered-focused-review-sports-diplomacy-verity-postlethwaite-claire-jenkin-emma-sherry">women</a> will be unusually prominent in the sphere of sports diplomacy.</p>
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<h2>Political games</h2>
<p>The concept of <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ssj/39/4/article-p342.xml">sportswashing</a> entered the popular lexicon quite recently to describe the use of sport, especially by illiberal states including China and Russia, to disguise their abuses of human rights and ingratiate themselves with sports fans around the world.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-saudi-arabia-using-sportswashing-to-simply-hide-its-human-rights-abuses-or-is-there-a-bigger-strategy-at-play-208468">Is Saudi Arabia using 'sportswashing' to simply hide its human rights abuses – or is there a bigger strategy at play?</a>
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<p>While this is unquestionably the case, sport’s emotional power is harnessed by all countries, liberal democratic and otherwise, to project a more positive image than is generally warranted. This “feel good” global publicity, though, brings intense scrutiny far beyond the football field.</p>
<p>The two settler colonial countries hosting the 2023 Women’s World Cup still have much to redress regarding their First Nations peoples, who have called FIFA and their respective associations and confederations to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-17/football-indigenous-treaty-fifa/102108200">account</a>. The event’s “bespoke” <a href="https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/4c8c5e88c80b704b/original/FIFA-Women-s-World-Cup-2023-Sustainability-Strategy.pdf">Sustainability Strategy</a> and its “key social, economic, human rights and environmental priorities for the current time and geographical context” will be thoroughly examined.</p>
<p>This world cup is a landmark event that will bring pleasure to many people. An important moment in the recognition and development of women’s football, Infantino has positioned it as a staging post on the path towards gender pay parity by 2027. In this respect, the amount commanded in crucial <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/fifa-womens-world-cup-2023/132325452/fifa-makes-european-tv-deal-for-womens-world-cup-ends-standoff-with-broadcasters">media</a> (especially broadcast) rights has been less than encouraging.</p>
<p>But one thing is certain – this will not be a politics-free festival of football.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209050/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Rowe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s the biggest sporting event in Australia since the 2000 Sydney Olympics.David Rowe, Emeritus Professor of Cultural Research, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2052932023-05-16T20:10:04Z2023-05-16T20:10:04ZFeeling frozen? 4 out of 5 homes in southern Australia are colder than is healthy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525818/original/file-20230512-45006-hpkluy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C8688%2C5774&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every winter we hear about soaring energy bills and people’s inability to stay warm. But, until now, we haven’t really known just how cold Australian homes are. Our newly published <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629623001846">research</a> suggests around four out of five of Australian homes fail to meet <a href="https://www.who.int/publications-detail-redirect/9789241550376">World Health Organization</a> minimum standards for warmth.</p>
<p>Australia has a reputation for being a hot place. It might lead us to think we just need to tough it out through winter, because soon it will be hot again. </p>
<p>Our winters may not be as cold as in Europe and North America, but our health statistics are a wake-up call. Our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935114003661?via%3Dihub">winter death rates</a> are over 20% higher than in summer. </p>
<p>Newly updated <a href="https://theconversation.com/better-building-standards-are-good-for-the-climate-your-health-and-your-wallet-heres-what-the-national-construction-code-could-do-better-166669">building codes</a>, and our health and welfare systems, assume most people are OK over winter. This is simply not the case. We need to take winter more seriously.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/breaking-the-mould-why-rental-properties-are-more-likely-to-be-mouldy-and-whats-needed-to-stop-people-getting-sick-205472">Breaking the mould: why rental properties are more likely to be mouldy and what's needed to stop people getting sick</a>
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<h2>What did the study find?</h2>
<p>About <a href="https://theconversation.com/forget-heatwaves-our-cold-houses-are-much-more-likely-to-kill-us-83030">six years ago</a>, we wondered just how cold Australian homes were. Over the past few winters, we have been measuring people’s in-home temperature. Our latest <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629623001846">research</a> suggests more than three-quarters of Australian homes were cold last winter – having an average winter temperature less than 18 degrees (the World Health Organization’s <a href="https://www.who.int/publications-detail-redirect/9789241550376">recommended minimum</a>) during occupied, waking hours.</p>
<p>This is startling. Previously, it has been thought that only about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2019.01.037">5% of people</a> were cold. </p>
<p>For our study, temperature sensors were placed in 100 homes across temperate New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. Two-thirds of Australia’s population live in these <a href="https://ahd.csiro.au/dashboards/energy-rating/ncc-climates/">temperate climate zones</a>.</p>
<p>Across the sampled homes, 81% were below 18°C on average across the whole of winter. The homes averaged 16.5°C across occupied, waking hours. The coldest homes had a minimum hourly average of just 5°C. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525058/original/file-20230509-25-xapo67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525058/original/file-20230509-25-xapo67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525058/original/file-20230509-25-xapo67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525058/original/file-20230509-25-xapo67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525058/original/file-20230509-25-xapo67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525058/original/file-20230509-25-xapo67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525058/original/file-20230509-25-xapo67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525058/original/file-20230509-25-xapo67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Simplified cold homes proportions based on the average temperatures in occupied homes during waking hours.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Tasmanians were hardest hit. Some homes in this state had average indoor temperatures of less than 11°C. </p>
<p>But, regardless of state, the majority of homes in our study were unhealthily cold. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/forget-heatwaves-our-cold-houses-are-much-more-likely-to-kill-us-83030">Forget heatwaves, our cold houses are much more likely to kill us</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<hr>
<h2>Who’s at risk?</h2>
<p>Cold isn’t just a problem that affects low-income households. The research included homes that were owned outright, mortgaged and rented, across all income levels. </p>
<p>Some people might feel comfortable at 16°C, but many are not cold by choice. A combination of poor housing conditions, inadequate heating and not being able to afford the cost of heating leaves many <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajs4.267">struggling to stay warm</a>. And <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-electricity-prices-going-up-again-and-will-it-ever-end-201869">energy prices</a> are set to rise.</p>
<p>The aged, people with a disability and those facing housing insecurity are most at risk. This includes those struggling to pay rent, moving frequently, living in overcrowded homes or spending most of their income on housing. There are also greater challenges for <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-youre-renting-chances-are-your-home-is-cold-with-power-prices-soaring-heres-what-you-can-do-to-keep-warm-184472">renters</a>. </p>
<p>Cold indoor temperatures can make other problems such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/sudden-mould-outbreak-after-all-this-rain-youre-not-alone-but-you-are-at-risk-177820">mould</a> worse, and can even affect our <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanwpc/article/PIIS2666-6065(23)00052-4/fulltext">mental health</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-youre-renting-chances-are-your-home-is-cold-with-power-prices-soaring-heres-what-you-can-do-to-keep-warm-184472">If you're renting, chances are your home is cold. With power prices soaring, here's what you can do to keep warm</a>
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<p>We must recognise the connection between health and cold housing. The objectives of <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/397">housing and health policies must be linked</a> to improve the situation. </p>
<p>Australia is shifting towards providing more <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-hospital-in-the-home-and-when-is-it-used-an-expert-explains-167359">home-based care</a>, rather than hospital care. This trend means we must be even more careful to ensure home environments are healthy. </p>
<p>There is also a need to increase community awareness of the risks of cold housing. At-risk groups include First Nations communities, the aged, the young, disabled and those in insecure housing. </p>
<p>Delivering healthier housing is one of the best ways of raising the living standards and quality of life of these communities. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-hospital-in-the-home-and-when-is-it-used-an-expert-explains-167359">What is hospital in the home and when is it used? An expert explains</a>
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<h2>We can learn from successes overseas</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21681376.2023.2190406">New Zealand and the United Kingdom</a> have been tackling cold housing with remarkable success. Both have started by acknowledging a collective social responsibility to address this problem. </p>
<p>We, too, must realise the problem is bigger than individual households. National ownership of this problem and a systemic response are required. </p>
<p>The NZ and UK interventions have started with rentals, both government and private. Their experience shows mandatory requirements to protect tenants, in particular, need to be made transparent and objective. </p>
<p>With almost <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/housing/housing-occupancy-and-costs/2019-20">one-third of Australians</a> renting their homes, such actions could improve the lives of millions of people. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1146677528549036032"}"></div></p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ive-never-actually-met-them-what-will-motivate-landlords-to-fix-cold-and-costly-homes-for-renters-188827">'I've never actually met them': what will motivate landlords to fix cold and costly homes for renters?</a>
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<p>Both NZ and the UK used housing surveys to track progress in housing quality over time. This method clearly shows what works best and identifies areas that still need improvement. </p>
<p>Similarly, Australia should closely monitor progress towards housing that keeps temperatures at a healthy level. Results should be made public. This would promote continued improvement of housing conditions and help direct investment to policies that deliver the best results.</p>
<p>Importantly, we need to keep providing robust research on who is most vulnerable. Our study represents early data from a bigger study of 500 homes, which will enable us to more conclusively identify the true risk of cold housing in Australia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205293/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cynthia Faye Barlow receives funding from National Health and Medical Research Council grant number 2004466. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Baker currently receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), The Australian Research Council (ARC), the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI), and the Environment Protection Authority Victoria. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lyrian Daniel receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), The Australian Research Council (ARC), and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI).</span></em></p>Throughout last winter, 81% of homes in a new study were colder than the recommended minimum – the coldest fell to a minimum hourly average of 5 degrees. Cold homes can have deadly consequences.Cynthia Faye Barlow, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Australian Centre for Housing Research, University of AdelaideEmma Baker, Professor of Housing Research, University of AdelaideLyrian Daniel, Associate Professor in Architecture, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2017612023-03-21T03:08:39Z2023-03-21T03:08:39ZWhat Australia could learn from New Zealand about Indigenous representation<p>A referendum will be held later this year to enshrine a First Nations’ Voice to Parliament into the Australian constitution. The <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/address-garma-festival">draft question</a> for the referendum is “Do you support an alteration to the Constitution that establishes an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?”</p>
<p>Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/address-chifley-research-conference">in a speech</a> last month the Voice should give First Nations’ people a “say” in public policy. He said “it is common courtesy to consult people when you’re taking a decision that affects them”. </p>
<p>But a “say” is still not the power to make decisions. An ongoing question is whether the proposed Voice should instead make First Nations peoples authoritative participants in the rights and responsibilities of government.</p>
<p>In New Zealand, Māori are represented in parliament through <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/the-house/audio/2018658559/maori-seats-what-are-they">designated seats</a>. This arrangement was established in 1867, to ensure a Māori voice <em>in</em> rather than <em>to</em> parliament. Being in parliament means being able to serve as a minister or, if a member of the oppostion, being able to participate in holding the government to account.</p>
<p>The proposed Voice won’t have the power to <em>make</em> decisions because it won’t be a parliamentary chamber, as the House of Representatives and the Senate are. The government is formed in, and responsible to, the House of Representatives. The Voice won’t be able to pass laws and its members will not be ministers in government.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/waitangi-day-2023-why-article-3-of-the-treaty-deserves-more-attention-in-the-age-of-co-governance-198976">Waitangi Day 2023: why Article 3 of the Treaty deserves more attention in the age of 'co-governance'</a>
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<h2>What could Australia learn from New Zealand?</h2>
<p><a href="https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/%E2%80%98we-are-all-here-stay%E2%80%99">New Zealand</a> is not a perfect model for good relations between Indigenous people and government. But the <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/the-house/audio/2018658559/maori-seats-what-are-they">Māori seats</a> in parliament at least ensure Māori people can bring distinctive and culturally contextualised perspectives to parliamentary decision-making.</p>
<p>New Zealand public life is influenced by its founding treaty, <a href="https://waitangitribunal.govt.nz/treaty-of-waitangi/translation-of-te-reo-maori-text/">te Tiriti o Waitangi</a>, signed in 1840. Its terms and contemporary meaning are sharply contested, but Māori seats in parliament mean there is a constant voice to make sure Te Tirit (the treaty) is “<a href="https://huia.co.nz/products/always-speaking-the-treaty-of-waitangi-and-public-policy">always speaking</a>”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1622392223529582596"}"></div></p>
<p><a href="https://waitangitribunal.govt.nz/treaty-of-waitangi/translation-of-te-reo-maori-text/">Te Tiriti</a> allowed the British Crown to establish government over its own people. Māori were promised full authority over their own affairs and resources, and granted the rights and privileges of British subjects. </p>
<p>In 2023, New Zealanders are no longer British subjects, but New Zealand citizens. Citizenship is a stronger political status, carrying the right to participate in government. It emphasises political authority belonging to the people rather than a distant sovereign. Te Tiriti means Māori should be distinctively included among the people to whom political authority belongs.</p>
<p>These treaty promises for Māori self-determination pre-date democracy. But they make democracy work better. This is through something political theorist Nancy Fraser calls <a href="https://ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/works/fraser-review.htm">participatory parity</a> - where everybody has the same opportunity to influence public decisions.</p>
<p>The general idea that Māori are present in the political community is well established in New Zealand. There is a distinctive Māori Health Authority, to make decisions about how to deliver primary health care, and distinctive schools to teach in the Māori language. </p>
<p>Te Tiriti justifies Māori voice at every level of the policy-making process. <a href="https://www.futureforlocalgovernment.govt.nz/assets/Reports/Draft-report-final.pdf">A major review</a> into the future of local government is considering what it means in that sphere. </p>
<p>But on the other hand, Te Tiriti routinely fails to work as Māori think it should. There are points of difference with government that can be seen in the number and breadth of claims put to the <a href="https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/publications-and-resources/waitangi-tribunal-reports/">Waitangi Tribunal</a>, which has been established to consider alleged Tiriti breaches. </p>
<p>Since its fist report in 1978, the Tribunal has reported on more than 3,000 claims. A recurring point of contention is over how much authority Te Tiriti gives the government as opposed to how much authority Māori retain. </p>
<p><a href="https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/WT/wt_DOC_171027305/He%20Paharakeke%20W.pdf">Recent examples</a> include the tribunal finding government overreach in the care and protection of Māori children, which led to large numbers of children being unjustifiably removed from their families. </p>
<p><a href="https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/WT/wt_DOC_152801817/Hauora%20W.pdf">Another</a> is that breaches of the agreement have contributed to poorer Māori health outcomes. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/publications-and-resources/waitangi-tribunal-reports">There are many reports</a> dealing with the alienation of Māori land and making recommendations for compensation, many of which the NZ government has accepted. Though these never amount to full compensation or the return of everything that was taken.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-11-indigenous-politicians-in-parliament-why-does-australia-need-the-voice-200910">With 11 Indigenous politicians in parliament, why does Australia need the Voice?</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Testing democratic fairness</h2>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/14687968211047902?journalCode=etna">My work in New Zealand</a> focuses on strengthening participatory parity in public life. </p>
<p>For example, my colleagues and I developed <a href="https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/30/Supplement_5/ckaa165.674/5915983">Critical Tiriti Analysis</a>. This is a policy evaluation method that asks questions about a policy to see if it is consistent with Te Tiriti. </p>
<p>Adapting our questions to the Australian context could see a Voice to Parliament asking questions like these about proposed policies, but also about who makes policy for whom and why:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>How have First Nations’ people contributed to this policy?</p></li>
<li><p>Does this policy reflect First Nations’ peoples’ priorities?</p></li>
<li><p>Could this policy disadvantage First Nations’ people in ways it doesn’t disadvantage other citizens?</p></li>
<li><p>Does this policy preserve First Nations’ sovereignty as the relevant communities understand it?</p></li>
<li><p>Is this policy consistent with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (and with treaties that may, in time, be negotiated)?</p></li>
<li><p>Why is the government presuming to make this decision? Why does the decision not, in part or whole, belong to a First Nation or other Indigenous entity?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Through facilitating questions such as these, the right to be consulted in a government project is replaced by more meaningful political voice. If people have contributed to a policy, rather than just been consulted before somebody else makes the decision, the policy has potential to be better informed and more likely to work. </p>
<p>Although only partially implemented in New Zealand, Te Tiriti supports the expectation that Māori leadership in Māori policy should always occur. </p>
<p>If a policy reflects what First Nations’ people actually want, this would better support their self-determination. This could also be an effective way of avoiding future policies and decision-making that exclusively disadvantages First Nations’ people.</p>
<p>Participatory parity, through political voice, is quite different from governments saying “we will ask you want you think before making the decision for you”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201761/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic O'Sullivan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The proposed Voice to Parliament is a First Nations advisory body. The way New Zealand have ensured Māori representation in Parliament could be a better way to approach Indigenous self-determination.Dominic O'Sullivan, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, and Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1995042023-03-01T19:06:16Z2023-03-01T19:06:16ZAmid a worsening refugee crisis, public support is high in both Australia and NZ to accept more Rohingya<p><a href="https://www.unocha.org/rohingya-refugee-crisis">Nearly one million</a> stateless Rohingya people who fled brutal ethnic cleansing in Myanmar have been languishing in extremely congested refugee camps in Bangladesh for the past five and a half years.</p>
<p>While the United States recently announced a <a href="https://www.state.gov/resettlement-initiative-for-vulnerable-rohingya-refugees-in-bangladesh/">resettlement program</a> for Rohingya refugees and the UK <a href="https://minorityrights.org/programmes/library/trends/trends2018/united-kingdom/">resettled around 300 Rohingya from the camps prior to 2020</a> under a now-defunct scheme, this hasn’t caused even a dent in the number of people living in the world’s largest refugee camp. </p>
<p>No other countries have accepted refugee applications from the camps, but the Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/backpage/news/rohingyas-bangladesh-us-may-consider-taking-good-number-them-2090053">has expressed optimism</a> that a good number of Rohingya may eventually be resettled by the US and others.</p>
<p>Since 2008, Australia has <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/the-worlds-biggest-refugee-camp-is-at-breaking-point-what-is-australia-doing-to-help/z0d554j6x">granted visas</a> to just 470 Rohingya under its special humanitarian program – a very small number considering the extreme need. </p>
<p>All of these refugees were accepted into the program from Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries in the region. This creates a perverse incentive for Rohingya from the Bangladesh camps to get on rickety boats and make the dangerous sea journey to those countries. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512346/original/file-20230227-850-yb9but.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512346/original/file-20230227-850-yb9but.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512346/original/file-20230227-850-yb9but.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512346/original/file-20230227-850-yb9but.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512346/original/file-20230227-850-yb9but.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512346/original/file-20230227-850-yb9but.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512346/original/file-20230227-850-yb9but.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Rohingya people rest on a beach in Aceh province, Indonesia, after arriving by boat in February.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Riska Munawarah</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>UN figures show a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/jan/18/rohingya-fleeing-bangladesh-boat-soars-human-smugglers">more than 360% surge</a> in the number of Rohingya who boarded boats to try to get to Malaysia and Indonesia last year, with 3,500 making the journey, compared to just 700 in 2021.</p>
<p>In early February, Momen <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-10/bangladesh-calls-for-australia-to-take-more-rohingyas-myanmar/101958390">called on</a> Australia to do more to resettle the Rohingya stranded in his country.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Australia is relatively more resourceful, so I think it’s high time Australia come forward and resettle some more of those distressed people. […] Australia has the capacity, it has the resources — there’s only a need for a political mindset. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>According to our new research, there is public support for this to happen. In surveys conducted last year, a majority of Australians and New Zealanders said they have positive views about the Rohingya and support the resettlement of more Rohingya refugees in their countries. </p>
<h2>Increasingly dire conditions</h2>
<p>The UN high commissioner for human rights has called the violence the Rohingya suffered at the hands of the Myanmar military a “<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2017/09/564622-un-human-rights-chief-points-textbook-example-ethnic-cleansing-myanmar">textbook example of ethnic cleansing</a>”. And a major UN investigation confirmed the mass killings and rapes were committed with “<a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/myanmar-ffm/index">genocidal intent</a>”. </p>
<p>There is clearly no hope of the Rohingya returning to their homes for the foreseeable future. A <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/myanmar-military-coup-2021-100095">military coup</a> in Myanmar two years ago brought to power the very army that perpetrated the crimes against the Rohingya.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-the-un-has-found-myanmars-military-committed-genocide-against-the-rohingya-102251">Explainer: why the UN has found Myanmar’s military committed genocide against the Rohingya</a>
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<p>And they have a <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/04/bangladesh-new-restrictions-rohingya-camps#:%7E:text=New%20restrictions%20have%20also%20been,schools%2C%20affecting%20about%2060%2C000%20students.">very limited future</a> in Bangladesh, where the authorities have recently been restricting their livelihoods, movement and access to education.</p>
<p>A UN humanitarian appeal to support the Rohingya refugees <a href="https://fts.unocha.org/appeals/1082/summary">received</a> only half the funding required in 2022, leaving many needs unmet and Bangladesh to <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2023/02/does-anyone-want-to-solve-the-rohingya-crisis/">shoulder much of the burden</a>. </p>
<p>The situation became so dire last November, the UN Central Emergency Response Fund had to <a href="https://bangladesh.un.org/en/209192-cerf-allocates-9-million-rohingya-refugee-response-bangladesh#:%7E:text=As%2520of%252031%2520August%25202022,Teknaf%2520Upazilas%2520of%2520the%2520Cox's">release</a> US$9 million (A$13.4 million) in emergency funding just to make sure the refugees had enough food, water and sanitation items.</p>
<p>So, in the absence of a repatriation plan, can the world be persuaded to accept more refugees?</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1625821225174827008"}"></div></p>
<h2>What our research found</h2>
<p>Our research shows a majority of the public would support this in Australia and New Zealand. </p>
<p>We recently reviewed data from a large-scale online survey as part of the <a href="https://sinofon.cz/surveys">Sinophone Borderlands project</a> investigating global attitudes towards China and other issues. The survey collected responses from over 1,200 people in 56 different countries between 2020 and 2022 – more than 80,000 altogether. Several questions asked about the Rohingya people specifically. </p>
<p>When asked how positively or negatively respondents felt about the Rohingya people on a scale of zero to 100, the average Australian response was 53.6, while in New Zealand it was 60.8. </p>
<p>There was minimal variation by gender or when comparing urban versus rural, but we saw more positive responses among those who were educated, younger and satisfied with their country’s political situation and/or their own economic wellbeing.</p>
<p>When asked specifically about their level of support for the resettlement of displaced Rohingya in their country, responses were actually more positive. </p>
<p>Asked to represent their support on a scale of one (definitely no) to seven (definitely yes), the average (mean) response in Australia was 4.20 and in New Zealand it was 4.54. Again, there was minimal variation by gender, but more highly educated respondents were more positive.</p>
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<p>Interestingly, we didn’t notice much variation when it came to political party, either. Unsurprisingly, those on the left responded with higher levels of support for Rohingya resettlement in both countries. However, the average level of support was still more positive than negative for voters of all main parties.</p>
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<h2>What Australia and New Zealand are doing</h2>
<p>Australia’s response to the Rohingya crisis has been to provide humanitarian aid, but it has resisted <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/myanmar-burma/2/">calls to resettle</a> any of the Rohingya from the camps.</p>
<p>When we contacted the Home Affairs department about this, a spokesperson responded by saying the government is “committed to generous and flexible humanitarian and settlement programs that meets Australia’s international protection obligations”.</p>
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<p>The UNHCR and the international community continue to work on creating conditions for a safe return of Rohingya people to Myanmar. Australia’s response continues to focus on humanitarian aid to Bangladesh and Myanmar.</p>
<p>Any persons, including Rohingya, who believe they meet the requirements for a humanitarian visa and wish to seek Australia’s assistance can make an application.</p>
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<p>Indeed, Australia has been generous in its humanitarian response to the Rohingya. It was the <a href="https://reporting.unhcr.org/bangladesh-funding-2022">second-largest country donor</a> in 2022, giving about $A20.4 million (plus another $A16.7 million from private donors in Australia). </p>
<p>New Zealand’s response has been largely the same, committing about NZ$1 million (A$918,000) last year, but offering no refugee resettlement places specifically from the camps. </p>
<p>Our research suggests there is solid support for policy changes in both Australia and New Zealand, including among even conservative voters in both countries. </p>
<p>On the basis of this data, we strongly urge the Australian and New Zealand governments to reconsider their refugee intake policies and create a special Rohingya category to resettle refugees from Bangladesh.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/generous-aid-to-ukraine-is-diverting-resources-away-from-other-refugee-crises-around-the-world-190961">Generous aid to Ukraine is diverting resources away from other refugee crises around the world</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199504/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristina Kironska's research was supported by the European Regional Development Fund – Project “Sinophone Borderlands – Interaction at the Edges” CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000791. Besides the Palacky University Olomouc she is affiliated with the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS) and with Amnesty International Slovakia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Ware does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Both countries have accepted very few Rohingya refugees to date, but new research suggests most Australians and New Zealanders are willing to resettle more.Anthony Ware, Associate Professor in International & Community Development, Deakin UniversityKristina Kironska, Assistant Professor, Palacky University OlomoucLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1997722023-02-21T18:11:53Z2023-02-21T18:11:53ZWe need to break the cycle of crisis in Aotearoa New Zealand’s arts and culture. It starts with proper funding<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511245/original/file-20230220-22-tj99ua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C11%2C3982%2C2215&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/robinzblog/51822798492">Robin Capper/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In times of crisis, arts, culture and creative experiences play an essential role. Whether through a music gig, a performing arts festival, a visual art exhibit or a well-thumbed book – these bring joy, comfort and relief in troubled times. </p>
<p>Taking part in creative activities and events <a href="https://mch.govt.nz/valuing-arts-research-report">boosts individual and collective wellbeing</a>, brings communities together, and keeps our social bonds in tune. </p>
<p>But the full potential of arts, culture and creativity to create positive social change has been held back by cycles of crisis in Aotearoa New Zealand’s creative sector. </p>
<p>The government’s recent announcement of a <a href="https://creativenz.govt.nz/News-and-blog/2023/02/06/23/26/43/Creative-New-Zealand-welcomes-additional-22-million-from-Government">NZ$22 million top-up</a> to arts funding body Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa offers temporary relief to a financially strained sector, but this short-term measure exposes the absence of a wider strategy from Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage. </p>
<p>It is time for a long-term <a href="https://www.tetaumatatoiaiwi.org.nz/nga-toi-in-aotearoa/">national Ngā Toi Arts and Culture strategy</a> to provide a much-needed circuit breaker.</p>
<h2>Compounding events</h2>
<p>Aotearoa’s arts and cultural sector remains on an emergency footing following the past three years of pandemic disruption. </p>
<p>Auckland’s Silo Theatre made the <a href="https://silotheatre.co.nz/article/2023-cancelled-2023-artistic-message">audacious call to “cancel” 2023</a> and its usual programming, saying:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The impacts of the pandemic on our sector are serious and long lasting […] funding for the arts is shrinking, audience attendance is down the world over […] practitioners are burning out and leaving the sector for better pay and greater security. The time for transformation is now.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Arts companies going ahead with live work face the prospects of COVID and climate crisis cancellations. </p>
<p>The Royal New Zealand Ballet was <a href="https://www.facebook.com/nzballet/videos/455197303452816/">forced to cancel</a> the entire Auckland season of Venus Rising (a production that had already been postponed four times) during the recent summer COVID wave in December 2022. </p>
<p>This month’s flooding in Auckland and the devastation wrought by Cyclone Gabrielle present yet more setbacks for our arts and culture recovery. Numerous events in Auckland Pride were <a href="https://aucklandpride.org.nz/articles/weather-update-auckland-pride-2023/">disrupted</a> and the Napier Art Deco Festival was <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/cyclone-gabrielle-napier-art-deco-festival-2023-cancelled/EPNGJ7YGTZHLTBUZUYSLWULJZE/">cancelled entirely</a>. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/junior-staff-are-finding-better-contracts-senior-staff-are-burning-out-the-arts-are-losing-the-war-for-talent-194174">Junior staff are finding better contracts, senior staff are burning out: the arts are losing the war for talent</a>
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<h2>A lack of money</h2>
<p>Low wages are a longstanding structural issue in the creative sector. In 2019 <a href="https://creativenz.govt.nz/News-and-blog/2022/06/15/02/26/15/Research-reflects-significant-challenges-of-making-a-living-as-a-creative-professional-in-Aotearoa">creative professionals earned</a> an average NZ$36,000 per year, NZ$8,000 below living wage. </p>
<p>The cost of living is presently biting both creatives and audiences, with <a href="https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/annual-inflation-at-7-2-percent/">inflation rising above 7%</a>. </p>
<p>Creative sector workers had a <a href="https://creativenz.govt.nz/News-and-blog/2022/07/08/03/41/40/Arts-Sector-Remuneration-Report-released">0% median base salary increase over 2021</a>, with no salary increase forecast for artists in 2022 – effectively a pay cut.</p>
<p>There’s more demand than ever before for funding. Success rates for grants from Creative New Zealand have <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/130821901/creative-new-zealand-to-undertake-widespread-review-into-services-funding">dropped</a> from one in three to one in five. The funding body’s latest arts funding round opened and closed in 24 hours with the 250 application limit reached in <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/131220073/creative-new-zealand-closes-arts-grants-round-in-record-24hour-period">record time</a>, a highly stressful funding system which undermines practitioner wellbeing. </p>
<p>(Creative New Zealand <a href="https://creativenz.govt.nz/News-and-blog/2022/06/15/02/26/15/Research-reflects-significant-challenges-of-making-a-living-as-a-creative-professional-in-Aotearoa">has committed</a> to “co-designing a better approach to funding” with the arts community.)</p>
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<p>During the pandemic, rather than expanding the funding body’s existing funding capability, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage was rapidly upscaled to <a href="https://mch.govt.nz/covid-recovery">administer new funding schemes</a>. </p>
<p>But while the ministry has been enabled to fund new blue-sky initiatives, core arts and culture activities have gone unfunded or underfunded. </p>
<p>With COVID recovery funding winding up this year, the absence of any long-term government strategy is alarming. </p>
<h2>Breaking the cycle</h2>
<p>Comparing the approaches of the current New Zealand and Australian governments is revealing. </p>
<p>In 2017, Jacinda Ardern’s Labour government took over after nine years of arts austerity. The former National Party Minister for Arts, Culture, and Heritage, Chris Finlayson <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/300674472/chris-finlaysons-time-as-arts-minister-spent-keeping-the-luvvies-at-bay">described his role</a> as being to “keep the luvvies at bay and stop them complaining”.</p>
<p>In contrast, Ardern wanted to “see a country where the arts are available to us all”. But there was a gulf between rhetoric and action. </p>
<p>Despite positive schemes such as <a href="https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/publications/budget-2019/creatives-in-schools/">Creatives in Schools</a>, Labour continued to underinvest in Creative New Zealand. </p>
<p>A 2017 manifesto promise to reestablish the <a href="https://pantograph-punch.com/posts/difficult-history-of-pace">Pathways to Arts and Cultural Employment scheme</a>, which enabled artists on a benefit to record arts as their chosen career and receive financial support and professional development <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/300132726/auckland-art-gallery-calls-for-revival-of-helen-clarkera-artists-wage">remains incomplete</a>. </p>
<p>In Australia, Anthony Albanese’s Labor government has made arts and culture a centrepiece policy of its first term, <a href="https://www.artshub.com.au/news/news/revive-286-million-national-cultural-policy-revealed-2608426/">promising</a> to “put the arts back […] at the heart of our national life” via the Revive National Cultural policy budgeted for A$286 million (NZ$315 million) over four years. </p>
<p>While some features play catch-up with New Zealand (such as the establishment of a poet laureate, which New Zealand has had since 1997), Revive’s five policy pillars provide a useful starting point for a conversation on what a national culture policy could look like in New Zealand: First Nations first; a place for every story; the centrality of the artist; strong institutions; reaching the audience. </p>
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<p>A national strategy for Aotearoa could direct resources towards where they could have the most impact and harness the wellbeing benefits of ngā toi, or art and creative expression.</p>
<p>Ngā toi derives from te toi-o-ngā-rangi, the uppermost heaven representing “<a href="https://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2018/06/20/mastering-the-art-of-interpretation-what-exactly-does-toi-mean/">the highest form of knowledge and expertise</a>”. Ngā toi is regarded as intrinsic to being human, fundamental for mental and spiritual healing and balance. </p>
<p>Arts and culture are not a nice to have: they are essential to who we are as individuals and as a community. </p>
<p>Government investment in arts and culture is also an investment in education, health and employment.</p>
<p>We need to make breaking the cycle of crisis in Aotearoa’s arts and culture ecology an election issue. Our political parties should follow Australia’s lead and commit to the development of a national Ngā Toi Arts and Culture policy to boost access and participation in arts, culture and creativity for the benefit of all New Zealanders.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/arts-are-meant-to-be-at-the-heart-of-our-life-what-the-new-national-cultural-policy-could-mean-for-australia-if-it-all-comes-together-198786">'Arts are meant to be at the heart of our life': what the new national cultural policy could mean for Australia – if it all comes together</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199772/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Wenley has worked as an external peer assessor for Creative New Zealand. </span></em></p>Aotearoa’s arts and cultural sector remains on an emergency footing following the last three years of pandemic disruption.James Wenley, Lecturer, Theatre Programme, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1990552023-02-20T11:39:56Z2023-02-20T11:39:56ZBanshees of Inisherin: how location and language have set the scene for Ireland’s vibrant film industry<p>From classic western films onwards, many cinematographers have made use of far flung places to transport viewers to other worlds and different times. </p>
<p>Stories inspired by the west of Ireland have benefited from the beautiful visage that its landscape provides. John Ford’s The Quiet Man (1952) showcased the rolling hills of Connemara as the <a href="https://www.irishpost.com/travel/the-picturesque-irish-village-where-the-quiet-man-was-filmed-is-a-must-see-for-every-fan-210086">mise-en-scène</a> for his award-winning romantic comedy drama. Tourists still come in search of Sean Thornton’s house, travelling along Ireland’s Atlantic edge to see what remains of the “old way of life”.</p>
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<img alt="Bronze statue of John Wayne lifting Maureen O'Hara, depicting the Irish film The Quiet Man. Cong, west of Ireland." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509238/original/file-20230209-24-5griet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=300%2C58%2C4309%2C3166&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509238/original/file-20230209-24-5griet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509238/original/file-20230209-24-5griet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509238/original/file-20230209-24-5griet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509238/original/file-20230209-24-5griet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509238/original/file-20230209-24-5griet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509238/original/file-20230209-24-5griet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A statue of John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara from The Quiet Man shows the importance of the film to the town in which it was set, Cong in the west of Ireland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrei Nekrassov / Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Exactly 70 years later, Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) – winner of <a href="https://www.bafta.org/film/awards/2023-nominations-winners">four awards at this year’s Baftas</a> and also nominated for <a href="https://www.buzz.ie/movies/banshess-of-inisherin-oscar-nominations-29037552">nine Oscars</a> – uses the islands of Achill and Aran to provide a dramatic backdrop to his tale of two friends navigating change on and off their remote island. But the external gaze is slightly different now. </p>
<p>McDonagh’s Banshees of Inisherin (knowingly) embraces some similar tropes about life in Ireland to The Quiet Man. But it could be argued that the scenery of the west coast now plays a much more active role in Irish film than it did in the 1950s. This shows how the industry has developed since that time. </p>
<p>Looking beyond the headlines of the critical and commercial success of Banshees reveals a story of a national industry gaining international recognition. Indeed, McDonagh noted his <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/director-of-banshees-of-inisherin-baftas-2023-b2285600.html">crew’s surprise</a> at the film being nominated (and subsequently winning) the Bafta for Outstanding British film because of its UK funding source, when it was made in Ireland by an Irish team.</p>
<p>Together with Dominic Power of the University of Stockholm, I have <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13662716.2021.1877633">explored the evolution</a> of a cluster of filmmaking businesses <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1877916618300845">in the west of Ireland</a>, as well as the role of Hollywood investment and the Irish language in its development.</p>
<p>The fact that one-quarter of all of this year’s Oscars acting nominations are for Irish actors shows how far the Irish film industry has come since Brenda Fricker and Daniel Day Lewis’s success with <a href="https://stairnaheireann.net/2022/03/26/otd-in-1990-my-left-foot-wins-two-oscars/">My Left Foot</a> (1989) at the 62nd Oscars. </p>
<p>The attention those wins brought led to an immediate change in government policy. <em>Bord Scannán na hÉireann</em> (the Irish Film Board) – now <em>Fís Éireann</em> (Screen Ireland) – was reopened under the guidance of Michael D. Higgins (then minister for arts, now the president of Ireland) after having been abolished in 1987. </p>
<p>The fact the Irish Film Board was located in Galway (not Dublin, Ireland’s capital city) was also critical to the kind of sector that has grown since. A vibrant indigenous film industry now exists in this part of Ireland. </p>
<p>Alongside the location of the Irish Film Board in Galway, the citing of a national Irish language broadcaster, TG4, further west in 1998 has created a cluster of economic and cultural activity. By 2021, the west of Ireland was home to <a href="https://westerndevelopment.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/21.07.12-REINFORCING-the-CREATIVE-WEST.pdf">more than 370 audiovisual companies</a>, providing employment for 1,181 people across the six counties along the western seaboard.</p>
<p>Ireland, a place to procure cheap animators in the 1990s, also now boasts some of the world’s <a href="https://www.screenireland.ie/industry-insights/about-the-animation-industry">top animation studios</a> – three-time Oscar nominee, <a href="https://www.cartoonsaloon.ie/">Cartoon Saloon</a> being a great example.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508994/original/file-20230208-32-itjk67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508994/original/file-20230208-32-itjk67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508994/original/file-20230208-32-itjk67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508994/original/file-20230208-32-itjk67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508994/original/file-20230208-32-itjk67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508994/original/file-20230208-32-itjk67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508994/original/file-20230208-32-itjk67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Ireland’s president, Michael D. Higgins, shown here in 2022, reignited government policy on Irish filmmaking when he was minister for arts in the 1990s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">D. Ribeiro / Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>Foreign direct investment</h2>
<p>Filmmaking shares many of the same traits as any other industry. Investors invest, products (movies) succeed or fail. In filmmaking, Hollywood plays the role of the “foreign direct investor”, a well-known character in Ireland where <a href="https://www.idaireland.com/latest-news/press-release/highest-increase-in-fdi-employment-ever?utm_content=231299118&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&hss_channel=tw-44889752">more than 300,000 people</a> are employed by multinational firms. </p>
<p>But Hollywood investors often shoot the scenes and leave. In their wake, tourist providers step in to cash in on the free advertising that stunning locations in blockbuster movies can bring.</p>
<p>The Irish Tourist Board played this game very well in the 1950s with the legacy of The Quiet Man. But in 2023 more sustainable benefits can and should be reaped from the sector through the foreign investment that Banshees can provide.</p>
<p>Other regions have similar stories to tell, having benefited from their own sprinkling of this Hollywood magic. <a href="https://www.canadiansky.co.uk/british-columbia-holidays/vancouver/explore-the-best-film-locations-in-vancouver">Vancouver, Canada, has stood in for New York</a> and other major US cities on screen, while Croatia has doubled the size of its tourism industry following <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/articles/game-of-thrones-effect-tourism/">the success of Game of Thrones</a>, where parts of the series were shot. </p>
<p>But the best example might be Peter Jackson’s use of his native New Zealand as the backdrop for The Lord of the Rings. This played a formative role in the <a href="https://variety.com/2021/film/news/peter-jackson-new-zealand-lord-of-the-rings-1235123567/">growth of a national film industry</a> worth US$2.2 billion (£1.8 billion) that is now recognised for its prowess in visual effects.</p>
<h2>Telling local stories</h2>
<p>The clusters of talent that develop in these places are not waiting for the next Hollywood script to choose their region as a backdrop; they are keen to tell their own stories to their own people – and whoever else will listen.</p>
<p>Agencies like the Film Board, TG4, and Ardan (and its production fund) have supported this evolution of the Irish screen industry. But a native language – even one that’s <a href="https://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/3437">under threat</a> – has also been fundamental to success in the west.</p>
<p>Audiovisual production from the western periphery of Ireland has been about using the innate cultural asset of being able to tell a story well – in English but also in the Irish language. Recent examples from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/oct/13/arracht-review-tomas-o-suilleabhain"><em>Arracht</em> (Monster, 2019)</a>, to <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3208026/">Black ‘47 (2018)</a> and <a href="https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/calm-with-horses/">Calm with Horses</a> (2019) have shown that these are stories others want to see and hear. The former has won national and international critical acclaim, while both of the latter can reach massive audiences via Netflix. </p>
<p>Most telling then among the embarrassment of nominations for Irish films this year, was that of Colm Bairéad’s <em>An Cailín Ciúin</em> (The Quiet Girl). As well as <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-64650039">a BAFTA nomination</a>, it is also up for the 2023 best foreign language movie Oscar. This recognition reflects an industry in Ireland that is producing (writing, acting and directing) to the highest standards. It’s telling its own stories in its own language.</p>
<p>Hollywood can come and go, but culture and creativity are ingrained a place. Like many remote regions sprinkled with Hollywood fairy dust in recent years, the west of Ireland’s periphery is not just a pretty backdrop, but a place that inspires stories and helps nurture its own talent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199055/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:p.collins@universityofgalway.ie">p.collins@universityofgalway.ie</a> receives funding from the European Commission, Irish Research Council, Science Foundation Ireland and the University of Galway. </span></em></p>The west of Ireland, like many scenic locations, provides the perfect backdrop for films.Pat Collins, Associate Professor in Geography, University of GalwayLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1981452023-02-02T13:34:46Z2023-02-02T13:34:46ZThe world’s first environmental clean-up happened 400 million years ago<p>One of the biggest environmental challenges today is to treat land that is contaminated by toxic elements from industrial activity, elements like <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/arsenic-properties-incident-management-and-toxicology/arsenic-general-information">arsenic</a>, <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center/antimony-statistics-and-information">antimony</a> and <a href="https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/74/tungsten">tungsten</a>.</p>
<p>But these same elements can be brought to the Earth’s surface by natural processes such as the bubbling up of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/hot-spring">hot springs</a>. So it is valuable to understand how they were dealt with by the environment before humans came along. A site in Aberdeenshire in Scotland which is famous for early fossil life preserved by hot springs, shows us how it could have happened. </p>
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<img alt="A round cross section of a fossilised plant stem detailed in cream and brown." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505725/original/file-20230122-49501-wrokic.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505725/original/file-20230122-49501-wrokic.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505725/original/file-20230122-49501-wrokic.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505725/original/file-20230122-49501-wrokic.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505725/original/file-20230122-49501-wrokic.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=734&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505725/original/file-20230122-49501-wrokic.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=734&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505725/original/file-20230122-49501-wrokic.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=734&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A cross-section of a stem preserved as a silica petrifaction, detailing its cellular structure, found at Rhynie, Aberdeenshire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Paleobotany#Media/File:Rhynia_stem.jpg">Wikiwand</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Some of the world’s <a href="https://www.abdn.ac.uk/geosciences/departments/geology/what-is-the-rhynie-chert-1892.php">most well preserved fossilised plants</a> are found in <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/dir//Rhynie,+Huntly+AB54+4GJ/@57.4217189,-3.8006635,8.2z/data=!4m9!4m8!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x48844b525cd28473:0x42651503db9b8f55!2m2!1d-2.835357!2d57.333126!3e0">Rhynie</a>, just west of Aberdeen, in deposits thought to have come from the world’s oldest land ecosystem. </p>
<p>Exquisitely detailed plants – as well as spiders, insects, fungi and other life – were preserved there by hot springs about 410 million years ago. These are some of the earliest fossilised plants known, so are important in what they can tell us about plant evolution.</p>
<p>But those hot springs also introduced elements that would have been toxic to most forms of life. Our latest <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2022GC010647">research</a> shows how minerals deposited among the plants extracted the toxic metals from the spring water and limited their impact on the environment.</p>
<h2>Minerals and toxic metals</h2>
<p>The plants at Rhynie were encased in the mineral <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/silica">silica</a>, which deposits around hot springs. At tourist spots like <a href="https://homepages.see.leeds.ac.uk/%7Eearlgb/Publications/Tobler%20et%20al%20Iceland%20geochem_Geobiology.pdf">Iceland</a>, <a href="https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-living-crystals-of-dead-geysers/#:%7E:text=of%20New%20Zealand's%20thermal%20centres,water%20discharges%20at%20the%20surface.">New Zealand</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0377027321002201">Yellowstone National Park</a> in the US, bacteria in the water are involved in producing these silica deposits, and this would have been the same at Rhynie.</p>
<p>As well as silica, the fossils contain certain minerals including <a href="https://geology.com/minerals/pyrite.shtml">pyrite</a> (iron sulphide, so-called fool’s gold), <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.96.7.3447#:%7E:text=Mn%20oxides%20are%20the%20predominant,migration%20and%20reprecipitation%20(4).">manganese oxides</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780815515784500123">titanium oxides</a>. It’s these minerals, produced by the bacteria and other lifeforms, that would have soaked up the toxic metals. </p>
<p>Pyrite, formed by the bacteria, soaked up arsenic from the spring water. Manganese oxides, <a href="http://awarticles.s3.amazonaws.com/22591055.pdf">commonly deposited by fungi</a>, also absorbed arsenic. Titanium oxides, formed particularly around decomposing plant remains, absorbed tungsten and antimony. </p>
<p>So between them, the minerals formed by biological activity accounted for the main sources of toxicity. The evidence from Rhynie shows how natural processes have helped clean the environment since life first colonised the land.</p>
<h2>The magic of mushrooms</h2>
<p>Our solutions to man-made environmental problems, such as contamination from industry and mining, typically include a range of <a href="https://www.pollutionsolutions-online.com/news/soil-remediation/18/breaking-news/which-chemicals-are-used-for-soil-treatment/58235">chemical treatments</a>. But an exciting “natural” approach is the technique of <a href="https://www.ffungi.org/why-fungi/mycoremediation">mycoremediation</a>, where fungi concentrate and store contaminating elements in their substance. </p>
<p>Fungi can be very resilient, and adapt rapidly to substances we regard as toxic. One strategy is to harvest fungi that live on mining or industrial waste and which are predisposed to cope with it, then use the fungi to clean up waste on other problem sites. In this way, fungi can be used to recover land contaminated by harmful metals.</p>
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<p>Biologist <a href="https://www.merlinsheldrake.com/">Merlin Sheldrake</a>, in his award-winning 2020 book <a href="https://www.merlinsheldrake.com/entangled-life">Entangled Life</a>, argues: “Fungi are some of the best-qualified organisms for environmental remediation … fine-tuned over a billion years of evolution.”</p>
<p>Evolution is a key word here. The ecosystem (plants, animals and their habitat, including minerals) does not “intend” to clean up toxic chemicals as humans do. However, life is more likely to thrive and reproduce in ecosystems that strip out harmful substances. Just as particular fungi can be <a href="https://www.ffungi.org/why-fungi/mycoremediation">selected</a> to help deal with contaminated land, evolution favoured the species that adapted to environmental changes in the geological past, as implied at Rhynie.</p>
<h2>Remaining questions</h2>
<p>The deposits at this special geological site were formed by hot springs, whose waters preserved the plant cells. But because the hot springs that formed the Rhynie deposit were rich in arsenic, antimony and other trace elements, there is uncertainty about how representative these fossils may be of early plant communities.</p>
<p>Scientists <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/4142659.pdf">might argue</a>
that the plants found at Rhynie could be an adaptation to an environment that was chemically unusual. There is no clear answer to whether this was so, but our observations do suggest that the ecosystem was able to respond to the water chemistry, so the existence of these plants was not necessarily abnormal.</p>
<p>Visitors to hot springs in New Zealand and Yellowstone today can see orange and yellow crusts containing the harmful arsenic, antimony and so on, but also precious metals like gold and silver, so the springs attract commercial interest. </p>
<p>Hot springs worldwide also contain an element that was pretty much ignored until recently: <a href="https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/3/lithium">lithium</a>. The spring waters provide a renewable supply of this element which is currently fundamental to rechargeable batteries – especially in electric vehicles, which are essential in the quest to achieve carbon emission targets. So hot springs may have more than one role in helping clean up the environment.</p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
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<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198145/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Parnell receives funding from NERC. </span></em></p>When it comes to cleaning up land contaminated by toxic waste, we can follow nature’s example before humans populated the earth.John Parnell, Professor of Geology and Petroleum Geology, University of AberdeenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1981862023-01-20T15:22:25Z2023-01-20T15:22:25ZJacinda Ardern: the ‘politics of kindness’ is a lasting legacy<p>Jacinda Ardern became prime minister of New Zealand in 2017, the same year Donald Trump took power in the US. They could not have been more different: in age and sex, in politics, and in style. Where Trump’s brash, shoot-from-the-hip tweets sparked outrage, Ardern’s human and empathetic approach sought to strike a conciliatory tone. Nowhere was this more evident than with her response to the Christchurch terrorist attacks when she said, “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/29/jacinda-arderns-speech-at-christchurch-memorial-full-transcript">they are us</a>”, embracing the immigrant and refugee communities targeted.</p>
<p>Ardern showed the power of a different kind of leadership, but what will her legacy be? When we talk about leadership in my gender politics classes at the University of Bath one name above all others comes up in discussions: Jacinda Ardern. Ask my students which inspirational political leaders they see in the world today, and Ardern always tops the polls. Ask if they can remember any of New Zealand’s former prime ministers before her and there’s silence. </p>
<p>Ardern embodied a new kind of politics, one that has been nicknamed a “<a href="https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/handle/10289/14087">politics of kindness</a>”. At the press conference announcing New Zealand’s first lockdown in the face of COVID, she said: “Be strong, and be kind.” During her time in office, these words would become synonymous with her politics and style. She even mentioned the word kindness <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/world/jacinda-ardern-resignation-prime-minister-new-zealand-speech-b2265319.html">in her resignation speech</a>. </p>
<p>Such has been Ardern’s political power over the past six years, that <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/world/jacinda-ardern-resignation-prime-minister-new-zealand-speech-b2265319.html">the news that she will resign</a> with almost immediate effect was met with widespread surprise as much within New Zealand as it was internationally. I was in New Zealand in 2017 and witnessed first-hand the rise of her leadership - nicknamed “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/02/jacindamania-rocketing-rise-of-new-zealand-labours-fresh-political-hope">Jacindamania</a>” - and saw how it resonated so strongly with the public.</p>
<p>As a world leader who faced one crisis after another, and balancing the demands of working life for young families, she expressed how she “no longer had enough <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/world/jacinda-ardern-resignation-prime-minister-new-zealand-speech-b2265319.html">in the tank” to keep going</a>. Of course, there are some who will claim she stood down before she was pushed, and it is true that Labour in New Zealand is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/05/support-for-jacinda-ardern-and-nz-labour-sinks-to-lowest-since-2017-poll-shows">struggling in the polls</a>, although she was still the most popular candidate <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/05/support-for-jacinda-ardern-and-nz-labour-sinks-to-lowest-since-2017-poll-shows">for prime minister</a>. Compare and contrast Ardern’s departure with Trump being wrestled out of the White House. How many (male) politicians would call time on their own leadership in the way Ardern has done?</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jacinda-arderns-resignation-shows-that-women-still-face-an-uphill-battle-in-politics-an-expert-on-female-leaders-answers-5-key-questions-198197">Jacinda Ardern's resignation shows that women still face an uphill battle in politics – an expert on female leaders answers 5 key questions</a>
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<p>Her decision to step down is as groundbreaking as the way in which she shaped the job and her leadership style. In times when populist leaders with <a href="https://www.mironline.ca/its-a-mans-world-the-worrying-trend-of-hyper-masculinity-in-world-leaders/">a hyper-masculine leadership styles</a> took control from Brazil to Hungary, she brought compassion, kindness and empathy to politics.</p>
<p>Her leadership style, and more generally her leadership, inspired many, and in particular women. While gender equality is growing in politics, there are still not many women leading a country, and being <a href="https://nationbuilder.com/jacinda_ardern">the youngest woman prime minister ever</a>, she was an exception in what is generally still seen as a “man’s world”. </p>
<p>In the academic literature on gender and political representation, a distinction is made between <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520021563/the-concept-of-representation">descriptive, substantive and symbolic representation</a>. The first concentrates on the number of women in positions of power. The second is concerned with the effect women’s representation has on policy outcomes, that is: do we get different kinds of policy decisions because women are making them? And the third suggests that women politicians are role models for women in society, inspiring them to engage in political activity and discussion and serving to increase political trust.</p>
<p>Being New Zealand’s <a href="https://nationbuilder.com/jacinda_ardern">youngest female prime minister</a> and only the second in the world to become <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44568537">a mother while in office</a>, Ardern inspired many women and showed how young women can take up leadership roles and do it in their own way. As she said when announcing her resignation: “I hope I leave New Zealand with a belief that you can be kind but strong, empathetic but decisive, optimistic but focused, and that you can be your own kind of leader, one who knows <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/29/jacinda-arderns-speech-at-christchurch-memorial-full-transcript">when it’s time to go</a>.” </p>
<h2>What is her legacy?</h2>
<p>With this message, she highlighted how there is no particular style of doing politics, but how everyone can do it in their own way, including in a connecting and empathetic way with a strong human touch – a style not commonly associated with politics. Hearing of Ardern’s resignation, US vice president Kamala Harris said she had “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/jacinda-ardern-resigns-new-zealand-prime-minister-mother-icon-rcna66485">inspired millions around the world</a>” and had offered a new way of doing politics. </p>
<p>Equally important has been how she has called out gender inequalities. A well-known, and widely shared on social media, example was when she met with the prime minister of Finland, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHOcS39u01w">Sanna Marin</a> – also a woman and relatively young – last year and was asked by a journalist whether they were just meeting because <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/30/world/new-zealand-finland-leaders-gender-question-scli-intl/index.html">they were both young (women)</a>? Ardern quickly queried whether former US president Barack Obama and John Key (the previous New Zealand prime minister) would have been asked the same question when they met; clearly stating that they were not only meeting because of their gender but were there to talk about substance and politics.</p>
<p>Overall, with her refreshing and dignified leadership, her brand of politics, combined with a call for greater gender equity in general and in politics in particular, Ardern has served as an inspiration for many women. And even in the style of her resignation, Ardern is again changing the course and setting standards for kind and authentic political leadership; a strong legacy that will be remembered for decades.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198186/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hilde Coffe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Jacinda Ardern’s style of politics drew international attention.Hilde Coffe, Professor of politics, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1981972023-01-20T13:38:40Z2023-01-20T13:38:40ZJacinda Ardern’s resignation shows that women still face an uphill battle in politics – an expert on female leaders answers 5 key questions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505462/original/file-20230119-22-i0pfzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=273%2C26%2C2541%2C1967&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jacinda Ardern and partner, Clarke Gayford, leave after she announced her resignation in New Zealand. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1457526356/photo/new-zealand-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-resigns.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=_NSemdi9WvrsoQ5HPyK7fJT_0FbznnVzlu96YJcPPmU=">Kerry Marshall/Getty Images </a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern <a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-new-zealand-government-covid-jacinda-ardern-0e6d8eedd96f94aab07eeb0c37164591">announced on Jan. 19, 2023, that she will soon</a> resign from office. “I know what this job takes. And I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice,” Ardern said.</em></p>
<p><em>Ardern was 37 when she was elected prime minister in 2017, and is the youngest female head of government to have served in any country. During her tenure, Ardern oversaw the country’s strict COVID-19 response and also dealt with other crises like the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/tag/new-zealand-attack/">Christchurch mosque shooting</a> in 2019.</em></p>
<p><em>The prime minister also received unwanted attention that many observers – and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywfaIaY9ogE">Ardern herself</a> – <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/01/19/jacinda-ardern-resign-sexism-battles/">dubbed sexist</a>. This included questions and comments about Ardern’s plans to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/02/unacceptable-new-zealands-labour-leader-asked-about-baby-plans-six-hours-into-job">have a child</a>, as well as about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/19/jacinda-ardern-pregnant-new-zealand-prime-minister-mother-mum-nz-pm">her eventual pregnancy</a> in office. Ardern herself noted in her <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/world/jacinda-ardern-resignation-prime-minister-new-zealand-speech-b2265319.html">resignation speech</a> that she is looking forward to spending more time with family once she leaves office in February.</em></p>
<p><em>She also addressed her young daughter, saying, “And so to Neve, Mum is looking forward to being there when you start school this year.”</em></p>
<p><em>The Conversation U.S. spoke with Virginia Tech <a href="https://liberalarts.vt.edu/departments-and-schools/department-of-political-science/faculty/farida-jalalzai.html">political science scholar</a> and women in politics expert <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=V1xQj_0AAAAJ&hl=en">Farida Jalalzai</a> to provide context about the unique challenges facing Ardern and other women in positions of power.</em></p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505465/original/file-20230119-16-7uvceq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two young white women wear formal clothing and appear at podiums." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505465/original/file-20230119-16-7uvceq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505465/original/file-20230119-16-7uvceq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505465/original/file-20230119-16-7uvceq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505465/original/file-20230119-16-7uvceq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505465/original/file-20230119-16-7uvceq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505465/original/file-20230119-16-7uvceq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505465/original/file-20230119-16-7uvceq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Jacinda Ardern, right, fended off questions from a reporter in 2022 about whether she was meeting with Sanna Marin, prime minister of Finland, because they had so much in common.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1445549087/photo/finlands-pm-marin-meets-nzs-pm-ardern.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=MdgqrVTJT-FMkOH9gSSiWRHAnqJn0eNXBddeynHiMA8=">Dave Rowland/Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>1. What does Ardern’s resignation say about the experiences of women in top political jobs?</h2>
<p>Women in leadership positions will get asked certain questions that men do not. New Zealand is obviously a country that has had many women in political positions – Ardern was the <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/gender-inequalities/page-3">third female prime minister</a> there. Still, Ardern, for example, faced questions about her appearance and personal life, like <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/23/ardern-new-zealand-covid-wedding-00000554">her plans for</a> marrying her partner. </p>
<p>Men tend to receive less media coverage about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqz046">their personal lives</a>. People also tend to think of places like New Zealand as countries where women have shattered the glass ceiling, politically speaking. But if this kind of sexist questioning and speculation is what’s happening at the highest levels in the most egalitarian societies like New Zealand, then of course it must be happening in all of these other places where women are facing political violence, for example. </p>
<h2>2. How can having a woman as a political leader impact societies and the way they consider gender?</h2>
<p>When women hold really visible positions worldwide, that sends a signal to the public that politics is more open and that women bring competency to the position. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2018.1441034">Some of my research</a> shows that having women in these political roles has encouraged other women to become more engaged in the political system and to believe that politics is more open to everyone. It has also led men to feel similarly.</p>
<p>There is also power that comes with seeing the first woman rise to a very visible leadership position. Whereas even though Hillary Clinton didn’t clinch the presidential victory in 2016, it certainly seemed to shape people’s views of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/13/sunday-review/hillary-clinton-feminist-movement.html">what was possible</a>. I don’t think that it’s a coincidence that in <a href="https://cawp.rutgers.edu/election-watch/women-percentage-2022-major-party-candidates-and-nominees">the following election</a>, so many more women – and women of diverse backgrounds – threw their hats in the ring, even at local and state levels.</p>
<h2>3. What are the risks, if any, facing women in these high-profile roles?</h2>
<p>I’ve written about, for example, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/01/world/americas/brazil-dilma-rousseff-impeached-removed-president.html">2016 impeachment</a> of Brazil’s former president, Dilma Rousseff. She faced <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-36303001">overt sexist attacks</a> and was the victim of essentially a witch hunt, where she ultimately did nothing that would have normally led to the corruption <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-41170460">charges she faced</a>. What we found in <a href="https://tupress.temple.edu/books/women-s-empowerment-and-disempowerment-in-brazil">a 2021 book</a> I co-authored with Pedro dos Santos was that after Rousseff’s removal, people’s beliefs that women could be competent leaders declined over the short term, for about a year. </p>
<h2>4. What’s the precedent for having a female leader with young kids?</h2>
<p>It’s uncommon for women to give birth in executive office. The other head of state or government <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/19/asia/benazir-bhutto-jacinda-ardern-female-leader-pregnancy-trnd/index.html">who was pregnant</a> during her tenure was Pakistan Prime Minister <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/ardern-and-bhutto-two-different-pregnancies-in-power/M7KUU6G52PTAXAUDXFFFPKWFXQ/">Benazir Bhutto</a> in 1990. There was a deliberate attempt by Bhutto’s opposition to schedule elections for when she was having the baby. But she cleverly lied about the due date so that she could throw the opposition off, because she knew that they were going to try to make it impossible for her to campaign. </p>
<p>Ardern took <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/02/jacinda-ardern-return-work-new-zealand-pm-birth-baby">six weeks off</a> for maternity leave. But cases of women with very young children are still few and far between because women tend to wait until they’re older to become part of the political realm – and then it takes awhile to make it to the top. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505467/original/file-20230119-13-ag3f3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman with brown skin wears a headscarf and flowing clothing and holds up a small white piece of paper." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505467/original/file-20230119-13-ag3f3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505467/original/file-20230119-13-ag3f3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505467/original/file-20230119-13-ag3f3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505467/original/file-20230119-13-ag3f3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505467/original/file-20230119-13-ag3f3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505467/original/file-20230119-13-ag3f3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505467/original/file-20230119-13-ag3f3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was the first female head of state to give birth in office, in 1990.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/561491641/photo/benazir-bhutto.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=8G-eMPcgLL29VGG0FY69T9Yd9Q7Q94kcE4PgT47bGaU=">Derek Hudson/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>5. Has there been a shift over the last few years in how women in politics address their personal lives?</h2>
<p>It’s becoming more common to not hide that personal side of yourself. In a way, female leaders in politics can control the narrative if they don’t hide the facts, or they could even make that a positive aspect of their tenure. </p>
<p>Michelle Bachelet, who was the president of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and then again from 2014 to 2018, was a <a href="https://www.salon.com/2005/12/10/president_4/">single mom</a>. When she ran for office, she gained a lot of support from single mothers and working mothers, who understood what it’s <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Women-Presidents-of-Latin-America-Beyond-Family-Ties/Jalalzai/p/book/9781138782716">like to be in the same position</a>. </p>
<p>But generally, women in positions of power have to achieve balance in such a way that you don’t want to come across as too hard and too aggressive, because they will get hit for that. If they are conceived of as overly soft and an emotional person, then they are going to get criticized for that, as well. There isn’t an easy way around it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198197/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Farida Jalalzai does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Female leaders tend to open people’s perceptions of what is possible for other women in politics – but the job is also still fraught with double standards and unique risks.Farida Jalalzai, Professor of Political Science; Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, Virginia TechLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1975512023-01-16T18:19:33Z2023-01-16T18:19:33ZJapan is paying families 1 million yen to move to the countryside – but it won’t make Tokyo any smaller<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504664/original/file-20230116-16-dga048.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/7Xl0a6KCDyM">Denys Nevozhai | Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Japanese government <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/03/million-yen-per-child-to-leave-tokyo-japans-offer-to-families">has announced</a> a fresh round of incentives for people to move out of the Tokyo region. From April 2023, families seeking a new life in greener pastures will receive JPY1 million (£6,380), per child. This represents an increase of JPY700,000 on previous such payments. </p>
<p>Once the whole benefits package is included, the maximum amount a family will be able to receive is JPY5 million. 5 million yen might sound like a lot of money. However this translates to £31,900, which <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7gdzy/japan-pays-families-leave-tokyo">will be quickly used up</a> in relocating to a new home, job and community, and reduced incomes.</p>
<p>The main purpose of the scheme is to contribute both to easing overcrowding in the Tokyo region and revitalising more rural and remote areas of Japan with an injection of youth and entrepreneurialism.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Grasses in the foreground of a deep countryside view under sunshine." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504663/original/file-20230116-12-q5m884.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504663/original/file-20230116-12-q5m884.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504663/original/file-20230116-12-q5m884.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504663/original/file-20230116-12-q5m884.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504663/original/file-20230116-12-q5m884.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504663/original/file-20230116-12-q5m884.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504663/original/file-20230116-12-q5m884.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The government is seeking to revitalise the Japanese countryside.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/dfdFyCyKHto">Muhammad Faiz Zulkeflee | Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is significant that this new scheme was announced in December, ahead of the new year holidays when many urban dwellers return to their rural roots, and conversations inevitably turn to what the future holds. </p>
<p>Even more significant is the fact that this is not the first time the government has launched such a scheme. In fact, successive Japanese administrations have tried – and largely failed – to stabilise rural prefectures’ populations and reduce urban overcrowding for 70 years.</p>
<h2>Attempts at counterurbanisation</h2>
<p>The scheme concerns residents from the 23 wards of Tokyo proper, as well as commuter cities in neighbouring Chiba, Saitama and Kanagawa prefectures, seeking to move to one of 1,800 provincial municipalities. The government hopes that around 10,000 people annually will take advantage of the offer.</p>
<p>There are conditions, of course. At least one earner in each household must either set up a business in their new locale or take up employment in a small or medium sized enterprise there. And the family must stay for a minimum of five years. Failure to do so may result in having to repay the whole amount.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An empty, run-down train station platform." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504660/original/file-20230116-6411-caekqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504660/original/file-20230116-6411-caekqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504660/original/file-20230116-6411-caekqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504660/original/file-20230116-6411-caekqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504660/original/file-20230116-6411-caekqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504660/original/file-20230116-6411-caekqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504660/original/file-20230116-6411-caekqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rural Japan is emptying of residents and investment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/gMVsDTcWyzI">Tzepang Ngaa | Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Japan is not the only country where governments pay people to relocate to the countryside. In 2021, Ireland started to move up to 68,000 government workers out of Dublin in its <a href="https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/4c236-our-rural-future-vision-and-policy-context/">Our Rural Future</a> plan. </p>
<p>Many countries have taken similar advantage of the increased flexibility of remote working the pandemic has stimulated, such as with the so-called <a href="https://www.william-russell.com/blog/zoom-towns-the-countries-and-states-that-will-pay-you-to-move-there/">“Zoom towns”</a> in rural US. Other examples include <a href="https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/paid-to-relocate_albinen-cash-incentives-attract-new-residents/44308024">Albinen</a> in Switzerland, various <a href="https://www.thinkspain.com/news-spain/33497/rural-allure-six-villages-that-have-paid-people-to-move-in">Spanish villages</a> and <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/presicce-italy-pay-to-move/index.html">Presicce</a> in Italy, which is offering £30,000 to buy an empty dwelling and take up residency.</p>
<p>There have been a long list of such measures in Japan since world war two. As detailed by <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/udi.2012.26">German geographer Thomas Feldhoff</a>, starting with the 1953 Remote Island Promotion Act, most of them met with only marginal success.</p>
<p>In the early 1970s, Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei’s government invested in huge infrastructure development programmes in Japan’s provinces. This was partly in an effort to boost employment and stabilise populations. </p>
<p>Tanaka was so ambitious that he wrote a book about it, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1795023#metadata_info_tab_contents">Remodelling the Japanese Archipelago</a>, which was published in 1972. And his plan did work for a while. However, it generated enormous environmental damage in the process, with which Japan is still coming to terms.</p>
<p>In the 1980s, the <em>Isson Ippon</em>, or One Village One Product movement, as it is known in English, was launched in Oita prefecture in Kyushu. It provided a gentler alternative, which is still being <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/cc2693en/cc2693en.pdf">promoted internationally</a> by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, as part of Japan’s overseas development activities. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A street scene in a small town in the mountains." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504667/original/file-20230116-26-yi0k29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504667/original/file-20230116-26-yi0k29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504667/original/file-20230116-26-yi0k29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504667/original/file-20230116-26-yi0k29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504667/original/file-20230116-26-yi0k29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504667/original/file-20230116-26-yi0k29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504667/original/file-20230116-26-yi0k29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Oita prefecture, in Kyushu.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/LJil2jfhTxU">Tayawee Supan | Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More recently, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ssjj/article-abstract/13/2/187/1698938">research</a> I have undertaken with my colleague Yasuyuki Sato has shown how rural municipalities have resigned themselves to ever reducing populations. In an attempt to take control of such futures, they have begun instead to focus on the health, wellbeing and living conditions of those people who remain.</p>
<h2>A global concern</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-era-of-the-megalopolis-how-the-worlds-cities-are-merging-193424">Urban sprawl</a> and rural emptying are two sides of the same 21st-century coin, and are global in their extent. In the 19th and 20th centuries, as populations across the world grew exponentially, urbanisation processes didn’t necessarily affect rural regions negatively. Some communities benefited from younger people moving out to seek employment, education, and marriage in nearby cities, as families often had more children than they could adequately support.</p>
<p>In the 21st century, however, as family size has shrunk dramatically nearly everywhere, the so-called <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1274.html">demographic dividend</a> – that is, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-the-8-billionth-person-is-born-heres-how-africa-will-shape-the-future-of-the-planets-population-194067">benefits</a> of a growing population – has come to an end in developed countries. </p>
<p>Japan has led the way in East Asia. In 1974, the Japanese total fertility rate <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN?locations=JP">fell below</a> the population replacement rate of 2.1. Demographers would have known then that, should conditions persist, the country would eventually slip into depopulation. Sure enough, conditions did persist, and in 2008 Japan registered its <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/psp.2543">first peacetime population decrease</a>.</p>
<p>Although Tokyo’s population is now 13 million, the Kanto region of which it is the core boasts more than 37 million people – 30% of the whole population of Japan. Elsewhere in the country, hundreds of rural hamlets and villages face <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennawang/2019/07/31/waiting-for-the-end-in-japans-terminal-villages/">imminent extinction</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An aerial view of a city and traffic at sunset." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504668/original/file-20230116-26-82jp3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504668/original/file-20230116-26-82jp3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504668/original/file-20230116-26-82jp3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504668/original/file-20230116-26-82jp3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504668/original/file-20230116-26-82jp3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504668/original/file-20230116-26-82jp3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504668/original/file-20230116-26-82jp3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Seoul cityscape.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/01hH6y7oZFk">Mathew Schwartz | Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Japan is not unique. Greater Seoul has around 25 million people, nearly half of South Korea’s population in one urban area with the rest spread out across the rest of the country. And in China, the Pearl River delta area, which encompasses Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Macau and Guangzhou, counts <a href="https://www.thestoryinstitute.com/pearl-river">100 million people</a> living within it, while the wider country now boasts <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/cities/china">155 cities</a> with more than 1 million population.</p>
<p>Further afield, at 1.7 million, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/05/bulging-at-the-seams-auckland-a-super-city-struggling-with-its-own-success">the city of Auckland</a> comprises nearly a third of New Zealand’s population. Only 1.2 million people, <a href="https://www.citypopulation.de/en/newzealand/southisland/">by contrast</a>, live in all of the South Island. </p>
<p>The spatial impacts of this demographic transition have been felt most deeply in rural regions of the Asia-Pacific. These grew most rapidly in the 20th century, and now face almost as rapid a depopulation in the 21st. <a href="https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/78027/1/MatanleFCO2014_Deposit.pdf">Entire communities</a> are disappearing. Land and housing are being abandoned. Infrastructure is decaying.</p>
<p>As the rest of east and south-east Asia follows in Japan’s footsteps, the archipelago is to some extent a laboratory for devising effective policies for dealing with the socioeconomic and environmental outcomes of depopulation, a phenomenon which will increasingly be felt globally.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197551/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>In the course of his research on Japanese spatial demography Peter Matanle received funding from the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.</span></em></p>Successive Japanese administrations have tried – and largely failed – to reduce urban overcrowding for 70 years.Peter Matanle, Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1957102022-12-01T06:34:23Z2022-12-01T06:34:23ZBanning menthol cigarettes and more health warnings are only the start. Australia could look to NZ for how to do tobacco control<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498360/original/file-20221130-12-akaqcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C0%2C1914%2C1279&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/7USMFYqt1NI">Pawel Czerwinski/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week’s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-30/government-to-ban-menthol-cigarettes-ugly-colours/101715174">announcement</a> of a raft of new tobacco control measures – including banning menthol products and proposing health warnings on individual cigarettes – are important and welcome.</p>
<p>We applaud Australian Health Minister Mark Butler’s <a href="https://www.croakey.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/ButlerSpeechTobacco.pdf">aim</a> to re-establish Australia as a global leader in tobacco control alongside fellow OECD nations, such as New Zealand and Canada.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1597832911327305729"}"></div></p>
<p>His announcement comes <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-decisive-win-on-plain-packaging-paves-way-for-other-countries-to-follow-suit-140553">a decade after</a> Australia implemented world-leading laws that required all tobacco products to be sold in plain packs.</p>
<p>But there is still scope for more comprehensive action to reduce the burden smoking imposes on Australia and particularly on Australia’s Indigenous peoples.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-can-cut-indigenous-smoking-and-save-lives-heres-how-42119">We can cut Indigenous smoking and save lives – here's how</a>
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<h2>We can look to New Zealand</h2>
<p>Aotearoa-New Zealand offers a useful comparison. The NZ parliament aims to pass legislation in mid-December that takes a different approach to the measures Butler outlined this week. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/preventative-health-wellness/tobacco-control/smokefree-aotearoa-2025-action-plan">Aotearoa package</a> of measures were developed in close consultation with Māori leaders. These include making cigarettes non-addictive, greatly reducing the number of tobacco retailers, and creating a smoke-free generation. </p>
<p>These policies focus on fundamental drivers of smoking. The measures will also affect everyone in the same way, thus have great potential to reduce pervasive inequities in smoking rates.</p>
<p>Let’s see how Australia’s plans compare with policy reforms under way in New Zealand and Canada.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/forget-tobacco-industry-arguments-about-choice-heres-what-young-people-think-about-nzs-smokefree-generation-policy-193529">Forget tobacco industry arguments about choice. Here's what young people think about NZ's smokefree generation policy</a>
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<h2>New health warnings</h2>
<p>Graphic images on packets of cigarettes were introduced in Australia <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/evaluation-of-effectiveness-of-graphic-health-warnings-on-tobacco-product-packaging.pdf">16 years ago</a>, and these warnings have encouraged quitting. But they have lost their initial impact. </p>
<p>New and more varied warnings <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/28/e1/e71">will refresh</a> this existing policy as will introducing pack inserts providing “how to quit” information, which have been used in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4542677/">Canada since 2012</a>. </p>
<p>In 2023, Canada is set to become the first country to require health warnings to be printed directly on the <a href="https://blogs.bmj.com/tc/2022/07/08/canada-publishes-proposed-regulations-to-require-a-health-warning-directly-on-every-cigarette/">cigarette stick</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1535877502182236163"}"></div></p>
<p>Butler proposes adopting this measure for Australia, but with the addition of making the cigarette paper an <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/25/6/699.long">unattractive colour</a>, such as slimy green or faecal yellow-brown. </p>
<p>Like plain packaging, this measure will reduce the appeal of smoking and present smoking as unambiguously harmful and unattractive.</p>
<h2>Tightening up marketing</h2>
<p>Standardising pack size, filters, and banning terms such as “light” and “organic” in brand names will further limit misleading tobacco marketing.</p>
<p>Likewise, measures that eliminate gimmicks – such as flavoured “<a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/25/3/275">crushballs</a>” inserted in filters that release a burst of flavour when crushed, or packs that include “bonus” cigarettes to offer a better deal – will further limit how tobacco companies promote their products.</p>
<p>Banning some flavouring additives, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-us-fda-has-moved-to-ban-menthol-cigarettes-australia-should-do-that-and-more-182435">particularly menthol</a>, will reduce the appeal of smoking for some consumers. </p>
<p>When Canada banned menthol cigarettes federally in 2017, this measure <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2022/04/27/tobaccocontrol-2021-057227.long">increased quitting</a> among people who smoked menthol cigarettes.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-us-fda-has-moved-to-ban-menthol-cigarettes-australia-should-do-that-and-more-182435">The US FDA has moved to ban menthol cigarettes. Australia should do that and more</a>
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<h2>More transparency</h2>
<p>Tobacco companies will need to disclose tobacco sales volumes and pricing, as required in <a href="https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/preventative-health-wellness/tobacco-control/tobacco-returns">Aotearoa-New Zealand</a>. </p>
<p>Companies will also need to disclose their advertising, promotion and sponsorship activities, as well as product ingredients and emissions. </p>
<p>These moves all reveal important <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2022/08/25/tc-2021-057232.info">tobacco company activities</a> that undermine public health efforts. </p>
<p>They will also provide key information about what is in tobacco products, as required by the World Health Organization’s <a href="https://untobaccocontrol.org/impldb/article-10/">Framework Convention on Tobacco Control</a>.</p>
<h2>Vaping ads to be banned</h2>
<p>The final measure will apply tobacco advertising bans to vaping products. This policy will reduce inappropriate promotion of these products, including to young people. </p>
<p>This measure is in addition to, and separate from, the <a href="https://www.tga.gov.au/news/media-releases/tga-consults-potential-nicotine-vaping-product-regulatory-reforms">current review</a> of Australia’s regulation of nicotine vaping products. Addressing the rising problem of vaping among <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-asked-over-700-teens-where-they-bought-their-vapes-heres-what-they-said-190669">young people</a> is a key concern and efforts to reduce youth use are urgently needed.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-asked-over-700-teens-where-they-bought-their-vapes-heres-what-they-said-190669">We asked over 700 teens where they bought their vapes. Here's what they said</a>
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<h2>There’s more to do</h2>
<p>These advances in Australian tobacco control policy align with measures implemented a decade ago in Canada or that are soon to start. We welcome such measures that make smoking less appealing and encourage quitting. </p>
<p>However, bigger jumps are required if Australia is to lead on eradicating the harms smoking causes. These initial measures announced also do not have a clear equity focus, such as the measures being implemented in Aotearoa-New Zealand. These have a bolder ambition of rapidly reducing smoking among both Māori and non-Māori peoples to less than <a href="https://www.smokefree.org.nz/smokefree-in-action/smokefree-aotearoa-2025">5% by 2025</a>.</p>
<p>Aotearoa-New Zealand’s proposed law will fundamentally change tobacco products by reducing the nicotine content to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103436">non-addictive levels</a>. The law also dramatically reduces tobacco availability by decreasing the number of tobacco retailers by at least 90%, and will make it illegal to sell tobacco to anyone born after December 31 2008. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/new-zealands-tobacco-endgame-law-will-be-a-world-first-for-health-heres-what-the-modelling-shows-us-187075">Modelling</a> indicates that Aotearoa-New Zealand’s package of measures are likely to achieve their goal of rapidly phasing out tobacco smoking.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-zealands-tobacco-endgame-law-will-be-a-world-first-for-health-heres-what-the-modelling-shows-us-187075">New Zealand’s ‘tobacco endgame’ law will be a world first for health – here’s what the modelling shows us</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>These measures go far beyond those Butler proposes for Australia. In particular, removing the product’s addictiveness and reducing availability means casual experimentation among young people will not lead to addiction, and quitting will become much easier for people who currently smoke.</p>
<p>The package of measures announced this week will continue declines in smoking following the “tried and tested” strategy of incrementally ratcheting up restrictions on tobacco products. </p>
<p>In contrast, the Aotearoa approach is a “Tobacco Moonshot” that aims to finish the job of ending the tobacco smoking epidemic in Aotearoa-New Zealand.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The authors would like to acknowledge Tony Blakely, University of Melbourne, and Andrew Waa, University of Otago, for helpful comments and suggestions.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195710/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Coral Gartner receives funding from National Health and Medical Research Council and Australian Research Council. She is an editor for Tobacco Control, A BMJ journal.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janet Hoek receives funding from the Health Research Council of New Zealand and the NZ Cancer Society. She has also received funding from the Royal Society Marsden Fund. She is a member of the Health Coalition Aotearoa's Smokefree Expert Advisory Group and sits on several other advisory groups whose work supports the NZ Aotearoa Government's goal of realising a smokefree nation by 2025. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Edwards receives funding from the Health Research Council of New Zealand, the NZ Cancer Society, and from the National Institute of Health (USA). He has also received funding from the Royal Society Marsden Fund. He is a member of the Health Coalition Aotearoa's Smokefree Expert Advisory Group and sits on several other advisory groups whose work supports the NZ Aotearoa Government's goal of realising a smokefree nation by 2025.</span></em></p>Australia’s approach is welcome but doesn’t go far enough. New Zealand’s plans are much bolder. Here’s how they compare.Coral Gartner, Director, NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence on Achieving the Tobacco Endgame, The University of QueenslandJanet Hoek, Professor of Public Health, University of OtagoRichard Edwards, Professor of Public Health, University of OtagoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1886612022-10-03T19:03:10Z2022-10-03T19:03:10ZDoomsday bunkers, Mars and ‘The Mindset’: the tech bros trying to outsmart the end of the world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487689/original/file-20221003-21-qpxfiq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C237%2C5447%2C3391&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Peter Thiel: his plan to build a bunker-type lodge in remote NZ was stymied.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Carolyn Kaster/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Douglas Rushkoff’s newest book, <a href="https://scribepublications.com.au/books-authors/books/survival-of-the-richest-9781922585790">Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires</a>, grew out of a brilliant 2018 <a href="https://onezero.medium.com/survival-of-the-richest-9ef6cddd0cc1">Medium article</a> of the same name, which went viral and had people (aka his US editor) clamouring for a full-length treatment. </p>
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<p><em>Review: Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires – Douglas Rushkoff (Scribe Publications)</em></p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485544/original/file-20220920-3608-9z7s5f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485544/original/file-20220920-3608-9z7s5f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485544/original/file-20220920-3608-9z7s5f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485544/original/file-20220920-3608-9z7s5f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485544/original/file-20220920-3608-9z7s5f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485544/original/file-20220920-3608-9z7s5f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1173&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485544/original/file-20220920-3608-9z7s5f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1173&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485544/original/file-20220920-3608-9z7s5f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1173&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>In both pieces, Rushkoff recounts being invited to speak about “the future of technology”, only to find himself at a luxury desert resort in an undisclosed location, speaking to a select audience of five unnamed hedge fund billionaires. Within minutes, the conversation takes on a distinctly prepper-ish tone. One of the CEOs tells Rushkoff about his newly completed underground shelter, then asks, “How do I maintain authority over my security force after the event?” </p>
<p>Rushkoff is bemused, but also grimly amused by it all. “Here they were, asking a <a href="https://theconversation.com/karl-marx-his-philosophy-explained-164068">Marxist</a> media theorist for advice on where and how to configure their doomsday bunkers,” he writes. “That’s when it hit me: at least as far as these gentlemen were concerned, this was a talk about the future of technology.”</p>
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<p>
<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-threats-of-nuclear-war-and-climate-disaster-growing-americas-bunker-fantasy-is-woefully-inadequate-179625">With threats of nuclear war and climate disaster growing, America's 'bunker fantasy' is woefully inadequate</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The Mindset</h2>
<p>So far, so head-spinningly good. Unfortunately, however, Rushkoff moves away from the billionaires and their intriguingly delusional self-preservation tactics, into a realm of high ideas. </p>
<p>Over the next 12 and a half chapters, Rushkoff offers a Grand Unified Theory of tech billionaire ideology. Inspired by a 1995 article, “<a href="https://www.metamute.org/editorial/articles/californian-ideology">The Californian Ideology</a>”, he chooses to call this “The Mindset” – a frustratingly vague term that doesn’t really clarify things. </p>
<p>At times, “The Mindset” is roughly synonymous with the ideology of libertarianism; at others, it is much more amorphous – referring to everything from growth-based capitalism, to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-queen-has-left-her-mark-around-the-world-but-not-all-see-it-as-something-to-be-celebrated-190343">colonialism</a>, to <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-narcissism-a-mental-health-problem-and-can-you-really-diagnose-it-online-188360">narcissism</a>. And as Hugo Rifkind notes in <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/survival-of-the-richest-escape-fantasies-of-the-tech-billionaires-by-douglas-rushkoff-review-how-the-elite-prep-for-the-end-of-the-world-38s2wlg7j">The Times</a>, “while the Mindset is interesting, it’s not nearly as interesting as the bonkers escape plans to which it leads”.</p>
<p>If you’re after a primer on the various ills of late capitalism, then strap yourself in and enjoy this wide-ranging, freewheeling romp by one of the US’s most entertaining digital culture raconteurs. </p>
<p>His subjects include – but not are not limited to – monopolies, financialisation, behavioural science, “scientism” (<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-selfish-genes-contain-the-seeds-of-our-destruction-but-there-might-be-a-fix-77927">Richard Dawkins</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/steven-pinker-lauds-reason-but-people-need-freedom-this-might-not-end-well-91928">Steven Pinker</a> et al.) and the sex crimes of <a href="https://theconversation.com/jeffrey-epsteins-arrest-is-the-tip-of-the-iceberg-human-trafficking-is-the-worlds-fastest-growing-crime-120225">Jeffrey Epstein</a>. There’s the 1980s business savvy of General Electric CEO Jack Welch and “the Western, linear drive towards progress”. Our estrangement from nature. The persistence of Aristotelian plot structures. And even “Western language systems, which tend to be more noun-based than many of their counterparts”.</p>
<h2>Relentless and breathless</h2>
<p>Rushkoff is an accessible, pithy writer, with no shortage of examples, analogies and anecdotes to string together. That said, his relentless synthesising and breathless proclamations also make the book feel a bit shambolic, a bit over-reachy. (For instance, “The Mindset prefers straight lines, linear progress and infinite expansion over the ebbs and flows in the real world.”) </p>
<p>This is especially so if you’re searching for the what-it-says-on-the-label bits – the tech bros and their bizarre survival plans. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8bceePdFruU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Inside seasteading – one of the ‘bonkers escape plans’ billiionaires are considering.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Case in point: Rushkoff tells a quite-long story about arguing with Richard Dawkins about morality at a Manhattan dinner party in the 1990s. Great. He then claims that Stephen Pinker and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett">Daniel Dennett</a> believe “the brain is mere hardware” and “humans are just robots running programs”. Sure. Next, he points out that Dawkins, Pinker and Dennett were all photographed on Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet on their way to a TED talk. Guilt by association fallacy, but okay. As a finale, Epstein is described as “truly the model, self-sovereign, transhumanist billionaire prepper”. </p>
<p>Here’s the problem: while Jeffrey Epstein was a lot of terrible things, he wasn’t a prepper, in the proper sense of that word. There’s no record of him saying he thought society was about to collapse, or that he was making any just-in-case plans. More generally, none of the aforementioned four are Silicon Valley titans, or billionaires – they’re three scientists and one <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/07/14/jeffrey-epstein-net-worth-is-he-billionaire-or-not/1708479001/">multimillionaire</a> Wall Street financier/paedophile. And they’re only tangentially relevant to the matter at hand. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485546/original/file-20220920-3577-9pb278.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C132%2C4173%2C2285&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485546/original/file-20220920-3577-9pb278.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C132%2C4173%2C2285&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485546/original/file-20220920-3577-9pb278.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485546/original/file-20220920-3577-9pb278.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485546/original/file-20220920-3577-9pb278.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485546/original/file-20220920-3577-9pb278.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485546/original/file-20220920-3577-9pb278.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485546/original/file-20220920-3577-9pb278.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Jeffrey Epstein’s stone mansion on Little St James Island, in the US Virgin Islands.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gabriel Lopez Albarran/AP</span></span>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-survive-a-tactical-nuclear-bomb-defence-experts-explain-181340">How to survive a tactical nuclear bomb? Defence experts explain</a>
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<h2>Libertarian tech bros</h2>
<p>Also, given how much other ground is covered, it is a little surprising that Rushkoff doesn’t name check that ur-text of cyber libertarianism, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sovereign-Individual-Survive-Collapse-Welfare/dp/0684810077">The Sovereign Individual: How to Survive and Thrive During the Collapse of the Welfare State</a> (1997), by James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg. </p>
<p>Davidson and Rees-Mogg dream of a time when individuals will be freed from the shackles of government, <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fiatmoney.asp">fiat currency</a> (government-issued paper money, not backed by a commodity such as gold) and law in general. (William Rees-Mogg’s son, UK politician Jacob Rees-Mogg, was one of the most vocal cheerleaders for <a href="https://theconversation.com/boris-johnson-and-partygate-he-who-lives-by-the-brexit-sword-dies-by-the-brexit-sword-175323">Brexit</a>.) </p>
<p>In this thrilling new age, a “cognitive elite” will be able to rule – or ignore – the rest of the world, as they see fit. The Sovereign Individual is a hugely influential text in the start-up world; early Facebook backer, Paypal co-founder and conservative libertarian <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel">Peter Thiel</a>, who is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/aug/18/peter-thiel-refused-consent-for-sprawling-lodge-in-new-zealand-local-council">infamous in New Zealand</a> for buying his citizenship and attempting to build luxury bunkers in the wilderness wrote the foreword to the 2020 reprint. </p>
<p>Survival of the Richest contains an excellent anecdote about Rushkoff being in a Zoom meeting with some tech developers on 6 January 2021, which is derailed by the breaking news of an attempted coup at the Capitol building (if you think <em>that’s</em> bad, wait till you hear how the programmers react!). </p>
<p>There’s this jaw-dropping factoid: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Jeff Bezos has a yacht with a helipad that serves as a companion yacht to his main yacht, which has large sails that would get in the way of his helicopter during takeoff and landing. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>There are some extremely sharp reflections on artificial intelligence: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Whether AI will develop human and superhuman abilities in the next decade, century, millennium, if ever, may matter less right now than AI’s grip over the tech elite, and what this obsession tells us about The Mindset. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Regarding the prospect of artificial intelligence putting millions of people out of work in the near future, entrepreneurs such as Reid Hoffmann (LinkedIn CEO) and Mark Cuban (startup dude, billionaire) are worried that unemployed humans might coalesce into vengeful, billionaire-resenting mobs and attack them. Though they’re not worried about ruining all those people’s lives in the first place. </p>
<p>But – and this is a little ironic – there’s precious little biographical detail about Mark Cuban, or Reid Hoffmann, or any of the other bros in the book. Their function is purely as symbols of rapacious greed: embodiments of The Mindset. They are not examined as deeply flawed, but nonetheless complex human beings. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Journalist Baz MacDonald searches for evidence of the survival bunkers being shipped to New Zealand.</span></figcaption>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-do-we-owe-future-generations-and-what-can-we-do-to-make-their-world-a-better-place-189591">What do we owe future generations? And what can we do to make their world a better place?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Dismissive rather than curious</h2>
<p>In some ways, this is a question of method, and access. While Rushkoff mixes in some pretty wild company on his global speaking gigs, and has serendipitous encounters with some outlandish figures, he’s not doing any journalistic or enthnographic legwork here. </p>
<p>In short: he hasn’t interviewed any of tech billionaires he writes about. He doesn’t really know what motivates them – or at least, not all of it. When it comes to these wealthy, selfish people’s strategies to survive “the event”, Rushkoff is dismissive rather than curious. He is adamant that a billionaire’s prepper scheme – any scheme – just won’t work. </p>
<p>In Chapter One, he contends that “the probability of a fortified bunker actually protecting its occupants from the reality of, well, reality, is very slim”, because “the closed ecosystems of underground facilities are preposterously brittle”. If your underground hydroponic garden is overrun by mould or bacteria, there’s no “do-over”; you’ll just die.</p>
<p>Similarly, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>small islands are utterly dependent on air and sea deliveries for basic staples […] the billionaires who reside in such locales are more, not less, dependent on complex supply chains than those of us embedded in industrial civilization. </p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/floating-cities-the-future-or-a-washed-up-idea-116511">Seasteading</a> – the libertarian idea of building autonomous, floating mini-states, which operate outside of state control – is mentioned, but not discussed in any detail. And the modest proposals of Elon Musk, Richard Branson, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-solar-system-belongs-to-us-all-not-just-jeff-bezos-173610">Jeff Bezos</a> et al. to <a href="https://theconversation.com/want-to-become-a-space-tourist-you-finally-can-if-you-have-250-000-and-a-will-to-sign-your-life-away-160543">commercialise space travel</a> and colonise Mars are rejected with the observation “only trillionaires will actually make it to space to terraform planets, anyway”. </p>
<p>This might be true enough – but it’s also the ostensible subject of the book, and as such, perhaps worth spending a bit more time on. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">How Space X and NASA plan to colonise Mars.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Billionaire bunkers as metaphors</h2>
<p>For Rushkoff, then, “the billionaire bunker strategy is less a viable strategy for apocalypse than a metaphor for this disconnected way of life” – a canny insight, to be sure. But those bunkers aren’t <em>only</em> metaphorical; they’re also very real, and large, and expensive, and fascinating in their logistic intricacies and (im)possibilities. </p>
<p>If Survival of the Richest had told us more about this insane infrastructure, and about the people who dreamed it up, we might be able to better understand the <a href="https://www.the-sun.com/lifestyle/tech-old/1638425/jeff-bezos-world-record-space-penis/">unmistakably phallic spaceships</a> as symbols, too. </p>
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<p>Readers with specific interest in doomsday bunkers, and what they might represent in ideological terms, should seek out Bradley Garrett’s <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/bunker-9780141987552">Bunker: Building for the End Times</a> (2020). Mark O’Connell writes insightfully about Peter Thiel’s New Zealand boltholes as a symptom of extreme libertarian misanthropy in <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/558414/notes-from-an-apocalypse-by-mark-oconnell/">Notes from an Apocalypse: A Personal Journey to the End of the World and Back</a> (2020).</p>
<p>Those wishing to learn more personal details about the computer nerds and venture captial bros who hold such outsized sway in contemporary life should read Max Chafkin’s 2021 biography <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/609711/the-contrarian-by-max-chafkin/">The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley’s Pursuit of Power</a>, or Ashlee Vance’s 2015 book <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/elon-musk-ashlee-vance?variant=32161254965282">Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Is Shaping Our Future</a>, as well as David Runciman and John Lanchester’s incisive essays about <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n18/david-runciman/competition-is-for-losers">Thiel</a> and <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v37/n17/john-lanchester/let-s-all-go-to-mars">Musk</a> respectively in the London Review of Books. </p>
<p>Or, what the hell, rewatch <a href="https://www.netflix.com/au/title/70132721">The Social Network</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188661/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Doig does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Douglas Rushkoff’s Survival of the Richest is less about tech billionaires and their ‘bonkers’ escape plans than it is an entertaining primer on the various ills of late capitalism.Tom Doig, Lecturer in Creative Writing, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1870202022-07-15T02:24:32Z2022-07-15T02:24:32ZHow are Australia and NZ managing the rising COVID winter wave – and is either getting it right?<p>New Zealand, Australia and many countries are experiencing a further Omicron wave driven by the latest BA.4/BA.5 subvariants. Our response to this threat is remarkably laissez-faire compared with past approaches, as society has pivoted more to “living with the virus”. </p>
<p>But in both New Zealand and Australia, there’s a real risk current policy settings will be insufficient to prevent health services being <a href="https://7news.com.au/news/public-health/elective-surgeries-cut-amid-covid-surge-in-victoria-c-7520025">overwhelmed</a> – and more will need to be done in coming weeks. </p>
<p>We might squeak through under current policy settings if many more of us get vaccinated, wear masks, and isolate well when sick. </p>
<p>So, how do New Zealand and Australia compare on key policy settings?</p>
<h2>Free masks? And what kind?</h2>
<p><strong>New Zealand:</strong> <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-measures-tackle-covid-19-and-flu">Free masks</a> for all in Aotearoa – available from testing centres, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/14/new-zealand-free-masks-covid-rapid-antigen-tests-omicron-wave">marae</a> (Māori communal meeting ground) and community centres, and provided directly to <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-measures-tackle-covid-19-and-flu">schools</a>. Some <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-measures-tackle-covid-19-and-flu">16 million</a> surgical masks have been distributed in the last two months, as well as <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-measures-tackle-covid-19-and-flu">3 million</a> N95 masks (the latter to high risk and vulnerable people). </p>
<p><strong>Australia:</strong> free masks are occasionally distributed to certain groups (for example, some schools might have them). But access is extremely variable. (Also, one of us – Tony Blakely – has been in both Australia and New Zealand in last ten days, and can report mask wearing is much higher in New Zealand.)</p>
<h2>Free Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs)?</h2>
<p><strong>New Zealand:</strong> access is similar to masks. <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-measures-tackle-covid-19-and-flu">10.4 million</a> free RATs distributed in last two months. </p>
<p><strong>Australia:</strong> the federal government will <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/13/free-covid-rapid-tests-rat-scheme-anthony-albanese-urges-concession-card-holders-to-stock-up">not extend</a> free rapid antigen tests for concession card holders past July 31. <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/2183/Dominic_Perrottet_Mark_Coure_Natasha_Maclaren-Jones_med_rel_-_NSW_Government_steps_up_COVID-19_support_for_vulnerable_communities.pdf?1657848923">New South Wales</a> and Victoria make RATs available for free for some under <a href="https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/about-rapid-antigen-tests">certain</a> <a href="https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/rapid-antigen-testing-schools">circumstances</a>. But nationwide, access to free RATs is variable and limited. (One of us – Tony Blakely – received four free RATs on arrival in New Zealand, and zero on arrival in Australia.)</p>
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<h2>Accessing antivirals (and do you need to go to the GP)?</h2>
<p>There are two oral antivirals available in both countries: <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-have-mild-covid-should-i-take-the-antiviral-paxlovid-183913">Paxlovid</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-approves-two-new-medicines-in-the-fight-against-covid-how-can-you-get-them-and-are-they-effective-against-omicron-175321">Lagevrio</a>. </p>
<p>Both are effective at preventing disease progression (for example, stopping you ending up in hospital) if taken within five days of symptom onset. </p>
<p><strong>New Zealand:</strong> available to higher risk groups – access has been expanded from 2% to <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-measures-tackle-covid-19-and-flu">10% of cases</a>. Available by prescription from GP and directly from pharmacist. No cost if you’re eligible. </p>
<p><strong>Australia:</strong> <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/health-alerts/covid-19/treatments/eligibility">available</a> to certain higher risk groups. Prescription needed from GP. Co-payment of <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-have-mild-covid-should-i-take-the-antiviral-paxlovid-183913">A$42.50 ($6.80 if concession card)</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-approves-two-new-medicines-in-the-fight-against-covid-how-can-you-get-them-and-are-they-effective-against-omicron-175321">Australia approves two new medicines in the fight against COVID. How can you get them and are they effective against Omicron?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Vaccines?</h2>
<p>Both countries are gradually widening access. Differences in one point in time may not be present in a few weeks. That said, as of mid-July 2022:</p>
<p><strong>New Zealand:</strong> primary course (that is, the first two vaccines) <a href="https://covid19.govt.nz/covid-19-vaccines/get-your-covid-19-vaccination/">available</a> for all people five years and older. First booster available to all 16+ year olds. Second booster (that is, the fourth dose) available to all 50+ year olds (but targeted more to 65+ year olds, unless Māori or Pasifika, in which case all 50+ year olds prioritised). Free. Vaccines <a href="https://www.health.govt.nz/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-response-planning/covid-19-mandatory-vaccinations">mandatory for health and disability sector workers</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Australia:</strong> <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/covid-19-vaccines/who-can-get-vaccinated">primary course</a> and first booster eligibility the same as in New Zealand. However, second booster encouraged for immunocompromised and all 50+ year olds, and available to 30-49 year olds if they wish. Free. Vaccines mandatory for some workers in some settings.</p>
<h2>Income support for people who test positive?</h2>
<p><strong>New Zealand:</strong> several forms of assistance, including <a href="https://covid19.govt.nz/isolation-and-care/financial-support/">COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme</a> for people who need to self-isolate. </p>
<p><strong>Australia:</strong> very restricted <a href="https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/financial-support-and-emergency-relief">availability</a>.</p>
<h2>Mask mandates?</h2>
<p><strong>New Zealand:</strong> <a href="https://covid19.govt.nz/prepare-and-stay-safe/keep-up-healthy-habits/face-masks/when-to-wear-a-face-mask/">mandatory</a> for public transport, retail, visiting health care and aged care facilities, and public venues. </p>
<p><strong>Australia:</strong> <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/coronavirus-mask-restrictions-australia-update-state-by-state-guide-mandates-explainer/d6ff7601-9cf7-4ab6-b2dc-a91b81f16284">mandatory</a> in aged and health care settings, on public transport and some other settings (but compliance is low). </p>
<p>Actual mask wearing is higher in indoor environments in New Zealand, based on direct observation in both New Zealand and Victoria by one of us – Tony Blakely – during July. </p>
<h2>Mandatory self-isolation?</h2>
<p><strong>New Zealand:</strong> mandatory seven days <a href="https://covid19.govt.nz/isolation-and-care/if-you-have-covid-19/">self-isolation</a> following positive test result. <a href="https://covid19.govt.nz/testing-and-tracing/contact-tracing/household-contacts/">Household contacts</a> also need to isolate for seven days, unless they have had COVID-19 in the last three months.</p>
<p><strong>Australia:</strong> if you test positive for COVID-19 you <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/health-alerts/covid-19/testing-positive?gclid=CjwKCAjw_b6WBhAQEiwAp4HyIMuDQWWpIYgs1cHp4I6NOE2M4QRPsn2tbkG0CBSNczVMYeZEXO5U0BoCpR8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds">must immediately isolate</a>. However, the circumstances under which you can leave isolation may depend on <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/health-alerts/covid-19/testing-positive?gclid=CjwKCAjw_b6WBhAQEiwAp4HyIMuDQWWpIYgs1cHp4I6NOE2M4QRPsn2tbkG0CBSNczVMYeZEXO5U0BoCpR8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds">which state</a> you’re in. Household members in many places don’t have to isolate, as long as they have no symptoms.</p>
<h2>Is either country getting it right?</h2>
<p>Based on the above criteria, New Zealand is clearly “winning”. But getting policy settings right over the long haul is about more than just having the most favourable assessment on some selected (but important) criteria. </p>
<p>If the goal is to minimise hospitalisations, deaths and long-term illness, there is an argument for minimising infections by shifting from mitigation towards a <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4907">suppression strategy</a>. </p>
<p>Longitudinal studies are increasingly showing high rates of reinfection, which carry many of the same <a href="https://assets.researchsquare.com/files/rs-1749502/v1/499445df-ebaf-4ab3-b30f-3028dff81fca.pdf?c=1655499468">health consequences</a> as the initial infection. </p>
<p>As the pandemic goes on (and on and on) we need to increasingly consider <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2202828">cost-effectiveness</a>.</p>
<p>Giving out free RATs to all is a cost to governments, and carries sustainability consequences. Such interventions need to be effective and compared with alternative approaches.</p>
<p>These are complex decisions – and hard to quantify. We do not have a good enough crystal ball to know what is “right” now; we will, unfortunately, only know with the benefit of hindsight.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187020/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Blakely is contracted to Moderna for provision of vaccine effectiveness estimates for Victoria, and in discussions with MSD for evaluation of Molnupiravir effectiveness in the Victorian population.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Baker receives funding from the Health Research Council of New Zealand to conduct research on infectious diseases, including Covid-19</span></em></p>Based on certain criteria, New Zealand is clearly ‘winning’. But getting policy settings right over the long haul is about more than just having the most favourable assessment on selected criteria.Tony Blakely, Professor of Epidemiology, Population Interventions Unit, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of MelbourneMichael Baker, Professor of Public Health, University of OtagoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1864702022-07-07T03:28:15Z2022-07-07T03:28:15ZA new report from Queensland offers guidance on integrity to all Australian governments<p>Peter Coaldrake’s report to Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, <a href="https://www.coaldrakereview.qld.gov.au/assets/custom/docs/coaldrake-review-final-report-28-june-2022.pdf">Let the Sunshine In</a>, is a clear and frank assessment of culture and accountability in the Queensland public sector today. With one exception, it also offers refreshing guidance to jurisdictions across Australia showing signs of complacency about integrity.</p>
<p>First to the important exception: Coaldrake’s proposal that all cabinet submissions and their attachments, all agendas and all decision papers be published online within 30 days of cabinet decisions.</p>
<p>While the report acknowledges some of the risks associated with such a change – including the possible compromising of frank and fearless advice – it claims that New Zealand’s experience with early disclosure has worked well. As it points out, the NZ system explicitly omits:</p>
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<p>exploratory advice, “blue skies” thinking or advice generated in the early and formative stages of a policy development process and intended to ensure the free and uninhibited exchange of ideas that is necessary for the development of robust policy advice […]</p>
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<p>Coaldrake believes NZ takes a “measured approach” to redacting small sections of documents where free and frank advice is offered. He also firmly endorses NZ’s principle that </p>
<blockquote>
<p>the possibility of a cabinet paper being proactively released must not undermine the quality of advice included in the paper, and therefore the quality of the decision ultimately reached by ministers.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But it is important to recognise the context in which those rules operate:</p>
<ul>
<li>NZ’s voting system means that it doesn’t emulate Australia’s strongly adversarial political culture; indeed, governments tend to be coalitions and cross-party negotiation is common</li>
<li>NZ’s public service commissioner is the employer of departmental secretaries (and other agency heads), limiting their exposure to penalties if advice embarrassing to the government is released</li>
<li>NZ has far fewer ministerial advisers devoted to minimising political risks, including risks from public servants’ written advice.</li>
</ul>
<p>Even if governments move towards NZ practice on the latter two points, I wouldn’t support such early release of cabinet papers.</p>
<p>The cabinet system nurtures the important principle of collective responsibility. It requires cabinet ministers to consider fully and frankly all perspectives and expert evidence, enabling each of them to stand by the collective decision regardless of differences robustly debated.</p>
<p>It is likely that Australian governments would adjust their cabinet processes or papers if they knew these documents would soon be available to opposition members and journalists eager to find divisions within cabinet or failures to accept expert advice. </p>
<p>It would be better, in my view, to start at the other end: to go back to a culture in which departments undertake and publish more research and analysis, produce substantial annual reports and perform evaluations for public release. Governments would issue green papers and white papers; the definition of an “exempt cabinet document” would be tighter; attachments to cabinet submissions and memoranda would be released if they didn’t include direct advice or ministerial recommendations.</p>
<h2>The tone at the top</h2>
<p>A number of Coaldrake’s other recommendations echo the key proposals of David Thodey’s 2019 <a href="https://www.apsreview.gov.au/">Independent Review of the Australian Public Service</a> rejected by the Morrison government:</p>
<p><strong>On ministerial staff:</strong> “Development and continual reinforcement of a common framework to determine appropriate relationships among ministers, their staff and senior public servants.” Here, Coaldrake recognises that the tone set at the top – the attitudes of political and public service leaders that foster the culture of the system – is essential. For the Commonwealth, I would go further. A <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7801306/ministerial-staff-like-public-servants-should-be-accountable/?cs=14264">major overhaul</a> of the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act is long overdue, as is a cut in the oversupply of ministerial staff.</p>
<p><strong>On capability and the Public Service Commission’s role:</strong> “Rejuvenation of the capability and capacity of the public sector” to emphasise performance and integrity, with the Public Service Commission playing a key role. For the Commonwealth, I would go further towards the NZ model, with the Australian Public Service (APS) Commissioner as professional head of the APS.</p>
<p><strong>On consultants and contractors:</strong> “Departments [to] more robustly account for the benefits from engaging consultants and contractors with regular monitoring by the Auditor-General.” Hear, hear.</p>
<p><strong>On top appointments and tenure:</strong> “Stability of government and performance of public service [to] be strengthened by appointment of agency CEOs on fixed term, five year contracts, unaligned to the electoral cycle.” For the Commonwealth, I would further strengthen the merit basis of appointments and constrain terminations.</p>
<h2>Institutions matter</h2>
<p>Coaldrake’s recommendations about integrity bodies provide excellent guidance to the new federal government. As it develops legislation for a federal anti-corruption authority, Coaldrake’s proposed “single clearing house for complaints, with capacity for the complainants and agencies to track progress and outcomes” would be of enormous use.</p>
<p>This clearing house would help to ensure the new authority works with existing bodies such as the ombudsman and the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) – and, indeed, with the departments and agencies complained about. It would also ensure it focuses on serious corruption and major crime.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sports-rorts-shows-the-government-misunderstands-the-public-service-130796">'Sports rorts' shows the government misunderstands the public service</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>Coaldrake also recommends that integrity bodies’ independence be enhanced by involving parliamentary committees in setting budgets and contributing to key appointments. To some extent this already applies to the Australian National Audit Office. But it should apply more firmly not only to that body but also to the ombudsman, the information commissioner, the human rights commissioners, the electoral commission and, indeed, the APSC.</p>
<p>In essence, Coaldrake’s report is a reminder of the importance of institutions and the need to review their roles and performance regularly. Critical to their effectiveness is the tone at the top, a point also emphasised in NZ’s integrity system. That tone has been wanting not only in Queensland but also in the Commonwealth and a number of other states.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186470/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Podger does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With one exception, it offers refreshing guidance to jurisdictions across Australia showing signs of complacency about integrity.Andrew Podger, Honorary Professor of Public Policy, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1860392022-07-06T19:55:54Z2022-07-06T19:55:54ZNude Tuesday has a sex therapy retreat, an egotistical guru, a script in gibberish – and two very different translations<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472653/original/file-20220705-19-r2dq8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C4705%2C3000&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stan</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Review: Nude Tuesday, directed by Armağan Ballantyne</em></p>
<p>Nude Tuesday is a tale of two films – two subtitle tracks, anyway. </p>
<p>Directed by Armağan Ballantyne and written by Jackie van Beek, who also stars, the whole thing is spoken in a Scandinavian-inspired gibberish. </p>
<p>Comedian Julia Davis subtitled the first version of the film, a recent crowd-pleaser at the Sydney Film Festival and now playing in select cinemas, and comedians Celia Pacquola and Ronny Chieng subtitled the second version for Stan, where it joins the Davis version.</p>
<p>Both follow the same narrative structure. Bored middle-class couple Laura (van Beek) and Bruno (Damon Herriman) lead a banal existence, sharing a mildly dysfunctional relationship while living and working on fictional Pacific island Zǿbftąņ.</p>
<p>They have two daughters, no longer have sex, and are fairly unimpressive in their uninteresting jobs. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9aokDgtzz_Q?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>For their anniversary, Bruno’s mum gives them a voucher to a sex therapy retreat in the mountains. When they reluctantly arrive at the retreat, presided over by egotistical guru Bjorg Rasmussen (a likeable but caricaturish Jemaine Clement), the pre-existing fissures in their relationship break wide open. </p>
<p>Laura embraces the “treatment” straight away, whereas Bruno remains resistant to it. When Laura has an erotic encounter with Bjorg, the couple split up, before coming together again at the end. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-5-best-films-from-the-2022-sydney-film-festival-185382">The 5 best films from the 2022 Sydney Film Festival</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A cinematic experiment</h2>
<p>Despite the fact the film’s vision and sound are identical in both versions, the affect of each is significantly different – to the extent, I would suggest, that a fan of the Davis version would not necessarily enjoy the Chieng/Pacquola version, and vice versa. </p>
<p>The significance of the actual words of a film (versus merely dramatic arcs and scenarios) comes into stark relief in this experiment. This is where Nude Tuesday is most interesting: as a cinematic experiment demonstrating the power of the spoken word to move viewers in different directions. </p>
<p>Davis’ version relies on daggy and only sometimes funny toilet humour and infantile sex gags. It’s the kind of film that would appeal to people like the main characters: repressed types who think nudity, sex, euphemisms for genitalia and anodyne tripping experiences are inherently funny. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472674/original/file-20220706-26-4a3t69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472674/original/file-20220706-26-4a3t69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472674/original/file-20220706-26-4a3t69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472674/original/file-20220706-26-4a3t69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472674/original/file-20220706-26-4a3t69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472674/original/file-20220706-26-4a3t69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472674/original/file-20220706-26-4a3t69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472674/original/file-20220706-26-4a3t69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jemaine Clement plays the part of guru-charlatan with a subtly menacing quality.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are menstruation jokes, gags about volume of ejaculation, and plenty of scatalogical humour (“Let’s birth our brown bottom babies,” Rasmussen declares, straight-faced, in a therapy session). </p>
<p>The problem is, the whole thing is already sufficiently silly that the additional jokes in the dialogue come off as forced as often as not, and Nude Tuesday quickly wears thin.</p>
<p>The Chieng/Pacquola version features more carefully crafted dialogue, relying on verisimilitude in relation to the absurdity of the premise rather than broad toilet humour. </p>
<p>It is, as a result, more watchable – even if it features fewer laugh out loud moments. The dialogue is more deadpan and less deliberately bawdy, and, given the scenario is silly enough as it is, this makes its padded out 100 minutes more bearable.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-we-do-in-the-shadows-the-nz-gothic-with-sharp-comic-chops-30764">What We Do in the Shadows – the NZ gothic with sharp comic chops</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Funny, but not that funny</h2>
<p>The films are, of course, technically identical, and there are consistencies between them. </p>
<p>Herriman is an excellent actor, and he adds a touch of pathos to his (predominantly comedic) role as a bitter and hopeless man, which anchors both versions. </p>
<p>“Nobody needs me. I’m just a broken little man,” Bruno cries in the Davis version, holding a shotgun to his chin. </p>
<p>Clement’s performance is similarly effective in lampooning New Age culture, and he plays the part of guru-charlatan with a subtly menacing quality that makes it more believable. </p>
<p>The whole cast, in fact, demonstrate exceptional chops in speaking authentic gibberish, with believable modulation and intonation – far more difficult to do than people might think, given the direction words pull performances. </p>
<p>The film is effectively shot on New Zealand locations, with the contrast between the warmly lit interiors and the cold exteriors successfully mapping the tensions between the characters. </p>
<p>Though enjoyable, Nude Tuesday is far from a masterpiece. It’s funny but not that funny, and labours too hard at its conceit. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472652/original/file-20220705-14543-goyide.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=34%2C8%2C5761%2C3814&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two naked people hold hands walking away from the camera" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472652/original/file-20220705-14543-goyide.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=34%2C8%2C5761%2C3814&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472652/original/file-20220705-14543-goyide.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472652/original/file-20220705-14543-goyide.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472652/original/file-20220705-14543-goyide.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472652/original/file-20220705-14543-goyide.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472652/original/file-20220705-14543-goyide.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472652/original/file-20220705-14543-goyide.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Chieng/Pacquola version is particularly sweet-natured.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is also far too long. It begins to wear thin after an hour, and both versions would work better at a more economical 80 minutes. To hold it up as a splendid example of absurdism – as have some reviews – is a huge overreach, and a description more applicable to far sharper, more misanthropic comedies like Yorgos Lanthimos’ brilliant <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3464902/">The Lobster</a> (which surely must have been an influence on this?). </p>
<p>Both versions of Ballantyne’s film are pretty tame by any standards, but while the Davis version feels affected in its attempts at gross-out humour, the Chieng/Pacquola version comes off as sweet-natured (if a little dull) in its more restrained tone. </p>
<p>I can understand the pleasure of seeing the Davis version in a cinema with an audience, but I suspect the Chieng/Pacquola version will play better on the small screen. </p>
<p>In any case, both versions will be available on Stan. If neither appeals to you, try the third version which features no subtitles. The gibberish versions of pop songs, including Kenny Rogers’ and Dolly Parton’s Islands in the Stream, are probably the best thing about the film. And who needs subtitles for these?</p>
<p><em>Nude Tuesday is out now on Stan and in select cinemas.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186039/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ari Mattes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Now on Stan, the film comes in versions subtitled by Julia Davis, and Celia Pacquola with Ronny Chieng. The result is two very different types of humour.Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1857782022-06-28T19:58:33Z2022-06-28T19:58:33ZThis giant kangaroo once roamed New Guinea – descended from an Australian ancestor that migrated millions of years ago<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471017/original/file-20220627-24-fw6o00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C15%2C5168%2C3430&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Illustration by Peter Schouten</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Long ago, almost up until the end of the last ice age, a peculiar giant kangaroo roamed the mountainous rainforests of New Guinea.</p>
<p>Now, research to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03721426.2022.2086518">published</a> on Thursday by myself and colleagues suggests this kangaroo was not closely related to modern Australian kangaroos. Rather, it represents a previously unknown type of primitive kangaroo unique to New Guinea.</p>
<h2>The age of megafauna</h2>
<p>Australia used to be home to all manner of giant animals called megafauna, until most of them went extinct about 40,000 years ago. These megafauna lived alongside animals we now consider characteristic of the Australian bush – kangaroos, koalas, crocodiles and the like – but many were larger species of these.</p>
<p>There were giant wombats called <em>Phascolonus</em>, 2.5-metre-tall short-faced kangaroos, and the 3-tonne <em>Diprotodon optatum</em> (the largest marsupial ever).
In fact, some Australian megafaunal species, such as the red kangaroo, emu and cassowary, survive through to the modern day.</p>
<p>The fossil megafauna of New Guinea are considerably less well-studied than those of Australia. But despite being shrouded in mystery, New Guinea’s fossil record has given us hints of fascinating and unusual animals whose evolutionary stories are entwined with Australia’s.</p>
<p>Palaeontologists have done sporadic expeditions and fossil digs in New Guinea, including digs by American and Australian researchers in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.</p>
<p>It was during an archaeological excavation in the early 1970s, led by Mary-Jane Mountain, that two jaws of an extinct giant kangaroo were unearthed. A young researcher (now professor) named Tim Flannery called the species <em>Protemnodon nombe</em>.</p>
<p>The fossils Flannery described are about 20,000–50,000 years old. They come from the Nombe Rockshelter, an archaeological and palaeontological site in the mountains of central Papua New Guinea. This site also delivered fossils of another kangaroo and giant four-legged marsupials called diprotodontids.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-the-giant-wombat-relative-that-scratched-out-a-living-in-australia-25-million-years-ago-141296">Meet the giant wombat relative that scratched out a living in Australia 25 million years ago</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>An unexpected discovery</h2>
<p>Flinders University Professor Gavin Prideaux and I recently re-examined the fossils of <em>Protemnodon nombe</em> and found something unexpected. This strange kangaroo was not a species of the genus <em>Protemnodon</em>, which used to live all over Australia, from the Kimberley to Tasmania. It was something a lot more primitive and unknown.</p>
<p>In particular, its unusual molars with curved enamel crests set it apart from all other known kangaroos. We moved the species into a brand new genus unique to New Guinea and (very creatively) renamed it <em>Nombe nombe</em>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/724328370" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A 3D surface scan of a specimen of <em>Nombe nombe</em>, specifically a fossilised lower jaw from central Papua New Guinea. (Courtesy of Papua New Guinea Museum and Art Gallery, Port Moresby).</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our findings show <em>Nombe</em> may have evolved from an ancient form of kangaroo that migrated into New Guinea from Australia in the late Miocene epoch, some 5–8 million years ago. </p>
<p>In those days, the islands of New Guinea and Australia were connected by a land bridge due to lower sea levels – whereas today they’re separated by the Torres Strait.</p>
<p>This “bridge” allowed early Australian mammals, including megafauna, to migrate to New Guinea’s rainforests. When the Torres Strait flooded again, these animal populations became disconnected from their Australian relatives and evolved separately to suit their tropical and mountainous New Guinean home. </p>
<p>We now consider <em>Nombe</em> to be the descendant of one of these ancient lineages of kangaroos. The squat, muscular animal lived in a diverse mountainous rainforest with thick undergrowth and a closed canopy. It evolved to eat tough leaves from trees and shrubs, which gave it a thick jawbone and strong chewing muscles. </p>
<p>The species is currently only known from two fossil lower jaws. And much more remains to be discovered. Did <em>Nombe</em> hop like modern kangaroos? Why did it go extinct? </p>
<p>As is typical of palaeontology, one discovery inspires an entire host of new questions.</p>
<h2>Strange but familiar animals</h2>
<p>Little of the endemic animal life of New Guinea is known outside of the island, even though it is very strange and very interesting. Very few Australians have much of an idea of what’s there, just over the strait. </p>
<p>When I went to the Papua New Guinea Museum in Port Moresby early in my PhD, I was thrilled by the animals I encountered. There are several living species of large, long-nosed, worm-eating echidna – one of which weighs up to 15 kilograms.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471027/original/file-20220627-22-91nec3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Author Isaac Kerr poses for a photo, holding an Australian giant kangaroo jaw in his left hand" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471027/original/file-20220627-22-91nec3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471027/original/file-20220627-22-91nec3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471027/original/file-20220627-22-91nec3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471027/original/file-20220627-22-91nec3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471027/original/file-20220627-22-91nec3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471027/original/file-20220627-22-91nec3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471027/original/file-20220627-22-91nec3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">I’m excited to start digging in New Guinea’s rainforests!</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are also dwarf cassowaries and many different wallaby, tree kangaroo and possum species that don’t exist in Australia – plus many more in the fossil record.</p>
<p>We tend to think of these animals as being uniquely Australian, but they have other intriguing forms in New Guinea.</p>
<p>As an Australian biologist, it’s both odd and exhilarating to see these “Aussie” animals that have expanded into new and weird forms in another landscape. </p>
<p>Excitingly for me and my colleagues, <em>Nombe nombe</em> may breathe some new life into palaeontology in New Guinea. We’re part of a small group of researchers that was recently awarded a grant to undertake three digs at two different sites in eastern and central Papua New Guinea over the next three years. </p>
<p>Working with the curators of the Papua New Guinea Museum and other biologists, we hope to inspire young local biology students to study palaeontology and discover new fossil species. If we’re lucky, there may even be a complete skeleton of <em>Nombe nombe</em> waiting for us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185778/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isaac Alan Robert Kerr receives funding from the Royal Society of South Australia.</span></em></p>A peculiar giant kangaroo that once lived in New Guinea would have descended from a much more ancient form that migrated from Australia, between 5 million and 8 million years ago.Dr Isaac A. R. Kerr, PhD Candidate for Palaeontology, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1857342022-06-27T10:22:43Z2022-06-27T10:22:43ZWales should rebrand as ‘the land of dragons and legends’ to increase tourism<p>The Welsh government wants more foreign tourists. So much so, that they recently put out a <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/work/6476/wales-as-a-global-tourist-destination/">call</a> for ideas about how to attract them.</p>
<p><a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/107441/pdf/">The solution</a> that my colleagues and I have put forward is simple – Wales should embrace their dragons and their legends and use them as the nation’s unique selling point. Wales should become “the land of dragons and legends”. </p>
<p>As someone with a Welsh family on my husband’s side, Wales has always been one of our most cherished holiday destinations, especially when my son was young. From its rich culture and history, dynamic cities and scenic landscapes to its beautiful coastline, Wales has so much to offer as a holiday destination. I still remember the big smile on my son’s face when he finally managed to pull out a gigantic crab after hours of crab fishing in Aberystwyth.</p>
<p>But, despite Wales’ rich tourism offering, it is unlikely to attract deep-pocketed tourists from the likes of the US, China or Japan, as the country lacks a distinctive association with tourist landmarks or cultural symbols, in the mind of international tourists. </p>
<h2>Wales’ cultural attractions</h2>
<p>Britain’s cultural attractions are the top visiting motivation for international tourists, followed by the variety of places on offer. Unlike, for instance, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211973621000647?casa_token=g2SlzTs4G5cAAAAA:ASwo2OLMqVu-L42fUrQwFXGWeRZXGAMYRyaRLYg_8Na3mW8v9zioU0IQFlRPDzlFEVMPVyOZ">London</a> – with Big Ben, the Tower of London and the British Museum among other landmarks – or Scotland – with Edinburgh, the Highlands and the Loch Ness monster – Wales is less well known, due to its lack of distinctive features that are exclusive to it. </p>
<p>Spending by tourists in Scotland pre-COVID generated around <a href="https://www.gov.scot/policies/tourism-and-events/">£12 billion</a> while in Wales generated <a href="https://gov.wales/wales-visitor-economy-profile-2021-html">£3.4 billion</a>. </p>
<p>Yet Wales does have its unique cultural and historical heritage. Wales is one of the only two countries in the world that has a dragon on its national flag – believed to possibly be the <a href="https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofWales/The-Red-Dragon-of-Wales/#:%7E:text=The%20red%20dragon%20itself%20has,national%20flag%20still%20in%20use.">oldest flag still in use</a> The other being Bhutan. Wales’ attachment to its dragon, the <em>Y Ddraig Goch</em> (the Welsh red dragon), is pretty strong. Over the years, various stories have been told about the red dragon with the earliest dating back to AD655. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Historia-Regum-Britanniae/">Historia Regum Britanniae</a>, written between 1120 and 1129, Geoffrey of Monmouth, one of the major figures in the development of British historiography (the study of the writing of history and of written histories) and the popularity of <a href="https://theconversation.com/king-arthur-back-home-in-wales-thanks-to-guy-ritchie-40116">tales of King Arthur</a>, connected the dragon with Arthurian legends. One such connection includes Arthur’s father, Uther Pendragon, and another to the prophecy by the <a href="https://theconversation.com/here-are-the-five-ancient-britons-who-make-up-the-myth-of-king-arthur-86874">warlock Merlin</a> of a fight between a red and white dragon, symbolising the historical struggle between the Welsh (red dragon) and the English (white dragon).</p>
<p>Today, the Welsh red dragon symbolises the fierce pride of the Welsh people. </p>
<p>None of the other UK nations can claim such a legendary cultural symbol as the dragon. Similarly, the legends of the powerful warlock Merlin are also exclusive to Wales, as well as many Arthurian legends. Wales’ dragon and the connection to Merlin present a unique selling point to brand and differentiate Wales against other UK nations when promoting tourism to international tourists.</p>
<p>Following the success of fantasy and adventure movies and TV series, such as Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts, Game of Thrones and the Lord of the Rings, many places have been put on the map. And these are bankable connections – just think how enthusiastically <a href="https://youtu.be/cBlRbrB_Gnc">New Zealand draws on its connection to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth</a>. Tourist numbers shot up 40% in the five years after the first Lord of the Rings film and the franchise continues to be a huge draw. In fact, tourism around The Hobbit Trilogy accounted for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.11.023">US$772 million of international tourist receipts</a> (£628 million) between 2013 and 2014.</p>
<p>This highlights an opportunity for Wales to capitalise on its existing association with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTMuYQ_7K5I">dragons and legendary figures</a>. Wales would be wise to use these legendary cultural symbols to brand Wales as “The Land of Dragons and Legends”. This is an opportunity that cannot be missed and would position Wales as the first and only national destination brand that is strongly associated with the stories of mythic dragons and legends in the world.</p>
<h2>Tactics to increase the connection</h2>
<p>This is not an exercise that needs to start from scratch. References to Wales’ red dragon, the great magician of Merlin and the famous King Arthur are already being made by <a href="https://www.visitwales.com/">Visit Wales</a>, although their visibility should be further improved. </p>
<p>For example, by creating a specific landing page dedicated to dragons and legends under Visit Wales and by promoting the tagline of the land of dragons and legends in all its tourism promotion and marketing activities, both online and offline. These include tourism websites, social media campaigns and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517721000108?casa_token=BWkJRgfm3IUAAAAA:qJTRqzqSSj1MAgHbma6Tl8v46G0KlqqAuYJdp--PMC4_YjSqLY9K6CUSsLSSdmWO4SsmwjS9">hashtags, such as #IloveWales, #Landofdragonsandlegends</a>, tourist information brochures, posters and signage around tourist information centres and tourist resorts. Promoting the same message in all its tourism activities helps strengthen the association international tourists’ have of Wales as the land of dragons and legends. </p>
<p>Future tourism development could also gear up towards the promotion of dragons and legends. For example, by curating and dedicating museum exhibitions on dragon, and by organising dragon walks and Merlin’s trails around towns and coastal lines, which would link cultural and natural tourism offerings in one. </p>
<p>Also, creative theme parks or organised tourism activities could refer to popular movies or TV series. For example, the BBC series <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b00mjlxv/merlin">Merlin</a> was partly filmed in Wales in spots including the Brecon Beacons National Park, Castell Coch, Caerphilly and Chepstow Castle. The show could be used to appeal to children and families through offerings such as magic workshops and potion lessons in these locations. Similarly, films such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKk65_QVlMU&ab_channel=SonyPicturesHomeEntertainment">First Knight</a>, which was shot in Gwynedd, North Wales, could be used to promote jousting experiences or tours connected to the Arthurian legends in locations they were shot. </p>
<p>In this way, when international tourists are planning where to go on holiday, they recall Wales as a land of dragons and legends, with multiple <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296318303023">tourism values</a> on offer, on top of its beautiful landscapes and outdoor adventures.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185734/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dorothy Yen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From Merlin to the country’s red dragon, there are a lot of legends and magic to promote to international tourists.Dorothy Yen, Professor in Marketing, Brunel University LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1853962022-06-21T19:11:31Z2022-06-21T19:11:31Z5 years and 50 million views of news by New Zealand experts<p>This week marks five years since The Conversation <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-zealand-joins-a-growing-global-conversation-79354">launched in Aotearoa New Zealand</a>. In that time, researchers from NZ universities have attracted <a href="https://bit.ly/TCNZis5">more than 50 million unique views</a> of 1,300 Conversation articles.</p>
<p>Our authors’ work has changed lives by putting evidence in front of policymakers. For instance, leading epidemiologist <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/michael-baker-169808">Michael Baker</a> – <a href="https://www.pmscienceprizes.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Communicator-prize-Michael-Baker-full-media-release.pdf">winner</a> of the 2021 NZ Prime Minister’s Science Communication Prize – says writing for The Conversation helped him and his colleagues develop what later became NZ’s COVID elimination strategy.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>During the critical days leading up to the [first] lockdown, I will never forget how writing <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-new-zealand-needs-to-continue-decisive-action-to-contain-coronavirus-133714">a story for The Conversation</a> helped me crystallise my main message […] That thinking helped me develop the elimination strategy subsequently adopted by the New Zealand government.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The best-read NZ article of all time – <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-reasons-why-jacinda-arderns-coronavirus-response-has-been-a-masterclass-in-crisis-leadership-135541">Three reasons why Jacinda Ardern’s coronavirus response has been a masterclass in crisis leadership</a>, by Massey University leadership researcher <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/suze-wilson-178098">Suze Wilson</a> – has had more than 1.7 million unique reads. Dr Wilson says her Conversation articles have sparked new opportunities in more than 10 countries, from Ireland to Indonesia.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469735/original/file-20220620-26-kvhks5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Front cover of a report about The Conversation in Aotearoa New Zealand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469735/original/file-20220620-26-kvhks5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469735/original/file-20220620-26-kvhks5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=834&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469735/original/file-20220620-26-kvhks5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=834&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469735/original/file-20220620-26-kvhks5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=834&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469735/original/file-20220620-26-kvhks5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1048&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469735/original/file-20220620-26-kvhks5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1048&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469735/original/file-20220620-26-kvhks5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1048&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Our NZ articles have been read in 194 nations.</span>
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<p>You can read more about our NZ authors’ impact in <a href="https://bit.ly/TCNZis5">this short report</a>.</p>
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Our authors change lives by putting evidence in front of policymakers. Epidemiologist Michael Baker says writing for The Conversation helped shape what later became NZ’s COVID elimination strategy.Veronika Meduna, Science, Health + Environment New Zealand Editor, The ConversationFinlay Macdonald, New Zealand Editor, The ConversationDebrin Foxcroft, Deputy New Zealand EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.