tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca-fr/topics/author-qanda-11936/articles
Author Q&A – La Conversation
2017-04-05T19:28:31Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/75547
2017-04-05T19:28:31Z
2017-04-05T19:28:31Z
Can a four-year-old be sexist?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163776/original/image-20170404-21950-mhrx96.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children are exposed to gender differences and expectations from the moment they are born.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Victorian government <a href="http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/health/Pages/respectfulrelationships.aspx">has announced</a> it plans to teach its <a href="https://theconversation.com/respectful-relationships-education-isnt-about-activating-a-gender-war-67296">Respectful Relationship program</a> to preschoolers as a way to target and prevent sexist behaviour among children aged three and four years old.</p>
<p>The program – which is taught to teenagers in schools – more broadly aims to tackle issues around family violence, and also to develop young people’s social skills and promote respectful relationships.</p>
<p>The justification for extending this program into preschool settings, according to the <a href="https://www.tenders.vic.gov.au/tenders/tender/display/tender-details.do?id=8677&action=display-tender-details">document</a> released by the state government, is that </p>
<blockquote>
<p>as young children learn about gender, they may also begin to enact sexist values, beliefs and attitudes that may contribute to disrespect and gender inequality.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But can children at that age be sexist? When is it that children are aware of gender differences – and what makes them act on it?</p>
<h2>When do children become aware of their gender?</h2>
<p>Researchers have shown that <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230810604_Early_androgens_activity_levels_and_toy_choices_of_children_in_the_second_year_of_life">by age one</a> (and in some studies, <a href="http://infantcognition.tamu.edu/files/2013/10/Alexander-G.M.-Wilcox-T.-Woods-R.-2009.pdf">as early as three months old</a>), children show clear preferences for gender-consistent toys (eg trucks for boys, dolls for girls). This occurs even if they have only been exposed to gender-neutral toys, or had equal access to both “boys” and “girls” toys. </p>
<p>So, does this mean that kids as young as three months are aware of their gender? </p>
<p>No. It’s not until about age three that children have a basic understanding of gender identity – but even then, it’s pretty tenuous. </p>
<p>At this age, it’s not uncommon for kids to still be confused regarding gender – for example, a girl thinking she will grow up to be a man, or a boy referring to his mum as “him”. </p>
<p>However, the emergence of basic gender identity helps us to explain why by age three children prefer to play with same-sex peers and engage in gender-stereotyped play. </p>
<p>Researchers have suggested that <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247638676_The_Emergence_of_Same-Sex_Affiliative_Preferences_among_Preschool_Peers_A_DevelopmentalEthological_Perspective">this shows children understand the differences between genders</a> and are aware that they “fit” better with one gender than the other. </p>
<p>Gender constancy – that is understanding that being male or female is a fixed personal attribute – does not develop completely until around age six to seven. </p>
<p>Gender constancy develops as a result of cognitive development (so children are able to understand more abstract concepts like gender), as well as learning about social expectations for their behaviour. Psychologists refer to this as <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.psych.121208.131650?journalCode=psych">“socialisation</a>”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163774/original/image-20170404-21933-kryys7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163774/original/image-20170404-21933-kryys7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163774/original/image-20170404-21933-kryys7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163774/original/image-20170404-21933-kryys7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163774/original/image-20170404-21933-kryys7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163774/original/image-20170404-21933-kryys7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163774/original/image-20170404-21933-kryys7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">By age three, children prefer to play with same-sex peers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>…and of gender differences and expectations?</h2>
<p>Few people would think they encouraged gender-stereotyped play and behaviours in children. But remember the old saying “do as I say, not as I do”? It’s pretty apt here. </p>
<p>Kids imitate the behaviours of important role models in their lives: parents, caregivers and teachers alike. </p>
<p>This is particularly strong when the role model is of the same sex – girls are more likely to model the behaviours of adult females and boys of adult males. </p>
<p>So, even if we tell them that “girls can do anything boys can do”, if they only ever see dad but never mum doing vehicle maintenance, the words may not have much impact.</p>
<p>It’s not like parents wake up one day and decide “today is the day I make my gender expectations clear to my child”. It’s much less dramatic than that. </p>
<p>The reality is that we reinforce gender differences and expectations every day without even meaning to, through observational learning processes. </p>
<p>Think about your own life. Are there chores and activities that seem to fall along gender lines? Taking the bins out, doing the ironing and cooking, for example.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5SVm6Ooz5iI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>I doubt there was a discussion in which you divided up the chores based on gender. It probably just “became habit”. As such you never really questioned it – much like gender expectations in children. </p>
<p>Children are exposed to gender differences and expectations from the moment they are born. Over time this information is internalised to inform their understanding of how the world works – with early understandings about gender differences and expectations emerging by age three. </p>
<p>Helping this process along is the way we (often indadvertently) reinforce gendered behaviours, by providing approval for those behaviours that are gender-consistent (eg, praising a boy for not crying when he is hurt), and disapproval for those that are not (eg, discouraging rough-and-tumble play for a girl). </p>
<p>This means that by the time they achieve the concept of gender constancy by around age six to seven, their understanding of gender differences and expectations are also well established. </p>
<p>Kids are incredibly fast learners – even when we don’t realise that teaching has taken place. </p>
<p>Complicating this is that children filter information according to what their brain can make sense of. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163972/original/image-20170404-14594-15k2xql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163972/original/image-20170404-14594-15k2xql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163972/original/image-20170404-14594-15k2xql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163972/original/image-20170404-14594-15k2xql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163972/original/image-20170404-14594-15k2xql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163972/original/image-20170404-14594-15k2xql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163972/original/image-20170404-14594-15k2xql.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">Pink bike = girl’s toy?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At age three to four, children demonstrate very “black-and-white” thinking – things are good or bad, right or wrong. What this means about gender is that they think in terms of “girl or boy”, and categorise their world (eg toys, clothes, activities) accordingly. </p>
<p>If this type of thinking was shown in an adult, who has more flexible thinking patterns – they can see shades of grey – it would be considered sexist. In kids of this age, it’s normal.</p>
<p>In and of itself, this is not a problem. It’s a normal developmental process. The problem arises when expectations about gender and gender differences lead to <a href="http://genderequality.ie/en/GE/Pages/WhatisGE">gender inequality</a>.</p>
<p>Gender inequality has been <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/publications/gender-equality-and-violence-against-women/introduction">shown</a> to increase the risk of gender-based violence.</p>
<p>Proponents argue that this is where the Respectful Relationship program comes into play. </p>
<p>By providing an environment in which gender equality is both taught and modelled, it is argued that beliefs about gender and gender differences can be changed to support more respectful relationships with others from a young age, and decrease the risk of sexist and violent behaviour in the future. </p>
<p>If we’re talking about educating four-year-olds about this issue, it’s really more about what they see than what we say. </p>
<p>They don’t need to know what sexism is – the fact is, they won’t understand it if you try. </p>
<p>What is important is that we promote respect for all, without pathologising normal developmental processes. It’s okay that young boys like to play with boys, and girls like to play with girls; that boys like to play with trucks, and girls like to play with dolls. It’s not sexist, it’s a normal part of growing up.</p>
<h2>So, can young children knowingly be sexist?</h2>
<p>The fact that a four-year-old has a basic understanding of gender differences and expectations, and behaves according to this knowledge, is not the same as deliberately engaging in sexist behaviour. It simply reflects what they have seen, and what they are able to understand.</p>
<p>Their intention is to make sense of their world and how they fit in it – not to hurt or disempower others.</p>
<p>In a world where actions speak louder than words, it is not what you say but what you do that will shape your child’s gender expectations. Model and promote gender equality. </p>
<p>They may not know what sexist behaviour is at four, but this way they’ll be less likely to demonstrate it at 14.</p>
<p><em>Have a question about this piece? The author will be available for a Q&A today from 1pm to 2pm. Post your questions in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75547/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kimberley Norris 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>
At the age of four, children have a basic understanding of gender differences and expectations. But it is unlikely they would knowingly be sexist.
Kimberley Norris, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of Tasmania
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/74844
2017-03-29T01:07:52Z
2017-03-29T01:07:52Z
Cuts to sole parent benefits are human rights violations
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162561/original/image-20170327-18995-13maeh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">40% of children in sole-parent households are living below the poverty line.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sole parents in Australia are economically vulnerable and are experiencing ongoing cuts to their social security. Legislation limiting welfare benefits that was rushed through the Senate last week will make many of them poorer – but how is this a human rights issue?</p>
<p>Australia is party to many United Nations human rights treaties, including the <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CESCR.aspx">International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights</a>. The covenant contains a right to social security, which countries owe to everyone. It requires countries to guarantee that the rights in the covenant are upheld without discrimination. </p>
<p>The UN <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CESCR/Pages/CESCRIndex.aspx">committee</a> responsible for this treaty has explained that social security must be:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… adequate in amount and duration in order that everyone may realise his or her rights to family protection and assistance, an adequate standard of living and adequate access to health care. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The committee has stressed the principle of “non-retrogression” applies under the covenant. This means that countries may not remove rights that have been developed over time and on which people have come to depend. </p>
<p>A country can only reduce social security benefits if it can justify doing so after consulting affected groups, considering alternatives and avoiding discrimination against particular groups, and harmful impacts on the realisation of the right to social security. </p>
<p>The government will breach the rights discussed here as a result of its cuts to benefits in the <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=s1064">Social Services Legislation Amendment Bill</a>. The bill arose because the government refused to introduce an improved childcare package without parliament <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2017/feb/08/coalition-releases-childcare-package-compromise-in-bid-to-clear-senate-politics-live">finding budget savings elsewhere</a>. It looked to welfare, the area of the budget supporting the poorest Australians, to fund the childcare measures.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22legislation%2Fems%2Fs1064_ems_dcc97d69-0fb8-4cec-a2a9-444db0feaef0%22">A$1.6 billion</a> that these cuts generate for government are being shaved off the already inadequate support for struggling families. The legislation follows various attempts by the Coalition government since 2014 to reduce the welfare budget by removing benefits from young people, parents and other groups already facing financial hardship.</p>
<p>These have met with significant opposition from the public and in parliament. The <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-23/senate-passes-smaller-savings-to-fund-childcare-forms/8378338">government insists</a> families will not be worse off.</p>
<p>The latest changes, while certainly less harsh than earlier legislative attempts, will still have negative impacts on students and other vulnerable groups, particularly low-income families. The Family Tax Benefit indexation freeze means that while the cost of living rises, family payments will fall further behind as families effectively become poorer. </p>
<p>The bill also denies parents income support for seven days by imposing a one-week wait before accessing parenting payments.</p>
<p>Lastly, it freezes indexation of income-free areas for parenting and unemployment payments. This means recipients who work will start losing their income support payments sooner. </p>
<p>Worryingly, the government has not indicated whether it will still proceed with some of the suspended cuts to supplements – such as Family Tax Benefit, education and energy supplements – that it previously attempted to legislate.</p>
<p>The measures will worsen <a href="http://www.acoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Poverty-in-Australia-2016.pdf">child poverty</a>, which is already high in Australia. Forty percent of children in sole-parent households are living below the poverty line. </p>
<p>Since more than 90% of sole parents are women, the measures will have a discriminatory impact on this disadvantaged group and their children. Families with children in high school who do not benefit from childcare increases will be hundreds of dollars worse off in the next two years. </p>
<p>The Australian Council of Social Service, the St Vincent de Paul Society, the National Council for Single Mothers and their Children, and the author of this article have written to the experts mandated by the UN to deal with extreme poverty, and discrimination against women, to report on this violation of Australia’s human rights commitments. </p>
<p>The correspondence points to the retrogressive impact of the new laws and previous laws on the right to social security, coupled with violations of the right to non-discrimination. The social security benefits are already not adequate for the needs of sole parent families facing hardship in this wealthy country. </p>
<p>The current bill follows earlier budget savings measures <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2012A00144">introduced</a> by the Labor government in 2013. These moved thousands of sole parents off existing payments onto the lower Newstart, resulting in significant reductions to their benefits. Parliament’s <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Human_Rights/Scrutiny_reports/2013/2013/52013/index">Joint Committee on Human Rights</a> found the government had not demonstrated that the cuts were compatible with human rights. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.10storiesofsinglemothers.org.au/who-we-are/">Single mothers</a> affected by those cuts have pointed to a range of negative impacts. These include: rental stress; growing financial insecurity and hardship; stigmatisation of their children; inability to enrol their children in sport and community activities or to pay for school excursions; psychological stress impacting on their health and capacity to work and study; and shame at having to ask others for help. </p>
<p>A 2012 letter by the welfare groups listed above resulted in <a href="https://spdb.ohchr.org/hrdb/22nd/public_-_UA_Australie_19.10.12_(2.2012).pdf">UN experts calling</a> on the government to justify its apparent rights violations. The call went unheeded. </p>
<p>The new cuts are being brought to the attention of the international experts to put on record the government’s ongoing violations of Australia’s human rights commitments and to ask them to intervene on behalf of sole-parent families facing growing poverty and inequality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74844/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beth Goldblatt has worked in a voluntary capacity with the Australian Council of Social Service, the National Council for Single Mothers and their Children, and the St Vincent de Paul Society in writing joint submissions to the United Nations.</span></em></p>
The latest welfare changes will hurt low-income families and breach Australia’s human rights obligations.
Beth Goldblatt, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/73902
2017-03-20T19:17:29Z
2017-03-20T19:17:29Z
Higher child support doesn’t lead to welfare dependency for single mums
<p>Child support <a href="http://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/tpp/jpsj/2017/00000025/00000001/art00006">reduces poverty</a> among single mothers in Australia and does not discourage employment or reduce the number of hours worked. <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1475-4932.12314/full">My analysis</a> of data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey studies how the amount of child support a single mother receives, affects how much she works. </p>
<p><a href="https://aifs.gov.au/publications/impact-child-support-payments-labour-supply-de">Previous research</a> has found that single mums with bigger child support payments worked less than those with lower payments. This is partly due to the <a href="https://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/working-out-child-support-payments-using-basic-formula">formula</a> that determines how much child support should be paid.</p>
<p>The formula means that when the non-resident father’s income is higher, child support increases. But if a single mother stops working and the father’s income stays the same, her child support payments increase. </p>
<p>The formula directly causes child support to increase if hours of work decrease. My analysis adjusts for this and finds that receiving a higher child support payment leads to an increase in the employment rate of single mothers and an increase in the number of hours worked each week.</p>
<p>One explanation for these results is the way that child support and welfare payments interact. When the level of child support increases, there is a change in the trade-offs single mums face when deciding how much to work. </p>
<p>Family Tax Benefit A is reduced by 50 cents <a href="https://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/income-test-family-tax-benefit-part">for every dollar of child support received above a certain amount</a>. So mothers with a high child support payment, get less Family Tax Benefit A. This means that there is less Family Tax Benefit A to lose as a mother’s income increases and so the incentive to work is stronger. </p>
<h2>Welfare dependency</h2>
<p>A popular concern is that higher levels of child support could enable long-term welfare dependence. Single mothers may rely on child support and parenting payments and then transition to other income support payments as their children grow up.</p>
<p>However I found that more child support can increase employment for single mothers, this means that higher levels of child support could in fact reduce long-term welfare dependency for this high-risk group.</p>
<p>Single mother households make up <a href="http://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/tpp/jpsj/2017/00000025/00000001/art00006">over 87% of child support recipients</a> in Australia, and are significantly more likely to be in poverty than other households. <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/allprimarymainfeatures/5F4BB49C975C64C9CA256D6B00827ADB?opendocument">43% of single parent households</a> rely on welfare payments as their main source of income. </p>
<p>The recent government <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/09_2016/baseline_valuation_results_report_accessible_version_12_july_2016_2pwc._2.pdf">Baseline Evaluation Report</a> into the lifetime costs of Australia’s welfare system identified young parents as a group who will access welfare payments intensively across their lifetime.</p>
<h2>A case for higher child support?</h2>
<p>Single mothers work more when their child support increases and other welfare payments such as the Parenting Payment fall by less than the increase in earnings. This means that when child support increases, single mothers have higher household income.</p>
<p>Some of this increased income will be taken up by childcare costs. Despite this, increased employment is likely to increase the wellbeing of single mothers and their children. </p>
<p>When these women work more it <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-4932.2005.00261.x/full">increases their superannuation and their future earnings</a>, reducing the chances of old-age poverty. Children growing up in households that are not reliant on income support are <a href="http://ftp.iza.org/dp4618.pdf">less likely to become income support recipients in early adulthood</a>.</p>
<p>In terms of eligibility, <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/allprimarymainfeatures/E6A9286119FA0A85CA25699000255C89?opendocument">21% of children in Australia have a parent living elsewhere</a> and so qualify to receive child support. Changes to the level of child support payments can therefore affect the long-term employment outcomes of many parents.</p>
<p>However, the level of child support payments is an understandably contentious issue. Parents paying child support <a href="https://www.ag.gov.au/Publications/Documents/Post-SeparationParentingPropertyAndRelationshipDynamicsAfterFiveYears/post-separation-parenting-property-and-relationship-dynamics-after-five-years-chapter-7b.pdf">describe the amount they pay as unfair</a>, and parents receiving child support find the amount received insufficient. </p>
<p>The finding that higher levels of child support do not discourage single mothers’ employment gives confidence that an increase in child support would not increase their welfare dependence. However there’s room to research the effect on single fathers, so that the full implications of such an increase can be fully understood.</p>
<p><em>Dr Fisher will be online for an Author Q&A between 12.30pm, and 1.30pm on Tuesday, 21 March, 2017. Post any questions you have in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73902/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hayley Fisher receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>
Higher child support payments actually lead to an increase in the employment rate of single mums, research finds.
Hayley Fisher, Senior Lecturer in Economics, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/70200
2016-12-12T19:00:44Z
2016-12-12T19:00:44Z
The tax office’s transparency reporting is looking a little opaque
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149597/original/image-20161212-31402-qwkhkl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The amount of tax payable from Australian corporations went down in this latest report.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Australian Taxation Office (ATO), in keeping with tax transparency laws, <a href="https://data.gov.au/dataset/corporate-transparency">reported information for nearly 2,000 organisations</a>, including the publicly, foreign and privately owned. However, crucial information was missing, and this keeps the public in the dark about tax avoidance.</p>
<p>According to the ATO, in information provided with this report, entities with taxable income or tax payable of zero or less are not disclosed because:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“confidentiality provisions prevent the ATO providing any additional information about particular taxpayers in the report”. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>All tax returns are confidential, the contents aren’t available to the public. The transparency legislation is a departure from that rule and mandates that the ATO Commissioner discloses only five line items from the corporate tax return. </p>
<p>Because the tranparency legislation doesn’t include negative taxable income or tax payable which is zero (or less), the result is that this information remains confidential to the ATO. Instead, tax losses, as well as other tax offsets from taxable income, are reported under a different labels on the company tax return. </p>
<p>The data disclosed for each entity is limited to five labels on their tax returns: the entity’s name, ABN, total income (largely equivalent to accounting revenue), taxable income and tax payable. Details of amounts paid for the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) and the minerals resource rent tax are also included.</p>
<p>This year four more organisations were included in the report, which covers 2014/15 compared to 2013/14. However, 41 records for 2013/14 were included with this release, so the number of entities for 2014/15 may increase next year.</p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/mIAKl/1/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="249"></iframe>
<p>Overall, there are insignificant decreases in total income, taxable income and tax payable from last year. The largest decrease was in taxable income, which declined by 7.5% for the average entity, whereas the decline in tax payable was only 2.5%.</p>
<p>Despite the ATO’s best efforts in getting organisations to pay the correct amount of tax, the corporate tax collections slightly decreased from 2013/14 to 2014/2015.
Entities are required to register for GST, and therefore receive an ABN, if their turnover (total income) is above $75,000. In this latest report another 24 entities did not have an ABN for both years, in contravention of the Tax Administration Act 1953. </p>
<p>The majority of organisations reported have tax payable at close to the company tax rate (30%), on taxable income, in both years. </p>
<p>Notwithstanding, there are 355 entities (including Mitsubishi Development, Lendlease Corp, Exxonmobil Australia, Virgin Australia, Citic Resources Australia, General Motors Australia and Vodafone Hutchinson Australia) that disclosed no taxable income or tax payable for both 2013/14 and 2014/15. That’s a huge A$427 billion of combined revenue these organisations paid no tax on over the two-year period ($214 billion in 2013/2014 and $213 billion in 2014/2015). </p>
<p>There were also 61 other entities (including Bluescope Steel, BHP Billiton Aluminium Australia, CSL, RACV and Boeing Australia) that reported taxable income but no taxes payable over the two years. This is despite reporting combined taxable income of almost A$5 billion (A$2.1 billion in 2013/14 and A$2.9 billion in 2014/15).</p>
<p>According to the ATO, these figures do “not necessarily mean tax avoidance, and assumptions about an entity’s compliance with their tax obligations, or those of their associated groups, cannot be made solely on the basis of this data”. </p>
<p>However, this brings into question the whole purpose of the Australian tax transparency laws. According to the explanatory notes to the legislation, the laws are based on the following grounds:</p>
<ul>
<li>to discourage aggressive tax practices</li>
<li>to inform public debate about corporate tax policy </li>
<li>to address concerns by the Group of Twenty (G20) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) regarding tax base erosion and profit shifting by multinational entities.</li>
</ul>
<p>The transparency reports may discourage aggressive tax policies, particularly the more extreme activities, but the limited disclosures do little to inform public debate about corporate tax policy. Based on these disclosures, users of these reports are limited to the view that the majority of entities on the list appear to be paying their fair share of tax, while those that are paying nothing, despite reporting billions in revenues and taxable income, are “not necessarily avoiding tax” according to the ATO. </p>
<p>For example, the reporting of taxable income but no tax payable may be the result of businesses applying carried forward tax losses, or the use of other tax offsets that are provided by the tax system. </p>
<p>Another reason for the high level of compliance with the tax regime is dividend imputation. This provides incentives for Australian-owned firms to pay tax on earnings at the full company tax rate.</p>
<p>The issue of companies accumulating large tax losses is controversial lately, especially in light of scrutiny of the PRRT. A recent <a href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/muanational/pages/3430/attachments/original/1445403483/ITF_Chevron_Tax_Avoidance_Report.pdf?1445403483">ITF report</a> suggested that Chevron’s Gorgon project has accumulated sufficient tax credits from such losses to offset any tax liability for the next ten to 20 years. </p>
<p>There is suspicion the A$17 billion cost blowout for the project is being artificially inflated through excessive interest deductions, debt loading, management fees and transport costs. The fact that losses can be carried forward to offset future tax liabilities makes the disclosure of losses as important for transparency as is the reporting of profits.</p>
<p>The ATO tax transparency reports provide useful information about the tax affairs of Australia’s largest entities, even if it is somewhat limited. It provides confidence that the largest and wealthiest entities are contributing their fair share of tax revenue to the common good. </p>
<p>However, the lack of disclosure around losses and other tax offsets is a black mark against the goal of tax transparency. This is particularly important considering annual revenues of over A$1.7 trillion are involved.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Roman will be online for an Author Q&A between 1 and 2pm on Tuesday, 13 December, 2016. Post any questions you have in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70200/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 organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
As long as the ATO doesn’t question why companies are reporting zero tax payable on their income, the public won’t know if serious tax avoidance is happening.
Roman Lanis, Associate Professor, Accounting, University of Technology Sydney
Brett Govendir, Lecturer, University of Technology Sydney
Ross McClure, PhD Candidate, casual academic, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/69976
2016-12-12T18:57:56Z
2016-12-12T18:57:56Z
Diversity, the Stella Count and the whiteness of Australian publishing
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149581/original/image-20161212-31379-1qcyt71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How many non-white writers are published in Australia each year? Is their job to remain at the exotic margins of our literary culture?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Siryk Denys/shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In January 2016, I began working with The Stella Prize to set up their first ever Diversity Count. This meant widening their count of books reviewed according to the author’s gender to examine how issues of race, ethnicity, disability and sexuality affected the rate of books reviewed by women. </p>
<p>Until 2015, there’d been no recognition of these various intersections. Like the organisation VIDA: Women in the Literary Arts in the US, Stella had concentrated its early counts on the male/female binary and, as in the US, this began to annoy women whom the industry defines not only by their gender, but also by their race, ethnicity, sexuality, ability or gender-identity. </p>
<p>And Stella, which not only performs the count, but also awards The Stella Prize to the best book published by an Australian woman, has also come under increasing critique by women of colour about the whiteness of the prize’s longlists. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149583/original/image-20161212-31367-em9pzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149583/original/image-20161212-31367-em9pzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149583/original/image-20161212-31367-em9pzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=815&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149583/original/image-20161212-31367-em9pzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=815&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149583/original/image-20161212-31367-em9pzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=815&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149583/original/image-20161212-31367-em9pzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1024&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149583/original/image-20161212-31367-em9pzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1024&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149583/original/image-20161212-31367-em9pzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1024&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Charlotte Wood’s The Natural Way of Things, winner of the 2016 Stella Prize.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Undertaking <a href="http://thestellaprize.com.au/the-count/the-stella-count-2014/">the Stella Count</a> is laborious and fairly crude work. Someone has to sit down and sift through newspapers and microfiches with a notepad and a running tally of the female and male names of authors whose work is reviewed. </p>
<p>That is, the distinction rests on name alone. This works to a degree, though not always; think of Lionel Shriver, JK Rowling (names that don’t reflect a gender) as well as authors who are gender-queer. And it doesn’t work at all if you’re taking into consideration race, ability and sexuality. It is difficult to look at a female name on a book and assess whether or not the author is a member of the LGBTI or queer community or if she has a disability.</p>
<p>It may be easier to distinguish race or ethnicity by a name, but this is fraught territory for a number of reasons, not least because names lie. Then what? In the case of race, do you look up pictures of all authors and assess the colour of their skin? Do you search for non-British sounding names? How do you tell?</p>
<p>So, after much discussion between myself and the Stella Count Coordinator, Veronica Sullivan, we designed a survey for women-identifying authors who had their work reviewed in 2015. </p>
<p>This was long and often difficult work. We set up a public forum for members of the writing community to give their feedback on drafts of the survey and also established a consultative committee, which had input into the final version of the Diversity Survey. </p>
<p>Then, after many months, we sent the survey out to writers. When the results came back they were underwhelming and statistically insignificant. This broke our hearts a little. But then I began to think about why we had such a small uptake from those we’d surveyed. </p>
<h2>Too late in the game</h2>
<p>In the case of race and ethnicity (the qualifiers I feel I am best placed to speak about), I have a feeling that counting reviews comes too late in the game. I would guess that the Australian publishing industry simply does not publish enough books by women who are not white, but there are no figures for this. </p>
<p>For example, thanks to a recent <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/australian-authors-earn-only-12900-from-their-writing-a-new-report-says-20151006-gk2ft4.html">report from Macquarie University </a>we know that within the genre of fiction in Australia, 65.2% of literary fiction writers, 76.2 % of genre fiction writers and 86.9% of children’s book authors are women. This makes those graphs showing that men get far more reviews than women all the more infuriating. But, as yet, we don’t have the figures for racial or ethnic diversity. </p>
<p>How many Indigenous writers are published each year? How many non-white writers are published? And what kinds of books are being published?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149587/original/image-20161212-31367-1eab3wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149587/original/image-20161212-31367-1eab3wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149587/original/image-20161212-31367-1eab3wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=301&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149587/original/image-20161212-31367-1eab3wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=301&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149587/original/image-20161212-31367-1eab3wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=301&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149587/original/image-20161212-31367-1eab3wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149587/original/image-20161212-31367-1eab3wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149587/original/image-20161212-31367-1eab3wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What kinds of stories are upheld about non-white people in Australian literature?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source"> mirtmirt/shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Part of this lack, I think, comes from constraints placed on writers who are “othered” by the industry. For example, I think that it is probably easier for an indigenous author to be published if they write about epic struggles, rather than breezy romantic comedy. Likewise, I think that migrant writers will have an easier time getting into print if they follow the well-established trope of the happy, grateful migrant.</p>
<p>American author Morgan Parker writes that “we often find ourselves either being asked to ‘emphasize’ (read: exoticize) our identities (‘I love your writing about race,’ one editor told me. ‘Do you have anything else like that?’)”. And while Parker is speaking of the US, I think the same rules apply in Australia. </p>
<h2>Safe, exotic, far away</h2>
<p>It seems to me that the job of Indigenous writers and other writers of colour is to keep themselves and their stories at the margins of Australian literary culture. Safe, exotic, far away.</p>
<p>This begs questions about representation and what this means for a national literature. I listened to Indigenous author Jane Harrison speaking at the Diverse Women Writers Workshop in September and she pointed out that while Australia’s Indigenous population is (now) only about 2.44%, Australian Indigenous writing ought to make up a much larger percentage of our national literature, as our national literature should reflect Australian cultural heritage. </p>
<p>She’s right, of course. Toni Morrison <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37405.Playing_in_the_Dark">writes that</a> in the US the canon is, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>unshaped by the 400-year-old presence of, first, Africans and then African Americans in the United States. It assumes that this presence – which has shaped the body politic, the Constitution, and the entire history of culture – has no significant place or consequence in the origin or development of that culture’s literature. </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149586/original/image-20161212-31375-sab0bx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149586/original/image-20161212-31375-sab0bx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149586/original/image-20161212-31375-sab0bx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149586/original/image-20161212-31375-sab0bx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149586/original/image-20161212-31375-sab0bx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149586/original/image-20161212-31375-sab0bx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149586/original/image-20161212-31375-sab0bx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149586/original/image-20161212-31375-sab0bx.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">Toni Morrison.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Philippe Wojazer/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Whiteness of the literary canon means that our ideas of good and bad writing are very narrow and, often, exclusionary. </p>
<p>In Australia, as in the US, only certain stories are allowed to take centre stage in our literary culture and the universal subject is still presumed to be a white, middle-class, cis-gendered, heterosexual and fully-abled male. The more deviations from this (limited and highly problematic) notion of personhood you possess, the more estranged from the centre you become. </p>
<p>As Australian poet <a href="https://overland.org.au/previous-issues/issue-222/feature-four-perspectives/">Lia Incognita writes</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>work that draws from non-Anglo cultural references befuddles institutions (festivals, venues, funding bodies) whose understanding of ‘traditional’ and ‘contemporary’ is structured around Western practice. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Does this mean that the Diversity Count is doomed? Maybe, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Failures teach us that we have to look harder for answers. For me this entails a lot more quantitative as well as qualitative work, which comes at the stage of publication, rather than at the reviewing stage. </p>
<p>I’d like to undertake a comprehensive demographic survey of the Australian publishing industry (like those that Publisher’s Weekly perform in the US), examining both those people who work within the industry, as well as the authors who get published. </p>
<p>At the same time we need to look through our syllabuses in high-schools and universities and think about the kinds of stories that are upheld about non-white people in Australian Literature. By including a multitude of voices to speak fully and freely about the Australian experience, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Natalie will be online for an Author Q&A between 4 and 5pm AEDT on Tuesday, 13 December, 2016. Post any questions you have in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69976/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Kon-yu has been working with The Stella Prize this year.</span></em></p>
A recent attempt to broaden the Stella Count by measuring the diversity of writers reviewed proved to be a hard ask. Is the bigger problem here the whiteness of our publishing industry?
Natalie Kon-yu, Lecturer in Creative and Professionaln, Literature and Gender Studies, Victoria University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/69559
2016-12-08T19:09:00Z
2016-12-08T19:09:00Z
Friday essay: what is it about Versailles?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149005/original/image-20161207-25746-1x13p6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles Palace.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Benoit Tessier/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the triumphant Donald Trump welcomed Nigel Farage to his $100 million penthouse apartment in Trump Tower on 13 November, the two posed in his lift of gleaming gold. Trump’s hyper-bling apartment is his Versailles fantasy, where the oversized mirrors, picture-frames and furnishings speak of the wealth and power of America’s new Sun King. Despite the massive scale of his apartment, however, the furnishings are garish rather than exquisite, cluttered and over-large rather than inviting. But he is keen for us to take a virtual tour of his temple of tawdriness:</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RMdTZh9qaWw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Versailles sells big. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3830558/">Versailles</a>, the most expensive television series ever made in France, screened this year on SBS. It gives the impression that the courtiers spent their time indulging in outrageous fun when not having sex or killing each other. While hugely popular in France, its producers made a deliberate and canny decision to cast <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/apr/22/french-tv-hit-versailles-reaches-uk-screens-bbc2">English actors speaking an English script</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148835/original/image-20161206-25742-1p6rzr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148835/original/image-20161206-25742-1p6rzr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148835/original/image-20161206-25742-1p6rzr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=798&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148835/original/image-20161206-25742-1p6rzr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=798&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148835/original/image-20161206-25742-1p6rzr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=798&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148835/original/image-20161206-25742-1p6rzr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1003&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148835/original/image-20161206-25742-1p6rzr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1003&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148835/original/image-20161206-25742-1p6rzr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1003&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Louis XIV, 1701–12, studio of Hyacinthe Rigaud.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Château de Versailles, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Christophe Fouin</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The timing is perfect for the National Gallery of Australia’s “blockbuster” exhibition <a href="http://nga.gov.au/Versailles/">Versailles, Treasures from the Palace</a>, opening today. The exhibition of more than 130 pieces is a stunning array of brilliant craftsmanship, almost all from the Museum of Versailles itself and from the Louvre. The objects in the exhibition have not left France – or even Versailles – before. It is a triumph for the NGA and for its Director Gerard Vaughan.</p>
<p>The objects range from the court painter Hyacinthe Rigaud’s famous portrait of Louis XIV (1712) to huge, ornamental vases in marble, porphyry and bronze, and even a section of parquetry floor from Versailles. There are exquisite items from Marie-Antoinette’s “pearls and cornflowers” dining service manufactured in 1781 by the Royal Porcelain Factory at Sèvres.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148837/original/image-20161206-25735-f7m7uk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148837/original/image-20161206-25735-f7m7uk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148837/original/image-20161206-25735-f7m7uk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=822&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148837/original/image-20161206-25735-f7m7uk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=822&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148837/original/image-20161206-25735-f7m7uk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=822&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148837/original/image-20161206-25735-f7m7uk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1033&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148837/original/image-20161206-25735-f7m7uk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1033&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148837/original/image-20161206-25735-f7m7uk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1033&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Latona and her children, 1668–70, Gaspard Marsy and Balthazard Marsy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Château de Versailles, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Christophe Fouin</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are plans and keys for the intricate hydraulics for the gardens’ waterworks, even nozzles from the Latona fountain located in the grounds of Versailles. Indeed, the highlight of the exhibition is probably the two-metre high marble carving of the goddess Latona and her children sculpted in 1668-70 by the brothers Gaspard and Balthazard Marsy, weighing 1.5 tonnes. Not far behind in sumptuous elegance is Jean-Joseph Lemaire’s astonishingly intricate carved and gilded wood barometer (1773-75), weighing a modest 150 kg.</p>
<p>The NGA assures us that the exhibition “will celebrate the lives, loves and passions of the people of Versailles”. The Moët & Chandon special “champagne package” reminds us that “the champagne-infused hedonism of Versailles is legendary”; a French master perfumer has created a special perfume for the show based on Louis XIV’s favourite orange blossom flower. Indeed, we are offered glimpses into nightly entertainments (divertissements) in a rich series of drawings of the court at play. Unsurprisingly, the lives of those who laboured to provide the construction and maintenance, the cooking and cleaning are not captured here.</p>
<h2>Power, rivalry and drudgery</h2>
<p>The great fantasy and attraction of the world of Versailles has always been that the opulence and divertissements of its owners and their friends were a “way of life”. Ten million tourists flock to Versailles annually to imagine courtly life in such sumptuous surroundings. But Versailles was also about awesome royal power, intense rivalries, brilliant craftsmanship and engineering, and – for those who did the manual labour – drudgery and deference.</p>
<p>The construction of the palace at Versailles, about 20 km from Paris, was the initiative of Louis XIV (king of France 1643-1715). The project lasted a half-century, from about 1660 to 1710, but by 1682 sufficient work had been done for Louis to move his capital there from Paris. At the death of the Sun King in 1715, the village of Versailles – with a population of just 1,000 at the time of his accession in 1643 – had turned into a city of approximately 30,000 inhabitants.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149008/original/image-20161207-25749-15liouz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149008/original/image-20161207-25749-15liouz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149008/original/image-20161207-25749-15liouz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149008/original/image-20161207-25749-15liouz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149008/original/image-20161207-25749-15liouz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149008/original/image-20161207-25749-15liouz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149008/original/image-20161207-25749-15liouz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149008/original/image-20161207-25749-15liouz.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 entrance to the Chateau de Versailles with statue of Louis XIV.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Charles Platiau/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The final cost of the palace, with its 700 rooms, 1,250 fireplaces and garden façade of 575 metres is impossible to ascertain, since much of the manual labour was done by soldiers when not at war. But it was certainly several billions in today’s terms – and as much again has been spent on restoration since 1950.</p>
<p>The palace was redolent of the might of a monarch with absolute powers – responsible to God alone for the wellbeing of his people. The Sun King’s successors – Louis XV (1715-74) and Louis XVI (1774-93) – continued the awe-inspiring display of majesty. By 1789, there were about 60,000 inhabitants, and 10 per cent of the monarchy’s annual tax revenues were spent on the palace and its surrounds. </p>
<p>The last Louis – tragically incompetent politically – had several obsessive passions, and his love of killing animals is well reflected in the exhibition, as befits a palace constructed where once there had been just a hunting lodge. </p>
<p>Versailles was dominated by several thousand courtiers from the most eminent noble families in the kingdom (les Grands), the magistrates of the high courts and senior administrators.</p>
<p>As a boy king of 10 in 1648, Louis XIV was to endure five years of brutal civil wars (the “Fronde”) between aristocratic factions and their retinues. Indeed, one of his original intentions had been to undermine the chance of another Fronde by requiring his most powerful noble families to spend part of each year at Versailles, “in a gilded cage” as one of them quipped. From the Fronde emerged absolute or “divine right” monarchy and centralised, hierarchical government, and Versailles was to be their architectural form.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148844/original/image-20161206-25735-1b5swlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148844/original/image-20161206-25735-1b5swlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148844/original/image-20161206-25735-1b5swlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148844/original/image-20161206-25735-1b5swlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148844/original/image-20161206-25735-1b5swlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148844/original/image-20161206-25735-1b5swlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=946&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148844/original/image-20161206-25735-1b5swlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=946&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148844/original/image-20161206-25735-1b5swlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=946&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Yolande‐Martine‐Gabrielle de Polastron, Duchesse de Polignac, 1782, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The élite of the nobility was fractured by intricate hierarchies of status and prerogative: for example, between those who had been formally presented at court, those permitted to sit on a footstool in the queen’s presence, and those even permitted to ride in her carriage. These were not empty symbols: the family of the Queen’s favourite the Duchesse de Polignac received 438,000 livres annually in pensions and salaries (by way of comparison, parish priests commonly received less than 1,000 livres).</p>
<p>One of the most eminent nobles, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord — who entered the priesthood aged 25 rather than the army because of a congenital leg limp, and was ordained a bishop just 10 years later, in January 1789 — described the nobility as “a cascade of contempt”. What all nobles had in common, however, was a vested interest in a system of status and hierarchy from which came material privilege, status and preferment. Versailles was the heart of the system.</p>
<h2>The shadow of revolution</h2>
<p>Versailles represented territorial grandeur as well as symbolic power. In 1659, the Treaty of the Pyrenees between France and Spain not only marked the boundaries of the two kingdoms through Catalonia and the Basque country but also recognized the northern region of Artois as French.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148839/original/image-20161206-25724-yurp36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148839/original/image-20161206-25724-yurp36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148839/original/image-20161206-25724-yurp36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148839/original/image-20161206-25724-yurp36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148839/original/image-20161206-25724-yurp36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148839/original/image-20161206-25724-yurp36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148839/original/image-20161206-25724-yurp36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148839/original/image-20161206-25724-yurp36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ceremonial entry of Louis XIV and Queen Marie‐Thérèse into Arras, 30 July 1667 c 1685, Adam Frans van der Meulen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Musée du Louvre, Paris, Painting Department © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This expansion is represented in the exhibition by the work of the court painter Hyacinthe Rigaud, a Catalan, and the painting of the ceremonial entry of Louis XIV and Queen Marie-Thérèse into Arras, the capital of Artois, in 1667. Louis XVI’s interest in expanding the French Empire after the loss of Canada in 1763 is reflected in Monsiau’s painting of him giving instructions to La Perouse in 1785 before his expedition to the South Pacific.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148841/original/image-20161206-25730-16o6z08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148841/original/image-20161206-25730-16o6z08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148841/original/image-20161206-25730-16o6z08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148841/original/image-20161206-25730-16o6z08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148841/original/image-20161206-25730-16o6z08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148841/original/image-20161206-25730-16o6z08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148841/original/image-20161206-25730-16o6z08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148841/original/image-20161206-25730-16o6z08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Madame de Pompadour as the ‘beautiful gardener’, 1754–55, Carle Van Loo .</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are portraits of Louis XV’s mistress Madame de Pompadour as the “beautiful gardener”, and of her successor Madame du Barry as “Flora”. But the finest portraits in the exhibition are a series by the court painter Élisabeth Louise Vigée le Brun, of Queen Marie-Antoinette and two of her most eminent ladies at court, the Duchesse de Polignac and the Comtesse de Ségur. Polignac, like Marie-Antoinette, lost her life during the French Revolution, the shadow of which looms over the exhibition.</p>
<p>The “absolute” monarchy ruled over and held together a society based on the landed property and corporate privileges of the aristocracy and the Church. The power and wealth of these elites was based on their control over the labour of the more than four-fifths of the population who were peasants. France was a society of mass poverty as well as opulence, and at the centre of social control was the monopoly of awesome armed force by the monarchy. Punishments for commoners — particularly the poor — were severe and designed to be exemplary. But among those commoners were educated, successful professionals and business people - known as “bourgeois” - whose distance from social status and decision-making increasingly rankled. </p>
<p>One of the most significant objects in the exhibition is a small pen and sepia wash painting done in 1791 by the greatest painter of the age, Jacques-Louis David: The Oath of the Tennis Court at Versailles, 20 June 1789.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148838/original/image-20161206-25724-162vf8g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148838/original/image-20161206-25724-162vf8g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148838/original/image-20161206-25724-162vf8g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148838/original/image-20161206-25724-162vf8g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148838/original/image-20161206-25724-162vf8g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148838/original/image-20161206-25724-162vf8g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148838/original/image-20161206-25724-162vf8g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148838/original/image-20161206-25724-162vf8g.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 Oath of the Tennis Court at Versailles, 20 June 1789, Jacques-Louis David.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Musée du Louvre, Paris, Department of Graphic Arts © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>David was commissioned by the revolutionary National Assembly of 1789 to commemorate the first great act of the French Revolution, when commoner deputies to a national consultation convened to offer advice to Louis XVI took a revolutionary oath to act as a parliament and to draft a constitution. </p>
<p>David never completed the painting. But the Oath – taken in an indoor royal tennis court still standing in Versailles – was a decisive first step in the destruction of the king’s claim to absolute authority legitimised by divine right.</p>
<p>Despite the Tennis Court Oath, the storming of the Bastille in Paris on 14 July, and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen in August, the victory of the Revolution was uncertain. </p>
<p>Louis hesitated to give his assent to the Declaration. Claims multiplied of open contempt for the Revolution on the part of aristocrats: for example, after a banquet at Versailles on 1 October, there were reports that the new tricolour national cockade or badge had been besmirched by drunken noble army officers. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148846/original/image-20161206-25735-l7r1yj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148846/original/image-20161206-25735-l7r1yj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148846/original/image-20161206-25735-l7r1yj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148846/original/image-20161206-25735-l7r1yj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148846/original/image-20161206-25735-l7r1yj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148846/original/image-20161206-25735-l7r1yj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1058&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148846/original/image-20161206-25735-l7r1yj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1058&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148846/original/image-20161206-25735-l7r1yj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1058&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Queen Marie‐Antoinette, 1779–80, after Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Again, the working people of Paris intervened to safeguard a revolution they assumed to be theirs. This time, however, it was particularly the women of the markets. On 5 October, up to 20,000 women marched the 20 kilometres to Versailles to demand cheaper bread and royal assent to the Declaration.</p>
<p>Louis had already left to go shooting (rather than hunting: this was his concession to political tensions, since he would be easier to contact if not in full hunt). Louis’ diary for the 5th records that he “shot at the Porte de Châtillon. Killed 81 head. Interrupted by events”. He was back at Versailles by three in the afternoon. It was the last time he would have freedom to choose between hunting and shooting.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148843/original/image-20161206-25768-s49o69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148843/original/image-20161206-25768-s49o69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148843/original/image-20161206-25768-s49o69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=793&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148843/original/image-20161206-25768-s49o69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=793&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148843/original/image-20161206-25768-s49o69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=793&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148843/original/image-20161206-25768-s49o69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=996&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148843/original/image-20161206-25768-s49o69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=996&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148843/original/image-20161206-25768-s49o69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=996&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Louis XVI writing his testament in the Temple tower, 20 January 1793 1795, Henri‐Pierre Danloux.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Droits réservés</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Once at Versailles, the women invaded the Assembly. A deputation of them was then presented to the king, who promptly agreed to sanction the Declaration. The king kept going to the balcony at Versailles with the intention of appeasing the crowd but was too overwrought to be able to say anything.</p>
<p>It soon became apparent that the women would be satisfied only if the royal family returned to Paris; on the 6th it did so, the National Assembly in its wake. This was a decisive moment in the Revolution of 1789.</p>
<p>Less than four years later, Louis would go to the guillotine, after composing his final will and testament on 20 January 1793, memorialised in a painting by Henri-Pierre Danloux in the exhibition.</p>
<h2>Stripped of finery</h2>
<p>After the Revolution of 1789, the palace of Versailles was stripped of much of its finery. As the town’s population and wealth dwindled, local rage was vented on those blamed for preventing the full fruits of the Revolution from being harvested.</p>
<p>At the peak of revolutionary crisis in September 1792, when Austrian and Prussian troops invaded France in a bid to restore the ancien régime, a Versailles crowd attacked 50 royalist prisoners being deported in chains from Orléans through Versailles to Paris. Forty four heads were impaled on the spikes of the gates to the royal palace.</p>
<p>The population of the town fell to just 27,000 by 1800. The palace itself was saved by the intervention of Louis XVI’s cousin, king Louis-Philippe (1830-48). Even though his radical father – the self-styled Philippe-Égalité – had voted for the death of Louis XVI in 1793, Louis-Philippe converted the palace into a national museum.</p>
<p>One more time, in 1871, Versailles became the capital of France when the French government and parliament fled Paris after the eruption of the socialist Paris Commune; but eight years later, with the Third Republic firmly established, a new political majority returned to Paris, definitively.</p>
<p>The palace of Versailles now has iconic status in popular culture, representing as it does the ultimate statement of skilled craftsmanship, ostentatious consumption and aristocratic insouciance and frivolity, whether represented in Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French’s 1999 comedy series, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0187653/">Let Them Eat Cake</a>, Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0422720/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Marie-Antoinette</a>, or the <a href="http://assassinscreed.ubi.com/en-au/home/">Assassin’s Creed</a> video games.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PaYN5oFSJIc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>In contrast, the Catalan director Albert Serra’s 2016 The Death of Louis XIV (La Mort de Louis XIV) captures brilliantly the claustrophobic constraints of medical knowledge and courtly power during Louis’ horrible decline.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7ihbFgkObP8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>But the palace of Versailles also represents seismic shifts in political culture, from provincial aristocratic power to absolute monarchy and then to democracy, during the long 18th century when France was la Grande Nation. </p>
<p>To return to the US President-elect, Donald Trump, the symbolic opulence of faux-Versailles may be irresistible, but the competing claims of voters pose challenges of expectations that never had to concern Louis XIV in his construction of one of the world’s great palaces.</p>
<p>Treasures from the Palace is a precious opportunity to relish both astonishing skill in the creation of objects and to ponder the politics of magnificent display.</p>
<p><em>Versailles Treasures from the Palace is at the NGA from 9 December 2016 – 17 April 2017</em></p>
<hr>
<p><em>Relevant further reading:</em></p>
<p><em>A study of Versailles by the Director who oversaw the restoration projects since the 1950s is Gérald van der Kemp, Versailles: the Palace, the Park, the Trianon (Versailles: Éditions d'art Lys, 1976).</em></p>
<p><em>An excellent guide book is Jean-Jacques Lévêque, Versailles, the Palace of the Monarchy (Paris: ACR, 2000).</em></p>
<p><em>A classic study of the place of ritual in the creation of absolutism by Norbert Elias, The Court Society (London: Basil Blackwell, 1983).</em></p>
<p><em>An excellent introduction to eighteenth-century France by Daniel Roche, France in the Enlightenment, translated by Arthur Goldhammer (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998).</em></p>
<p><em>A recent history of the Revolution by Peter McPhee, Liberty or Death. The French Revolution (London: Yale University Press, 2016).</em></p>
<hr>
<p><em>Peter McPhee will be online to answer questions throughout the day. Post any questions you have in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69559/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter McPhee 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>
Donald Trump has a Versailles-inspired apartment. There’s a popular TV series and now, a new exhibition of treasures from the palace. A glittering symbol of aristocratic frivolity, Versailles was, in fact, a place of awesome royal power.
Peter McPhee, Emeritus professor, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/69975
2016-12-08T19:08:35Z
2016-12-08T19:08:35Z
You say ‘elite media’, I say real journalism. And now more than ever we must fight to keep it
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149166/original/image-20161208-18032-ye1976.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What critics call the 'elite media' is actually journalism that serves the public interest.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A word, if I may, on this nasty new term of abuse “elite media” – they who perpetrate “elite journalism”.</p>
<p>This is the journalism said by those who use the term to be out of touch with so-called “ordinary people” and their everyday concerns.</p>
<p>It is the journalism said to be done by people living inside the “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/nov/28/david-leyonhjelm-deal-to-force-abc-and-sbs-from-behind-goats-cheese-curtain">goat’s cheese curtain</a>”, in the chic inner suburbs of our cities, who are dismissed as having no idea what it is like to live in the outer suburbs, much less in regional or remote areas.</p>
<p>The phrase was invoked recently by Liberal Democratic senator David Leyonhjelm in his irrational proposition that he could generate a “freedom offset” against the impositions of the Australian Building and Construction Commission legislation by forcing the ABC to conduct community forums after its board meetings.</p>
<p>This, he argued, would force its people to receive knowledge from those who lived beyond the “curtain” and so help broaden the ABC’s collective mind.</p>
<p>A variant on the theme is the phrase “black skivvy”, to denote people who likewise live in the inner city.</p>
<p>Malcolm Turnbull <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/malcolm-turnbull-turns-fire-onto-abc-and-the-elite-media-for-distracting-people-20161114-gspbem.html">used the term “elite media”</a> with a curl of the lip during an interview a fortnight ago with Leigh Sales on ABC TV’s 7.30 program, when she asked him about his government’s preoccupation with amending Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.</p>
<p>Was this, Sales asked, really the main everyday concern of the voting population and, if it wasn’t, why was his government spending so much time and energy on it?</p>
<p>Turnbull replied that she would have to put that question to her colleagues in the “elite media”, specifying the ABC but neglecting to mention The Australian, which is the media outlet that has been pushing the hardest on 18C.</p>
<p>His use of “elite media” was a piece of copycat rhetoric that had suddenly become the height of fashion in the immediate aftermath of Donald Trump winning the US presidential election. The “elite media” had got it all wrong. They were so out of touch that they had failed to see what was really going on in the minds of the American people.</p>
<p>That seems to be true. The US media did seem to miss the story comprehensively, but, in the process of debating why this happened, the word “elite” came to be used to describe a professional media that had lost democratic legitimacy.</p>
<p>In the US, at least, there has developed a so-called “alt media” – meaning an alternative media. It is derived from the term “alt right”, the alternative or extreme right wing of American politics.</p>
<p>Using online platforms – basically Facebook – the “alt media” proclaims that it will tell you information the mainstream media – the professional journalists – won’t tell you, because they are part of The Establishment and not to be trusted.</p>
<p>On this assertion, then, rests the “alt media’s” claim to democratic legitimacy.</p>
<p>It is a dangerous development because the “alt media” gives the impression of doing journalism when what it really does is a melange of gossip, propaganda and hate. It is part of the “fake news” phenomenon. It has nothing to do with the fourth-estate function of the media on which democratic politics depend.</p>
<p>Yet it is a development for which professional journalists in some parts of the mainstream media – and more especially their employers – have to share the blame.</p>
<p>When the internet burst into everyday life in 2006, big newspaper companies and their journalists became hooked on it as a source of cheap thrills and easy access to information. They republished material from the internet without doing anything like enough to verify it beforehand.</p>
<p>I know this because journalists I interviewed after the Black Saturday bushfires told me about it. That was seven years ago. They told me that they had this mantra: “If it’s wrong, it won’t be wrong for long.” The readers would see the mistakes, tell the newspaper and then it might be fixed.</p>
<p>As a result, professional journalism became cheapened, and the distinctions between professional journalism and online <em>ersatz</em> journalism became blurred.</p>
<p>Australia’s two biggest newspaper companies either didn’t see the risks or chose to ignore them.</p>
<p>Now we have reached the situation where real journalism is being dismissed as “elite”.</p>
<p>Real journalism involves collecting and verifying facts before publishing them. It involves adherence to legal and ethical standards concerning due process at law, avoidance of wrongful harm, and respect for public taste.</p>
<p>It involves the unfashionable function of gatekeeping – call it editing.</p>
<p>It involves shining a light in dark places to reveal things that people in power want concealed. That is how we know, for instance, about sexual abuse of children by clergy, and about bad behaviour by the insurance arm of the Commonwealth Bank.</p>
<p>Journalism like this involves accumulating evidence to a standard of proof commensurate with the gravity of the wrongdoing. It is a complex exercise demanding skill and experience.</p>
<p>Yes, professional journalism has many flaws and neither the practitioners nor the media industry they work for are as accountable as they should be for the way they use their power. But there is some accountability, including some serious legal consequences.</p>
<p>Moreover, they operate in the open, with no cloak of anonymity to hide behind.</p>
<p>This is the kind of journalism that serves the public interest.</p>
<p>It follows that it is in the public interest that professional journalism and the media industry respond effectively to the current challenge to their institutional legitimacy. Basically, that means doing journalism to high ethical standards and putting the need to be right ahead of the need to be first.</p>
<p>This is not about elite journalism versus alternative journalism. It is about real journalism versus non-journalism.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Denis will be online for an Author Q&A between 10:30 and 11:30am AEDT on Friday, 9 December, 2016. Post any questions you have in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69975/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Denis Muller 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>
Suddenly ‘elite media’ has become a term of abuse, but in truth this is a battle between real journalism and non-journalism.
Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Advancing Journalism, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/68585
2016-11-30T19:20:05Z
2016-11-30T19:20:05Z
Reliable renewable electricity is possible if we make smart decisions now
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148014/original/image-20161129-17000-699wxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Renewable energy poses a number of challenges for the grid. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wind turbine image from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The Australian government is reviewing our electricity market to make sure it can provide secure and reliable power in a rapidly changing world. Faced with the rise of renewable energy and limits on carbon pollution, The Conversation has asked experts <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/electricity-futures-series-33901">what kind of future awaits the grid</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Unreliable electricity supply can cause many inconveniences, such as the inability to check Facebook, being forced to play board games by candlelight in the evenings, and even, God forbid, missing out on a punt on the <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/brisbane-weather-slight-risk-of-severe-cup-day-storms/news-story/d480a8b7dae31d00d9cfc74b7d38f297">Melbourne Cup</a>. But electricity blackouts have a more serious side too. </p>
<p>Findings from <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3276729/">research overseas</a> and <a href="http://heapro.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/02/08/heapro.dar003.full.pdf+html">in Australia</a> show people are more likely to die during power outages. This is because of the increased risk of accidents, extreme cold or heat, food poisoning and communications breakdowns that can delay emergency responders.</p>
<p>So whatever our electricity grid looks like in the future, it will need to be reliable. </p>
<h2>Meeting demand (most of the time)</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.daa.com.au/case-studies/profiles-of-power/">Electricity demand varies during the day</a>, so reliable electricity grids must be able to vary their output. Power supply needs to be constant and regular (this is known as “baseload power”) but also able to respond quickly to unexpected surges in demand (so-called “dispatchable power”). Finally, the grid must be responsive when extreme circumstances (such as storms or bushfires) affect supply.</p>
<p>Our current fossil-fuel-dominated electricity generation system is able to match supply with demand all but 0.002% of the time. It does this by relying largely on coal baseload power (64% of generation) which works together with other dispatchable power technologies – primarily gas (21%), as well as hydro (7%), oil (2%) and biomass (2%). </p>
<p>Generators in eastern Australia are also part of an <a href="http://jo.nova.s3.amazonaws.com/graph/energy/electricity/electricity_grid_australia_2009_m.gif">interlinked transmission grid</a> across New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania. </p>
<p>Variability in renewable resources (such sun and wind) is one of the main challenges to achieving the same reliability (or better) for a grid with more renewable energy generation. </p>
<p>There are several ways to manage this. First, there can be more generators than are required at any one point in time – power in one area can then be moved to areas that need it across a dispersed but highly interconnected transmission grid. </p>
<p>Second, we can avoid too much reliance on one particular technology (such as more than 30% wind). Having a mix of technologies provides a buffer.</p>
<p>Finally, we can include sufficient dispatchable energy sources or storage technologies. The list can include hydro, biomass, concentrated solar, geothermal, or batteries.</p>
<p>But herein lies the cost. Having more generators than needed at any point in time means that spare generators may sometimes sit idle. </p>
<p>Varying renewable resources also means that electricity may be produced but not purchased at times of low demand (and therefore wasted). </p>
<p>Buffering variable electricity supply would require an expansion of the transmission network across our vast continent to access our rich supply of renewable resources. But as distances increase, so do transmission losses. </p>
<p>So the question remains, at what cost would these strategies work?</p>
<h2>The cost of reliability</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261916309400">Our recent research</a> took a highly conservative approach to testing the cost question. </p>
<p>We assumed that there would be no future improvements in technology from what is currently viable and no future decrease in electricity demand. We also used renewable resource supply (sunshine and wind) from 2010 because this was one of the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421513007088">most challenging years</a> for renewables.</p>
<p>Our findings indeed showed that strategies to manage the variability of renewable resources were effective in a 100% renewable energy mix of rooftop solar, wind, large-scale solar, hydro and biofuels.</p>
<p>In one scenario, for instance, current demand could be matched with supply at a cost of producing electricity around 20c per kilowatt hour (<a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-does-coal-fired-power-cost-79-kwh-and-wind-power-1502-kwh-44956">the current levelised cost of coal-fired electricity is 7.8-9.1c per kWh</a>), with overall installed capacity of 162 gigawatts (2.5 to 3 times what is installed today), relatively low transmission losses and with less than 20% wasted electricity. </p>
<p>The interconnected eastern Australian transmission grid would need to be 2.5 times the current size, and would need to be linked to the grids in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. </p>
<h2>Recent developments look positive for renewables</h2>
<p>But recent developments mean that the costs and constraints for reliable renewable energy are not likely to be as conservative as our scenario. </p>
<p>Battery storage has benefited from rapid improvements in technology even in the short period since our research in 2015. Significant battery storage could even mean a restructuring of our largely centralised (big power stations) network to a <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/business-spectator/solar-to-drive-the-worlds-decentralised-power-expansion/news-story/03c65968f0cba91c6d32a6562fa41d5d">more decentralised one</a> that includes rooftop solar panels and battery storage.</p>
<p>Decentralisation of power generation opens up the possibility of using waste heat from power generation in buildings to reduce power demand (such as <a href="http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/vision/towards-2030/sustainability/carbon-reduction/trigeneration">tri-generation</a>). </p>
<p>Our research also indicates that investing in more dispatchable technologies can reduce wasted energy, the cost of energy, the grid expansion required, and overall generation capacity. </p>
<p>With <a href="https://theconversation.com/renewables-are-getting-cheaper-all-the-time-heres-why-64799">the price of renewables decreasing</a>, the transition to renewables may have benefits for power producers and <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148113002541">power consumers</a>. </p>
<p>Future constraints and opportunities for renewable energy are uncertain, but <a href="https://uonblogs.newcastle.edu.au/herdingthegreenchicken/2016/08/17/lets-not-play-chicken-with-the-future/">we can’t wait for perfect certainty before we plan and act</a>. In Australia we have some of the world’s leading experts in the field with a range of sophisticated modelling capabilities at hand. These assets could be the foundation of collaboration with policymakers to transition to reliable renewable energy. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Bonnie McBain will be on hand for an Author Q&A from 2-3pm AEDT Thursday December 1. Leave your questions in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68585/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bonnie McBain 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>
Whatever our electricity grid looks like in the future, it will need to be reliable.
Bonnie McBain, Tutor in Sustainability Science, University of Newcastle
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/67236
2016-10-26T19:10:49Z
2016-10-26T19:10:49Z
Made in China: three ways Chinese business has evolved from imitation to innovation
<p><em>Businesses and governments around the world are watching as China grows, innovates and extends its influence. We explore how the country got to where it is and what might be in store for its future in our series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/understanding-chinas-influence-32555">Understanding China’s Influence</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Most of us use products made in China every day and are aware of its growing economic power as a factory to the world. But China intends to become a developed nation by mid-century and integral to this ambition is its intense focus on innovation. </p>
<p>In a very few decades, Chinese companies had evolved from imitators to imaginative and effective innovators. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/china%E2%80%99s-next-strategic-advantage">part of my research with my colleague George Yip</a> on this issue, we identified three key phases in China’s development:</p>
<ol>
<li>From Copying to Fit for Purpose</li>
<li>From Followers to World Standard</li>
<li>From Seeking New Resources to Seeking New Knowledge</li>
</ol>
<p>Chinese companies now pose a challenge to established multinationals, as they enter the markets of the developed world to become insiders.</p>
<p>Since China’s former leader, Deng Xiaoping, implemented market-oriented economic reforms to China in 1979-80, the driving forces of this transformation have been the customer and the culture. Chinese customers have an insatiable and rapidly growing demand for products, as the large, diverse population seeks better lives. This has stimulated many companies to develop affordable products for those needs. And a culture of entrepreneurship in the business sector has been facilitated by a far-sighted government with a strong drive for independence and economic development. </p>
<p>The Chinese government has fostered an innovation ecosystem across the country, consisting of some 100 science and technology parks, universities and government research institutions, which provide support for new enterprises. The Chinese government and business <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/china%E2%80%99s-next-strategic-advantage">invested some US$190 billion in research and development in 2013</a>, which is around 40% of the annual R&D investment in the United States. </p>
<p>China’s research and development expenditure represents just over 2% of its GDP, which is slightly <a href="http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=MSTI_PUB">more as a share of GDP than that of Western Europe</a>. The government’s priority for technological development is matched by the entrepreneurial spirit and drive of Chinese entrepreneurs.</p>
<h2>From copying to fit for purpose</h2>
<p>In the first phase of development, Chinese companies started by copying products and processes from Western firms or producing components for the supply chains of multinational corporations. Chinese suppliers to multinationals were forced by their business partners to <a href="http://fiid.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/China%E2%80%99s-Run-of-the-Red-Queen-%E2%80%93-Government-Innovation-Globalization-and-Economic-Growth.pdf">achieve high standards of quality at low cost</a>.</p>
<p>While demand from domestic consumers was initially for very cheap products, Chinese producers quickly learned to develop products that were “good enough”, combining fitness for purpose with low cost. For example, an enterprising start-up created the “Apple Peel”, a component which the customer could combine with an iPod Touch, turning it into a mobile phone, very much like an iPhone.</p>
<p>Contrary to the low level of competition in China’s state-owned sector, private companies operated in sectors that were more open and competitive. Chinese firms’ better understanding of local customers enabled them over time to compete effectively with multinationals in the Chinese market.</p>
<p>Although local firms lacked the research and development capabilities of foreign companies, they were helped to innovate by the extensive technology network and innovation ecosystem developed by the Chinese government. With the experience they gained in satisfying customer demands and dealing with intense competition, Chinese firms were also able to diversify into other markets and more advanced products. </p>
<p>An example of this is Joyoung, a Hangzhou-based domestic appliance company, which began as the inventor of an appliance that makes soy milk, later copied by many others (including foreign firms). Joyoung built on its success with its soy milk appliance to become a large diversified maker of small household appliances. </p>
<p>This competitive experience in the fast-growing markets of China led Chinese firms to the second phase in their evolution. </p>
<h2>From followers to world standard</h2>
<p>In this phase, Chinese firms ambitiously set their sights on achieving global standards, particularly those companies active in export markets, such as the domestic appliance firm Haier. </p>
<p>Haier from the beginning was focused on innovation and is now the biggest company by sale revenue in the appliance sector. A legendary innovation of Haier’s is a washing machine that washes potatoes as well as clothes, which was in response to a need from farmers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142995/original/image-20161024-28376-xa4jpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142995/original/image-20161024-28376-xa4jpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142995/original/image-20161024-28376-xa4jpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142995/original/image-20161024-28376-xa4jpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142995/original/image-20161024-28376-xa4jpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142995/original/image-20161024-28376-xa4jpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142995/original/image-20161024-28376-xa4jpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chef Dana Cohen of the popular television show Hell’s Kitchen chooses to use a Haier electric radiant cooktop to prepare a meal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://pictures.reuters.com/archive/TECH-CES--GF20000087107.html">Steve Marcus/Reuters</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many of China’s companies have now reached global standards of quality. However, very few have strong brands that are recognised outside China. This is one of the reasons for the third phase in their evolution.</p>
<h2>From seeking new resources to seeking new knowledge</h2>
<p>Building on the capabilities they developed in the domestic market, coupled with the cash generated by their successes, Chinese businesses are now moving outside China. </p>
<p>In contrast to the earlier expansion of Chinese firms investing abroad in petroleum and other natural resources, this third phase is very much about exploiting innovation developed at home and applying it to the consumer and industrial markets of the West. </p>
<p>Chinese businesses are seeking brands, market access and technologies that may be missing from their home-developed portfolios. Their entries into foreign markets are often by acquisition, and European firms (particularly German middle-sized companies) have been popular targets. </p>
<p>Others have set up research and development centres in the United States and Europe, located in centres of innovation such as Silicon Valley. A good example is the telecoms equipment and smartphone maker Huawei.</p>
<p>Over many years of international expansion, Huawei has developed a global network of 16 research and development institutes and 36 joint customer innovation centres. Huawei and the other major Chinese telecoms company ZTE are consistently <a href="http://www.wipo.int/pct/en/activity/">among the top 10 patent filers</a> each year in the international patent system (PCT) application process. </p>
<h2>Chinese lessons in business management</h2>
<p>Chinese firms have also adopted a number of management practices that are less common in the West. Our research identified ten of these, ranging from deep understanding of their customers, rapid decision-making, rapid prototyping and learning from mistakes, to a ready willingness to deploy extensive resources to innovate. </p>
<p>While these are not of themselves particularly new, they are a source of competitive advantage in the Chinese environment, where foreign companies have not applied them consistently. </p>
<p>Foreign companies have much to learn from China, as it is becoming a leading market for the world. They can develop in China capabilities that they may have neglected, including bold experimentation, speedy implementation, new product category creation, focus on “lean value” and developing mixed teams and global leaders. </p>
<p>There is a tidal wave of competition approaching the developed world from China. The best way multinationals can prepare themselves for this is by participating directly in the Chinese innovation ecosystem. </p>
<hr>
<p>_Bruce McKern will be online for an Author Q&A between 3 and 4pm AEDT on Thursday, 27 October, 2016. Post any questions you have in the comments below. _</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67236/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce McKern is an Adviser to the Maritime Silk Road Society, Hong Kong.</span></em></p>
There is a tidal wave of competition approaching the developed world from China – and foreign businesses have much to learn how Chinese companies evolved from imitators to innovators.
Bruce McKern, Honorary Professor, Business School; Recently Visiting Fellow at Hoover Institution, Stanford University and Oxford University, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/67645
2016-10-26T19:10:10Z
2016-10-26T19:10:10Z
A new breed of post-Trump populist leaders could put the US on the path to fascism
<p>Donald Trump’s apparent derailment as a serious contender for the White House has brought sighs of relief from many political observers. But the future of US politics remains far from benign.</p>
<p>Trump has given voice to tens of millions of Americans expressing a hardening discontent with the political and economic status quo. The divide between the Establishment and anti-Establishment is now the main game in American politics – and it’s a divide as entrenched and potentially toxic as that between North and South in the American Civil War.</p>
<p>Some label the anti-Establishment movement pervading America as “Trumpism”.</p>
<p>But they’ve got it wrong. </p>
<p>“Trumpism” suggests an ideology. It suggests a coherent set of principles around which disenchanted Americans can articulate a game changing political agenda.</p>
<p>Trump is no ideologue. It should be clear by now that he is a misogynist and narcissist whose ability to outline a coherent agenda to America’s voiceless is severely limited by his character failings. </p>
<p>However, as former Foreign Minister Bob Carr <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/if-you-think-donald-trump-is-bad-imagine-who-the-republic-who-is-coming-next-20161014-gs2qbu.html">recently highlighted</a>, it doesn’t really matter if Hillary Clinton defeats Trump on November 8. Far more competent, grassroots politicians will line up to take over the Trump mantle.</p>
<p>Without an infantile and pampered property mogul in their sights, it will be much harder for the US Establishment to discredit its anti-Establishment opponents.</p>
<p>A new, post-Trump breed of leaders will be more adept at shifting populism toward a more sinister “ism”, one that widens and deepens grassroots discontent. What we could be seeing is the emergence of fascism - American-style.</p>
<p>If you think America, the land of the free, is immune from such tendencies, just <a href="http://www.radixjournal.com/altright-archive/altright-archive/main/the-magazine/the-enigma-of-american-fascism-in-the-1930s">look to history</a>.</p>
<p>During the Great Depression, when the US was split by similarly extreme divides between rich and poor, self styled “strong men” gained huge grassroots support from those who felt trampled and betrayed by the Establishment and saw liberal democracy as a plaything for the powerful.</p>
<p>Many looked to Nazi Germany for inspiration, claiming “rigged” democracy should be sacrificed to reduce economic disparity and allow the nation to recapture its former glory. Groups such as the German-American Bund and US Black Legion echoed the racist mantras espoused by Hitler and Mussolini. </p>
<p>These groups failed to break through, thanks to the innovative leadership of Franklin Roosevelt, who <a href="http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1906802_1906838_1906745-2,00.html">rebuilt America’s democratic capitalist system</a> by blending it with a big, new welfare state.</p>
<p>Trump’s campaign has energised and empowered right wing, anti-Establishment groups across the US, effectively giving them permission to metastasise into something more mainstream and odious.</p>
<p>They trumpet Trump’s isolationist agenda to wider audiences, along with his threats to exclude Muslims from America and promises to restore the nation to its former glory.</p>
<p>Even if Trump loses in a landslide, there will be many millions who agree with <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-says-report-of-clinton-allys-contributions-are-more-proof-of-rigged-election-1477347724">his claims</a> that he lost the presidential race due to moneyed interests rigging democracy. These supporters will be more likely to sacrifice a political system they see as delivering them nothing.</p>
<p>If Clinton wins, can we expect her to show the same innovative leadership as Roosevelt and curtail these threats? The answer is: unlikely. For all her high level experience, Clinton is reminiscent not of Roosevelt, but his predecessor, Herbert Hoover.</p>
<p>Hoover is often remembered as the well meaning but ultimately hapless President unable to comprehend, let alone contend with, the political and economic disruption brought on by the Great Depression and the deep societal splits it created.</p>
<p>Clinton will break new ground if she becomes the first female US President. But her campaign’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clinton-blasts-wall-street-but-still-draws-millions-in-contributions/2016/02/04/05e1be00-c9c2-11e5-ae11-57b6aeab993f_story.html">dependence on Wall Street donations</a> and <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/clinton-team-ran-highly-scripted-campaign-wikileaks-emails/story?id=42827506">highly-scripted</a> style of communication make her a reflection of the deep disconnect that fuelled anti-Establishment populism in the US in the first place. </p>
<p>We should be deeply worried about what Trump’s campaign signals for the future of American politics. As populism in the US hardens into something more ominous with Clinton’s likely victory, we should be equally concerned about an increasingly fractious America turning its anger outward. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Mark Triffitt will be online for an Author Q&A between noon and 1pm AEDT on Thursday, October 27, 2016. Post any questions you have in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67645/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Triffitt is a Member of the Academic Advisory Council of the newDemocacy Foundation.</span></em></p>
Donald Trump may lose his bid for the White House. But far more competent, grassroots politicians will line up to take his mantle.
Mark Triffitt, Lecturer, Public Policy and Politics, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/65957
2016-10-13T19:11:49Z
2016-10-13T19:11:49Z
Friday essay: war crimes and the many threats to cultural heritage
<p>Recently, the International Criminal Court sentenced a Malian militant to nine years’ jail for his role in <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/world/icc-convicts-malian-rebel-over-timbuktu-tomb-attacks-20160927-grpvc3">destroying heritage sites in Timbuktu</a>. The conviction was the first of its kind. Will other such cases follow, dealing with the destruction of priceless artefacts at Palmrya in Syria or in other war zones? </p>
<p>And what, more broadly, is the fate of our cultural heritage in an age driven by the imperative of continual global economic growth? Are wartime atrocities the chief threat to cultural heritage? Or is it, in fact, everyday development in a rapacious world?</p>
<p>The ICC case concerned the destruction of World Heritage sites in Timbuktu, Mali, in 2012, by al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamist insurgents. The former militant, Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, admitted that he had directed the destruction of 14 holy 15th and 16th-century mausoleums considered blasphemous by the Islamists. The presiding judge, Raul Pangalangan, described <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/world/icc-convicts-malian-rebel-over-timbuktu-tomb-attacks-20160927-grpvc3">targeting Timbuktu’s cultural patrimony</a> as </p>
<blockquote>
<p>a war activity aimed at breaking the soul of the people.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141342/original/image-20161012-8411-zbdyvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141342/original/image-20161012-8411-zbdyvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=764&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141342/original/image-20161012-8411-zbdyvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=764&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141342/original/image-20161012-8411-zbdyvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=764&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141342/original/image-20161012-8411-zbdyvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141342/original/image-20161012-8411-zbdyvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141342/original/image-20161012-8411-zbdyvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/pool</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course since time immemorial, people have been destroying and looting other people’s places and stuff – what we’d now call cultural heritage – through both hostilities and ostensibly peaceful “development”. You can see the evidence all over the world, in cityscapes, museum collections and even whole landscapes as much as in specific archaeological sites. </p>
<p>In recent years, though, the link between extremism and the looting of cultural heritage has become more pronounced. Blood antiquities fund conflict, just like blood diamonds. In April, <a href="https://theantiquitiescoalition.org/">the Antiquities Coalition</a> in Washington DC launched a report Culture under Threat, which contained a set of recommendations to the US Government concerning the nexus between looting and violent extremism. The panel included various heritage professionals, ambassadors and the like, but also people from the intelligence and Special Forces communities. </p>
<p>Some of their evidence was jaw-dropping, such as the ISIS paperwork regarding looting permits for Palmyra. Not only were there the permits themselves, which authorised looting by so-and-so in area such-and-such, but there were also applications for extensions of the permits owing to problems in moving the volume of antiquities flooding the illicit market. </p>
<p>These were not scrappy handwritten notes, but duly notarised printed documents on “official” letterhead. The bureaucratic banality of evil! </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141550/original/image-20161013-16248-gcbaz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141550/original/image-20161013-16248-gcbaz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141550/original/image-20161013-16248-gcbaz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141550/original/image-20161013-16248-gcbaz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141550/original/image-20161013-16248-gcbaz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141550/original/image-20161013-16248-gcbaz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141550/original/image-20161013-16248-gcbaz1.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">Graffiti sprayed by IS militants, which reads ‘We remain’, seen at the Temple of Bel in Palmyra in April.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Omar Sanadiki/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The vast scale of the looting revealed was staggering too, with photographs of heavy earthmoving equipment excavating tons of archaeologically-rich deposits to be sifted through for saleable artefacts.</p>
<p>It’s hard to know exactly how much money ISIS and similar groups make from blood antiquities, but it’s substantial. As one of the Special Forces people said: a historically-valuable artefact may now be seen chiefly in terms of the ammunition it will buy for ISIS. </p>
<p>For this reason, governments around the world are starting to clamp down heavily on heritage trafficking. There’s long been some effort in that direction: the Italians, for instance, have had a specialist police unit, now known as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carabinieri_Art_Squad">Carabinieri Art Squad</a>. </p>
<p>These days, though, in the eyes of intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, heritage ranks right up there with arms and human trafficking, as the same extremists and criminals are frequently involved in all three. Monday it’s guns. Tuesday it’s sex slaves. Wednesday it’s blood antiquities. </p>
<p>While this intense focus on crime and security obviously attracts headlines, there is also a compelling link between heritage, identity and wellbeing. For instance, the Australian Government’s recently-released Australian Heritage Strategy points out that the Productivity Commission </p>
<blockquote>
<p>found that reinforcement and preservation of living culture has helped to develop identity, sense of place, and build self esteem within Indigenous communities. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Such findings are not restricted to colonised minorities. This year, a department of the <a href="https://www.hlf.org.uk/values-and-benefits-heritage">UK Heritage Lottery Fund</a> released a research review of the “values and benefits of heritage”.
About 70% of respondents believed that </p>
<blockquote>
<p>heritage sites and buildings play an important part in how people view the places they live, how they feel and their quality of life. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In my observation, much the same would be found in Australia and most other parts of the world. In broad terms, it was concern for such matters that drove the Mali prosecution.</p>
<h2>Heritage destruction as a war crime</h2>
<p>The sites destroyed by the Islamists in Timbuktu included the 16th century mausoleum of Sidi Mahmoud, leader of the city’s celebrated Sankore University, and the shrine of Sidi Ahmed ar-Raqqad, a scholar and Sufi mystic who wrote a treatise on traditional medicine over 400 years ago. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141347/original/image-20161012-8385-1yawmyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141347/original/image-20161012-8385-1yawmyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141347/original/image-20161012-8385-1yawmyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141347/original/image-20161012-8385-1yawmyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141347/original/image-20161012-8385-1yawmyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141347/original/image-20161012-8385-1yawmyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141347/original/image-20161012-8385-1yawmyk.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 rubble left from an ancient mausoleum destroyed by Islamist militants in Timbuktu.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joe Penney/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Under the Rome Statute governing the International Criminal Court, war crimes include intentional targeting of historic monuments. Although this is the first time the ICC has prosecuted war crimes on this basis, its action is consistent with the various Hague conventions on war going back to the late 1800s. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141542/original/image-20161013-16206-rfr0cp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141542/original/image-20161013-16206-rfr0cp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141542/original/image-20161013-16206-rfr0cp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=836&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141542/original/image-20161013-16206-rfr0cp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=836&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141542/original/image-20161013-16206-rfr0cp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=836&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141542/original/image-20161013-16206-rfr0cp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1050&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141542/original/image-20161013-16206-rfr0cp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1050&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141542/original/image-20161013-16206-rfr0cp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1050&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Miodrag Jokić.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">STR New/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Mali trial builds on jurisprudence developed in the Nuremburg trials after WWII and on the war-crimes prosecutions by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia of those responsible for destroying cultural property in the Balkans war in the 1990s. As in the case of Mali, the cultural World Heritage status of Dubrovnik’s Old Town was a determining factor in the convictions of Yugoslav People’s Army commanders Miodrag Jokić and Pavle Strugar <a href="http://www.icty.org/x/cases/miodrag_jokic/cis/en/cis_jokic_en.pdf">following their 1991 shelling of the city</a>.</p>
<p>In the Mali case, concern has been expressed that the ICC’s sole focus on heritage “stuff” is misplaced and should be expanded to include matters such as torture, rape and murder. </p>
<p>The International Federation for Human Rights, for example, welcomed the verdict but contended that <a href="https://www.fidh.org/en/region/Africa/mali/first-step-on-the-path-to-justice-icc-sentences-al-mahdi-to-9-years">“this victory does leave something to be desired”</a>. The Federation called upon the ICC prosecutor to continue her investigations and to prosecute the perpetrators of other crimes committed in northern Mali, in particular, sexual and gender-based ones. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141543/original/image-20161013-16238-rx0mn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141543/original/image-20161013-16238-rx0mn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141543/original/image-20161013-16238-rx0mn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141543/original/image-20161013-16238-rx0mn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141543/original/image-20161013-16238-rx0mn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141543/original/image-20161013-16238-rx0mn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141543/original/image-20161013-16238-rx0mn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141543/original/image-20161013-16238-rx0mn0.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">A museum guard displays a burnt ancient manuscript in Timbuktu.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Benoit Tessier/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, as Fatou Basouda, the ICC’s prosecutor, stated in September 2015 in relation to the Timbuktu case:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Let there be no mistake: the charges … involve most serious crimes; they are about the destruction of irreplaceable historic monuments, and they are about a callous assault on the dignity and identity of entire populations, and their religious and historical roots… It is rightly said that ‘cultural heritage is the mirror of humanity’. Such attacks affect humanity as a whole. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The importance that the prosecutor places on identity and dignity – in a word, wellbeing – is something that should focus our minds when we are discussing the place of heritage in other circumstances, even in “everyday” situations.</p>
<h2>‘Everyday’ heritage destruction</h2>
<p>The destruction of heritage in the course of “everyday” development, in fact, does vastly more damage than war. This is either through large-scale projects such as mines or dams, or the cumulative impact of industrial expansion and smaller-scale projects such as housing and tourism developments. </p>
<p>One high profile international example is the Ilisu Dam on the upper Tigris River in southeastern Turkey. The project will create a 300 square kilometre reservoir that will force the resettlement of tens of thousands of mostly Kurdish people from nearly 200 villages. The dam will also flood the extraordinary historic town of Hasankeyf, parts of which date back 12,000 years.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141345/original/image-20161012-8385-7wdrhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141345/original/image-20161012-8385-7wdrhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141345/original/image-20161012-8385-7wdrhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141345/original/image-20161012-8385-7wdrhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141345/original/image-20161012-8385-7wdrhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141345/original/image-20161012-8385-7wdrhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141345/original/image-20161012-8385-7wdrhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Tigris river, with the minaret of a 14th century mosque on the right, flows through the town of Hasankeyf in southeastern Turkey.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Murad Sezer/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite being declared a major national monument by Turkey in 1978, Hasankeyf was identified by Europa Nostra, Europe’s peak heritage organization, as one of Europe’s <a href="http://7mostendangered.eu/2015/12/10/ancient-city-of-hasankeyf-and-its-surroundings-turkey/">“7 Most Endangered”</a> heritage sites in 2016. Early in the long-running campaign to save the site, Turkish government engineers dismissed heritage concerns, stating that the dam was more important to the nation than <a href="http://www.hasankeyfmatters.com/">some old minarets and a few caves</a>.</p>
<p>In Australia, continual damage to the rock art on Western Australia’s Burrup Peninsula by the ongoing development of mining infrastructure is a woeful example of heritage seemingly doomed to “death by 1,000 cuts”. </p>
<p>The Burrup engravings are of great cultural significance to local Indigenous people and widely regarded as one of the most important bodies of rock art in the world. As Griffith University’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-rock-art-is-threatened-by-a-lack-of-conservation-32900">Paul Taçon</a> has written, 1,700 engraved boulders were relocated and thus decontextualised from their cultural landscape in the 1980s to make way for infrastructure for the North West Shelf gas project. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141536/original/image-20161012-16242-1uo9l6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141536/original/image-20161012-16242-1uo9l6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141536/original/image-20161012-16242-1uo9l6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141536/original/image-20161012-16242-1uo9l6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141536/original/image-20161012-16242-1uo9l6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141536/original/image-20161012-16242-1uo9l6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141536/original/image-20161012-16242-1uo9l6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141536/original/image-20161012-16242-1uo9l6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=437&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 ancient rock art coined ‘Climbing Men Panel’ found amongst thousands of drawings and carvings near the Burrup Peninsula in WA.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Robert G. Bednarik/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2007, Woodside Petroleum started extending processing facilities for the Pluto Gas Field, having received permission from the WA Government to destroy a significant quantity of the Burrup rock art, against the advice of the government’s own statutory expert panel. </p>
<p>After international protests, the Burrup was then placed on Australia’s National Heritage List. Federal Environment Minister at the time – Malcolm Turnbull – nonetheless prioritised development and gave Woodside permission to destroy 200 rock art panels. The WA Government subsequently gave permission for an additional 170 panels to be relocated (and thus stripped of their cultural context). </p>
<p>In 2008, another company was fined under Federal law for <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/company-fined-over-rock-art-damage-20100212-nxmi.html">damaging three sites on the Burrup</a> by blasting. As a final gesture of contempt, the WA Government then rescinded the Burrup’s longstanding formal status as a sacred site in 2014. In short, despite global recognition of the value of the Burrup rock art, “everyday development” continues to trump best-practice heritage protection of the site.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141538/original/image-20161012-16233-1oxssdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141538/original/image-20161012-16233-1oxssdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141538/original/image-20161012-16233-1oxssdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141538/original/image-20161012-16233-1oxssdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141538/original/image-20161012-16233-1oxssdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141538/original/image-20161012-16233-1oxssdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141538/original/image-20161012-16233-1oxssdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141538/original/image-20161012-16233-1oxssdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protestors spell out the words ‘Stand up for the Burrup’ at a rally in Perth in 2006.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nicolas Perpitch/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Just about every country in the world, including Australia, has legislation of some sort to protect heritage in development contexts. When development is declared imperative, though, as at Ilisu or on the Burrup, or when there are gaping loopholes in heritage legislation, such as with large-scale tree-clearing or housing development in Queensland, the damage continues unrelentingly. </p>
<p>Most of the sites being destroyed in Australia and around the world don’t make the news because they don’t have the monumental scale or romantic cachet of places such as Palmyra, but for the communities who value the heritage in question, the damage is heartbreaking.</p>
<p>While WA is resurrecting its stalled bid to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-19/wa-government-to-proceed-with-controversial-changes-to-aborigin/7182280">water down its heritage legislation</a>, Queensland is reviewing its Indigenous cultural heritage guidelines, in an effort to tighten things up.</p>
<p>At the other end of the spectrum, the World Bank is completing <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2016/08/04/world-bank-board-approves-new-environmental-and-social-framework">much the same process</a> after some years of deliberation. The Bank has a formal global standard for cultural heritage broadly based on humanitarian considerations. Still, despite its professed concern, the Bank ranks heritage very low in its order of priorities. </p>
<p>This apparent lack of interest notwithstanding, it is not hard to join the dots empirically between cultural heritage and the other environmental and social standards that the Bank takes more seriously. This is particularly true of Indigenous matters.</p>
<p>The impact of development – and the reputational risk it poses – is understood by most major corporations, even if their execution of heritage protection procedures can be patchy. That’s why Rio Tinto worked with an international group of heritage professionals to develop its global corporate heritage protection guidelines. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141343/original/image-20161012-8411-g2ha43.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141343/original/image-20161012-8411-g2ha43.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141343/original/image-20161012-8411-g2ha43.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141343/original/image-20161012-8411-g2ha43.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141343/original/image-20161012-8411-g2ha43.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141343/original/image-20161012-8411-g2ha43.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141343/original/image-20161012-8411-g2ha43.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">A French armoured personnel carrier with soldiers patrols the area outside the Sankore Mosque, a world heritage site, in Timbuktu January 31, 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Benoit Tessier/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Heritage guidelines have also been developed in various parts of the world for use by the military. Peter Stone at the UK’s University of Newcastle has created what he calls “a four-tier approach to the protection of cultural heritage in the event of armed conflict”. It is an invaluable framework and has been formally adopted by the International Committee of the Blue Shield, the “Red Cross for Heritage”. </p>
<p>It is one thing, though, to guide the actions of countries that aim to “play by the rules” in war, whether concerning heritage or people. It is quite another, as Stone recognises, to constrain states which have not signed up to the relevant conventions, including the 1954 Hague Convention and the statutes underpinning the International Criminal Court. The situation is even more problematical with non-state actors such as ISIS, which intentionally flout such conventions in the most dramatic and appalling ways, in relation both to people and heritage.</p>
<p>This is sickeningly obvious in ISIS’s approach at Palmyra. Not only is the organisation facilitating industrial-scale looting there, it has also slaughtered numerous people in the site’s amphitheatre and executed Khaled al-Asaad, the site’s 81-year-old archaeological guardian. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"785464522219876352"}"></div></p>
<p>It is highly unlikely that anyone will be brought to justice for these murders, let alone the heritage crimes. The man found guilty for the damage in Mali was surrendered to the court not by Mali, nor the French military (in the country to quell hostilities), but by the neighbouring country of Niger, to where he had fled. </p>
<p>The chances that a similar transfer will occur in relation to Syria or indeed anywhere else are vanishingly small, unless key players see some advantage in making a point of presenting someone to the ICC for propaganda purposes. </p>
<p>Even that would require the ICC to have issued an arrest warrant, which it has not done in connection with Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan or any other recent place where heritage war crimes have likely occurred.</p>
<h2>Few clean hands</h2>
<p>Why is this the case? It’s simple: no-one has clean hands when it comes to the destruction of cultural heritage in armed conflict. The politics of heritage are Byzantine at the best of times, but adding the possibility of war crimes convictions to the mix makes matters almost impossibly fraught. </p>
<p>So do I think we shouldn’t waste our time and precious resources pursuing heritage war crimes? Not at all. The lasting significance of the Mali decision (and indeed the earlier cases it builds upon) is that it sets a very useful bar. </p>
<p>We shouldn’t, however, now think the ICC is going to deliver us from evil. Its heritage cases will be few and far between and successful prosecutions will probably be even rarer. So while always keeping open the possibilities of action in The Hague, we should focus our minds on these points. </p>
<p>First, as barbaric as heritage war crimes might seem, far more heritage destruction – and thus inexorable damage to human wellbeing – occurs through everyday development. Except in a few cases, that never makes the news. </p>
<p>Second, as “glamorous” as Palmyra or Aleppo might be – as matters of concern – they are not the only places in Syria, much less the Middle East or for that matter the rest of the planet, where armed hostilities are destroying heritage.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141546/original/image-20161013-16217-1iqrgj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141546/original/image-20161013-16217-1iqrgj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141546/original/image-20161013-16217-1iqrgj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141546/original/image-20161013-16217-1iqrgj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141546/original/image-20161013-16217-1iqrgj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141546/original/image-20161013-16217-1iqrgj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141546/original/image-20161013-16217-1iqrgj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141546/original/image-20161013-16217-1iqrgj5.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">Boris Johnson speaks at the unveiling of a 5.5-meter recreation of the 1,800-year-old Arch of Triumph in Palmyra, Syria, at Trafalgar Square in London in April 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stefan Wermuth/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Highlighting the situation in Palmyra, or even Syria more generally, might help focus government and public attention on the problem of heritage destruction for a while. Yet we have to be extremely careful that such high-profile examples don’t “suck up all the oxygen” and leave other places to their own devices.</p>
<p>Believe me, there’s a lot of them suffering in <em>every</em> part of the world, whether as a result of conflict, criminal looting or “routine” development: from the unobtrusive small-scale places that make up the bulk of cultural heritage right up to World Heritage sites of the scale and grandeur of Machu Picchu or Angkor. The <a href="http://traffickingculture.org/">Trafficking Culture Project</a> and Blue Shield Committee amongst others provide ample evidence of the pressing problem of heritage under threat.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141537/original/image-20161012-16217-1hahigg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141537/original/image-20161012-16217-1hahigg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141537/original/image-20161012-16217-1hahigg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=919&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141537/original/image-20161012-16217-1hahigg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=919&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141537/original/image-20161012-16217-1hahigg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=919&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141537/original/image-20161012-16217-1hahigg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1155&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141537/original/image-20161012-16217-1hahigg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1155&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141537/original/image-20161012-16217-1hahigg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1155&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Simon & Schuster/goodreads</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, it is local people with local solutions who are usually best-positioned to make the most of our support – whether in Mali, Syria, Iraq or elsewhere. Joshua Hammer’s new book, <a href="http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Bad-Ass-Librarians-of-Timbuktu/Joshua-Hammer/9781476777405">The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu</a>, for instance, shows how locals put themselves at grave risk to save priceless ancient scrolls from the same Islamist militants who destroyed the World Heritage tombs there.</p>
<p>What is missing in global responses to local heritage destruction is usually not generous offers to rebuild whole sites. Such offers nearly always entail imported expertise and largely exclude local people. Nor generally do we need the heritage-protection airstrikes recommended by the Antiquities Coalition. In the “fog of war”, they are highly likely to damage the very sites they are supposed to protect.</p>
<p>Most often, we need to recognise that relatively small amounts of money judiciously applied through appropriate local players are the way to create sustainable solutions. There are colleagues doing just that right now, through mostly under-the-radar but highly-effective efforts in war-zones such as Syria but also through programs such as <a href="http://www.sustainablepreservation.org/">the Sustainable Preservation Initiative</a>.</p>
<p>In short, we need a range of responses. Some will involve “big sticks” wielded by institutions such as the ICC but most will work at the grassroots. </p>
<p>On a day to day level, meanwhile, we should all take an interest in what is happening to the heritage around us. If we do, we can help monitor and mitigate the way “everyday” development continually chips away at heritage places large and small, in ways that frequently go unnoticed until it is too late. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Ian Lilley will be online for an Author Q&A between 6:30 and 7:30pm AEST on Friday, 14 October, 2016. Post your questions in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65957/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Lilley is an archaeologist with the University of Queensland. He occasionally consults through UQ and privately to Rio Tinto and other clients and through his university superannuation scheme may own shares in Rio Tinto and similar companies. He currently receives research funding from the Australian Research Council and the Swiss government Network for International Studies. He is affiliated with ICOMOS, IUCN, and a variety of archaeological professional bodies which deal with cultural heritage matters, in particular in this instance the Society for American Archaeology's Committee for International Government Affairs. In this last role he coordinated international professional responses to the World Bank safeguards review and participated in the launch of the Antiquities Coalition Taskforce Report on “Culture under Threat”.</span></em></p>
It is important to prosecute militants who destroy antiquities. But ‘everyday’ development - from dams flooding towns to the impact of mining on Indigenous rock art – does vastly more damage to heritage than war.
Ian Lilley, Professor in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, The University of Queensland
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/65230
2016-10-06T19:10:12Z
2016-10-06T19:10:12Z
Friday essay: the sound of fear
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140651/original/image-20161006-20139-1pqp7mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sonic weapons usually leave no physical marks but can be devastating psychologically.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vikash Kumar/flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Common idioms such as “seeing is believing” give our eyes the central role in our engagement with the world. But there is little doubt that listening plays a critical part in how we navigate and understand our environment. </p>
<p>Historically, our ears, not eyes, revealed what lay beyond the light of the campfire. And importantly, our ears helped us recognise what lay behind us, out of sight. Sound has the profound ability to haunt, shock and terrify. It has a primordial quality that reaches deep inside us.</p>
<p>Recently, for instance, in preparation for Riverfire, an annual fireworks display in Brisbane, a pair of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVPi3Baz8k4">FA-18 Super Hornets</a> throttled directly over my house. My two-year-old son was in the yard and, as I stepped outside to look at the planes, I saw him hurtling up our driveway, tears streaming down his cheeks.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140690/original/image-20161006-14716-oq8a2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140690/original/image-20161006-14716-oq8a2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140690/original/image-20161006-14716-oq8a2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140690/original/image-20161006-14716-oq8a2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140690/original/image-20161006-14716-oq8a2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140690/original/image-20161006-14716-oq8a2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140690/original/image-20161006-14716-oq8a2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140690/original/image-20161006-14716-oq8a2i.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">An FA-18 Super Hornet.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Australian Defence/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>He couldn’t see the planes as they had passed overhead before their sound hit us. But their unnatural volume and the coarse noise of their engines triggered a palpable and overpowering sense of unease and distress. </p>
<p>Sounds heard without a visible source are known as acousmatic. To cope with them, we have created various narratives and myths. In Japanese mythology, the Yanari, a word that references the sound of a house in earthquakes, is said to be a spirit responsible for the groaning and creaking of the house at night. In Norse mythology, thunder was ascribed to the god Thor. </p>
<p>Given its profound emotional impact, it’s not surprising that sound has also been used as a device for exerting power and control. In recent years, the use of sound (<a href="http://www.medicaldaily.com/torture-methods-sound-how-pure-noise-can-be-used-break-you-psychologically-318638">and music</a>) as a weapon has increased, as have our abilities to better exploit its potential. </p>
<p>From Long Range Acoustic Devices used to disperse protesting crowds to military drones that induce a wave of fear in those unlucky enough to be under them to songs blasted on rotation at Guantanamo Bay, we are entering an age where sound is being repositioned as a tool of terror.</p>
<h2>How sound affects us</h2>
<p>Sonic affect, in psychological terms, is created through aesthetic qualities: the timbre of the sound and how we receive it through our mesh of social and cultural understandings. The volume, duration and actual material content of a sound all play a part in how it affects us. </p>
<p>Broadly speaking, most of us hear audible frequencies between 20Hz (very low sounds) and 20000 Hz (very high sounds). However in certain circumstances, sound that exists above and below our hearing range can also be experienced.</p>
<p>When considering the physiological impact of sound, the two critical aspects are frequency and volume. The sound we feel in our bodies is usually a low frequency sound. And <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX6nHUrL1Xs">Infrasound</a> is of such low frequency it cannot be heard with human ears. Yet it still causes an unconscious physiological anxiety.</p>
<p>It’s this dual recognition, of the ears and the body, the psychological and the physiological, that’s vital to the use of sound as a weapon.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140642/original/image-20161006-20145-txyb7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140642/original/image-20161006-20145-txyb7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140642/original/image-20161006-20145-txyb7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=701&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140642/original/image-20161006-20145-txyb7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=701&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140642/original/image-20161006-20145-txyb7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=701&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140642/original/image-20161006-20145-txyb7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=881&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140642/original/image-20161006-20145-txyb7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=881&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140642/original/image-20161006-20145-txyb7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=881&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 Conquest of Jericho by Jean Fouquet (circa 1415-1420).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Battle Of Jericho, described in The Bible, is an apt place to begin an examination of how sound came to be utilised as a weapon. Loosely, the story goes that Joshua’s Israelite army was able to break down the walls of Jericho using trumpets. Though there is no historical basis to this story, it recognises the physiological and the psychological implications of sound in warfare.</p>
<p>Sound <em>can</em> be used at high volume to create powerful effects on objects. It’s unlikely, of course, that brass instruments could crush a city’s walls without serious mechanical and engineering assistance. But the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOhxr643YuA">shock wave from a trombone</a> is nothing short of a micro-sized explosion. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TOhxr643YuA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The Battle of Jericho also reminds us how sound can fatigue us. Like <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/10/10/treasure.sound/">noise pollution today</a>, sonic fatigue leads to a psychological debilitation. Perhaps the Israelite army was able to wear its enemy down through prolonged high volume sound projection, inducing sleep deprivation and fatigue-induced panic. Moreover, the constant blasting of the horns would act as a constant reminder that at any point, the armies might attack. The audible threat in and of itself becomes a device of terror.</p>
<p>One of the most frightening recently discovered weapons of sound is <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jul/06/news/adfg-sounds6">the Aztec Death Whistle</a>, a pottery vessel, often shaped like a skull, that was used by Mexico’s pre-Columbian tribes. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I9QuO09z-SI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Blowing into it makes a sound that has been described as “1,000 corpses screaming”. Used en masse, an army marching with death whistles would surely have been terrifying.</p>
<h2>20th Century Terror</h2>
<p>One of the most iconic representations of sound as a means of creating fear was developed during the Second World War. Germany’s Stuka Ju-87, a dive-bomber fitted with a 70 cm siren dubbed the “Jericho Trumpet”, was a sophisticated terror device. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nZZ504TGDpE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Its success influenced the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1qsBGTkVSk">V1 Flying Bomb</a>, known as the Buzzbomb due to the acoustic design of its engine. While its blast capacity was modest, its power as a sonic threat demonstrated the growing recognition of psychological terror as a destructive tool of war. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q1qsBGTkVSk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Following World War Two, the development of supersonic flight heralded unprecedented exploration of aerial sonic phenomena, including the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XIVeTUZoKs*-+">Sonic Boom</a>. A sonic boom is the sound made when a plane exceeds the speed of sound, 1236kph in dry air at 20 °C. During 1964, Oklahoma City became a US Government testing ground for sonic booms. A wealth of information was produced, including an assessment of its rather pointed psychological impact on the city’s citizens. Two decades on, the US government was using <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/12/world/sonic-booms-shake-cities-in-nicaragua-for-the-fourth-day.html">sonic booms against Nicaragua</a> as part of a campaign to destabilise the Sandinista government of the day. </p>
<p>During the Vietnam conflict, meanwhile, US troops played a soundtrack known as <a href="http://pcf45.com/sealords/cuadai/wanderingsoul.html">Ghost Tape Number 10</a> against the soldiers of the National Liberation Front. As part of <a href="http://www.hbmpodcast.com/podcast/hbm055-ghost-tape-number-ten">Operation Wandering Soul</a>, American forces played an unsettling tape collage that tapped into Vietnamese beliefs that ancestors not buried in their homeland roam without rest in the afterlife. This spooky mix of voice, sound and music was intended to haunt Vietnamese soldiers and encourage them to abandon their cause.</p>
<h2>The Sound Of Fear In The 21st Century</h2>
<p>In the past decade, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-david-rohde-drone-wars-idUSTRE80P11I20120126">the increased military use of Unmanned Ariel Vehicles</a>, colloquially known as drones, has led to new forms of sonic terror. The word drone refers to both a worker bee and the sound that it makes. Like the bee, drones have distinct sonic characters, depending on their design. </p>
<p>These sonic characteristics have been shown to produce, for those living under them, <a href="http://dronecenter.bard.edu/whats-that-sound/">degrees of annoyance, anxiety and fear</a>. Civilian descriptions of drone activities in the report <a href="http://chrgj.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Living-Under-Drones.pdf">Living Under Drones</a>, prepared by a team at Stanford University, document what some interviewees describe as a “wave of terror” upon hearing them. Their sound, both up <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBDq264OH0E&feature=youtu.be">close</a> and at a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REa19YJjAlg">distance</a>, is particular and pervasive. En masse the reference to bees is obvious.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rBDq264OH0E?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>A recent military exercise undertaken by Israel against Palestine in 2012, titled Operation Pillar Of Defence, extensively used the sonic capacity of drones. During this operation, sound was used as a constant reminder that at any stage strikes could be made. This auditory threat – added to the general discomfort of constant buzzing and whirring of machinery overhead – proved a powerful weapon.</p>
<p>On the ground too, sonic weapons such as the Long Range Acoustic Device are being increasingly deployed. Originally created as a means of long distance communication in marine settings (over distances as far as three kilometers), the device has been widely used since the early 2000s. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QSMyY3_dmrM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>During Pittsburgh’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSMyY3_dmrM">G20 protests in September 2009</a>, it was deployed to disperse crowds with incredibly high volume, directional sound. Use of the device led to subsequent legal action against the city of Pittsburgh, with one claimant, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2041733/Karen-Piper-deafened-polices-Long-Range-Acoustic-Device-used-protesters.html">Karen Piper, receiving damages of US$72,000</a> after suffering permanent hearing damage.</p>
<p>Almost <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lawreport/australian-police-buy-up-on-sound-weapons/7419408">all states in Australia</a> have acquired these acoustic devices in recent years, though their usage is primarily for communication during siege and disaster situations, not crowd control. Still, the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lawreport/sound-as-control/7280526">law and enforcement implications</a> of these devices and the emergent field of <a href="https://www.academia.edu/16498785/Towards_an_Acoustic_Jurisprudence_Law_and_the_Long_Range_Acoustic_Device">acoustic jurisprudence</a> are sure to become of greater interest. </p>
<h2>The Terror Jukebox</h2>
<p>Recorded music too, is an increasingly powerful weapon used to “break” prisoners during interrogation. The formula for music as a form of terror is equal parts volume, aesthetics and repetition. It’s a methodology that recognises we have no earlids. Unlike our eyes, we cannot shut out sound and this means we’re vulnerable to it in ways we don’t always consider.</p>
<p>In the early 20th century, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYPXAo1cOA4">Luigi Russolo’s Intonarumori</a> – a group of experimental acoustic instruments - heralded an assault on the harmonic canon of music. The performances he gave with these instruments created outrage and discomfort in his audiences. In his manifesto <a href="http://www.artype.de/Sammlung/pdf/russolo_noise.pdf">The Art Of Noise</a>, he espoused a violent rethinking of the potentials of music and noise.</p>
<p>In Greece between 1967 and 1974, the Military Police and the aptly called Special Interrogation Unit used music in two distinct ways. It was played very loudly over long periods of time to detainees. And prisoners were pressured to undertake periods of forced singing, with renditions of the same song over and over again.</p>
<p>Similarly in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s, a so-called <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/the-torture-centre-northern-ireland-s-hooded-men-1.2296152">Music Room</a> was used to break hooded detainees placed in internment. Extremely loud white noise was blasted at them. Outside the Music Room, a device called the <a href="http://www.spannered.org/features/806/">Curdler</a> was also used to torture prisoners – it emitted a loud sound at a frequency range specifically sensitive to humans.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140640/original/image-20161006-20132-fselr5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140640/original/image-20161006-20132-fselr5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140640/original/image-20161006-20132-fselr5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140640/original/image-20161006-20132-fselr5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140640/original/image-20161006-20132-fselr5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140640/original/image-20161006-20132-fselr5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140640/original/image-20161006-20132-fselr5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black Sabbath in 2011: their music was blasted at Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega during the US Government’s 1989 Operation Nifty Package.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David McNew/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1989, meanwhile, the US Government launched <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Nifty_Package">Operation Nifty Package</a>. Its aim was the extraction of the opera-loving Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, who had sought asylum in the papal nunciature of Panama City. After a lengthy playlist of loud rock and heavy metal - including Styx and Black Sabbath - was blasted at the building in which he sheltered, Noriega was ejected from the diplomatic quarter. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140638/original/image-20161006-20132-veopbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140638/original/image-20161006-20132-veopbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140638/original/image-20161006-20132-veopbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=867&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140638/original/image-20161006-20132-veopbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=867&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140638/original/image-20161006-20132-veopbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=867&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140638/original/image-20161006-20132-veopbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1090&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140638/original/image-20161006-20132-veopbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1090&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140638/original/image-20161006-20132-veopbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1090&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nancy Sinatra holding her Go Go boots in 1996.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fred Prouser/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of the most extraordinary sonic duels occurred in 1993, when the Branch Davidians and officers Bureau Of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives faced off during the infamous siege of Waco. The government agencies assaulted the Davidian compound with repeated plays of Nancy Sinatra’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbyAZQ45uww">These Boots Are Made For Walkin’</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIRJMESl4U8">droning Tibetan mantras</a>, recordings of rabbits being slaughtered and Christmas carols. In turn, the Davidian leader David Koresh retaliated with broadcasts of his own songs – until the compound’s power was switched off.</p>
<p>Still, this encounter was primitive when compared to contemporary methods of music torture. The sound systems used during Waco, for example, were largely directionless and agents working for the government needed earplugs to block the effects of their own soundtrack.</p>
<p>In the past decade, the use of music as torture has been cemented in facilities such as Guantanamo Bay and other undisclosed detention camps. A branch of the United States Military, Psychological Operations, is renowned for its ability to influence behaviour and assist in the psychological “breaking” of detainees through the use of sound.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/pulse/cia-torture-songs-how-music-was-used-create-sense-hopelessness-1745523">choice of music</a> used as part of these interrogations at Guantanamo was wildly disparate. Death metal band Deicide’s infamous song Fuck Your God was often used, as well as aggressive hip hop.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t8roxM1k02g?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>But so, too, were the songs of Britney Spears, (Hit Me Baby One More Time was played often), and perhaps most surprisingly, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwLLH9EZiqc">I Love You</a> from Barney and Friends. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vWPNu4TRBis?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The writer of the Barney and Friends song, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/dec/10/stop-the-music-torture-initiative">Bob Singleton, was shocked at its use</a>. How, he wondered, could a song “designed to make little children feel safe and loved” drive adults to emotional breaking point? </p>
<p>His disgust at the use of his music in this context wasn’t uncommon. Indeed artists such as Massive Attack, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against The Machine and others teamed up with the NGO Reprieve to create the <a href="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press/2009_10_10_musiciansriseupagainstguantanamo/">Zero dB coalition</a> against the use of music-related torture. Tom Morello, then guitarist with Rage Against the Machine, spoke of inmates being blasted with music for 72 hours, “at volumes just below that to shatter the eardrums”. </p>
<p>The Canadian electro-industrial band <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/feb/07/skinny-puppy-payment-guantanamo">Skinny Puppy</a> took things one step further – in 2014 it invoiced the US Defence Department US$666,000 for the unauthorised use of its music at Guantánamo Bay.</p>
<p>There’s little doubt music will continue to play a role in the struggles around terror. Indeed the potential of sound as a weapon is, sadly, still in its infancy. Sonic weapons, after all, leave no physical marks. Thus they are perfect for those who wish to remain untraceable. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Lawrence English will be online for an Author Q&A between 2 and 3pm AEDT on Friday, October 7, 2016. Post your questions in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65230/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lawrence English 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 Long Range Acoustic Devices used to disperse protesters to ear-splitting military drones to songs blasted on rotation to prisoners, ours is an age in which sound has been repositioned as a tool of terror.
Lawrence English, PhD Candidate in Music, Queensland University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/66482
2016-10-05T19:15:50Z
2016-10-05T19:15:50Z
With that ring, I thee judge: why the law should not allow exceptions on marriage equality
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140387/original/image-20161004-20223-1rg1ilv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In the US and Ireland there have been headline court cases of bakers refusing to make cakes for same-sex weddings.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In July 2012, Charlie Craig and David Mullins went into Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colorado, to order a cake for their wedding. Jack Phillips, the owner of the shop, responded by informing them he would not make a cake for a same-sex wedding. Craig and Mullins immediately got up and left. Later they sued Phillips for discrimination.</p>
<p>What if this happened in Australia? </p>
<p>While Phillips’ conduct may have been lawful here until 2012, in 2013 the Sex Discrimination Act was <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2013A00098">amended</a> to explicitly include sexual orientation as a prohibited ground of discrimination. As a result, it is now unlawful for <a href="https://theconversation.com/anti-discrimination-law-exemptions-dont-strike-the-right-balance-between-rights-and-freedoms-61660">most</a> employers and service providers to deny equal treatment to anyone on the basis of their sexual orientation.</p>
<p>This amendment has been contentious, particularly in light of the current push to legislate for marriage equality. It has been argued by some religious groups that it could result in a breach of their religious freedom by forcing them to provide services to LGBTI people.</p>
<p>This is exactly what did happen in Colorado. Craig and Mullins were <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/189976204/Initial-Decision-in-Masterpiece-Cakeshop-Case">successful in their legal action</a> and Phillips was ordered to:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… [c]ease and desist from discriminating against … same-sex couples by refusing to sell them wedding cakes or any other product [they] would provide to heterosexual couples.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In his judgment, Justice Spencer observed:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>At first blush, it may seem reasonable that a private business should be able to refuse service to anyone it chooses. This view, however, fails to take into account the cost to society and the hurt caused to persons who are denied service simply because of who they are.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He went on to explain that US law has interpreted religious freedom narrowly to primarily cover:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… activities fundamental to the individual’s religious belief, that do not adversely affect the rights of others, and that are not outweighed by the state’s legitimate interests in promoting health, safety and general welfare. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In dismissing Phillips’ religious freedom arguments, Justice Spencer emphasised that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… [t]o excuse all religiously motivated conduct from state control would permit every citizen to become a law unto himself.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He noted that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>… [c]onceptually, [Phillips’] refusal to serve a same-sex couple due to religious objection to same-sex weddings is no different from refusing to serve a biracial couple because of religious objection to biracial marriage.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some Australian religious groups have expressed concern about this shift towards the stronger protection of the rights of LGBTI people. <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2015/10/15/4331899.htm">Archbishop Anthony Fisher</a>, for example, argues this protection risks excessively reducing the space for religious liberty and “licences [the] vilification of people’s conscientious beliefs”.</p>
<p>However, such arguments privilege the status quo under which a narrow segment of society have been allowed to assert their rights and freedoms at the expense of the rights and freedoms of others.</p>
<p>Discrimination is rife in Australia. People are regularly denied equal access to both employment on the grounds of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-28/johnson-a-nation-of-coffee-drinkers-and-racists/5702264">race</a>, <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/news/stories/workplace-discrimination-begins-pregnancy-0">parental status</a>, and <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace-relations/disability-discrimination-still-rife-in-australian-workplaces-australian-network-on-disability-conference-20160516-gowaim.html">disability</a>. </p>
<p>They are also denied access to services, demonstrated by taxi drivers leaving Indigenous Australians <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/actor-and-aboriginal-elder-uncle-jack-charles-refused-taxi-in-melbourne-again-20160413-go5lrb.html">stranded on the street</a>, employers declining to interview people <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/muslims-face-racial-discrimination-but-dont-have-protection-under-act-report-finds-20151103-gkq8hw.html">with “ethnic-sounding names”</a>, breastfeeding mothers being asked to leave <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/liana-webster-forced-to-leave-bribie-island-aquatic-centre-after-breastfeeding-her-daughter-rori/story-e6freoof-1226555303135">swimming pools</a> and <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-26/mass-breastfeeding-protest-in-bendigo/7199458">food courts</a>, and real estate agents <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/IndigLawB/2000/54.html">refusing housing to Indigenous Australians</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/legal/legislation">Anti-discrimination legislation</a> is a legal response to this ongoing cultural problem. Its gradual expansion in Australia reflects international human rights law and a vision for a more equal society – one in which everyone can have equal access to employment and services, and no-one will be subjected to the dehumanising experience of being denied equal treatment.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, the federal government is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/sep/14/marriage-equality-law-would-protect-conscientious-objectors-who-reject-gay-weddings">reported</a> to be considering the inclusion of “appropriate protections for religious freedom and conscientious objections” alongside any amendments to the Marriage Act.</p>
<p>While it is unclear what these protections might include, the proposal sounds similar to a proposed exemption in Northern Ireland that <a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/northern-irelands-anti-gay-amendment-branded-licence-discriminate-1489188">would allow businesses</a> to refuse service in situations where someone feels they are required to “endorse a same-sex sexual relationship in violation of his/her faith identity”.</p>
<p>The Northern Ireland amendment came after Daniel and Amy McArthur, owners of Ashers Bakery in Belfast, were fined for refusing to provide a cake with a <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-35474167">pro-marriage equality slogan</a>. While this case does raise some <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/01/gay-cake-row-i-changed-my-mind-ashers-bakery-freedom-of-conscience-religion">questions around freedom of political expression</a>, the proposed exemption has been criticised for effectively providing carte blanche to all forms of discrimination against LGBTI people.</p>
<p>In finding an appropriate balance between the right to equality and the right to religious freedom, Australia could draw inspiration from US law. It focuses protection on:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… activities fundamental to the individual’s religious belief, that do not adversely affect the rights of others, and that are not outweighed by the state’s legitimate interests in promoting health, safety and general welfare. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The right to discriminate against others does not fit this criterion.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Cristy Clark will be online for an Author Q&A between 1 and 2pm AEDT on Thursday, October 6, 2016. Post your questions in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66482/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cristy Clark 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>
As the US example shows, freedom of religion should not be allowed to morph into the right to discriminate.
Cristy Clark, Lecturer in Law, Southern Cross University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/44844
2016-10-05T02:50:36Z
2016-10-05T02:50:36Z
To stop domestic violence, we need to change perpetrators’ behaviour
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116569/original/image-20160329-10194-s9pxst.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The logic is that violence is a choice, so men can be reasonably expected to stop.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-110533634/stock-photo-stressed-man-emotion-portrait.html?src=1turt8AvYForkdHvolGj-A-1-56">luxorphoto/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Behaviour change programs for domestically violent men are designed to address abusive and violent behaviour. Unlike anger management programs, the focus is on changing the perpetrator’s desire to control his partner by targeting his attitudes and behaviours. </p>
<p>The long-term effects are difficult to measure, as very few men are followed up after treatment. But <a href="http://ncfm.org/libraryfiles/Children/DV/Evaluating%20Batterer%20Programs--CDC%20summary-fin.pdf">international studies indicate</a> behaviour change programs can reduce the rate of further assaults and other abuses. Still, around <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/coercive-control-9780195384048?cc=au&lang=en&">5% of participants</a> continuously re-assault, regardless of any effort to intervene. </p>
<p>Australian states and territories have behaviour change programs in place in both prison and community settings. But they are <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jul/25/family-violence-commission-five-things-weve-learned-about-perpetrators">often underfunded</a> and under-resourced. Though many jurisdictions are placing more priority on new perpetrator programs, thousands of men sit on waiting lists every year.</p>
<h2>What types of programs are used?</h2>
<p>Behavioural change services in Australia use a <a href="http://websearch.aic.gov.au/firstaicPublic/fullRecord.jsp?recnoListAttr=recnoList&recno=13818">mix of approaches</a>: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>The <a href="http://www.theduluthmodel.org/">Duluth model</a>: court-mandated programs with a focus on power and control</p></li>
<li><p>The feminist socio-political model: a focus on men’s violence as a product of gender inequities</p></li>
<li><p>Psycho-educational approaches: a focus on individuals and learning better impulse-control using cognitive behavioural approaches </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-cognitive-behaviour-therapy-37351">Cognitive behavioural therapy</a> (CBT) models: targeting relationships between thinking feelings and behaviour.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Work with Aboriginal men has included a focus on restorative justice and healing. It acknowledges the impacts – historical and ongoing – of colonisation on these communities.</p>
<p>Behavioural change program approaches that include a mix of the above have been shown to be <a href="http://ncfm.org/libraryfiles/Children/DV/Evaluating%20Batterer%20Programs--CDC%20summary-fin.pdf">most effective</a> and appropriate for most perpetrator programs. These models allow facilitators to focus on both the context of individual perpetrators’ lives and how this might affect their offending, while acknowledging the social and political influences of gender inequality. </p>
<p>As well as variation in the content of programs, they also vary in length – from 12 to 26 weeks – and intensity. </p>
<p>Ideally, the program intensity (and duration) should be matched with a perpetrator’s assessed level of risk.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.rmit.edu.au/news/all-news/2015/march/family-violence-report-aims-to-interrupt-cycle/">Perpetrator interventions that show</a> the greatest effectiveness internationally are those with robust lines of communication between all agencies involved. This includes ongoing assessments of perpetrator risk, feedback mechanisms if any safety concerns arise, and “swift and certain” criminal sanctions when protection orders are violated. </p>
<h2>How do you judge effectiveness?</h2>
<p>Evaluations that just measure a single outcome, such as violent re-offending, are rarely useful. “Family and domestic violence” covers a continuum of abusive behaviours that are devastating for women, but may not be in fact illegal. Though physical violence may reduce or cease, other forms of abuse either <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19850959">may continue</a> or escalate. </p>
<p><a href="http://vaw.sagepub.com/content/15/12/1509.short">Research indicates</a> that men who maintain a desire to control their female partners continue to use other <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/coercive-control-9780195384048?cc=au&lang=en&">coercive forms of abuse</a> such as making unreasonable and non-negotiable demands, stalking, restricting her daily activities or destroying her relationships with friends, family or co-workers. </p>
<p>There is <a href="http://jiv.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/10/11/0886260512459381">some evidence</a> that matching perpetrator intervention intensity to specific “stages of change” promotes greater effectiveness. This means men could be placed in programs based on: their suitability for treatment; their levels of risk; whether they’re dealing with other problems such as housing, mental health, drug and alcohol abuse. But success in this area is contested. </p>
<p>Researchers have argued it’s problematic to measure success solely in terms of individual men’s behaviour change. Success can also <a href="http://bjsw.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/04/16/bjsw.bcs049">mean many things</a> for women: it could, but doesn’t necessarily include, the cessation of all forms of violence by the perpetrator. </p>
<p>On the other hand, “effectiveness” can be judged by a woman as being able to leave safely, or the man abiding by a court order. </p>
<h2>Addressing other problems in men’s lives</h2>
<p>Violence against women is a gendered phenomenon and perpetrators are fully responsible for the decision to assault. </p>
<p>But trying to engage a man to address his behaviour is <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/09_2013/literature_review_on_domestic_violence_perpetrators.pdf">extremely difficult</a> when co-existing factors – such as significant mental health concerns, drug and alcohol misuse, unemployment and/or homelessness – are also present.</p>
<p>Though none of these factors is either a necessary or sufficient cause of family and domestic violence, in such cases, even experienced workers can struggle to maintain a focus on perpetrator accountability and women’s safety. </p>
<p>Perpetrator programs have the potential to assist men to have more emotionally enriching lives through attitudinal and behaviour change. But these are secondary aims. The primary focus must be on the steps necessary to maintain the victim’s safety.</p>
<p>While perpetrator programs are no panacea, they’re more likely to be effective if they are part of well-integrated responses to domestic and family violence that include police, courts and corrective services and program providers. </p>
<p>As with many social problems, significant increases in women’s safety will require sustained and increased funding for best practice programs nationally. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Tony Fletcher will be online for an Author Q&A between 10:30 and 11:30am AEDT on Thursday, 6 October, 2016. Post your questions in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44844/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Fletcher is affiliated with South Australian Department of Correctional Services as a Senior Clinician with the Rehabilitation Programs Branch</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Wendt receives funding from the ARC and ANROWS. She is a member of the Board for Women’s Safety Services South Australia.</span></em></p>
Thousands of Australian men are sitting on waiting lists every year to get help to end their violent behaviour – even though behaviour change programs can reduce their likelihood of offending again.
Tony Fletcher, PhD Candidate/Senior Clinician, University of South Australia
Sarah Wendt, Professor of Social Work, Flinders University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/66043
2016-09-28T20:11:21Z
2016-09-28T20:11:21Z
Refusing to play the race game
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139387/original/image-20160927-20144-90qhzh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Adam Goodes training at the SCG in 2015.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Gray/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In this AFL Grand Final week, amid all the fanfare that surrounds the Sydney Swans’ third final in five years, I’m reminded of the difference that just one year makes. It was this time last year that the Swans (having failed to win a finals match) farewelled one of their longstanding players, dual Brownlow medallist and former Australian of the Year, Adam Goodes.</p>
<p>Goodes announced his retirement privately to his teammates on September 19, avoiding an official send off. He refused to participate in the Grand Final Lap of Honour or be considered for the annual Madden medal award for retiring players. Some <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/goodes-decision-not-to-accept-player-award-a-sad-one-aflpa-20151008-gk4ip5.html">commentators</a> felt this was not a fitting end for one of the game’s greats.</p>
<p>I would argue it was a <a href="http://www.foxsports.com.au/the-crowd/adam-goodes-absence-on-grand-final-day-cast-a-dark-stain-on-a-great-sport-and-its-traditions/news-story/f15f0224961220dec50281fb1664e099">most fitting end</a>. Goodes was performing in an arena that could not tolerate his presence. He withstood those conditions with great dignity, while steadfastly refusing to accept the persistent attempts to dehumanise and emasculate him as an Adnyamathanha and Narungga man. </p>
<p>Neither an “<a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/adam-goodes-retelling-of-mcg-ape-incident-distorts-the-truth/news-story/1bbef54f7e4a7301cae68e2f1d41a3db">ape</a>” or a “<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/afl/sydney-swans/swans-star-adam-goodes-always-plays-the-victim-alan-jones-20150728-gimmn3">sook</a>”, he is one of our warriors and will be remembered as such. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"653782657621331969"}"></div></p>
<p>Mohawk scholar Professor Audra Simpson in the seminal text <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/mohawk-interruptus">Mohawk Interruptus: Life Across the Borders of Settler States</a> argues that the politics of refusal is a means by which Indigenous people exercise their sovereignty by offering an alternative to cultural recognition.</p>
<p>Simpson chronicles how the Kahnawà:ke Mohawks refuse the “gift” of American and Canadian citizenship and the authority of the settler nation state in everyday encounters, including refusing to accept the colonial account of one’s self. Refusal enables the Kahnawà:ke to “enunciate repeatedly to themselves and to outsiders: ‘This is who we are; this is who you are; these are my rights’”.</p>
<p>Consider how Goodes explained his departure from the AFL:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I didn’t want, once I’d finished footy, to be part of any other things that I had a choice in … At the end of the day, it’s my choice to do the lap. At the end of the day, it was my choice not to be nominated for the Madden Medal.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He left the game on his own terms. He did not require the “gifts” of the game to validate him as an Aboriginal man or his professional football career. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"753681859251433473"}"></div></p>
<p>Goodes’ act of refusal is of personal significance to me because it is also a year since my husband quit the Queensland Police Service after a 15-year career.</p>
<p>He had spent over a decade resisting and withstanding racism on the job each day. Many speak about the dangers of being a police officer but few understand the additional dangers facing Aboriginal police officers situated within the culture of the QPS.</p>
<p>There were strong parallels between the daily indignities that Goodes faced and those experienced by my husband. These worlds collided after <a href="https://theconversation.com/booing-the-messenger-goodes-is-gone-but-the-confronting-truth-remains-48157">Goodes was booed</a> with increasing intensity during the 2015 season. It prompted debate across the country about whether booing Goodes was racist, but it also prompted fellow police officers to joke about Indigenous hypersensitivity to racism within my husband’s workplace. </p>
<p>One week to the day of Goodes announcing his retirement, my husband too said “enough”. On the day he chose to quit, he never went back and he too refused to participate in an official send off.</p>
<p>His departure from the QPS was not indicative of his incapabilities as a Bidjara and Quandamooka man. It was a refusal to be located within an institution that insisted <a href="https://vimeo.com/180724382">his Indigeneity was a risk, a problem, and a source of ridicule</a>. It was a refusal to accept the burden of remedying racism within his workplace and was directly inspired by Goodes’ stance. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"625263682885283841"}"></div></p>
<p>At this same time, Yorta Yorta opera singer Deborah Cheetham <a href="https://theconversation.com/young-and-free-why-i-declined-to-sing-the-national-anthem-at-the-2015-afl-grand-final-49234">refused the “honour” of singing the national anthem</a> at the AFL Grand Final because she could not bring herself to sing the words “for we are young and free”. </p>
<p>Australian responses to acts of Indigenous refusal are typically framed within a discourse of Indigenous deviance and deficiency. Here, Indigenous people are labelled “<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-20/indigenous-protesters-protest-over-state-of-darling-river/7526718">angry</a>” <a href="http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/10/coded-racism-facebook/">“divisive” and “aggressive”</a> or described as “<a href="http://junkee.com/the-herald-sun-has-dismissed-4000-indigenous-rights-protestors-as-a-selfish-rabble/54833">selfish rabble</a>” “<a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/editorials/australia-day-should-be-celebration-not-a-whinge/news-story/09ef49df15123b833b1364a464cfb03a">whingers</a>”, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-30/jason-akermanis-says-adam-goodes-is-a-sook/6659344">“sooks” and “playing the victim”</a>. Indigenous refusal can also inspire feelings of sadness, sorrow and pity for us. </p>
<p>What many fail to realise is that whenever we as Indigenous people refuse to accept the “gifts” of the state, when we refuse to comply, perform or play on their terms, it is not because there is something wrong with <em>us</em>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"759261272449908737"}"></div></p>
<p>It is because we have come to the realisation that there is something deeply wrong with the systems and structures that seek to demean and diminish us as Indigenous peoples. In denouncing these we are asserting both who we are as Indigenous people, but also rejecting the authority of these systems and structures. </p>
<p>In responding to a discussion about the “problem” of remote Aboriginal communities on ABC’s Q&A program in 2014, Rosalie Kunoth Monks asserted: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I am an Arrente, Alyawarra First Nations person, a sovereign person from this country … My language in spite of whiteness trying to penetrate into my brain by assimilationists, I am alive. I am here and now and I speak my language and I practice my cultural essence of me. Don’t try and suppress me and don’t call me a problem. I am not the problem. I have never left my country nor have I ceded any part of it. No one has entered into a treaty or talked to me about who I am. I am Arrente, Alyawarra female elder from this country. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>While <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/adam-goodes-seeks-aboriginal-recognition-in-constitution-20140513-zrazn.html">Goodes has been a supporter of Recognise</a>, a campaign that seeks recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people within the constitution, he repeatedly exercised his sovereignty on the sporting field through a politics of refusal. </p>
<p>He didn’t just refuse to accept racism in the game; he refused to accept that there was something wrong with his body.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"721875339610173441"}"></div></p>
<p>Unlike Nicky Winmar’s iconic <a href="https://www.newsouthbooks.com.au/books/black-and-proud/">“black and proud”</a> stance two decades earlier, Goodes, when racially taunted while on the field, didn’t point to his body. He refused to accept that he was an ape and he refused to accept that it was his body that was the problem. It was <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-25/goodes-gutted-but-places-no-blame/4712772">the spectator who taunted him</a> who was ejected from the stadium. </p>
<p>In his final years in the game, Goodes reminded Australia at every turn that he was not the problem. He directed the gaze of the nation upon itself. Whether it was talking about the truth of Australia’s shameful history, whether it was throwing an imaginary spear or pointing the finger at the crowd – Goodes, like Kunoth-Monks – refused to be “the problem”. </p>
<p>His final act of refusal when he left the game was to reject the “gifts” offered from the arena that every week sought to diminish him.</p>
<p>As I contemplate Goodes’ absence from the final this week, I don’t feel sorry for him. </p>
<p>He left the game like he played it; a sovereign Adnyamathanha and Narungga man. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Chelsea Bond will be online for an Author Q&A between 11am and noon on Thursday, September 29, 2016. Post any questions you have in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66043/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>As an Australian Learning and Teaching Fellow, Dr Chelsea Bond receives funding from the Department of Education and Training.
She is affiliated with Inala Wangarra Inc. an Indigenous community development association in a voluntary capacity. </span></em></p>
For Indigenous people, refusal is a powerful act of sovereignty. In Grand Final week, it’s timely to reflect on Adam Goodes’ refusal to accept racism in football or an official send off when he retired - and the repercussions of his stance, a year on.
Chelsea Watego, Senior Lecturer, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit (ATSIS Unit), The University of Queensland
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/65952
2016-09-27T19:23:22Z
2016-09-27T19:23:22Z
The A$1.2 billion saving Australia’s electricity rule-maker just knocked back
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139374/original/image-20160927-20138-8je76s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Small power generators like solar panels take pressure off the electricity grid. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Solar image from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The governing body for our energy market, the Australian Energy Market Commission, has just missed a major opportunity to modernise our electricity networks. Last week the commission rejected a proposal to pay credits to small, local generators (such as small wind, solar and gas). <a href="http://www.uts.edu.au/sites/default/files/EconomicModellingofLGNC.pdf">Our research</a> shows that this could save electricity consumers A$1.2 billion by 2050. </p>
<p>In July 2015, the City of Sydney, Total Environment Centre and NSW Property Council proposed the <a href="http://www.aemc.gov.au/Rule-Changes/Local-Generation-Network-Credits">Local Generation Network Credit rule change</a>. This would have required network businesses to pay a credit for electricity exported into the distribution grid – that is, close to where it is actually consumed. </p>
<p>This is different to the credit (known as a “feed-in tariff”, or FIT) paid by electricity retailers for solar households that export power, which reflects the energy value of the solar rather than any network value. FITs are a fixed payment for the amount of power exported with no variation for the time of day. In most states, <a href="http://www.solarchoice.net.au/solar-rebates/solar-feed-in-rewards">retailer FITs have replaced generous mandatory FITs set by state governments</a>, and usually have an upper limit on system size somewhere between 5 and 100 kilowatts.</p>
<p>The network rule change would have been a small but crucial step towards recognising that in the future electricity will flow both to and from consumers, as more and more individuals, communities and businesses install their own generation. </p>
<p>It is just one of the rule changes needed to make an orderly, efficient transition, rather than a cycle where consumers get more and more frustrated as they are forced into workarounds to deal with outdated regulations, and regulators and markets play catch-up. </p>
<h2>The cost of connection</h2>
<p>About <a href="http://cmeaustralia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/FINAL-PAPER-1-EMPIRICS-.pdf">half of our electricity prices are made up of network charges</a>. These cover the cost of building and maintaining the poles and wires that get electricity from generators to our homes and businesses. Traditionally, that was a long way, as electricity all came from large centralised generators. </p>
<p>This is all changing, as homes and businesses increasingly install their own solar, wind or gas generators. These trends are being driven by the increase in electricity prices, cost reductions in renewable energy, and a range of other motives such as climate targets, aspirations for self-sufficiency, and wishing to take control of energy spending. </p>
<p><a href="http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/how-the-networks-blew-australias-cheap-energy-advantage-24310">Network costs have been the main contributor to a big jump in Australian electricity prices over the last 15 years</a>. There was a huge investment to cope with the projected rise in electricity demand, which has so far failed to happen.</p>
<p>Described as “gold plating”, it would have been smarter and cheaper to do a whole mix of other things – energy efficiency, local generation and so on – instead of the big investment focused on network infrastructure. </p>
<p>Because the electricity from local generators is used physically close to where it is generated, it reduces congestion on the network and so can reduce the need to upgrade. The proposed rule change is aimed at rewarding local generators for export at peak times, when the network is under most strain, and so avoiding the long-term need for network investment. </p>
<p>The rule change would also enable many local generation projects, and keep them using the network to share energy. Without this incentive most generators will use their energy onsite rather than exporting to the grid. </p>
<p>This gets the biggest return, as it means each unit you generate avoids the entire volume charge of a unit imported from the grid. </p>
<h2>Consumers lose out</h2>
<p>But what if you have several buildings and want to generate at one and use it at the other? Tough luck. </p>
<p>Unless you can connect those buildings with a private wire – instead of connecting them via the grid – it’s unlikely to be economic. Consumers pay the same network charges whether the energy is transported across the road or halfway across the state. </p>
<p>This rule change would have meant that you got a network credit for the generation, and therefore helped reduce what you pay to use the network. It would be a win-win for everyone, as putting in a private wire is just duplication of the network that already exists and makes everyone – the network business, the organisation and, by implication, other consumers – worse off. </p>
<p>Of course, a private wire isn’t possible in all situations, but the principle remains: the local network credit offers an alternative to behind-the-meter generation. </p>
<p>The Institute for Sustainable Futures recently led a year-long project looking at local generation network credits and local electricity trading. The <a href="http://www.uts.edu.au/research-and-teaching/our-research/institute-sustainable-futures/our-research/energy-and-climate-2">results</a> showed pretty clearly that, if designed well, this rule change would be good for local energy projects and good for electricity consumers. </p>
<p>As a result of the economic modelling, we recommended that existing systems and all small (less than 10 kilowatt) systems do not receive the network credit, in order to maximise benefits for everyone. The payments are unlikely to make a difference to whether those small systems go in, and paying them the credit would means an overall cost, rather than a long-term benefit of A$1.2 billion for everyone. </p>
<p>This was a change from the original proposal and was presented to the AEMC in great detail. The rule change proponents were also quite happy with these limits being imposed. </p>
<h2>So what did the AEMC decide?</h2>
<p>The AEMC considers rule change proposals – and accepts, rejects, or makes what is called a “preferred rule”. It is a very arcane process, with little scope for collaborative outcomes.</p>
<p>On this issue, the AEMC delivered a “<a href="http://www.aemc.gov.au/getattachment/66faaff1-4c3d-4e68-945a-9307bfcd597e/Draft-rule-determination.aspx">preferred rule</a>” – which does nothing to solve the problem. The commission ignored the opportunity to work with stakeholders to deliver an alternative rule that would benefit both local projects and all consumers. </p>
<p>Instead, it proposes that network businesses be required to provide information on upcoming constraints, including a dollar value for alternatives to network investment. That’s all well and good, except that the information is already available in the form of <a href="http://nationalmap.gov.au/renewables/">Network Opportunity Maps</a>.</p>
<p>Unfortunately it’s just more evidence that the AEMC has lost touch with what is actually happening in the market, and with what consumers want. </p>
<p>So where to now? There is a six-week consultation period on the draft rule – and we can only hope that the AEMC reconsiders its decision. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Jay Rutovitz will be online for an Author Q&A between 4 and 5pm on Wednesday, September 28, 2016. Post any questions you have in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65952/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research by Institute for Sustainable Futures was supported by funding from ARENA, UTS, Ergon Energy, Moira Shire Council, Swan Hill Rural City Council, Wannon Water, City of Sydney, Byron Shire Council, and Willoughby City Council, with in-kind support from AGL, NSW Government Department of Industry, Powercor the Total Environment Centre, and other project participants. </span></em></p>
The governing body for our energy market has just missed a major opportunity to modernise our electricity networks.
Jay Rutovitz, Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/64086
2016-09-13T20:26:36Z
2016-09-13T20:26:36Z
Why is the advertising industry still promoting violence against women?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135409/original/image-20160824-30259-k6w5co.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The advertising industry has a long and chequered history of objectifying women.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image sourced from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Advertisers, challenged with cutting through a cluttered marketing environment, sometimes aim to shock. Unfortunately while their aim may be to get their client noticed, our research shows they continue to glorify the violent exploitation of women. </p>
<p>This is despite increasing community support, matched by <a href="https://theconversation.com/change-the-story-how-the-worlds-first-national-framework-can-help-prevent-violence-against-women-50602">public policy efforts</a> to counter violence against women. </p>
<p>Flick through any glossy high fashion magazine today, and you will be confronted with images of women who have been <a href="http://fashionista.com/2012/06/does-this-beauty-editorial-glamorize-domestic-violence">assaulted</a>, <a href="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr06/2013/6/27/9/enhanced-buzz-wide-5538-1372341471-21.jpg">brutalised</a> or <a href="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr02/2013/6/27/8/enhanced-buzz-10518-1372337808-0.jpg">murdered</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135401/original/image-20160824-30238-7rr846.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135401/original/image-20160824-30238-7rr846.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135401/original/image-20160824-30238-7rr846.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135401/original/image-20160824-30238-7rr846.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135401/original/image-20160824-30238-7rr846.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135401/original/image-20160824-30238-7rr846.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135401/original/image-20160824-30238-7rr846.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bulgarian magazine 12 ran this image as part of an editorial feature in 2012.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fashionista</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Not only are advertisements that feature sex and violence <a href="https://theconversation.com/do-sex-and-violence-actually-sell-45138">bad for business</a>, but more importantly they are causing damage by <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2753/JOA0091-3367390403">normalising violence against women</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135402/original/image-20160824-30228-3l9hbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135402/original/image-20160824-30228-3l9hbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135402/original/image-20160824-30228-3l9hbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135402/original/image-20160824-30228-3l9hbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135402/original/image-20160824-30228-3l9hbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135402/original/image-20160824-30228-3l9hbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135402/original/image-20160824-30228-3l9hbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An ad for women’s fashion label Loula from Harper’s Bazaar, January 2008.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In our <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/EJM-09-2014-0597">study</a>, we examined how advertisements that depict violence against women shape women’s subjectivities. We found that women were positioned in three ways – as “teases” who despite the violent contexts suggestively offer a promise of sexual intimacy (e.g. <a href="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr03/2013/6/27/9/enhanced-buzz-wide-12376-1372339650-14.jpg">this</a> Dolce et Gabanna advertisement), as “pieces of meat” dehumanised in order to be controlled, dominated and consumed (e.g. <a href="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr06/2013/6/27/9/enhanced-buzz-wide-5596-1372341113-9.jpg">this</a> Beymen Blender advertisement) and as “conquered” subjects who are submissive, vulnerable and psychologically adrift (e.g. <a href="http://www.adweek.com/files/adfreak/AdFreak%20new/Fluid-Salon-Look-Good-in-All-You-Do-1.jpg">this</a> advertisement by Fluid salon).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135415/original/image-20160824-30222-1mf8inm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135415/original/image-20160824-30222-1mf8inm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135415/original/image-20160824-30222-1mf8inm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135415/original/image-20160824-30222-1mf8inm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135415/original/image-20160824-30222-1mf8inm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=651&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135415/original/image-20160824-30222-1mf8inm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=651&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135415/original/image-20160824-30222-1mf8inm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=651&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Repeat offender Suitsupply defended its recent campaign, arguing women were depicted as having the ‘upper hand’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Suitsupply</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Representing women as sexualised, zoomorphic and subjugated beings fosters a rape culture in which treating women in degrading ways through the use of violence is considered acceptable. By communicating that it is ok to dominate, sexually touch and assault women, violent advertising representations undervalue the right of a woman to say no. In turn, the taboo of violence against women is not only weakened but questioned.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135001/original/image-20160822-18708-1rxta34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135001/original/image-20160822-18708-1rxta34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135001/original/image-20160822-18708-1rxta34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135001/original/image-20160822-18708-1rxta34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135001/original/image-20160822-18708-1rxta34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135001/original/image-20160822-18708-1rxta34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135001/original/image-20160822-18708-1rxta34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Belvedere Vodka apologised for this ad, which appeared on its Facebook page.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When the inevitable public backlash arises against such advertisements, how does business respond? More often than not, they dine out on the free publicity generated until the tide begins to turn against them. </p>
<p>In our <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/EJM-09-2014-0597">study</a>, we analysed the public statements offered by advertising agencies and their clients when they were asked to justify violent advertising representations.</p>
<p>Essentially, businesses either attempt to subvert interpretations of the representations by positioning the violence as “art,” make authority claims to discredit those who speak out against the advertisement, or deny responsibility for the “unintended consequences”. They use public relations spin, such as insincere apologies or donations to women’s charities. In some cases they choose to remain completely silent on the issue. In other words, business either diverts the focus to those offended by the advertisement or seeks to minimise its role in the outcry.</p>
<p>Since the advertising industry is <a href="http://www.collectiveshout.org/reasons_why_ad_industry_self_regulation_is_a_disaster">self-regulated</a>, action is either too little or too late. Compounding this is the industry’s long and chequered history in fostering a culture of sexual objectification of girls and women. </p>
<p>Advertisers need to catch up with contemporary attitudes that there is no place for misogyny, sexism and violence against women in advertising, as the recent case of <a href="http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/media/peoplepower-win-after-sydney-teacher-paula-orbea-launches-petition-against-misogynistic-and-degrading-slogans-on-wicked-campers-vans/news-story/590bd925e5a81170a7773ca71cbb7651">Wicked Campers</a> demonstrates. </p>
<p>The repeated and widespread use of violent representations of women in advertising can dangerously perturb how we understand women and their right to be portrayed in manner that respects their safety. It counters the broader efforts of legislation, the media and social marketing campaigns to combat violence against women. </p>
<p>If advertisers are to profit and benefit from their role as cultural intermediaries, they must shoulder their responsibilities as well. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5J31AT7viqo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">US-based advertising agency Badger & Winters calls out ads that objectify women.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One <a href="http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/agency-vows-stop-objectifying-women-video-mocks-truly-egregious-ads-169199">agency</a> has taken a stand on the issue of objectifying women in advertising. However, with little other change on the horizon, public policy efforts and continued consumer activism are needed to bring greater accountability for ethical representations in advertising practice to the fore.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Lauren Gurrieri will be online for an Author Q&A between 10 and 11am on Wednesday, 14 September, 2016. Post any questions you have in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64086/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 organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
When the inevitable backlash happens, little changes.
Lauren Gurrieri, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, RMIT University
Helene Cherrier, Associate Professor of Marketing, RMIT University
Jan Brace-Govan, Associate Professor, Monash University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/64822
2016-09-07T20:12:28Z
2016-09-07T20:12:28Z
Redressing, not exacerbating, inequality is the real moral challenge for this government
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136526/original/image-20160905-31623-gvdncp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The government is keen to push its omnibus savings bill through parliament.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Mick Tsikas</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A purported priority for this 45th parliament is to tackle the deficit, last encountered in the budget items just before the federal election campaign. </p>
<p>Would it be affected by the close result and odd voting patterns? No, the government claims – its win was the mandate it sought.</p>
<p>Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull claimed that the passing of the budget repair bills was more than just political gain. He doubled down on his economic message ahead of parliament’s return, describing budget repair as a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-29/malcolm-turnbull-pushes-labor-to-support-budget-savings/7796390%5D(http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-29/malcolm-turnbull-pushes-labor-to-support-budget-savings/7796390">“fundamental moral challenge”</a>. He demanded the opposition support the <a href="http://sjm.ministers.treasury.gov.au/media-release/074-2016/">omnibus bill</a> in its entirety, as Labor “assumed passage of it in its election costings document”.</p>
<p>This sets an odd tone for a “moral” claim, as the target of most of the bill’s proposed 24 cuts are the poor and vulnerable. This is in stark contrast to another bill for <a href="http://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/federal-budget/the-big-problem-with-the-80k-tax-cut/news-story/107528e698dc528a6fb29e464c84cb73">tax cuts for those earning A$80,000 plus</a>.</p>
<p>These claimed priority items make it clear the government’s budget “repairs” will increase overall income inequities, and if supported by Labor, could further exacerbate the distrust of the “elites”. </p>
<p>The priorities in Turnbull’s speech seemed to focus on punishing the least powerful by cutting their payments. While picking on welfare recipients has been around for a long time, its current use is dicey, given that <a href="http://vtr.aec.gov.au/HouseStateFirstPrefsByParty-20499-NAT.htm">24% of formal voters indicate</a> increasing distrust of major parties.</p>
<p>Both here and overseas, there are disturbing signs of the damage of inequalities. The rising proportion of outlier candidates in the recent election match worldwide evidence that populism is rising in response to the increased inequities in the developed world – for example, the rise of Donald Trump. </p>
<p>The Brexit polls and data produced by the IMF suggest that the focus on market models may damage both <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/neoliberalism-is-increasing-inequality-and-stunting-economic-growth-the-imf-says-a7052416.html">economic growth and democratic legitimacy</a>. And the current ABC Boyer Lectures, delivered by Michael Marmot, question whether inequalities undermine <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/boyer-lectures-michael-marmot-social-determinants-ill-health/7636982">health and national well-being outcomes</a>. </p>
<p>These all suggest that any government that fails to tackle emerging political and economic inequities may create more problems.</p>
<h2>Who will be affected?</h2>
<p>Buried in the governor-general’s <a href="http://australianpolitics.com/2016/08/30/cosgrove-speech-opening-45th-parliament.html">speech opening this parliament</a> is a brief mention of the cashless welfare card. </p>
<p>This is a further sign again of increased contempt for those who are not in paid work – and that is not just the unemployed. <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/mf/6224.0.55.001">New data from the ABS</a> family work status survey show there were around 329,200 “jobless” families with dependants in June 2015. In those families, there were 662,100 dependants aged less than 25 years, 85% of whom were children under 15. </p>
<p>In recent years, the proportion of jobless families with dependants has remained stable at around 11%. These cover carers, people with disabilities, the sick, students and parents with young or multiple children.</p>
<p>The omnibus bill – to which the government attached its hyperbolic demand for not leaving debts to our grandchildren – includes 24 items. Most of these, in <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/24-shades-of-nasty-the-devil-in-the-detail-of-treasurer-scott-morrisons-6-billion-omnibus-savings-bill-20160901-gr6ddm.html">a neat summary article</a>, are described by Jessica Irvine as “24 shades of nasty”. Some are particularly toxic.</p>
<p>I have further summarised 13 of the meaner items below, with their proposed savings, which would add only just over half of the $6 billion or so expected to be saved over the four-year forward estimates. This is hardly serious deficit-cutting, but will cause real pain to those who rely on them.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>cuts in support for students and earlier FEE-HELP repayment ($3.3 million);</p></li>
<li><p>abolish bonus for those getting off Newstart and holding a job for 12 months ($242.1 million);</p></li>
<li><p>no overlap period for those moving from Newstart to paid work ($61.5 million);</p></li>
<li><p>cuts to dental services ($52.4 million);</p></li>
<li><p>two-year wait for immigrants to claim welfare payments ($312.5 million);</p></li>
<li><p>cuts to paid parental leave ($133.7 million);</p></li>
<li><p>cuts to fringe benefits valuing for other payments ($132.1 million);</p></li>
<li><p>no backdating of Carers Allowance ($108.6 million);</p></li>
<li><p>cuts to family payments and other parental leave ($330.9 million);</p></li>
<li><p>cuts to income support for mentally ill people confined by serious criminal offence ($37.8 million);</p></li>
<li><p>cuts to energy supplement for recipients of disability support pension, carer and Newstart payments ($1.29 billion);</p></li>
<li><p>tighter subsidies for high-need aged-care residents ($80.5 million); and</p></li>
<li><p>tougher repayments of debts of welfare recipients ($157.8 million).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Apart from the Newstart savings, the forward estimates are not impressive. And the situation of those on Newstart is already grim, without further cuts. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace-relations/caught-in-an-unemployment-netherworld-too-young-to-retire-too-old-to-get-a-job-20160823-gqyv2w.html">An article in the SMH</a> on research from the Brotherhood of St Laurence has found that 40% of recipients of employment services last year were mature-age Australians who spent more than a year on income support. </p>
<p>It pointed out that more than one-third of Newstart payments go to people who are not even expected to look for work as they are sick, caring for others, in training, or cannot look for work.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/malcolm-turnbulls-dole-cuts-will-hit-older-australians-the-hardest-20160903-gr817b.html">Another article</a> shows increasing numbers of older people on Newstart (10,000 extra since 2012, with more than half staying on the payment for at least two years). All these data suggest that what was once seen as a short-term payment has now become long term for those who meet prejudice and lack opportunities in finding paid work.</p>
<h2>Ignoring the fairness question at their peril</h2>
<p>So why is the government making these cuts their “moral” demand for support? And why has Labor not offered clear opposition? </p>
<p>Despite the clear public and political responses to the basic unfairness of these and similar cuts in the 2014 budget, the government is pressing ahead with these measures by way of its wafer-thin majority. Have neither of the major parties has learned anything from the election? </p>
<p>Both major parties would be wise to listen to the messages coming from a grumpy electorate that has indicated it wants serious leadership, not just political game-playing and increased unfairness.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Eva Cox will be online for an Author Q&A between 11am and noon AEST on Friday, 9 September, 2016. Post any questions you have in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64822/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eva Cox 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>
We need to ask on what basis the government is making its budget savings a ‘moral’ issue, and how the opposition can possibly support it.
Eva Cox, Professorial Fellow, Jumbunna IHL, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/64806
2016-09-06T03:26:04Z
2016-09-06T03:26:04Z
How happiness improves business results
<p>In business the concept of happiness is likely to make some groan, roll their eyes or be dismissive. But increasingly we can’t ignore the evidence <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3156609/">that it helps business</a>. </p>
<p>Modern science is measuring the positive effects of happiness on the mind and body more effectively, so businesses are becoming more interested in how it can be achieved and help <a href="http://www.aaiddjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1352/0895-8017(2000)105%3C0377:SPFEHA%3E2.0.CO;2">optimise what they do</a>. </p>
<p>In the age where creativity and innovation are required for a competitive edge, you need a workplace which encourages idea-generation along with a high rate of productivity and a healthy bottom line. Here’s how happiness makes that happen. </p>
<p>It broadens your focus and expands your thinking. The positive brain <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=6a822zBGfjQC&oi=fnd&pg=PA3&dq=shawn+achor&ots=Q5sj77qXAt&sig=ran1QhgHgyO9vxXoK5pWuNxvp-c#v=onepage&q=shawn%20achor&f=false">is 31% more productive</a> than the brain in a negative, neutral or stressed state. </p>
<p>As your mind opens up there’s greater curiosity, free flow of ideas and productivity. Engagement is a measure of this.</p>
<p>Surveys from the American management consulting company Gallup continue to find that only 13% of employees are actively engaged at work. In the US alone, this could mean a cost of up to <a href="http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/188033/worldwide-employee-engagement-crisis.aspx">US$550 billion in lost productivity annually</a>. A 700-person <a href="https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/eproto/workingpapers/happinessproductivity.pdf">study by economists at the University of Warwick</a> found that happy employees were 20% above the control group in terms of productivity.</p>
<p>The same study found unhappy workers were 10% less productive than the control. </p>
<p>It shows individuals who are happier tend to:</p>
<ul>
<li>manage their time more effectively</li>
<li>exhibit more creativity</li>
<li>solve problems more effectively</li>
<li>collaborate better around common goals</li>
<li>make better leaders.</li>
</ul>
<h2>The pursuit of happiness for employees</h2>
<p>Having a great company culture that encourages happiness can generate better solutions and innovation that might not have come to light in a <a href="http://www.wired.com/insights/2014/08/virtuous-circle-happiness-innovation/">more oppressive environment</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4541708/">Two theories link</a> culture and happiness: Maslow’s needs theory and comparison theory. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136521/original/image-20160905-20253-8inufb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136521/original/image-20160905-20253-8inufb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136521/original/image-20160905-20253-8inufb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136521/original/image-20160905-20253-8inufb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136521/original/image-20160905-20253-8inufb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136521/original/image-20160905-20253-8inufb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136521/original/image-20160905-20253-8inufb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136521/original/image-20160905-20253-8inufb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maslow hierarchy of needs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Maslow’s needs theory says whether or not your needs are satisfied will determine if you will lead a good life. The more needs are satisfied, the happier people will be. It also dictates we are only motivated by a need, if lower level needs are met. </p>
<p>Before you can be motivated to improve yourself, basic needs such as food, water, safety, belonging and esteem must be taken care of.</p>
<p>Maslow’s hierarchy can be easily used to show correlation between what needs are to be satisfied at an organisational level <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED421486.pdf">for an employee to grow</a>. When a workplace is designed and managed to create meaning for its workers they <a href="http://edtech2.tennessee.edu/projects/USDA/servicescapes.pdf">tend to be healthier and happy</a>. </p>
<p>Comparison theory indicates that human happiness depends on comparisons between actual standards of quality of life and perceived life circumstances, called <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4541708/">benchmarking</a>. </p>
<p>Using benchmarking we can see growing examples of organisations that are successful in meeting their employees needs, allowing employees to grow and self actualise. Examples of where employee growth is being realised can include creativity and pursuit of knowledge. That takes time and the ability to reflect.</p>
<p>3M adopted a program in 1948 that allowed employees to use work time to follow their passion and hatch ideas. The concept is called <a href="https://www.fastcodesign.com/1663137/how-3m-gave-everyone-days-off-and-created-an-innovation-dynamo">“15 Percent Time”</a>. The scientist Art Fry invented the Post-It Note through the use of this program.</p>
<p>More recently, Google introduced a program they call <a href="https://cydchic.wordpress.com/2013/11/25/oh-to-be-a-googler">“innovation time off”</a> or 20% time, where they give the employees the opportunity to not “work” for eight hours of their week to complete side projects that drive creative and innovative ideas for the company. This resulted in the creations of Gmail, Google Earth, and Google Talk. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.fastcodesign.com/1663137/how-3m-gave-everyone-days-off-and-created-an-innovation-dynamo">Hewlett-Packard Labs</a> gives employees personal creative time during which new products have been created, such as clear bandages and optical films that reflect light.</p>
<p>There is an exceptionally strong case to show that if you build a company culture to generate greater levels of happiness, purpose and engagement you will reap the rewards, employees can self actualise, innovate, and produce better results for the company.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64806/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Petrina Coventry 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>
Happy employees, whose basic needs are met, are essential to a productive business.
Petrina Coventry, Professor, University of Adelaide
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/64562
2016-09-01T20:19:48Z
2016-09-01T20:19:48Z
Direct Action not as motivating as carbon tax say some of Australia’s biggest emitters
<p>Australia’s largest listed, carbon intensive companies say management lost focus on carbon matters, abandoned energy projects and didn’t have the commercial imperative to produce long-term strategic action on reducing emissions after the carbon tax was repealed, new research finds.</p>
<p>Our research looked at the comparative views of emitters before and after the repeal of the carbon tax legislation, in interviews with 18 senior managers from nine carbon-intensive listed companies.</p>
<p>Two years have passed since Australia’s carbon tax was repealed. It was introduced by the Labor government and came into effect in 2012. </p>
<p>The carbon pricing scheme <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-australias-carbon-price-mechanism-in-six-dot-points-4230">asked big emitters to pay for each tonne of emissions</a> above a threshold of 25,000 tonnes, in carbon units, and these were at a fixed charge of: $23 a tonne in 2012, $24.15 a tonne in 2013 and $25.40 a tonne in 2014.</p>
<p>The Swinburne research found the financial pressure exerted by the carbon tax forced companies to take action to manage emissions. As one senior executive observed at the time:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“…the threat is our operating costs will increase, and we won’t be able to pass that cost on through to our customers, and, therefore, our earnings suffer as a result”. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In July 2014, the coalition government repealed the carbon tax by replacing it with the <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/clean-air">“Direct Action” plan</a> which works primarily by providing funding to companies to incentivise emission reduction activities. The <a href="http://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/ERF/Auctions-results/april-2016">government has spent</a>A$1.7 billion on 143 million tonnes of emissions, at an average cost of A$12 a tonne.</p>
<p>Many of the companies interviewed for our research said Direct Action was not as effective as a carbon tax in driving companies to act urgently and manage emissions. The carbon tax gave companies incentives to act because it increased utilities prices, adding financial burden for some companies, in addition to these companies being liable under the tax. </p>
<p>One manager said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The scheme [carbon tax] now obviously having a cost associated with those emissions, it was a case of trying to understand where the costs were and essentially how we capture that information and how we track it.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The existing <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C2007A00175">National Greenhouse Energy Reporting Act 2007</a> (which requires high emitters to report emissions) does not provide the same incentives because it’s only a compliance measure with no direct financial burden.</p>
<p>Our research found the carbon tax created not only financial pressure but also a reputation threat for high emitting companies. </p>
<p>When the carbon tax was repealed, the focus on carbon emissions in these companies shifted. In some cases this showed up in the form of changes to staff hiring, away from environmental or technical specialists and towards legal staff. One manager explained it as: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Even though we may not have the technical background in some respects, I think there’s a lot of interest in the legal profession into climate issues, you know, the social issues.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This shift in focus was partly due to a lack of top management attention to the issue and partly because the financial justification for having dedicated personnel to tackle emissions decreased. </p>
<p>Some companies postponed or abandoned energy management projects after the repeal of the carbon tax. For example, one manager observed that his company had postponed A$1.5 billion worth of long term renewable investment projects due to the carbon tax repeal and the political uncertainty around the <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/renewable-energy-target-8912">Renewable Energy Target</a>.</p>
<p>Another factor is the lower use of techniques such as provision of incentives and setting targets for emissions management compared with the period of the carbon tax. One manager stated his company was no longer investing in target setting as there was no financial return for doing so. </p>
<p>Almost all interviewees in our research agreed that the carbon tax had been an effective mechanism when it was in place. Certain companies have a clear expectation a carbon price will re-emerge. They are proactively monitoring this issue. One manager described it as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We shadow in a carbon price across our portfolio of assets, determine what the potential impact is for [company name] and how we would manage that. We’ve continued to invest in carbon reduction…The business now looks at it as a cost-of-doing business opportunity.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Overall, the research provided mixed evidence about achieving Australia’s commitment, made at the Paris climate change summit, to reduce emissions to 26-28% on 2005 levels by 2030. Some companies are acting as though the carbon tax never left us, while for others carbon emission management is no longer a strategic issue. </p>
<p>The financial pressure exerted from the carbon tax was a strong motivation for all sample companies to take urgent action on emissions management. So the challenge for the current government is whether Australia’s current policy incentives for corporate constraint of carbon are strong enough to deliver.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Jayanthi Kumarasiri will be online for an Author Q&A between 2 and 3pm on Friday, 2 September, 2016. Post any questions you have in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64562/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jayanthi Kumarasiri receives funding from the Accounting & Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ) and Swinburne University of Technology’s Faculty of Business and Law research grant scheme. . </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christine Jubb and Keith A Houghton do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
New research has found that carbon intensive companies have lost focus on reducing emissions under Direct Action, when compared with the carbon tax.
Jayanthi Kumarasiri, Lecturer in Accounting, Swinburne University of Technology
Christine Jubb, Professor of Accounting, Associate Director Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology
Keith A Houghton, Emeritus Professor, Australian National University; Professor, Accounting and Finance, Swinburne University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/64434
2016-08-31T20:09:51Z
2016-08-31T20:09:51Z
Want to improve the nation’s health? Start by reducing inequalities and improving living conditions
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135912/original/image-20160830-28220-ypv0ge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Across Australia, low-income people lose about six years of life compared to their better-off compatriots.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-189591035/stock-photo-melbourne-australia-april-25-2014public-housing-building-australias-public-housing-stock-consisted-more-than-300000-dwellings-supporting-low-income-earners.html?src=-gDPgpG1OmNIgzP5YZYRpA-1-1"> TK Kurikawa/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/boyerlectures/">57th Boyer Lecture Series, exploring the social determinants of health</a>, starts tonight. Over four lectures and four weeks, the World Medical Association president, Professor Sir Michael Marmot, will explore the challenges communities face in solving issues of health inequality.</em></p>
<p><em>Ahead of the lectures, ANU professor Sharon Friel <a href="https://theconversation.com/social-determinants-how-class-and-wealth-affect-our-health-64442">explains what social determinants of health are</a>, while Flinders University Professor Fran Baum canvasses some policy responses.</em> </p>
<hr>
<p>We all like to think we are free agents and have huge degrees of agency. But, in reality, our health reflects the environments we live in. </p>
<p>Men living in the Sydney suburb Fairfield East, for instance, are <a href="http://www.oup.com.au/titles/higher_ed/health_sciences/9780195588088">twice as likely to die</a> between ages 0 and 74 as those in the far richer Sydney suburb of Woollahra. The infant death rate in Fairfield is 4 per 1,000 live births compared to 2.4 in Woollahra. </p>
<p>Across Australia, low-income people <a href="https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/battlers-and-billionaires">lose about six years of life</a> compared to their better-off compatriots. </p>
<p>If policymakers want to reduce health inequities, one of the best ways is to create environments that promote better health. This is known as addressing the “social determinants of health”. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135862/original/image-20160830-17851-13rycww.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135862/original/image-20160830-17851-13rycww.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135862/original/image-20160830-17851-13rycww.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135862/original/image-20160830-17851-13rycww.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135862/original/image-20160830-17851-13rycww.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135862/original/image-20160830-17851-13rycww.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135862/original/image-20160830-17851-13rycww.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135862/original/image-20160830-17851-13rycww.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Improving the conditions of everyday life</h2>
<p>Many policy levers can be used to improve the conditions of everyday life, and many need to be pulled from outside the health department. </p>
<p>Effective action on the social determinants of health depends on upfront investments; however, such funding will produce health and other benefits over the longer term. </p>
<p><strong>Education</strong></p>
<p>Investment in education encourages social mobility. Finishing high school and gaining a university degree, for example, can help people from less well-off backgrounds climb the social ladder by entering middle-class professions. </p>
<p>Early childhood education produces a great return on investment. A <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/early_childhood_report1.pdf">United States presidential report found</a> learning initiatives provided roughly US$8.60 of benefits to society for every US$1 spent. </p>
<p><strong>Urban planning</strong></p>
<p>Urban planning can make our suburbs more social and exercise-friendly places. By taming cars, we can make walking and cycling the easy choices. Ensuring there are meeting places and community facilities encourages conviviality between residents. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136011/original/image-20160831-826-1pqw29d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136011/original/image-20160831-826-1pqw29d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136011/original/image-20160831-826-1pqw29d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136011/original/image-20160831-826-1pqw29d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136011/original/image-20160831-826-1pqw29d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136011/original/image-20160831-826-1pqw29d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136011/original/image-20160831-826-1pqw29d.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Good urban planning can make suburbs healthier.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-222234379/stock-photo-a-father-walking-with-his-dog-and-his-son-in-the-suburbs.html?src=I65dQ1W2tAR450DKo7MLvw-1-35">Daxiao Productions/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Not having a secure home means people are less likely to retain a job and friends, use health services and feel secure and grounded. Homelessness and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2015/14_0511.htm">housing insecurity</a> also shorten life expectancy. We need to work towards ensuring everyone has access to affordable housing. </p>
<p><strong>Employment</strong></p>
<p>Many of us spend much of our time at work, so healthy workplaces are vital. Improving our health at work means stopping bullying, reducing the amount of time we spend sitting, giving workers a voice and ensuring they have good employment conditions. </p>
<p>One of the worst things for our health is <a href="https://theconversation.com/unemployed-and-at-risk-more-help-needed-for-those-out-of-work-52968">unemployment</a>. Policies must aim to provide people with opportunities for meaningful work. The gives people a sense of purpose and has benefits for mental well-being and staying healthy. </p>
<p><strong>Criminal justice</strong></p>
<p>To reduce inequality, we need to tackle the high rates of Indigenous incarceration. Aboriginal people are <a href="http://www.aic.gov.au/crime_types/in_focus/indigenousjustice.html">12 times more likely</a> to be imprisoned than non-Indigenous people. These people are removed from their communities, social support, educational and employment opportunities and their health will suffer as a result of each of these. </p>
<h2>How to make it happen</h2>
<p>Around the world, governments are devising ways to hold each department responsible for their health impact and to improve coherence across the sectors. </p>
<p>In South Australia, the state government has built on work from the European Union and <a href="http://www.who.int/healthpromotion/frameworkforcountryaction/en/">World Health Organisation</a> (WHO) and instituted a health in all polices (HiAP) approach. </p>
<p>Although modestly funded, HiAP has led to many initiatives in South Australia, including: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>the <a href="http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/about-us/healthy-parks-healthy-people">Healthy Parks Healthy People policy</a>, which promotes the positive impact open space, parks and nature have on mental health and well-being</p></li>
<li><p>a review of the policies of 44 SA government departments to determine how each could contribute to the state’s healthy weight target. This led to an active transport policy to get more people to walk and cycle, and to an infrastructure policy on home food production and gardening. This includes fitting rainwater tanks to properties for public tenants and landscaping home and community gardens for fruit and vegetable growing.</p></li>
<li><p>the adoption of a new Public Health Act which mandates local government produce “healthy communities plans” for their regions </p></li>
<li><p>collaboration between education and health services to encourage parental literacy so parents are more able to read with and to their children. This improves the child’s educational chances and the parent’s sense of control and satisfaction with their parenting. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>The results of SA’s HiAP approach have been promising. The federal government and other states and territories should follow SA’s lead.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136012/original/image-20160831-807-2gkzx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136012/original/image-20160831-807-2gkzx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136012/original/image-20160831-807-2gkzx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136012/original/image-20160831-807-2gkzx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136012/original/image-20160831-807-2gkzx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136012/original/image-20160831-807-2gkzx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136012/original/image-20160831-807-2gkzx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Community gardens can improve health but aren’t health department projects.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com">Oleg Mikhaylov/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Any policy response, however, must be materially, politically, psychologically and socially empowering. Empowerment gives people control over their lives and the more control people have, the better their health. </p>
<p>Empowering policies might mean including community members on boards of management of health services or involving locals in decisions about urban development. It might mean establishing citizen juries to advise the government about the desirability of a nuclear waste dump in South Australia, or legislation to protect the rights of trade unions to promote workers’ rights. </p>
<h2>How do we pay for it?</h2>
<p>Reducing health inequities requires public policies that reduce economic inequities. More equal societies in themselves are healthier and <a href="https://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/the-spirit-level">score well on social determinants of health</a> such as child poverty, homelessness and unemployment. Therefore, they require less spending to maintain health.</p>
<p>Both sides of politics put forward policies to reduce economic inequities at the federal election: the Coalition announced a stop to generous superannuation taxation relief for high-income earners, while the Labor Party promised to phase out negative gearing on investment properties. These revenue measures would have a redistributive effect and could collect income to improve the conditions of everyday life. </p>
<p>Other possible redistributive and income-generating measures include: </p>
<ul>
<li>imposing a modest tax on accumulated wealth</li>
<li>introducing <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-should-put-an-inheritance-tax-back-into-the-spotlight-1634">death duties</a>, which are paid when people inherit wealth from relatives</li>
<li>removing inefficient subsidies such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-its-time-to-remove-private-health-insurance-rebates-16525">private health insurance rebate</a></li>
<li>removing the mining industry <a href="https://theconversation.com/viewpoints-should-fuel-tax-credits-be-cut-in-the-budget-25988">diesel tax exemption</a>.<br></li>
</ul>
<p>Inequities are increasing, but this isn’t inevitable; it’s a result of policy decisions that have been made and which can be reversed.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong><em>Further reading: <a href="https://theconversation.com/social-determinants-how-class-and-wealth-affect-our-health-64442">Social determinants – how class and wealth affect our health</a></em></strong></p>
<hr>
<p><em>Fran Baum will be online for an Author Q&A between 11am and noon ACST on Friday, 2 September, 2016. Post any questions you have in the comment section below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64434/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fran Baum receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Research Council . She is a member of the Global Steering Council of the People's Health Movement and a Life member of the Public Health Association of Australia and Fellow of the Australian Health Promotion Association </span></em></p>
We all like to think we are free agents and have huge degrees of agency. But, in reality, our health reflects the environments we live in.
Fran Baum, Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor, Foundation Director, Southgate Institute for Health, Society & Equity, Flinders University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/64290
2016-08-23T08:01:41Z
2016-08-23T08:01:41Z
A pub brawl over research funding doesn’t benefit any of us
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135125/original/image-20160823-30257-152s889.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is this really how we want to decide where research funding should be allocated?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Here we go again. On Monday, we were interested to see The Daily Telegraph’s Natasha Bita and 2GB broadcaster Ray Hadley making a strong fist of implying they would make good directors of Australia’s research funding system, supported by a college of experts in suburban pubs.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/taxpayer-dollars-wasted-on-absurd-studies-that-do-nothing-to-advance-australian-research/news-story/c0c20e651da84b3f249f6e77405cfc7c">this piece in the Telegraph</a>, Bita provides us with some examples of what are headlined “‘absurd’ studies that do nothing to advance Australian research”. </p>
<p>Studies lined up for ridicule included a project to “investigate warfare in the ancient Tongan state through a study of earthwork fortifications”; another on “whether colleagues chatting in open-plan offices ‘creates annoyance’ and affects productivity”; and an investigation of the “post World War II evolution of the Australian university campus”. </p>
<p>Hadley <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/research-funding-for-obscure-projects-needs-closer-examination-morrison-warns/news-story/602d7b2ecdba18fd1b1dbc4d41c763a6">joined in the ruck</a>, suggesting that the Australian Research Council (ARC) should be forced to “justify its grants in the front bar of a pub in western Sydney or northside Brisbane”.</p>
<h2>Get a new hobby horse folks, this one’s dead</h2>
<p>It’s all so sadly familiar: lazy swipes by lazy blowhards at lazy academics lazing their way through granting procedures (notwithstanding the fact that these procedures are hyper-competitive). It seems like this has happened nearly every year since taxpayer dollars started being spent on science and research.</p>
<p>In 2014, Fox News joined with Texas Republican Representative Lamar Smith in <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/09/28/feds-spend-300k-on-study-on-how-to-ride-bikes.html">lambasting “wasted” US National Science Foundation money</a>. In 2013, while in opposition, Australian Liberal MP Jamie Briggs condemned <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/pyne-steps-back-on-grants-audit/news-story/a2c86e334b8c560ad45c8419ffde759d">“completely over-the-top” and “ridiculous”</a> grants. </p>
<p>As is now standard, these attackers often stress that they’re not against science and research <em>per se</em>; they’re just upset that research they don’t value is taking money away from the research they reckon really matters. </p>
<p>It seems all such commentators really <em>know</em> <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/taxpayer-dollars-wasted-on-absurd-studies-that-do-nothing-to-advance-australian-research/news-story/c0c20e651da84b3f249f6e77405cfc7c">what valuable research looks like</a> and what it does not. And in Australia they apparently also know exactly whom to call on to back them up.</p>
<h2>All roads lead to a western Sydney pub</h2>
<p>If you’re Ray Hadley, for example, the only way to collect genuine, representative views on things we should value – and therefore fund – is to go to a pub in western Sydney. It’s as if these pubs are populated by the most genuine Australians: people united in a single dream of how the perfect Australia should look, and moreover that it’s the <em>right</em>, perhaps <em>only</em>, dream.</p>
<p>In Ray’s view, discourse in these Utopian drinking establishments represents the true north of Australian public opinion, which naturally includes how best to prioritise research funding. </p>
<p>But why on earth would this be our yardstick for measuring value? </p>
<p>If we’re going to talk about what people do and don’t value, ask us what we think about motor sport, AFL, or hipster poetry slams. We’re not huge fans. But saying that doesn’t mean we think they are without some intrinsic value, or aren’t incredibly important to others, or shouldn’t be supported by the government or community at large. </p>
<p>You see, people differ. Sometimes we are interested in things that others aren’t, and that’s OK. That’s part of living in societies and agreeing to hand over a proportion of our income in order to maintain, and nurture, these societies. And it’s not as if the government doesn’t fund things like <a href="http://www.ausport.gov.au/supporting/funding">sport</a>. </p>
<h2>Being different is damned useful</h2>
<p>Over the last ten thousand years or so, humans have come up with this great thing called specialisation. Instead of everyone being a food-collecting, house-building, animal-husbanding generalist, we’ve discovered that having some people excel at spouting confected rage on the radio, and other people being good at assessing the quality of research, is a good thing for us as a society. </p>
<p>So for Australian society, how could an idealised, homogeneous subset of working-class (and typically white male) pub-goers be the ultimate litmus test for deciding if something is of value <em>to the whole country</em>? </p>
<p>In what possible world would they be the sole, and best, representatives of all Australian people – all taxpayers, all parents, all community groups, everyone? In what possible world is <em>any</em> single demographic group going to be?</p>
<p>There are innumerable potential problems out there, so many that we can’t be sure we even know what all of them are, better yet which are most important to invest money and research effort in.</p>
<p>And it’s impossible to tell which individual idea or piece of research might trigger the next revolutionary breakthrough. Few people anticipated that optimising radio telescopes would yield <a href="http://www.csiro.au/en/About/History-achievements/Top-10-inventions">Wi-Fi</a>, or that bird watching would lead to an understanding of <a href="http://australianmuseum.net.au/gould-and-his-contribution-to-science">evolution</a>, or that the musings of a few philosophers would transform our <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wealth_of_Nations">economy</a>.</p>
<p><em>We</em> don’t know precisely what research should be funded today, and neither do Hadley, or Bita, or the individual researchers submitting their research grants, “absurd” or otherwise. We’re sure we would all agree that investing in anything is risky, so like any sensible investor, society diversifies when allocating its collective research dollars. </p>
<p>And to the degree that anyone decides where the money should be spent, it should be people who have the knowledge and expertise to <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-youre-going-to-ridicule-research-do-your-homework-64238">understand</a> and judge the relative merits of research proposals.</p>
<p>Of course, we prioritise a sizeable chunk of the total research kitty to certain areas, pursuits, problems and interests. But to arbitrarily decide that a research area is literally of no value because five guys in a pub in a particular part of the country <em>might</em> laugh at the grant proposal title? Who’s being absurd now?</p>
<h2>Is this really just about exchanging cathartic rants?</h2>
<p>It’s fair to say that some of our colleagues in academia are unquestionably as dismissive of the priorities of Ray Hadley’s mythical, homogeneous, working class pub-goer as those pub-goers allegedly are of them.</p>
<p>It’s also fair to say that we from the research side of town could do more to be available, relevant and intelligible to people who would like to ask questions of us, to know more about what we do, and perhaps to make suggestions about what we <em>should</em> do. This is, at least in part, a failure of the research class to reach out beyond its own borders.</p>
<p>But we also have to ask: how much do people want to be reached out to? We ourselves wouldn’t want people constantly cluttering our Facebook timelines, inboxes, Twitter feeds and pub chats with attempts to make us like motor sports, AFL, hipster poetry slams or Donald Trump. </p>
<p>Honestly, we’re happy for other people to prioritise spending money (yes, even sacred taxpayer money) on things even if we don’t personally value them. We also hope that in turn perhaps they might be able to be accept us wanting to know more about the post World War II evolution of the Australian university campus.</p>
<p>In the end, perhaps the solution to this constantly rehashed problem of conflicting priorities is simply to acknowledge that people will always have conflicting priorities, and think about how best to live alongside each other: mythical, homogeneous pub-goer and irrelevant, out-of-touch academic alike? </p>
<p>Not all differences of opinion are problems that need to, or even <em>can</em>, be solved.</p>
<p>Perhaps instead of periodically lobbing abusive word-bombs at each other via our media outlet of choice, we could all occasionally go to a pub halfway between <em>Western</em> Sydney and the <em>University</em> of Sydney, ask each other a few questions, and raise a glass to the wonder that is the diversity of Australian culture. Surely we’d agree we’ve all benefited from that. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Will Grant will be online for an Author Q&A between 10 and 11am AEST on Wednesday, 24 August, 2016. Post any questions you have in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64290/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rod Lamberts has in the past received funding from the ARC. He is also an avid pub-talker about research as co-host of The Wholesome Show </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Will J Grant receives funding from the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. He also communicates possibly obscure research in a pub via The Wholesome Show. </span></em></p>
Well, here we are again. Lazy swipes by lazy blowhards at lazy academics lazing their way through hyper competitive granting procedures.
Rod Lamberts, Deputy Director, Australian National Centre for Public Awareness of Science, Australian National University
Will J Grant, Researcher / Lecturer, Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, Australian National University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/64241
2016-08-23T06:17:41Z
2016-08-23T06:17:41Z
Eddie Betts and racism in sport: it’s not enough to just not join in
<p>In the 1970s and 1980s, black footballers in England and Scotland were all too frequently subjected to racist abuse. It was not uncommon to see bananas thrown at players.</p>
<p>In mainland Europe, this deplorable act is still happening and in recent years bananas have been thrown at footballers, in obviously racist attacks, in countries such as Spain, Russia, Italy and Turkey. Even the <a href="http://www.espn.com.au/nhl/story/_/id/7007219/fan-throws-banana-philadelphia-flyers-winger-wayne-simmonds">National Hockey League in North America</a> has not been immune to this behaviour.</p>
<p>After a similar incident in Saturday night’s AFL match between Port Adelaide and the Adelaide Crows, where a Port fan threw a banana at Adelaide player Eddie Betts (who is Indigenous), it seems Australia should now be added to this list. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pn1H4SbyBoU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Sport can be a driver for change; it can make a difference in people’s lives and unify communities, particularly around national successes. But it can also create tensions and cause conflict. </p>
<p>Following an earlier incident of racism in the AFL, where Sudanese-born player Majak Daw was abused from over the fence, Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/news/stories/majak-daw-abuse-everyone-can-do-something-stop-racism">said</a> racism:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… reduces another person to the status of being a second-class citizen. And it prevents individuals and communities from reaching their potential.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Around the world, sporting achievements are still “seen” in racialised terms. Success (and failure) is explained by of skin colour. The white skin of an athlete is rarely highlighted (and is largely invisible), whereas the skin colour of a black athlete is <a href="https://theconversation.com/black-magic-white-muddle-more-like-it-549">often identified</a> as a determining factor of ability. </p>
<p>In Australian sport, “whiteness” is still the norm against which all others are measured, with athletes from different backgrounds classed as “others”. It serves as a site for the emphasis of notions of “difference”, often resulting in offensive and abusive behaviour by fans and other athletes. </p>
<h2>What does racism in sport say about society?</h2>
<p>This behaviour has often been written off as “banter” and accepted as part of sport. This acceptance is indicative of deeper societal issues. </p>
<p>Australian football <a href="https://theconversation.com/booing-adam-goodes-racism-is-in-the-stitching-of-the-afl-45316">has been tied</a> to historical notions of Anglo-Celtic “Australianness” – and there is evidence that fans continue to adhere to these mythical views when deciding who is and is not “Australian”. </p>
<p>The AFL is attempting to widen the appeal of Australian football to non-traditional markets. It has recruited players from diverse ethnic backgrounds to act as <a href="http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-01-21/afl-announces-multicultural-ambassadors">multicultural ambassadors</a>. These ambassadors have been drawn from Brazilian, Polynesian, African and Lebanese heritage, while Indigenous players have also been prominently featured in marketing material. </p>
<p>However, in recent years, Daw, <a href="https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiB0bGbqdbOAhVEJJQKHVMQChYQFggbMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.abc.net.au%2Fnews%2F2015-04-20%2Fnic-naitanui-subjected-to-racist-taunt-by-fan-during-derby%2F6407374&usg=AFQjCNHuvl-Tv7pg2gthmyEe0W-4BNDvvA&bvm=bv.129759880,d.dGo">Nic Naitanui</a>, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-20/karvelas-the-racists-are-exposed/6867926">Adam Goodes</a>, and <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-25/racial-barb-aimed-at-swans-star-franklin-under-investigation3a/5693888">Lance Franklin</a> have all been subjected to racist abuse on multiple occasions.</p>
<p>The focus on the heritage of such players may actually be detrimental to their acceptance by traditional AFL fans due to the continued Anglocentric culture of Australia and Australian football. These players may be identified as “others” by Anglo-Celtic fans, and targeted for abuse. </p>
<p>Photographs used by the media and clubs often emphasise the players’ heritage, making them an “acceptable face” of a certain minority community, acting as a role model and potential hero for others, while simultaneously restricting their aspirations to playing sport – given there are <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-so-few-professional-sport-coaches-from-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-communities-59398">few opportunities in coaching</a> and management. </p>
<p>Racism is no longer tolerated in the AFL but <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/afl-the-ugly-game-of-enlightened-racism-20130416-2hy9b.html">racial assumptions</a> of black inferiority continue to be made. As historian Colin Tatz <a href="http://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/products/book/stories-are-our-survival-sample.pdf">has said</a>, sport:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… has shown Aborigines and Islanders that using their bodies is still the one and only way they can compete on equal terms with an often hostile, certainly indifferent, mainstream society.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Losing sight of what is important</h2>
<p>Sport generates extremes of passion, partisanship, and adoration. </p>
<p>Fans commit significant time, effort and money to following their team. They see opposition supporters and players as rivals or enemies. They will use various means to try to intimidate and belittle them, often using terms and behaviour that in other walks of life would be seen as unacceptable. </p>
<p>While banana-throwing is often an isolated act, the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/afl/sydney-swans/adam-goodes-booed-again-in-qualifying-final-against-fremantle-20150912-gjl7hv.html">booing of Goodes</a> took place on a much larger scale, with whole sections of stadiums joining in. </p>
<p>Through the process of deindividuation it is easy for spectators to lose all sense of “I” when they are part of a group. They join in with behaviour they would normally condemn, perhaps writing it off as part of the experience or believing what they are doing to be somehow “less real” because it happened at a sports match. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135006/original/image-20160822-18722-z26uaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135006/original/image-20160822-18722-z26uaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135006/original/image-20160822-18722-z26uaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135006/original/image-20160822-18722-z26uaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135006/original/image-20160822-18722-z26uaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135006/original/image-20160822-18722-z26uaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135006/original/image-20160822-18722-z26uaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">English footballer John Barnes kicks a banana off the pitch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Room for hope?</h2>
<p>Dani Alves, a Brazilian footballer who had a banana thrown at him <a href="https://theconversation.com/sterling-alves-and-why-racism-continues-to-dog-sport-worldwide-26111">in a racist attack in 2014</a>, once claimed that the fight against racism in Spanish football is “<a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/05/01/308408903/european-soccer-tackles-racism-but-slips-on-a-banana-peel">a lost cause</a>”. In Russia, Christopher Samba – another footballer to have <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/03/20/christopher-samba-ex-blackburn-defender-has-banana-thrown-at-him_n_1366869.html">bananas thrown at him</a> – received a two-match ban for making an “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/03/20/christopher-samba-ex-blackburn-defender-has-banana-thrown-at-him_n_1366869.html">unpleasant gesture</a>” in response to racist abuse he received.</p>
<p>In contrast to these examples of societally accepted racism, there is hope for Australia. Recent incidents of racist abuse have been called out by those around the perpetrator and widely condemned. Last year, former Wallabies captain David Pocock became one of a small minority of players to <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-match-report/david-pocock-says-no-room-for-homophobic-slurs-in-sport-or-society-after-incident-in-brumbies-clash-against-waratahs-20150322-1m4vsf.html">challenge on-field abuse</a>. His stance received a mixed reaction, with some parts criticising him for breaking a perceived code of silence. </p>
<p>Significantly, while Port Adelaide banned its banana-throwing fan, she was also invited to take part in the club’s Aboriginal cultural awareness programs, run by its Aboriginal players. Betts has <a href="http://wwos.nine.com.au/2016/08/21/03/39/betts-targeted-by-port-supporter-in-afl">supported this move</a>, and educating offenders – and wider Australian society – as to why this behaviour is unacceptable and the impacts it has must be part of the solution. </p>
<p>It is hard to swim against the tide, but it is important that when fans witness abuse, even if it is widespread such as the booing of Goodes, they do more than just not join in. It may not be comfortable or easy to do, but such abuse needs to be challenged in sport and our society. </p>
<p>Players are increasingly taking a stand and not accepting racial (and other) abuse. Fans should follow their examples.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Keith Parry will be online for an Author Q&A between 1 and 2pm on Wednesday, 24 August, 2016. Post any questions you have in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64241/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keith Parry 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>
Sport can be a driver for change; it can make a difference in people’s lives and unify communities, particularly around national successes. But it can also create tensions and cause conflict.
Keith Parry, Lecturer in Sport Management, Western Sydney University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/62423
2016-08-17T20:27:43Z
2016-08-17T20:27:43Z
How The Bachelor turns women into misogynists
<p>Channel Ten is currently screening Australia’s fourth series of the reality TV program <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4158012/">The Bachelor</a> (2013-), a franchise imported and adapted from the US. The show seems a guilty pleasure for its mostly female audience, who live vicariously through contestants vying for the attention of Bachelor Richie Strahan.</p>
<p>Audiences are encouraged to embrace “traditional” romance narratives (overlooking same sex or bisexual relationships). But what’s most disturbing about The Bachelor is the way it drives women to undermine one another. </p>
<p>Unlike a Cinderella or a Snow White fairy tale, the romance isn’t limited to two lovers of the opposite sex, but manifests in a bevy of perfectly sculpted women battling for the affections of a single man. This is heterosexual love as virtual blood sport.</p>
<p>Housing numerous women within a mansion, plying them extensively with alcohol and asking them to fight over one man does not bode well for female friendship. The math alone equals trouble. This female rivalry illustrates a challenging fact: sexism is not determined by one’s gender. Women can be just as sexist as men. And under certain conditions, they can be worse.</p>
<p>The designated “villain” of the series, 29-year-old account manager Kiera Maguire, provides what producers are looking for as she gushes forth disparaging comments about her fellow contestants. Unfortunately, in providing this kind of entertainment she enacts a form of sexism that might be termed “<a href="http://www.salon.com/2016/04/08/the_mystery_of_republican_women_backing_sexist_trump_theyre_female_misogynists_whove_grown_to_accept_oppression/">female misogyny</a>”. </p>
<p>However, perhaps her antics reveal more about the show’s creators, who engineer confrontation, prompt contestants for soundbites and edit together artificial conflict.</p>
<p>Maguire has reportedly said that The Bachelor has <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3740537/Keira-Maguire-reveals-deep-regret-appearing-Bachelor-cult-upbringing-revealed.html">ruined her life</a>, with the leaking to the media of information about her childhood in a polygamous cult. This kind of exposure isn’t accidental – it’s the job of producers to drum up as much publicity as possible.</p>
<p>Producers have extraordinary power. This is vividly examined in the American drama <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3314218/">UnReal</a> (2015), based on Sarah Gertrude Shapiro’s <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/06/20/sarah-gertrude-shapiro-the-savagely-clever-feminist-behind-unreal">experience of being a US Bachelor producer</a>. The program follows producer Rachel Goldberg (Shiri Appleby) as shes goes to astonishing (and unethical) lengths in manipulating contestants to manufacture drama. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134236/original/image-20160816-13007-1o9lvtx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134236/original/image-20160816-13007-1o9lvtx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134236/original/image-20160816-13007-1o9lvtx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134236/original/image-20160816-13007-1o9lvtx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134236/original/image-20160816-13007-1o9lvtx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134236/original/image-20160816-13007-1o9lvtx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134236/original/image-20160816-13007-1o9lvtx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134236/original/image-20160816-13007-1o9lvtx.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">B.J. Britt and Kim Matula in UnReal (2015)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lifetime</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Narratives like The Bachelor give prominence to women, but push them to devalue one another on the basis of their looks, or lack of acceptably “feminine” behaviour. </p>
<p>This dynamic of women enacting patriarchal values has powered some classic films: Mike Nichol’s <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096463/">Working Girl</a> (1988) with ruthless business woman (played by Sigourney Weaver) cruelly undermining her underling (Melanie Griffith), or cult movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097493/">Heathers</a> (1988), whose lethal characterisation of bitchiness influenced <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377092/">Mean Girls</a> (2004).</p>
<p>Variations on this theme of catty female rivalry has inspired many television programs, such as the popular <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1578873/">Pretty Little Liars</a> series (2010-present).</p>
<p>The current series of the Bachelor dramatises far more aggressive conflicts than previous seasons. Provoking competitive nastiness amongst women is a <a href="http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2016/08/bachelor-tops-demos-nine-wins-primary-channel.html">winning ratings strategy</a>. </p>
<p>Tellingly, in the first episode of this year’s Bachelor (aired on July 27) 24 year old Melbourne-based artist Georgia Tripos likens her fellow contestants to a “pack of hyenas”, asserting that she’s “seen this behaviour before, but in primary school.” </p>
<p>Illustrating this point is 31 year old support worker Rachael Gouvignon, who undercut Maguire’s moment of triumph by describing her as a “wicked witch” after she won a date with the Bachelor and was gifted a beautiful Cinderalla-like gown to wear on the occasion. </p>
<p>The insult “witch” has long been a criticism of powerful women – Bronwyn Bishop and Sophie Mirabella famously standing in front of “ditch the witch” placards during Gillard’s time as PM indicate that Tony Abbott was not alone in his “alleged” misogyny. </p>
<p>The Bachelor’s meticulously organised group dates are designed to pit each woman against the other. In a more recent episode (aired on August 11) the conflict did not disappoint. </p>
<p>Even good-natured contestants can produce insulting sounds bites, such as 26 year old hairdresser Faith Williams, who described Maguire as a “duck dressed up as a kangaroo” when the latter pouted about being coerced into wearing an absurd kangaroo outfit. </p>
<p>Judging women by their looks alone buys into a sexist and reductive value system. Ariel Levy’s important book <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18745.Female_Chauvinist_Pigs">Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture</a> (2005) considers how women’s objectification of one another <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/18/books/review/female-chauvinist-pigs-girls-gone-wild.html?_r=0">enacts sexist behaviour</a>. The competitive desire to be the sexiest woman in the room (or in the case of The Bachelor, the mansion) might win the admiration of the single man, but women undermine themselves by trying to fulfil chauvinistic fantasies. </p>
<p>Undoubtedly, men can be just as competitive and this was made abundantly clear in last year’s Australian premiere of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5068750/">The Bachelorette</a> (where the gender ratio is reversed). However the rivalry was diffused by the program’s focus on its heroine’s emotions, Sam Frost. (The year before Frost won the 2014 season of the Bachelor, but was subsequently <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/celebrity/ls-celebrity-news/the-bachelors-sam-frost-reveals-exactly-how-she-was-dumped-by-blake-garvey-20141222-12cm9r.html">publicly dumped by Bachelor Blake Garvey</a>. She then went on to star in her own season of the Bachelorette.)</p>
<p>The tone of the conflict in The Bachelorette is very different from The Bachelor and in part this is because much of the screen time was devoted to Frost’s feelings. But more disturbingly, the nature of the competition was far less demeaning. The heady cocktail of spite that is onscreen right now sharply contrasts with that sense of camaraderie developed by the men in The Bachelorette.</p>
<p>The unedifying spectacle of women psychologically tearing each other apart indicates that misogyny is not an exclusively masculine domain. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Suzie Gibson will be online for an Author Q&A between 2 and 3pm on Thursday, 18 August, 2016. Post any questions you have in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62423/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Suzie Gibson 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 Bachelor, like most reality TV, thrives on drama. But its particular style of conflict illustrates an uncomfortable point: women can easily be sexist against other women.
Suzie Gibson, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, Charles Sturt University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/63939
2016-08-16T20:12:32Z
2016-08-16T20:12:32Z
Doctors need to be taught how to discuss their patients’ excess weight
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134064/original/image-20160815-15264-13be4qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Doctors need to be able to discuss their patients' weight, but they need to be taught how to do so delicately, for the best outcomes. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/overweight-and-obesity/">80% of adults and close to one-third of children</a> expected to be overweight or obese by 2025, doctors are increasingly likely to be working with people who are overweight or obese.</p>
<p>An individual’s weight is a complex and sensitive issue, which may be related to many factors that are not only medical but social, environmental and emotional. The skills to address the issue in a way that communicates the health risks of being overweight without judgement and without inciting negative responses are not easy to acquire or universally taught. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22450855">Health professionals repeatedly report</a> a lack of confidence in knowing how to address obesity in their patients. They report minimal, if any, training on obesity as well as limited resources for effective conversations and insufficient clinical time to be able to do this well. </p>
<p>Starting a conversation about weight requires not only empathy but awareness of strategies people can use to manage weight issues and an understanding of the range of local services available to assist. It <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1038/oby.2008.636/abstract">has been shown</a> that although behavioural and medical strategies can be effective, uninformed discussion in the clinic can disengage, stigmatise or shame patients, which then has negative impacts on the outcomes.</p>
<p>Many patients do expect weight-loss guidance from health professionals and the discussion can influence outcomes. In fact, having the conversation and formally diagnosing and documenting excess weight or obesity is <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17673060">the strongest predictor</a> of having a treatment plan and weight-loss success.</p>
<h2>Choice of language is crucial</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23369374">Research has identified</a> the terms “fat” and “fatness” are the least preferred terms. The words “obese” and “obesity” have also been found to arouse negative responses. The <a href="https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng7">National Institute of Clinical Excellence</a> in the UK suggests patients may be more receptive if the conversation is about achieving or maintaining a “healthy weight”.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22777543">STOP Obesity Alliance in the US suggests</a> using “people first” language such that a person “has” obesity rather than “is” obese, similar to “having” cancer or diabetes. </p>
<p>This is part of a debate about whether obesity should be labelled as a disease rather than a risk factor. </p>
<p>Regardless of how this issue is classified, doctors and patients both require the knowledge to understand effective therapies do exist and obesity treatment is not futile. Losing 5-10% of body weight can have a significant impact on risk factors such as blood pressure and can lower the risks of later health problems such as heart disease or type 2 diabetes. </p>
<p>This sort of weight loss also often improves other factors more immediately beneficial to the patient, such as energy levels, mood and mobility.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134065/original/image-20160815-15238-1ylxkb1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134065/original/image-20160815-15238-1ylxkb1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134065/original/image-20160815-15238-1ylxkb1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134065/original/image-20160815-15238-1ylxkb1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134065/original/image-20160815-15238-1ylxkb1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134065/original/image-20160815-15238-1ylxkb1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134065/original/image-20160815-15238-1ylxkb1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134065/original/image-20160815-15238-1ylxkb1.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">How a doctor discusses excess weight with the patient makes a big difference to the outcome.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A communication style that encourages shared decision-making and helps people change their behaviour is key. The objective is not to solve the problem but to help the patient begin to believe change is possible and develop a plan about health goals. </p>
<p>Let’s take the case of a woman who presents with urinary incontinence. The woman may describe the problem of needing to wear sanitary pads because of daily leaking of urine. Factors such as obesity will worsen the problem, but the woman may not be aware of this. </p>
<p>The doctor might say:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I hear you’re concerned about your loss of urine, is that correct? Let’s talk about that; and would it be OK to discuss your weight too, as that may be related?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The practitioner might listen for a willingness to have further discussion and then pose a goal-orientated question: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>If, as part of our plan to help your urinary symptoms, you decide to work on getting to a healthier weight, what might be a first step?</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Repercussions for our kids</h2>
<p>For men and women of reproductive age the conversation is potentially not just about their own health but also about that of their children. Women who have higher pre-conception weight and pregnancy weight gain are <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18611299">at increased risk</a> of developing diabetes and heart disease in later life and are <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23731445">less likely to lose weight</a> after they give birth.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134073/original/image-20160815-15253-y6vr1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134073/original/image-20160815-15253-y6vr1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134073/original/image-20160815-15253-y6vr1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134073/original/image-20160815-15253-y6vr1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134073/original/image-20160815-15253-y6vr1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134073/original/image-20160815-15253-y6vr1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134073/original/image-20160815-15253-y6vr1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134073/original/image-20160815-15253-y6vr1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Being a healthy weight is important for people planning to have kids.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This vicious cycle results in larger babies that are predisposed to short-term risks as newborns, longer-term risks of increased childhood obesity and an <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3984422/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20562299">increased lifetime risk</a> of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. </p>
<p>Between 1985 and 1995 the rate of excess weight and obesity in childhood <a href="http://www.obesityaustralia.org/LiteratureRetrieve.aspx?ID=168776&A=SearchResult&SearchID=9345738&ObjectID=168776&ObjectType=6">increased by 50%</a> and obesity tripled in Australia. <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26974008">Animal studies also suggest</a> obesity in the male parent can increase the chance of their offspring developing obesity or diabetes.</p>
<p>The intergenerational nature of obesity therefore means until we address overweight and obesity in adults who are planning a pregnancy, it may be impossible to lower rates of childhood obesity. </p>
<p>The framing of the issue as a problem for patients’ own health as well as for the health of their children is even more complex. However, unless there is a greater understanding of this risk and more training of doctors in talking to patients about obesity this will be difficult to tackle.</p>
<p>Currently, many health professionals remain uncomfortable and unsure in this area of practice. Ensuring the workforce is skilled will also mean there is the ability to discuss weight when it is not the primary issue a patient presents with, but where an important conversation at a critical life stage may actually have lasting effects on patients’ health and that of their children.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Adrienne Gordon will be online for an Author Q&A between 4 and 5pm AEST on Wednesday, 17 August, 2016. Post any questions you have in the comments below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63939/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 organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
An individual’s weight is a complex and sensitive issue, which may be related to many factors that are not only medical but social, environmental and emotional.
Adrienne Gordon, Neonatal Staff Specialist, NHMRC Early Career Research Fellow, University of Sydney
Kirsten Black, Associate Professor & Joint Head of Discipline Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Neonatology, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.