tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/queensland-2414/articlesQueensland – The Conversation2024-03-26T00:44:34Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2256552024-03-26T00:44:34Z2024-03-26T00:44:34ZMost states now have affirmative sexual consent laws, but not enough people know what they mean<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583937/original/file-20240325-25-244jlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4000%2C2670&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/couple-smiling-hugging-while-spending-time-2106323468">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Earlier this month, Queensland became the latest state to pass affirmative consent laws. This means consent is understood as ongoing communication for the purposes of rape and sexual assault offences.</p>
<p>Under <a href="https://theconversation.com/nsw-adopts-affirmative-consent-in-sexual-assault-laws-what-does-this-mean-161497">affirmative consent</a>, agreement to each sexual act must be actively communicated. That is, each person must say or do something to indicate consent and check the other is willing to proceed.</p>
<p>It’s common for victims of sexual assault to <a href="https://researchblog.duke.edu/2023/07/06/neuroscience-shows-why-sex-assault-victims-freeze-its-not-consent/">freeze</a> or try to avoid further injury, rather than fighting back. The new laws make it clear these reactions are not consent. </p>
<p>But it’s not just Queensland that has such laws. Where else are they in place, and how are they working in practice?</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nsw-adopts-affirmative-consent-in-sexual-assault-laws-what-does-this-mean-161497">NSW adopts affirmative consent in sexual assault laws. What does this mean?</a>
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<h2>What do Queensland’s laws do?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/html/bill.first/bill-2023-007">new Queensland laws</a> define consent as “free and voluntary agreement”. They clarify that a person does not consent where they do not “say or do anything to communicate consent”.</p>
<p>The laws also limit the <a href="https://theconversation.com/queensland-rape-law-loophole-could-remain-after-review-ignores-concerns-about-rape-myths-and-consent-141772">mistake of fact excuse</a> for rape and sexual assault. This excuse allows defendants to argue they honestly and reasonably — but mistakenly — believed the other person consented to sex.</p>
<p>The excuse has been <a href="https://journal.law.uq.edu.au/index.php/uqlj/article/view/2993">heavily</a> <a href="https://www.able.uwa.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/3687926/7.-AFFIRMATIVE-CONSENT-AND-THE-MISTAKE-OF-FACT-EXCUSE-IN-WESTERN-AUSTRALIAN-RAPE-LAW_.pdf">criticised</a> for allowing defendants to rely on irrelevant factors, such as the other person’s clothing or failure to fight back, as the basis for alleged mistakes about consent.</p>
<p>However, the new laws say a belief in sexual consent is not reasonable unless the person took active steps to check their partner was consenting. This is <a href="https://www.able.uwa.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/3687926/7.-AFFIRMATIVE-CONSENT-AND-THE-MISTAKE-OF-FACT-EXCUSE-IN-WESTERN-AUSTRALIAN-RAPE-LAW_.pdf">consistent with</a> an affirmative consent model.</p>
<h2>Where else has similar laws?</h2>
<p>Four out of the six Australian states and one of the two territories have now enacted affirmative consent laws. <a href="https://www.legislation.tas.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1924-069#JS1@GS14A@EN">Tasmania</a> was the first state to adopt an affirmative consent model in 2004. </p>
<p>The Queensland laws follow on the heels of recent legal changes in NSW, the ACT and Victoria. NSW and the ACT legislated affirmative consent in 2021, while Victoria did the same in 2022. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.wa.gov.au/government/announcements/discussion-paper-project-113-sexual-offences">Western Australia</a> and <a href="https://www.agd.sa.gov.au/law-and-justice/legislation/review-of-sexual-consent-laws-in-south-australia">South Australia</a>, meanwhile, are currently reviewing sexual consent laws and may well follow suit. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-we-aligned-sexual-consent-laws-across-australia-but-this-faces-formidable-challenges-196115">It's time we aligned sexual consent laws across Australia – but this faces formidable challenges</a>
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<p>The national trend is clearly towards an affirmative consent standard. Some scholars have argued this could pave the way to <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-we-aligned-sexual-consent-laws-across-australia-but-this-faces-formidable-challenges-196115">aligning sexual consent laws across the nation</a> — although significant challenges remain. </p>
<p>Critics of affirmative consent laws have suggested they could criminalise “<a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/consent-laws-criminalise-spontaneous-marital-sex-says-queensland-law-society/news-story/2d60ee2d97000f5779383c83dcd40663">spontaneous marital sex</a>”. However, this ignores the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/08/consent-is-not-a-romance-killer-the-mistake-of-fact-defence-for-needs-to-go">social and legal context</a> within which the laws operate.</p>
<p>There is no evidence of the laws being applied in this way. </p>
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<h2>Vital for debunking rape myths</h2>
<p>Affirmative consent laws can only be effective and fair if people understand what they mean in practice. </p>
<p>However, public attitudes are not always consistent with an affirmative consent model. A <a href="https://lsj.com.au/articles/a-question-of-consent/">NSW government study</a> found 14% of young men “didn’t agree that you must seek consent every time you engage in sexual activity”.</p>
<p>Societal attitudes are clouded by persistent myths about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/10/nsw-study-rape-sexual-assault-harassment-trials-myths-victims-stereotypes">consent</a> and <a href="https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-11/ti611_misconceptions_of_sexual_crimes_against_adult_victims.pdf">sexual violence</a>. For example, people may think that someone who was drunk or did not fight back cannot be a victim of rape.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/not-as-simple-as-no-means-no-what-young-people-need-to-know-about-consent-155736">Not as simple as 'no means no': what young people need to know about consent</a>
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<p>Rape myths are not limited to the general public. They influence judges, lawyers, police and jurors as well. Recent research has found rape myths in <a href="https://law.adelaide.edu.au/ua/media/2808/alr_44-2_09_schaffer.pdf">supreme court judgments</a> and <a href="https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:c06d8d6">jurors’ perceptions of evidence</a> in rape trials.</p>
<p>It is easy to assume that once affirmative consent laws are passed, they will be fully effective in the courts. However, years after affirmative consent was adopted in Tasmania, courts were still <a href="https://figshare.utas.edu.au/articles/thesis/The_impact_of_introducing_an_affirmative_model_of_consent_and_changes_to_the_defence_of_mistake_in_Tasmanian_rape_trials/23207285">applying outdated legal principles</a>.</p>
<h2>Raising public awareness</h2>
<p>For affirmative consent laws to serve their purpose, everyone — including judges, lawyers, jurors, police and the public — needs a clear understanding of what affirmative consent means.</p>
<p>Public awareness campaigns can help to clarify that consent is an active, ongoing process that cannot be inferred from silence or lack of resistance. </p>
<p>NSW’s <a href="https://www.nsw.gov.au/family-and-relationships/make-no-doubt">Make No Doubt</a> campaign was launched the week prior to its new consent laws taking effect, but a similar campaign has yet to be announced in Queensland. </p>
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<p>The Queensland <a href="https://www.womenstaskforce.qld.gov.au/about-us/news/news-items/reform-needed-to-systems-stacked-against-female-victim-survivors">Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce</a> heard from victim-survivors, support services, lawyers, police and the broader community about the need for improved public education on consent. </p>
<p>Understanding consent in isolation is not enough. <a href="https://theconversation.com/mandatory-consent-education-is-a-huge-win-for-australia-but-consent-is-just-one-small-part-of-navigating-relationships-177456">Comprehensive education</a> on respectful relationships is vital to fostering a culture where affirmative consent becomes the norm. </p>
<p>The effectiveness of affirmative consent laws also depends on how they are applied by police, lawyers and judges. If police don’t give effect to the laws, then most sexual assaults <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-28/how-police-are-failing-survivors-of-sexual-assault/11871364">will never reach prosecutors</a> — let alone the courtroom.</p>
<p><a href="https://dcj.nsw.gov.au/news-and-media/media-releases-archive/2022/affirmative-consent-becomes-law-in-nsw.html">Comprehensive training</a> for these professionals is essential to ensure affirmative consent is implemented across the criminal justice system.</p>
<p>Since Australia’s affirmative consent laws are so new, there is limited evidence (beyond Tasmania) of exactly how they will work in practice. It will be important to build this evidence base to ensure the laws are functioning as intended.</p>
<h2>Government action is essential</h2>
<p>Online resources, such as Rape and Sexual Assault Research and Advocacy’s <a href="https://rasaraorganisation.squarespace.com/consent-toolkit-home">sexual consent toolkit</a>, can help people learn about affirmative consent. However, these resources only reach a small part of the community. </p>
<p>To raise wider awareness of affirmative consent and to overcome persistent rape myths, large-scale efforts are needed.</p>
<p>Governments across Australia should invest in the success of affirmative consent laws through further public awareness campaigns, as well as training and education for criminal justice professionals and the public.</p>
<p>Otherwise, affirmative consent laws could turn out to be just words on paper.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225655/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Crowe is Director of Research at Rape and Sexual Assault Research and Advocacy.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gianni Ribeiro receives funding from the Australian Institute of Criminology. </span></em></p>Australian jurisdictions are making strides to ensure consent means an active ‘yes’ rather than the absence of a ‘no’. But without better knowledge of these laws, they risk being just words on paper.Jonathan Crowe, Head of School and Dean, School of Law and Justice, University of Southern QueenslandGianni Ribeiro, Lecturer of criminology, University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2195982024-03-14T19:25:08Z2024-03-14T19:25:08ZMeet the kowari: a pint-sized predator on the fast track to extinction<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581179/original/file-20240312-24-tb4sa3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ariana Ananda</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia is home to <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7010/">more than 350 species</a> of native mammals, <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1417301112">87% of which are found nowhere else on Earth</a>. But with 39 of these species <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicthreatenedlist.pl">already extinct</a> and a further <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicthreatenedlist.pl">110 listed as threatened</a>, there’s every chance many will vanish before you even knew they existed. So here’s one we think you simply must know (and save), before it’s too late. </p>
<p>The charismatic <a href="https://teamkowari.com.au/kowari/">kowari</a> is a small carnivorous marsupial. It was once common inland but is now found only in the remote deserts of southwest Queensland and northeastern South Australia, in less than 20% of its former range. </p>
<p>This pint-sized predator fits in the palm of your hand. Its bright eyes, bushy tail and big personality make it the perfect poster child for the Australian outback. But with just 1,200 kowari left in the wild, the federal government upgraded its conservation status in November from <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=329">vulnerable to endangered</a>. </p>
<p>Reversing the decline of the kowari is within our grasp. But we need public support and political will to achieve this. It requires limiting grazing of cattle and sheep, while keeping feral cat numbers under control. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Introducing the kowari (Arid Recovery)</span></figcaption>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/threatened-species-recover-in-fenced-safe-havens-but-their-safety-is-only-temporary-200548">Threatened species recover in fenced safe havens. But their safety is only temporary</a>
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<h2>Meet the kowari</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://teamkowari.com.au/kowari/">kowari</a> (<em>Dasyuroides byrnei</em>) is a skilled hunter that stalks mice, tarantulas, moths, scorpions and even birds. Alert and efficient, they attack their prey voraciously.</p>
<p>Formerly known as the brushy-tailed marsupial rat, or Byrne’s crest-tailed marsupial rat, the kowari is more closely related to Tasmanian Devil and quolls. </p>
<p>The Wangkangurru Yarluyandi People use the name kowari, while the Dieri and Ngameni peoples use the similar-sounding name kariri.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581171/original/file-20240312-18-mlrrfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Closeup of the gibber plain showing areas of flat interlocking red pebbles" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581171/original/file-20240312-18-mlrrfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581171/original/file-20240312-18-mlrrfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581171/original/file-20240312-18-mlrrfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581171/original/file-20240312-18-mlrrfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581171/original/file-20240312-18-mlrrfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581171/original/file-20240312-18-mlrrfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581171/original/file-20240312-18-mlrrfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The red stony gibber plains could be mistaken for the surface of Mars.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Katherine Moseby</span></span>
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<p>Kowaris live in stony deserts. They mainly inhabit remote treeless “gibber” plains. These areas of flat, interlocking red pebbles form vast pavements that could be mistaken for the surface of Mars. </p>
<p>In the outback, where temperatures can exceed 50°C, kowaris beat the heat by sheltering in burrows dug into sand mounds. At night they emerge to race across the plains, their head and distinctive brushy tail held high, pausing regularly to scan for predators and prey. </p>
<p>During chilly winter days, kowaris slow their metabolism to conserve energy. They go into a state of <a href="https://theconversation.com/torpor-a-neat-survival-trick-once-thought-rare-in-australian-animals-is-actually-widespread-146409">torpor</a>, which is a daily version of hibernation. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/torpor-a-neat-survival-trick-once-thought-rare-in-australian-animals-is-actually-widespread-146409">Torpor: a neat survival trick once thought rare in Australian animals is actually widespread</a>
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<p>At the two main South Australian sites, the number of animals captured in trapping surveys declined by <a href="https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jzo.12605">85% between 2000 and 2015</a>. At this rate, the species could disappear from the area within two decades.</p>
<p>The entire population is estimated to number as few as 1,200 individuals scattered over just 350 square kilometres. That’s a combined area of less than 20km x 20km. </p>
<p>Based on this evidence, the conservation status of kowaris was upgraded from <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=329">vulnerable to endangered</a> in November last year.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581170/original/file-20240312-18-r54i0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A kowari standing in the desert facing the camera with its long bushy tail stretched out to the right" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581170/original/file-20240312-18-r54i0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581170/original/file-20240312-18-r54i0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581170/original/file-20240312-18-r54i0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581170/original/file-20240312-18-r54i0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581170/original/file-20240312-18-r54i0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581170/original/file-20240312-18-r54i0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581170/original/file-20240312-18-r54i0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Kowari are now restricted to refuge populations in northeast South Australia and southwest Queensland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrea Tschirner</span></span>
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<h2>Shrinking populations in the stony desert</h2>
<p>Kowaris have been declining for a while but are suddenly on the fast track to extinction. How can that be, when they live in one of the most vast and remote parts of Australia? </p>
<p>Threats include land degradation from pastoralism, and predation from introduced feral cats and foxes. </p>
<p>But it’s complicated. Threats can combine, having a synergistic effect (greater than the sum of their parts). And then there are climate influences. </p>
<p>Heavy rain in the desert triggers a cascade of events that culminates in an <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-10/feral-cats-tear-through-last-wild-bilby-population/5803252">explosion of feral cat numbers</a>. </p>
<p>When conditions dry out again, the cats switch to eating larger or more difficult prey such as bilbies and kowaris, often causing local extinctions. In southwest Queensland, feral cats most likely wiped out one population of kowaris and decimated another. </p>
<p>Huge efforts to control cat plagues have saved the kowari and bilby populations in <a href="https://bioone.org/journals/australian-journal-of-zoology/volume-70/issue-2/ZO22027/Does-reducing-grazing-pressure-or-predation-conserve-kowaris-A-case/10.1071/ZO22027.full">Astrebla Downs National Park</a> from local extinction so far, but other areas have succumbed.</p>
<p>In SA, all the remaining kowari populations are on <a href="https://www.nespthreatenedspecies.edu.au/publications-and-tools/the-kowari-saving-a-central-australian-micro-predator">pastoral stations used for grazing cattle</a>. </p>
<p>Cattle can trample kowari burrows. They can also compact the sand mounds, making it difficult for kowaris to build burrows in the first place. And they eat the plants on the mounds, reducing the availability of both food and shelter. This makes kowaris easy prey. </p>
<p>Over the past few decades, pastoralism has intensified. <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/research/completed/pastoral-leases#:%7E:text=Pastoral%20leases%20exist%20on%20around,to%20facilitate%20and%20support%20pastoralism.">Nearly half of Australia (44%)</a> is covered in pastoral leases where many threatened species occur. </p>
<p>Domestic stock usually graze close to watering points such as bores and troughs. More and more watering points are being established, to make more of the pastoral lease accessible to stock. So the area protected from grazing is shrinking as cattle encroach further into kowari territory. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581168/original/file-20240312-16-mabhg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A sand mound surrounded by the stony desert gibber plain" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581168/original/file-20240312-16-mabhg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581168/original/file-20240312-16-mabhg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581168/original/file-20240312-16-mabhg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581168/original/file-20240312-16-mabhg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581168/original/file-20240312-16-mabhg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581168/original/file-20240312-16-mabhg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581168/original/file-20240312-16-mabhg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Kowari burrow in sand mounds that can be trampled and compacted by cattle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Katherine Moseby</span></span>
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<h2>How can we save the kowari?</h2>
<p>We have the knowledge and tools required to save this species from extinction. We just need decisive leadership and sufficient funding to put these plans into action. </p>
<p>State governments should provide more resources for desert parks so rangers can monitor feral cat numbers and respond rapidly to plagues. We can make use of new technology such as remote camera traps checked via satellite. These measures would also protect the last remaining stronghold of the bilby in Queensland, another nationally threatened mammal. </p>
<p>The pastoral industry and governments must work together to review watering-point placement and reduce grazing pressure in known kowari habitat. </p>
<p>By closing some pastoral watering points and ensuring a portion of each lease (possibly 20%) is away from waters, we can reduce the harm of stock and provide refuges for threatened species. Pastoral companies could show leadership and implement these actions themselves rather than waiting for governments to act.</p>
<p>In the meantime, reintroductions into safe havens is one stopgap measure helping to prevent imminent kowari extinction. In 2022, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=search&v=409398861174893&external_log_id=2222a528-17bb-4f25-b0d5-d45d296c0c73&q=ecological%20horizons">12 kowaris were successfully reintroduced</a> to the 123 square km <a href="https://aridrecovery.org.au/kowari/">fenced Arid Recovery Reserve</a> in northern SA. The population has <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AridRecovery/videos/1165149370645281">expanded since release</a>. Removing cats, foxes and domestic stock from the reserve has given kowaris a chance to reclaim a small portion of their former range. </p>
<p>But safe havens are small and we need to act on a larger scale. If we don’t, the kowari may become yet another Australian species lost before you’ve even seen it.</p>
<p><em>Thanks to Genevieve Hayes, former ecologist at Arid Recovery, for coordinating the reintroduction of the kowari at Arid Recovery and commenting on the draft of this article.</em></p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/so-you-want-to-cat-proof-a-bettong-how-living-with-predators-could-help-native-species-survive-170450">So you want to cat-proof a bettong: how living with predators could help native species survive</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219598/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine Moseby is co-founder and chief scientist at Arid Recovery. She receives contract work from Arid Recovery to assist with conservation and restoration works. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine Tuft is Chief Executive at Arid Recovery which has received grant funding from the federal government and other sources to support research and conservation for the kowari.</span></em></p>Blink and you’ll miss it. The kowari is a charismatic marsupial carnivore that needs our help.Katherine Moseby, Associate Professor, UNSW SydneyKatherine Tuft, Visiting Research Fellow, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2246462024-02-29T04:33:26Z2024-02-29T04:33:26ZQueensland ruling doesn’t mean all COVID vaccine mandates were flawed. Here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578830/original/file-20240229-18-brmq8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bandaid-on-hand-person-after-vaccination-2197701537">Andriy B/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week, Queensland Supreme Court Justice Glenn Martin <a href="https://archive.sclqld.org.au/qjudgment/2024/QSC24-002.pdf">declared</a> the state’s COVID vaccine mandate for police officers was unlawful. Martin also found the director-general of Queensland health did not have the power to make vaccine mandates for ambulance service workers.</p>
<p>Those who are <a href="https://gh.bmj.com/content/bmjgh/7/5/e008684.full.pdf">critical</a> of vaccine mandates have been pleased by the decision. Clive Palmer, who funded the case, touted it as a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/27/clive-palmer-claims-great-victory-in-funding-challenge-to-queenslands-covid-vaccine-mandate">great victory</a>” and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said it was <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Fqueenslands-unlawful-covid19-vaccine-mandate-ruling-just-tip-of-the-iceberg-experts%2Fnews-story%2F37435eb2aa0d983422c42734bde381d0&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=HIGH-Segment-2-SCORE&V21spcbehaviour=appendend#:%7E:text=A%20landmark%20legal%20decision%20%E2%80%9Cvindicating,to%20ride%20on%20the%20coat%2D">vindication</a> for those who opposed vaccine mandates introduced around Australia during the pandemic. </p>
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<p>But the ruling doesn’t mean vaccine mandates are inherently flawed. Here’s what the ruling actually found – and what this means for future legal challenges to vaccine mandates across Australia. </p>
<h2>What was the case about?</h2>
<p>A group of Queensland police employees, ambulance officers and a nurse initiated Supreme Court proceedings against, among others, the Queensland police commissioner Katarina Carroll and the then Queensland health director-general John Wakefield. The applicants sought a declaration that the vaccine mandates to which they were subjected were unlawful. </p>
<p>The mandates the police commissioner and director-general imposed were very similar. Each required employees of the police and ambulance services to receive doses of an approved COVID vaccine by a specified deadline. </p>
<p>The mandates rendered vaccination against COVID a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X21015309?via%3Dihub">condition of employment</a>. Anyone who refused to be vaccinated could therefore be subject to disciplinary proceedings, including dismissal. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/unfair-dismissal-rulings-show-personal-circumstances-matter-in-vaccine-refusals-188987">Unfair dismissal rulings show personal circumstances matter in vaccine refusals</a>
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<p>By the time the case went to trial, the mandates had already been revoked. This meant there were limited practical remedies available to the applicants. They had already held onto their jobs, at least temporarily – Martin made orders in the early stage of proceedings restraining the commissioner and director-general from dismissing any of the applicants from their jobs. </p>
<h2>What did the court find?</h2>
<p>When it comes to the broader impacts on policy, the main takeaways from the 115-page judgement are:</p>
<p><strong>1) the police mandates were unlawful</strong> </p>
<p>The police commissioner failed to give proper consideration to relevant human rights that would be affected by the mandates. Martin found it was “more likely than not that the commissioner did not consider the human rights ramifications” of the mandates.</p>
<p>This does not mean there was anything wrong with the mandates themselves – the problems lay in the process. </p>
<p><strong>2) the mandates affecting ambulance service workers were unlawful for a different reason</strong> </p>
<p>The director-general did not have the power to make the health mandates under employment and contract law. </p>
<p>The director-general claimed the employment contracts covering those who brought the case against the mandates contained an implied term that the director-general may give lawful and reasonable directions to employees. </p>
<p>However, the director-general did not provide sufficient evidence about the terms of the applicants’ employment contracts and therefore could not show the mandate was a reasonable direction.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tomorrows-covid-safety-guidelines-will-be-different-from-todays-but-that-doesnt-mean-yesterdays-were-wrong-179262">Tomorrow's COVID safety guidelines will be different from today's – but that doesn't mean yesterday's were wrong</a>
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<p><strong>3) only one human right was limited by the mandates</strong></p>
<p>Queensland has human rights legislation recognising, among other rights, a person’s right not to be subjected to medical treatment without full, free and informed consent (section 17(c) of the <a href="https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/pdf/inforce/current/act-2019-005">Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld)</a>). </p>
<p>Martin concluded the vaccine mandate limited this right, in the sense that the consent was not “free”. However, that limitation was “reasonable and demonstrably justified” (or proportionate), as required by the act, in the context of the pandemic. </p>
<p>We can read this as a conclusion that it was acceptable for policymakers to place limits on consent to vaccination in the face of other pressing considerations created by the pandemic. Policymakers had to <a href="https://jme.bmj.com/content/medethics/early/2022/04/26/medethics-2022-108229.full.pdf">weigh up</a> the risk of infection for their populations, including the risk of being infected by those providing essential services, and how best to keep their health and governance systems functioning, against the requirement that consent be full, free and informed.</p>
<p>In summary, the police commissioner failed to turn her mind to the human rights affected by her decision. The director-general made an oversight in failing to submit sufficient evidence to the court. But the requirement to consider human rights did not mean the mandates were unjustified.</p>
<h2>What does this mean for policymakers?</h2>
<p>There are lessons for policymakers in future pandemics: attention to detail is important when making and defending vaccine mandate policies. It is important to <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/system/files/issues/215_11/mja251269.pdf">consider</a> the people a vaccine mandate is going to affect directly. </p>
<p>The legal necessity to consider human rights in Queensland is only one example. Deep in the pandemic, the Fair Work Commission overturned a private-sector vaccine mandate imposed at a BHP site. The basis for this decision was that the mandate was not reasonable: BHP had <a href="https://www.landers.com.au/legal-insights-news/bhp-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-overturned">not sufficiently consulted</a> with affected workers as required under the Commonwealth <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2011A00137/2018-07-01/text">Work Health and Safety Act 2011</a>.</p>
<p>Considering and involving affected populations in the process is the right thing to do. It is also prudent for protecting vaccine mandates from legal challenges. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-youre-going-to-mandate-covid-vaccination-at-your-workplace-heres-how-to-do-it-ethically-166110">If you're going to mandate COVID vaccination at your workplace, here's how to do it ethically</a>
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<h2>Will we see more legal challenges to mandates?</h2>
<p>In future, a vaccine mandate may be challenged on a range of technical or legal bases, unrelated to the mandate’s substance or legitimacy. </p>
<p>Previous legal challenges to Australian state and territory vaccine mandates have largely been unsuccessful, particularly in the discrimination and industrial relations contexts.</p>
<p><a href="https://ecourts.justice.wa.gov.au/eCourtsPortal/Decisions/DownloadDecision?id=d05d28f1-ab59-430d-b825-f7add55e23f3">Two similar cases</a> brought by <a href="https://ecourts.justice.wa.gov.au/eCourtsPortal/Decisions/DownloadDecision?id=ea8d77d7-ddf1-4cd5-889d-bcbfd210c626">police officers</a> in Western Australia were unsuccessful (although both applicants have appealed). There is considerable breadth of powers and discretion afforded to the police commissioner by the <a href="https://www.legislation.wa.gov.au/legislation/prod/filestore.nsf/FileURL/mrdoc_44518.pdf/$FILE/POLICE%20ACT%201892%20-%20%5B14-m0-00%5D.pdf?OpenElement">Police Act 1892 (WA)</a>. This includes making directions to employees. </p>
<p>Only Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and Queensland have human rights legislation, so similar challenges may only be possible in those jurisdictions. </p>
<p>Previous plaintiffs tried to challenge New South Wales’ vaccine mandates on the basis that they infringed the common law right to bodily integrity. They <a href="https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/17c7d62628b9735ac213a597">failed</a>.</p>
<p>This week’s decision in Queensland is a landmark case, but probably not for the reasons vaccine mandate opponents hope. </p>
<p>It will be instructive for policymakers seeking to protect vaccine mandates from legal challenge in the future. The public will benefit when this prompts more careful consideration of affected populations when imposing vaccine mandates. </p>
<p>But the decision is unlikely to be be the death knell of workplace vaccine mandates.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224646/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Thomasson is part of the Mandate Evaluation (MandEval) project, which is partially funded by the Medical Research Future Fund.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Attwell receives institutional research funding from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) for the Mandate Evaluation (MandEval) project which she leads. She has previously received research funds paid to her institution from Australian Research Council and the Government of Western Australia. She is a special advisor to the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation.</span></em></p>Here’s what the court found – and what this means for future legal challenges to vaccine mandates across Australia.Amy Thomasson, Associate Lecturer of Law, The University of Western AustraliaKatie Attwell, Associate Professor, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2222622024-02-22T19:19:08Z2024-02-22T19:19:08ZFriday essay: neither a monster nor a saint … Sir Samuel Griffith, Queensland’s violent frontier and the rigours of truth-telling<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576652/original/file-20240220-18-hovvkz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4000%2C2000&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation, Pexels, The State Library of Queensland/Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>First Nations readers please be advised this article speaks of racially discriminating moments in history, including the distress and death of First Nations people.</em></p>
<p>Social historians – among whom I am happily one – are those utter nuisances of people who adamantly insist on reminding others of all the things they are trying so desperately to forget.</p>
<p>Australian historian Manning Clark, channelling Tolstoy, <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/books/speaking-out-of-turn-electronic-book-text">once compared them</a> to deaf people who continually keep answering questions that no-one is asking.</p>
<p>Before this new breed of professional troublemaker appeared in the 1960s, Australian History for the majority was a much simpler and more comforting affair. The stray bits of it I picked up at school in the 1950s told of a strictly peaceful, happy land, peppered with heroic pioneers, doughty diggers and colourful swaggies; and overflowing with sheep and sparkling golden nuggets.</p>
<p>Aboriginal peoples, if they were mentioned at all, were way off on the margins somewhere, throwing boomerangs, going walkabout and eating grubs and snakes. In the <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/2014575">most studied Australian history book of this era</a>, edited by Gordon Greenwood, First Nation Peoples literally disappear. They are not in the index, and we are even told by one contributor: </p>
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<p>The country was empty […] empty grazing country awaiting occupation.</p>
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<p>The principal shock here is not just that this was published without intervention but that no-one who reviewed it pulled anyone up for spreading this academic gas-lighting.</p>
<p>Many older readers can perhaps recall that balmy time, so reassuring for white Australians. I know it has never entirely left my consciousness. It was the only world about which we were “publicly instructed”. But it is a far distant place from the one where we are heading in this essay.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-more-ethical-histories-be-written-about-early-colonial-expeditions-a-new-project-seeks-to-do-just-that-221974">Can more ethical histories be written about early colonial expeditions? A new project seeks to do just that</a>
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<h2>Explanatory lodestars</h2>
<p>The present modish word for the seemingly recent realisation that the Australian story is not all cosy and blameless is <em>truth-telling</em>. In some quarters, this gets presented as a very sudden epiphany. Yet it has a long pedigree. Even while the tortuous frontier process was unfolding in the 19th century, there were always these brave, lone whistle-blowers valiantly attempting to get the truth out and being slammed and shunned for doing so.</p>
<p>With Federation in 1901 and its sense of ebullient nationalism, such voices were gradually stilled and abolished. But then, in the 1960s, with the global burgeoning of decolonisation, desegregation and the diminution of scientific racism following the Holocaust, such voices re-emerged. Even here, in distant, sunny Australia, a small number of us began clearing our throats. Truth-telling was cautiously back on the agenda.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-great-australian-silence-50-years-on-100737">Friday essay: the 'great Australian silence' 50 years on</a>
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<p>It is hard now to convey how much in the dark we then were on the subject of race. In 1965, I produced for my history honours thesis probably the first extended academic account of an Australian mainland frontier. Every day spent poring over official documents, private manuscripts and old newspapers was startlingly revelatory to me. Virtually everything I was discovering seemed to be so new and beyond the historical pale. It left me feeling exposed and nervous rather than confidently assertive.</p>
<p>At the same time, race relations historian Henry Reynolds was hearing for the first time about Australian frontier struggle, not from within his own land and culture, but as a young teacher, out of Tasmania, <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/why-werent-we-told-9780140278422">listening in astonishment to an African public speaker in Hyde Park, London</a>.</p>
<p>So truth-telling stutters and meanders its unstable and episodic course through our past. It encounters the blank stare of denialism especially on subjects to which a tinge of shame is attached. And Queensland in particular, with arguably the most forbidding frontier experience and the most severe convict penal station, is a ripe candidate for such evasion.</p>
<p>In his recent volume, <a href="https://www.newsouthbooks.com.au/books/truth-telling/">Truth-Telling. History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement</a>, Reynolds states:</p>
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<p>Truth-telling is now more important than ever. What has been a personal choice is now a national imperative […] Denialism is no longer a viable option. A wall of scholarship built by many hands over the last fifty years stands in the way.</p>
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<p>So, in building the case for “truth-telling”, Reynolds expands on its “critical importance”. It will “weave new stories and make old ones richer and more complex”. These involve the travails of those who became “victims of great wrong”. Complexity, he writes, will have to replace “simple sagas of heroic achievement”, even if this involves a degree of painful iconoclasm. It will likely produce controversy as “the coals of dormant culture wars are fanned back into life”, fundamental reassessments are made, “reputations are called into question” and “status is re-assigned”.</p>
<p>To this tall order of realigning the consensual interpretive framework, I would add, as a professional historian, that, in the process, we should not forget the often slippery and elusive nature of historical truth itself. For, as every working historian knows, historical accuracy is pursued via vigorous empirical attention to detail in extant, relevant documentation. Fact-finding and truth-seeking need to precede any stern truth-telling.</p>
<p>Dependable analysis also entails a careful awareness of the tensions discovered in texts – a difficult grafting process of measuring opposing knowledges. All this, we hope, will lead us closer to a clearer sense of accuracy, balance and probability in grasping the past.</p>
<p>As historians, we are thus more in the business of producing explanation than in issuing clarion calls for action, doling out blame or pursuing the singular advocacy of a pressing cause. We do know that the past’s “other countries” once had definite and ascertainable structures that both constrained and enabled human beliefs, actions and agency. So, we try to seek these out and explain them in the present. But we cannot re-enter and relive them, and thus fully know them.</p>
<p>“We can’t return. We can only look behind from where we came,” <a href="https://www.discogs.com/release/1317681-Joni-Mitchell-Ladies-Of-The-Canyon">as the song goes</a>. This involves caution, as our hindsight vision is necessarily blurred and shifting, as we speculate continuously upon this elusiveness.</p>
<p>History’s truths are never fixed, total and absolute, but remain in a degree of flux, as they get worried over by researchers, especially as new data and ways of seeing come to light. Thus, truth-telling should embody the caution that history’s truths are specifically contingent and incremental ones, always prone to adjustment. They are like explanatory lodestars, leading us along while keeping us out of the swamps of pure fantasy.</p>
<p>It seems helpful to conclude that such research and writing requires balance between a certain degree of commitment and a modicum of discretion. For even as we try to keep going along this road of attempting truth, any single-minded political crusade or victorious forward march should invite some intellectual circumspection, for the bases of historical truth are invariably constructed on quick or shifting sands.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-truth-telling-so-important-our-research-shows-meaningful-reconciliation-cannot-occur-without-it-197685">Why is truth-telling so important? Our research shows meaningful reconciliation cannot occur without it</a>
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<h2>Much to agree on</h2>
<p>With this in mind, let us focus once more on the 2021 volume of Reynolds’ Truth-Telling. My own copy’s text is heavily underscored. The margins are peppered with supportive ticks and asterisks and even the occasional “Good!”. Based upon decades of immersion in racial studies myself, I already know that Reynolds and I have much to agree upon.</p>
<p>We both independently began unfolding the dispossession/resistance model of frontier studies in the early 1970s. We have written on similar themes and reviewed each other’s published work, mostly positively, since that time. From the late 1990s, we occupied the same trench against the <a href="https://quadrant.org.au/">Quadrant</a> marauders throughout the farcical, media-driven <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/books/the-history-wars-paperback-softback">History Wars</a>.</p>
<p>Both bodies of our numerous writings have dealt with the ongoing partnership between excessive race violence and tight-lipped denial of it. Reynolds asks:</p>
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<p>[…] why did the country’s leading post-war historians not notice [frontier violence] at all? Was it oversight or deliberate evasion? How could they think that Australians had been remarkably slow to kill each other, that frontiersmen rarely had to go armed into the outback and [that] we had an inimitably peaceful history … ?</p>
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<p>In similar vein, <a href="https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/data/UQ_203563/DU120_G6E83_1999.pdf?Expires=1707198277&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJKNBJ4MJBJNC6NLQ&Signature=FERZMoHT24ScUpPhOicE%7EUrs7U2-VRYdHrjTn3XRpHEk-qrHQNCOj6pT7sioqAvkcjmK3ISMstpHghMCEDa6EizIsK-LuAYCENZBWwgJGskKbHYNyOvc9954UPGIfvbJXimFqGWRgI92mpXYU7tTb8HmFMuUBH8lcw5pIQFKzSVbb0VMod5quZzIYpa9CCnvtOL20hP0b-J6SfXhadbZM7cJeJcwwD-8VeL2ARTxqg1Vmw%7EESCXxSAlNZuxrQKzivDnqIqyuzlxCYttHh7TtsNZPZdYbxiPxwCAX0lB2SkiAP7iUnBCHQjT4%7ErBcj3iBttKCZa6orXyACAdEobtybg__">I wrote</a> in 1999 of finding a “glaring dissonance” between the startling documents I was reading and the published preoccupations of Australia’s premier historians such as Douglas Pike in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13724454-australia">The Quiet Continent</a> or <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ward-russel-braddock-29606">Russell Ward’s</a> outback of congenial mateship. </p>
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<p>It was all […] very much like ‘another country’.</p>
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<p>So, as I perused Truth-Telling, I was on board with almost everything Reynolds has to say. Especially between pages 184 and 191, where he favourably addresses the statistical accounting of frontier casualties compiled recently <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003015550-6/pale-death-around-footprints-springs-1-assessing-violent-mortality-queensland-frontier-state-private-exterminatory-practices-raymond-evans-robert-%C3%B8rsted-jensen">by Robert Ørsted-Jensen and myself</a>.</p>
<p>This work nullifies prior estimates suggested by Reynolds by a wide margin: that is, our tabulation of over 65,000 Aboriginal frontier mortalities in Queensland opposing Reynolds’ earlier guestimate of 20,000 dead, Australia-wide over a longer timeframe. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, he is good enough to write that our calculations:</p>
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<p>[…] have to be taken very seriously indeed. Once they are widely accepted as they should be, Australian history will never be the same again. It will no longer be possible to hide the bodies or skirt around the violence.</p>
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<p>So, one can no doubt appreciate how much I am enjoying this book. Even when the focus of blame for horrific slaughter in Queensland begins to descend rather exclusively onto the shoulders of Samuel Griffith, arguably Australia’s premier legal mind and pre-eminent statesman, I remain in interpretive accord, adding my approving marginalia to the text.</p>
<p>Allow me now to zero in more intimately upon Sir Samuel; as I need to explain the process by which my position on his degree of culpability for frontier violence began to change.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/henry-reynolds-australia-was-founded-on-a-hypocrisy-that-haunts-us-to-this-day-101679">Henry Reynolds: Australia was founded on a hypocrisy that haunts us to this day</a>
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<h2>‘Hands stained with blood?’</h2>
<p>In August 2020, I had been asked by Justice Peter Applegarth to contribute to a <a href="https://www.sclqld.org.au/collections/explore-the-law/past-lectures/2020-selden-society-australia-lecture-program">group Webinar</a> at the Queensland Supreme Court on the <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/griffith-sir-samuel-walker-445">“great man”</a> (twice Queensland Premier, architect of the Australian Constitution and first Chief Justice of the High Court).</p>
<p>This invitation was based not only on my record as a historian but also because both Griffith and I were born in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales. So, initially my talk was constructed as a bit of a romp, accompanying Griffith back to his hometown in April 1887, with “massed choirs”, a big brass band and a mock-Tudor castle.</p>
<p>Matters grew more serious when Ashley Hay, the then editor of Griffith Review, asked me to broaden that talk into a <a href="https://www.griffithreview.com/articles/griffiths-welsh-odyssey/">more encompassing essay</a> that eventually appeared in their Acts of Reckoning edition of 2022. In undertaking this, I began to think more comprehensively about Griffith in that 1880s era and the class and ethnic dimensions of both Wales and Queensland as colonial entities.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576428/original/file-20240219-21-42nfsl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576428/original/file-20240219-21-42nfsl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576428/original/file-20240219-21-42nfsl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576428/original/file-20240219-21-42nfsl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576428/original/file-20240219-21-42nfsl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576428/original/file-20240219-21-42nfsl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=936&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576428/original/file-20240219-21-42nfsl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=936&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576428/original/file-20240219-21-42nfsl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=936&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sir Samuel Griffith circa 1890.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Queensland_State_Archives_3064_Portrait_of_The_Honourable_Sir_Samuel_Walker_Griffith_Premier_of_Queensland_c_1890.png">Queensland State Archives/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Griffith did not emerge looking too splendidly from that original research foray. His 1888 election campaign had helped excite extreme anti-Chinese agitation, though not as vehemently as his successful opponent, Thomas McIlwraith. Several years later, as premier, he helped engineer a crushing of the great Shearers’ Strike of 1891. </p>
<p>Also in 1891, he had not acquitted himself well when ambushed by a Melbourne journalist on the matter of racial outrages in North Queensland.</p>
<p>Two Presbyterian scholars touring the North had returned with a damning report of race relations there. As stated by one of the investigators, Professor Rintoul, it “threw a ghastly light upon […] deeds of lust, reprisal and doom”.</p>
<p>Apparently caught unawares, Griffith had ducked and parried in a less than convincing manner by trying to claim that such yarns were more than 20 years old.</p>
<p>In a stinging and detailed reply letter, Rintoul rebuked Griffith – who, he said, was someone he had regarded in high “esteem” for his vital interest “in the cause of the kanaka and aborigines and of all oppressed people” – for the dismissive sarcasm of his response. He challenged Griffith to further public debate – but Griffith did not respond.</p>
<p>So, I thought: Here we have Rintoul’s contemporary broadside of 1891 alongside Reynolds’ 2021 charges that Griffith must be “guilty of what, after 1945, came to be known as crimes against humanity”.</p>
<p>Furthermore, in the same 2022 issue of Griffith Review that contained my essay, Reynolds <a href="https://www.griffithreview.com/articles/on-the-queensland-frontier/">had sharpened his attack</a> by declaring rhetorically that Sir Samuel’s “neatly manicured lawyers’ hands were deeply stained with the blood of murdered men, women and children”.</p>
<p>This set me wondering … There must be actual evidence in the primary sources that would enhance this damning case, rendering it not only supportable but probably cementing it. As a troublesome social historian, my bloodhound instincts for deeper empirical research were now aroused. Just how guilty was Griffith among his contemporaries of frontier violence? What body of imprecating evidence could be amassed?</p>
<p>At this point, I felt particularly scathing towards something Griffith had said to the Melbourne Daily Telegraph reporter in January 1891. When challenged over what was he “doing about the blacks”, he had shot back: “What I should be doing”, quickly adding “at all events, few had taken more interest in the welfare of the native population than I have”.</p>
<p>Influenced by Rintoul and Reynolds, I mentally scoffed at this defensive self-assessment. I was intent on finding all the historical data that would nail him. But, as indicated above, historical truth can be shifting and slippery. It does not always take you where you expect it should go.</p>
<p>Truth-telling requires careful truth-finding to precede it. And for such truth-seeking to work, the evidence should lead the way, with the researcher in train – not yet quite knowing the outcome. For one should not start research certain of a destination – one ideally begins in ignorance and curiosity. </p>
<p>If the opposite is the case, one is simply satisfying a confirmation bias – the contrived endorsement of a preconception.</p>
<h2>An absence</h2>
<p>I began the research odyssey conventionally enough, with a scan of all the secondary Queensland frontier histories for any evidence of Griffith as pre-eminent culprit. To my surprise, he was absent from virtually all the indexes. </p>
<p>It reminded me of Greenwood’s volume and the invisible Aborigines. Not only did Griffith receive no condemnatory mentions – but he also largely received no mentions at all. In the published literature, he didn’t appear to play much of a role.</p>
<p>Throughout my own published writings on Aboriginal dispossession, Griffith does not figure until 2022. And in the most comprehensive recent overviews on frontier violence by <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Timothy-Bottoms-Conspiracy-of-Silence-9781743313824">Timothy Bottoms</a>, <a href="https://boolarongpress.com.au/product/queenslands-frontier-wars/">Jack Drake</a> and <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/3288918">Tony Roberts</a>, who together give the reader the story in startling and comprehensive detail (over 1,100 pages of text) they find no need to provide him with a single mention. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576429/original/file-20240219-18-khsyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576429/original/file-20240219-18-khsyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576429/original/file-20240219-18-khsyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576429/original/file-20240219-18-khsyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576429/original/file-20240219-18-khsyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576429/original/file-20240219-18-khsyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576429/original/file-20240219-18-khsyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576429/original/file-20240219-18-khsyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&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">Allen & Unwin</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since my essay was written, David Marr’s massive biographical journey, Killing for Country and Wal Walker’s richly documented study of pastoral occupation, <a href="https://www.squattersgrab.com.au/">The Squatters’ Grab</a> similarly have nothing to say about Griffith either.</p>
<p>This also applies to Reynolds’ own voluminous frontier work. In over a score of texts produced across many decades, Griffith is mentioned just once, uttering a <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/1791303">single enigmatic sentence</a> he will repeat in Truth-Telling, while being confusingly cast as a “young Brisbane lawyer” in 1880. It is the only time Griffith receives a speaking part in his recent, general indictment.</p>
<p>So … curiouser and curiouser, I thought … </p>
<p>Especially as the three texts that do give some significant mentions to Griffith and the frontier tend to cast him in a positive rather than a negative light. These volumes are Noel Loos’ highly referenced <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/28747">Invasion and Resistance</a>, Gordon Reid’s expansive <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/3584281">That Unhappy Race</a> and Robert Ørsted-Jensen’s closely argued <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/5778269">Frontier History Revisited</a>. </p>
<p>Most recently, in 2023, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1031461X.2023.2208585">historians Mark Finnane and Jonathan Richards have contributed more case studies</a>, demonstrating Griffith’s belief that “violence against Aboriginal British subjects was not acceptable and should be dealt with [with] severity”.</p>
<p>By all these researchers, he is shown as intent on pursuing progressive reform and legal balance in face of a colonial society, mainly calling for “blood and yet more blood” – a culture insisting furiously that whites should never be punished for harming or killing non-whites. For this was the nature of the socio-cultural order that anyone considering mitigative reform was up against.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-cant-argue-away-the-shame-frontier-violence-and-family-history-converge-in-david-marrs-harrowing-and-important-new-book-215050">'I can't argue away the shame': frontier violence and family history converge in David Marr's harrowing and important new book</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The documentary records</h2>
<p>So, did Griffith pursue frontier reform? Did he rather plot and perpetuate “crimes against humanity” – or even, as lawyer Tony McAvoy, <a href="https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/the-palgrave-handbook-on-rethinking-colonial-commemorations">has recently claimed</a>, “war crimes”? – or, at best, did he do nothing to stop them? The hard data, however, was now starting to pull me in the opposite direction, especially as the bumpy research ride moved up a gear <a href="https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/reason-and-reckoning-provocations-and-conversations-about-re-imag">into the documentary records</a>.</p>
<p>The logical starting point here were the primary sources of the Colonial Secretary’s Office, for this mega-department was directly responsible for the operations of the Queensland Native Police – the main frontier destroyers. </p>
<p>From 1859 until 1897, there were 18 local politicians ostensibly running the Native Police force as Colonial Secretaries across 22 terms of office. A dozen – or two-thirds – of these men were also leading pastoralists in whose immediate economic interests the force operated.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-mapping-project-shows-how-extensive-frontier-violence-was-in-queensland-this-is-why-truth-telling-matters-216726">Our mapping project shows how extensive frontier violence was in Queensland. This is why truth-telling matters</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5AIqN_-1Dpk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Serving as Colonial Secretary for around two years and four months between November 1883 and April 1886, Griffith had the sixth longest incumbency in the role. Prior to this, the two most enduring Colonial Secretaries, Robert Herbert and Arthur Palmer, had overseen 15 years’ service, from the early 1860s to the early 1880s, when racial violence was at its height. They both had large squatting interests and were <a href="https://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0028/1890325/Samuel-Griffith-Essay-Dec2024.pdf">the force’s greatest apologists</a>.</p>
<p>Griffith held the office when the frontier was radically contracting into the far northern Cape and the outlying lands of the Gulf of Carpentaria. These remote places were both scenes of acutely continuing frontier violence; and Griffith, while Colonial Secretary, officially oversaw all of this – at least nominally.</p>
<p>I suggest “nominally” here, for, as archaeologist and historian Michael Slack points out, regarding the Gulf Country, it was local pastoralists, acting privately, then more formally as Justices of the Peace, who “influenced and ultimately controlled the agenda” of the distant Native Police rather than “a centralised government” in faraway Brisbane. As he argues:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The vast distance separating Western Burke and the […] government in Brisbane, although immense in terms of physical distance, was even greater in terms of authority […] the frontier territory was run on a largely autonomous basis, firstly by the pastoralists and then by their own bureaucratic constructions [ie the JPs, meting out racial ‘justice’]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The same, more or less, might be said of far Cape York. As Queensland reached its fullest dimensions by the 1880s – around two-thirds the size of Europe – its unwieldy size made it increasingly difficult to oversee, service and control administratively. A tendency towards regional excess in <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/3796249">the process of land seizure prevailed</a>.</p>
<p>Yet, if we closed off the analysis at this point, we leave Griffith, as Colonial Secretary, politically responsible for frontier warfare during mainly 1884 and 1885. Reynolds <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/56883944">writes that</a> while in office he did “little” or “nothing” to assuage the bloodshed and “took no action to protect Aboriginal rights […]”</p>
<p>This led me to ask: Did he really do “nothing”? Or if, rather, he only did “little”, what exactly does “little” mean? Is this to be seen in hindsight, employing modern expectations and looking back with judgmental frowns … Or is “little” to be weighed in the context of his time and place – in comparison and contrast with his contemporary political officeholders? How does one therefore quantify “little” within its immediate historical circumstances?</p>
<h2>‘Altogether averse to the Native Police’</h2>
<p>So, I started examining Griffith’s procedures in that office as forensically as the records would allow. The results continued to surprise me, as they may now surprise you. The specifics of this are presented in some detail in <a href="https://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0028/1890325/Samuel-Griffith-Essay-Dec2024.pdf">my recent pamphlet, Samuel Griffith and Queensland’s “War of Extermination”</a>. I shall merely summarise them here. </p>
<p>Basically, contingent with Griffith’s considerable raft of reforms over the oppressive Melanesian labour trade in the 1880s, he was attempting to forward local remedies in domestic “native policy”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576643/original/file-20240220-27-e33uox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576643/original/file-20240220-27-e33uox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576643/original/file-20240220-27-e33uox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576643/original/file-20240220-27-e33uox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576643/original/file-20240220-27-e33uox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576643/original/file-20240220-27-e33uox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576643/original/file-20240220-27-e33uox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576643/original/file-20240220-27-e33uox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kanaka workers photographed on a sugarcane plantation with the overseer at the back of the group. ca. 1890. Cairns.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbirding#/media/File:Groupe_de_Kanakas_dans_une_exploitation_de_canne_%C3%A0_sucre_du_Queensland.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-a-slave-state-how-blackbirding-in-colonial-australia-created-a-legacy-of-racism-187782">Friday essay: a slave state - how blackbirding in colonial Australia created a legacy of racism</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This begins soon after he became Colonial Secretary in late 1883 with moves to prosecute individual white employers of Aboriginal labour in the shameful frontier maritime industries. </p>
<p>This was followed in July 1884 with “the first attempt” to introduce protective legislation for Aboriginal workers, then exploited as quasi-slaves – The Native Labourers Protection Act. Though passed into law, the Bill was <a href="https://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0028/1890325/Samuel-Griffith-Essay-Dec2024.pdf">emasculated by the pastoral and planter lobby</a> in the Legislative Council.</p>
<p>Concurrently, The Oaths Act Amendment Act was forwarded, allowing First Nation peoples, for virtually the first time, the right to present their evidence in a colonial court of law. Queensland was the last Australian colony to concede this; and Griffith here completed a process he had set in train while Attorney General in 1876. This reduced Aboriginal people’s vulnerability at law, though it did not, of course, obliterate it.</p>
<p>Then, following a much-publicised massacre of fringe-dwelling Aborigines at Irvinebank, inland from Herberton, in October 1884, Griffith began tentative moves against the existing Native Police system. Murder trials were instituted against the white commanding officer, Sub-Inspector William Nichols and the seven implicated Aboriginal troopers.</p>
<p>To Griffith’s disappointment and anger, the vagaries of local white “justice” thwarted the initiative. As a prosecuting attorney, however, he was by now used to this outcome. While Attorney General in the 1870’s, he had unsuccessfully tried to pursue four other cases of serious criminal intent against Native Police officers. He was the first such Queensland official to attempt this. </p>
<p>Such forays in 1875-76 and 1884 were the only efforts to bring a balanced sense of justice to bear upon the Native Police. As a result, officers and troopers were dismissed, though not convicted.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-unearthing-queenslands-native-police-camps-gives-us-a-window-onto-colonial-violence-100814">How unearthing Queensland's 'native police' camps gives us a window onto colonial violence</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Following the failed Irvinebank trials of October-November 1884, Griffith terminated the responsible Native Police camp (at – excuse the name – Nigger Creek), replacing it with a conventional police station. This led on, during 1885, to a new policy, developed by Griffith in coordination with his Police Commissioner: a measured implementation of what was termed “complete substitution”.</p>
<p>It would have been tactically fatal to eliminate the Native Police in one fell swoop. Several years earlier, while in Opposition in 1880, Griffith had played a leading role – alongside John Douglas, the Parliamentary Opposition Leader – in pushing for a Royal Commission into the force. This had failed in Parliament on the votes by a considerable margin. In 1885, the outcry and backlash against sudden termination would probably have outshouted the furore in 1884 when Griffith tried to have two convicted white murderers executed for killing Pacific Islanders.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, by mid-1885, Griffith was asserting, both privately and publicly, that he was “altogether averse to the Native Police” and telling Parliament he wanted “to abolish [them] […] altogether”. As I acknowledge <a href="https://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0028/1890325/Samuel-Griffith-Essay-Dec2024.pdf">in my essay</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is crucial to recognise that […] Griffith was not simply uttering vague phrases, regretting frontier behaviour without any accompanying action. Reynolds is simply mistaken on this. Being tactically astute is not the same as doing [“little” or] “nothing”. Given the clearly exterminatory cast of much of Queensland society […] it would have been politically futile and probably suicidal to have faced colonial electors with the force’s sudden, immediate abolition.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576431/original/file-20240219-16-s9jkjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576431/original/file-20240219-16-s9jkjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576431/original/file-20240219-16-s9jkjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576431/original/file-20240219-16-s9jkjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576431/original/file-20240219-16-s9jkjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576431/original/file-20240219-16-s9jkjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576431/original/file-20240219-16-s9jkjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576431/original/file-20240219-16-s9jkjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Drawing by Aboriginal boy Oscar of Native Police operation circa 1897 near Camooweal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oscarnativepolice.jpg">National Library of Australia/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So, between them, Griffith and Police Commissioner David Seymour advanced a more gradual policy. This envisaged that by replacing Native Police encampments with conventional police stations and substituting the illegal, quasi-military armed white officer/native trooper detachments with regular police sergeants, senior constables and one or two unarmed Aboriginal trackers, the original force could be progressively phased out. The process began at Irvinebank, Watsonville and Herberton during 1885.</p>
<p>By the end of the 1880s, there had been around a 65% reduction in Native Police detachments, replaced by some 19 regular bush police stations over much of the North. As historian, Noel Loos observes, Commissioner Seymour, “with Griffith’s instructions and no alternatives” carried the policy of gradualism forward, despite protests from local whites.</p>
<p>In late September 1885, Griffith told Parliament:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The practice of black police making raids through the country as in times past would not be allowed any longer […] It would be intended to assimilate the system as nearly as possible to that of the white police.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To my reading, this is clear evidence of significant policy change. Though Griffith did not succeed in abolishing the force outright, neither did anyone else. It simply faded away by gradual attrition and the frayed endings of the long frontier process. The last camp at Coen was not terminated until 1929.</p>
<p>Furthermore, from around 1883 (sometimes due to local initiatives) ration distribution centres were slowly established, often adjacent to some of the new police stations. The authorities were now observing that many Aboriginal raids were motivated by acute tribal starvation. So, ration stations, where bullocks were killed for meat, and tea, flour, tobacco and sugar sometimes provided, were opened first at Thornborough, Union Camp, Mitchell River, Northcote and Atherton.</p>
<p>Simultaneously, the Griffith regime began encouraging missionary enterprise from 1885 across Cape York, first by Lutherans and later by Presbyterians and Anglicans. These provided sanctuary against frontier excesses and doubtlessly saved lives. As historian, Jasper Ludewig concludes, it was the Griffith ministry:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] which gazetted Aboriginal reserves and provided support for missionary measures, including […] access, cash subsidies, rations and limited building supplies. The State’s administration of missionary work fell to the Colonial Secretary’s Department, which received and processed all […] correspondence.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Within several years, he finds, “Christian missions were fast becoming the solution of choice”. By Federation, “close to thirty mission stations had been opened throughout Cape York and the Torres Strait”.</p>
<h2>On the side of reform</h2>
<p>In sum, what does this demonstrate? It hardly seems to equate with the actions of a leader, singled out from the rest, as pre-eminently guilty of “crimes against humanity” – his hands awash with blood. “Is any other conclusion possible?” Truth-Telling rhetorically asks. Well yes, I think there is.</p>
<p>Indeed, we might cautiously conclude that this tranche of changes represents unique and piecemeal, though progressive and expanding, policy measures. The primary research task discloses:</p>
<ul>
<li>A radical attrition of Native Police services</li>
<li>Implementation of normalised policing</li>
<li>Novel introduction of Aboriginal court testimony</li>
<li>An attempted initiative to rein in the frontier “black-birding” of Aboriginal workers</li>
<li>Prosecution of white frontier crimes inflicted on First Nation peoples</li>
<li>The burgeoning of missionary enterprise across the North</li>
</ul>
<p>So deeper primary investigation, to my increasing surprise, had altered my initial conceptualisation. Official efforts from 1883-86 add up to more than rhetorical virtue-signalling. They mark a degree of reformation from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/4058607">outright exterminatory policies</a> employing Snider and Martini-Henry rifles. Has a well-oiled blame crusade simply trampled over all this in a rush towards a sensational, disparaging verdict?</p>
<p>However bad things were in this era – and they were definitely atrocious – liability cannot be laid on any one individual’s shoulders, whomever he may be. Griffith’s reform attempts confronted an implacable socio-cultural order in Northern and Western Queensland – and the challenge often outstripped the response. </p>
<p>A travelling press reporter there in 1880 found one colonist after another, including “highly educated persons […] openly professing the doctrine of extermination”. They look upon “any talk of humanity [or] philanthropy”, he wrote, “as the mere sentimental language of those who do not know what it is to live” there.</p>
<p>The remainder of Queensland society was not much different. A former Minister of Justice, John Malbon Thompson despairingly told Scottish Catholic missionary, Duncan McNab that year that, “Nineteen-twentieths of the population care nothing about [the Blacks] and the other twentieth regard them as a nuisance to be got rid of”.</p>
<p>Outspoken frontier journalist, Carl Feilberg concurrently agreed that while a certain minority “acted with barbarity”, the vast majority did nothing, as a small minority actively protested.</p>
<p>That majority of enablers were as guilty as the frontier killers, Feilberg reasoned: “[They] condone and share the crime”.</p>
<h2>A culture of genocidal intent</h2>
<p>What we observe here is a culture of genocidal intent and anyone hoping to confront it was certainly going to have his hands full. Frontier reform was never mentioned at election time – it was a political minefield. So, Queensland electorates had to be slowly cajoled into accepting any redemptive moves. Reform attempts needed to proceed with extreme caution, in an incremental and almost unobserved fashion.</p>
<p>Thus, positive initiatives by Griffith, during his relatively short tenure in the key office of Colonial Secretary, were arguably <em>bold</em> ones in the context of their time and place:</p>
<p>What modern hindsight may condemn as doing “little” or “nothing” may equally be conceived as doing rather <em>much</em> within what was effectively operating as a genocidal culture, where widespread extra-judicial killing was a permissible norm.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-killed-by-natives-the-stories-and-violent-reprisals-behind-some-of-australias-settler-memorials-198981">Friday essay: 'killed by Natives'. The stories – and violent reprisals – behind some of Australia's settler memorials</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>So, by this point, I had dramatically flipped interpretively and was now asking: Was it in any way fair or reasonable to single out Griffith as principal miscreant and hold him – perhaps due to his enviable accomplishments and gifted, tall poppy status – as a scapegoat, made accountable for the crimes and excesses of an entire society, and thereby isolated for blame?</p>
<p>As Charlie Campbell states in his study, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/12538648">Scapegoat. A History of Blaming Others</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The public is most easily appeased by the creation of a scapegoat. As always, the more serious the crisis, the more important the fall guy […] The urge to blame is sometimes incited in us […] The notion of collective responsibility is one that we prefer not to engage with […]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So, “collective responsibility” is the much harder pill to swallow. Pointing the finger at Griffith, Reynolds, in Truth-Telling declares:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>He did little to stop the killing. How then should history remember him? Will his high reputation survive the rigours of truth-telling? Perhaps, more to the point, should it survive?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yet rigorous truth-seeking shows us that among almost a score of Colonial Secretaries and a dozen or so attorney generals, Griffith appears to be the only one ever attempting anything practically mitigative while holding office. </p>
<p>While I had originally scoffed at Griffith’s defensive claim in 1891 that few had “taken more interest in the welfare of the native population” than himself, I was now beginning to realise he was probably right. He had done more on the side of reform. It is not, of course, a broad claim to make, given that virtually all his Queensland political and legal contemporaries had either done nothing positive for Aboriginal welfare or made the situation worse.</p>
<h2>Frontier perpetrators</h2>
<p>Griffith appears alone among those directly responsible for the Native Police as well as all those overseeing the law in attempting anything even mildly reformative in the face of chronic frontier ruination and disorder – as well as the widespread public approval of it. </p>
<p>So, must he be singled out as some pre-eminent culprit, allegedly with “blood on his hands” for perpetuating “crimes against humanity” by doing so “little”? Is it helpful to trash a high-level historical reputation in this way in order to watch how spectacularly and far a tall “fall guy” might fall?</p>
<p>Feilberg wrote in 1880 that it was Queensland’s hands, in general, that were “foully bestrained [sic] with blood” – and it is clear there was blood on so many hands in the colony. Over many decades it had been a virtual free-for-all, with no effective legal redress. </p>
<p>A register of the known names of frontier perpetrators, and those in politics and law who had abetted them, as well as all those in whose direct economic interest the brutality and killing had occurred, would be an extremely long one.</p>
<p>There are many such names. Here are some thumb-nail sketches of just a few who might precede Griffith in any compilation of indictments:</p>
<p><strong>William Forster</strong>, <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/forster-william-3553">Premier of New South Wales in 1859</a> who bequeathed the Native Police to the new colony. Historian, Wal Walker typifies him as “a most […] vindictive hater of Indigenous Australians”. </p>
<p>As a squatter in the Burnett district from 1848, he had taken up 64,000 acres of Aboriginal lands. In 1849 and 1850, he led reprisal raids against Taribiland and Gurang peoples near Bingara and at Paddy’s Island, heading settler armies of up to 100 mounted whites, allegedly killing hundreds of Aboriginal men, women and children.</p>
<p><strong>George Bowen</strong>, Queensland’s first Governor, ignoring official instructions that Aborigines were British subjects, under protection of the Crown, while <a href="https://www.uqp.com.au/books/the-secret-war-a-true-history-of-queenslands-native-police">re-defining his official role</a> as extending “border warfare […] carried out under some control on the part of the government” against “hostile savages’ as his proud "contribution towards the general defence of the Empire”.</p>
<p><strong>Robert Herbert</strong>: The first and longest continually serving Colonial Secretary, known as the Native Police’s staunchest friend. He wrote of Aborigines officially as “criminals”, “cannibals” and “very dangerous savages, deficient in intellect”. </p>
<p>He looked forward to their inevitable extinction. He used Native Police to secure Gugu Badhun territory with violence for his investment syndicate, seizing these lands in the Valley of Lagoons, inland from Cardwell.</p>
<p><strong>David Seymour</strong>: Police Commissioner for 32 years across 16 colonial governments, directly supervising the Native Police and suppressing evidence of their massacres, as he advanced his substantial financial speculations in gold and tin mining, pastoral landholding and timber-getting across the colony.</p>
<p><strong>Robert Ramsey MacKenzie</strong>: Premier and Colonial Secretary in 1866-67. Established a white-washing enquiry in the Native Police while Treasurer in 1861, stacking the board with squatters holding over 3.5 million acres of Aboriginal lands. Himself a mega-pastoralist, leasing 52 runs – later made a baronet. </p>
<p>Before entering the northern regions in 1840, he was involved, along with his brother, in a <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/155840417">mass poisoning</a> of Gringai people at Wattenbahk Station, north-west of Newcastle.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576439/original/file-20240219-26-4gxcmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576439/original/file-20240219-26-4gxcmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576439/original/file-20240219-26-4gxcmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576439/original/file-20240219-26-4gxcmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576439/original/file-20240219-26-4gxcmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576439/original/file-20240219-26-4gxcmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1006&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576439/original/file-20240219-26-4gxcmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1006&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576439/original/file-20240219-26-4gxcmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1006&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Boyd Morehead in 1888.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=Boyd+Morehead+&title=Special:MediaSearch&go=Go&type=image">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>Boyd Morehead</strong>: <a href="https://adb.anu.edu/biography/morehead-boyd-dunlop-4240/text6845;">Colonial Secretary, 1888 to 1890</a>. His family virtually ran the Scottish Australian investment Company, one of the largest speculators in Queensland pastoral holdings. </p>
<p>He stated in Parliament in 1880 that: “If there were no Aboriginals it would be a very good thing”. “There was not a member in the House”, he claimed, “who did not feel they had to be got out of the way”. This “wretched, mean race […] had to go and go they must […] They mainly got only what they richly deserved”.</p>
<p><strong>Anderson Dawson</strong>: Queensland leader of the short-lived first Labour Government in the world in 1899. He boasted to the Brisbane Worker, as part of his CV as a sterling white man, that in 1886 at the Kimberley gold-rush, he had played his part in what the paper termed a “nigger massacre”. </p>
<p>Historical research claims between 40 and 100 Kitja people were killed. Dawson subsequently became Minister of Defence in the first Federal Labor Government in 1904.</p>
<h2>Beyond individual blame</h2>
<p>I could continue with this listing, but this is probably enough to make the point. I think it is true to say that most readers would not have even heard many of these names before – yet Griffith, the outstanding historical personage, is well known – a big scalp, so to speak, and thus readily targeted.</p>
<p>Like him, however, most of these people have streets, suburbs, towns, districts, electorates, rivers or mountain ranges named after them. Unlike Griffith, though, most of them held wide-scale pastoral interests – interests that the Native Police were defending over extended time-frames against very determined Aboriginal resistance.</p>
<p>So, it would seem that a class/communal explanation for the remorseless dispossession might be a better way to determine causation, motivation and responsibility – in short, a pursuit of a systems analysis of colonialism as a more constructive way of grasping the fundamentals of this history. This can establish the driving rationale and structural underpinnings of occupation, rather than pursuing a singular crusade of individual blame for the manifest theft and violence.</p>
<p>This explanation is at first class-based because it is clearly a dominant minority class sector of, predominantly, pastoralists – but also plantation and mine owners – who were the principal land-takers, dependent initially on Native Police sorties and violent raids by their employees to secure the purloined landed wealth.</p>
<p>Using the excellent compilation work of the late Queensland historian, Bill Thorpe, we find there were over 3000 pastoral run-holders in 1876, contracting to little more than 1000 by Federation. These represented only 1.8% of the colonial or migrant population in the 1870s, down to only 0.2% by the 1900s.</p>
<p>But this tiny sector accounted for most of the privately held landholding in Queensland. Furthermore, in the latter stages, it was mostly foreign owned by corporations and banks operating outside of the colony and State.</p>
<p>These people and organisations – often also at centres of political power – were the direct beneficiaries of profit from the captured lands. The various genocidal processes adopted, publicly and privately, to achieve this were in such people’s immediate material interests.</p>
<p>Communally, most of the white colonial population cooperated, in one way or another, with the seizure and displacement process; and a minority of frontier actors took a leading part in inflicting and perpetuating it, thinking they were “advancing civilization” or “extending the margins of Empire” in so doing. Thus, we might conclude, the colonial takeover was class-based in its ultimate economic interest and communally driven in its comprehensive, destructive thrust.</p>
<p>As David Marr puts it in his recent <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/155840417">Killing for Country</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Australia was fought for in an endless war of little cruel battles […] Nowhere would the occupation […] prove bloodier than here [in Queensland] and no instrument of state [was] as culpable as the Native Police. Slaughter was bricked into the foundations of Queensland.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In mid-1880, a reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald, travelling around North Queensland, wrote these prophetic words:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Those who consent to such things and those who approve of them must look well as to how they will stand in future times with posterity, when the early history of this country comes to be written.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576641/original/file-20240220-30-p3ks18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Killing for Country cover." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576641/original/file-20240220-30-p3ks18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576641/original/file-20240220-30-p3ks18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=931&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576641/original/file-20240220-30-p3ks18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=931&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576641/original/file-20240220-30-p3ks18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=931&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576641/original/file-20240220-30-p3ks18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1170&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576641/original/file-20240220-30-p3ks18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1170&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576641/original/file-20240220-30-p3ks18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1170&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Goodreads</span></span>
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<p>We people here and now are that “posterity” – and it is imperative that any truth-telling we engage in should be well-targeted, balanced and comprehensive. Truth-telling, as Reynolds advises us, is “complex” – and with that I would agree.</p>
<p>Yet my research indicates that Samuel Griffith did not “consent to such things” nor “approve of them”, although he is neither the untarnished hero of this story nor its exceptional villain. And he was not, as Reynolds’ accounts claim, “especially culpable”. Available primary evidence does not appear to bear this out. “That is”, as John Lennon once famously sang, “I think I disagree”.</p>
<p>Griffith is part of and party to – among so many others – the British Imperial/colonial venture that created, for good or ill, present-day Queensland society. As a socio-economic formation and a culture, we have been very slow to accept how utterly that land-taking venture was steeped in bloodshed – and our collective responsibility, historically speaking, for this. </p>
<p>Yet, is it not ironic that the lone public figure who apparently attempted, however inadequately, to challenge the mayhem should now be freighted with the principal blame for it?</p>
<p>Griffith was neither a monster nor a saint. In determining his specific role, it is probably best not to be too certain in mounting clamorous, angry calls for redress, bearing in mind that truth-telling, where history is concerned, can be multi-layered, elusively structured, endlessly surprising and perhaps at times chimerical.</p>
<p>For, even after the rigorous application of exhaustive research, history remains mercurial and subject to change – within reach without falling into one’s final definitive grasp. The “rigours of truth-telling” warn us never to be too sure of the outcome.</p>
<p><em>This article is an edited version of a lecture given last night to the Selden Society for the Supreme Court of Queensland and Griffith University.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222262/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Raymond Evans has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>Many argue Samuel Griffith, twice Queensland premier and our first chief justice, is guilty of colonial war crimes. Raymond Evans searched for the evidence to nail him but found a different story.Raymond Evans, Adjunct Professor, Griffith University, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2219742024-02-14T02:56:59Z2024-02-14T02:56:59ZCan more ethical histories be written about early colonial expeditions? A new project seeks to do just that<p><em>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people. The name of the Aboriginal man in this article was how he was referred to, and his relative has requested we honour this name.</em> </p>
<p>Truth-telling is at the heart of a new research project we are currently leading that re-examines the legacy of the Hann Expedition, which travelled Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula in 1872. </p>
<p>Our project seeks to rewrite this period of history – and others – to honour the voices and experiences of Aboriginal people whose contributions to colonial-era expeditions have long been overlooked. </p>
<p>The Hann Expedition began in Mt Surprise, Queensland, in April 1872, and made a loop across the peninsula before finishing at the Junction Creek Telegraph Station seven months later. The team consisted of six white men and an Aboriginal guide. The purpose was to map and record “unknown” parts of Queensland and determine whether the lands would be feasible for mining and pastoral development.</p>
<p>Apart from geological descriptions and mapping, the expedition is credited with recording and collecting specimens of at least 149 plants previously unknown to Western science. However, using records from the expedition, we <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/hr/hr20014">found</a> these species were likely only located with the help of the young Girramay man, Jerry, who was their guide. </p>
<p>Jerry was derogatorily referred to as “the blackboy”, and his important role in the expedition has never been fully acknowledged.</p>
<p>The importance of Aboriginal knowledge to the expedition compelled us to further examine the encounters the men had with other Aboriginal people along the route. This likely included Olkala, Kuku Yalanji, Lama Lama and Guugu Yimithirr people. </p>
<p>In one of these encounters, botanist Thomas Tate and Jerry found a young Aboriginal boy near a lagoon and took him back to their camp. The boy’s family immediately retrieved him and returned the next day, threatening the team with weapons. </p>
<p>In other encounters, the team unsuccessfully tried to communicate with Aboriginal people, seeking information that would be useful to their expedition.</p>
<p>Our research team also found a detailed map created by Norman Taylor, the expedition’s geologist, which includes observations about encounters with Aboriginal people, as well as environmental details not recorded elsewhere.</p>
<p>The original map had been held in the Queensland State Archives since at least the 1980s, but had not been connected to other materials from the expedition. Although a detailed analysis of the map has only just begun, it suggests local Aboriginal people helped the expedition navigate difficult terrain along their route, particularly along the coast.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-first-nations-ununiformed-warriors-qualify-for-the-australian-war-memorial-219109">Why First Nations 'ununiformed warriors' qualify for the Australian War Memorial</a>
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<h2>Descendants leading research</h2>
<p>Our work takes its lead from Indigenous scholars and practitioners, such as Rose Barrowcliffe, Fiona Foley, Julie Gough, Natalie Harkin, Shino Konishi, Jeanine Leane and Djon Mundine, <a href="https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/memory-place">and others</a>. Their work has been instrumental in critiquing the silencing of Aboriginal voices in colonial history. Wiradjuri scholar Jeanine Leane <a href="https://corditebooks.org.au/products/walk-back-over">calls this</a> a form of “cardboard incarceration”.</p>
<p>Our research team includes descendants of the 1872 expedition, such as the project lead and co-author, Peter Taylor (a descendant of Norman Taylor’s), and co-researcher and co-author Cameo Dalley (a great-granddaughter of Tate’s). </p>
<p>In addition, Nicole Huxley, a Gudjala leader, is a descendant of Jerry. Ms Huxley and her family wanted Jerry’s story to be told, in particular his role in keeping the expedition team alive at dangerous points in their travels. </p>
<p>As descendants, each of us has <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14484528.2021.1927493">inherited</a> different family narratives about what took place on the expedition, and whose contributions were central.</p>
<p>The Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation, which supports the land and development interests of Aboriginal people on Cape York, has also partnered with the project. Further funding will support our research and the involvement of Traditional Owners along the expedition route, including Olkala, Kuku Yalanji, Lama Lama and Guugu Yimithirr people.</p>
<p>As Gerhardt Pearson, the executive director of Balkanu, says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>…following the Hann Expedition, the violence and dispersal of Indigenous people was so devastating, the memories and stories of this period still haunt many people. </p>
<p>The united commitment of the descendants and their detailed knowledge of this expedition will be incredibly valuable in working with Elders across the cape who still grieve about their own history.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Part of this process involves what is referred to as “rematriation”, or the reunification of Indigenous people and their knowledges with Country. This can include Indigenous people taking over the management of collections of artefacts and other specimens from the colonial era. </p>
<p>In our project, this includes botanical collections now held in the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (London), the National Herbarium of Victoria at the Royal Botanic Gardens (Melbourne), and the Queensland Herbarium. These institutions are keen to develop protocols for involving Indigenous communities in the interpretation and management of collections.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/50-years-after-evonne-goolagongs-australian-open-win-we-should-remember-her-achievements-and-the-racism-she-overcame-217684">50 years after Evonne Goolagong's Australian Open win, we should remember her achievements – and the racism she overcame</a>
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<h2>Why truth-telling is needed in Australia</h2>
<p>Truth-telling was a vital component of the <a href="https://ulurustatement.org/the-statement/view-the-statement/">Uluru Statement from the Heart</a> signed by over 200 Indigenous delegates from around Australia. However, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-failed-referendum-is-a-political-disaster-but-opportunity-exists-for-those-brave-and-willing-to-embrace-it-213755">failed referendum</a> on a Voice to Parliament last year arguably demonstrated an apathy towards such processes at a national level.</p>
<p>This project shifts focus to local and regional approaches to truth-telling and the importance of individuals and families in taking responsibility for their role in shaping history. This is even more important for those of us with ancestors responsible for the intergenerational trauma experienced by Aboriginal people. </p>
<p>For the white descendants involved in our project, this will require us to sit uncomfortably in the privilege we have inherited because of this violence and think meaningfully about what can be done in the present.</p>
<p>Selective memory can be a tool of colonisation, and this project goes directly to the responsibilities of the descendants of colonisers to challenge this.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221974/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole Huxley is affiliated with North QLD Land Council, Jumbun Limited, Ngrragoonda RNTBC Aboriginal Corporation, Joint Coordinating Committee Member Qld - DSDSATSIP. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cameo Dalley and Peter Taylor 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>Truth-telling is at the heart of a new project re-examining an expedition in Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula. This research aims to address the absence of Aboriginal voices in this history.Cameo Dalley, Senior Lecturer, The University of MelbourneNicole Huxley, Gudjala and Girramay leader, Indigenous KnowledgePeter Taylor, Associate Professor - Fenner School, Australian National University, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2217372024-01-24T03:26:11Z2024-01-24T03:26:11ZAs another cyclone heads for Queensland, we must be ready for the new threat: torrential rain and floods<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571073/original/file-20240124-15-lfd1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3999%2C2999&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We’ve long known cyclones are <a href="https://media.bom.gov.au/social/blog/46/a-look-inside-the-structure-of-a-tropical-cyclone/">heat engines</a>, fuelled by hot water. They also pump heat from the hot tropics into <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/tropical/tropical-cyclone-introduction">cooler areas</a>. But they’re starting to behave differently. As the world heats up, the atmosphere can hold more moisture. When cyclones form, they can transfer significantly more water from oceans to land. </p>
<p>We saw this in December. Most of the damage done by Cyclone Jasper when it hit far north Queensland wasn’t from the intense winds. It was when the Category 2 storm stalled over Cape York, dumping huge amounts of rain – over 2 metres in some areas – and triggering devastating floods. </p>
<p>It’s likely to happen again this week, as a slow-moving tropical low heads for northern Queensland, carrying huge volumes of water and <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/cyclone-kirrily-updates-system-likely-to-bring-heavy-rain-and-destructive-winds-to-north-queensland/1df6528e-3028-40bc-8c32-868ba005488f">threatening new floods</a>. Authorities are warning people to prepare – not just on the coast but well inland. </p>
<p>The storm – likely to be named Cyclone Kirrily – will be the second to make landfall this season. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571074/original/file-20240124-17-olrpe6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="map of queensland" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571074/original/file-20240124-17-olrpe6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571074/original/file-20240124-17-olrpe6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571074/original/file-20240124-17-olrpe6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571074/original/file-20240124-17-olrpe6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571074/original/file-20240124-17-olrpe6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=678&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571074/original/file-20240124-17-olrpe6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=678&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571074/original/file-20240124-17-olrpe6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=678&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rain from Cyclone Kirrily is likely to stretch well inland. This map shows the rainfall forecast for Friday January 26th.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bureau of Meteorology</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cyclone Kirrily: Prepare for floods as well as winds</h2>
<p>The tropical storm has taken a long time to intensify and is moving very slowly. While it hasn’t yet reached cyclone status, it is expected to make landfall as a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-24/tropical-cyclone-kirrily-category-two-queensland-bom/103378666">Category 2 storm</a>.</p>
<p>What it is carrying, though, is water – enough to dump up to a metre of rain in some places, and a long way into central and western Queensland. </p>
<p>If you live in northern Australia, you’ll know about <a href="https://www.getready.qld.gov.au/getting-ready/cyclones">being prepared</a> for cyclones. When a warning arrives, people pack away or tie down loose objects, trim tree branches and fill up the bathtub in case water supplies are disrupted. </p>
<p>But often, we’re focused just on the damaging winds – when water can often do more damage. </p>
<p>If you live close to the sea, the storm surge – flooding from the sea – is often underestimated as a threat.</p>
<p>But the new major threat is terrestrial flooding. We are already starting to see <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-022-01344-2">significantly more rainfall</a> linked to cyclones. Warmer air holds more moisture, and the world is steadily heating up. </p>
<p>This summer, sea surface temperatures have been unusually high off the east coast, all the way from Cape York down to Tasmania. Normally, in El Niño, we would expect lower sea surface temperatures and higher air temperatures. But this El Niño isn’t behaving as we’d normally expect. That’s one reason the east coast has had so much summer rain. </p>
<p>Normally, 75% of Australia’s cyclones hit the northwest of Western Australia, due to the high sea surface temperatures and the way the coast is oriented. But this year, the northwest region is sweltering in heatwaves – but no cyclones have yet made landfall. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/north-queenslands-record-breaking-floods-are-a-frightening-portent-of-whats-to-come-under-climate-change-220039">North Queensland's record-breaking floods are a frightening portent of what's to come under climate change</a>
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<h2>The future has fewer cyclones, but more intense</h2>
<p>Climate change is expected to change tropical cyclone patterns. The overall number is expected to decrease, but their intensity will likely <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/climatology/trends.shtml">increase</a>, bringing stronger wind and heavier rain.</p>
<p>My colleagues and I have found the change is already happening. The low levels of storm activity on the mid west and northeast coasts of Australia <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature12882#:%7E:text=There%20has%20been%20significantly%20less,22.42%2C%20P%20%3C%200.001">are unprecedented</a> over the past 550 to 1,500 years. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature07234">More intense</a> tropical cyclones are expected because higher sea-surface temperatures will make the atmosphere more warm and moist. Cyclones thrive in such conditions.</p>
<p>But the general frequency of tropical cyclones is expected to <a href="https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/uploads/3cf983377b8043ff1ecf15709eebf298.pdf">reduce</a> under climate change in most ocean basins, including the Indian Ocean.</p>
<p>Tropical cyclones usually form when there’s a large difference between temperatures at Earth’s surface and the upper atmosphere. As the climate warms, this temperature difference is <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/managing-the-risks-of-extreme-events-and-disasters-to-advance-climate-change-adaptation/">likely to narrow</a>.</p>
<p>As the heat in the oceans intensifies, cyclones will be able to form further down the east coast. Cyclones have hit Brisbane and even northern New South Wales in the past. These tropical storms form over warm water – between 26.5 and 30°C. The water along Kirrily’s track is at the higher end – around 30°C. Warm water produces warm, moist air, which is the energy-dense feedstock of cyclones. </p>
<h2>What should we do to prepare?</h2>
<p>In states such as Queensland, emergency response is a finely honed art. We’re excellent at dealing with the emergency when it’s happening and the immediate aftermath. </p>
<p>But we’ve still got a long way to go in mitigation. Houses are still being built in the path of flooding rivers or where they can be hit by storm surge. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/anatomy-of-monster-storm-how-cyclone-ilsa-is-shaping-up-to-devastate-the-wa-coast-203678">Anatomy of monster storm: how Cyclone Ilsa is shaping up to devastate the WA coast</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221737/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Nott 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 new threat from cyclones can come from behind you – flooding from more intense rainfall.Jonathan Nott, Professor of Physical Geography, James Cook UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2209402024-01-17T23:10:26Z2024-01-17T23:10:26ZWe can’t rely on the ‘dogs breakfast’ of disaster warnings to do the hard work of building community resilience<p>In the wake of cyclone Jasper, the new Australian Warning System has been roundly criticised. The system has been characterised as a “dog’s breakfast” and a “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-16/ex-tropical-cyclone-jasper-bugs-australian-warning-system/103235574">cock-up of massive proportions</a>”.</p>
<p>For both emergency warnings, as well as for general awareness-raising around disaster preparedness, one-way communications are the default in risk management. </p>
<p>This reliance on communications is wishful thinking.</p>
<p>Whether as text messages and alerts when disasters strike, or as pamphlets and expert advice to encourage preparedness, we need to rethink how we use communications if we want more resilient communities.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-disaster-strikes-emergency-responders-cant-respond-to-every-call-communities-must-be-helped-to-help-themselves-216644">When disaster strikes, emergency responders can't respond to every call. Communities must be helped to help themselves</a>
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<h2>Warnings reflect unreasonable expectations</h2>
<p>As <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-16/ex-tropical-cyclone-jasper-bugs-australian-warning-system/103235574">noted by Australians</a> in the aftermath of cyclone Jasper and the <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/the-maribyrnong-river-flood-warnings-that-receded-then-went-unheeded-20230928-p5e8ft.html">Maribyrnong floods</a>, the advice in warnings is often perceived to be incorrect, late, vague, and confusing.</p>
<p>Rather than an error that can be <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/maribyrnong-flood-forecasting-and-early-warnings-must-be-improved-report-finds-20231006-p5ea7x.html">fixed with better content</a>, this reflects unreasonable expectations. </p>
<p>We expect a warning to be sufficiently abstract to be useful across large regions and for many people with varying levels of exposure and capacity. </p>
<p>At the same time, we also expect information specific enough for stressed and possibly traumatised individuals to implement in life-threatening situations.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1740654928207687854"}"></div></p>
<p>In response to recommendations from numerous inquiries, authorities have applied standards and terminology to ensure consistency. While this sounds reasonable, it means that future warnings will continue to be ineffective.</p>
<p>It is worth repeating that risks are <a href="https://www.preventionweb.net/files/670_72351.pdf">dynamic</a> and personal. Communications useful to a young, well-connected longtime resident will be received very differently by a middle aged, isolated, “tree change” individual who has grown up in urban areas.</p>
<p>That a generic warning is unable to satisfy the needs of diverse individuals, experiencing varying levels of hazard, spread over large areas, and over time is unsurprising. What is surprising is the belief that “better warnings” will.</p>
<h2>Repeating the same mistakes</h2>
<p>Warnings and awareness raising for disaster preparedness reflect how the risk sector relies on communications to “engage” the public. This is based on a <a href="https://wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/wcc.570">discredited</a> approach that assumes communications can prompt targeted, lasting behaviour change.</p>
<p>The development of the <a href="https://www.australianwarningsystem.com.au">Australian Warning System</a> reflects this reliance. It is a position reaffirmed in the reports, commissions, and inquiries that have followed recent Australian disasters. </p>
<p>For example, in the 2020 <a href="https://www.royalcommission.gov.au/system/files/2020-12/Royal%20Commission%20into%20National%20Natural%20Disaster%20Arrangements%20-%20Report%20%20%5Baccessible%5D.pdf">Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements</a>, a whole chapter is dedicated to “Emergency Information and Warnings”. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/disastrous-floods-in-wa-why-were-we-not-prepared-197407">Disastrous floods in WA – why were we not prepared?</a>
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<p>Similarly, one focus of the ongoing <a href="https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/floodinquiry">inquiry</a> into the 2022 Victorian floods is on the “adequacy and effectiveness of early warning systems”. As it was for the 2011 <a href="http://floodsreview.archive.vic.gov.au/about-the-review/final-report.html">Comrie Review</a>, communications go unquestioned as the primary way to engage the public.</p>
<p>Frustration with repeated failure is becoming evident as successive commissions and inquiries hear the echoes of past efforts. The NSW 2022 <a href="https://www.nsw.gov.au/nsw-government/projects-and-initiatives/floodinquiry">flood inquiry</a> stands out for its blunt recognition that Australians appear to be locked in a cycle. Disasters expose systemic failings that result in recommendations that go unimplemented. The report read:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Inquiry heard a deep sense of frustration from many flood-affected residents and community members over a lack of implementation and change over time, despite multiple previous reviews. Many were sceptical that this Inquiry would succeed in effecting significant change. Similar findings on implementation (or lack thereof) were made in the 2020 NSW Independent Bushfire Inquiry, which recommended that a central accountability mechanism be established to track implementation of the report.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But what is missed in all of these reviews is a critical examination of our tendency to default to communications.</p>
<h2>The cost of being reactive</h2>
<p>Part of the problem with our reliance on communications is that, in the case of warnings, by the time they arrive we are reacting to an unfolding crisis, rather than preparing for one. This raises the costs significantly.</p>
<p>The resulting costs of disasters, currently $38 billion annually, are <a href="https://www.deloitte.com/au/en/services/economics/perspectives/building-australias-natural-disaster-resilience.html">expected to rise</a> to between $73 and $94 billion annually by 2060, according to a Deloitte report. The report argued:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Australian economy is facing $1.2 trillion in cumulative costs of natural disasters over the next 40 years even under a low emissions scenario. This shows there is the potential for large economic gains from investments to improve Australia’s resilience to natural disasters. Targeted investments in both physical (such as infrastructure) and community (such as preparedness programs) resilience measures are predicted to significantly reduce the increasing costs of natural disasters</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Disaster costs are an unavoidably shared burden. Whether in the form of disaster response, relief, and recovery or in the form of investment in preparedness, <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/64-million-package-ex-tropical-cyclone-jasper-disaster-recovery">public funds</a> will inevitably be required in ever-larger amounts.</p>
<p>This situation results in <a href="https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/australia-s-floods-were-fourth-most-costly-global-disaster-in-2022-20230110-p5cbhx">astronomical expenditures</a> during events and, later, “pinching pennies” for preparedness. This bias towards response and recovery over preparedness is known, made all the more frustrating because preparedness is <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/disaster-funding/report">shown to be</a> cost-effective.</p>
<h2>So what should happen instead?</h2>
<p>Communications do not create community resilience, they activate it. </p>
<p>Our recent research shows that, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jfr3.12861">rather than communications</a>, we need to engage meaningfully with communities. This means respecting their positions and values and appreciating that resilience is a long, slow, collaborative process that requires humility, active listening, experience, reflection, and support. </p>
<p>Our research shows that by conducting one-on-one engagement with members of the community, we can better understand their circumstances and support their agency. This has helped people as they learn about risk. They’ve shared lessons with their neighbours and helped family members to better protect themselves. This means we’re seeing knowledge and risk mitigation <a href="https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/epdf/10.1142/S2345737623410014">circulate through communities</a>. </p>
<p>This way of partnering takes time and takes work, but it opens pathways for the learning and behaviour changes that help our communities expand their resilience. While it is expensive, the predicted costs of disasters more than justify such efforts.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/every-australian-will-be-touched-by-climate-change-so-lets-start-a-national-conversation-about-how-well-cope-196934">Every Australian will be touched by climate change. So let's start a national conversation about how we'll cope</a>
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<p>As parts of Queensland and Victoria continue to be battered by disasters, it is time to admit that communications alone do not build resilience. They play an important role, but they are only one element of what needs to be a long-term partnership.</p>
<p>Rather than scooping the “dog’s breakfast” back into the bowl, we need to consider the underlying causes of the mess. With resilience, Australians will be ready and able to share in the growing burden of risk management.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220940/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian Robert Cook receives funding from Melbourne Water. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Kamstra 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>Whether it’s pamphlets aimed at prevention or text alerts, mass communication is often relied on during disasters. This flawed approach can be improved by engaging meaningfully with communities.Brian Robert Cook, Associate Professor of Geography, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2200402023-12-19T19:02:18Z2023-12-19T19:02:18ZFrom COVID to climate: Queensland’s new emissions pledge shows state governments are once again leading change<p>A striking development in recent years has been the increasing role of state governments in responding to global crises. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/15/steven-miles-announces-ambitious-emissions-reduction-plan-in-first-speech-as-queensland-premier">announcement</a> by newly installed Queensland Premier Steven Miles of an ambitious 75% by 2035 emissions cut target is a case in point.</p>
<p>The renewed centrality of state governments became dramatically evident as the COVID pandemic unfolded, where the states responded strongly while the Commonwealth <a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2021/september/1630418400/john-quiggin/dismembering-government">often seemed paralysed</a>.</p>
<p>But it is also true of the response to climate change, where successive national governments have been unable or unwilling to take serious action. The only notable exception – the 2012 carbon price under the Gillard minority government – was extracted by the Greens in return for their support.</p>
<p>Does it matter who does the work? Yes. State efforts can take us a long way towards cutting emissions. But we need federal policies on nationwide issues such as electrifying transport. </p>
<h2>How did we get here?</h2>
<p>Several decades of neoliberal reform and the mantra of <a href="https://anzsog.edu.au/research-insights-and-resources/research/has-new-public-management-improved-public-services/">new public management</a> – bringing business-style competition to the public service – have hollowed out the capacity of the national government to do anything directly. Instead, they have to <a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2021/september/1630418400/john-quiggin/dismembering-government">rely on contractors and consultants</a>, limiting any real federal capacity for decisive policy action. </p>
<p>By contrast, hollowing out has been much more muted at state level, where the need to provide schools, hospitals, police and other services have kept governments closer to the actual business of policy delivery.</p>
<p>This pattern of Commonwealth inertia and state activism goes back as far as the 2008 <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/3028">Garnaut Review of Climate Change</a>, commissioned by state governments in response to the Howard Coalition government’s unwillingness to act. </p>
<p>The Labor government took over support for the review after the 2007 election, but the Rudd Government was unable to secure bipartisan support for climate policies. </p>
<p>When the Coalition was back in office from 2013 to 2022, climate denialists in their ranks sought to do the minimum possible without openly rejecting global efforts to stabilise the climate. </p>
<p>By 2022 it was clear Australia would easily exceed our Paris Agreement commitment of a 26% reduction on 2005 emissions through land use change and the rise of renewables. Even so, the power of the denialists was such that the government’s backbench would not consent to an official increase in the target.</p>
<p>As a result, the new Albanese government could commit to a substantially higher target of 43% without any significant policy effort. </p>
<p>Instead of the carbon price Opposition Leader Bill Shorten had promised in 2019, Albanese offered <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-will-have-a-carbon-price-for-industry-and-it-may-infuse-greater-climate-action-across-the-economy-202728">an upgrade</a> to the Safeguard Mechanism, introduced by the Coalition. Energy and Climate Minister Chris Bowen has <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/no-compulsion-for-households-to-buy-evs-or-greener-appliances-government-pledges-20231130-p5eo1m.html">ruled out</a> modest steps such as ending the sale of internal-combustion engine cars by 2040.</p>
<p>Almost all states and territories now have 2030 emission cut goals more ambitious than the national 43% target:</p>
<ul>
<li>New South Wales: 50% </li>
<li>Victoria: 50%</li>
<li>South Australia: at least 50% </li>
<li>Western Australia: 80% below 2020 levels</li>
<li>Australian Capital Territory: 65–75% below 1990 levels</li>
<li>Tasmania: achieved net zero in 2015. </li>
</ul>
<p>Until last week, Queensland was the odd state out, with a 2030 target reduction of only 30% relative to 2005. The new goal – 75% by 2035 – moves Queensland from the back of the pack almost to the front. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cop28-deal-confirms-what-australia-already-knows-coal-is-out-of-vogue-and-out-of-time-219906">COP28 deal confirms what Australia already knows: coal is out of vogue and out of time</a>
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<h2>Can Queensland really move so quickly?</h2>
<p>The first step towards achieving this goal was largely symbolic: the knockback of a new coal-fired power station proposed by mining magnate Clive Palmer. The proposal was almost certainly unviable, as it assumed the use of <a href="https://www.atse.org.au/news-and-events/article/does-ccs-make-economic-sense/">economically questionable</a> carbon capture and storage technology. </p>
<p>The easiest option is to accelerate the transition away from existing coal power plants. In Queensland, it’s made easier because coal generators are owned by the state. </p>
<p>To achieve a 75% reduction target, the government’s clean energy agency, CleanCo, will have to be expanded substantially, and coal power put out to pasture faster than already planned.</p>
<p>If the state fully greens its power sector, that would remove <a href="https://www.stateoftheenvironment.des.qld.gov.au/pollution/greenhouse-gas-emissions#:%7E:text=In%202018%2C%20emissions%20from%20the,or%2045%25%20of%20total%20emissions.">45% of the state’s emissions</a>. </p>
<p>There are harder emissions to cut. It will need policies encouraging heavy industry to shift towards carbon-free energy sources such as electricity and hydrogen derived from wind and solar energy. The necessary technologies exist for industries such as steelmaking and cement, but have yet to be fully developed. </p>
<p>But the really hard challenge will be when new coal mines and gas fracking projects are proposed. </p>
<p>When buyers burn fossil fuels exported from Queensland, these emissions don’t count towards the state’s targets. But what does count are fugitive emissions of highly potent methane, which have been systematically underestimated. Using satellites, the International Energy Agency <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-vastly-underreporting-methane-pollution-report-finds-20230704-p5dll7.html">has estimated</a> Australia’s methane emissions from coal mines to be 81% higher than official estimates, and 92% higher than official estimates of emissions from fracking and oil extraction. </p>
<p>Even by Queensland’s own conservative estimates, these emissions accounted for <a href="https://www.stateoftheenvironment.des.qld.gov.au/pollution/greenhouse-gas-emissions/fugitive-emissions-sector-greenhouse-gas-emissions">11% of the entire state’s total</a> in 2018. </p>
<p>Miles <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/steven-miles-guarantees-future-of-queensland-coal-mining-gas-production/news-story/cbe7fc1e6c85f17cd0a2f04a5773bdbc">has promised</a> new fossil fuel projects will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. </p>
<h2>What do we need the Commonwealth for?</h2>
<p>State ambition will take us a fair distance, but not the whole way. On electrification of transport, states will need the Commonwealth government to lead since vehicle standards are set nationally.</p>
<p>Queensland’s fresh ambition puts us in the paradoxical situation where all of Australia’s states are committed to doing more than the Commonwealth. That is, in part, because states are able to do more. </p>
<p>But with the next federal election less than two years away, a slump in the polls and a very thin record of policy achievements, we may yet see the Albanese government leave behind its timidity and take braver action. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/two-charts-in-australias-2023-climate-statement-show-we-are-way-off-track-for-net-zero-by-2050-218930">Two charts in Australia's 2023 climate statement show we are way off track for net zero by 2050</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220040/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Quiggin is a former Member of the Climate Change Authority</span></em></p>Australia’s federal government has been hollowed out in recent decades. But states can – and still do – deliver. That’s why they are the main drivers of climate action.John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2200392023-12-18T02:57:15Z2023-12-18T02:57:15ZNorth Queensland’s record-breaking floods are a frightening portent of what’s to come under climate change<p>Unprecedented rain brought by <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-13/qld-tropical-cyclone-jasper-weather-pattern-warning-bom/103220130">Tropical Cyclone Jasper</a> has triggered widespread flooding in far north Queensland, forcing thousands of people to evacuate. Cairns airport is <a href="https://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/cairns/weather/cairns-down-to-30-hours-of-water-supply-tinaroo-dam-to-spill/news-story/0a25a5096a1219ae031f02fd6c0ea145">closed</a>, roads are extensively damaged and residents in the city’s northern beaches are cut off by floodwaters.</p>
<p>Some rain gauges in the Barron and Daintree River catchments recorded <a href="https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/2023/12/18/cairns-flooding">more than 2m of rain</a> over recent days, and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-18/qld-record-flooding-far-north-monday/103239260">more rain is expected</a>. Water levels in the lower Barron River have <a href="https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/far-north-queensland-hit-by-heavy-rain-flash-flooding/news-story/9731b48d321bb7a60ecaf8e26c7d7dd4">smashed the previous record</a> set by devastating floods in <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/6858263">March 1977</a>. On Monday morning, the Daintree River was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/27/queensland-flooding-emergency-alert-as-daintree-river-beats-118-year-record">more than 2m</a> higher than the previous 118-year-old flood level, recorded in 2019.</p>
<p>The full impacts of the flood are not yet clear. But there’s likely to be significant damage to properties and public infrastructure, and negative effects for industries such as tourism and agriculture. Recovery is likely to take many months.</p>
<p>So let’s take a closer look at what caused this emergency – and what to expect as climate change worsens.</p>
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<h2>A ‘sweet spot’ for torrential rain</h2>
<p>Tropical Cyclone Jasper <a href="https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/99359">crossed the coas</a>t north of Cairns on Wednesday last week, tracking over the remote Indigenous community of Wujal Wujal. Damage from wind and storm surge was minimal, but Jasper still produced more than 800mm of rain across the Daintree and Mossman River catchments.</p>
<p>Late Wednesday, the cyclone was downgraded to a tropical low. It crossed southern Cape York Peninsula and headed towards the Gulf of Carpentaria. By Friday, local tourism agencies and operators <a href="https://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/cairns/touring-resumes-in-tropical-north-queensland/news-story/77c2b9db23c9bac95599911f363b346e?fbclid=IwAR1kxHaWGj7xfSwmjcoe_ULs0l6Ulc-vhXLqgZYSIQUTQAX5Y156R2FAYyo">announced</a> they were back in business, inviting visitors back to the region.</p>
<p>However, by Saturday morning, a significant rainfall and flood emergency was unfolding across a 360 kilometre swathe from Cooktown to Ingham. So what happened? </p>
<p>The ex-cyclone stalled just inland from the southeast Gulf of Carpentaria, creating a sweet spot for torrential rain known as a “stationary convergence zone”. Incredibly moist tropical winds collided over a narrow zone between Port Douglas and Innisfail. This effect converged with northerly winds from the Gulf of Carpentaria and southeast trade winds from the Coral Sea. Local mountain ranges created extra uplift. All this led to non-stop torrential rain for 48 hours.</p>
<p>As a result, an emergency situation rapidly grew across Cairns and the Barron River delta to its immediate north. </p>
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<h2>Townsville floods: similar but different</h2>
<p>This extreme flood event bears some similarity to that which caused <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-climate-change-can-make-catastrophic-weather-systems-linger-for-longer-111832">significant damage to Townsville</a> in February 2019. Both were associated with a stationary convergence zone caused by a stalled tropical low located to their northwest. In the case of Townsville, the tropical low did not budge for more than ten days. In that time, Townsville received the equivalent of a year’s average rainfall.</p>
<p>Otherwise, the two events are very different. </p>
<p>Firstly, the Townsville floods occurred during a <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/enso/history/ln-2010-12/three-phases-of-ENSO.shtml">neutral year</a> – that is, in the absence of the climate drivers La Niña and El Niño. But the current flood event has occurred during an <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/enso/">El Niño</a>, when tropical cyclones are much less likely to <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/tropical-cyclone-knowledge-centre/history/climatology/#:%7E:text=Tropical%20cyclones%20in%20the%20Australian,fewer%20during%20El%20Ni%C3%B1o%20years.">occur in the Australian region</a>, especially in early December.</p>
<p>Secondly, the deep tropical low that caused the 2019 Townsville floods was embedded in an <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/about/australian-climate-influences.shtml?bookmark=monsoon#:%7E:text=Low%20pressure%20is%20created%2C%20which,or%20an%20%22inactive%22%20phase">active monsoon trough</a>, which sucked in <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-climate-change-can-make-catastrophic-weather-systems-linger-for-longer-111832">very moist equatorial air from Indonesia</a>. But unusually, Cyclone Jasper did not form in such conditions. The monsoon trough is still to appear and form over northern Australia. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-urgently-needs-a-climate-plan-and-a-net-zero-national-cabinet-committee-to-implement-it-213866">Why Australia urgently needs a climate plan and a Net Zero National Cabinet Committee to implement it</a>
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<h2>What’s climate change got to do with it?</h2>
<p>As 2023 closes as the <a href="https://wmo.int/news/media-centre/2023-shatters-climate-records-major-impacts">warmest year on record</a>, there is growing global concern about the rise of <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/research/environmental-impacts/climate-change/climate-change-qa/impacts">extreme weather events</a> such as floods, droughts and heatwaves.</p>
<p>The atmosphere and oceans are warming due to increasing emissions of <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/what-is-climate-change/#:%7E:text=Global%20warming%20is%20the%20long,gas%20levels%20in%20Earth%27s%20atmosphere.">greenhouse gases</a>, largely caused by burning fossil fuels. This has led to a greater risk of extreme rainfall and flooding, such as the events we’re seeing now in far north Queensland. </p>
<p>For every 1°C rise in average global temperature, the atmosphere can hold <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/explore/ask-nasa-climate/3143/steamy-relationships-how-atmospheric-water-vapor-amplifies-earths-greenhouse-effect/">an extra 7% water vapour</a>. When the right atmospheric “triggers” are in place, this extra water vapour is released as intense rainfall.</p>
<p>It’s too soon to attribute the current extreme rain and flooding to climate change. But as the world continues to warm, such events will become more frequent and severe.</p>
<p>Already, extreme flood events globally are becoming <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-extreme-downpours-trigger-flooding-around-the-world-scientists-take-a-closer-look-a-global-warmings-role-213724">more regular</a> and their magnitude is <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-so-many-climate-records-breaking-all-at-once-209214">breaking</a> many long-term rainfall and river flood records. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-extreme-downpours-trigger-flooding-around-the-world-scientists-take-a-closer-look-a-global-warmings-role-213724">As extreme downpours trigger flooding around the world, scientists take a closer look a global warming's role</a>
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<h2>Looking ahead</h2>
<p>Once the immediate crisis in North Queensland has subsided, local and state authorities will need to grapple with how to deal with the “new normal” of extreme weather events. The big question is: are they prepared?</p>
<p>Since the big <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/qld/flood/brochures/barron/barron.shtml">Barron River flood in March 1977</a>, considerable residential and commercial development has been permitted across the river’s floodplain. In many cases, these earlier developments were approved without full consideration of <a href="https://www.cairns.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/489618/Planning-Scheme-Policy-Natural-hazards-Version-2.0.pdf">future floods</a>. Many were also approved before local government planning started taking sea level rise into consideration.</p>
<p>The wider Cairns community will recover from this extreme event and will hopefully take on board any problems identified in the emergency responses. In future, emergency planning must take the effects of climate change more seriously. This includes increases in sea level, and more intense tropical cyclones, storm surges, rainfall and flooding.</p>
<p>As of this month, a climate emergency had been declared in <a href="https://climateemergencydeclaration.org/climate-emergency-declarations-cover-15-million-citizens/">2,351 jurisdictions and local government areas</a> around the world. As a result, many jurisdictions have developed response plans. In Australia, local governments should recognise climate change threats and risks by formally declaring a climate emergency.</p>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220039/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steve Turton has previously received funding from the Australian government.</span></em></p>Once the immediate crisis in North Queensland has subsided, authorities will need to grapple with how to deal with the ‘new normal’ of extreme weather events. The big question is: are they prepared?Steve Turton, Adjunct Professor of Environmental Geography, CQUniversity AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2197012023-12-12T05:09:32Z2023-12-12T05:09:32ZWho is Queensland’s next premier, Steven Miles?<p>When Queensland’s Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk resigned <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-10/qld-premier-palaszczuk-announces-resignation/103211206">over the weekend</a>, she indicated her preferred successor would be her deputy, Steven Miles. </p>
<p>He promptly nominated for the leadership. He <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-12/steven-miles-premier-of-queensland-shannon-fentiman-withdraws/103214566">avoided a leadership contest</a> between himself, Health Minister Shannon Fentiman and Treasurer Cameron Dick.</p>
<p>A compromise between Miles’ left faction and Dick’s right has negotiated Miles as Queensland’s 40th premier and Dick as his deputy. It’ll be made official when the party caucus meets on Friday.</p>
<p>But who is Steven Miles, and what kind of premier can we expect him to be as Queensland heads toward an election in 2024?</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-annastacia-palaszczuk-gone-can-labor-achieve-the-unachievable-in-queensland-219573">With Annastacia Palaszczuk gone, can Labor achieve the unachievable in Queensland?</a>
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<h2>A union man with a PhD</h2>
<p>In some ways, Miles’ journey closely resonates with some broader trends for Queensland Labor in recent years. </p>
<p>Very rarely for a politician, Miles has completed a PhD, seeking to understand how trade unions motivate their memberships through workplace activism. </p>
<p>Following this he worked as a consultant helping improve the campaigns of progressive causes, as state director of a public sector union and as a political advisor to Labor politicians. </p>
<p>Miles fits the mould of someone who has made progressive, union-affiliated politics their career. </p>
<p>However, like many union members in contemporary society, he is a highly educated professional, rather than the blue-collar rabblerouser of yesteryear. </p>
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<p>His political ambitions go back to 2009, where he unsuccessfully tried for pre-selection for the state election. He ran at the <a href="https://results.aec.gov.au/15508/Website/HouseDivisionFirstPrefs-15508-177.htm">2010 federal election</a> for the seat of Ryan, which encompasses the area of Brisbane’s leafy inner-north-west. He fell short again.</p>
<p>Miles’ first success came when he won the state seat of <a href="https://results.ecq.qld.gov.au/elections/state/state2015/results/district56.html">Mt-Cootha</a> for Labor from the LNP in 2015. </p>
<p>However, following a redistribution of boundaries in 2017, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-27/state-boundary-changes-prompt-steven-miles-to-plan-seat-change/8306146">he relocated</a> to the outer-metropolitan seat of Murrumba, north of Brisbane. In this way he was like an increasing number of young professionals and working families pushed outward by rising house prices. </p>
<p>With the recent <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/may/22/how-knocking-on-90000-doors-delivered-queensland-labor-heartland-to-the-greens">success of the Queensland Greens</a> in inner city electorates, and changing demographics in previously rural areas, Queensland Labor’s heartland and basis of support have moved outward. </p>
<p>The perceived priorities and everyday needs of young families and working people in these areas of population growth will likely guide how he governs and campaigns.</p>
<h2>Recognisable, for better or worse</h2>
<p>Miles, who has the backing of the powerful <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/shannon-fentiman-to-declare-leadership-plans-within-hours/news-story/273e76c8640d3b5b8ad0eb6dd8467460">United Workers Union</a>, has previously served in a number of ministerial portfolios including state development, environment and heritage protection.</p>
<p>Most famously, he served as health minister in the first year of the COVID pandemic. Given his appearances in daily press conferences, he likely has a high degree of recognition in the electorate. </p>
<p>Whether this is an asset for appealing to a broad cross-section of the Queensland public is debatable, given Miles also has a reputation as a party <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/feeding-the-chooks/attack-dog-steven-miles-raises-eyebrows-as-he-lays-into-andrew-laming/news-story/5d73df76f39e46131ad81d979b54c320">“attack dog”</a>. He caused controversy by appearing to use <a href="https://7news.com.au/sunrise/on-the-show/queensland-deputy-premier-steven-miles-appears-to-call-prime-minister-scott-morrison-a-ct-c-2750603">uncivil language</a> when criticising former Prime Minister Scott Morrison. </p>
<p>Similiarly to Jackie Trad, whom he replaced as deputy premier following <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-09/jackie-trad-queensland-treasurer-corruption-investigation/12231356">her resignation</a> over alleged integrity issues and electoral defeat in 2020, Miles has been an outspoken advocate for progressive causes such as the environment and equitable access to education. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/even-if-her-leadership-is-now-doomed-annastacia-palaszczuk-will-still-be-a-labor-legend-in-queensland-212446">Even if her leadership is now doomed, Annastacia Palaszczuk will still be a Labor legend in Queensland</a>
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<h2>A battle on the bread and butter</h2>
<p>When declaring his intent to step forward as premier, Miles flagged his desire to address ongoing issues which dominate recent political debate in Queensland. </p>
<p>They’re issues familiar to people across the country, including the need to improve the public health system, addressing a lack of affordable housing for renters and buyers and ongoing problems with the cost of living. </p>
<p>With the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics also in the pipeline, large-scale infrastructure developments will be on the cards.</p>
<p>He will also look to manage the politics and implementation of Queensland’s transition to a <a href="https://www.treasury.qld.gov.au/investment/investment-programs-and-support/low-emissions-investment-partnerships/#:%7E:text=The%202023%E2%80%9324%20Queensland%20Budget,net%20zero%20by%202050.">low-emmission economy</a>: a potentially fraught process given the power of the mining lobby and concerns over losses of jobs in regional areas. </p>
<p>Interestingly, these are the same issues Opposition Leader David Crisafulli recently laid out as <a href="https://dclnp.org.au/2023/10/30/the-right-priorities-for-queenslands-future/">his priorities</a>, bar a couple of exceptions. </p>
<p>Miles will therefore have to manage the tension between defending the Labor government’s record on these “bread and butter” issues, and trying to present as a fresh, new leader who understands the concerns of everyday people. </p>
<p>Also similarly to Crisafulli, who avoided being drawn on conservative social issues like abortion during his campaign launch, Miles will likely downplay more contentious progressive reforms. This may prove a disappointment for left-leaning voters wanting more action on climate change, or the continued concerns around the <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/about/news/media-releases/national-childrens-commissioner-slams-shocking-new-qld-youth-justice-laws">detention of children</a> and minors in custody. </p>
<p>Instead, for the next year we will likely see a contest based on trust over the basics: economic management and delivery of public services under strain. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-myth-of-the-queensland-voter-australias-trust-deficit-and-the-path-to-indigenous-recognition-115569">The myth of 'the Queensland voter', Australia's trust deficit, and the path to Indigenous recognition</a>
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<p>His first test as leader comes in the form of a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-12/tropical-cyclone-jasper-flash-flooding-weather-warning-watch/103214862">cyclone</a> in the state’s north, which he was keen to address yesterday, rather than speculation about his rise to premier. </p>
<p>His next test may come at the election in October 2024, as Labor weathers storms on two fronts. In inner Brisbane, the Greens will be looking to consolidate their recent gains. In the regions and outer metropolitan growth areas, the government will be judged on its ability to address cost of living pressures not necessarily in their power to solve.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219701/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Pandanus Petter receives funding for his work from the Australian Research Council as part of the Discovery project Understanding the Antipodean 'Fair Go' with Associate Professor Dr. Cosmo Howard, Professor Jennifer Curtin and Professor Juliet Pietsch.</span></em></p>Following the resignation of Annastacia Palaszczuk, the selection of her successor is a one-horse race. What do we know about the incoming premier, Steven Miles?Pandanus Petter, Research Fellow Centre for Governance and Public Policy, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2189082023-12-08T02:55:55Z2023-12-08T02:55:55ZFire ants are on the march. Here’s what happens when they sting<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564401/original/file-20231207-28-zox765.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C998%2C666&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/red-fire-ant-1211635918">Veronika Kunitsyna/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Red imported fire ants are a particularly nasty type of ant because they are aggressive, and inflict painful stings that may be life threatening. That’s in addition to being a serious threat to <a href="https://www.business.qld.gov.au/industries/farms-fishing-forestry/agriculture/biosecurity/animals/invasive/restricted/fire-ant">agriculture and biosecurity</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/biosecurity/insect-pests/fire-ants">In recent weeks</a>, we heard these ants <a href="https://www.outbreak.gov.au/current-outbreaks/red-imported-fire-ant">had spread</a> from Queensland, south into northern New South Wales.</p>
<p>Although their stings are rare in Australia, they can lead to a serious allergic reaction. Here’s what to do if you’ve been stung.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-red-fire-ants-and-yellow-crazy-ants-have-given-themselves-a-green-light-to-invade-australia-208479">Why red fire ants and yellow crazy ants have given themselves a green light to invade Australia</a>
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<h2>Which ants are we talking about?</h2>
<p>Red imported fire ants (<em>Solenopsis invicta</em>) are native to South America but have been <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470576/">spreading across the world</a> in contaminated soil.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/biosecurity/insect-pests/fire-ants">The ants</a> are 2-6 millimetres long and are a dark red-brown colour. They live in nests in the ground. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Here’s what red imported fire ants look like (Biosecurity Queensland).</span></figcaption>
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<p>When a nest is disturbed, hundreds of ants come out and attack. Their jaws lock onto the skin and they arch their body to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470576/">inject venom</a> through a stinger on their abdomen. Each ant stings an average <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470576/">seven to eight times</a>.</p>
<p>These ants sting <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8151706/">millions of people</a> a year in the United States.</p>
<p>Anyone who disturbs their nest is at risk of being stung. Even minor disturbances will cause the ants to surface and attack.</p>
<p>Overseas, people have been stung by ants that have <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37355195/">formed rafts</a> during heavy rainfall and flooding.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-deadly-jaws-and-enormous-strength-to-mushroom-farming-ant-man-is-only-tapping-into-a-portion-of-the-real-superpowers-of-ants-200530">From deadly jaws and enormous strength to mushroom farming, Ant-Man is only tapping into a portion of the real superpowers of ants</a>
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<h2>What happens when this ant stings you?</h2>
<p>Fortunately, red imported fire ant stings have been uncommon in Australia, and we hope it stays this way.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470576/">Their sting</a> is painful, with a fire-like burning character, and is associated with swelling and redness. Over the following hours or days, sting sites develop blisters or pustules that are itchy and take days to improve. </p>
<p>A person can easily be stung hundreds of times, which can cause a lot of distress.</p>
<h2>What’s the treatment? Do I need to go to hospital?</h2>
<p>Many people with a smaller number of stings can be safely managed at home. <a href="https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/insect-bites-and-stings">Usual treatments</a> <a href="https://www.poisonsinfo.health.qld.gov.au/bites-and-stings/insect-bites-and-stings">include</a>:</p>
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<li><p>gently washing the area with soap and water</p></li>
<li><p>using cold compresses on red and swollen stings. If you use an ice pack or ice, avoid direct contact with the skin</p></li>
<li><p>taking <a href="https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/antihistamines#:%7E:text=What%20are%20antihistamines%3F-,Antihistamines%20are%20medicines%20that%20you%20can%20take%20to%20treat%20allergies,called%20histamine%20in%20your%20body.">antihistamines</a>, which you can buy from your local pharmacy. </p></li>
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<p>Do not break the blisters that form at sting sites, and see your local doctor if the stings become more red and painful a few days later, to exclude infection.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bzzz-slap-how-to-treat-insect-bites-home-remedies-included-148722">Bzzz, slap! How to treat insect bites (home remedies included)</a>
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<h2>When to seek medical care</h2>
<p>Uncommonly, red imported fire ant stings can be <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2760357/">life threatening</a>. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470576/">About 2%</a> of people who are stung develop a severe and life-threatening allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis. This has also been <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12064982/">reported</a> in Australia. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.allergy.org.au/patients/insect-allergy-bites-and-stings/allergic-reactions-to-bites-and-stings">Many stinging animals</a> in Australia can cause anaphylaxis, including bees, wasps, and other ants such as <a href="https://www.allergy.org.au/patients/insect-allergy-bites-and-stings/jack-jumper-ant-allergy">jack jumper ants</a>.</p>
<p>People allergic to some wasps may also <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26708389/">be allergic</a> to venom from the red fire ants. </p>
<p>Symptoms of anaphylaxis after being stung by a fire ant are similar to those after being stung by other animals. <a href="https://www.allergy.org.au/patients/about-allergy/anaphylaxis">Symptoms include</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>difficulty talking or breathing</p></li>
<li><p>noisy breathing</p></li>
<li><p>swelling of the face (including lips, eyes or tongue)</p></li>
<li><p>tightness in the throat, with difficulty swallowing</p></li>
<li><p>dizziness</p></li>
<li><p>collapsing. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>There may also be a spreading red rash (hives or welts).</p>
<p>If you have any <a href="https://www.allergy.org.au/patients/about-allergy/anaphylaxis">of these symptoms</a>, seek immediate medical assistance. This may including calling 000. </p>
<p>Rarely, the ant venom can cause other toxic effects, which may be more likely in people who have been stung hundreds of times. So seek medical advice if you have unexplained or unusual symptoms after you’ve been stung.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ants-bees-and-wasps-the-venomous-australians-with-a-sting-in-their-tails-51024">Ants, bees and wasps: the venomous Australians with a sting in their tails</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Avoid these ants if you can</h2>
<p>Avoid exposing yourself to imported red fire ants. Report nests to authorities. Do not handle the nests yourself as this is more likely to spread the ants. This is also when you’re most likely to be stung.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>If this article raises health concerns for you or for someone you know about insect stings call the <a href="https://www.poisonsinfo.nsw.gov.au">Poisons Information Centre</a> from anywhere in Australia on 131 126. This evidence-based advice is available 24 hours a day. For life-threatening symptoms, call 000.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218908/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Darren Roberts is the Medical Director of the NSW Poisons Information Centre </span></em></p>Most stings can be safely handled at home. But in rare cases, you can get a serious allergic reaction, which needs urgent medical attention.Darren Roberts, Conjoint Associate Professor in clinical pharmacology and toxicology, St Vincent’s Healthcare Clinical Campus, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2170022023-11-27T04:12:56Z2023-11-27T04:12:56ZThe government’s Murray-Darling bill is a step forward, but still not enough<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561714/original/file-20231126-21-rluebs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C0%2C3058%2C2032&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sunrise-on-murray-river-near-kingstononmurray-1207917046">Philip Schubert, Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week, the Senate is debating changes to Australia’s most important water laws. These changes seek to rescue the ailing A$13 billion Murray-Darling Basin Plan to improve the health of our nation’s largest river system. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r7076">Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Bill 2023</a> is a crucial step forward. It proposes to lift the Coalition-era cap on water buybacks, allowing the federal government to recover more water for the environment through the voluntary purchase of water entitlements from irrigators.</p>
<p>It also proposes to extend the deadlines for the many beleaguered water-offsetting projects put forward by state governments.</p>
<p>Through the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists – an independent group working to secure the long-term health of Australia’s land, water and biodiversity – we strive to restore river health for the basin’s communities, industries and ecosystems. Here we ask whether the bill can fulfil the Albanese government’s <a href="https://anthonyalbanese.com.au/media-centre/labors-plan-to-future-proof-australias-water-resources-butler">2022 election promise</a> to deliver the plan.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1728928333243781591"}"></div></p>
<h2>Securing support of the Greens and crossbenchers</h2>
<p>The bill is central to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s <a href="https://anthonyalbanese.com.au/media-centre/labors-plan-to-future-proof-australias-water-resources-butler">five-point election promise</a> to deliver the plan, and Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek’s <a href="https://www.tanyaplibersek.com/media/media-releases/media-release-plibersek-decade-of-liberal-national-sabotage-puts-murray-darling-basin-plan-behind/">subsequent commitment</a> to implement the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in full.</p>
<p>With the Coalition <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r7076">voting against the bill</a> in the lower house, the federal government <a href="https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/plibersek/media-releases/joint-media-release-strengthening-restoring-our-rivers-bill">secured the support</a> of the Greens with measures that considerably strengthen the bill.</p>
<p>It is now up to key crossbench Senators to secure passage through parliament. But they have said the bill doesn’t go far enough, citing serious concerns it <a href="https://www.lidiathorpe.com/mr_water_legislation">excludes First Nations water rights and interests</a> and <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/MDBAWaterBill2023/Report">ignores climate change</a>.</p>
<p>The federal government must pass the bill in the next two sitting weeks to avoid triggering a statutory deadline, after which unfinished water offset projects would be cancelled and water recovery would be required instead.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/labors-new-murray-darling-basin-plan-deal-entrenches-water-injustice-for-first-nations-212261">Labor’s new Murray-Darling Basin Plan deal entrenches water injustice for First Nations</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Water Act and Basin Plan: where are we at?</h2>
<p>Born of the crisis of the Millennium drought, the Water Act 2007 was announced by the Howard government to “<a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/howards-full-speech-to-the-national-press-club/news-story/cfd6aa4761027929545602a96dc04254">once and for all</a>” address over-allocation of water in the Murray-Darling Basin.</p>
<p>Five years later, the Basin Plan 2012 was established to recover 3,200 billion litres of water for the environment from other uses, or to implement projects that deliver “equivalent” outcomes. That includes securing 450 billion litres for the health of the River Murray, Coorong and Lower Lakes.</p>
<p>But this volume of water fell substantially short of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s best estimate of what was needed to “<a href="http://www6.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/cth/consol_act/wa200783/s3.html">ensure the return to environmentally sustainable levels of extraction</a>”, and did not take climate change into account.</p>
<p>All water recovery targets were expected to be met by June 2024. But while some progress has been made, water recovery has <a href="https://wentworthgroup.org/2017/11/review-of-water-reform-in-the-murray-darling-basin/">almost stalled</a> in the past decade.</p>
<p>Only <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/water/policy/mdb/progress-recovery">26 billion litres have been recovered</a> of the crucial 450 billion litres. </p>
<p>Of the 36 water offset projects meant to be operational by 2024, <a href="https://www.mdba.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/2023-sdlam-annual-assurance-report.pdf">16 are not likely to be complete</a>, contributing to a likely shortfall of between 190 billion and 315 billion litres.</p>
<p>No onground work has commenced to alleviate flow “constraints”, leaving thousands of hectares of floodplain forests in the River Murray disconnected from their channels and at risk of drying out and dying.</p>
<p>The Water Act and the plan <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-14/lawyers-academics-first-nations-rights-murray-darling-basin-plan/103098066">do not provide for First Nations people’s water rights and interests</a>. And they <a href="https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/67496/2/01_Pittock_The_Murray-Darling_Basin_Plan_2015.pdf">fail to deal with climate change</a>.</p>
<p>Reforms to both the legislation and the plan are desperately needed to address these major shortcomings.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/murray-darling-basin-plan-to-be-extended-under-a-new-agreement-without-victoria-but-an-uphill-battle-lies-ahead-212002">Murray-Darling Basin Plan to be extended under a new agreement, without Victoria – but an uphill battle lies ahead</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Voluntary buybacks are necessary</h2>
<p>The new bill represents a clear step towards the first of the Albanese government’s <a href="https://anthonyalbanese.com.au/media-centre/labors-plan-to-future-proof-australias-water-resources-butler">five-point promises</a> to “deliver on water commitments” by removing the cap on buybacks.</p>
<p>Without buybacks, it is unlikely the federal government will be able to deliver the 3,200 billion-litre plan in full.</p>
<p>While the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/MDBAWaterBill2023/Report">Senate Committee</a> acknowledged the impacts of buybacks on communities, the committee found some concerns were “overinflated and not supported by the high-quality evidence base”, referring to a <a href="https://www.mdba.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/mdb-outlook-economic-literature-review2.pdf">literature review</a>.</p>
<p>The Wentworth Group has <a href="https://wentworthgroup.org/2010/06/sustainable-diversions-in-the-murray-darling-basin/">long argued</a> for funding to establish a regional transition fund to support impacted communities through these reforms. As part of these reforms, “significant transitional assistance” was <a href="https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/plibersek/speeches/speech-introducing-restoring-our-rivers-bill">announced</a> by Plibersek.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1728946516616962316"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/water-buybacks-are-back-on-the-table-in-the-murray-darling-basin-heres-a-refresher-on-how-they-work-200529">Water buybacks are back on the table in the Murray-Darling Basin. Here's a refresher on how they work</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Statutory guarantees are needed</h2>
<p>The bill requires <a href="https://wentworthgroup.org/2023/10/submission-to-senate_inquiry_water_amendment_bill_2023/">additional measures</a> to guarantee the unfinished business to which parliament agreed more than a decade ago:</p>
<ol>
<li><p><strong>a legally binding 450 billion litre water recovery target</strong>. The public needs a legal recourse if governments fail to deliver the full volume. We understand the intent of today’s <a href="https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/plibersek/media-releases/joint-media-release-strengthening-restoring-our-rivers-bill">announcement</a> is to make the target a statutory requirement, in line with other water recovery targets under the plan.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>improved integrity of the water offset method and withdrawal of unviable water offset projects</strong> The <a href="https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/plibersek/media-releases/joint-media-release-strengthening-restoring-our-rivers-bill">agreement</a> reached today allows the Commonwealth to remove non-viable projects. <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/mf/Fulltext/MF22082">Significant flaws</a> in the method used to calculate water offsets still need to be addressed. </p></li>
<li><p><strong>milestones in the bill’s proposed “constraints roadmap”</strong> which specify targets linked to incentive payments.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>transparency and accountability measures</strong> to restore public confidence in water reform, such as whole-of-basin hydrological modelling, water accounting and auditing, and validation of annual permitted take models. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Several of these measures were <a href="https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/plibersek/media-releases/joint-media-release-strengthening-restoring-our-rivers-bill">announced today</a>. We’re yet to see details but the high-level agreement is encouraging.</p>
<h2>Urgent reforms can’t wait to 2027</h2>
<p>Australia’s water laws have <a href="https://theconversation.com/labors-new-murray-darling-basin-plan-deal-entrenches-water-injustice-for-first-nations-212261">failed to address</a> the rights and interests of Indigenous people. Indigenous peoples <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837719319799">own a mere 0.2%</a> of surface water entitlements in the Murray-Darling Basin.</p>
<p>In 2022, the Albanese government <a href="https://anthonyalbanese.com.au/media-centre/labors-plan-to-future-proof-australias-water-resources-butler">committed</a> to “increasing First Nations ownership of water entitlements and participation in decision making”.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/MDBAWaterBill2023/Report">Senate Committee</a> found “overwhelming support […] that significantly more needs to be done to incorporate the values and interests of First Nations people in Basin Plan management”.</p>
<p>Many solutions can be readily incorporated into the bill. It should be amended so the legislation is consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and recommendations of Indigenous organisations, such as the Murray-Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations.</p>
<p>The $100 million <a href="https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/plibersek/media-releases/joint-media-release-strengthening-restoring-our-rivers-bill">announced</a> today for the Aboriginal Water Entitlement Program is welcome, although much was already <a href="https://www.tonyburke.com.au/media-releases/2019/5/6/media-release-labornbspwillnbspget-the-basin-plan-back-on-tracknbsp">committed</a> and the remainder won’t make up for the lost value given entitlement prices, according to <a href="https://mldrin.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/WEB_20230829-MLDRIN-Slide-Deck-FINAL-STC.pdf">analysis</a> commissioned by the Murray-Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations.</p>
<p>The bill also needs to provide greater clarity for basin communities on how climate change will be incorporated into the Basin Plan review, and strategies for adapting to climate change. This cannot wait until 2027 – communities need to prepare now for their future.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/victorias-plans-for-engineered-wetlands-on-the-murray-are-environmentally-dubious-heres-a-better-option-204116">Victoria’s plans for engineered wetlands on the Murray are environmentally dubious. Here’s a better option</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217002/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Celine Steinfeld is Director of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Vanderzee is a Water Policy Analyst with the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists. He is a former water policy adviser to the Victorian goverment with more than 12 years experience in national and Murray-Darling Basin water reform.</span></em></p>With the support of the Greens, there’s a chance the ‘Restoring Our Rivers’ Bill will pass. Will it be enough to put the Murray-Darling Basin Plan back on track?Celine Steinfeld, Director, Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists & Adjunct Lecturer, UNSW SydneyMichael Vanderzee, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2181222023-11-24T00:11:40Z2023-11-24T00:11:40ZLess than 75% of Queenslanders have access to fluoridated water – and it’s putting oral health at risk<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561235/original/file-20231123-25-usixfe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5792%2C3864&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/6-year-old-boy-drinking-water-1805710462">Yulia Raneva/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Health-care professionals have recently called on the Queensland government to mandate <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-20/qld-fluoride-access-issues-tooth-decay-dental-care-oral-health/103099734">fluoride in drinking water</a> across the state, where water fluoridation coverage lags behind other Australian states and territories. </p>
<p>But what are the benefits of adding fluoride to our drinking water supplies? And why do more than one-quarter of Queenslanders not have access to a fluoridated drinking water supply, while most other Australians do?</p>
<h2>First, what is water fluoridation?</h2>
<p>Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral best known for its role in strengthening our teeth. When our teeth come into regular contact with fluoride, this makes them more resistant <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10916327/">to dental caries</a>, or decay.</p>
<p>Water fluoridation is a public health program which works to reduce dental decay at the population level. It involves adding a very small amount of fluoride to public water systems which supply tap water. In Australia, the recommended levels of fluoride in public water supplies range from <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31868926/">0.6 to 1.1 mg per litre</a>. </p>
<p>The idea of water fluoridation was pioneered in the United States. In 1945, Grand Rapids, Michigan became the first city in the world to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/basics/anniversary.htm">fluoridate its water supply</a>. Water fluoridation was cited by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00056796.htm">one of ten great public health achievements</a> of the 20th century.</p>
<p>Fluoride has been added to water supplies in Australia for seven decades, starting in Beaconsfield, Tasmania, in 1953. Today, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-24/fluoride-dental-care-dentistry-water-queensland-government/103128018">over 90% of Australians</a> have access to fluoridated water. </p>
<p>The majority of <a href="https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/sl-2017-0419">Australian states</a> and territories <a href="https://www.health.vic.gov.au/publications/code-of-practice-for-fluoridation-of-drinking-water-supplies-health-fluoridation-act">have laws</a> requiring the fluoridation of public water supplies, with the exception of Queensland, which has left the decision up to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-20/qld-fluoride-access-issues-tooth-decay-dental-care-oral-health/103099734">individual local governments</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/four-myths-about-water-fluoridation-and-why-theyre-wrong-80669">Four myths about water fluoridation and why they're wrong</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The evidence</h2>
<p>The scientific consensus is that water fluoridation is a safe and effective way to improve oral health. The <a href="https://ada.org.au/policy-statement-2-2-1-fluoride-use">Australian Dental Association</a>, the <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9241563192">World Health Organization</a> and the <a href="https://www.iadr.org/science-policy/position-statement-community-water-fluoridation">International Association for Dental Research</a> are among the bodies which endorse water fluoridation as a public health measure. </p>
<p>To support and maintain a program like water fluoridation on such a large scale, we need to routinely collect evidence it works.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.adelaide.edu.au/press/titles/ncohs">National Child Oral Health Study 2012-14</a>, which I was involved in, gathered data on more than 24,000 children across Australia. The evidence demonstrated <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29869803/">water fluoridation was effective</a> in preventing dental caries. Another analysis I worked on of more than <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25558897/">5,000 children in Queensland</a>, published in 2015, showed water fluoridation reduced dental decay by 40%.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A girl smiles and points at her teeth." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561238/original/file-20231123-19-bq225y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561238/original/file-20231123-19-bq225y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561238/original/file-20231123-19-bq225y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561238/original/file-20231123-19-bq225y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561238/original/file-20231123-19-bq225y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561238/original/file-20231123-19-bq225y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561238/original/file-20231123-19-bq225y.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">Water fluoridation protects against tooth decay.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-happy-little-patient-sitting-on-1855461733">AnnaStills/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Studies reviewed by the <a href="https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/about-us/publications/2017-public-statement-water-fluoridation-and-human-health">National Health and Medical Research Council</a> (NHMRC) in 2017 showed water fluoridation can reduce the incidence of dental caries by 26% to 44% in children and adolescents, and by 27% in adults. Earlier evidence has similarly shown fluoridation is associated with <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28092105/">fewer caries in adults</a>. </p>
<p>Water fluoridation has also been found to be <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22452320/">highly cost-effective</a> – investment in these programs can result in significant savings through improved population oral health.</p>
<h2>Can fluoridation reduce inequalities in oral health?</h2>
<p>Social factors such as background and income are associated with oral health. For example, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25394849/">people who are poorer</a>, from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, or from <a href="https://theconversation.com/collaborating-with-communities-delivers-better-oral-health-for-indigenous-kids-in-rural-australia-141038">First Nations communities</a> will often have poorer oral health compared with the overall population.</p>
<p>My research shows exposure to fluoridated water is associated with <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30931771/">reduced inequality in child oral health</a> related to household income and Indigenous status. We would expect to see this because of the passive mechanism of fluoride delivery. That is, people can benefit just by drinking fluoridated tap water, regardless of their socioeconomic circumstances. </p>
<h2>Potential side effects</h2>
<p>Dental <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17652199/">fluorosis</a> (changes in the colour of tooth enamel) is a known side effect of water fluoridation. But dental fluorosis can also result from intake of fluoride from other sources, such as fluoridated toothpaste and fluoride applications during procedures at the dentist when children are young. Dental fluorosis in Australia is mostly very mild to mild and not associated with long-term <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26763813/">oral health consequences</a>.</p>
<p>The NHMRC’s <a href="https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/about-us/publications/2017-public-statement-water-fluoridation-and-human-health">2017 review</a> concluded water fluoridation poses no other risks which should be cause for concern. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A hand holds a glass under the tap, filling it with water." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561240/original/file-20231123-29-hpkib2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561240/original/file-20231123-29-hpkib2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561240/original/file-20231123-29-hpkib2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561240/original/file-20231123-29-hpkib2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561240/original/file-20231123-29-hpkib2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561240/original/file-20231123-29-hpkib2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561240/original/file-20231123-29-hpkib2.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 majority of Australia’s drinking water supplies are fluoridated.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/man-pouring-water-into-glass-kitchen-1928623259">New Africa/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, fluoridation has historically been somewhat controversial. One of the reasons so many local councils in Queensland have opted out is vocal opposition from small groups.</p>
<p>An argument recently raised against fluoridation suggests early life intake of fluoride is associated with childhood development, particularly <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31856837/">lower IQ scores in children</a>. Much of evidence for these arguments has come from poorly designed research or from areas with <a href="https://theconversation.com/fluoride-very-high-levels-in-water-associated-with-cognitive-impairment-in-children-216840">very high levels</a> of natural fluoride and other heavy metals.</p>
<p>But child development is an important issue, so it’s understandable this has caused concern.</p>
<p>Several large reviews have recently investigated this potential link. The reviews published in <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32382957/">2020</a>, <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/711915">2021</a> and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37120936/">2023</a> all concluded fluoride exposure in the context of water fluoridation is not associated with lower cognitive abilities in children.</p>
<p>My colleagues and I also ran <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36214232/">an Australian study</a> to investigate this issue. We collected data from a nation-wide sample of more 2,600 children. We found exposure to fluoridated water in early childhood was not associated with any impact on child development. </p>
<p>This again shows us water fluoridation as practised in Australia and internationally is safe for children.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/collaborating-with-communities-delivers-better-oral-health-for-indigenous-kids-in-rural-australia-141038">Collaborating with communities delivers better oral health for Indigenous kids in rural Australia</a>
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<hr>
<h2>Where to from here?</h2>
<p>While the most significant gaps in Australia are in Queensland, some other parts of the country are missing out on fluoridated water too, including many <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36825829/">rural towns in Victoria</a>.</p>
<p>Water fluoridation has been a cornerstone of population prevention of <a href="https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/tooth-decay">dental decay</a>, which can lead to other oral and general health issues. </p>
<p>It’s important water fluoridation programs are supported, maintained and expanded where possible by all levels of government and health organisations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218122/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Loc Do receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council.</span></em></p>Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral best known for its role in strengthening our teeth and making them more resistant to decay.Loc Do, Professor of Dental Public Health, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2172802023-11-09T09:37:22Z2023-11-09T09:37:22ZGrattan on Friday: When Labor states don’t dance to the Albanese government’s tune<p>It’s helpful for the Albanese government to have all mainland states in Labor hands – but only up to a point. </p>
<p>This week we’ve seen the Queensland government bite back at federal plans to curb the national infrastructure program, while Victorian resistance to changes to the Murray-Darling water plan prompted Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to lash out. </p>
<p>Infrastructure is always a vexed issue. The program is full of pork barrelling, whoever is in power. Even when that’s not involved, what to build and when it should be built is often contested. </p>
<p>In May, the government announced a 90-day review of the $120 billion infrastructure pipeline it inherited from the Coalition.</p>
<p>Infrastructure Minister Catherine King said projects had increased from about 150 to 800. The government’s aim was to reduce the number of projects (many of them small) and rearrange priorities.</p>
<p>High inflation, cost overruns and shortages of labour and materials are plaguing the program.</p>
<p>The political difficulties of abolishing or changing projects, often involving negotiation with states and territories, are obvious enough. Now they have become significantly worse. </p>
<p>The government has received its stocktake, and Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the overall cost of the program has blown out by some $33 billion. </p>
<p>Also, <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2023/10/31/cs103123-australia-staff-concluding-statement-of-the-2023-article-iv#:%7E:text=Australia's%20economy%20has%20been%20resilient,after%20a%20correction%20in%202022.">an International Monetary Fund report</a> last week said infrastructure projects should be rolled out at a “more measured and co-ordinated pace, given supply constraints, to alleviate inflationary pressures”.</p>
<p>Chalmers is pushing this message, but it’s not being received well in Queensland. </p>
<p>State Treasurer Cameron Dick was blunt. “Queensland is Australia’s growth state and we need more infrastructure, not less,” <a href="https://twitter.com/camerondickqld/status/1720977443337691323">he said in a tweet</a>. “If infrastructure cuts are needed, they should be made to southern states with low growth and high debt.” (Fun fact: the electorate offices of Queenslanders Chalmers and Dick share a common wall.)</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1720977443337691323"}"></div></p>
<p><a href="https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/qld-politics/road-rail-projects-need-to-be-cut-to-take-heat-out-of-inflation-treasurer/news-story/a99b728bdff427ae13cb879700b19ed1">Queensland Police Minister Mark Ryan said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve got a clear message for Jim. Jim’s a mate of mine. Jim, those projects better not be in Queensland.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The last thing the Palaszczuk government wants is for projects to be cancelled, slashed or delayed. It is in a particularly precarious position – it faces an election in a year’s time and will be fighting for survival.</p>
<p>Queensland has an obvious political self-interest in resisting infrastructure cuts, but there’s a national point too. With large numbers of migrants coming into Australia, the demand for transport and other infrastructure will be increasing, rather than decreasing. Whatever cuts and slowdowns are made will need to be well judged. </p>
<p>The federal government argues the existing pipeline is unrealistic and without change could not be delivered anyway. But even if the decisions about what to cut, scale back or defer are economically sound, in political terms they could store up electoral time bombs for the government. </p>
<p>Even minor and unworthy projects can be sensitive in marginal seats. Scrapping them could open opportunities for the opposition. Also, available funds for new projects presumably will be limited. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-transport-minister-catherine-king-struggles-to-find-a-landing-strip-amid-qatar-turbulence-213076">Grattan on Friday: Transport Minister Catherine King struggles to find a landing strip amid Qatar turbulence</a>
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<p>When the government finishes its negotiations with the states and the outcomes are announced, King will be the main minister defending the decisions. </p>
<p>As we saw in the row over the rejection of Qatar Airways’ bid for extra flights, she struggles when under pressure. She could find the task challenging. </p>
<p>The fight over the government’s water changes centre on its planned amendments to the Murray-Darling Basin plan. </p>
<p>The legislation, soon to be considered by the Senate, broadens the activities that can be funded and extends the times for delivery of water-recovery projects. Most importantly, it removes the cap on the federal government’s “buybacks” of extra water for the environment. </p>
<p>The Murray-Darling plan is always fraught, because the interests of upstream and downstream users and their governments differ. Nevertheless, Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales have signed on – although NSW has done so reluctantly. </p>
<p>But Victoria, where the Andrews government has built a close relationship with irrigators, has held out, defending its position on the basis of work done by Frontier Economics. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-cost-of-living-crisis-is-the-dragon-the-government-cant-slay-216441">Grattan on Friday: Cost-of-living crisis is the dragon the government can't slay</a>
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<p>Its report argues that “previous water recovery has resulted in less irrigation […] putting the viability of major irrigation districts and the industries and communities they support under pressure”.</p>
<p>“Further water recovery from irrigators (buybacks and on-farm projects) will add to the impacts already being felt and undermine the ability of irrigation communities to plan for the future.”</p>
<p>Plibersek declared, <a href="https://www.tanyaplibersek.com/media/transcripts/abc-radio-national-breakfast-with-patricia-karvelas/">in an interview with the ABC</a>, that it was “extraordinary that we’ve got a Labor government using dodgy modelling to join up with Barnaby Joyce and David Littleproud”. </p>
<p>Victoria’s Water Minister Harriet Shing retorts: “This isn’t about party politics, and it’s disappointing to see it framed that way. We don’t apologise for standing up for Victorian communities and environments.”</p>
<p>But Plibersek has backing from Jamie Pittock, from the Australian National University’s Fenner School of Environment and Society. He says: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Victorian government can usually be relied on to make decisions based on solid data. In the case of the Murray-Darling Basin, bizarrely, it has relied on low-quality consultants’ reports that exaggerate the socio-economic costs and ignore the benefits from water buybacks.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The legislation will come to a vote in the Senate this year, and there will be wrangling with the crossbench. </p>
<p>Assuming the legislation passes, the federal government can override Victoria and proceed with the buybacks of water for the environment. But it will still face the opposition of farming and irrigator groups, and some local communities. </p>
<p>It would be hard to find political observers who believe Peter Dutton can win the next election, due by May 2025. But there is increasing talk about the possibility that Labor, given it has a very narrow majority, could find itself in minority government. (Contrast a year ago, when all the talk was about Labor’s prospects for increasing its majority.)</p>
<p>Being pushed into minority is something Albanese – a senior figure in the minority Gillard government – would want to avoid at all costs. It would hamper the government’s flexibility to pursue its program, mean constant negotiation with crossbenchers including bolshie Greens, and encourage the Coalition to run maximum disruption. </p>
<p>The challenge of keeping out of minority increases the importance of the “ground game” in Labor’s marginal electorates. And it could make controversies over local issues – scrapped infrastructure projects, or unpopular new ventures including ugly transmission lines for renewable energy – potentially dangerous for the incumbents in those seats.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217280/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Infrastructure is always a vexed issue. The program is full of pork barrelling, whoever is in power. Even when that’s not involved, what to build and when it should be built is often contested.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2167322023-11-01T04:25:39Z2023-11-01T04:25:39ZQueensland’s fires are not easing at night. That’s a bad sign for the summer ahead<p>This week, dozens of fires have burned across Queensland. More homes have burned in the state than during the 2019–2020 Black Summer – <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-01/queensland-nsw-bushfires-live-updates-weather-bom/102872736">57 so far this year</a>, compared to 49. </p>
<p>The question many are asking is – are these fires normal? Our analysis shows these fires are weird in at least two ways.</p>
<p>First, many more than usual are burning through the night. This is anomalous, as nighttime usually brings lower temperatures and more moisture in the air, slowing or quelling fires. Queensland’s south-east and Western Downs regions are seeing more than five times more nighttime hotspots than average. And second, these fires are early in the season – especially the nighttime fires. </p>
<p>Why? Much of the east coast is now exceptionally dry. The plant regrowth from La Niña rains has dried out and is, in many places, set to burn. It’s still spring, with a long summer ahead. Where there has been rain, such as in eastern Victoria, it has sometimes coincided with intense bushfire. That gave rise to the extremely unusual situation in early October where residents <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/06/bushfires-floods-australia-compound-events-gippsland">grappled with fire one day and flood the next</a>. </p>
<p>Put together, it suggests we may be facing a very bad fire season on the east coast and Tasmania. This is, of course, happening against the drumbeat of global warming, and the extra spike in heating this year caused by El Niño. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557033/original/file-20231101-23-6cjg1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="rainfall map of Australia Sept Oct 2023, showing red rainfall deficits almost everywhere" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557033/original/file-20231101-23-6cjg1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557033/original/file-20231101-23-6cjg1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557033/original/file-20231101-23-6cjg1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557033/original/file-20231101-23-6cjg1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557033/original/file-20231101-23-6cjg1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557033/original/file-20231101-23-6cjg1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557033/original/file-20231101-23-6cjg1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Rainfall across Australia this spring has been very low almost everywhere.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bureau of Meteorology</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>What’s happening in Queensland?</h2>
<p>This spring has been exceptionally dry across most of the Sunshine State. September and October rainfall in the state’s heavily populated south has been close to the lowest on record and certainly in the bottom 10% of years. </p>
<p>This, in turn, has made many areas ready to burn. While there are fires up and down Queensland, most house losses have been within a few hundred kilometres of Brisbane. The town of Tara and surrounding areas has been worst affected. </p>
<iframe src="https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/15569942/embed" title="Interactive or visual content" class="flourish-embed-iframe" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="width:100%;height:700px;" sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-scripts allow-downloads allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<div style="width:100%!;margin-top:4px!important;text-align:right!important;"><a class="flourish-credit" href="https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/15569942/?utm_source=embed&utm_campaign=visualisation/15569942" target="_top"><img alt="Made with Flourish" src="https://public.flourish.studio/resources/made_with_flourish.svg"></a></div>
<p>How do we know where the fires are? Four times a day, heat-sensing satellites pass over Australia and pinpoint hotspots, where temperatures suddenly jump compared to areas nearby, based on square kilometre tiles. These tell us where the fires are, almost in real time and let us track them as they grow. </p>
<p>To this region, October has brought the third highest number of daytime hotspots seen this century. But it’s the nighttime hotspots that are freakish. Five times more nighttime hotspots than average have been detected compared to previous Octobers. </p>
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<p><iframe id="pE6jD" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/pE6jD/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
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<p>Why is that so concerning? Think of it from the firefighters’ point of view. If you know that fires usually ease off at night, you can plan around this reprieve – or even get some rest. But this belief will have to change as the nighttime barrier to fire <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04325-1">weakens around the world</a>. </p>
<p>Climate change <a href="https://theconversation.com/faster-disaster-climate-change-fuels-flash-droughts-intense-downpours-and-storms-213242">can speed up how fast droughts happen</a>, in what’s been dubbed “flash drought”. It was not so long ago that Australia’s east coast was seemingly underwater, with record-breaking floods. Now drought is back with a vengeance. </p>
<p>Is south-east Queensland seeing more fire than usual? On the whole, yes. And it’s early – one of the earliest seasons since satellite records began in 2001. </p>
<p>So far, most of the serious fires in this area are burning not through grasslands, as is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/pm/central-australian-fires-burn-across-twice-the-size-of-tasmania-/103028462">happening in Central Australia</a>, but through open forest and woodlands. </p>
<p>Could we see rainforests in Queensland burn, as we did during the Black Summer? It’s possible, but less likely. But we could see some areas which burned during Black Summer along the east coast burn again, though probably not to the same severity. </p>
<p>There’s certainly enough fuel for some areas on the east coast burned by the 2019–20 bushfires to re-burn, such as New South Wales’ coast and the fringes of the Blue Mountains. That would have serious ecological consequences for areas still in recovery if fires returned before seedlings matured. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-flash-drought-an-earth-scientist-explains-194141">What is a flash drought? An earth scientist explains</a>
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<h2>Fire scientists are flying blind</h2>
<p>For decades, we’ve known that parts of Australia – the world’s most fire prone continent – would be likely to see more intense and more damaging fires as climate change adds heat and takes away moisture in many regions. </p>
<p>One problem is that we and other professional fire scientists are forced to read the tea leaves from media reports to gauge what’s happening on the ground. </p>
<p>Data on fire progression, fuels and weather are often walled away in government agencies. Firefighters have access, but they are – rightly – focused on the immediate crisis at hand. And insurers have their own data sets on trends in property loss but they are commercially sensitive. </p>
<p>Because there’s no systematic and accessible way to publicise fire data, we end up with a lot of speculation in the media about whether this is a normal or abnormal fire season. </p>
<p>This could be easily fixed with <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/6/4/160">more investment and coordination</a>. Data from geostationary satellites have revolutionised fire spotting, shifting from six-hourly updates to every ten minutes. </p>
<p>These data and historic data, could and should be made easily available to non-specialists, ideally through either the Bureau of Meteorology or a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02306-4">new agency</a>. </p>
<p>Researchers have a role to play in developing tools to help put this flood of data to use. </p>
<p>If we have better public data sets, we can also more quickly shut down talking points from climate deniers, who might claim “there’s nothing new – Queensland has always burned” or use <a href="https://climatefactchecks.org/bjorn-lomborg-posts-misleading-claim-about-forest-fires-using-data-shown-in-isolation">selective statistics</a> to claim the number of dangerous forest fires on Earth is declining. We can’t adapt as a society if we’re arguing whether the fires really are happening or really are this bad. </p>
<p>If we don’t start to adapt to new fire regimes – and fast – we will face a very real crisis. We could soon see insurers stop offering insurance, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/31/climate/climate-change-insurance-wildfires-california.html">some have in California</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-is-sleepwalking-a-bushfire-scientist-explains-what-the-hawaii-tragedy-means-for-our-flammable-continent-211364">'Australia is sleepwalking': a bushfire scientist explains what the Hawaii tragedy means for our flammable continent</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216732/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Calum Cunningham receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Bowman receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Natural Hazards Research Australia, and NSW Department of Planning and Environment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grant Williamson receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Natural Hazards Research Australia, and NSW Department of Planning and Environment. </span></em></p>Normally, many bushfires ease overnight, as temperatures fall and moisture in the air rises. But these are not normal times, as Queensland’s early-season fires are showingCalum Cunningham, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of TasmaniaDavid Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science, University of TasmaniaGrant Williamson, Research Fellow in Environmental Science, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2164342023-11-01T02:47:29Z2023-11-01T02:47:29ZUsing social media for your holiday ‘inspo’ can be risky and even dangerous – here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556969/original/file-20231031-25-mj1uy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=41%2C20%2C4332%2C2566&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Figure Eight Pools in NSW.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/figure-8-pools-holiday-773525620">nakarin.ch7/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>How do you choose your next travel destination? Social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok are handy tools for holiday research, full of #inspo for new and beautiful places to go.</p>
<p>However, behind those mesmerising selfies, highlights and reels, there’s often a stark reality that isn’t shared. Our <a href="https://www.jmir.org/2023/1/e47202">ongoing research</a> shows that dangers abound from social media related misadventures. These include the hidden dangers of getting to the location, as well as the ecological strains on sites that get overcrowded with tourists.</p>
<p>Australia, with its breathtaking natural wonders, is no stranger to the downsides of social media tourism. Many people have been injured, needed rescue or even perished when visiting trendy places. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/trampling-plants-damaging-rock-art-risking-your-life-taking-selfies-in-nature-has-a-cost-211901">Trampling plants, damaging rock art, risking your life: taking selfies in nature has a cost</a>
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<hr>
<h2>The illusion of safety</h2>
<p>Influencers are in the business of presenting the best version of their experiences – not necessarily the safest. Our interviews with influencers who make content of beautiful places in nature, reveal that they see themselves as entertainers more than guides.</p>
<p>When it comes to the risks associated with the places they promote, they don’t view safety communication as their responsibility.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/lookouts/figure-eight-pools">Figure Eight Pools</a> in New South Wales’ Royal National Park are one potent reminder of how online portrayals and reality don’t always match up. The photos showcase tranquil pools with glistening waters. But many visitors, enticed by these images, have faced the peril of sudden large waves washing over the rock shelf and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-28/call-to-close-access-to-social-media-favourite-figure-8-pools/10853854">even causing injuries</a>.</p>
<p>Babinda Boulders, near Cairns in Queensland, is another such location. Wrapped in lush rainforests, this waterhole might seem inviting, but its <a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/calls-for-change-aussie-tourist-spot-qld-21-deaths-babinda-boulders-060358597.html">tragic history of drownings</a> speaks volumes – 21 drownings since 1965, and three since 2020.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-962" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/962/4183438c91d92e8e594f9a0700092002547b3c60/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Despite this, the pull of picturesque posts lures visitors into prohibited and <a href="https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/warnings/grim-truth-about-deadly-queensland-waterhole/news-story/5f02dfcc25edb2978022d41eebed03ca">dangerous areas</a>.</p>
<p>Josephine Falls in Queensland has also <a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/aussies-fume-over-dangerous-mistake-at-deadly-waterfall-theres-always-one-064337596.html">experienced numerous incidents</a>, all requiring resource-intensive rescues. Unfortunately, for many visitors, the warnings provided by Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service are to no avail – the lure of social media content is simply too strong.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556970/original/file-20231031-23-r4q08r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A picturesque waterfall with a natural azure pool in front of it" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556970/original/file-20231031-23-r4q08r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556970/original/file-20231031-23-r4q08r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556970/original/file-20231031-23-r4q08r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556970/original/file-20231031-23-r4q08r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556970/original/file-20231031-23-r4q08r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556970/original/file-20231031-23-r4q08r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556970/original/file-20231031-23-r4q08r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Josephine Falls in Wooroonooran National Park, Queensland, can be subject to flash flooding at any time of year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/trip-josephine-falls-queensland-australia-1911495436">JuliaHermann/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>A burden on local infrastructure</h2>
<p>Aesthetically pleasing, curated tourism content sets unrealistic expectations. Visitors who want to see the “insta-famous” scenery often find themselves underprepared for the actual experiences, sometimes leading to unsafe choices.</p>
<p>Drone shots can be particularly misleading. While they capture expansive vistas from above, they mask the ground-level challenges and dangers.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.grampiansguide.com.au/explore-location/37/the-balconies/">The Balconies</a> in the Grampians National Park in Victoria is another infamous spot for taking risky photos for Instagram. To get the photo they came for, tourists must traverse a barrier. The viral content has led ever-increasing numbers of people to these rocks for a shot – risking their lives for the same photo hundreds of others have posted.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-963" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/963/b612524d8c78779f930243d11b92356d3902097e/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Additionally, geotagging (attaching metadata, such as latitude and longitude coordinates, to a photo) has its merits, offering travellers directions to exact locations. However, it’s a double-edged sword.</p>
<p>When a location becomes popular on social media, the influx of visitors can strain local infrastructure. As <a href="https://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/south-coast/jervis-bay-and-shoalhaven/hyams-beach">Hyams Beach</a> in NSW went viral on various platforms, the once-peaceful coastal village grappled with traffic congestion and overwhelmed local resources.</p>
<p>Lincoln’s Rock in the Blue Mountains in NSW, once a little-known spot, was transformed by geotagged posts into a magnet for tourists and influencers. Some would engage in risky behaviours at the cliff edge. It’s one of many lookouts that once had few footprints, and is now a popular vista with little infrastructure. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="TiktokEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.tiktok.com/@viewswithdav/video/7278942718376660231?q=lincolns%20rock%20australia\u0026t=1698291641680"}"></div></p>
<p>Some regional areas simply don’t have the infrastructure or capacity to handle a large influx of tourists. As social media algorithms <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/12/3356">push trending posts even further</a>, once-secluded gems face threats of overtourism.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dangerous-selfies-arent-just-foolish-we-need-to-treat-them-like-the-public-health-hazard-they-really-are-200645">Dangerous selfies aren't just foolish. We need to treat them like the public health hazard they really are</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>Be a responsible tourist</h2>
<p>While it’s easy to fall prey to the siren call of viral destinations, it’s essential to approach with caution and do proper research before you set out.</p>
<p>It’s important to stay aware of your surroundings, especially in natural areas, and not get tunnel vision, or “<a href="https://theconversation.com/metourism-the-hidden-costs-of-selfie-tourism-87865">tourist gaze</a>”.</p>
<p>Fortunately, in Australia, national parks provide detailed information about popular locations. They can be relied upon to give accurate information and a true representation of the area, including safety information and guides for great hikes and the best lookouts.</p>
<p>All states in Australia have parks agencies that provide this information online (and they’re on social media, too).</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-964" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/964/b56b02bd5c1accfd6f19f18a6e549b4f667c66bf/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Things to keep in mind</h2>
<ol>
<li><p>Social media is a highlight reel. Before diving into that enticing pool or hiking that mountain, do thorough research. Don’t let it be your last swim</p></li>
<li><p>engage with locals, understand the history, the culture, and importantly, respect the environment </p></li>
<li><p>it’s also essential to challenge the content we consume and share. By geotagging responsibly and authentically portraying experiences, we can safeguard Australia’s treasures</p></li>
<li><p>social media is a powerful tool but needs to be wielded wisely. Australia’s natural wonders are worth more than just a fleeting snapshot; they deserve our utmost respect and care.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>So, as you scroll through your feed, dreaming of your next escape, remember that every location has a story beyond its pixels. Dive deep, explore responsibly, and treasure the real over the reel. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/your-first-emotion-is-panic-rips-cause-many-beach-drownings-but-we-can-learn-from-the-survivors-210982">'Your first emotion is panic': rips cause many beach drownings, but we can learn from the survivors</a>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498128/original/file-20221129-22-imtnz0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498128/original/file-20221129-22-imtnz0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=115&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498128/original/file-20221129-22-imtnz0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=115&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498128/original/file-20221129-22-imtnz0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=115&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498128/original/file-20221129-22-imtnz0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=144&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498128/original/file-20221129-22-imtnz0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=144&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498128/original/file-20221129-22-imtnz0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=144&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>The Conversation is commissioning articles by academics across the world who are researching how society is being shaped by our digital interactions with each other. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/social-media-and-society-125586">Read more here</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216434/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samuel Cornell receives funding from Meta Platforms, Inc. His research is also supported by a UNSW University Postgraduate Award, as well as project funding from the Royal Life Saving Society - Australia. He is affiliated with Surf Life Saving Australia and Surf Life Saving NSW.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Peden receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Meta Platforms, Royal Life Saving Society - Australia and Surf Life Saving Australia. She holds an honorary affiliated with Royal Life Saving Society - Australia. </span></em></p>The content on social media platforms doesn’t always portray the locations accurately, setting unrealistic expectations and even luring tourists into trouble.Samuel Cornell, PhD Candidate, School of Population Health, UNSW SydneyAmy Peden, NHMRC Research Fellow, School of Population Health & co-founder UNSW Beach Safety Research Group, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2136552023-10-30T01:20:36Z2023-10-30T01:20:36ZIs Australia in the grips of a youth crime crisis? This is what the data says<p>In recent months, there has been increasing focus on <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-15/teenage-burglars-behind-rise-in-victoria-youth-crime/102483786">crime committed by young people</a> in Australia. Politicians are coming under more pressure to respond to these well-publicised criminal acts and the public perceptions that Australia is in the grips of a youth crime crisis.</p>
<p>In Queensland for instance, a group called Voice for Victims has been <a href="https://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/politics/protesters-call-for-zero-tolerance-on-youth-crime/news-story/52d9c2ef69cc42fcfcf76a074531a115">holding protests</a> and recently <a href="https://youtu.be/aqVKt0zv4YM?si=XRCaGPvef__atJ2k">met</a> with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to push their demands for a stronger law and order response and higher assistance payments to victims.</p>
<p>But is youth crime actually increasing? Are we at crisis point? It depends on how we define a crisis and what the data says.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1627781297644126208"}"></div></p>
<h2>Youth offending crime data</h2>
<p>The minimum <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-should-not-rush-to-raise-the-age-of-criminal-responsibility-in-australia-189463">age of criminal responsibility </a> is ten years old in all states and territories, except the Northern Territory which recently <a href="https://nt.gov.au/law/young-people/raising-minimum-age-of-criminal-responsibility">raised the age</a> to 12. Young people between the ages of ten and 13 can only be held criminally responsible, though, if it can be shown they knew what they were doing was seriously wrong. </p>
<p>In Victoria, <a href="https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/crime-statistics/latest-victorian-crime-data/alleged-offender-incidents-2">crime statistics</a> show that from 2014 to 2023, the rate of incidents involving youth offenders has been trending downward (despite some fluctuations).</p>
<p>However, from 2021-22 to 2022-23, there was a 24% increase in the rate of incidents committed by youth offenders under the age of 17, per 100,000 of population.</p>
<p>Likewise, data from <a href="https://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Pages/bocsar_pages/Young-people.aspx">New South Wales</a> from 2011 to 2022 shows the rate of ten to 17 year olds being proceeded against by police has also been trending downward. This means the suspected offenders either faced court or a Youth Justice Conference, or received a caution from police. </p>
<p>However, from 2021 to 2022, the rate of young people being proceeded against by police increased by 7%, per 100,000 of population. The rate of those proceeding to court for more serious offences increased by 11% for the same period. </p>
<p>And the 2021-22 <a href="https://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/issues/7856/crime-report-qld-2021-22.pdf">Queensland Crime Report</a> showed a 13.7% increase in the number of children aged ten to 17 being proceeded against by police, compared to the previous year. The total number of youth offenders reached 52,742, the highest number in ten years. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Queensland premier faces questions about youth crime in a 9 News interview.</span></figcaption>
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<p>In most of the other states and territories, <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/crime-and-justice/recorded-crime-offenders/2021-22#data-downloads">Australian Bureau of Statistics</a> data shows the youth offending rates have trended downward over the past decade. From 2020-21 to 2021-22, these rates have either remained steady or decreased in most states and territories. Only the Northern Territory showed a larger increase of 13%. </p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>It should be noted the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/crime-and-justice/recorded-crime-offenders/latest-release#queensland">ABS youth offender rate</a> only counts how many unique offenders came into contact with police – each offender is only counted once, regardless of how many times they may have offended in the period. This means it does not provide an indication of overall recidivism rates by individual young people. </p>
<p>The ABS does, however, provide other <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/crime-and-justice/recorded-crime-offenders/2021-22">data on recidivism</a>. In 2021-22, the proportion of youth offenders proceeded against by police more than once increased in several localities, including Queensland (10%), Tasmania (17%), the NT (5%) and the ACT (8.5%). The other states showed only minor changes from the previous year. </p>
<p>Queensland courts can declare a youth offender a serious repeat offender under <a href="http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/qld/consol_act/yja1992185/s150a.html">the Youth Justice Act</a>. These young people are identified using a special index, which considers a young person’s offending history (including the frequency and seriousness), the time a young person has spent in custody and their age.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.courts.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/756649/cc-ar-2021-2022.pdf">2021-22 in Queensland</a>, nearly half of all youth offences were committed by serious repeat offenders. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-cant-go-shopping-without-police-coming-north-queenslands-at-risk-youth-feel-excluded-and-heavily-surveilled-211885">'We can’t go shopping without police coming': north Queensland's at-risk youth feel excluded and heavily surveilled</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Which offences are showing increases?</h2>
<p>In Queensland, the <a href="https://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/issues/7856/crime-report-qld-2021-22.pdf">most prevalent offences</a> for young people in 2021-22 included theft, break and enter, and stolen vehicles. </p>
<p>Even though only 18% of all offenders in Queensland were under the age of 18, these youth offenders accounted for more than 50% of all break and enter, robbery and stolen vehicle offenders during the year. For stolen vehicles, the number of youth offenders almost doubled between 2012 and 2022. </p>
<p>In NSW, the <a href="https://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Pages/bocsar_pages/Young-people.aspx">most common offences</a> for young people in 2022 were theft, break and enter, and stalking or harassment. Compared to 2021, young people proceeded against by police for thefts had increased by 21% and for break and enters by 55%. </p>
<p>And in Victoria, the most <a href="https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/crime-statistics/latest-victorian-crime-data/alleged-offender-incidents-2">common incidents</a> for youth offenders in 2022-23 were crimes against the person (a 29% increase compared to 2021-2022), property offences (36% increase) and public offences such as public nuisance, and disorderly and offensive conduct (29% increase). </p>
<h2>A crisis is a matter of perception</h2>
<p>A sense of crisis is created to some degree by not only rising crime rates, but also a sense of helplessness felt by the community and a perceived failing of the government to provide for a safe and secure community. </p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11205-022-02924-7">How the public perceives crime issues</a> is just as important as the reality of crime trends themselves. The <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/ongoing/report-on-government-services/2023/justice/police-services">Commonwealth Report on Government Services</a> provides a snapshot of perceptions of safety. In 2021-22, 89% of people felt safe at home at night, while just 32.7% felt safe on public transport and 53.8% on the street. </p>
<p>Last week, a survey of Queenslanders <a href="https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/qld-politics/yougov-poll-shows-queenslanders-living-in-state-of-fear-over-youth-crime-epidemic/news-story/39cb70d4de22debe1ababdf63d88331b">showed</a> nearly half of respondents believed youth crime was increasing or at a crisis point. Three-quarters of respondents had taken steps to improve their home security in the last year.</p>
<p>In Queensland, the government is responding to these concerns with tougher measures. It has controversially proposed using police watchhouses to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-23/qld-watch-house-youth-crime-human-rights-prison/102767700">detain youth offenders</a>, overriding its own Human Rights Act with a special provision only meant to be used in exceptional circumstances. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/queensland-is-not-only-trampling-the-rights-of-children-it-is-setting-a-concerning-legal-precedent-212377">Queensland is not only trampling the rights of children, it is setting a concerning legal precedent</a>
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<p>The government said this was necessary because the state’s <a href="https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/bills/2022/3118/Child-Protection-(Offender-Reporting-and-Offender-Prohibition-Order)-and-Other-Legislation-Amendment-Bill-2022---SoC-to-Govt-ACID-4d7c.pdf">youth detention centres were full</a> and, due to an increase in serious youth offenders, it needed to use police watchhouses to detain them to ensure the community is protected.</p>
<p>Youth justice advocates warn these watchhouses, however, are not suitable places for children, in part, because they could be held with adults and many of the facilities lack exercise yards, natural light and visitor facilities.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1695911700938289280"}"></div></p>
<p>Given the recent protests in Queensland, it is reasonable to conclude there is a perception of a crisis in the community over the inability of governments to deal adequately with youth crime, specifically repeat offenders. </p>
<p>While action needs to be taken in the short term to address community safety concerns, all states and territories also need to address the longer-term, multi-factoral causes of youth crime, such as truancy and disengagement from school, drug usage, domestic violence in the home and poor parenting.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213655/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>Certain offences have shown increases in Victoria, NSW and Queensland over the past couple years, but the overall youth crime trend lines have been declining in the past decade.Terry Goldsworthy, Associate Professor in Criminal Justice and Criminology, Bond UniversityGaelle Brotto, Assistant Professor Criminology and Criminal JusticeTyler Cawthray, Assistant Professor in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Bond UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2138642023-10-25T19:10:36Z2023-10-25T19:10:36ZBeyond Juukan Gorge: how First Nations people are taking charge of clean energy projects on their land<p><a href="https://nntc.com.au/news_latest/the-net-zero-2060-goal-will-need-to-rely-on-australias-indigenous-estate-says-new-findings/">Many</a> of the big wind and solar farms planned to help Australia achieve net zero emissions by 2050 will be built on the lands and waters of First Nations peoples. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-022-00994-6">More than half</a> of the projects that will extract critical minerals to drive the global clean energy transition overlap with Indigenous-held lands.</p>
<p>Australia’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilbara">Pilbara</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberley_(Western_Australia)">Kimberley</a> regions have high rates of Indigenous land tenure, while hosting some of world’s best co-located solar and wind energy resources. Such abundance presents big opportunities for energy exports, <a href="https://theconversation.com/red-dirt-yellow-sun-green-steel-how-australia-could-benefit-from-a-global-shift-to-emissions-free-steel-179286">green steel</a> and <a href="https://www.bp.com/en_au/australia/home/who-we-are/reimagining-energy/decarbonizing-australias-energy-system/renewable-energy-hub-in-australia.html">zero carbon products</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2021/may/17/who-owns-australia">Almost 60% of Australia</a> is subject to some level of First Nations’ rights and interests, including exclusive possession rights (akin to freehold) over a quarter of the continent. So the stakes for all players are high.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-973" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/973/534c98def812dd41ac56cc750916e2922539729b/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>In 2020, after news Rio Tinto had <a href="https://www.riotinto.com/en/news/trending-topics/inquiry-into-juukan-gorge#:%7E:text=In%20May%202020%2C%20we%20destroyed,on%20which%20our%20business%20operates.">legally destroyed</a> the sacred Juukan Gorge rock shelter in order to gain access to more than $100 million worth of iron ore, we wrote an <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-aboriginal-people-have-little-say-over-energy-projects-on-their-land-139119">article</a> questioning how much legal say First Nations people would have over massive new wind and solar farms planned for their Country. We asked whether the move to a zero-carbon economy “would be a just transition for First Nations?”</p>
<h2>The long but hopeful journey back from Juukan Gorge</h2>
<p>Much has happened in the past three years, and while more needs to be done, some signs are promising.</p>
<p>First, the furore and subsequent parliamentary <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/about/reporting/obligations/government-responses/destruction-of-juukan-gorge">inquiry</a> following the Juukan Gorge incident forced the resignation of <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/rio-tinto-ceo-top-executives-resign-amid-cave-blast-crisis/">Rio Tinto boss</a> Jean-Sebastien Jacques. Companies were put on notice that they can no longer run roughshod over First Nations communities. <a href="https://www.atns.net.au/climate-repair-project">Research in progress</a> indicates the clean energy industry <a href="https://www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/news/kane-thornton-opening-address-to-the-australian-clean-energy-summit">has heard</a> this message. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-human-factor-why-australias-net-zero-transition-risks-failing-unless-it-is-fair-214064">The human factor: why Australia's net zero transition risks failing unless it is fair</a>
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<p>Second, in 2021 the <a href="https://www.firstnationscleanenergy.org.au">First Nations Clean Energy Network</a> – a group of prominent First Nations community organisers, lawyers, engineers and financial experts – was created and began to undertake significant advocacy work with governments and industry. </p>
<p>The network has released several <a href="https://www.firstnationscleanenergy.org.au/network_guides">useful guides</a> on best practice on First Peoples’ Country. Again, <a href="https://www.atns.net.au/climate-repair-project">research</a> indicates the clean energy industry is paying attention to the work of the network. </p>
<p>Third, there is a question whether the <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/about-native-title">Native Title Act</a> allows large-scale clean energy developments to go ahead without native title holders’ permission. We are increasingly <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629621003455">convinced</a> the only way such developments will <a href="https://caepr.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/2022/5/WP_143_Maynard.pdf">gain approval</a> through the Native Title Act is through an <a href="http://www.nntt.gov.au/ILUAs/Pages/default.aspx#:%7E:text=What%20is%20an%20ILUA%3F,least%20part%20of%20the%20area">Indigenous Land Use Agreement</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-original-and-still-the-best-why-its-time-to-renew-australias-renewable-energy-policy-213879">The original and still the best: why it's time to renew Australia's renewable energy policy</a>
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<p>Moreover, <a href="https://assets.nationbuilder.com/fncen/pages/326/attachments/original/1692660875/Queensland_policy_overview_-_First_Nations_and_Clean_Energy_Aug_2023.pdf?1692660875">Queensland</a> and <a href="https://www.wa.gov.au/government/publications/diversification-leases">Western Australia</a> have both implemented policies and South Australia is developing <a href="https://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/lz?path=/b/current/hydrogen%20and%20renewable%20energy%20bill%202023">legislation</a> that make it clear these states will require renewable energy developers to negotiate an agreement with First Nations land holders. Because these agreements are voluntary, native title holders can refuse to allow large wind and solar farms on their Country.</p>
<p>As always, these decisions come with caveats. Governments can compulsorily acquire land, and many of the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19452829.2021.1901670">power imbalances</a> we observed in our earlier article persist. These include the power corporations have – unlike most Indigenous communities – to employ independent legal and technical advice about proposed projects, and to easily access finance when a community would like to develop a project itself.</p>
<h2>Promising partnerships on the road to net zero</h2>
<p>Are First Nations peoples refusing to have wind and solar projects on their land? No, they are not. Many significant proposed projects announced in the last few years show huge promise in terms of First Nations ownership and control.</p>
<p>In Western Australia the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-17/yindjibarndi-to-use-exclusive-native-title-land-for-renewables/102609826">partnership</a> between Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation and renewable energy company ACEN plans to build three gigawatts of solar and wind infrastructure on Yindjibarndi exclusive possession native title. Mirning traditional owners hold equity stakes in one of the largest green energy projects in the world, the massive <a href="https://wgeh.com.au/mirning#:%7E:text=The%20WA%20Mirning%20People%20are,transcontinental%20lines%20in%20the%20North.">Western Green Energy Hub</a> located on their lands in the great Australian Bight.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-urgently-needs-a-climate-plan-and-a-net-zero-national-cabinet-committee-to-implement-it-213866">Why Australia urgently needs a climate plan and a Net Zero National Cabinet Committee to implement it</a>
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<p>Further north, Balanggarra traditional owners, the MG Corporation and the Kimberley Land Council have together announced a landmark East Kimberley Clean Energy <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/aboriginal-backing-for-3b-kimberley-hydrogen-project-20230717-p5dovg">project</a> aimed at producing green hydrogen and ammonia for export. </p>
<p>Across the border in the Northern Territory, Larrakia Nation and the Jawoyn Association have created Desert Springs Octopus, a majority Indigenous-owned <a href="https://octopusinvestments.com.au/insights/desert-springs-octopus-announces-new-renewable-energy-agreement/">company</a> backed by Octopus Australia. </p>
<p>Still, much more needs to happen to provide Indigenous communities with proper consent and control. In its 2023 <a href="https://www.wa.gov.au/government/media-statements/Cook%20Labor%20Government/Milestone-new-legislation-helps-cut-red-tape-20230810#:%7E:text=The%20amendments%20which%20deliver%20a,Act%202023(the%20Act).">amendments</a> to allow for renewable energy projects on pastoral leases, the Western Australian government could have given native title holders more control but it chose not to. And much needed reforms to cultural heritage laws in WA were scrapped following <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-10/roger-cook-leadership-aboriginal-cultural-heritage-act/102706694?utm_campaign=newsweb-article-new-share-null&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web">a backlash from farmers</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/made-in-america-how-bidens-climate-package-is-fuelling-the-global-drive-to-net-zero-214709">Made in America: how Biden's climate package is fuelling the global drive to net zero</a>
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<p>In New South Wales, some clean energy developers seem to be avoiding Aboriginal lands, perhaps because they think it will be easier to negotiate with individual landholders. The result is lost <a href="https://assets.nationbuilder.com/fncen/pages/232/attachments/original/1685504567/Norman_Briggs_Apolonio_Discussionpaper_012023.pdf?1685504567">opportunities for partnership</a>, much needed <a href="https://arena.org.au/first-nations-environmental-work/">know-how</a> and <a href="https://soundcloud.com/solarinsiders/the-power-of-putting-first-nations-first?utm_source=clipboard&utm_campaign=wtshare&utm_medium=widget&utm_content=https%253A%252F%252Fsoundcloud.com%252Fsolarinsiders%252Fthe-power-of-putting-first-nations-first">mutual benefit</a>. </p>
<p>In the case of critical mineral deposits on or near lands subject to First Nations’ title, <a href="https://nit.com.au/11-04-2023/5559/the-practical-effect-of-an-indigenous-voice-the-case-of-critical-minerals">not nearly enough</a> has been done to ensure these communities will benefit from their extraction.</p>
<h2>Why free, prior and informed consent is crucial</h2>
<p>To ensure the net zero transition is just, First Nations must be guaranteed “free, prior and informed consent” to any renewable energy or critical mineral project proposed for their lands and waters, as <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf">the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</a> makes clear.</p>
<p>So long as governments can compulsorily acquire native title to expedite a renewable energy project and miners are allowed to mine critical minerals (or any mineral) without native title holders’ consent, the net zero transition will transgress this internationally recognised right. </p>
<p>The Commonwealth government has agreed in principle with the recommendations of the Juukan Gorge inquiry to review native title legislation to address inequalities in the position of First Nations peoples when they are negotiating <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/australian-response-to-destruction-of-juukan-gorge.pdf">access to their lands and waters</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-road-is-long-and-time-is-short-but-australias-pace-towards-net-zero-is-quickening-214570">The road is long and time is short, but Australia's pace towards net zero is quickening</a>
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<p>The meaningful participation of First Nations rights holders is critical to de-risking clean energy projects. Communities must decide the forms participation takes – full or part ownership, leasing and so on – after they have properly assessed their options. Rapid electrification through wind and solar developments cannot <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/ark-energy-halves-size-of-queensland-wind-farm-but-doubles-size-of-turbines/">come</a> at the expense of land clearing and loss of biodiversity. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.atns.net.au/climate-repair-project">Ongoing research</a> highlights that when negotiating land access for these projects, First Nations people are putting protection of the environment first when negotiating the footprint of these developments. That’s good news for all Australians.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213864/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ganur Maynard was formerly a member of the steering committee of the First Nations Clean Energy Network. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brad Riley, Janet Hunt, and Lily O'Neill 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>Australia’s road to net zero must pass through Indigenous-held land, which is likely to host many clean energy projects. First Nations people want partnerships that help them protect their Country.Lily O'Neill, Senior Research Fellow, Melbourne Climate Futures, The University of MelbourneBrad Riley, Research Fellow, Australian National UniversityGanur Maynard, Indigenous Knowledge Holder, Indigenous KnowledgeJanet Hunt, Honorary Associate Professor, CAEPR, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2156012023-10-25T19:10:24Z2023-10-25T19:10:24ZLegal in one state, a crime in another: laws banning hate symbols are a mixed bag<p>Queensland has now joined several other states in <a href="https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/95214">outlawing extremist hate symbols</a>. </p>
<p>Far-right and neo-Nazi groups pose a significant ongoing threat to national security, in <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-24/concerns-of-rise-in-right-wing-extremist-groups-in-australia/102388498">Australia</a> and <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/understanding-global-right-wing-extremism">globally</a>. It is crucial to counter their hateful ideology, which has no place in Australian society.</p>
<p>However, banning specific symbols and gestures is a tricky thing to do. </p>
<p>So with each state going its own way, how are these laws working together? And importantly, how will we know if they’re effective?</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/would-a-law-banning-the-nazi-salute-be-effective-or-enforceable-198143">Would a law banning the Nazi salute be effective – or enforceable?</a>
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<h2>What are the laws across the country?</h2>
<p>Over the last 16 months, Victoria, NSW and Tasmania have enacted laws banning the public display of Nazi symbols and salutes. Victoria was the first; it chose initially to <a href="https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/nazi-hate-symbols-now-banned-victoria">ban only the Nazi Swastika </a>. </p>
<p>Last week, it expanded this to include <a href="https://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/bills/summary-offences-amendment-nazi-salute-prohibition-bill-2023">any symbols used by the Nazi party</a>, including paramilitary arms like the SS.</p>
<p><a href="https://dcj.nsw.gov.au/news-and-media/media-releases-archive/2022/public-display-of-nazi-symbols-banned-in-nsw-1.html">New South Wales</a> and
<a href="https://www.premier.tas.gov.au/site_resources_2015/additional_releases/nazi-symbols-and-salutes-now-prohibited-in-tasmania">Tasmania</a> ban “Nazi symbols”, which is likely broader than the Victorian law. The courts will have a bigger say in whether something qualifies as one. </p>
<p>This should be simple enough for the most recognisable, such as the Swastika or Schutzstaffel (SS), but the question will be trickier if the law is enforced more broadly.</p>
<p>For example, neo-Nazi groups often use numbers like 14 (to indicate a 14-word white supremacist slogan) or 88 for “Heil Hitler” (because H is the 8th letter of the alphabet). The Anti-Defamation League maintains a large <a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbols/search">database</a> of these sorts of hate symbols. </p>
<p>It is unclear which could provide the basis for a charge under NSW and Tasmanian law.</p>
<p>In Tasmania, the same <a href="https://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0033/68766/2_of_2023.pdf">law bans Nazi gestures</a>. That was the first Australian law to criminalise the Sieg Heil salute, followed by <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-21/victoria-police-nazi-salute-offence-new-laws/103005966">Victoria</a>. </p>
<p>Neo-Nazi groups use the salute in public places to intimidate, <a href="https://theconversation.com/would-a-law-banning-the-nazi-salute-be-effective-or-enforceable-198143">spread fear</a>, raise their profile and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/apr/27/australia-nationwide-ban-nazi-salute-insignia-would-help-prevent-far-right-radicalisation-asio-intelligence-agency-says">recruit new members</a>. </p>
<p>These laws all target public displays of Nazi ideology. This would include, for example, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jan/19/police-seize-neo-nazi-paraphernalia-raids-south-east-queensland">hanging a Nazi flag from a bridge</a>, or waving Swastika signs at a neo-Nazi rally, but not <a href="https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/this-can-t-stand-hateful-neo-nazi-messages-left-in-brisbane-letterboxes-20230110-p5cbho.html">letterbox drops</a> or possessing Nazi paraphernalia at home.</p>
<p>All the laws include exemptions where symbols are displayed for legitimate <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/amid-australian-ban-on-nazi-symbols-asian-faith-groups-seek-to-reclaim-the-swastika-from-its-nazi-association/kiq813hhl">religious</a>, artistic, legal, historical, or educational purposes.</p>
<p>The federal government has also put forward its own <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r7048">national ban laws</a>, but those are yet to pass parliament.</p>
<h2>How do Queensland’s laws compare?</h2>
<p>In two key ways, Queensland’s laws take a broader approach.</p>
<p>First, the <a href="https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/tp/2023/5723T390-BC17.pdf">laws do not list any prohibited symbols</a>. In fact, they do not mention anything about the Nazi party or its symbols. Instead, a list will be made and updated in regulations.</p>
<p>This will, in theory, allow the Queensland government to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-12/qld-hate-symbols-laws-explainer/102965556">adapt to new hate symbols</a> as the need arises. But it’s unusual to give the executive so much power in determining the scope of a crime.</p>
<p>No one knows, at this point, what the laws will actually ban. It is a crucial aspect of the <a href="https://www.ruleoflaw.org.au/what-is-the-rule-of-law/">rule of law</a> that laws state clearly when conduct is a crime. </p>
<p>To ban a symbol or gesture, the Attorney-General must first consult with the chair of the Crime and Corruption Commission and the Human Rights and police commissioners. </p>
<p>She can recommend a symbol be listed if she is satisfied that it is <a href="https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/tp/2023/5723T390-BC17.pdf">“widely known”</a> to represent an ideology of “extreme prejudice”. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/does-australia-need-new-laws-to-combat-right-wing-extremism-196219">Does Australia need new laws to combat right-wing extremism?</a>
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<p>Given the <a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbols/search">large numbers of hate symbols</a> used by extremist groups, with varying degrees of public knowledge about them, seeking clear advice on this question could prove difficult. </p>
<p>Second, Queensland’s approach is not limited to public displays. It includes publishing and public distribution. The main question is whether a member of the public might reasonably feel menaced, harassed or offended. </p>
<p>This will give law enforcement tools to address a wider range of behaviours, such as handing out neo-Nazi flyers in public, but it raises some difficult questions. </p>
<p>It is not clear, for example, whether publication would include posting on social media, or whether public distribution would include <a href="https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/this-can-t-stand-hateful-neo-nazi-messages-left-in-brisbane-letterboxes-20230110-p5cbho.html">letterbox drops</a>, as the content cannot be seen from a public place.</p>
<p>Whether members of the community might feel menaced, harassed or offended will be clear where a group uses recognisable Nazi symbols, hate speech and physical intimidation in public spaces. But it will be a trickier question elsewhere. </p>
<p>For example, a lot of far-right content online is more subtle, spreading effectively through <a href="https://gnet-research.org/2023/07/28/schrodingers-joke-the-weaponisation-of-irony-and-humour-in-the-alt-right/">memes and humour</a>.</p>
<h2>How consistent are the laws?</h2>
<p>Victoria, Tasmania and NSW’s laws are broadly consistent, with Queensland as a clear outlier. </p>
<p>However, there are key differences.</p>
<p>For example, it will now be an offence to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/16/queensland-to-ban-nazi-swastika-tattoos-as-part-of-crackdown-on-hate-symbols">display a Nazi tattoo</a> in Queensland and NSW, but not in <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/soa1966189/s41k.html">Victoria</a> and <a href="https://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0033/68766/2_of_2023.pdf">Tasmania</a>.</p>
<p>The penalties also vary significantly, ranging from three months imprisonment in Tasmania (or six months for a repeat offence in a short time), to six months in Queensland, to 12 months in NSW and Victoria.</p>
<p>These inconsistencies are not necessarily a bad thing. </p>
<p>One of the benefits of a federal system is that states can create different laws and later fall in line if best practice emerges. </p>
<p>But it does suggest a degree of experimentation, with no consensus on the most effective approach.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/far-right-groups-have-used-covid-to-expand-their-footprint-in-australia-here-are-the-ones-you-need-to-know-about-151203">Far-right groups have used COVID to expand their footprint in Australia. Here are the ones you need to know about</a>
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<h2>How will we know if the laws are effective?</h2>
<p>In any state, neo-Nazi groups may simply <a href="https://theconversation.com/would-a-law-banning-the-nazi-salute-be-effective-or-enforceable-198143">avoid prosecution</a> under these laws by adapting the symbols, slogans and gestures they use.</p>
<p>For example, they already use the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/03/ok-sign-gesture-emoji-rightwing-alt-right">“OK” hand symbol to indicate white power</a>. It would be difficult, even under Queensland’s approach, to ban this otherwise mundane gesture.</p>
<p>However, if the groups are prevented from using their most recognisable and intimidating symbols, it will rob them of key recruitment tools and reduce their ability to spread fear and hatred.</p>
<p>A group of white supremacists using the OK hand symbol and signs saying 14 and 88 is still intimidating, but less so than the same group using the Swastika and Sieg Heil salute.</p>
<p>In addition, the laws will allow police to disrupt and arrest those who pose a threat to our communities. This will need to be done in a way that does not escalate tensions at a public rally or protest.</p>
<p>In any case, the criminal law serves a moral purpose as well as a practical one. These developing laws send a clear signal that Nazi ideology has no place in Australian society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215601/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keiran Hardy 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>Queensland is the latest state bring in laws banning neo-Nazi and far-right symbols, but no one knows yet precisely what will be banned. Here’s how the laws differ across the country.Keiran Hardy, Senior Lecturer, Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2130792023-10-11T19:05:06Z2023-10-11T19:05:06ZA successful energy transition depends on managing when people use power. So how do we make demand more flexible?<p><a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/grid-on-knife-edge-as-project-delays-risk-blackouts-electricity-market-operator-warns-20230830-p5e0iz.html">Energy security concerns</a> are mounting as renewable projects and transmission lines are delayed. </p>
<p>In New South Wales, for instance, the government has flagged it <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/05/eraring-coal-fired-power-station-nsw-government-in-talks-to-extend-operation">may defer</a> the closure of Eraring coal power station beyond 2025. </p>
<p>NSW has <a href="https://www.energy.nsw.gov.au/nsw-plans-and-progress/regulation-and-policy/electricity-supply-and-reliability-check">other new policies</a> to “get the energy transition back on track”. These include expanding “customer energy resources”, such as solar panels and batteries, and increasing “demand flexibility” (broadly, using smart technology to shift the times when businesses and homes use power). </p>
<p>With more variable supply from solar and wind energy, demand flexibility is a cheaper and cleaner way to keep the electricity grid stable.</p>
<p><a href="https://arena.gov.au/assets/2022/02/load-flexibility-study-technical-summary.pdf">Modelling</a> for the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) shows this approach could save consumers up to A$18 billion to 2040. Shifting demand can avoid:</p>
<ul>
<li>higher-priced power use at the end of the day</li>
<li>building new poles and wires to increase network capacity to meet peak demand</li>
<li>paying coal plants to stay open.</li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Aerial view of Eraring power station next to coal mine and substation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553135/original/file-20231010-21-lxz4x5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553135/original/file-20231010-21-lxz4x5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553135/original/file-20231010-21-lxz4x5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553135/original/file-20231010-21-lxz4x5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553135/original/file-20231010-21-lxz4x5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553135/original/file-20231010-21-lxz4x5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553135/original/file-20231010-21-lxz4x5.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">There are cheaper and cleaner ways to keep the power on than paying coal power stations like Eraring to stay open.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CSIRO_ScienceImage_9227_Eraring_Power_Station.jpg">Nick Pitsas, CSIRO/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/good-news-theres-a-clean-energy-gold-rush-under-way-well-need-it-to-tackle-energy-price-turbulence-and-coals-exodus-188804">Good news – there's a clean energy gold rush under way. We'll need it to tackle energy price turbulence and coal's exodus</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What does flexible demand involve?</h2>
<p>Examples of flexible demand include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/using-electric-water-heaters-to-store-renewable-energy-could-do-the-work-of-2-million-home-batteries-and-save-us-billions-204281">shifting water heating</a> from night-time (mostly coal-powered) to daytime (using solar)</p></li>
<li><p>reducing temperatures in commercial coolrooms using solar power in the middle of the day, then <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/arena-trial-taps-20mw-of-flexible-demand-from-commercial-refrigeration/">switching chillers off</a> in the late afternoon until they return to standard refrigeration temperatures</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-05/electricity-smart-meters-offer-hope-for-reliable-clean-energy/11766766">remotely controlling air conditioners</a> to turn them down when the grid is under stress. Households get paid and don’t notice if the aircon is briefly turned down, but across many homes it can make a big difference.</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-an-energy-crisis-every-watt-counts-so-yes-turning-off-your-dishwasher-can-make-a-difference-185247">In an energy crisis, every watt counts. So yes, turning off your dishwasher can make a difference</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) <a href="https://aemo.com.au/-/media/files/electricity/nem/planning_and_forecasting/nem_esoo/2023/2023-electricity-statement-of-opportunities.pdf">estimates</a> NSW needs an extra 191 megawatts (MW) of capacity to maintain reliability when Eraring closes. </p>
<p>Another way to cover that capacity shortfall is more flexible demand. Queensland already has almost <a href="https://www.energex.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/1000452/2022-23-Demand-Management-Plan.pdf">150MW of remote-controlled air conditioning</a>. Other types of demand management that Queensland grid operators can call on total about 900MW.</p>
<p>In Western Australia, a newly signed <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/massive-demand-response-contract-to-boost-flexibility-in-worlds-most-isolated-grid/">contract will provide 120MW</a> of demand flexibility.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The chilled and frozen foods section of a supermarket" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553121/original/file-20231010-17-x1n41q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553121/original/file-20231010-17-x1n41q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553121/original/file-20231010-17-x1n41q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553121/original/file-20231010-17-x1n41q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553121/original/file-20231010-17-x1n41q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553121/original/file-20231010-17-x1n41q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553121/original/file-20231010-17-x1n41q.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">Commercial refrigeration can be managed to reduce power use at times of peak demand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">TY Lim/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/unsexy-but-vital-why-warnings-over-grid-reliability-are-really-about-building-more-transmission-lines-212603">Unsexy but vital: why warnings over grid reliability are really about building more transmission lines</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>So what are the obstacles to more flexible demand?</h2>
<p>ARENA commissioned the Institute for Sustainable Futures to <a href="https://arena.gov.au/knowledge-bank/demand-flexibility-portfolio-retrospective-analysis-report/">review the pilot demand flexibility projects</a> it has funded. Many didn’t deliver as much as hoped. </p>
<p>Sometimes, this was because businesses were too busy with day-to-day operations or payments for households were too low to catch their interest. But often it’s a matter of putting policies, technical standards and regulations in place to make demand management seamless and efficient.</p>
<p>ARENA has spent about $180 million on 55 projects with at least some focus on flexible demand. They include air conditioning, pool pumps and hot water systems in homes, commercial building air conditioning and electric vehicle charging.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1465845355820421123"}"></div></p>
<h2>4 ways to increase demand flexibility</h2>
<p>What do these projects tell us about how to increase demand flexibility?</p>
<p><strong>1. Better technical standards</strong></p>
<p>The technical standards required of manufacturers often don’t ensure devices can be used to shape demand. Many air-conditioners couldn’t be controlled in ARENA pilots. </p>
<p>There is also no technical standard for “inter-operability” of devices within homes. Batteries, hot water systems and other devices with different companies’ technologies don’t always work well together. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/owners-of-electric-vehicles-to-be-paid-to-plug-into-the-grid-to-help-avoid-blackouts-132519">Vehicle-to-grid charging</a> for electric vehicles will be the largest opportunity for demand flexibility, but there is no common technical standard. It’s vital to have one before the mass uptake of electric vehicles.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/owners-of-electric-vehicles-to-be-paid-to-plug-into-the-grid-to-help-avoid-blackouts-132519">Owners of electric vehicles to be paid to plug into the grid to help avoid blackouts</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Outside Victoria, smart meters that provide real-time information on home energy use are rare. The Australian Energy Market Commission has <a href="https://www.aemc.gov.au/market-reviews-advice/review-regulatory-framework-metering-services">recommended</a> governments accelerate roll-out of smart meters to 100% by 2030.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A smart electricity meter mounted on a wall" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550859/original/file-20230928-27-69eic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3008%2C1994&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550859/original/file-20230928-27-69eic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550859/original/file-20230928-27-69eic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550859/original/file-20230928-27-69eic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550859/original/file-20230928-27-69eic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550859/original/file-20230928-27-69eic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550859/original/file-20230928-27-69eic.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A full rollout of smart meters will help energy providers and users to manage demand in real time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>2. Simpler measurement systems</strong></p>
<p>The measurement systems to calculate payments for demand flexibility are a barrier to expansion. It’s tricky as you need to measure how much electricity was used relative to what would otherwise have occurred. </p>
<p>ARENA pilots that tried to precisely measure residential demand flexibility found it was financially unviable at the smaller scale. </p>
<p>The system used for AEMO’s <a href="https://aemo.com.au/en/initiatives/trials-and-initiatives/wholesale-demand-response-mechanism">Wholesale Demand Response Mechanism</a> (WDRM) effectively limits participation to businesses with predictable, flat consumption profiles. This excludes as much as <a href="https://aemo.com.au/-/media/files/stakeholder_consultation/consultations/nem-consultations/2020/wdrm-becm-policy/first-round/oakley-greenwood-report---phase-2-analysis-final-report-march-2021.pdf?la=en">80–90% of sites</a>. <a href="https://aemo.com.au/-/media/files/initiatives/wdr/baseline_consumption_methodology_phase_2_report_oct13.pdf">International measurement models</a> could be trialled here to open up participation.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-demand-response-energy-rules-sound-good-but-the-devil-is-in-the-hugely-complicated-details-120676">New demand-response energy rules sound good, but the devil is in the (hugely complicated) details</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>3. More certainty about payments</strong></p>
<p>Earnings from providing demand flexibility depend on weather, market prices and so on. This uncertainty makes it hard to get businesses to sign up. </p>
<p>Overseas, some energy markets guarantee payment for making demand flexibility available. These have the <a href="https://www.aemc.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-06/Updated%20International%20Review%20of%20Demand%20Response%20Mechanisms.pdf">highest participation</a>. </p>
<p>The federal government is <a href="https://www.energy.gov.au/news-media/news/capacity-investment-scheme-power-australian-energy-market-transformation">consulting on a capacity investment scheme</a>. Because it will have the same measurement system as the current mechanism, participation is likely to be limited.</p>
<p><strong>4. Fresh policy approaches</strong></p>
<p>Businesses that sign up under the Wholesale Demand Response Mechanism make bids in the National Electricity Market to be <a href="https://aemo.com.au/en/initiatives/trials-and-initiatives/wholesale-demand-response-mechanism">paid for reducing their power use</a> when demand and prices are high. This should reduce prices for all consumers and improve energy security when the grid is under stress. However, it has attracted only one participant – mainly due to the complex measurement system – and isn’t open to households.</p>
<p>Another <a href="https://www.aer.gov.au/networks-pipelines/guidelines-schemes-models-reviews/demand-management-incentive-scheme-and-innovation-allowance-mechanism">incentive scheme</a> for electricity networks to invest in demand management is chronically under-used.</p>
<p>There are simpler alternatives that have worked before. The national <a href="https://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/RET">Renewable Energy Target</a> and state energy efficiency certificate schemes fund rooftop solar or energy retrofits based on average output or energy savings from past experience. These simple calculations offer a relatively stable incentive, which could work for demand flexibility. </p>
<p>NSW’s <a href="https://www.energy.nsw.gov.au/nsw-plans-and-progress/regulation-and-policy/energy-security-safeguard/peak-demand-reduction-scheme">Peak Demand Reduction Scheme</a>, launched last year, could provide a model for using certificate schemes to boost demand flexibility.</p>
<h2>Get serious about demand flexibility</h2>
<p>The focus of NSW’s development of a <a href="https://www.energy.nsw.gov.au/nsw-plans-and-progress/regulation-and-policy/electricity-supply-and-reliability-check">customer energy resources policy</a> appears to be on “virtual power plants”. These co-ordinate household solar and battery systems to store solar power and export to the grid when it’s most needed. </p>
<p>Batteries are part of the solution, but cheaper options exist. An electric water heater with a 300-litre tank can <a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/sites/default/files/2023-06/Domestic%20Hot%20Water%20and%20Flexibility.pdf">store as much energy</a> as a second-generation Tesla battery at much less cost. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/sites/default/files/2023-06/Domestic%20Hot%20Water%20and%20Flexibility.pdf">Modelling</a> for ARENA finds hot water systems could store as much energy as more than 2 million household batteries. Retrofitting these systems will spread savings more widely to include low-income households as well as those that can afford a battery.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/using-electric-water-heaters-to-store-renewable-energy-could-do-the-work-of-2-million-home-batteries-and-save-us-billions-204281">Using electric water heaters to store renewable energy could do the work of 2 million home batteries – and save us billions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It’s time we got serious about developing a holistic demand flexibility strategy. It will be cheaper and cleaner than paying coal plants to stay open.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213079/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Institute for Sustainable Futures is the knowledge sharing agent for the Australiran Renewable Energy Agency's demand flexibility portfolio. ARENA provided funding for the review of its demand flexibility pilots referred to in the article. The views in this article are those of the author and should not be considered the views of ARENA. </span></em></p>Rather than paying ageing power stations to stay open in the transition to renewable energy, demand flexibility is cheaper and cleaner way to ensure the system has enough capacity.Chris Briggs, Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2117682023-10-04T03:56:59Z2023-10-04T03:56:59ZBradfield’s pipedream: irrigating Australia’s deserts won’t increase rainfall, new modelling shows<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549959/original/file-20230925-19-sjqj2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C8%2C5467%2C3647&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/long-awaited-rain-storm-one-drop-1541576591">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For generations, Australians have been fascinated with the idea of turning our inland deserts green with lush vegetation. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/queensland/leaders-tout-bradfield-scheme-options-in-queensland-election-fight-20191101-p536o2.html">Both sides</a> of politics have supported proposals to irrigate the country’s centre by turning northern rivers inland. Proponents have argued water lost to evaporation would rise through the atmosphere and fall back as rain, spreading the benefits throughout the desert. But this claim has hardly ever been tested.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2023GL103913">recently published research</a> shows irrigating Australia’s deserts would not increase rainfall, contrary to a century of claims otherwise. </p>
<p>This provides a new argument against irrigating Australia’s deserts, in addition to critiques on economic and environmental grounds.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4oquAtVWIYs?wmode=transparent&start=69" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">What is the Bradfield Scheme? Featuring Griffith University’s Professor Fran Sheldon.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-bradfield-rerouting-rivers-to-recapture-a-pioneering-spirit-127010">'New Bradfield': rerouting rivers to recapture a pioneering spirit</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The Bradfield scheme</h2>
<p>Proposals to irrigate the country’s centre by diverting water inland date back to at least the 1930s. The person most widely credited with the idea is John Bradfield, the civil engineer who designed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. He <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/97050378">proposed a series of dams and tunnels</a> that would transport water from northern Queensland to Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre.</p>
<p>Variants of the original scheme have been proposed <a href="https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/queensland/a-turning-point-lnp-vows-to-irrigate-drought-addled-western-qld-20201018-p5665l.html">as recently as 2020</a>. The Queensland Liberal National Party campaigned on a policy to build a Bradfield-like scheme in the last state election. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Vz-vk80JQMQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">An aerial view of the Queensland LNP’s ‘new Bradfield scheme’ (Liberal National Party of Queensland, October 2020)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite our fascination with it, the Bradfield scheme has well-documented problems. It is not cost-effective and would likely be a disaster for the environment. These findings have been confirmed repeatedly by <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/97099323">multiple</a> <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/research/natural-environment/water/water-resource-assessment/the-bradfield-scheme-assessment">reviews</a>, as recently as <a href="https://www.rdmw.qld.gov.au/water/consultations-initiatives/bradfield-regional-assessment-development-panel">2022</a>.</p>
<p>Yet the idea resurfaces <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-bradfield-rerouting-rivers-to-recapture-a-pioneering-spirit-127010">over and over again</a> and the debate around it remains active and ongoing. </p>
<p>Crossbencher Bob Katter, the federal member for Kennedy in Queensland, is a prominent supporter of the scheme. He <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-09/queensland-government-abandons-bradfield-scheme-after-report/101751678">rejected the critical findings</a> of a <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/research/natural-environment/water/water-resource-assessment/the-bradfield-scheme-assessment">recent CSIRO review</a> that found the scheme and others like it were not economically viable. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-cant-we-just-build-a-pipe-to-move-water-to-areas-in-drought-123454">Curious Kids: why can't we just build a pipe to move water to areas in drought?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Would it increase rainfall?</h2>
<p>Would the Bradfield scheme increase rainfall in central Australia? Given all the debate about the scheme, this question has received surprisingly <a href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-964034842/view?partId=nla.obj-964065417">little</a> <a href="https://www.cmar.csiro.au/e-print/internal/mcgregor_x2004a.pdf">attention</a>.</p>
<p>Bradfield argued the added irrigation water would effectively <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/97050378">double or triple the region’s rainfall</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This irrigation water would augment the average rainfall of the district from 10 to 20 inches per annum […] Sceptics and croakers say the water will evaporate or seep away […] [but] it will not go far.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To test Bradfield’s claim, we turned to climate models. In a collaboration between scientists at the University of Melbourne, Harvard University, National Taiwan University and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, we simulated two worlds: one with a Bradfield-like scheme and one without it. </p>
<p>In our model of the Bradfield-like scheme, we permanently filled the region around Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre with water. That differs a bit from Bradfield’s original scheme but captures the basic idea. If anything, it is more extreme than Bradfield’s scheme. If Bradfield is right, we would expect our scheme’s effects on rainfall to be even larger.</p>
<p>Our simulations showed no significant increase in rainfall. This may sound surprising but can be explained with basic physical arguments.</p>
<h2>Why no rain?</h2>
<p>Rain forms when moist air rises. As it rises, temperatures drop, water condenses from vapour to liquid and clouds form. </p>
<p>Hot air rises, so high temperatures near the surface can promote rainfall. But in our simulations, irrigating the surface led to evaporative cooling of the air. The colder air did not rise as much, and rainfall was suppressed.</p>
<p>Where does all that extra water go? In our simulations, the water evaporated and was blown all over the Australian continent by wind. The additional water ended up being spread thinly over a large area. When it did eventually rain out, the effect on local rainfall was tiny.</p>
<p>Climate models aren’t perfect and have known weaknesses in simulating rainfall. But the basic explanation for the small change in rainfall can be understood without appealing to climate models. </p>
<p>Could irrigating a larger region, or a different part of the country, change the results? Maybe, and we are looking into it. But the Bradfield scheme is already <a href="https://www.rdmw.qld.gov.au/water/consultations-initiatives/bradfield-regional-assessment-development-panel">not cost effective</a>. Making the scheme larger or moving it away from natural flow paths would only make this problem worse.</p>
<p>Previous reviews of the Bradfield scheme have mainly focused on the economics of the scheme. Australian economist <a href="https://www.rdmw.qld.gov.au/water/consultations-initiatives/bradfield-regional-assessment-development-panel">Ross Garnaut’s report</a> in December 2022 is the most recent to find the scheme is economically unviable. </p>
<p>Our study provides a new argument against the Bradfield scheme, separate to economic arguments.</p>
<p>The idea of transforming our dry continent is seductive. But our study shows no plausible engineering scheme would be capable of making it rain enough to do so. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-cant-drought-proof-australia-and-trying-is-a-fools-errand-124504">We can’t drought-proof Australia, and trying is a fool's errand</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211768/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kaighin McColl receives funding from the National Science Foundation, NASA, the Sloan Foundation, the Sahara Project, and Harvard University. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dongryeol Ryu 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>New research shows turning northern rivers inland to irrigate Australia’s dry interior would not increase rainfall. This is another argument against the Bradfield scheme.Kaighin McColl, Assistant Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Environmental Science and Engineering, Harvard UniversityDongryeol Ryu, Professor, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2135622023-09-25T20:07:23Z2023-09-25T20:07:23ZContainer deposit schemes reduce rubbish on our beaches. Here’s how we proved it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549248/original/file-20230920-21-xmj3uw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C4896%2C3246&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Our beaches are in trouble. Limited recycling programs and a society that throws away so much have resulted in more than <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-023-01216-0">3 million tonnes of plastic</a> polluting the oceans. An estimated <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-023-01216-0">1.5–1.9% of this rubbish</a> ends up on beaches.</p>
<p>So can waste-management strategies such as container deposit schemes make a difference to this <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-023-01216-0">50,000–60,000 tonnes</a> of beach rubbish?</p>
<p>The Queensland government started a <a href="https://containerexchange.com.au/">container deposit scheme</a> in 2019. We wanted to know if it reduced the rubbish that washed up on beaches in a tourist hotspot, the Whitsundays region. </p>
<p>To find out, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X23009050">our study</a>, the first of its kind, used data from a <a href="https://ecobargecleanseas.org.au/">community volunteer group</a> through the <a href="https://amdi.tangaroablue.org/">Australian Marine Debris Initiative Database</a>.</p>
<p>It turned out that for the types of rubbish included in the scheme – plastic bottles and aluminium cans – the answer was an emphatic yes.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/spotting-plastic-waste-from-space-and-counting-the-fish-in-the-seas-heres-how-ai-can-help-protect-the-oceans-196222">Spotting plastic waste from space and counting the fish in the seas: here's how AI can help protect the oceans</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Container deposit schemes work</h2>
<p>After the scheme began, there were fewer plastic bottles and aluminium cans on Whitsundays beaches. Volunteer clean-up workers collected an average of about 120 containers per beach visit before the scheme began in 2019. This number fell to 77 in 2020.</p>
<p>Not only that, but those numbers stayed down year after year. This means people continued to take part in the scheme for years. </p>
<p>Rubbish that wasn’t part of the scheme still found its way to the beaches.</p>
<p>However, more types of rubbish such as larger <a href="https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/management/waste/recovery/reduction/container-refund/proposed-expansion">glass bottles are being added</a> to the four-year-old Queensland scheme. Other states and territories have had schemes like this for many years, the oldest in South Australia since 1971. </p>
<p>But we didn’t have access to beach data from before and after those schemes started. So our findings are great news, especially as <a href="https://consult.dwer.wa.gov.au/strategic-policy/container-deposit-scheme-expanding-scope/">some</a> of <a href="https://yoursayconversations.act.gov.au/act-container-deposit-scheme-expansion">these</a> other <a href="https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/news/media-releases/2022/epamedia221015-cheers-nsw-return-and-earn-set-to-expand">schemes</a> are set to expand too. The evidence also supports the creation of new schemes in Victoria this November and Tasmania next year.</p>
<p>These developments give reason to hope we will see further reductions in beach litter.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/spin-the-bottle-the-fraught-politics-of-container-deposit-schemes-37981">Spin the bottle: the fraught politics of container deposit schemes</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>The data came from the community</h2>
<p>To find out whether the scheme has reduced specific sorts of rubbish on beaches we needed a large amount of data from before and after it began. </p>
<p>The unsung heroes of this study are the diligent volunteers who provided us with these data. They have been recording the types and amounts of rubbish found during their cleanups at Whitsundays beaches for years. </p>
<p>Eco Barge Clean Seas Inc has been doing this work since 2009. In taking that extra step of counting and sorting the rubbish, they may not have known it at the time, but they were creating a data gold mine. We would eventually use their data to prove the container deposit scheme works.</p>
<p>The rubbish clean-ups are continuing. This means we’ll be able to see how <a href="https://containerexchange.com.au/qld-scheme-expansion/">adding more rubbish types</a> to the scheme will further reduce rubbish on beaches. </p>
<p>The long-term perspective we can gain from such data is testament to this sustained community effort.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/local-efforts-have-cut-plastic-waste-on-australias-beaches-by-almost-30-in-6-years-184243">Local efforts have cut plastic waste on Australia's beaches by almost 30% in 6 years</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>There’s still more work to do</h2>
<p>So if we recycle our plastics, why do we still get beaches covered in rubbish? The reality is that <a href="https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/whopping-91-percent-plastic-isnt-recycled/">most plastics aren’t recycled</a>. This is mainly due to two problems:</p>
<ul>
<li>technological limitations on the sorting needed to avoid contamination of waste streams</li>
<li>inadequate incentives for people to reduce contamination by properly sorting their waste, and ultimately to use products made from recycled waste.</li>
</ul>
<p>Our findings show we can create more sustainable practices and a cleaner environment when individuals are given incentives to recycle. </p>
<p>However, container deposit schemes don’t just provide a financial reward. Getting people directly involved in recycling fosters a sense of responsibility for the environment. This connection between people’s actions and outcomes is a key to such schemes’ success. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-new-100-recyclable-packaging-target-is-no-use-if-our-waste-isnt-actually-recycled-95857">The new 100% recyclable packaging target is no use if our waste isn't actually recycled</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Our study also shows how invaluable community-driven clean-up projects are. Not only do they reduce environmental harm and improve our experiences on beaches, but they can also provide scientists like us with the data we need to show how waste-management policies affect the environment. </p>
<p>Waste management is a concern for communities, policymakers and environmentalists around the world. The lessons from our study apply not only in Australia but anywhere that communities can work with scientists and governments to solve environmental problems.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213562/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>Volunteers have been collecting and sorting washed-up rubbish on the beach for years. Thanks to their efforts, we have data on whether container deposit schemes help the issue.Kay Critchell, Lecturer in Oceanography, Deakin UniversityMichael Traurig, PhD Researcher, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2124462023-08-31T20:00:54Z2023-08-31T20:00:54ZEven if her leadership is now doomed, Annastacia Palaszczuk will still be a Labor legend in Queensland<p>Whatever fate awaits Annastacia Palaszczuk over the coming weeks, Queensland’s 39th – and only the second woman – premier will never lose her standing in the Australian Labor pantheon.</p>
<p>Palaszczuk, the state Labor leader since 2012 and premier since 2015, is already Australia’s most successful female political leader. She was the <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/from-pala-who-to-premier-the-rise-and-rise-of-annastacia-palaszczuk/mns6vln9o">first woman</a> to lead an opposition into government in an Australian state or federal election, the <a href="https://www.mamamia.com.au/annastacia-palaszczuk-queensland-election/">first woman</a> to attain three successive election victories in Australia, and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-day-of-firsts-for-women-in-politics-and-one-in-particular-37115">first head</a> of a majority-female cabinet. </p>
<p>If Palaszczuk can survive the building pressure on her to resign, she could next year become Queensland’s fourth longest-serving – and Labor’s second longest-serving – premier since 1860. But that prospect is becoming increasingly unlikely. </p>
<p>In July, a Freshwater Strategy poll for the Australian Financial Review <a href="https://www.afr.com/politics/palaszczuk-on-track-to-lose-in-2024-poll-20230704-p5dlp1">found</a> just 39% of Queenslanders now approve of Palaszczuk’s leadership, with 47% disapproving – a net negative of eight points. </p>
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<p>And an August Resolve Strategic Poll <a href="https://www.pollbludger.net/2023/08/18/resolve-strategic-lnp-38-labor-32-greens-11-in-queensland/">showed</a> 37% of respondents preferring Liberal-National Party Opposition leader David Crisafulli as premier, compared to 36% who preferred Palaszczuk. This was the first time in almost a decade an LNP leader has taken the lead.</p>
<p>What a far cry from the heights of the COVID-19 pandemic. In July 2020, <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/popular-queensland-premier-annastacia-palaszczuk-but-poll-party-postponed/news-story/b3cfaad162045d1bb9edec092f215e2e">Newspoll</a> found 64% of Queenslanders approving of Palaszczuk’s leadership, with 81% approving of her management of the pandemic and subsequent hard border closures. Just 29% disapproved of her leadership – a net positive of 35 points. </p>
<p>Worse for Labor, Resolve now pegs LNP first-preference support at 38% (up three points since the 2020 election), with Labor at just 32% (down seven). The LNP also has an after-preference lead of 53–47% over Labor. </p>
<p>If this lead is held, it would likely be enough to allow the LNP to win the 14 seats needed for majority government in next October’s election. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/did-someone-say-election-how-politics-met-pandemic-to-create-fortress-queensland-144067">Did someone say 'election'?: how politics met pandemic to create 'fortress Queensland'</a>
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<h2>A perception of a ‘checked-out’ premier</h2>
<p>To outsiders it might appear Palaszczuk – who has dominated Queensland politics like no other since <a href="https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/peter-beattie-inside-story">Peter Beattie</a> more than a decade ago – has suffered a rapid fall from grace. But Palaszczuk’s decline has been a slow burn. </p>
<p>A year after <a href="https://www.afr.com/politics/palaszczuk-wins-third-term-20201031-p56ael">securing</a> her third term as premier in the 2020 election, Palaszczuk was wholly untroubled by a virtually unknown opposition leader. </p>
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<p>But, by early 2022, Palaszczuk had found herself enmeshed in several integrity crises, including accusations the Crime and Corruption Commission had not been impartial in its investigation of alleged local government corruption, and that senior public servants had allegedly suffered political interference from ministerial staff. </p>
<p>Worse, Palaszczuk appeared slow to respond to the allegations before appointing three separate inquiries. One inquiry, under Professor Peter Coaldrake, <a href="https://www.coaldrakereview.qld.gov.au/reports.aspx">published</a> unfavourable findings.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk issues surprise apology after integrity questions.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The effect was rapid and seismic: the hitherto Teflon Palaszczuk now looked flawed, and opinion polls soon reflected Labor’s vulnerability. By June 2022, YouGov had <a href="https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/qld-politics/yougov-poll-reveals-queensland-would-face-hung-parliament-if-election-held-today/news-story/6626176ebca3cd2413e7790485cbfaa4">revealed</a> a five-point collapse in Labor’s primary vote, with the LNP, now on 38%, leading Labor for the first time. </p>
<p>But as the dust settled on Labor’s integrity issues, the LNP and a conservative news media cleverly switched narratives. Palaszczuk was then framed as a “<a href="https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/qld-politics/premier-cancels-meeting-for-luxury-yacht-trip-with-boyfriend/news-story/2bacc9389c75103902336ece72f6faae">checked-out</a>”, “red carpet” premier more interested in mixing with celebrities and attending glitzy gala events with her new partner. </p>
<p>That narrative appeared to gain public traction when, in August last year, the media accused Palaszczuk of <a href="https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/qld-politics/premier-cancels-meeting-for-luxury-yacht-trip-with-boyfriend/news-story/2bacc9389c75103902336ece72f6faae">cancelling</a> a cabinet meeting to spend time on a luxury yacht. The coincidental circumstance of Palaszczuk last week leaving for a holiday in Italy, just as the media storm broke over her leadership troubles, can only deepen perceptions of a “part-time” premier.</p>
<p>As public policy crises have continued to dominate the media over the past year, the accusation that Palaszczuk has taken her eye off the policy ball has only gained further traction. With a soaring cost of living, deepening housing crisis, overcrowded hospitals and budget blowouts in infrastructure projects, it’s little wonder voters have started to turn on her government. </p>
<p>But, more than any other, it’s the issue of youth crime that has most profoundly brought Palaszczuk’s leadership into question. Her government has been roundly <a href="https://theconversation.com/queensland-is-not-only-trampling-the-rights-of-children-it-is-setting-a-concerning-legal-precedent-212377">criticised</a> for the hastily passed legislation last week that could see children held “indefinitely” in Queensland watch houses – a move that was resisted by Labor’s majority Left faction. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/queensland-is-not-only-trampling-the-rights-of-children-it-is-setting-a-concerning-legal-precedent-212377">Queensland is not only trampling the rights of children, it is setting a concerning legal precedent</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Who might step into her large shoes?</h2>
<p>In short, Palaszczuk has been Labor’s best asset in Queensland since 2012; now she appears a liability. </p>
<p>Despite unconvincing reassurances from senior government ministers that Palaszczuk will lead Labor to the October 2024 election, the momentum of leadership change now appears beyond the point of no return. It’s almost certain Queensland will have a new Labor premier, possibly by the end of this month. </p>
<p>There appear to be only three candidates: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Steven Miles, the deputy premier and leader of the Left faction of the party</p></li>
<li><p>Shannon Fentiman, the health minister and a member of the Left faction</p></li>
<li><p>Cameron Dick, the treasurer and head of Labor Forum, a right Labor faction </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Dick has long been touted as a future premier but, given the Left has controlled the Labor caucus since 2015, either a Miles or Fentiman premiership is the more likely outcome. </p>
<p>Because Queensland Labor rules around leadership spills are so complicated – a ballot must be held in caucus, among grassroots members and among the unions – it’s likely Palaszczuk will be urged to resign when she returns from her holiday, with a single candidate emerging as her successor. </p>
<p>Either way, the next Labor leader would have very large shoes to fill. Labor had suffered a rout in the 2012 election, with the LNP capturing 78 seats in the 89-seat parliament – the <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:%22library/prspub/1695517%22">then-largest majority</a> in Australian history. When Palaszczuk put her hand up to lead the seven remaining Labor MPs, nobody would believe she’d <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1516/QldElect">topple</a> the once-popular premier, Campbell Newman, just three years later. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/who-is-annastacia-palaszczuk-queenslands-likely-next-premier-37023">Who is Annastacia Palaszczuk, Queensland’s likely next premier?</a>
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<p>But, by 2015, Queenslanders had been angered by Newman’s proposal to privatise state-owned assets. They also appeared tired of big personalities like Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Peter Beattie and Newman. Even those in regional Queensland warmed to a Labor leader who looked and sounded like a friendly next-door neighbour. </p>
<p>Will a leadership change be too little, too late to reverse the fortunes of a Labor Party looking for a fourth term? Probably. But it’s foolish to completely write off the party that has dominated Queensland politics for 28 of the past 33 years. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Correction: This story has been amended to specify that Palaszczuk was the first woman to lead an opposition into government in an Australian state or federal election, not anywhere in Australia. It had previously happened in the ACT and Northern Territory.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212446/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Williams is an associate with Queensland's T. J. Ryan Foundation.</span></em></p>The once-popular Queensland premier is facing growing pressure to resign. How did Palaszczuk lose the public’s faith, and who could replace her?Paul Williams, Associate Professor, Griffith University, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2123772023-08-29T05:58:10Z2023-08-29T05:58:10ZQueensland is not only trampling the rights of children, it is setting a concerning legal precedent<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545217/original/file-20230829-15-kralxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=280%2C358%2C2086%2C1257&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last week, the Queensland parliament <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/25/keeping-kids-in-watch-houses-why-the-queensland-government-could-change-the-law-to-suit-itself">voted</a> to override its own human rights law in order to enable children to continue to be detained in police watch houses and adult detention facilities. </p>
<p>This was not the first time it had taken such a step. In March, the parliament <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/21/queensland-to-override-states-human-rights-act-in-bid-to-make-breach-of-bail-an-offence-for-children">passed</a> amendments to override the state’s <a href="https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2019-005">Human Rights Act</a> to create an offence for children who breach bail conditions, require a sentencing court to consider a child’s bail history, and enable a child to be declared a serious repeat offender. </p>
<p>These moves have attracted a significant amount of criticism because they come so soon after the state’s Human Rights Act was adopted. And they are serious because children’s rights are the ones being trampled – twice – and children are among the most vulnerable members of our community, even when they commit crimes.</p>
<p>What has received less attention, however, is the fact the parliament’s actions also go against international human rights protections under treaties such as the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-civil-and-political-rights">International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights</a> and the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child">Convention on the Rights of the Child</a>. </p>
<p>In addition, overriding the Human Rights Act twice could create a pattern we should be extremely concerned about. </p>
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<h2>International human rights protections</h2>
<p>International conventions broadly obligate parties to make the best interests of children a primary consideration in all actions concerning them. These conventions and applicable international standards also assert that the incarceration of children should be a last resort and juveniles should be treated in an age-appropriate way in criminal justice proceedings. </p>
<p>The Queensland government relied on these specific international human rights protections when it drafted its Human Rights Act, which I have extensively reviewed in my <a href="https://store.lexisnexis.com.au/categories/practice-area/jurisdiction-827/an-annotated-guide-to-the-human-rights-act-2019-qld-skuan_annotated_guide_to_the_human_rights_act_2019_Qld">new book</a> (written with Peter Billings).</p>
<p>For instance, section 33 protects children’s rights in the criminal justice process, including a child’s right to be segregated from adults in detention and a convicted child’s right to receive age-appropriate treatment. </p>
<p>In addition, section 32(3) provides that a child charged with a criminal offence has the right to procedures that are age-appropriate and rehabilitation-focused.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/locking-up-kids-has-serious-mental-health-impacts-and-contributes-to-further-reoffending-194657">Locking up kids has serious mental health impacts and contributes to further reoffending</a>
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<p>These rights recognise that children are entitled to special protection because of their younger age, different needs and relative immaturity. Everyone detained by the government is vulnerable, but children are particularly so.</p>
<p>Although Australia has ratified both international conventions, it has done so with objections. These include giving “responsible authorities” some discretion to decide that segregation of child and adult detainees might not be beneficial if it separates children from their families. </p>
<p>However, this objection does not seem relevant to the recent legislative moves in Queensland because detaining youth offenders alongside adults is unlikely to benefit the children concerned. </p>
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<h2>Youth offenders and detention</h2>
<p>Recent news stories about the alleged <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-23/qld-youth-crime-rally-brisbane-protest-juvenile-justice/102765410">criminal offences</a> committed by juveniles in Queensland are immeasurably sad. Yet, in many respects, everyone is on the same page about these issues. No one has said a child who commits a serious crime should not face consequences. </p>
<p>But consequences for youth offenders must take into account their age, intellectual and physical development and disabilities, and potential for rehabilitation. </p>
<p>Even when a child who has committed a serious offence is sentenced to a significant term of imprisonment, the Victorian Supreme Court has <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VSC/2007/489.html">noted</a> his or her prospects for rehabilitation are “very much more advanced” by serving the term in youth detention rather than an adult prison. </p>
<p>In other words, youth offenders should not be held in detention facilities with adults. Police watch houses and adult detention centres are not safe places for any young person. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-cant-go-shopping-without-police-coming-north-queenslands-at-risk-youth-feel-excluded-and-heavily-surveilled-211885">'We can’t go shopping without police coming': north Queensland's at-risk youth feel excluded and heavily surveilled</a>
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<p>The Youth Advocacy Centre <a href="https://yac.net.au/2023/05/11/queensland-locking-up-more-children-than-any-other-state">reports</a> that more children are incarcerated in Queensland than in any other state. This is an appalling statistic, especially because many young offenders have themselves been <a href="https://yac.net.au/2023/01/30/stop-youth-crime-get-smarter-not-tougher/">victims of crime</a>, trauma or abuse, were raised in unsafe families or <a href="https://theconversation.com/does-our-child-protection-system-cause-young-people-to-commit-crimes-the-evidence-suggests-so-127024">out of home care</a>, or have severe disabilities. </p>
<p>The Queensland government claims the recent legislative moves to override the Human Rights Act will enhance community safety and clarify administrative arrangements for youth detention. However, there is overwhelming <a href="https://www.qcoss.org.au/communities-less-safe-detaining-kids">evidence</a> that youth detention does not necessarily make communities safer or deter or rehabilitate young offenders. In fact, it may increase the likelihood of <a href="https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/opinion-stop-this-mad-race-to-the-bottom-on-youth-justice/news-story/8777ccb214f43089b4741d94976b810c">reoffending</a>.</p>
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<h2>Concerning trend of legislative overrides</h2>
<p>Rather, these amendments in Queensland are largely serving a political purpose. This is because any move by a parliament to override an established law should only be done in exceptional circumstances, such as a war, state of emergency or crisis threatening public safety, health or order. </p>
<p>In Victoria, the override provision in the <a href="https://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/in-force/acts/charter-human-rights-and-responsibilities-act-2006/015">Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities</a> has been used in the past in situations that did not appear to meet the exceptional circumstances threshold. In 2015, a review of the charter recommended the repeal of the override power, calling it unnecessary and unhelpful. </p>
<p>Surprisingly, no such overrides were declared either in Victoria or Queensland – the two states that have human rights laws with this provision – during the COVID-19 public health emergency. </p>
<p>As the Queensland parliament’s actions demonstrate, legal protections for human rights remain frail and subject to the whims of governments or the prevailing moods of their electorates. The Human Rights Act itself is an ordinary law, which means future governments could dilute, amend or even repeal it. (Hopefully, Queenslanders would not stand for this.) </p>
<p>The Act can also be weakened if the parliament overrides its protections too many times. Queensland has now done it twice in six months. This must be taken seriously. Let’s hope we don’t see a pattern of these types of actions – it would make a mockery of human rights protections in Queensland. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/raising-the-age-of-criminal-responsibility-is-only-a-first-step-first-nations-kids-need-cultural-solutions-186201">Raising the age of criminal responsibility is only a first step. First Nations kids need cultural solutions</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212377/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicky Jones 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>In six months, the state’s parliament has voted to override its own Human Rights Act, not once but twice.Nicky Jones, Senior Lecturer, University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2120022023-08-22T09:19:16Z2023-08-22T09:19:16ZMurray-Darling Basin Plan to be extended under a new agreement, without Victoria – but an uphill battle lies ahead<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543904/original/file-20230822-17-1crsil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C33%2C7326%2C4869&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Federal Minister for Water Tanya Plibersek today <a href="https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/plibersek/media-releases/historic-deal-struck-guarantee-future-murray-darling-basin">announced a new agreement</a> to restore Australia’s largest and most important river basin. It comes just months before the original Murray-Darling Basin Plan was to be completed. </p>
<p>This was a plan to benefit people and nature, to protect river communities, industries and the environment against future droughts. It was forged in response to the gruelling <a href="https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/topics/river-murray/dry-conditions/millennium-drought">Millennium Drought</a>, when the Murray River stopped flowing to the sea. </p>
<p>It was clear too much water was being taken out of the system and everyone would suffer if Basin states could not find a better way to share. But it has been much harder to strike the right balance than first hoped. </p>
<p>When it became clear in July it was <a href="https://www.mdba.gov.au/news-and-events/newsroom/authority-advice-basin-plan-implementation">no longer possible</a> to deliver the plan in full and on time, the federal government started hatching a new plan. </p>
<p>Now Plibersek is offering “more time, more money, more options, and more accountability”, acutely aware that “the next drought is just around the corner”. But she faces an uphill battle, with Victoria still holding out. Further, the legislation is yet to go before parliament and needs to be passed before Christmas. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-less-than-a-year-to-go-the-murray-darling-basin-plan-is-in-a-dreadful-mess-these-5-steps-are-needed-to-fix-it-209328">With less than a year to go, the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is in a dreadful mess. These 5 steps are needed to fix it</a>
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<h2>How did we get here?</h2>
<p>Management of the Basin rivers today is a far cry from the hope engendered in 2007 when Prime Minister <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22media%2Fpressrel%2FK81M6%22;src1=sm1">John Howard announced</a> the National Plan for Water Security, at the peak of the Millenium Drought.</p>
<p>He proposed reforms to Basin water governance, saying “nothing can change the basic facts of our continent” and calling for action to end “the tyranny of incrementalism and the lowest common denominator” governance. These “once and for all” reforms were intended to prevent “economic and environmental decline”. </p>
<p>But the Basin states were loathe to hand their powers over to the Commonwealth. Victoria and New South Wales resisted reallocating water from agriculture. Amid navigating the complex science and trade offs, it was another five years before the controversial Basin Plan was adopted in 2012.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the plan then languished over the past decade as the federal, New South Wales and Victorian governments <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/w14020208">frustrated measures</a> originally agreed to return water from agricultural use to the environment.</p>
<p>This week’s announcement represents the federal government taking firm steps to implement the first part of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s <a href="https://anthonyalbanese.com.au/media-centre/labors-plan-to-future-proof-australias-water-resources-butler">five-point election commitment</a> for the Basin.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543906/original/file-20230822-21-1crsil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="darling river" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543906/original/file-20230822-21-1crsil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543906/original/file-20230822-21-1crsil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543906/original/file-20230822-21-1crsil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543906/original/file-20230822-21-1crsil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543906/original/file-20230822-21-1crsil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543906/original/file-20230822-21-1crsil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543906/original/file-20230822-21-1crsil.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>
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<span class="caption">A plan for the water: the politics of the Murray-Darling Basin have long been fraught.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Now the federal government has reached agreements with most states who share management of the river system – Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia – but not Victoria. The Victorian government appears to be rivalling the National Party in its <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2023-04-20/victorian-government-hold-murray-darling-basin-projects/102247494">opposition</a> to buying more water entitlements from irrigators (water buybacks). </p>
<p>The federal government is looking to purchase water entitlements from willing sellers. This is because past investments in water efficiency projects have proven to be too slow, very expensive and have had unexpected outcomes for agricultural industries and the rivers.</p>
<p>Victoria continues to argue its irrigation-based industries would be harmed by more water buybacks, and that the state has borne an unfair share of the burden compared to New South Wales. The Victorian government has knowledgeable staff and is well resourced, and resistance could be fierce.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/water-buybacks-are-back-on-the-table-in-the-murray-darling-basin-heres-a-refresher-on-how-they-work-200529">Water buybacks are back on the table in the Murray-Darling Basin. Here's a refresher on how they work</a>
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<p>Plibersek appears to be counting on her alliance with other states enabling required amendments to the Water Act and Basin Plan to be passed before Christmas. Given almost certain rejection by the Opposition of more water reallocation, she will require the support of cross bench Senators who may demand stronger environmental measures. The Greens have already <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/water-buybacks-scare-off-victoria-from-basin-agreement/news-story/882a81acfbb21dbc8631a5a031b6ab28">criticised</a> the minister’s announcement as a move that “kicks the can down the road”, but buying such a large volume of water will take years.</p>
<p>If the legislation is not amended, and existing deadlines remain, the federal government may be forced into <a href="https://www.npc.org.au/speaker/2022/1090-andrew-mcconville">recovering even more water</a>. In particular, they would need to respond to the states’ failure to deliver on projects that are supposed to conserve wetland with less water by building water supply infrastructure.</p>
<h2>A welcome development</h2>
<p>The new agreement is welcome in doubling down on the original plan to recover 3,200 billion litres a year of additional water essential to maintain the health of the rivers and the people who rely on them. The federal government has focused on recovering 450 billion litres a year of water within this target that was agreed with the former South Australian premier. Premier Jay Weatherill drew on scientific advice to insist the minimum volume of water was recovered that is needed to keep the lower River Murray floodplain, lower lakes and Coorong healthy.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the past decade of stalling by the federal, NSW and Victorian governments means the 2023-24 Basin Plan deadlines must be extended by two to three years if key projects are to be completed.</p>
<p>Much greater public assurance with transparency and accountability measures is needed if the new targets are to be met. The federal government needs to find more effective carrots and sticks to engender state compliance. This time it would be wise to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14486563.2014.999725">withhold payments to the states</a> until they deliver the promised action.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543907/original/file-20230822-21-l2fetn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="murray darling rivers meeting" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543907/original/file-20230822-21-l2fetn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543907/original/file-20230822-21-l2fetn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543907/original/file-20230822-21-l2fetn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543907/original/file-20230822-21-l2fetn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543907/original/file-20230822-21-l2fetn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543907/original/file-20230822-21-l2fetn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543907/original/file-20230822-21-l2fetn.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>
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<span class="caption">The muddy waters of the Darling meet the clearer Murray at Wentworth in New South Wales.</span>
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<p>The federal government’s intention to redouble efforts to “<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-less-than-a-year-to-go-the-murray-darling-basin-plan-is-in-a-dreadful-mess-these-5-steps-are-needed-to-fix-it-209328">relax constraints</a>” and enable more water to flow to where it’s most needed to conserve flora and fauna is crucial. This is essential to get the most benefits for freshwater ecosystems by allowing environmental water to spill out of river channels onto floodplain wetlands. Despite a recent flurry of activity, NSW and Victoria have not delivered promised agreements with river side land owners to enable this watering.</p>
<p>The one disappointing aspect of the agreement is the proposal to allow more water offset projects (under the <a href="https://getinvolved.mdba.gov.au/SDLAM">Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism</a>). These ecologically dubious projects have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/victorias-plans-for-engineered-wetlands-on-the-murray-are-environmentally-dubious-heres-a-better-option-204116">problematic</a>, with at least one being abandoned and many delayed. It is inconceivable that new projects could be identified and delivered by 2026.</p>
<p>But the new agreement only deals with the most immediate problems in implementing the Basin Plan. The Plan is due to be revised in 2026. The current measures do not deal with <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-less-than-a-year-to-go-the-murray-darling-basin-plan-is-in-a-dreadful-mess-these-5-steps-are-needed-to-fix-it-209328">two major issues</a>. First, ways need to be found to restore the rights of Indigenous nations to own and manage water. Currently they hold only 0.2% of issued entitlements. Second, a new Plan is needed to manage the project loss of a lot of water to climate and other environmental change.</p>
<p>The federal government’s agreement with most states (but not Victoria) is a really welcome initiative to get Basin Plan implementation back on track. However, even harder decisions await.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/victorias-plans-for-engineered-wetlands-on-the-murray-are-environmentally-dubious-heres-a-better-option-204116">Victoria’s plans for engineered wetlands on the Murray are environmentally dubious. Here’s a better option</a>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jamie Pittock is a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists. Jamie holds roles in a number of non-government environmental organisations. He is also the independent Chair of the ACT Natural Resources Management Advisory Committee. </span></em></p>Knowing the ‘next drought is just around the corner’, Australia’s Water Minister Tanya Plibersek is striking a new agreement to return water and health to the Murray-Darling Basin.Jamie Pittock, Professor, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.