He accused the coalition government of being “too timid” and “afraid of offending President Donald Trump” to make a stand on the nuclear issue.
However, a spokesperson for New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters told RNZ Pacific that New Zealand’s “overarching priority . . . is to work with Pacific partners to achieve a secure, stable, and prosperous region that preserves Pacific sovereignty and agency”.
The spokesperson said that through its foreign policy “reset”, New Zealand was committed to “comprehensive relationships” with Pacific Island countries.
“New Zealand’s identity, prosperity and security are intertwined with the Pacific through deep cultural, people, historical, security, and economic linkages.”
Pacific ‘increasingly contested’ The spokesperson said that the Pacific was becoming increasingly contested and complex.
“New Zealand has been clear with all of our partners that it is important that engagement in the Pacific takes place in a manner which advances Pacific priorities, is consistent with established regional practices, and supportive of Pacific regional institutions.”
They added that New Zealand’s main focus remained on the Pacific, “where we will be working with partners including the United States, Australia, Japan and in Europe to more intensively leverage greater support for the region.
“We will maintain the high tempo of political engagement across the Pacific to ensure alignment between our programme and New Zealand and partner priorities. And we will work more strategically with Pacific Governments to strengthen their systems, so they can better deliver the services their people need,” the spokesperson said.
The cover of the latest edition of Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage and Legacy of the Rainbow Warrior. Image: Little Island Press
However, former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, writing in the prologue of Dr Robie’s book, said: “New Zealand needs to re-emphasise the principles and values which drove its nuclear-free legislation and its advocacy for a nuclear-free South Pacific and global nuclear disarmament.”
Dr Robie added that looking back 40 years to the 1980s, there was a strong sense of pride in being from Aotearoa, the small country which set an example around the world.
“We took on . . . the nuclear powers,” Dr Robie said.
“And the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior was symbolic of that struggle, in a way, but it was a struggle that most New Zealanders felt a part of, and we were very proud of that [anti-nuclear] role that we took.
“Over the years, it has sort of been forgotten”.
‘Look at history’ France conducted 193 nuclear tests over three decades until 1996 in French Polynesia.
Until 2009, France claimed that its tests were “clean” and caused no harm, but in 2010, under the stewardship of Defence Minister Herve Morin, a compensation law was passed.
From 1946 to 1962, 67 nuclear bombs were detonated in the Marshall Islands by the US.
The 1 March 1954 Bravo hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll, the largest nuclear weapon ever exploded by the United States, left a legacy of fallout and radiation contamination that continues to this day. Image: Marshall Islands Journal
In 2024, then-US deputy secretary of state Kurt Campbell, while responding to a question from RNZ Pacific about America’s nuclear legacy, said: “Washington has attempted to address it constructively with massive resources and a sustained commitment.”
However, Dr Robie said that was not good enough and labelled the destruction left behind by the US, and France, as “outrageous”.
“It is political speak; politicians trying to cover their backs and so on. If you look at history, [the response] is nowhere near good enough, both by the US and the French.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
He accused the coalition government of being “too timid” and “afraid of offending President Donald Trump” to make a stand on the nuclear issue.
However, a spokesperson for New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters told RNZ Pacific that New Zealand’s “overarching priority . . . is to work with Pacific partners to achieve a secure, stable, and prosperous region that preserves Pacific sovereignty and agency”.
The spokesperson said that through its foreign policy “reset”, New Zealand was committed to “comprehensive relationships” with Pacific Island countries.
“New Zealand’s identity, prosperity and security are intertwined with the Pacific through deep cultural, people, historical, security, and economic linkages.”
Pacific ‘increasingly contested’ The spokesperson said that the Pacific was becoming increasingly contested and complex.
“New Zealand has been clear with all of our partners that it is important that engagement in the Pacific takes place in a manner which advances Pacific priorities, is consistent with established regional practices, and supportive of Pacific regional institutions.”
They added that New Zealand’s main focus remained on the Pacific, “where we will be working with partners including the United States, Australia, Japan and in Europe to more intensively leverage greater support for the region.
“We will maintain the high tempo of political engagement across the Pacific to ensure alignment between our programme and New Zealand and partner priorities. And we will work more strategically with Pacific Governments to strengthen their systems, so they can better deliver the services their people need,” the spokesperson said.
The cover of the latest edition of Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage and Legacy of the Rainbow Warrior. Image: Little Island Press
However, former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, writing in the prologue of Dr Robie’s book, said: “New Zealand needs to re-emphasise the principles and values which drove its nuclear-free legislation and its advocacy for a nuclear-free South Pacific and global nuclear disarmament.”
Dr Robie added that looking back 40 years to the 1980s, there was a strong sense of pride in being from Aotearoa, the small country which set an example around the world.
“We took on . . . the nuclear powers,” Dr Robie said.
“And the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior was symbolic of that struggle, in a way, but it was a struggle that most New Zealanders felt a part of, and we were very proud of that [anti-nuclear] role that we took.
“Over the years, it has sort of been forgotten”.
‘Look at history’ France conducted 193 nuclear tests over three decades until 1996 in French Polynesia.
Until 2009, France claimed that its tests were “clean” and caused no harm, but in 2010, under the stewardship of Defence Minister Herve Morin, a compensation law was passed.
From 1946 to 1962, 67 nuclear bombs were detonated in the Marshall Islands by the US.
The 1 March 1954 Bravo hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll, the largest nuclear weapon ever exploded by the United States, left a legacy of fallout and radiation contamination that continues to this day. Image: Marshall Islands Journal
In 2024, then-US deputy secretary of state Kurt Campbell, while responding to a question from RNZ Pacific about America’s nuclear legacy, said: “Washington has attempted to address it constructively with massive resources and a sustained commitment.”
However, Dr Robie said that was not good enough and labelled the destruction left behind by the US, and France, as “outrageous”.
“It is political speak; politicians trying to cover their backs and so on. If you look at history, [the response] is nowhere near good enough, both by the US and the French.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry has warned Australia’s global environmental reputation is at risk if the Albanese government fails to reform nature laws this term.
In his speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday, Henry said reform was needed to restore nature and power the net zero economy.
Speaking as chair of the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation, Henry said with “glistening ambition”, Australia can “build an efficient, jobs-rich, globally competitive, high-productivity, low-emissions nature-rich economy”.
The speech comes at a crucial time for nature law reform in Australia. The new Environment Minister Murray Watt has committed to prioritise reform, after the Albanese government failed to achieve substantial changes to these laws in the last parliament.
On Wednesday, Henry condemned previous failed attempts to reform the laws. He described delays in improving environmental management as “a wilful act of intergenerational bastardry”.
In his speech on Wednesday, Henry agreed with this sentiment. He described the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act as “a misnomer, if ever there was one”.
Henry is both a former Treasury Secretary and former chair of National Australia Bank. He also wrote Australia’s most important white paper on tax reform.
Henry has previously said environmental law reform could be a template for other essential, difficult law reform, such as fixing Australia’s broken tax system.
He understands Australia’s broken environmental laws. In 2022-23, he led an independent review into nature laws in New South Wales. That review found the laws were failing and would never succeed in their current form.
At the start of his speech on Wednesday, Henry came close to tears when he acknowledged Greens Senator Sarah Hansen-Young’s support for those who look after injured and orphaned native animals.
But before building suburbs, wind farms, transmission lines, mines and roads, projects need to be assessed for their potential to harm the environment.
Henry on Wednesday called for sweeping changes, drawing on Graeme Samuel’s 2019-20 review of the EPBC Act. The changes include:
genuine cooperation across all levels of government, industry and the community
high-integrity evidence to inform decision making
clear, strong and enforceable standards applied nationwide
an independent and trusted decision-maker, in the form of a national Environment Protection Authority
a natural capital market, which – if well-designed – could provide a financial incentive for nature restoration and carbon storage in the form of tradable credits.
Without the reforms, Henry said, Australia would not “retain a shred of credibility” for two global commitments: reaching net zero emissions, and halting and reversing biodiversity loss.
The net zero commitment is at risk because existing laws are not sufficient to protect carbon sinks, such as forests. The roll out of renewable energy is also being slowed by inefficient approvals processes.
Henry said the concept of “ecologically sustainable development”, which seeks to balance economic, social, and economic goals, needs serious rethinking. This concept has been the foundation of environment policy in Australia, including the EPBC Act, for the past 30 years.
Henry wrote the first Intergenerational Report for the federal government in 2002. He has criticised governments for allowing environmental destruction that will leave future generations worse off.
He has variously described Australia’s failure to steward our natural resources as an intergenerational tragedy, as intergenerational theft, and a wilful act of intergenerational bastardry – claims he repeated on Wednesday.
Making money grow on trees
Henry grew up on the Mid North Coast of NSW where his father, a worker in the timber industry, helped log native forests.
The foundation Henry chairs advocates for the protection and restoration of Australia’s native forests. Henry has previously backed a plan to store carbon in native forests, which would mean trees were protected and not cut down.
In his Press Club address, Henry lamented ongoing land clearing, poor fire management in remnant forests, and logging of habitat for endangered species such as the koala and the greater glider. He also called for nature laws that enable projects to be delivered in a way that not only protects but also restores nature. For instance, he said carbon credits could help fund the Great Koala National Park proposed for NSW.
Henry on Wednesday acknowledged faster approvals were needed, saying:
We simply cannot afford slow, opaque, duplicative and contested environmental planning decisions based on poor information mired in administrative complexity.
But he said faster approvals should not come at a greater cost to nature. In his words:
with due acknowledgement of the genius of AC/DC, there is no point in building a faster highway to hell.
Henry said the current parliament has time to put the right policy settings in place. The remedies also enjoy broad stakeholder support. “We’ve had all the reviews we need,” he said. “All of us have had our say. It is now up to parliament. Let’s just get this done.”
Phillipa C. McCormack receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Natural Hazards Research Australia, the National Environmental Science Program, Green Adelaide and the ACT Government. She is a member of the National Environmental Law Association and affiliated with the Wildlife Crime Research Hub.
Former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry has warned Australia’s global environmental reputation is at risk if the Albanese government fails to reform nature laws this term.
In his speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday, Henry said reform was needed to restore nature and power the net zero economy.
Speaking as chair of the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation, Henry said with “glistening ambition”, Australia can “build an efficient, jobs-rich, globally competitive, high-productivity, low-emissions nature-rich economy”.
The speech comes at a crucial time for nature law reform in Australia. The new Environment Minister Murray Watt has committed to prioritise reform, after the Albanese government failed to achieve substantial changes to these laws in the last parliament.
On Wednesday, Henry condemned previous failed attempts to reform the laws. He described delays in improving environmental management as “a wilful act of intergenerational bastardry”.
In his speech on Wednesday, Henry agreed with this sentiment. He described the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act as “a misnomer, if ever there was one”.
Henry is both a former Treasury Secretary and former chair of National Australia Bank. He also wrote Australia’s most important white paper on tax reform.
Henry has previously said environmental law reform could be a template for other essential, difficult law reform, such as fixing Australia’s broken tax system.
He understands Australia’s broken environmental laws. In 2022-23, he led an independent review into nature laws in New South Wales. That review found the laws were failing and would never succeed in their current form.
At the start of his speech on Wednesday, Henry came close to tears when he acknowledged Greens Senator Sarah Hansen-Young’s support for those who look after injured and orphaned native animals.
But before building suburbs, wind farms, transmission lines, mines and roads, projects need to be assessed for their potential to harm the environment.
Henry on Wednesday called for sweeping changes, drawing on Graeme Samuel’s 2019-20 review of the EPBC Act. The changes include:
genuine cooperation across all levels of government, industry and the community
high-integrity evidence to inform decision making
clear, strong and enforceable standards applied nationwide
an independent and trusted decision-maker, in the form of a national Environment Protection Authority
a natural capital market, which – if well-designed – could provide a financial incentive for nature restoration and carbon storage in the form of tradable credits.
Without the reforms, Henry said, Australia would not “retain a shred of credibility” for two global commitments: reaching net zero emissions, and halting and reversing biodiversity loss.
The net zero commitment is at risk because existing laws are not sufficient to protect carbon sinks, such as forests. The roll out of renewable energy is also being slowed by inefficient approvals processes.
Henry said the concept of “ecologically sustainable development”, which seeks to balance economic, social, and economic goals, needs serious rethinking. This concept has been the foundation of environment policy in Australia, including the EPBC Act, for the past 30 years.
Henry wrote the first Intergenerational Report for the federal government in 2002. He has criticised governments for allowing environmental destruction that will leave future generations worse off.
He has variously described Australia’s failure to steward our natural resources as an intergenerational tragedy, as intergenerational theft, and a wilful act of intergenerational bastardry – claims he repeated on Wednesday.
Making money grow on trees
Henry grew up on the Mid North Coast of NSW where his father, a worker in the timber industry, helped log native forests.
The foundation Henry chairs advocates for the protection and restoration of Australia’s native forests. Henry has previously backed a plan to store carbon in native forests, which would mean trees were protected and not cut down.
In his Press Club address, Henry lamented ongoing land clearing, poor fire management in remnant forests, and logging of habitat for endangered species such as the koala and the greater glider. He also called for nature laws that enable projects to be delivered in a way that not only protects but also restores nature. For instance, he said carbon credits could help fund the Great Koala National Park proposed for NSW.
Henry on Wednesday acknowledged faster approvals were needed, saying:
We simply cannot afford slow, opaque, duplicative and contested environmental planning decisions based on poor information mired in administrative complexity.
But he said faster approvals should not come at a greater cost to nature. In his words:
with due acknowledgement of the genius of AC/DC, there is no point in building a faster highway to hell.
Henry said the current parliament has time to put the right policy settings in place. The remedies also enjoy broad stakeholder support. “We’ve had all the reviews we need,” he said. “All of us have had our say. It is now up to parliament. Let’s just get this done.”
Phillipa C. McCormack receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Natural Hazards Research Australia, the National Environmental Science Program, Green Adelaide and the ACT Government. She is a member of the National Environmental Law Association and affiliated with the Wildlife Crime Research Hub.
Occupied West Bank-based New Zealand journalist Cole Martin asks who are the peacemakers?
BEARING WITNESS:By Cole Martin
As a Kiwi journalist living in the occupied West Bank, I can list endless reasons why there is no peace in the “Holy Land”.
I live in a refugee camp, alongside families who were expelled from their homes by Israel’s violent establishment in 1948 — never allowed to return and repeatedly targeted by Israeli military incursions.
Daily I witness suffocating checkpoints, settler attacks against rural towns, arbitrary imprisonment with no charge or trial, a crippled economy, expansion of illegal settlements, demolition of entire communities, genocidal rhetoric, and continued expulsion.
No form of peace can exist within an active system of domination. To talk about peace without liberation and dignity is to suggest submission to a system of displacement, imprisonment, violence and erasure.
I often find myself alongside a variety of peacemakers, putting themselves on the line to end these horrific systems — let me outline the key groups:
Palestinian civil society and individuals have spent decades committed to creative non-violence in the face of these atrocities — from court battles to academia, education, art, co-ordinating demonstrations, general strikes, hīkoi (marches), sit-ins, civil disobedience. Google “Iqrit village”, “The Great March of Return”, “Tent of Nations farm”. These are the overlooked stories that don’t make catchy headlines.
Protective Presence activists are a mix of about 150 Israeli and international civilians who volunteer their days and nights physically accompanying Palestinian communities. They aim to prevent Israeli settler violence, state-sanctioned home demolitions, and military/police incursions. They document the injustice and often face violence and arrest themselves. Foreigners face deportation and blacklisting — as a journalist I was arrested and barred from the West Bank short-term and my passport was withheld for more than a month.
Reconciliation organisations have been working for decades to bridge the disconnect between political narratives and human realities. The effective groups don’t seek “co-existence” but “co-resistance” because they recognise there can be no peace within an active system of apartheid. They reiterate that dialogue alone achieves nothing while the Israeli regime continues to murder, displace and steal. Yes there are “opposing narratives”, but they do not have equal legitimacy when tested against the reality on the ground.
Journalists continue to document and report key developments, chilling statistics and the human cost. They ensure people are seen. Over 200 journalists have been killed in Gaza. High-profile Palestinian Christian journalist Shireen Abu-Akleh was killed by Israeli forces in 2022. They continue reporting despite the risk, and without their courage world leaders wouldn’t know which undeniable facts to brazenly ignore.
Humanitarians serve and protect the most vulnerable, treating and rescuing people selflessly. More than 400 aid workers and 1000 healthcare workers have been killed in Gaza. All 38 hospitals have been destroyed or damaged, with just a small number left partially functioning. NGOs have been crippled by USAID cuts and targeted Israeli policies, marked by a mass exodus of expats who have spent years committed to this region — severing a critical lifeline for Palestinian communities.
All these groups emphasise change will not come from within. Protective Presence barely stems the flow.
Reconciliation means nothing while the system continues to displace, imprison and slaughter Palestinians en masse. Journalism, non-violence and humanitarian efforts are only as effective as the willingness of states to uphold international law.
Those on the frontlines of peacebuilding express the urgent need for global accountability across all sectors; economic, cultural and political sanctions. Systems of apartheid do not stem from corrupt leadership or several extremists, but from widespread attitudes of supremacy and nationalism across civil society.
Boycotts increase the economic cost of maintaining such systems. Divestment sends a strong financial message that business as usual is unacceptable.
Many other groups across the world are picketing weapons manufacturers, writing to elected leaders, educating friends and family, challenging harmful narratives, fundraising aid to keep people alive.
Where are the peacemakers? They’re out on the streets. They’re people just like you and me.
Cole Martin is an independent New Zealand photojournalist based in the occupied West Bank and a contributor to Asia Pacific Report. This article was first published by the Otago Daily Times and is republished with permission.
Occupied West Bank-based New Zealand journalist Cole Martin asks who are the peacemakers?
BEARING WITNESS:By Cole Martin
As a Kiwi journalist living in the occupied West Bank, I can list endless reasons why there is no peace in the “Holy Land”.
I live in a refugee camp, alongside families who were expelled from their homes by Israel’s violent establishment in 1948 — never allowed to return and repeatedly targeted by Israeli military incursions.
Daily I witness suffocating checkpoints, settler attacks against rural towns, arbitrary imprisonment with no charge or trial, a crippled economy, expansion of illegal settlements, demolition of entire communities, genocidal rhetoric, and continued expulsion.
No form of peace can exist within an active system of domination. To talk about peace without liberation and dignity is to suggest submission to a system of displacement, imprisonment, violence and erasure.
I often find myself alongside a variety of peacemakers, putting themselves on the line to end these horrific systems — let me outline the key groups:
Palestinian civil society and individuals have spent decades committed to creative non-violence in the face of these atrocities — from court battles to academia, education, art, co-ordinating demonstrations, general strikes, hīkoi (marches), sit-ins, civil disobedience. Google “Iqrit village”, “The Great March of Return”, “Tent of Nations farm”. These are the overlooked stories that don’t make catchy headlines.
Protective Presence activists are a mix of about 150 Israeli and international civilians who volunteer their days and nights physically accompanying Palestinian communities. They aim to prevent Israeli settler violence, state-sanctioned home demolitions, and military/police incursions. They document the injustice and often face violence and arrest themselves. Foreigners face deportation and blacklisting — as a journalist I was arrested and barred from the West Bank short-term and my passport was withheld for more than a month.
Reconciliation organisations have been working for decades to bridge the disconnect between political narratives and human realities. The effective groups don’t seek “co-existence” but “co-resistance” because they recognise there can be no peace within an active system of apartheid. They reiterate that dialogue alone achieves nothing while the Israeli regime continues to murder, displace and steal. Yes there are “opposing narratives”, but they do not have equal legitimacy when tested against the reality on the ground.
Journalists continue to document and report key developments, chilling statistics and the human cost. They ensure people are seen. Over 200 journalists have been killed in Gaza. High-profile Palestinian Christian journalist Shireen Abu-Akleh was killed by Israeli forces in 2022. They continue reporting despite the risk, and without their courage world leaders wouldn’t know which undeniable facts to brazenly ignore.
Humanitarians serve and protect the most vulnerable, treating and rescuing people selflessly. More than 400 aid workers and 1000 healthcare workers have been killed in Gaza. All 38 hospitals have been destroyed or damaged, with just a small number left partially functioning. NGOs have been crippled by USAID cuts and targeted Israeli policies, marked by a mass exodus of expats who have spent years committed to this region — severing a critical lifeline for Palestinian communities.
All these groups emphasise change will not come from within. Protective Presence barely stems the flow.
Reconciliation means nothing while the system continues to displace, imprison and slaughter Palestinians en masse. Journalism, non-violence and humanitarian efforts are only as effective as the willingness of states to uphold international law.
Those on the frontlines of peacebuilding express the urgent need for global accountability across all sectors; economic, cultural and political sanctions. Systems of apartheid do not stem from corrupt leadership or several extremists, but from widespread attitudes of supremacy and nationalism across civil society.
Boycotts increase the economic cost of maintaining such systems. Divestment sends a strong financial message that business as usual is unacceptable.
Many other groups across the world are picketing weapons manufacturers, writing to elected leaders, educating friends and family, challenging harmful narratives, fundraising aid to keep people alive.
Where are the peacemakers? They’re out on the streets. They’re people just like you and me.
Cole Martin is an independent New Zealand photojournalist based in the occupied West Bank and a contributor to Asia Pacific Report. This article was first published by the Otago Daily Times and is republished with permission.
The Albanese government remains in complicated territory on the international stage. It has to tread carefully with China, despite the marked warming of the bilateral relationship. It is yet to find its line and length with the unpredictable Trump administration.
Meanwhile, with the new parliament meeting for the first time next week, the federal Opposition remains in a tough spot, still reeling from a brutal election defeat. The Liberals have an untested leader and uncertainty over what policies they will keep and which they will scrap, with their future commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 yet to be reconfirmed.
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has personally navigated the highs and lows of these issues, and joins the podcast today.
On AUKUS and national security, Turnbull says the debate has “never been dumber”.
The fundamental problem with our debate about national security is a profound lack of patriotism, because not enough people are putting Australia first. I mean I’m not saying that our politicians should be like Donald Trump, in terms of his bravado and braggadocio – you know all that sort of stuff he goes on with – but they should be like Trump in the sense of putting Australia first.
You know Donald Trump expects other countries to stand for themselves. Who is the foreign leader that is an ally that he respects the most? [Israel’s Prime Minister] Bibi Netanyahu. Bibi Netanyahu stands up for himself and brutally. And brutally. I mean, Netanyahu’s attitude is, if you’re in the Middle East, if you’re weak, you’re roadkill.
On defence spending, Turnbull calls a proper review on what Australia needs, rather then spending a certain percent on defence.
We’ve got to have a proper examination of what capabilities we need, and what capabilities we can afford. The point about submarines is, if you’re going have a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines – they’re literally the most expensive defence platforms in the world – then you’ve got to work out what else you need and then what that’s going to cost you. That will come to quite a lot more than [the current] 2% of GDP, I would estimate.
Turnbull also warns of a “reckless” degree of “delusion” in Canberra about the risk of not getting nuclear-powered submarines from the US.
On global affairs, Turnbull says the Albanese government has performed well in a time of uncertainty.
It’s complicated, but they’re managing this disrupted global environment well. The directions they’re going in are correct. The need plainly is to strengthen partnerships, alliances, relations with countries other than the United States.
[…] There’s a degree of anxiety about China because we don’t share the same political values. It clearly wants to displace the United States as the hegemon in this region […] I think the government and certainly most Australians would recognise that the days of American primacy in this region are over and the outcome for us that we want to have is, as [a former Japanese prime minister] Shinzo Abe used to say, a free and open Indo-Pacific, a balance between the two powers. Indeed as [Foreign Minister] Penny Wong said, a region where no one dominates, nobody is dominated.
On Albanese’s failure to meet yet with the US president, Turnbull says it doesn’t matter “a huge amount”.
It is very important for the prime minister of Australia to have a good personal relationship with Donald Trump. It really is. When I was prime minister, my relationship with him got off to a very stormy start, but it was a very good one, because by standing up to his bullying, I won his respect.
[…] When he does meet with Trump, it’s got to be in a situation where he can have an extended discussion, where it’s a substantive meeting and they can really get to know each other. So I think it’s not just the timing of the meeting, but the quality of the meeting.
On the Liberal Party, Turnbull is pessimistic about its chances of moderating its views, even with Sussan Ley, generally regarded as centrist, as leader,
[Ley’s] problem, even if she was centrist, and even if was genuine about moving the party back to the centre, I would question whether she can do it. Because there are not many moderates left in the party room in Canberra. How many moderates are left in the branches anymore? Has there been a sort of self-sorting now? Essentially the party […] has moved off into that right wing.
[…] The leader has a lot of authority. However, there is the right wing of the party and you cannot separate it from the right-wing media. From the Murdoch media in particular, they’re joined at the hip. I mean, they’re almost the same thing. They operate in the context of the Liberal Party almost like terrorists. Or like terrorists in this sense: they don’t kill people or blow things up, but they basically are prepared to burn the joint down if they don’t get what they want. I mean, I experienced that.
Despite reservations, Turnbull says quotas for women are the only way to the Liberal party to where it wants to be.
Everything else has been tried and it’s failed […] My view is that the party has got to say, well, we recognise this is contrary to grassroots tradition. But unless we do something fairly draconian and directive, then we’re not going to be able to get to the parity of men and women that we want, that we’ve said we wanted for years, and which the electorate clearly prefers.
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.
Conflict in Syria has escalated with Israel launching bombing raids against its northern neighbour.
It follows months of fluctuating tensions in southern Syria between the Druze minority and forces aligned with the new government in Damascus. Clashes erupted in the last few days, prompting Israeli airstrikes in defence of the Druze by targeting government bases, tanks, and heavy weaponry.
a terrorist, a barbaric murderer who should be eliminated without delay.
Despite the incendiary language, a ceasefire has been reached, halting the fighting – for now.
Syrian forces have begun withdrawing heavy military equipment from the region, while Druze fighters have agreed to suspend armed resistance, allowing government troops to regain control of the main Druze city of Suwayda.
What do the Druze want?
The Druze are a small religious minority estimated at over one million people, primarily concentrated in the mountainous regions of Lebanon, Syria, Israel, and Jordan.
In Syria, their population is estimated at around 700,000 (of around 23 million total Syrian population), with the majority residing in the southern As-Suwayda Governorate – or province – which serves as their traditional stronghold.
Since the 2011 uprising against the Assad regime, the Druze have maintained a degree of autonomy, successfully defending their territory from various threats, including ISIS and other jihadist groups.
They advocate for a decentralised model that would grant greater autonomy to regional communities.
However, the transitional government in Damascus is pushing for a centralised state and seeking to reassert full control over the entire Syrian territory. This fundamental disagreement has led to periodic clashes between Druze forces and government-aligned troops.
Despite the temporary ceasefire, tensions remain high. Given the core political dispute remains unresolved, many expect renewed conflict to erupt in the near future.
Why is Israel involved?
The ousting of the Assad regime created a strategic opening for Israel to expand its influence in southern Syria. Israel’s involvement is driven by two primary concerns:
1. Securing its northern border
Israel views the power vacuum in Syria’s south as a potential threat, particularly the risk of anti-Israeli militias establishing a foothold near its northern border.
The Israeli Defence Forces will not allow a military threat to exist in southern Syria and will act against it.
Likewise, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has stated he will not allow Syrian forces south of Damascus:
We are acting to prevent the Syrian regime from harming them [the Druze] and to ensure the demilitarisation of the area adjacent to our border with Syria.
In line with these warnings, the Israeli Air Force has conducted extensive strikes against Syrian military infrastructure, targeting bases, aircraft, tanks, and heavy weaponry.
These operations are intended to prevent any future buildup of military capacity that could be used against Israel from the Syrian side of the border.
2. Supporting a federated Syria
Israel is backing the two prominent allied minorities in Syria — the Kurds in the northeast and the Druze in the south — in their push for a federal governance model.
A fragmented Syria, divided along ethnic and religious lines, is seen by some Israeli policymakers as a way to maintain Israeli domination in the region.
This vision is part of what some Israeli officials have referred to as a “New Middle East” — one where regional stability and normalisation emerge through reshaped borders and alliances.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar recently echoed this strategy, stating:
A single Syrian state with effective control and sovereignty over all its territory is unrealistic.
For Israel, the logical path forward is autonomy for the various minorities in Syria within a federal structure.
The United States’ role?
According to unconfirmed reports, Washington has privately urged Israel to scale back its military strikes on Syria in order to prevent further escalation and preserve regional stability.
The US is promoting increased support for Syria’s new regime in an effort to help it reassert control and stabilise the country.
There are also indications the US and its allies are encouraging the Syrian government to move toward normalisation with Israel. Reports suggest Tel Aviv has held talks with the new Sharaa-led regime about the possibility of Syria joining the Abraham Accords (diplomatic agreements between Israel and several Arab states), which the regime in Damascus appears open to.
US Special Envoy Tom Barrack has described the recent clashes as “worrisome”, calling for de-escalation and emphasising the need for
a peaceful, inclusive outcome for all stakeholders – including the Druze, Bedouin tribes, the Syrian government, and Israeli forces.
Given the deep-rooted political divisions, competing regional agendas, and unresolved demands from minority groups, the unrest in southern Syria is unlikely to end soon.
Despite another temporary ceasefire, underlying tensions remain. Further clashes are not only possible but highly probable.
Ali Mamouri 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.
Conflict in Syria has escalated with Israel launching bombing raids against its northern neighbour.
It follows months of fluctuating tensions in southern Syria between the Druze minority and forces aligned with the new government in Damascus. Clashes erupted in the last few days, prompting Israeli airstrikes in defence of the Druze by targeting government bases, tanks, and heavy weaponry.
a terrorist, a barbaric murderer who should be eliminated without delay.
Despite the incendiary language, a ceasefire has been reached, halting the fighting – for now.
Syrian forces have begun withdrawing heavy military equipment from the region, while Druze fighters have agreed to suspend armed resistance, allowing government troops to regain control of the main Druze city of Suwayda.
What do the Druze want?
The Druze are a small religious minority estimated at over one million people, primarily concentrated in the mountainous regions of Lebanon, Syria, Israel, and Jordan.
In Syria, their population is estimated at around 700,000 (of around 23 million total Syrian population), with the majority residing in the southern As-Suwayda Governorate – or province – which serves as their traditional stronghold.
Since the 2011 uprising against the Assad regime, the Druze have maintained a degree of autonomy, successfully defending their territory from various threats, including ISIS and other jihadist groups.
They advocate for a decentralised model that would grant greater autonomy to regional communities.
However, the transitional government in Damascus is pushing for a centralised state and seeking to reassert full control over the entire Syrian territory. This fundamental disagreement has led to periodic clashes between Druze forces and government-aligned troops.
Despite the temporary ceasefire, tensions remain high. Given the core political dispute remains unresolved, many expect renewed conflict to erupt in the near future.
Why is Israel involved?
The ousting of the Assad regime created a strategic opening for Israel to expand its influence in southern Syria. Israel’s involvement is driven by two primary concerns:
1. Securing its northern border
Israel views the power vacuum in Syria’s south as a potential threat, particularly the risk of anti-Israeli militias establishing a foothold near its northern border.
The Israeli Defence Forces will not allow a military threat to exist in southern Syria and will act against it.
Likewise, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has stated he will not allow Syrian forces south of Damascus:
We are acting to prevent the Syrian regime from harming them [the Druze] and to ensure the demilitarisation of the area adjacent to our border with Syria.
In line with these warnings, the Israeli Air Force has conducted extensive strikes against Syrian military infrastructure, targeting bases, aircraft, tanks, and heavy weaponry.
These operations are intended to prevent any future buildup of military capacity that could be used against Israel from the Syrian side of the border.
2. Supporting a federated Syria
Israel is backing the two prominent allied minorities in Syria — the Kurds in the northeast and the Druze in the south — in their push for a federal governance model.
A fragmented Syria, divided along ethnic and religious lines, is seen by some Israeli policymakers as a way to maintain Israeli domination in the region.
This vision is part of what some Israeli officials have referred to as a “New Middle East” — one where regional stability and normalisation emerge through reshaped borders and alliances.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar recently echoed this strategy, stating:
A single Syrian state with effective control and sovereignty over all its territory is unrealistic.
For Israel, the logical path forward is autonomy for the various minorities in Syria within a federal structure.
The United States’ role?
According to unconfirmed reports, Washington has privately urged Israel to scale back its military strikes on Syria in order to prevent further escalation and preserve regional stability.
The US is promoting increased support for Syria’s new regime in an effort to help it reassert control and stabilise the country.
There are also indications the US and its allies are encouraging the Syrian government to move toward normalisation with Israel. Reports suggest Tel Aviv has held talks with the new Sharaa-led regime about the possibility of Syria joining the Abraham Accords (diplomatic agreements between Israel and several Arab states), which the regime in Damascus appears open to.
US Special Envoy Tom Barrack has described the recent clashes as “worrisome”, calling for de-escalation and emphasising the need for
a peaceful, inclusive outcome for all stakeholders – including the Druze, Bedouin tribes, the Syrian government, and Israeli forces.
Given the deep-rooted political divisions, competing regional agendas, and unresolved demands from minority groups, the unrest in southern Syria is unlikely to end soon.
Despite another temporary ceasefire, underlying tensions remain. Further clashes are not only possible but highly probable.
Ali Mamouri 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.
More than 400 candidates have put their hands up to contest the Bougainville general election in September, hoping to enter Parliament.
Incumbent President Ishmael Toroama is among the 404 people lining up to win a seat.
Bougainville is involved in the process of achieving independence from Papua New Guinea — an issue expected to dominate campaigning, which lasts until the beginning of September.
Voting is scheduled to start on September 2, finishing a week later, depending on the weather.
Seven candidates — all men — are contesting the Bougainville presidency. This number is down from when 25 people stood, including two women.
Toroama is seeking a second term and is being challenged by his former colleague in the leadership of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA), Sam Kauona.
Kauona is one of several contesting a second time, along with Thomas Raivet and a former holder of the Bougainville Regional Seat in the PNG Parliament, Joe Lera.
There are 46 seats to be decided, including six new constituencies.
Two seats will have 21 candidates: the northern seat of Peit and the Ex-Combatants constituency.
Several other constituencies — Haku, Tsitalato, Taonita Tinputz, Taonita Teop, Rau, and Kokoda — also have high numbers of candidates.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Antarctica’s patterns of stark seasonal changes, with months of darkness followed by a summer of 24-hour daylight, prompted us to explore how a Māori lunar and environmental calendar (Maramataka) might apply to the continent and help us recognise changes as the climate continues to warm.
Maramataka represent an ancient knowledge system using environmental signs (tohu) to impart knowledge about lunar and environmental connections. It traces the mauri (energy flow) between the land (whenua), the ocean (moana) and the sky and atmosphere (rangi), and how people connect to the natural world.
During matiti muramura, the third summer phase that aligns with the summer solstice, the environment offers tohu that guide seasonal activity. The flowering of pohutukawa is a land sign (tohu o te whenua), the rising of Rehua (Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius) is an atmospheric sign (tohu o te rangi), and sea urchins (kina) are a sea sign (tohu o te moana).
When these signs align, it signals balance in nature and the right time to gather food. But if they are out of sync (such as early flowering or small kina), it means something in the environment (te taiao) is out of balance.
These tohu remind us how deeply land, sea and sky are connected, and why careful observation matters. When they’re out of sync, they call us to pause, observe and adapt in ways that restore natural balance and uphold the mauri of te taiao.
Tracking a Maramataka in Antarctica
One of the key tohu we observed in Antarctica was the mass arrival of Weddell seals outside New Zealand’s Scott Base at the height of summer.
Guided by Maramataka authorities, we explored other local tohu using Hautuu Waka, an ancient framework of weaving and wayfinding to navigate a changing environment. Originally used for navigating vast oceans, wayfinding in this context becomes a metaphor for navigating the complexities of today’s environmental and social challenges.
During the Antarctic summer, the Sun doesn’t set. But we documented the Moon when visible in the day sky and observed the Sun, clouds, mountains and various forms of snow and ice. This included glacial ice on the land, sea ice in the ocean and snowflakes in the sky.
One of the seasonal tohu in Antarctica is the mass arrival of Weddell seals outside New Zealand’s Scott Base at the height of summer. Holly Winton, CC BY-SA
While the tohu in Antarctica were vastly different from those observed in Aotearoa, the energy phases of the Maramataka Moon cycles aligned with traditional stories (pūrākau) describing snow and ice.
At Scott Base, we observed feather-like snow (hukapuhi) and floating snow (hukarangaranga). Further inland on the high-elevation polar plateau, we found “unseen” snow (hukakoropuku), which is not always visible to the naked eye but felt on the skin, and dust-like snow (hukapunehunehu), akin to diamond dust. The latter phenomenon occurs when air temperatures are cold enough for water vapour to condense directly out of the atmosphere and form tiny ice crystals, which sparkle like diamonds.
In te ao Māori, snow has a genealogy (whakapapa) that connects it to wider systems of life and knowledge. Snow is part of a continuum that begins in Ranginui (the sky father) and moves through the god (atua) of weather Tāwhirimātea, who shapes the form and movement of clouds, winds, rain and snow. Each type of snow carries its own name, qualities and behaviour, reflecting its journey through the skies and land.
The existence of the specific terms (kupu) for different forms of snow and ice reflect generations of observation, passed down through whakapapa and oral histories (kōrero tuku iho).
Connecting Western science and mātauranga Māori
Our first observations of tohu in Antarctica mark the initial step towards intertwining the ancient knowledge system of mātauranga Māori with modern scientific exploration.
The Moon cycles at Scott Base align with traditional stories describing snow and ice. Holly Winton, CC BY-SA
Observing snow through traditional practices provided insights into processes that cannot be fully understood through Western science methods alone. Mātauranga Māori recognises tohu through close sensory attention and relational awareness with the landscape.
Drawing on our field observations and past and present knowledge of environmental calendars found in mātauranga Māori and palaeo-climate data such as ice cores, we can begin to connect different knowledge systems in Antarctica.
For example, just as the Maramataka contains information about the environment over time, so do Antarctic ice cores. Every snowflake carries a chemical signature of the environment that, day by day, builds up a record of the past. By measuring the chemistry of Antarctic ice, we gain proxy information about environmental and seasonal cycles such as temperature, winds, sea ice and marine phytoplankton.
The middle of summer in an ice core record is marked by peak levels in chemical signals from marine phytoplankton that bloom in the Ross Sea when sea ice melts, temperatures are warmer and light and nutrients are available. This biogenic aerosol is a summer tohu identified as a key environmental time marker in the Maramataka of the onset of the breading season and surge in biological activity.
The knowledge of Maramataka has developed over millennia. Conceptualising this for Antarctica opens a way of using Māori methods and frameworks to glean new insights about the continent and ocean. Grounded in te ao Māori understanding that everything is connected, this approach invites us to see the polar environment not as a remote but a living system of interwoven tohu, rhythms and relationships.
Holly Winton receives funding from Royal Society Te Apārangi (Rutherford Discovery Fellowship and Marsden Fast-Start) and Victoria University of Wellington (Mātauranga Māori Research Fund). Logistics support for Antarctic fieldwork was provided by Antarctica New Zealand.
Ayla Hoeta receives funding from Victoria University of Wellington (Mātauranga Māori Research Fund). Logistics support for Antarctic fieldwork was provided by Antarctica New Zealand.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Riboldi, Lecturer in Social Impact and Social Change, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney
Political lobby group Advance has been back in the headlines this week. It was revealed an organisation headed by the husband of the Special Envoy for Combatting Antisemitism, Jillian Segal, donated A$50,000 to the group.
Advance (originally Advance Australia) is a digital campaigning organisation. It was formed in 2018 by a group of wealthy Australians, many with connections to the Liberal Party. The idea was to be a conservative counterpoint to progressive digital campaigning group GetUp!
At the time, political journalist Mungo McCallum described them as a “stratospherically elite clique of rich, bored men looking for a hobby.” He suggested they would have little, if any, impact.
They also successfully led the “No” campaign in the Indigenous Voice to Parliament Referendum in 2023.
McCallum’s initial dismissal of Advance appears somewhat premature.
What does Advance want?
Advance’s stated aim is to “take the fight to the activists and elites” to “secure Australia’s freedom, security and prosperity”. They campaign against progressive taxation, immigration, the transition to renewable energy and even Welcome to Country ceremonies.
This positions Advance alongside other right-wing populist actors, including Donald Trump, in the modern “war on woke”. This comparison was welcomed by founding Advance director, major donor and hedge fund manager Simon Fenwick.
These actors, which in Australia also include the Murdoch Press, construct elitism not along class lines, but along an urban/rural divide. In its view, Advance’s billionaire funders are apparently not elites. Instead, they attempt to foster divisions between urban “elites” and regional and suburban “mainstream Australians”.
Like the Trumpian model of “flood(ing) the zone with shit”, Advance has been accused of pursuing these aims by “unleashing a veritable fire hose of disinformation”. The hose is often aimed at progressive political candidates, climate change, immigrants or the Voice referendum.
While Advance is structurally independent of any political party, a variety of Liberal Party figures have been closely connected to the organisation, including former Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
Early prominent members (and funders) of Advance included storage king Sam Kennard, far-right president of the Australian Jewish Association David Adler, and climate denier Maurice Newman.
Founding Director Simon Fenwick has donated at least $400,000 to the organisation through his family trust since its inception.
Prior to this, Advance’s campaigning was arguably more nuisance than anything else.
Advance’s No campaign featured significant amounts of dis- and misinformation across multiple media channels, including phone banking (cold calling voters). The campaign was characterised by contradictory micro campaigns that sowed the confusion that fed the slogan of “if you don’t know, vote No”.
The Advance-led No campaigns also strongly embraced racism against leading First Nations voices. This included suggestions that media commentator Stan Grant had artificially darkened his skin, questioning the “blackness” of Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe, and utilising “Jim Crow” style advertising against leading Yes campaigner Thomas Mayo.
The Jim Crow era of American history refers to a time in the late 19th and early-mid 20th centuries where laws enforced racial segregation and discrimination.
One of the key spokespeople for Advance’s No campaign was Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, a woman with Aboriginal and Anglo-Celtic heritage. She’s a former Advance staffer and current Liberal Party Senator and made the comments about Lidia Thorpe.
Why is Advance important?
Following their role in the Voice campaign, Advance have arguably “eclipsed” their inspiration and progressive rivals GetUp! as Australia’s leading digital campaigning organisation. Glen Berman, current GetUp! chair, has even admitted “there were things that GetUp! could learn” from Advance.
Advance appeared influential over Liberal Party strategy ahead of the 2025 federal election campaign. During the campaign, it was the highest spending third party group (non-party, non-candidate) on Meta (Facebook and Instagram) advertising. This saw it emerge as the conservative third party “opposition” to the Australian union movement.
However, following the Australian Labor Party’s landslide victory, Advance attempted to distance themselves from the Coalition’s campaign. While they claim to have been focused on “destroying” the Greens, analysis suggests Advance’s campaign was equally focused on framing Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as “weak, woke and sending us broke”.
Senior Liberal Party figures, for their part, have also “cast doubt on the effectiveness of Advance”, saying it may have cost them seats.
Generally, scholars Marian Sawer and Kurt Sengul argue Advance, along with the Murdoch media, have engaged in the “populist mobilisation of resentment which is likely to exacerbate the kind of divisions seen in the Voice referendum” since 2018.
Part of a worldwide trend towards right-wing populism, Advance will likely continue to be at the centre of conservative politics in Australia.
Mark Riboldi 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.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mathieu Duval, Adjunct Senior Researcher at Griffith University and La Trobe University, and Ramón y Cajal (Senior) Research Fellow, Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH)
Fossils are invaluable archives of the past. They preserve details about living things from a few thousand to hundreds of millions of years ago.
Studying fossils can help us understand the evolution of species over time, and glimpse snapshots of past environments and climates. Fossils can also reveal the diets or migration patterns of long-gone species – including our own ancestors.
But when living things turn to rock, discerning those details is no easy feat. One common technique for studying fossils is micro-computerised tomography or micro-CT. It’s been used to find the earliest evidence of bone cancer in humans, to study brain imprints and inner ears in early hominins, and to study the teeth of the oldest human modern remains outside Africa, among many other examples.
However, our new study, published today in Radiocarbon, shows that despite being widely regarded as non-destructive, micro-CT may actually affect fossil preservation and erase some crucial information held inside.
Preserving precious specimens
Fossils are rare and fragile by nature. Scientists are constantly evaluating how to balance their impact on fossils with the need to study them.
When palaeontologists and palaeoanthropologists (who work on human fossils) analyse fossils, they want to minimise any potential damage. We want to preserve fossils for future generations as much as possible – and technology can be a huge help here.
Micro-CT works like the medical CT scans doctors use to peek inside the human body. However, it does so at a much smaller scale and at a greater resolution.
This is perfect for studying small objects such as fossils. With micro-CT, scientists can take high-resolution 3D images and access the inner structure of fossils without the need to cut them open.
These scans also allow for virtual copies of the fossils, which other scientists can then access from anywhere in the world. This significantly reduces the risk of damage, since the scanned fossils can safely remain in a museum collection, for example.
Micro-CT is popular and routinely used. The scientific community widely regards it as “non-destructive” because it doesn’t cause any visual damage – but it could still affect the fossil.
Jaw bone of the human fossil species Homo antecessor from Spain. Left: micro-CT scan with a cutting plane to visualise the inner structures, bone and teeth; right: 3D reconstruction based on the high-resolution micro-CT images. Laura Martín-Francés
How does micro-CT imaging work?
Micro-CT scanning uses X-rays and computer software to produce high-resolution images and reconstruct the fossil specimens in detail. Typically, palaeontologists use commercial scanners for this, but more advanced investigations may use powerful X-ray beams generated at a synchrotron.
The X-rays go through the specimen and are captured by a detector on the other end. This allows for a very fine-grained understanding of the matter they’ve passed through – especially density, which then provides clues about the shape of the internal structures, the composition of the tissues, or any contamination.
The scan produces a succession of 2D images from all angles. Computer software is then used to “clean up” these high-resolution images and assemble them into a 3D shape – a virtual copy of the fossil and its inner structures.
Example of micro-CT results on a hominin fossil known as Little Foot, from southern Africa.
But X-rays are not harmless
X-rays are a type of ionising radiation. This means they have a high level of energy and can break electrons away from atoms (this is called ionisation).
However, despite what we know about the impact of X-rays on living cells, the potential impact of X-rays on fossils through micro-CT imaging has never been deeply investigated.
What did our study find?
Using standard settings on a typical micro-CT scanner, we scanned several modern and fossil bones and teeth from animals. We also measured their collagen content before and after scanning.
Collagen is useful for many analytical purposes, such as finding out the age of the fossils using radiocarbon dating, or for stable isotope analysis – a method used to infer the diet of the extinct species, for example. The collagen content in fossils is usually much lower than in modern specimens because it slowly breaks down over time.
After comparing our measurements with unscanned samples taken from the same specimens, we found two things.
First, the radiocarbon age remained unchanged. In other words, micro-CT scanning doesn’t affect radiocarbon dating. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that we did observe a significant decrease in the amount of collagen present. In other words, the micro-CT scanned samples had about 35% less collagen than the samples before scanning.
This shows micro-CT imaging has a non-negligible impact on fossils that contain collagen traces. While this was to be expected, the impact hasn’t been experimentally confirmed before.
It’s possible some fossil samples won’t have enough collagen left after micro-CT scanning. This would make them unsuitable for a range of analytical techniques, including radiocarbon dating.
What now?
In a previous study, we showed micro-CT can artificially “age” fossils later dated with a method called electron spin resonance. It’s commonly used to date fossils older than 50,000 years – beyond what the radiocarbon method can discern.
This previous study and our new work show that micro-CT scanning may significantly and irreversibly change the fossil and the information it holds.
Despite causing no visible damage to the fossil, we argue that in this context the technique should no longer be regarded as non-destructive.
Micro-CT imaging is highly valuable in palaeontology and palaeoanthropology, no doubt about that. But our results suggest it should be used sparingly to minimise how much fossils are exposed to X-rays. There are guidelines scientists can use to minimise damage. Freely sharing data to avoid repeated scans of the same specimen will be helpful, too.
Mathieu Duval receives funding from the Spanish State Research Agency (Agencia Estatal de Investigación). He is currently the recipient of a Ramón y Cajal fellowship (RYC2018-025221-I) funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ‘‘ESF Investing in your future”. This work is also part of Spanish Grant PID2021-123092NB-C22 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER, UE, and by ‘‘ERDF A way of making Europe”.
Laura Martín-Francés receives funding from Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions of the EU Ninth programme (2021-2027) under the HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01-Project: 101060482.
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on July 16, 2025.
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Why do some autistic people walk differently? Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole Rinehart, Nicole Rinehart, Professor, Clinical Psychology, Director of the Neurodevelopment Program, School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects how people’s brains develop and function, impacting behaviour, communication and socialising. It can also involve
How to approach going to the cinema like a philosopher Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alain Guillemain, PhD Candidate in Philosophy, Deakin University Philosophy is the study of fundamental questions about reality, knowledge, and values. One “does philosophy” when they respond to such questions in ways that engage critical thought and inquiry. Many of us will often respond philosophically to the world
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How safe are the chemicals in sunscreen? A pharmacology expert explains Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide aquaArts studio/Getty Last week, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) released its safety review of seven active ingredients commonly used in sunscreens. It found five were low-risk and appropriate for use in sunscreens at their current concentrations. However, the
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No more card surcharges: what the Reserve Bank’s proposed changes mean for your wallet Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Angel Zhong, Professor of Finance, RMIT University That extra 10c on your morning coffee. That $2 surcharge on your taxi ride. The sneaky 1.5% fee when you pay by card at your local restaurant. These could all soon be history. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has
President Xi Jinping tells Albanese China ready to ‘push the bilateral relationship further’ Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Chinese President Xi Jinping has told Anthony Albanese China stands ready to work with Australia “to push the bilateral relationship further”, in their meeting in Beijing on Tuesday. During the meeting, Albanese raised Australia’s concern about China’s lack of proper
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A person in the US has died from pneumonic plague. It’s not just a disease of history Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thomas Jeffries, Senior Lecturer in Microbiology, Western Sydney University Corona Borealis Studio/Shutterstock A person in Arizona has died from the plague, local health officials reported on Friday. This marks the first such death in this region in 18 years. But it’s a stark reminder that this historic
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After a hopeful start, Labor’s affordable housing fund is proving problematic Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Raynor, Director of the Centre for Equitable Housing, Per Capita and Research Associate, The University of Melbourne When the Albanese government announced the A$10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund in 2023, the news reverberated through the housing sector. A new funding facility to help build 30,000
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole Rinehart, Nicole Rinehart, Professor, Clinical Psychology, Director of the Neurodevelopment Program, School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University
Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects how people’s brains develop and function, impacting behaviour, communication and socialising. It can also involve differences in the way you move and walk – known as your “gait”.
Having an “odd gait” is now listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as a supporting diagnostic feature of autism.
What does this look like?
The most noticeable gait differences among autistic people are:
toe-walking, walking on the balls of the feet
in-toeing, walking with one or both feet turned inwards
out-toeing, walking with one or both feet turned out.
spending longer in the “stance” phase, when the foot leaves the ground
taking more time to complete each step.
Autistic people show much more personal variability in the length and speed of their strides, as well as their walking speed.
Gait differences also tend to occur alongside other motor differences, such as issues with balance, coordination, postural stability and handwriting. Autistic people may need support for these other motor skills.
The basal ganglia are broadly responsible for sequencing movement including through shifting posture. It ensures your gait appears effortless, smooth and automatic.
The cerebellum then uses visual and proprioceptive information (to sense the body’s position and movement) to adjust and time movements to maintain postural stability. It ensures movement is controlled and coordinated.
Developmental differences in these brain regions relate to the way the areas look (their structure), how they work (their function and activation) and how they “speak” to other areas of the brain (their connections).
While some researchers have suggested that autistic gait occurs due to delayed development, we now know gait differences persist across the lifespan. Some differences actually become clearer with age.
In addition to brain-based differences, the autistic gait is also associated with factors such as the person’s broader motor, language and cognitive capabilities.
People with more complex support needs might have more pronounced gait or motor differences, together with language and cognitive difficulties.
Not all differences need to be treated. Instead, clinicians take an individualised and goals-based approach.
Some autistic people might have subtle gait differences that are observable during testing. But if these differences don’t impact a person’s ability to participate in everyday life, they don’t require support.
An autistic person is likely to benefit from support for gait differences if they have a functional impact on their daily life. This might include:
increased risk of, or frequent, falls
difficulty participating in the physical activities they enjoy
physical consequences such as tightness of the Achilles and calf muscles, or associated pain in other areas, such as the feet or back.
Some children may also benefit from support for motor skill development. However this doesn’t have to occur in a clinic.
Given children spend a large portion of their time at school, programs that integrate opportunities for movement throughout the school day allow autistic children to develop motor skills outside of the clinic and alongside peers. We developed the Joy of Moving Program in Australia, for example, which gets students moving in the classroom.
Our community-based intervention studiesshow autistic children’s movement abilities can improve after engaging in community-based interventions, such as sports or dance.
Community-based support models empower autistic children to have agency in how they move, rather than seeing different ways of moving as a problem to be fixed.
Where to from here?
While we have learnt a lot about autistic gait at a broad level, researchers and clinicians are still seeking a better understanding of why and when individual variability occurs.
We’re also still determining how to best support individual movement styles, including among children as they develop.
However there is growing evidence that physical activity enhances social skills and behavioural regulation in preschool children with autism.
So it’s encouraging that states and territories are moving towards more community-based foundational supports for autistic children and their peers, as governments develop supports outside the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
Nicole Rinehart receives funding from: Moose Happy Kids Foundation, MECCA M-Power, the Grace & Emilio Foundation, Ferrero Australia, as part of the global Kinder Joy of moving program, Aspen Pharmacare Australia Pty Ltd, Jonathan and Simone Wenig, Adam Krongold, the Grosman Family Foundation, the Shoreline Foundation, the Victorian Department of Education, the NSW Department of Education, and the Department of Social Services – Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) Program, and has worked in partnership with the Australian Football League.
Chloe Emonson works on projects that receive funding from: Moose Happy Kids Foundation, MECCA M-Power, the Grace & Emilio Foundation, Ferrero Australia, as part of the global Kinder Joy of moving program, Aspen Pharmacare Australia Pty Ltd, Jonathan and Simone Wenig, Adam Krongold, the Grosman Family Foundation, the Shoreline Foundation, the Victorian Department of Education, the NSW Department of Education, and the Department of Social Services – Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) Program, and has worked in partnership with the Australian Football League.
Ebony Lindor works on projects that receive funding from: Moose Happy Kids Foundation, MECCA M-Power, the Grace & Emilio Foundation, Ferrero Australia, as part of the global Kinder Joy of moving program, Aspen Pharmacare Australia Pty Ltd, Jonathan and Simone Wenig, Adam Krongold, the Grosman Family Foundation, the Shoreline Foundation, the Victorian Department of Education, the NSW Department of Education, and the Department of Social Services – Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) Program, and has worked in partnership with the Australian Football League.
We often hear young people need to get a job – any job – but what if the problem isn’t whether they’re working or not, but the kind of job they end up in?
New research in the Australian Journal of Social Issues shows many young people who are in roles where they’re not working to their full capacity are also in low-quality jobs.
In my research, I focused on three aspects of job quality – how demanding and complex the work is, how much control a worker has over their work and how secure they feel in their job. Underemployment affects all three.
When young people are underemployed, they also report having less control over their work and feeling less secure. They found these jobs were also less demanding and complex. They were boring.
This applied to both men and women.
Low wages and job security
Overall, young people earning less than they should also felt less secure in their jobs. But underpaid young women also reported significantly lower job control. So, they faced a double disadvantage.
Gender also mattered when it came to working fewer hours than they wanted.
While young women who were underemployed reported lower job security, men who wanted more hours didn’t feel any less secure than men with sufficient hours.
This suggests that for young women, working fewer hours isn’t just about lost income – it’s tied to a deeper sense of job insecurity.
These patterns applied whether or not someone was in a casual job. Young people in permanent roles could still be underemployed or in bad jobs. In other words, underemployment and poor job quality aren’t just a feature of casual or gig work.
It can be harder for women
While similar proportions of young men and women experienced underemployment related to time and skills, young women were more likely to experience wage-related underemployment.
For example, casual, lower-paid work often occurred in feminised sectors such as care and hospitality. These jobs are more likely to be overlooked and undervalued, even when they require significant skill.
These gendered patterns reflect the kinds of jobs young women are often funnelled into.
For young women, this can compound existing disadvantages over the course of their lives, especially when they’re in roles that are consistently undervalued.
Youth unemployment is only part of the problem
Politicians have long pushed the idea that young people should be “earning or learning”, to avoid the scourge of unemployment. But this thinking focuses too narrowly on youth unemployment and ignores a crucial question: are these jobs any good?
My research challenges that idea.
Underemployment is often hidden in plain sight. Someone might be working full-time, but still be underemployed. This is true if they’re underpaid, working below their qualification level, or not getting the hours they want.
To fix this, we need to pay greater attention to underemployment and to the quality of the jobs young people are doing. Too often, economists and policymakers are focused on the youth (un)employment rate, but that only tells half the story.
Brendan Churchill receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
Drones can deliver pizza, and maybe one day your online shopping. So why not use them to deliver urgent medicines or other emergency health-care supplies?
Trials in Australia and internationally have shown the enormous potential for drones to work with existing health services to deliver medicine, medical equipment, pathology samples, or provide surveillance in medical emergencies.
Some emergency services are already using drones to deliver health care. Earlier this year, NSW Fire and Rescue used a drone to deliver essential medicine to someone stranded by floodwater while they were supported by phone. Follow the journey from launch to pick-up in the video below.
Drones have enormous potential
Drones are appealing because they can rapidly transport medical supplies, especially without traffic delays. They can quickly access places other forms of transport cannot, including remote or difficult-to-reach areas, such as cliffs. And when drones cannot land, they can use a parachute to safely drop their delivery. This means drones can deliver essential items, such as antivenom or defibrillators, before first responders reach the scene.
Drones can also support medical efforts by providing birds-eye-view images and scans of sites before humans are sent in. This means it’s safer for first responders, such as ambulance crew, as they have a better idea of what to expect when they arrive in-person.
Drones help find missing persons
An Australian trial this year involved NSW Ambulance using drones for search and rescue in remote and hard-to-reach locations.
Specially trained paramedics piloted the drones during the two-month trial. Drones had high-intensity search lights and used thermal imaging to help find missing persons. Video and audio capabilities allowed paramedics to communicate with the person once they were found, and to monitor them and the situation.
This trial is a great example of how drones can be used to extend the capacity of first responders.
Trials like this can also collect data about how well the drones work for different teams and circumstances. The more data we have about how drones can support first responders and medical staff, the better we can design services that include them.
Drones send samples to the lab
Darling Downs Health in Queensland has also been trialling drones. These transport pathology samples and pharmaceuticals between small rural hospitals in Nanango or Wondai, and the larger regional hospital in Kingaroy.
This means pathology samples can be flown to the laboratory as soon as they are collected, instead of waiting for a courier. Patients can therefore be diagnosed and begin treatment earlier.
Surf Life Saving Queensland is running a regular drone patrol. Drones monitor shark activity and help co-ordinate responses, such as beach closures.
Drones have been used in New South Wales to drop flotation devices to swimmers in danger.
Swedish researchers have trialled using drones to deliver defibrillators to people who have called an ambulance and are suspected of being in cardiac arrest. A drone could deliver a defibrillator in 92% of suspected cardiac arrests. The delivery time was quicker than an ambulance 64% of the time.
In mountainous regions of India, drones are used to deliver medications to remote health services as part of the Medicine from the Sky program.
But there are limitations
Despite drones’ potential to supplement existing health and emergency services, there are limitations.
Their battery life and weight affects flight time. For instance, the NSW Ambulance trial reported the range of drones is 7 kilometres from base. So, it may be necessary to transport the drone closer to the area of need before it’s launched. This may reduce drones’ usefulness for rural and remote areas. There are also weight limits to what they can carry.
Some drones may be limited to flying during the day. They may not be able to fly in poor weather conditions, reducing their effectiveness during natural disasters. Temperature and humidity can spoil pathology samples and some medications, which restricts what drones can be used for.
Existing legislation may also limit where drones can operate.
Is this the future?
Many promising trials show drones can effectively help support health and emergency services.
However, many of these trials have yet to released their final evaluations. So we still need evidence of whether drones improve health outcomes and are cost-effective. This would be essential if we were to routinely use drones to support health care and emergency services beyond these trials.
The health-care sector would also benefit by learning from companies in other sectors that use drones. This would give the health sector insights into how and when to use drones safely, and how to scale up operations cost-effectively.
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.
Philosophy is the study of fundamental questions about reality, knowledge, and values. One “does philosophy” when they respond to such questions in ways that engage critical thought and inquiry.
Many of us will often respond philosophically to the world around us without even realising it. We may do this, for instance, when we reflect on various aspects of culture and the arts.
But does going to the cinema really amount to doing philosophy? While you may have never thought about it this way, this is exactly what one famous French philosopher named Gilles Deleuze (1925–95) argued.
Deleuze’s movement-image
Deleuze presents a philosophical approach to cinema that treats films not merely as entertainment, but as a medium for thinking and creating philosophical concepts.
This creation of philosophical concepts is what he and his collaborator, Felix Guattari, prize as “doing philosophy” in their 1991 book What is Philosophy?.
For Deleuze and Guattari, the creation of concepts is not entirely mental. It is an embodied process that involves engaging the senses – which is what cinema demands of both filmmakers and viewers. To that end, filmmakers and film viewers can both be seen as special kinds of philosophers.
Deleuze suggests cinema is not simply leisure or culture. In his 1983 book Cinema 1: The Movement-Image, he highlights how cinema is a philosophical practice made possible though “movement-images” – cinematic images which can actively shape our perception and experience of the world.
Great film directors can create concepts through movement-images, just as great philosophers do so through language.
Good cinema demands viewers engage using all their senses, resulting in an embodied experience. Kumiko Shimizu/Unsplash
Deleuze identified three categories of movement-images: perception-images, affection-images and action-images.
The perception-image frames the world from a particular point of view, usually to establish context for an action. For example, at the start of a scene, the camera might pan across the contents of a room before resting on the protagonist.
The affection-image is the cinematic expression of pure emotion. Affection-images can evoke empathy, such as when we see a character’s face overcome with sadness in a close-up. These images usually sit between perception and action images.
The action-image embodies action and reaction within a defined situation, and usually links perception and affection images. In the horror genre, this may be the “jump scare” that suddenly reveals a killer, after a long buildup of tension.
Deleuze’s time-image
In his 1985 book Cinema 2: The Time-Image, Deleuze extends his film philosophy from that of movement-images to include time-images.
The time-image is one where the experience of time is prioritised over narrative. For instance, a time-image may make use of long takes, empty spaces and irrational cuts to depict time directly onscreen, rather than represent time through props.
Through masterfully crafting movement-images and time-images, directors can (knowingly or unwittingly) create the opportunity for audiences to think about philosophical concepts and themes.
For example, in the trailer for Get Out (2017), director Jordan Peele uses a range of movement-images and time-images to convey the concepts of racism, trauma, social isolation and social stratification.
Multiple closeups of main character Chris Washington’s face looking alarmed produce affection-images (a type of movement-image) that engage the viewer’s emotions.
Peele also strategically uses time-images to intensify the themes being conveyed, such as when Rose’s mother clinks the spoon on the teacup, both moving Chris back in time and freezing him in real time.
For Deleuze, it is these embodied, affective experiences that are the fundamental conditions for thought. By allowing the film to be sensed and felt, and by transmuting these feelings into the domain of thought, the cinemagoer can become philosophically engaged.
Repetition is another element that can bear philosophical fruits, according to Deleuze. The more one repeats a film, whether by re-watching, or repeating certain sequences, the more they allow themselves to be affected by it in different ways. This opens up different avenues for thought.
How to engage philosophically with films
Cinemagoers need not be familiar with Deleuze’s ideas to engage philosophically with a film. The only thing required is an openness to the film. But if you do want to consciously approach your next viewing like a philosopher, you might consider the following steps:
Feel as you watch. Open yourself up and allow cinematic moments to affect you on an emotional and bodily level, even if this is unpleasant or uncomfortable.
Allow for multiple interpretations. Resist the temptation to fall into black and white thinking about which characters are “good” or “bad”. Remain open to different readings of the film.
Reflect on what you felt. Allow what you experienced in your body guide your thoughts afterwards. For instance, if you experienced shock, rage, or confusion, ask yourself why.
Gently arrive at some conclusions based on your multiple readings of the film. Allow for perspectives that both contribute to and challenge your worldview.
Consider watching the film again, and repeating the above steps. This will likely help you feel and think new things that further enhance your understanding of the film, and your worldview.
Ruari Elkington has received funding from The Queensland Government Dept of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI), Screen Queensland, The Embassy of France in Australia and Cinema Association Australasia
Alain Guillemain 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.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alyson Stobo-Wilson, Research Adjunct in Conservation Ecology, Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University
Alyson Stobo-Wilson
In remote central Arnhem Land, finding a northern brushtail possum is encouraging for the local Indigenous rangers. Though once common, such small native mammals are now rare. Many are threatened with extinction.
Over the past 30 years, small mammals have been disappearing from Australia’s tropical savannas. This landscape is among the nation’s most remote and seemingly untouched. But it is no longer safe from feral animals, overgrazing livestock, poor fire management and other threats.
Despite growing awareness of the problem, a lack of consensus on the most effective management actions has hindered efforts to reverse these losses. Our new research sought to overcome this hurdle and finally reach consensus on the best way forward.
We achieved this by working with experts from various land management groups and research institutes, including Traditional Owners and Indigenous rangers within the region.
This prompted a major review of the causes, and more research.
Advances in technology played a crucial role in efforts to gather further evidence. Motion-activated cameras known as camera traps enabled monitoring over vast areas.
Extensive surveys using camera traps provided data on the distribution and abundance of small mammals and feral cats. Meanwhile, collar-mounted GPS units and video cameras provided new information about feral cat behaviour.
Feral cat caught on a camera-trap in Arnhem Land. Alyson Stobo-Wilson
What we did and what we found
Our new research concerns the higher-rainfall tropical savannas of the Northern Territory and Western Australia. This area covers 950,000 square kilometres from the Kimberley in the west to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the east.
First we reviewed the literature on the topic of small mammal declines in the region. We found more than 100 relevant studies had been published since 2010.
From these research papers, we identified 11 plausible threats to small mammals. Then we asked 19 experts to score and rank each threat according to severity and scale, and whether the threat could be effectively mitigated.
We found the most severe and widespread threat to small mammals was feral cats. But broad-scale cat control is not very effective.
Ranked second was the habitat destruction caused by livestock (buffalo, horses, donkeys and cattle) and by inappropriate patterns of fire.
Actions aimed at reducing feral livestock numbers and improving fire regimes would increase vital resources such as food and shelter. Such actions can also make it harder for cats to prey on small mammals.
Feral cattle graze in the savanna woodland of the northern Kimberley. Ian Radford
Future threats and research priorities
Habitat loss from land clearing for urban, agricultural or industrial development currently affects only a small proportion of northwestern Australia. But proposed expansions — particularly for cotton and other intensive agriculture — are concerning. These developments overlap with high-rainfall areas in the Top End, where small mammal communities are still relatively intact.
Our expert group also expressed deep concern and uncertainty about the future as the climate changes. Rising temperatures and more intense rainfall events are expected to increase the frequency, extent and severity of fires. However, managing feral livestock and improving fire regimes can make the ecosystem more resilient to change.
Developing more effective tools to directly control feral cats remains a top research priority. It’s estimated cats kill around 452 million native mammals a year in Australia. About a third of these deaths occur in the tropical savannas. So while improved land management will alleviate some pressure, certain species will remain highly vulnerable unless cats can be better managed.
Water buffalo were introduced to northern Australia in the early-1800s, becoming widespread by the mid-1800s. Alyson Stobo-Wilson
In Australia, the historic disruption of Indigenous customary responsibilities — especially fire management — has contributed to the loss of small mammals.
Fortunately, Indigenous ranger programs and Indigenous Protected Areas have expanded in recent years. Increasingly widespread recognition and application of Indigenous knowledge has deepened and broadened our understanding of mammal declines.
In northern Australia, Indigenous ranger groups are global leaders in fire management. They monitor and manage some of the most remote and inaccessible parts of the continent. The land management actions needed to conserve our small mammals rely in large part on the continued support and funding of these groups.
While the federal government has committed funding to expand ranger programs nationally, ranger groups say the investment falls short of what’s needed. Mimal Land Management Aboriginal Corporation chief executive officer Dominic Nicholls told us:
Given the scale at which Indigenous ranger groups operate – and the critical role they play in protecting Australia’s biodiversity and leading innovation in the carbon industry – the level of allocated funding is insufficient to meet the basic delivery costs of these programs.
A clear path forward
Our research shows reducing feral livestock numbers and improving fire regimes in northern Australia currently offers the greatest benefit to small mammal populations — especially in the absence of effective cat controls.
But success will depend on sustained, long-term support for Indigenous rangers, who carry out much of this work. Investing in these programs is not just essential for conserving biodiversity — it also supports cultural connection, community wellbeing and climate resilience.
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Traditional Knowledge offered by participants from Mimal Land Management Aboriginal Corporation and Warddeken Land Management Limited as part of this research.
This research was funded by CSIRO. The research benefited from the involvement of researchers and land managers from CSIRO, Charles Darwin University, Warddeken Land Management Limited, Australian National University, Mimal Land Management Aboriginal Corporation, Australian Wildlife Conservancy, the WA and NT governments, Kangaroo Island Landscape Board, Ground Up: Planning and Ecology Support, Dunkeld Pastoral Co Pty Ltd and Desert Support Services.
John Woinarski has previously received funding from the Australian government’s National Environment Science Program. He is affiliated with Charles Darwin University, a member of the Biodiversity Council and a director of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.
Last week, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) released its safety review of seven active ingredients commonly used in sunscreens.
It found five were low-risk and appropriate for use in sunscreens at their current concentrations.
However, the TGA recommended tighter restrictions on two ingredients – homosalate and oxybenzone – to reduce how much can be used in a product. This is based on uncertainty about their potential effects on the endocrine system, which creates and releases hormones.
This news, together with recent reports some products may have inflated their claims of SPF coverage, might make Australians worried about whether their sunscreen products are working – and safe.
But it’s not time to abandon sunscreens. In Australia, all sunscreens must pass a strict approval process before going on the market. The TGA tests the safety and efficacy of all ingredients, and this recent review is part of the TGA’s continuing commitment to safety.
The greatest threat sunscreen poses to Australians’ health is not using it.
Still, it’s understandable people want to know what’s in their products, and any changes that might affect them. So let’s take a closer look at the safety review and what it found.
What are the active ingredients in sunscreen?
There are two main types of sunscreen: physical and chemical. This is based on the different active ingredients they use.
An active ingredient is a chemical component in a product that has an effect on the body – basically, what makes the product “work”.
In sunscreens, this is the compound that absorbs UV rays from the Sun. The other ingredients – for example, those that give the sunscreen its smell or help the skin absorb it – are “inactive”.
Physical sunscreens typically use minerals, such as titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, that can absorb the Sun’s rays but also reflect some of them.
Chemical sunscreens use a variety of chemical ingredients to absorb or scatter UV light, both long wave (UVA) or short wave (UVB).
The seven active ingredients in this review are in chemical sunscreens.
Why did the TGA do the review?
Our current limits for the concentrations of these chemicals in sunscreen are generally consistent with other regulatory agencies, such as the European Union and the US Food and Drug Administration.
However, safety is an evolving subject. The TGA periodically reexamines the safety of all therapeutic goods.
This model considers how much sunscreen someone typically applies, how much skin they cover (whole body versus face and hands, or just face) and how it’s absorbed through the skin.
Given this new model – along with changes in the EU and US approaches to sunscreen regulation – the TGA selected seven common sunscreen ingredients to investigate in depth.
Determining what’s safe
When evaluating whether chemicals are safe for human use, testing will often consider studies in animals – especially when there is no or limited data on humans. These animal tests are done by the manufacturers, not the TGA.
To take into account any unforeseen sensitivity humans may have to these chemicals, a “margin of safety” is built in. This is typically a concentration 50–100 times lower than the dose at which no negative effect was seen in animals.
The sunscreen review used a margin of safety 100 times lower than this dose as the safety threshold.
For most of the seven investigated sunscreen chemicals, the TGA found the margin of safety was above 100.
This means they’re considered safe and low-risk for long-term use.
However, two ingredients, homosalate and oxybenzone, were found to be below 100. This was based on the highest estimated sunscreen exposure, applied to the body at the maximum permitted concentration: 15% for homosalate, 10% for oxybenzone.
At lower concentrations, other uses – such as just the hands and face – could be considered low-risk for both ingredients.
What are the health concerns?
Homosalate and oxybenzone have low acute oral toxicity – meaning you would need to swallow a lot of it to experience toxic effects, nearly half a kilogram of these chemicals – and don’t cause irritation to eyes or skin.
The TGA is being very cautious here, using a very wide margin of safety under worst-case scenarios.
What are the recommendations?
The TGA recommends the allowed concentration of homosalate and oxybenzone be reduced.
But exactly how much it will be lowered is complicated, depending on whether the product is intended for adults or children, specifically for face, or the whole body, and so on.
However, some sunscreens would need to be reformulated or warning labels placed on particular formulations. The exact changes will be decided after public consultation. Submissions close on August 12.
What about benzophenone?
There is also some evidence benzophenone – a chemical produced when sunscreen that contains octocrylene degrades – may cause cancer at high concentrations.
This is based on studies in which mice and rats were fed benzophenone well above the concentration in sunscreens.
Octocrylene degrades slowly over time to benzophenone. Heat makes it degrade faster, especially at temperatures above 40°C.
The TGA has recommended restricting benzophenone to 0.0383% in sunscreens to ensure it remains safe during the product’s shelf life.
The Cancer Council advises storing sunscreens below 30°C.
The bottom line
The proposed restrictions are very conservative, based on worst-case scenarios.
But even in worst-case scenarios, the margin of safety for these ingredients is still below the level at which any negative effect was seen in animals.
The threat of cancer from sun exposure is far more serious than any potential negative effect from sunscreens.
If you do wish to avoid these chemicals before new limits are imposed, several sunscreens are available that provide high levels of protection with little or no homosalate and oxybenzone. For more information, consult product labels.
Ian Musgrave has received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council to study adverse reactions to herbal medicines and has previously been funded by the Australian Research Council to study potential natural product treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. He is currently a member of one of the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s statutory councils.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics will roll out a large-scale census test next month.
About 60,000 households will take part across the country to stress test the bureau’s collection processes and IT systems, ahead of next year’s full scale census. The survey questions change little, if at all, between the dry run and the census proper.
The population count will offer Australians an opportunity to reflect on who we are and the stories we share.
It comes at a time when traditional censuses are coming under threat worldwide.
Dying days of census
Census plays a significant part of the story of humanity. Jesus was born in a stable because a census ordered by Caesar Augusta had brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem.
They have changed down the centuries. But some things remain the same: the data collected is crucial for taxation, political representation and socio-economic indicators.
But national head counts are costly and cause enormous headaches for governments.
Vintage census television ad.
In other countries, censuses are being killed off, replaced with information compiled by other means, such as administrative government data and population surveys. Think of the overseas versions of Medicare, Centrelink and the Tax Office.
National statistical offices in the United Kingdom and New Zealand have both flagged the end of traditional censuses
The UK Office of National Statistics had been preparing for census replacement since 2011, only backtracking after a public backlash.
Funding cuts in Canada saw dual short- and long-form questionnaires which resulted in the partial collection of crucial socio-economic data akin to a sample survey. Statistics Canada now uses administrative and survey data to help meet its official statistics program.
Do we still need the census?
Replacing the census was floated a decade ago when dwindling government funding saw the Australian Bureau of Statistics struggling to “keep the lights on”.
Worried after 2016’s “censusfail”, the agency sought to ensure legislatively required data could be achieved even in the absence of a census. The bureau collected population and housing data using experimental administrative data, proving a national census isn’t necessarily needed for population estimates.
Costs associated with running a five-yearly head count and the decline in the social licence to collect such data are routinely used as justifications for replacing the census. Why conduct a wartime-like undertaking when you don’t have to?
The threat to the traditional census comes as no surprise to data scientists. Data is now ubiquitous, covering nearly every aspect of our lives – loyalty rewards, public transport cards and even frequent flyer points.
But there’s so much heavy lifting only a census can do and it’s crucial to helping Australia understand its diverse population.
More than just numbers
Data helps contextualise our lives.
Data made me feel less alone as a young person. I could see I wasn’t the only person doing it tough. Poverty wasn’t my fault, rather a wider structural problem politicians and policymakers failed to understand.
Being missed by the 1996 census as a homeless teen drives me to ensure Australia’s national census snapshot reflects the needs of the country.
Data holds powerful truths and has the capability to heal through information. Who we are, how and where we live, our commonalities and differences, and what might come next.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics is finding increasingly creative ways to communicate and bring Australians along for the ride.
Its outreach through social media makes data more accessible and fun.
The paraphernalia promoting previous censuses make it clear how much the agency is invested in ensuring complete coverage of all people. A significant departure from the stuffy practices of national statistical offices overseas.
Small solar powered census-at-school calculators have been given to pupils to help increase awareness among linguistically diverse communities. This is recognition children complete the census questionnaire in some families.
Desks of cards gifted to homeless people sleeping rough attests to the bureau’s dedication to ensuring all people are counted, no matter where or how they live
Behind The News’s take on the census.
More inclusive family photograph
But it hasn’t always been plain sailing for the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Last year’s unprecedented government interference in the independent conduct of the bureau resulted in proposed questions on sexuality and gender diversity being dumped from the 2026 census.
A public outcry forced a government back down with the sorry saga clearly demonstrating a myriad of critical data cannot be collected by other means.
The upcoming census family photograph will be more inclusive – Australians will have the opportunity to have their gender identity and sexual orientation reflected in the tally.
Family ancestry information will be broadened, and the questionnaire itself will better reflect Australian households overall.
The alternative to a census is a private, behind-closed-doors collation of personal information by government.
The good news is Australia’s census is alive and well and keeping up with the times.
Liz Allen worked as a graduate at the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2006. She receives funding from the Australian Research Council for work examining grandparenting in Australia. Liz is a member of the National Foundation of Australian Women Social Policy Committee.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Schlakman, Senior Program Director, The Florida State University Center for the Advancement of Human Rights, Florida State University
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis leads a tour of the new Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention facility for President Donald Trump and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.Andrew Cabellero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
While touring Alligator Alcatraz on July 1, 2025, President Donald Trump said, “This facility will house some of the menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet.” But new reporting from the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times reveals that of more than 700 detainees, only a third have criminal convictions.
To find out more about the state of Florida’s involvement in immigration enforcement and who can be detained at Alligator Alcatraz, The Conversation spoke with Mark Schlakman. Schlakman is a lawyer and senior program director for The Florida State University Center for the Advancement of Human Rights. He also served as special counsel to Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles, working as a liaison of sorts with the federal government during the mid-1990s when tens of thousands of Haitians and Cubans fled their island nations on makeshift boats, hoping to reach safe haven in Florida.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has characterized the migrants being detained in facilities like Alligator Alcatraz as “murderers and rapists and traffickers and drug dealers.” Do we know if the detainees at Alligator Alcatraz have been convicted of these sorts of crimes?
The Times/Herald published a list of 747 current detainees as of Sunday, July 13, 2025. Their reporters found that about a third of the detainees have criminal convictions, including attempted murder, illegal reentry to the U.S., which is a federal crime, and traffic violations. Apparently hundreds more have charges pending, though neither the federal nor state government have made public what those charges are.
There are also more than 250 detainees with no criminal history, just immigration violations.
Is it a crime for someone to be in the U.S. without legal status? In other words, is an immigration violation a crime?
No, not necessarily. It’s well established as a matter of law that physical presence in the U.S. without proper authorization is a civil violation, not a criminal offense.
However, if the federal government previously deported someone, they can be subject to federal criminal prosecution if they attempt to return without permission. That appears to be the case with some of the detainees at Alligator Alcatraz.
What usually happens if a noncitizen commits a crime in the U.S.?
Normally, if a foreign national is accused of committing a crime, they are prosecuted in a state court just like anyone else. If found guilty and sentenced to incarceration, they complete their sentence in a state prison. Once they’ve served their time, state officials can hand them over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. They are subject to deportation, but a federal immigration judge can hear any grounds for relief.
DHS has clarified that it “has not implemented, authorized, directed or funded” Alligator Alcatraz, but rather the state of Florida is providing startup funds and running this facility. What is Florida’s interest in this? Are these mostly migrants who have been scooped up by ICE in Florida?
It’s still unclear where most of these detainees were apprehended. But based on a list of six detainees released by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s office, it is clear that at least some were apprehended outside of Florida, and others simply may have been transferred to Alligator Alcatraz from federal custody elsewhere.
To establish Alligator Alcatraz, DeSantis leveraged an immigration emergency declaration, which has been ongoing since Jan. 6, 2023. A state of emergency allows a governor to exercise extraordinary executive authority. This is how he avoided requirements such as environmental impact analysis in the Everglades and concerns expressed by tribal governance surrounding that area.
This presents a stark contrast to Gov. Lawton Chiles’declaration of an immigration emergency during the mid-1990s. At that time, tens of thousands of Cubans and Haitians attempted to reach Florida shores in virtually anything that would float. Chiles’ actions as governor were informed by his experience as a U.S. senator during the Mariel boatlift in 1980, when 125,000 Cubans made landfall in Florida over the course of just six months.
During my tenure on Chiles’ staff, the governor generally opposed state legislation involving immigration. In the U.S.’s federalist system of government, immigration falls under the purview of the federal government, not the states. Chiles’ primary concern was that Floridians wouldn’t be saddled with what ought to be federal costs and responsibilities.
Chiles was open to state and local officials supporting federal immigration enforcement. But he was mindful this required finesse to avoid undermining community policing, public health priorities and the economic health of key Florida businesses and industries. To this day, the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s position reflects Chiles’ concerns about such cooperation with the federal government.
Now, in 2025, DeSantis has taken a decidedly different tack by using Florida taxpayer dollars to establish Alligator Alcatraz. The state of Florida has fronted the US$450 million to pay for this facility. DeSantis reportedly intends to seek reimbursement from FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program. Ultimately, congressional action may be necessary to obtain reimbursement. Florida is essentially lending the federal government half a billion dollars and providing other assistance to help support the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda.
You advised Florida Division of Emergency Management leadership directly for several years during the administrations of Gov. Charlie Crist and Gov. Rick Scott. Does running a detention facility like Alligator Alcatraz fall within its typical mission?
The division is tasked with preparing for and responding to both natural and human-caused disasters. In Florida, that generally means hurricanes. While the division may engage to facilitate shelter, I don’t recall any policies or procedures contemplating anything even remotely similar to Alligator Alcatraz.
DeSantis could conceivably argue that this is consistent with a 287(g) agreement authorizing state and local support for federal immigration enforcement. But such agreements typically require federal supervision of state and local activities, not the other way around.
Mark Schlakman served as special counsel to Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles and as a consultant to Emilio Gonzalez at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security during his tenure as U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director during the George W. Bush administration.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Dale, Research Fellow, the Pensions and Intergenerational Equity (PIE) research hub, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
The average age of a first-home buyer has also risen to 36, meaning an increasing number of New Zealanders (13%) are paying off their mortgages after they reach retirement age.
The number of retirees renting is also on the rise. By 2048, 40% of them will rent, placing pressure on New Zealand’s housing stock.
KiwiSaver is unlikely to replace the traditional housing nest egg. New Zealanders have, on average, NZ$37,079 in their KiwiSaver accounts, with thousands of people reaching close to retirement age with less than $10,000 saved.
Investing at the price peak
The prospect of retirement looks bleakest for those currently aged between 35 and 49 years old. A recent report from credit agency Centrix found this group was struggling the most financially.
A big part of the problem is that house prices skyrocketed just as they became first-time home buyers. The average asking price for residential property rose by 60.3% over the past decade, from $556,931 at the beginning of 2015 to $892,579 at the end of 2024.
While incomes have also increased, they have not matched housing prices. In 2000, houses cost about five times the median household income. But by 2025, the median price had risen to 7.5 times the median household income.
Those who bought their first home around the peak in 2021 are likely to be hit hardest by the forecast drop in house values. According to data insight firm Cotality (formerly Corelogic), nominal prices are expected to pass their 2021 peak by mid-2029. But when adjusted for inflation, prices in mid-2030 would be a fifth below the peak.
Working into retirement
Older New Zealanders are also facing significant housing pressures.
According to a 2022 report from Treasury, over half of superannuitants still paying off mortgages spent more than 80% of their superannuation income on housing costs. Those who are mortgage-free are spending less than 20% of their super on housing.
People between the age of 55 and 64 are likely to have purchased their homes in the late 1990s and early 2000s, so are less likely to be hurt by the 2021 peak and subsequent trough.
The possibility of using accumulated KiwiSaver funds to clear a mortgage is also diminishing. As a result of the 2025 Budget changes to KiwiSaver, employee and employer contributions will rise from April 2026 to 3.5% and from April 2028 to 4%, offsetting the reduced annual government contribution.
The end of employer contributions matters particularly to the 24% of those aged over 65 years who are still in the workforce. A rule change in 2021 means employers are not required to make contributions or to deduct employee contributions, unless the employee continues to make KiwiSaver contributions.
But current global crises are affecting KiwiSaver returns. Uncertain and volatile markets, especially for actively managed funds, mean fund managers reallocate money to try to minimise losses. Not all their bets pay off.
By 2030, Stats NZ projects that approximately 265,000 people aged 65 and over will be in the workforce.
The Office for Seniors notes that although older workers have challenges finding and staying in paid work, a third of the workforce is aged over 50 and 50% of people aged 60 to 69 are employed.
Importantly, as the Retirement Commission research found, a third of people over 65 were not working by choice. An increasing number, who neither own their home nor have significant retirement savings, have to continue working past 65 because they need the money to eat and pay the bills.
As New Zealand’s population ages, and more seniors have to work to pay for the essentials, it’s clear retirement is going to look different. Betting on the value of a house to fund life after 65 is less certain than it used to be. More than ever, New Zealanders need to consider how they will live well in their later years.
Claire Dale 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.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Dale, Research Fellow, the Pensions and Intergenerational Equity (PIE) research hub, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
The average age of a first-home buyer has also risen to 36, meaning an increasing number of New Zealanders (13%) are paying off their mortgages after they reach retirement age.
The number of retirees renting is also on the rise. By 2048, 40% of them will rent, placing pressure on New Zealand’s housing stock.
KiwiSaver is unlikely to replace the traditional housing nest egg. New Zealanders have, on average, NZ$37,079 in their KiwiSaver accounts, with thousands of people reaching close to retirement age with less than $10,000 saved.
Investing at the price peak
The prospect of retirement looks bleakest for those currently aged between 35 and 49 years old. A recent report from credit agency Centrix found this group was struggling the most financially.
A big part of the problem is that house prices skyrocketed just as they became first-time home buyers. The average asking price for residential property rose by 60.3% over the past decade, from $556,931 at the beginning of 2015 to $892,579 at the end of 2024.
While incomes have also increased, they have not matched housing prices. In 2000, houses cost about five times the median household income. But by 2025, the median price had risen to 7.5 times the median household income.
Those who bought their first home around the peak in 2021 are likely to be hit hardest by the forecast drop in house values. According to data insight firm Cotality (formerly Corelogic), nominal prices are expected to pass their 2021 peak by mid-2029. But when adjusted for inflation, prices in mid-2030 would be a fifth below the peak.
Working into retirement
Older New Zealanders are also facing significant housing pressures.
According to a 2022 report from Treasury, over half of superannuitants still paying off mortgages spent more than 80% of their superannuation income on housing costs. Those who are mortgage-free are spending less than 20% of their super on housing.
People between the age of 55 and 64 are likely to have purchased their homes in the late 1990s and early 2000s, so are less likely to be hurt by the 2021 peak and subsequent trough.
The possibility of using accumulated KiwiSaver funds to clear a mortgage is also diminishing. As a result of the 2025 Budget changes to KiwiSaver, employee and employer contributions will rise from April 2026 to 3.5% and from April 2028 to 4%, offsetting the reduced annual government contribution.
The end of employer contributions matters particularly to the 24% of those aged over 65 years who are still in the workforce. A rule change in 2021 means employers are not required to make contributions or to deduct employee contributions, unless the employee continues to make KiwiSaver contributions.
But current global crises are affecting KiwiSaver returns. Uncertain and volatile markets, especially for actively managed funds, mean fund managers reallocate money to try to minimise losses. Not all their bets pay off.
By 2030, Stats NZ projects that approximately 265,000 people aged 65 and over will be in the workforce.
The Office for Seniors notes that although older workers have challenges finding and staying in paid work, a third of the workforce is aged over 50 and 50% of people aged 60 to 69 are employed.
Importantly, as the Retirement Commission research found, a third of people over 65 were not working by choice. An increasing number, who neither own their home nor have significant retirement savings, have to continue working past 65 because they need the money to eat and pay the bills.
As New Zealand’s population ages, and more seniors have to work to pay for the essentials, it’s clear retirement is going to look different. Betting on the value of a house to fund life after 65 is less certain than it used to be. More than ever, New Zealanders need to consider how they will live well in their later years.
Claire Dale 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.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Dale, Research Fellow, the Pensions and Intergenerational Equity (PIE) research hub, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
The average age of a first-home buyer has also risen to 36, meaning an increasing number of New Zealanders (13%) are paying off their mortgages after they reach retirement age.
The number of retirees renting is also on the rise. By 2048, 40% of them will rent, placing pressure on New Zealand’s housing stock.
KiwiSaver is unlikely to replace the traditional housing nest egg. New Zealanders have, on average, NZ$37,079 in their KiwiSaver accounts, with thousands of people reaching close to retirement age with less than $10,000 saved.
Investing at the price peak
The prospect of retirement looks bleakest for those currently aged between 35 and 49 years old. A recent report from credit agency Centrix found this group was struggling the most financially.
A big part of the problem is that house prices skyrocketed just as they became first-time home buyers. The average asking price for residential property rose by 60.3% over the past decade, from $556,931 at the beginning of 2015 to $892,579 at the end of 2024.
While incomes have also increased, they have not matched housing prices. In 2000, houses cost about five times the median household income. But by 2025, the median price had risen to 7.5 times the median household income.
Those who bought their first home around the peak in 2021 are likely to be hit hardest by the forecast drop in house values. According to data insight firm Cotality (formerly Corelogic), nominal prices are expected to pass their 2021 peak by mid-2029. But when adjusted for inflation, prices in mid-2030 would be a fifth below the peak.
Working into retirement
Older New Zealanders are also facing significant housing pressures.
According to a 2022 report from Treasury, over half of superannuitants still paying off mortgages spent more than 80% of their superannuation income on housing costs. Those who are mortgage-free are spending less than 20% of their super on housing.
People between the age of 55 and 64 are likely to have purchased their homes in the late 1990s and early 2000s, so are less likely to be hurt by the 2021 peak and subsequent trough.
The possibility of using accumulated KiwiSaver funds to clear a mortgage is also diminishing. As a result of the 2025 Budget changes to KiwiSaver, employee and employer contributions will rise from April 2026 to 3.5% and from April 2028 to 4%, offsetting the reduced annual government contribution.
The end of employer contributions matters particularly to the 24% of those aged over 65 years who are still in the workforce. A rule change in 2021 means employers are not required to make contributions or to deduct employee contributions, unless the employee continues to make KiwiSaver contributions.
But current global crises are affecting KiwiSaver returns. Uncertain and volatile markets, especially for actively managed funds, mean fund managers reallocate money to try to minimise losses. Not all their bets pay off.
By 2030, Stats NZ projects that approximately 265,000 people aged 65 and over will be in the workforce.
The Office for Seniors notes that although older workers have challenges finding and staying in paid work, a third of the workforce is aged over 50 and 50% of people aged 60 to 69 are employed.
Importantly, as the Retirement Commission research found, a third of people over 65 were not working by choice. An increasing number, who neither own their home nor have significant retirement savings, have to continue working past 65 because they need the money to eat and pay the bills.
As New Zealand’s population ages, and more seniors have to work to pay for the essentials, it’s clear retirement is going to look different. Betting on the value of a house to fund life after 65 is less certain than it used to be. More than ever, New Zealanders need to consider how they will live well in their later years.
Claire Dale 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.
The Fiji government looks set to pay around NZ$1.5 million in damages to the disgraced former head of the country’s anti-corruption agency FICAC.
The state is offering Barbara Malimali an out-of-court settlement after her lawyer lodged a judicial review of her sacking in the High Court in Suva.
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka suspended Malimali from her role on May 29, following a damning Commission of Inquiry into her appointment.
Malimali was described as “universally corrupt” by Justice David Ashton-Lewis, the commissioner of the nine-week investigation, which involved 35 witnesses.
“She was a pawn in the hands of devious members of government, who wanted any allegations against them or other government members thrown out,” Ashton-Lewis told RNZ Pacific Waves earlier this month.
Tanya Waqanika, who acts for Malimali, told RNZ Pacific that her client was seeking a “substantial” payout for damages and unpaid dues.
Waqanika met lawyers from the Attorney-General’s Office in the capital, Suva, on Tuesday after earlier negotiations failed.
Expected to hear in writing She declined to say exactly what was discussed, but said she expected to hear back in writing from the other party the same day.
A High Court judge has given the government until 3pm on Friday to reach a settlement, otherwise he will rule on the application on Monday.
“We’ll see what they come up with, that’s the beauty of negotiations, but NZ$1.5 million would be a good amount to play with after your career has been ruined,” Waqanika said.
“[Malimali’s] career spans over 27 years, but it is now down the drain thanks to Ashton-Lewis and the damage the inquiry report has done.”
She said Malimali also wanted a public apology, as she was being defamed every day in social media.
“I don’t expect we’ll get one out of Ashton-Lewis,” she said.
Adjournment sought During a hearing in the High Court on Monday, lawyers for the state sought an adjournment to discuss a settlement with Waqanika.
However, she opposed this, saying that the government’s legal team had vast resources and they should have been prepared for the hearing.
Malimali filed a case against President Naiqama Lalabalavu, Rabuka and the Attorney-General on June 13 on the grounds that her suspension was unconstitutional.
Waqanika said the President suspended her on the advice of the Prime Minister instead of consulting the Judicial Services Commission.
Government lawyers approached Waqanika offering a compensation deal the same day she lodged a judicial review in the High Court.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
The Fiji government looks set to pay around NZ$1.5 million in damages to the disgraced former head of the country’s anti-corruption agency FICAC.
The state is offering Barbara Malimali an out-of-court settlement after her lawyer lodged a judicial review of her sacking in the High Court in Suva.
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka suspended Malimali from her role on May 29, following a damning Commission of Inquiry into her appointment.
Malimali was described as “universally corrupt” by Justice David Ashton-Lewis, the commissioner of the nine-week investigation, which involved 35 witnesses.
“She was a pawn in the hands of devious members of government, who wanted any allegations against them or other government members thrown out,” Ashton-Lewis told RNZ Pacific Waves earlier this month.
Tanya Waqanika, who acts for Malimali, told RNZ Pacific that her client was seeking a “substantial” payout for damages and unpaid dues.
Waqanika met lawyers from the Attorney-General’s Office in the capital, Suva, on Tuesday after earlier negotiations failed.
Expected to hear in writing She declined to say exactly what was discussed, but said she expected to hear back in writing from the other party the same day.
A High Court judge has given the government until 3pm on Friday to reach a settlement, otherwise he will rule on the application on Monday.
“We’ll see what they come up with, that’s the beauty of negotiations, but NZ$1.5 million would be a good amount to play with after your career has been ruined,” Waqanika said.
“[Malimali’s] career spans over 27 years, but it is now down the drain thanks to Ashton-Lewis and the damage the inquiry report has done.”
She said Malimali also wanted a public apology, as she was being defamed every day in social media.
“I don’t expect we’ll get one out of Ashton-Lewis,” she said.
Adjournment sought During a hearing in the High Court on Monday, lawyers for the state sought an adjournment to discuss a settlement with Waqanika.
However, she opposed this, saying that the government’s legal team had vast resources and they should have been prepared for the hearing.
Malimali filed a case against President Naiqama Lalabalavu, Rabuka and the Attorney-General on June 13 on the grounds that her suspension was unconstitutional.
Waqanika said the President suspended her on the advice of the Prime Minister instead of consulting the Judicial Services Commission.
Government lawyers approached Waqanika offering a compensation deal the same day she lodged a judicial review in the High Court.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
The Fiji government looks set to pay around NZ$1.5 million in damages to the disgraced former head of the country’s anti-corruption agency FICAC.
The state is offering Barbara Malimali an out-of-court settlement after her lawyer lodged a judicial review of her sacking in the High Court in Suva.
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka suspended Malimali from her role on May 29, following a damning Commission of Inquiry into her appointment.
Malimali was described as “universally corrupt” by Justice David Ashton-Lewis, the commissioner of the nine-week investigation, which involved 35 witnesses.
“She was a pawn in the hands of devious members of government, who wanted any allegations against them or other government members thrown out,” Ashton-Lewis told RNZ Pacific Waves earlier this month.
Tanya Waqanika, who acts for Malimali, told RNZ Pacific that her client was seeking a “substantial” payout for damages and unpaid dues.
Waqanika met lawyers from the Attorney-General’s Office in the capital, Suva, on Tuesday after earlier negotiations failed.
Expected to hear in writing She declined to say exactly what was discussed, but said she expected to hear back in writing from the other party the same day.
A High Court judge has given the government until 3pm on Friday to reach a settlement, otherwise he will rule on the application on Monday.
“We’ll see what they come up with, that’s the beauty of negotiations, but NZ$1.5 million would be a good amount to play with after your career has been ruined,” Waqanika said.
“[Malimali’s] career spans over 27 years, but it is now down the drain thanks to Ashton-Lewis and the damage the inquiry report has done.”
She said Malimali also wanted a public apology, as she was being defamed every day in social media.
“I don’t expect we’ll get one out of Ashton-Lewis,” she said.
Adjournment sought During a hearing in the High Court on Monday, lawyers for the state sought an adjournment to discuss a settlement with Waqanika.
However, she opposed this, saying that the government’s legal team had vast resources and they should have been prepared for the hearing.
Malimali filed a case against President Naiqama Lalabalavu, Rabuka and the Attorney-General on June 13 on the grounds that her suspension was unconstitutional.
Waqanika said the President suspended her on the advice of the Prime Minister instead of consulting the Judicial Services Commission.
Government lawyers approached Waqanika offering a compensation deal the same day she lodged a judicial review in the High Court.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
The Fiji government looks set to pay around NZ$1.5 million in damages to the disgraced former head of the country’s anti-corruption agency FICAC.
The state is offering Barbara Malimali an out-of-court settlement after her lawyer lodged a judicial review of her sacking in the High Court in Suva.
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka suspended Malimali from her role on May 29, following a damning Commission of Inquiry into her appointment.
Malimali was described as “universally corrupt” by Justice David Ashton-Lewis, the commissioner of the nine-week investigation, which involved 35 witnesses.
“She was a pawn in the hands of devious members of government, who wanted any allegations against them or other government members thrown out,” Ashton-Lewis told RNZ Pacific Waves earlier this month.
Tanya Waqanika, who acts for Malimali, told RNZ Pacific that her client was seeking a “substantial” payout for damages and unpaid dues.
Waqanika met lawyers from the Attorney-General’s Office in the capital, Suva, on Tuesday after earlier negotiations failed.
Expected to hear in writing She declined to say exactly what was discussed, but said she expected to hear back in writing from the other party the same day.
A High Court judge has given the government until 3pm on Friday to reach a settlement, otherwise he will rule on the application on Monday.
“We’ll see what they come up with, that’s the beauty of negotiations, but NZ$1.5 million would be a good amount to play with after your career has been ruined,” Waqanika said.
“[Malimali’s] career spans over 27 years, but it is now down the drain thanks to Ashton-Lewis and the damage the inquiry report has done.”
She said Malimali also wanted a public apology, as she was being defamed every day in social media.
“I don’t expect we’ll get one out of Ashton-Lewis,” she said.
Adjournment sought During a hearing in the High Court on Monday, lawyers for the state sought an adjournment to discuss a settlement with Waqanika.
However, she opposed this, saying that the government’s legal team had vast resources and they should have been prepared for the hearing.
Malimali filed a case against President Naiqama Lalabalavu, Rabuka and the Attorney-General on June 13 on the grounds that her suspension was unconstitutional.
Waqanika said the President suspended her on the advice of the Prime Minister instead of consulting the Judicial Services Commission.
Government lawyers approached Waqanika offering a compensation deal the same day she lodged a judicial review in the High Court.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
That extra 10c on your morning coffee. That $2 surcharge on your taxi ride. The sneaky 1.5% fee when you pay by card at your local restaurant. These could all soon be history.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has proposed a sweeping reform: abolishing card payment surcharges. The central bank says it’s in the public interest to scrap the system and estimates consumers could collectively save $1.2 billion annually.
But like all major financial reforms, the devil is in the detail.
The 20-year experiment is over
Surcharging was introduced more than two decades ago to expose the true cost of different payment methods. In the early 2000s, card fees were high, cash was king, and surcharges helped nudge consumers toward lower-cost options.
But fast-forward to 2025, and the payments ecosystem has changed dramatically. Cash now accounts for just 13% of in-person transactions, and the shift to contactless payments, accelerated by the pandemic, has made cards the default for most Australians.
When there’s no real alternative, a surcharge becomes less a useful price signal and more a penalty for convenience.
After an eight month review, the bank’s Payments System Board has concluded the surcharge model no longer works in a predominantly cashless economy. The proposal now on the table is to phase out surcharges and instead push for simplified, all-inclusive pricing.
Who saves – and who pays?
At first glance, removing surcharges looks like a win for consumers. Every household could save about $60 per year, based on the RBA’s estimates. But payment costs don’t vanish – they shift.
This is where the Reserve Bank’s proposal is more sophisticated than it may appear. Alongside banning surcharges, it plans to lower interchange fees (the fees merchants pay to card networks like Visa and Mastercard) and introduce caps on international card transactions.
These changes aim to reduce the burden on merchants, which in turn limits the pressure to raise prices.
Could prices still rise?
Some worry that without surcharges, businesses will simply embed the costs into product prices. That’s possible. However, the bank estimates this would result in only a 0.1 percentage point increase in consumer prices overall.
There are three reasons for that:
most merchants already don’t surcharge, especially small businesses. Of them, 90% may have included card costs in their pricing
competition keeps pricing in check. Retailers in competitive markets can’t raise prices without risking customers
transparency is coming. The reforms will require payment providers to disclose fees more clearly, allowing merchants to compare and switch – fostering more competition and lower costs.
That said, the effects won’t be felt evenly. Merchants in sectors that do currently surcharge, like hospitality, transport, and tourism, will need to rethink their pricing strategies. Some may absorb costs; others may pass them on.
The winners
Consumers stand to benefit most. They’ll avoid surprise fees at checkout, won’t need to switch payment methods to dodge surcharges, and won’t have to report excessive fees to the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission. Combined with lower interchange fees, this means consumers should face less friction and more predictable pricing.
About 90% of small businesses don’t currently surcharge and would gain around $185 million in net benefits. These businesses often pay higher interchange fees, so the reform will reduce their costs. New transparency requirements will also make it easier to find better deals from payment service providers (PSPs).
Large businesses already receive lower domestic interchange rates, but they’ll benefit from new caps on foreign-issued card transactions, which is a win for those in e-commerce and tourism.
The losers
Banks that issue cards stand to lose about $900 million in interchange revenue under the preferred reform package. Some may respond by raising cardholder fees or cutting rewards, especially on premium credit cards. But they may also gain from increased credit card use as surcharges disappear.
The 10% of small and 12% of large merchants who currently surcharge will have to adjust. They may face retraining costs and need to revise their pricing strategies.
Most will be able to adapt, but the transition won’t be cost-free.
Payment service providers will face about $25 million in compliance costs to remove surcharges and provide clearer fee breakdowns. For some, this may involve significant system changes, though one-off in nature.
Will it work?
The Reserve Bank’s proposal tackles real problems: an outdated surcharge model, opaque pricing by payment service providers, and bundling of unrelated services into payment fees. Its success depends on how well these reforms are implemented and whether they deliver real price transparency and lower costs.
Removing visible price signals may create cross-subsidisation, where users of low-cost debit cards subsidise those who use high-cost rewards credit cards. Some economists argue this could reduce overall efficiency in the system.
International experience offers mixed lessons. While the European Union and United Kingdom banned most surcharges years ago, outcomes have varied depending on market conditions. Efficiency gains haven’t always followed, and small business concerns persist.
The road ahead
The Reserve Bank is seeking feedback until August 26, with a final decision due by year-end. If adopted, the reform will be phased in, allowing time for businesses to adapt.
For consumers, this may mark the end of hidden payment fees. But for the broader system, success will depend on more than just eliminating surcharges. It will require meaningful competition, transparency, and vigilance during the transition.
While not a major omission, mobile wallets (such as Apple Pay) and Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services represent a missing component in the broader payments ecosystem that the current reforms do not yet address.
These platforms operate outside the traditional regulatory framework, often imposing higher merchant fees and lacking the transparency applied to card networks.
Their growing popularity, especially among younger consumers, means they increasingly shape payment behaviour and merchant cost structures. To build a truly future-ready and equitable payments system, these emerging models may need to be brought into the regulatory fold.
Angel Zhong 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.
