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Category: Features

  • MIL-Evening Report: Genes, environment or a special bond? Why some twins talk and think in unison

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeffrey Craig, Professor in Medical Sciences, Deakin University

    An interview with Paula and Bridgette Powers – identical twins who witnessed their mother’s carjacking – recently went viral. The way they spoke and gestured in unison has captivated global audiences.

    Bridgette and Paula Powers have gained global attention for the way they speak.

    Genetically, identical twins are clones. They result from the splitting of an early embryo, meaning they share the same genes.

    In contrast, fraternal twins are the result of two eggs being fertilised by two different sperm. On average they share 50% of their genes – the same as any siblings who share both their biological mother and father.

    So, when identical twins talk and gesture in unison (known as synchrony), is it down to genes? The answer can be complicated.

    Genes aren’t the only influence on looks, language and like-minded thinking. Let’s break down the factors that might lead some twins to speak – and apparently think – in unison.

    A close bond in a shared environment

    Almost all twins, even “identical” ones, show some differences in physical, mental and emotional traits. They also regard themselves as distinct individuals and typically don’t like being referred to as “the twins”.

    Yet we know most people naturally mimic the way those close to them speak and move, even without realising it. This phenomenon is called automatic mimicry and may be part of healthy social development, helping people synchronise behaviours and share emotions.

    For identical twins who grow up in the same home, school and community, the effect of a shared environment and close bond may be particularly intense.

    Twins may become each other’s main social companion.
    Lana G/Shutterstock

    Paula and Bridgette Powers, for example, have shared an environment: not only the same parents, home and upbringing, but also the same job, running a bird rescue charity.

    Twins may know each other so well they can intuitively sense what the other twin is about to say — and may feel like their brains are in sync. The Powers sisters have explained:

    our brains must think alike at the same time.

    In contrast, twins who grow up apart share many personality traits, but without years of shared interaction they are less likely to develop synchronised speech or mirrored behaviours. However, they do display many of the same unusual habits and idiosyncrasies.

    What about genetics?

    Studying identical and fraternal twins separated at birth can help us unravel how much of our behaviours – intelligence, personality and temperament – are influenced by genes and environment.

    Even when identical twins grow up apart, they tend to closely resemble one another – not only physically, but in their personality, interests and behaviours. Fraternal twins, in general, are much less alike. This tells us genes matter.

    One of us (Nancy) was a researcher with the Minnesota Study of Twins Raised Apart, which lasted from 1979 to 1999 and looked at more than 100 sets of twins (and triplets) separated at birth and raised apart. Twins were separated for various reasons, such as the stigma of single motherhood, inadequate family resources and maternal death.

    The study comprehensively examined factors affecting a wide range of psychological, physical and medical traits. Researchers wanted to understand the impact of differences in their life histories on both identical and fraternal twins, reared apart and how they affected the current similarities and differences between them.

    A striking finding was identical twins raised apart are as similar in personality as identical twins raised together. For example, the Minnesota researchers found little difference in traits such as wellbeing and aggression, whether identical twins were raised together or apart.

    This shows genes play an important role in shaping our personality. Genes also affect the way we process speech and language.

    Sharing identical genes may mean identical twins also respond to situations in similar ways. This is because their brains lead them to behave in comparable ways. This genetic closeness, which underlies their behavioural resemblance, explains why they may independently say or do the same thing, without any need for a mystical explanation.

    The Minnesota study also found when identical twins were reunited they formed closer relationships with each other than reunited fraternal twins did. This suggests perceptions of similarity in behaviour might draw people together and help keep them connected.

    We now know genes and environment each account for half the person-to-person differences in personality. However, the life events we individually experience remain the most important factor shaping how our unique traits are expressed and who we ultimately become.

    What about a secret ‘twin language’?

    Parents of identical twins may be left baffled as their children, even as toddlers, seem to communicate through babbles and gestures that no one else can understand.

    Parents may observe young twins communicating without words.

    Each twin pair has their own way of communicating. Twins’ private speech, also called idioglossia, cryptophasia or a “secret language”, refers to verbal and nonverbal exchanges most other people don’t understand. This is different to synchronised speech.

    Private speech is displayed by about 40% of twins. However, estimates vary wildly – ranging from as low as 2% to as high as 47%. That’s mainly because researchers define and measure it differently.

    Private speech usually fades as children age, at about three years of age. But some twins continue to use it into early childhood.

    Why are we so fascinated by twins?

    Twins continue to fascinate us. That is clear in the wealth of media attention they receive, their popularity in scientific studies, and their presence in myths and legends across all continents.

    Perhaps it is because when we see identical twins who look and act so much alike, it challenges our belief that we are all unique.

    But even identical twins are not exact replicas of one another. Genetic changes, events in the womb, and/or life experiences can conspire to create differences between them.

    Nevertheless, most identical twins are more alike and socially closer than any other pair of people on the planet.

    Bridgette and Paula Powers appear in an episode of Australian Story airing on Monday on ABCTV and ABC iview.

    Jeffrey Craig has received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council. He is the Patron of the Australian Multiple Birth Organisation, and a Member of the International Society of Twin Studies.

    Nancy Segal 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.

    – ref. Genes, environment or a special bond? Why some twins talk and think in unison – https://theconversation.com/genes-environment-or-a-special-bond-why-some-twins-talk-and-think-in-unison-256099

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Grief, strength and resistance: The Black Woman of Gippsland is a powerful reckoning with colonial myths

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bianca Williams, Research Centre Manager, The Australian Centre, The University of Melbourne

    Pia Johnson/Melbourne Theatre Company

    A woman is tossed ashore, bedraggled and alone. She is believed to be a survivor of a shipwreck, possibly from the Britannia or the Britomart, both lost in the Bass Strait that year.

    In 1846, the colony of Melbourne was gripped by panic as rumours spread that a white woman had been shipwrecked off the coast of Gippsland and was being held by a group of First Nations people at Port Albert.

    It was Angus McMillan, a Scottish pastoralist and perpetrator of several massacres of Gunaikurnai people, who first claimed to have seen a white woman at a First Nations camp near the area. Her alleged captivity captured the colonial imagination, with newspapers speculating wildly about the fate of a “virtuous” white woman lost in the Gippsland bushland.

    The legend of the “white woman of Gippsland” became one of the most enduring myths of colonial Australia. Though never verified, it was used to justify violent “rescue missions” and brutal massacres across Gunaikurnai Country.

    Nearly two centuries later, Andrea James’ The Black Woman of Gippsland reclaims this history.

    Restaging myth

    Written and directed by the Yorta Yorta and Gunaikurnai playwright, a descendant of the Thorpe and Pepper clans, The Black Woman of Gippsland restages the myth as a contemporary mystery centred on truth, memory and survival.

    Based on real events and set on James’ grandmother’s Country, it continues a powerful tradition of First Nations storytelling on stage.

    This play continues a powerful tradition of First Nations storytelling on stage.
    Pia Johnson/Melbourne Theatre Company

    James’ play flips the colonial script. It shifts attention away from the imagined white captive and toward the real lives, losses and resistance of the Gunaikurnai people.

    Through a bold act of theatrical truth-telling, the audience is drawn into a story that refuses silence and resists erasure.

    Set in the present, the myth’s long shadow stretches into the life of Gunaikurnai PhD student Jacinta, played by the staunch Chenoa Deemal. Jacinta’s research into the so-called white woman legend draws her into a tangled web of historical violence and intergenerational trauma.

    Ursula Yovich is deadly as Aunty Rochelle.
    Pia Johnson/Melbourne Theatre Company

    Ursula Yovich is deadly as Aunty Rochelle, the no-nonsense family protector whose warmth and authority ground the story. Zach Blampied brings levity to Jacinta’s teenage cousin, Kyle, through his likeable, easygoing presence. Ian Bliss delivers a chilling portrayal of a small-town sergeant shaped by denial and quiet menace.

    Through these contemporary perspectives, The Black Woman of Gippsland exposes the myths Australia continues to uphold and the truths it still refuses to hear.

    Resisting realism

    Blending projected imagery and stylised design, the production resists realism in favour of memory, spirit and sensation.

    The set (Romanie Harper) and lighting (Verity Hampson) gives a dreamlike, immersive atmosphere. James Henry’s sound design and vocals by Yovich add emotional and cultural depth.

    The production resists realism in favour of memory, spirit and sensation.
    Pia Johnson/Melbourne Theatre Company

    Most strikingly, colonial records have been transformed into song and passed on to the Gunaikurnai community, with the guidance of Elder Wayne Thorpe and choreography by Brent Watkins.

    This is theatre that breathes beyond the stage, reconnecting culture and story across generations.

    Grief, strength and resistance

    Though grounded in a specific place, The Black Woman of Gippsland speaks to a broader national truth. Colonial myths have shaped Australia’s identity, often justifying violence in the name of “civilisation”.

    Stories like the white woman of Gippsland were not harmless fictions – they underpinned massacres, fear campaigns and some of the first Black deaths in custody.

    As a Ngemba woman from another part of this continent, I recognise the grief, strength and resistance woven through this story. This is not my Country, but the violence this myth enabled is something all our communities feel.

    James has created a moving and necessary work that centres stories long denied.
    Pia Johnson/Melbourne Theatre Company

    The Black Woman of Gippsland speaks powerfully to cultural survival, intergenerational knowledge and the urgent need for reckoning, even when it is deeply uncomfortable.

    The Black Woman of Gippsland is not easy viewing, nor is it meant to be. It asks us to sit with the silences in this nation’s history and challenges us to listen not just with empathy, but with accountability.

    The truth is complex, and Australia has a long history of turning away when First Nations voices speak too clearly.

    Still, with generosity, rage and care, James has created a moving and necessary work that centres stories long denied. The question audiences must ask is how long awareness can stand in place of action – and whether we are willing to move beyond it.

    The Black Woman of Gippsland is at the Melbourne Theatre Company as part of the YIRRAMBOI Festival until May 31.

    Bianca Williams 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.

    – ref. Grief, strength and resistance: The Black Woman of Gippsland is a powerful reckoning with colonial myths – https://theconversation.com/grief-strength-and-resistance-the-black-woman-of-gippsland-is-a-powerful-reckoning-with-colonial-myths-254609

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Liberal Party reclaims Goldstein – how Tim Wilson turned back the Teal tidal wave

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Phoebe Hayman, PhD Candidate and Casual Academic in Politics, La Trobe University

    Tim Wilson’s victory over independent MP Zoe Daniel to reclaim his Melbourne seat of Goldstein has grabbed post-election headlines.

    He is the only Liberal to achieve such a feat since six Teals stormed inner-city blue-ribbon seats at the 2022 election. Wilson’s return to parliament has triggered talk of a possible tilt for the Liberal Party leadership.

    How remarkable was his victory in Goldstein? Could his successful campaign be a template for other Liberals hoping to seize back territory from the Teals?

    Coalition fightback

    Other coalition candidates also triumphed over high-profile independents.

    The Liberal Party has retained Bradfield, with Gisele Kapterian edging out Teal candidate Nicolette Boele.

    Frontbencher Dan Tehan held off a strong challenge from Alex Dyson in Wannon. Likewise, backbencher Pat Conaghan, who was challenged by Caz Heise in Cowper.

    Meanwhile in Kooyong, Amelia Hamer fell just short of Teal MP Monique Ryan.

    Growing support

    Despite the setbacks in some seats, the community independents movement is stronger than ever in 2025.

    Curtin’s Kate Chaney was widely tipped to lose her seat, but she was returned with a small two-party preferred swing.

    Other crossbenchers are back in Clark, Indi, Mackellar, Mayo, Warringah and Wentworth.

    Independent Dai Le who is not aligned with the Teals, was returned in Fowler. So, too, Andrew Gee in Calare.

    Independents received strong support from a number of quarters.

    Climate 200 funded 35 candidates, up from 22 three years ago. The Regional Voices Fund supported 13 non-metropolitan independents. The volunteer armies knocking on doors were larger than ever before.

    Voters responded. On the latest count, Labor’s primary vote was less than 35%, while support for the Liberal Party declined to around 32%. Minor parties and independents picked up 33% of the vote, with the Teals doing particularly well, according to ABC election analyst Antony Green:

    All these Teals won from second place last time. This time they are winning from first place.

    Wilson’s success in Goldstein bucked these national trends. So how did he do it?

    Learning the lessons from 2022

    At the last electon, Wilson ran using the same messaging as the national campaign – national security and the economy.

    Wilson repeatedly referred to Daniel as a Climate 200 “fake independent” and reframed the local focus of independents as “parochial”. His campaign was negative and unsuccessful.

    Wilson’s 2025 campaign had a distinct shift in tone. It is clear that he learned many lessons from his Teal rival.

    This time around, he embraced social media with a focus on community and “listening”. Despite a reputation for being combative, his posts showed a positive, hyper-local campaign that did not mention his rival at all.

    When he tapped into national themes, he focused on low inflation, affordable homes and community safety.

    Tim Wilson campaign advertisement for the seat of Goldstein.

    Like the Teals, he also managed to muster an army of volunteers. These grassroots efforts began almost a year before the election, kicked off with forums to hear from the community. Door knocking and high visibility across the electorate made a difference.

    The Jewish vote

    Goldstein is home to a significant concentration of Jewish voters and securing their vote was vital.

    The Israel-Gaza conflict, and the firebombing attack on the orthodox Adass Israel synagogue in nearby Ripponlea, brought the issue of antisemitism to the fore in the lead up to the campaign.

    For Wilson, this was the only issue on which he went negative. Daniel’s campaign described his line of attack as “brutal, hostile and abusive”.

    But it paid off with Wilson recording swings of up to 7.56% across Caulfield and Elsternwick, where the Jewish population is largest. This enabled him to recover much of the ground lost in 2022.

    Teal campaign more negative

    Daniel’s task as an independent MP was to convince voters she delivered for her community. But this was difficult to showcase, given the crowded nature of the crossbench in the 47th parliament.

    Daniel still had a strong grassroots movement behind her. But her messages about Dutton, emphasising his hard man, “Trumpian” character, brought a more negative tone to her campaign.

    Daniel recorded large swings of up to 10% in suburbs such as Moorabbin and Bentleigh, which have a lower socio-economic base than the other parts of the electorate and have traditionally voted Labor.

    But the “Golden Mile” that stretches along the bay from Brighton to Black Rock swung heavily toward Wilson. In wealthier suburbs, such as Hampton, he secured swings of up to 10% in the two-party preferred count.

    With such narrow margins, these shifts were enough to change the outcome.

    Building momentum

    Wilson won in part by adopting the campaign strategies used by the Teals. We should expect to see more candidates – including from the major parties – using these tools in future elections.

    Despite Daniel’s defeat, support for community candidates grew in 2025. But to overcome institutional barriers and the vagaries of preferences, independents will need to continue to build on their momentum.

    In 2028, the new election donations laws will also be in effect, which will limit the war chests raised by community independents.

    Campaigning skills and strategy will prove more important than ever.

    Phoebe Hayman receives funding from the Department of Education via a Research Training Scholarship.

    Amy Nethery 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.

    – ref. Liberal Party reclaims Goldstein – how Tim Wilson turned back the Teal tidal wave – https://theconversation.com/liberal-party-reclaims-goldstein-how-tim-wilson-turned-back-the-teal-tidal-wave-256201

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: S. Shakthidharan’s ambitious play The Wrong Gods is a profound critique of progress and modernity

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Niro Kandasamy, Lecturer in History, University of Sydney

    Brett Boardman/Belvoir

    S. Shakthidharan is one of Australian theatre’s most prominent writers and directors. His Counting and Cracking (2019) and The Jungle and the Sea (2022) received critical acclaim and toured internationally.

    These plays focused on armed conflict and displacement in Tamil Eelam, Sri Lanka. Shakthidharan’s new play shifts settings across the Palk Strait to the contemporary struggles of a remote Indian village fending off the ravages of modernity.

    The Wrong Gods, directed by Shakthidharan with Hannah Goodwin, is an ambitious play with an all-female and brown cast. It traces the triumphs and tribulations of single mother Nirmala (Nadie Kammallaweera), fighting to protect her family and valley from the “new” world built on the promise of progress.

    In an era of multiple crises, the play draws attention to global Indigenous connections to the natural world – in striking contrast to the extractive and capitalist logics of most modern development.

    The ‘old’ and the ‘new’

    Nirmala is worried as her daughter, Isha (Radhika Mudaliyar), is loosing interest and confidence in Indigenous practices. Nirmala is determined to ensure Isha not only remembers what to do in the valley but understands why.

    Isha is a curious girl with a soaring imagination. Her dreams appear wild: she wants to finish school and become a scientist. A few school lessons in the city open Isha to a new world, to “new gods”, unlike the gods she’s used to of the river and her natural surroundings.

    Nirmala insists her daughter remain in the valley; Isha seeks to venture out and discover a different world.
    Brett Boardman/Belvoir

    When Lakshmi (Vaishnavi Suryaprakash) arrives uninvited, Nirmala and Isha are cautious and weary. But Lakshmi has big plans for the valley. She introduces Nirmala to new farming methods and crop varieties. To sweeten the deal, Lakshmi offers to pay for Isha’s university education.

    Nirmala and Isha are both initially doubtful about Lakshmi’s intentions. To mark their differences, Isha points out to Lakshmi she is an upper caste woman from the city whose entire world view is different to hers.

    This is the only reference to caste in the play, and its introduction here feels tokenistic. The reference points to longstanding social inequalities in which lower caste groups have been denied greater access to employment, education and cultural capital, but Shakthidharan passes over it too quickly. This aspect of the plot warranted further attention.

    Nirmala accepts Lakshmi’s offer. Isha is overwhelmed with joy at the thought of pursuing an education. Armed with enthusiasm and a thirst for “new” knowledge, she immediately departs for the city.

    Personal and political battles

    The Wrong Gods speaks to the harms of “saviours” whose actions are masked under the guise of progress and empowerment.

    Nirmala and her village are viewed by Lakshmi as backward, vulnerable and in need of protection. Lakshmi is cast in a paternalist role: she sees her intervention not only as justified economically, but as the morally correct thing to do.

    Lakshmi’s words – however promising and life changing they sound – reproduce elite and exclusionary ideas that ignore ways of living that have survived thousands of years.

    The Wrong Gods speaks to the harms of ‘saviours’ whose actions are masked under the guise of progress and empowerment.
    Brett Boardman/Belvoir

    After several years, Isha returns to the valley as the scientist for the organisation her mother has been mobilising against. With Lakshmi by her side, Isha tells her mother the dam project will flood the valley and displace the farmers. Nirmala is devastated and furious.

    After a few tense moments that see Nirmala and Isha locked in an aruval (machete variety) battle, they realise Lakshmi had known about this outcome from the beginning. This realisation is far too late.

    Nirmala decides to stay in the valley and fight – even if it means dying. She tells her daughter to return to the city to inform people about their plight and prevent the further depletion of native lands and waterways.

    ‘Development’ for whom?

    The Wrong Gods is a critique of progress and modernity, and Shakthidharan carefully strikes the right balance between the personal, structural and political.

    As Nirmala’s protest actions grow stronger, she must face the reality her daughter is trying to negotiate the needs of two worlds. The interactions between characters and their competing views moves seamlessly across the unfolding scenes, while the audience gets a clearer sense of the entanglements of the challenges playing out in Nirmala and Isha’s lives.

    Costumes by Keerthi Subramanyam, who also designed the set, contribute to the play’s critique of progress. Nirmala wears a saree and carries a small purse for food. While Lakshmi wears a churidar set during her first meeting when she is trying to woo favour, she wears a suit on her second visit. Like Lakshmi, Isha returns to the valley wearing a power suit, evoking a sense of authority and upward economic mobility.

    Costumes by Keerthi Subramanyam contribute to the play’s critique of progress.
    Brett Boardman/Belvoir

    The Wrong Gods grapples with the more-than-human worlds at stake amid multiple crises. Through his play, Shakthidharan suggests we should begin addressing the growing needs of our planet by overcoming structural challenges. Doing so may prevent us from reaching solutions which do not displace people or deplete natural resources. Brilliant acting by the cast makes clear the profound emotions of bearing witness to an environmental destruction that is entirely preventable.

    We must prioritise and embed local knowledges to address some of the biggest challenges facing us today. Failure to do so will only worsen both man-made and natural crises – and there will be no gods, right or wrong, to save us.

    The Wrong Gods is at Belvior Theatre, Sydney, until May 31, then Melbourne Theatre Company from June 6 to July 12.

    Niro Kandasamy 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.

    – ref. S. Shakthidharan’s ambitious play The Wrong Gods is a profound critique of progress and modernity – https://theconversation.com/s-shakthidharans-ambitious-play-the-wrong-gods-is-a-profound-critique-of-progress-and-modernity-255512

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Antarctica has a huge, completely hidden mountain range. New data reveals its birth over 500 million years ago

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jacqueline Halpin, Associate Professor of Geology, University of Tasmania

    The Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains are hidden by deep ice. Merkushev Vasiliy/Shutterstock

    Have you ever imagined what Antarctica looks like beneath its thick blanket of ice? Hidden below are rugged mountains, valleys, hills and plains.

    Some peaks, like the towering Transantarctic Mountains, rise above the ice. But others, like the mysterious and ancient Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains in the middle of East Antarctica, are completely buried.

    The Gamburtsev Mountains are similar in scale and shape to the European Alps. But we can’t see them because the high alpine peaks and deep glacial valleys are entombed beneath kilometres of ice.

    How did they come to be? Typically, a mountain range will rise in places where two tectonic plates clash with each other. But East Antarctica has been tectonically stable for millions of years.

    Our new study, published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, reveals how this hidden mountain chain emerged more than 500 million years ago when the supercontinent Gondwana formed from colliding tectonic plates.

    Our findings offer fresh insight into how mountains and continents evolve over geological time. They also help explain why Antarctica’s interior has remained remarkably stable for hundreds of millions of years.

    A radar image showing the Gamburtsev mountain range under layers of ice.
    Creyts et al., Geophysical Research Letters (2014), CC BY-SA

    A buried secret

    The Gamburtsev Mountains are buried beneath the highest point of the East Antarctica ice sheet. They were first discovered by a Soviet expedition using seismic techniques in 1958.

    Because the mountain range is completely covered in ice, it’s one of the least understood tectonic features on Earth. For scientists, it’s deeply puzzling. How could such a massive mountain range form and still be preserved in the heart of an ancient, stable continent?

    Most major mountain chains mark the sites of tectonic collisions. For example, the Himalayas are still rising today as the Indian and Eurasian plates continue to converge, a process that began about 50 million years ago.

    Plate tectonic models suggest the crust now forming East Antarctica came from at least two large continents more than 700 million years ago. These continents used to be separated by a vast ocean basin.

    A map of the topography (a) and surface elevation (b) of Antarctica, measured in metres above sea level; (c) shows ice thickness in metres.
    Pritchard et al., Scientific Data (2025), CC BY

    The collision of these landmasses was key to the birth of Gondwana, a supercontinent that included what is now Africa, South America, Australia, India and Antarctica.

    Our new study supports the idea that the Gamburtsev Mountains first formed during this ancient collision. The colossal clash of continents triggered the flow of hot, partly molten rock deep beneath the mountains.

    As the crust thickened and heated during mountain building, it eventually became unstable and began to collapse under its own weight.

    Deep beneath the surface, hot rocks began to flow sideways, like toothpaste squeezed from a tube, in a process known as gravitational spreading. This caused the mountains to partially collapse, while still preserving a thick crustal “root”, which extends into Earth’s mantle beneath.

    Mountain building causes deep crustal rocks to deform, fold and partially melt.
    Jacqueline Halpin

    Crystal time capsules

    To piece together the timing of this dramatic rise and fall, we analysed tiny zircon grains found in sandstones deposited by rivers flowing from the ancient mountains more than 250 million years ago. These sandstones were recovered from the Prince Charles Mountains, which poke out of the ice hundreds of kilometres away.

    Zircons are often called “time capsules” because they contain minuscule amounts of uranium in their crystal structure, which decays at a known rate and allows scientists to determine their age with great precision.

    These zircon grains preserve a record of the mountain-building timeline: the Gamburtsev Mountains began to rise around 650 million years ago, reached Himalayan heights by 580 million years ago, and experienced deep crustal melting and flow that ended around 500 million years ago.

    Most mountain ranges formed by continental collisions are eventually worn down by erosion or reshaped by later tectonic events. Because they’ve been preserved by a deep layer of ice, the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains are one of the best-preserved ancient mountain belts on Earth.

    While it’s currently very challenging and expensive to drill through the thick ice to sample the mountains directly, our model offers new predictions to guide future exploration.

    Geologists Jacqueline Halpin and Jack Mulder stand on the Denman Glacier during recent fieldwork.
    Jacqueline Halpin

    For instance, recent fieldwork near the Denman Glacier on East Antarctica’s coast uncovered rocks that may be related to these ancient mountains. Further analysis of these rock samples will help reconstruct the hidden architecture of East Antarctica.

    Antarctica remains a continent full of geological surprises, and the secrets buried beneath its ice are only beginning to be revealed.

    Jacqueline Halpin receives funding from the Australian Research Council through the ARC Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science (ACEAS) Special Research Initiative.

    Nathan R. Daczko receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

    – ref. Antarctica has a huge, completely hidden mountain range. New data reveals its birth over 500 million years ago – https://theconversation.com/antarctica-has-a-huge-completely-hidden-mountain-range-new-data-reveals-its-birth-over-500-million-years-ago-256231

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Pamela Rabe shines in this hypnotic revival of Samuel Beckett’s classic play Happy Days

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney

    Brett Boardman/Sydney Theatre Company

    Samuel Beckett is justly regarded as one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century – and unquestionably one of the most demanding. Few of his works illustrate this more clearly than Happy Days, first performed in 1961, and currently playing at the Sydney Theatre Company.

    The premise of this visually arresting two-act play – notable as Beckett’s first play to feature a central female character – is simple and simultaneously astonishing.

    A middle-aged woman, Winnie, is buried in a low mound of scorched earth in a barren, sun-blasted landscape. She is buried up to her waist in the first act, and up to her neck in the second.

    Her near-silent and largely unseen husband, Willie, isn’t buried himself but appears to lack the means (and possibly the desire) to dig her out. No explanation is ever given for Winnie’s predicament.

    Each day starts and ends with the piercing ring of a bell. These are Winnie’s only markers of time. She fills the interminable hours with relentless chatter: an increasingly hopeless attempt to hold despair at bay, while clinging desperately to a sense of routine.

    She rations out her dwindling resources and ritually inspects her few remaining possessions: a toothbrush, a lipstick, a mirror, a parasol, a magnifying glass, a comb and, more disturbingly, a small revolver.

    Tackling a psychologically complex character

    Beckett’s authorised biographer, James Knowlson, points out that when Happy Days premiered, its “starkness and boldness” surprised and bewildered audiences more accustomed to naturalistic forms of theatre.

    Critics were initially divided on the play. But with its existential exploration of universal themes such as isolation, time and endurance, it has since become regarded as not only one of the most significant works in Beckett’s oeuvre, but one of the greatest achievements in theatre history.

    Indeed, the esteem in which Happy Days is now held can be seen in comparisons made between Winnie and Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

    This parallel isn’t nearly as far-fetched as it might seem at first. For one thing, Winnie directly quotes from Shakespeare’s famous tragedy early in the first act.

    Pamela Rabe was initially hesitant to take on the role of Winnie when approached by former artistic director Kip Williams.
    Brett Boardman//Sydney Theatre Company

    Also, much like Hamlet, she is a character of great psychological complexity, prone to lengthy reflections on the nature of existence, the passage of time and mortality. Her monologues, like Hamlet’s, are freighted with irony, melancholy and flashes of mordant humour.

    That such a link can be made speaks not only to the strength of Beckett’s writing, but also to the extraordinary challenge – and opportunity – presented by the role of Winnie, for any actor brave enough to take it on.

    Pamela Rabe delivers a truly mesmeric performance as Winnie in the Sydney Theatre Company’s outstanding rendition of Happy Days. She seems highly aware of the role’s magnitude:

    People talk about it being the kind of female Hamlet. I think, well, Jesus, in Hamlet there’s at least another 12 people on the stage.

    Initially approached by former artistic director Kip Williams, Rabe was hesitant to take on the part. She admits playing Winnie was “definitely not on my bucket list”. However, the challenge ultimately proved irresistible.

    Rabe described the process of getting to grips with Beckett’s “meticulous” dramatic prescriptions and constructing Winnie’s world as

    part maths, part archaeology, part slapstick, and very much a privilege. She’s endearing, mercurial, resourceful, wilful, occasionally a bit silly but always full of life.

    Winnie’s monologues are laced with both melancholy and biting humour.
    Brett Boardman//Sydney Theatre Company

    A contemporary spin with wit and pathos

    The production, conceived and directed by Rabe and renowned lighting designer Nick Schlieper, does justice to Beckett’s original vision, while offering a new spin on this most canonical of plays.

    Consider, for instance, the creative team’s striking decisions when it came to set design and staging. While their choices honour Beckett’s stated demand for “maximum simplicity”, they also depart in key visual respects. Gone are the “scorched earth” and “blazing sun” Beckett called for in his original stage directions.

    Instead, Schlieper offers us something approximating a post-apocalyptic tableau: the stage is framed by a narrow proscenium-like window, behind which Winnie, and occasionally Willie (played excellently by Markus Hamilton) appear. This window is set against a monochromatic and featureless void.

    The ash-coloured mound, which brings to mind Mark Rothko’s desolate final abstract expressionist canvases, is amorphous and otherworldly – a monstrous fusion of congealed lava and nuclear slag. Everything is beautifully rendered and deeply unsettling.

    These eerie abstractions heighten the play’s existential stakes, forcing the audience to reckon with the sheer horror of Winnie’s situation, while showcasing the talents of an actor capable of infusing the bleakest of scenarios with wit and pathos.

    They also ensure the production feels contemporary and resonant – particularly in an age haunted by environmental catastrophe and ecological collapse – without retroactively imposing present day values and concerns onto the past.

    Something tells me Beckett, who consistently eschewed easy and all too often reductive interpretations of his work, would have approved.

    Alexander Howard 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.

    – ref. Pamela Rabe shines in this hypnotic revival of Samuel Beckett’s classic play Happy Days – https://theconversation.com/pamela-rabe-shines-in-this-hypnotic-revival-of-samuel-becketts-classic-play-happy-days-254068

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: As Donald Trump cuts funding to Antarctica, will the US be forced off the icy continent?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lynda Goldsworthy, Research Associate, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania

    Mozgova/Shutterstock

    President Donald Trump has begun eroding the United States presence in Antarctica by announcing deep funding cuts to his nation’s science and logistics on the icy continent.

    The Trump administration has significantly reduced funding for both Antarctica’s largest research and logistics station, McMurdo, and the National Science Foundation which funds US research in Antarctica.

    More cuts are foreshadowed. If carried through, US science and overall presence in Antarctica will be seriously diminished – at a time when China is significantly expanding its presence there.

    Since 1958, the US has been a leader in both Antarctic diplomacy and science. Shrinking its Antarctic presence will diminish US capacity to influence the region’s future.

    Why the US matters in Antarctica

    The US has historically focused its Antarctic influence in three key areas:

    1. Keeping Antarctica free from military conflict

    The US has built considerable Antarctic geopolitical influence since the late 1950s. Under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, it initiated (and later hosted) negotiations that led to the development of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty.

    It was also key to establishing the fundamental principles of the treaty, such as using the Antarctic region only for peaceful purposes, and prohibiting military activities and nuclear weapons testing.

    2. Governing Antarctica together

    The US was influential in developing the international legal system that governs human activities in the Antarctic region.

    In the 1970s, expanding unregulated fishing in the Southern Ocean led to serious concerns about the effects on krill-eating species – especially the recovery of severely depleted whale populations.

    The US joined other Antarctic Treaty nations to champion the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CAMLR), signed in 1980. It prioritises conservation of Southern Ocean ecosystems and all species, over maximum fish harvesting.

    The US also contributed to the 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection. Among other measures it prohibits mining and designates Antarctica as “a natural reserve, devoted to peace and science”.

    3. Scientific research and collaboration

    The US operates three year‑round Antarctic research stations: Palmer, Amundsen-Scott and McMurdo.

    McMurdo is Antarctica’s largest research station. Amundsen-Scott is located at the South Pole, the geographic centre of Antarctica, and the point at which all Antarctic territorial claims meet. The South Pole station is thus important symbolically and strategically, as well as for science.

    The US has the largest number of Antarctic scientists of any nation in the continent.

    US scientific work has been at the forefront of understanding Antarctica’s role in the global climate system, and how climate change will shape the future of the planet. It has also played a major role in Southern Ocean ecosystem and fisheries research.

    This research has underpinned important policies. For example, US input into models to predict and manage sustainable krill yields has been pivotal in regulating the krill fishery, and ensuring it doesn’t harm penguin, seal and whale populations.

    The US has also been a staunch supporter of a comprehensive network of marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean. The Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area proposed by the US and New Zealand is the largest in the world.

    A broad ripple effect

    The US influence in Antarctica extends beyond the list above. For example, the US has a significant Antarctic-based space program. And US citizens make up most Antarctic tourists, and the US plays a significant role in regulating tourism there.

    The full extent of the Trump administration’s cuts is still to play out. But clearly, if they proceed as signalled, the cuts will be a major blow not to just US interests in Antarctica, but those of many other countries.

    The US has the best-resourced logistics network in Antarctica. Its air transport, shipping and scientific field support has traditionally been shared by other countries. New Zealand, for instance, is closely tied with the US in resupply of food and fuel, and uses US air and sea logistics for many operations to the Ross Sea region.

    And joint research programs with the US will be affected by reduced funding in Antarctica directly, and elsewhere.

    For example, reported cuts to the climate programs of NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) may hamper satellite coverage of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean. This would affect Australian scientists collecting data on ocean temperature, sea-ice state and other metrics used in climate research and weather forecasting.

    Worrying times ahead

    China has signalled its intention to be a key geopolitical player in Antarctica and has greatly expanded its Antarctic presence in recent years.

    China has five Antarctic research stations. Its sixth summer station is due for completion in 2027. China also operates two icebreaker ships, helicopters and a fixed-wing aircraft in Antarctica and is building new, large krill trawlers.

    Both China and Russia, are increasingly active in their opposition to environmental initiatives such as marine protected areas.

    A smaller US presence creates greater opportunities for others to shape Antarctica’s geopolitics. This includes pressure to erode decades-long protection of the Antarctic environment, a push for more intensive fish and krill harvesting, and potentially reopening debate on mining in the region.

    Lynda Goldsworthy and Tony Press co-authored the chapter Power at the Bottom of the World in the new book Antarctica and the Earth System.

    A smaller US presence creates opportunities for others to shape Antarctica’s geopolitics.
    Oleksandr Matsibura/Shutterstock

    Lynda Goldsworthy, research associate with IMAS, UTAS, undertakes occasional contract work with the Deep Sea Conservation, is a member of AFMA’s SouthMac advisory group ) and of CSIRO National Benefit Advisory Committee.

    Tony Press receives funding from the Australia-Japan Foundation (Department of .Foreign Affairs and Trade)

    – ref. As Donald Trump cuts funding to Antarctica, will the US be forced off the icy continent? – https://theconversation.com/as-donald-trump-cuts-funding-to-antarctica-will-the-us-be-forced-off-the-icy-continent-254786

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Comet, rocket, space junk or meteor? Here’s how to tell your fireballs apart

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael J. I. Brown, Associate Professor in Astronomy, Monash University

    A blaze of light streaks across the sky, but what is it? Wendy Miller/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

    There’s a blaze of light across the sky! A fireball is seen by thousands, and mobile phone and dashcam footage soon appears on social media.

    But what have people just seen? A mix of social media hashtags suggests confusion about what has streaked overhead. Was it a Soviet Venus probe? Was it one of Elon Musk’s satellites or rockets? Was it a meteor? Was it a comet?

    While these objects have some similarities, there are crucial differences that can help us work out what just passed over our heads.

    Shooting stars, meteors and comets

    Shooting stars can often be seen on dark, clear nights in the countryside as brief flashes of light travelling across the sky. Usually, they are gone in just a second or two.

    To capture a shooting star with this level of detail, your camera settings need to be just right, because they are very brief flashes of light.
    Andrew Xu/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

    Shooting “stars” are not stars, of course. They are produced by dust and pebbles burning up high in the atmosphere, typically above 50km in altitude. Comets are often a source of this dust, and regular showers of shooting stars happen when Earth travels through comets’ orbits.

    Sometimes shooting stars burn with colours that reflect their composition – including iron, magnesium and calcium.

    Meteors and shooting stars are actually the same thing. But when people talk about meteors, they often mean bigger and brighter events – bolides. Bolides result from rocks and boulders plunging into Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in bright flashes of light that can outshine all the stars and planets in the night sky.

    Bolides can reach the lower atmosphere and sometimes produce audible sonic booms. Occasionally pieces of the bolide – meteorites – even make it to Earth’s surface.

    The Chelyabinsk fireball was a bolide.

    While bolides can survive longer than shooting stars, they also don’t last for long. As they are initially travelling at tens of kilometres per second, they don’t take long to traverse the atmosphere.

    The Chelyabinsk meteor, the largest bolide known to impact Earth in over a century, shone brightly for only 20 seconds or so.

    If you see something blaze across the sky, it almost certainly isn’t a comet. Comets are so far away from us that their vast speeds are imperceptible to the human eye. Furthermore, while comets are sometimes depicted as fiery, their glow is more subtle.

    Space junk

    Maybe the bright flash you just saw was space junk? Perhaps. The number of orbital rocket launches and satellites has increased rapidly in recent years, and this has resulted in some spectacular reentries, which are often discarded rocket stages.

    Like meteors, space junk travels at vast speeds as it travels through the atmosphere and it begins burning up spectacularly. Also like meteors, you can see colours indicative of the materials burning up, such as steel and aluminium. However, there are a few things that distinguish space junk from meteors.

    When rockets and satellites are launched into orbit, they typically travel along paths that roughly follow Earth’s curvature. So when space junk begins to enter the atmosphere, it’s often travelling almost horizontally.

    Space junk also travels at slower speeds than shooting stars and meteorites, entering Earth’s atmosphere at roughly 8km/s rather than tens of kilometres per second.

    Because of these factors, space junk can take minutes to enter the atmosphere and travels hundreds of kilometres in the process. Over this time, the space junk will slow down and break up into pieces, and the more solidly constructed parts might make it down to Earth.

    The slower pace of space junk fireballs gives people time to grab phones, take footage and post on social media, perhaps with a little colourful commentary added for good measure.

    A Russian rocket reenters the atmosphere over south eastern Australia.

    Rockets

    While space junk can produce a light show, rockets can also put on amazing displays. If you happen to be near Cape Canaveral or Vandenberg Space Force Base in the United States, or Wairoa in Aotearoa New Zealand, then it’s not unexpected to see a rocket launch. You get smoke, flames and thundering noise.

    But in other parts of the world you may get a different view of rockets.

    Rockets that bring satellites into our orbit accelerate to 8km/s. As they do, they travel many hundreds of kilometres at over 100km altitude. American satellite launches often travel near the coast, passing major cities including Los Angeles.

    As rockets approach orbit, they are more subtle than the flames and noise of liftoff. Rockets produce plumes of exhaust gases that rapidly and silently expand in the vacuum of space.

    While these plumes are typically seen near launch sites, they can be visible elsewhere, too.

    Sometimes rocket engines are ignited after reaching an initial orbit to boost satellites to higher orbits, send probes into the Solar System or slow rockets down for reentry. Rockets may also vent excess fuel into space, again producing plumes or spirals of gases. While not necessarily a common occurrence, these have been seen all over the world.

    A deorbit burn over Western Europe.

    Do look up

    There’s a lot to see in the night sky – the familiar Moon, stars and planets. But there’s the unexpected, too – something blazing across the sky in minutes or even mere seconds. While fireballs may be puzzling at first, they are often recognisable and we can figure out what we’ve just witnessed.

    Have you had the good fortune to see a fireball for yourself? If not, pop outside on a clear dark night. Perhaps you will see something unexpected.

    Michael J. I. Brown receives research funding from the Australian Research Council and Monash University.

    – ref. Comet, rocket, space junk or meteor? Here’s how to tell your fireballs apart – https://theconversation.com/comet-rocket-space-junk-or-meteor-heres-how-to-tell-your-fireballs-apart-213083

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Victoria’s planning reforms could help solve the housing crisis. But they are under threat

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Coates, Program Director, Housing and Economic Security, Grattan Institute

    An aerial drone view of northern Melbourne suburbs. Elias Bitar/Shutterstock

    The federal election campaign was dominated by the housing crisis. But the real power to solve it rests with the states.

    In Victoria, reforms are underway that promise a bigger boost to the housing aspirations of younger generations than anything that occurs in the federal parliament.

    Yet these reforms are now under threat of being killed off in the Victorian parliament. If that happens, Victoria will have fewer homes and they will be more expensive, and many more younger Melburnians will be locked out of home ownership.

    We need to build more homes

    At the heart of our housing problem is the fact we just haven’t built enough homes.

    Australia has among the least housing stock per person in the developed world. This is especially true in places where people most want to live: close to jobs, transport, schools and parks.

    The reason is simple: we’ve made it hard to build more townhouses and apartments in the most desirable parts of our biggest cities.

    Like in other states, Victorian state and local governments have long restricted medium- and high-density developments to appease local opposition. The Neighbourhood Residential Zone – the most restrictive residential zone in Victoria – covers more than 42% of residential land within ten kilometres of the Melbourne CBD.

    And the politics of land-use planning – what gets built and where – favour those who oppose change. The people who might live in new housing in established suburbs – if it were to be built – don’t get a say.

    The result is a vast “missing middle”: prime inner-city land, close to jobs and transport, with housing rising only one or two storeys. Melbourne, like Sydney, is one of the least-dense cities of its size in the world, despite the city’s population having risen by 875,000 in the past decade alone. That is the equivalent of almost two Canberras.

    It’s a myth that most Victorians want a quarter-acre block if that means living a long way from jobs, transport, shops and parks. Research by both Grattan Institute and Infrastructure Victoria shows there is substantial demand for townhouses and apartments in established suburbs, if only we built more of them.

    If Melbourne’s middle suburbs – those between two and 20 kilometres from the CBD – were as dense as those of Toronto, that increase in density alone could accommodate all of the 800,000 extra homes the state government plans to build over the next decade.

    The flow-on effect is high prices and rents, a stagnating economy because fewer people can live close to jobs, and further expensive and environmentally damaging sprawl into farmland and floodplains.

    Recent research showed that 8,000 completed apartments in Melbourne remain unsold. Yet this is less than 3% of all apartments in Melbourne, and is unsurprising given past sharp rises in interest rates and increased barriers in selling to foreign buyers.

    That some newly built homes have taken longer to sell is not a reason to prevent the building of those extra homes that so many future Melburnians want to live in.

    Victoria’s planning reforms are our best chance

    Housing can become more affordable if we allow more homes to be built where residents most want to live.

    The Victorian government’s recent reforms, like those in NSW, do just this. Its “activity centre” program will allow more apartments around 60 rail stations and other transport hubs.

    Victoria’s new Townhouse and Low-Rise Code will streamline development approval processes for developments of three storeys or less in residential zones across the state. Where developments meet the code, those new homes will no longer need a planning permit and will be exempt from third-party appeals. This is already the case for knock-down rebuilds.

    These reforms have the potential to unlock hundreds of thousands of extra homes in the coming decades in areas with some of the best infrastructure, amenities and public spaces.

    Similar reforms in Auckland, starting in 2016, contributed to a home building boom that reduced rents by at least 14%. Most of this new stock was townhouses and small apartment buildings, rather than high rises.

    Urban density, if done well, can add to neighbourhood amenity while preserving local green space. Several cities with similar populations but higher densities – such as Toronto and Berlin – match or outrank Melbourne on quality-of-life measures.

    These reforms are now under threat

    These changes do not dictate where housing must be built in Melbourne: they simply permit more housing where demand is highest.

    Yet these reforms are now under threat. The Victorian Liberals and the Greens have teamed up to launch an inquiry into the state Labor government’s reforms. The inquiry is scheduled to report on Tuesday, just one day before the deadline for disallowing the reforms lapses.

    Together, the Liberals and the Greens have the power to revoke the changes in the upper house of the Victorian parliament. That would be a disaster for housing affordability in Victoria.

    The Victorian parliament shouldn’t stand in the way of young families who want to buy a townhouse in the suburb they grew up in, or seniors downsizing to an apartment in their local neighbourhood.

    These reforms are about allowing more homes, and creating a better, healthier, and more vibrant Melbourne.

    Grattan Institute began with contributions to its endowment of $15 million from each of the federal and Victorian governments, $4 million from BHP Billiton, and $1 million from NAB. In order to safeguard its independence, Grattan Institute’s board controls this endowment. The funds are invested and contribute to funding Grattan Institute’s activities. Grattan Institute also receives funding from corporates, foundations, and individuals to support its general activities, as disclosed on its website.

    Joey Moloney and Matthew Bowes 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.

    – ref. Victoria’s planning reforms could help solve the housing crisis. But they are under threat – https://theconversation.com/victorias-planning-reforms-could-help-solve-the-housing-crisis-but-they-are-under-threat-255967

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: A prisoner voting ban shows again how few checks there are on parliamentary power

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Winter, Associate Professor in Political Theory, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

    Getty Images

    Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith’s recent announcement that the government would reinstate a total ban on prisoners voting was in keeping with the coalition’s overall tough-on-crime approach.

    The move was called “ridiculous” and “stupid” by opposition spokespeople, largely because it contradicted findings by the Supreme Court and the Waitangi Tribunal.

    But behind those concerns about the ban placing an “unreasonable limit on the electoral rights guaranteed under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act” lies a broader constitutional question to do with parliament’s relationship with the courts.

    In short, removing prisoner voting rights will damage a critical but fragile check on government power – what is known as the “judicial declaration of inconsistency”.

    An ‘executive paradise’

    New Zealand has been described as an “executive paradise” by constitutional lawyer and former prime minister Geoffrey Palmer. There is no upper house, no federal structure, and the courts lack the power to strike down unconstitutional legislation.

    The constitution itself is a collection of statutes and conventions that, for the most part, can be changed by a simple parliamentary majority. The 1990 Bill of Rights Act is a cornerstone of that constitution, but is an ineffectual check on government power.

    When parliament considers a bill that is potentially inconsistent with “the human rights and fundamental freedoms” set out in the Bill of Rights, the attorney-general delivers a report explaining the inconsistencies.

    This is supposed to be a deterrent, and one might think it would be the end of the matter. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Adverse attorney-general reports have appeared regularly (there have been 15 since 2021) without blocking legislation.

    Parliament’s habit of passing legislation that does not comply with the Bill of Rights is why the recently developed judicial declaration of inconsistency is constitutionally important.

    The declaration is a “soft” legal power. It doesn’t strike down laws or rewrite them. Rather, it is a “weak form” of review that enables affected citizens to petition the court to declare a law inconsistent with the Bill of Rights. This should then spur parliament to fix the problem.

    The declaration aims to start a constitutional dialogue between the two branches of government. Enabling citizens to hold parliament accountable, it is a vital instrument in a system otherwise heavily dominated by the executive branch.

    Constitutional dialogue in action

    The High Court issued the first such declaration in the case of Taylor vs Attorney-General in 2015, declaring a total ban on prisoners voting was inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act. The government appealed, but the Supreme Court affirmed the declaration in a landmark 2018 decision.

    What happened next, however, was just as important. If the declaration was to initiate a constitutional dialogue, it was up to parliament to respond – which it did. In 2020, it rescinded the ban on voting for prisoners incarcerated for less than three years.

    Then, in 2022, it amended the Bill of Rights to require the attorney-general to notify parliament when a superior court issues a declaration of inconsistency. And it required a ministerial report to parliament on the government’s response within six months.

    Those measures put in place a framework for constitutional dialogues. And this process played out in the next (and to date only) declaration of inconsistency. This was in 2022, when the Supreme Court declared prohibiting 16-year-olds from voting was inconsistent with the Bill of Rights.

    In 2023, the government tabled its response and introduced a bill to enable 16-year-olds to vote in local elections. The government initially announced it would do the same for parliamentary elections. But that idea was dropped when it became clear this wouldn’t get the necessary super-majority support of 75% of MPs.

    Chief Justice Helen Winkelmann: courts and parliament could work together.
    Getty Images

    An over-powered parliament

    Although modest, parliament’s responses were constitutionally important because they modelled a new framework for accountability. Chief Justice Helen Winkelmann suggested the process illustrated how courts and parliament could work together in the “gradual and collaborative elaboration” of New Zealand’s constitution.

    An evolving constitutional dialogue would enable the courts to pose a modest check on New Zealand’s over-powered parliament. So, those who hoped they were seeing the dawn of a new constitutional convention will be disheartened by the move to ban all prisoners from voting.

    The current government has already terminated the bill enabling 16-year-olds to vote, without mentioning this contradicted the Supreme Court’s declaration of inconsistency.

    Should parliament now ban prisoner voting, it will have nullified all substantial responses to declarations of inconsistency. That would be a profound constitutional setback.

    Parliament regularly flouts the Bill of Rights. We are now seeing it double down by rolling back its previous responses to judicial declarations.

    New Zealanders already have comparatively little constitutional protection from parliament. Reinstating a total ban on prisoner voting will undermine the practice of constitutional dialogue between the two branches of government. And it will weaken a fragile check on government power.

    Stephen Winter 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.

    – ref. A prisoner voting ban shows again how few checks there are on parliamentary power – https://theconversation.com/a-prisoner-voting-ban-shows-again-how-few-checks-there-are-on-parliamentary-power-256226

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Footy’s ‘code wars’ are back, but which is actually the No. 1 Australian sport: the NRL or AFL?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Harcourt, Industry Professor and Chief Economist, University of Technology Sydney

    NRL Photos, Matt Turner/AAP, Wikimedia, The Conversation, CC BY

    Every now and then, so-called “code wars” erupt between the major Australia winter football codes: the National Rugby League (NRL) and the Australian Football League (AFL).

    This animosity likely stems from a phenomenon known as “the Barassi Line”, a cultural and geographical divide based on football preference which runs from Eden, NSW, through Canberra and up to Arnhem Land.



    Read more:
    The Barassi Line: a globally unique divider splitting Australia’s footy fans

    Recently, NRL chair Peter V’Landys claimed victory over the AFL in a strongly worded salvo:

    Rugby league has reaffirmed its standing as the No. 1 sporting code in Australia and the Pacific after the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) announced record-breaking attendances, TV audiences, participation, revenue and assets.

    But is he right to state the NRL as Australia’s No. 1 sport?

    A uniquely Australian battle

    The battleground in Australia is unique: most nations have only one major football code, soccer. Australia though has four – Australian rules football (AFL), rugby league (NRL), soccer and rugby union.

    More competition is good for the consumer and, in this case, the consumer is the Aussie sports fan.

    The way these fans watch, play and pour money into each sport is closely tracked by each league. And the competition for talent, fans, sponsors and eyeballs via TV, digital media and streaming grows every year.

    Thanks to Australian sports media experts SportsIndustryAU, we can now make a direct comparison between the codes.

    What the numbers say

    It’s important to note the NRL’s recent chest-beating refers to audiences in Australia and the Pacific, explaining the code’s push into Papua New Guinea (PNG) and potentially further expansion in New Zealand.



    Read more:
    Sports diplomacy: why the Australian government is spending $600 million on a new NRL team in PNG

    In terms of revenue, the AFL earned 39% more than the NRL in 2024: $1.04 billion compared to the NRL’s $744.8 million.

    In terms of profit, the NRL’s was 51% higher than the AFL in 2024. This was in large part due to the NRL having only half the operational expenses of the AFL.

    However, if we look at operating profit (gross profit minus operating expenses), the AFL was 13% higher than the NRL before it made its annual distributions to clubs. The AFL distributes its profits among its 18 clubs, with smaller clubs receiving more than the more powerful teams.

    In terms of net assets (the value of an organisation’s assets minus its liabilities), the AFL is also richer: it has net assets of $482.3 million compared to $322.4 million for the NRL. The AFL owns Marvel Stadium and a share in the sports data and analytics company Champion Data. By comparison, the NRL has shares in many hotels.

    In terms of TV audience, the NRL was 10% larger in terms of average aggregated audiences for free-to-air and paid subscription services in 2024: 153.7 million to the AFL’s 140.3 million. However, AFL matches go longer and the season features more games than the NRL. Also, these figures do not include streaming numbers, which will be part of future broadcast deals.

    In terms of attendance and membership, the AFL is a clear winner.

    The AFL welcomed 8.4 million fans through the gate in 2024, compared to 4.3 million for the NRL.

    For membership, the AFL’s clubs boasted 1.32 million collectively in 2024. In the NRL, there are slightly more than 400,000 club members (based on club data – the NRL does not release membership data).

    In terms of participation, Ausplay – a national tracking survey led by the Australian Sports Commission – estimates 641,390 Aussie rules players, compared to 531,323 for rugby league (which includes touch football and Oztag).

    No clear-cut answer

    While more of the numbers point to an AFL advantage, this heavyweight battle will never be completely settled, and both codes’ future expansion plans will further muddy the waters.

    The NRL has just announced the Perth Bears will join in 2027 or 2028. This team revives the old North Sydney Bears with a new Western Australia base. This will bring the number of NRL clubs to 19.

    A possible 20th team is slated for New Zealand, or Ipswich in the western Brisbane corridor.

    Similarly, the AFL is expanding, first to Tasmania, which is set to become its 19th club in 2028.

    Beyond that, it’s possible the league will look to the Northern Territory, Canberra or another team in Western Australia or South Australia to join as the 20th team.

    One key advantage for the NRL is its international appeal.

    For two years, it has hosted games in Las Vegas. And after the NRL’s successful Magic Round in Brisbane, CEO Andrew Abdo floated the possibility of taking the event overseas, with Hong Kong and Dubai reportedly expressing interest.

    Of course, as a domestic game, Australian rules football cannot logically expand beyond our shores.

    But whether beyond our boundaries or within, the NRL vs AFL rivalry will continue, and an unequivocal winner will never really be settled on.

    Tim Harcourt 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.

    – ref. Footy’s ‘code wars’ are back, but which is actually the No. 1 Australian sport: the NRL or AFL? – https://theconversation.com/footys-code-wars-are-back-but-which-is-actually-the-no-1-australian-sport-the-nrl-or-afl-256088

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Major brands don’t need to kowtow to Trump: they have the power to bring people together

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Beverland, Professor of Brand Management, University of Sussex Business School, University of Sussex

    Whatever you think of his personality or politics, it’s impossible to deny the success of Donald Trump as a brand. Supporters and detractors across the world are transfixed by his second term as US president.

    And so far, many corporate brands appear keen to get alongside him. The leaders of Tesla, Amazon and Meta were all prominent guests at Trump’s inauguration in January 2025.

    By then, Mark Zuckerberg had already shifted company policy on fact checking to be more aligned with the political wind. Weeks later, retail giants Walmart and Target had rolled back diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

    Even the NFL, which had so infuriated Trump in his first term with its support for diversity, has come to heel.

    So now that Trump is back in town, is the only option available to big US organisations to swing to the right? Well, not necessarily.

    Our research suggests that the rise of populism actually represents an opportunity for brands to rebuild a sense of shared national identity.

    And the most well-known brands are the best placed to do this. Their familiar place in people’s everyday lives gives them huge power as non-political agents of collective identity which can cross divides of race, class, geography and age.

    A great example of this was during the presidential election campaign when Trump’s team wanted to organise a publicity stunt involving the Republican candidate “working” at a branch of McDonald’s in Pennsylvania.

    Trump’s love of the golden arches is well known, but McDonald’s is a strongly non-political brand. So what should it do? Refuse and risk a backlash, or accept and be accused of taking sides?

    In the end, the company’s response was a masterclass in neutrality.

    McDonald’s told its employees that the company was neither red (Republican) nor blue (Democrat), but golden. Referring to both presidential candidates’ love of McDonald’s, the company made it clear that the permission granted to Trump illustrated one of their core values, stating: “We open our doors for everyone”.

    The plan worked. And this was partly down to McDonald’s being widely thought of as an authentic brand which connects people.

    Research has shown that people really value a company’s place in local communities. And McDonald’s is a place which hosts children’s birthday parties, where you can catch up with friends, where you might even have had your first ever job.

    This kind of power to unify is something other brands can do too. As something our earlier research shows, brands can benefit from bringing people together, by creating a sense of shared identity.

    Brand new

    In New Zealand for example, ANZ Bank was widely applauded for a campaign featuring Indian immigrants. The advert tells the story of a father and son and their mixed cricketing loyalties (the parent to India, the child to New Zealand).

    It is a tale of immigrants achieving their version of the national dream, through hard work and trademark Kiwi humour. This kind of narrative-driven campaign does not pitch one side against another, but instead highlights the things that bind people together.

    Similarly in the UK, the department store John Lewis has become a seasonal advertising staple as it reminds customers of their shared rituals over Christmas. And Kraft’s “How do you love your Vegemite” campaign allowed new immigrants to participate in local snacking rituals, helping them feel Australian.

    In the US, a 1971 Coca Cola commercial (one of the most lauded adverts ever) presented a united multi-cultural collection of young people as a response to the anti-Vietnam war counter-culture.

    So far, American brands have struggled to navigate the ever-shifting pronouncements coming from the White House in Trump’s second term. Amazon for example, quickly went back on its decision to list the cost of tariffs on products after it was branded a “hostile move”.

    But one brand does stand out. And that’s Ford.

    Perhaps it was inevitable that the car maker which came to symbolise successful 20th century American manufacturing would get this right. And the company’s decision to extend employee discounts to all consumers in what it describes as “unprecedented times” is a clever move.

    Some might call it a cynical tactic to embrace Trump’s tariffs and encourage Americans to buy American. But the firm (which will likely take a huge hit from more expensive imported parts and materials) is doing much more than that.

    Its new campaign (with the slogan “From America for America”) reminds US citizens that the brand is part of their lives, regardless of their political home. Supportive full-page print ads go further, setting out the firm’s long history spent backing the people of America.

    One Ford executive says that the campaign is about “authenticity” and Ford being a brand “that all consumers can rely on, especially in these uncertain times”.

    Authenticity is much prized when the political landscape is so polarised. And while divisions cannot be healed solely by brands, they can help to remind us of shared values and a sense of community. And in doing so, dial down those political tensions.

    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.

    – ref. Major brands don’t need to kowtow to Trump: they have the power to bring people together – https://theconversation.com/major-brands-dont-need-to-kowtow-to-trump-they-have-the-power-to-bring-people-together-249401

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Homer’s Iliad is a rap battle

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Forstenzer, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Co-Director of the Centre for Engaged Philosophy, University of Sheffield

    The Anger of Achilles by Jacques-Louis David (1819). Kimbell Art Museum

    Homer’s Iliad is one of the foundational stories of European civilisation. The Iliad is a long poem – an epic – thought to have first been put down in writing in the eighth century BC, though the story is set several hundred years before, perhaps as early as the 12th or 13th century BC.

    It explores a few crucial violent weeks within a much longer war between an alliance of Greek city-states and the city of Troy over Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world. In it, we find ancient Greek gods and humans sharing a common reality. They concurrently star as the central characters of both a mythological and an earthly dramatic encounter, on which the fate of a people rests.

    In his work, public philosopher Cornel West argues that there is a “gangster” inside all of us. The challenge, West teaches, is to learn to keep these “gangster elements” in check so that we can still live with decency and integrity in an often violent and unjust world. This struggle, I contend, is at the heart of both Homer’s Iliad and the art of battle rap.

    This article is part of Rethinking the Classics. The stories in this series offer insightful new ways to think about and interpret classic books and artworks. This is the canon – with a twist.

    Battle rap is an art form where two or more MCs confront one another in a freestyle rap that includes boasts, insults, wordplay and disses (related to but not to be confused with rap beefs like the Kendrick Lamar and Drake feud).

    The history of this kind of verbal jousting goes back at least to flyting – poetic duels usually involving rhyming insults, widespread in northern Europe in the late medieval era. (See Assassin’s Creed Valhalla for its recent reimagining.) And it also has African roots. But its latest iteration is thought to have emerged in the hip-hop scene in New York in the 1980s. The 1981 Busy Bee versus Kool Moe Dee battle at the Harlem World club in New York is an important part of hip-hop lore.



    Read more:
    A brief history of the diss track – from the Roxanne Wars to Megan Thee Stallion

    The rap battles featured in 8 Mile brought the scene mainstream attention.

    It was arguably the 2002 film 8 Mile, however, that starred real battle rap legend, Eminem, that made the art form well known beyond hardcore rap aficionados. Today it is a pop culture streaming event, with millions of followers and official leagues.

    The object of a battle rap is to display flow, braggadocio and quick wit. Humour is often a plus, but lyrically dexterous, rhythmic, creative “burns” are the name of the game.

    So what do the Iliad and battle rap have in common?

    Both art forms encourage us, the listeners, to react, reflect and ultimately select with which speaker to side. We are thrust into the centre of the action without much of a narrator to explain things.

    Both the Iliad and rap battles are part of the oral poetic tradition, since we think the Iliad was orally recited for generations before it was put down in writing. They are therefore both addressed to a live audience.

    Emily Wilson, who translated The Iliad in 2023, gives a lively contemporary reading.

    The Iliad is a story of war between Greeks and Trojans, but also of “beefs”. Menelaus versus Paris over the hand of Helen. Achilles versus Agamemnon, the king of the Greeks who wrongs him by expropriating one of his slaves. And Achilles versus Hector, the Trojan prince who kills Patroclus, Achilles’s closest friend.

    The high moment of the poem is arguably the encounter between Achilles and Hector. Before they battle to the death, Hector offers Achilles a deal: whoever wins won’t disrespect the other’s body.

    In response, Achilles belows: “Curse you, Hector, and don’t talk of oaths to me. Lions and men make no compacts, nor are wolves and lambs in sympathy: they are opposed, to the end. You and I are beyond friendship: nor will there be peace until one or the other dies.”

    Achilles is calling out Hector’s attempt at showing nobility of character, because Hector tries to separate the duty to wage conflict from rage and disrespect of his enemy. Achilles flatly rejects the proposal. For him, the only reason to fight is to satiate his grief-induced rage and so no respect can be given even after death.

    The battle of Hector and Achilles as imagined in Troy (2004).

    Ultimately, Achilles kills Hector and desecrates his body, but Hector was clearly the better man. Two worldviews collide. Which one should we side with?

    In a battle rap, the question of how we judge which MC to be victorious is always at stake. Do we side with the MC who best “rocks the mic” by pleasing the audience, or the one who more lyrically and intelligently cuts the opponent to the bone?

    Here are five more themes shared by The Iliad and battle rap.

    1. The pursuit of fame

    Battle rap has made gifted MCs into street rap legends. Long before record deals were the prize, MCs battled for respect and street fame.

    This pursuit of legendary status also lies at the very heart of The Iliad, as Achilles is warned by his mother, the goddess Thetis, that he will die if he fights in the Trojan war, but in return his “glory never dies”.

    2. Communal belonging

    Battle rappers and the warriors in The Iliad act in their own name but they also represent wider groups heralding from different places. They all, in some way, carry responsibility for and aim to bring reflected fame to their respective communities.

    3. Displaying skill

    Most battle raps take the form of a take down of the opponent, but the real object is to demonstrate verbal prowess. Simply entertaining will not cut it. “You now have to make sense of what you say, in order for us to give you the power,” summarises hip-hop legend KRS-One.

    The Iliad opens with a muse telling the audience that the epic will recount the “wrath of Achilles”, but in fact we find skilful interventions in speech that make us wonder whether the reasons for conflict can ever justify the grief it causes.

    4. An honour code

    What is truly worth living and dying for are central themes in The Iliad, as in battle rap. There we find talk of loyalty, honour, respect, courage, friendship and fame.

    The overt answers given can be taken as embraces of a certain kind of toxic masculinity where dominance, rage, cunning and violence are celebrated, but maybe these answers subtly point to their ultimate hollowness.

    Lurking behind the repeated injunction to “be the best”, battle rap and Homer’s epic invite the question of what is truly worth admiring: skill, dominance, wealth, integrity, courage, beauty, truth, justice, love or glory? They provide no singular answer.

    5. Creativity and living within the ‘funk’ of life

    Instead, we are left to sit within what West calls the “funk of life” – the mess of it all. From there, we can see that the stories we tell ourselves have the power to shape and define our actions and our very lives.

    So the main question becomes: at a time when simplistic stories of violence and domination are presented to us as easy answers to complex social realities, can we create new and richer stories of our own?

    Joshua Forstenzer’s work receives funding from the Yale Center for Faith and Culture as part of its Templeton-funded Life Worth Living project (https://lifeworthliving.yale.edu/).

    – ref. Homer’s Iliad is a rap battle – https://theconversation.com/homers-iliad-is-a-rap-battle-252562

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: India-Pakistan ceasefire shouldn’t disguise fact that norms have changed in South Asia, making future de-escalation much harder

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Farah N. Jan, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, University of Pennsylvania

    A member of the Indian Border Security Force stands guard near the India-Pakistan border. Narinder Nanu/AFP via Getty Images

    India and Pakistan have seen the scenario play out before: a terror attack in which Indians are killed leads to a succession of escalatory tit-fot-tat measures that put South Asia on the brink of all-out war. And then there is a de-escalation.

    The broad contours of that pattern have played out in the most recent crisis, with the latest step being the announcement of a ceasefire on May 10, 2025.

    But in another important way, the flare-up – which began on April 22 with a deadly attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir, in which 26 people were killed – represents significant departures from the past. It involved direct missile exchanges targeting sites inside both territories and the use of advanced missile systems and drones by the two nuclear rivals for the first time.

    As a scholar of nuclear rivalries, especially between India and Pakistan, I have long been concerned that the erosion of international sovereignty norms, diminished U.S. interest and influence in the region and the stockpiling of advanced military and digital technologies have significantly raised the risk of rapid and uncontrolled escalation in the event of a trigger in South Asia.

    These changes have coincided with domestic political shifts in both countries. The pro-Hindu nationalism of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has heightened communal tensions in the country. Meanwhile Pakistan’s powerful army chief, Gen. Syed Asim Munir, has embraced the “two-nation theory,” which holds that Pakistan is a homeland for the subcontinent’s Muslims and India for Hindus.

    Newspapers with front page articles on the India-Pakistan conflict are displayed on May 8, 2025.
    Narinder Nanu/AFP via Getty Images

    This religious framing was even seen in the naming of the two countries’ military operations. For India, it is “Operation Sindoor” – a reference to the red vermilion used by married Hindu women, and a provocative nod to the widows of the Kashmir attack. Pakistan called its counter-operation “Bunyan-un-Marsoos” – an Arabic phrase from the Quran meaning “a solid structure.”

    The role of Washington

    The India-Pakistan rivalry has cost tens of thousands of lives across multiple wars in 1947-48, 1965 and 1971. But since the late 1990s, whenever India and Pakistan approached the brink of war, a familiar de-escalation playbook unfolded: intense diplomacy, often led by the United States, would help defuse tensions.

    In 1999, President Bill Clinton’s direct mediation ended the Kargil conflict – a limited war triggered by Pakistani forces crossing the Line of Control into Indian-administered Kashmir – by pressing Pakistan for a withdrawal.

    Similarly, after the 2001 attack inside the Indian Parliament by terrorists allegedly linked to Pakistan-based groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage engaged in intense shuttle diplomacy between Islamabad and New Delhi, averting war.

    And after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which saw 166 people killed by terrorists linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, rapid and high-level American diplomatic involvement helped restrain India’s response and reduced the risk of an escalating conflict.

    As recently as 2019, during the Balakot crisis – which followed a suicide bombing in Pulwama, Kashmir, that killed 40 Indian security personnel – it was American diplomatic pressure that helped contain hostilities. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo later wrote in his memoirs, “I do not think the world properly knows just how close the India-Pakistan rivalry came to spilling over into a nuclear conflagration in February 2019.”

    A diplomatic void?

    Washington as peacemaker made sense: It had influence and a vested interest.

    During the Cold War, the U.S. formed a close alliance with Pakistan to counter India’s links with the Soviet Union. And after the 9/11 terror attacks, the U.S. poured tens of billions of dollars in military assistance into Pakistan as a frontline partner in the “war on terror.”

    Simultaneously, beginning in the early 2000s, the U.S. began cultivating India as a strategic partner.

    A stable Pakistan was a crucial partner in the U.S. war in Afghanistan; a friendly India was a strategic counterbalance to China. And this gave the U.S. both the motivation and credibility to act as an effective mediator during moments of India-Pakistan crisis.

    Today, however, America’s diplomatic attention has shifted significantly away from South Asia. The process began with the end of the Cold War, but accelerated dramatically after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. More recently, the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have consumed Washington’s diplomatic efforts.

    Since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, the U.S. has not appointed an ambassador in New Delhi or Islamabad, nor confirmed an assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs – factors that must have hampered any mediating role for the United States.

    And while Trump said the May 10 ceasefire followed a “long night of talks mediated by the United States,” statements from India and Pakistan appeared to downplay U.S. involvement, focusing instead on the direct bilateral nature of negotiations.

    Should it transpire that Washington’s role as a mediator between Pakistan and India has been diminished, it is not immediately obvious who, if anyone, will fill the void. China, which has been trying to cultivate a role of mediator elsewhere, is not seen as a neutral mediator due to its close alliance with Pakistan and past border conflicts with India. Other regional powers like Iran and Saudi Arabia tried to step in during the latest crisis, but both lack the power clout of the U.S. or China.

    This absence of external mediation is not, of course, a problem in itself. Historically, foreign interference – particularly U.S. support for Pakistan during the Cold War – often complicated dynamics in South Asia by creating military imbalances and reinforcing hardline positions. But the past has shown external pressure – especially from Washington – can be effective.

    Breaking the norms

    The recent escalation unfolded against the backdrop of another dynamic: the erosion of international norms since the end of the Cold War and accelerating after 2001.

    America’s “war on terror” fundamentally challenged international legal frameworks through practices such as preemptive strikes against sovereign states, targeted drone killings and the “enhanced interrogation techniques” of detainees that many legal scholars classify as torture.

    More recently, Israel’s operations in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria have drawn widespread criticism for violations of international humanitarian law – but have resulted in limited consequences.

    Security forces patrol the street near the Wuyan area of Pampore in south Kashmir on May 7, 2025.
    Faisal Khan/Anadolu via Getty Images

    In short, geopolitical norms have been ebbed away and military actions that were once deemed red lines are crossed with little accountability.

    For India and Pakistan, this environment creates both opportunity and risk. Both can point to behaviors elsewhere to justify assertive actions that they have undertaken that, in previous years, would have been deemed a step too far – such as attacks on places of worship and sovereignty violations.

    Multi-domain warfare

    But what truly distinguished the latest crisis from those of the past is, I believe, its multi-domain nature. The conflict is no longer confined to conventional military exchanges along the line of control – as it was for the first five decades of the Kashmir question.

    Both countries largely respected the line of control as a de facto boundary for military operations until the 2019 crisis. Since then, there has been a dangerous progression: first to cross-border airstrikes into each other’s territories, and now to a conflict that spans conventional military, cyber and information spheres simultaneously.

    Reports indicate Chinese-made Pakistani J-10 fighter jets shot down multiple Indian aircraft, including advanced French Rafale jets. This confrontation between Chinese and Western weapons represents not just a bilateral conflict but a proxy test of rival global military technologies – adding another layer of great-power competition to the crisis.

    In addition, the use of loitering drones designed to attack radar systems represents a significant escalation in the technological sophistication of cross-border attacks compared to years past.

    The conflict has also expanded dramatically into the cyber domain. Pakistani hackers, claiming to be the “Pakistan Cyber Force,” report breaching several Indian defense institutions, potentially compromising personnel data and login credentials.

    Simultaneously, social media and a new right-wing media in India have become a critical battlefront. Ultranationalist voices in India incited violence against Muslims and Kashmiris; in Pakistan, anti-India rhetoric similarly intensified online.

    Cooler voices prevailing … for now

    These shifts have created multiple escalation pathways that traditional crisis management approaches weren’t designed to address.

    Particularly concerning is the nuclear dimension. Pakistan’s nuclear doctrine is that it will use nuclear weapons if its existence is threatened, and it has developed short-range tactical nuclear weapons intended to counter Indian conventional advantages. Meanwhile, India has informally dialed back its historic no-first-use stance, creating ambiguity about its operational doctrine.

    Thankfully, as the ceasefire announcement indicates, mediating voices appear to have prevailed this time around. But eroding norms, diminished great power diplomacy and the advent of multi-domain warfare, I argue, made this latest flare-up a dangerous turning point.

    What happens next will tell us much about how nuclear rivals manage, or fail to manage, the spiral of conflict in this dangerous new landscape.

    Farah N. Jan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. India-Pakistan ceasefire shouldn’t disguise fact that norms have changed in South Asia, making future de-escalation much harder – https://theconversation.com/india-pakistan-ceasefire-shouldnt-disguise-fact-that-norms-have-changed-in-south-asia-making-future-de-escalation-much-harder-256285

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Why doesn’t Australia make more medicines? Wouldn’t that fix drug shortages?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Coomber, PhD Candidate, Pharmaceutical Supply Chains, The University of Queensland

    IM Imagery/Shutterstock

    About 400 medicines are in short supply in Australia. Of these, about 30 are categorised as critical. These are ones with a life-threatening or serious impact on patients, and with no readily available substitutes.

    Since 2024, there has been a nationwide shortage of sterile fluid. This continues to affect health care across Australia.

    However, medicine shortages in Australia are not new. We know from past experience that six classes of medications are the most likely to go short: antibiotics, anaesthesia and pain relief treatments, heart and blood pressure medications, hormonal medications, cancer treatments and epilepsy medications.

    So, could we prevent medication shortages if Australia made more medicines?

    Why are there so many shortages?

    Australia has a very small pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. It mainly makes vaccines and some generic medications (ones no longer protected by a patent). In fact, Australia imports 90% of its medications.

    Most raw ingredients are also imported, including the active pharmaceutical ingredient. This is the ingredient that has a therapeutic effect, such as salbutamol to manage asthma or atorvastatin to lower cholesterol. Australia also imports the inactive ingredients known as excipients. These include fillers, bulking agents and preservatives.

    Then there are medication delivery devices (such as inhalers or syringes) and packaging (which has to be sterile) to source.

    A shortage in one ingredient or component – in Australia or internationally – will affect the production and supply of the finished product. This can lead to shortages.

    Often, there are limited sources (or a single source) for medication components. This makes supply chains particularly vulnerable.

    Australia is a small player, globally

    Australia is a small market for pharmaceuticals, compared with other OECD countries.

    So during a shortage of medications, raw materials or other components, suppliers prioritise larger and therefore more valuable markets.

    Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) has an underpinning pricing mechanism to provide affordable medicines for Australians. But this also makes the market less attractive to medication manufacturers.

    Therefore, countries where markets are bigger, and offer larger profit margins, are more attractive. This restricts the type and range of medications offered to the Australian market, including when supplies are short.

    Australia needs medicines, raw ingredients and sterile packaging, all of which can be in short supply.
    RGtimeline/Shutterstock

    So could ramping up local manufacture help?

    The answer is maybe.

    But developing Australia’s limited pharmaceutical manufacturing would take many years to reach a level and capacity for sustainable supply.

    Increasing local manufacturing would address access to some medicines. However, domestic manufacturers also need access to raw ingredients. These could also be made locally.

    For pharmaceutical manufacturing to be viable and profitable in Australia there must be “economies of scale”.

    Considerations include the availability of raw materials, production costs (including labour), access and availability of infrastructure and specialist facilities. To justify their investments, companies will ultimately need to sell enough product to cover these and other costs.

    But Australian manufacturers struggle to achieve economies of scale due to the small domestic market. So they would need to export some of their products to supplement domestic sales.

    To boost Australia’s pharmaceutical manufacturing industry, all states and territories would need a coordinated approach to planning and investment. This would also need bipartisan political support and a strategic long-term commitment.

    What could we do in the short term?

    Health authorities stockpiling medicines is the obvious short-term solution to Australian medication shortages. However, we’d need to carefully manage the stored medicines to ensure supply meets demand. We’d also need to make sure medicines are used before they expire. If not carefully managed, a stockpile risks unnecessary expense and waste.

    Currently, state and territories manage the use of medications in their own hospitals. However, we could standardise medication use in hospitals nationally. With co-operation among states and territories this would allow manufacturers and suppliers to better plan production and distribution of medicines. Not only would this provide more certainty for suppliers, it would reduce the states and territories competing with each other for medicines in short supply.

    We also need to review the pricing mechanism for medicines to make the Australian market more attractive for pharmaceutical imports. This would also help Australia move higher up the priority list when medicines are in short supply.

    Peter Coomber is currently employed by Queensland Health as Senior Director Central Pharmacy, and is a RAAF Reservist Pharmaceutical Officer.

    Lisa Nissen receives funding from NHMRC/MRFF and other state and commonwealth research grant schemes. Lisa was previously the state president for the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (Qld) branch (2008-2015) and a member of the national board. She has previously held positions on the TGA advisory committee for vaccines and advisory committee on scheduling of medicines. Lisa is a current member of AHPRA’s Scheduled Medicines Expert Committee.

    – ref. Why doesn’t Australia make more medicines? Wouldn’t that fix drug shortages? – https://theconversation.com/why-doesnt-australia-make-more-medicines-wouldnt-that-fix-drug-shortages-255766

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Meteorites and marsquakes hint at an underground ocean of liquid water on the Red Planet

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hrvoje Tkalčić, Professor, Head of Geophysics, Director of Warramunga Array, Australian National University

    UAESA / MBRSC / Hope Mars Mission / EXI / Andrea Luck, CC BY

    Evidence is mounting that a secret lies beneath the dusty red plains of Mars, one that could redefine our view of the Red Planet: a vast reservoir of liquid water, locked deep in the crust.

    Mars is covered in traces of ancient bodies of water. But the puzzle of exactly where it all went when the planet turned cold and dry has long intrigued scientists.

    Our new study may offer an answer. Using seismic data from NASA’s InSight mission, we uncovered evidence that the seismic waves slow down in a layer between 5.4 and 8 kilometres below the surface, which could be because of the presence of liquid water at these depths.

    The mystery of the missing water

    Mars wasn’t always the barren desert we see today. Billions of years ago, during the Noachian and Hesperian periods (4.1 billion to 3 billion years ago), rivers carved valleys and lakes shimmered.

    As Mars’ magnetic field faded and its atmosphere thinned, most surface water vanished. Some escaped to space, some froze in polar caps, and some was trapped in minerals, where it remains today.

    Four billion years ago (top left), Mars may have hosted a huge ocean. But the surface water has slowly disappeared, leaving only frozen remnants near the poles today.
    NASA

    But evaporation, freezing and rocks can’t quite account for all the water that must have covered Mars in the distant past. Calculations suggest the “missing” water is enough to cover the planet in an ocean at least 700 metres deep, and perhaps up to 900 metres deep.

    One hypothesis has been that the missing water seeped into the crust. Mars was heavily bombarded by meteorites during the Noachian period, which may have formed fractures that channelled water underground.

    Deep beneath the surface, warmer temperatures would keep the water in a liquid state – unlike the frozen layers nearer the surface.

    A seismic snapshot of Mars’ crust

    In 2018, NASA’s InSight lander touched down on Mars to listen to the planet’s interior with a super-sensitive seismometer.

    By studying a particular kind of vibration called “shear waves”, we found a significant underground anomaly: a layer between 5.4 and 8 kilometres down where these vibrations move more slowly.

    This “low-velocity layer” is most likely highly porous rock filled with liquid water, like a saturated sponge. Something like Earth’s aquifers, where groundwater seeps into rock pores.

    We calculated the “aquifer layer” on Mars could hold enough water to cover the planet in a global ocean 520–780m deep — several times as much water as is held in Antarctica’s ice sheet.

    This volume is compatible with estimates of Mars’ “missing” water (710–920m), after accounting for losses to space, water bound in minerals, and modern ice caps.

    Meteorites and marsquakes

    We made our discovery thanks to two meteorite impacts in 2021 (named S1000a and S1094b) and a marsquake in 2022 (dubbed S1222a). These events sent seismic waves rippling through the crust, like dropping a stone into a pond and watching the waves spread.

    The crater caused by meteorite impact S1094b, as seen from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
    NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

    InSight’s seismometer captured these vibrations. We used the high-frequency signals from the events — think of tuning into a crisp, high-definition radio station — to map the crust’s hidden layers.

    We calculated “receiver functions,” which are signatures of these waves as they bounce and reverberate between layers in the crust, like echoes mapping a cave. These signatures let us pinpoint boundaries where rock changes, revealing the water-soaked layer 5.4 to 8 kilometres deep.

    Why it matters

    Liquid water is essential for life as we know it. On Earth, microbes thrive in deep, water-filled rock.

    Could similar life, perhaps relics of ancient Martian ecosystems, persist in these reservoirs? There’s only one way to find out.

    The water may be a lifeline for more complex organisms, too – such as future human explorers. Purified, it could provide drinking water, oxygen, or fuel for rockets.

    Of course, drilling kilometres deep on a distant planet is a daunting challenge. However, our data, collected near Mars’ equator, also hints at the possibility of other water-rich zones – such as the icy mud reservoir of Utopia Planitia.

    What’s next for Mars exploration?

    Our seismic data covers only a slice of Mars. New missions with seismometers are needed to map potential water layers across the rest of the planet.

    Future rovers or drills may one day tap these reservoirs, analysing their chemistry for traces of life. These water zones also require protection from Earthly microbes, as they could harbour native Martian biology.

    For now, the water invites us to keep listening to Mars’ seismic heartbeat, decoding the secrets of a world perhaps more like Earth than we thought.

    Hrvoje Tkalčić receives funding from The Australian Research Council.

    Weijia Sun works for Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He receives funding from National Key R&D Program of China.

    – ref. Meteorites and marsquakes hint at an underground ocean of liquid water on the Red Planet – https://theconversation.com/meteorites-and-marsquakes-hint-at-an-underground-ocean-of-liquid-water-on-the-red-planet-255408

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Farmers fear dingoes are eating their livestock – but predator poo tells an unexpected story

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Mason, PhD candidate in Conservation Biology, Deakin University

    Kristian Bell/Shutterstock

    Killing carnivores to protect livestock, wildlife and people is an emotive and controversial issue that can cause community conflict. Difficult decisions about managing predators must be supported by strong scientific evidence.

    In Australia, predators such as dingoes and foxes are often shot or poisoned with baits to prevent them from killing sheep and cattle. Feral cats and foxes are also killed to protect native wildlife.

    But research elsewhere suggests public perceptions of how predators affect ecosystems and livestock are not always accurate.

    Our recent study sought to shed light on these controversies. We examined the scat, or poo, left behind by dingoes, foxes and cats. We focused on the mallee region of Victoria and South Australia where there are calls to resume dingo culling to stop them killing livestock.

    A contentious issue

    Our study took place in the Big Desert-Wyperfeld-Ngarkat reserve complex in the semi-arid mallee region of Victoria and South Australia. This continuous ecosystem comprises about 10,000 km² of protected native mallee bushland, and is entirely surrounded by crop and livestock farming areas.

    Fox-baiting is conducted along the boundaries of Victorian-managed reserve areas. Dingo baiting occurs in the South Australian-managed section of the park.

    Since March 2024, the small dingo population has been protected in Victorian-managed areas due to their critically low numbers in the region.

    Prior to the change, Victorian farmers and authorised trappers could control dingoes on private land and within public land up to 3km from farms. Farmers say they have lost livestock since dingoes were protected.

    What are predators eating in the mallee region?

    We collected and analysed 136 dingo, 200 fox and 25 cat scats to determine what each predator in the area was eating and how their diets differed.

    Livestock was not a major part of the diet of dingoes, foxes or cats. Some 7% of fox scats contained sheep or cattle remains. This was more than that of dingoes, at 2% of scats. No feral cat scats contained livestock remains.

    The dingo diet was dominated by kangaroos, wallabies and emus, which comprised more than 70% of their diet volume.

    Cats and foxes consumed more than 15 times the volume of small native mammals compared with dingoes, including threatened species such as fat-tailed dunnarts.

    Our data must be interpreted with caution. Scat analysis cannot differentiate between livestock killed by predators and those that are scavenged. It also can’t tell us about animals that a predator killed but did not eat.

    In 2022–23, when we collected the scats, rainfall in the area was high and prey was abundant. So, while we found livestock were not likely to be a substantial part of these predators’ diets at the time of our research, this can change depending on environmental conditions.

    For example, fire and extended drought may force predators to move further to find food and water. They may move from conservation areas to private land, where they could prey on livestock.

    A taste for certain prey

    A predator’s poo doesn’t tell the full story of how it affects prey populations.

    To understand this further, we used motion-sensing wildlife cameras to assess which prey were available in the ecosystem. We compared it to the frequency they occurred in predator’s diets. This allowed us to determine if dingoes, foxes or cats target specific prey.

    We found foxes and cats both consumed small mammals proportionally more than we expected, given the prey’s availability in the study area. Cats consumed birds at a higher rate than expected, and dingoes consumed echidnas more than expected.

    Further intensive monitoring work is needed to determine how these dietary preferences affect the populations of prey species.

    Embracing the evidence

    The findings build on a substantial previous research suggesting foxes and cats pose a significant threat to native mammals, birds, reptiles and other wildlife, including many threatened species. Our results suggest foxes may cause more harm to sheep than dingoes overall – a finding consistent with research elsewhere in Victoria.

    Dingoes were the only predator species that regularly preyed on kangaroos and wallabies. These species are abundant in the region. They can also compete with livestock for grazing pastures, consume crops and degrade native vegetation.

    Currently, dingoes are killed on, or fenced out of, large parts of Australia due to their perceived threat to livestock.

    Lethal control of invasive species remains important to protect native wildlife and agriculture. But such decisions should be based on evidence, to avoid unforeseen and undesirable results.

    For example, fox control can lead to increased feral cat numbers and harm to native prey. Fewer dingoes may mean more feral goats and kangaroos.

    Non-lethal and effective alternatives exist to indiscriminately killing predators to protect livestock, such as protection dogs and donkeys. These measures are being embraced by farmers and graziers globally, often with high and sustained success.

    In Australia, governments should better embrace and support evidence-based and effective approaches that allow farming, native carnivores and other wildlife to coexist.

    Rachel Mason conducted this research with grant funding from the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action. She is a current member of the Australian Mammal Society, the Australasian Wildlife Management Society, and the Ecological Society of Australia.

    Euan Ritchie receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Action. Euan is a Councillor within the Biodiversity Council, a member of the Ecological Society of Australia and the Australian Mammal Society, and President of the Australian Mammal Society.

    – ref. Farmers fear dingoes are eating their livestock – but predator poo tells an unexpected story – https://theconversation.com/farmers-fear-dingoes-are-eating-their-livestock-but-predator-poo-tells-an-unexpected-story-254787

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: View from The Hill: if Jacinta Nampijinpa Price became Liberal deputy it would be a wild ride

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

    Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s confirmation she will run for Liberal deputy has put the members of an already shell-shocked party into a new spin.

    Tuesday’s leadership contest, where the numbers are said to be tight, is a battle for the direction of the party as much as one between the two personalities.

    It’s essentially a contest between the moderates and the conservatives. Sussan Ley, deputy for the past three years, carries the flag for the moderates (although she is aligned to the old Scott Morrison faction, which is led by Alex Hawke, one-time Morrison numbers man).

    Her opponent, Angus Taylor, who’s been shadow treasurer, leads the conservatives.

    Neither Ley nor Taylor has impressed during the last term, but that’s become beside the point.

    Taylor has embraced the ambitious Price, who has defected (amid great bitterness) from the Nationals, to boost his support as part of a joint ticket.

    Whether the combination will work for or against Taylor’s chances remains to be seen. There are fears in the Ley camp it may attract some undecideds, but it possibly could frighten off others.

    Price was elevated spectacularly to national prominence as the most effective “no” campaigner against the Voice. She is forceful and articulate, and the conservative base of the Coalition loves her.

    But, leaving aside the complication that she’s a senator, her performance in the Voice campaign doesn’t automatically translate into qualifications for deputy which, if done properly, is a demanding, multi-faceted job.

    The Liberal deputy needs deep roots in the party, not having just arrived in controversial circumstances. They have to do a lot of work with the party organisation, not just the parliamentary party.

    In the latter, the deputy is there in part to protect the leader’s back and to keep track of the mood of colleagues, which requires having long-standing relationships of familiarity and trust with them.

    Some would argue the ideal deputy is a person who does not have their eyes on the leadership, which Price clearly has.

    The deputy needs a broad grasp of policy areas, because they will be a high profile public spokesperson for the party, and will be hit with questions on every issue that’s running.

    The deputy also has to be comfortable with media across the spectrum, because that’s part of the job. Price’s natural home has been on Sky News. On Sunday, she appeared on Sky’s highly opinionated program Outsiders.

    If the Liberals are to get themselves back into shape, they must seek to regain their appeal in the urban areas that went teal in 2022, and to women. Indeed, they have to tap into professional women in those places. It is unlikely Price, unless she undergoes a major political makeover, would be attractive to that constituency.

    In their bid for the support of women, the Liberals need a root-and-branch debate about how to get more women candidates, but Price is already totally against quotas.

    If Price becomes deputy it will be a wild ride for the party – and for its leader.

    Other names mooted as possible deputies are Dan Tehan, from Victoria, who’s been immigration spokesman, and Queenslander Ted O’Brien, the energy spokesman. Either would be less fraught for the party than Price. O’Brien would have the problem of being welded on to the nuclear policy, which will be at least overhauled and perhaps ditched by the Liberals.

    Ley is set to have a running mate, but the name has not yet been disclosed.

    Another option would be for the loser out of Ley and Taylor to become deputy. Awkward, but perhaps the cleanest way forward. Ley is used to the role; Taylor would be entitled to stay shadow treasurer and would be at the centre of things (what things are left).

    Nationals’ identity battle

    In the Nationals, the leadership contest – to be decided Monday – is also a battle over identity.

    The Nationals under David Litteproud held almost all their seats at the election but one-time resources minister Matt Canavan – a Barnaby Joyce supporter back in the day – says they need a new direction.

    Critical to his pitch are energy and climate issues. The Nationals signed up reluctantly to net zero emissions by 2050 in the Morrison prime ministership, when Joyce was leader (although he indicated he personally didn’t favour doing so). They were dragged to the deal with great reluctance.

    Canavan, who is a senator, said in his leadership pitch, “We should scrap the futile and unachievable goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. Net zero makes everything more expensive and it is not helping the environment given that the US, China and India are no longer even paying lip service to it.”

    Littleproud, describing the challenge as “healthy for our democracy”, is favoured to see off the Canavan bid. Regardless, it is a reminder the Nationals remain a divided party, as they have been for years.

    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.

    – ref. View from The Hill: if Jacinta Nampijinpa Price became Liberal deputy it would be a wild ride – https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-if-jacinta-nampijinpa-price-became-liberal-deputy-it-would-be-a-wild-ride-255964

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Dumped minister Ed Husic labels Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles ‘factional assassin’

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

    Industry Minister Ed Husic, dumped from the frontbench ahead of Anthony Albanese’s announcement of his new ministry, has made an excoriating attack on Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, describing him as a “factional assassin”.

    Marles, chief of the Victorian right, in large part drove factional changes which saw Husic, from the New South Wales right, and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, from the Victorian right, pushed out of the lineup for the revamped ministry.

    In the shakeout, Marles’ numbers man, Sam Rae, will be elevated from the backbench to the ministry, despite having only been in parliament for a single term.

    Husic said on Sunday, “I think when people look at a deputy prime minister, they expect to see a statesman, not a factional assassin”.

    Asked on the ABC whether that meant he was saying Marles had put his own ambition to boost his numbers ahead of the good of the party, Husic said, “I think a lot of people would draw that conclusion”.

    “I think he needed to exercise leadership, he’s part of the leadership group. We’ve got to be able to manage these things in an orderly way.”

    “There will be a lot of questions put to Richard about his role, and that’s something that he will have to answer and account for.”

    Husic said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had called him on Saturday – it had been only a brief call – and they will meet on Monday. He looked forward to that being a constructive discussion about the role he could keep playing.

    Husic, the only Muslim in cabinet, in part blamed his outspokenness on Gaza for his demotion.

    “You can’t celebrate diversity and then expect it to sit in a corner, silent.

    “You need to speak up when you bring those different views to either a cabinet table or to a caucus.

    “I certainly took the view that you need to speak up to the communities that you care about. I certainly tried to help us navigate wretchedly difficult issues such as what we’re seeing has unfolded in Gaza post the horrors of October 7.

    “I don’t think I could ever stay silent in the face of innocent civilians being slaughtered in their tens of thousands and being starved out of Gaza.

    “So I tried to find the way to be able to speak at the cabinet table and speak elsewhere, to be able to make sure that communities we represent know that their voices are heard.

    “You should have the ability to speak up on the issues that you believe in. You should have the ability to question.

    “I would hate to think we get to a situation like Trump Republicans who know something’s wrong and and don’t speak. I’m not saying that’s the case here, but there’s a role, a value in questioning,” he said.

    Husic is reported to have clashed with Foreign Minister Penny Wong in cabinet over the Middle East issues. He also had differences with Treasurer Jim Chalmers on some economic issues.

    Husic said he would have liked Albanese to have intervened over his demotion but the PM had declined to get involved.

    He blamed Marles for putting Albanese into such a position. It was “especially disrespectful of the deputy prime minister to put the prime minister in a terrible place where he was being asked to intervene”. But if Albanese had exercised the great authority he had coming out of the election, “no one would have quibbled”.

    “We’ve obviously got to be able to avoid these type of episodes […] the factional grubbiness,” Husic said.

    Because of the factional numbers after the election, the NSW right was due to drop a minister. Husic said he chose not to push it to a factional vote to decide who went. “I did not want to put my colleagues through a national ballot.”

    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.

    – ref. Dumped minister Ed Husic labels Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles ‘factional assassin’ – https://theconversation.com/dumped-minister-ed-husic-labels-deputy-prime-minister-richard-marles-factional-assassin-255962

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Labor likely to gain 5 senators, cementing the left’s Senate dominance

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne

    I previously wrote about the Senate the morning after the election. About half the Senate is elected at each House of Representatives election. Those up for election include six senators out of 12 for every state and all four territory senators. So 40 of the 76 senators were up for election.

    State senators elected at this election will start their six-year terms on July 1, while territory senators are tied to the term of the lower house.

    At a double dissolution election, all senators are up for election, and this truncates the terms of senators. With Labor and the Greens so dominant at this election, the Coalition may try a double dissolution if they win the next election.

    Senators are elected by proportional representation in their jurisdictions with preferences. At a half-Senate election, with six senators in each state up for election, a quota is one-seventh of the vote, or 14.3%. For the territories, a quota is one-third or 33.3%. Half a quota on primary votes (7.1% in a state) is usually enough to give a party a reasonable chance of election.

    It’s likely to take at least another three weeks to get final Senate results. All votes need to be data entered into a computer system, then a button is pressed to electronically distribute preferences. It’s only after this button press that we know final outcomes and margins.

    At the 2019 election (the last time these state senators were up for election), the Coaliition won 17 of the 36 state senators, Labor 11, the Greens six, One Nation one and Jacqui Lambie one. The right won by 18–17, with one for Lambie.

    Queensland’s senators split 4–2 to the right, Tasmania 3–2 to the left with one for Lambie and the other states were tied at 3–3.

    The four senators from the ACT and Northern Territory were last up for election in 2022. At that election, left-wing independent David Pocock and Labor won both ACT seats, while the NT went one Labor, one Country Liberal Party (CLP).

    At this election, it’s likely Labor will gain a senator in every mainland state at the expense of the Coalition, while the Greens, One Nation, Lambie and Pocock will hold their existing seats.

    The most likely outcome of this half-Senate election is 18 Labor out of 40 (up five), 13 Coalition (down five), six Greens (steady), and one each for One Nation, Lambie and Pocock (all steady). This would give the left a 25–14 win with one for Lambie.

    In 2022, the 36 state senators (not up for election in 2025) were 14 Coalition, 13 Labor, six Greens and one each for One Nation, the United Australia Party (UAP) and Tammy Tyrrell. During the last term Lidia Thorpe defected from the Greens, Fatima Payman from Labor and Tyrrell from the Jacqui Lambie Network.

    If Labor wins 18 seats at this half-Senate election, they will have 30 total senators out of 76, the Coalition 27, the Greens 11, One Nation two, and one each for Pocock, Lambie, the UAP, Thorpe, Payman and Tyrrell. Labor and the Greens alone would have 41 of the 76 senators, above the 39 needed for a majority.

    Counting Thorpe and Payman with the left, and the UAP with the right, the left would have an overall 44–30 majority with two others (Lambie and Tyrrell).

    National Senate votes and a state by state breakdown

    With 74% of enrolled voters counted nationally for the Senate, Labor has 35.5% of Senate votes (up 5.4% since 2022), the Coalition 29.9% (down 4.4%), the Greens 11.7% (down 0.9%), One Nation 5.6% (up 1.3%), Legalise Cannabis 3.4% and Trumpet of Patriots (ToP) 2.6%.

    The national House primary votes are currently 34.7% Labor, 32.2% Coalition, 11.8% Greens, 6.3% One Nation and 1.9% ToP. Usually major parties get a lower Senate vote than a House vote owing to more parties who run in the Senate. I believe Labor is benefiting in the Senate from the lack of a viable Teal option.

    In very late counting for both the House and Senate, the Greens usually gain at the Coalition’s expense as absent votes that are counted late are poor for the Coalition and good for the Greens. This would provide a further boost to Labor’s chances of gaining five senators.

    In New South Wales, with 79% of enrolled counted, Labor has 2.65 quotas, the Coalition 2.08, the Greens 0.78, One Nation 0.42, Legalise Cannabis 0.23 and ToP 0.16. Labor’s third candidate is 0.23 quotas ahead of One Nation and should win.

    In Victoria, with 71% of enrolled counted, Labor has 2.44 quotas, the Coalition 2.20, the Greens 0.88, One Nation 0.31, Legalise Cannabis 0.25, ToP 0.17, Family First 0.13 and Victorian Socialists 0.11. One Nation has the best chance to win outside Queensland, but Socialists’ preferences will flow strongly to Labor.

    In Queensland, with 71% of enrolled counted, Labor has 2.16 quotas, the Liberal National Party 2.15, the Greens 0.74, One Nation 0.49, Gerard Rennick 0.34, ToP 0.25 and Legalise Cannabis 0.24. Labor will win two, the LNP two, the Greens one and One Nation will probably win the final seat.

    In Western Australia, with 68% of enrolled counted, Labor has 2.57 quotas, the Liberals 1.83, the Greens 0.92, One Nation 0.40, Legalise Cannabis 0.28 and the Nationals 0.24. The Liberals will soak up right-wing preferences that would otherwise go to One Nation, so Labor should win the last seat.

    In South Australia, with 78% of enrolled counted, Labor has 2.70 quotas, the Liberals 1.94, the Greens 0.89, One Nation 0.37, ToP 0.20 and Legalise Cannabis 0.19. Labor’s third candidate has a 0.33 quota lead over One Nation.

    In Tasmania, with 84% of enrolled counted, Labor has 2.49 quotas, the Liberals 1.66, the Greens 1.14, Lambie 0.51, One Nation 0.36 and Legalise Cannabis 0.23. It’s likely Tasmania will be a status quo result: two Labor, two Liberals, one Green and one Lambie. If this occurs, Tasmania would be the only state without a loss for the Coalition.

    In the ACT, with 79% of enrolled counted, Pocock has easily retained with 1.19 quotas and Labor is certain to win the second seat with 0.95 quotas. The Liberals won just 17.2% or 0.52 quotas and the Greens 0.23 quotas.

    Turnout is relatively low in the NT. With 57% of enrolled counted, Labor has 1.03 quotas, the CLP 1.02, the Greens 0.33 and One Nation 0.24. Labor and the CLP will hold their two seats.

    Close seats in the House

    Since my last update on Wednesday, the ABC has called Melbourne, Menzies, Fremantle and Bendigo for Labor, taking Labor’s seat total to 91 of 150. The Coalition has won 40 seats, the Greens zero and all Others ten, with nine seats remaining undecided.

    In the undecided seats, Labor is the clear favourite in Bullwinkel and Calwell, and currently just behind in Bean and Longman but with a good chance of overturning those deficits. The Liberals are the favourites in Flinders, Monash and Bradfield, the Greens are favourites to hold one seat (Ryan) and Teal Monique Ryan should hold Kooyong.



    Read more:
    Explore the new House of Representatives

    The Conversation

    Adrian Beaumont 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.

    – ref. Labor likely to gain 5 senators, cementing the left’s Senate dominance – https://theconversation.com/labor-likely-to-gain-5-senators-cementing-the-lefts-senate-dominance-256207

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: The artist as creator of all things: Julie Fragar wins the Archibald for a portrait among the stars

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanna Mendelssohn, Honorary Senior Fellow, School of Culture and Communication. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne

    Winner Archibald Prize 2025, Julie Fragar ‘Flagship Mother Multiverse (Justene)’, oil on canvas, 240 x 180.4 cm
     © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter

    Beatrice Gralton, who curated this year’s Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes, has hung the exhibition well. Julie Fragar’s Archibald-winning portrait of her friend and fellow artist Justene Williams is impossible to miss in the central court of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

    Fragar’s subject bursts out of the central space, as though she is herself the Big Bang that created the Universe. This is the artist as the Creator of All Things, the governor of a world that extends from her hands. Behind her are the stars from whence she may have come.

    Her face is grave, but severe – governing the multiverse is a serious task. She hovers above the figures she has created, including her daughter, Honore, who has also inspired many of Williams’ works. Honore appears in the painting twice, first as a tiny child looking up, and then as an eight-year-old, half-hidden behind the assortment of objects and detritus that Williams uses to make her art.

    The title, Flagship Mother Multiverse, comes from Williams’ recent New Zealand installation work, Making Do Rhymes With Poo, best described as an endurance piece where the artist used her own body to make a series of works.

    By painting in monochrome, Fragar enables the viewer to focus first on the subject, before taking in the details of the confusion of the elements beneath her. Her dress, quietly captioned “Flag ship Mother” (with “mother” printed in verso), reinforces that this mother, who makes all things, is indeed captain of her ship.

    The Wynne prize and urban beauty

    Much of the time, the Australian landscape is imagined as bush, desert, or lush pastoral land. Winner of the Wynne prize, Jude Rae’s painting Pre-dawn sky over Port Botany container terminal, celebrates the accidental moments of urban beauty. The artist lives in Redfern where, high on the hill, it is possible to see the lights of the Botany Bay container terminal: a place that never sleeps.

    Winner Wynne Prize 2025, Jude Rae ‘Pre-dawn sky over Port Botany container terminal’, oil on linen, 200 x 150.4 cm.
    © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Diana Panuccio

    The Wynne prize is awarded to a landscape painting or figure sculpture, and Rae has painted her urban landscape just at that moment where the sky blushes a faint pink, turning to dark blue, before the almost black of the night sky.

    There are no stars to be seen in the city sky. They are blotted out by the dazzling multicoloured lights of the machines that govern the movement of goods and services, the creators of wealth in our artificial landscape.

    The surface of Rae’s painting is disconcertingly flat, as though the paint is embedded within the canvas. It could almost have been created by her transferring her thoughts, rather than paint, onto the canvas.

    ‘Nature’s gestures’ in the Sulman

    The calm of Rae’s approach is in marked contrast to the exuberant painterly style of Gene A’Hern’s Sky Painting, which has been awarded the Sir John Sulman Prize for “subject painting, genre painting or mural project”.

    In his time, Sir John Sulman was one of the more reactionary gallery trustees, calling the modern art of the 1920s and ‘30s “awful rubbish”.

    It does seem somewhat ironic that the prize that bears his name has consistently been awarded to more adventurous entries.

    Unlike the Archibald and Wynne Prizes, which must be judged by the gallery’s trustees, the Sulman is judged by an artist, a different one every year. This year the judge was Elizabeth Pulie. While A’Hern’s work could hardly be described as decorative in the same way as Pulie’s, it does have a strong sense of colour and rhythm in a way that maybe spoke to her.

    Winner Sulman Prize 2025, Gene A’Hern ‘Sky painting’, oil and oil stick on board, 240 x 240 cm.
    © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Diana Panuccio

    A’Hern describes his painting as conveying a sense of “nature’s gestures”, of the different elements of sight and sound that combine to form the country of the Blue Mountains that is his home.

    His description of his prizewinning painting – as well as its appearance, with gloriously curving gestural elements – are a reminder that the barriers between the different categories in this annual festival of art are best described as “fluid”.

    While I was in the crowd waiting for the announcement, I was asked to define “subject painting, genre painting or mural project”. The truth of the matter is that all categories are blurred and, with the exception of portraiture, are interchangeable.

    The definition of portraiture, as established by Mr Justice Roper in the court case brought against the trustees in 1944, still stands. A portrait is “a pictorial representation of a person, painted by an artist”. A landscape, however, may represent a photographically accurate representation of a place, or a feeling about that place. A genre or subject painting may show people, or not. It may express objects, or emotions. A mural is simply a painting on a wall.

    Although both Sydney and Melbourne sport many murals on laneway walls, it is many years since a mural has won the Sulman, which is a great pity.

    After the television crews and crowds of journalists had departed, I returned to the gallery for a final look at Fragar’s prizewinning portrait. It was still lit up by the lights for the cameras. It struck me then that this image would make an excellent mural – or perhaps a giant projection in the sky of a woman making a universe, using the power of her mind.

    Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes 2025 exhibition is at the Art Gallery of New South Wales until August 17.



    Read more:
    Archibald Packing Room Prize goes to Abdul Abdullah for Jason Phu portrait, among broader set of bold and deeply personal works

    Joanna Mendelssohn has in the past received funding from the Austraian Research Council

    – ref. The artist as creator of all things: Julie Fragar wins the Archibald for a portrait among the stars – https://theconversation.com/the-artist-as-creator-of-all-things-julie-fragar-wins-the-archibald-for-a-portrait-among-the-stars-253748

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Glyn Davis to quit as the prime minister’s top public servant

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

    Glyn Davis, Anthony Albanese’s hand-picked Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, will leave the post on June 16.

    Albanese paid tribute to Davis for rebuilding the public service.

    “One of the key priorities of our government’s first term was rebuilding the capacity of the Australian Public Service,” the PM said in a statement.

    “This included rebuilding the confidence of people who worked in the APS, making sure they understood that the government valued their ideas, respected their hard work and recognised their vital role in our democracy.”

    Albanese said Davis had “worked calmly and steadily to reassert the purpose of the public service”.

    He described Davis as “a man of unique strengths: an intellectual who embraces the practical, an institutionalist who champions reform.

    “To his enduring credit, he leaves a great national institution in far better shape than he found it, to the benefit of all Australians.”

    Davis, who has written extensively on public policy, had a long career in academia before taking the PM&C post. He was vice-chancellor of the University of Melbourne, where he undertook major reform.

    Earlier, he had served the Queensland Labor governments of Wayne Goss and Peter Beattie.

    His wife, Margaret Gardner, is former vice-chancellor of Monash University, and presently is Governor of Victoria.

    Among the Albanese government’s public service reforms has been stripping back the use of consultants, bringing more work in-house.

    The public service became a frontline issue at the election with the opposition promising a big cut to its size.

    Davis said on Friday that he planned to take “a break, some time to think and write, some more involvement in the arts, and a moment to reflect on how best to contribute”.

    He remains a visiting professor in the Blavatnik School at Oxford and hopes to spend some time there. “And I will get involved in some research projects at Melbourne also.” But he was not leaving one role for another, he added.

    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.

    – ref. Glyn Davis to quit as the prime minister’s top public servant – https://theconversation.com/glyn-davis-to-quit-as-the-prime-ministers-top-public-servant-255961

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: It’s almost winter. Why is Australia still so hot?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew King, Associate Professor in Climate Science, ARC Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather, The University of Melbourne

    This year, for many Australians, it feels like summer never left. The sunny days and warm nights have continued well into autumn. Even now, in May, it’s still unusually warm.

    Much of the southern half of the continent is experiencing both unseasonable warmth and dry conditions. This is linked to persistent high atmospheric pressure (called “blocking”) to the south and southeast of Australia.

    While temperatures will fall across southern Australia as we approach the winter solstice, early indications are that this winter will be a warm one. Rainfall predictions are less certain.

    The extra warmth we’ve experienced raises obvious questions about the influence of human-caused climate change. The warming signal is clear and it’s a sign of things to come.

    A warm and dry autumn for many

    March and April brought unseasonal heat to much of Australia.

    March was widely hot, with temperatures several degrees above normal across much of the country. But April’s heat was largely restricted to the southeast.

    Australia had its hottest March on record and the heat has continued, especially in Victoria and parts of New South Wales.
    Bureau of Meteorology

    Victoria had its warmest April on record, and parts of the state experienced temperatures more than 3°C above normal across both March and April.

    Temperatures normally fall quite quickly over the southeast of Australia during April and May as the days shorten and the continent’s interior cools. But this year, southern Australia was unusually warm at the start of May. Some locations experienced days with maximum temperatures more than 10°C above normal for the time of year.

    Records were broken in Hobart and parts of Melbourne, which had their warmest May nights since observations began.

    The start of May saw daytime maximum temperatures across much of Australia well above average for the time of year.
    Bureau of Meteorology

    While Queensland and the New South Wales coast have had very wet spells, including downpours from Tropical Cyclone Alfred at the start of March, other parts of Australia have been quite dry.

    The area between Adelaide and Melbourne has been exceptionally dry. A drought is unfolding in the region after a severe lack of rainfall, with deficits stretching back over the past year or so. Western Tasmania is also suffering from a severe lack of rainfall since the start of autumn, although welcome rain fell in the past week.

    And it’s not just on land that unusual heat has been observed. The seas around Australia have been warmer than normal, causing severe coral bleaching to the west and east of the continent, harmful algal blooms and other ecosystem disruptions.

    Warm seas likely triggered the microalgal bloom in coastal waters of South Australia.
    Anthony Rowland

    Blocking highs largely to blame

    A high pressure system has dominated over the south and southeast of Australia over the past few months.

    High pressure in the Tasman Sea can sometimes get stuck there for a few days. This leads to what’s known as “blocking”, when the usual passage of weather systems moving from west to east is obstructed. This can lock in weather patterns for several days or even a week.

    Repeated blocking occurred this autumn. As winds move anticlockwise around high pressure systems in the Southern Hemisphere, blocking highs in the Tasman Sea can bring moist, onshore winds to the New South Wales and Queensland coasts, increasing rainfall. But such high pressure systems also bring drier conditions for the interior of the southeast and much of Victoria and South Australia.

    Often, these high pressure systems also bring northerly winds to Victoria, and this can cause warmer conditions across much of the state.

    High pressure systems also tend to bring more clear and sunny conditions, which increases daytime temperatures in particular. Air in high pressure systems moves down towards the surface and this process causes warming, too.

    Australia sits between the Pacific and Indian Oceans and is subject to their variability, so we often look there to help explain what’s happening with Australia’s climate. In autumn though, our climate influences, such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation and the Indian Ocean Dipole, are less active and have weaker relationships with Australian climate than at other times of year. Neither of these climate influences is in a strong phase at the moment.

    A warm winter on the cards

    One big question is how long the heat will last. In parts of southeast Australia, including Melbourne, average temperatures drop quickly at this time of year as we approach the winter solstice.

    However, the seasonal outlook from the Bureau of Meteorology points to a high likelihood of a relatively warm winter.

    Australians rarely escape having a winter without any significant cold spells, but the long-range forecast suggests we should anticipate above-normal temperatures on average. Both daytime maximum temperatures and nighttime minimum temperatures are expected to be above average generally this winter.

    Climate and water long-range forecast, issued 1 May 2025 (Bureau of Meteorology)

    Global warming is here

    The elephant in the room is climate change. Human-caused climate change is increasing autumn temperatures and the frequency of late season heat events. As greenhouse gas emissions continue at a record pace, expect continued warming and a greater chance of autumn heatwaves in future.

    The effect of climate change on rainfall is less clear though. For the vast majority of Australia, there is high uncertainty as to whether autumn will become wetter or drier as the world warms.

    Andrew King receives funding from the ARC Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather and the National Environmental Science Program.

    – ref. It’s almost winter. Why is Australia still so hot? – https://theconversation.com/its-almost-winter-why-is-australia-still-so-hot-256071

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: What will the Antichrist look like? According to Western thought, an authoritarian king – or the pope

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip C. Almond, Emeritus Professor in the History of Religious Thought, The University of Queensland

    Composite image by The Conversation. Images courtesy of TruthSocial/@realDonaldTrump and Wikimedia Commons

    The US presidency and the papacy came together on May 3 when Donald Trump posted an AI-generated photograph of himself dressed as the pope to Truth Social. The image was then shared by the White House’s accounts.

    Seated in an ornate (Mar-a-Lago-style) golden chair, he was wearing a white cassock and a bishop’s hat, with his right forefinger raised.

    Trump has since told reporters he “had nothing to do with it […] somebody did it in fun”.

    This image of “Pope Donald I” is of historical significance, for reasons of which, no doubt, the White House and Trump were blissfully unaware. It is the first ever image to combine the two most important understandings of the figure of the Antichrist in Western thought: on the one hand, that of the pope, and on the other, that of the authoritarian, despotic world emperor.

    On April 22, the day after Pope Francis’ death, Trump declared “I’d like to be pope. That would be my number one choice”. On April 28, Trump told The Atlantic “I run the country and the world”.

    So, both pope and world emperor.

    The Imperial Antichrist

    In the New Testament, the First Letter of John says, before Christ came again, the Antichrist will appear: the most conspicuous sign the end of the world was near. nb small tweak to wording here

    The Antichrist would be the archetypal evil human being who would persecute the Christian faithful. He would be finally defeated by the forces of good. As Sir Isaac Newton suggested, “searching the Prophecies which [God] hath given us to know Antichrist by” is a Christian obligation.

    The first life of the Antichrist was written by a Benedictine monk, Adso of Montier-en-der, around 1,100 years ago. According to Adso, the Antichrist would be a tyrannical evil king who would corrupt all those around him with gold and silver. He would be brought up in all forms of wickedness. Evil spirits would be his instructors and his constant companions.

    The Antichrist, left, is depicted as a king, in this image from a 12th century manuscript.
    Wikimedia Commons

    Seeking his own glory, as Adso put it, this king “will call himself Almighty God”.

    The Antichrist was opposite to everything Christ-like. According to the Christian tradition, Christ was fully human yet absolutely “sin free”. The Antichrist too was fully human, but completely “sin full”. The Antichrist was not so much a supernatural being who became flesh, as a human being who became fully demonised.

    Influenced by Christian stories of the Antichrist, Islam and Judaism constructed their own Antichrists – al-Dajjal, the Antichrist of the Muslims, and Armilus, the Antichrist of the Jews. Both al-Dajjal and Armilus are king-like messiahs.

    Over the centuries, many world leaders have been labelled “the Antichrist” – the Roman emperors Nero and Domitian were Antichrist figures, and the French emperor Napoleon was named the Antichrist in his own time.

    There have been more recent leaders who have been likened to the Antichrist, among them former president of Iraq Saddam Hussein, King Charles III, former Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev, al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden, and Trump.

    The Papal Antichrist

    In the year 1190, King Richard I of England, on his way to the Holy Land, was informed by the Italian theologian Joachim of Fiore (c.1135–1202) the next pope would be the Antichrist.

    In the history of the Antichrist, this was a momentous occasion. From this time on, the tyrannical Antichrist outside of the Church would be juxtaposed with the papal deceiver within it.

    That the Catholic pope was the Antichrist was the common reading of the pope in the 16th-century Protestant Reformation.

    Martin Luther (1483–1546), the founder of the Protestant revolution, declared the pope “is the true […] Antichrist who has raised himself over and set himself against Christ”.

    Just as all Christians would not worship the Devil as God, he went on to say, “so we cannot allow his apostle the pope or Antichrist, to govern as our head or lord”.

    This 1877 painting depicts Martin Luther summoned by the Catholic Church in 1521, to renounce or reaffirm his views criticising Pope Leo X.
    Wikimedia Commons

    As he was about to be burned by the Catholic Queen Mary for his Protestant beliefs, the Anglican bishop Thomas Cranmer (1489–1556) declared, “as for the pope, I refuse him, as Christ’s enemy and antichrist with all his false doctrine”.

    Even in 1988, as Pope John Paul II addressed the European Parliament, the Northern Ireland hardline Protestant leader Ian Paisley roared, “Antichrist! I renounce you and all your cults and creeds” – to which, we are told, the pope gave a slight bemused smile.

    Except among the most extreme of Protestant conservatives, the idea of the papal Antichrist no longer has any purchase. The papal Antichrist has vacated the Western stage for the imperial Antichrist.

    The Antichrist and the end of the world

    In the history of Christianity, the idea of the Antichrist was a key part of Christian expectations about the return of Christ and the end of the world.

    In the final battle between the forces of good and evil, the Antichrist would be defeated by the forces of Christ. In short, the rise of the world emperor who was the Antichrist was a sign that the end of the world was at hand.

    In the light of the Western history of “the Antichrist”, the image of the imperial and papal US president is a powerful sign that the global order – at least as we have known it for the last 80 years – may be at an end.



    Read more:
    Five things to know about the Antichrist

    Philip C. Almond 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.

    – ref. What will the Antichrist look like? According to Western thought, an authoritarian king – or the pope – https://theconversation.com/what-will-the-antichrist-look-like-according-to-western-thought-an-authoritarian-king-or-the-pope-256205

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: What’s the difference between probiotics and prebiotics? A dietitian explains

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Evangeline Mantzioris, Program Director of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Accredited Practising Dietitian, University of South Australia

    Simply Amazing/Shutterstock

    If you walk through your local pharmacy or supermarket you’re bound to come across probiotics and prebiotics.

    They’re added to certain foods. They come as supplements you can drink or take as a pill. They also occur naturally in everyday foods.

    You might have a vague idea that probiotics and prebiotics are healthy. Or perhaps you’ve heard they’re good for your “microbiome”.

    But what actually is your microbiome? And what’s the difference between probiotics and prebiotics anyway?

    First, some definitions

    The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, and the World Health Organization, define probiotics as “live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit”. These microorganisms are the bacteria and yeasts in food such as yoghurt, sauerkraut and kombucha, and in supplements.

    But prebiotics refer to the “food” probiotics need to survive and replicate.

    Prebiotics are better known as dietary fibre. They include specific types of fibres called inulin-type fructans, galacto-oligosaccahrides, resistant starch and pectin. Prebiotics occur naturally in plant foods, are added to foods (such as bread and breakfast cereals) and come as supplements.

    Dietary fibre remains undigested in your stomach and small intestine until it reaches the large intestine. There, microorganisms (probiotics) break down (or ferment) the fibre (prebiotics), converting it into metabolites or nutrients linked to better health.

    How are they related to your microbiome?

    Both probiotics and prebiotics are said to encourage a healthy microbiome. That’s a healthy community of different microorganisms that live in or on your body. This includes those in the mouth, gut, skin, respiratory system and the urogenital tract (which handles urine, and has reproductive functions).

    Everyone’s microbiome is different and varies throughout your life. For instance, changing your diet, physical activity, hygiene, taking antibiotics or having an infection all affect your microbiome.

    These factors can change the diversity of your microbiome, that is how many different types of microorganisms you have. These factors can also alter the ratio of healthy microorganisms to unhealthy ones.

    Everyone’s microbiome is different and this community of microorganisms varies throughout your life.
    Elif Bayraktar/Shutterstock

    When your microbiome is less diverse or when the number of unhealthy microorganisms outgrow the number of healthy ones, this is known as dysbiosis. This can lead to problems including diarrhoea or constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, bleeding gums, atopic dermatitis (eczema) or acne.

    Probiotics and prebiotics are marketed as ways to support a healthy, diverse microbiome, and help to reduce the chance of dysbiosis.

    As taking antibiotics can alter your microbiome, they’re also marketed as a way of improving its microbial diversity when taking antibiotics or afterwards.

    Do probiotics work?

    The microbiome plays a crucial role in our health. For instance, a healthy microbiome has been linked to reduced risk of cancers, cardiovascular (heart) diseases, allergy diseases and inflammatory bowel disease.

    But how about taking probiotic supplements to boost your microbiome?

    A review of clinical trials looked at probiotic supplements in healthy people. It found no increase in the diversity of their microbiome.

    Another review of clinical trials looked at the impact of probiotic supplements while people were taking antibiotics. The diversity of their microbiome did not improve.

    Another study not included in these two reviews found probiotics could make microbial diversity worse in the short term. It found probiotic supplements delayed restoring the microbiome after taking antibiotics.

    Trying probiotics around the time you take antibiotics doesn’t seem to help your microbiome.
    one photo/Shutterstock

    What about prebiotics?

    There have been few studies on the impact of healthy people just taking prebiotic supplements. However, there are studies of people taking prebiotics with probiotics on particular aspects of health.

    For instance, one large review looked at various neuropsychiatric outcomes, including dementia, Parkinson’s disease and mild cognitive impairment, when people took prebiotics and probiotics (together or separately). Another review looked at the effect of prebiotics, probiotics or synbiotics (supplements that contain both prebiotics and probiotics) on people with diabetes.

    But their findings are not conclusive. So we need more research to routinely recommend these supplements. They are also no replacement for standard medication and a healthy, balanced diet.

    So how do I keep my microbiome healthy?

    You’re better off getting your probiotics from everyday fermented foods, such as sauerkraut and kimchi.
    Tatjana Baibakova/Shutterstock

    Naturally occurring probiotics and prebiotics are in everyday foods.

    Probiotics are found in fermented foods such as cheese, sauerkraut, yoghurt, miso, tempeh and kimchi.

    Prebiotics are in the foods that contain fibre – all plant foods. It is important to have a variety of plant foods in your diet. This will ensure you get all the different types of fibre needed to keep your healthy bacteria alive, and to increase the diversity of your microbiome.

    Eating foods rather than consuming supplements also means you get the extra nutrients in the food.

    The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating recommends a diet rich in plant foods, and promotes eating fermented foods (in the form of cheese and yoghurt). This combination is ideal for maintaining a healthy microbiome.

    Evangeline Mantzioris is affiliated with Alliance for Research in Nutrition, Exercise and Activity (ARENA) at the University of South Australia. Evangeline Mantzioris has received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, and has been appointed to the National Health and Medical Research Council Dietary Guideline Expert Committee.

    – ref. What’s the difference between probiotics and prebiotics? A dietitian explains – https://theconversation.com/whats-the-difference-between-probiotics-and-prebiotics-a-dietitian-explains-248653

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: View from The Hill: two ministers and the Nationals discover the limits of loyalty in politics

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

    Labor’s extraordinary election result has triggered a power play that has exposed the uglier entrails of Labor factionalism.

    Even before the new caucus met in Canberra on Friday, the Labor right had dumped two of its cabinet ministers: Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and Industry Minister Ed Husic. Dreyfus is from the Victorian right, Husic from the New South Wales right.

    In Labor, factionalism can trump merit. Not always, of course, but undoubtedly more often than is desirable, and certainly in this case.

    These dramatic demotions to the backbench have been driven by two factors.

    The left has more numbers in the caucus after the election, meaning that to preserve factional balances, one minister from the right had to go.

    And then Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles used his heft as chief of the Victorian right to protect the numbers of that group in the ministry, at the expense of the NSW right, and to secure a key promotion.

    In sacrificing Dreyfus who, while from the right, isn’t a serious factional player, Marles has seen the elevation into the outer ministry of his numbers man Sam Rae (as well as another Victorian right-winger, Daniel Mulino).

    Rae, little known publicly, has only been in parliament since 2022. He’s a former Victorian Labor state secretary and was a partner at PwC. Mulino, with a substantial background in economic policy, has served in both the Victorian and federal parliaments.

    Some see the Marles move as, in part, looking to shore up his numbers for any future leadership race. While this might sound far-fetched, given Anthony Albanese’s huge win and declaration he’ll serve a full term, aspirants always have an eye on the future. The manoeuvre won’t be missed by another leadership aspirant, Treasurer Jim Chalmers, a Queenslander who is also from the right.

    Given his enhanced authority, Albanese could have intervened to protect the two ministers – there was an attempt from within the NSW right to get him to do so for Husic – but has chosen to let the factional power play take its course. He said on Thursday, “we have a process and we’ll work it through”, adding that “no individual is greater than the collective, and that includes myself”.

    In the fallout, with the loss of Dreyfus there will be no Jewish minister, which is unfortunate in light of the government’s strained relations with the Jewish community. Husic’s demotion takes the only Muslim out of cabinet, although the speculation is another Muslim, Anne Aly, will be elevated to cabinet.

    Former prime minister Paul Keating was scathing of the demotions, denouncing the “appalling denial of Husic’s diligence and application in bringing the core and emerging technologies of the digital age to the centre of Australian public policy”.

    Keating said Albanese’s non-intervention in relation to Husic “is, in effect, an endorsement of a representative of another state group – in this case, the Victorian right faction led by Richard Marles – a faction demonstrably devoid of creativity and capacity”.

    Keating described the treatment of the two ministers as “a showing of poor judgement, unfairness and diminished respect for the contribution of others”.

    It will take a while to see what ripples the factional power play brings. Husic, certainly, is feisty. He could become a strong voice on a Labor backbench that has been basically quiescent. He is already booked to appear on the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday and its Q&A panel on Monday.

    Now that the factions have had their say, the prime minister allocates jobs, with particular interest on what Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek receives.

    On the other side of politics, it is not surprising there is widespread anger, ill feeling and recriminations, given the magnitude of the Liberals’ defeat. The contest for leadership between the party’s Deputy Leader Sussan Ley and Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor had already become willing before the bombshell defection of Senator Jacinta Price from the Nationals to the Liberals increased the angst exponentially.

    The Nationals feel betrayed that their star performer has walked out on them. Her defection will complicate negotiations between the Liberals and the Nationals over their inter-party agreement.

    The move, part of the attempt by Taylor, from the right, to boost his support, is further dividing the Liberal party. It is not yet clear whether Price will join a ticket with Taylor to run for deputy. In interviews on Thursday night and Friday morning she kept her options open, presumably to determine what numbers she would draw.

    While having the Liberal deputy in the Senate would be inconvenient, it has precedent. Fred Chaney, then a senator, became deputy in Andrew Peacock’s coup against John Howard in 1989. It didn’t end well.

    If Price did run, that might help Taylor with some Liberals currently uncertain of which leadership contender to support, because they would know she would be popular in their branches.

    But for the moderates in the party, who want the Liberals to find a path back in traditional urban areas, the arrival of Price, with her hardline right views, sends all the wrong signals. The leafy city suburbs are populated with small-l voters and professional women, who would not see themselves in tune with Price’s views.

    It there was a Taylor-Price leadership team that would be an unmistakable message – that the Liberals were tracking very significantly away from the mainstream in which most voters swim.

    Price was the leading figure who helped sink the Voice referendum, but she has not yet proved herself on the broader range of issues. In the campaign, her reference to “make Australia great again” was used against the Coalition to claim it was “Trumpian”.

    Explaining her move, Price says that she had actually always wanted to sit in the Liberal party room. She comes from the Northern Territory Country Liberal party, whose representatives sit with either the Liberals or the Nationals, according to a formula.

    On her timing, Price said, “right now, amongst many of the conversations I have had with those leading up to making this decision, is that extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures”.

    Within the Liberals, Price, given her profile and her status as a poster-woman of the rightwing media, will potentially be hard to handle.

    While Labor savours the taste of triumph, and the Coalition drinks the the bitter brew of defeat, a week on Dreyfus, Husic and the Nationals discover the limits of loyalty.

    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.

    – ref. View from The Hill: two ministers and the Nationals discover the limits of loyalty in politics – https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-two-ministers-and-the-nationals-discover-the-limits-of-loyalty-in-politics-255959

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Labor has promised to tackle homelessness. Here’s what homeless people say they need

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn Martin, Associate Dean, Social Work and Human Services, RMIT University

    Pressmaster/Shutterstock

    The 2025 election is over and now it’s time for Labor to deliver on campaign promises to address homelessness.

    Action on homelessness is long overdue. Affordable housing options remain scarce and public and community housing waitlists keep growing.

    The crisis springs from decades of government policy failures in many areas. Homelessness is linked to poverty, stigma, violence and poor health.

    Labor has promised to:

    • build more affordable housing
    • reduce social housing waitlists
    • prioritise groups vulnerable to homelessness
    • invest A$1.2 billion in homelessness accommodation.

    This is welcome, but it’s crucial people who have experienced homelessness are involved in the design of policy and services. They are the experts.

    Our recent research involved speaking with 47 people with current or past experiences of homelessness in Victoria and South Australia. The study was co-designed and co-led by people who had experienced homelessness.

    See us, hear us

    Participants told us their perspectives aren’t valued. One said:

    Homeless people [are] looked down upon. The individual is not considered. They fall on hard times for many reasons. They will judge you and they’ll categorise you.

    Another said:

    Do we have a voice? No, we don’t, because they don’t care […] they don’t listen.

    Many wanted to influence policy and service design. One said:

    I think it’s really important that people like us […] have a say in the way we move forward, and it’s not coming from people in really nice suits […] that don’t really have any experience.

    Respect our expertise

    People who’ve experienced homelessness can “identify things that someone without that lived experience may simply not have thought of in the first place”, one person told us.

    They should be involved as staff and leaders in service design and provision. One person said:

    I think if there were people that were around with lived experience that could somehow get in contact with people like me at that time and say, “Look, mate, you don’t have to go down this path, you don’t have to live this kind of life, there’s another way”.

    One participant who’d experienced domestic violence said navigating all the different non-government agencies was complicated. Decisions were made without her input.

    A failure to find this woman housing eventually led to her children being removed.

    Respect needs to be at the centre of service provision. One participant described overhearing workers complaining about the smell of homeless people. Another said they’d value practical advice from people who’d experienced homelessness:

    Having someone who’s actually been through that and can actually then describe what navigating systems means to someone coming in could be a really useful way to employ someone in homelessness services.

    Valuing and paying for the expertise of people who have experienced homelessness is vital. One participant said:

    I was on a panel with CEOs of homelessness organisations [and] was asked one hour before: “Would you like to be the lived experience voice?” So, was I paid the same? No. Was I given the same respect as everyone else? No. Was I given enough time to prepare? No. But did I deliver? Yes, I delivered. I showed up and I still was able to deliver. So, I think my expertise […] is just as valid as anybody else’s.

    Another said:

    You need to get as wide a lived experience as possible, otherwise it’s a bit pointless if they’re all 30-year-old white guys.

    From prison to homelessness

    Around half of those leaving prison exit into homelessness.

    Many women in these circumstances must choose between homelessness and returning to violent situations.

    Community organisations work hard to keep women housed, but this requires adequate and ongoing funding.

    One formerly incarcerated woman told us:

    Incarceration creates homelessness […] they’re released into a void […] If that was me, I would definitely rather be in prison than be on the street.

    Another said:

    Most women who are in prison suffered from childhood sexual abuse, they’ve suffered domestic violence and suffered a lot of trauma […] but for some reason, that’s all forgotten for us when we’re released.

    People with experience of homelessness are best placed to guide the design and delivery of services, and offer pragmatic solutions.

    One participant told us:

    When I came out [of hospital], one of the community service people said, “Oh, we can put you in a hotel for four nights.” And I said, “Actually, the best thing I need is four new tyres on my van.” And they said, “No, we can’t do that.” The tyres would be cheaper than the hotel. But they said, “No, we can’t.” I’ve always said solutions don’t have to be pretty, but they have to work.

    People told us a one-size-fits-all, box-ticking approach won’t work because:

    not everybody fits into those categories. Everybody [is] in different circumstances.

    Another said:

    You go to a service, they don’t care about your purpose. They don’t care about your goal. They care about: “Have I provided my service that I’m obligated to give?”

    Many services aren’t working for homeless people. One participant said:

    One of the reasons I stayed homeless is because I either had to kill my dog or give my dog up and I couldn’t do either because he was my saviour. So, I lived
    in that car. At that time, I was freezing and gave whatever blankets I could to my dog. He got so sick […] I contacted another place [and] asked for a sleeping bag and a tent to be sent to me and it was sent to the service provider that never gave it to me.

    Many people have no choice but to sleep in their car.
    Alexander Knyazhinsky/Shutterstock

    What now?

    Our research participants called for policy addressing poverty and for the perspectives of people who’d experienced homelessness to be:

    • embedded in housing and homelessness policy, service design and practice
    • recognised, valued and properly remunerated
    • involved in leading research.

    The authors thank the people with experience with homelessness who led our research.

    Robyn Martin’s research was funded by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, and was a collaboration between RMIT, UniSA, the Council for Homeless Persons and Seeds of Affinity.

    Carole Zufferey’s research was funded by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, and was a collaboration between RMIT, UniSA, the Council for Homeless Persons and Seeds of Affinity.

    Michele Jarldorn’s research was funded by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, and was a collaboration between RMIT, UniSA, the Council for Homeless Persons and Seeds of Affinity. Michele is a volunteer with Seeds of Affinity and is currently chair of their board. Seeds of Affinity does not receive any ongoing funding.

    – ref. Labor has promised to tackle homelessness. Here’s what homeless people say they need – https://theconversation.com/labor-has-promised-to-tackle-homelessness-heres-what-homeless-people-say-they-need-255945

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: What is grounding and could it improve my sleep? Here’s the science behind this TikTok trend

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dean J. Miller, Senior Lecturer, Appleton Institute, HealthWise Research Group, CQUniversity Australia

    Alexey Demidov/Pexels

    Have you ever felt an unexpected sense of calm while walking barefoot on grass? Or noticed your stress begin to fade as you stood ankle deep in the ocean? If so, you may have unknowingly “grounded” yourself to the earth.

    Grounding, also known as earthing, is the practice of making direct physical contact with the Earth’s surface. Our ancestors embraced this trend without knowing it. But with the invention of indoor homes, footpaths, roads, and even shoes, we have become less physically connected with the earth.

    Grounding has been suggested to have a number of benefits, such as improving mood, and reducing stress and pain. But overall, there’s limited conclusive evidence on the benefits of grounding.

    Somewhat ironically, the concept of grounding in 2025 is heavily influenced by technology, rather than getting out into nature. Consumers are being hit with social media reels promoting a range of technologies that ground us, and improve our health.

    Among the most common are promises of improved sleep with the use of a grounding sheet or mat. But is this just another TikTok trend, or could these products really help us get a better night’s sleep?

    Bringing the outdoors in

    The human body is conductive, which means it can exchange electricity with Earth and artificial sources, such as electronic devices or objects. (Sometimes, this exchange can result in an electric or static shock.)

    Proponents of grounding claim the practice reconnects “the conductive human body to the Earth’s natural and subtle surface electric charge”.

    They credit this process with physiological and psychological benefits (but again, the evidence is limited).



    Read more:
    Why do I get static shocks from everyday objects? Is it my shoes?

    Grounding technologies can vary in type (for example, under-desk foot mats, mattress toppers and bed sheets) but all are designed to provide a path for electric charges to flow between your body and the earth.

    The bottom prong you see in your three-prong wall socket is a “ground” or “earth” terminal. It provides a direct connection to earth via your building’s wiring, diverting excess or unsafe voltage into the ground. This protects you and your devices from potential electrical faults.

    Grounding technology uses this terminal as a pathway for the proposed electrical exchange between you and earth, while in the comfort of your home.

    Could grounding improve your sleep?

    The research in this area is still emerging.

    A 2025 study from Korea recruited 60 participants, gave half of them a grounding mat, and gave the other half a visually identical mat that didn’t have grounding technology. The researchers used a “double-blind” protocol, meaning neither the participants nor the researchers knew which participants were given grounding mats.

    All participants wore sleep trackers and were asked to use their mat (that is, sit or lie on it) for six hours per day. The researchers found that after 31 days, participants in the grounding mat group slept longer on average (as measured by their sleep trackers) than those in the control group.

    The researchers also used questionnaires to collect measures of insomnia, sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and stress. After 31 days, participants in both groups improved on all measures.

    There were no differences between the grounded and ungrounded groups for sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and stress. And while grounded participants showed significantly lower insomnia severity after the intervention, this difference was also present at the start of the study. So it’s unclear if grounding had a tangible impact on sleep.

    Could grounding technologies really help you sleep better?
    Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels

    In another double-blind study, published in 2022, researchers in Taiwan examined the effectiveness of using grounding mats to improve sleep among patients with Alzheimer’s disease. The findings indicated that spending 30 minutes on a grounding mat five times per week resulted in improved sleep quality.

    While previous research has suggested using grounding technologies may lead to improvements in mood, no differences were seen in measures of anxiety and depression in this study.

    Grounding for gains?

    Grounding technology has also been touted as having other benefits, such as reducing pain and inflammation.

    A 2019 study found participants who slept on a grounding mat after intense exercise felt less sore and showed lower levels of inflammation in their blood compared to those who were ungrounded.

    Grounding after a workout may help you feel better and recover faster, but it’s still unclear whether and how grounding affects long-term training results or fitness gains.

    There’s some evidence grounding could help with exercise recovery.
    Monster Ztudio/Shutterstock

    Add to cart?

    So should you cash in on your favourite influencer’s discount code and grab a grounding mat? At the risk of spouting a common cliche of cautious scientists, our answer is that we don’t know yet.

    What we do know is the existing research, albeit emerging, has shown no evidence grounding technology can negatively affect your sleep or recovery after exercise. So if you love your grounding mat or grounding sheet, or want to see if grounding works for you, feel free to give it a go.

    Keep in mind, grounding products can retail for anywhere from around A$30 to $300 or more.

    On the other hand, grounding on the grass in the great outdoors is free. While there’s limited evidence that grounding outdoors can improve sleep, spending time in outdoor light may itself benefit sleep, regulate circadian rhythms, and improve mood.

    Finally, while grounding could be an interesting strategy to try, if you’re experiencing ongoing problems with your sleep, or suspect you may have a sleep disorder, the first step should be reaching out to a medical professional, such as your GP.

    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.

    – ref. What is grounding and could it improve my sleep? Here’s the science behind this TikTok trend – https://theconversation.com/what-is-grounding-and-could-it-improve-my-sleep-heres-the-science-behind-this-tiktok-trend-253347

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: ‘Peace be with all of you’: how Pope Leo XIV embodies a living dialogue between tradition and modernity

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Darius von Guttner Sporzynski, Historian, Australian Catholic University

    When Robert Francis Prevost appeared on the loggia of St Peter’s Basilica as Pope Leo XIV, he set three precedents.

    He is the first pope from North America, the first Augustinian to occupy the throne of Peter, and the first native English-speaker to do so since Adrian IV in the 12th century.

    Pope Leo XIV greeted Rome and the world with a simple benediction: “peace be with all of you”.

    In choosing a blessing that stressed concord – and in issuing it in Italian and Spanish – he signalled both pastoral directness and cultural breadth.

    A Chicago childhood and academic rigour

    Prevost was born in Chicago in 1955.

    Raised in the working-class suburb of Dolton, he served as an altar boy and attended St Augustine Seminary High School. He studied a bachelor of science at Villanova University, and earned a doctoral degree in canon law at the Angelicum in Rome.

    Prevost entered the Augustinian order in 1977, professed solemn vows in 1981 and was ordained in 1982.

    For Augustinians, virtue lies not in poverty for its own sake, but in the radical sharing of goods: community precedes individual achievement.

    There are three pillars: interiority, the practical love of neighbour, and a relentless search for truth. This framework would guide Prevost’s missionary work, and his call for unity and peace.

    Chiclayo Cathedral, officially the Cathedral of Saint Mary in Chiclayo, Peru is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chiclayo.
    BETO SANTILLAN/Shutterstock

    Prevost has administered communities in more than 50 countries, but he first arrived as a missionary in northern Peru in 1985. Over the next decade he taught canon law, ran a seminary in Trujillo, judged marriage cases and led a fledgling parish on Lima’s urban fringe.

    The experience sharpened his awareness of informal employment, extractive industries and migration – concerns that echo the Rerum novarum , an open letter issued by his namesake Leo XIII in 1891. They remain visible in Prevost’s social priorities today.

    In 2015, he was appointed Bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, and, in 2023, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, effectively placing him in charge of vetting episcopal appointments world-wide.

    What’s in a name?

    Created cardinal in September 2023 and elevated to the rank of cardinal-bishop of Albano in February 2025, Prevost entered the conclave with a reputation for quiet competence, linguistic dexterity (he speaks five languages fluently) and unspectacular holiness.

    The electors turned to him on the fourth ballot. An hour later he greeted the city and the world as Pope Leo XIV, first in Italian then in Spanish: a bilingual gesture honouring his Italian American Chicago roots and his Peruvian citizenship.

    Leo XIV’s choice of name is a programmatic signal. By invoking examples of Rome’s protector Leo the Great (pope from 440–61) and the great social teacher Leo XIII (1878–1903), the new Pontiff intimates he will draw upon their precedent.

    Raphael’s The Meeting between Leo the Great and Attila, painted in 1514, depicts Leo, escorted by Saint Peter and Saint Paul, meeting with the Hun king outside Rome.
    Wikimedia Commons

    His substantive focus will remain squarely on the challenges of 2025: translating Augustinian communal spirituality into governance, extending the social teaching inaugurated by Leo XIII, and mediating polarised factions.

    The memory of his Leo predecessors functions as a compass rather than a map, orienting a pontificate whose horizon is the digital, migratory and climatic upheavals of the 21st century.

    Pope Leo XIV will draw inspiration from his namesake, Leo XIII.
    Library of Congress

    We can expect where Leo the Great entered dialogue, Leo XIV will offer diplomacy. Where Leo XIII defended trade-union rights and attacked exploitative capitalism, Leo XIV must address labour, climate disruption and forced displacement.

    If Leo XIII gave Catholicism its first systematic response to industrial modernity, Leo XIV may be tasked with articulating an Augustinian vision for the digital Anthropocene: a view of humanity as a pilgrim community, bound by shared love rather than algorithmic preference-profiling.

    Of one heart

    The opening sentence of the Rule of Saint Augustine is “be of one mind and heart on the way to God”.

    The order’s stress on interior prayer rather than external activism complements Leo XIV’s preference for silent Eucharistic adoration over elaborate ceremony. The Augustinian tradition of learning aligns with his own scholarly instinct.

    Consistent with Francis, Leo XIV has condemned abortion and euthanasia. He has criticised hard-line immigration policies in the United States. He holds the line only men can be deacons. In a 2012 address, he pointed to media normalisation of “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners”.

    The combination marks him as a centrist prepared to defend doctrinal boundaries while pressing assertively on social justice, climate action and the governance transparency that Francis began but did not finish.

    Challenges ahead

    Leo XIV inherits a fragmented Church. Traditionalists fear doctrinal drift, while progressives want accelerated reform of governance, liturgy and the role of women.

    His Augustinian commitment to shared discernment could provide a mediating structure. Meanwhile geopolitical crises demand renewed Holy See diplomacy and Vatican finances still run unsustainable deficits.

    Ultimately, Leo XIV embodies a living dialogue between tradition and modernity.

    Whether he succeeds will depend on his capacity to translate the Augustinian Order’s ancient ideal of one heart, one mind into structures that protect the vulnerable worker, the displaced migrant and the wounded planet.

    Yet his formation, intellect and record of bridge-building suggest he understands the Church’s credibility now rests where it did in 1891 under Leo XIII: in that social charity and theological clarity are not rivals, but partners on the road to God.

    Like Leo XIII, Leo XIV approaches the world not as an enemy to be refuted but as a moral terrain to be cultivated. His pontificate must confront the ecological, technological and migratory questions of our age.

    His inaugural plea for peace hints at an integral vision in which social justice, ecological stewardship and human fraternity intersect.

    Whether he can translate that vision into institutional reform and global moral leadership remains to be seen.

    By invoking the heritage of Leo XIII, Leo XIV has set the compass of his papacy. It points toward a Church intellectually serious, socially committed and pastorally close: one speaking anew to workers in Amazon warehouses, migrants in detention camps, students in schools, refugees in the Sahel and young people navigating the gig economy.

    If he succeeds, the name he chose will read as prophetic promise, linking 1891’s clarion call for justice with the uncharted demands of 2025 and beyond.

    Darius von Guttner Sporzynski 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.

    – ref. ‘Peace be with all of you’: how Pope Leo XIV embodies a living dialogue between tradition and modernity – https://theconversation.com/peace-be-with-all-of-you-how-pope-leo-xiv-embodies-a-living-dialogue-between-tradition-and-modernity-256084

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Google is rolling out its Gemini AI chatbot to kids under 13. It’s a risky move

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa M. Given, Professor of Information Sciences & Director, Social Change Enabling Impact Platform, RMIT University

    Studio Nut/Shutterstock

    Google has announced it will roll out its Gemini artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot to children under the age of 13.

    While the launch starts within the next week in the United States and Canada, it will launch in Australia later this year. The chatbot will only be available to people via Google’s Family Link accounts.

    But this development comes with major risks. It also highlights how, even if children are banned from social media, parents will still have to play a game of whack-a-mole with new technologies as they try to keep their children safe.

    A good way to address this would be to urgently implement a digital duty of care for big tech companies such as Google.

    How will the Gemini AI chatbot work?

    Google’s Family Link accounts allow parents to control access to content and apps, such as YouTube.

    To create a child’s account, parents provide personal details, including the child’s name and date of birth. This may raise privacy concerns for parents concerned about data breaches, but Google says children’s data when using the system will not be used to train the AI system.

    Chatbot access will be “on” by default, so parents need to actively turn the feature off to restrict access. Young children will be able to prompt the chatbot for text responses, or to create images, which are generated by the system.

    Google acknowledges the system may “make mistakes”. So assessment of the quality and trustworthiness of content is needed. Chatbots can make up information (known as “hallucinating”), so if children use the chatbot for homework help, they need to check facts with reliable sources.

    What kinds of information will the system provide?

    Google and other search engines retrieve original materials for people to review. A student can read news articles, magazines and other sources when writing up an assignment.

    Generative AI tools are not the same as search engines. AI tools look for patterns in source material and create new text responses (or images) based on the query – or “prompt” – a person provides. A child could ask the system to “draw a cat” and the system will scan for patterns in the data of what a cat looks like (such as whiskers, pointy ears, and a long tail) and generate an image that includes those cat-like details.

    Understanding the differences between materials retrieved in a Google search and content generated by an AI tool will be challenging for young children. Studies show even adults can be deceived by AI tools. And even highly skilled professionals – such as lawyers – have reportedly been fooled into using fake content generated by ChatGPT and other chatbots.

    Will the content generated be age-appropriate?

    Google says the system will include “built-in safeguards designed to prevent the generation of inappropriate or unsafe content”.

    However, these safeguards could create new problems. For example, if particular words (such as “breasts”) are restricted to protect children from accessing inappropriate sexual content, this could mistakenly also exclude children from accessing age-appropriate content about bodily changes during puberty.

    Many children are also very tech-savvy, often with well-developed skills for navigating apps and getting around system controls. Parents cannot rely exclusively on inbuilt safeguards. They need to review generated content and help their children understand how the system works, and assess whether content is accurate.

    Google says there will be safeguards to minimise the risk of harm for children using Gemini, but these could create new problems.
    Dragos Asaeftei/Shutterstock

    What risks do AI chatbots pose to children?

    The eSafety Commission has issued an online safety advisory on the potential risk of AI chatbots, including those designed to simulate personal relationships, particularly for young children.

    The eSafety advisory explains AI companions can “share harmful content, distort reality and give advice that is dangerous”. The advisory highlights the risks for young children, in particular, who “are still developing the critical thinking and life skills needed to understand how they can be misguided or manipulated by computer programs, and what to do about it”.

    My research team has recently examined a range of AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT, Replika, and Tessa. We found these systems mirror people’s interactions based on the many unwritten rules that govern social behaviour – or, what are known as “feeling rules”. These rules are what lead us to say “thank you” when someone holds the door open for us, or “I’m sorry!” when you bump into someone on the street.

    By mimicking these and other social niceties, these systems are designed to gain our trust.

    These human-like interactions will be confusing, and potentially risky, for young children. They may believe content can be trusted, even when the chatbot is responding with fake information. And, they may believe they are engaging with a real person, rather than a machine.

    AI chatbots such as Gemini are designed to mimic human behaviour and gain our trust.
    Ground Picture

    How can we protect kids from harm when using AI chatbots?

    This rollout is happening at a crucial time in Australia, as children under 16 will be banned from holding social media accounts in December this year.

    While some parents may believe this will keep their children safe from harm, generative AI chatbots show the risks of online engagement extend far beyond social media. Children – and parents – must be educated in how all types of digital tools can be used appropriately and safely.

    As Gemini’s AI chatbot is not a social media tool, it will fall outside Australia’s ban.

    This leaves Australian parents playing a game of whack-a-mole with new technologies as they try to keep their children safe. Parents must keep up with new tool developments and understand the potential risks their children face. They must also understand the limitations of the social media ban in protecting children from harm.

    This highlights the urgent need to revisit Australia’s proposed digital duty of care legislation. While the European Union and United Kingdom launched digital duty of care legislation in 2023, Australia’s has been on hold since November 2024. This legislation would hold technology companies to account by legislating that they deal with harmful content, at source, to protect everyone.

    Lisa M. Given receives funding from the Australian Research Council. She is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the Association for Information Science and Technology.

    – ref. Google is rolling out its Gemini AI chatbot to kids under 13. It’s a risky move – https://theconversation.com/google-is-rolling-out-its-gemini-ai-chatbot-to-kids-under-13-its-a-risky-move-256204

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –