Category: Universities

MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: SED to attend International Summit on the Teaching Profession and Asia-Pacific Association for International Education Conference and Exhibition

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

SED to attend International Summit on the Teaching Profession and Asia-Pacific Association for International Education Conference and Exhibition
     On March 25 (Reykjavík time), Dr Choi will lead a delegation of Hong Kong principals and education experts to attend the International Summit on the Teaching Profession 2025 in Reykjavík, Iceland, to discuss the latest trends in global education development with education ministers from around the world. She will also visit local schools and meet education experts there.

     On March 27 (Delhi time), she will depart for Delhi, India, and lead a delegation of representatives of the University Grants Committee (UGC) and UGC-funded universities to attend the Asia-Pacific Association for International Education 2025 Conference and Exhibition, during which she will deliver a speech on “Study in Hong Kong”. The Secretary-General of the UGC, Professor James Tang, will join part of the visit.

     Dr Choi will conclude her visit on March 28 (Delhi time) and return to Hong Kong. During her absence, the Under Secretary for Education, Dr Sze Chun-fai, will be the Acting Secretary for Education.
Issued at HKT 11:00

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Categories24-7, Asia Pacific, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Government special administrative region, MIL OSI

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

March 24, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Why isn’t there an opposition leader to unite Democrats in the US?

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samuel Garrett, Research Associate, United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney

In just two months back in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump has tested the limits of the US Constitution, from overhauling immigration to drastically reducing the federal workforce and dismantling government agencies.

With Republicans now in control of both the Senate and House of Representatives, Congress has so far shown little sign it will stand in Trump’s way.

The judiciary is the other branch of government that can check the power of the president. However, the Trump administration has appeared increasingly willing to simply ignore decisions handed down by judges.

There has also been a notable lack of unified opposition from the Democratic Party.

Congressional Democrats are demoralised and deeply divided over how to respond to Trump. They face criticism, too, over their apparent lack of strategy.

This has led some to ask why the United States lacks a formal political opposition leader.

How opposition leaders operate in other countries

In the American political system, the loser of the presidential election doesn’t retain a position as leader of the party in opposition. Instead, they tend to disappear from view.

Kamala Harris is considering a run for governor of California — and could well attempt another run for president in 2028 or beyond. But she hasn’t remained a vocal counterpoint to Trump since he took office.

By contrast, in countries with Westminster-style parliamentary systems, such as Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and India, the main party not in power selects an opposition leader from among their ranks. In most countries, this position is defined by convention, not law.

The opposition leader in many countries serves as the main face — and voice — of the party not in power. They work to keep the government accountable and are seen as the leader of an alternative government-in-waiting.

What it takes to lead the opposition in the US

During Trump’s first term, the Democratic speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, was widely recognised as the de facto Democratic opposition leader.

A skilled negotiator, Pelosi was largely able to unite the Democrats behind her to lead the opposition to Trump’s legislative agenda — famously ripping up a copy of Trump’s State of the Union address on the House podium in 2020.

As Senate majority and minority leader, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell successfully blocked swathes of legislation during Barack Obama’s presidency. He even thwarted a US Supreme Court nomination.

In the 1980s, then-Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill led the Democratic opposition to Republican President Ronald Reagan’s domestic agenda, without resorting to obstructionism.

However, for an opposition figure to have this level of influence, they usually need decades of experience, political skill, and a party in control of the House or Senate.

The Democrats no longer have a majority in either chamber and are no longer led by Pelosi. Hakeem Jeffries has been the House minority leader since 2023, but without the speaker’s gavel or control of any committees, he has limited influence.

Party discipline is typically far more unwieldy in the United States compared to other countries. In Australia, for instance, crossing the floor to vote against your own party is very rare.

Unruly party caucuses make it significantly more difficult for a single party figurehead to emerge unless they command near-universal party loyalty and respect among their members in both chambers.

Will Democratic cracks shatter the party?

The Democratic caucus, already strained by Joe Biden’s late withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race, is now even more fractured.

The Democrats continue to grapple with their resounding defeat in November, which saw the party lose ground with almost every demographic across the country. Polling shows public support for the Democrats has slumped to unprecedented lows, with just over a quarter of voters holding a positive view of the party.

Most dramatically, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer defied fellow Democrats (including Jeffries) by voting in favour of a resolution in recent weeks to avoid a government shutdown. His decision sparked an uproar from his party colleagues.

Visual images of the party’s disarray were also on clear display during Trump’s joint address to Congress earlier this month. While some representatives protested loudly, others followed leadership instruction to remain silent.

Democrats were in near lock-step on almost all issues during Trump’s first term, as well as Biden’s presidency. Now, some are calling on Schumer to step aside as minority leader — and for the Democrats to coalesce behind a younger, more outspoken leader such as Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Where next for the party?

In the fractious debates now consuming the party, some see parallels with the emergence of the Tea Party movement within the Republican Party during Barack Obama’s first term in office.

The current Democratic division could result in the emergence of a stronger dissident faction within the party. And this could push a harder line in opposition to Trump, no longer toeing the line from party leadership.

Yet, while the political outlook for Democrats may appear bleak, electoral turnarounds can happen quickly in the United States.

Few expected a demoralised Democratic party to turn John Kerry’s heavy defeat to George W Bush in 2004 into a generational victory just four years later. Similarly, after Obama decisively won reelection against Mitt Romney in 2012, few Republicans could have predicted they’d soon be back in power with Trump.

But, as was the case 20 years ago, the soul-searching process will be painful for the Democrats. Whether it’s Ocasio-Cortez or another figure, the 2026 midterm elections are likely to be the best opportunity for a new central leader to emerge on the national stage.

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. Why isn’t there an opposition leader to unite Democrats in the US? – https://theconversation.com/why-isnt-there-an-opposition-leader-to-unite-democrats-in-the-us-252384

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

March 24, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Mystery solved: our tests reveal the tiny algae killing fish and harming surfers on SA beaches

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shauna Murray, Professor; Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney

Anthony Rowland

Confronting images of dead seadragons, fish and octopuses washed up on South Australian beaches – and disturbing reports of “more than 100” surfers and beachgoers suffering flu-like symptoms after swimming or merely breathing in sea spray – attracted international concern last week.

Speculation about the likely cause ranged from pollution and algae to unusual bacterial infections or viruses. Today we can reveal the culprit was a tiny – but harmful – type of planktonic algae called Karenia mikimotoi.

The SA government sent us water samples from Waitpinga Beach, Petrel Cove Beach, Encounter Bay Boat Ramp and Parsons Headland on Tuesday. We studied the water under the microscope and extracted DNA for genetic analysis.

Our results revealed high numbers of the tiny harmful algal species – each just 20 microns in diameter (where one micron is one thousandth of a millimetre). While relatively common in Australian coastal waters, blooms of K. mikimotoi occur only sporadically. But similar harmful algal blooms and fish kills due to K. mikimotoi have happened in the past, such as the 2014 bloom in Coffin Bay, SA. And this latest one won’t be the last.

Sick surfers and dead marine life from strange sea foam (ABC News)

Harmful algal blooms

Single-celled, microbial algae occur naturally in seawater all over the world.

They are also called phytoplankton, because they float in the water column and photosynthesise like plants. “Phyto” comes from the Greek word for plant and “plankton” comes from the Greek word for wanderer, which relates to their floating movement with ocean currents and tides.

Like plants on land, the microalgae or phytoplankton in the ocean capture sunlight and produce up to half the oxygen in our atmosphere. There are more than 100,000 different species of microalgae. Every litre of seawater will normally contain a mixed group of these different microalgae species.

But under certain conditions, just a single species of microalgae can accumulate in one area and dominate over the others. If we are unlucky, the dominant species may be one that produces a toxin or has a harmful effect.

This so-called “harmful algal bloom” can cause problems for people and for marine life such as fish, invertebrates such as crabs, and even marine mammals such as whales and seals.

There are hundreds of different species of harmful algae. Each produces its own type of toxin with a particular toxic effect.

Most of these toxic chemical compounds produced by harmful algae are quite well known, including neurotoxins that affect the brain. But others are more complicated, and the mechanisms of toxicity are poorly understood. This can make it more difficult to understand the factors leading to the deaths of fish and other marine life. Unfortunately, the toxins from K. mikimotoi fall into this latter category.

Introducing Karenia mikimotoi

Karenia mikimotoi under the microscope.
Shauna Murray

The species responsible for recent events in SA beaches, K. mikimotoi, causes harmful algal blooms in Asia, Europe, South Africa and South America, as well as Australia and New Zealand. These blooms all caused fish deaths, and some also caused breathing difficulties among local beachgoers.

The most drastic of these K. mikimotoi blooms have occurred in China over the past two decades. In 2012, more than 300 square kilometres of abalone farms were affected, causing about A$525 million in lost production.

Explaining the toxic effects

Microalgae can damage the gills of fish and shellfish, preventing them from breathing. This is the main cause of death. But some studies have also found damage to the gastrointestinal tracts and livers of fish.

Tests using fish gill cells clearly show the dramatic toxic effect of K. mikimotoi. When the fish gill cells were exposed to intact K. mikimotoi cells, after 3.5 hours more than 80% of the fish cells had died.

Fortunately, the toxin does not persist in the environment after the K. mikimotoi cells are dead. So once the bloom is over, the marine environment can recover relatively quickly.

Its toxicity is partly due to the algae’s production of “reactive oxygen species”, reactive forms of oxygen molecules which can cause the deaths of cells in high doses. K. mikimotoi cells may also produce lipid (fat) molecules that cause some toxic effects.

Finally, a very dense bloom of microalgae can sometimes reduce the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water column, which means there is less oxygen for other marine life.

The human health effects are not very well known but probably relate to the reactive oxygen species being an irritant.

K. mikimitoi cells can also produce “mucilage”, a type of thick, gluey substance made of complex sugars, which can accumulate bacteria inside it. This can cause “sea foam”, which was evident on beaches last week.

South Australia’s marine emblem, the leafy seadragon, washed up dead on the beach.
Anthony Rowland

Unanswered questions remain

A question for many people is whether increasing water temperatures make blooms of K. mikimotoi more likely.

Another concern is whether nutrient runoff from farms, cities and aquaculture could cause more harmful algal blooms.

Unfortunately, for Australia at least, the answer to these questions is we don’t know yet. While we know some harmful algal blooms do increase when nutrient runoff is higher, others actually prefer fewer nutrients or colder temperatures.

We do know warmer water species seem to be moving further south along the Australian coastline, changing phytoplankton species abundance and distribution.

While some microalgal blooms can cause bioluminescence that is beautiful to watch, others such as K. mikimotoi can cause skin and respiratory irritations.

If you notice discoloured water, fish deaths or excessive sea foam along the coast or in an estuary, avoid fishing or swimming in the area and notify local primary industry or environmental authorities in your state.

Shauna Murray receives funding from the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, the New South Wales Recreational Fisheries Trust, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, and the Storm and Flood Industry Recovery Program. She is President of the Austalasian Society of Phycology and Aquatic Botany and past chair of the NSW Shellfish Committee.

Greta Gaiani 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. Mystery solved: our tests reveal the tiny algae killing fish and harming surfers on SA beaches – https://theconversation.com/mystery-solved-our-tests-reveal-the-tiny-algae-killing-fish-and-harming-surfers-on-sa-beaches-252810

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

March 24, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Synchronised bleaching: Ningaloo and the Great Barrier Reef are bleaching in unison for the first time

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zoe Richards, Senior Research Fellow in Marine Biology, Curtin University

Ningaloo Reef from the air. Violeta Brosig/Shutterstock

This summer, an intense marine heatwave struck off northwestern Australia, driving sea surface temperatures up to 4°C above the summer average. The large mass of warm water has slowly moved south from the Kimberley region and through the Pilbara, leaving a wave of underwater destruction behind. Now Ningaloo Reef is bleaching in earnest.

The Great Barrier Reef is bleaching too in the waters from Cape York down to Townsville.

This appears to be the first time these two World Heritage-listed reefs have bleached in unison. Bleaching may also hit the World Heritage reef at Shark Bay in Western Australia.

How bad is it? I have just returned from Ningaloo Reef, where I saw widespread bleaching and the first signs of coral mortality. Up to 90% of the coral found in shallow areas of the northern lagoon had bleached. Bleaching doesn’t automatically mean death, but it severely weakens the coral and jeopardises survival.

At Ningaloo and further south, the heatwave is still unfolding. In coming months, we can expect to see some coral mortality, while other corals will survive the bleaching in poor health only to succumb to disease or other threats such as Drupella (coral-eating snails). Other corals may survive but struggle to reproduce, but some particularly hardy corals with the right combination of genes for surviving this event are expected to live on.

Why is this happening? No surprises here: our greenhouse gas emissions trap more heat in the atmosphere. Over 90% of the heat pours into the oceans, pushing surface and deep water temperatures higher for longer periods of time.

How bad has the heat been?

Coral can tolerate brief periods of higher temperatures. But in response to prolonged heat stress, coral polyps expel their symbiotic zooxanthellae algae. They appear to do this to avoid further tissue damage from toxic reactive oxygen molecules which build up as the coral begins to stress. But these microalgae supply sugary food to the coral polyps in exchange for a home. Without these nutrients, the coral can starve.

Heat stress is tracked using a measure called “degree heating weeks” (DHW) – essentially, how much above-average heat has built up in an area over the previous three months. Bleaching can begin at four DWH, while eight DHW can kill some corals.

At Ningaloo, the heat has been off the charts – levels of up to 16 DHW have been recorded, the highest on record for this location.

On the Great Barrier Reef, bleaching is underway in the northernmost section. This is the sixth bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef this decade. Early data suggests there is severe heat in places, ranging from six to 13 DHW in intensity and alerts remain for more heat and bleaching to come.

Bleaching is usually worst for corals growing in shallow water, such as the calm lagoons created by fringing or barrier reefs. Lagoons often have clear waters with high light penetration and limited flushing of water.

Ningaloo in hot water

Over ten days, we recorded the health and type of every coral we saw at 21 sites along Ningaloo Reef, from Coral Bay to the northern tip of North West Cape and into Exmouth Gulf.

The worst affected area that we observed was a 30 km stretch at the northern end of the North West Cape, the peninsula along which Ningaloo Reef runs. Here, we saw mass bleaching – up to 90% of corals partly or fully bleaching and some corals were already dying.

Fast-growing corals from the Acroporid and Pocilloporid families were hard hit, as often seen in other bleaching events. But we also saw slower-growing and normally hardy corals bleaching, such Lobophyllia, Favites and Goniastrea.

Even the massive Porites corals in the lagoons were suffering. These giant boulder-like corals are the old growth and sentinels of the reef. Many of these ordinarily resilient corals are hundreds of years old and have survived past smaller bleaching events. But this time, they too are severely suffering.

Not even ocean-facing corals exposed to more water flow were safe. We found 30 to 50% of the corals on the reef slope were bleached to some degree. Coral diseases such as white band disease were already affecting many flat plate corals. These diseases often follow marine heatwaves, as they take advantage of coral’s weakened immune systems and the disruption of the symbiotic relationship between coral polyps and their algae.

The timing is especially bad for Ningaloo’s corals, which usually spawn around five days after the March full moon, which fell on March 19 this year. By contrast, corals on the Great Barrier Reef tend to spawn between October and December.

For the reef to recover quickly, it needs yearly influxes of new coral recruits. But if corals are struggling to survive, there is a risk they will not be fit enough to reproduce. Corals take three to six years to become reproductively viable and if bleaching impedes reproduction, it could greatly reduce the number of larvae available to replenish the reef. In addition to that, if immature corals bleach and die, there’s a risk several generations of corals could be lost before reaching maturity.

Fortunately we did observe healthy and reproductive corals along the outer rim of the lagoon at Coral Bay, and locals have recently reported seeing spawning near Coral Bay. This suggests some coral were indeed healthy enough to spawn.

What will happen next?

As the southern hemisphere heads towards winter, the oceans will begin to cool off. That doesn’t mean the threat is over – oceans are only getting hotter.

If we continue on our current path, simultaneous east and west coast bleaching events could become the new normal – and that would be devastating for our reefs, marine biodiversity, the blue economy and the wellbeing of Australians.

Zoe Richards receives funding from the Minderoo Foundation. This work was undertaken by the Coral Conservation and Research Group at Curtin University in partnership with the Minderoo Exmouth Research Laboratory.

– ref. Synchronised bleaching: Ningaloo and the Great Barrier Reef are bleaching in unison for the first time – https://theconversation.com/synchronised-bleaching-ningaloo-and-the-great-barrier-reef-are-bleaching-in-unison-for-the-first-time-252906

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

March 24, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Cash, confidence, consumption: How China’s policy kit fuels consumers’ wallets?

Source: China State Council Information Office

China unveiled a comprehensive policy package recently to boost consumer spending, reinforcing its commitment to making consumption a key driver of economic growth.

The 30-point plan aims to strengthen consumer confidence by a whole set of measures including promoting income growth and reducing financial burden.

Analysts described the pro-consumption push as an innovative move that underscores the government’s commitment to a people-oriented approach and its focus on investing in human capital.

The holistic initiative, which combines fiscal, financial and regulatory tools, aligns with priorities outlined in this year’s government work report, which positioned “expanding domestic demand” as a top priority.

A key aspect of the plan is its focus on tackling prominent constraints on consumption through three main measures: boosting spending power by increasing incomes and easing financial burdens, delivering high-quality supply, and fostering a consumption environment.

As the world’s second-largest economy navigates domestic and external headwinds, policymakers are counting on the spending power of its 1.4 billion consumers to drive economic growth.

Greater capacity, willingness to spend

Central to the plan is an unprecedented emphasis on demand-side support to bolster household consumption capacity through measures that foster reasonable wage increases, expand property income channels, and boost farmers’ earnings.

For the first time in a policy document on boosting consumption, the plan explicitly highlights the importance of stabilizing both the stock and property markets, outlining targeted measures in a bid to “enhance spending power, stabilize expectations, and strengthen consumer confidence.”

“There’s considerable focus on increasing both the capacity and willingness of households to consume,” Lynn Song, ING Chief Economist for Greater China, said in a note.

The plan integrates consumption growth with improving livelihoods, introducing measures to ease household burdens in areas such as childcare, education, healthcare and old-age insurance, Li Chunlin, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said at a press conference following the release of the initiative.

Accordingly, China plans to explore a childcare subsidy system, increase fiscal subsidies for basic old-age benefits and basic medical insurance for rural and non-working urban residents in 2025, and appropriately raise basic pension benefits for retirees.

The plan’s increased focus on tackling livelihood problems aligns with this year’s government work report, which pledges to “direct more funds and resources toward investing in people to meet their needs.”

Increasing fiscal spending on human development and social safeguards not only helps create a sustainable consumption expansion mechanism but also reflects an approach where economic growth and the improvement of people’s well-being mutually reinforce each other, according to Jin Li, vice president of Southern University of Science and Technology.

Expansion of trade-in program to boost demand

In a broader push to bolster domestic demand, China renewed its consumer goods trade-in program, increasing funding from last year’s 150 billion yuan to 300 billion yuan through ultra-long special treasury bonds.

This year’s initiative also extends subsidies to more electric gadgets and home appliances including smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches.

The push builds on the success of 2024, where 150 billion yuan in subsidies generated over 1.3 trillion yuan in sales across autos, home goods, and electronics, highlighting the program’s role as a near-term economic stabilizer.

Amid strong policy support, e-commerce giant JD.com reported a 13.4 percent year-on-year revenue increase in Q4 2024, marking its highest quarterly growth in nearly two years, while its operating profit skyrocketed to 8.5 billion yuan, compared to 2 billion yuan recorded in the same period the previous year, the company’s latest performance report showed.

This growth aligns with broader consumer optimism. Some 54 percent of Chinese consumers feel financially better off than a year ago, a 10-percentage point leap from the average in 2024, according to a report released by the German bank on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported.

The upbeat findings suggest China is increasingly reaping the benefits of the government’s efforts to boost household confidence and consumption.

Beyond immediate stimulus, policymakers are aiming for “bigger-picture themes” that will take time to unfold. The plan stressed the need to implement a paid annual leave system, ensuring that workers’ rights to rest and vacation are legally protected.

“More flexible leave policies could encourage the more crowd-averse consumers to travel and spend,” Song said, noting that reform in the holiday system will result in “more aggregate demand.”

Furthermore, the policy bets big on tech-driven consumption, prioritizing “AI+” innovations like self-driving vehicles, brain-computer interfaces, and robotics, underscoring China’s vision to integrate high-tech advancement with premium consumer experiences.

Sustainable consumption growth

China’s intensified focus on domestic demand not only emerges as a necessity but also creates a wealth of opportunities.

The urgency is evident as external shocks coincide with challenges in old growth engines, yet within these challenges lies unparalleled potential. China’s 1.4 billion consumers, bolstered by an expanding middle class of 400 million, the world’s largest, form a powerhouse with vast purchasing potential.

Effective implementation of the pro-consumption action plan is of utmost importance, said Li, noting that challenges such as subdued consumer confidence and unmet consumer demands remain, requiring “significant” efforts to address them.

The synergy between dozens of central departments will be strengthened to roll out specific policies, while local governments are encouraged to put forward nuanced measures in light of local conditions, the NDRC deputy director noted.

“This year’s attention to boosting consumption, combined with last year’s relatively low base, will help consumption growth recover to mid-single-digit growth in 2025,” Song said. “Any further growth would likely hinge on a sustainable recovery of consumption.”

MIL OSI China News –

March 24, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Tennis pros rally for better pay and less punishing schedules, amid wider power struggles in world sport
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eric Windholz, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Monash University

Last week, the Novak Djokovic-led Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) announced it was suing the sport’s governing bodies – the men’s (ATP) and women’s (WTA) tours, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).

The lawsuit:
- seeks to change the prize money formula designed by the men’s and women’s tours (the PTPA says too little of the sport’s revenue goes to players)
- aims to improve the “unsustainable” 11-month calendar and match schedules that often keep players on court well past midnight
- alleges a “heavy-handed approach” by the ITIA
- criticises the sport’s rankings system
- wants to boost the number of combined men’s-women’s events.
The union, cofounded by Djokovic five years ago, also alleges “anti-competitive practices and a blatant disregard for player welfare”.

The lawsuit is just one example of a battle for control of international sport – the outcome of which will shape sport for years to come.

The power of sport governing bodies

Sport’s international governing bodies – such the International Olympic Committee, soccer’s governing body the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and, in the case of tennis, the ATP, WTA and ITF – are masters of their domains.

These bodies exercise great power and autonomy over the competitions they administer. They determine who competes in their competitions, when and where, as well as rules and policies.

These rules cover tournament schedules, player eligibility and anti-doping policies. Players, teams and even countries that breach these rules are subject to penalties including expulsion from competitions.

Governments have largely been willing partners in this. They have respected the autonomy of these governing bodies and assisted them where necessary by, for example, hosting their mega-events such as the Olympics, World Cups and Grand Slam tournaments.

However, this is changing.

A changing landscape

As shown by the PTPA lawsuit, players are seeking a greater share of sports’ economic pie, better working conditions, more freedom in selecting where and when they play, and a greater say in how their sports are run.

Private investors also are seeking to share in the money being made from sport by establishing rival competitions.

These include the Wall Street-backed, but ultimately ill-fated, European Super League (soccer); the International Swimming League, funded by billionaire swimming fan Konstantin Grigorishin; and the Saudi-Arabia backed LIV Golf tour.

In response, some fans and lower-level teams are organising to protect their clubs from the influx of private money.

In the United Kingdom, this has resulted in proposed legislation to establish an independent regulator of football.

And all of this is occurring in the shadow of a broader geopolitical restructuring in which the West’s traditional hegemony over sport is being challenged by the wealth of the Gulf states, the assertiveness of authoritarian regimes, and the emerging economies of the Global South.

The result is a contest for control between actors and forces, both powerful and passionate.

The outcome of this contest is important because sport is a generator of significant economic activity (a recent study estimated the global sport industry to be the ninth largest industry on earth) and an important vehicle for driving social change – both of which also make it politically important.

What does the future hold?

When confronted with forces for change, sport governing bodies generally go through a three-stage process of denial (rejecting the need for change), resistance (fighting the change), and adaptation (conceding some autonomy while retaining ultimate control).

The tennis dispute is travelling this well-worn path. Tennis’s governing bodies have denied the PTPA a seat at the table, so the PTPA is now taking the matter to court (early indications are tennis’s governing bodies will fight it vigorously).

Predicting the outcome of litigation is fraught. However, sport governing bodies do not have a strong record defending the use of their power before the courts.

Courts are more independent and less deferential towards sport governing bodies than the political arms of government.

Recent decisions from the Court of Justice of the European Union offer evidence of this. It applied EU competition law to constrain the power of sport governing bodies to:
- prevent third parties organising rival sporting competitions
- restrict athletes’ freedom of movement.
Another example comes from the United States, where the Supreme Court struck down as an antitrust (competition) law violation, rules that limited the benefits student-athletes can receive for playing.

This litigation led the governing body of collegiate sport, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, to propose a US$2.8 billion (A$4.45 billion) settlement that will allow colleges to pay their student-athletes.

As for tennis, settlement of the PTPA litigation is possible, notwithstanding the current rhetoric.

Indeed, some form of adaptation of sports’ governing bodies to accommodate the various forces and interests at play is the most likely outcome.

Eric Windholz 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. Tennis pros rally for better pay and less punishing schedules, amid wider power struggles in world sport – https://theconversation.com/tennis-pros-rally-for-better-pay-and-less-punishing-schedules-amid-wider-power-struggles-in-world-sport-252721
MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –
March 24, 2025
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Health and Employment – Primary Health Care wage agreement reached but pay parity still needed to retain nurses – NZNO

Source: New Zealand Nurses Organisation

New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) primary health care members have agreed to an 8% wage increase over 12 months but pay parity with their hospital counterparts is still needed to retain nurses in the sector.

NZNO’s College of Primary Health Care Nurses chair Tracey Morgan says there was overwhelming support for the Multi Employment Collective Agreement offer for an immediate increase of 5% followed by a further 3% in July.

“This is good news for primary and community care nurses. However, their base hourly rate remains on average about 10% below Te Whatu Ora nurses despite having the same skills and qualifications.

“Until primary and community care nurses are paid the same, they will continue to leave GPs and iwi and community clinics for better paid hospital jobs here and overseas.”

A recent Victoria University of Wellington study found 36% of New Zealand’s general practices didn’t take new enrolments last year, with workforce shortages cited as the major reason people were being turned away.

“If people can’t get the health care they need in their communities, they end up at hospital even sicker. This puts more pressure on our already stretched hospitals,” Tracey Morgan says.

“NZNO urges the Government to fulfil its pre-election commitment to pay primary care nurses the same as their hospital counterparts and introduce a sustainable funding model for the primary care sector.”

MIL OSI New Zealand News –

March 24, 2025
MIL-OSI Submissions: Universities – New hi-tech buoys improve south coast scientific monitoring – Flinders

Source: Flinders University

The introduction of new Spotter buoys to measure wave height and direction, and temperature in the sea off Victor Harbor in South Australia, provides a timely new resource to monitor fluctuating sea conditions and their effect on coastal environments.

As unusually warm ocean temperatures for this time of year have triggered peculiar and destructive brown foam (believed to be triggered by microalgal blooms) to be washed up along the southern coastline, the new buoys will provide crucial data to inform stakeholders and the public on changing ocean conditions.

The buoys, released into Encounter Bay and the Southern Ocean in early March by Flinders University’s Associate Professor Graziela Miot da Silva and new PhD student Maya Lambert, working in conjunction with the South Australian Research and Development (SARDI) Oceanography team and Victor Harbor Council Coastal Surveillance Officer Bronson Symmonds, gather critical information on wave and ocean temperature changes driven by climate change.

The deployed buoys are Sofar Spotter metocean buoys, that collect and transmit accurate ocean data such as wave height, period and direction, estimates in wind speed and direction, plus sea surface temperature and barometric pressure in real-time via cellular data transfer.

“This will provide good baseline data about coastal waters that has been lacking, and there has never been a better time to have more information about this stretch of ocean,” says Associate Professor Miot da Silva, part of Flinders University’s Beach and Dune Systems (BEADS) Lab.

“There has been a significant gap in wave information available to researchers, managers, developers and policy makers. These buoys will make a huge difference.”

The real-time wave data collected by this project will allow for the development of validated data-assimilating wave- and morphodynamic models to predict future changes in South Australia’s coastline, including climate change and sea level rise.

“The intent of the research is to find better ways to manage this coast and to mitigate the risk to private and public assets on the coastline,” says Professor Patrick Hesp, head of Flinders University’s Beach and Dune Systems (BEADS) Lab.

“The provision of accurate wave data is critical to improve understanding of variations in the hydrodynamic processes that shape coastlines, to inform best coastal management practices, drive the development of marine industries, and to promote and support tourism.”

Data from the Spotter buoys – which will be maintained and processed thanks to a three-and-a-half-year Enterprise Industry scholarship funded by Victor Harbor Council and Flinders University to Flinders student Maya Lambert – will help local governments to forge better solutions for coastal protection.

Access to real-time wave data aids research and provides valuable information necessary for informing daily marine operations, such as dredging, navigation and sea conditions for commercial and recreational fishermen, plus search and rescue operations, and water-based research and monitoring programs.

This work in Encounter Bay is a collaboration between Flinders University, SARDI (the research arm of the Department of Primary Industries and Regions), and several district councils will provide long-term monitoring with real-time wave and sea surface temperature data to better understand coastal processes in the region, and help predict the future of the state’s coastlines.

The project builds on existing coastal research being done by Flinders University, SARDI, the Department of Environment and Water, and the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) national Coastal Wave BuoysFacility with data being gathered from an extended network of wave buoys extending across the state from Robe to Ceduna.

Access to this data is also freely available to the public through the www.sawaves.org website – a site that has quickly become popular with commercial and recreational marine users to check accurate wave conditions across the state.

• The Coast Protection Board co-funds the Flinders PhD scholarship and contributed cash to the Council of Victor Harbor to purchase the wave buoy and maintain it via a Coast Protection Grant.

MIL OSI – Submitted News –

March 24, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Rector of NSU presented unique documents about the work of academician Gury Marchuk at the university

Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

Source: Novosibirsk State University – Novosibirsk State University –

The House of Scientists hosted the next meeting of the Akademgorodok Interscientific Contacts Club, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding mathematician, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Gury Ivanovich Marchuk.

Guriy Ivanovich was the author of almost 1,400 scientific papers and 46 books on computational and applied mathematics. His scientific achievements include methods for calculating nuclear reactors, forecasting weather and tsunami risks based on mathematical modeling, and he was one of the authors of a new scientific field — mathematical modeling in immunology and medicine. And this is only part of his contribution to world and domestic science. In recent years, he devoted much time to global problems of climate change, pollution of the planet, and preserving the planet’s gene pool.

G.I. Marchuk devoted a lot of time and effort to scientific and organizational activities, heading the State Committee on Science and Technology in the rank of Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1975-1980) and becoming the last President of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

When talking about the legacy of Gury Ivanovich, his teaching activities, to which he also devoted a lot of time, are less often remembered. And in his speech at the meeting of the Club, the rector of the Novosibirsk State University, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Mikhail Fedoruk partially filled this gap, presenting a number of rare archival documents and photographs related to the work of G.I. Marchuk at the university.

— Gury Ivanovich came to work at NSU almost immediately after moving to Akademgorodok in 1962 as a half-time professor in the Department of Computational Mathematics. In subsequent years, he worked in various departments and, despite the enormous workload in scientific and management work, he always treated teaching activities very carefully and responsibly, — said Mikhail Fedoruk.

Students also noted Gury Ivanovich’s very polite and friendly attitude towards everyone at the university, whether a teacher or a student. They even came up with a humorous unit of measurement for politeness – “guryi”, claiming that the average person’s politeness level is measured in “microguryi”.

— It is impossible to overestimate the opportunity to study not just from textbooks, but from those whose work later becomes the basis for writing these textbooks. Thanks to the traditional cooperation between NSU and the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences, our students have always had such an opportunity to study from the best, starting with the founding fathers of Akademgorodok, which was reflected in the quality of their education. And Marchuk’s example clearly shows that the scientists themselves paid great attention to the training of new generations of researchers, finding time for this even with the busiest work schedule, — summed up Mikhail Fedoruk.

Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

MIL OSI Russia News –

March 24, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: New appointments to arts institutions
Source: Workplace Gender Equality Agency

The Albanese Labor Government has made a range of appointments to arts bodies and cultural institutions to ensure they remain under strong leadership.
- Mr Tony Ayers has been appointed as a member of the Council of the National Museum of Australia for a three-year term.
- Ms Sue Hampel OAM has been reappointed to the National Archives of Australia Advisory Council for a three-year term.
- Mr John Barrington AM has been reappointed as Deputy Chair to the National Portrait Gallery Board for a three-year term.
Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke, said the appointees would lend a deep well of expertise to guide the administration of these important organisations.

“Each appointee brings years of dedication and experience across the arts and public sectors that positions them well for these roles.

“Protecting our beloved cultural institutions for future generations means having the best leadership in place to safeguard them.”

Mr Tony Ayres is an award-winning Australian director, producer, showrunner, screenwriter, and editor with more than 33 years’ experience in film and television. Mr Ayres’ feature films and television shows have been nominated for over 100 Australian and international awards, and have won more than 60 of these awards – including an International Emmy, a BAFTA, a Golden Horse, six AACTA awards, and six Logies. Mr Ayres is Executive Producer at Tony Ayres Productions, a Member of the Advisory Board of Australians in Film, and a Company Director at Big and Little Films.

—-

Ms Sue Hampel OAM has been a member of the National Archives Advisory Council since 2019. Ms Hampel is working as a teaching associate and research assistant at the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation at Monash University and is a well-known public speaker and lecturer. She holds a Masters degree in Holocaust and Genocide Studies and is the co-President of the Melbourne Holocaust Museum. Ms Hampel has been recognised for her teaching and community service by receiving numerous awards including a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2014, for Service to the community through the promotion of understanding and tolerance.

Ms Hampel is a representative of the Australian delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). She is an expert in Holocaust education and served as the International Chair of the Education Working Group in 2021.

—-

Mr John Barrington AM has served as Deputy Chair on the National Portrait Gallery of Australia Board since May 2022. He is co-founder and previously Managing Director of Artificial Intelligence (AI) company Artrya Ltd, developing AI solutions to improve the diagnosis of heart disease and is Managing Director of Barrington Consulting Group. He is Chair of John Curtin Gallery and Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research and a Director of Health Translation Group Ltd. He was previously Chair of Perth International Arts Festival, Deputy Chair of Creative Partnerships Australia, Deputy Chair on the Federal Government’s Creative Economy Taskforce and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Commerce from Curtain University in 2022. In 2019 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the community of Western Australia

MIL OSI News –
March 24, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Citrus remedy squeezes out dry mouth for cancer patients

Source:

24 March 2025

A natural citrus oil from oranges, lemons, and limes is proving highly effective in relieving dry mouth, and when combined with a new lipid formulation, new research suggests it may be effective without significant side effects.

Developed by the University of South Australia in collaboration with the Medical School at Stanford University, this world first formulation uniquely combines limonene (a citrus essential oil) with a lipid-based drug delivery system to treat dry mouth (xerostomia), a common side effect of radiotherapy.

The new formula demonstrated 180-fold better solubility than pure limonene in lab experiments and boosted relative bioavailability by over 4000% compared to pure limonene in pre-clinical trials.

Dry mouth is the most reported side effect following radiotherapy for the treatment of head and neck cancer, affecting up to 70% of patients due to salivary gland damage. It can lead to difficulty speaking and swallowing, significantly reducing quality of life.

Limonene has protective effects on saliva production during radiotherapy, but its poor solubility means high doses are needed to take effect, and these cause indigestion, abdominal discomfort and unpleasant ‘citrus burps’.

Lead researcher, Professor Clive Prestidge says UniSA’s new limonene-lipid combination creates a ‘super-solubilising’ treatment that reduces dry mouth at lower dose and without uncomfortable side effects.

“The therapeutic benefits of limonene are well known. It’s used as an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and mood-enhancing agent, and can also improve digestion and gut function. But despite its widespread use, its volatility and poor solubility have limited its development as an oral therapy,” Prof Prestidge says.

“As limonene is an oil, it forms a film on the top of the stomach contents, causing significant stomach pain and discomfort.

“Our novel formulation combines limonene with healthy fats and oils – called lipids – to create a super-solubilising compound that the body can easily absorb with reduced uncomfortable side effects.

“This increases the dispersion of limonene in the stomach, boosts absorption, and controls biodistribution – all while increasing a patient’s saliva production and reducing dry mouth.”

Co-researcher Dr Leah Wright says the formulation has the potential to significantly improve the quality of life for cancer patients and others suffering dry mouth conditions.

“Cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy and other medical treatments regularly experience dry mouth, which not only prevents them from comfortably swallowing, but can also have other negative and potentially life-threatening outcomes,” Dr Wright says.

“While limonene can be ingested directly, it’s not well tolerated, especially by those with dry mouth. Plus, its poor absorption prevents it from effectively reaching the salivary glands – the target site.

“This inventive and highly impactful limonene-lipid formulation could provide a simple, effective oral solution for dry mouth, offering cancer patients long-lasting relief and comfort, improved oral health, and a higher quality of life during a difficult time.”

Clinical trials for the new formula are ongoing, with next steps to be announced soon.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Contacts for interview: Professor Clive Prestidge E: Clive.Prestidge@unisa.edu.au
Dr Leah Wright E: leah.wright@adelaide.edu.au
Media contact: Annabel Mansfield M: +61 479 182 489 E: Annabel.Mansfield@unisa.edu.au

Other articles you may be interested in

MIL OSI News –

March 24, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: What is hyaluronic acid – and is it OK for kids and teens to use this common skincare ingredient?

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zoe Porter, Lecturer, Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science, Monash University

Sabinayro/Shutterstock

Earlier this month, Kmart pulled a “hyaluronic acid cleansing balm” from its shelves, after a teen who used the skincare product was hospitalised, reporting eye pain and blurred vision. It’s unclear what ingredient caused this reaction.

In a statement, Kmart said it was removing the product while conducting an investigation. The retailer also said:

We want to assure our customers that our cosmetics are designed to ensure that they comply with both Australian and European requirements on ingredients.

Hyaluronic acid – despite the name – is a gentle ingredient commonly used in skincare products.

But what does hyaluronic acid do to your skin as a skincare ingredient? And is it safe for tweens and teens?

What is hyaluronic acid?

Hyaluronic acid is a glycosaminoglycan – a sugar-based molecule found naturally in the skin, eyes, joint fluid and connective tissue.

It plays a key role in hydrating the skin and tissues, lubricating our joints and supporting tissue repair.

Beyond cosmetics, hyaluronic acid is used in drug delivery, regenerative medicine, wound repair, and to treat conditions such as atherosclerosis (where the arterial walls harden and narrow) and osteoarthritis (a degenerative joint disease).

It is also a key ingredient in many eye drops and contact lens care solutions.

How is it used in skincare?

While the word “acid” might suggest it is harsh and potentially damaging to the skin, hyaluronic acid is not used in its acidic form in skincare products. It is usually used in its salt form, sodium hyaluronate.

In skincare, active acids such as salicylic acid usually lower the skin’s pH and exfoliate it by breaking the bonds between dead skin cells.

Hyaluronic acid, in contrast, is used to hydrate the skin. It is a humectant, an ingredient that attracts and retains water molecules.

Hyaluronic acid has three qualities that make it suitable for skincare: it’s soluble (can be dissolved in water), biocompatible (meaning it’s not harmful to the body), and biodegradable (naturally breaks down into non-toxic, simpler substances).

It is usually safe and well-tolerated, meaning it has very few side effects.

In skincare products, hyaluronic is used in different forms. Smaller hyaluronic molecules can penetrate deeper into the skin and hydrate the lower levels. In products this is often advertised as “anti-ageing”, because it stimulates the production of collagen (a structural protein in the skin), and helps to improve elasticity and reduce the appearance of fine lines.

Larger hyaluronic acid molecules remain on the skin’s surface and have an immediate hydrating effect, preventing water evaporation from the skin.

Hyaluronic acid helps the skin attract and retain water molecules for hydration.
Art_Photo/Shutterstock

Any risks?

Hyaluronic acid is generally a safe ingredient, even for sensitive skin. But products advertised as “hyaluronic acid skincare” may contain other ingredients which can cause irritation.

In particular, fragrances, preservatives and surfactants (ingredients that produce foam and help wash away oil and dirt) may be safe for skin but burn or otherwise irritate the eyes.

This is because the cornea and conjuctiva (the thin membrane covering the eye) are much more sensitive than the skin.

How are skincare ingredients regulated?

Unlike medicines and products used for therapeutic reasons, which are regulated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), general cosmetic products do not require pre-market safety testing or approval.

Instead, companies need to register their business with the Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme and verify that their ingredients are not banned or restricted in Australia.

This creates a potential gap where defective products remain on the market, only to be recalled after adverse reactions occur.

Are these products appropriate for children?

Most scientific research on active ingredients – including hyaluronic acid – has been evaluated in older populations. This leaves a gap in understanding how they affect teen and preteen skin.

Many products are designed for ageing and/or specific skin types, and are largely unnecessary for children and younger people.

In some cases, they can potentially be harmful to their skin. For example, unless prescribed by a dermatologist, it’s advisable for young people to avoid retinoid products (containing retinol or retinal) as they can cause redness, peeling and drying.

Similarly, products with alpha hydroxy acids can cause irritation, itching, redness and may worsen acne in young skin.

So, what should younger people look for?

Preteens and teens should avoid products containing active ingredients such as retinol, vitamin C, alpha- and beta- hydroxy acids, and peptides, as well as those labelled with terms such as anti-ageing, wrinkle-reducing, brightening, or firming.

To keep skin clean and protected, teenagers can use a good cleanser, a simple moisturiser and a broad spectrum SPF 30 or 50 sunscreen.

It’s best to opt for gentle, fragrance-free cleansers and moisturisers suitable for all skin types. Consulting with a pharmacist can provide personalised recommendations based on individual skin needs.

Laurence Orlando is a council member with the Australian Society of Cosmetic Chemists.

Zoe Porter 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 is hyaluronic acid – and is it OK for kids and teens to use this common skincare ingredient? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-hyaluronic-acid-and-is-it-ok-for-kids-and-teens-to-use-this-common-skincare-ingredient-252296

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

March 24, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Giving rivers room to move: how rethinking flood management can benefit people and nature

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christina McCabe, PhD Candidate in Interdisciplinary Ecology, University of Canterbury

Shutterstock/S Watson

When we think about flood management, higher stop banks, stronger levees and concrete barriers usually come to mind. But what if the best solution – for people and nature – isn’t to confine rivers, but to give them more space?

This alternative is increasingly being considered as an approach to mitigating flood risk. But allowing rivers room to move also delivers ecological benefits far beyond flood risk reduction. It supports biodiversity, improves water quality and stores carbon.

As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of extreme floods, rethinking our approach to managing floodplain rivers has never been more urgent.

Climate change, floods and river confinement

Climate change is amplifying flood risks worldwide, and Aotearoa New Zealand is no exception. Large floods are expected to become much more frequent and severe, threatening communities, infrastructure and ecosystems.

Many of these risks are made worse by past management decisions that have artificially confined rivers within narrow channels, cutting them off from their natural floodplains.

Floodplain river systems have historically been dynamic, shifting across landscapes over time. But extensive stop banks, modification of river channels and land development have restricted this natural variability.

Strangling rivers in this way transfers and heightens flood risks downstream by forcing water through confined channels at greater speeds. It also degrades ecosystems that rely on the natural ebb and flow of river processes.

The Waiau River, a gravel-bed braided river in the South Island, has been constrained by land development, primarily for agriculture.
Background satellite image: Google (c) 2025 Airbus, CC BY-SA

Giving rivers space to roam

The idea of allowing rivers to reclaim space on their floodplains is not new.

In the Netherlands, the Room for the River programme was a response to flooding in 1995 that led to large-scale evacuations of people and cattle. In England, predictions that economic risks associated with flooding will increase 20-fold within this century ignited the Making Space for Water strategy.

However, these initiatives typically remain focused on flood protection, overlooking opportunities to maximise ecological benefits. Our new research shows that well-designed approaches can deliver ecological gains alongside flood protection.

This is crucial because floodplain river systems are among the most valuable ecosystems. They provide about a quarter of all land-based ecosystem services such as water retention and pollutant filtration, as well as educational, recreational and cultural benefits.

Managing rivers for variability

A fundamental shift in river management involves acknowledging and accommodating natural variability. Floodplain rivers are not static: they change across landscapes and through time, responding to seasonal flows, sediment movement and ecological processes.

Braided rivers are an example of floodplain rivers that have natural variability and diverse habitat types.
Angus McIntosh, CC BY-SA

Our research synthesises the ecological processes that are enabled when floodplain rivers have room to move.

Rivers that are not unnaturally confined are typically more physically complex. For instance, along with the main river channel, they might have smaller side channels, or areas where the water pools and slows, springs popping up from below ground to re-join the surface waters, or ponds on the floodplain.

A diverse range of habitats supports a rich variety of plant and animal life. Even exposed gravel, made available in rivers that flow freely, provides critical nesting sites for endangered birds.

Biodiversity is not one-dimensional. Instead, it exists and operates at multiple scales, from a small floodplain pond to a whole river catchment or wider. In a dynamic, ever-changing riverscape, we might find the genetic composition of a species varying in different parts of the river, or the same species of fish varying in their body size, depending on the habitat conditions.

These examples of natural biological variability enable species and ecosystems to be resilient in the face of uncertain future conditions.

Rivers that have room to move on their floodplains are highly dynamic. This diagram shows the main types of ecological variability in a free-flowing river: physical variability, habitat heterogeneity and variable ecosystem processes.
Adapted from McCabe et al. 2025 Nature Water, CC BY-SA

At a larger scale, the type and number of species that live in different floodplain river habitats also varies. This diversity of biological communities produces variation in the functions ecosystems perform across the river, such as the uptake of nutrients or processing of organic matter. This can even help to diversify food webs.

These variations mean not all species or groups of species in the river will be vulnerable to the same disturbances – such as droughts or floods – at the same time. This is because plants and animals in rivers have evolved to take advantage of long-term rhythms of floods and droughts in different ways.

For instance, the cottonwood poplars of the southwest United States time their seed release with the highly predictable rhythms of snowmelt-driven spring floods in that part of the world. In Aotearoa New Zealand, whitebait fish species typically deposit their eggs during high autumn flows, which then get transported to sea as larvae during high winter flows.

Some animals need multiple habitats within the river for different stages of life. Other creatures travel from afar to use river floodplains for only a short time. The latter includes the banded dotterel (Charadrius bicinctus), endemic to Aotearoa New Zealand. This bird travels as far as 1,700km to nest on braided-river gravels each spring. Banded dotterels are in decline, and they rely on habitats provided by rivers that have space to roam.

The endangered black-fronted tern (Chlidonias albostriatus) uses gravel bar habitats on river floodplains for nesting.
Angus McIntosh, CC BY-SA

A call for more sustainable river management

As climate change accelerates, we must rethink how we manage our waterways. Reinforcing levees and deepening channels may seem like logical responses to increased flood risk, but these approaches often exacerbate long-term vulnerabilities and transfer risk elsewhere.

We call for practitioners to broaden the scope of values included in river management policy and programmes to include ecological variability.

Nature-based solutions are approaches that seek to benefit both people and nature. By working with nature rather than against it, we can create landscapes that are more resilient, adaptive, and supportive of both people and biodiversity.

It’s time to embrace a new paradigm for river management – one that sees rivers not as threats to be controlled, but as lifelines to be protected and restored.

Christina McCabe receives funding through an Aho Hīnātore doctoral research scholarship at the University of Canterbury.

Jonathan Tonkin receives funding from a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship and the Centre of Research Excellence Te Pūnaha Matatini. He also receives funding from the Antarctic Science Platform and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

– ref. Giving rivers room to move: how rethinking flood management can benefit people and nature – https://theconversation.com/giving-rivers-room-to-move-how-rethinking-flood-management-can-benefit-people-and-nature-251225

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

March 24, 2025
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) launches Samarthya: National Competition on Corporate Rescue Strategies 2025 at Manesar

Source: Government of India

Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) launches Samarthya: National Competition on Corporate Rescue Strategies 2025 at Manesar

The Programme offers a dynamic platform for students to devise innovative turnaround strategies for businesses facing financial distress

Samarthya 2025 Focuses on Real-World Corporate Rescue Strategies and Expert Engagement

Posted On: 23 MAR 2025 10:38AM by PIB Delhi

The Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) inaugurated Samarthya: National Competition on Corporate Rescue Strategies 2025 on March 22,2025 at its campus in Manesar, Haryana. Taking place on March 22nd and 23rd, 2025, the programme offers a dynamic platform for students to devise innovative turnaround strategies for businesses facing financial distress.

The event emphasizes practical learning and strategic thinking in corporate rescue, providing participants with hands-on experience in navigating real-world financial distress scenarios. Participants will analyse financial statements, develop corporate rescue strategies, and present their solutions to a panel of esteemed judges. Additionally, they will engage with insolvency professionals, legal practitioners, and business leaders through panel discussions and networking opportunities. The competition offers valuable industry exposure, expert feedback, and the opportunity to gain recognition for their innovative solutions.

The inauguration ceremony commenced with the traditional Lighting of the Lamp, performed by distinguished judges of the event and dignitaries on the dais, symbolizing the formal commencement of the competition by an introduction by the Student Convenors for the event, Ms. Ayushi Agarwal, Ms. Eepsa Bansal, and Ms. Harshitha Ulphas. Following this, Dr. Pyla Narayana Rao, Course Director and Head of the School of Corporate Law, delivered the Inaugural Address, emphasizing the significance of corporate rescue strategies in ensuring business sustainability and financial resilience.

Ms. Pavithra Ravi, Professor at Gujarat National Law University, delivered the Opening Remarks, offering insights into the competition’s objectives. A video message from Mr. Kapileshwar Bhalla, LL.M Faculty, encouraged participants to apply their financial knowledge, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. He extended his best wishes to all participants and applauded the organizers for their efforts in making the event a success.

The ceremony concluded with a Vote of Thanks by Mr. Pramod Jangra, Course Coordinator of LL.M (IBL) at IICA, who expressed gratitude to all speakers, participants, and organizers for their contributions.

The competition will challenge students with practical case studies simulating real-world financial distress scenarios. Participants will be evaluated based on the feasibility, innovation, and strategic insight demonstrated in their proposed solutions. Through this platform, IICA aims to nurture the next generation of corporate leaders equipped to address complex financial challenges.

Dr. Ajay Bhushan Pandey, DG & CEO of IICA, extended his best wishes for the success of the event.

******

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MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

March 24, 2025
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: 100 New Food Testing Labs to be Established with Financial Support from Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Announces Ravneet Singh Bittu

Source: Government of India (2)

Posted On: 22 MAR 2025 7:05PM by PIB Delhi

100 New Food Testing Labs to be Established with Financial Support from Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Announces Ravneet Singh Bittu

Bathinda, 22nd March 2025 – In a bid to enhance food safety and quality, Ravneet Singh Bittu, the Union Minister of State for Railways and Food Processing Industries, announced that the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MOFPI) will financially support the establishment of 100 new NABL-accredited food testing laboratories across India in the financial year 2025-26.

Bittu, who inaugurated a world-class food testing laboratory at Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University, highlighted the critical role of food testing in ensuring food safety. “Food testing is vital for ensuring that food products meet safety standards and are free from harmful contaminants and pathogens,” he said.

The initiative is part of the government’s broader plan under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY), which has allocated ₹503.47 crore for 205 laboratory projects. Out of these, 169 projects have already been completed, with ₹349.21 crore disbursed. These labs play a crucial role in meeting the requirements of major regulatory bodies such as the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the Export Inspection Council of India (EIC), the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), and international agencies like the USFDA and EU regulations.

Farmers and producers in sectors such as citrus fruits, green peas, cauliflower, carrots (both fresh and frozen), milk and milk products, basmati rice, wheat, millets like bajra and sorghum, mustard and sunflower oilseeds, and farm-produced shrimp will benefit from these state-of-the-art facilities. These laboratories help ensure compliance with global standards, support exports, and improve the overall quality of food products, ultimately contributing to higher income for farmers and job creation, particularly for skilled technical personnel.

The laboratory inaugurated at Bathinda will employ cutting-edge technologies like GC-MS/MS, ICP-OES, HPLC, and UV spectrophotometers for testing pesticide residues, heavy metals, microbiological contaminants, and more. With a total project allocation of ₹253.12 lakh and ₹191.259 lakh already released, the facility will serve food processors, farmers, and food businesses to ensure the safety and quality of food products.

Elaborating on the achievements of the food processing sector in Punjab, Ravneet Singh shared that the Ministry has approved 24 cold chain projects totaling ₹553 crore, 3 agro-processing cluster projects worth ₹70 crore, 16 food processing units with an investment of ₹432 crore, and 10 food testing laboratories totaling ₹48 crore. Under the PMKSY scheme, 61 projects amounting to ₹1557 crore have been approved in Punjab, with a grant of ₹419 crore.

Additionally, six factories in Punjab have committed investments under the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme, totaling ₹126.31 crore. Over 2,500 micro-entrepreneurs in Punjab have received subsidies under the Pradhan Mantri Formalization of Micro Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme, and 1,296 members of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) have received seed capital approval amounting to ₹3.99 crore. In Bathinda and Mansa, honey and milk-based products are identified as the key products under the “One District, One Product” initiative.

In Bathinda, 483 loans amounting to ₹142.3 crore were disbursed, while in Mansa, 253 loans amounting to ₹72.15 crore were granted. Additionally, Self-Help Groups in Bathinda and Mansa received seed capital funding of ₹75 lakh and ₹18 lakh, respectively, under the PMFME scheme.

Ravneet Singh also visited an exhibition organized by PMFME beneficiaries, showcasing their products.

Other dignitaries present at the event included Dr. Sandeep Kansal, Vice Chancellor of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Technical University, Sh. Ranjit Singh, Joint Secretary of MOFPI, Sh. Rajnish Tuli, GM of Punjab Agro, Sh. Jitendra Dongre from MOFPI, Sh. Amit Joshi from KCCI, Sh. Sarup Chand Singla, District President of BJP Bathinda, Smt. Parampal Kaur, and S. Dayal Sodhi.

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STK

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MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

March 24, 2025
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: ‘India 2047: Building a Climate-Resilient Future’ Symposium concludes with a Strong Commitment to Action
Source: Government of India

‘India 2047: Building a Climate-Resilient Future’ Symposium concludes with a Strong Commitment to Action

Collaborative, Community-led Action Plans embedded across all levels of governance – need of the hour to develop Long-term Climate Adaptation Strategies: MoS Sh. Kirti Vardhan Singh

Addressing Adaptation Finance is a critical pillar for mainstreaming adaptation in Climate Adaptation Actions, highlights MoS (MoEFCC)

Posted On: 22 MAR 2025 6:23PM by PIB Delhi

The ‘India 2047: Building a Climate-Resilient Future’ symposium concluded today at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, with a resounding call for sustained action, collaboration, and policy-driven climate adaptation and resilience.

In his remarks during the valedictory session, Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Kirti Vardhan Singh, highlighted India’s remarkable journey in confronting climate challenges. He emphasized the multidimensional nature of climate action, touching upon critical issues such as the impact of heatwaves and water scarcity on agriculture, the urgency of building resilient health systems, adaptation financing, and innovative solutions in the built environment. He called for comprehensive climate adaptation and resilience measures.

Addressed the gathering at the valedictory session of India 2047: Building a Climate-Resilient Future conference at Bharat Mandapam. I congratulate @MOEFCC @Harvard @MittalInstitute @SalataClimate for conceptualising and successfully conducting the conference.

Glad to learn that… pic.twitter.com/kWTfmk0GH4

— Kirti Vardhan Singh (@KVSinghMPGonda) March 22, 2025

The Minister outlined Critical Action Points that emerged from the symposium:
- Stronger Institutional Frameworks: Climate adaptation must be embedded across all levels of governance, including at the local level.
- Community-Driven Solutions: Policies should be tailored to ground realities, local needs and circumstances.
- Immediate and Long-Term Action: While emergency interventions like heat relief programmes are vital, systemic changes in infrastructure, policy and financing are pertinent for long-term resilience. Addressing adaptation finance, is a critical pillar for mainstreaming adaptation in the short-term and long-term climate adaptation actions.
- Collaborative Implementation: Policymakers, researchers, businesses, and communities must work together to scale up just and equitable climate adaptation strategies.
Shri Singh mentioned that the collaboration between Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of India and Harvard University represented by Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute and The Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability has been a unique opportunity to bring together experts and stakeholders facilitating exchange of ideas. He suggested that the lessons and recommendations from this Symposium be taken, as appropriate, to support India’s continued lead in addressing the Climate challenges of the 21^st century.

Over the past four days, the symposium served as a dynamic knowledge sharing platform for experts from diverse fields—including climate science, public health, labour, and urban planning—to deliberate on the urgent challenges posed by climate change and the pathways to a resilient future. The deliberations focused on four key themes: Climate Science of Heat and Water with its implications on Agriculture, Health, Work and the Built Environment.

The climate adaptation in Agriculture requires evidence-based policies and decision-making. Emphasis was placed on localized governance and climate-resilient agricultural practices to improve food security and nutrition. Discussions suggested integrating scientific research with policy, long-term climate changes, water use trends, establishing local climate forums, stakeholder-centric metrics, and integrating AI in forecasting. Experts highlighted the need for communication among stakeholders, technological advancements, and balancing short-term and long-term adaptation strategies.

The resilience in Health sector discussion focused on quantification of heat exposure and its impact on human health, emphasizing the need to improve data collection, correlation and consideration of local context, using the advancements in AI and machine learning. The deliberation also stressed the importance of strengthening climate-responsive public health systems, addressing the fragmented health data landscape, and promoting cross-sectoral collaboration. Emphasis was placed on multi-sectoral governance, suitable metrics, and training healthcare workers on climate-linked health risks, with a focus on leveraging existing programmes and engaging in multi-stakeholder collaboration for policymaking.

Adaptation at Work is essential to address the heat-related stress and its impact on workers. The challenges faced by workers especially women were recognized and best practices in technical and behavioral adaptation, emphasizing health standards, occupational safety, safe civic spaces, etc. were highlighted. The importance of government intervention, innovative financial solutions, and multi-stakeholder collaboration was underscored to enhance resilience in diverse geo-climatic conditions. The need for comprehensive strategies, considering local work culture and conditions, leveraging existing policies was emphasized to protect workers from climate-induced heat stress.

The Built environment we live in, directly impacts our adaptation capacities. The experts in the sector emphasized a balanced approach to urban resilience, combining legal mandates with market-based incentives. The importance of addressing vulnerable populations, particularly in slum areas was highlighted, through local interventions and long-term planning. The success of urban planning policies depends not just on their design but also on operational feasibility, efficiency and cultural acceptance. The need for responsive urban planning frameworks, interdisciplinary collaboration, and action-oriented research was emphasized. There is a need to shift focus to thermal comfort for all.

Professor Caroline Buckee from Harvard University emphasized the need for more granular data to identify those most at risk from climate impacts. She highlighted the challenges posed by India’s large health system and the importance of integrating health data across different sectors. Professor Buckee also stressed the value of timely censuses for accurate epidemiological estimates and the need for interdisciplinary approaches to address the complex interactions between climate change, health, and other sectors.

Shri Tanmay Kumar, Secretary (MoEFCC), emphasized the importance of building local capacities to address climate impacts effectively. He highlighted the need for integrated approaches that consider the unique challenges faced by different regions and communities. He noted that adaptation strategies must be inclusive and community-driven, drawing on traditional knowledge and practices. He emphasized that climate resilience and sustainable development require continuous collaboration and commitment. He also reaffirmed that the Ministry remains committed to ensuring that climate resilience strategies are inclusive, sustainable and grounded in scientific evidence and also take into account the development aspirations.

Prof. Tarun Khanna, Director (The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, Harvard University), appreciated the collaboration and expressed his gratitude towards the Ministry and Harvard University represented by Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute & The Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability for bringing together leaders from across the field to collaboratively work on the leading challenge of our times. He highlighted the collaborative spirit and the diverse energies that came together to make this symposium a success.

Shri Naresh Pal Gangwar, Additional Secretary (MoEFCC), expressed heartfelt gratitude to all distinguished speakers, experts, and panelists for sharing their knowledge and insights. He urged everyone to continue working with renewed focus and dedication, emphasizing the importance of collaboration and determination in addressing climate challenges.

The symposium concluded with a strong message for continued dialogue, knowledge sharing and collaborative efforts. As India moves toward its centenary of independence, the outcomes of this symposium could contribute while shaping appropriate policies and measures for building a climate-resilient future for the nation.

*****

VM/GS

(Release ID: 2114039) Visitor Counter : 91

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –
March 24, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Labor gains big lead in a Morgan poll, but drops back in YouGov

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

A national Morgan poll, conducted March 10–16 from a sample of 2,097, gave Labor a 54.5–45.5 lead by headline respondent preferences, a three-point gain for Labor since the March 3–9 Morgan poll. This is Labor’s largest lead in a Morgan poll since August 2023.

Primary votes were 34% Coalition (down three), 32.5% Labor (up 2.5), 13.5% Greens (steady), 5% One Nation (steady), 10.5% independents (steady) and 4.5% others (up 0.5). By 2022 election flows, Labor led by 54.5–45.5, a 2.5-point gain for Labor.

By 50.5–35, respondents thought the country was going in the wrong direction (51.5–33 previously). However, Morgan’s consumer confidence index slid 3.1 points to 83.8, its lowest this year.

Voters were blaming Donald Trump for the stock market falls, and this was hurting the Coalition. The stock market had a better week last week, but Trump is likely to impose more tariffs on April 2.

Morgan is a volatile poll that reacts more to news events than other polls. This poll was taken in the week Trump imposed his steel and aluminium tariffs on Australia. It’s likely that this poll is a pro-Labor outlier, with other polls not giving Labor big leads. Here is the poll graph.

The ABC’s Patricia Karvelas wrote on March 17 that a Talbot Mills poll, conducted March 6–12 from a sample of 1,051, asked about Trump’s ratings with Australians for his performance as US president.

Trump was down six points since February to net -14 approval (51% disapprove, 37% approve). There was a six-point increase in strongly disapprove to 40%, with strongly approve down one to 15%. By 65–22, respondents disapproved of the US imposing tariffs on Australia.

Coalition gains in YouGov poll for a 50–50 tie

A national YouGov poll, conducted March 14–19 from a sample of 1,500, had a 50–50 tie, a one-point gain for the Coalition since the March 7–13 YouGov poll.

Primary votes were 37% Coalition (up one), 31% Labor (steady), 13% Greens (down 0.5), 7% One Nation (down 0.5), 1% Trumpet of Patriots (steady), 8% independents (down one) and 3% others (up one). YouGov is using weaker preference flows for Labor than occurred in 2022, and this poll would give Labor about a 51.5–48.5 lead by 2022 flows.

Albanese’s net approval was down three points to -9, with 50% dissatisfied and 41% satisfied. Dutton’s net approval was up one point to -5. Albanese led Dutton as better PM by 45–40 (45–39 previously).

Essential poll tied at 47–47 but Albanese’s ratings jump

A national Essential poll, conducted March 12–16 from a larger than normal sample of 2,256, had a 47–47 tie including undecided by respondent preferences (48–47 to the Coalition in early March).

Primary votes were 35% Coalition (steady), 29% Labor (steady), 12% Greens (down one), 8% One Nation (steady), 1% Trumpet of Patriots (steady compared with UAP), 9% for all Others (down one) and 6% undecided (up one). By 2022 preference flows, this poll would give Labor about a 50.5–49.5 lead, a 0.5-point gain for the Coalition.

Albanese’s net approval jumped nine points to +1, with 46% approving and 45% disapproving. This is Albanese’s first positive net approval in Essential since October 2023. Dutton’s net approval dropped two points to -5, his worst since January 2024.

By 48–35, respondents thought Australia was on the wrong track (49–34 previously).

On climate change, 54% (down five since October 2021) said “climate change is happening and is caused by human activity”, while 35% (up five) thought “we are just witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate”. This is the lowest lead for human activity in Essential’s graph which goes back to 2016.

On addressing climate change, 35% (up two since November) thought Australia is not doing enough, 34% (down three) doing enough and 19% (steady) doing too much.

By 39–30, voters opposed the Coalition’s policy of removing working from home provisions for public service workers. By 39–33, voters opposed Australia sending troops to Ukraine.

By 53–33, voters thought Trump’s presidency would have a negative impact on the US economy, by 62–24 negative for the global economy and by 61–20 negative for the Australian economy.

Labor gains lead in a Redbridge poll

A national Redbridge poll, conducted March 3–11 from a sample of 2,007, gave Labor a 51–49 lead, a 2.5-point gain for Labor since the previous Redbridge poll in early February. Primary votes were 37% Coalition (down three), 32% Labor (up one), 12% Greens (up one) and 19% for all Others (up one).

By 51–29, respondents thought things were headed in the wrong direction (49–32 in November 2024).

There has been more criticism of AUKUS from the left since Trump’s election, but by 51–19 respondents said AUKUS makes Australia safer (49–19 in July 2024). There was pro-AUKUS movement on other questions.

Polls in Greens target seats

The Poll Bludger reported last Tuesday on polls of seats either held by the Greens or plausible targets for them. These polls were taken by Insightfully for the right-wing Advance, and first reported by the News Corp tabloids. Sample sizes were 600 per seat with no fieldwork dates provided. Seat polls are unreliable.

The Greens hold three Queensland federal seats (Griffith, Ryan and Brisbane), and one Victorian seat (Melbourne). On the primary votes provided, the Greens would retain Griffith, Ryan would be line-ball between the Greens and Liberal National Party. Brisbane would be gained by Labor.

In Victoria, the Greens would hold Melbourne and gain Macnamara from Labor, while Labor would retain Wills against a Greens challenge.

Unemployment steady despite jobs fall

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported last Thursday that the unemployment rate was 4.1% in February, unchanged from January. This was despite a 52,800 decrease in jobs that didn’t affect unemployment owing to a lower participation rate.

The employment population ratio (the percentage of eligible Australians that are employed) was down 0.3% since a record high in January to 64.1%.

WA election final lower house seats

At the March 8 Western Australian election, Labor won 46 of the 59 lower house seats (down seven from the record landslide in 2021), the Liberals seven (up five) and the Nationals six (up two). Comparing this election with 2017, which was a big win for Labor, Labor is up five seats, the Liberals down six and the Nationals up one.

In 2017, Labor won 69.5% of lower house seats, in 2021 90% and in 2025 78%. If the WA lower house had as many seats as the federal House of Representatives (150), Labor would have won over 100 seats in all three elections.

In the upper house, 75.7% of enrolled voters has been counted, compared with 82.7% in the lower house. On current figures, Labor is likely to win 16 of the 37 seats, the Liberals ten, the Greens four, the Nationals two, and One Nation, Legalise Cannabis and Australian Christians one each.

Two seats are unclear, with an independent group (0.47 quotas) and Animal Justice (0.45) just ahead of One Nation’s second candidate (0.40). As the count has progressed, the Liberals have dropped and the Greens have risen. ABC election analyst Antony Green said the inclusion of below the line votes could put Labor’s 16th seat in doubt, with the Greens possibly winning five seats.

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 gains big lead in a Morgan poll, but drops back in YouGov – https://theconversation.com/labor-gains-big-lead-in-a-morgan-poll-but-drops-back-in-yougov-252380

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

March 24, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: New northside hospital early delivery partner

Source: Australian National Party

As part of ACT Government’s ‘One Government, One Voice’ program, we are transitioning this website across to our . You can access everything you need through this website while it’s happening.

Released 24/03/2025

The ACT Government’s northside hospital project has taken another step forward with the appointment of Multiplex as the early delivery partner to support continued work on design and planning to enable construction commencement in this term of Government.

Following the successful delivery of the more than $640 million Canberra Hospital Expansion, the ACT Government is pleased to be partnering with Multiplex again to deliver the next stage of the northside hospital project that will transform the North Canberra Hospital campus.

This $1 billion investment will be the largest health infrastructure project ever undertaken in the ACT, delivering a new state-of-the-art hospital for Canberra’s north.

A competitive tender was undertaken in 2024 to secure a contractor early in the process, building on the Early Contractor Involvement approach taken in the Canberra Hospital Expansion project.

As the successful tenderer, Multiplex will work collaboratively with the project team and ensure the best advice is available to inform infrastructure planning and design for the new hospital.

Multiplex brings extensive hospital construction experience, having successfully completed key health projects across Australia, including Canberra Hospital’s Critical Services Building, greenfield developments, research facilities, and major site refurbishments.

As delivery partners, Multiplex takes a holistic approach, and welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with clients early in the design and planning phase to bring construction expertise to the table.

The new northside hospital will be delivered alongside the continued transformation of the Canberra Hospital campus through the Canberra Hospital Master Plan and development of community health infrastructure projects including the new South Tuggeranong, Inner South, North Gungahlin and West Belconnen Health Centres, the new health precinct in Watson and the Tuggeranong hydrotherapy pool.

These new and upgraded facilities will provide Canberra’s growing community with access to services in modern and sustainable health settings.

The ACT Government and Multiplex will continue our strong collaboration with consumers, carers and the health workforce in designing high-quality hospital facilities as part of the Very Early Contractor Involvement contract, with the next phase of community consultation expected in mid-2025.

More information on the Northside Hospital Project is at https://www.act.gov.au/builtforcbr/NorthsideHospital.

While planning for the new hospital progresses, services will continue as usual at North Canberra Hospital, with the safety, health and wellbeing of consumers, visitors and staff remaining our top priority.

Attribute to Minister for Health Rachel Stephen-Smith:

“The ACT Labor Government delivered the $640 million Canberra Hospital Expansion project in the last term of Government, which included the state-of-the-art Critical Services Building.

“The more than $1 billion northside hospital will become the largest health infrastructure development undertaken in the Territory and this is an exciting milestone for the project.

“Infrastructure Canberra and Multiplex will work closely with Canberra Health Services over the coming months to develop a concept design for this new state-of-the-art hospital for Canberra’s north, supporting our commitment to commencing construction in the term of Government.

“Very early contractor involvement means we are bringing the delivery team together with the planning and design experts on the ground sooner to frame a vision for innovation, sustainability and exceptional clinical service delivery.

“Through this partnership there will also be significant opportunity for consumers, carers, our health workforce and the broader community to work with us on the planning and design of a modern and well-connected health facility.

Quotes attributable Multiplex NSW/ACT Regional Managing Director, David Ghannoum:

“Multiplex is proud to be part of the planning for the Territory’s largest-ever investment in health infrastructure. We look forward to leveraging our expertise and working with hospital stakeholders to create a design that provides a purpose-built and world-class healthcare facility for Canberrans.

“Having delivered the University of Canberra Public Hospital in 2017 and the Canberra Hospital Expansion in 2024, we are eager to reconnect with the community and will be implementing specific initiatives to support local employment and training.”

– Statement ends –

Rachel Stephen-Smith, MLA | Media Releases

«ACT Government Media Releases | «Minister Media Releases

MIL OSI News –

March 24, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Government-backed technologies support those living with dementia
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

Press release

Government-backed technologies support those living with dementia

Cutting-edge research networks backed by government to tackle debilitating symptoms of dementia including memory loss and communication difficulties
People living with dementia are set to benefit from government-backed research designed to help them live more independently in their own homes.

Four new research networks led by the UK’s top researchers, developers, health and social care professionals will focus on creating technologies to help dementia patients manage memory loss, communication difficulties and cope better with everyday tasks, in the hopes of slowing the progress of the disease and maximising the time they can spend safely and happily at home.

The teams will work alongside people living with dementia and carers to ensure lived experience and changing needs are at the heart of innovation, delivering the government’s Plan for Change to shift healthcare from hospitals into the community, with better results for patients while also reducing pressure on the NHS.

The four successful networks are:

The University of Sheffield – to develop technologies to help dementia patients communicate as their disease progresses, supporting speech and memory challenges

Heriot-Watt University – to develop technology to anticipate, and where possible slow, progression of dementia patients’ symptoms

Northumbria University – to develop local hubs in rural and remote areas, where dementia patients can access technology to help them with everyday tasks

Imperial College London – to develop easily-used tools to support independent living, and using AI to support data analytics

The networks will also collaborate with a range of key partners including NHS, Age UK, Alzheimer’s Society, Alzheimer’s Research UK and local authorities and councils, to deliver the projects, ensuring expertise at all levels is consulted on, and helping to develop the best outcome.

The projects are being backed by government, with The Minister of State for Health set to unveil £6.7 million in funding later this week at the World Dementia Council Summit on Tuesday 25th March.

The networks are funded by £6.7 million from the UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), in partnership with Alzheimer’s Society.

Minister of State for Health, Karin Smyth, said:

Dementia is a cruel and heartbreaking disease, not only for those living with it, but for the families and friends who often watch their loved one become a shadow of the person they once were.

Backing these groundbreaking technologies won’t just help people with dementia – it’ll transform their lives, giving people the freedom to stay in their own homes, around the people they love.

Moving care out of hospitals and into communities isn’t just smart healthcare – it’s about giving people independence. Britain will be at the forefront of dementia innovation, backing cutting-edge research and rolling out life-changing technologies that deliver real results for patients and families. This is exactly the bold thinking we need at the heart of our Plan for Change.

Science Minister, Lord Vallance said:

Dementia is one of the biggest challenges to health and social care of our time. These four networks will take on that challenge, harnessing technology to improve the quality of life for those living with the disease.

Helping people with Dementia to live more independently will allow us to move their care from hospitals to communities, reducing strain on the NHS and supporting the plans for health that are key to our Plan for Change.

Professor Lucy Chappell, Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Chief Executive Officer of the NIHR said:

By developing networks and technologies that help people living with dementia stay independent for longer, and closer to home, we can help improve the quality of care that patients and their families receive.

I welcome this collaboration which will increase the range of support enabling dementia patients to live independently at home and in their communities and freeing up vital time and resource for other areas of treatment and care.

Professor David Sharp at Imperial College London, and the Director of Care Research & Technology Centre, at the UK Dementia Research Institute, said:

This is a really exciting opportunity that will bring together UK scientists and partners from health and social care, industry, third sector and lived experience, to develop new technologies that will help people affected by dementia to live independently for as long as possible.

According to an Alzheimer’s Society survey, 85% of people have said they would prefer to stay in their own home for as long as possible if diagnosed with dementia, but many are currently unable to do so. It is hoped these projects will help slow the progression of the disease and provide a better quality of life for people living with dementia, to help people out of hospital and back into the community, where they’re most comfortable.

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Published 23 March 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
March 24, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: African safaris and colonial nightmares: a visit to artist Roger Ballen’s latest show

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Tinashe Mushakavanhu, Research Associate, University of Oxford

Born in the US, Roger Ballen, the internationally renowned photographer, has lived in South Africa since the 1970s.

He gained a cult following for his grotesque, surreal images of white poverty, captured on the rural fringes during apartheid. His work exposed not only the exploitation and marginalisation of his subjects but also the reality of apartheid’s failure to uplift even its privileged white minority.

Lion’s Revenge is a living, moving sculpture with sound effects. Roger Ballen/Inside Out Centre For the Arts

Over time, Ballen’s practice has expanded beyond photography into a hybrid realm of exhibition, installation and performance. His new Johannesburg space, the Inside Out Centre for the Arts, serves as a theatre for this experimentation.

The name itself, Inside Out, is typically “Ballenesque”, evoking the psychological effect he seeks to instil in viewers: a blurring of perception and reality. His exhibition, End of the Game, is an arresting debut for the centre.

Ballen is committed to challenging perspectives on African narratives. Designed as a platform for thought-provoking exhibitions and educational programmes, Inside Out supports a range of artistic practices, including photography, painting, sculpture, installation, drawing and film.

On a recent visit to the centre, Ballen walks me through the exhibition. As a scholar of literature and visual cultures, I am fascinated with this epic engagement with colonial archives and the history of big game hunting in Africa since the 1700s.

End of the Game. Inside Out Centre for the Arts

Even though the show’s been up for over a year, there’s no rush to close it, Ballen tells me. It’s become the backdrop of many eclectic events at the centre – live tattooing, poetry performances, curatorial talks, music workshops, film screenings, panel discussions. The centre is also proving popular for school group visits.

Read more: The real Johannesburg: 6 powerful photos from a gritty new book on the city

End of the Game is a visual and psychological exploration of the African safari – an experience long entwined with adventure, exploration, and the exploitative legacies of colonialism. It delves into humanity’s deep-seated drive to control and assert dominance over nature and wildlife.

A call to action

Entering End of the Game, visitors are greeted by Tarzan posters and a room filled with photos, books and documentary material on colonial hunting. But down the stairs, the experience shifts dramatically.

Inside Out Centre For the Arts

Here, Ballen’s images merge with eerie, mechanised sculptures of taxidermied (stuffed) creatures and unsettling painted tableaus. It feels like a horror-infused natural history museum.

Ballen blurs the line between documentary and constructed imagery, creating existential psychological dramas within haunting interiors.

Through his depictions of people and animals on the fringes of existence, he invites us to confront both our own alienation from the natural world and also the devastating consequences of our destructive behaviour.

Over the years, the scenes in Ballen’s photography have become increasingly elaborate and theatrical. His props, masks, drawings and sculptures have come to feature more prominently than people. The results often look more like mixed media collages than photographs.

Some of these elements are present in End of the Game. It assembles historical artefacts, paintings, colonial and contemporary photographs, as well as carefully staged objects. The result is a critical interrogation of the ecological crisis to which we have contributed. In the context of climate change, the show stands as both a stark indictment and an urgent call to action.

Beyond photography

The impulse to compose images beyond the medium of the photograph is what leads Ballen to collect found objects. He explains the process this way:

I am always trying to find things that don’t necessarily belong together and in making them belong together in a new way … It takes the spectator’s mind on a journey in another direction, which is important in art.

Nothing is static. Everything is in constant motion. The exhibition is immersive. The viewer and the objects are circling each other. Walking through it feels like entering a jungle, the taxidermied animals look poised for confrontation.

Hunter by Roger Ballen. Inside Out Centre for the Arts

For Ballen, this encounter is both physical and psychological – are animals enemies or figures of beauty? Perhaps coexistence is the question at the work’s core. As he explains it:

A central challenge in my career has been to locate the animal in the human being and the human being in the animal.

As the Tarzan posters make clear from the beginning, the idea of Africa has been hyped through Hollywood clichés. The image of it as a wild continent to be tamed and conquered, an unspoiled paradise, or a playground, has persisted. The romance of the African bush has filled the imagination of many foreign writers.

Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina, in his essay How to Write About Africa, satirised this:

Always use the word ‘Africa’ or ‘Darkness’ or ‘Safari’ in your title.

Here, safari embodies the enduring thrill of conquest.

Victor. Inside Out Centre for the Arts

In the screen room, a collaged film is shown, made up of old hunting expedition clips found on YouTube. It is travel propaganda of famous hunting expeditions, led by colonialists and influential western figures.

Ballen, a US-trained geologist, was drawn to South Africa to study and work in the mineral extraction field. His deep engagement with the earth’s structure, materials and processes conceptually frames this exhibition, blending the scientific with the surreal.

The show sparks critical conversations on wildlife conservation, responsible tourism and environmental stewardship.

Inside Out

Inside Out was originally intended to be a photography centre, but during construction Ballen started imagining broader possibilities. It evolved into a multi-purpose venue that is a gallery, a theatre and an exhibition space, all in one.

Funeral Wake. Roger Ballen/Inside Out Centre for the Arts

However, the photography centre remains part of the plan. Ballen has bought the property next door, where the photography centre will now be established. Set to open in the last quarter of 2025, the centre will host photography exhibitions, talks and a bookstore, making it one of Africa’s few dedicated photography centres.

– African safaris and colonial nightmares: a visit to artist Roger Ballen’s latest show
– https://theconversation.com/african-safaris-and-colonial-nightmares-a-visit-to-artist-roger-ballens-latest-show-251302

MIL OSI Africa –

March 24, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: I was a music AI sceptic – until I actually used it

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexis Weaver, Associate Lecturer in Music Technology, University of Sydney

Shutterstock

With artificial intelligence programs that can now generate entire songs on demand, you’d be forgiven for thinking AI might eventually lead to the decline of human-made music.

But AI can still be used ethically to help human musicians challenge themselves and grow their music-making abilities. I should know. As a composer and music educator, I was an AI sceptic until I started working with the technology.

Two sides of the argument

If you can write a text prompt, you can use AI to create a track in any genre, for almost any musical application.

Besides generating full tracks, music AI can be used in sound analysis, noise removal, mixing and mastering, and to create entire sound palettes (such as for use in video games and podcasts). Suno, Beatoven, AIVA, Soundraw and Udio are some of the companies currently leading in the AI music space.

In many cases, the outputs don’t have to be excellent, they just have to be good enough, and they can undercut the services of real musicians and sound designers.

The music industry is understandably concerned. In April 2024, the US-based Artist Rights Alliance published an open letter, signed by more than 200 artists, calling for developers to stop training their AIs with copyrighted work (as this would allow companies to emulate artists’ music and image, and therefore deplete the royalties paid to artists).

At the same time, music AI companies claim to lower the barrier to making music, such as by removing the need for physical equipment and traditional music education.

In an interview from January, Suno’s chief executive Mikey Shulman said:

it’s not really enjoyable to make music now. It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of practice […] the majority of people don’t enjoy the majority of the time they spend making music.

This is far from the message I want to send my students. However, it does unfortunately reflect the increasing pressure musicians feel to master their craft as soon as possible, in an increasingly fast-paced world that’s geared towards an intangible end goal, rather than enjoying the process of making mistakes and learning.

From a sceptic to a reluctant advocate

In 2023, I was commissioned by the Sydney Opera House create a new work with Sydney-based design company Kopi Su, and to develop a new generative music AI tool in the process. This tool, called Koup Music, is now in beta testing.

I accepted the opportunity – but with quite a few hesitations, as I wasn’t really interested in working with AI. Would this be a huge waste of time, or end with my data added to some mysterious AI data pool? Or would it open up new creative directions for me?

The tool was based on a text-to-image diffusion model called Riffusion. It takes a text prompt and generates a spectrogram, which is a visual representation of the various frequencies in an audio signal as they change through time. This is then converted to audio.

First, I would upload my own recorded sample to the AI, and then choose a text prompt to transform it into a new five-second sample.

For example, I could upload a short vocal melody and ask the AI to turn it into an insect, or re-contextualise it for a “hip hop” style. Sometimes the generated samples sounded very similar to my own voice (due to the vocals I uploaded).

The following insect voice output became the subject of the musical piece below it.

Somewhere between a voice and an insect.

·

At the time of the project, the outputs could only be 5 or 10 seconds long – not long enough to make a full track. I considered this a positive, as it meant I had to incorporate the samples into my own larger work.

Some samples were catchy. Some were funny. Others were boring. Some came out with scratchy, harsh timbres. The imperfection of it all gave me permission to have fun.

I focused on generating separate musical elements with my text prompts, rather than fully arranged samples. A generated drum beat or melody line could be enough to inspire a completely new musical track in a style I would never have attempted otherwise.

This output was used in the track How Things Grow.

·

Sometimes, one generated sample was enough. Other times, I challenged myself to use only AI-generated sounds to create a full track. In these cases, I used techniques such as filtering and looping small snippets to tease out the sounds I wanted.

For instance, I used the following audio samples to create the track below:

These snippets were used in the track Boom Boom Boom.

·

The process felt like a collaboration – like I was making music with a kooky colleague. This took away the pressure to make “perfect” music, and instead allowed me to focus on new creative possibilities.

My takeaways

I’ve concluded it’s not a bad idea to know what large music AIs are capable of. We can use them to further our own musical understanding, such as by studying how they use stylistic trends and mixing techniques, or how they translate musical ideas to suggest different genres.

For me, the key to quashing my AI scepticism was using an AI that didn’t take over the entire working process. I remained flexible to its suggestions, while using my own knowledge to retain creative control.

My experience isn’t isolated. Multiple studies have found that users of music AIs reported feeling satisfied with programs that allowed them to retain a sense of ownership over the composing process.

The connecting factor across these projects was that the AI did not generate entire musical works in one go. Instead, a limited amount of musical information was generated (such as rhythms, melodies or chords), allowing the user to dictate the final result.

The beauty in human imperfection

Despite Shulman’s claims, the key to a meaningful relationship with music AI is to work alongside it – not to let it do all the work.

Do I think every music student should start incorporating AI into their daily practice? No. But under the right circumstances, it can provide the tools to produce something truly creative.

Making “imperfect” art that takes time – and hard work – is the price of being human. And I’m grateful for that.

·

The author received a once-off financial commission from the Sydney Opera House to develop musical work made using the Koup Music AI, which premiered at the Sydney Opera House through a livestream broadcast on July 15th, 2023. After this initial performance the author continued to test the AI model for artistic research purposes. No funding was received to help prepare the manuscripts or research associated with this article. The author will not benefit financially from any promotion of the Koup Music tool, and has never received payment from Kopi Su.

– ref. I was a music AI sceptic – until I actually used it – https://theconversation.com/i-was-a-music-ai-sceptic-until-i-actually-used-it-252499

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

March 24, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: This week’s federal budget will focus on cost-of-living measures – and a more uncertain global economy

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra

Treasurer Jim Chalmers will bring down the federal budget on Tuesday.

It’s likely most of the major spending initiatives have already been announced. An extra A$8.5 billion in spending on Medicare will aim to ensure nine out of ten GP visits will be bulk billed by 2030. Queensland’s Bruce Highway is to be upgraded with the Albanese Government providing $7.2 billion of the $9 billion cost.

In a speech last week, Chalmers promised “meaningful and substantial” cost-of-living relief.

He also stressed the global economy is more volatile and unpredictable. He said the budget bottom line would be little changed from the mid-year update released in December, when the deficit was forecast to be $26.9 billion this financial year.

It was a comprehensive dress rehearsal for tomorrow evening’s budget speech.

No rabbits out of the hat

Australian budgets today are well signposted in advance in speeches such as this. That is deliberate. It is seen as a mark of responsible fiscal management to have few surprises, either positive or negative.

In past decades, treasurers were prone to announcing surprise spending measures. No longer. The rationale for rejecting the “rabbit out of a hat” approach was spelled out by former treasurer Wayne Swan in his 2008 budget lockup press conference: he said the budget had to be “responsible”. Chalmers was Swan’s deputy chief of staff at the time.

This means calls by economists such as Chris Richardson and Ken Henry for major tax reform are unlikely to be heeded.

Bracket creep (increases in tax revenues as taxpayers move into higher tax brackets) will do most of the work in the very gradual windback of the budget deficit. In the mid-year budget update, it was projected to take a decade to return the budget to balance.

Read more:
If Treasury forecasts are right, it could be a decade before Australia is ‘back in black’

Good luck rather than good management

Not that a balanced or surplus budget is a sign of good budgeting. The driver of recent budget surpluses under both Labor and Coalition governments has not been government policy but stronger than expected commodity prices and exports. They have been accidental, not deliberate.

While deficits add to debt, imposing costs on future generations, what matters is whether the debts can be paid. If the economy grows faster than the rate of debt, the situation is manageable. So we are likely to see a chart in Tuesday’s budget papers showing this, with debt gradually declining as a share of Gross Domestic Product over time.

However, these forecasts for the bottom line do not include off-budget items such as special green energy funds or student debt write-offs that total close to $100 billion, according to Deloitte Access Economics.

This is because the budget covers only the “general government sector” – public service departments and agencies and the defence force. It is not the whole of the public sector, which includes commercial or financial entities like government business enterprises, the Reserve Bank of Australia, and various funds.

On Sunday, the government announced further cost-of-living relief with an extension of electricity rebates, giving households another $150 this year. This will avoid headline inflation rebounding above 3%, as the Reserve Bank is currently forecasting.

The energy rebate last year cost the budget an estimated $3.5 billion in 2024-25. Extending it for six months will cost $1.8 billion. Chalmers has also promised another reduction in the maximum cost of prescription medicines to $25.

In December’s budget update, the unemployment rate was forecast to be around 4½% in mid-2025 and stay around that level for the next couple of years. Given the unemployment rate was steady at 4.1% in February, that forecast may be lowered.

Inflation was forecast to stay below 3%.

The increasing risk of a global trade war will see some reduction in forecasts for global and Australian economic growth. The OECD has lowered its forecasts for global growth and emphasised the international outlook is highly uncertain.

This means the Australian budget forecasts are more likely than usual to be wrong. We just don’t know in which direction they will be wrong – will they be too optimistic or pessimistic?

What will it mean for interest rates?

The Reserve Bank board is unlikely to feel it has enough additional information to cut interest rates again at the April 1 meeting.

Nonetheless, the government will be constrained in how much support it can provide households. It does not want undermine its narrative of future interest rate cuts by stimulating household spending too much.

Something to watch for will be “decisions taken but not yet announced”. These are additional initiatives the government will announce during the election campaign. They will be able to answer the “where’s the money coming from?” question by saying they are already included in the budget.

Finally, will there be increases in defence spending? US President Donald Trump is pressing US allies to do this. Trouble is, defence spending does not address the political problem of cost-of-living pressures – if anything it adds to them.

A potential way out is for government to support more defence spending, but only “in principle”, leaving the details for future budgets. That would help manage both domestic and international pressures.

John Hawkins was a formerly a senior economist at the Treasury and Reserve Bank.

Stephen Bartos 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. This week’s federal budget will focus on cost-of-living measures – and a more uncertain global economy – https://theconversation.com/this-weeks-federal-budget-will-focus-on-cost-of-living-measures-and-a-more-uncertain-global-economy-252515

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

March 24, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Trouble at Tesla and protests against Trump’s tariffs suggest consumer boycotts are starting to bite

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Erin O’Brien, Associate Professor, School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University

Getty Images

When the United States starts a trade war with your country, how do you fight back? For individuals, one option is to wage a personal trade war and boycott products from the US.

President Donald Trump has said no nation will be exempt from his tariffs, and this includes both Australia and New Zealand. His tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports, in particular, could hurt the sector in Australia, while New Zealand’s meat and wine exports to the US could also feel the effect.

So far, political leaders have responded differently. Canada, Mexico and the European Union have imposed reciprocal tariffs on the US, while Australia has indicated it will not retaliate.

But whether governments choose to push back or not, citizens in those and other countries are making their own stands. This includes artists such as renowned pianist András Schiff, who has cancelled his upcoming US tour.

Most notably, collective outrage at the US president has led to a growing global boycott of Elon Musk’s Tesla due to his role in the Trump administration. Sales of new Tesla vehicles are down 72% in Australia and 76% in Germany. The share price has dropped by more than 50% since December 2024, with calls for Musk to step down as chief executive.

Some governments are even encouraging consumer boycotts. The Canadian government, for example, has urged citizens to “fight back against the unjustified US tariffs” by purchasing Canadian products and holidaying in Canada.

Canadians are clearly embracing this advice. Road trips to the US have dropped by more than 20% in the past month and US liquor brands have been removed from some Canadian stores altogether.

This rise in calls for boycotts of American brands and companies is unsurprising in the Trump 2.0 era, where the lines between government and corporate America have become increasingly blurred.

Political change by proxy

When people want to protest a government policy, but have no political leverage because they’re not citizens of that country, boycotting corporations or brands gives them a voice. These actions are sometimes called “surrogate” or “proxy” boycotts.

This form of “political consumerism”, where individuals align their consumption choices with their values, is now one of the most common forms of political participation in western liberal democracies.

When France opposed the war in Iraq in 2003, US supporters of the war aimed boycotts at French imports. Consumers in the US, United Kingdom and elsewhere have boycotted Russian goods over the invasion of Ukraine, and targeted Israel over its military action and policies in Gaza and the West Bank.

Most famously, protests against the apartheid regime in South Africa from the 1950s through to the 1990s helped isolate and eventually change its government.

The current boycotts are not just protesting Trump’s trade war, of course. They are also about the role of unelected leaders from the corporate world, such as Musk and the heads of the Big Tech and social media companies, and their perceived self-interest and influence.

Trump has responded angrily to consumer boycotts, calling the actions against Tesla “illegal”, which they are not. Indeed, political leaders like Trump often argue that consumer action, rather than government regulation, should be relied on to ensure corporations conform to social expectations.

Ukrainians demonstrate in front of the Lukoil headquarters in Belgium over European imports of Russian fossil fuels, 2022.
Getty Images

How to wage a personal trade war

Consumer boycotts do create change under certain conditions – typically when there is a contained problem that the targeted corporation has the power to solve.

For example, consumer boycotts against Nestlé in the 1970s over false and dangerous marketing of powdered milk for infants led to changes in the firm’s marketing approaches. Boycotts of Nike products over sweatshop conditions for workers had a direct impact on the company’s bottom line and led to improvements.

Things may still need to improve at Nestlé and Nike, but these boycotts show consumer pressure can catalyse corporate action. However, it is much harder – though not impossible – for boycott campaigns to succeed when the target is a government.

Consumers boycotting American products can amplify the impact of their protest by also lobbying retailers. For example, if enough consumers stop buying a bottle of soft drink from the US, major supermarkets like Woolworths and Foodstuffs will stop buying thousands of bottles.

There are also other ways to “vote with your wallet”. People can engage in “political investorism” by using their power as a shareholder, bank customer or pension-fund member to express their political views.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, for example, investors sought to divest from Russian companies, and superannuation funds were pressured by their members to do the same.

As consumers and investors, individuals can wage a personal trade war, sending a clear message. Trump may not be willing to listen to the leaders of allied nations, but if consumer and investor pressure is sustained and spreads globally, he may yet hear the voice of corporate America.

Erin O’Brien receives funding from the Australian Research Council to examine consumer and investor activism for social change. She is affiliated with the Australian Political Studies Association.

Justine Coneybeer receives funding from the Australian Research Council to investigate ethical investment.

– ref. Trouble at Tesla and protests against Trump’s tariffs suggest consumer boycotts are starting to bite – https://theconversation.com/trouble-at-tesla-and-protests-against-trumps-tariffs-suggest-consumer-boycotts-are-starting-to-bite-252489

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

March 24, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: ‘Better than nothing’: clinicians and hospital heads accept lower standards of care outside metro hospitals
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olivia Fisher, Senior Research Fellow, Applied Implementation Science, Charles Darwin University

Seven million Australians live in rural and remote areas and many struggle to access the same quality of health care as those in metropolitan areas.
More than 18,000 Australians have no access to primary health care services within an hour’s drive time from their home, and many are hours or even multiple days’ drive from their closest major hospital. Travel to a major city to access health care is costly and time-consuming.

Rural Australians have almost A$850 less spent on their health per year than those in major cities.

People living in rural and remote Australia have substantially higher levels of preventable hospitalisations, burden of disease, and avoidable deaths. This leaves a gap in median life expectancy between people in very remote areas and major cities of 13 years for men and 16 years for women.

Our new research shows clinicians and health care decision-makers are willing to accept a lower standard of care for people outside of major cities because they consider it better than nothing.

Relying on what they have

Our research investigated Queensland clinicians’ and health care decision-makers’ perspectives on virtual health care as a means to improve access to care.

We also asked about what constitutes acceptable quality and standards for rural patients.

Although we used virtual health care as an example, the results are indicative of a broader issue.

What is virtual health care? What are its pros and cons?

“Virtual health care” is more than just telehealth. It includes:
- hospital in the home. A nurse will visit a patient in their home to provide treatments such as intravenous antibiotics, coupled with telehealth consultations with a doctor. This model of care can achieve similar outcomes to those at traditional hospitals
- virtual wards, such as influenza or COVID wards. These wards involve a patient in their home, and combination of telehealth, remote monitoring devices such as pulse oximeters, and face-to-face care from visiting clinicians if required.
- virtual emergency departments. These support patients who can be safely and effectively managed at home. Emergency doctors and nurses provide guidance and identify which patients need to present to a traditional emergency department.
Virtual health care can minimise travel time to major cities, keeping patients better connected with their family and community while undergoing treatment.

Virtual health care often involves nurse care and doctor telehealth.
PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock

However, virtual health care is not currently suitable for patients who require intensive care, some types of physical procedures, or for patients at high risk of complications.

Virtual services need to be well-designed, with appropriately trained clinicians, and consider what can and cannot be accomplished remotely.

When virtual health care isn’t well designed, and clinicians aren’t adequately trained, it can result in poor patient outcomes. As one doctor explained:

I can catalogue just over the last month, I’ve seen errors in telehealth […] They’ve missed pneumonia, they’ve missed kidney stones, they’ve missed a bowel obstruction, they’ve missed an ischaemic valve, they’ve missed an MI [myocardial infarction]. You know, all because they think they can do all these things on telehealth […].

Our research

We interviewed 26 clinicians (such as doctors and nurses) and executive leaders from private, not-for-profit hospitals and aged care services in metropolitan, regional, rural and remote Queensland in 2023.

Most participants expressed reticence towards using telehealth and other forms of virtual health care for people in major cities who can readily access traditional hospitals and providers face-to-face.

They felt safety and care standards would be inferior to traditional inpatient care.

However, they said virtual health care – even if it was a lower standard to traditional hospitals – was better than nothing. As one doctor and health service leader said:

there’s no other choice is there, so you just do it that way.

Another doctor and health service leader explained:

But we would use it for sure. I mean especially those days when we get, you know, which is becoming more and more common where the hospital rings down there’s no beds. There’s no beds and you’re like, well, what do I do now I’ve got ten people here and nowhere to send them.

Sometimes patients can’t be cared for in other settings and need to go to hospital.
Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock

Towards more equitable care for rural patients

Sub-standard health care will not bring health outcomes and life-expectancy of people in rural and remote areas up to parity – it will merely reinforce current inequities.

We need to design health services that improve both quality and access. Taking health-care models that work in our major cities and rolling them out in rural areas doesn’t work. We need tailored, creative solutions that meet the same standards we would expect in a city.

In addition to increasing and improving access to virtual health care, we also need to:
- attract and retain a rural health workforce of experienced practitioners to provide face-to-face services
- design health services in conjunction with the community to ensure they suit local needs and conditions
- address state and federal government funding issues that impact the sustainability and capacity for innovation of rural health services.
An unconscious willingness to accept better than nothing is simply not good enough for the millions of Australians who live outside of major cities.

Olivia Fisher receives funding from UnitingCare Queensland.

Caroline Grogan receives funding from UnitingCare Queensland and the Irene Patricia Hunt Memorial Trust.

Kelly McGrath receives funding from the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources via an Elevate Scholarship, Wesley Research Institute, UnitingCare Queensland, Mitsubishi Development, and the Catalano Family Foundation.

– ref. ‘Better than nothing’: clinicians and hospital heads accept lower standards of care outside metro hospitals – https://theconversation.com/better-than-nothing-clinicians-and-hospital-heads-accept-lower-standards-of-care-outside-metro-hospitals-251063
MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –
March 24, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Despite some key milestones since 2000, Australia still has a long way to go on gender equality
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Janeen Baxter, Director, ARC Life Course Centre and ARC Kathleen Fitzpatrick Laureate Fellow, The University of Queensland

Australia has a gender problem. Despite social, economic and political reform aimed at improving opportunities for women, gender gaps are increasing and Australia is falling behind other countries.

The World Economic Forum currently places Australia 24th among 146 countries, down from 15th in 2006. At the current rate of change, the forum suggests it will take more than 130 years to achieve gender equality globally.

Australia has taken important steps forward in some areas, while progress in other areas remains painfully slow. So how far have we come since 2000, and how much further do we have to go?

The good stuff

There are now more women in the labour market, in parliament, and leading large companies than at any other time.

Over the past 25 years, there have been major social and political milestones that indicate progress.

These include the appointment of Australia’s first female governor-general in 2008 and prime minister in 2010, the introduction of universal paid parental leave in 2011, a high-profile inquiry into workplace sexual harassment in 2020, and new legislation requiring the public reporting of gender pay gaps in 2023.

Timeline of equality milestones
- 2000
  
  Child Care Benefit introduced, subsidising cost of children for eligible families
- 2008
  
  First female Governor-General (Dame Quentin Bryce)
- 2010
  
  First female Prime Minister elected (Julia Gillard)
  
  First Aboriginal woman from Australia elected to UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (Megan Davis)
  
  Australia’s first national paid parental leave scheme
- 2012
  
  Julia Gillard misogyny speech
  
  Workplace Gender Equality Act becomes law, Workplace Gender Equality Agency established
- 2013
  
  Dad or Partner Pay Leave commenced
- 2016
  
  First Indigenous woman elected to House of Representatives (Linda Burney)
- 2017
  
  Launch of Women’s Australian Football League
  
  #metoo movement spreads globally to draw attention to sexual harassment and assault
- 2020
  
  Respect@Work National Inquiry into sexual harassment in the Australian workplace chaired by Kate Jenkins released.
- 2021
  
  Grace Tame named Australian of the Year for her advocacy in sexual violence/harassment campaigns
  
  Independent review into Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces launched
- 2022
  
  National plan to end violence against women is finalised
- 2023
  
  Closing the Gender Pay Gap Bill passes parliament
- 2024
  
  Superannuation on government-funded paid parental leave from July 1, 2025
  
  Parental leave to be increased to 26 weeks from July 2026.
There are, however, other areas where progress is agonisingly slow.

Violence and financial insecurity

Women are more likely to be in casual and part-time employment than men. This is part of the reason women retire with about half the superannuation savings of men.

This is also linked to financial insecurity later in life. Older women are among the fastest-growing groups of people experiencing homelessness.

The situation for First Nations women is even more severe. The most recent Closing the Gap report indicates First Nations women and children are 33 times more likely to be hospitalised due to violence compared with non-Indigenous women.

They are also seven times more likely to die from family violence.

Improving outcomes for Indigenous women and children requires tackling the long-term effects of colonisation, removal from Country, the Stolen Generations, incarceration and intergenerational trauma. This means challenging not only gender inequality but also racism, discrimination and violence.

At work, the latest data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency suggests the gender pay gap is narrowing, with 56% of organisations reporting improvements.

On average, though, the pay gap is still substantial at 21.8% with women earning only 78 cents for every $1 earned by men. This totals an average yearly shortfall of $28,425.

There are also some notable organisations where the gender pay gap has widened.

The burden of unpaid work

Another measure of inequality that has proved stubbornly slow to change is women’s unequal responsibilities for unpaid domestic and care work.

Without real change in gender divisions of time spent on unpaid housework and care, our capacity to move towards equality in pay gaps and employment is very limited.

Australian women do more unpaid and domestic work after having children.
Shutterstock

Australian women undertake almost 70% of unpaid household labour. The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics time use data show that of those who participate in domestic labour, women spend an average of 4.13 hours per day on unpaid domestic and care work, compared with men’s 2.14 hours.

This gap equates to more than a third of a full-time job. If we add up all work (domestic, care and paid), mothers have the longest working week by about 10 hours. This has changed very little over time.

These charts, based on analyses of data from the Households, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) study, show what drives this gap.

Women respond to increased demand for care and domestic work by doing more, while men do not. Parenthood significantly increases the time women spend on unpaid care and housework, while also reducing their time in employment.

Men increase their time in unpaid care after a birth, but the jump is minor compared with women, and there is no change to men’s employment hours.

Not surprisingly given these patterns, parenthood is associated with substantial declines in women’s employment hours, earnings, career progression, and mental health and wellbeing.

The way forward

Current policy priorities primarily incentivise women to remain in employment, while continuing to undertake a disproportionate share of unpaid family work, through moving to part-time employment or making use of other forms of workplace flexibility. This approach focuses on “fixing” women rather than on the structural roots of the problem.

There is limited financial or cultural encouragement for men to step out of employment for care work, or reduce their hours, despite the introduction of a two-week Dad and Partner Pay scheme in 2013 and more recent changes to expand support and access.

Fathers who wish to be more actively involved in care and family life face significant financial barriers, with current schemes only covering a basic wage. If one member of the family has to take time out or reduce their hours, it usually makes financial sense for this to be a woman, given the gender earning gap.

The benefits of enabling men to share care work will not only be improvements for women, but will also improve family relationships and outcomes for children.

Research shows relationship conflict declines when men do more at home. Time spent with fathers has been found to be especially beneficial for children’s cognitive development.

Fixing the gender problem is not just about helping women. It’s good for everyone.

Gender inequality costs the Australian economy $225 billion annually, or 12% of gross domestic product.

Globally, the World Bank estimates gender inequality costs US$160.2 trillion. We can’t afford to slip further behind or to take more than a century to fix the problem.

This piece is part of a series on how Australia has changed since the year 2000. You can read other pieces in the series here.

Janeen Baxter receives funding from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (CE200100025) and an Australian Research Council Kathleen Fitzpatrick Laureate Fellowship (FL230100104).

– ref. Despite some key milestones since 2000, Australia still has a long way to go on gender equality – https://theconversation.com/despite-some-key-milestones-since-2000-australia-still-has-a-long-way-to-go-on-gender-equality-250250
MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –
March 24, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Proclamation Declares 2025 Maple Weekends in NYS

Source: US State of New York

overnor Kathy Hochul today issued a proclamation declaring March 22-23 and March 29-30 as New York State’s 2025 Maple Weekends. The Governor also highlighted that New York State continues to rank second in the nation in maple production, and in 2024, maple production increased to 846,000 gallons, up nearly 100,000 gallons of maple syrup from the 2023 season. Earlier today, Governor Hochul participated in New York State Maple Weekend by visiting Twin Leaf Farms in Greenfield Center, NY.

“New York State’s maple industry is not just a tradition – it’s a thriving community of dedicated producers creating world-class maple products,” Governor Hochul said. “As we celebrate Maple Month, I encourage every New Yorker to experience the rich flavors and support the hardworking individuals behind this beloved crop.”

Recognizing the importance of the maple industry to New York’s agricultural economy, Governor Hochul proposed additional funding in her FY26 Executive Budget to further grow the industry and help New York become the leading maple innovator. The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets supports the maple industry through the New York State Budget — which includes funding for promotion and educational programs — as well as through investments in research projects, such as Cornell University’s Maple Program’s Arnot Teaching Forest, and through its NYS Grown & Certified and Taste NY marketing programs.

Maple Weekends and Maple Month

Throughout the month of March each year and the last two weekends of the month in particular, maple farms across the state open their doors to the public to provide a chance to taste pure maple syrup, right from the source, and experience the unique family tradition of making maple syrup in New York State. Producers offer tours and pancake breakfasts, sell maple products, and demonstrate the syrup-making process, which includes the traditional system of hanging buckets on trees or more modern methods of production using vacuum systems to increase the yield of sap per tree. A searchable list of Maple Weekend events is available at mapleweekend.nysmaple.com.

Maple Promotions

New York’s Taste NY Markets across the state are highlighting unique local maple products and producers during the month of March, with product specials, giveaways, and more. The Western NY Welcome Center is offering a maple gift basket giveaway and a maple product scavenger hunt, with visitors getting 10 percent off the maple products they find in store. The Capital Region Welcome Center will have a sampling event on March 28, featuring pancakes by Phoenicia Diner and Jourdin’s Maple Syrup. Additionally, the Mohawk Valley Welcome Center is doing a gift basket giveaway, and the Adirondacks Welcome Center will feature educational displays from the Upper Hudson Valley Maple Association with information about the history of maple production and modern production techniques. Visit your local Taste NY Market to take part in their Maple Month celebrations! Find a market in your region.

Agri-tourism In New York State

Agri-tourism events like Maple Weekends and Maple Month are an important part of tourism in New York State. Governor Hochul recently announced that New York State welcomed a record 291.5 million visitors in 2022, the largest number of visitors in New York State’s history, generating more than $78.6 billion in direct spending and $123 billion in total economic impact. The Governor has continued to support state tourism through I LOVE NY marketing efforts to encourage travel throughout New York and tens of millions of dollars in direct support to tourism organizations and venues for tourism-related marketing efforts and capital projects.

State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball said, “Maple syrup is not only our sweetest crop, but it’s also the first crop of the new year. New York’s maple producers continue to do an outstanding job keeping our state at the forefront of the industry, and Maple Weekends give all of us an opportunity to visit a farm and see how they turn tree sap into syrup, candy, and so much more. I encourage everyone to visit a farm near you this year to see this work in action and learn more about this important part of our state’s agricultural economy.”

MIL OSI USA News –

March 24, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Can Mark Carney truly connect with Canadian voters? Canada will now find out

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Kevin Quigley, Scholarly Director of the MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance, Dalhousie University

After a busy two weeks as prime minister, Mark Carney has called an election for April 28.

As the first in Canadian history to be named prime minister without ever having held public office, Carney is hoping he can win the trust of Canadians. He’ll run for a seat in the Ottawa riding of Nepean.

Trustworthiness is awarded to those who are at least perceived as knowledgeable, transparent and concerned. Can Carney pull it off?

When it comes to economics, Carney is among the most knowledgeable in the country. After obtaining a PhD at the University of Oxford, Carney has had a distinguished public service career in the Canadian Department of Finance, the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England.

With such a high level of economic uncertainty today in the face of repeated threats from United States President Donald Trump, his supporters say he’s the right person to lead Canada. His chief rival, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, was first elected to the House of Commons at the age of 25 and has quite a different CV.

Is Carney empathetic?

Carney, however, might struggle more with the other characteristics of trustworthiness — seeming open and showing concern.

The Conservatives have criticized Carney for not being more transparent about his private financial interests. While Carney is following disclosure rules, the Conservatives argue Canadians need to know more about whether he’s in a conflict of interest when he makes decisions in government.

Carney’s answers to questions about his time at Brookfield Asset Management have on occasion been unsteady.

On the surface, this is about transparency, but in fact it’s just as much about empathy and whether Carney can relate to working-class voters. By alluding to Carney’s wealth and connections, the Conservatives are implying that Carney is an out-of-touch elite who doesn’t share the concerns of average Canadians.

Some of the early visuals of Carney can cut both ways.

His recent chummy embrace at the Élysée with French President Emmanuel Macron exemplifies how immediately comfortable he is with world leaders. Some will find this reassuring, given the state of geopolitics; others might find it privileged and off-putting. Even his hockey skills, which were part of a recent photo-op in Edmonton when he practised with the Oilers, were acquired partly during his time at Harvard University, an institution among the most elite in the world.

Empathy, instinct

Can Carney connect with people?

Arguably, he needs work on this front. He might consider some of his Liberal predecessors.

Former prime minister Justin Trudeau could certainly rally a crowd. Trudeau became a motivational speaker in the 2000s and used opportunities like the WE Charity to practise public speaking to what would become an important constituency for him — young voters — when he led the Liberals to victory in 2015.

Not everything can be taught at school. Political instinct is also crucial. It requires reconciling the knowledge of experts with the concerns of everyday citizens. There is no formula for this balance sheet.

Here again, Trudeau had insight. Bill Morneau, a corporate executive himself and the former federal finance minister, noted after the COVID-19 pandemic that government payouts had been too generous and driven more by Trudeau’s view of the politics of the moment than by the economic analysis provided to him by the Finance Department.

This may be so, but most would say Trudeau handled the early stages of the pandemic deftly.

Chretien’s skills

It was interesting that at the recent Liberal convention confirming Carney as leader, delegates gushed over former prime minister Jean Chretien, far from an elitist. A winner of three consecutive majorities, Chretien delivered a speech that went over at least as well with delegates as Carney’s.

Chretien had unparalleled political instincts. When Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney rolled out the GST in 1991, it was deeply unpopular. Despite Chretien later famously backtracking on his original opposition to the GST, the Liberal Party under his stewardship used the issue to exact maximum damage on the Progressive Conservatives, delivering them a near-fatal blow.

Chretien’s killer instincts trumped expert knowledge. While the Progressive Conservatives paid a heavy price for adopting the GST, the policy was largely advocated and shaped by business and economic elites, including in the Department of Finance. Good economics does not always make for good politics.

Emotions to run high

If the 1988 federal election that focused almost exclusively on free trade with the U.S. is any indication of what the next few weeks will look like in Canada, the election campaign is going to get heated quickly. Arguments may be more emotional than sensible.

The fact that Carney dropped the carbon tax and capital gains tax was an early sign that he’s not an economist anymore, he’s a politician.

The challenge for Carney — and for any politician in the heat of an election campaign battle — will be to find the sweet spot that reconciles expert opinion with public concerns and to articulate policies in a manner that voters will understand and support.

Kevin Quigley receives funding from SSHRC.

– ref. Can Mark Carney truly connect with Canadian voters? Canada will now find out – https://theconversation.com/can-mark-carney-truly-connect-with-canadian-voters-canada-will-now-find-out-252365

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 24, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: How political leaders communicate climate policy will be a defining factor this election

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Andrew Heffernan, Climate Associate at the Information Integrity Lab and Adjunct Professor in Political Studies, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

Prime Minister Mark Carney has called an April 28 federal election, setting the stage for a campaign where climate policy could be a central issue.

The current iteration of Canada’s consumer carbon rebate is dead — which many view as a casualty of effective communication — yet climate policy remains a pressing topic for voters and a major battleground for political leaders.

Read more:
The Canada Carbon Rebate is still widely misunderstood — here’s why

As Canada grapples with intensifying climate-related challenges, the next government will not only need to implement evidence-based policies to meet international climate commitments, but also effectively communicate its vision to voters.

The public remains concerned about environmental issues, yet many are worried that bold climate policies have damaged the economy. This tension between environmental responsibility and economic growth will shape how each party formulates and communicates their climate policies in the upcoming campaign.

The Liberals: Navigating the middle ground

For Carney and the Liberal Party, the challenge is twofold. First, the Liberals must present a new climate plan after the collapse of the consumer carbon rebate, which has faced widespread public opposition in recent years.

While the new Liberal leader has already terminated the the carbon rebate, it still remains unclear what exactly his comprehensive climate plan will look like. Carney’s website states that his strategy will: “Provide incentives for consumers. Put more of the burden on big polluters. And help us build the strongest economy in the G7.”

Read more:
Big government, big trouble? Defending the future of Canada’s climate policy

This suggests his climate policy will hinge more on positive incentives for consumers to invest in sustainable approaches rather than putting a cost on polluting.

While the carbon rebate initially enjoyed broad support as a key tool for reducing emissions, it has become a lightning rod for political controversy.

Climate change is no longer just an environmental issue; it’s increasingly seen as a matter of economic survival, with green energy jobs and clean technologies representing an opportunity for Canada to position itself as a global leader in the sector.

Carney will have to make a convincing case that his policy will create jobs, stimulate innovation and provide a clear path toward a greener, more sustainable economy.

Failing to do so could lead to the loss of centrist and moderate voters, some of whom are wary of the perceived economic risks of aggressive climate action.

The Conservatives: Axing the rebate isn’t enough

On the opposite end of the political spectrum, federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has made axing the carbon rebate a central part of his platform.

Framing the carbon rebate as an economic penalty, Poilievre has played into populist sentiments by promising to “axe the tax” and relieve financial pressures on Canadian families and businesses.

However, even if the Conservatives are successful in eliminating the carbon rebate, they still face the challenge of needing a comprehensive climate policy that lowers emissions and meets Canada’s Paris Agreement targets. Poilievre has said he would not withdraw Canada from the accord, but he hasn’t addressed how he would meet Canada’s commitments.

Poilievre’s populist rhetoric may resonate with voters who feel economically squeezed, but it’s unlikely to be enough to win over voters concerned about the climate crisis — especially as he has voted against environmental and climate action in Parliament over 400 times in his career, a point his opponents will be sure to raise repeatedly.

For the Conservatives, the real challenge will be how to present a climate policy that appeals to both economic conservatives, who prioritize fiscal responsibility, and environmental conservatives, who are concerned about the future of the planet.

Poilievre will need to clearly articulate how his policies will preserve Canada’s environmental future without stifling economic growth or inflating costs for the average Canadian.

NDP and Green Party

A key piece of the future of climate policy in Canada will be the NDP and Green Party, who are generally considered left-of-centre parties alongside the governing Liberals.

The NDP, which can siphon progressive votes away from the Liberals — which sometimes benefits Conservatives — have been clear as mud when it comes to their climate policy for the next election.

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh rescinded his party’s long-standing support for the Liberal carbon rebate in April 2024, but has not yet said what his party would put in its place.

Meanwhile, the Green Party, which has historically played a less significant role in electoral outcomes in terms of vote splitting, has generally maintained its support for the carbon rebate. Its website suggests the party supports the polluter-pays principle. However, the Greens have yet to take a clear stance on the shifting climate grounds on which this election could partially be fought.

Political communication the key to success

In the coming years, the future of climate policy in Canada will be less about crafting the perfect policy and more about crafting a message that addresses how people are feeling.

The Liberal Party has been open about the demise of the carbon rebate being a combination of a lack of their own effective communication strategy, mixed with harmful disinformation campaigns that led to the demise of their signature climate policy.

For the Liberals, Conservatives, NDP and Greens alike, the road to effective climate policy will lie in this communication. Political leaders will need to balance ambition and pragmatism, ensuring their policies align with Canadians’ economic interests.

With 71 per cent of Canadians suggesting they want the next government to do more to address climate change, leaders who can articulate a vision for a sustainable, prosperous future while addressing the immediate concerns of Canadians will be the ones who have the best chance of winning the public’s trust — and the next election.

Andrew Heffernan is affiliated with the Liberal Party of Canada.

– ref. How political leaders communicate climate policy will be a defining factor this election – https://theconversation.com/how-political-leaders-communicate-climate-policy-will-be-a-defining-factor-this-election-251990

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 24, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Could bullying be an evolutionary trait?

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Tony Volk, Professor, Child and Youth Studies, Brock University

Given the seriousness of the consequences of bullying for its victims, it behooves us all to take a good, hard look at why so many people continue to bully. (Shutterstock)

Bullying is a serious problem that impacts hundreds of millions of young people across the world each year. Defined as the goal-directed, harmful abuse of a power imbalance, bullying can cause serious, long-term physical and mental health outcomes for victims.

As a result, countries around the world have mobilized anti-bullying efforts. Unfortunately, these efforts have had relatively little impact on bullying worldwide.

Why? One reason might be that bullying is, at least in part, an evolutionary adaptation that offers adolescent perpetrators benefits, like popularity, resources and even dates and sex.

But do these benefits extend beyond adolescence? This is what we set out to test at Brock University’s Research on Aggression and Victimization Experiences group. In particular, we wanted to know if the earlier and more frequent dating and sex that adolescent bullies experienced translated into having more children in later life.

Children of bullies may learn how to be bullies themselves, through directly experiencing bullying from their parents or through indirectly watching their parents bully others.
(Shutterstock)

An evolutionary trait?

There is very little data on whether bullying benefits like popularity or sex extend beyond adolescence, but early data suggested that might be the case. We sought to replicate that research using two studies.

The first was a longitudinal study of adolescents: approximately 600 Canadian boys and girls from age 14 until their mid-20s. The second was a retrospective study of more than 500 North American adults ages 18-35. We found that adolescents who bullied others reported having children earlier and having more children in total, compared to adolescents who did not engage in bullying.

While we note that a complete study should entail following adults into their mid-40s (the very end of most child births), we wanted to compile data now rather than waiting another 15-20 years for our longitudinal sample to mature. That means that while we can’t rule out that non-bullies might catch up with later reproduction, the data clearly shows that onset of reproduction is tied closely to total reproduction.

Is having children early, and more often, a good thing? Given that bullying does appear to be partly due to evolved genetics (with the environment still playing a pivotal role in its expression), reproduction is the ultimate currency of evolution. Passing on genes is, quite literally, the biological meaning of life. So this is strong evidence for the theory that bullying is, at least in part, an evolutionarily successful strategy in some contexts.

Socially, bullies are also more likely to be in the romantic relationship that is typically required to have children. We believe this is because bully’s power is related to potentially positive attributes, like attractiveness, strength and even social skills.

Our yet-to-be published data also indicates that former bullies end up investing more energy into their children than average parents. Think of the hockey or soccer parents yelling on the sidelines, bullying their child’s coach, referees or other players in order to benefit their own child. Bullying’s links with parenting go beyond purely quantitative considerations and impact both mating success and parental effort.

If bullying offers benefits, we want to reduce, replace and redirect those benefits.
(Shutterstock)

Why does this matter?

It matters because it helps explain why bullying is so ubiquitous and hard to prevent. Bullying appears to offer meaningful benefits to those who use it and that’s critical information if parents, teachers, schools and governments want to come up with strategies for preventing it.

What might some of those strategies look like? If bullying offers benefits, we want to reduce, replace and redirect those benefits. We can do so by getting peers to not reward bullies with the attention and popularity that they desire. We can replace benefits with costs by pointing out that while bullies gain popularity, they lose likeability. People might fear the bully’s power, but they generally don’t like them.

Finally, we can try to teach adolescents to replace bullying with more prosocial behaviour that might have equal or better outcomes with respect to peer support.

This also matters because our data shows bullying as a potentially intergenerational problem. We know that violence can be transmitted from parents to their children. It is possible that children of bullies will learn how to be bullies themselves, through directly experiencing bullying from their parents or through indirectly watching their parents bully others.

This generational transmission might very well be another reason why bullying is so hard to prevent — because it starts in the home. Given the seriousness of the consequences of bullying for its victims, we must all to take a good, hard look at why so many people continue to bully, or support bullies, so that we can understand how we to best stop this toxic and damaging pattern of behaviour.

Tony Volk receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

– ref. Could bullying be an evolutionary trait? – https://theconversation.com/could-bullying-be-an-evolutionary-trait-251237

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 24, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Asteroid 2024 YR may not hit Earth in 2032, but it — and others — will keep coming back

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Martin Connors, Professor of Astronomy, Mathematics, and Physics, Athabasca University

A double plume created by the Chelyabinsk meteor that flew over Russia on Feb. 15, 2013. The shock wave caused damage and a small meteorite dropped. (Shutterstock)

In late 2024, astronomers spotted asteroid 2024 YR4 on a trajectory that could potentially threaten Earth. This observation triggered a fervid series of observations of the object — possibly as big as a football field — to determine that it will not hit. However, an impact on the moon cannot be ruled out.

Read more:
What are the chances an asteroid will impact Earth in 2032?

Then in January of this year, the near approach of an asteroid perhaps a million times more massive went almost unnoticed.

Asteroid 2024 YR4 has a diameter between 40 to 90 metres and was referred to as a “city-killer” capable of causing regional damage and affecting the climate; the larger asteroid, 887 Alinda, is over four kilometres in diameter and could cause a global extinction event.

A radar image of asteroid Alinda taken in January 2024. The rectangular region is about three kilometres a side.
(NASA/JPL)

Alinda remains just outside Earth’s orbit, while 2024 YR4 does cross our orbit and still could impact Earth; however, this won’t occur in the foreseeable future.

Asteroid orbits

Both 887 Alinda and 2024 YR4 orbit the sun three times for every time the massive planet Jupiter goes around once. Since Jupiter’s orbit takes 12 years, the asteroids will take four years to be back on similar paths in 2028. These special kinds of asteroids are dangerous, since they come back regularly.

Alinda was discovered in 1918 and has made several sequences of near passes at four-year intervals. 2024 YR4 has made what NASA considers close passes every four years since 1948, but was only recently noticed.

Not since the 1970s has so much attention been paid to asteroids with a three-to-one relation to Jupiter. Such relationships had already been noted as a curiosity by American astronomer Daniel Kirkwood in the late 1800s. Working with very sparse data since few asteroids were known at the time, he noted none went around the sun twice for each Jupiter orbit, nor three times, nor in more complex ratios like seven-to-three or five-to-two.

These so-called Kirkwood gaps are not obvious since they show up only in plots of the average distance of asteroids from the sun. The gaps remained a mere curiosity of the solar system for about 100 years.

Numbers of asteroids by averaged distance from the sun, showing the Kirkwood gaps. The gap labelled 3:1 harbors both Alinda and 2024 YR4, located at an average distance 2.5 times Earth’s orbit radius from the sun.
(NASA/JPL)

The employment of new computer technologies to calculate orbits revealed the effects of resonance to scientists in the 1970s. Resonance occurs when asteroids appear to move at the same, or a multiple of, the orbit speed of another external object — in this case, Jupiter.

The Kirkwood gaps are explained by asteroids similarly interacting with Jupiter to leave the asteroid belt, even while their average distance from the sun does not change. By dipping into the inner solar system, these asteroids are often removed from the gaps in a very simple way: by hitting an inner planet like Mars, Venus or Earth.

Scientists also found that these gaps were not completely empty; Alinda, for example, was in the three-to-one gap. Many more such asteroids have been found, and they are generically named “Alindas,” after the prototypical first discovery whose name origin is a bit obscure.

Return of the asteroids

If the bad news is that Kirkwood gaps are due to asteroids hitting inner planets, including Earth, can it get much worse? For Alinda-class asteroids it does. Alindas follow their pumped-up orbit every four years, so properly aligned Alindas get a chance to hit Earth about that often.

Near passes of these asteroids tend to happen spaced by longer intervals, but when aligned, they come back several times with four-year spacing. A limiting factor is how tilted their orbits are: if they are quite tilted, they are not often at a “height” matching Earth’s, so are less likely to hit.

The bad news about that is that both Alinda and 2024 YR4 are very nearly in the plane of Earth’s orbit, and are not tilted much, so are more likely to hit.

The resonant “pumping” stretching the orbit both inward and outward from the asteroid belt has already made 2024 YR4 cross Earth’s orbit, giving it a chance to impact. The much more dangerous Alinda is still being pumped: in about 1,000 years, it may be poised to hit Earth.

One piece of good news is that 2024 YR4 will miss in 2032, but by coming close it will be kicked out of its Alinda orbit. It will no longer come back every four years.

However, getting an orbital kick from Earth, its orbit will still cross ours, just not as often. The current orbit shows a somewhat close approach (farther than the moon) in 2052, and beyond that, calculations are not very accurate.

Other asteroids

Although Earth is a small target in a big solar system, it does get hit.

If 2024 YR4 managed to sneak up on us in 2024, can other asteroids also surprise us? The last damaging one to do so appeared undetected on Feb. 15, 2013, over Chelyabinsk, Russia, injuring many people when its shock wave shattered glass in buildings.

In 1908, a larger explosion took place over Tunguska, Russian Siberia, a remote region where huge areas of forest were devastated but few people injured.

Part of the huge region of Siberian forest blown down by the Tunguska meteor explosion of 1908; this photograph was taken in 1929.
(Leonid Kulik)

Keeping watch

While astronomers work diligently to survey the night sky from Earth’s surface, space-based surveys like the upcoming Near-Earth Object (NEO) surveyor can be very efficient in detecting asteroids. They do so by their heat (infrared) radiation and, being in space, can also study the daytime sky.

According to Amy Mainzer, lead on the NEO surveyor, “we know of only roughly 40 per cent of the asteroids that are both large enough to cause severe regional damage and closely approach Earth’s orbit.” Once launched in late 2027, NEO will “find, track and characterize the most hazardous asteroids and comets,” eventually meeting the U.S. Congress-mandated goal of knowing of 90 cent of them.

Among asteroids, we must pay special attention to resonant ones, such as 2024 YR4, because eventually, they’ll be back.

Martin Connors has received funding from NSERC and the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and the Canadian Space Agency. He is currently a self-funded academic visitor at UCLA.

– ref. Asteroid 2024 YR may not hit Earth in 2032, but it — and others — will keep coming back – https://theconversation.com/asteroid-2024-yr-may-not-hit-earth-in-2032-but-it-and-others-will-keep-coming-back-250958

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 24, 2025