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What would – and should – happen to the ABC under the next federal government?

<div class="theconversation-article-body">Who could possibly argue with the idea that the ABC should be efficiently run and produce excellent programs?</p> <p>No one, you would think. So why, then, has there been immediate resistance to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/dutton-tells-abc-to-show-excellence-or-face-funding-razor-gang-20250402-p5lofu.html">statement</a> that, if elected next month, a Coalition government would “reward excellence” and “keep funding in place” if the ABC is “being run efficiently”?</p> <p>The fact that Coalition governments – and Dutton himself – have historically been deeply hostile to the public broadcaster is part of it. Many have picked up on the implicit threat that if his government did not find “excellence”, its funding would be cut.</p> <p>But there’s more than that. For example, who defines “excellence” and “efficiency”?</p> <p>Second, the ABC is set up by statute to be run independent of government.</p> <p>Third, the ABC has been subjected to a slew of efficiency reviews, in 1988, 1997, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2006-03-15/abc-efficient-under-funded-kpmg-report/8183700">2006</a>, <a href="https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/sites/default/files/ABC_and_SBS_efficiency_report_Redacted.pdf?acsf_files%20_redirect">2014</a> and <a href="https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/sites/default/files/2018-national-broadcasters-efficiency-review-redacted.pdf">2018</a>. Overwhelmingly, they found the ABC does more with fewer resources than its counterparts in the commercial media.</p> <p>For example, in 2006, at the behest of the Coalition government led by John Howard, KPMG found the ABC was a “broadly efficient organisation” providing a “high volume of outputs and quality relative to the level of funding it receives”.</p> <p>Let’s translate the consulting-speak. The ABC’s annual budget of $1.2 billion costs $43 per person in Australia. The cheapest subscription to Netflix costs more than twice that amount - $95.88 – and of course the ABC provides much more than a single streaming service.</p> <p>Fourth, Coalition governments’ record of antipathy towards the ABC is most obvious in how they fund it.</p> <hr /> <p><iframe id="WOgDZ" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: 0;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/WOgDZ/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p> <hr /> <p>As ABC chair Kim Williams said <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/about/media-centre/speeches-and-articles/abc-chair-kim-williams-am-address-to-the-melbourne-press-club/105132866">last week</a>, in real terms the ABC’s funding is $150 million less than it was in 2013 when the coalition last came to power. This is notwithstanding the current Labor government’s restoring of at least some lost funding.</p> <p>Add to this the fear that Dutton is seeking to emulate Donald Trump. Amid the tempest of economic and social measures the US president has brought in since his inauguration in January, his attacks on public and international broadcasting have passed unnoticed by many.</p> <p>By executive order, Trump has <a href="https://mailchi.mp/poynter/president-trumps-latest-press-target-voice-of-america?e=1e851c3327">abolished Voice of America </a>(VOA), which began during the second world war. VOA has provided news to nearly 50 countries, including those that did not have press freedom. Its broadcasts are by statute meant to be accurate and objective. It has been an arm of soft power diplomacy for the US.</p> <p>Trump has also threatened to defund the public broadcasters, National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), labelling them “radical left monsters”.</p> <p>The difference between public broadcasting in the US and Australia is that for the former, the government provides only a small percentage of its funding. Most of it comes from donations from citizens, grants from foundations and corporate sponsorship, according to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2025/03/27/will-trump-defund-npr-and-pbs-heres-what-we-know-as-president-attacks-the-broadcasters/">a recent report</a> in Forbes.</p> <p>PBS and NPR occupy a smaller part of the overall US media landscape than the ABC and SBS in Australia, but NPR’s reporters in particular have been actively, if dispassionately, reporting on the Trump Mark II administration’s tumultuous first few months.</p> <p>Like the VOA, the ABC’s international broadcasting arm is largely invisible to audiences in its host country. This means any cuts could well pass unnoticed, unlike, say, if the ABC said it could no longer afford to air the children’s TV series, Bluey.</p> <p>Through radio, TV, and now online, the ABC has broadcast to Australia’s neighbours since the second world war, initially as an agent to spread democratic value, but in more recent decades to model effective public interest journalism. The ABC, like the BBC, has a charter of independence.</p> <p>The ABC’s work in the international arena, through Radio Australia and ABC Australia, is vital, not only to bolster national security by providing trusted news and information about Australia and its allies, but by working alongside and supporting local Indo-Pacific news organisations.</p> <p>The Albanese Labor government appears to have understood this threat, providing some extra funding for the international services mostly in response to China’s increased presence in the region, as Alexandra Wake argued in her <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-47571-9">2024 book</a> Transnational Broadcasting in the Indo-Pacific.</p> <p>Labor’s funding boost remains inadequate, though, to properly broadcast an Australian voice to the region because, she argued, of increasingly fraught relations between nations, and a complex political and media environment.</p> <p>One of the most pressing priorities now is to extend the Labor government’s Pacific Security and Engagement Initiatives (the original $8 million per year) which is due to end in June 2026. Without this, the ABC will have transmission to the region, but next to no appropriate content.</p> <p>Australia needed to rectify past mistakes by increasing international broadcast funding and protecting that funding from future government cuts. Australia also needed to adopt the long-term thinking that China displayed if it was to counteract China’s strategic ambitions for the region.</p> <p>By closing VOA, Trump and his government efficiency wrecking ball, Elon Musk, have actually left open an opportunity for Australia to lean into the unique strategic advantage granted by Australia’s economic and geographical place in the region.</p> <p>The move to cut US aid supporting journalism extends to smaller outfits such as Benar News Pacific, which recently <a href="https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/philippine/letter-from-editors-benarnews-pauses-operations-04022025104657.html">told its audience</a> it was “pausing operations”.</p> <p>For the past decade, Benar News (and its parent Radio Free Asia) has been reporting across the region on security, politics and human rights. “The US administration has withheld the funding that we rely on to bring our readers and viewers the news from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, the Philippines and island-states and territories in the Pacific,” it said in a letter from the editors.</p> <p>Such local news services may be small but are a vital bulwark in the multi-polar world Trump seeks to shape.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/248117/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><em>By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/matthew-ricketson-3616">Matthew Ricketson</a>, Professor of Communication, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/alexandra-wake-7472">Alexandra Wake</a>, Associate Professor, Journalism, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/michael-ward-421548">Michael Ward</a>, PhD candidate in media and communications, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-would-and-should-happen-to-the-abc-under-the-next-federal-government-248117">original article</a>.</em></p> <p><em>Image: Instagram</em></p> </div>

Readers response: What is one fictional place you would like to visit?

<p>We asked our readers what fictional place from a movie, TV or book world they would love to travel to. Here's what they said.</p> <p><strong>Ann Sigley</strong> - Hogwarts and Diagon Alley.</p> <p><strong>Alison Jane</strong> - The Magic Faraway Tree.</p> <p><strong>Peta Alto</strong> - The Secret Garden.</p> <p><strong>Graham Moss</strong> - The Shire from Lord of the Rings.</p> <p><strong>Kath Wilkinson</strong> - Robinson Crusoe’s island.</p> <p><strong>Ken Harris</strong> - Emerald City. </p> <p><strong>Betty Howarth</strong> - Marigold hotel.</p> <p><strong>Matilda Jambour</strong> - Camelot.</p> <p><strong>Joy Gardner</strong> - Narnia. </p> <p><strong>Jean Rose Paoli</strong> - The garden of Eden. </p> <p><strong>Jennifer Halemba</strong> - Brigadoon. </p> <p><strong>Regina Johnson</strong> - Pemberley. </p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock</em></p>

International Travel

Superannuation is complicated. A guaranteed government income in retirement would be simpler

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/brendan-coates-154644">Brendan Coates</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/grattan-institute-1168">Grattan Institute</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/joey-moloney-1334959">Joey Moloney</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/grattan-institute-1168">Grattan Institute</a></em></p> <p>Having compulsory super should help create a comfortable and stress-free retirement. But Australia’s super system is too complex for retirees to navigate.</p> <p>This can leave them stressed and lacking the confidence to spend their super savings.</p> <p>Our latest report, <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/simpler-s%5Buper/">Simpler super: taking the stress out of retirement</a>, recommends the federal government offer all Australians a lifetime <a href="https://moneysmart.gov.au/retirement-income/annuities">annuity</a> - a financial product that pays a guaranteed income for the rest of their lives.</p> <p>This would help retirees stress less, spend more, and enjoy their retirement years.</p> <h2>Stress prompts many to underspend super</h2> <p>For the first time, many Australians are entering retirement with significant super balances: Australians are retiring with an average super balance of more than A$200,000, and couples with about $300,000.</p> <p><a href="https://grattan.edu.au/news/balancing-act/">Despite having saved enough to be comfortable</a>, four in five people say planning for retirement is complicated, and 60% don’t think their retirements will be financially stress-free.</p> <p>Few retirees draw down on their retirement savings as intended. In fact, many are actually net savers – their savings continue to grow for decades after they retire.</p> <p><a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/simpler-super/">Our analysis</a> of the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/participate-survey/household-survey/survey-income-and-housing">ABS Survey of Income and Housing</a> shows for those aged 60-64 in 2003-04, average super balances had grown by 37% in real terms by the time they were aged 76-80 in 2019-20.</p> <p>And their average net wealth, which excludes the equity in their home, grew by 14% over the same period.</p> <p>Australia’s <a href="https://www.apra.gov.au/quarterly-superannuation-performance-statistics-highlights-september-2024">$4 trillion</a> compulsory superannuation system is turning into a massive inheritance scheme. That’s not how super was supposed to work.</p> <h2>Retirees are given too little guidance</h2> <p>The super system makes most big decisions for working Australians, such as how much to contribute or how it’s invested. But once we retire there is little guidance about how to use our funds.</p> <p>More than four in five retirees are steered into account-based pensions. But partly because they’re anxious not to outlive their savings, this group manages their spending very cautiously.</p> <p>While on average, an Australian woman aged 65 today can expect to live until 88, they also have a one-in-five chance of either dying before age 81 or of making it to 94.</p> <p>Half of those retirees who use an account-based pension draw their super at legislated minimum rates, which if followed, leave 65% of super balances unspent by average life expectancy.</p> <p>This widespread use of account-based pensions makes Australia a global outlier. Retirees in most rich countries are automatically given – or otherwise strongly encouraged to choose – <a href="https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/2023/12/pensions-at-a-glance-2023_4757bf20.html">an income guaranteed to last their entire lives</a>.</p> <p>Research suggests having an income that is guaranteed to last until death <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Keith-Bender/publication/23647866_What_Makes_Retirees_Happy/links/0046353578c678a403000000/What-Makes-Retirees-Happy.pdf">can reduce stress</a> and <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3875802">boost retirees’ spending</a>.</p> <h2>Government could steer retirees into annuities</h2> <p>Our report argues retirees should be encouraged to use 80% of their super balance above $250,000 to purchase an annuity.</p> <p>The government could embed this pre-set guidance throughout the retirement income system. It could be included in all relevant communications with retirees from super funds, and especially at the point of retirement.</p> <p><a href="https://researchportalplus.anu.edu.au/en/publications/default-and-naive-diversification-heuristics-in-annuity-choice">Research shows</a> that retirees tend to choose the option put in front of them.</p> <p>The remaining super balance – $250,000, plus the remaining 20% of any savings above that level – would continue to be drawn down via an account-based pension. Retirees would still have to access their super for large purchases if needed.</p> <p>Using some super to buy an annuity could boost expected retirement incomes by up to 25%, compared to solely drawing on an account-based pension at legislated minimum rates.</p> <p>And it would ensure that the bulk of retirees’ incomes, irrespective of their super balances, would be guaranteed to last the rest of their lives.</p> <hr /> <p><iframe id="TYMjG" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: 0;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/TYMjG/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p> <hr /> <h2>Annuities should be provided by government, not super funds</h2> <p>But steering retirees into annuities offered via super funds is unlikely to work.</p> <p>Super funds <a href="https://www.superreview.com.au/news/superannuation/asfa-urges-against-cipr-longevity-component">have resisted</a> previous attempts by government to <a href="https://consult.treasury.gov.au/development-of-the-framework-for-comprehensive-income-products-for-retirement">require them to offer annuities to retirees</a>.</p> <p>Many people also struggle to understand and compare annuities. They often find it difficult to switch to a better deal later even if they can spot one.</p> <p>Recent <a href="https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/market-studies/retirement-income-market-study">experience in the UK</a> showed when required to purchase an annuity, most people simply took what their fund was offering and often got a poor deal.</p> <p>Designing a regulatory regime that overcomes these issues is a huge challenge. The best option, therefore, is for the government to directly offer annuities. It should offer all retirees a simple lifetime annuity as the baseline option.</p> <p>The government could also offer alternatives including investment-linked annuities, where payments are guaranteed for life, but payments could vary based on investment returns.</p> <p>Priced fairly, and managed by an independent agency, a government annuity would encourage there take-up. Retirees would be more confident that they’re getting a good deal.</p> <p>Annuity payments would be made from the pool of capital created by annuity purchases, with these investments managed by the Future Fund.</p> <p>Under reasonable assumptions we project the government annuity provider could be managing assets totalling 2.5% of GDP by 2040.</p> <p>Superannuation offers Australians the promise of a more comfortable and stress-free retirement. Government-offered annuities can help turn that dream into reality.</p> <p><em>Esther Suckling made substantial contributions to the research underpinning this article.</em><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/247383/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/brendan-coates-154644"><em>Brendan Coates</em></a><em>, Program Director, Housing and Economic Security, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/grattan-institute-1168">Grattan Institute</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/joey-moloney-1334959">Joey Moloney</a>, Deputy Program Director, Housing and Economic Security, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/grattan-institute-1168">Grattan Institute</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock</em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/superannuation-is-complicated-a-guaranteed-government-income-in-retirement-would-be-simpler-247383">original article</a>.</em></p> </div>

Money & Banking

Readers response: If you could live abroad temporarily, where would you go and why?

<p>We asked our readers where they would settle if they could relocate, and why they would pick their new home destination, and the response was overwhelming. Here's what they said.</p> <p><strong>Cathy Parker</strong> - Scotland, and it wouldn't be temporarily, it would be permanent!</p> <p><strong>Karleen Green</strong> - Ireland, but without winter.</p> <p><strong>Jackie A Morris</strong> - Southern Spain, beautiful place and wonderful people.</p> <p><strong>Lyn McLaughlin</strong> - London. I'd easily fit in there.</p> <p><strong>Jeanne Meyers</strong> - South Africa as I lived there for 10 years and loved it.</p> <p><strong>Jenny Harris</strong> - Italy. I just love the atmosphere, friendliness of people and way of life.</p> <p><strong>Stuart Galloway</strong> - Menorca, Spain. Nice people, laid back atmosphere, and fewer (and better behaved) tourists compared to Ibiza and Majorca.</p> <p><strong>Ruth Peter Nussbaumer</strong> - Italy or southern Switzerland. So much culture and food. I would have to be millionaire though!</p> <p><strong>Yvonne Knight </strong>- Vietnam. Gorgeous people and very inexpensive.</p> <p><strong>Robyn Wilkie</strong> - Canada or Alaska. Been twice but never long enough. Love, love those places.</p> <p><strong>Kathy Wise</strong> - Germany, Austria, Switzerland or Canada!</p> <p><strong>Barbara Dakers</strong> - South Island New Zealand, or Norway. Poles apart but both so very beautiful, natural, peaceful and friendly.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock </em></p>

International Travel

Readers response: What advice would you give someone visiting Australia?

<p>We asked our readers what advice they would give to someone travelling to Australia, including where tourists need to see and what hidden gems cannot be missed. Here's what they said. </p> <p><strong>Peggy Rice</strong> - Respect our rules, the outback needs to be researched, swim between flags, don't swim with crocodiles. It's the best country in the world, let's keep it that way. Also do yourself a favour and put Tasmania on your list of beauty.</p> <p><strong>Kay L Bayly</strong> - Number 1 advice! Check distances between desired destinations. It is a much bigger country than most people understand.</p> <p><strong>Michael Pender</strong> - Bring a sense of humour.</p> <p><strong>Toni Stewart</strong> - You will need a year at least to see all the different areas from desert, scrub, rainforest, cities, beaches, country side fabulous little towns and lots of festivals.</p> <p><strong>Maureen Prince</strong> - We don’t have Kangaroos running the streets. Koalas are not in everybody's back yard trees. Whilst we do have snakes you’d be very unfortunate if you were to come across a venomous one. We don’t all go around saying “Good day mate”. Our scenery is incredible. Our food is superb and, best of all, we have good friends who do say “Good day mate”.</p> <p><strong>Tina Shaw</strong> - Leave preconceptions at customs. See who we are and you'll have a fantastic time.</p> <p><strong>Dianne Savage</strong> - Put Tasmania on your must do list.</p> <p><strong>Margaret Higgs</strong> - Use sunscreen, wear a hat, drink lots of fluids.</p> <p><strong>Cheryl Anne</strong> - Don't assume you can cover the whole country in 6 weeks.</p> <p><strong>Sarah Hayse-Gregson</strong> - Obey the beach culture. The flags, lifesavers are there for a reason. If a sign says, “beach closed” there’s no one to assist you if you get into difficulty. Our lifesavers are volunteers, don’t forget that. They give up their free time to monitor the beaches and are highly trained. Never turn your back to the sea.</p> <p><strong>Ann Lusby</strong> - Watch out for drop bears.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock </em></p>

Domestic Travel

Readers response: What celebrity do you think would make a great friend, and why?

<p>When it comes to celebrities, everyone has their favourites, their crushes, and those they'd rather steer clear of. </p> <p>We asked our readers what celebrity they think they would be good friends with, and the response was overwhelming. Here's what they said. </p> <p><strong>Judy Yannopoulos</strong> - Keanu Reeves. A true honest person with a good heart.</p> <p><strong>Jenny Maclean</strong> - Steven Fry. He’s honest and kind and so very intelligent.</p> <p><strong>Jeff-Lyn Bloom</strong> - Tom Hanks. He is so down to earth. Doesn’t put on airs.</p> <p><strong>Jan Totti</strong> - John Farnham, because he’s down to earth and there’s no pretences. He seems just a lovely honest person. He’s an amazing Australian singer.</p> <p><strong>Caz McDougall</strong> - Michael Sheen and David Tennant.</p> <p><strong>Karen Maberly</strong> - Judi Dench. Seems like a good communicator, sharp mind and full of fun, and not full of herself!!</p> <p><strong>Cheryl Cunningham</strong> - Denzel Washington. Totally honest and decent human.</p> <p><strong>Rhonda Moffitt</strong> - Maggie Beer. She treasures family & others. Always smiling, Maggie I think would be great company.</p> <p><strong>Lisa Drury Hudson</strong> - Audrey Hepburn, for her compassion, strength, fighting for children's rights and empathy. What a loss.</p> <p><strong>Bob Wilkinson</strong> - Hugh Jackson and Chris Hemsworth as they both seem like down to earth nice people.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock </em></p> <p> </p>

Relationships

Readers response: What advice would you give to seniors looking to start a new relationship?

<p>When entering the dating world, there are always nerves, expectations and excitement at any age.</p> <p>But when it comes to dating and starting new relationships in your senior years, priorities can be skewed, and meeting someone can be nerve-wracking. </p> <p>We asked our readers what advice they would you give to seniors looking to start a new relationship, and the response was overwhelming. Here's what they said. </p> <p><strong>Judy Chappell</strong> - Don’t! Nothing better than independence & freedom late in life after 63 years married. I have my kids, grandkids, great grandies & great friends that’s enough for me. Don’t need another male around.</p> <p><strong>Jan Heggie</strong> - If it feels right, do it. If it doesn’t feel right after a while, leave. Life is too short to not enjoy it.</p> <p><strong>Karen Simpson Nikakis</strong> - Put legals in place to protect your assets, do not cohabit or marry, and split all bills. </p> <p><strong>Lois Hone </strong>- Be true to yourself. Choose someone who completes you, the one person you feel you can’t live without. The one person, who makes you smile, laugh and is still there when you are sad and hurt and wants to support you. Oh and if they like to cook and clean as well, go for it!</p> <p><strong>Julie Fause</strong>r - Live each in your own home.</p> <p><strong>Marilyn Langelaar </strong>- Do not compare to previous partner.</p> <p><strong>Janet Olsson</strong> - Be careful. Don't rush into anything.</p> <p><strong>Lynn Dilley</strong> - Just go for it if you are happy and feel safe, but keep your money and documents to yourself.</p> <p><strong>Merle Finlayson</strong> - Go for it! It’s never too late.</p> <p><strong>Margot R McCamley </strong>- Enjoy the relationship, but there are always buts so tread carefully. Think it through thoroughly, but don't dismiss it as folly.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock</em></p>

Relationships

Readers response: What would you do if you won $1,000,000 in the lottery tomorrow?

<p>Many people, especially those who indulge in weekly lottery tickets, like to fantasise about what they would do if they came into a huge sum of money.</p> <p>For some people, their first purchase would be a house or a once in a lifetime holiday, while others would give the money to family or charity. </p> <p>We asked our reader what they would do if they won $1 million in the lottery tomorrow, and the response was overwhelming. Here's what they said.</p> <p><strong>Anne Hare</strong> - I'd find a really good accountant and put him on retainer. I'd tell no one until I'd got my finances in order. Then I'd go nuts!</p> <p><strong>Irene Winters</strong> - Give most of it to our children and grandchildren, and keep a bit to pay for our old age.</p> <p><strong>Erica Whitehead</strong> - Help my family and do a kitchen and bathroom renovation.</p> <p><strong>Julie Armstrong</strong> - 1 million would be perfect for us to buy a house and live out the rest of ours days comfortably and not have to stress over the rent increases. Plus, we could pay off our daughter's mortgage.</p> <p><strong>Darlene Challen</strong> - Fix this house up properly, sell it and find my dream little house for myself and my dog, might spend Christmas in NY and/or go on a tropical cruise, then put the rest away for my 9 grandies.</p> <p><strong>Karen Neilson</strong> - Give a big chunk to my children and grandchildren, then give some to each of my siblings and Brother in Law. Keep some for myself, just enough to live comfortably for the few years I’m still on this earth! Give some to Cancer Research, The Heart Foundation and the Rescue Chopper. Give some to a couple of friend who do it tough.</p> <p><strong>Marlene Hassett</strong> - Buy a new car and a couple of things around my house and the rest to my kids and grandkids.</p> <p><strong>Alex Elson</strong> - I would finally, finally take our van out of the shed and go away for a while! </p> <p><strong>Jeannine Litmanowicz</strong> - I would open a scholar fund for my grandchildren so they have money for higher education when they grow up. And also, since they are still young, I would treat them to a week travelling around with them and my daughters and husbands to the Balkans.</p> <p><strong>Christine Whyte</strong> - Keep myself very comfortable till it was time to distribute to 10 grandkids.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock </em></p>

Money & Banking

Readers response: If you could spend your retirement anywhere in the world, where would you go?

<p>When it comes to retirement, many people decide to spend their golden years travelling the globe. </p> <p>Alternatively, others prefer to stay closer to come to spend valuable quality time with their closest friends and family. </p> <p>We asked our readers where they would spend their retirement if they could choose anywhere in the world, and the response was overwhelming. Here's what they said. </p> <p><strong>Tracee Williams Mason</strong> - A cruise ship.</p> <p><strong>Kay Little-Ohmsen</strong> - Right where I am. Sunshine Coast and have been for 48 years.</p> <p><strong>Cheryl Barrett</strong> - On the Greek island of Naxos.</p> <p><strong>Bruce Hopkins</strong> - Travelling around the world.</p> <p><strong>Bob Holl</strong> - Cruising the Whitsunday Islands. </p> <p><strong>Steve Tracy</strong> - Back to Japan where I spent the 25 happiest years of my life.</p> <p><strong>Terry Dolman</strong> - Where I live in South Australia for half the year, Vietnam for the other half. </p> <p><strong>Bev Martin</strong> - Florida.</p> <p><strong>Sandra Tiplady Schellings</strong> - At the beach!</p> <p><strong>Sonia Davis</strong> - Darwin. </p> <p><strong>Sally O'Neill</strong> - European cruise and cruising around the Greek Isles.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock </em></p>

International Travel

"I really thought he would kill me": Erin Molan opens up about abusive relationship

<p><em><strong>Warning: This article contains discussions of domestic violence which some readers may find confronting</strong></em></p> <p>Radio and TV presenter Erin Molan has opened up for the first time about horrific abuse she endured at the hands of an ex-partner. </p> <p>Speaking candidly to the <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/exclusive-interview-erin-molan-opens-up-about-horrific-abuse-she-suffered-from-a-man-she-dated/news-story/d2921145ef5010a413bab6c9a830f3bc" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Sunday Telegraph</em></a>, the 40-year-old presenter recalled many of her "worst" moments with her former boyfriend, sharing how she feared for her life when he became physically abusive. </p> <p>'“He came in drunk and dragged me out of bed and started stamping his foot into my head over and over and over,” she told the publication. </p> <p>“I was lying on the floor screaming and normally if I screamed really loudly he would stop because neighbours would hear. But that time he just kept going and going and it felt like my skull was going to crack open.”</p> <p>She said the relentless physical violence became a pattern of behaviour, and she would regularly be brutally injured. </p> <p>“One time he smashed a bottle over my head,” she says. “Another time I was terrified he’d throw me off a balcony. Once I ran to hide in my car and he got a rubbish bin and started smashing it against the windscreen and I feared I would be killed by glass shattering over me.</p> <p>“Another time he covered my face with a pillow so I couldn’t breathe. I was crying for my mum. I really thought he would kill me.”</p> <p>Molan said she chose not publicly discuss the abuse while her beloved dad, Senator Jim Molan, was alive because she didn’t want to break his heart, but now she wants others to know what she went through.</p> <p>In sharing her heartbreaking story, she also hopes she can give other victims of domestic violence the courage to come forward. </p> <p>“I’m not sharing my story because I want to. My preference would be for this part of my life to never be shared but with every single death I see in this space, a part of me wonders whether I could have made a difference,” she says.</p> <p>“Could my experience have made these beautiful, innocent women feel less alone, less ashamed, less scared and could that have been the tiny thing that may have empowered them to ask for help, the thing that might have helped to save their lives?”</p> <p>Molan added that while it’s confronting for her to speak out, she wants things to change, not just for her generation but for her daughter’s.</p> <p>As she says, “I want to worry about my daughter’s first boyfriend breaking her heart, not her bones.”</p> <p><em>Image credits: for AWAPAC/Shutterstock Editorial </em></p>

Caring

How would a switch to nuclear affect electricity prices for households and industry?

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/roger-dargaville-1832">Roger Dargaville</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/monash-university-1065">Monash University</a></em></p> <p>Peter Dutton has announced that under a Coalition government, seven nuclear power stations would be built around the country over the next 15 years.</p> <p>Experts have declared nuclear power would be <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-20/power-prices-wont-fall-with-nuclear/103998172">expensive</a> and <a href="https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/nuclear-to-cost-17b-and-take-until-2040-to-build-csiro-20240521-p5jfaj#:%7E:text=Nuclear%20could%20cost%20up%20to,until%202040%20to%20build%3A%20CSIRO&text=Peter%20Dutton's%20nuclear%20energy%20plans,operational%20until%20at%20least%202040.">slow to build</a>.</p> <p>But what might happen to energy prices if the Coalition were to win government and implement this plan?</p> <h2>How might we estimate the cost of nuclear?</h2> <p>By 2035, 50–60% of the existing coal-fired fleet will very likely <a href="https://aemo.com.au/-/media/files/stakeholder_consultation/consultations/nem-consultations/2023/draft-2024-isp-consultation/draft-2024-isp.pdf">have been retired</a>, including Vales Point B, Gladstone, Yallourn, Bayswater and Eraring – all of which will have passed 50 years old.</p> <p>These five generators contribute just over 10 gigawatts of capacity. It’s probably not a coincidence that the seven nuclear plants proposed by Dutton would also contribute roughly 10 gigawatts in total if built.</p> <p>Neither my team at Monash University nor the Australian Energy Market Operator has run modelling scenarios to delve into the details of what might happen to electricity prices under a high-uptake nuclear scenario such as the one proposed by the Coalition. That said, we can make some broad assumptions based on a metric known as the “levelised cost of electricity”.</p> <p>This value takes into account:</p> <ul> <li> <p>how much it costs to build a particular technology</p> </li> <li> <p>how long it takes to build</p> </li> <li> <p>the cost to operate the plant</p> </li> <li> <p>its lifetime</p> </li> <li> <p>and very importantly, its capacity factor.</p> </li> </ul> <p>Capacity factor is how much electricity a technology produces in real life, compared with its theoretical maximum output.</p> <p>For example, a nuclear power station would likely run at 90–95% of its full capacity. A solar farm, on the other hand, will run at just 20–25% of its maximum, primarily because it’s night for half of the time, and cloudy some of the time.</p> <p>CSIRO recently published its <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/research/technology-space/energy/gencost">GenCost</a> report, which outlines the current and projected build and operational costs for a range of energy technologies.</p> <p>It reports that large-scale nuclear generated electricity would cost between A$155 and $252 per megawatt-hour, falling to between $136 and $226 per megawatt-hour by 2040.</p> <p>The report bases these costs on recent projects in South Korea, but doesn’t consider some other cases where costs have blown out dramatically.</p> <p>The most obvious case is that of <a href="https://www.edf.fr/en/the-edf-group/dedicated-sections/journalists/all-press-releases/hinkley-point-c-update-1">Hinkley Point C nuclear plant</a> in the United Kingdom. This <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/edfs-nuclear-project-britain-pushed-back-2029-may-cost-up-34-bln-2024-01-23/">3.2GW</a> plant, which is being built by French company EDF, was recently <a href="https://www.edf.fr/en/the-edf-group/dedicated-sections/journalists/all-press-releases/hinkley-point-c-update-1">reported</a> to be now costing around £34 billion (about A$65 billion). That’s about A$20,000 per kilowatt.</p> <p>CSIRO’s GenCost report assumed a value of $8,655 per kilowatt for nuclear, so the true levelised cost of electricity of nuclear power in Australia may end up being twice as expensive as CSIRO has calculated.</p> <hr /> <p><iframe id="Aryx7" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Aryx7/4/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <hr /> <h2>Other factors play a role, too</h2> <p>Another factor not accounted for in the GenCost assumptions is that Australia does not have a nuclear industry. Virtually all the niche expertise would need to be imported.</p> <p>And very large infrastructure projects have a nasty habit of <a href="https://www.cis.org.au/publication/bungles-blowouts-and-boondoggles-why-australias-infrastructure-projects-cost-more-than-they-should/">blowing out in cost</a> – think of Snowy 2.0, Sydney’s light rail project, and the West Gate Tunnel in Victoria.</p> <p>Reasons include higher local wages, regulations and standards plus aversion from lenders to risk that increases cost of capital. These factors would not bode well for nuclear.</p> <p>In CSIRO’s GenCost report, the levelised cost of electricity produced from coal is $100–200 per megawatt-hour, and for gas it’s $120–160 per megawatt-hour. Solar and wind energy work out to be approximately $60 and $90 per megawatt-hour, respectively. But it’s not a fair comparison, as wind and solar are not “dispatchable” but are dependent on the availability of the resource.</p> <p>When you combine the cost of a mix of wind and solar energy and storage, along with the cost of getting the renewable energy into the grid, renewables end up costing $100–120 per megawatt-hour, similar to coal.</p> <p>If we were to have a nuclear-based system (supplemented by gas to meet the higher demands in the mornings and evenings), the costs would likely be much higher – potentially as much as three to four times if cost blowouts similar to Hinkley Point C were to occur (assuming costs were passed on to electricity consumers. Otherwise, taxpayers in general would bear the burden. Either way, it’s more or less the same people).</p> <h2>But what about the impact on your household energy bill?</h2> <p>Well, here the news is marginally better.</p> <p>Typical retail tariffs are 25-30 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is $250–300 per megawatt-hour. The largest component of your energy bill is not the cost of generation of the electricity; rather, it’s the cost of getting the power from the power stations to your home or business.</p> <p>In very approximate terms, this is made up of the market average costs of generation, transmission and distribution, as well as retailer margin and other minor costs.</p> <p>The transmission and distribution costs will not be significantly different under the nuclear scenario compared with the current system. And the additional transmission costs associated with the more distributed nature of renewables (meaning these renewable projects are all over the country) is included in the estimate.</p> <p>According to my back-of-the-envelope calculations, your retail tariff under the nuclear scenario could be 40–50c per kilowatt-hour.</p> <p>But if you are a large energy consumer such as an aluminium smelter, you pay considerably less per kilowatt-hour as you don’t incur the same network or retailer costs (but the cost of generating electricity in the first place makes up a much bigger proportion of the total cost).</p> <p>So if the cost of electricity generation soars, this hypothetical aluminium smelter’s energy costs will soar too.</p> <p>This would be a severe cost burden on Australian industry that has traditionally relied on cheap electricity (although it’s been a while since electricity could be described as cheap).</p> <h2>A likely increase in energy costs</h2> <p>In summary, in a free market, it is very unlikely nuclear could be competitive.</p> <p>But if a future Coalition government were to bring nuclear into the mix, energy costs for residential and especially industrial customers would very likely increase.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/232913/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/roger-dargaville-1832">Roger Dargaville</a>, Director Monash Energy Institute, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/monash-university-1065">Monash University</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock </em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-would-a-switch-to-nuclear-affect-electricity-prices-for-households-and-industry-232913">original article</a>.</em></p> </div>

Money & Banking

New proposal would see child care cost just $10 per day

<p>In an incredibly promising step towards affordable and high-quality early childhood education, f<span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">amilies in Australia could soon benefit from a significant reduction in costs – potentially paying just $10 a day for three days a week of high-quality care. </span></p> <p><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">This development is part of a broader push to reform the current, troubled system, driven by the Centre for Policy Development (CPD) and supported by various early learning and parenting groups.</span></p> <p>The CPD has introduced a comprehensive plan aimed at overhauling the existing system, proposing free or low-cost early learning for all children three days a week. A key aspect of their proposal includes replacing the current childcare subsidy with a "child-centred" funding model that directly finances early education centres.</p> <p>Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has endorsed the initiative, highlighting its significance in the national conversation on childcare, stating, “Universal child care provision, as it is in a range of other countries, is something that is a valued national asset. Early education is good for children, it’s good for families, but it’s also good for our economy.”</p> <p>Countries like Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Norway have successfully implemented legislated entitlements for early childhood services. Research indicates that where universal or low-cost education is available, participation rates are high, suggesting similar potential outcomes for Australia.</p> <p>Economic modelling by CPD suggests that universal or low-cost early learning could increase tax revenue by up to $3.2 billion annually and boost economic growth by $6.9 billion as more parents, particularly mothers, are able to work additional hours.</p> <p>The federal government is awaiting the final report from the Productivity Commission before making further decisions. Preliminary findings from this body and a separate investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission have identified the current system as complex, costly and inconsistently available across the country.</p> <p>Andrew Hudson, CEO of the Centre for Policy Development, labelled the existing system as "broken", noting that about 22% of children start school developmentally vulnerable and over 120,000 children miss out on early learning entirely due to stringent activity test rules and other barriers.</p> <p>Hudson also pointed out that enabling more women to return to the workforce represents the "single biggest productivity gain" for the country, describing the proposal as a "classic win-win".</p> <p>As momentum builds, this initiative promises a brighter future for Australian families, making high-quality early childhood education more accessible and affordable, while delivering significant economic and social benefits.</p> <p><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

Family & Pets

Would you be happy as a long-term single? The answer may depend on your attachment style

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/christopher-pepping-1524533">Christopher Pepping</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/griffith-university-828">Griffith University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/geoff-macdonald-1527971">Geoff Macdonald</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-toronto-1281">University of Toronto</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/tim-cronin-415060">Tim Cronin</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/la-trobe-university-842">La Trobe University</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/yuthika-girme-1494822">Yuthika Girme</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/simon-fraser-university-1282">Simon Fraser University</a></em></p> <p>Are all single people insecure? When we think about people who have been single for a long time, we may assume it’s because single people have insecurities that make it difficult for them to find a partner or maintain a relationship.</p> <p>But is this true? Or can long-term single people also be secure and thriving?</p> <p>Our <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jopy.12929">latest research</a> published in the Journal of Personality suggests they can. However, perhaps unsurprisingly, not everybody tends to thrive in singlehood. Our study shows a crucial factor may be a person’s attachment style.</p> <h2>Singlehood is on the rise</h2> <p>Singlehood is on the rise around the world. In Canada, single status among young adults aged 25 to 29 has increased from <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220713/dq220713b-eng.htm">32% in 1981 to 61% in 2021</a>. The number of people <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220713/dq220713a-eng.htm">living solo</a> has increased from 1.7 million people in 1981 to 4.4 million in 2021.</p> <p>People are single for many reasons: <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/ebook/9780520971004/happy-singlehood">some choose</a> to remain single, some are focusing on <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12147-020-09249-0">personal goals and aspirations</a>, some report <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/08/20/nearly-half-of-u-s-adults-say-dating-has-gotten-harder-for-most-people-in-the-last-10-years/">dating has become harder</a>, and some become single again due to a relationship breakdown.</p> <p>People may also remain single due to their attachment style. Attachment theory is a popular and well-researched model of how we form relationships with other people. An <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/s?k=attachment+theory">Amazon search for attachment theory</a> returns thousands of titles. The hashtag #attachmenttheory has been viewed <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/20/why-attachment-theory-is-trending-according-to-dr-amir-levine.html">over 140 million times</a> on TikTok alone.</p> <h2>What does attachment theory say about relationships?</h2> <p>Attachment theory suggests our relationships with others are shaped by our degree of “anxiety” and “avoidance”.</p> <p>Attachment anxiety is a type of insecurity that leads people to feel anxious about relationships and worry about abandonment. Attachment avoidance leads people to feel uncomfortable with intimacy and closeness.</p> <p>People who are lower in attachment anxiety and avoidance are considered “securely attached”, and are comfortable depending on others, and giving and receiving intimacy.</p> <p>Single people are often stereotyped as being <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/01461672231203123">too clingy or non-committal</a>. Research comparing single and coupled people also suggests single people have <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2012.00793.x?casa_token=6iiCm5PjHgkAAAAA:0kBeofx3M-72YrkVppmNxdWBIAImFwm3lAakCnuiNXL20SVP1zaW7UeDIahW_43imAjSRXgtyN0hLVI">higher levels of attachment insecurities</a> compared to people in relationships.</p> <p>At the same time, evidence suggests many single people are choosing to remain single and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17456916221136119">living happy lives</a>.</p> <h2>Single people represent a diverse group of secure and insecure people</h2> <p>In our latest research, our team of social and clinical psychologists examined single people’s attachment styles and how they related to their happiness and wellbeing.</p> <p>We carried out two studies, one of 482 younger single people and the other of 400 older long-term singles. We found overall 78% were categorised as insecure, with the other 22% being secure.</p> <p>Looking at our results more closely, we found four distinct subgroups of singles:</p> <ul> <li> <p>secure singles are relatively comfortable with intimacy and closeness in relationships (22%)</p> </li> <li> <p>anxious singles question whether they are loved by others and worry about being rejected (37%)</p> </li> <li> <p>avoidant singles are uncomfortable getting close to others and prioritise their independence (23% of younger singles and 11% of older long-term singles)</p> </li> <li> <p>fearful singles have heightened anxiety about abandonment, but are simultaneously uncomfortable with intimacy and closeness (16% of younger singles and 28% of older long-term singles).</p> </li> </ul> <h2>Insecure singles find singlehood challenging, but secure singles are thriving</h2> <p>Our findings also revealed these distinct subgroups of singles have distinct experiences and outcomes.</p> <p>Secure singles are happy being single, have a greater number of non-romantic relationships, and better relationships with family and friends. They meet their sexual needs outside romantic relationships and feel happier with their life overall. Interestingly, this group maintains moderate interest in being in a romantic relationship in the future.</p> <p>Anxious singles tend to be the most worried about being single, have lower self-esteem, feel less supported by close others and have some of the lowest levels of life satisfaction across all sub-groups.</p> <p>Avoidant singles show the least interest in being in a romantic relationship and in many ways appear satisfied with singlehood. However, they also have fewer friends and close relationships, and are generally less satisfied with these relationships than secure singles. Avoidant singles also report less meaning in life and tend to be less happy compared to secure singles.</p> <p>Fearful singles reported more difficulties navigating close relationships than secure singles. For instance, they were less able to regulate their emotions, and were less satisfied with the quality of their close relationships relative to secure singles. They also reported some of the lowest levels of life satisfaction across all sub-groups.</p> <h2>It’s not all doom and gloom</h2> <p>These findings should be considered alongside several relevant points. First, although most singles in our samples were insecure (78%), a sizeable number were secure and thriving (22%).</p> <p>Further, simply being in a romantic relationship is not a panacea. Being in an unhappy relationship is linked to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316">poorer life outcomes</a> than being single.</p> <p>It is also important to remember that attachment orientations are not necessarily fixed. They are open to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352250X18300113">change</a> in response to life events.</p> <p>Similarly, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0963721413510933">sensitive and responsive behaviours</a> from close others and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075231162390">feeling loved and cared about</a> by close others can soothe underlying attachment concerns and foster attachment security over time.</p> <p>Our studies are some of the first to examine the diversity in attachment styles among single adults. Our findings highlight that many single people are secure and thriving, but also that more work can be done to help insecure single people feel more secure in order to foster happiness.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/227595/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/christopher-pepping-1524533">Christopher Pepping</a>, Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/griffith-university-828">Griffith University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/geoff-macdonald-1527971">Geoff Macdonald</a>, Professor of Psychology, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-toronto-1281">University of Toronto</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/tim-cronin-415060">Tim Cronin</a>, Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/la-trobe-university-842">La Trobe University</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/yuthika-girme-1494822">Yuthika Girme</a>, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/simon-fraser-university-1282">Simon Fraser University</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images </em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/would-you-be-happy-as-a-long-term-single-the-answer-may-depend-on-your-attachment-style-227595">original article</a>.</em></p> </div>

Relationships

Beloved Oscar winner dies "exactly as he would have scripted it"

<p>Award-winning Hollywood screenwriter David Seidler has died aged 86. </p> <p>The playwright, best known for 2010's <em>The Kings Speech</em>, passed away while on a fly-fishing expedition in New Zealand. </p> <p>"David was in the place he loved most in the world — New Zealand — doing what gave him the greatest peace which was fly-fishing," his manager said in a statement to <em>The Hollywood Reporter</em>.</p> <p>"If given the chance, it is exactly as he would have scripted it."</p> <p>Seidler's cause of death has not been revealed. </p> <p>The British-American playwright, first moved to Hollywood - where he started his career - at the age of 40, with his first job writing <em>Tucker: The Man and His Dreams </em>for Francis Ford Coppola. </p> <p>He also worked on the <em>King and I</em> and <em>Madeline: Lost in Paris</em>.</p> <p>Seidler is best known for <em>The King's Speech</em>, starring Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter. The film won him an Oscar and BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay. </p> <p>He previously told <em> The Los Angeles Times</em> that his interest in the story of George VI came from growing up with a stutter, just like the one Colin Firth's character had in the film. </p> <p>"It began, obviously, by the fact that I was a stutterer as a kid — truly a profound stutterer," he told the publication.</p> <p>"I grew up always having a great soft spot in my heart [for him], because I knew he was a stutterer, who had, if not been totally cured, at least improved to the point where he could give these very eloquent, moving, stirring wartime speeches."</p> <p>Seidler is survived by his two adult children. </p> <p><em>Image: Getty</em></p> <p> </p>

Caring

The rise and fall of antibiotics. What would a post-antibiotic world look like?

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/allen-cheng-94997">Allen Cheng</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/monash-university-1065">Monash University</a></em></p> <p> </p> <p>These days, we don’t think much about being able to access a course of antibiotics to head off an infection. But that wasn’t always the case – antibiotics have been available for less than a century.</p> <p>Before that, patients would die of relatively trivial infections that became more serious. Some serious infections, such as those involving the heart valves, were <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20173297/">inevitably</a> fatal.</p> <p>Other serious infections, such as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3070694/">tuberculosis</a>, weren’t always fatal. Up to a <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/729426v1.full.pdf">half</a> of people died within a year with the most severe forms, but some people recovered without treatment and the remainder had ongoing chronic infection that slowly ate away at the body over many years.</p> <p>Once we had antibiotics, the outcomes for these infections were much better.</p> <h2>Life (and death) before antibiotics</h2> <p>You’ve probably heard of Alexander Fleming’s accidental <a href="https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/flemingpenicillin.html">discovery of penicillin</a>, when fungal spores landed on a plate with bacteria left over a long weekend in 1928.</p> <p>But the <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/science-blog/penicillin-oxford-story">first patient</a> to receive penicillin was an instructive example of the impact of treatment. In 1941, Constable Albert Alexander had an infected scratch on his face that had become infected.</p> <p>He was hospitalised but despite various treatments, the infection progressed to involve his head. This required removing one of his eyes.</p> <p>Howard Florey, the Australian pharmacologist then working in Oxford, was concerned penicillin could be toxic in humans. Therefore, he felt it was only ethical to give this new drug to a patient in a desperate condition.</p> <p>Constable Alexander was given the available dose of penicillin. Within the first day, his condition had started to improve.</p> <p>But back then, penicillin was difficult to produce. One way of extending the limited supply was to “recycle” penicillin that was excreted in the patient’s urine. Despite this, supplies ran out by the fifth day of Alexander’s treatment.</p> <p>Without further treatment, the infection again took hold. Constable Alexander eventually died a month later.</p> <p>We now face a world where we are potentially running out of antibiotics – not because of difficulties manufacturing them, but because they’re losing their effectiveness.</p> <h2>What do we use antibiotics for?</h2> <p>We currently use antibiotics in humans and animals for a variety of reasons. Antibiotics reduce the duration of illness and the chance of death from infection. They also prevent infections in people who are at high risk, such as patients undergoing surgery and those with weakened immune systems.</p> <p>But antibiotics aren’t always used appropriately. <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30084-0/fulltext">Studies</a> consistently show a dose or two will adequately prevent infections after surgery, but antibiotics are <a href="https://irp.cdn-website.com/d820f98f/files/uploaded/surgical-prophylaxis-prescribing-in-australian-hospitals-results-of-the-2020-surgical-national-antimicrobial-prescribing-survey.pdf">often</a> continued for several days unnecessarily. And sometimes we use the wrong type of antibiotic.</p> <p><a href="https://irp.cdn-website.com/d820f98f/files/uploaded/antimicrobial-prescribing-practice-in-australian-hospitals-results-of-the-2020-hospital-national-antimicrobial-prescribing-survey.pdf">Surveys</a> have found 22% of antimicrobial use in hospitals is inappropriate.</p> <p>In some situations, this is understandable. Infections in different body sites are usually due to different types of bacteria. When the diagnosis isn’t certain, we often <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/resp.13334">err</a> on the side of caution by giving broad spectrum antibiotics to make sure we have active treatments for all possible infections, until further information becomes available.</p> <p>In other situations, there is a degree of inertia. If the patient is improving, doctors tend to simply continue the same treatment, rather than change to more appropriate choice.</p> <p>In general practice, the issue of diagnostic uncertainty and therapeutic inertia are often magnified. Patients who recover after starting antibiotics don’t usually require tests or come back for review, so there is no easy way of knowing if the antibiotic was actually required.</p> <p>Antibiotic prescribing can be more complex again if <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2014/201/2/antibiotic-prescribing-practice-residential-aged-care-facilities-health-care">patients</a> are expecting “a pill for every ill”. While doctors are generally good at educating patients when antibiotics are not likely to work (for example, for viral infections), without confirmatory tests there can always be a lingering doubt in the minds of both doctors and patients. Or sometimes the patient goes elsewhere to find a prescription.</p> <p>For other infections, resistance can develop if treatments aren’t given for long enough. This is particularly the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11971765/">case</a> for tuberculosis, caused by a slow growing bacterium that requires a particularly long course of antibiotics to cure.</p> <p>As in humans, antibiotics are also used to prevent and treat infections in animals. However, a proportion of antibiotics are used for growth promotion. In Australia, an <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2019/211/4/antibiotic-use-animals-and-humans-australia">estimated</a> 60% of antibiotics were used in animals between 2005-2010, despite growth-promotion being phased out.</p> <h2>Why is overuse a problem?</h2> <p>Bacteria become resistant to the effect of antibiotics through natural selection – those that survive exposure to antibiotics are the strains that have a mechanism to evade their effects.</p> <p>For example, antibiotics are sometimes given to <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(18)30279-2/fulltext">prevent</a> recurrent urinary tract infections, but a consequence, any infection that does <a href="https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/73/3/e782/6141409">develop</a> tends to be with resistant bacteria.</p> <p>When resistance to the commonly used first-line antibiotics occurs, we often need to reach deeper into the bag to find other effective treatments.</p> <p>Some of these last-line antibiotics are those that had been <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4202707/">superseded</a> because they had serious side effects or couldn’t be given conveniently as tablets.</p> <p>New drugs for some bacteria have been developed, but many are much more <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7955006/">expensive</a> than older ones.</p> <h2>Treating antibiotics as a valuable resource</h2> <p>The concept of antibiotics as a valuable resource has led to the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8856755/">concept</a> of “antimicrobial stewardship”, with programs to promote the responsible use of antibiotics. It’s a similar concept to environmental stewardship to prevent climate change and environmental degradation.</p> <p>Antibiotics are a rare class of medication where treatment of one patient can potentially affect the outcome of other patients, through the transmission of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Therefore, like efforts to combat climate change, antibiotic stewardship relies on changing individual actions to benefit the broader community.</p> <p>Like climate change, antibiotic resistance is a complex problem when seen in a broader context. Studies have linked resistance to the values and priorities <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(18)30186-4/fulltext">of governments</a> such as corruption and infrastructure, including the availability of electricity and public services. This highlights that there are broader “causes of the causes”, such as public spending on sanitation and health care.</p> <p>Other <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jac/article/74/9/2803/5512029?login=true">studies</a> have suggested individuals need to be considered within the broader social and institutional influences on prescribing behaviour. Like all human behaviour, antibiotic prescribing is complicated, and factors like what doctors feel is “normal” prescribing, whether junior staff feel they can challenge senior doctors, and even their <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/07/upshot/your-surgeon-is-probably-a-republican-your-psychiatrist-probably-a-democrat.html">political views</a> may be important.</p> <p>There are also issues with the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-technology-assessment-in-health-care/article/value-assessment-of-antimicrobials-and-the-implications-for-development-access-and-funding-of-effective-treatments-australian-stakeholder-perspective/D45758CFB95520DA4FF06E46135E0628">economic model</a> for developing new antibiotics. When a new antibiotic is first approved for use, the first reaction for prescribers is not to use it, whether to ensure it retains its effectiveness or because it is often very expensive.</p> <p>However, this doesn’t really <a href="https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/50/8/1081/449089?login=true">encourage</a> the development of new antibiotics, particularly when pharma research and development budgets can easily be diverted to developing drugs for conditions patients take for years, rather than a few days.</p> <h2>The slow moving pandemic of resistance</h2> <blockquote> <p>If we fail to act, we are looking at an almost unthinkable scenario where antibiotics no longer work and we are cast back into the dark ages of medicine – <a href="https://amr-review.org/">David Cameron</a>, former UK Prime Minister</p> </blockquote> <p>Antibiotic resistance is already a problem. Almost all infectious diseases physicians have had the dreaded call about patients with infections that were essentially untreatable, or where they had to scramble to find supplies of long-forgotten last-line antibiotics.</p> <p>There are already hospitals in some parts of the world that have had to carefully <a href="https://www.reactgroup.org/news-and-views/news-and-opinions/year-2022/the-impact-of-antibiotic-resistance-on-cancer-treatment-especially-in-low-and-middle-income-countries-and-the-way-forward/">consider</a> whether it’s still viable to treat cancers, because of the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6276316/">high risk</a> of infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria.</p> <p>A global <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02724-0/fulltext">study</a> estimated that in 2019, almost 5 million deaths occurred with an infection involving antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Some 1.3 million would not have occurred if the bacteria were not resistant.</p> <p>The UK’s 2014 <a href="https://amr-review.org/sites/default/files/AMR%20Review%20Paper%20-%20Tackling%20a%20crisis%20for%20the%20health%20and%20wealth%20of%20nations_1.pdf">O'Neill report</a> predicted deaths from antimicrobial resistance could rise to 10 million deaths each year, and cost 2-3.5% of global GDP, by 2050 based on trends at that time.</p> <h2>What can we do about it?</h2> <p>There is a lot we can do to prevent antibiotic resistance. We can:</p> <ul> <li> <p><a href="https://www.marketingmag.com.au/news/film-picking-gonorrhoea-wins-tropfest-prize/">raise</a> <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-019-7258-3">awareness</a> that many infections will get better by themselves, and don’t necessarily need antibiotics</p> </li> <li> <p>use the antibiotics we have more appropriately and for as short a time as possible, supported by co-ordinated clinical and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3437704/">public policy</a>, and <a href="https://www.amr.gov.au/">national</a> <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(22)00796-4/fulltext">oversight</a></p> </li> <li> <p><a href="https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/our-work/antimicrobial-resistance/antimicrobial-use-and-resistance-australia-surveillance-system/about-aura-surveillance-system">monitor</a> for infections due to resistant bacterial to inform control policies</p> </li> <li> <p>reduce the inappropriate use of antibiotics in animals, such as <a href="https://nam.edu/antibiotic-resistance-in-humans-and-animals/">growth promotion</a></p> </li> <li> <p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11971765/">reduce</a> cross-transmission of resistant organisms in hospitals and in the community</p> </li> <li> <p>prevent infections by other means, such as clean water, <a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/204948/WHO_FWC_WSH_14.7_eng.pdf">sanitation</a>, hygiene and <a href="https://www.who.int/teams/immunization-vaccines-and-biologicals/product-and-delivery-research/anti-microbial-resistance">vaccines</a></p> </li> <li> <p>continue developing new antibiotics and alternatives to antibiotics and ensure the right <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanepe/article/PIIS2666-7762(23)00124-2/fulltext#:%7E:text=We%20consider%20four%20incentive%20options,exclusivity%20extensions%2C%20and%20milestone%20payments.">incentives</a> are in place to encourage a continuous pipeline of new drugs.</p> </li> </ul> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/allen-cheng-94997"><em>Allen Cheng</em></a><em>, Professor in Infectious Diseases Epidemiology, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/monash-university-1065">Monash University</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock</em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-antibiotics-what-would-a-post-antibiotic-world-look-like-213450">original article</a>.</em></p>

Caring

"Matthew would enjoy the humour of it": Ironic detail spotted in Friends tribute

<p>While many fans of the long-running sitcom Friends are in mourning over the <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/health/caring/you-were-loved-tributes-flow-over-tragic-passing-of-matthew-perry" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sudden death of Matthew Perry</a>, others have delighted in an ironic detail surrounding the Friends apartment in New York. </p> <p>Since the announcement of Perry's death on Sunday, thousands of fans of the show has flocked to the apartment building in New York City's West Village, where the external shots of the gang's apartment was filmed, to pay their respects. </p> <p>While the sitcom, which ran for ten years from 1994, was actually filmed in Los Angeles, the Bedford Street address was used for the external shots of the New York-based show, with the humble apartment being home to each of the cast members during the show. </p> <p>Fans of the show have left notes, flowers, Central Perk memorabilia, and other sentimental items to pay tribute to the late actor. </p> <p>However, one eagle-eyed fan spotted a quirky detail hovering around the building, as Perry's death coincided with Halloween. </p> <p><iframe style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FKidspotAustralia%2Fposts%2Fpfbid02xSVyrpRthTeLeBNqtvHKWUB36us5bVB5vKCW1R9DYgF66kBWqnsSYarY2kDFfCT3l&show_text=true&width=500" width="500" height="581" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p>Part of the building's Halloween decorations included a large ghost hovering near the iconic apartment, with many quick to point out the hilarious irony of the figure floating above the makeshift memorial. </p> <p>“That Halloween ghost is kinda fitting for the photo/mood and I think Matthew would enjoy the humour of it,” fan Holly astutely pointed out, sharing photos of the ghost on Facebook. </p> <p>The ironic decorations emerged shortly after Perry's Friends co-stars have <a href="https://oversixty.com.au/health/caring/so-utterly-devastated-friends-cast-break-silence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">broken their silence</a> over his sudden death in a group statement to People magazine. </p> <p>Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer said on Tuesday, "We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family."</p> <p>"There is so much to say, but right now we're going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss."</p> <p><em>Image credits: Facebook / Kidspot</em></p> <div id="fuse-injected-22953829264-1" class="fuse-slot-dynamic publift-video-ad" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-top: 24px; padding-bottom: 24px; display: flex; justify-content: center;" data-fuse="22953829264" data-fuse-injected-at="1698722632652" data-fuse-code="fuse-slot-22953829264-1" data-fuse-zone-instance="zone-instance-22953829264-1" data-fuse-slot="fuse-slot-22953829264-1" data-fuse-processed-at="1440"> <div id="bb-iawr-over60au-1692594483990158" class="bb_iawr" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; overflow: hidden; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; width: 730px; height: 0px; opacity: 0.01;"> <div id="bb-wr-over60au-1692594483990158" class="bb-media bb_wrapper bb-muted bb-phase-init bb-mode-video bb-state-loading" style="box-sizing: content-box; cursor: auto; 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display: inline-flex; flex-direction: column; row-gap: 0.3em; column-gap: 0.3em;" role="contentinfo"> <h1 class="title svelte-10zo7b2" style="text-shadow: 0px calc(var(--font-size) / 12.5) 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.25); margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; font-size: 1.1em;">Rupert Friend Spills Secrets of 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' at Star Wars Celebrations</h1> <div class="share-button bar-button svelte-10zo7b2" style="text-shadow: 0px calc(var(--font-size) / 12.5) 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.25); width: var(--bar-button-size); height: var(--bar-button-size); margin-top: calc(-0.25 * var(--bar-button-size));"> <div class="button-element svelte-1eoizxx no-toggle-transform no-hover-transform" style="text-shadow: 0px calc(var(--font-size) / 12.5) 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.25); box-sizing: border-box; width: 38px; height: 38px; position: relative; cursor: pointer; pointer-events: initial; border-radius: var(--border-radius); --foreground-color: #ffffff; --border-radius: 50%; --icon-height: 16px; 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box-sizing: border-box; position: var(--button-position); top: 0px; left: 0px; width: 54px; height: 54px; display: grid; align-content: center; justify-content: center; transition: transform 0.2s ease-in-out 0s, opacity 0.2s ease-in-out 0s, transform 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; opacity: 1;"> <div style="text-shadow: 0px calc(var(--font-size) / 12.5) 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.25); min-height: 12px; height: var(--icon-height); line-height: var(--icon-height); min-width: var(--icon-height); display: inline-flex; justify-content: center;"> </div> <div class="toggled slot-content svelte-1eoizxx" style="text-shadow: 0px calc(var(--font-size) / 12.5) 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.25); filter: drop-shadow(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.25) 0px 2px 0px); box-sizing: border-box; position: var(--button-position); top: 0px; left: 0px; width: 54px; height: 54px; display: grid; align-content: center; justify-content: center; transition: transform 0.2s ease-in-out 0s, opacity 0.2s ease-in-out 0s, transform 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; opacity: 0;"> <div style="text-shadow: 0px calc(var(--font-size) / 12.5) 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.25); min-height: 12px; height: var(--icon-height); line-height: var(--icon-height); min-width: var(--icon-height); display: inline-flex; justify-content: center;"> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="start-time svelte-fllze1" style="text-shadow: 0px calc(var(--font-size) / 12.5) 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.25); top: calc(8px + var(--size-big-button)); position: absolute; left: 27px; transform: translate(-50%); background-color: var(--bg-color-pane); padding: 8px 16px; border-radius: 32px; font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: var(--margin-size); margin-left: 2px;" data-cy="start-screen-duration">01:31</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="center-area svelte-10zo7b2" style="text-shadow: 0px calc(var(--font-size) / 12.5) 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.25); flex-grow: 1;"> </div> </div> <div class="chrome-bottom-shadow svelte-10zo7b2" style="text-shadow: 0px calc(var(--font-size) / 12.5) 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.25); transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; opacity: 0; position: absolute; inset: 0px;"> </div> </div> <div class="bb-layer bb-context-layer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px; width: 730px; height: 411px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px; pointer-events: none !important;"> <p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;">"For now, our thoughts and our love are with Matty's family, his friends, and everyone who loved him around the world."</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

Caring

"Dad would be stoked": Robert Irwin chokes up over Australia Zoo breakthrough

<p>Robert Irwin has choked up in an emotional video, sharing a major milestone for Australia Zoo that had special meaning to his late father. </p> <p>The wildlife warrior shared the exciting video to Instagram, holding a tiny baby turtle that he was about to release into its enclosure for the first time.</p> <p>Dressed in his Australia Zoo khakis, Irwin explained the moment was “one of the highlights of my entire life, and one of the most special moments ever here at Australia Zoo,” as the turtle is an “Elseya Irwini,” a species of turtle first discovered by Robert’s father Steve Irwin in the early 1990. </p> <p>Some 30 years later, Robert explained that this is the first of this particular species hatched in any zoological facility or captivity, anywhere in the world.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyYGqjfPL11/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyYGqjfPL11/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Robert Irwin (@robertirwinphotography)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p>"This is so surreal. All the stories from dad about how beautiful they are... I don’t get emotional about much,” Irwin said, choking back tears as he released the tiny turtle into its pond.</p> <p>“You tearing up? Your dad would be really proud, mate,” a voice could be hear telling Irwin off-camera. </p> <p>“Dad would be stoked with that... we did it,” he said.</p> <p>The video has racked up hundreds of thousands of views, with people flocking to comments to share how proud Steve would be of his wildfire warrior children. </p> <p>One person wrote, "Steve is looking down and crying tears of joy.. His heart is proud of not only the turtle, but with the fact that his legacy continued with same path he envisioned for his kids."</p> <p>Others were quick to encourage Robert and Bindi Irwin to keep carrying on their father's legacy with their conservation work at the zoo, while others said that they should "Name the baby turtle Steve". </p> <p><em>Image credits: Instagram</em></p>

Family & Pets

"I would say it again": Ray Martin doubles down on Voice comments

<p>Ray Martin has been grilled in an explosive interview over his divisive comments about No voters ahead of the Voice to Parliament referendum. </p> <p>The veteran journalist appeared on <em>A Current Affair</em> to double down on his comments, saying he does not regret what he said. </p> <p>On Wednesday, Ray Martin spoke to supporters of the Yes campaign at the Factory Theatre in Marrickville, in Sydney's inner west, as he <a href="https://oversixty.com.au/finance/legal/ray-martin-s-scathing-voice-to-parliament-speech" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called out</a> those who are voting No, suggesting they are too lazy to educate themselves by performing a simple Google search, and instead are being driven by division and fear.</p> <p>Martin said, “If you don’t know, find out what you don’t know.” </p> <p>"What that excellent slogan is saying, is if you’re a dinosaur or a d**khead who can’t be bothered reading, then vote No.” </p> <p>In the tense interview, in which Langdon continuously interrupted Martin, the ACA host suggested the Voice debate “needs to calm down and get back to being respectful”. </p> <p>“Do you regret those comments, Ray?” she asked</p> <p>“No, I don’t,” Martin said.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyAmMGOyEqw/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyAmMGOyEqw/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by A Current Affair (@acurrentaffair9)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p>“This is a really important referendum. And I did not call No voters those words, I was talking about the slogan. ‘If you don’t know, vote No.’ That is an endorsement of ignorance. If you don’t know, find out, do not vote ignorantly. That is a dinosaur."</p> <p>"It is such an important vote, it is so important, and you need to find out.”</p> <p>“A lot of families have a lot of stuff on the plate,” Langdon said. “They are worried about power and food prices and crime, and many of them are the people that you’re calling names.”</p> <p>Martin insisted “no I am not”.</p> <p>“This is not a difficult one — you do not need a dictionary to find out what it is about,” he said.</p> <p>“It is about two things. It is about recognising First Australians in the Constitution, and do we give them a Voice … no veto, a Voice after 200 years of being told what to do. It is not about treaties or reimbursements. It is about nothing apart from these two things.”</p> <p>Langdon said Martin was a “respected journalist for many years” and knew “language is important, and the language used in that speech was inflammatory”, but Martin stood by his words. </p> <p>“I do not think it is and I stick by the language,” Martin said. “I would say it again. It was at Marrickville Hall when I was speaking, I was not speaking at the Catholic church up at the lectern. I was not talking to Women’s Weekly.”</p> <p>Asked again if he thought his language was disrespectful, Martin said, “I’ll tell you what’s disrespectful — voting, and admitting your ignorance, and going ahead and voting on such an important issue as this.”</p> <p>Ray Martin went on to say the language he used was “part of the Australian vernacular and you will hear it all the time on morning radio”, calling out conservative broadcasters who use similar insults to throw at the Yes campaign.</p> <p>Langdon admitted she watched Martin‘s full speech and while much of it was “very powerful”, the debate had “become inflammatory and divisive” and “you know that the most controversial thing you say is what is going to be picked up, and it has”.</p> <p>“I have been a journalist almost 60 years and I think people trust me,” Martin said.</p> <p>“I have reason to be trusted and I think this is really important. I do not think we should be scared by a scare campaign. I do not think we should look for something that is not in the referendum and I think that has happened. That is what the No side is doing.”</p> <p>He continued, "I do not think it is confusing. We have only made it confusing. The words are simple. Do you recognise the First Australians? Do you want to give them a Voice for the first time? Instead of telling them how to run their lives. When we listen to them in community health, community education and community life, we do much better. Instead of telling them what to do.”</p> <p>Martin admitted that the Yes campaign has not been perfect, but that was not a good enough reason to vote No on October 14th.</p> <p>“If you’re asking me has the campaign been good, I would say no,” Martin conceded.</p> <p>“And if you ask me whether this referendum will end poverty and disadvantage, the answer is no. But it is unquestionably a step forward.”</p> <p><em>Image credits: A Current Affair</em></p>

News

No, the Voice to Parliament would not force people to give up their private land

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kate-galloway-9907">Kate Galloway</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/griffith-university-828">Griffith University</a></em></p> <p>In the polarised debate about the Voice to Parliament referendum, some proponents of the “no” vote have <a href="https://www.aap.com.au/factcheck/voice-legislation-does-not-authorise-a-land-grab/">claimed</a> the creation of the new advisory body would lead to the conversion of private land titles in Australia to native title.</p> <p>The implication is that people will be forced to give up their land. This has sown fear among some Australians.</p> <p>Last week, a false letter purporting to be from a member of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria was distributed to homes in regional Victoria, saying the body was moving into the “next phase of reacquiring land”. The minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/fake-letter-scaremongering-about-indigenous-land-claims-sparks-outrage-20230912-p5e43n.html">called</a> it a “another example of the dirty tricks campaign” being waged to sow doubt over the Voice referendum.</p> <p>Similar concerns were raised following the High Court decision in the <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/mabo-case">Mabo case</a> in 1992 and passage of the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2017C00178">Native Title Act</a> a year later.</p> <p>Like the fear-mongering over the Mabo decision, the current alarm over the potential loss of private lands with a Voice to Parliament is unwarranted because this claim is manifestly incorrect.</p> <p>There are two foundational legal reasons why:</p> <ul> <li> <p>because of the words of the proposed constitutional amendment itself</p> </li> <li> <p>and because of the way that native title works.</p> </li> </ul> <h2>Would the proposed Voice have powers related to land?</h2> <p>The proposed constitutional amendment that would create the Voice is very simple. It seeks to insert one new section into the Constitution, which reads:</p> <blockquote> <p>In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia:</p> <ol> <li> <p>there shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice;</p> </li> <li> <p>the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;</p> </li> <li> <p>the Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.</p> </li> </ol> </blockquote> <p>The words clearly provide for only one activity to be undertaken by the Voice. The new body “may make representations” on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.</p> <p>There is no express or hidden power to either take people’s land or give land to First Nations people. The Voice is a committee that may provide advice to parliament and government on issues relating to First Nations people. That is all.</p> <p>And this advice is not binding. The parliament of the day is free to ignore it, if it wishes to.</p> <p>The new provision also gives one sole power to the parliament – it would have the capacity to set up the Voice. It is not possible to understand this provision as creating a special power to take people’s land, or to “convert” land to native title.</p> <p>Importantly, the power to establish the Voice would not be given to the government – it would belong to parliament. In exercising this power, normal parliamentary processes will apply and the parliament will be accountable to the public.</p> <p>There are no other changes to the Constitution proposed in this referendum.</p> <h2>How native title works</h2> <p>In the famous Mabo case, the High Court found that the land title of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, held under their traditional law and custom, survived the introduction of British sovereignty over Australia.</p> <p>Mabo confirmed native title can only be claimed over land where there is no interest in conflict with the exercise of this right. Native title will always give way to grants of exclusive land use.</p> <p>Following this decision, the law now states that every grant of freehold land (“private” land) extinguishes native title. Further, in the later case of <a href="https://jade.io/article/68082">Fejo v Northern Territory</a>, the High Court confirmed that once native title has been extinguished, it cannot be revived.</p> <p>Consequently, even if the constitutional change creating the Voice did (somehow) recognise native title, it is not possible to “convert” freehold land to native title. On private land, native title no longer exists under Australian law.</p> <p>To put these claims of “land conversion” in context, it is helpful to recall the public response to the Mabo decision.</p> <p>Following the High Court judgement in Mabo, the mining industry ran a national campaign asserting that native title would threaten people’s back yards. The managing director of Western Mining, Hugh Morgan, <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=(Id:library/prspub/raf10);rec=0">said</a> the High Court’s decision</p> <p>"put at risk the whole legal framework of property rights throughout the whole community."</p> <p>This campaign led to significant public fear about the effects of native title.</p> <p>These claims about native title after Mabo were incorrect. Private landholdings have not been threatened. Indeed, on the ten-year anniversary of the Mabo decision, former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett even <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/i-was-wrong-on-mabo-kennett-20020601-gdu9dt.html">admitted that his initial fears had been unfounded</a>.</p> <p>In reading or listening to claims about the effect of the Voice, it is prudent to question the source of information. If you have questions, seek a reliable source to read the words of the proposed amendment and understand the objective of the constitutional change. If you hear of a claim that seems extreme, it may well be aimed at diverting the public’s attention from the real issues.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212784/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kate-galloway-9907"><em>Kate Galloway</em></a><em>, Associate Professor of Law, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/griffith-university-828">Griffith University</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-the-voice-to-parliament-would-not-force-people-to-give-up-their-private-land-212784">original article</a>.</em></p>

Legal

Would you do this at home? Why we are more likely to do stupid things on holidays

<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/denis-tolkach-11345">Denis Tolkach</a>, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/james-cook-university-1167">James Cook University</a></em> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/stephen-pratt-335188">Stephen Pratt</a>, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-the-south-pacific-1881">The University of the South Pacific</a></em></p> <p>As the COVID pandemic took hold, Ohio’s Brady Sluder went to Miami for spring break, despite <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/24/us/coronavirus-brady-sluder-spring-break.html">urgent calls</a> for people to stay home and socially distance.</p> <p>Interviewed by CBS News, Sluder’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/24/us/coronavirus-brady-sluder-spring-break.html">arrogant justfication</a> for his trip went viral.</p> <p>"If I get corona, I get corona. At the end of the day, I’m not gonna let it stop me from partying […] about two months we’ve had this trip planned."</p> <p>A week later — now an international “celebrity” for all the wrong reasons — he was forced to issue a grovelling apology.</p> <p>If you think Sluder’s partying was stupid, we share your feelings.</p> <p>With the festive season upon us, as the pandemic continues, we can only hope <a href="https://theconversation.com/iso-boomer-remover-and-quarantini-how-coronavirus-is-changing-our-language-136729">covidiots</a> listen to the rules. As many of us also head off on summer breaks, now is also a good time to reflect on stupidity in tourism.</p> <p>We may be tempted to think a stupid person has certain demographic or psychological characteristics. However, anyone can behave stupidly, especially in unfamiliar environments — like holidays — where it is difficult to judge the right course of action.</p> <h2>The laws of human stupidity</h2> <p>In our recently published <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2020.1828555">journal article</a> on stupidity in tourism, we see stupidity as an action without insight or sound judgement. This results in losses or harm to the perpetrator and others. In a holiday context, it can negatively affect tourists themselves, as well as other people, animals, organisations, or destinations.</p> <p>In 1976, Italian economist Carlo Cipolla published a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/apr/09/improbable-research-human-stupidity">definitive essay</a> called The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity. Although we prefer to focus on stupid behaviour rather than stupid people, we agree with his five laws:</p> <ol> <li> <p>Always and inevitably, everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.</p> </li> <li> <p>The probability that a certain person (will) be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.</p> </li> <li> <p>A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.</p> </li> <li> <p>Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget dealing with or associating with stupid people always and everywhere turns out to be a costly mistake.</p> </li> <li> <p>A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.</p> </li> </ol> <p>Why is stupid behaviour so dangerous? Because it is irrational and so the outcome is unpredictable.</p> <p>Who could have thought so many people would die <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/selfie-accidents-range-silly-deadly-world/story?id=53636494">when taking a selfie</a> that you can now <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/life-insurance-for-selfie-deaths-have-we-reached-peak-stupid-20191003-p52xe2.html">take out insurance</a> on the act? Or that aeroplane passengers would <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50979485#:%7E:text=A%20Chinese%20man%20who%20was,near%20one%20of%20its%20engines.">throw coins into engines</a> for good luck?</p> <h2>What causes stupidity?</h2> <p>How can we better understand our own stupid behaviour, or recognise it in others? Stupidity is generally caused by an excess of one or more of the following factors:</p> <ul> <li>the person believing they know everything</li> <li>the person believing they can do anything</li> <li>the person being extremely self-centred</li> <li>the person believing nothing will harm them</li> <li>the person’s emotions (for example, fear or anger)</li> <li>the person’s state (for example, exhausted or drunk).</li> </ul> <h2>Why stupid behaviour is more likely on holidays</h2> <p>Tourists can be affected by all of these factors.</p> <p>Leisure tourism, by its nature, is a very self-centred and pleasure-seeking activity. People often travel to relax and enjoy themselves.</p> <p>In pursuit of trying something new or escaping their daily routine, people may go to places with very different cultures or practices than their own, or try things they wouldn’t normally do — such as adventure activities. As a result, individuals can act differently while on holidays.</p> <p>There also seem to be fewer social constraints. Tourists may not follow rules and social norms while travelling, because relatives, friends, colleagues, bosses are less likely to find out. Of course, tourists may not be aware of the commonly-accepted rules of where they travelling, as well.</p> <p>All of the above increases the likelihood of stupidity. And one certainly doesn’t need to travel overseas to be stupid. A case in point is a tourist who <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-05/tourist-allegedly-broke-into-uluru-kata-tjuta-park-coronavirus/12526084">snuck into Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park</a>, which was closed-off in August due to COVID concerns in the local indigenous community. The woman injured her ankle and had to be rescued.</p> <h2>The importance of thinking first</h2> <p>So, what to do about stupid tourist behaviour?</p> <p>Strict regulation, physical barriers, warning signs and other punitive measures alone may not work. This is seen in the case of a man who climbed over a zoo fence in 2017 to avoid the entry fee. He ended up <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-30/man-mauled-by-tiger-after-climbing-to-fence-avoid-buying-ticket/8225016">being mauled to death</a> by a tiger.</p> <p>Education of tourists on how to behave during travels <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0160738317300063">has some effect</a>. But more importantly, tourists need to be <a href="https://theconversation.com/tourists-behaving-badly-how-culture-shapes-conduct-when-were-on-holiday-72285">self-aware</a>. They need to consider what is likely to happen as a result of their behaviour, how likely is it that things will go wrong, and whether they would do this at home.</p> <p>While stupidity is impossible to eliminate, it can be less frequent and do much less damage, if we take time to reflect on our behaviour and attitudes.</p> <p>So, have fun during the holiday … but don’t be stupid!<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150287/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/denis-tolkach-11345">Denis Tolkach</a>, Senior Lecturer, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/james-cook-university-1167">James Cook University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/stephen-pratt-335188">Stephen Pratt</a>, Professor, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-the-south-pacific-1881">The University of the South Pacific</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/would-you-do-this-at-home-why-we-are-more-likely-to-do-stupid-things-on-holidays-150287">original article</a>.</em></p>

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Would you do this at home? Why we are more likely to do stupid things on holidays

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