According to the latest polling, the right-wing populist party, One Nation, is gaining significant political ground.
But the party has also made headlines for its controversial proposal to make new doctors complete a period of regional or rural service, in return for getting a Medicare provider number. This number is essential for accessing Medicare services such as bulk billing, where patients pay no out-of-pocket expenses for seeing a GP.
One Nation’s proposal is a blunt solution to a real problem. But could this policy actually work?
What exactly is One Nation proposing?
Earlier this week, One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce raised the idea of requiring doctors to work regionally before they can work in cities. If they don’t do a regional stint, they would essentially be blocked from practising under Medicare, Australia’s national health insurance scheme.
As a result, they would not have the option to bulk-bill or refer patients for pathology tests, such as biopsies and blood tests. This means patients can’t get rebates for seeing a doctor. For a ten-minute consultation which costs about $90, for example, the patient would not get the $43.90 rebate back.
At this stage, the proposal is short on detail. It’s unclear if it will apply to all medical graduates, and how long they will required to stay in a rural or regional location. But Joyce has suggested the length of service vary by remoteness. This would mean doctors who work in more remote locations would serve shorter terms.
So, could this policy work in practice?
Probably not. Australia has both a shortage of GPs and an unevenly distributed GP workforce. And a compulsory rural service policy does little to address either problem.
While the number of GPs in Australia has grown, particularly between 2018 and 2023, this growth has not kept pace with the demand for doctors. And the gap is even wider in rural areas.
A compulsory period of service might increase the number of newly qualified GPs in some rural communities. But research suggests they won’t stay long. Many forced service programs struggle to retain people after the service period ends. And even if existing doctors leave and are replaced by new ones forced to work in the country, this is a problem because local patients can’t benefit from continuity of care.
One American study tracked 240 international medical graduates who, because of their visa requirements, had to work rurally for three years. It found most relocated to urban areas within two years of fulfilling that visa requirement.
If you look at the distribution of our GP workforce, there is a clear pattern: GP numbers drop as remoteness increases. As a result, small rural towns have the fewest GPs relative to their population.
This matters because these communities are often too small to sustain a private general practice. And they are usually too far from larger regional centres for residents to easily access care.
Unfortunately, these are structural problems a coercive rural service policy are unlikely to fix. Instead, we should focus on programs which reward doctors for working in the regions.
One example is the Workforce Incentive Program (Doctor Stream). This program offers medical graduates an annual payment which increases according their year of service and level of remoteness.
Funding is also available for rural doctors seeking professional development. These include the Rural Procedural Grants Program and the Australian General Practice Program. As of 2026, the Australian General Practice Program has an additional 100 places dedicated to training rural GPs.
Are there any downsides to this policy?
Yes. Here are three.
First, this policy devalues regional communities. If we force doctors to go to rural communities, it reinforces the idea that rural places aren’t worth choosing. Medical schools already tend to frame metropolitan practice as the goal, and rural practice as the back-up plan. Forcing graduates into rural service may deepen that stigma. So instead of strengthening rural health care, this policy would discourage the long-term commitment rural communities actually need.
Second, it may increase medical costs for rural patients. Based on Joyce’s comments to date, doctors without a Medicare Provider Number will not be allowed to bulk-bill. This means they will charge fees, shifting the cost of health care to patients.
Third, this policy might discourage people from pursuing general practice altogether. Australia is already facing a GP shortage, which is only expected to get worse. For young medical students, a period of compulsory service scheme might become another barrier to pursuing a career in general practice.
One Nation’s proposal may sound straightforward. But without considering the details and potential risks, it may just exacerbate our current shortage of rural and regional GPs. So to find a solution, we may have to go back to the drawing board.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicholas Morieson, Research Fellow, Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University
Artificial intelligence (AI) is at a very Chinese time in its life. Recent moves from Chinese AI labs are throwing the dominance of American “frontier labs” such as Google and OpenAI into question.
Last week ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, released an AI video-generating tool called Seedance 2.0 which produces high-quality film-like clips from text prompts, with a casual disregard for copyright concerns. This week Anthropic, the US company behind the chatbot Claude, said three Chinese AI labs created thousands of fake accounts to harvest Claude’s answers in a practice called “distillation” which can be used to improve AI models.
These events have led to suggestions that China may be gaining the upper hand in the battle to dominate AI. So, is China winning the “AI race”?
Cheap, widely used tools
While most advanced frontier models are still made by American companies, China is pushing hard to develop cheap, widely used AI tools, which could create global dependence on Chinese platforms.
Reuters reports the industry is bracing for a “flurry” of low-cost Chinese AI models, with Chinese systems repeatedly driving usage costs down.
What’s the plan? China’s official AI policy documents suggest China sees AI as “a new engine for building China into both a manufacturing and cyber superpower”, and “a new engine of economic development”.
Since 2017, China has recognised that the technology is at the centre of “international competition”. “By 2030,” one key policy document says, China’s AI “technology and application should achieve world-leading levels, making China the world’s primary AI innovation center”.
This focus on becoming the dominant player in AI helps explain why Chinese firms are pushing hard on price. If you can make your AI cheap enough, you might just make it globally ubiquitous.
Cost helps determine who adopts AI first, and which models are first implemented in software and services. Even if the United States remains ahead on most elite benchmarks, Chinese products could still become globally influential if they are widely used and widely depended upon.
High-tech soft power
But China does not present its AI technology to the world as only benefiting itself. Instead, it’s pitched as a contribution to humanity.
A 2019 statement of “governance principles” from a national AI governance expert committee argues that AI development should enhance “the common well-being of humanity” and “serve the progress of human civilization”.
These phrases portray AI as a technology that advances the human story itself, rather than only serving Chinese interests. It suggests Chinese AI leadership is good for everyone.
This is an example of Chinese soft power. Tools such as Seedance may threaten Hollywood’s business model, but they do something else too. High-quality, low-cost generative media can spread quickly.
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If Chinese systems become widespread, they can influence creators, developer habits, and platform dependencies, especially in non-Western markets that need affordable tools and may dislike American tech dominance.
The spread of the ‘Chinese model’
For liberal democracies such as the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, the growth of Chinese AI tools creates a strategic headache. It will not be easy to manage security concerns about Chinese technology while avoiding technological isolation if Chinese AI tools become widely adopted.
There is a darker side to China’s AI tools. US think-tank Freedom House describes China as having the world’s “worst conditions for internet freedom”, and suggests other nations are now “embracing the ‘Chinese model’ of extensive censorship and automated surveillance”.
In 2022, the Cyberspace Administration of China issued rules for the algorithms that curate news feeds and short video platforms. Providers are required to “uphold mainstream value orientations” and “vigorously disseminate positive energy”.
These algorithms are important because they shape what people see and what is suppressed. As a result, these rules suggest the Chinese government is deeply concerned with controlling information across its social media platforms and AI tools.
A dilemma for third parties
Not every Chinese AI tool is a propaganda weapon. Rather, China is building world-class AI technology within an authoritarian system that prioritises the control of information.
This means China’s ability to make generative AI commercially powerful will likely also, despite its claims about serving “human civilisation”, make censorship and narrative management cheaper and easier.
China’s business and soft-power model is a much bigger story than just Seedance’s cavalier attitude towards copyright or Anthropic’s concerns about intellectual property. China’s goal is to build AI tools that rival those created by America’s tech giants, and to make them inexpensive and adopted globally.
For other countries, this may create a dilemma. Once a technology becomes a standard, it can be difficult to justify using a different product.
The question that remains is whether liberal democracies can adopt China’s low-cost products without drifting into dependence on systems shaped by an authoritarian political model.
New Zealand’s earlier efforts to safeguard marine or coastal environments, particularly as marine reserves and marine protected areas, typically focused on shallow ecosystems, largely because that is where most data exists.
But following the passing of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Protection Act last year, it was good to see many deep rocky reefs among the 12 new high protection areas (HPAs).
These areas prohibit recreational and commercial fishing while allowing certain customary practices in ways that reduce or eliminate extractive activities, helping ecosystems recover and rebuild.
This is important because deeper reefs often host protected species and this recognises the need to protect these habitats.
As our new research shows, even just 50 metres of depth can separate entirely different marine communities.
In this study at the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve off northeastern Aotearoa New Zealand, we examined sponge assemblages – a major component of temperate rocky reefs – from 5 to 65 metres in depth.
Sponges play an important role in filtering water, recycling nutrients and creating habitat for other organisms. They are also sensitive to environmental change, including marine heatwaves.
Reefs do not simply continue unchanged with greater depth. In fact, deeper communities in the “mesophotic” zone, typically found at 30–150 metres of depth, can host very distinct species that never occur in the shallows.
If conservation efforts don’t recognise this, we may be leaving a significant portion of marine biodiversity unprotected.
Different communities at depth
Our results were striking. Sponge assemblages were strongly structured by depth.
Most species were depth specialists, found either in shallow reefs less than 30 metres deep or in deeper mesophotic zones, but not both.
Across all sites we surveyed, we identified 64 sponge species or operational taxonomic units. Only 18 occurred across multiple depths spanning both shallow and mesophotic zones. In other words, less than a third of species had distributions broad enough to potentially link the two zones.
Differences between depths were driven mainly by species replacement, not by shallow communities simply becoming poorer versions of deeper ones. This means mesophotic reefs are not just extensions of shallow reefs. They are ecologically distinct systems.
Shallow depths tend to support sponge assemblages dominated by encrusting and low-lying species such as those shown in the images from A to D, while upper mesophotic depths are dominated by species with mounding, tubular and golf ball forms (E to G). Meanwhile, middle mesophotic depths host assemblages made up of many branching sponges (H-J).James Bell, CC BY-NC-ND
Are deep reefs climate refuges?
For years, scientists have debated whether deeper reefs might serve as refuges during disturbances such as marine heatwaves, which can disproportionately affect shallower ecosystems.
The idea, known as the deep reef refugia hypothesis, suggests deeper populations could survive warming events and later reseed damaged shallow reefs.
There is some evidence this can occur for certain species. In our study, a small subset of depth generalist sponges occurred consistently across both zones. These species may have the potential to benefit if deeper habitats avoid disturbances that impact shallower waters.
But our findings suggest this refuge effect may apply only to a minority of species. Most sponges had narrow depth ranges. If shallow populations decline, deeper reefs will not automatically act as a backup for entire assemblages.
This challenges the common assumption that deeper reefs can safeguard shallow biodiversity at an ecosystem level.
Why this matters
Marine protected areas in shallow, accessible habitats are easier to survey, monitor and manage. But biodiversity does not stop at 30 metres.
If deeper reefs host distinct communities, then protecting only the shallows leaves much of that biodiversity exposed to fishing pressure and other anthropogenic impacts.
Our assessment of the current network of 44 marine reserves in New Zealand shows the majority contain areas of rocky reef, but only half have reefs below 50 metres.
Importantly, these include New Zealand’s larger offshore reserves (the Kermadec Islands, Auckland Islands, Bounty Islands, Campbell Island and Antipodes Island), which means the total protected area deeper than 50 metres comes to an impressive 16,294 square kilometres (about the size of the Auckland region).
However, these offshore marine reserves extend far deeper than the mesophotic zone and only a fraction of this area is rocky reef. When discounting the larger offshore reserves, the total area covered by marine reserves deeper than 50 metres is only 394 square kilometres, less than 1% of New Zealand’s territorial seas.
Distribution of all New Zealand marine reserves. Yellow stars indicate marine reserves containing seabed at depths of 50 metres or greater (mesophotic zone), and orange circles indicate reserves shallower than 50 metres.Bathymetric data from GEBCO global gridded bathymetry dataset; marine reserve boundary data from Land Information New Zealand, CC BY-NC-ND
This has direct implications for marine spatial planning in Aotearoa New Zealand and globally.
Our research suggests ensuring the protection of both deep and shallow areas in the same geographical regions is essential if we want to safeguard the full spectrum of reef biodiversity. Protecting shallow reefs alone will not automatically protect deeper mesophotic species or vice versa.
Mesophotic reefs are often out of sight and out of mind. They lie beyond most recreational diving depths and are less studied than their shallow counterparts. Yet they can host rich sponge assemblages and other invertebrate communities that contribute significantly to ecosystem functioning.
They are also not immune to change. Ocean warming, shifting currents and sedimentation can all influence deeper habitats. While depth may buffer some disturbances, it does not guarantee protection.
Our findings add to a growing body of evidence that temperate mesophotic ecosystems should be managed as distinct ecological entities. They are not simply deeper versions of shallow reefs, nor are they universal refuges.
As climate change intensifies and marine heatwaves become more frequent, conservation planning must consider how biodiversity is structured across depth. This means designing protected areas that encompass entire reef profiles, from the surface to the limits of light penetration.
The very public feud between the US Department of Defense (also known these days as the Department of War) and its AI technology supplier Anthropic is unusual for pitting state might against corporate power. In the military space, at least, these are usually cosy bedfellows.
The origin of this disagreement dates back months, amid repeated criticisms from Donald Trump’s AI and crypto “czar”, David Sacks, about the company’s supposedly woke policy stances.
But tensions ramped up following media reports that Anthropic technology had been used in the violent abduction of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro by the US military in January 2026. It was alleged this caused discontent inside the San Francisco-based company.
Anthropic has denied this, with company insiders suggesting it did not find or raise any violations of its policies in the wake of the Maduro operation.
Nonetheless, the US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, has issued Anthropic with an ultimatum. Unless the company relaxes its ethical limits policy by 5.01pm Washington time on Friday, February 27, the US government has suggested it could invoke the 1950 Defense Production Act. This would allow the Department of Defense (DoD) to appropriate the use of this technology as it wishes.
At the same time, Anthropic could be designated a supply chain risk, putting its government contracts in danger. These extraordinary measures may appear contradictory, but they are consistent with the current US administration’s approach, which favours big gestures and policy ambiguity.
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Video: France 24.
At the heart of the dispute is the question of how Anthropic’s large language model (LLM) Claude is used in a military context. Across many sectors of industry, Claude does a range of automated tasks including writing, coding, reasoning and analysis.
These would, for example, disallow the use of Claude in mass surveillance of US citizens or fully autonomous weapon systems which, once activated, can select and engage targets with no human involvement.
According to Anthropic, either would violate its definition of “responsible AI”. Hegseth and the DoD have pushed back, characterising such limits as unduly restrictive in a geopolitical environment marked by uncertainty, instability and blurred lines.
Responsible AI should, they insist, encompass “any lawful use” of AI models by the US military. A memorandum issued by Hegseth on January 9 2026 stated:
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and social ideology have no place in the Department of War, so we must not employ AI models which incorporate ideological ‘tuning’ that interferes with their ability to provide objectively truthful responses to user prompts.
The memo instructed that the term “any lawful use” should be incorporated in future DoD contracts for AI services within 180 days.
Anthropic’s competitors are lining up
Anthropic’s red lines do not rule out the mass surveillance of human communities at large – only American citizens. And while it draws the line at fully autonomous weapons, the multitude of evolving uses of AI to inform, accelerate or scale up violence in ways that severely limit opportunities for moral restraint are not mentioned in its acceptable use policy.
At present, Anthropic has a competitive advantage. Its LLM model is integrated into US government interfaces with sufficient levels of clearance to offer a superior product. But Anthropic’s competitors are lining up.
Palantir has expanded its business with the Pentagon significantly in recent months, giving rise to more AI models.
Meanwhile, Google recently updated its ethical guidelines, dropping its pledge not to use AI for weapons development and surveillance. OpenAI has likewise modified its mission statement, removing “safety” as a core value, and Elon Musk’s xAI (creator of the Grok chatbot) has agreed to the Pentagon’s “any lawful use” standard.
A testing point for military AI
For C.S. Lewis, courage was the master virtue, since it represents “the form of every virtue at the testing point”. Anthropic now faces such a testing point.
On February 24, the company announced the latest update to its responsible scaling policy – “the voluntary framework we use to mitigate catastrophic risks from AI systems”. According to Time magazine, the changes include “scrapping the promise to not release AI models if Anthropic can’t guarantee proper risk mitigations in advance”.
Anthropic’s chief science officer, Jared Kaplan, told Time: “We didn’t really feel, with the rapid advance of AI, that it made sense for us to make unilateral commitments … if competitors are blazing ahead.”
Ethical language saturates the press releases of Silicon Valley companies eager to distinguish themselves from “bad actors” in Russia, China and elsewhere. But ethical words and actions are not the same, because the latter often entails a real-world cost.
That such a highly public spectacle is happening at this time is perhaps no accident. In early February, representatives of many countries – but not the US – came together for the third time to find ways to agree on “responsible AI” in the military domain. And on March 2-6, the UN will convene its latest conference discussing how best to limit the use of emerging technologies for lethal autonomous weapons systems.
Such legal and ethical debates about the role of AI technology in the future of warfare are critical, and overdue. Anthropic deserves credit for apparently resisting the US military’s efforts to undercut its ethical guidelines. But AI’s role is likely to be tested in many more conflict situations before agreement is reached.
Last week, artificial intelligence company ElevenLabs announced Caine has licensed his voice to the company. It will be available on their ElevenReader app, which allows you to listen to any text in a voice of your choosing, as well as being available on their licensing platform, Iconic Marketplace.
To understand why Caine’s voice is so iconic (and wanted by AI) we need to look deeper at what people actually hear in it.
Why do people love listening to Michael Caine?
Caine was born in London in 1933. His mother was a cook and a cleaner, and his father worked in a fish market. Caine speaks with a Cockney accent, setting him aside from most other actors of his generation.
Cockney hails from London’s East End and is often associated with London’s working class – think Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady, the Artful Dodger from Oliver!, or Bert the Chimney Sweep from Mary Poppins (although Dick van Dyke’s accent is not the most accurate, it’s still recognisably Cockney).
Traditionally, you were said to be a true Cockney if you were born within earshot of the Bow Bells – the bells of St. Mary-le-Bow church on Cheapside.
That distinctiveness matters because the accent carried heavy class meaning in mid-20th century Britain.
We don’t hear many contemporary examples of Cockney. Accents change and evolve over time and it has gradually been replaced by a new dialect called Multicultural London English (MLE).
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While most actors of his age acquired a “stage accent” – known as Received Pronunciation (RP) – Caine made a conscious decision to hold onto his working-class roots and not change his accent. Instead, he built his career on it.
I could’ve gone to voice lessons, but I always thought if I had any use […] I could fight the class system in England.
His accent became cultural capital and helped him land roles in Alfie (1966), The Italian Job (1969) and Jack Carter (1971). By the 1970s, he was a British cultural icon.
What do we hear when we hear celebrity voices?
Hearing a person’s voice is never just about acoustics. We hear social meaning: culture, identity, character and story.
Sociolinguist Asif Agha coined the term “enregisterment” to describe how a way of speaking becomes publicly recognised as signalling particular social types and values.
Over time, Caine’s voice has become enregistered as a recognisable Cockney accent associated with East London and historically linked to a working-class identity. Hearing his voice activates a socially shared register of meanings attached to Cockney.
This contrasts with, say, Queen Elizabeth II, whose accent was enregistered with royalty, prestige and wealth.
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Another useful concept here is what sociolinguists sometimes call “dialectal memes”: the images and character types that circulate around particular accents. These memes are transmitted through books, television, film, and even celebrity figures themselves.
Caine has been a carrier of Cockney dialectal memes in popular culture.
When you look at it this way, AI voice licensing commodifies not just the acoustic properties of Caine’s voice, but the enregistered social meanings audiences recognise in it.
What AI licensing means for Caine
ElevenLabs describes its Iconic Marketplace platform as “the performer-first approach the entertainment industry has been calling for”. Through licensing, actors maintain ownership of their voices in a digital, AI landscape.
Caine licensing his voice theoretically ensures he receives credit and compensation, and prevents unauthorised clones appearing elsewhere.
It is possible this is exactly the direction actors want AI to go in – for use of their voice to be controlled by themselves, with clear credit and payment.
However, this model is not without risk to the actor or the listener. We should ask: do we need to hear something in Caine’s voice? Will we process information differently or hear it with more authority if it’s delivered in the voice of a cultural icon like Caine?
Giving power over to machines
People who admire Caine may want him to read to them. Some will be willing to pay for it. We need to remain conscious of the decisions we are making here.
In the 1960s, computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum, creator of the world’s first chatbot, Eliza, warned about the dangers of forming relationships with machines. He was alarmed to see users confiding in Eliza and responding to the chatbot as if it actually understood them, even when they knew it did not.
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What happens if an AI voice is not actually generic, but recognisably tied to a real human?
An actor’s likeness and voice may be protected with licensing, but their human self is not. That creates a pathway to attachment or even infatuation.
Caine is not just licensing his voice, but also the Cockney persona audiences recognise in it. Suddenly, a machine speaks with the authority of a real human behind it.
As Ukrainian officials meet with US negotiators in Geneva with the possibility of full three-way talks involving Moscow, Kyiv and Washington in early March, there’s a glimmer of hope that an end to the conflict may be in sight. But the fact that after four years this remains a glimmer speaks volumes about the difficulties in ending the war.
Even Donald Trump, who promised to end the war in one day, has now stopped issuing ultimatums and deadlines to the warring parties.
In what has become a war of attrition, discussions about vulnerabilities and losses are only meaningful when compared with those of the opposing side. Reflecting on how each side’s theories of victory changed over the four years helps to grasp the war’s overall trajectory.
Russia’s initial plan for a swift knockout of Ukraine was foiled within the first few days of the invasion. Instead, it settled into a conflict of grinding the enemy down through slow advances on the battlefield and debilitating attacks on the energy infrastructure in the rear, with the expectation in Moscow that at some point Ukraine would throw in the towel.
But the question is whether Russia has enough manpower and economic resources for this strategy.
Russia is finally experiencing economic difficulties due to a combination of western sanctions and falling oil prices, which fell from over US$100 (£74) per barrel in 2022 to approximately $60 in 2025. In 2026, the Kremlin had to raise taxes and reduce its reliance on oil, whose share of Russia’s budget fell from 40% in 2019 to 25% in 2025. Perhaps the Kremlin is beginning to realise that this cannot continue forever.
But Russia’s weakness is relative to that of Ukraine. This applies to war losses: Putin believes that Ukraine’s manpower losses are higher than Russia’s (which flies in the face of what some western researchers estimate) and that Ukraine, with a much smaller population than Russia, has much less staying power.
Ukraine’s theory of victory, meanwhile, has evolved from a belief in an outright military victory in 2022–23, to just trying to exhaust Russia’s military in 2025 by using the “wall of drones”. But as the Russian army had captured some key strongholds, such as Siversk, Pokrovsk and Hulyaipole, Kyiv’s new defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov (the fourth since the start of the war), declared that Ukraine’s path to victory now was to kill 50,000 Russian soldiers per month. That’s more than most estimates of Russia’s recruitment, which is believed to be around 30,000 per month.
Western politicians and analysts have embraced this theory, arguing that Russia’s unsustainable losses justify Ukraine continuing with the war with their support.
Ukrainian drone operators close to the frontline in the Donetsk region, February 2026.EPA/Maria Senovilla
But after four years, Kyiv’s position is hampered by the loss of the full support of what was once its key ally: Washington. The Ukraine frontline is being slowly but steadily forced back and in 2025 for the first time in the war there was no major Ukrainian offensive.
Kyiv’s best hope is to freeze the conflict along the current line of contact, get security guarantees from the west, join the EU, and maintain pressure on Russia through western sanctions. Unfortunately for Ukraine, there are issues with every item on this list.
The situation at home is challenging and funding from the west is declining, thanks to the US. Meanwhile, its energy infrastructure has been severely damaged, there are ongoing issues with unpopular mobilisations, and the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has suffered a significant blow from a major corruption scandal involving his closest aides.
However, crucially, Ukraine is still fighting and its best hope now is an economic collapse in Russia. Attacks on Russia’s oil industry were intended to hasten that collapse, but Moscow’s destruction of Ukraine’s energy grid has demonstrated its greater capacity for escalation. This year will not be easy for Ukraine.
Europe’s position
Since the start of the invasion, Europe’s ideal plan for helping Ukraine win has not changed. It is believed that a combination of economic sanctions and military aid to Ukraine will eventually cause Russia’s economic collapse and military defeat.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky marks the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion of his country alongside the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and other EU leaders.EPA/Marcin Obara
Other than this there is no European plan to end the war, except to try to prevent Trump from striking a deal which would favour Russia and gut Ukraine. For the best part of a year, the so-called coalition of the willing (Kyiv’s European allies led by France, the UK and Germany) has been talking about post-war plans with itself.
But the irony is that – despite being Ukraine’s biggest donor – coalition countries have been excluded from negotiating with Russia, whose consent to any western military deployment as a security guarantee for Kyiv will be essential.
Whatever happens, the EU will have to pay Ukraine’s bills, either to continue the war or to cover its post-war reconstruction. The EU’s promise to accept Ukraine as a member would also require increased funding over an indefinite period.
Whose side is the US on?
Under the Biden presidency, the US and Europe had the same theory of victory. However, since returning to power in January 2025, Trump has forced Europe to finance the supply of US military equipment to Ukraine. Meanwhile, it has opened negotiations with Russia to end the war.
The US push for peace remains a mystery. After all, if the Ukrainians are willing to fight and the Europeans are willing to pay for it, it is unclear why the US is so eager to end a war that is exhausting one of its geopolitical rivals in Russia.
Perhaps Trump genuinely wants to stop the killing. Or perhaps he believes that if the war is not stopped now, the eventual peace deal will be much worse for Ukraine and the west. Or maybe it’s simply a matter of stopping “Biden’s war”. A war that Trump has no interest in and that he clearly feels is hampering his plans to do business with Putin.
As with Gaza, a deal can be reached only when the parties involved in the conflict are exhausted and ready to stop fighting. In these circumstances, Trump’s mediation could succeed. For now, however, each side is still clinging to its vision of victory.
On its fourth anniversary, there is hope that this may be the last year of the war. While all sides are growing increasingly exhausted, it will be the “last mile” that matters most — who can muster the willpower and resources in the final stretch to end the war on their terms.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pandanus Petter, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Politics and International Relations, Australian National University
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and new Liberal leader Angus Taylor have invoked “Australian values” to justify taking a hard line on immigration, especially from countries that supposedly don’t share our values.
The phrase summons comforting and nostalgic images of football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars, but politicians are rarely asked to spell out what our national values actually are.
When they do, they are often talking about different things.
So, what exactly do Australians “value”? And do these values line up with what politicians are saying about migration?
A ‘fair go’
One frequently invoked idea in the context of Australian values is a “fair go”.
It’s an official part of our immigration system. The Australian Values Statement, which all visa applicants must sign and agree to abide by, includes an explicit mention of “a fair go for all”.
Our research on this longstanding national ideal shows people attach many different meanings to it.
Most people thought it included the belief that migrants should have the same opportunities as everyone else.
Respondents were presented with a range of statements about a “fair go” and asked to give a score between one and seven according to how much they agreed, with one being the lowest and seven the highest.
The table reveals widespread agreement that a “fair go” is about people being able to get ahead without facing discrimination, with a common view that all should have access to the same quality of education and healthcare.
Fewer people agreed a fair go was about the redistribution of wealth and income, or people being free to “do what they want”.
Instead, the idea of reward for effort was strongly associated with the fair go.
Importantly for the present debate about immigration, 52% of people gave the highest possible level of agreement that recent migrants should have the same opportunity as everyone else to get ahead in life. Only 7% actively disagreed.
The sentiment towards immigration
We were also interested in how these beliefs coalesced together, and how they related to attitudes toward migrants as people, and toward levels of immigration.
We found that fair-go beliefs fell into two main clusters: an “egalitarian” group that embraced the anti-discriminatory aspects of equal opportunity most strongly, and a “meritocratic” group that favoured ideas of striving and reward for effort.
Those in the first cluster were generally positive both toward migrants as people and toward immigration in general. Those with the second set of beliefs were also somewhat positively aligned toward people of migrant backgrounds, though less supportive of increased immigration.
Of course, not everyone has positive feelings about migrants.
In the survey, around 28% of people thought people born in Australia should be given preference over others, and on levels of migration, people were divided. While 43% thought current levels should remain the same or rise, nearly 47% thought they should be lowered.
These results show the fair go is a collection of disparate beliefs, reflecting underlying ideological and partisan differences in our country.
Australian culture and values blend ideas of equality of opportunity, equitable access to education and health, safety nets for the disadvantaged, and an emphasis on reward for effort.
Australians don’t all sing from the same hymn sheet on migration. But they are also mostly strongly in favour of the view that our core national value requires us to treat new migrants as equals.
Beyond the difficulty of defining Australia’s national values lies the further challenge of deciding which source countries supposedly share them.
This has become a theme in current debates, where certain countries, especially non‑European ones, are portrayed as fundamentally misaligned with Australian values.
The assumption that Australian values are coherent is flawed, and the same flawed assumption is often projected onto other countries.
The tension between values and politics
We also interviewed current and former politicians across the political spectrum.
While all endorsed the importance of the fair go, they differed in how widely they believed this value was shared.
Many politicians from the Labor Party argued their party was the true champion of the fair go, and spoke of conservative efforts to undermine it.
Unsurprisingly, the Greens and One Nation attached very different policy meanings to the phrase, particularly on issues such as migration and same‑sex rights.
Politicians inevitably invoke cultural idioms such as the fair go for their own strategic purposes, and these divergent interpretations reinforce how difficult it is to find common ground on what constitutes Australian values.
While our results show support for migration, they also sound a warning. We asked if the fair go was alive and well today and only 40% answered positively.
On the possibility of people in the future getting more of a fair go than they do today, only 19% agreed.
Instead of invoking Australian values to justify exclusion, our leaders need to build on values we genuinely share, including a fair go for migrants, and make the fair go something people can see and experience in their daily lives.
Did ex-president Rodrigo Duterte’s actions merit an ICC trial? Here is how the prosecution, the victims’ representatives, and the defence are presenting their cases during the pre-trial at the International Criminal Court. Report compiled by Rappler.
The team of prosecutors, victims’ representatives, and the defence are laying out their cases aiming to prove — or challenge — whether Duterte’s actions warrant trial.
After this pre-trial hearing, the ICC judges may decide whether there is enough evidence to move forward to a full trial, a process that could define Duterte’s legacy and signal accountability.
The defence team, so far, has painted a portrait of a president who was tough, outspoken, and misunderstood, but whose actions, they argued, were within the law.
Rappler has highlighted some of the most striking statements from the sessions. This will be updated as the confirmation of charges progresses and ends tomorrow.
Day 1 — February 23, 2026
Deputy ICC prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang delivers his team’s opening statement. Image: Screenshot from ICC/Rappler
“Mr Duterte’s criminal plan and his intent were no secret. He not only shared them with his co-perpetrators and members of the [Davao Death Squad], but also made them abundantly clear to the general public in the numerous public statements that he made time and again.
“His intent and knowledge are shown by the multiple statements that he made throughout his mayoral and presidential tenure promising to reduce crimes by killing alleged criminals, promoting the common plan, and urging the police and even members of the public to kill alleged criminals.”
— Deputy ICC prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang on how Duterte’s public speeches demonstrate his intent and knowledge in promoting drug war killings
Victims representative: Filipino lawyer Joel Butuyan delivers his opening statement on behalf of the victims of Duterte’s drug war during the first day of confirmation of charges hearing. Image: Screenshot from ICC/Rappler
“The arrest and detention of Mr Duterte has not stopped impunity in the Philippines. The virus of impunity that he spread all over the country has become a cancer that has metastasised, infecting millions of Filipinos. Mr. Duterte has created clones of himself. He converted millions of peace-loving citizens into bloodthirsty disciples who have become converts to the belief that violence and killings are valid solutions to societal problems.
“The killings masterminded by Mr Duterte continue to have consequences for the victims, even to this day, because of his clones. These mini-Dutertes harass, threaten, or commit outright violence against the victims and their families.”
— Lawyer Joel Butuyan, ICC-appointed common legal representative for victims, on the culture of impunity in the Philippines and the continuing threats faced by families of drug war victims
“If the charges are not confirmed in this case, one of the gravest concerns of the victims is that Mr Duterte will return to the Philippines as a conquering hero. He will resume preaching his gospel of impunity. In fact, if Mr Duterte could threaten to slap the judges of this court — which he did while he was president — this chamber should imagine the kind of terror-filled threats and the violent actions that can easily be used against the victims if the suspect walks free from this court.”
— Lawyer Joel Butuyan, ICC-appointed common legal representative for victims, on the potential risks if Duterte is not tried in court and punished.
Lead defence counsel Nicholas Kaufman delivers the defence team’s opening statement. Image: Screenshot from ICC/Rappler
“Rodrigo Duterte was, and will always remain, a unique phenomenon. His style of statesmanship was novel and unpalatable to many. His expletives and hyperbole grated, while his honesty and wild popularity irritated. He spoke openly from the heart, sincerely and truthfully. And what a contrast between him and his successor in Malacañang. For [Duterte], his word was his word, and the people knew it. For President Bongbong, his was for the wind and the people will not forget it.”
— Lead defence counsel Nicholas Kaufman on Duterte’s style of leadership and his contrast with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
“[Duterte]’s rhetoric was calculated to arouse fear and obedience, to instill fear in their hearts, and to inculcate a respect for the law in their minds. Nothing more, nothing less. That was his intent, and it was not criminal.”
— Lead defence counsel Nicholas Kaufman on Duterte’s use of rhetoric to enforce law and order.
Senior trial lawyer Julian Nicholls of the ICC prosecution team during the first day of the pre-trial hearing on Monday, February 23. Image: Screenshot from ICC/Rappler
“The reality is that Mr Duterte’s message was clear, and it was understood by the perpetrators, and it was followed. That message was: commit murder at my direction, and I will protect you, I will pay you, I will promote you. That’s what happened.
“And I’ll say this as well, your Honours, for purposes of this confirmation hearing, disregard every speech ever made by Mr Duterte. Throw them all out. There is still ample evidence of substantial grounds based on the other evidence which we have put on our list of evidence. And the evidence as a whole, when you weigh it together, will show that what [Nicholas Kaufman] said is not correct, that Mr Duterte intended for his subordinates to follow the law and that he was interested and that his speeches were simply bluster.”
— Senior trial lawyer Julian Nicholls of the ICC prosecution team, on why evidence beyond his public speeches demonstrates intent to commit killings.
Day 2 — February 24, 2026
Prosecution trial lawyer Edward Jeremy presents witness evidence on Day 2 of Rodrigo Duterte’s pre-trial proceedings. Image: Screenshot from the ICC/Rappler
“Mr Duterte goes on to comment on extrajudicial killings. And as he does so, your Honours will note the nonchalant, casual manner in which he draws his finger across his throat . . . And in this opulent, gilded presentation room, the officials laugh along with their president while he boasts about his skills in extrajudicial killing. Outside, on the streets of the Philippines, the bodies pile up.”
— Lawyer Edward Jeremy of the ICC prosecution team, on the behaviour of Duterte during public speeches that were shown in the confirmation of charges hearing
“And in the face of this public outcry, Mr Duterte was forced to temporarily withdraw police from drug operations . . . And this led to a reduction in the frequency of killings. In announcing this temporary withdrawal, Mr Duterte sarcastically stated that he hoped that this would satisfy ‘bleeding hearts and the media’. And, in this way, he publicly communicated that this was not a genuine effort to prevent crime, but rather a temporary attempt to placate public criticism. And less than two months later, Mr Duterte decided to once again scale up operations.”
— Lawyer Edward Jeremy of the ICC prosecution team, on Duterte’s response following the killing of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos
Robynne Croft of the ICC prosecution team discusses the charges against Duterte. Image: Screenshot from ICC/Rappler
“From everything you have heard over the past two days, there can be no doubt about Mr Duterte’s knowledge and intent. He intended that the crimes would be committed and he was aware that they would be committed as a result of implementing the common plan . . . Mr Duterte knew because he himself established the DDS to kill people. He repeatedly broadcast his intention to implement the common plan nationally if elected president. He made it clear that this would involve killing.
“Once he was president, he moved his trusted co-perpetrators from Davao into key national positions. And as the number of killings rose, Mr Duterte persisted with the common plan. He praised the 32 killings in a one-time big-time operation in Bulacan. He publicly named so-called high-value targets. He promised to protect police and as your Honours have heard, Mr Duterte has admitted to many of these things.”
— Lawyer Robynne Croft of the ICC prosecution team, on the deliberate orchestration of drug war killings and the role of the Davao Death Squad and national officials in executing the common plan.
Paolina Massida, OPCV principal counsel, speaks on behalf of the victims. Image: Screenshot from ICC/Rappler
“We speak for families who cannot be here, mothers who buried their sons, children who lost their parents, the spouses who now raise families alone, and communities that have lived for years under fear and silence and that continue to bear the consequences of violence that swept through their neighborhoods like a storm. These victims appear today before you not as mere statistics or distant figures or images in reports . . . but as human beings whose rights under the Rome Statute have been violated in the most profound ways.”
— Paolina Massida, principal counsel of the Office of Public Counsel for Victims (OPCV), on what the families of drug war victims had to go — and are going — through.
“The shooting could happen immediately, behind closed doors or in the street, or the victims would be taken away by the gunmen, only for shots to be heard minutes later and the body to be discovered by local residents. At times, bodies were dumped elsewhere, sometimes with hands tied or heads wrapped in plastic. Relatives typically found them after being alerted by policemen or by the neighbors.”
— Paolina Massida, OPCV principal counsel, on the pattern of killings during Duterte’s drug war.
“In other cases, victims tried to seek justice. They went to the police, to local officials, to government agencies. They filed reports, they asked for investigation, they begged for answers. Their pleas were ignored, their complaints were dismissed, their testimonies were doubted. In some cases, the very people they approached for help were the same ones involved in the violence. They were left with no path forward. No institution was willing to hear them, no authority was willing to protect them, no system was willing to acknowledge what was happening.”
— Paolina Massida, OPCV principal counsel, on the systemic failure in the Philippines to provide justice or protection for drug war victims.
“The victims have waited years for this moment. They have been silenced, stigmatized, and denied justice in their own country. Today, they stand before you with the hope that justice long denied may finally be within reach. This [ICC] is their last refuge. And today, on their behalf, we ask this chamber to affirm that their suffering matters, that their rights matter, and that the rule of law extends even to the most powerful by confirming all the charges against Mr Duterte and committing him to trial.”
— Paolina Massida, OPCV principal counsel, on the appeal of victims for accountability.
Filipino lawyer Gilbert Andres, ICC-appointed common legal representative for victims, discusses the plight of the victims. Image: Screenshot from ICC/Rappler
“Mr Duterte’s drug war campaign targeted the very humanity of the victims, of their families, and of their communities. In Filipino, the indirect victims expressed this in one sentence: ‘Inalisan kami ng dangal.’ We were stripped of our dignity.”
— Lawyer Gilbert Andres, ICC-appointed common legal representative for victims, on their dehumanisation and targeting during Duterte’s drug war.
In the current furore about the fate of the ISIS brides, one would have expected we might have heard some strong advocates from the Labor left in caucus publicly arguing for their repatriation.
It’s the sort of issue that decades ago would probably have galvanised left wingers in the parliamentary party, who’d have been appalled at the Albanese government trying to prevent the return of Australian citizens. But the few Labor MPs being cited as concerned are strictly anonymous.
It’s the latest instance of how the caucus, and particularly the left, has mostly taken a vow of public silence. Unity and discipline are the watch words of the Albanese government, their importance reinforced in periodic lectures from the leader.
In face of such warnings, caucus members are afraid to rock the boat by public disagreement (Albanese wasn’t previously a left factional enforcer for nothing). On top of this, last term a very thin majority acted to keep people in line; this term, the massive majority has made backbenchers feel a special obligation to their leader. Many of the newer members are community-focused and not especially ideological. Also, there are still memories of the consequences of fractures in the Rudd/Gillard years.
Albanese boasts he has the most diverse caucus ever. More than half its members are women, and multiple ethnic backgrounds are represented. Presumably, there is a broad church of views. But in public the congregation doesn’t vary from the words on the hymn sheet – talking points regularly prepared for them.
The public silencing of the caucus, and its left in particular, has been gradual over the years. Under various leaders from the right, including Bob Hawke, the left was vocal; under a PM from the left, it is docile. Former senator Doug Cameron, once a left firebrand, says, “a left leader has neutered the caucus left, and left them mute and subservient”.
This has come as the PM and ministers flood the media. If Albanese misses more than a day or two in public, we conclude he must be hiding.
Behind the scenes the troops are carefully managed. Opinions are expressed at factional meetings. Albanese meets regularly with the factional conveners. He has two staff in his office whose jobs are to liaise with caucus members.
The changes in the media in recent decades have also made many caucus members risk averse. Internal division was always a good story for journalists. But now the 24 hour news cycle, with its elevation of the most trivial disputes, the growth of outrage as a lucrative journalistic brand, and the damage social media can do to a politician, all help the Labor party keep its people in line (it has been another story with the Liberal and National parties).
Of course there are exceptions to generalisations. The obvious one to the Labor backbenchers’ silence is former industry minister Ed Husic. Even as a minister Husic tested the limits, but now he speaks out whenever he wants.
But that’s against the background of having been dumped by the right faction in the post election reshuffle. Just as hopes of promotion can tie tongues, so demotion can loosen them spectacularly, as many a leader on both sides of politics has found.
There have been various minor instances of caucus members speaking out (such as right winger Mike Freelander) but they are few and far between.
Another big exception to Albanese’s disciplined caucus was senator Fatima Payman. But this was in a separate category because it involved crossing the floor (on a pro-Palestine Greens motion), which is a mortal sin under Labor rules. She was suspended and eventually jumped to the crossbench.
Labor’s rank and file is more radical than the parliamentary party. That means the party’s triennial conferences have to be carefully orchestrated, although the teeth of these gatherings had been pulled years ago. This year the party’s 50th national conference will take place in Adelaide in late July. It will be more a festival than, as claimed on the party’s website, its “highest decision-making forum”.
The lowering of dissident voices within Labor makes the government’s task easier, but may come with costs – beyond the obvious one of limiting public debate.
The sudden surge of support for One Nation is mostly hitting the conservative side of politics, but holds possible threats for Labor. A big factor in this growth is that people are increasingly disillusioned with the major parties.
In 2007 Labor had 43.38% of the primary vote; at the 2025 election it had 34.56%
People see the majors as professional political machines spouting lines. They come across as inauthentic, and the absence of transparent internal debate and differences is one aspect of that. This has contributed to the present popularity of disruptors, as varied as One Nation and teals.
A former convener of the caucus left faction, Julian Hill, now assistant minister for citizenship and multicultural affairs, this week delivered some pointed advice to the broad left of politics.
“Proudly embracing modern Australia means not shying away from love of our country, traditions and common symbols”, he said in his McKell Institute speech. “Inclusive patriotism helps to combat and blunt the rise and threat of right-wing authoritarianism and exclusive nationalism.”
He advocated “embracing Australia Day for as long as there is no consensus to change the date, as a day to reflect, celebrate and be proud of our country and our complex history.
“Accepting that the day will mean different things to different people. Many decent, good Australians love Australia Day and a public holiday before the school year kicks off. Many of us like to don Aussie garb and people don’t want to be sneered at for loving Australia.
“Why on earth would we cede our flag, our national day and institutions as propaganda for extremists and the hard right?
“We can all mark Anzac Day, and treasure our British Parliamentary democratic inheritance alongside Indigenous history and culture, and celebrate new people taking Australian citizenship as a welcome act of patriotism. And you can also disagree with anything I’ve said, agreeably.”
Hill’s advice to progressives sounds eminently sensible. But there is another point to be made. The political extremists in our community are not just on the right – there are plenty on the left too.
If left wingers on the caucus backbench remain silent in public on issues they care about, in the name of party unity, they may be ceding ground – for example among young voters – that extremists further out on the left flank are only too willing to occupy and exploit.
When a war ends and peace agreements are signed, most people assume the danger is over. But for many communities around the world the danger remains in the ground, waiting.
Landmines and other explosives left behind after a conflict can stay active for decades – buried in the paths to school, in the fields that feed families and in the areas where children play.
In some countries, such as Laos and the Solomon Islands, bombs from conflicts decades ago still injure and kill.
This quiet danger isn’t a distant problem. Today, at least 57 countries are contaminated by landmines and other explosive ordnance, including mortars and grenades.
At the same time, some governments are stepping back from the Landmine Ban Treaty, the first comprehensive treaty aimed at eliminating landmines in conflicts. Decisions made in parliaments today can translate into hazards underfoot for years to come.
Our new research is aimed at understanding the ongoing risk landmines pose. The study is the world’s largest analysis of landmine and explosive ordnance casualties. And the data allows us to answer critical questions: who dies from these weapons, and why?
What do the numbers tell us?
In our study, we analysed 105,913 casualties across 17 conflict-affected countries, using operational data. These are the real world operational records routinely collected by national mine action authorities, the UN and other humanitarian organisations.
These records let us see what communities are facing without adding any burden to these often stretched services.
Across all settings, the case fatality rate was 38.8%. Put simply: for every ten people injured by landmines or other explosive ordnance around the world, nearly four die. This is extraordinarily high.
For comparison, the fatality rate for blast injuries among military personnel or civilians treated in well-resourced trauma centres is around 2%.
The gap highlights the brutal disparity between those who are injured in environments with functioning surgical and trauma care and those who are not.
Not all explosive threats are equal, either.
Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were the most lethal weapon type in our analysis.
IEDs are increasingly used in many modern conflicts and are often remotely detonated to maximise casualties. Their explosive force and unpredictability cause devastating injuries that many local health systems are simply not equipped to manage.
Understanding who dies, and why, is essential to preventing future deaths.EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
Who is most affected?
Although most casualties from landmines and explosive ordnance are men, women had significantly higher odds of dying from their injuries. This likely reflects unequal access to health care, delayed treatment, and social barriers that limit mobility and decision making in many conflict-affected settings.
Children’s risks are different – they are both vulnerable and resilient.
Children are particularly at risk of detonating landmines when playing, when caught up in active conflict, or simply as bystanders.
The reason is often tragic. Children tend to play together in groups, meaning when one child encounters an explosive remnant, several are injured at once.
Yet, overall, children in our data were more likely to survive their injuries than adults, perhaps because they sustain different injury patterns or receive care sooner when adults rush to assist.
But survival is only the beginning. Children may need multiple surgeries, new prostheses as they grow up, long-term rehabilitation and lifelong disability support. These are needs that many health systems struggle to meet.
Age also shapes outcomes. The highest odds of death were observed in adults aged 45–64. Older people may have pre-existing health issues and face greater barriers to reaching medical care, yet their needs can often be overlooked.
The human cost of explosives
The impact of landmines and explosive ordnance extends far beyond immediate injuries. These injuries disrupt people’s daily lives in ways that can entrench communities in poverty.
There are ways to mitigate the impacts of landmines and explosive ordnance, though. This is a preventable public health crisis.
Our findings highlight the urgent need to strengthen emergency, critical and surgical care in conflict-affected areas to reduce preventable deaths.
Reliable pre-hospital care, transport and basic surgical care saves lives. So does long-term rehabilitation and disability support, especially for children who will live with the consequences of these explosive weapons and injuries for decades.
As old conflicts continue and new ones emerge, explosive ordnance keep contaminating the places where people live, play, work and travel.
Understanding who dies, and why, is essential to preventing future deaths and ensuring that peace, when it comes, offers real safety.
The arrest and charging of British-Fijian publisher Charlie Charters has pushed Fiji’s anti-corruption watchdog into fresh controversy.
Charters’ arrest by police last weekend has raised sharp questions about whistleblowers, due process, and political pressure in the Pacific island nation.
The 57-year-old appeared in the Suva Magistrates’ Court on Monday charged with two counts of aiding and abetting.
The Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) alleges he helped an officer of the commission unlawfully release official information, which was then posted on his Facebook account, “Charlie Charters”.
In a statement, FICAC saID the first charge related to posts made between 2 November and 14 December 2025. The second related to a post on 2 February 2026.
Under section 13G of the FICAC Act, it is an offence for an officer or former officer to divulge official information without written authorisation.
[embedded content] Charlie Charters speaking outside the court. Video: FijiVillage News
Section 45 of the Crimes Act states that a person who aids and abets an offence is taken to have committed that offence and is punishable accordingly.
Stopped at airport Charters was stopped at Nadi International Airport on Saturday while travelling to Sydney.
He reportedly declined requests from FICAC officers to reveal his sources and spent two nights in custody before being granted bail.
The court imposed strict bail conditions, including surrendering his travel documents and a stop departure order.
The Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) headquarters in Suva, which is at the centre of a growing legal and political dispute. Photo/Supplied
A non-cash bail bond of $2000 was set with a surety. The matter has been adjourned to March 2.
FICAC said it had not issued a public comment earlier because the matter was under active investigation.
“It would have been inappropriate and contrary to established investigative practice to discuss a live investigation while inquiries were continuing, irrespective of commentary circulating on social media,” the statement read.
“The matter is now properly before the court and will proceed in accordance with due process.”
Agency challenged But Charters’ lawyer, Seforan Fatiaki, has strongly challenged the agency’s actions.
He has publicly alleged that the arrest and detention were aimed at forcing his client to reveal his source instead of pursuing a genuine criminal investigation.
Charlie Charters’ lawyer, Seforan Fatiaki . . . claims his client’s arrest and detention have been aimed at forcing him to reveal a source. Image: PMN News
“It was made clear that Mr Charters’ arrest and detention were carried out for the sole purpose of extracting that information from him,” Fatiaki said.
“If Mr Charters will not volunteer that information, FICAC cannot lawfully use its powers of detention and arrest to pressure him into giving it.”
Fatiaki described the actions as a gross misuse of FICAC’s statutory powers, particularly the prohibition on departure from Fiji.
The case comes at a sensitive time for FICAC. Fiji’s Judicial Services Commission is reportedly of the view that the appointment of the agency’s current head, Lavi Rokoika, was not legal.
Appointed after sacking She was appointed last May after the sacking of former commissioner Barbara Malimali.
The High Court has since ruled that Malimali’s removal was “unlawful”.
Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has sought to distance his government from the unfolding saga.
“We will not interfere [with FICAC],” Rabuka told reporters in Suva.
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka . . . the government “will not interfere” with the work of Fiji’s anti-corruption agency. Image:/ Fiji govt/PMN
He acknowledged Fiji does not have a whistleblower policy but said it needed one. Rabuka added that questions remained about “how do we know that the whistleblower is genuine and the facts that they raised are factual”.
As the case heads back to court next week, many in Fiji and across the Pacific will be watching closely.
For some, it is about whether anti-corruption laws are being upheld. For others, it is about whether those who publish leaked information can do so without fear of being forced to reveal their sources.
Republished from Pacific Media Network News with permission.
A number of remand prisoners at Papua New Guinea’s Bomana Prison have been injured in a confrontation with Correctional Services officers.
Port Moresby General Hospital has confirmed to local media that nine inmates were rushed to hospital, and that two are in a critical condition.
Sources at the maximum security prison in Port Moresby told RNZ Pacific that on Monday officers conducted a standard activity in a cell block where they ordered 62 men held on remand to vacate their cells and allow a search.
The stated objective of the search was to locate contraband, specifically mobile phones.
However, the inmates allege that officers destroyed property belonging to remandees, including “essential legal and court documents, clothing, bedding, and various personal necessities”.
An injured inmate at Port Moresby’s Bomana Prison. Image: RNZ Pacific
They also claim officers misappropriated property, including food rations.
When the inmates subsequently protested about their belongings being destroyed or taken away, a confrontation resulted.
Officers responded ‘violently’ They claim officers responded violently, called in off-duty officers for reinforcement and brutally assaulted most of the 62 remandees with bush knives, iron bars and other instruments.
A source within PNG’s Correctional Services has confirmed to RNZ Pacific that a confrontation took place between inmates and officers.
Acting Correctional Services Commissioner Bernard Nepo also confirmed the incident to The National newspaper, but did not address the circumstances around the injuries.
RNZ Pacific spoke briefly with the Minister for Corrections, Joe Kuli, who said he was not aware of the incident, but that he would seek information from officials.
Port Moresby General Hospital . . . confirmation to local media that nine inmates were rushed to hospital. Image: RNZ Pacific
RNZ Pacific has sought comment from Correctional Services.
The inmates are seeking intervention by higher authorities over what they describe as “inhumane treatment” and misconduct by Correctional Services officers.
Many of the inmates are being held in prolonged pre-trial detention. Due to a backlog in PNG’s court system, some remandees wait years in prison before going to trial.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
An Australian teenager who died after eating beef sausages on a camping trip has been confirmed as the nation’s first death from a tick-induced meat allergy.
New South Wales Deputy State Coroner Carmel Forbes today ruled Jeremy Webb died in 2022 from an anaphylactic reaction, which triggered an asthma attack.
This makes the teenager only the second person in the world confirmed to have died from “mammalian meat allergy”, after the 2024 fatal case of a man in the United States.
Here’s what you need to know about how tick bites can lead to a meat allergy.
How can ticks cause this?
In Australia, it’s mainly the bite of the eastern paralysis tick (Ixodes holocyclus) that causes mammalian meat allergy.
The tick’s saliva naturally contains a sugar molecule called alpha-gal, short for galactose-α-1,3-galactose, a sugar not normally present in humans.
So when a tick bites, alpha-gal enters the blood stream and in some people prompts the body to produce molecules associated with an allergic response (known as IgE antibodies). So their body is “primed” for an allergic reaction, but doesn’t have one straight away.
But when a person later eats substances containing alpha-gal – meat, products containing gelatine such as lollies, or certain medicines – this can trigger an allergic response hours later.
This can range from hives, gut symptoms (such as cramping and diarrhoea), to a severe anaphylactic reaction that affects the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.
Who’s at risk? Are cases rising?
While this latest Australian case involved a teenager, mammalian meat allergy typically occurs in older age groups.
In research that colleagues and I have just concluded and will be submitting for publication shortly, we’ve found that mammalian meat allergy peaks in Australians aged 45–75.
It’s mainly the eastern paralysis tick (Ixodes holocyclus) that causes mammalian meat allergy in Australia.Alex Gofton, Author provided (no reuse)
Females are at increased risk, accounting for about 60% of cases, but we don’t know what’s driving that.
Our analysis of 11 years of data to 2025 also showed that annual case numbers remained relatively stable until 2020, but have since grown rapidly, on average 22% year on year.
By 2024, we saw 787 people nationwide testing positive to alpha-gal antibodies.
But most (we estimate about 90%) of that increase is down to greater awareness and more testing for mammalian meat allergy.
Only about 10% is due to a real increase in disease prevalence. We don’t exactly know why this is happening. But hypotheses include a run of mild summmers/wet winters leading to higher tick numbers, or greater exposure to ticks as people move to the bush or urban fringes.
In our study we saw cases from every state and territory, although 96% of cases occurred within Ixodes holocyclus endemic regions along the east coast.
What was remarkable, though, was the extreme geographical clustering of cases in specific high-risk regions.
Hinterland regions of south-east Queensland and northern NSW, the northern beaches regions of Sydney, and NSW south coast in particular had disproportionately high case numbers.
Not just allergies
Exposure to alpha-gal may have other effects, other than triggering an allergic reaction from eating meat.
We’re working with Australian Red Cross Lifeblood to analyse blood from 5,000 donors, including from high-risk communities. We’re aiming to see if exposure to alpha-gal from tick bites might put certain people at higher risk of cardiovascular disease later in life.
The hypothesis is that exposure to the alpha-gal allergen leads to low-level inflammation of the plaques associated with coronary artery disease.
But we haven’t started analysing those samples, so it’s early days yet.
As Iranian and US diplomats meet in Geneva for crucial negotiations to avoid a potential war, opposition groups in exile are sniffing an opportunity.
The Islamic Republic faces its greatest political crisis since its inception. US President Donald Trump is threatening an imminent attack if Iran doesn’t capitulate on its nuclear program. And anti-regime protesters continue to gather, despite a brutal government crackdown that has killed upwards of 20,000 people, and possibly more.
Talk of a future Iran after the fall of the Islamic regime has grown increasingly fervent. And buoyed by cries heard during some of the protests in Iran of “long live the shah” (the former monarch of Iran), the voices of royalists in the Iranian diaspora are everywhere.
But is a return of the shah really what Iranians want, and what would be best for the country?
Supporters of Iran’s exiled crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, attend a demonstration in Toronto on February 14 2026.Kamran Jebreili/AP
What are the monarchists promising?
Iran’s monarchy was ancient, but the Pahlavi dynasty that last ruled the country only came to power in 1925 when Reza Khan, a soldier in the army, overthrew the previous dynasty.
Khan adopted the name Pahlavi, and attempted to bring Iran closer to Western social and economic norms. He was also an authoritarian leader, famous for banning the hijab, and was ultimately forced into exile by the British following the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in 1941.
His son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, attempted to continue his father’s reforms, but was similarly authoritarian. Presiding over a government that tolerated little dissent, he was ultimately forced out by the huge tide of opposition during the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Now, the exiled crown prince, 65-year-old Reza Pahlavi, is being touted by many in the diaspora as the most credible and visible opposition figure to be able to lead the country if and when the Islamic Republic collapses.
In early 2025, the NUFDI launched a well-coordinated and media savvy “Iran Prosperity Project”, offering what the group claimed was a roadmap for economic recovery in a post-Islamic Republic Iran. Pahlavi himself penned the foreword.
Then, in July, the group released its “Emergency Phase Booklet”, with a vision for a new political system in Iran.
Although the document is mostly written in the language of international democratic norms, it envisions bestowing the crown prince with enormous powers. He’s called the “leader of the national uprising” and given the right to veto the institutions and selection processes in a transitional government.
One thing the document is missing is a response to the demands of Iran’s many ethnic minority groups for a federalist model of government in Iran.
Instead, under the plan, the government would remain highly centralised under the leadership of Pahlavi, at least until a referendum that the authors claim would determine a transition to either a constitutional monarchy or democratic republic.
But students of Iranian history cannot help but note echoes of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had promised a more democratic Iran with a new constitution, and without himself or other clerics in power.
After the revolution, though, Khomeini quickly grasped the reigns of power.
Online attacks against opponents
Pahlavi and his supporters have also struggled to stick to the principles of respectful debate and tolerance of different viewpoints.
When interviewed, Pahlavi has avoided discussing the autocratic nature of his father’s rule and the human rights abuses that occurred under it.
But if Pahlavi tends to avoid hard questions, his supporters can be aggressive. At the Munich Security Conference in February, British-Iranian journalist Christiane Amanpour interviewed the crown prince.
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Christiane Amanpour’s interview with Reza Pahlavi.
After the interview, Amanpour’s tough questions resulted in an explosion of anger from his supporters. In a video that has been widely shared on X, royalists can be seen heckling Amanpour, saying she “insulted” the crown prince.
In online forums, the language can be even more intimidating. Amanpour asked Pahlavi point-blank if he would tell his supporters to stop their “terrifying” attacks on ordinary Iranians.
While saying he doesn’t tolerate online attacks, he added, “I cannot control millions of people, whatever they say on social media, and who knows if they are real people or not.”
As I’ve noted previously, the monarchist movement also talks as though it is speaking for the whole nation.
But during the recent protests, some students could be heard shouting: “No to monarchy, no to the leadership of the clerics, yes to an egalitarian democracy”.
The level of support for the shah within Iran is unclear, in part because polling is notoriously difficult.
A 2024 poll by the GAMAAN group, an organisation set up by two Iranian academics working in the Netherlands, attempted to gauge political sentiment in Iran. Just over 30% of those polled indicated Pahlavi would be their first choice if a free and fair election were held.
But the poll doesn’t indicate why people said they wanted to vote for him. It also showed just how fragmented the opposition is, with dozens of names getting lower levels of support.
Would Pahlavi make a good leader? For many critics, his behaviour, and that of his supporters, call into question the royalists’ promises of a more liberal and tolerant Iran.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne
The Morgan and YouGov federal polls have the Coalition gaining from One Nation since Angus Taylor replaced Sussan Ley as Liberal leader. Unlike the DemosAU and Fox & Hedgehog polls that I reported Tuesday, these two polls have Labor clearly ahead of the Coalition and One Nation after preferences.
Whereas the combined primary vote for One Nation and the Coalition was 49% in both DemosAU and Fox & Hedgehog, it was just 44.5% in Morgan and 46% in YouGov.
Essential is the other new poll, and that gave the Coalition its first lead over Labor after preferences in a poll since the May 2025 election. Essential’s respondent preferences favour the Coalition more than other polls that use respondent preferences.
After the five federal polls this week, analyst Kevin Bonham’s two-party aggregates that use 2025 election preference flows have Labor leading the Coalition by 53.3–46.7 and One Nation by 53.4–46.6.
YouGov poll
A national YouGov poll for Sky News, conducted February 17–24 from a sample of 1,500, gave Labor 29% of the primary vote (down one since the February 3–10 YouGov poll that was taken before the Liberal leadership spill), One Nation 24% (down four), the Coalition 22% (up three), the Greens 13% (up one), independents 6% (up one) and others 6% (steady).
By respondent preferences, Labor led One Nation by 56–44, a one-point gain for Labor. They led the Coalition by 53–47, a one-point gain for the Coalition.
Anthony Albanese’s net approval was up four points to -14, with 54% dissatisfied and 40% satisfied with his leadership. Taylor’s initial net approval was -5 (38% dissatisfied, 33% satisfied), a large improvement on Ley’s -40 net approval. Albanese led Taylor as better PM by 45–34 (47–25 against Ley).
Cost of living was rated the most important issue by 41%, followed by housing affordability and immigration each on 10%. Respondents were asked which of the Coalition, One Nation, Labor or the Greens they preferred to handle various issues.
Combining Labor/Greens against Coalition/One Nation, right-wing parties led on cost of living by 35–34, on housing by 33–32 and on immigration by 48–28. However, these leads are far narrower than in the recent DemosAU poll, where the right led by double digit margins on all these issues.
By 60–40, respondents in this poll did not want immigration restricted from terror-controlled regions. This contrasts with the Fox & Hedgehog poll, where by 59–17, respondents supported an immigration ban from “high risk” areas.
Essential poll
A national Essential poll, conducted February 18–22 from a sample of 1,002, gave Labor 30% of the primary vote (down one since the late January Essential poll), the Coalition 26% (up one), One Nation 22% (steady), the Greens 11% (up two), all Others 7% (steady) and undecided 4% (down two).
By respondent preferences, the Coalition had its first two-party lead in any poll since the 2025 election (by 48–47). Essential did not report a two-party estimate for its January poll, which was about the same on primary votes for Labor.
By respondent preferences, the Coalition had its first two-party lead in any poll since the 2025 election.Bianca De Marchi/AAP
Essential’s respondent preferences have been weaker for Labor than applying the 2025 election preference flows to the primaries, which would give Labor above a 51–49 lead. In contrast, Morgan has generally had better respondent flows to Labor than the 2025 election method.
Albanese’s net approval was up six points since January to -6, with 48% disapproving and 42% approving. By 53–12, respondents thought Australia was becoming more divided over more united, with 35% staying about the same. By 36–32, respondents thought social cohesion in Australia was strong rather than weak.
Morgan poll
A national Morgan poll, conducted February 16–22 from a sample of 1,649, gave Labor 31% of the primary vote (down one since the February 13–16 Morgan poll taken after the Liberal spill), the Coalition 24% (up 0.5), One Nation 20.5% (down one), the Greens 12.5% (steady) and all Others 12% (up 1.5).
By respondent preferences, Labor led by 54.5–45.5, a 0.5-point gain for the Coalition. By 2025 election preference flows, Labor led by 54–46, a 0.5-point gain for the Coalition from my estimate of the previous poll).
Morgan shows gains for the Coalition from One Nation since Taylor replaced Ley. In the Morgan poll taken before the spill, One Nation led the Coalition by 25–20 on primary votes.
WA DemosAU poll: Labor way ahead
A Western Australian state DemosAU poll, conducted February 12–23 from a sample of 969, gave Labor 36% of the primary vote (down five since the November DemosAU poll), the Liberals 21% (down nine), the Nationals 4% (down two), One Nation 17% (not asked previously), the Greens 13% (steady) and all Others 9% (down one).
Labor led the Liberals by 57–43 after preferences, a one-point gain for Labor.
Labor Premier Roger Cook’s net positive rating was down two points to +6 (34% positive, 28% negative). Liberal leader Basil Zempilas’s net positive was unchanged at -3. Cook led Zempilas as preferred premier by 43–30 (47–34 previously).
WA Greens leader Brad Pettitt was at -14 net positive and WA One Nation leader Rod Caddies at -17.
Tasmanian EMRS state poll
A Tasmanian EMRS state poll was reported by Bonham. Conducted February 16–19 from a sample of 1,000, it gave the Liberals 29% of the vote (down eight since November), Labor 23% (down two), the Greens 15% (down two), independents 15% (down four), One Nation 14% (not previously asked) and others 4% (down one).
Tasmania uses a proportional system for its lower house elections, so a two-party estimate is not applicable. One Nation’s 14% is ten points below its federal support in this poll.
An ABC investigation has unearthed horrifying vision of gay and bisexual teenagers being beaten unconscious in Sydney. The teenage boy perpetrators are reported to be supporters of Islamic State (IS).
The ABC journalists consulted and interviewed me for the piece, including showing me all the videos they’d obtained. The vision was sickening – but not surprising.
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My research examines how people and communities become targets when otherwise distinct extremist ideologies converge around a perceived common enemy.
We are seeing ideological convergences across Islamic extremist, far-right and other grievance-based movements that frame both Jewish Australians and LGBTQIA+ people as threats. Antisemitism will be under the microscope during the royal commission, while Victoria is holding a parliamentary inquiry into attacks against LGBTQIA+ people.
With that in mind, the attacks in Sydney are not merely an abhorrent anomaly. Incidents like these are foreshadowing future, more severe violence, unless something is done to curb it.
Reviving thousands of years of hate
Violent, homophobic attacks are unfortunately nothing new, including in Australia.
In the 1980s and ‘90s, dozens of gay men were murdered in Sydney by youth gangs, who would lure the men to secluded places.
Some were mistakenly labelled as suicides. As a result, a lot of perpetrators were never held accountable.
This, combined with the stigma attached to being LGBTQIA+ in Australia, and policing strategies that members of these communities felt unfairly targeted them, led many to distrust law enforcement.
There’s good reason for this. History is littered with examples of discriminatory policing, including the 1994 raid on a Melbourne gay nightclub, where patrons were subject to invasive strip searches, and the violence that ended the first ever Sydney Mardi Gras in 1978.
This bred reluctance to report hate crimes to police. It’s likely there were many more instances of violence than we know about.
Since then, there’s been a seismic shift in attitudes toward LGBTQIA+ people, both in policing and in the community. But now this history is butting up against today’s violent forces, putting LGBTQIA+ communities under threat again.
In the current political climate, the recent attacks in Sydney will be seen by some as another instance of Muslim communities being targeted based on a very small minority of adherents, coming as it does after the Bondi terror attack and headlines around ISIS brides. Australian Muslims would likely be angry and disgusted by the actions of these youths.
But importantly, these developments are part of a broader story about Islamic State’s reawakening the world over, especially in Australia: a country that’s contributed a lot of fighters and sympathisers to the IS cause.
Australia was one of the Western countries that produced the most young men per capita to fight for IS in the 2010s. The men were very active in both recruitment of other fighters and in some of the worst atrocities, such as the young son of an Australian jihadist being photographed holding a severed head.
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The same jihadist, Khaled Sharrouf, also kept Yazidi women as sex slaves.
Some men were stopped from leaving the country and were instead violent in Australia. Teenager Abdul Numan Haider was fatally shot in 2014 after threatening counterterrorism police with a knife.
Late last year, the Bondi terror attack brought this history back to the fore. The alleged attackers had an IS flag on their car.
An IS resurgence puts LGBTQIA+ Australians at particular risk. IS believes homosexuality is punishable by death, and has a track record of throwing gay men from roofs.
A harbinger of what’s to come
Islamic State has long found its recruitment power in young, disenfranchised men and boys attracted to ideas of dominance and strength. The videos of the Sydney attacks show this in practice.
The boys, acting in the name of IS, continue to kick their victim once he’s unconscious, shouting slurs and threats.
Their willingness to use almost deadly force for a prolonged period of time shows a desensitisation to violence. Combined with their words during the attacks and their clothing, we can also see a high level of religious motivation.
The perpetrators, five of whom have been convicted for the bashings, are reported to be adherents to so-called “hate preachers”. These preachers are anti-Jewish, anti-gay and promote violent jihad.
Under this influence, and the belief that LGBTQIA+ people are subhuman, the attackers think they can operate with moral impunity, and to a degree, criminal impunity.
But it’s not just Islamic extremism driving rampant homophobia. Extreme-right groups such as the National Socialist Network have targeted pride events and drag story time with threats and intimidation.
Based on research and the extremism I study online, authorities should be seriously concerned about these sorts of hate crimes towards LGBTQIA+ people. Against the backdrop of tight law enforcement, resourcing, and the potential breakdown of protective procedures and policies related to the Bondi attack, these incidents require urgent attention.
Crucially, those communities targeted must be listened to, for they are intimately aware of the threats they face and potential security solutions.
Having hard conversations
We need to reach men and boys susceptible to being radicalised by IS before we see more mass violence. Casting a light on the issue is an important first step.
Then we need to stop hate preachers, cutting off the violence at the source. Proposed new laws in New South Wales will help, but the severity of the issue calls for a broader conversation.
Hate preachers operate in plain sight, often carefully calibrating statements to avoid hate speech legislation in public, while inciting hate privately. They target and groom young men, susceptible to narratives offering empowerment, perceived morality, strength and belonging through action.
Many more actors spreading hate operate in the shadows, often online and anonymously. The current political climate makes this a tricky discussion, especially as these issues are too often used for political advantage in bad faith, but we need to consider how to unmask these people and stop them spreading hate.
Little can be achieved while hate speech issues are weaponised for partisan advantage or reduced to culture war theatre. What is unfolding is not a symbolic debate but a security issue with immense human consequences.
The patterns are visible. The ideological convergence is documented. The grooming pathways are known.
If we continue to treat these incidents as isolated flare-ups rather than early warning signals, we will miss the opportunity to intervene before the violence escalates. That means bipartisan leadership, sustained resourcing for prevention and intelligence, and the courage to confront both online radicalisation and offline enablers without fear or favour.
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on February 26, 2026.
A cosmic explosion with the force of a billion Suns went unseen – until we caught its echo Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ashna Gulati, PhD Candidate, Radio Astronomy, University of Sydney Some of the universe’s most extreme explosions leave behind almost no trace. The original explosion is unseen, but our observations can capture the long-lived echo it leaves behind as the shock front ploughs into its surrounding environment. In
‘Buy it nice or buy it twice’: what the ‘frugal chic’ trend tells us about our clothing habits Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lorinda Cramer, Lecturer, Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies, Deakin University The “frugal chic” aesthetic is having its moment, however contradictory the concept may seem. “Frugal” suggests a focus on thriftiness, while “chic” oozes a sense of classic luxury. Coined by former model and content creator Mia McGrath
20 billion galaxies: new survey of the sky will reveal the universe in unprecedented detail Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anais Möller, Senior Lecturer and ARC DECRA Fellow, School of Science, Computing and Emerging Technologies, Swinburne University of Technology When you look up at the night sky, it appears unchanging. But if you look deep enough you will find that the sky is in fact constantly shifting.
A new space race could turn our atmosphere into a ‘crematorium for satellites’ Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Revell, Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, University of Canterbury When we look up at the night sky and see a satellite glide past, we might not consider climate change or the ozone layer. Space may feel separate from the environmental systems that sustain life on Earth. But
There are more than 4.6 million food posts on TikTok alone. Why, then, do we still love cookbooks? Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Garritt C. Van Dyk, Senior Lecturer in History, University of Waikato Two of Australia’s top ten bestsellers in 2025 were cookbooks, both by Nagi Maehashi of RecipeTin Eats. Other popular books include Brooke Bellamy’s Bake with Brooki and Steph De Sousa’s Easy Dinner Queen. Yet increasingly, people
Baftas racial slur controversy: what should the BBC have done? Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maxwell Modell, Research associate, Cardiff University At the 2026 Bafta awards, big wins for independent British film I Swear and American horror film Sinners were overshadowed by a regrettable moment. Activist John Davidson said the N-word – arguably the most offensive slur in the English language due
How Russia is intercepting communications from European satellites Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Aleix Nadal, Analyst, Defence, Security and Justice team, RAND Europe Officials recently sounded the alarm over Russia intercepting communications from European satellites. But this isn’t a new problem. Ever since the initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014, two Russian satellites have been secretly stalking European spacecraft. They
How Peter Mandelson went from US ambassador to arrested over misconduct claims Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Power, Lecturer in Politics, University of Bristol Peter Mandelson was released on bail this week after being arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Coming just days after the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the images of the former US ambassador being led away by police
Why you can’t tie knots in four dimensions Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zsuzsanna Dancso, Associate Professor of Mathematics, University of Sydney We all know we live in three-dimensional space. But what does it mean when people talk about four dimensions? Is it just a bigger kind of space? Is it “space-time”, the popular idea which emerged from Einstein’s theory
New global study: long after war, nearly 4 in 10 people injured by landmines and explosives die Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stacey Pizzino, Lecturer, School of Public Health, The University of Queensland When a war ends and peace agreements are signed, most people assume the danger is over. But for many communities around the world the danger remains in the ground, waiting. Landmines and other explosives left behind
One Nation has been on the fringes of Australian politics for 30 years. Why is its popularity soaring now? Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Josh Sunman, Associate lecturer, Flinders University Since the 2025 federal election, poll after poll has shown surging support for right-wing populist party One Nation. The party, and its leader Pauline Hanson, have been on the Australian political scene for 30 years. Yet until recently, One Nation had
What Bridgerton’s ‘pinnacle’ tells us about sex talk today Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra James, Research Fellow, Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University Among the corsets and chemistry, the latest season of Bridgerton gets one thing right: the taboos around talking about sex and sexual pleasure. Newlywed Francesca asks in hushed confusion what it means
How Australia’s new fuel efficiency scheme quietly created a carbon currency for cars – and it’s working Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hussein Dia, Professor of Transport Technology and Sustainability, Swinburne University of Technology Australia’s new fuel efficiency scheme has been in place for just seven months. But the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard has already created a new, tradeable carbon currency applying just to cars and light commercial vehicles
Does ‘free’ shipping really exist? An expert shares the marketing tricks you need to know Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian R. Camilleri, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Technology Sydney You’re scrolling through an online retailer, like Amazon, Shein or eBay, and spot a shirt on sale for $40. You add it to your cart, but at checkout, a $10 shipping fee suddenly appears. Frustrated, you
TikTokers are ‘becoming Chinese’ in a new trend that’s part parody and part politics Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justine Poplin, Teaching Associate, Faculty of Education, Southern Cross University “Drink hot water” has become an unlikely life philosophy on TikTok, as countless users track their journey towards “being” or “becoming Chinese”. All of this is part of a broader social media trend dubbed “Chinamaxxing”. Out of
French Senate vote endorses New Caledonia’s future status By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk French Senators have endorsed a Constitutional amendment text regarding New Caledonia’s future political status. Two-hundred and fifteen senators (mostly an alliance between right and centre-right parties) voted in favour, and 41 voted against. The four-hour sitting was marked by a lengthy address by French Prime Minister
What is Shen Yun, the Chinese dance troupe connected to the bomb threat at the Lodge? Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Haiqing Yu, Professor, School of Media and Communication, RMIT University Yesterday’s evacuation of the prime minister from the Lodge has been linked to the Chinese dance troupe Shen Yun. In a bomb threat emailed to the group, the sender said explosives would be detonated if Australian performances
Modern multicultural Australia must strengthen the ties that bind our diverse groups: Julian Hill Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Assistant Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs minister Julian Hill has warned Australia needs to strengthen the “bridging social capital” that holds our diverse society together, or risk further fragmentation. In a speech on Wednesday to the McKell Institute canvassing the challenges
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Geoffrey Watson calls for a royal commission on the CFMEU scandal Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Victorians faces a state election late this year, with the Labor government pitching for a fourth term. A key issue will be the government’s failure to deal with thuggery and corruption in the building industry, centred on the Construction, Forestry
More than 45,000 Indigenous households lack adequate housing. Here’s what must change Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vivienne Milligan, Honorary Professor of Housing Policy and Practice, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW Sydney Finding and affording adequate housing is a challenge many Australians face, but few more so than First Nations people. New national research shows unmet housing need among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bridgette Glover, Early-career Researcher, Media and Communications and Writing, University of New England
Viewers of Netflix’s hit series, Bridgerton (2020–) know the leading matriarch, Lady Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell), as a widowed mother dedicated to finding “love matches” for her eight children.
However, in season four’s first instalment, we watched Violet – now about 50 years old – finally navigate her own romance. In a series known for its spicy sex scenes and heated entanglements, why is Violet’s romantic arc significant?
For decades, midlife female sexuality has been portrayed on screen as nonexistent, in decline, or subject to ridicule. But following the cultural reshaping of menopause in recent years, a growing number of shows and films are helping reframe what female sexuality can look like beyond age 40.
Violet’s garden in bloom
Adapted from the historical romance novels by Julia Quinn, each season of Bridgerton focuses on one of the children’s love stories. Viewers expect episodes brimming with equal parts drama and sexual tension.
Season four’s central romance, for instance, is between Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) and lady’s maid Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha). As anticipated, part one ended on a hot and heavy cliffhanger.
And yet, fans are also invested in Violet’s storyline this season, which sees her sexuality finally brought out of the margins.
We first saw Violet’s interest in pursuing romance in the spin-off series, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (2023), when she awkwardly confesses to her friend, Lady Danbury, that her long-dormant libido is stirring. Using the metaphor of a garden, she explains that when her husband Edmund died, so too did her garden:
And I did not even think of the garden. I did not want the garden. But lately without warning, the garden has begun to bloom.
With the arrival of Lord Marcus Anderson (Daniel Francis) in season three, Violet’s “garden” was brought back into the conversation. And now, in season four, we find her ready to be tended to.
‘I am mature now’: an honest romance
When Violet arrives at Marcus’ home in episode three, she is determined to communicate her concerns and needs about moving towards a physical relationship.
Putting aside her anxieties, she asserts:
I am mature now. My body – well, I have had eight children with this body, and I am different now. All of me is different now. And how will that be? I want it. I want to be seen and touched. By you. [But] I am nervous.
Free of her usual metaphors and euphemisms, Violet’s honesty provides the scene with a groundedness rare to the period drama series.
When she invited Marcus over for “tea” in episode four, he finds her seductively leaning against the bed in Regency-inspired lingerie. In a now fan-favourite line, Violet explains “I am the tea that you are having”.
Written by executive producer Shonda Rhimes, this scene infuses the traditionally awkward Violet with a newfound sexual confidence. Paired with Rhimes’ direct dialogue – “I am the tea” – Violet’s empowerment is bolstered by a specific female gaze geared towards emphasising her enjoyment.
The facts of midlife sexual desire
Speaking on Bridgerton: The Official Podcast, showrunner Jess Brownell highlights how the media has historically focused on the male gaze and men’s pleasure.
With Bridgerton set during a time when women had severely limited agency, Brownell explains how crucial it is to balance the scale in terms of representation:
It’s very important in those intimacy scenes to let the women be the ones experiencing the most pleasure.
This prioritisation of the female gaze is especially critical for the representation of midlife female sexuality. With menopause traditionally tied to patriarchal notions of “decline and decay” – rather than a garden in bloom – 20th century screen media preferred that older women recede into the background.
The result of rarely seeing an older woman “yearning for sex” is that we assume it must be “far behind them”, says American scholar E. Ann Kaplan. Those who dare to desire after 40 are depicted as shameful or desperate.
In reality, studies show that post-menopausal women value sex and are still sexually active. Women over 65 do commonly report low libido, but these experiences are also found to be impacted by more than just hormonal changes. Psycho-social factors such as well-being, relationship quality, and Western ideas around youth and femininity, play a significant role in how women feel about sex at midlife and beyond.
Women of all ages are worthy of being seen
As more diverse conversations around menopause and sexuality continue within Hollywood and academia, screen media are also starting to take part. While film has room to improve, television has rapidly become the domain for bolder portrayals of midlife female sexuality.
Violet is the latest to reflect these conversations, following in the footsteps of characters such as Jean Milburn (Sex Education, 2019–23), Maud O’Hara (Rivals, 2024–), Sylvie Grateau (Emily in Paris, 2020–) and the characters of And Just Like That … (2021–25).
As 58-year-old Ruth Gemmell, who portrays Violet, argues:
People of all ages should have sex on screen. I mean, we are not dead yet.
Looking ahead to future seasons, let’s hope for more onscreen steaminess that isn’t limited to the younger cast.
Some of the universe’s most extreme explosions leave behind almost no trace. The original explosion is unseen, but our observations can capture the long-lived echo it leaves behind as the shock front ploughs into its surrounding environment.
In new research accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal, we have discovered what may be the clearest example yet of one of these hidden explosions: the radio afterglow of a powerful gamma-ray burst whose initial blast went unnoticed.
The only other viable explanation for what we see is an extraordinarily rare event in which a star is torn apart by an intermediate-mass black hole: a long-hypothesised, elusive class of black holes that has proven difficult to detect.
Either way, we’re watching the slow-motion aftermath of one of the most extreme, rare events the cosmos can produce.
While these jets are launched in all directions, we only observe the small fraction whose emission is directed towards us. When it is directed away from us, the initial flash goes unseen, and all we can observe is the slowly fading afterglow.
Animation of a gamma-ray burst showing the narrow, high-energy jets.NASA
Although these so-called “orphan afterglows” of gamma-ray bursts have been predicted for decades, finding them has proven extraordinarily difficult. Without a high-energy flash to announce their arrival, astronomers have to search thousands of square degrees of sky.
As a result, these cosmic explosions are easy to miss, and hard to recognise when they do appear – until now.
A cosmic ghost appears
Using the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP), a 36-antenna radio telescope at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara in Western Australia, we scanned vast regions of sky for unexpected long-lived radio transients (astronomical objects that appear and change over weeks to years). We were trying to catch rare events that reveal themselves only through their fading radio emission.
In data from one of these wide-field surveys, we noticed a radio source (named ASKAP J005512-255834), that hadn’t been there before.
It brightened rapidly, releasing 10³² Watts of energy into space – comparable to the total radio energy output of billions of Suns – and then began to fade slowly over time.
Brightening of the radio afterglow detected in the RACS survey with ASKAP. Observations beginning in 2022 capture the source turning on, after which it remains detectable for more than 1,000 days.Emil Lenc
This behaviour immediately set it apart. Most radio transients either evolve quickly or flare repeatedly. This source did neither. Instead, it behaved like the lingering echo of a single, immensely powerful explosion.
Although ASKAP J005512-255834 was bright at radio wavelengths, it left almost no signal at other wavelengths. We could not see a counterpart in visible light or X-rays.
This is exactly what astronomers expect from an orphan afterglow: the fading, widening glow of a tightly focused cosmic jet that was not initially pointed towards Earth, becoming visible only after it slows and spreads.
A busy neighbourhood, billions of light-years away
This rare transient is located in a small but bright galaxy around 1.7 billion light-years from Earth. The galaxy has an irregular structure and is actively forming stars, making it a natural environment for extreme stellar events such as stellar collapse or violent stellar disruption.
The image on the left shows the location of the radio afterglow within the galaxy 2dFGRS TGS143Z140, captured with the Magellan Telescope in Chile. On the right, we see the same radio source detected by the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope in India.Ashna Gulati
The position of the explosion is off to one side, not aligned with the galaxy’s central nucleus. Instead, it appears to lie within a compact star-forming region, possibly a nuclear star cluster.
This raises new questions about what kinds of environments can host such powerful cosmic events.
Could it be something else?
Because ASKAP J005512-255834 is so unusual, we had to do some detective work to figure out what it might be. We carefully examined (and ruled out) some alternative explanations, including stars, pulsars and supernovae.
The only other scenario capable of reproducing the observed radio behaviour involves a star being torn apart by an intermediate-mass black hole. These are a rare class of black holes that sit between stellar remnants and the supermassive giants found in galaxy centres.
Such events are thought to be extremely rare at radio wavelengths, but we cannot completely rule out this explanation. Confirming it would make this the first example of its kind, a discovery just as interesting as an orphan gamma-ray burst.
A hidden universe revealed by radio waves
Was this discovery a stroke of luck, or the first glimpse of a long-hidden population? Until recently, we simply didn’t have the tools to know.
ASKAP J005512-255834 is the most convincing orphan gamma-ray burst afterglow yet identified. It was found by using our radio telescope to search for the long-lived echo of an explosion we didn’t know had occurred.
Using the same approach, we now hope to uncover many more of these orphan afterglows and finally give them a place in our cosmic story.
In doing so, we may be able to build a full picture of the gamma-ray burst population, including those that never announced themselves with a flash, but lingered quietly as ghosts in the radio sky.
The “frugal chic” aesthetic is having its moment, however contradictory the concept may seem. “Frugal” suggests a focus on thriftiness, while “chic” oozes a sense of classic luxury.
Coined by former model and content creator Mia McGrath before trending on TikTok, this is one of the latest attempts to change how we think about clothes and disrupt our voracious appetite for fashion.
McGrath encourages Gen Z to think about the positive aspects of making do with less. For her, being frugally chic refers to:
An individual who values quality, high taste, and freedom. They reject this new world of overconsumption that preys on the insecurities of unconscious doom scrollers.
Frugal chic means a commitment to purchases that will last for many years and be part of a “forever wardrobe”.
McGrath calls on consumers to invest in quality – “buy it nice or buy it twice” – while blending luxury purchases with cheaper and even thrifted clothes.
Slow fashion, repair cafes and capsule wardrobes
McGrath is not the first to try to influence change by promoting sustainable, responsible clothing consumption.
The global slow fashion movement supports individuals to (as the name suggests) slow down clothing purchases. But simply shopping less is easier said than done.
Slow fashion is driven by an increased awareness of the environmental and societal impact of the purchases we make. It also means forming a different, deeper relationship with our clothes.
Repair cafes set up in many countries (including Australia) further aid this work. They offer opportunities for people to fix their clothes – whether broken zips, missing buttons, rips, or something more complex – with the help of skilled repairers.
An uptick in “capsule wardrobes” has also been framed as a responsible choice. A capsule wardrobe encourages fewer classic, high-quality items in neutral colours as staples that can be worn interchangeably with each other and with bolder accent pieces.
Each of these matters as a counterpoint to what has become a massive problem: Australia’s spiralling consumption and discard rates.
Many of those clothes don’t form part of a “forever wardrobe”. Across that same year, Australians sent 220,000 tonnes of castoffs to landfills. That’s 880 million items. A further 36 million items of unwanted clothing were shipped overseas, adding to mounting global landfills.
Fast fashion emits greenhouse gases and microplastics, with much of its waste sent to landfills in developing countries.Misper Apawu/AP
The production, consumption, use and disposal of clothing are emission-intensive. In 2024, Australia’s per capita emissions for clothing were equivalent to driving more than 3,600 kilometres in a petrol-fuelled car. That’s further than a road trip from Melbourne to Perth.
Despite these startling figures, our shopping continues.
Restrictions and austerity
Frugal chic has plenty of historical parallels. Though the contexts differ, these moments encouraged Australians to make do with the little they had.
More than 150 years ago, as a flood of gold-rush migrants descended on Australia, many had only a few changes of clothes – as many as could be counted on one hand. This was considered sufficient.
Clothing did not have a single life. It could be mended, adjusted and adapted. It could be passed down from person to person. Clothing was so valuable it was often bequeathed.
At the end of its wearable life, clothing was recycled into something new. It might be cut down to fit children, pieced together and sewn into quilts and waggas (quilts made out of recycled clothes, fabric scraps, old blankets and burlap bags) for warmth at night, or torn into rags.
This considered attitude to clothing did not end in the 20th century. Global upheavals continued to underline the critical importance of long clothing lifecycles.
In the Great Depression, as rates of unemployment soared, clothing budgets plummeted. This demanded ingenuity to keep families clothed.
Austerity measures introduced in Australia during World War II included the rationing of clothing. Measures also included the control of clothing styles to save fabric, threads and buttons. Known as “victory styling”, this created a direct link between less clothing and contributing to the war effort.
Some responded by making new clothes out of old garments salvaged from the back of wardrobes. Others turned to novel materials such as sugar bags to make themselves new outfits.
Reframing restraint
Like these historical examples, the “frugal chic” aesthetic frames frugality as virtuous – aligning with the shift towards sustainability – and aspirational, signalling an intention to live more mindfully.
But “frugal chic” is not without tension. For one thing, most “frugal chic” content casts frugality as a choice rather than a necessity for dealing with issues of overconsumption or low income.
For another, it could be seen as an example of the pressure placed on women to look and act in certain ways – not simply to prioritise sustainability, but to appear both fashionable and financially savvy at the same time.
Will the “frugal chic” aesthetic change how we think about our clothes? It’s hard to say, but all rallying cries for sustainable fashion consumption hold potential for much-needed change.
