Category: Evening Report

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Thomas, Professor of Public Health, Deakin University

Every person with functioning ovaries will eventually experience menopause. While the biology is relatively universal, the experience varies dramatically between individuals and in the same person over time.

Menopause has long been shrouded in stigma and shame but recently burst into mainstream attention. This may have reduced stigma but has also created confusion, as media, celebrity and commercial interests recognise a new marketing opportunity.

New research from one of us (Samantha) has found women are frustrated at being bombarded with marketing for menopause “solutions” that simply don’t work.

How menopause is marketed

Pharmaceutical companies, the wellness industry, workplace consultancies, coaches and influencers have all jumped on the menopause market. The “hot flush gold rush” is projected to reach US$24.4 billion by 2030.

One common tactic is creating feminised narratives of empowerment and care, positioning companies and influencers as supportive allies for women.

They encourage individuals to take charge of their menopause experiences by consuming a range of products and services. These include teas, supplements, chocolates, shakes, cooling blankets, pillows and creams promising relief from a wide range of symptoms that might not be related to menopause. There are apps which track symptoms, workplace accreditation programs, and even a “hot flush survival kit”.

Weight-loss companies now offer menopause-specific programs, marketed by celebrities such as Queen Latifah:

Companies frame how we think about menopause

Most online information about menopause has a commercial “for profit” interest.

This information shapes women’s expectations and fears by often positioning menopause as the defining, catastrophic challenge of midlife.

This raises concerns about the commercial exploitation of vulnerable women, encouraging purchasing of unproven and inappropriate treatments and products.

This hormone focus may overshadow the broad range of midlife stressors that many women experience in midlife, including intergenerational care-giving responsibilities, financial worries, workplace challenges, and gendered ageism.

Such an approach may also fuel health inequalities by ignoring structural issues that make life hard for women in midlife.

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Read more:
Midlife adults are overextended with multiple roles

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Concerns about commercial exploitation

A recent qualitative survey of over 500 Australian women aged 45–64 years demonstrated support for greater awareness of menopause but also concern about the commercialisation of menopause.

Women reported that companies and some social media influencers would “push anything to make a dollar”.

They were also worried that exaggerated and catastrophising narratives about the impact of menopause could unnecessarily fuel women’s fears and concerns about ageing:

There are very vulnerable women out there who are ripe for the picking […] and the influencers, marketing firms and companies seeking profits fully understand this and will exploit this.

Women also described feeling misled and disappointed when wellness “solutions” ultimately did “fuck all”.

Complex and conflicting information on social media sites left women struggling to determine what information to trust:

It is concerning as a lot will be preying on the insecurities of women. Women are going through changes they don’t understand and are reaching out to find a solution. There is conflicting information, you really need to fact check everything.

What would actually help?

Women deserve to be listened to and provided with trustworthy information and supportive environments. Here’s what would make a meaningful difference:

1. Better access to high-quality information to support decision-making

There is a tsunami of low-quality information online which is drowning out credible information.

Women need to know what to expect, how to prepare, and where to get help if needed. Independent, evidence-based information and critical media literacy tools can help women consider their options based on risks versus benefits and preferences.

2. Stop scaring women

Catastrophising menopause is unhelpful. Like all life transitions, menopause carries both losses and gains.

Most do not experience severe symptoms and those entering menopause with negative attitudes may have a worse experience.

Some women express relief when periods stop and report feelings of liberation, freedom, autonomy and the start of a new phase of life.

3. Better regulation of product claims and misinformation

Greater scrutiny and standards from federal government agencies will be essential in helping to safeguard women from misleading product claims, promotions, or inappropriate treatment.

4. Recognise that environmental adjustments can help support women in midlife

Simple workplace adjustments – such as flexible hours, supportive managers, cooler spaces, or regular breaks – can support the diverse experiences that women may have in midlife.

5. Protect policy from vested interests

We need a strong, clear commitment to women’s health and research that addresses women’s priority questions. This should support sustained funding, evidence-based care, equity and long-term wellbeing.

This process must be protected from commercial vested interests, including the pharmaceutical and wellness industries, and clinicians and researchers with conflicts of interest. This will ensure policy decisions are in the best interests of women, not for profit agendas.

Cutting through the commercial noise that has been created about menopause is essential. Only then can we create the social and structural changes need to support women’s health and wellbeing in midlife and beyond.

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Read more:
Feminist narratives are being hijacked to market medical tests not backed by evidence

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Samantha Thomas has received research funding from the Australian Research Council, ACT Office of Gaming and Racing, Department of Social Services, VicHealth, Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, Healthway, NSW Office of Responsible Gambling, Deakin University. The research mentioned in this article was supported by Jean Hailes for Women’s Health. She is currently Editor in Chief for Health Promotion International, an Oxford University Press journal. She receives an honorarium for this role.

Martha Hickey receives funding from the NHMRC, MRFF, Medical Research Council (UK), Wellcome LEAP and Global Challenge on Women’s Cardiovascular Health

– ref. The ‘hot flush gold rush’: how women feel about being flooded with menopause marketing – https://theconversation.com/the-hot-flush-gold-rush-how-women-feel-about-being-flooded-with-menopause-marketing-269810

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/05/the-hot-flush-gold-rush-how-women-feel-about-being-flooded-with-menopause-marketing-269810/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kurt Sengul, Research fellow, Far-Right Communication, Macquarie University

One Nation is no stranger to the headlines, but it’s been a long time since the party has been talked about as a serious political force. Operating on the fringes of Australian political life for years, suddenly Pauline Hanson is in the news every day.

A significant part of this is the party’s well-documented meteoric rise in the polls. It’s prompted speculation about One Nation becoming Australia’s official opposition party, leaving the Liberals and Nationals in the dust.

But while politics is a fast-moving beast, you only need to look back a couple of years to be reminded of the long history of dysfunction that’s plagued the party.

So will this ascendancy amount to a lasting realignment of conservative politics in Australia? Can One Nation overcome its scandal-ridden past to emerge as the dominant force in Australian right-wing politics?

A tale of peaks and troughs

The 1998 Queensland state election remains One Nation’s electoral high point. It was the only time the party polled above 20%. The election saw the party pick up 11 of 89 seats, propelling it to the third largest party in the state parliament.

But One Nation’s stunning rise was over almost as soon as it started. The party was beset with internal disunity, political scandals and poor management. Most of the party’s Queensland parliamentarians abandoned it after demands to democratise the party organisation were ignored.

Hanson lost her seat in parliament soon after, narrowly failing to win the newly-formed Queensland seat of Blair at the 1998 federal election.

One Nation managed to gain the upper house balance of power in the 2001 Western Australian state election. However, Hanson’s resignation from the party in 2002 and conviction for electoral fraud in 2003 (later overturned) helped plunge the party into political irrelevance.

Returning to the party in 2014, and the leadership in 2015, Hanson led One Nation to its second breakthrough on the national stage at the 2016 double dissolution election. Four One Nation senators, including Hanson, were elected from just 4.29% of the first preference vote.

But the party was again wracked by defections and scandal. Rodney Culleton, Fraser Anning, and Brian Burston – all elected on the One Nation ticket – abandoned the party after falling out with Hanson.

One Nation was reduced to two Senate seats until the 2025 federal election, where it picked up a seat in New South Wales and WA, bringing the party back to four senators.

What’s driving this polling surge?

It’s useful to think of One Nation’s rising support as a combination of short-term factors and longer-term trends.

In the short term, dysfunction within the (former) Coalition parties and conservative voters’ dissatisfaction with moderate Liberal leader Sussan Ley have been a boon for One Nation.

As she did after the 2014 Lindt cafe siege, Hanson has connected the 2025 Bondi terror attack to immigration and multiculturalism, criticising the government for allowing “the wrong people” to migrate to Australia.

The party has also benefited from increased salience of immigration and national security, connecting housing and cost-of-living pressures to so-called “mass migration”.

Long-term, the party has been buoyed by the mainstreaming of far-right politics globally, profound shifts in media and communication landscapes, and the decline in support of the major political parties in Australia.

Succeeding in spite of itself

One Nation’s polling surge appears to defy conventional wisdom about the viability of a far-right party in Australia.

Parties like One Nation perform relatively poorly compared with their European counterparts. It’s typically assumed this reflects a lack of supply of effective leadership and strong party organisation, rather than a shortage of demand for a far-right party.

Of course the test for One Nation is translating their current polling boost into electoral success. If they succeed, it will challenge long-held ideas that features of our electoral system, such as compulsory voting, provide a bulwark against more extreme forms of politics.

One of the greatest barriers One Nation has faced to electoral success has been itself. Research has shown the party has a history of serious organisational dysfunction.

One Nation has struggled to properly vet candidates for election. Candidates have resigned or been disendorsed by the party for potential breaches of election law and making sexist and homophobic comments. One candidate made headlines for mowing a swastika into their lawn.

Issues of candidate quality have been exacerbated by the lack of on-the-ground support and campaign co-ordination. Recent claims about booming One Nation membership should be viewed sceptically, unless accompanied by actual membership numbers. But most parties, including Labor and the Liberals, rarely publish such figures.

Likewise, claims the party has branches in all 151 federal electorates require qualification. Though a significant milestone for the party, the existence of a branch doesn’t automatically mean there is an active grassroots body able to knock on doors and hand out how-to-vote cards. One Nation has historically struggled with these things, outside of a handful of seats.

On top of this, while the defections of former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce and former Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi have kept One Nation in the spotlight, Hanson’s history of falling out bitterly with elected representatives (think Mark Latham) raises questions about whether such partnerships can last.

Crucially, this kind of polling – with One Nation well ahead of the Coalition –should bring greater scrutiny from media and voters alike. The problem One Nation faces as it tries to reposition itself from a party of protest to a potential party of government is that people will rightly expect policy detail and costings.

One Nation’s strength is the politics of identity and grievance, not policy substance.

Proceeding with caution

There are many reasons to treat One Nation’s surge with caution. We should be circumspect about prematurely declaring the death of the Coalition parties or a realignment of Australian conservative politics. Infighting and dysfunction have been constant features of One Nation since its inception. There is little evidence to expect this will change.

Yet the scale of One Nation’s support in the polls and the collapse of the Coalition’s primary vote is uncharted territory. Despite its many challenges, the next federal election may for the first time see a well-funded One Nation pose a serious threat to the Coalition’s dominance of the Australian right. If their polling remains above 20%, it’s entirely possible there will be serious pressure to include Hanson in televised leaders’ debates.

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Read more:
View from The Hill: Hanson nabs ex-Liberal for One Nation’s real time test in SA election

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Essential questions remain about One Nation’s electoral viability on polling day. The party’s success will rely on its ability to run a disciplined campaign, endorse quality candidates, and manage intra-party conflicts – all of which the party has previously struggled with.

The first test of whether One Nation can translate polling support into electoral success will come at the upcoming South Australian election, where the party plans to field candidates in every seat.

Kurt Sengul receives funding from The Australian Research Council, NSW Government and the NSW RNA Research & Training Network

Jordan McSwiney receives funding from the Australian Research Council, NSW Government, and NSW RNA Research & Training Network.

– ref. Can One Nation turn its polling hype into seats in parliament? History shows it will struggle – https://theconversation.com/can-one-nation-turn-its-polling-hype-into-seats-in-parliament-history-shows-it-will-struggle-274632

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/05/can-one-nation-turn-its-polling-hype-into-seats-in-parliament-history-shows-it-will-struggle-274632/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jon Cornwall, Senior Lecturer and Education Adviser, University of Otago

For centuries, work with donated bodies has shaped anatomical knowledge and medical training.

Now, digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) are reshaping education and we can imagine a future where AI-generated representations of dead people – chatbots specifically developed as “thanabots” – are used to support students’ learning.

The term thanabot is derived from thanatology, the study of death. Such AI replicas are already used to assist people during bereavement and could be integrated into medical education.

Thanabots based on information and data from a body donor could interact with students during dissections, providing personalised guidance drawn from medical records, linking clinical history to anatomical findings and improving factual learning.

They might even support the learner’s humanistic development through an intensive first encounter with a dead body who comes “alive” through AI.

At this point, thanabots remain hypothetical in educational settings, but the technology exists to make them a reality. At first glance, this looks like an educational breakthrough – a “first patient” brought to virtual life to enhance both anatomical factual learning and the acquisition of skills such as empathy and professionalism in students.

But as we show in our new research, there are many unknown risks associated with the development of such applications that might raise the question of what it actually means to be dead or even “not quite dead”.

The evolution of thanabots

Thanabots, also called deadbots or griefbots, already exist. They are, at present, mostly being used as tools to help comfort the bereaved, though thanabots of famous people are also available.

Technologies such as Project December, which simulates text-based conversations with the dead, and Deep Nostalgia, which animates old photos, show how digital afterlives are increasingly represented and even normalised.

Extending these tools to anatomy education seems a logical step. An educational version of a thanabot could answer student questions, guide dissection and provide contextual clinical narratives. These interactions would likely improve clinical reasoning and potentially help students navigate emotionally challenging encounters with the dead.

Yet significant risks accompany such innovation. AI-generated content is prone to error, and incorrectly interpreted medical records or hallucinations about data could mislead students. Also, emotional engagement with a digitally “resurrected” donor could overwhelm learners, or engender unhealthy parasocial attachments.

The illusion of a human presence risks trivialising the body donor’s physical reality and could compromise the leaners’ authentic encounter with mortality and respect for the deceased.

Cultural norms and individual grief may be disrupted, especially for students already sensitive to exposure to the dead or from backgrounds with strong constraints around postmortem representation.

This includes instances where death and the dead are considered sacred and further engagement with their likeness is considered taboo. In many cultures, the dead should be respectfully left to rest, not “brought back to life”.

Risks of using thanabots in anatomy education

The ethical and legal frameworks covering thanabot use are underdeveloped because specific legislation and guidelines are scant or non-existent. This leaves many ethical and legal questions unanswered.

In a scenario where a thanabot were generated for use in anatomy education, who would own a digital donor? How would consent for AI use be obtained from families or estates, medical records ethically managed or privacy and dignity safeguarded?

Any implementation of thanabots would need to address these questions to ensure that potential educational gains don’t come at the cost of psychological well-being, ethical integrity or societal unease.

Beyond these practical concerns lies a deeper philosophical issue. What does it mean to be dead in an age of AI “resurrection”?

Anatomy education has long been shaped by societal understanding of mortality and the human body. Use of thanabots might alter these boundaries, blurring the line between life and death, providing representations of something “different” that is neither one nor the other.

Thus, even with the best intentions, students could experience emotional dissonance, confusion about mortality or a distorted understanding of what it means to be human if that understanding is tied to an AI proxy rather than a real person.

We are not suggesting that AI cannot play a role in anatomy education. Carefully designed tools that respect donor dignity, support reflection and augment (not replace) human interaction can enrich learning.

But the allure of technological novelty should not override caution.

Before bringing digital “ghosts” into anatomy laboratories, educators must ensure ethical governance and critically examine what these tools truly teach students about life, death and human dignity.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Digital ghosts: are AI replicas of the dead an innovative medical tool or an ethical nightmare? – https://theconversation.com/digital-ghosts-are-ai-replicas-of-the-dead-an-innovative-medical-tool-or-an-ethical-nightmare-273212

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/05/digital-ghosts-are-ai-replicas-of-the-dead-an-innovative-medical-tool-or-an-ethical-nightmare-273212/

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

Tyres stick to hot asphalt as I drive the Stuart Highway from Alice Springs northward, leaving the MacDonnell Ranges behind. My destination is the Warramunga facility, about 500 kilometres north – a remote monitoring station I’ve directed for the Australian National University for nearly 19 years, and one of the most sensitive nuclear detection facilities on Earth.

When I started exploring Earth’s inner core in 1997, I had no idea my calling would lead me here, or that I’d spend years driving this highway through the red expanse of the Australian outback.

And today, as the New START treaty curbing the US and Russian nuclear weapons programs expires, the work we do in the red centre has become more important than ever before.

A giant telescope pointed at Earth’s centre

Located 37km southeast of Tennant Creek – or Jurnkkurakurr, as it’s known in the local Warumungu language – Warramunga consists of what might generously be called a demountable building, surrounded by sensors lined up across 20km of savannah, covered by red soil and long, white spinifex grass.

The facility operates two sophisticated arrays. One consists of 24 seismometers detecting vibrations through Earth, the other eight infrasound sensors picking up ultra-low-frequency sound waves inaudible to human ears.

When North Korea detonated its largest nuclear device in September 2017 – about 7,000km away – our instruments captured it clearly. Warramunga detected all six of North Korea’s declared nuclear tests, and our data was among the first to reach the International Data Centre in Vienna.

The geological stability and remoteness mean we detect events that might be masked elsewhere. When a wild brumby gallops past our sensors, we pick it up. When a nuclear bomb is tested on the other side of the world, we definitely know about it. We can distinguish it from an earthquake because of the different kinds of vibrations it produces.

Warramunga detects more seismic events than any other station in the global network. With multiple instruments in a carefully designed configuration, far from the coast and human activity, you have something like a giant telescope pointed at the centre of Earth.

An unusual partnership

Warramunga’s story began in 1965 when Australia and the United Kingdom jointly established it for nuclear test detection during the Cold War. In 1999, it was upgraded and later certified as a primary station in the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization’s International Monitoring System.

The CTBTO, headquartered in Vienna, operates a global network of more than 300 facilities designed to detect any nuclear explosion anywhere on Earth. Australia hosts 21 of these facilities – the third-largest number globally.

But Warramunga is unique. It’s operated by a university on behalf of both the CTBTO and the Australian government, located on Warumungu Country. The location of sensors was determined in consultation with Traditional Owners to ensure the instruments would not interfere with sacred sites.

The Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University in Canberra has managed Warramunga for more than 50 years, and we still do.

Life at the station

The station requires constant attention. Two dedicated technicians drive from Tennant Creek to the array each morning. By the time they arrive, the Sun is already high above the red land across which the array’s elements and termite mounds are spread.

They keep a careful watch on the world’s earthquakes and explosions, enduring extreme heat, dust, flies, fires, floods, thunderstorms and the occasional visit from wildlife. They ensure data flows continuously via satellite to Vienna.

After one infrastructure reconstruction, we found two large goannas wrapped around a seismometer, having decided to spend their nights in the firm embrace of our equipment. You don’t learn about this kind of challenge in Vienna’s United Nations offices.

From Canberra, I coordinate between the on-site team, the Australian government, and our partners at the CTBTO. At least once a year, I make the drive up the Stuart Highway to Warramunga, checking equipment and discussing challenges with the technicians.

I also meet regularly with colleagues at the United Nations in Vienna. Managing this facility means bridging two worlds: the practical realities of maintaining sensitive equipment in a harsh environment and the international diplomacy of nuclear verification.

Why it matters now

For more than 30 years, the world has observed a de facto moratorium on nuclear explosive testing. The last US test was in 1992. Russia’s was in 1990.

This norm has been crucial in limiting nuclear weapons development. Verification systems such as Warramunga make this possible, because would-be violators know any significant nuclear explosion will be detected.

But this system faces its greatest challenge in decades. In October 2025, President Donald Trump announced the United States would begin testing nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with Russia and China.

Days later, President Vladimir Putin directed Russian officials to prepare for possible nuclear tests. If this moratorium collapses, it opens the door to a new era of nuclear arms racing.

This is when verification becomes most crucial. The CTBTO’s network doesn’t just detect violations – its existence deters them. If the world knows a country has carried out a nuclear test and tried (but failed) to hide it, the testing country will face political consequences.

A hidden contribution

Warramunga’s data also helps researchers understand earthquakes, study Earth’s deep interior, such as the solid inner core, and track phenomena from meteorite impacts to Morning Glory clouds – extraordinary atmospheric waves travelling 1,400km from Cape York, first scientifically documented with Warramunga’s infrasonic array in the 1970s.

What strikes me after nearly two decades is how this unique partnership represents a remarkable example of academic institutions contributing directly to global security.

Few people realise that a university research school operates one of the world’s most crucial nuclear verification facilities. It’s an arrangement that brings together fundamental scientific research with practical obligations under international treaties – a model for how researchers can engage with pressing global challenges.

As nuclear rhetoric intensifies globally, the quiet technical work in the Australian outback gains new significance. Nuclear test monitoring is essential to deter would-be nuclear nations – and that’s a mission worth maintaining, even from the remote red centre of Australia.

Hrvoje Tkalčić receives funding from the Australian Research Council. The Australian National University operates and maintains the Warramunga Seismic and Infrasound Facility with funding from the CTBTO at the United Nations in Vienna.

– ref. In the Australian outback, we’re listening for nuclear tests – and what we hear matters more than ever – https://theconversation.com/in-the-australian-outback-were-listening-for-nuclear-tests-and-what-we-hear-matters-more-than-ever-272892

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/05/in-the-australian-outback-were-listening-for-nuclear-tests-and-what-we-hear-matters-more-than-ever-272892/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emery Schubert, Professor, Empirical Musicology Laboratory, School of the Arts and Media, UNSW Sydney

Phil is in prep for surgery. As the anaesthetic is about to be administered, the anaesthetist says: “Oh, and by the way, during the procedure the surgical team will be listening to the hard rock classic, You Shook Me All Night Long.”

Does Phil say, “STOP! I’m getting out of here”?

Perhaps he shouldn’t. According to one study, by listening to AC/DC during surgery, doctors can improve their performance. Use of music in operating theatres has had mixed results but the study – which looked at young surgeons working on laparoscopic procedures at a hospital in Dresden while listening to various different kinds of background music – found background music reduced surgeons’ anxiety. And who wants an anxious surgery team, right?

Particularly for boring, repetitive jobs, music can help. Locking into the beat (psychologists call this “rhythmic entrainment” means your actions sync with the beat of the music, which can make routine tasks feel smoother and faster.

Put melody and beat together and, after a bit of practice, you too might be working like this postal officer – who even supplies his own melody.

When else does music help you at work?

Background music often doesn’t help with memory and language tasks, such as reading comprehension and reading speed, especially when the music contains lyrics. When you’re processing words, extra words supplied by the song are competing for attention.

Difficult, complex tasks are also hindered by music.

But what about that surgery team? Aren’t they performing among the highest-stakes tasks of all? The key is expertise. An experienced medical professional typically carries a lower “cognitive load” for familiar procedures, leaving mental bandwidth to spare. In those circumstances, a bit of music might steady the nerves without crowding out attention.

But personality matters: people on the shy or introverted side are more likely to find background music distracting than extroverts who thrive on stimulation.

The music genre matters, too. Jazz standards might help one person focus, and drive another around the bend, while the latest K-pop hits might do no more than help you procrastinate from that already overdue task.

And volume matters. Not too soft, and the music can cover up or “mask” unwanted, unpredictable, distracting noise like office chatter, café clatter, library whispers, or (heaven help you), shopping centre din. The goal isn’t loudness; it’s control over your soundscape.

Why is music such a popular work companion?

Music occupies your ears. That leaves your eyes – and your hands – free to get on with the job.

Music can sometimes support tactile and kinaesthetic work, such as our postal worker cancelling stamps with a beat and a ditty. He was able to watch what he was doing, while singing and stomping away.

Intriguingly, even though music is a sound signal, the ear can deal with the auditory airwaves containing other sounds more gracefully than the eye can with visuals. Trying to work while listening to music is very different than trying to work while watching television. This holds true even when you need to be listening to something as part of your work.

Our brains are surprisingly good at separating simultaneous sound sources. This ability is called “auditory scene analysis”: the brain’s way of separating mixed sounds into distinct sources – like picking out one voice in a noisy room.

So audio tasks – such as listening to instructions or taking dictation – can still be performed with background music, though performance may be somewhat reduced compared with silence. But the ear can juggle streams in a way the eye often can’t.

Music also provides us with joy. Music can spark powerful experiences – belonging, awe, tenderness, thrills – states that can boost mood and motivation. That’s why some people can’t help plugging in.

If music ever starts to get in the way of focused work, another strategy is to take a “music break”: get a quick hit of your favourite tracks to elevate mood, then return to the task refreshed.

Putting it into practice

If you want to experiment, try this quick checklist:

• match the music to the task: embrace rhythm for repetitive or motor tasks; favour instrumentals for reading, writing or anything word heavy

• mind the lyrics: words in your music compete with words in your head

• keep it moderate: play music at a volume enough to mask distractions, not enough to dominate attention

• know thyself: if you’re easily overstimulated, keep sessions short or choose calmer genres such as lo fi, ambient or soft classical

• use breaks strategically: if music distracts while you work, save it for short “fuel up” breaks to restore mood and focus.

But there is no hard and fast rule. Recall our hard rock–loving surgeons? No lo-fi for them. But for the record, the surgery went just fine with the gentler Beatles classic, aptly titled Let It Be. And music’s not for everyone. For some, the surest way to stay tuned in to work is to not tune in at all.

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

– ref. AC/DC in surgery and lo-fi beats in the office: what the science says about working to music – https://theconversation.com/ac-dc-in-surgery-and-lo-fi-beats-in-the-office-what-the-science-says-about-working-to-music-273237

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/05/ac-dc-in-surgery-and-lo-fi-beats-in-the-office-what-the-science-says-about-working-to-music-273237/

Asia Pacific Report

A two-day West Papua Solidarity Forum and mini film festival is being held in Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau next month featuring West Papuan and local academics, advocates and journalists.

Hosted by West Papua Action Tamaki and West Papua Action Aotearoa, keynote speeches, panels and discussion on the opening day, March 7, will focus on updates from West Papuan speakers from the frontlines and activist/academic contexts with responses and regional perspectives from solidarity groups.

Themes will include military occupation updates, colonial expansion, environmental issues, community organising and human rights abuses, said a statement from the organisers.

Speakers include: Viktor Yeimo (online from West Papua), Dorthea Wabiser, Victor Mambor, Ronny Kareni, Kerry Tabuni, Hilda Halkyard Harawira, Emalani Case, Nathan Rew, Arama Rata, Dr David Robie, Maire Leadbetter, Teanau Tuiono, Te Aniwaniwa Paterson.

The evening event is a public mini festival of Papuan films introduced by journalist and editor Victor Mambor from Jubi Media in Jayapura.

The second day, March 8, is dedicated to solidarity development and relationship building across the region and opportunities to support West Papua in Aotearoa, with cultural and political kōrero and talanoa.

This event is an opportunity for students, community groups, media, unions, academics and activists to learn more about West Papua and the current regional and political context.

A media seminar featuring Victor Mambor and organised by the Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN) will also be held at the Whānau Community Centre and Hub on Monday, March 9.

• Note: The Forum event is being held at two venues — the Auckland University Old Choral Hall, 7 Symonds Street, on Saturday, March 7 (9.00am-4.30pm), and at “The Taro Patch”, 9 Dunnotar Road, Papatoetoe, Auckland (close to train station) on Sunday, March 8  2026(9.00am-4.00pm).
• More details, koha and registration at Humanitix by February 20 2026

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/04/west-papua-solidarity-forum-mini-film-festival-aim-to-educate/

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

Barnaby Joyce’s political career has hit the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.

He’s been Nationals leader and deputy prime minister twice. As a senator, he was a maverick, often crossing the floor. As party leader, he had a dramatic falling out then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull. Later he delivered vital Nationals support for net zero emissions to then prime minister Scott Morrison, even while personally disagreeing strongly with the policy.

Just two months ago, he decamped to the reinvigorated One Nation as the minor party’s popularity has soared, with some polls even putting it ahead of the Liberals and Nationals.

Joyce joins us to talk about how he sees One Nation’s future and his own.

On his defection to One Nation, Joyce says One Nation’s “strength” and “clarity of policy” attracted to him to the party, at the same time as his working relationship with Nationals leader David Littleproud became “completely dysfunctional”.

It was discordant. I was becoming bitter, and that’s not the mind space that I want to be in. Obviously, Mr Littleproud has talked about generational change, which was afoot in regards me, which was a case of “I want you out of here” […] And at 58 […] I thought I had more to offer my nation. And so those two factors coming together brought about my defection to One Nation, where I believe […] I have purpose and I’m not just withering on the vine in the corner of oblivion.

Joyce says his community in New England has been “overwhelmingly supportive” of his move:

People don’t believe that, but I had another media outlet up the other day and they said, “can we go down the street and can you find people for us to talk to about this?”. I said that won’t be too hard […] We couldn’t get 150 metres up the street […] Their words were “it’s like going for a walk down the street with the Pope”.

While saying his current intention is to run for a New South Wales Senate seat, Joyce says “it’s not impossible” he could still recontest his lower house seat of New England if that’s what One Nation wants.

You have to have a discussion with the party and the party also determines what is good for them. You can’t run for anything unless the party agrees to it and that’s the same with all political parties […] So the plan is to stand for the Senate for New South Wales, but I don’t want to rule things out, because if that circumstance changed you’d be a liar.

[…] As we get closer people will […] make a decision about what’s best. At this point in time, it is my wish – and other people have agreed – that it would be standing for the Senate.

One Nation has had big problems with some candidates and parliamentarians in the past. But Joyce says it’s becoming better at vetting:

What you have to appreciate is the growth of the party and where Pauline started. You remember the party was basically gone, finished. And Pauline Hanson, who had been put in jail by the Coalition, let’s be frank […] she’s had to build it up. And of course as you build a party up, you get more resources, so you get more capacity to have the sort of a closer oversight of what’s going on […] So the process of selecting a candidate will be more forensic, and it has to be.

On fears their big personalities might clash, Joyce says he gets on well with Pauline Hanson.

I did not go into this relationship on a flight of fancy or a fit of pique. I considered it over a year. I had multiple meetings with Pauline and [… others in the party]. I’ve known them for a long period of time […] I feel that I get along well with Pauline […] I respect what she has done and what she has created for Australia.

Asked about Hanson’s burqa wearing stunt in the Senate late last year, Joyce says “obviously, I’m not going to be wearing a burqa” – but also said “that’s theatre, really, isn’t it?”.

On whether he ever has nightmares that he could “blow” this latest phase of his political life, Joyce says:

I think everybody can blow it […] I’m a human being and I’ve certainly made my mistakes. And I don’t resign from them. I apologise for them, but I think people have been accepting and forgiving of them to be quite frank. And I thank people for that […] We’re a lot more sanitised in this building [Parliament House] than when I first got elected in 2004.

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

– ref. Politics with Michelle Grattan: Barnaby Joyce on getting on with Pauline Hanson and One Nation’s rise – https://theconversation.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-barnaby-joyce-on-getting-on-with-pauline-hanson-and-one-nations-rise-275072

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/04/politics-with-michelle-grattan-barnaby-joyce-on-getting-on-with-pauline-hanson-and-one-nations-rise-275072/

By Johnny Blades, RNZ Pacific bulletin editor

The New Zealand government says it hopes an electrification aid project that was halted in Papua New Guinea can still be completed if security improves.

Work on the Enga Electrification Project in PNG’s Enga province has stopped due to ongoing violence around the project area in Tsak Valley.

New Zealand spent NZ$6.7 million over the last six years on the project which aimed to connect at least 4000 households to electricity.

It was part of combined efforts with the US, Australia and Japan to help 70 percent of PNG homes get connected by 2030, as agreed to in 208 when PNG hosted the APEC Leaders Summit.

However, contractors had to be withdrawn from the area after a surge in tribal fighting in August last year, according to a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

“Ending New Zealand’s involvement is a disappointing outcome, particularly given New Zealand’s longstanding and extensive efforts to deliver energy infrastructure in Enga Province,” the spokesperson said.

“New Zealand is working on a transition plan with partners in Papua New Guinea. It is hoped this will allow for the successful completion of the project if security improves.”

Northern lines installed
The ministry said 13.5 KM of distribution lines in the North of the project area were largely installed but were yet to be commissioned or connected to houses.

It said 12km of distribution lines in the south of the project area remained at various stages of construction.

Meanwhile, PNG’s Foreign Minster Justin Tkatchenko told local media that New Zealand would hand over equipment from the project to PNG Power Limited, a state-owned entity.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/04/new-zealand-holds-out-hope-for-halted-png-electrification-aid-project/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elle Bowd, Research Fellow, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University

There has been much global discussion about the best ways to manage Earth’s forests in an era of climate change and more frequent bushfires.

Some foresters and forest managers support and recommend large-scale industrial thinning of forests, where a proportion of the trees are removed (thinned) with machines to increase the size of the remaining trees. Thinning is commonly used in timber plantations, as it accelerates the development of timber trees.

In its new forest plan, the Victorian government has funded a “healthy forests” program. This will likely entail reducing the number of trees in the forest and increasing the space between trees. This plan could lead to extensive mechanical thinning in the state’s forests. Large-scale mechanical thinning has already been used in native forests in western Victoria.

Plans for mechanical thinning of forests raises important questions: what effect will this have? Could it be harmful? And is it necessary for forest health?

In our new study, we describe how mountain ash forests naturally change over time, from young, dense and uniform forests 15 years after wildfire, to forests with lower densities of large trees (and smaller trees) in older age. Our work suggests human intervention is not needed to reduce the density of trees or create a diversity of tree sizes needed for wildlife.

What we know about thinning

Some research suggests thinning can increase reduce the risk of severe wildfires in some forests (such as some pine forests in the United States). But in other types of forests, including in some of Australia’s eucalypt forests, thinning either has no effect on fire or can even make fires worse. Indeed, Australian forestry management manuals clearly warn of increased fire risks from thinning.

Thinning has also been shown to increase water yield and drought resilience in some forests (including tall eucalypt forest), but these benefits are short-lived as plants quickly regenerate in the new gaps formed by thinning.

Last October, the Victorian government released its Future of State Forests report. It describes a “healthy forests” program in which widespread mechanical thinning is very likely to be employed. Large-scale mechanical thinning has already been used in native forests in western Victoria, such as the Wombat State Forest, to reduce trunk density and increase space between trees. Current government policy will likely see it applied in the state’s Central Highlands and East Gippsland.

Using mechanical thinning can be counterproductive. For example, thinning with large machines can compact soils, increase the risk of bushfire, degrade habitat for wildlife, and produce carbon emissions. It’s also expensive (in the US, it costs about $US1270 ($A1830) per hectare, with the costs likely to significantly outweigh the short-term benefits.

What many people might not realise is forest trees naturally reduce and “thin” over time. This reduction happens as the size of the remaining trunks increase, a process of natural “self thinning”. In fact, natural self-thinning is a key ecological principle that shapes almost all forests and woodlands globally.

What we found in Victorian forests

In our new study, we describe the process of natural self-thinning in Victorian forests of mountain ash, the tallest flowering plants in the world.

Our work quantifies how these forests naturally reduce the numbers of trees by 50 to 60%, from young forests regenerating from fires in 2009, through to old growth forests (greater than 120 years). This natural self-thinning occurs because less competitive trees lose the race for light and other resources and die.

As mountain ash forests matured, the number of trees declined naturally and markedly. In young forests (15 years old) tree densities were high (7000 trees per hectare), but in old forests (120 years old) tree densities were much lower (1450 trees per hectare). Not all tree species reduced at the same magnitude as others. For example, young forests were dominated by thousands of wattles and eucalypts per hectare. This profile changed significantly in old growth forests to less than 100 eucalypt trees and about 20 wattle trees per hectare on average.

In a mountain ash forest, the number of trees on a given site also varied if it was on a steep slope or flat area, and at different elevations. This variation is likely to be the result of light, moisture and soil properties.

Importantly, as the number of trees in mountain ash forests reduce naturally over time, trees become larger and more varied in size. This is because older forests contain trees of different ages, some shorter and smaller, and others larger and taller. Other studies have shown forests with a diversity of tree sizes are important for animals such as arboreal marsupials and birds.

What forests look like without intervention

Our new study of natural self-thinning is significant for many reasons. First, it sets the benchmark for how large trees will grow in mountain ash forests over time, and what these forests look like without human intervention. This can be used to guide restoration practices. Second, it demonstrates mechanical thinning is not needed to help these forests to develop into older stages.

Getting forest management right is critical — under the current climate, forests face a hotter and more uncertain future. Evidence-based ecological management is essential in forests and we must aim to avoid risky management, such as the use of widespread mechanical thinning in these forests.

Instead, the limited funding available for forest management should be employed to support other restoration activities with a higher chance of success. These could include targeting areas of forest where restoration has failed after past logging operations. Logging has devastated Victoria’s native forests, and new research shows 20% has failed to grow back.

Forest managers and policymakers need to understand mountain ash forests naturally self-thin and interventions like mechanical thinning are not needed. At best, large-scale mechanical thinning operations are essentially a waste of money. At worst, they degrade forests, making them more flammable, eroding habitat, compromising water security and compacting soils.

Elle Bowd receives funding from the Australian government, the NSW government, and the ACT government.

David Lindenmayer receives funding from the Australian government, the Victorian government, and the Australian research Council. He is a councillor with the Biodiversity Council, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, the American Academy of Science, the Ecological Society of America and the Royal Zoological Society of NSW. He is a member of Birdlife Australia.

– ref. Victoria’s mountain ash forests naturally thin their trees. So why do it with machines? – https://theconversation.com/victorias-mountain-ash-forests-naturally-thin-their-trees-so-why-do-it-with-machines-268201

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/04/victorias-mountain-ash-forests-naturally-thin-their-trees-so-why-do-it-with-machines-268201/

Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. –

AMY GOODMAN: We begin today’s show looking at the arrests of two American journalists for covering a protest at the Cities Church [in the Minnesota Twin City of] St Paul, where a top ICE official serves as pastor.

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort from the Twin Cities were released last Friday after initial court hearings.

A federal grand jury in Minnesota indicted Lemon and Fort for violating two laws, an 1871 law originally designed to combat the Ku Klux Klan and the FACE Act, the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which was written to protect abortion clinics.

The indictment names a total of nine people, including the two journalists. US Attorney General Pam Bondi took personal credit for the arrests of Fort and Lemon and two others on Friday, posting on X that the arrests occurred at her direction.

Don Lemon, who was arrested late Thursday night by the FBI in Los Angeles, had been reporting on the church protest in St Paul in January as an independent journalist.

His attorney, Abbe Lowell, described the arrest as an “unprecedented attack on the First Amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration.”

On Friday afternoon, Don Lemon vowed to continue reporting after appearing court in Los Angeles.

AMY GOODMAN: Don Lemon attended the Grammys on Sunday night.

Also arrested Friday was Georgia Fort, an independent journalist from the Twin Cities. She posted a video to Facebook just as federal agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration were about to arrest her and take her to the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined now from Minneapolis by that longtime independent journalist Georgia Fort, whose reporting has been recognised with three Midwest Emmys.

[embedded content]
‘Journalism Is Not A Crime’                Video: Democracy Now!

This article was first published on Café Pacific.

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/04/journalism-is-not-a-crime-us-journalists-arrested-for-covering-anti-ice-protest-in-church/

ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on February 4, 2026.

You spin some, you lose more: how Albanese’s gambling rhetoric falls short
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rohann Irving, Research Fellow, Flinders University As a new parliamentary year resumes, politicians such as the ACT’s David Pocock have renewed their calls for legislation to tackle Australia’s gambling losses, which are the worst in the world per capita. When questioned about its lack of action on

An ‘AI afterlife’ is now a real option – but what becomes of your legal status?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wellett Potter, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of New England ziphaus/Unsplash Would you create an interactive “digital twin” of yourself that can communicate with loved ones after your death? Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has made it possible to seemingly resurrect the dead. So-called griefbots or deathbots –

What the RBA wants Australians to do next to fight inflation – or risk more rate hikes
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meg Elkins, Associate Professor in Economics, RMIT University When the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) board voted unanimously to lift the cash rate to 3.85% on Tuesday, the decision was driven by one overriding concern. It wants to stop the rising cost of living from becoming entrenched.

Big Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi delegation joins Māori in solidarity over Te Tiriti
Asia Pacific Report Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi, a Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawai’ian) initiative for self-determination and self-governance formed in 1987, has sent a 17-member Indigenous delegation to Waitangi to stand in solidarity with Māori in defence of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The delegation is present to “stand alongside Māori leadership, strengthen international solidarity, and affirm the

Why preferential voting is superior to first past the post
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 South Australian state election will be held on March 21. Preferential voting will be used to elect members for all 47 single-member lower house seats. This

Is NZ defence and intelligence policy aligning with AUKUS in all but name?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Macaulay, Senior Tutor and PhD Candidate, Centre for Defence and Security Studies, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University NZ Defence Force Across the Pacific and the Southern Ocean, New Zealand has been trying to strike a careful balance in its defence and surveillance approach. While

High Court defeat piles pressure on ’embarrassed’ Fiji PM Rabuka’s leadership, says academic
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor A court ruling in favour of Fiji’s dismissed anti-corruption chief has “embarrassed” Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, a New Zealand-based Fiji politics academic says. University of Canterbury distinguished professor Steven Ratuva told RNZ Pacific Waves that while the Fiji High Court decision on Barbara Malimali offered “clarity” on the separation

The fall of Peter Mandelson and the many questions the UK government must now answer
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martin Farr, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary British History, Newcastle University Peter Mandelson and Keir Starmer pictured in February 2025. Flickr/Number 10, CC BY-NC-ND No accident waiting to happen can ever have delivered on its promise so spectacularly as Lord Mandelson, with the continuous revelations of his ties

The rise and fall (and rise again) of gold prices – what’s going on?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David McMillan, Professor in Finance, University of Stirling i viewfinder/Shutterstock In late January, the gold price reached an all-time peak of around US$5,500 (£4,025). January 30 saw one of the largest one-day falls in prices, which sank by nearly 10% after hitting a record high only the

A brief history of table tennis in film – from Forrest Gump to Marty Supreme
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeff Scheible, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, King’s College London Table tennis and film have a surprisingly entangled history. Both depended on the invention of celluloid – which not only became the substrate of film, but is also used to make ping pong balls. Following a brief

Winter Olympic security tightens as US-European tensions grow
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Since the murder of 11 Israeli hostages at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, security has been fundamental for games stakeholders. The 2024 Paris games set new benchmarks for security at a mega-event, and now the

I studied 10 years of Instagram posts. Here’s how social media has changed
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By T.J. Thomson, Associate Professor of Visual Communication & Digital Media, RMIT University Antoine Beauvillain/Unsplash Instagram is one of Australia’s most popular social media platforms. Almost two in three Aussies have an account. Ushering in 2026 and what he calls “synthetic everything” on our feeds, Head of Instagram

Voluntary assisted dying isn’t available to all Australians. In 2026, this may finally change
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben White, Professor of End-of-Life Law and Regulation, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology Voluntary assisted dying is now available almost everywhere in Australia. This means eligible adults can choose to end their lives with medical assistance. In November 2025, the Australian Capital

Potoroos digging for ‘truffles’ keep their forests healthy – but for how long?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emily McIntyre, PhD candidate in Ecology, The University of Melbourne Think truffles and you’ll probably think of France. But Australia is actually a global hotspot for truffle-like fungi, boasting hundreds of different species. Like culinary truffles, these truffle-like fungi produce underground sporing bodies rather than send up

New research shows Australians support buying local for different reasons – and not all will pay more
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Luckman, Professor of Culture and Creative Industries, Adelaide University We have now passed the annual Australia Day peak of calls urging us to “buy Australian” – especially lamb. The iconic green-and-gold “Australian Made, Australian Grown” logo, launched by then-Prime Minister Bob Hawke in 1986, turns 40

Olives have been essential to life in Italy for at least 6,000 years – far longer than we thought
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emlyn Dodd, Senior Lecturer in Classical Studies, Institute of Classical Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London; Macquarie University How far back does the rich history of Italian olives and oil stretch? My new research, synthesising and reevaluating existing archaeological evidence, suggests olive trees have been

Diabetes care in NZ: thousands of patient records reveal who’s being left behind
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lynne Chepulis, Associate Professor, Health Sciences, University of Waikato Getty Images For the tens of thousands of New Zealanders who live with type 2 diabetes, managing the chronic condition can start to feel like keeping score. A patient is given a list of numbers by their doctor.

Not an artefact, but an ancestor: why a German university is returning a Māori taonga
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael La Corte, Research Associate, Curation and Communication, University of Tübingen Restitution debates – the question of whether a cultural object should be returned from a museum or other collection to a person or community – often begin with a deceptively simple question: who owns an object?

‘Journalism is not a crime’ – US journalists arrested for covering ICE church protest
AMY GOODMAN: We begin today’s show looking at the arrests of two American journalists for covering a protest at the Cities Church [in the Minnesota Twin City of] St Paul, where a top ICE official serves as pastor. Former CNN anchor Don Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort from the Twin Cities were released last

OpenClaw and Moltbook: why a DIY AI agent and social media for bots feel so new (but really aren’t)
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniel Binns, Senior Lecturer, Media & Communication, RMIT University NurPhoto / Getty Images If you’re following AI on social media, even lightly, you will likely have come across OpenClaw. If not, you will have heard one of its previous names, Clawdbot or Moltbot. Despite its technical limitations,

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/04/er-report-a-roundup-of-significant-articles-on-eveningreport-nz-for-february-4-2026/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meaghan O’Donnell, Professor and Head, Research, Phoenix Australia, Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health, The University of Melbourne

In their day-to-day work, first responders – including police, firefighters, paramedics and lifesavers – often witness terrible things happening to other people, and may be in danger themselves.

For some people, this can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which usually involves intrusive memories and flashbacks, negative thoughts and emotions, feeling constantly on guard, and avoiding things that remind them of the trauma.

But our research – which tested a mobile app focused on building resilience with firefighters – shows PTSD isn’t inevitable. We found depression, anxiety and PTSD symptoms were less likely when firefighters used a mental health program that was self-led, specifically addressed trauma and focused on teaching practical skills.

First responders’ mental health

First responders report high rates of psychiatric disorders and often have symptoms of depression (such as persistent feelings of sadness), anxiety (such as nervousness or restlessness) and post-traumatic stress (including distressing flashbacks).

Sometimes symptoms aren’t severe enough for a diagnosis.

But left untreated,these “sub-clinical” symptoms can escalate into PTSD, which can severely impact day-to-day life. So targeting symptoms early is important.

However, stigma – as well as concerns about confidentiality and career implications – can prevent first responders from seeking help.

What we already knew about building resilience

For the past decade, we have been testing a program designed to give people exposed to traumatic events the skills to manage their distress and foster their own recovery.

The “Skills for Life Adjustment and Resilience” (SOLAR) program is:

• skills-based – it teaches people specific strategies and tools to improve their mental health
• trauma-informed, meaning it has been designed for people who have been exposed to trauma, and avoids re-traumatisation
• and has a psychosocial focus, focusing on what people can do in their relationships, behaviour and thinking to improve their mental health.

Participants complete modules focused on:

• the connection between physical health and mental health
• staying socially connected
• managing strong emotions
• engaging and re-engaging in meaningful activities
• coming to terms with traumatic events
• managing worry and rumination.

The SOLAR program trains coaches to deliver these modules in their communities. Importantly, these coaches don’t necessarily have specific mental health training, such as Australian Red Cross volunteers, community nurses and case workers.

What our new research did

The evidence shows the SOLAR program is effective at improving wellbeing and reducing depression, post-traumatic stress and anxiety symptoms.

But working with firefighters in New South Wales, they told us they wanted a self-led program they could complete confidentially, independently of their employer, and in their own time – a mobile app. So we wanted to test if the program would still be effective delivered this way.

A total of 163 firefighters took part in our recent randomised control trial, either using the app we co-designed with them, or a mood monitoring app.

A mood monitoring app tracks daily emotions to help understand patterns in how someone is feeling. There is evidence to show it can be useful for some people in reducing symptoms.

But this kind of app doesn’t teach a person practical skills that can be applied to different situations. And it does not specifically address stressful or traumatic experiences. So we wanted to test if taking a skills approach made a significant difference.

What we found

Eight weeks after they started using one of the two apps, we followed up with the firefighters.

The study found those who used the SOLAR app had significantly lower symptoms of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress, compared to those in the mood monitoring group.

We followed up with participants again three months after their post-treatment assessment.

We found:

• depression was much lower in the group who learned practical skills about trauma, compared to those who used the mood monitoring app, and
• anxiety and post-traumatic stress symptoms had reduced significantly for both groups since starting their program (but there was no real difference between them).

What does this mean?

Both apps improved mental health.

But the results show using the SOLAR app, which focused on building skills and specifically addressing trauma, reduced mental symptoms more quickly. It was especially useful for tackling depression longer term.

Firefighters also told us they liked the app. This is important – an app is only effective when people use it.

Around half of the firefighters started using it completed all the modules. This is much higher than usual for mental health apps. Typically, only around 3% of those who start using a mental health app complete them.

The more modules a firefighter completed, the more their mental health improved.

The takeaway

It’s common for firefighters and other first responders to struggle with mental health symptoms. Our study demonstrates the importance of intervening early and teaching practical skills for resilience, so that those symptoms don’t develop into a disorder such as PTSD.

A program that is self-led, confidential and evidence-based can help protect the mental health of first responders while they do the work they love, protecting us.

Meaghan O’Donnell (Phoenix Australia) receives funding from government funding bodies such as National Health and Medical Research Council, and Department of Veterans’ Affairs, and philanthropic bodies such as Wellcome Trust Fund (UK), Latrobe Health Foundation, and Ramsay Health Foundation. Funding for this study in this Conversation article was from icare, NSW.

Tracey Varker (Phoenix Australia) receives funding from government funding bodies such as Department of Veterans’ Affairs, and philanthropic foundations such as Latrobe Health Services Foundation. Funding for the study described in this Conversation article was from icare NSW.

– ref. Firefighters face repeat trauma. We learned how to reduce their risk of PTSD – https://theconversation.com/firefighters-face-repeat-trauma-we-learned-how-to-reduce-their-risk-of-ptsd-269283

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/04/firefighters-face-repeat-trauma-we-learned-how-to-reduce-their-risk-of-ptsd-269283/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rohann Irving, Research Fellow, Flinders University

As a new parliamentary year resumes, politicians such as the ACT’s David Pocock have renewed their calls for legislation to tackle Australia’s gambling losses, which are the worst in the world per capita.

When questioned about its lack of action on gambling reform, the government frequently responds with:

We have taken more action on problem gambling than any government since Federation – in history.

It’s a line heard repeatedly from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in defence of his government’s record.

But how much has actually been done? And how does this government’s gambling legislation record stack up against its predecessors?

Albanese’s efforts to curb gambling harm

When Albanese refers to the action his government has taken on gambling harm, two key measures are mostly mentioned.

The June 2024 credit ban forbids online wagering companies from accepting credit cards and other digital currencies (like crypto) as payment methods.

But recent research found the credit ban has the “least impact” among reforms on Australia’s highest-spending gamblers, with most swapping to transaction accounts following the ban.

The other key action Albanese mentions is the August 2023 introduction of BetStop, which allows online wagerers in Australia to add their names to a digital exclusion register.

This self-restriction from all forms of regulated online wagering is for a timeframe of the gambler’s choosing.

It’s a significant piece of legislation, with more than 32,000 Australians now registered.

But concerns remain over its effectiveness, with active exclusions comprising less than 8% of approximately 400,000 high-risk gamblers.

There are also reports of betting companies contacting Australians who have self-excluded via the register. In 2026, the Australian Communications and Media Authority announced a further six licensed wagering providers breached BetStop rules.

Additionally, gambling researchers have criticised measures like BetStop for placing the responsibility for harm reduction on people rather than the wagering industry.

Who can claim credit for BetStop?

BetStop is the centrepiece of Albanese’s ambitious case for action on gambling harm, but is this a fair claim?

The Coalition government under then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull initiated the 2015 review of illegal offshore wagering, which led to the eventual launch of the National Consumer Protection Framework for Online Wagering under the Morrison government in late 2018.

BetStop is the last of ten harm-reduction measures designed and implemented as part of this framework, delivered in stages from 2018 to 2024.

Among these were new gambling advertising taglines such as “chances are you’re about to lose” and prohibition of betting companies offering lines of credit to consumers.

BetStop was launched a year after the incumbent Coalition government was defeated by Albanese’s Labor. But along with the wider National Consumer Protection Framework, it was designed and scheduled by former governments.

These are matters of timing rather than Labor initiative.

What have other governments done?

Even if BetStop was a solely Albanese/Labor-led initiative, the claim that this government has done more than any other in addressing gambling harm remains shaky.

In the past decade, the Coalition government made wagering providers offer deposit limits to customers and mandated more stringent customer verification processes, among a suite of other measures.

In 2013, the Julia Gillard-led Labor government banned the promotion of live betting odds on television and prohibited in-play generic gambling advertising for sports broadcasts.

Gambling ads, though, were allowed in breaks in play and either side of matches.

Gillard also came close to introducing mandatory pre-commitment at poker machine venues but eventually backed down, blaming lack of parliamentary support.

Looking further back, several state governments passed significant legislation in the early 20th century.

A series of reforms in the early 1900s restricted most legal betting to racecourses and sports grounds and imposed new age restrictions on gambling.

But since those pre-digital times, gambling in Australia has exploded, with most governments having done relatively little in tackling gambling harm.

The claim Albanese’s reforms are more significant than any others is a weak one, given so little has been done at federal level.

A way forward

Omnipresent advertising by online sport gambling companies and cross-border gambling flows have placed the federal government under increasing pressure to combat Australia’s chronic gambling habit.

In June 2023, the Labor government was handed a prime opportunity to cement its legacy in tackling gambling harm.

“You win some, you lose more” – the report of an inquiry into online wagering led by Labor’s late Peta Murphy – contained 31 cross-party supported recommendations.

The report’s most conspicuous proposal was a phased, complete ban on online wagering advertising.

But widespread political and popular support has come a distant second to the influence of professional sports, commercial television companies and gambling corporations.

A diversionary tactic of industry body Responsible Wagering Australia is to refocus the collective gaze onto illegal offshore bookmakers.

Meanwhile, ALP backbenchers, party members and independent parliamentarians are loudly demanding meaningful action on gambling harm.

The impetus will have to come from them.

More than two years since former Opposition Leader Peter Dutton called aggressively for banning wagering ads during sporting broadcasts, and the Coalition’s inquiry members supporting the Murphy report’s recommendations, the Coalition has gone quiet on the subject.

Despite frequent promises that a full response to the Murphy report and ensuing action were imminent, Albanese continues to stall.

With each day he delays, his claim to unprecedented gambling reform looks increasingly disingenuous and overly influenced by vested interests.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. You spin some, you lose more: how Albanese’s gambling rhetoric falls short – https://theconversation.com/you-spin-some-you-lose-more-how-albaneses-gambling-rhetoric-falls-short-271614

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/04/you-spin-some-you-lose-more-how-albaneses-gambling-rhetoric-falls-short-271614/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meg Elkins, Associate Professor in Economics, RMIT University

When the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) board voted unanimously to lift the cash rate to 3.85% on Tuesday, the decision was driven by one overriding concern. It wants to stop the rising cost of living from becoming entrenched.

For some, like self-funded retirees, the rate rise was good news. Higher interest means their savings and term deposits will earn more. But for many others, including first home buyers who might have stretched themselves just to get a foot into the housing market, it was a very bad day.

RBA Governor Michele Bullock acknowledged that, saying:

I know this is not the news that Australians with mortgages want to hear, but it is the right thing for the economy.

She warned the alternative – letting inflation keep rising – would be even harder for more Australians.

So what’s the psychology behind the RBA raising rates now and leaving the door open to further hikes if needed? And what does the central bank hope Australians will do in response?

The price squeeze you’re feeling

There’s a striking gap between how the RBA describes the economy and how most Australians experience it.

On paper, things look healthy: unemployment is low, wages are growing.

But as Bullock acknowledged on Tuesday, the daily reality has felt very different.

The price level has gone up 20% to 25% over the last few years, and people see that every time they walk into a supermarket, or they go to the doctor, or whatever – that’s I think what’s hurting people.

That relentless price squeeze is not something you forget, even when the rate of increase starts to slow.

What’s driving inflation up?

The headline consumer price index (CPI) hit 3.8% in the year to December, well above the RBA’s target band of 2–3%. The “trimmed mean” – the underlying measure the RBA watches most closely – rose to 3.3%. Both are too high and moving in the wrong direction.

Bullock singled out three factors contributing to inflation. Each behaves differently and requires a different response.

Housing was the single largest contributor to inflation in December, up 5.5% over the year. That includes rents, which rose 3.9% (or 4.2% stripping out government rent assistance), as well as insurance, utilities, and new construction costs, which rose 3% as builders passed through higher labour and material costs.

There is an irony here. Rising interest rates are intended to cool demand, but they slow housing construction. Limited supply of housing is what’s pushing rents up in the first place.

“Durable goods” are the things we buy to last, such as cars, refrigerators, washing machines, televisions and furniture. Demand for many of those has been higher in the past year.

“Market services” are items such as restaurant meals, taxis, haircuts, gym memberships, medical appointments and holiday travel.

The RBA watches these carefully, because these are services priced by supply and demand in the domestic market. Those prices tend to be “sticky”: once they start rising, they don’t come back down easily.

Wages are also a big part of market services inflation. If the people providing those services are earning more, the cost goes up.

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Read more:
RBA raises interest rates as inflation pressures remain high

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How rate cuts made shoppers relax

This is where the behavioural psychology gets interesting.

The RBA cut interest rates three times in 2025. Each cut sent a signal, whether intentionally or not: it’s OK to spend a bit more.

And spend we did. CommBank data shows Australians spent A$23.8 billion over the two-week Black Friday period, up 4.6% on the year before.

It’s a cautionary tale about “rational expectations”. Each rate cut potentially fuelled the belief that more would follow.

If people feel like they can afford to spend, then they spend. Businesses, sensing demand, may raise their prices to match. That’s exactly the self-fulfilling dynamic central banks worry about.

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Read more:
Here’s what Black Friday sales shopping does to your brain

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The 3 ways the RBA hopes we’ll react

When prices go up, as they have been, workers ask for bigger wage rises to keep up. To pay higher wages, businesses lift prices to protect their profit margins. Together, that can create a “wage-price spiral” that becomes very hard to break.

The RBA will be hoping Australians respond to this rate rise in three ways:

• spending less

• saving more

• not asking for big wage rises (although they’d never phrase it that way).

RBA Governor Michele Bullock described raising interest rates as “a very blunt instrument” to bring inflation down, and noted setting rates is “not a science. It’s a bit of an art, really […] We’ve just got to respond as best we can.”

The RBA can’t undo the price rises that have already happened. It can only try to slow down further increases.

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

– ref. What the RBA wants Australians to do next to fight inflation – or risk more rate hikes – https://theconversation.com/what-the-rba-wants-australians-to-do-next-to-fight-inflation-or-risk-more-rate-hikes-274984

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/04/what-the-rba-wants-australians-to-do-next-to-fight-inflation-or-risk-more-rate-hikes-274984/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wellett Potter, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of New England

Would you create an interactive “digital twin” of yourself that can communicate with loved ones after your death?

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has made it possible to seemingly resurrect the dead. So-called griefbots or deathbots – an AI-generated voice, video avatar or text-based chatbot trained on the data of a deceased person – proliferate in the booming digital afterlife industry, also known as grief tech.

Deathbots are usually created by the bereaved, often as part of the grieving process. But there are also services that allow you to create a digital twin of yourself while you’re still alive. So why not create one for when you’re gone?

As with any application of new technology, the idea of such digital immortality raises many legal questions – and most of them don’t have a clear answer.

Your AI afterlife

To create an AI digital twin of yourself, you can sign up for a service that provides this feature, and answer a series of questions to provide data about who you are. You also record stories, memories and thoughts in your own voice. You might also upload your visual likeness in the form of images or video.

The AI software then creates a digital replica based on that training data. After you die and the company is notified of your death, your loved ones can interact with your digital twin.

But in doing this, you’re also delegating agency to a company to create a digital AI simulation of yourself after death.

From the get go, this is different to using AI to “resurrect” a dead person who can’t consent to this. Instead, a living person is essentially licensing data about themselves to an AI afterlife company before they’ve died. They’re engaging in a deliberate, contractual creation of AI-generated data for posthumous use.

However, there are many unanswered questions. What about copyright? What about your privacy?. What happens if the technology becomes outdated or the business closes? Does the data get sold on? Does the digital twin also “die”, and what effect does this have for a second time on the bereaved?

What does the law say?

Currently, Australian law doesn’t protect a person’s identity, voice, presence, values or personality as such. In contrast to the United States, Australians don’t have a general publicity or personality right. This means, for an Australian citizen, there’s currently no legal right for you to own or control your identity – the use of your voice, image or likeness.

In short, the law doesn’t recognise a proprietary right in most of the unique things that make you “you”.

Under copyright law, the concept of your presence or self is abstract, much like an idea is. Copyright doesn’t offer protection for “your presence” or “the self” as such. That’s because there has to be material form in specific categories of works for copyright to exist: these are tangible things, such as books or photos.

However, typed responses or the voice recordings submitted to the AI for training are material. This means the data used to train the AI to create your digital twin would likely be protectable. But fully autonomous AI generated output is unlikely to have any copyright attached to it. Under current Australian law, it would likely be considered authorless because it didn’t originate from the “independent intellectual effort” of a human, but from a machine.

Moral rights in copyright protect a creator’s reputation against false attribution and against derogatory treatment of their work. However, they wouldn’t apply to a digital twin. This is because moral rights attach to actual works created by a human author, not any AI-generated output.

So where does that leave your digital twin? Although it’s unlikely copyright applies to AI-generated output, in their terms and conditions companies may assert ownership of the AI-generated data, users may be granted rights in outputs, or the company may reserve extensive reuse rights. It’s something to look out for.

There are ethical risks, too

Using AI to make digital copies of people – living or dead – also raises ethical risks. For example, even though the training data for your digital twin might be locked upon your death, others will be accessing it in the future by interacting with it. What happens if the technology misrepresents the deceased person’s morals and ethics?

As AI is usually probabilistic and based on algorithms, there may be risk of creep or distortion, where the responses drift over time. The deathbot could lose its resemblance to the original person. It’s not clear what recourse the bereaved may have if this happens.

AI-enabled deathbots and digital twins can help people grieve, but the effects so far are largely anecdotal – more study is needed. At the same time, there’s potential for bereaved relatives to form a dependence on the AI version of their loved one, rather than processing their grief in a healthier way. If the outputs of AI-powered grief tech cause distress, how can this be managed, and who will be held responsible?

The current state of the law clearly shows more regulation is needed in this burgeoning grief tech industry. Even if you consent to the use of your data for an AI digital twin after you die, it’s difficult to anticipate new technologies changing how your data is used in the future.

For now, it’s important to always read the terms and conditions if you decide to create a digital afterlife for yourself. After all, you are bound by the contract you sign.

Wellett Potter is a member of the Copyright Society of Australia and the Asia-Pacific Copyright Association.

– ref. An ‘AI afterlife’ is now a real option – but what becomes of your legal status? – https://theconversation.com/an-ai-afterlife-is-now-a-real-option-but-what-becomes-of-your-legal-status-274021

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/04/an-ai-afterlife-is-now-a-real-option-but-what-becomes-of-your-legal-status-274021/

Asia Pacific Report

Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi, a Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawai’ian) initiative for self-determination and self-governance formed in 1987, has sent a 17-member Indigenous delegation to Waitangi to stand in solidarity with Māori in defence of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

The delegation is present to “stand alongside Māori leadership, strengthen international solidarity, and affirm the deep genealogical and oceanic ties shared by Indigenous peoples of Moana Nui a Kanaloa”, a statement said.

Members of the delegation participated in a pōwhiri yesterday with iwi taketake at Te Tii Waitangi Mārae, marking a formal welcome and the beginning of their engagement alongside Māori communities and leaders.

Members of the delegation will speak at the Political Forum tent tomorrow, take part in the dawn ceremony on February 6, and march alongside their whānau in support of Te Tiriti.

The delegation has issued a formal Statement of Solidarity calling on the international community to watch developments in Aotearoa while “political actions continue to seek to weaken and reinterpret Te Tiriti and undermine Māori rangatiratanga”.

The Kanaka Maoli statement raised serious concern that recent New Zealand government actions and political rhetoric had “misrepresented efforts” to address structural discrimination as “racial privilege”.

The government actions had also enabled legislative initiatives seeking to “radically redefine” the meaning of Te Tiriti — triggering widespread national protests, multiple claims before the Waitangi Tribunal, judicial review proceedings, and large nationwide hui of Māori leaders.

‘World should know’
“The world should know what is happening in Aotearoa. As Kanaka Maoli, we know what it means to have our lands, waters, and political future decided without us,” said Healani Sonoda-Pale, spokesperson for Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi.

“We came to Waitangi so the world can see that Māori are not standing alone — and that Indigenous peoples across the Pacific are watching, standing together, and demanding that Te Tiriti o Waitangi be fully honored.

“Our struggles are connected, and our collective liberation as Indigenous peoples of Oceania are bound to one another.”

Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/04/big-ka-lahui-hawai%CA%BBi-delegation-joins-maori-in-solidarity-over-te-tiriti/

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 South Australian state election will be held on March 21. Preferential voting will be used to elect members for all 47 single-member lower house seats. This is the same system as used for federal House of Representatives elections.

Some Australian conservatives are advocating Australia return to first past the post (FPTP), but a conservative government introduced preferential voting in 1918 to stop vote splitting between two conservative parties. Right-wing preferences helped the Coalition maintain its grip on power from 1949 to 1972. Preferential voting is far superior to FPTP.

After Labor’s landslide at the May 2025 federal election, some right-wingers have complained that preferential voting gave Labor too many seats. They want Australia to revert to FPTP, where there are no preferences. In FPTP, the candidate with the most votes wins the seat.

National primary votes at the election were 34.6% Labor, 31.8% Coalition, 12.2% Greens, 6.4% One Nation and 15.0% for all Others. After preferences, Labor defeated the Coalition by 55.2–44.8 and won 94 of the 150 House of Representatives seats (63% of seats). In both two-party and seat share, this was Labor’s biggest win since 1943.

While Labor’s margin expanded after preferences, they won the national primary vote by 2.8%. Analyst Kevin Bonham said that on primary votes, Labor would have won 86 seats to 57 for the Coalition (actual 94 to 43). Labor’s primary votes were much more efficiently distributed than the Coalition’s.

Labor won a disproportionate seat share at the election, but this occurs with single-member systems, particularly with a blowout result. Those complaining about Labor’s big majority should advocate switching to proportional representation, not FPTP.

The United Kingdom 2024 election was held using FPTP. Labour won 411 of the 650 seats (63% of seats) on 33.7% of the national vote. This occurred primarily because Labour’s vote share was ten points ahead of the second placed Conservatives.

A brief history of preferential voting in Australia

Prior to 1918, federal elections used FPTP. In 1918, there was a byelection for Swan that was contested by the Nationalists (a predecessor of the Liberals), the Country Party (a predecessor of the Nationals) and Labor.

Labor won this byelection with 34.4%, to 31.4% for the Country Party and 29.6% for the Nationalists. With the combined vote for the two conservative options adding to 61.0%, it was clear a different system would have given the Country Party the win.

After this byelection, the Nationalist government introduced preferential voting, resulting in Labor losing the Corangamite byelection in 1918 to a Victorian Farmers candidate by 56.3–43.7, despite Labor winning the primary vote by 42.5–26.4 with 22.9% for the Nationalists.

Originally preferential voting was introduced to allow the two conservative parties (now Liberals and Nationals) to compete against each other without splitting the conservative vote and giving Labor wins it didn’t deserve. There are still “three-cornered” contests now where the Liberals, Nationals and Labor all contest the same seat.

This Wikipedia page gives national primary votes for Labor, the Coalition and all Others, the Labor and Coalition estimated two-party share and House seats won by Labor, Coalition and others at elections from 1910 to 2022.

Until the 1990s, the combined primary votes for the major parties was around 90% in most elections. This means that other than in three-cornered contests, preferences had limited impact. There were high Other votes in 1931, ‘34, ’40 and ’43, with the first three cases due to a Labor split (New South Wales Lang Labor).

In the first two of these cases, Labor was far behind on primary votes and made up some ground on preferences, but the Coalition still won easily. In 1940, Labor trailed by 3.7% on primary votes but won the two-party vote by 50.3–49.7. However, the Coalition formed government with the support of two independents until those independents sided with Labor in 1941.

In 1943, there was a split within the Coalition, and other preferences favoured the Coalition, reducing Labor’s primary vote lead of 26.9 points to 16.4 points after preferences.

In 1955, a Labor faction split from Labor and became the Democratic Labor Party (DLP), directing preferences to the Coalition. From 1955 until the DLP’s demise in 1974, it dominated the third party vote, and so overall preferences in this period assisted the Coalition.

The DLP helped the Coalition to have the longest period of one-party government from 1949 to 1972. Labor was estimated to have won the two-party vote in 1954, 1961 and 1969, but the Coalition won a majority of House seats.

Since 1987, preferences have favoured Labor, allowing it to overturn primary vote deficits to win the two-party vote in 1987, 2010 and 2022. First the Democrats and then the Greens assisted Labor after preferences. One Nation’s first rise at the 1998 election didn’t stop overall preferences from favouring Labor.

The only time Labor formed government while losing the two-party vote occurred in 1990, when they won a majority of seats despite losing by 50.1–49.9. Labor lost the election in 1998, even though it won the two-party vote by 51.0–49.0.

Some recent polls have One Nation surging into second place behind Labor, ahead of the Coalition. On current polling, there are more right-wing sources of preferences than left-wing sources, so overall preference flows could favour the right at the next federal election, whether it’s One Nation or the Coalition that benefits most.

In early elections, some seats were often uncontested, meaning only one candidate nominated for that seat. No votes were counted in such seats, so national primary votes will be distorted by the exclusion of these seats.

Why preferential voting is superior to FPTP

At the 2025 election, Labor’s Ali France defeated Liberal leader Peter Dutton in his seat of Dickson by 56.0–44.0. But Dutton had more primary votes than France, winning 34.7% of the primary vote to 33.6% for France, with 12.2% for a teal independent, 7.6% for the Greens and 4.2% for One Nation.

FPTP gives a massive benefit to the side of politics (left or right) that has its vote more concentrated with one party or candidate. In the two 1918 byelections, the left vote was concentrated with Labor, and in Dickson 2025 the right vote was concentrated with Dutton. Preferential voting is far fairer by allowing all candidates’ votes to eventually count.

In FPTP, many voters need to choose between supporting the candidate they most prefer even if that candidate is uncompetitive, and voting for the candidate best placed to keep someone they dislike out. Votes for uncompetitive candidates are effectively wasted in FPTP.

Labor may have won Dickson under FPTP as some of the teal and Greens voters would probably have voted for Labor tactically to beat Dutton. But voters shouldn’t need to make these choices.

Parliaments require majorities to function. The party winning the most seats does not necessarily form government, for example Labour formed government after the 2017 New Zealand election even though the conservative National won the most seats.

In the UK, the Conservatives needed to form alliances with other parties after winning the most seats but not a majority at the 2010 and 2017 elections. Preferential voting is closer to parliamentary systems than FPTP.

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

– ref. Why preferential voting is superior to first past the post – https://theconversation.com/why-preferential-voting-is-superior-to-first-past-the-post-264248

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/04/why-preferential-voting-is-superior-to-first-past-the-post-264248/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Macaulay, Senior Tutor and PhD Candidate, Centre for Defence and Security Studies, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University

Across the Pacific and the Southern Ocean, New Zealand has been trying to strike a careful balance in its defence and surveillance approach.

While strengthening its security partnerships and expanding military capabilities, the government has so far said it is only assessing joining Pillar II of the AUKUS security pact between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Pillar I of AUKUS involves Australia acquiring nuclear-powered submarines, while Pillar II focuses on cooperation in advanced military technologies, including cyber systems, artificial intelligence, autonomous platforms, undersea capabilities and space-based surveillance.

Yet key documents, including the Defence Capability Plan 2025 and a government procurement process for long-duration aerial surveillance, suggest many of the practical steps Pillar II would involve are already underway.

These far-reaching strategic decisions are being made largely out of public view. And they raise an important question: is New Zealand effectively aligning itself with AUKUS in all but name?

From patrols to permanent surveillance

The Defence Capability Plan is the government’s long-term blueprint for upgrading New Zealand’s military. It proposes a NZ$100–300 million investment in long-range, uncrewed, remotely-piloted aircraft to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance across vast ocean areas.

As part of a broader $14 billion defence overhaul, a further $300–600 million is projected for space-based capabilities. This is aimed at integrating New Zealand within shared satellite networks and increasing operational cooperation with security allies.

In parallel, the Persistent Surveillance (Air) Project tender (which recently closed for submissions) invites industry and academia to help design a system for long-duration surveillance across the southwest Pacific and Southern Ocean, involving aircraft, spacecraft and data-management software.

Taken together, these initiatives signal a shift from periodic surveillance patrols to continuous, networked monitoring. This aligns closely with the concept of “multi-domain maritime awareness” under AUKUS Pillar II.

Mindful of public concern about joining AUKUS and any association with nuclear proliferation or deployment of autonomous weapons systems, successive NZ governments have approached the issue cautiously.

The current government appears to be maintaining this careful line. But the proposed New Zealand Defence Force investments and procurement plans suggest a more substantive shift.

The long-range drones, satellite surveillance, data integration and counter-drone technologies outlined in the Defence Capability Plan closely mirror AUKUS Pillar II priorities.

New Zealand may be avoiding formal alignment for now. But defence officials have already been holding talks with the US, UK and Australia about advanced military technologies and surveillance systems.

The risk of being locked in

These policy shifts undoubtedly have benefits for a small country like New Zealand. High-quality surveillance capabilities boost its strategic value to defence partners and give Wellington a stronger voice in maritime monitoring across the Pacific.

But there are also risks. Research suggests integrating surveillance systems with allied networks can create lasting technical and political dependencies.

In turn, this could narrow New Zealand’s capacity to make independent decisions in the Pacific region, or calibrate its engagement with other regional stakeholders, including China and Pacific Island governments.

Arrangements such as the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness – involving Australia, India, Japan and the US, known as the “Quad” – allow countries to merge surveillance data and build a “common operating picture” of activity across the region.

The same is true of the Pacific Fusion Centre’s information-sharing network, PacNet #28. The catch is that these surveillance arrangements tend to lock countries in, with one host controlling how data is gathered and filtered.

Embedding NZ in surveillance networks

New Zealanders are broadly supportive of contributing to regional security. But
polling suggests they are uneasy about being drawn into distant conflicts or military spending that mainly serve the priorities of larger powers.

Autonomous weapons, AI-assisted targeting and militarised space systems are particularly contentious, raising legal and ethical questions about human control.

Defence officials frequently argue that drones and space-enabled surveillance reduce risks to personnel and enhance humanitarian and disaster-response missions. While this may be true, there remains a need for clearer public discussion about how such technologies are deployed and where limits are being set.

For decades, the New Zealand Defence Force has been valued for its nimbleness and principled diplomacy. But the emerging surveillance approach being shaped through procurement decisions, tenders, space-launch licences and software standards is steadily embedding New Zealand within allied security networks.

The government has assured New Zealanders would be kept informed “at every step” about any future partnership with AUKUS.

Such transparency needs to extend to defence policy and strategy in general, before foreign-designed, militarised surveillance systems become the norm across the region.

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

– ref. Is NZ defence and intelligence policy aligning with AUKUS in all but name? – https://theconversation.com/is-nz-defence-and-intelligence-policy-aligning-with-aukus-in-all-but-name-274609

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/04/is-nz-defence-and-intelligence-policy-aligning-with-aukus-in-all-but-name-274609/

By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor

A court ruling in favour of Fiji’s dismissed anti-corruption chief has “embarrassed” Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, a New Zealand-based Fiji politics academic says.

University of Canterbury distinguished professor Steven Ratuva told RNZ Pacific Waves that while the Fiji High Court decision on Barbara Malimali offered “clarity” on the separation of powers, it added “to the weight of responsibilities” piling up under Rabuka’s leadership.

On Monday, the court ruled that Malimali’s dismissal was unlawful — a decision she said “vindicated” her. Rabuka immediately announced that he would be appealing the decision, but later told local reporters that he would “consider” resigning if the appeal failed.

“[Resignation] is an option,” he said.

Despite this, Rabuka’s Information Minister Lynda Tabuya told reporters on Tuesday that the prime minister had the full support of the cabinet.

“It was a resounding sentiment in cabinet that we would not accept his resignation,” she said in a post-cabinet press briefing on Tuesday, adding that Rabuka had “unanimous support . . .  to continue to lead this country and continue to lead us.”

Rabuka had not admitted to any wrongdoing and reports in the media “need to be corrected,” Tabuya said.

Fiji military commander Major-General Jone Kalouniwai also weighed in on the turn of events, telling local media that the army is maintaining “a [situational] awareness of what is happening” given that the country was heading into an election period.

“It’s important for us to understand what’s happening. Looking at it from a security perspective, things can cascade into a different situation,” he told The Fiji Times.

Dr Ratuva said all the issues Rabuka was having to deal with were “leading him to breaking point”.

“The fact that he has signalled his willingness to resign if the appeal doesn’t come through, is something which only [Rabuka] himself will have to decide,” he said.

“A lot of people have been asking for his resignation in the last few months for different reasons, particularly in relation to the way some of these complex challenges have been handled by the government.

“So it depends very much on what’s going to happen after the appeal, and the process might go on for some time . . .  even the election might come in between.”

Fiji is expected to head to the polls anytime between August 7 (earliest) this year and 6 February 2027 (latest).

Dr Ratuva said Fijian opposition parties will try to use some of these issues faced by Rabuka as part of campaigning.

“Anything can be leveraged as a means of manoeuvring your opposition, so certainly it is something which will arise during the election campaigns,” he said.

He said other issues such as the cost of living, health, infrastructure, rising crime, drugs, would become campaign issues during the election.

The government under Rabuka, he said, would be on the defensive in terms of making sure that they would be re-elected.

“But then that depends very much on how they are able to handle these issues, and of course, the choice of the voters ultimately,” Dr Ratuva said.

“The number of scandals and the number of crisis, which have defined the rule of this particular coalition has diverted attention away from the real issues on the ground, so they have to live with it and the consequences are going to be felt in the next election.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/04/high-court-defeat-piles-pressure-on-embarrassed-fiji-pm-rabukas-leadership-says-academic/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University

Since the murder of 11 Israeli hostages at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, security has been fundamental for games stakeholders.

The 2024 Paris games set new benchmarks for security at a mega-event, and now the presence of American security officials in Milan Cortina threatens to darken this year’s Winter Olympics before they even start.

Security at the games

The scale of security at the games has magnified considerably since the 1970s.

For the 2024 Olympics, the French government mobilised an unprecedented 45,000 police officers from around the nation.

For the opening ceremony, these forces cordoned off six kilometres of the Seine River.

Advocates point to Paris as an example of security done correctly.

Milipol Paris – one of the world’s largest annual conferences on policing and security – pointed to lower crime across the country during the games and a complete absence of any of the feared large security events. It stated:

The operation demonstrated the effectiveness of advanced planning, inter-agency cooperation and strong logistical coordination. Authorities and observers are now reflecting on which elements of the Paris 2024 model might be applied to future large-scale events.

However, critics complained the security measures infringed on civil liberties.

Controversy as ICE heads to Italy

Ahead of the Milan Cortina games, which run from February 4-23, Italian officials promised they were “ready to meet the challenge of security”.

A newly established cybersecurity headquarters will include officials from around the globe, who will sift through intelligence reports and react to issues in real time.

As well as this, security will feature:

• 6,000 officers to protect the two major locations – Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo
• a no-fly zone around key sites
• a constant restricted access cordon around some sites (as seen in Paris).

Some of the security officers working in the cybersecurity headquarters will come from the United States.

Traditionally the US diplomatic security service provides protection for US athletes and officials attending mega-events overseas. It has been involved in the games since 1976.

Late last month, however, news broke that some of the officers will be from “a unit of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)”.

US and Italian officials were quick to differentiate between Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which handles cross-border crime, and Enforcement and Removal Operations, the department responsible for the brutal crackdown on immigrant communities across the US.

The HSI has helped protect athletes at previous events and will be stationed at the US Consulate in Milan to provide support to the broader US security team at the games.

But the organisation’s reputation precedes them, and Italians are wary.

In Milan, demonstrators expressed outrage. Left-wing Mayor Giuseppe Sala called ICE a “a militia that kills” while protests broke out in the host cities.

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Read more:
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US-European relations are stretched

The presence of ICE has also illuminated fractures within Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s governing coalition.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani defended the inclusion of the US officers, saying “it’s not like the SS are coming”, referring to the Nazis paramilitary force in Germany.

However, local officials, including those from Meloni’s centre-right coalition, expressed concerns.

The tension inside Meloni’s government reflects broader concerns on the continent about US-European relations.

US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will attend the opening ceremony in Milan, despite some Europeans viewing Vance as the mouthpiece for US President Donald Trump’s imperial agenda.

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Trump’s desire to take over Greenland has undermined American and European support for trans-Atlantic amity and the NATO alliance.

Just ahead of the Olympics, Danish veterans marched outside the US Embassy after Trump disparaged NATO’s contribution to US-led operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. These protests added to Danes’ fears about Trump’s Greenland ambition.

Tensions in Denmark remain high as the Americans and the Danes gear up to play ice hockey in the opening round robin of the men’s competition.

Elsewhere, politicians in the US on both sides have raised concerns that Trump’s bombastic rhetoric will make it harder for American athletes to compete and win.

A double standard?

Critics argue there is an American exception when it comes to global politics interfering in international sport.

Under Trump, the US has attacked Iran and Venezuela, called on Canada to become its 51st state, threatened to occupy Greenland and engaged in cross-border operations in Mexico.

Despite this, US competitors can still wear their nation’s colours at the Olympics.

Compare this to Belarussian and Russian athletes, who are only eligible to compete as Individual Neutral Athletes after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and only under the condition they have not been publicly supportive of the invasion. An International Olympic Committee (IOC) body assesses each competitor’s eligibility.

Israeli athletes have also been under the spotlight amid geopolitical tensions in the region.

Following the Israeli invasion of Gaza in October 2023, a panel of independent experts at the United Nations urged soccer’s governing body FIFA to ban Israeli athletes, stating:

sporting bodies must not turn a blind eye to grave human rights violations.

But FIFA, and the IOC, have recently defended Israeli athletes’ right to participate in international sport in the face of boycotts and protests.

Competitors from Israel can represent their country at the Winter Olympics.

The political developments which have caused ructions worldwide ironically come after the IOC’s 2021 decision to update the Olympic motto to supposedly recognise the “unifying power of sport and the importance of solidarity”.

The change was a simple one, adding the word “together” after the original three-word motto: “faster, higher, stronger”.

It remains to be seen whether the Milan Cortina games live up to every aspect of the “faster, higher, stronger – together” motto, not just the first three words.

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

– ref. Winter Olympic security tightens as US-European tensions grow – https://theconversation.com/winter-olympic-security-tightens-as-us-european-tensions-grow-274530

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/04/winter-olympic-security-tightens-as-us-european-tensions-grow-274530/