Category: Evening Report

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ken Purnell, Professor of Education, CQUniversity Australia

This year, students at The King’s School in Sydney are starting lessons later on Wednesdays. The start of the usual day has been pushed back from 8.50am to 9.40am. This is to allow students to do self-directed learning at home or school before formal lessons begin.

While the school hopes the move will build independence, later school times also better complement teenagers’ sleep patterns.

Research suggests typical school hours may be not be compatible with teenagers’ sleep needs. And this can harm their learning and wellbeing.

Why are school hours 9 ‘til 3?

The usual six-hour school day goes from about 9am to 3pm. Many public high schools and private schools also start earlier, at around 8.30am.

This convention dates back to the 19th and early 20th centuries. Back then, school was timed to maximise daylight hours and fit in with factory shifts. Bus timetabling also played a role, as transport was shared between schools.

Since then, parents’ work hours and after-school activities have added constraints on top. While school hours now seem “normal,” they are not necessarily what’s best for students as they grow, or when their brains are most alert and ready to learn.

What do teenagers need?

Throughout life, the amount of sleep needed for normal functioning changes as we age. For example, babies need regular naps while older children only sleep at night.

Traditional school hours suit younger children, as they tend to fall asleep and wake up earlier than adolescents.

But around puberty, things change. Teenagers experience what sleep scientists call a “circadian phase delay”, when the body’s internal clock shifts later. This is because melatonin, the sleep hormone, is released about two hours later than in childhood.

So, many adolescents cannot fall asleep much before 11pm and can still be in biological “night” if they are forced to get up at 6am or 7am to get ready for school.

Major medical bodies recommend eight to ten hours of sleep a night for teenagers. But early-morning school starts can make this hard to manage.

Studies of school systems with early starts, shows many teenagers only get six to seven hours of sleep on a school night.

This adds up. Chronic sleep deprivation in adolescents has been linked to poorer attention and memory, greater irritability, more behaviour problems and higher rates of anxiety and depression.

Obviously, none of this is conducive to learning or healthy development.

What is more brain-friendly?

To address this, more high schools could start later.

Schools could introduce an “arrival window” rather than a hard start time. The arrival window could allow for quiet study, wellbeing check-ins, or breakfast clubs. This could let students who need it get more sleep.

Then, once school officially starts, the most demanding subjects, which require sustained focus, would be held from mid-morning.

Schools could also consider more flexible learning models. Some schools already use partial learning from home, which can help in a limited way.

For older students, the first part of the day could be online and mostly at their own pace for low-stakes tasks such as reading, short quizzes, drafting and revision. In-person teaching could start later.

Learning from home depends on reliable internet, a quiet space and adult support, which are not evenly available to all students. So schools would need to make sure space and supervision were also available at school.

What stands in the way?

Starting later also means finishing later. This would require having enough staff across flexible hours. This may be a challenge for some schools, given teacher shortages around the country.

To address this, schools could use staggered staffing and community partnerships to cover early and late blocks. For example, this could involve youth services, cultural institutions and work-based placements for students doing teaching degrees.

There may also be fears about disrupting established routines and transport timetables. Yet practical experience and modelling work in the United States shows later high school start times are feasible when systems adjust bus routes. This requires coordinated work across education and transport sectors.

In Australia, school start and finish times are typically set locally at the school level. In many states, principals generally have discretion to determine (or adjust) start times, usually through consultation with the school community.

The real question is whether we are prepared to redesign school around teenagers’ brains, rather than expecting their brains to fit a timetable built for a different century.

– ref. School hours have barely changed since the 1800s. This doesn’t suit teenagers’ sleep – https://theconversation.com/school-hours-have-barely-changed-since-the-1800s-this-doesnt-suit-teenagers-sleep-275444

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/09/school-hours-have-barely-changed-since-the-1800s-this-doesnt-suit-teenagers-sleep-275444/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hannah Dahlen, Professor of Midwifery, Associate Dean Research and HDR, Midwifery Discipline Leader, Western Sydney University

Every pregnant woman wants to deliver a healthy baby. During labour and birth, women also want to feel listened to and respected, and to come out of the experience physically and emotionally well.

But around 28% of Australian women describe their most recent birth as traumatic.

Birth trauma can include fear for their life or their baby’s life, a loss of control, damage to the perineum or pelvic floor, disrespectful care, or mistreatment from health care providers.

Our new research paper examined birth outcomes and both physical and psychological experiences of women and babies who experienced five different types (or models) of care in Australia during the COVID pandemic.

We found that seeing the same midwife or team of midwives was associated with lower rates of intervention and birth trauma, compared with standard care.

And for some women, private obstetric care also led to lower rates of birth trauma than standard care in the public system. Let’s take a look.

Five main models of care

Most Australian women receive standard public care or GP shared care.

In standard public care, women see rotating hospital staff (midwives, obstetricians and at times, trainees) throughout pregnancy and often give birth with a midwife or doctor they’ve never met.

GP shared care is when there is an arrangement between a GP and hospital. Women see their GP most during pregnancy and hospital staff for some antenatal appointments. The GP doesn’t usually attend the birth, except in some rural, remote regions.

In continuity of care models, one or a small number of midwives and obstetricians deliver the majority of the care before, during and after birth. This includes continuity of:

• midwifery care in the public system
• private obstetric care
• private midwifery care.

When given a choice, women favour continuity of care models.

What our study found

Our study looked at the experiences of 3,682 Australian women who gave birth in 2020 and 2021.

Compared to women who had standard care, we found that those who had continuity of midwifery care (through the public system or a private midwife) were:

• less likely to be induced or have an oxytocin drip to speed up labour
• much more likely to have a vaginal birth
• more likely to have the midwife visit them at home after the birth
• less likely to have a caesarean section
• less likely to have their baby admitted to special or neonatal intensive care or receive formula in hospital when they had chosen to breastfeed
• half as likely to describe their birth as traumatic.

These differences were seen even after adjusting for differences in the groups that could affect outcomes, such as women’s age, medical risk, education, employment status, country of birth, income and mental health.

These findings line up with decades of evidence. A 2024 Cochrane review of 17 randomised controlled trials found midwifery continuity of care models reduce some birth interventions, including caesarean section, forceps and vacuum birth, and episiotomy (surgical cut to the perineum).

Our study also found that while women who had private obstetric care had higher rates of birth intervention, they had lower rates of birth trauma when compared to standard care. There was no difference in outcomes for the baby, such as admission to special care or neonatal intensive care.

This suggests when women’s choices align with their care provider’s philosophy, outcomes are better – even if intervention levels are higher. Some women seek, or are not concerned about, increased obstetric intervention. Continuity itself, regardless of who the lead health care professional is, reduces birth trauma.

What are the study’s limitations?

As with any study there are limitations. This study relied on women reporting their labour and birth outcomes, so there could be difficulties with recall that affected reporting of some health risks and other important information.

A high proportion of women responding (86%) were born in Australia and spoke English at home (92%) and only 2% were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, meaning the diversity of the Australian population is not represented.

We did not examine stillbirth or neonatal deaths as all the women responding to the survey had a live baby. So people still could have had those experiences but they weren’t captured in our data.

Why does continuity of care make a difference?

Continuity gives women a stable, familiar guide who knows their story, understands their concerns and advocates for them when the system is under strain.

It also allows for the kind of personalised care women consistently say they want and which midwives wish they could deliver more often.

Nearly half of all models of care (49%) have a midwife as the designated carer, with 16% having midwifery continuity of care throughout the maternity period.

However, midwifery continuity of care models are more common in urban centres and can be harder to access in rural and remote areas. Even in urban centres, not everyone who wants to access them can. The popularity of these programs means they fill up fast and many women miss out if they don’t book in when they are first pregnant.

Private obstetric and private midwifery models of care come with out of pocket costs and are not available everywhere. There are few private midwives and many struggle to get admitting rights into hospitals like doctors have.

The recent New South Wales Birth Trauma Inquiry recommended expanding continuity of care models to help reduce the high rates of birth trauma in Australia. Our study shows that this could make a significant difference.

– ref. Seeing the same midwife or doctor in pregnancy and labour reduces the risk of birth trauma – https://theconversation.com/seeing-the-same-midwife-or-doctor-in-pregnancy-and-labour-reduces-the-risk-of-birth-trauma-276182

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/09/seeing-the-same-midwife-or-doctor-in-pregnancy-and-labour-reduces-the-risk-of-birth-trauma-276182/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Whiteley, Professor, Department of Government, University of Essex

The American people are bitterly divided over the conflict in Iran. The US president, Donald Trump, won office in 2024 after campaigning on a message of “no new wars”. So the conflict that began with airstrikes conducted with the Israeli military in the early hours of February 28, and which has quickly spread into the rest of the region, has polarised opinion across the country.

An Economist/YouGov poll completed on March 2 provides early information about what Americans think of the war so far. The poll asked the following question: “Would you support or oppose the US using military force to overthrow the government of Iran?”

There is a great deal of confusion about what the objectives of the war are, since the messaging from Trump, and his senior officials, has veered from preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons, to destroying the country’s ballistic missile capability, to regime change.

But, from the point of view of polling, this is as good a question as any for finding out what Americans think. Altogether 32% of them support the war and 45% oppose it.

A divided society

The responses to this question analysed by gender, race, age and education appear in the graph. Those who were uncertain are not included in the totals. The graph shows that large variations exist among the different groups in relation to their attitudes to the war.

The relationship between attitudes to the war and the social backgrounds of respondents

The largest differences are in relation to race. Some 37% of white respondents support the war and 44% oppose it. In contrast 7% of black people support it and 60% oppose. Hispanics were in between these two, but rather closer to whites than to blacks.

The was a large gender difference in the responses as well with 37% of men in support but only 26% of women. A marked age difference existed too with only 21% of 18-to-29 year olds supporting and 50% opposed. At the same time some 40% of those over the age of 65 supported the war with 49% opposed. Finally, 34% of those without a college degree were in support compared with 27% with a college degree. Overall, young black women with a college degree were most likely to oppose the war, whereas older white men without a college degree were most in support.

A question of politics

The social backgrounds and attitudes to the war of respondents are interesting, but they are overshadowed by the polarisation of opinion among supporters of the political parties and ideological factions. These appear in the second chart.

The relationship between attitudes to the war and the political affiliations of respondents

The striking feature of this chart is the difference between respondents who identify with the Democrats and those who identify with the Republicans. Only 8% of Democrats support the war compared with 64% of Republicans. The highest level of support comes from respondents who are Maga (Make American Great Again) supporters. No less that 75% of them support the war and only 10% oppose it.

There is similar polarisation among liberals, which refers to anyone on the left of the ideological spectrum in the US, and conservatives. Only 8% of liberals support the war compared with 66% of conservatives. Moderates are in between the two with 25% of them supporting and 50% opposing the war.

What it could mean for November’s mid-term elections

One theory of elections argues that individuals have a set of well-defined preferences over policies and so they support the party which is closest to them in relation to these policies. In this analysis, policy preferences are summarised by the left-right ideological dimension, or alternatively by the liberal-conservative dimension in politics.

In fact, it appears that in reality the reverse is true with voters choosing a party or leader and then changing their views to fit in with those of their newly adopted party. The 47th US president is an extreme case of this, because he constantly changes his mind. Before he was elected, he promised that the US would not get involved in any more wars in the middle east. It appears that most Republicans and nearly all the Maga supporters are quite willing to go along with the U-turn and agree with anything he does.

This is a big advantage for a president who is so polarising, since it means that he can rely on a body of loyal supporters even when they don’t know the latest policy changes. However, it is a weakness when it comes to elections because the Democrats and Independents together easily outnumber the Republicans and Maga supporters in the electorate.

The Cooperative Election Study, a large-scale survey conducted at the time of the presidential election in 2024 showed that 32% of respondents in their national survey identified with the Democrats, 27% with the Independents and 30% with the Republicans. In short, the Republicans are up against a coalition of Democrats and Independents who make up just under 60% of the voters. Add the factor that many Americans are outraged by the president’s behaviour and you have a winning coalition for the opposition in the mid-term elections.

Whatever happens in the war, Trump is unlikely to recover his popularity for the Republicans not to lose control of the House of Representatives – and possibly the Senate – in the mid-term elections in November.

– ref. What Americans think of the war in Iran – https://theconversation.com/what-americans-think-of-the-war-in-iran-277627

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/09/what-americans-think-of-the-war-in-iran-277627/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Polina Zelmanova, PhD Candidate in Film and Television Studies, University of Warwick

Frankenstein’s female creature, also known as “the Bride”, was the first female monster to appear on screen, in the 1935 Frankenstein sequel: The Bride of Frankenstein. An unruly and rebellious figure, she has inspired dozens of adaptations since.

Most recently, the Bride, as a dramatic character, has been part of a series of creative reimaginings through an explicitly feminist lens. For instance, the dark coming of age comedy, Lisa Frankenstein (2024). It imagined the Bride (Kathryn Newton) in the role of the scientist, who accidentally brings to life a young Victorian man (Cole Sprouse).

Released just a year earlier, Poor Things (2023) brought an even more complex exploration of power, agency and consent, set in a retro-futuristic Victorian era. In it, the female creature Bella (Emma Stone) negotiates what it means to be both a scientific object and creator (being created out of the pregnant body of a woman and the brain of the mother’s unborn baby). Bella does not abide by the rules and conventions of polite society, using her body against the purpose of her creator and causing several mental breakdowns for the male characters in the process.

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Now, a new movie directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Bride!, brings the character to life in moody 1930s Chicago. Jessie Buckley plays the female creature brought back from the dead to be Frankenstein’s mate. But she is not the sort of creature that is inclined to serve someone else’s purpose. When Frankenstein (now the monster, not the scientist, and played by Christian Bale) calls her “the Bride of Frankenstein”, she replies: “No, just the Bride.”

Although the film promises a “Bonnie and Clyde” story – two lovers and rebels on the run from the law – this Bride refuses to belong to any man. Instead, gun in hand, she demands to be seen and heard on her own terms.

Reanimating the Bride from novel to screen

Since her inception, the Bride’s struggle has been for autonomy. She first appeared in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein (1818), named after an egomaniac scientist who creates a creature from cadavers. In the novel, Dr Frankenstein begrudgingly agrees to make his male creature a companion, but destroys her before she can live. He is afraid she might reproduce or become even more powerful than the male creature.

Her destruction is the most violent episode in the novel and makes apparent the anxiety that her unruly female body causes to the mad scientist. The erasure of Shelley’s original female creation set the scene for the way she continues to be written out of most adaptations of the novel. This includes, most recently, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (2025).

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Read more: Guillermo de Toro’s Frankenstein: beguiling adaptation stays true to heart of Mary Shelley’s story

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One hundred years on from Shelley’s novel, the Bride was finally brought to life in James Whales’ The Bride of Frankenstein and played by Elsa Lanchester. Although central to the film’s title, she appears only in the final five minutes. But that was more than enough time to establish her cinematic legacy.

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She stands tall, dressed in a white gown, her dark, voluminous hair streaked with lightning. Scars and stitches run around her face. She is both alive and dead, a bride and child, beautiful and monstrous, futuristic and otherworldly. Her appearance defies categorisation, not quite the demure wife she is meant to be.

Even more memorable is the Bride’s defiant scream when she rejects the male creature and the role assigned to her by the film’s title and her creator. Feminist scholars have read this as an assertion of sexual autonomy and agency, a rejection of patriarchal control and a refusal of the role of wife and mother. She is a powerful symbol of defiance, and both costume and voice become tools for future Brides to say no to their fate. Lanchester’s Bride, however, is not able to invent alternative possibilities for herself and is ultimately destroyed by the male creature, punished for her rebellion.

The limitations of patriarchy are made even clearer in later adaptations in which Brides who choose to end their lives, such as Frankenstein Created Woman (1967). Her limited options also show the constraints of a narrative in which she is made a mere character in someone else’s story.

The creature Lily (Billie Piper) in the television series Penny Dreadful (2014-2016) is another Bride who attempts to make her own path. But the memories of her body’s previous life as a sex worker have shown her that the world is rotten to the core – her only solution is to destroy it. Lily chooses destruction over radical change, and while she rejects both Frankenstein and the male creature, the man she does willingly choose ultimately betrays her.

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For some Brides, power comes from reclaiming the role of creator. This can be seen in Lisa Frankenstein and Poor Things, but also in an earlier adaptation – the exploitation comedy Frankenhooker (1990). The film ends with the Bride taking revenge on her creator by attaching his head to female body parts.

Poor Things is one of the only films where the Bride is not only invested in radical social change, but also escapes the expectations put onto her body as a scientific and sexual object. Bella actively subverts these expectations by repurposing her body as one of personal scientific enquiry. This extends to the way she uses sex. It puts her in a complicated position in relation to exploitation and empowerment, where she is simultaneously both and neither. Instead, her actions sit somewhere on the outside of our current perceptions of both.

As Jessie Buckley’s new Bride graces our screens, she promises to follow in the footsteps of her rebellious predecessors – and a long horror tradition.

This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something from bookshop.org The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

– ref. A brief cinematic history of Frankenstein’s Bride as a feminist icon – https://theconversation.com/a-brief-cinematic-history-of-frankensteins-bride-as-a-feminist-icon-277294

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/09/a-brief-cinematic-history-of-frankensteins-bride-as-a-feminist-icon-277294/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney issued a stark warning in his address to the Australian parliament. The post-war global order is “breaking down”, he said, and middle powers like Canada and Australia risk subordination due to their integration with great powers like the United States.

But how entangled is Australia with the United States, and is Canada’s path the one we should follow?

Canada and Australia are “strategic cousins”, with many commonalities and shared interests. Both countries span the breadth of continents and face the Pacific Ocean. Both are free-market, common-law federations, founding members of the United Nations, Five Eyes partners, and extremely close US allies.

And both are middle powers that are active in international institutions and have been beneficiaries of the rules-based international order they helped create.

Yet, when it comes to the relationship with the US, there are some differences. Australia has long had a “fear of abandonment” from the US, while Canada has historically been worried more about entrapment and the vulnerability of its sovereignty.

The Canadians’ concern stems from their long shared border with the US: if they are unable or unwilling to defend their own borders, the US could do it for them, whether they liked it or not.

Under successive prime ministers, however, Canada’s defence spending has atrophied to the point where US President Donald Trump humiliated Carney’s predecessor as a mere “governor” of the “51st state”.

Canadians were incensed, their sense of honour tarnished. That sentiment has been reinforced by Trump’s arbitrary tariffs on Canada. Carney’s middle power push needs to be viewed somewhat through this lens.

And though Canada is looking to diversify its partnerships with other middle powers (including Australia), it can’t wean itself completely off trade with its neighbour. Nearly 80% of Canadian exports go to the US.

So, Canada’s enduring interests remain closely intertwined with those of the US, even though it doesn’t feel that way right now.

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The world order has “ruptured”, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has warned – so it’s time for countries like Australia and New Zealand to forge a new, less US-reliant future. In this new series, we’ve asked top experts to explain what that future could look like – and the challenges that lie ahead.

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Why the US needs Australia

While being similar in many ways, Australia’s predicament is also different from Canada’s. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gets this.

Australia is a largely Anglo-European transplant nation on the edge of Asia, where a rising and authoritarian China is increasingly expanding its influence and interests.

This has long made Australia a key strategic and military partner of the United States. This hasn’t changed, even with Trump’s “America first” rhetoric, shift in focus towards the Western Hemisphere and recent launching of a new war in the Middle East.

Trump isn’t going to give up the Indo-Pacific region to China. He wants to “successfully compete there”, as the National Security Strategy of 2025 puts it. This entails maintaining a robust military deterrence, with key regional allies doing more to help prevent a war.

The US sees Australia as vitally important to this deterrence. And it’s more invested in Australia than most realise.

This isn’t to say there haven’t been adjustments since Trump took power, however.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has articulated a new foreign policy based on “four Rs” – region, relationships, rules and resilience. She’s emphasised the US alliance being embedded within a broader web of relationships, rather than standing alone.

This reflects a more considered, less binary approach to the relationship. Australia is no longer seen as either a “dependent” or “independent” ally.

Rather, there is a middle ground for a middle power like Australia. This foreign policy acknowledges Australian reliance on the US military and intelligence for deterrence, but is more active in securing its own interests, particularly in the South Pacific and Southeast Asia.

Why Australia can’t replace the US so easily

Australia has long maintained a boutique defence force. With the strong US alliance in place, Australia doesn’t need to spend too much more on defence or enact compulsory national service. It just needs to ensure its military is high-tech and interoperable with its allies.

This model relies on trusted and ongoing access to the US military for hardware (warships, aircraft, tanks, air and space defence systems) and software (the technology to operate these systems and build robust intelligence gathering and cyber defence capabilities).

This involves collaborations with a range of US firms and the expansion of a national security innovation base in Australia, part of the AUKUS agreement.

Meanwhile, Australian sailors have been training at US naval facilities and are now crewing US nuclear-propulsion submarines. Under AUKUS, these subs will be stationed at the HMAS Stirling naval base in Western Australia as part of the Submarine Rotation Force West, starting next year.

The US and Australia also operate the Joint Defence Facility at Pine Gap, a signals intelligence surveillance base that provides crucial insights into the Indo-Pacific and beyond. Successive Australian governments have viewed this facility as worth the investment.

All of this shows how closely tied Australia is to the US from a military technology, equipment and intelligence standpoint. Finding alternatives to the US would be expensive, as would running legacy systems in parallel for decades.

The principal sources of alternative kit – among them, South Korea, Japan, Sweden and Germany – are all US allies, as well.

Some pundits have speculated that a more independent Australian foreign and defence policy would cost upwards of 4–5% of GDP to sustain. I believe it would cost considerably more.

Conceivably, Trump could weaponise these connections with Australia. However, Australia is not viewed in the same way as Canada on national security matters. The US administration has a keen appreciation of Australia’s importance in generating a deterrent effect in the Indo-Pacific.

Taking a more aggressive approach towards Australia would also bring incalculable harm to US interests in the region. Given what’s at stake, that remains highly unlikely.

How to be less dependent

In 2024, I wrote a paper exploring ways Australia can better respond to the “polycrisis” we face today. This includes the challenges posed by a changing climate, the green industry transformation, overstretched health services, deepening geopolitical shifts, and the growth of artificial intelligence.

I proposed a national institute to survey Australia’s options, and an incentivised but voluntary scheme for community and national service

But addressing these challenges also requires working more closely with our neighbours.

As part of this, we need a more muscular and sophisticated military force closely tied to our neighbours. This would bolster measures already being pursued in the Pacific, such as:

Australia is also taking steps to deepen security ties with Indonesia. I’ve proposed a future “regional maritime cooperation forum” starting with Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia that could collaborate on issues ranging from border security to intelligence, as well.

With so many shared interests and concerns, we can deepen ties with Canada, as well. The joint statement by Carney and Albanese last week outlines a substantial range of opportunities for expanding cooperation in critical minerals, defence and security, and strengthening institutions.

Australia is a middle power with small-power pretensions. It must manage its enduring US alliance ties while bolstering other arrangements in the region and beyond.

Working more closely with Canada would help ensure we can be a more confident, self-reliant regional leader, stepping forward in a crisis when others are reluctant. The upturned world order is an opportunity to just that.

– ref. Australia can’t easily reduce its military dependence on the US, but with Canada, we can mitigate risk – https://theconversation.com/australia-cant-easily-reduce-its-military-dependence-on-the-us-but-with-canada-we-can-mitigate-risk-276528

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/09/australia-cant-easily-reduce-its-military-dependence-on-the-us-but-with-canada-we-can-mitigate-risk-276528/

REVIEW: Asia Pacific Report

West Papuan diaspora, academics, students and community activists warmly applauded the screening of the new investigative documentary, Pesta Badi (Pig Feast): Colonialism in our Time, in its pre-launch international premiere in New Zealand last night.

It was shown for the first time back in West Papua at the southeastern town of Merauke, which is centred in the vast denuded rainforest area featured in the film, and also in the capital Jayapura on Friday.

Dramatic footage of scenes of village resisters against the massive destruction of rainforest in one of the three largest “lungs of the world”, shipping of barge-loads of heavy machinery, vast swathes of forest scoured out for rice and palm oil plantations, and of a traditional “pig feast” — the first in a decade — gripped the audience from the opening minute.

This is the largest forest conversion project in modern history — turning 2.5 million ha of tropical forest into industrial plantations under the guise of “food security” and the “energy transition”.

“It is a powerful film, rich with data and stories drawn from the lived experiences of masyarakat adat [Indigenous people],” comments Dr Veronika Kanem, a New Zealand-based Papuan academic and researcher, who was at the premiere with a group of her students.

“The film is also grounded in research conducted by Yayasan Pusaka, along with other national and local organisations.” She is pleased that her home village Muyu is featured in the film.

The audience was also treated to Q&A session with the film director, Dandhy Dwi Laksono and producer Victor Mambor, an award-winning investigative journalist and founder of Jubi Media, who first visited New Zealand 12 years ago.

Documented collusion
Investigative filmmaker Laksono gained a reputation for his 2019 documentary Sexy Killers, released just before the Indonesian general election year and documented the collusion between the political establishment and the destructive coal mining industry.

He was arrested later that year over tweets he posted about state violence in Papua.

Laksono and Mambor, along with co-director Cipri Dale, make up a formidable investigative team.

The storytelling focuses on the experiences of five Papuans and their communities:

Yasinta Moiwend was startled when, on a quiet morning, a massive ship docked at her village pier. The vessel carried hundreds of excavators and was escorted by military forces.

It was the first convoy of 2000 heavy machines to arrive in Papua under a National Strategic Project for food production, palm-based biodiesel, and sugarcane bioethanol.

Yasinta, a Marind Anim woman in Merauke, never realised that her village had been chosen as the ground zero for what would become the largest forest conversion project in modern history.

Vincen Kwipalo, from the Yei community, was likewise shocked when his clan’s land was suddenly marked with a sign reading: “Property of the Indonesian Army.” Only later did he learn that the land had been seized for the construction of a military battalion headquarters, at the very moment when a sugarcane plantation company was also encroaching on his ancestral forest.

Red Cross Movement
Threatened by the same project, Franky Woro and the Awyu community in Boven Digoel erected giant crosses and indigenous ritual markers on their land.

Known as the Red Cross Movement, this form of resistance has spread among Indigenous groups across South Papua.

More than 1800 red crosses have been planted to confront corporations and the military—both physically and spiritually. Though a Christian symbol is central to the movement, local Church pastors condemned it as not part of the church.

Dr Kanem says the film could have explored why the Awyu and Marind people chose to use the red cross, a symbol strongly associated with Christian values?

“Why did they not use their own cultural attributes or symbols instead?” she adds.

Laksono says: “Pig Feast combines detailed field recordings with in-depth research to examine the power structures behind the operation.

“It exposes how government and corporate entities — collaborating with military and religious groups — advance international and national goals of ‘food security’ and ‘energy transition’ at the expense of Indigenous communities and landscapes.”

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Multinational corporations
The documentary illustrates the networks of Indonesian elites, oligarchs, and multinational corporations that benefit from the project, providing a vivid depiction of the political ecology of Indonesian governance in Papua.

Pig Feast reveals how the system of colonialism remains intact today.

Asked at the screening how dangerous was the film making, Mambor described the hardships their small crew faced to “find the truth” under the noses of the Indonesian military.

He said they walked up to 17 km a day at times to get the exclusive footage obtained for the documentary.

International journalists are banned from West Papua and a 2019 resolution by the Pacific Islands Forum calling for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit West Papua to investigate allegations of human rights abuses has been ignored by Jakarta.

The film reveals how 10 companies — all owned by one family — gained the backing of three presidents.

The Jhonlin Group, owned by oligarch Andi Syamsuddin Arsyad (aka Haji Isam), ordered about 2000 excavators from Chinese company SANY, considered one of the largest orders of its kind in the world, to clear one million hectares.

‘Second thoughts’ on Gaza
Q&A moderator Dr David Robie, deputy chair of the Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN), notes the massive military involved in the operations in West Papua — as shown in the film — and how Israel has been counting on Indonesia forming “the backbone” of the planned “International Stabilisation Force” for the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza with about 8000 troops because of its experience in “suppressing rebellion”.

“However, since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran it seems that Jakarta has now had second thoughts,” he said.

Indonesia has suspended all discussions on the so-called “Board of Peace” initiative launched by US President Donald Trump, citing the military escalation in the Middle East, reports Anadolu Ajansi.

Critics had argued that joining a council led by the Trump administration could undermine Indonesia’s longstanding support for the “free Palestinian” cause.

Indonesia’s Ulema Council, the country’s top Islamic scholar body, had also called for an immediate withdrawal from the Trump initiative.

The filmmakers and documetary will now go to Australia for screenings in Sydney, Melbourne and hopefully Brisbane.

West Papua updates
Earlier in the day, at a two-day West Papua Solidarity Forum at the University of Auckland, several speakers gave updates and an analysis on political and social developments in the repressed Melanesian region.

Among speakers were Papuan environmental campaigner for Pusaka Dorthea Wabiser, longtime Aotearoa and West Papua human rights campaigner Maire Leadbeater, Papuan cultural advocate Ronny Kareni , Hawai’ian academic Dr Emalani Case, Ngaruahine researcher Dr Arama Rata, PNG academic at Waikato University Nathan Rew, West Papuan scholar Kerry Tabuni, Green Party Pacific peoples and foreign affairs spokesperson Teanau Tuiono, and forum organiser Catherine Delahunty of the West Papua Action Tāmaki Makaurau and West Papua Action Aotearoa.

Viktor Yeimo, international spokesperson of the KNPB (National Committee for West Papua) and PRP (Papuan People’s Petition), and several Papuan community spokespeople shared messages by video link.

Yeimo spoke about how many students, activists, journalists, church leaders and communities of faith in West Papua faced risks when they spoke about justice and political rights.

“To ignite a large log, one must first find many small pieces [kindling],” he said. “Each piece alone cannot produce a great fire, but together they create enough heat to ignite something much larger.”

He said one pathway involved meaningful political reform within Indonesia, including stronger protection of Indigenous rights and genuine regional autonomy.

Another pathway involved inclusive political dialogue between the Indonesian government and legitimate representatives of Papuan society, like ULMWP (United Liberation Movement of West Papua).

A third pathway existed within international law, “it is the possibility of a self-determination process supervised by an international institution [such as the United Nations].”

He pointed to the progress of the self-determination processes of Bougainville and Kanak New Caledonia for example.

Yeimo said Papuans wanted to build a Pacific future “grounded in justice and solidarity”.

A Papuan rapper spoke on screen saying he wasn’t afraid of the repression of authorities, “but they seem to be afraid of me and my music.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/09/west-papuan-doco-pig-feast-exposes-oligarchs-food-security-crisis-and-ecocide-under-noses-of-military/

COMMENTARY:  By Eugene Doyle

Three more schools and a major hospital have been bombed in Iran and more in Lebanon by the US-Israeli military, all within the first week of launching their latest war.

This is a pattern, not “collateral damage”. Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations Amir-Saeid Iravani said on March 7 that the US and Israel “recognise no red line in committing their crimes” against his country.

Densely populated parts of Tehran are being pounded by wave after wave of US and Israeli bombs.  Shahid Hamedani School in Tehran was struck on March 6, the day of the funerals of schoolgirls (6-12 year-olds) killed in Minab, Iran.

UN officials have confirmed that the Minab attack killed 160 children and five staff.

The Palestinians, despite the genocide inflicted on them by Israel and the West, have never become used to the daily killing of children: “The smallest coffins are always the heaviest,” Palestinians say.

Israel has killed many times more women, children and babies than they have Palestinian resistance fighters. There is even a name for this depravity — the Dahiya Doctrine.

Israel’s Dahiya Doctrine and the law of proportionality
International media are reporting that Dahiya, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, is suffering another brutal aerial bombardment from the Israelis.

Dahiya — al-Dahiya al-Janubiya — is home to 700,000 civilians living in high-density housing. The suburb lends its name to Israel’s policy of using massive, disproportionate force against civilians and infrastructure to weaken an enemy’s resolve.

It is, of course, a war crime to do so.

In the 2006 Lebanon War, Israel attacked Dahiya, a popular stronghold of the Hezbollah movement. The massive bombing campaign wasn’t to achieve a military objective; the target was civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Hundreds of children were among the dead.

I have a fabric reproduction of Pablo Picasso’s Guernica on my office wall. It has been coloured red, green black and white – the colours of the Palestinian flag — to draw the important parallel.

The governments of New Zealand, Australia, the UK, Canada and all the others, with rare noble exceptions like Spain, support this depraved criminality. We share values with the Israelis and the Americans, our leaders tell us.

The Principle of Proportionality is critical to protect children
The Americans and Israelis have a bloodlust and openly brag about their destructive abilities. Operation Epic Fury screams to the world: “war crimes”.

What should constrain US-Israeli violence is international law and the principle that there are limits to what is acceptable in “incidental” harm caused to civilians.

Proportionality is one of the foundational concepts in international law, along with other important injunctions like the prohibition of force against sovereign states. Under the Geneva Convention, before undertaking military action states are obligated to consider: Distinction (separating civilians from combatants), Proportionality, Precaution (taking care to minimise civilian harm), Military Necessity (i.e. don’t launch wars of aggression), and Humanity — prohibiting unnecessary suffering.

This is the exact opposite of the Dahiya Doctrine and the American Way of War — from Korea to Iraq by way of Vietnam. Over six million civilians were killed by the US in just those three conflicts alone.

Article 51 of the Geneva Convention
The principle of proportionality is codified in Article 51 of the Geneva Conventions, and affirmed as binding customary international law applicable to all parties in all conflicts.  This is further affirmed by the International Committee of the Red Cross’s Rule 14 which states:

“Launching an attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated, is prohibited.”

The West has torn up its copies of international law but we need to keep its spirit alive. New Zealand, Australia and most of the “civilised world” are signatories to various treaties that require them to enforce humanitarian law upon belligerents. Instead, our countries work day and night to support Israel and the US in their evil work. Evil is the appropriate word here.

I will give the last word to the Israeli commander who led the 2006 terror bombing of Dahiya, General Gadi Eisenkot, chief of Northern Command:

“What happened in the Dahiya quarter of Beirut in 2006 will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on. We will apply disproportionate force on it (villages) and cause great damage and destruction there. From our standpoint, these are not civilian villages, they are military bases. This is a plan. And it has been approved.”

Eugene Doyle is a community organiser based in Wellington, publisher of Solidarity and a contributor to Asia Pacific Report. His first demonstration was at the age of 12 against the Vietnam war. This article was first published by Solidarity.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/08/the-smallest-coffins-are-always-the-heaviest-the-us-israeli-killing-of-children-must-be-stopped/

Thousands of British anti-war demonstrators yesterday marched through central London, calling for an immediate halt to US and Israeli military operations against Iran and an end to arms sales to Israel, Anadolu Ajansi reports.

According to the Manchester Evening News, the protest drew between 5000 and 6000 participants, based on estimates from the Metropolitan Police.

The rally began at Millbank near Victoria Tower Gardens at noon and was organised by a coalition of activist groups, including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Stop the War Coalition and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Protesters marched toward the US Embassy carrying placards reading “Stop Trump’s Wars” and “No War on Iran,” while others waved Iranian and Palestinian flags.

Some demonstrators also carried portraits of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Organisers described the military strikes as “illegal” and warned that escalating conflict could place millions of civilians at risk across the Middle East.

Chris Nineham, vice-chair of the Stop the War Coalition, said the situation represented one of “the most dangerous global moments in decades.”

‘Murder and mayhem’
“[US President Donald] Trump and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu are creating murder and mayhem across the Middle East,” Nineham said in a video posted on social media from the protest.

“They are risking spreading war across the Middle East, and they are creating the conditions of volatility and instability around the world, and what is disgraceful is that our government is allowing British bases to be used to promote this mayhem.”

He added that many people in Britain opposed the war and called for a broad and vocal movement to mobilise against the conflict and advocate for peace.

Tensions in the Middle East have escalated since the US and Israel launched a large-scale attack on Iran on February 28, killing more than 1300 people, including Khamenei and more than 165 schoolgirls, and senior military officials.

Iran has retaliated with sweeping barrages of its own that have targeted US bases, diplomatic facilities, and military personnel across the region, as well as multiple Israeli cities. At least 11 Israelis have been killed.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/08/thousands-of-protesters-in-london-demand-end-to-us-israeli-war-on-iran/

ANALYSIS: By Hana Saada

In an era when images can circle the globe in seconds and newsrooms claim to uphold universal humanitarian principles; one might expect the killing of 165 schoolgirls inside a primary school to dominate international headlines.

One would expect emergency debates, moral outrage, and relentless coverage.

Yet in the southeastern Iranian city of Minab — where Israeli-American strikes obliterated classrooms filled with children — the world’s most influential media institutions have responded with something far more revealing than condemnation: they have responded with silence.

These were not combatants. They were not militants. They were children seated at their desks, pens in their hands, notebooks open before them, studying, whispering to classmates, and imagining futures that stretched decades ahead.

In seconds, that ordinary school day turned into a massacre. Desks became splintered wreckage, classrooms collapsed into dust, and rows of coffins replaced rows of pupils.

Yet the names of these girls — 165 lives extinguished before they truly began — barely entered the global conversation.

This omission is not the product of oversight. It reflects something far more structural: the hierarchy of victims that governs much of the contemporary information order.

In theory, modern Western media institutions present themselves as defenders of human rights and guardians of moral accountability. In practice, their editorial priorities often mirror geopolitical interests with striking precision.

Human rights losing integrity
When the deaths of children generate outrage in one context but indifference in another, the moral language surrounding human rights begins to lose its integrity.

When tragedies reinforce established narratives about adversarial states, they are amplified, dramatised, and transformed into global moral spectacles.

But when tragedies expose the human cost of the military actions carried out by Western powers or their closest allies, they are quietly displaced from the front page —if they appear at all.

The massacre in Minab illustrates this logic with devastating clarity.

The deaths of 165 Iranian schoolgirls do not fit comfortably within the dominant geopolitical storyline that portrays Israel and its strategic partners as defenders of stability and order in a turbulent region.

Acknowledging such an atrocity would inevitably raise difficult questions: about the legality of strikes on civilian infrastructure, about the ethics of military escalation, and about the widening humanitarian toll of ongoing Israeli-American attacks across the region.

It is therefore far easier to look away.

Minab not isolated tragedy
But Minab is not an isolated tragedy. Across Lebanon, relentless bombardments have repeatedly struck civilian neighbourhoods, reducing homes and streets to rubble.

Across Palestine, entire communities have endured cycles of destruction that claim the lives of children whose only battlefield was the ground beneath their feet. Hospitals, schools, and residential blocks have all entered the expanding geography of devastation.

These events do not occur in a vacuum. They form part of a broader pattern in which military power operates alongside narrative power. Missiles shape the physical battlefield, while selective reporting shapes the battlefield of perception.

What emerges is not merely a media bias but a form of narrative engineering. Certain victims are elevated as symbols of universal suffering, while others — often far more numerous — are rendered invisible. Compassion itself becomes curated, distributed unevenly according to political convenience.

For Western audiences accustomed to believing in the neutrality of their information systems, this selective visibility should provoke serious reflection. The credibility of humanitarian discourse depends on consistency.

The girls of Minab deserved the same recognition afforded to any victims of violence anywhere in the world. They deserved to have their stories told, their lives acknowledged, and their deaths confronted with the seriousness such an atrocity demands.

Instead, they encountered a second form of erasure.

First came the missiles that ended their lives. Then came the silence that followed.

Selective visibility needs reflection
For Western audiences accustomed to believing in the neutrality of their information systems, this selective visibility should provoke serious reflection.

In the contemporary information age, propaganda rarely announces itself openly. It often operates through absence — through the stories that never reach the front page, the victims whose names remain unspoken, and the tragedies that disappear before the world has time to notice.

The massacre in Minab therefore stands as more than a local catastrophe. It exposes a deeper crisis in the global information order — one in which the value of human life appears disturbingly contingent on political context.

And if the deaths of 165 schoolgirls in their classrooms fail to trigger universal outrage, the question is no longer about geopolitics alone.

It becomes a question about the credibility of the moral system that claims to defend humanity itself.

Dr Hana Saada is an Algerian university lecturer and journalist, and editor-in-chief of the English edition of Dzair Tube. She holds a PhD in media translation and writes on geopolitics, media narratives, and international affairs. This article is republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/08/165-massacred-schoolgirls-in-iran-and-the-silence-that-exposes-the-wests-moral-selectivity/

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

Two Victorian polls have One Nation at 23–24% with Labor on top on primary votes in one and the Coalition in the other. Labor has a huge lead in New South Wales as the right vote is split under optional preferential voting. A record number of candidates will contest the March 21 South Australian election.

The Victorian election is in late November. A Freshwater poll for The Herald Sun, conducted February 19–23 from a sample of 1,030, gave Labor 28% of the primary vote (down two since the November Freshwater poll), the Coalition 27% (down ten), One Nation 23% (not previously asked for), the Greens 13% and all Others 9%. After preferences, Labor and the Coalition were tied at an unchanged 50–50.

The close result on voting intentions comes despite Labor Premier Jacinta Allan’s -33 net approval (down one point). Liberal leader Jess Wilson’s net approval was steady at +15, and Wilson led Allan as preferred premier by 46–30 (47–31 previously).

By 59–25, respondents thought the government is doing a bad job running Victoria. The Poll Bludger said that by 74–7, respondents supported a royal commission into alleged corruption within the CFMEU.

A Victorian Redbridge and Accent Research poll for The Australian Financial Review, conducted February 18–27 from a sample of 2,165, gave the Coalition 28% of the primary vote (down 12 since the December Redbridge poll), Labor 25% (down six), One Nation 24% (not previously asked for), the Greens 13% (up one) and all Others 10% (down seven).

By respondent preferences, the Coalition led Labor by 52–48, a two-point gain for the Coalition. Labor led One Nation by 53–47.

By 59–25, respondents did not think the Allan government has the right focus and priorities (59–26 previously). But by 44–27, they did not think Wilson and the Coalition have done enough to deserve to win the next election (43–25 previously). By 65–21, they thought Victoria was headed in the wrong direction.

While these polls both give One Nation 23–24% of the primary vote and have it just behind both major parties, they don’t replicate the Victorian SMS mid-February Morgan poll that had One Nation on 26.5% and first on primary votes.

It’s over eight months until the election, but current polls imply a Coalition government dependent on One Nation support is a distinct possibility. I believe Allan’s dismal ratings will drag Labor further down.

Labor has huge lead in a NSW state poll

The New South Wales state election is in March 2027. A DemosAU and Premier National poll for The Daily Telegraph, conducted February 24 to March 4 from a sample of 1,032, gave Labor 34% of the primary vote (down three since the October DemosAU poll), the Coalition 23% (down seven), One Nation 21% (not previously asked for), the Greens 15% (up two) and all Others 7% (down 13).

After preferences, Labor led the Coalition by 61–39, a two-point gain for Labor. NSW is currently the only Australian jurisdiction with single-member seats to use optional preferential voting. This hurts the right in this poll as the two right-wing parties are at 21–23% and many of their preferences would exhaust.

Labor Premier Chris Minns had a +21 net positive rating, with 38% positive and 17% negative. Liberal leader Kellie Sloane was at net +3 (22% positive, 19% negative). Minns led Sloane by 48–24 as preferred premier (44–25 vs Mark Speakman in October).

Half of the 42 upper house seats will be up for election using proportional representation with preferences. Upper house voting intentions were 29% Labor (down one), 22% One Nation (up seven), 21% Coalition (steady), 13% Greens (steady) and 15% for all Others (down six).

This poll contrasts with a Morgan SMS NSW poll, conducted February 16–19 from a sample of 2,108, that gave One Nation 30% of the primary vote, Labor 25%, the Coalition 19%, the Greens 12.5% and all Others 13.5%. I’ve previously written that SMS polls may have too many motivated respondents.

Record number of candidates to contest SA election

It’s less than two weeks until the March 21 South Australian state election. ABC election analyst Antony Green said a record 388 candidates will contest the 47 lower house seats, far exceeding the previous record of 302 candidates in 2002. That’s an average of 8.3 candidates per seat. Labor, the Liberals, One Nation, the Greens and the Australian Family Party will contest every seat and Family First 35 seats.

Eleven of the 22 upper house seats will be elected using statewide proportional representation with preferences. There are 47 candidates for the upper house in 17 columns, down from 50 candidates and 20 columns in 2022.

The Liberals will recommend preferences to One Nation above Labor in all seats on their how to vote material. One Nation will not be recommending preferences.

NT Nightcliff byelection: Labor gains from Greens

A byelection occurred Saturday in the one Greens-held Northern Territory seat of Nightcliff. Labor gained from the Greens, defeating them by 51.9–48.1, a 2.3% swing to Labor since the 2024 NT election. This gives Labor five seats out of 25 in the NT parliament.

Primary votes were 33.5% Greens (up 11.5%), 28.9% Labor (down 3.9%), 20.3% for the governing Country Liberal Party (down 3.4%) and 17.3% for a teal independent (new). In 2024 another independent had won 19.2%. Labor won despite the big swing to the Greens on primary votes by improving their share of preferences.

Federal Morgan poll and further Redbridge results

A national Morgan poll, conducted February 23 to March 1 from a sample of 1,554, gave Labor 30.5% of the primary vote (down 0.5 since the February 16–22 Morgan poll), the Coalition 23.5% (down 0.5), One Nation 22% (up 1.5), the Greens 11.5% (down one) and all Others 12.5% (up 0.5).

By respondent preferences, Labor led the Coalition by 56–44, a 1.5-point gain for Labor. By 2025 election flows, Labor led by 53.5–46.5, a 0.5-point gain for the Coalition.

I previously reported the late February Redbridge poll for The Financial Review. The Poll Bludger reported that Barnaby Joyce’s net favourability was up two points since January to -17 and Nationals leader David Littleproud was up one to -13.

Cost of living, healthcare, housing affordability and immigration were rated the most important issues. The Coalition and One Nation combined led Labor and the Greens combined by 37–31 on cost of living, 33–30 on housing and 54–21 on immigration. The left’s one lead was on healthcare by 38–32.

Respondent preferences suggest that in a contest between Labor and the Coalition, One Nation preferences would split 77–23 to the Coalition. However, if it’s Labor vs One Nation, Coalition preferences only split to One Nation by 69–31.

– ref. Two Victorian polls have One Nation at 23–24%, but differ on which party is in the lead – https://theconversation.com/two-victorian-polls-have-one-nation-at-23-24-but-differ-on-which-party-is-in-the-lead-277331

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/08/two-victorian-polls-have-one-nation-at-23-24-but-differ-on-which-party-is-in-the-lead-277331/

ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on March 8, 2026.

ER Report: A Roundup of Significant Articles on EveningReport.nz for March 7, 2026
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on March 7, 2026.

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/08/er-report-a-roundup-of-significant-articles-on-eveningreport-nz-for-march-8-2026/

ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on March 7, 2026.

Devastating new ‘ecocide’ film to premiere at West Papua solidarity forum
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – Asia Pacific Report A new documentary film on the devastating “ecocide” happening in West Papua will be screened as a world premiere at a weekend solidarity forum in Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau this weekend. The 90min feature film, Pesta Babi (“Pig Feast”) — Colonialism In Our Time,

Australian children now have half as many moles as kids in 1992. That’s good news for melanoma risk
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Duffy, Research Fellow, Genetic Epidemiology Lab, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute About one in two Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer by age 70. The most dangerous kind is melanoma, which develops in skin cells called melanocytes that have been overexposed to the sun. Common

The Iran war has triggered a fuel price rise. What does this mean for Australian consumers?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Hepburn, Professor of Law, Deakin University As many Australians prepare for the Labour Day long weekend, you might be watching the price at the fuel bowser with more trepidation than usual. The crisis in the Middle East has caused global disruptions to energy and liquid fuel

War in Iran – journalism in crisis as reporters work amid bombs, says RSF
Pacific Media Watch Journalists in Iran have been working amid hostile air strikes for almost a week since the start of the US-Israeli offensive while also facing repression from the Iranian regime. Internet access in the country remains limited and information is scarce. As war spreads across the region, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has expressed

The Greens’ election review flew under the radar. Here’s what it said
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nathan Fioritti, Lecturer in Politics, School of Social Sciences, Monash University The 2025 Australian federal election was defined by its many shock results, from the Labor Party’s thumping victory to the Liberals’ considerable losses. Another defining feature of this election were the setbacks experienced by the Greens,

The US sank an Iranian warship and didn’t rescue the survivors. Is this legal in war?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jennifer Parker, Adjunct Professor, Defence and Security Institute, The University of Western Australia; UNSW Sydney News that a United States submarine had torpedoed and sunk the Iranian warship IRIS Dena about 40 nautical miles off Sri Lanka this week took many observers by surprise. An attack like

US-Israel’s war on Iran – mostly negative scenarios for the Pacific
ANALYSIS: By Stephen Howes and Rubayat Chowdhury There is no doubt that the war Israel and the United States have launched against Iran will have global economic consequences. While it is difficult to know what those consequences will be, it is hard to see them as positive, and they could be very, very negative. Already

ER Report: A Roundup of Significant Articles on EveningReport.nz for March 6, 2026
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on March 6, 2026.

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/07/er-report-a-roundup-of-significant-articles-on-eveningreport-nz-for-march-7-2026/

Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. –

Asia Pacific Report

A new documentary film on the devastating “ecocide” happening in West Papua will be screened as a world premiere at a weekend solidarity forum in Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau this weekend.

The 90min feature film, Pesta Babi (“Pig Feast”) — Colonialism In Our Time, produced by award-winning Papuan journalist Victor Mambor and directed by Dandhy Dwi Laksono, tells a story about the impact of the Indonesian government and military on the lives of thousands of Papuans trying to protect their rainforests from destruction.

It also relates the plight of thousands of internal refugees in the Melanesian region.

The peaceful resistance of local communities is revealed in the documentary as they face up to 54,000 Indonesian troops and large corporate entities make big profits at the expense of an ancient culture.

Dorthea Wabiser of the environmental and human rights group Pusaka, will speak on the deforestation and displacement of communities in the south-eastern district of Merauke  where Indonesia is destroying 2.5 million ha of rainforest for palm oil, sugar cane, biodiesel, rice and other crops.

Military force is deployed to silence any dissent from communities.

[embedded content]
Pesta Babi (Pig Feast).                              Trailer: Jubi Media

Solidarity group hosts
The solidarity group West Papua Action Aotearoa with West Papua Action Tāmaki are hosting the two-day public forum on March 7 and 8 with the speakers from West Papua including environmental champions and filmmakers who operate in militarised zones at considerable risk to their personal safety.

Also, a media talanoa featuring Jubi Media founder Victor Mambor and others will be hosted by the Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN) at the Whānau Community Centre and Hub on March 9.

“The forum is an important event with a number of speakers and filmmakers from West Papua telling the hidden stories of the Indonesian occupation of their country,” said organiser Catherine Delahunty.

The climate impact of their destruction was incredibly serious as was the use of the military to enforce an end to traditional life, food sources, and forests, she said in a statement.

“These people are our Pacific neighbours with a devastating story to tell that our government and others across the world have chosen to ignore,” she said.

“They have a right to come here and to be heard despite the media bans in Indonesia and the desire of successive New Zealand governments to ignore structural genocide in our region.

NZ citizen kidnapped
“Only when a NZ citizen was kidnapped by Papuan soldiers did the government show any interest in West Papua, and this quickly faded once he was safely released thanks especially to West Papuan efforts.”

Other speakers at the forum include veteran activist and writer Maire Leadbeater, Green MP Teanau Tuiono, Hawai’an academic Dr Emalani Case, journalist and author Dr David Robie, Dr Arama Rata of Te Kuaka, and PNG academic Dr Nathan Rew.

• Forum Day One (public sessons), Saturday, March 7:  Old Choral Hall, University of Auckland, 7 Symonds St,  9am–4pm.
• World Premiere of “Pesta Babi” (The Pig Feast) documentary with Q&A – The Academy Cinema, Lorne St, CBD (below the Auckland Public Library), March 7, 6-8.30pm.
• Forum Day Two (solidarity development), Sunday, March 8: The Taro Patch, 9 Dunnotar Rd, Papatoetoe.
• Media Talanoa, Monday, March 9: “Kōrero with Victor Mambor: West Papua: Journalism as Resistance” – Whānau Community Centre and Hub, 165 Stoddard Rd, Mt Roskill (Next to Harvey Norman), 6-8pm.
• Further information: Catherine Delahunty, West Papua Action Tāmaki and West Papua Action Aotearoa. Tel: 021 2421967

This article was first published on Café Pacific.

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/06/devastating-new-ecocide-film-to-premiere-at-west-papua-solidarity-forum/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Hepburn, Professor of Law, Deakin University

As many Australians prepare for the Labour Day long weekend, you might be watching the price at the fuel bowser with more trepidation than usual.

The crisis in the Middle East has caused global disruptions to energy and liquid fuel markets. And we are feeling it in Australia.

Shipping in the crucial Strait of Hormuz, the only sea passage from the oil-rich Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has come to a virtual standstill, sparking a global oil price rise of about 10%. And the risk of Middle Eastern energy infrastructure becoming military targets has also raised the prospect of reduced production.

So, what does this mean for Australia?

Prices rising

Australia imports roughly 90% of its liquid fuel (refined petrol and diesel). This means world crude oil prices have a direct impact on our pump prices.

In Australia, analysts say petrol prices could jump by around 40c a litre, meaning the cost of filling the tank would be about $24 for a 60 litre tank.

Airfares are also affected, because jet fuel is directly linked to crude oil prices. Prices could rise by 10–20%, and even more for long-haul international flights, which use more fuel.

Is Australia buffered from oil price spikes?

The short answer is no. As an importer of liquid fuel, Australia is highly susceptible to oil prices spikes, meaning global shocks flow directly to the pump. There is no liquid fuel market to regulate, so the only protection we have as importers is the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which monitors exploitative retail behaviour.

The ACCC can intervene to prevent price gouging and unconscionable practices, but it has no power over the market. Therefore, it cannot insulate consumers against normal market increases.

There is also the possibility that oil supplies will run low. The International Energy Agency (IEA) requires countries keep a stockpile of oil to be used where global shocks cause a shortage. However, Australia’s current emergency strategic fuel reserve is “non-compliant”, and has been since 2012. At the start of 2026, Australia has an estimated 36 days of petrol, 34 days of diesel and 32 days of jet fuel. This is the largest stockpile Australia has had in 15 years, but it still may not be enough.

If our fuel supply slows and the government declares an emergency, priority must be given to critical services such as essential works, the defence force and national security, over public distribution. Based on this, the prediction is that reserves could cover 26 days of usual petrol demand, 25 days of diesel consumption, and 20 days’ worth of jet fuel.

What about gas and electricity prices?

Australia produces a lot of gas (especially Liquid Natural Gas or LNG), and our domestic east coast gas prices are linked to global LNG export prices. This is because gas producers want to sell gas at the highest prices, and these are generally found on the export market. Because of this, a significant percentage of gas produced annually in Australia is sold internationally to countries like South Korea, Japan and China. In the first half of 2025, roughly 93% of LNG produced in Australia was shipped overseas.

Where global LNG prices rise, exporters can charge more overseas and this puts upward pressure on domestic gas prices, even when supply levels have not changed. If Australian gas generators increase the wholesale price of gas because of a global spike in prices, domestic gas and electricity prices also go up.

Disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has pushed up the international price of LNG because traders expect tighter supplies. Since the Middle East crisis began, LNG prices have soared by about 12%.

How can Australia respond?

Since 2023, Australia has a mandatory gas code in place to reasonable domestic gas prices and supply on the east coast. It imposes a price cap of $12 per gigajoule, good-faith negotiation rules, and transparency obligations on producers.

But this code is not a full shield – if LNG prices surge dramatically, domestic gas prices may still rise within the “reasonable price” threshold. Nonetheless, domestic consumers on the east coast are better protected than previously.

In addition, Australia still has the Domestic Gas Reservation Mechanism, which allows the government to trigger export controls in the event of a domestic shortfall. It has never been triggered and it has a lead-in time, but it is possible.

The government has also proposed a gas reservation policy, set to take effect in 2027. It will mean suppliers of gas in the east coast market must not enter into wholesale supply contracts where the gas price exceeds a reasonable price.

How will this gas reservation policy work?

Under the scheme, gas exporters will need to demonstrate they have met domestic supply obligations before LNG export approvals can be granted. They will also be required to set aside 15–25% of production for domestic supply.

The overall aim is to increase domestic gas availability and reduce reliance on volatile export pricing. Once implemented, the reservation policy combined with the mandatory gas code will help to insulate Australian consumers from price spikes like those currently triggered by the Iran conflict.

However, the reservation policy will only apply to a fraction of total supply and cannot fully insulate against a prolonged global increase in pricing. There’s no easy answer, and more fuel price hikes are likely.

– ref. The Iran war has triggered a fuel price rise. What does this mean for Australian consumers? – https://theconversation.com/the-iran-war-has-triggered-a-fuel-price-rise-what-does-this-mean-for-australian-consumers-277605

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/06/the-iran-war-has-triggered-a-fuel-price-rise-what-does-this-mean-for-australian-consumers-277605/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Duffy, Research Fellow, Genetic Epidemiology Lab, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute

About one in two Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer by age 70. The most dangerous kind is melanoma, which develops in skin cells called melanocytes that have been overexposed to the sun.

Common moles also develop from melanocytes, and appear as small dark marks or bumps on your skin. They are usually harmless growths, but any individual mole has a low risk of developing into a melanoma.

The more moles you have, the more likely one may become malignant. So a high “mole count” is one of the strongest risk factors for melanoma.

But there’s good news. Over the last 25 years, our team of researchers has tracked the number of moles on almost 4,000 Australian children and observed a nearly 50% drop in that period. Here’s what we found.

Why moles matter

Most Australian children develop moles, with the average teenager having 50 moles by age 15. They are most common in people with paler skin who are exposed to intense ultraviolet radiation (UV).

People with more than 100 moles are seven times more likely to develop melanoma during their lifetime, compared to those with fewer than 15 moles.

Other risk factors for melanoma include having paler skin or hair colour, a family history of unusual moles or melanoma, and certain genetic conditions.

What we studied, and what we found

In the early 1990s, our research team began the Brisbane Twin Nevus Study.

Each year, we examined 12-year-old twins and their siblings living in sun-drenched south-east Queensland. We studied twins because they can help us measure how both genetic and environmental factors affect mole count.

In total, we followed 3,957 children in the years between 1992 and 2016. We found the average number of moles on children’s bodies fell by 47% over that period.

Based on this drop, we predict this would reduce these children’s lifetime risk of developing melanoma by four times, compared to children born in the 1980s.

It is hard to know exactly what caused this halving of childhood mole numbers. But our best explanation is that better sun protection and avoidance in early childhood has led to this drop.

The success of ‘Slip, Slop, Slap’

Research suggests children today, compared to kids in the 1990s and 2000s, are getting less UV exposure before age 12. We calculated that our observed drop in mole count between 1992 and 2016 could be explained by the average UV exposure dropping by 12%.

This is most likely the result of decades of sun safety campaigns which encouraged parents, schools, and communities to take UV protection seriously.

The “Slip, Slop, Slap” campaign is the most well-known example. It was launched by the Cancer Council in 1981. Thanks to a board short-wearing seagull and sun-smart jingle, this campaign has become an iconic part of Australian culture.

As researchers, it’s hard to establish a clear link between the impact of public health messaging and measurable health outcomes. But one 2023 study examined the sun protection practices in 25 Queensland childcare centres. It found centres which required children to wear sun-smart clothing saw a 25% decrease in the number of moles found in kids aged five and under.

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But parents can’t be complacent

A 47% drop in childhood mole numbers is worth celebrating. But the work doesn’t stop there.

Parents must be especially careful about sunburn. Sunburn is a sign your skin has been damaged by too much sun exposure. And repeated sunburns in childhood are one of the strongest risk factors for melanoma later in life.

Parents can also look out for any unusual moles on their child’s skin. Especially in children, moles are usually benign and very rarely turn into a melanoma. But if your child has a mole which changes in size, shape or colour, it’s best to get it assessed by a doctor.

And don’t forget about sun-smart habits. Our study reinforces the fact early sun protection, such as applying sunscreen, wearing hats and long-sleeved shirts, works. And they are easy to build into your family’s routine.

Many Australian parents are already teaching their kids about sun safety. But our study shows their everyday efforts, coupled with strong public health messaging, can save lives.

– ref. Australian children now have half as many moles as kids in 1992. That’s good news for melanoma risk – https://theconversation.com/australian-children-now-have-half-as-many-moles-as-kids-in-1992-thats-good-news-for-melanoma-risk-277620

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/06/australian-children-now-have-half-as-many-moles-as-kids-in-1992-thats-good-news-for-melanoma-risk-277620/

Pacific Media Watch

Journalists in Iran have been working amid hostile air strikes for almost a week since the start of the US-Israeli offensive while also facing repression from the Iranian regime.

Internet access in the country remains limited and information is scarce.

As war spreads across the region, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has expressed its solidarity with journalists in the zone and has called on all parties involved in the conflict to guarantee their protection and the right to information.

“As the region goes up in flames, access to reliable information about the war following the attacks carried out by the United States and Israel, is more essential than ever — both regionally and internationally,” said Jonathan Dagher, head of RSF’s Middle East Desk, in a statement.

“Every single stakeholder involved in this war in Iran and the Middle East more widely is required, under international law, to guarantee the safety of reporters and their freedom to carry out their work.”

Although the situation was volatile and characterised by violence, respect for the right to information was still an obligation,” he said.

“The safety of journalists is non-negotiable. War must under no circumstances hinder the work of the press.

‘Release journalists’ call
“US and Israeli strikes against Iran must not endanger the media professionals covering those events. The Iranian regime must immediately release the journalists it is holding and cease all pressures against those covering the war.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/06/war-in-iran-journalism-in-crisis-as-reporters-work-amid-bombs-says-rsf/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nathan Fioritti, Lecturer in Politics, School of Social Sciences, Monash University

The 2025 Australian federal election was defined by its many shock results, from the Labor Party’s thumping victory to the Liberals’ considerable losses.

Another defining feature of this election were the setbacks experienced by the Greens, who lost three seats in the House of Representatives. This included their safest seat, Melbourne, held by leader Adam Bandt.

With the Liberals’ attempt to make sense of their 2025 election loss recently leaked, what lessons did the Greens take from their results?

The Greens wasted no time with their review, finalising it just three months after the election. However, as it wasn’t widely circulated, it has flown under under the radar. So what did it say?

The puzzle behind the numbers

The Greens experienced an election result that, at first glance, is rather confusing.

On the one hand, the party received an almost identical primary vote to 2022. That was the “greenslide” election where the party won three additional lower house seats.

On the other, the 2025 vote undid the party’s progress, with the Greens losing three of four seats.

[embedded content]

Part of the explanation for this puzzle is the change in preference flows to the Greens that occurred when the Labor vote surged.

In seats where Labor, the Liberals and the Greens are all contesting, and they all get decent shares of the vote, the strength of the vote for the Greens candidate is often less important than whether the Labor candidate remains in the top two once the final three candidates are determined. This is because only preferences of those from third place on are distributed.

When Labor is in third place, preferences of voters who tend to prefer the Greens over the Liberal or Liberal National parties get distributed, often helping the Greens.

But if a Liberal or Liberal National party candidate comes third, those preferences tend to favour Labor over the Greens. That makes Labor much more likely to win the seat.

This does not fully solve the puzzle though. There was also, in most states and territories, a shift in where the Greens’ primary vote occurred. There were declines in inner city seats but growth elsewhere.

While the Greens experienced swings away from them in seats such as Melbourne, which took a 5.3% hit (but was also subject to an unfavourable redistribution), many others saw swings towards the party. The neighbouring seat of Fraser in Melbourne’s inner west recorded a boost of 6.4%.

Some of the party’s most disappointing results were recorded in target seats, while standout results were mostly in seats that weren’t targeted. This raises questions about the Greens’ targeting strategy.

Key review findings

The review concluded the Greens’ focus and positions on the cost of living crisis and what the party called a genocide in Palestine helped their campaign.

This is evident in the party’s stronger performance in more working class Labor heartland seats, where cost of living pressures likely hit voters hard – such as in Fraser, Lalor, Barton and Maribyrnong – as well as in Wills, where Palestine was a leading campaign issue. Interestingly, Wills is the only target seat where the Greens’ vote grew.

The report also identified numerous challenges that harmed the party, particularly when it came to retaining and winning new seats in the lower house. This included:

• significant shifts in the nature of the campaign over its duration, most prominently the increased anti-Trump sentiment leading to Labor also running hard on a “keep Dutton out” message

• changes in Greens voter demographics including a decline in support from young men, particularly in target seats

• challenges differentiating themselves from Labor

• climate and the environment not featuring prominently on the agenda

• difficulties retaining and winning new lower house seats

• the role of third parties, citing attacks from groups such as Advance.

The review also addressed internal issues related to resourcing and outdated campaign approaches and tools.

What’s missing?

While the conclusions drawn in the Greens election review are broadly reasonable, some important developments are overlooked or under-emphasised.

Returning to the party’s targeting strategy, the Greens’ target seat campaigns were broadly unsuccessful, with poor results in target seats offset by better results elsewhere.

This is not unique to this election, with similar trends observed in preceding local government and state elections.

Prior to the next federal election, serious consideration should be given to the potential realignment of the Greens’ support base away from inner-city areas and the implications of this for their targeting strategy.

Something else that should be considered is whether the centralisation of campaigns, and associated reduction in the agency of local campaigners, that tends to occur when seats are targeted, does more harm than good.

On difficulties in the lower house, the party will need to wrestle with the reality that, due to the nature of three-cornered contests, Green victories in these seats will remain vulnerable to major party vote shifts that are outside of their control.

This means that, at least in the near future, while the Senate will likely remain a chamber the Greens can count on for stability across elections, the same cannot be said for the House of Representatives.

Finally, while the Greens benefited from the element of surprise when they won a swathe of lower house seats in 2022, this falls away with incumbency. This means others – both political parties and third-parties – can counter them by developing more effective campaigns that learn from their success.

This is what played out in Queensland in 2024 when Labor effectively adopted Green-lite policies, such as 50 cent public transport fares and emulated the Greens’ volunteer-driven doorknocking methods. Although Labor lost this election, this strategy helped them regain South Brisbane and hold off further Green challenges in surrounding seats.

As the two-party system in Australia continues to fragment, there is potential for the Greens to benefit more from declining support for the major parties. Doing so, however, will mean navigating complex questions and dynamics.

– ref. The Greens’ election review flew under the radar. Here’s what it said – https://theconversation.com/the-greens-election-review-flew-under-the-radar-heres-what-it-said-277514

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/06/the-greens-election-review-flew-under-the-radar-heres-what-it-said-277514/

ANALYSIS: By Stephen Howes and Rubayat Chowdhury

There is no doubt that the war Israel and the United States have launched against Iran will have global economic consequences. While it is difficult to know what those consequences will be, it is hard to see them as positive, and they could be very, very negative.

Already we have seen oil prices spike by 8 percent since last week, and by much more since January.

Oil prices reached above US$100 a barrel with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but then gradually started to fall, and by the start of the year had returned to their pre-2022 level of US$60.

Just before the weekend they had risen to US$70 and now they are almost at US$80. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed, they could rise much more.

That is on the price front. There could also, unlike in 2022, be problems on the quantity side.

If it continues to be difficult to ship oil out of the Middle East, then shortages of oil might start to emerge. The countries that will do best in such a situation are those with large stockpiles or plenty of bargaining power.

The Pacific Island countries have neither.

Reliant on 80% oil
The Pacific is also vulnerable because of its extreme reliance on oil. According to a 2022 UN report, the Pacific meets 80 percent of its energy requirements through oil.

Even in the electricity sector, renewable energy sources make only a limited contribution.

There has been some growth in renewable energy as an electricity source. According to analysis by Janendra Prasad at UNSW, the share of renewable energy in electricity production in the Pacific has increased from 17 percent in 2017 to 24 percent in 2023. That is still low, and nowhere near what Pacific governments are themselves targeting (in excess of 80 percent by 2030).

The Pacific is also vulnerable because of its lack of domestic oil production and very limited storage capacity. In fact, Tonga suffered fuel shortages last year due to problems with its fuel depot and a stranded fuel vessel.

With drivers now queuing in Australia and the UK to get their petrol before prices rise or petrol rationing begins, it wouldn’t be surprising to see queues develop across the Pacific.

Governments can tell people not to panic, but it may seem like a rational response given the risks of petrol price rises and rationing.

It is important to clarify that PNG is the “odd one out” in the Pacific. PNG will actually likely benefit from the crisis as it is a large exporter of LNG. The government’s tax and dividend take will increase as LNG prices rise.

PNG oil refinery
PNG also has an oil refinery. And this war will also help the prospects for PNG’s much-delayed and still-uncertain future LNG projects by increasing the value to Asia of sourcing its LNG nearer to home than the Middle East.

So far we have focused on petroleum. But there are also the wider ramifications of the war.

It may lead to an uptick in global inflation, and may even push the world towards or even into recession. An oil shock on its own is unlikely to be enough to lead to a recession, but an escalated, widespread Middle East conflict (or possibly a conflict that extends to Turkey and Europe) certainly could.

Again, PNG will benefit from a further increase in the gold price as investors lose faith in the US, and therefore in the US dollar.

But overall, what is bad for the world is bad for the Pacific. Remittances, tourism, fishing licence fees, aid and investment returns would all suffer in the event of a global recession.

There is a possible upside. If Iran capitulates and, with or without regime change, gives in to US demands, then, with sanctions removed, oil production might go up and oil prices down.

Right now, that doesn’t seem like a likely scenario.

Relevant positives
More relevant are the positives that could limit or to some extent offset the downside for the Pacific.

One is that it is still unclear how long this war will go on for. The shorter it is the less worrying the outcomes.

A second is the positive role Australia can play. Although there are questions about Australia’s own limited oil storage capacity, Australia will be under pressure to share whatever oil it is able to import with its Pacific family.

Third, and longer-term, this crisis, especially if it is long-lasting, might make the world more serious about the renewable transition, not so much to avoid dangerous climate change, but to shore up energy security.

Understandably, for the Pacific, which is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts and whose emissions are negligible at the global level, the focus to date has been on climate change adaptation rather than mitigation.

But the sort of crisis currently unfolding should give the Pacific countries and their funders a stronger incentive to close the growing gap between Pacific renewable energy targets and reality — not to reduce the risks of climate change, but rather to reduce Pacific vulnerability to an increasingly shock- and conflict-prone Middle East.

Stephen Howes is director of the Development Policy Centre and professor of economics at the Crawford School of Public Policy at The Australian National University. Rubayat Chowdhury is a macroeconomist with experience working on monetary policy, growth, and economic development in emerging market economies. He is a research officer at the Development Policy Centre. 

Stephen Howes was recently interviewed on this topic for the ABC’s Pacific Beat programme.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/06/us-israels-war-on-iran-mostly-negative-scenarios-for-the-pacific/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jennifer Parker, Adjunct Professor, Defence and Security Institute, The University of Western Australia; UNSW Sydney

News that a United States submarine had torpedoed and sunk the Iranian warship IRIS Dena about 40 nautical miles off Sri Lanka this week took many observers by surprise. An attack like this so far from the Persian Gulf – and in a key trade route connecting China to the Middle East – suggests the arena of this war may be widening.

But the incident also highlights something rarely well understood outside military and legal circles: the law of naval warfare.

Many have wondered: was this attack lawful? And who was under an obligation to rescue survivors?

When does the law of naval warfare apply?

The law of naval warfare is a subset of the law of armed conflict.

The law of naval warfare sets out permissions and protections for combatants, civilians and neutral actors engaged in conflict at sea.

Importantly, it applies regardless of whether the resort to force was lawful.

In other words, you’re supposed to follow the law of the sea even if your whole justification for war in the first place isn’t legal under international law.

What’s more, the conduct of operations at sea is regulated by the law of naval warfare whether or not war has been formally declared.

The law of naval warfare also takes precedence over the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (where the two come into tension).

This reflects the principle of lex specialis in international law, meaning the more specific body of law applies.

These rules have developed over centuries as states sought to regulate the conduct of conflict at sea while still allowing navies to operate effectively.

So, was it legal for the US to sink the Iranian warship?

Yes, it was a lawful target.

Under the law of naval warfare, warships belonging to a state engaged in an international armed conflict are military objectives by nature. The rules say they may be lawfully targeted.

Such attacks may occur on the high seas or within the 12 nautical mile territorial waters of the states that are party to the international armed conflict (the belligerents). This means, effectively, that such an attack could happen anywhere outside the 12 nautical mile territorial waters of neutral states.

If the Iranian warship was within Sri Lankan waters (that is, within 12 nautical miles of the Sri Lankan coast) at the time, the attack wouldn’t have been lawful.

But in this case, IRIS Dena was reportedly operating outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters and therefore constitutes a lawful military target.

What does the law say about rescue of survivors?

The law of naval warfare also sets out obligations regarding the rescue of survivors.

Under the Second Geneva Convention of 1949, parties to a conflict must – after each engagement – take all possible measures to search for and collect the shipwrecked, wounded and sick.

These rules apply to naval warfare and require belligerents, so far as military circumstances permit, to assist survivors at sea.

In practice, however, submarines face particular challenges in fulfilling this obligation. Surfacing to rescue survivors may expose them to significant risk. You also can’t usually fit a large number of survivors on a submarine.

If a submarine cannot safely surface to rescue survivors, it may instead facilitate rescue by reporting their location to other vessels or authorities.

This practice has been noted in some key legal commentary on submarine warfare.

The swift response of the Sri Lankan navy, which rescued 32 sailors from IRIS Dena, suggests authorities were informed quickly of the incident. (Sri Lankan officials say 87 bodies were also retrieved).

How Sri Lankan authorities were informed is not yet clear, but it seems likely the US navy transmitted the location of the survivors.

Given the damage suffered by IRIS Dena and the reported casualties, the ship’s crew was unlikely to have been able to transmit their location themselves.

This may also explain why early reports suggested a submarine had sunk the vessel, before the US confirmed its involvement.

It is also unlikely the crew of IRIS Dena would have immediately known they had been struck by a submarine-launched torpedo. Such a torpedo would typically be fired from very far away, beyond the detection range of a ship’s hull-mounted sonar.

A lawful military target

While debate continues over the legal justification for the United States entering the conflict with Iran, the conduct of hostilities at sea is nonetheless governed by the law of naval warfare.

Under that framework, IRIS Dena therefore constitutes a lawful military target, and efforts to facilitate the rescue of survivors are consistent with those obligations.

– ref. The US sank an Iranian warship and didn’t rescue the survivors. Is this legal in war? – https://theconversation.com/the-us-sank-an-iranian-warship-and-didnt-rescue-the-survivors-is-this-legal-in-war-277606

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/06/the-us-sank-an-iranian-warship-and-didnt-rescue-the-survivors-is-this-legal-in-war-277606/

ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on March 6, 2026.

Epstein files reveal the power – and peril – of online sleuths doing the government’s work
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Oliver Alfred Guidetti, Post Doctoral Researcher, Cybersecurity and Psychology, University of Wollongong A large release of important documents once meant teams of journalists staying back, working through piles of records late into the night. Today, it triggers something closer to a public audit. The January 30 publication

Iran’s regime has shut down the internet in the middle of war – placing civilians in the crosshairs
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD Candidate in International Relations, Deakin University; Dublin City University On February 28, hours after the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran, the Iranian regime imposed a nationwide internet shutdown. Roughly one week into the conflict, it is estimated only around 1% of

Is honey good for you? Can it speed recovery if you’re sick or injured?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Laureate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle Honey is often praised for a range of health benefits, from soothing a sore throat and helping you get to sleep to healing woulds and lowering risk factors for diabetes and heart disease. Honey’s acidity has

English doesn’t need protecting in New Zealand – but other languages do
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sidney Wong, PhD Candidate in Linguistics (Canterbury) and Research Fellow, University of Otago Anyone tuning into political debates about the recently introduced English Language Bill might be led to think New Zealand’s most widely spoken tongue is endangered. The bill, which forms part of a coalition deal

In Trump’s precarious world, NZ will need all the middle-sized friends it can get
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicholas Ross Smith, Senior Research Fellow, National Centre for Research on Europe, University of Canterbury When a local political commentator recently suggested (partly tongue-in-cheek) that New Zealand might respond to US President Donald Trump’s new world order by becoming the seventh state of Australia, it was dismissed

40% of teenage boys believe women lie about domestic and sexual violence: new research
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Meger, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, The University of Melbourne On International Women’s Day, March 8, we often commemorate the progress women have made across the centuries. Rightly so, as there’s much to celebrate. But what if the more urgent story is about backlash? We are

Wasps and frogs keep evolving a crucial pain molecule in their venom. Now we know why
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Robinson, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland The next time you stub your toe, get pricked with a needle, or have your fingers jammed in the lid of a piano, you might pause to consider the marvellous way our bodies are

Hezbollah − degraded, weakened but not yet disarmed − destabilizes Lebanon once again
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mireille Rebeiz, Chair of Middle East Studies, Dickinson College The fragile peace in Lebanon was already showing serious strains in the first months of 2026 – and then came the U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran. After the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Hezbollah – a

Australia’s official plan for AI safety isn’t much more than a single dot point. Will it be enough?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By José-Miguel Bello y Villarino, Senior Research Fellow, Sydney Law School, University of Sydney Last week, one of Australia’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) researchers, Toby Walsh, warned Australia’s lack of guardrails for AI is putting young people at risk of being “sacrificed for the profits of big tech”.

New rules and high expectations: can Oscar Piastri break Australia’s F1 drought?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan van den Hoek, Senior Lecturer, Clinical Exercise Physiology, University of the Sunshine Coast The Australian Grand Prix launches the 2026 Formula 1 (F1) season at Melbourne’s Albert Park on Sunday. While the US strikes on Iran forced many teams to change their travel plans, organisers are

A ‘good death’ has a price – and a new study shows not everyone in palliative care can afford it
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Henrietta Byrne, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies, University of Sydney You would hope for your dying days to be full of calm and care. But our research with people who are dying shows this is far from the reality for many people. Instead, financial

New modelling shows renewable electricity can meet NZ’s future demand – without importing gas
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Brent, Professor and Chair in Sustainable Energy Systems, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington The government’s plan to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) has raised questions about whether this is the best approach to strengthening New Zealand’s energy security, not least because the conflict

We thought inbred koalas were at risk of extinction. But what we discovered upends genetic conventions
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Weeks, Associate Senior Research Scientist, The University of Melbourne If you follow media coverage of koalas, you could be forgiven for feeling confused. Recent stories describe a “koala paradox”: endangered in the north of Australia, abundant in the south; genetically diverse in some regions, genetically depleted

Meet ‘Tous’ — an entirely new genus of mammal we identified. Here’s why it’s so exciting
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Erik Meijaard, Honorary Professor of Conservation, University of Kent Mammals are not especially diverse. Roughly 6,800 mammal species are known to exist, compared with about 8,800 species of amphibian, 11,000 species of bird and 12,500 of reptile. Yet when most people picture biodiversity, they often think of

Fertiliser costs are soaring amid war in the Middle East. Will your grocery bill follow?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Ubilava, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Sydney Conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran has now led to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes. But oil is not the

Amanda Seyfried’s ‘prosthetic butthole’ isn’t a joke – costuming nudity is important for actors
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emily Brayshaw, Honorary Research Fellow, School of Design, University of Technology Sydney Amanda Seyfried wears a “prosthetic butthole” in her new movie, The Testament of Ann Lee. She told BBC Radio 2: This movie needed to be graphic, so I wore a prosthetic butthole. […] It was

‘I know she’d be really proud’ – NZ’s first Pasifika heritage All Blacks coach
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor The All Blacks have their first coach of Pasifika heritage. Dave Rennie has been given the job, replacing the ousted Scott Robertson. Rennie’s Cook Islands heritage comes via his mother, who hails from Titikaveka on Rarotonga, and Rennie even played a non-test match for the country in 1990. Asked

Who is Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s presumed next supreme leader? And would he bring change – or more brutal suppression?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mehmet Ozalp, Professor of Islamic Studies, Head of School, The Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation, Charles Sturt University The death of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, during the holy month of Ramadan marks one of the most consequential turning points in the history of the Islamic

Politics with Michelle Grattan: South Australian election special
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra South Australians are heading to the ballot box on March 21. If polls are correct, Peter Malinauskas’s Labor government will win in a landslide. Polling also indicates One Nation has pulled ahead of the Liberal Party in the state, making

Grattan on Friday: would Labor be supporting this war if it were in opposition?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed federal parliament on Thursday his well-crafted speech had one gaping hole. It did not mention the huge issue dominating world attention – the United States-Israeli strikes on Iran and the subsequent ever-widening conflict

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/06/er-report-a-roundup-of-significant-articles-on-eveningreport-nz-for-march-6-2026/