Category: Evening Report

Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. –

By Agnese Boffano in London

As Meta, TikTok, Instagram and X continue to dominate online social spaces, a new platform called UpScrolled has entered the scene.

It is not built around dances or memes, but instead positions itself as a space promising fewer shadowbans and greater freedom of political expression, particularly for pro-Palestinian voices.

So, what is it exactly, and why are users switching?

UpScrolled was launched in July 2025 by Palestinian-Australian app developer Issam Hijazi.

At first glance, the platform feels familiar. It features an up and down scrolling video feed reminiscent of TikTok, alongside profile pages, comments and direct messaging features similar to Instagram.

The similarities, however, appear to end there. Unlike major platforms where opaque algorithms determine which content is amplified and which is buried, UpScrolled claims to operate differently.

The platform describes itself as a space where “every voice gets equal power”, promising to operate without “shadowbans, algorithmic games, or pay-to-play favouritism”, according to its website.

In an interview with Rest of World, Hijazi said the motivation behind the launch was the overwhelmingly pro-Israel content he saw being promoted on more established platforms following 7 October 2023.

Working for what he described as big tech companies at the time, Hijazi expressed deep frustration.

“I could not take it anymore. I lost family members in Gaza, and I did not want to be complicit. So I was like, I am done with this, I want to feel useful,” he said.

The Tech for Palestine incubator, an advocacy project that funds technology initiatives supporting the Palestinian cause, has publicly backed the platform.

Moderation without the black box
Hijazi said UpScrolled’s content moderation process differs from other social media platforms in that it does not selectively censor particular groups or viewpoints.

Content deemed illegal, such as the sale of narcotics or prostitution, is removed, but when it comes to free speech, the approach is rooted in transparency, ethics and equal treatment.

According to 7amleh, the Arab Centre for the Advancement of Social Media, major tech platforms such as Meta have consistently engaged in a “systemic and disproportionate censorship of Palestinian and pro-Palestinian content”. This includes the removal of posts, restrictions on account visibility and, in some cases, permanent bans.

Throughout the war on Gaza, numerous Palestinian organisations, activists, journalists, media outlets and content creators were targeted over their pro-Palestine views.

Bisan Owda, an award-winning Gaza-based journalist with more than 1.4 million followers on TikTok, is among the most prominent recent examples, whose account was reportedly permanently banned earlier this week — but has now been reinstated after a global outcry.

Critics argue that censorship concerns extend beyond the Palestinian issue, affecting other sensitive topics, including criticism of US government policies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

High profile commentators critical of the Trump administration have reported what they describe as a systematic effort to remove or suppress their videos and content.

[embedded content]
It’s Bisan from Gaza . . . why the truth is so dangerous.     Video: AJ+

Users flock to UpScrolled
Users frustrated with big tech’s control over online narratives have increasingly turned to the new platform.

UpScrolled has reached number one in the social networking category of Apple’s App Store in both the US and the UK.

As of Tuesday, the app had been downloaded around 400,000 times in the US and 700,000 times globally since its launch. An estimated 85 percent of those downloads occurred after January 21 alone, according to data from marketing intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

The Palestinian-founded app has also seen a surge in downloads following the recent acquisition of TikTok by American billionaire Larry Ellison, a co-founder of Oracle.

Ellison is a prominent supporter of Israel and maintains close ties with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has also financially backed the Israeli military, including a $16.6 million donation made during a 2017 gala organised by the Friends of the Israeli Forces.

The timing of UpScrolled’s rise has therefore not gone unnoticed. The platform appears to have capitalised on widespread frustration and anger over biased content moderation, offering an alternative built around transparency and user control.

The app remains a work in progress, with users having reported crashes and server overloads amid its rapid growth over the past week.

Still, UpScrolled poses a challenge to dominant platforms and highlights a growing appetite for social media spaces that give users greater control over what they see and share.

Republished from the Middle East News Agency (MENA) and The New Arab.

This article was first published on Café Pacific.

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/01/30/upscrolled-the-australian-pro-palestine-platform-shaking-up-global-social-media/

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

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley on Friday allocated responsibilities formerly held by the Nationals to existing Liberal shadow ministers on a temporary basis.

This will get the opposition through the next parliamentary week, starting Tuesday. It also gives the Nationals a chance to rethink their split of the Coalition, if they choose.

But if there is no move for reunification, Ley declared she would appoint new Liberal shadow ministers before Monday of the following week. This would further entrench the split, making a rapprochement much more politically complicated.

The parliamentary Liberal party has its regular meeting on Tuesday. Although on balance, a move for a leadership spill is not expected, the situation is unpredictable.

Ley said in a statement: “With several upcoming parliamentary sittings, including Senate Estimates, the Liberal Leadership Group has met and agreed that the finalisation of longer term shadow ministerial arrangements is also required.

“It is intended that these acting arrangements cease before the second February sitting week commences (Monday 9 February), when I appoint a further six parliamentarians to serve in the Shadow Cabinet and two in the outer Shadow Ministry, on an ongoing basis.

“There is enormous talent in the parliamentary Liberal Party and my party room is more than capable of permanently fulfilling each and every one of those roles.”

Ley said the Nationals’ decision to leave the Coalition was “regrettable and unnecessary” and stressed again the “door remains open”.

“The Liberal and National parties exist to serve the Australian people and the maintenance of a strong and functioning relationship between both is in the national interest — whether we are in a formal Coalition or not.”

Nationals Leader David Littleproud responded to Ley’s request earlier this week for a leadership meeting before parliament resumes by saying he was unavailable until after Monday’s Nationals meeting dealt with the call for a spill by Queenslander Colin Boyce.

Ley said: “I understand and respect his decision to await his party’s consideration of a forthcoming spill motion. Following Monday’s parliamentary meeting of The Nationals, I will attempt to meet with whoever is elected as their leader.”

Littleproud’s leadership is not under threat at the meeting.

The temporary responsibilities existing frontbenchers take on are:

• Shadow Treasurer Ted O’Brien: assistant treasurer and financial services

• Shadow Foreign Minister Michaelia Cash: trade, investment and tourism

• Shadow Health Minister Anne Ruston: agriculture, fisheries and forestry

• Shadow Energy Minister Dan Tehan: resources and northern Australia

• Shadow Special Minister of State James McGrath: infrastructure, transport, regional development, local government and territories

• Shadow Defence Minister Angus Taylor: veterans’ affairs

• Shadow Environment Minister Angie Bell: water and emergency management.

With leadership aspirants Andrew Hastie and Taylor failing at a Thursday meeting to reach an agreement about who would challenge Ley, the Liberals are in a holding pattern.

Ley, who is usually constantly giving news conferences and interviews, has made no media appearances for a week.

Thursday’s footage of the Hastie-Taylor meeting has added to the dreadful publicity around the Liberals, especially the message it sent to women: an all-male gathering to talk about rolling a female leader, held on the day of the memorial service for a much-respected female former Liberal MP. And then the outcome was a stalemate.

---

Read more:
Grattan on Friday: 2 aspirants who are unlikely to suit the times vie for the Liberal leadership

---

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

– ref. Sussan Ley fills frontbench holes temporarily, giving a brief window for Nationals to rethink Coalition split – https://theconversation.com/sussan-ley-fills-frontbench-holes-temporarily-giving-a-brief-window-for-nationals-to-rethink-coalition-split-274030

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/01/30/sussan-ley-fills-frontbench-holes-temporarily-giving-a-brief-window-for-nationals-to-rethink-coalition-split-274030/

By Agnese Boffano in London

As Meta, TikTok, Instagram and X continue to dominate online social spaces, a new platform called UpScrolled has entered the scene.

It is not built around dances or memes, but instead positions itself as a space promising fewer shadowbans and greater freedom of political expression, particularly for pro-Palestinian voices.

So, what is it exactly, and why are users switching?

UpScrolled was launched in July 2025 by Palestinian-Australian app developer Issam Hijazi.

At first glance, the platform feels familiar. It features an up and down scrolling video feed reminiscent of TikTok, alongside profile pages, comments and direct messaging features similar to Instagram.

The similarities, however, appear to end there. Unlike major platforms where opaque algorithms determine which content is amplified and which is buried, UpScrolled claims to operate differently.

The platform describes itself as a space where “every voice gets equal power”, promising to operate without “shadowbans, algorithmic games, or pay-to-play favouritism”, according to its website.

In an interview with Rest of World, Hijazi said the motivation behind the launch was the overwhelmingly pro-Israel content he saw being promoted on more established platforms following 7 October 2023.

Working for what he described as big tech companies at the time, Hijazi expressed deep frustration.

“I could not take it anymore. I lost family members in Gaza, and I did not want to be complicit. So I was like, I am done with this, I want to feel useful,” he said.

The Tech for Palestine incubator, an advocacy project that funds technology initiatives supporting the Palestinian cause, has publicly backed the platform.

Moderation without the black box
Hijazi said UpScrolled’s content moderation process differs from other social media platforms in that it does not selectively censor particular groups or viewpoints.

Content deemed illegal, such as the sale of narcotics or prostitution, is removed, but when it comes to free speech, the approach is rooted in transparency, ethics and equal treatment.

According to 7amleh, the Arab Centre for the Advancement of Social Media, major tech platforms such as Meta have consistently engaged in a “systemic and disproportionate censorship of Palestinian and pro-Palestinian content”. This includes the removal of posts, restrictions on account visibility and, in some cases, permanent bans.

Throughout the war on Gaza, numerous Palestinian organisations, activists, journalists, media outlets and content creators were targeted over their pro-Palestine views.

Bisan Owda, an award-winning Gaza-based journalist with more than 1.4 million followers on TikTok, is among the most prominent recent examples, whose account was reportedly permanently banned earlier this week — but has now been reinstated after a global outcry.

Critics argue that censorship concerns extend beyond the Palestinian issue, affecting other sensitive topics, including criticism of US government policies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

High profile commentators critical of the Trump administration have reported what they describe as a systematic effort to remove or suppress their videos and content.

Users flock to UpScrolled
Users frustrated with big tech’s control over online narratives have increasingly turned to the new platform.

UpScrolled has reached number one in the social networking category of Apple’s App Store in both the US and the UK.

As of Tuesday, the app had been downloaded around 400,000 times in the US and 700,000 times globally since its launch. An estimated 85 percent of those downloads occurred after January 21 alone, according to data from marketing intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

The Palestinian-founded app has also seen a surge in downloads following the recent acquisition of TikTok by American billionaire Larry Ellison, a co-founder of Oracle.

Ellison is a prominent supporter of Israel and maintains close ties with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has also financially backed the Israeli military, including a $16.6 million donation made during a 2017 gala organised by the Friends of the Israeli Forces.

The timing of UpScrolled’s rise has therefore not gone unnoticed. The platform appears to have capitalised on widespread frustration and anger over biased content moderation, offering an alternative built around transparency and user control.

The app remains a work in progress, with users having reported crashes and server overloads amid its rapid growth over the past week.

Still, UpScrolled poses a challenge to dominant platforms and highlights a growing appetite for social media spaces that give users greater control over what they see and share.

Republished from the Middle East News Agency (MENA) and The New Arab.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/01/30/upscrolled-the-pro-palestine-platform-shaking-up-social-media/

ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on January 30, 2026.

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Australia needs to get real about Trump’s changing America
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Davos speech should unsettle Australian strategic thinkers, who have been raised in the belief the US alliance is the unshakeable foundation of Australia’s regional security. Carney’s point –

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Rethinking Troy: how years of careful peace, not epic war, shaped this bronze age city
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Welcome to the ‘Homogenocene’: how humans are making the world’s wildlife dangerously samey
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Are You Dead? China’s viral app reveals a complex reality of solo living and changing social ties
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We know how to cool our cities and towns. So why aren’t we doing it?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By A/Prof. Elmira Jamei, Associate professor, Victoria University This week, Victoria recorded its hottest day in nearly six years. On Tuesday, the northwest towns of Walpeup and Hopetoun reached 48.9°C, and the temperature in parts of Melbourne soared over 45°C. Towns in South Australia also broke heat records.

‘Bold’. ‘Elegant’. ‘Introverted’? How words describing wine get lost in translation
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Dog parks are an unexploited arena for a television dramedy – so now we have ABC’s Dog Park
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Grattan on Friday: 2 aspirants who are unlikely to suit the times vie for the Liberal leadership
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The government wants to track your medicines – here’s why
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The government wants to track your medicines – here’s why
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Megan Prictor, Associate Professor in Health Technology Law, The University of Melbourne On Wednesday, the federal government announced plans to reform how medications are dispensed and tracked, aiming to reduce unsafe use, stockpiling and “doctor shopping”. This will include two stages. First, the government will require all

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ER Report: A Roundup of Significant Articles on EveningReport.nz for January 29, 2026
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on January 29, 2026.

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/01/30/er-report-a-roundup-of-significant-articles-on-eveningreport-nz-for-january-30-2026/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamin Liu, Senior Lecturer in Commercial Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

Most of us would agree fairness is a good guiding principle in life. Actually defining and applying it in the law, however, isn’t quite so simple.

Since March last year, New Zealand’s financial sector – including banks, insurers and credit unions – has been governed by the Conduct of Financial Institutions regime.

At its centre sits a principle that “financial institutions must treat consumers fairly”. Under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 (and amendments made in 2022), the regime is administered and enforced by the Financial Markets Authority.

Each financial institution must establish, maintain and publish a fair-conduct program that satisfies a set of statutory minimum requirements.

These prescribe internal systems, controls, monitoring and governance processes intended to demonstrate the institution treats consumers fairly in practice. Breaches can incur a “pecuniary penalty order”.

On its face, this is uncontroversial. Fairness offers moral comfort and signals decency and responsibility. But translating fairness into a legal obligation is not without cost.

It also risks compromising consumer autonomy and informed choice by forcing financial institutions to limit the shape or scope of products and services that might otherwise be attractive.

Subjective regulation

While section 446C of the act provides broad definitions of fair treatment, it leaves significant scope for interpretation by regulators and institutions.

The result is a regulatory model that is essentially subjective and which shapes the design and distribution of financial products before they go to market.

This presents practical challenges for intuitions adapting to a fairness standard that is inherently vague. But it also raises questions about the balance between consumer protection and potential regulatory overreach.

In 2024, the government consulted on whether the statutory minimum requirements for fair conduct programs should be repealed or amended.

This was in response to industry concerns that some fairness requirements were either unnecessary or duplicated other regulations, or they were unduly prescriptive given the actual risks of harm to consumers.

Industry submissions generally acknowledged the high compliance costs associated with the current framework while supporting the broader objective of fair consumer treatment.

In response, the government chose to amend rather than repeal those minimum fairness requirements. In 2025, it introduced a draft amendment bill proposing changes to the statutory requirements for fair conduct programs.

If enacted, this may make the regime less strict. But it would also force institutions that have already invested heavily in compliance under the existing law to review and modify their programs once again.

Unintended consequences

This revisiting of the law reflects the the difficulty of defining fairness as a legally enforceable standard. Fairness is not an objective concept. It’s subjective and evaluative. What’s fair to one person may not be fair to another.

Yet the law now requires that financial institutions effectively prove they are designing and offering products and services in ways that align with the Financial Markets Authority’s evolving understanding of fair treatment.

As a result, even where consumers understand a product’s features and willingly accept its risks, the fairness obligation may still require institutions to reconsider whether the product should be offered at all.

On the surface, prioritising consumer interests over consumer choice might seem reasonable. But it can have unintended consequences.

In 2021, for example, the government amended the Credit Contracts and
Consumer Finance Act to impose highly prescriptive affordability checks on all consumer lending.

A 2022 investigation by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment found the reforms had caused borrowers who should have passed the affordability test were being declined or offered reduced credit.

Fairness and risk

Because the fairness principle is broad and subjective, even if the Financial Markets Authority’s current interpretation is reasonable there is no guarantee future enforcement will be.

Once parliament embeds an open-ended moral concept in law, it hands significant discretion to whoever interprets it next.

Of course fairness matters. But it should be a moral compass for financial institutions and a cultural expectation for financial markets rather than an opaque licence for regulatory paternalism.

It risks turning financial institutions into overseers of consumer behaviour rather than providers of products and services.

It would be more straightforward to enforce existing laws such as the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act and the fair-dealing provisions in the Financial Markets Conduct Act.

The aim should be to target specific misconduct, strengthen consumers’ financial literacy through education, and intervene where there is genuine, demonstrated harm.

The law should preserve the space for consumers to make their own decisions, even when those decisions involve risk. Fairness is a virtue, autonomy is a right. We should be careful not to sacrifice the second in the name of the first.

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

– ref. NZ’s finance industry is required by law to treat customers fairly – but how do we define ‘fair’? – https://theconversation.com/nzs-finance-industry-is-required-by-law-to-treat-customers-fairly-but-how-do-we-define-fair-272413

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/01/30/nzs-finance-industry-is-required-by-law-to-treat-customers-fairly-but-how-do-we-define-fair-272413/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Allen Cheng, Professor of Infectious Diseases, Monash University

An outbreak of the deadly Nipah virus in India has put many countries in Asia on high alert, given the fatality rate in humans can be between 40% and 75%. Several countries, including Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, have introduced new screening and testing measures, after at least two people died of Nipah virus in the Indian state of West Bengal this month.

But what is Nipah virus, and how concerned should we be?

Here’s what you need to know.

What is Nipah virus?

Like Hendra virus, Nipah is in a category of viruses called henipaviruses. It is zoonotic, meaning it can spread from animals to humans.

As I explained in a previous Conversation article, outbreaks happen in Asia from time to time. The first outbreak was reported in 1998 in Malaysia.

There are three major ways it’s transmitted.

The first is via exposure to bats, and in particular via contact with the saliva, urine or faeces of an infected bat. Infections can also occur from contact with other infected animals, such as pigs in the original outbreak in Malaysia.

The second way it can be transferred is by contaminated foods, particularly date palm products. This means consuming date palm juice or sap that is contaminated with the bodily fluids of infected bats.

The third is human-to-human transmission. Nipah transmission between humans has been reported via close contact such caring for a sick person. This can mean, for instance, being infected with bodily secretions contaminated with the virus in households or hospitals. This is thought to be less common than the other transmission pathways.

What are the symptoms?

Nipah virus infections happen quickly. The time from infection to symptoms appearing is generally from four days to three weeks.

It’s a terrible disease. Around half the people who get severe Nipah virus infection die of it.

The symptoms can vary in severity. It can cause pneumonia, just as COVID could.

But the illness we worry most about is neurological symptoms; Nipah can cause encephalitis, which is inflammation of the brain.

These effects on the brain are why the fatality rate is so high.

Symptoms might include:

• fever
• seizures
• difficulty breathing
• falling unconscious
• severe headaches
• being unable to move a limb
• jerky movements
• personality changes, such as suddenly behaving oddly or psychosis.

Unusually, some patients who survive the acute phase of a Nipah infection can get relapsed encephalitis many years later, even more than a decade later.

Is there any treatment or vaccine?

Not yet, but in Australia development of a treatment called m102.4 is underway.

There was a phase 1 trial of this treatment published in 2020, which is where researchers give it to healthy people to see how it goes and if there are any side effects.

The trial found that a single dose of the treatment was well tolerated by patients.

So it is still quite a way off being actually available to help people infected with Nipah virus, but there’s hope.

There is currently no vaccine for Nipah virus. In theory, m102.4 it could be a preventative but it’s too early to say; at this point it is being trialled as a treatment.

How worried should I be?

This Nipah outbreak in India is worrying because there’s currently no prevention and no treatment available, and it’s a severe disease. While it is an important disease, it isn’t likely to be a public health issue on the same scale as COVID.

This is because it doesn’t transmit efficiently from person to person, and the main way it is transmitted is from food and infected animals.

For people living outside of areas where cases are currently being reported, the risk is low. Even in the affected areas, the number of cases is small at this stage, but public health authorities are taking appropriate control measures.

If you become unwell after travelling to areas where cases have been reported, you should let your doctor know where and when you travelled.

If someone gets a fever after travelling to affected areas, we would probably be much more worried it was caused by other infections such as malaria or typhoid than Nipah, at this stage.

Overall, though, everything needs to be put in context. We hear about new viruses and incidents all the time. Nipah is important for affected countries, but outside of those countries, it is just something we closely monitor and be alert for.

Allen Cheng receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care, including for public health surveillance systems. He has been a member of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation and the Advisory Committee for Vaccines.

– ref. What is Nipah virus? And what makes it so deadly? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-nipah-virus-and-what-makes-it-so-deadly-274725

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/01/30/what-is-nipah-virus-and-what-makes-it-so-deadly-274725/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Davos speech should unsettle Australian strategic thinkers, who have been raised in the belief the US alliance is the unshakeable foundation of Australia’s regional security.

Carney’s point – that American leadership is no longer a reliable anchor for the international system – had strong appeal in Europe and Canada. But it also highlights what is now clearly the weakest link in the US-Australia alliance – not American capability, but American reliability.

Deterrence is not just a matter of military hardware and presence. It relies on confidence that commitments will be honoured, risks will be borne, and allies will not be treated with disdain. When US policy becomes more transactional and less predictable, that confidence weakens — even if the underlying military power remains formidable.

But what is the alternative to Pax Americana? Washington’s traditional allies each face their own unique strategic circumstances, and their answers will naturally vary.

In Australia, we have largely managed to keep our head down. We have not been the direct target of American tariffs or sovereignty threats like Canada and Europe. Nor have we publicly challenged Washington in the way some others have – most recently in response to Trump’s apparent contempt for allied sacrifice.

Instead, Australia has doubled down on alliance management. This is mostly visible through AUKUS, which is hanging on doggedly despite growing questions about timeframes, costs and long-term sustainability.

AUKUS reflects Canberra’s judgement that remaining deeply embedded in the US strategic system is preferable to standing outside it. But it also exposes the Australian government to charges it is accepting new forms of dependence on future American and British political decisions, industrial capacity we do not control, and timelines that stretch beyond the current strategic decade.

It is a wager on alignment and continuity at a moment when both are uncertain. That reality frames how Australia should respond to Carney’s call.

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Read more:
The end of ‘Pax Americana’ and start of a ‘post-American’ era doesn’t necessarily mean the world will be less safe

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Eroding confidence and trust in the US

Throughout the post-war era, Australian governments have spoken about the US alliance in warm, expansive terms: shared values, shared history, shared sacrifice. The relationship was framed not only as strategically necessary, but morally reassuring. That language is becoming hard to sustain.

Public confidence in the United States has weakened considerably since Trump took office again and began pushing an “America First” doctrine. In public debate, criticism of American conduct increasingly competes with, and sometimes displaces, concerns about China’s rising power.

For Australia, this creates an uncomfortable dilemma. The US remains the only power with the military reach and technological depth to shape the regional strategic balance and constrain China’s ambitions.

Yet, the political foundations that made reliance on that power relatively predictable — and domestically saleable — are eroding.

Managing that tension is now a core task of Australian statecraft. The appointment of Greg Moriarty as Australia’s next ambassador to Washington is very welcome. He brings not only deep knowledge of our own military requirements and the US system, but something equally important: long experience in the Asia-Pacific region. He knows better than most that the US-Australia alliance cannot be separated from the dynamics of Australia’s neighbourhood.

But a growing challenge for the Australian government he serves will be to persuade the public that China — rather than the United States — is still our primary strategic problem.

If the public conversation shifts from managing China’s rise to managing America’s decline, governments will struggle to explain why uncomfortable investments, risks and trade-offs with the Trump administration are required.

What unchecked Chinese influence would mean

Australia should maintain cautious about Beijing’s regional behaviour, even while strengthening our bilateral economic ties with China.

The issue is not whether China builds roads, stadiums or ports in the Pacific. It is what an overall environment of uncontested Chinese strategic hegemony in the region would mean for Australia.

If China gains a stronger foothold in the Pacific, regional civil society leaders warn their governments would face pressure to align political positions, security choices and domestic rules with Chinese preferences.

For Australia, the consequences would be profound. Our ability to operate militarily, diplomatically and economically in our own region would narrow. Our capacity to support Pacific partners in resisting coercion would weaken. And our freedom to make independent strategic choices would be constrained.

It is important to acknowledge Canberra is not standing still.

The Albanese government has made real progress in strengthening regional partnerships to help buffer the unpredictable US alliance. This includes the new alliance with Papua New Guinea, recently concluded defence cooperation treaty with Indonesia, and the overall intensified, respectful Pacific engagement we have seen in recent years. All of this reflects a more deliberate effort to embed Australia more deeply in its own region.

These steps deepen Australian influence, give regional partners more choices, and reduce the risks associated with over-reliance on any single external power. But they do not remove the underlying strategic dilemma.

The US still plays an important role in our region, albeit with more caveats than Canberra has traditionally acknowledged.

Let’s be clear. The US does not really contribute much to Pacific economic development and never really has. Its regional relevance lies in its strategic and military weight – the ability to deter high-end conflict and complicate China’s calculations.

But capability is not the same as commitment. Uncertainty itself can be truly destabilising.

American power may still shape the regional environment, but it does so unevenly and with greater risk of miscalculation. China does not need to defeat the US to exploit this; it only needs to test thresholds and capitalise on ambiguity.

Put simply, the protection the US offers is less absolute — and far less reassuring — than Australian rhetoric often implies.

The way forward: not abandonment, but adjustment

First, Australian leaders need to speak more plainly about the US alliance in order to maintain public support.

This means no longer trumpeting shared virtue, but being honest about what is actually a conditional, interest-based arrangement with a larger power whose values and priorities do not always align with our own.

Second, Australia must continue to hedge more deliberately. This includes deepening defence cooperation with Japan and India, enhancing strategic partnerships across Southeast Asia, and sustaining Pacific engagement. All of this becomes more important as US certainty declines.

Third, as others have argued, Australia must invest more seriously in its own capabilities — diplomatically, militarily and politically — so our security is not wholly contingent on a single power.

The era of comforting myths is over. The alliance still matters — but it is more fragile and conditional now. Recognising that is the necessary starting point for safeguarding Australian security.

Ian Kemish is a former head of the prime minister’s international division, and has represented Australia as an ambassador in the Asia-Pacific and Europe. Alongside his UQ role, he is a distinguished fellow at the ANU National Security College and an industry fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute.

– ref. Australia needs to get real about Trump’s changing America – https://theconversation.com/australia-needs-to-get-real-about-trumps-changing-america-274424

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/01/30/australia-needs-to-get-real-about-trumps-changing-america-274424/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kai Riemer, Professor of Information Technology and Organisation, University of Sydney

How do you translate ancient Palmyrene script from a Roman tombstone? How many paired tendons are supported by a specific sesamoid bone in a hummingbird? Can you identify closed syllables in Biblical Hebrew based on the latest scholarship on Tiberian pronunciation traditions?

These are some of the questions in “Humanity’s Last Exam”, a new benchmark introduced in a study published this week in Nature. The collection of 2,500 questions is specifically designed to probe the outer limits of what today’s artificial intelligence (AI) systems cannot do.

The benchmark represents a global collaboration of nearly 1,000 international experts across a range of academic fields. These academics and researchers contributed questions at the frontier of human knowledge. The problems required graduate-level expertise in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, computer science and the humanities. Importantly, every question was tested against leading AI models before inclusion. If an AI could not answer it correctly at the time the test was designed, the question was rejected.

This process explains why the initial results looked so different from other benchmarks. While AI chatbots score above 90% on popular tests, when Humanity’s Last Exam was first released in early 2025, leading models struggled badly. GPT-4o managed just 2.7% accuracy. Claude 3.5 Sonnet scored 4.1%. Even OpenAI’s most powerful model, o1, achieved only 8%.

The low scores were the point. The benchmark was constructed to measure what remained beyond AI’s grasp. And while some commentators have suggested that benchmarks like Humanity’s Last Exam chart a path toward artificial general intelligence, or even superintelligence – that is, AI systems capable of performing any task at human or superhuman levels – we believe this is wrong for three reasons.

Benchmarks measure task performance, not intelligence

When a student scores well on the bar exam, we can reasonably predict they’ll make a competent lawyer. That’s because the test was designed to assess whether humans have acquired the knowledge and reasoning skills needed for legal practice – and for humans, that works. The understanding required to pass genuinely transfers to the job.

But AI systems are not humans preparing for careers.

When a large language model scores well on the bar exam, it tells us the model can produce correct-looking answers to legal questions. It doesn’t tell us the model understands law, can counsel a nervous client, or exercise professional judgment in ambiguous situations.

The test measures something real for humans; for AI it measures only performance on the test itself.

Using human ability tests to benchmark AI is common practice, but it’s fundamentally misleading. Assuming a high test score means the machine has become more human-like is a category error, much like concluding that a calculator “understands” mathematics because it can solve equations faster than any person.

Human and machine intelligence are fundamentally different

Humans learn continuously from experience. We have intentions, needs and goals. We live lives, inhabit bodies and experience the world directly. Our intelligence evolved to serve our survival as organisms and our success as social creatures.

But AI systems are very different.

Large language models derive their capabilities from patterns in text during training. But they don’t really learn.

For humans, intelligence comes first and language serves as a tool for communication – intelligence is prelinguistic. But for large language models, language is the intelligence – there’s nothing underneath.

Even the creators of Humanity’s Last Exam acknowledge this limitation:

High accuracy on [Humanity’s Last Exam] would demonstrate expert-level performance on closed-ended, verifiable questions and cutting-edge scientific knowledge, but it would not alone suggest autonomous research capabilities or artificial general intelligence.

Subbarao Kambhampati, professor at Arizona State University and former president of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, puts it more clearly:

Humanity’s essence isn’t captured by a static test but rather by our ability to evolve and tackle previously unimaginable questions.

Developers like leaderboards

There’s another problem. AI developers use benchmarks to optimise their models for leaderboard performance. They’re essentially cramming for the exam. And unlike humans, for whom the learning for the test builds understanding, AI optimisation just means getting better at the specific test.

But it’s working.

Since Humanity’s Last Exam was published online in early 2025, scores have climbed dramatically. Gemini 3 Pro Preview now tops the leaderboard at 38.3% accuracy, followed by GPT-5 at 25.3% and Grok 4 at 24.5%.

Does this improvement mean these models are approaching human intelligence? No. It means they’ve gotten better at the kinds of questions the exam contains. The benchmark has become a target to optimise against.

The industry is recognising this problem.

OpenAI recently introduced a measure called GDPval specifically designed to assess real-world usefulness.

Unlike academic-style benchmarks, GDPval focuses on tasks based on actual work products such as project documents, data analyses and deliverables that exist in professional settings.

What this means for you

If you’re using AI tools in your work or considering adopting them, don’t be swayed by benchmark scores. A model that aces Humanity’s Last Exam might still struggle with the specific tasks you need done.

It’s also worth noting the exam’s questions are heavily skewed toward certain domains. Mathematics alone accounts for 41% of the benchmark, with physics, biology and computer science making up much of the rest. If your work involves writing, communication, project management or customer service, the exam tells you almost nothing about which model might serve you best.

A practical approach is to devise your own tests based on what you actually need AI to do, then evaluate newer models against criteria that matter to you. AI systems are genuinely useful – but any discussion about superintelligence remains science fiction and a distraction from the real work of making these tools relevant to people’s lives.

Kai Riemer is co-author of the annual “Skills Horizon” research project, which identifies key leadership skills (including in AI), based on interviews with global and Australian leaders and executives across various fields. He also educates leaders in AI fluency through Sydney Executive Plus at the University of Sydney.

Sandra Peter is co-author of the annual “Skills Horizon” research project, which identifies key leadership skills (including in AI), based on interviews with global and Australian leaders and executives across various fields. She also educates leaders in AI fluency through Sydney Executive Plus at the University of Sydney.

– ref. AI is failing ‘Humanity’s Last Exam’. So what does that mean for machine intelligence? – https://theconversation.com/ai-is-failing-humanitys-last-exam-so-what-does-that-mean-for-machine-intelligence-274620

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/01/30/ai-is-failing-humanitys-last-exam-so-what-does-that-mean-for-machine-intelligence-274620/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Williams, Professor of Palaeobiology, University of Leicester

The age of humans is increasingly an age of sameness. Across the planet, distinctive plants and animals are disappearing, replaced by species that are lucky enough to thrive alongside humans and travel with us easily. Some scientists have a word for this reshuffling of life: the Homogenocene.

Evidence for it is found in the world’s museums. Storerooms are full of animals that no longer walk among us, pickled in spirit-filled jars: coiled snakes, bloated fish, frogs, birds. Each extinct species marks the removal of a particular evolutionary path from a particular place – and these absences are increasingly being filled by the same hardy, adaptable species, again and again.

One such absence is embodied by a small bird kept in a glass jar in London’s Natural History Museum: the Fijian Bar-winged rail, not seen in the wild since the 1970s. It seems to be sleeping, its eyes closed, its wings tucked in along its back, its beak resting against the glass.

A flightless bird, it was particularly vulnerable to predators introduced by humans, including mongooses brought to Fiji in the 1800s. Its disappearance was part of a broad pattern in which island species are vanishing and a narrower set of globally successful animals thrive in their place.

It’s a phenomenon that was called the Homogenocene even before a similar term growing in popularity, the Anthropocene, was coined in 2000. If the Anthropocene describes a planet transformed by humans, the Homogenocene is one ecological consequence: fewer places with their own distinctive life.

It goes well beyond charismatic birds and mammals. Freshwater fish, for instance, are becoming more “samey”, as the natural barriers that once kept populations separate – waterfalls, river catchments, temperature limits – are effectively blurred or erased by human activity. Think of common carp deliberately stocked in lakes for anglers, or catfish released from home aquariums that now thrive in rivers thousands of miles from their native habitat.

Meanwhile, many thousands of mollusc species have disappeared over the past 500 years, with snails living on islands also severely affected: many are simply eaten by non-native predatory snails. Some invasive snails have become highly successful and widely distributed, such as the giant African snail that is now found from the Hawaiian Islands to the Americas, or South American golden apple snails rampant through east and south-east Asia since their introduction in the 1980s.

Homogeneity is just one facet of the changes wrought on the Earth’s tapestry of life by humans, a process that started in the last ice age when hunting was likely key to the disappearance of the mammoth, giant sloth and other large mammals. It continued over around 11,700 years of the recent Holocene epoch – the period following the last ice age – as forests were felled and savannahs cleared for agriculture and the growth of farms and cities.

Over the past seven decades changes to life on Earth have intensified dramatically. This is the focus of a major new volume published by the Royal Society of London: The Biosphere in the Anthropocene.

The Anthropocene has reached the ocean

Life in the oceans was relatively little changed between the last ice age and recent history, even as humans increasingly affected life on land. No longer: a feature of the Anthropocene is the rapid extension of human impacts through the oceans.

This is partly due to simple over-exploitation, as human technology post-second world war enabled more efficient and deeper trawling, and fish stocks became seriously depleted.

Partly this is also due to the increasing effects of fossil-fuelled heat and oxygen depletion spreading through the oceans. Most visibly, this is now devastating coral reefs.

Out of sight, many animals are being displaced northwards and southwards out of the tropics to escape the heat; these conditions are also affecting spawning in fish, creating “bottlenecks” where life cycle development is limited by increasing heat or a lack of oxygen. The effects are reaching through into the deep oceans, where proposals for deep sea mining of minerals threaten to damage marine life that is barely known to science.

And as on land and in rivers, these changes are not just reducing life in the oceans – they’re redistributing species and blurring long-standing biological boundaries.

Local biodiversity, global sameness

Not all the changes to life made by humans are calamitous. In some places, incoming non-native species have blended seamlessly into existing environments to actually enhance local biodiversity.

In other contexts, both historical and contemporary, humans have been decisive in fostering wildlife, increasing the diversity of animals and plants in ecosystems by cutting or burning back the dominant vegetation and thereby allowing a greater range of animals and plants to flourish.

In our near-future world there are opportunities to support wildlife, for instance by changing patterns of agriculture to use less land to grow more food. With such freeing-up of space for nature, coupled with changes to farming and fishing that actively protect biodiversity, there is still a chance that we can avoid the worst predictions of a future biodiversity crash.

But this is by no means certain. Avoiding yet more rows of pickled corpses in museum jars will require a concerted effort to protect nature, one that must aim to help future generations of humans live in a biodiverse world.

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

– ref. Welcome to the ‘Homogenocene’: how humans are making the world’s wildlife dangerously samey – https://theconversation.com/welcome-to-the-homogenocene-how-humans-are-making-the-worlds-wildlife-dangerously-samey-274092

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/01/30/welcome-to-the-homogenocene-how-humans-are-making-the-worlds-wildlife-dangerously-samey-274092/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephan Blum, Research Associate, Institute for Prehistory and Early History and Medieval Archaeology, University of Tübingen

Imagine a city that thrived for thousands of years, its streets alive with workshops, markets and the laughter of children, yet that is remembered for a single night of fire. That city is Troy.

Long before Homer’s epics immortalised its fall, Troy was a place of everyday life. Potters shaped jars and bowls destined to travel far beyond the settlement itself, moving through wide horizons of exchange and connection.

Bronze tools rang in busy workshops. Traders called across the marketplace and children chased one another along sun‑warmed footpaths. This was the real heartbeat of Troy – the story history has forgotten.

Homer’s late eighth‑century BC epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, fixed powerful images in western cultural memory: heroes clashing, a wooden horse dragged through city gates, flames licking the night sky. Yet this dramatic ending hides a far longer, far more remarkable story: centuries of cooperation embedded in everyday social organisation. A story we might call the Trojan peace.

This selective memory is not unique to Troy. Across history, spectacular collapses dominate how we imagine the past: Rome burning in AD64, Carthage razed in 146BC and the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán falling in AD1521. Sudden catastrophe is vivid and memorable. The slow, fragile work of maintaining stability is easier to overlook.

The Trojan peace was not the absence of tension or inequality. It was the everyday ability to manage them without society breaking apart, the capacity to absorb pressure through routine cooperation rather than dramatic intervention.

When catastrophe outshines stability

Archaeology often speaks loudest when something goes catastrophically wrong. Fires preserve. Ruins cling to the soil like charcoal fingerprints. Peace, by contrast, leaves no single dramatic moment to anchor it.

Its traces survive in the ordinary: footpaths worn smooth by generations of feet; jars repaired, reused and handled for decades, some still bearing the drilled holes of ancient mending. These humble remnants form the true architecture of long‑term stability.

Troy is a textbook example. Archaeologists have identified nine major layers at the site, some of which are associated with substantial architectural reorganisation. But that isn’t evidence of destruction. Rather it simply reflects the everyday reality of a settlement’s history: building, use, maintenance or levelling, rebuilding and repetition.

Instead, I argue that Troy’s archaeological record reveals centuries of architectural continuity, stable coastal occupation and trade networks stretching from Mesopotamia to the Aegean and the Balkans – a geography of connection rather than conflict.

The only evidence for truly massive destruction that can be identified dates to around 2350BC. Against the broader archaeological backdrop, this stands out as a rare, fiery rupture – one dramatic episode within a much longer pattern of recovery and continuity.

Whether sparked by conflict, social unrest or an accident, it interrupted only briefly the long continuity of daily life – more than a thousand years before the events portrayed by the poet Homer in his tale of the Trojan war were supposed to have taken place.

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Read more:
Fall of Troy: the legend and the facts

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But what actually held Troy together for so long? During the third and second millennia BC, Troy was a modest but highly connected coastal hub, thriving through exchange, craft specialisation, shared material traditions and the steady movement of ideas and goods.

The real drivers of Troy’s development were households, traders and craftspeople. Their lives depended on coordination and reciprocity: managing water and farmland, organising production, securing vital resources such as bronze and negotiating movement along the coast. In modern terms, peace was work, negotiated daily, maintained collectively and never guaranteed.

When crises arose, the community adapted. Labour was reorganised, resources redistributed, routines adjusted. Stability was restored not through force, but through collective problem solving embedded in everyday practice.

This was not a utopia. Troy’s stability was constrained by environmental limits, population pressure and finite resources. A successful trading season could bring prosperity; a failed harvest could strain systems quickly. Peace was never about eliminating conflict, but about absorbing pressure without collapse.

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Read more:
Troy’s fall was partly due to environmental strain – and it holds lessons for today

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Archaeologically, this long-term balance appears as persistence: settlement layouts maintained across generations, skills refined and passed down, and gradual expansion from the citadel into what would later become the lower town. These developments depended on negotiation and cooperation, not conquest, revealing practical mechanisms of peace in the bronze age.

Why we remember the war

Stories favour rupture over routine. Homer’s Iliad was never a historical account of the bronze age, but a poetic reflection of heroism, morality, power and loss. The long, quiet centuries of cooperation before and after were too distant – and too subtle – to dramatise.

Modern archaeology has often followed the same gravitational pull. Excavations at Troy began with the explicit aim of locating the battlefield of the Trojan war. Even as scholarship moved on, the story of war continued to dominate the public imagination. War offers a clear narrative. Peace leaves behind complexity.

Reexamining Troy through the lens of peace shifts attention away from moments of destruction and towards centuries of continuity. Archaeology shows how communities without states, armies, or written law sustained stability through everyday practices of cooperation. What kept Troy going was not grand strategy, but the quiet work of living together, generation after generation.

The real miracle of Troy was not how it fell – but for how long it endured. Rethinking the cherished narrative of the Trojan war reminds us that lasting peace is built not in dramatic moments, but through the persistent, creative efforts of ordinary people.

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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.

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

– ref. Rethinking Troy: how years of careful peace, not epic war, shaped this bronze age city – https://theconversation.com/rethinking-troy-how-years-of-careful-peace-not-epic-war-shaped-this-bronze-age-city-272833

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/01/30/rethinking-troy-how-years-of-careful-peace-not-epic-war-shaped-this-bronze-age-city-272833/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Phoebe Hart, Associate Professor, Film Screen & Animation, Queensland University of Technology

Raise a paw if your dog ever helped you to meet a new two-legged friend? The premise of ABC’s Dog Park capitalises on the fact pet ownership in Australia is increasing, with canines being the most popular choice.

This rise is sadly commensurate to the rate of social isolation and loneliness experienced in Australia, especially among men.

Enter Roland, played by Dog Park co-creator Leon Ford. Ford, who (according to the press notes on the series) says his own dog makes him nervous, came up with the concept with Matchbox Productions’ Amanda Higgs, best known for spawning the Australian drama series The Secret Life of Us (2001–05).

Roland is a middle aged recluse and all-round grump who has a hard time trusting and/or liking other humans. His sense of dissolution takes a further dip when his estranging wife Emma (Brooke Satchwell) departs for work in the United States, leaving the TAFE career counsellor in charge of his distant teenage daughter Mia (Florence Gladwin) and disdained dog Beattie.

The first turning point of this six-part series occurs when Beattie goes missing and boozehound Roland searches for her at the local park. This is where Roland meets the always sunny Samantha (Celia Pacquola) and a ragtag bunch of overly friendly folks and their fur babies (AKA the Dog Park Divas), all of whom are quite familiar with Beattie already.

From the outset, you can tell it is this diverse pack of dog lovers that are most likely to draw Roland out of his hard, turtle-like shell, and hopefully deliver a few laughs along the way too.

The ensemble cast features a few familiar faces, including Florence Gladwin, Nick Boshier, Ash Flanders, Ras-Samuel, Grace Chow and Elizabeth Alexander.

The series also features a quirky visual style throughout thanks to the off-beat camerawork from director of photography Aaron Farrugia and his team. The rambling and percussive musical score by Bryony Marks is another highlight with some solid licensed music choices as well. I love the title track use of the 1991 indie anthem Don’t Go Now by Aussie rockers Ratcat, but maybe Reg Mombassa and Peter O’Doherty’s Dog Trumpet would be more appropriate?

Doling out life lessons

Dog parks are a relatively novel innovation in town planning. There are many proven benefits to exercising dogs communally, but not unsurprisingly dog parks can also be sites of conflict.

Therefore, I would argue they are an unexploited arena for a television dramedy, although Wilfred (2007–10) sticks out like you-know-whats as a rather surreal and anthropomorphic example of dogs teaching humans a thing or two.

Both Dog Park and Wilfred centre on a hero suffering depression: a tough sell for prime time telly. I struggled to form an attachment to Dog Park’s protagonist, a man who goes out of his way to alienate others and does not seem to know how nor want to help himself, but feel this is a topic worth exploring.

The Dog Park Divas dole out life lessons, trying to help slow Roland’s downhill roll. Their interventions slowly begin to take effect – which gives hope that all humans are ultimately redeemable.

There is another bone to pick. Although much of the action in Dog Park, which was filmed in Melbourne, occurs in a city park, it appeared to me this location doesn’t look too fenced off. These outdoor areas are a hit in many urban centres and city councils around the world because dogs can be safely let off their leashes while the people socialise. Dog Park breaks slightly with reality in that way, but I guess the other 50% of the audience who don’t own a dog would never know.

All this said, Dog Park is tender in a darkly bittersweet way with an underlying thematic of connection and chosen family. The tone of grounded humour with a generous dollop of pathos aligns well with episode one director Matthew Seville’s previous work, which includes the painfully honest Please Like Me (2013–16).

Dog Park continues in this mode and could be a bit hit as well; I predict a TV format adaptation overseas in the not too distant future. An American remake of Wilfred starring Elijah Wood lasted four seasons.

Newcomer director Nina Buxton, fresh from directing episodes of season three of Heartbreak High (2022–), sinks her teeth into three episodes of Dog Park. There is peppery dialogue throughout thanks to screenwriters Penelope Chai, Chloe Wong and Nick Coyle alongside Ford and Higgs. Beattie (played by an unspecified poodle breed named Indie in real life) is pretty cute – and proof dogs really are the superior species.

Dog Park is on ABC and ABC iView from Sunday.

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

– ref. Dog parks are an unexploited arena for a television dramedy – so now we have ABC’s Dog Park – https://theconversation.com/dog-parks-are-an-unexploited-arena-for-a-television-dramedy-so-now-we-have-abcs-dog-park-273458

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/01/30/dog-parks-are-an-unexploited-arena-for-a-television-dramedy-so-now-we-have-abcs-dog-park-273458/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Allison Creed, Lecturer and Curriculum Designer, Cognitive Linguistics, The University of Melbourne

I recently watched a participant at a wine tasting freeze when asked for their opinion. “It’s … nice?” they ventured, clearly wanting to say more but lacking the specific vocabulary to do so.

The sommelier quickly intervened, noting the wine was “quite elegant, with beautiful structure.” The participant simply nodded, and the conversation ended.

Wine is a multi-billion-dollar export commodity, yet industry “winespeak” can actually stop people feeling they can join in conversations about wine. And often words can get lost in translation – or mean something very different – in fast-growing wine markets such as China, Vietnam and Thailand.

My new research systematically reviewed 77 studies on wine language and metaphor. Building on my earlier research tracking how wine metaphors evolve, it reveals a surprising disconnect: the language used to taste and talk about wine does not travel across cultures as smoothly as the industry assumes.

This matters for the wine industry, because wine descriptions directly influence purchasing decisions and overall enjoyment.

Images in English that don’t travel

The problem is not the use of metaphor itself. In their 1980 book, Metaphors We Live By, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson argue metaphors are essential cognitive tools we use every day, often without even noticing.

When we say a wine has “body” or “backbone,” we draw on our intimate knowledge of physical experience to make sense of taste and texture. This is how human language works.

The problem is when metaphors fail to travel. Consider “body,” a fundamental concept in English-speaking wine cultures when talking about weight and mouthfeel.

Research shows even native English speakers interpret “body” differently. Some believe it refers to flavour, others to texture, still others to alcohol content.

When translated where the word lacks the same associations, confusion multiplies. In Dutch, German, and Hungarian, literal translations (“lichaam”, “Körper”, “test”) trigger awkward anatomical associations. What sounds natural in English reads as bizarre in translation.

The enigma of ‘elegance’

“Elegance” presents a similar challenge. Wine experts across cultures share a core understanding – that a wine is smooth, balanced, refined, or complex. Yet cultural associations can vary.

In Chinese wine reviews, elegance is expressed through mírén (迷人), meaning “charming”, and nèiliǎn (內斂), meaning “introverted”. These are social-aesthetic metaphors that activate entirely different cultural scripts.

This is significant, because wine is what’s called an “experience good”. You cannot judge taste or quality until after you purchase. Consumers rely on descriptions to signal what they are buying.

When metaphors don’t align culturally, the industry is not just failing to communicate but actively eroding people’s trust.

Why some words affect wine ratings

The wine world’s most widespread linguistic habit is anthropomorphism – the attribution of human characteristics.

Industry reviews routinely characterise wines as “shy,” “honest,” or “aggressive”. This is not decorative language; it is cognitive scaffolding.

Describing wine as a person helps us communicate complex sensory perceptions by drawing on our personal experience of human behaviour and emotion.

However, these particular metaphors can carry cultural baggage. Research suggests that wines labelled with feminine terms (such as “delicate” or “elegant”) are perceived as hedonistic products meant for quick consumption, leading consumers to believe they decline at a younger age.

Conversely, wines with masculine descriptors (“powerful”, “bold”) are linked to ageing potential, and receive higher quality ratings.

Although these gendered metaphors might not always hit the price tag directly, they can fundamentally alter if and when a consumer decides to drink the bottle.

Creating better metaphors

As global wine trade increases, industry is eager to connect with new consumers in emerging markets. Yet they often do so using vocabulary rooted in European traditions and Western thinking that do not communicate clearly to international audiences.

Wine marketers find themselves caught between traditional wine language maintaining prestige and authority, and pressure to create new metaphors resonating globally.

The solution is not to stop using metaphors to describe wine – that would be impossible. The question is how metaphors can work inclusively across cultures, rather than carrying cultural baggage that can lead to bias and market undervaluation.

My research suggests a need to rethink how we communicate about wine. This could include writing tasting notes that incorporate more universally understood sensory cues and culturally consistent evaluative language, in addition to traditional expert vocabulary.

Without deliberate attention to how metaphors travel, or fail to travel, across cultures, the gap between expert “winespeak” and consumer understanding will only widen. The industry is not building a Tower of Babel through metaphor itself, but through the assumption that everyone speaks the same metaphorical language.

Allison Creed is affiliated with The University of Melbourne, Wine Communicators of Australia, and the Global Wine Business Institute.

– ref. ‘Bold’. ‘Elegant’. ‘Introverted’? How words describing wine get lost in translation – https://theconversation.com/bold-elegant-introverted-how-words-describing-wine-get-lost-in-translation-274415

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/01/30/bold-elegant-introverted-how-words-describing-wine-get-lost-in-translation-274415/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By A/Prof. Elmira Jamei, Associate professor, Victoria University

This week, Victoria recorded its hottest day in nearly six years. On Tuesday, the northwest towns of Walpeup and Hopetoun reached 48.9°C, and the temperature in parts of Melbourne soared over 45°C. Towns in South Australia also broke heat records.

This heatwave is not an outlier. It is a warning shot.

These weather conditions rival the extreme heat seen in the lead-up to the 2019–20 Black Summer, and they point to a future in which days like this are no longer rare, but routine.

What makes this summer so confronting is not just how hot it has been, but this: Australia already knows how to cool cities, yet we are failing to do it. Why?

Urban heat is not inevitable

Cities heat up faster and stay hotter than surrounding areas because of how they are built. Dense development, dark road surfaces, limited shade, and buildings that trap heat and rely heavily on air-conditioning create the “urban heat island” effect.

This means cities absorb vast amounts of heat during the day and release it slowly at night, preventing the city from cooling down even after sunset. During heatwaves, this trapped heat accumulates day after day and pushes temperatures well beyond what people can safely tolerate.

Future urbanisation is expected to amplify projected urban heat, irrespective of background climate conditions. Global climate change is making the urban heat island effect worse, but much of the heat we experience in cities has been built in through decades of planning and design choices.

Heat is a health and equity crisis

Heatwaves already kill more than 1,100 Australians each year, more than any other natural hazard. Extreme heat increases the risk of heart and respiratory disease, worsens chronic illness, disrupts sleep and overwhelms health services.

Poorly designed and inadequately insulated homes, particularly in rental and social housing can become heat traps. People on low incomes are least able to afford effective cooling, pushing many into energy debt or forcing them to endure dangerously high temperatures.
Urban heat deepens existing inequalities. Those who contributed least to the problem often bear the greatest burden.

Australia has expertise, but not ambition

Here is the paradox. Australia is a major contributor to global research on urban heat. Australian researchers are developing national tools to measure and mitigate urban heat, and studies from cities such as Melbourne have quantified urban heat island intensity and investigated how urban design can influence heat stress.

Additionally, Australia already has the technologies to cool cities, from reflective coatings and heat-resilient pavements to advanced shading systems. Yet many of our cities remain dangerously hot. The issue isn’t a lack of solutions, but the failure to roll them out at scale.

Internationally, we are lagging behind countries where large-scale heat mitigation projects are already reducing urban temperatures, cutting energy demand and saving lives.

For example, Paris has adopted a city-wide strategy to create “cool islands”, transforming public spaces and schoolyards into shaded, cooler places that reduce heat stress during heatwaves.

In China, the Sponge City program, now implemented in cities such as Shenzhen and Wuhan, uses green infrastructure and water-sensitive design to cool urban areas and reduce heat stress.

Symbolic change can’t meet the challenge

Too often, urban heat policy stops at small, symbolic actions, a pocket park here, a tree-planting program there. These measures are important, but they are not sufficient for the scale of the challenge.

Greening cities is essential. Trees cool streets, improve thermal comfort and deliver multiple health and environmental benefits. But greenery has limits. If buildings remain poorly insulated, roads continue to absorb heat and cooling demand keeps rising, trees alone will not protect cities from extreme temperatures in the coming decades.

Urban heat is a complex systems problem. It emerges from how cities are built, and is largely shaped by construction materials, building codes, transport systems and planning decisions locked in over generations. Scientists know a great deal about how to reduce urban heat, but many responses remain piecemeal and intuitive rather than systemic.

Designing an uncomfortable future

Research suggests that even if global warming is limited to below 2°C, heatwaves in major Australian cities could approach 50°C by 2040. At those temperatures, emergency responses alone will not be enough. Beyond certain temperature thresholds, behaviour change, public warnings and cooling centres cannot fully protect people.

The choices we make now about buildings, streets, materials and energy systems will determine whether Australian cities become increasingly unliveable, or remain places where people can safely live, work and age.

The battle against urban heat will be won or lost through design, technology, innovation and political will. Cities need to deploy advanced cool materials across roofs, buildings and roads, in combination with nature-based solutions. This will only work if governments use incentives to reward heat-safe design. Heat must be planned for systematically, not treated as a cosmetic problem.

With leadership and a handful of well-designed, large-scale projects, Australia could shift from laggard to leader. We have the science. We have the industry. We have the solutions. The heat is here. The only real question is whether we act, or keep absorbing it.

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

– ref. We know how to cool our cities and towns. So why aren’t we doing it? – https://theconversation.com/we-know-how-to-cool-our-cities-and-towns-so-why-arent-we-doing-it-273341

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/01/30/we-know-how-to-cool-our-cities-and-towns-so-why-arent-we-doing-it-273341/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pan Wang, Associate Professor in Chinese and Asian Studies, UNSW Sydney

A Chinese personal safety app called Are You Dead? – recently rebranded as Demumu – has gone viral in recent weeks, attracting widespread media attention.

Behind its sudden popularity lie deeper social transformations, including demographic shifts and changing personal and family relationships. At the same time, demand is growing for trust-based, non-medical, easy-to-use care networks tailored to the rapid rise of one-person households.

Demumu also shows how digital technologies are not only responding to everyday safety concerns but also reshaping social and cultural norms. As traditional kinship ties and community support structures weaken, technology is stepping in to fill – and capitalise on – the gaps.

Demumu’s virality: from local to global

In mid-2025, with a development cost of around 1,500 yuan (US$210), three young Chinese professionals from Moonscape Technologies launched a personal safety app called Are You Dead?.

The app was designed to address the safety concerns of China’s growing population of people who live alone. As described on its official store page, the app aims to “protect every solitary moment with simple solutions and build a solid safety line for solo living”.

Users are prompted to click an on-screen button daily or fortnightly via their smartphone to verify they are alive. If a user fails to do so, the system automatically sends email alerts to two nominated emergency contacts.

Shortly after the app’s release, it went viral and quickly became the most downloaded paid app in China. A 10% stake in the company reportedly increased in value from 1 million yuan (US$140,000) to nearly 10 million yuan (US$1.4 million) within three days. This suggests an overall valuation of close to 100 million yuan (US$14 million) for the developer.

In mid-January 2026, the app rebranded as Demumu as part of a global expansion. It has now gained traction in more than 40 countries and ranking near the top in global markets such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.

China is moving towards smaller families and more individualised lives

The 2020 China Population Census showed there were more than 125 million one-person households in China. That’s one in every four households in the country.

Around two thirds of these solo dwellers are aged between 20 and 59. It is estimated there will be 200 million such households by 2030.

The rapid rise of solo living in China can be attributed to several factors. First, a growing number of “empty nest” older adults. This has been caused by population ageing, and the decline of marriage and fertility while divorce rates rise. These trends have been intensified by longer life expectancy and the legacy of the decades-long One Child Policy.

Second, intimate relationships and family formation have become less attainable for many. Men are often expected to own a home and a car even at the courtship stage, which is increasingly difficult due to rising living costs and high property prices. “Bride prices” – paid by a man’s family to a woman’s before marriage – are also escalating.

Third, large-scale migration from rural to urban areas and between cities has produced many “split households”. Millions of “empty-nest youths” live alone for extended periods under intense work-related pressures before forming or reuniting with families. A common anxiety among this group is “disappearing in loneliness”.

Numerous reports have documented “empty nesters” who died and were only found days, weeks, or even months later, particularly in gated urban communities. These incidents highlight the vulnerabilities associated with solo living, as well as the absence of trust-based safety networks. This is a problem Demumu seeks to address.

Moreover, among younger generations in China – particularly highly educated urban women – attitudes towards marriage and singlehood are shifting. Living alone is increasingly a deliberate choice.

Career development and personal autonomy are becoming higher priorities. Many women wish to avoid taking on a disproportionate share of domestic and caregiving responsibilities.

Solo living: a high-potential market

China’s singles economy is booming, and the market still has significant room to grow.

In major metropolitan centres such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, products and services tailored to people living alone are more and more visible.

These include one-person hotpot restaurants, single-person karaoke booths, and micro-apartments designed for solo dwellers. Compact household appliances such as mini-fridges, coffee machines, and kettles are also readily available, as well as solo travel packages offered by tourism agencies.

Companionship of various kinds is also on offer. Owning pets – particularly dogs and cats – often plays an important role in the everyday lives of people who live alone.

The intimate services market has also expanded rapidly through digital platforms and smartphone apps. This includes love mentoring and relationship counselling, online dating and digital romance games. AI-powered chatbot companions and humanoid dolls designed to meet the emotional and relational needs of solo dwellers are also becoming more common.

There’s also an emerging niche business known as date-renting. This practice was initially popularised among young “bare branches” seeking to bring a temporary partner home for Lunar New Year family gatherings.

However, date-renting has since evolved into a personalised service economy in which individuals exchange intimacy, companionship, and dating experiences. In the process, dating is transformed into an “emotional commodity,” made visible for public consumption and increasingly shaped by platform profiteering.

Together with the emergence of safety apps such as Demumu, these singles-oriented businesses and technologies are energising China’s solo-driven economy. More importantly, they are also filling the gaps left by shrinking families and increasingly individualised living arrangements. In the process, they are reshaping contemporary social and personal relations and normalising single-centred cultures and lifestyles in everyday life.

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

– ref. Are You Dead? China’s viral app reveals a complex reality of solo living and changing social ties – https://theconversation.com/are-you-dead-chinas-viral-app-reveals-a-complex-reality-of-solo-living-and-changing-social-ties-274536

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/01/30/are-you-dead-chinas-viral-app-reveals-a-complex-reality-of-solo-living-and-changing-social-ties-274536/

Asia Pacific Report

Australia’s decision to host Israeli President Isaac Herzog next month has sparked criticism and a wave of planned protests, as Israel remains under international investigation over its war in Gaza, reports One Path Network.

Legal cases are underway at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC), examining allegations of war crimes and possible genocide in the war on Gaza.

Critics say welcoming Israel’s President on February 9-12 during these investigations sends the wrong message and risks weakening Australia’s claim that it supports international law and human rights.

The backlash is growing because senior Israeli leaders could face arrest if they travel to some countries that recognise international courts, making Australia’s invitation appear out of step with global accountability efforts.

Herzog’s past comments suggesting Gaza’s population shares responsibility for the war have also drawn condemnation from human rights groups.

The visit also coincides with the introduction of new hate crime laws in Australia, a timing that has raised further concern among civil liberties advocates.

At home, as protests over Gaza are restricted and public anger rises, many are questioning whether the government is placing political alliances above justice, human rights, and the right to speak out.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/01/30/australias-invitation-to-herzog-sparks-protest-plans-over-gaza-genocide/

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

The Liberal manoeuvrings for an assault on Sussan Ley’s leadership don’t lack transparency.

As members of the Liberal Party gathered in Melbourne on Thursday to attend the memorial service for former colleague Katie Allen, leadership aspirants Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor met to discuss their rival ambition.

Both the meeting and why it was needed were well publicised. Hastie and Taylor each wants to run against Ley. But the two right-wingers can’t afford to split the conservative vote on which their tilts would rely.

The timing and public nature of the encounter, attended by conservative factional heavyweights James Paterson and Jonno Duniam, would have seemed extraordinary to those unfamiliar with how things go when a party leadership battle is in full flight.

It looked insensitive ahead of the memorial service, and disrespectful to Ley, given that key attendees (but not Hastie) are her supposedly loyal frontbenchers. Anyway, the discussion, over coffee and pastries, came to no resolution. More wrangling will be needed. The Liberals’ leadership agony continues.

The flaws in Ley’s leadership have been canvassed endlessly, especially that she does not come across as standing for much. The qualities and limitations of the wannabe replacements have been less dissected.

There’s something of the old bull-young bull in the Taylor-Hastie face off.

When he entered parliament for the New South Wales regional seat of Hume at the 2013 election, Taylor was hailed as a future leadership prospect. As one contemporary article said, his CV read “as if it’s too good to be true”.

At the University of Sydney he’d won the university medal for economics, before a Rhodes scholarship took him to Oxford. That was followed by a successful business career, including co-founding an agribusiness and working as a director of the management consultancy Port Jackson Partners.

Once on the ministerial ladder, Taylor rose to be minister for industry, energy and emissions reduction in the Morrison government. In opposition under Peter Dutton, he was shadow treasurer. But he had trouble landing blows against treasurer Jim Chalmers; his performance was considered by colleagues as mediocre, which is counting against him now. Taylor and Dutton were privately critical of each other.

Hastie’s earlier career path could not be more different. A captain in the Special Air Service Regiment, he served with distinction in Afghanistan. His entry to parliament at a 2015 byelection was surrounded by drama; the backdrop was the spectacular fall of Tony Abbott, his patron, as prime minister, after a challenge by Malcolm Turnbull.

In government, Hastie was assistant minister for defence. Under Dutton he became defence spokesman, where his performance was considered ordinary. He and Dutton fell out, each blaming the other; the result was the opposition’s defence policy delivered late with no flesh on it.

Since the election, the leadership ambitions of both men have been obvious, but their tactics have starkly contrasted.

Taylor ran against Ley and lost narrowly. In a bizarre move, he encouraged Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to defect from the Nationals to be his potential deputy; the plan imploded when he failed and so Price didn’t run. As shadow defence minister, he has stuck to his knitting, avoiding giving any impression of undermining the leader.

Hastie, on the other hand, has been a firecracker. Aggrieved he wasn’t allocated an economic portfolio, he quit as home affairs spokesman, claiming he wouldn’t have a role in formulating the opposition’s immigration policy (one of his constant topics). He has elevated his profile through social media, with slick, professionally prepared, sometimes provocative posts.

Both Taylor and Hastie are socially conservative, but Hastie much more so (he was denounced for ill-judged remarks about late-term abortions). In economics, there is a big gap. Taylor, with extensive knowledge of economics and business at both a theoretical and practical level, is a conventional economic “dry”. Hastie has shown himself something of a throwback to the past, with one of his videos a sentimental lament for the demise of the Australian car industry.

Hastie is attracting the support of impatient younger members of the party, who want generational change. He’s 43 to Taylor’s 59. Taylor’s critics say he has a “born to rule” attitude; those who criticise Hastie find him arrogant.

The reality is neither contender shows much prospect of being a good fit for the opposition’s top job in present circumstances – just as Ley has found herself unable to cut through to today’s voters. This is not just because of the nature of the individuals but because of the political circumstances they face.

These include the challenge of unlocking the women’s vote from Labor, and the public’s current attitude to what “government” should do and provide.

The Liberals can’t regain office without polling much better with female voters. Tackling their gender problem goes well beyond the familiar debate about whether the Liberals should adopt quotas for women candidates, though they might help.

Albanese knows how reliant he is on the female vote and does everything he can to ensure it is cemented in. It’s not just reminding people more than half his caucus are women. It’s serious policy pitched at women, most notably child care, but also improvements in parental leave, superannuation and other measures. It’s leaning often to preferring women for top appointments. It’s support for low-paid workers in feminised industries. The Liberals, whoever leads them, can’t or won’t compete on such fronts and are even conflicted about work-from-home.

Even more fundamental, the Liberals’ natural positioning (whether conservatives or moderates) is to support smaller government, reduce public spending, and tackle debt and deficits. But we’re living in times when voters want big government – for governments to do more, not less, to provide extra services, to help directly with cost-of-living pressures. This has been accentuated since the pandemic. At the macro level, concerns about debt and deficits don’t resonate as they once did.

The times don’t suit the Liberals, and the Liberals don’t have top people to suit the times. Worse for them, there is no sign of either of those things changing.

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

– ref. Grattan on Friday: 2 aspirants who are unlikely to suit the times vie for the Liberal leadership – https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-2-aspirants-who-are-unlikely-to-suit-the-times-vie-for-the-liberal-leadership-274029

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/01/29/grattan-on-friday-2-aspirants-who-are-unlikely-to-suit-the-times-vie-for-the-liberal-leadership-274029/

COMMENTARY: By Viet Thanh Nguyen

Is this the IDF in Gaza or the West Bank, or the US military in Afghanistan or Iraq, or ICE in Minneapolis?

The answer is that this is ICE in Minneapolis.

But the fact that it’s hard to tell whether it’s the IDF or the US Army or ICE is the whole story.

Both the United States and Israel are imperialist and settler colonial projects which support each other.

The United States spends trillions to be a hegemonic power and tests its weapons in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. It also sends billions of dollars in aid and military equipment to Israel to suppress Palestinians and to be an outpost of Western empire in Southwest Asia.

Israel develops cutting edge surveillance technology and repressive tactics used against Palestinians that are then exported back to the United States and to many other countries.

The tactics of occupation and the blurring of lines between the military and the police in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine are all reflected in the appearance, weapons, and tactics of ICE.

And let’s not forget: Israel is still engaged in kidnapping, imprisoning, torturing, detaining, killing, and expelling Palestinians during the so-called Gaza ceasefire.

At least 477 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since the ceasefire was declared on October 10, and the total death toll since the war on Gaza began in October 2023 is more than 71,000, mostly women and children.

Both US President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — wanted on an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for crimes against humanity — and their far right supporters are intent on ethnic cleansing and terrorising whoever remains.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/01/29/the-idf-in-west-bank-the-us-in-afghanistan-or-ice-take-your-pick/

COMMENTARY: By Ro Naulu Mataitini

An invitation from a distant warzone landed in Suva earlier this month. The United States, with Israel’s endorsement, has asked Fiji to send troops to join a proposed International Stabilisation Force in Gaza.

For a nation proud of its United Nations peacekeeping legacy, this whispers of global recognition. Yet, it is a dangerous siren’s call, urging Fiji toward a perilous mission that risks betraying a far more urgent duty at home.

This force would swap impartial peacekeeping for coercive enforcement, serving great-power ambition over principle.

Simultaneously, Australia faces its own costly summons, involving a bill of up to US$1 billion, to take up a permanent seat on a controversial “Board of Peace” overseeing Gaza.

With no Palestinian voice and critics decrying it as a “transactional colonial solution”, this board aims not for peace but to sideline the UN, cementing a donor-driven world order.

For Oceania, these parallel invitations present a defining choice: expend finite resources on a flawed project thousands of kilometres away, or assert true regional independence by confronting the clear and present danger eroding our own communities — the transnational crime and drug epidemic.

The Gaza plan is architecturally unsound. The force Fiji is asked to join is not a traditional UN mission deployed with consent; it is a peace enforcement body expected to demilitarise a shattered, hostile territory — a task requiring overwhelming force and unambiguous political will, neither of which is guaranteed.

Designed for dysfunction
The Board of Peace itself is designed for dysfunction, acting as a parallel structure to the UN Security Council where influence is bought, not earned.

For Australia, the billion-dollar question is stark: is this investment in distant geopolitical theatre wiser than addressing the existential crisis in its primary sphere of influence?

This moment mirrors a recent lesson from Europe. When President Trump targeted Greenland, European nations stood collectively on the principle of territorial integrity, forcing a retreat.

Their unity demonstrated that defending sovereignty collectively is the only way smaller states are protected from the predatory actions of larger ones.

For the Pacific, the lesson is clear: our security lies in collective regional resolve, not in subsidising external power plays that undermine the very multilateral rules that protect us.

This dynamic exposes the core hypocrisy of the new transactional order. It invites regions like ours to help manage conflicts born of imperial histories and great-power rivalries, while the same powers show a willingness to disregard the sovereignty of smaller states when it suits their strategic whims.

The Greenland episode is not an isolated fantasy; it is a blueprint. If economic coercion can be levelled against a NATO ally for territory, what guarantees exist for nations in the Pacific, whose strategic waterways and exclusive economic zones are equally coveted?

Enshrines coercion
The Board of Peace model enshrines this very coercion, asking nations to pay for a voice in a system that inherently devalues the sovereign equality that the UN Charter promises.

While Gaza beckons with false prestige, a real war is destroying our social fabric. Fiji’s National Security Strategy identifies the methamphetamine epidemic as a top-tier threat (p. 19). Record drug busts reveal not success, but the staggering scale of invasion.

This crisis fuels violence, overwhelms health systems, corrupts leaders and drains state resources.

To even contemplate diverting military and political focus to Gaza is to declare this domestic war secondary. It begs a foundational question: what is the ultimate purpose of sovereignty if not to deliver safety and security to one’s own people first?

This is the primary duty of any state. When institutions are eroded by cartels while security forces look abroad, that duty has failed.

This crisis is the true test of our regional architecture. The traffickers’ networks are transnational, exploiting fragmented governance and weak maritime surveillance. Their success is a direct result of our collective vulnerability.

To confront them requires a consolidation of sovereignty, not its diversion. Every police officer, intelligence analyst and naval patrol boat committed to a quagmire overseas is a resource stripped from guarding our own shores.

Diplomatic minefield
The political capital spent navigating the diplomatic minefield of Gaza is capital not spent rallying the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) to adopt a wartime footing against a clear, shared enemy. We cannot allow the spectre of one crisis to blind us to the substance of another.

The strategic response lies not in the Middle East, but in our own waters. Australia must make up its mind. That US$1 billion — a sum that could transform regional security — could and should be the cornerstone of a bold, coordinated campaign against the drug crisis, championed through the Forum.

I am not arguing for a return to failed, militarised prohibition. I propose a holistic, regional compact built on:

• Integrated policing: A permanent regional Task Force with real-time intelligence fusion to disrupt trafficking syndicates and their finances;
• Community resilience: Co-designed programs creating economic alternatives for youth and supporting rehabilitation to erode the cartels’ demand; and
• Institutional integrity: Major initiatives to shield judiciaries and border services from corruption, ensuring the rule of law is an asset.

In a world of transactional great-power politics, Australia must consciously encircle the Pasifika. This means investing politically and financially in the PIF, respecting its priorities and heeding its calls.

Addressing this crisis would be an act of enlightened self-preservation for Australia, and a lifeline for the region. The model exists in our history: the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, known as RAMSI, succeeded because it blended Australian resources with Pasifika personnel and local knowledge. We must summon that spirit again for a more complex fight.

The invitations to Gaza are a test of strategic identity. For Fiji, it is a test of resisting the seductive glare of distant drama for the sober duty of safeguarding the homeland.

Choice for Australia
For Australia, it is a choice: to fund a board that undermines global order or to invest in a sovereign regional compact against a shared existential threat.

True leadership is demonstrated not by saying a reflexive “yes” to powerful patrons, but by having the wisdom to say “no” when their wishes conflict with fundamental principles of multilateralism and life-and-death needs at home.

Europe showed that collective defence of sovereignty is how smaller states secure their future. For the Pasifika, our path to security and independence does not run through the rubble of Gaza. It runs through the strengthened, cooperative spirit of our own Blue Continent.

Choosing this closer, harder path is the mark of a region that truly knows where it belongs. It is the only choice that builds a legacy of genuine security, leaving our children a future defined not by the crises we attended elsewhere, but by the community we fortified here.

Ro Naulu Mataitini is a Fijian high chief of Rewa Province. A founding member of the People’s Alliance Party, he now serves as an apolitical member of Fiji’s Great Council of Chiefs and is the chairman of Rewa Provincial Holdings Company Limited. He is a retired security executive with the United Nations. This article appeared first on the Devpolicy Blog from the Development Policy Centre at the Australian National University and is republished under Creative Commons.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/01/29/pacific-at-risky-crossroads-gaza-vs-the-urgent-drug-crisis-at-our-door/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, Australian National University; The University of Western Australia; Victoria University

The United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran are once again on the brink of a major confrontation. This would have terrible ramifications for both countries, the region and the world.

All signs point in this direction, but the two sides also have an off-ramp: the possibility of reaching an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program and other disputed issues.

The Iranian regime has never been so besieged both internally and externally. It has just faced yet another widespread protest movement demanding the government’s ouster, while dealing with the threat of military action by the US, supported by its ally, Israel.

Even so, the regime remains resilient and defiant. It brutally crushed the recent protests at the cost of thousands of lives and mass arrests and has warned the US of an all-out war if it attacks.

At the same time, it has signalled a willingness to reach a deal with the US over its nuclear program to avoid such an outcome.

So, what happens next, and can war be avoided?

A regime in survival mode

The regime’s tenacity is embedded in its unique theocratic nature, in which societal subordination and confrontation with outside enemies are the modus operandi.

Since its inception 47 years ago, the regime has learned how to ensure its longevity. This requires having a strong and defendable state, armed with all the necessary repressive instruments of state power, along with an ideology that mixes the concept of Shia Islamic martyrdom with fierce Iranian nationalism.

Given this, the regime has operated within a jihadi (combative) and ijtihadi (pragmatist) framework for its survival.

It has prepared for both war and making deals. This is not the first time Iran’s clerical leaders have been put in a tight corner by their own people and outside adversaries. They have always found a way to work through challenges and threats to their existence.

Still, the current challenge is bigger than any they’ve faced before. Over the past month, US President Donald Trump has vowed to punish the regime for its repression of the Iranian people, and now for its refusal to reach a deal on its nuclear program.

Some believe his ultimate goal, though, is to create the conditions for regime change.

Regime change not a given

Trump must know that regime change in Iran will not happen easily. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his fellow clerics are ready to fight to the very end. They know that if the Islamic system they created goes down, everyone in the regime is most likely to perish with it.

The regime has built sufficient fanatical forces (namely, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij paramilitary force) and advanced missiles and drones to defend itself. It also has the ability to block the Strait of Hormuz, though which 20% of the world’s oil and 25% of its liquefied natural gas flows every day.

The regime also has the backing of China, Russia and North Korea, which means any US assault could quickly escalate into a broader regional war.

Although Trump has not favoured regime change in the past, he now seems as if he’s not ruling it out. (His ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long had this aim.)

But even though Trump now has a “massive armada” of ships and fighter jets in the region, the Iranian regime cannot be toppled by air and sea alone. And a ground invasion is not on Trump’s agenda, given the United States’ bitter experiences with ground offensives in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The regime could only crumble if a sizeable part of its security forces defected to the opposition. So far, they have remained quite loyal and solidly behind the leadership – as the brutal crackdown to the recent protests shows.

A possible destabilising future

Even if the regime were to crumble from within by some chance, what would come next?

Iran is a large and complex country, with an ethnically mixed population. While Persians form a slim majority of the population, the country has significant minority groups, such as the Kurds, Azeris, Arabs and Balochis. They all have a history of movements for secession and autonomy.

With the exception of two short periods of experimenting with democracy in the early and mid-20th century, Iran has been governed by authoritarian rulers. In the event of a power vacuum, it remains prone to chaos and disintegration.

It is doubtful that Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who ruled from 1941–79, will command sufficient public support and organisational strength to ensure a smooth transition to democracy. He has lived most of his life in exile in the US and has been closely identified with Israeli and American interests.

Netanyahu would be pleased to see a disintegrated Iran, as he has always wanted to prevent the formation of a united Muslim front against Israel. But the fall-out from a destabilised Iran would be problematic for the region.

These considerations are probably weighing on Trump’s mind, delaying his promise to the Iranian protesters that “help is on its way”.

Diplomacy is the better way forward. The time has come for the Iranian and American leadership to compromise and resurrect their July 2015 nuclear deal, from which Trump withdrew in 2018.

This should be urgently followed by Iran’s clerical rulers opening their iron fist and allowing the Iranian people to determine their future and that of their country within a democratic framework.

Otherwise, the volatility that has long dominated this oil-rich country, where between 30–40% of the population lives in poverty, will eventually devour the regime.

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

– ref. With Iran weakened, Trump’s end goal may now be regime change. It’s an incredibly risky gamble – https://theconversation.com/with-iran-weakened-trumps-end-goal-may-now-be-regime-change-its-an-incredibly-risky-gamble-274626

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/01/29/with-iran-weakened-trumps-end-goal-may-now-be-regime-change-its-an-incredibly-risky-gamble-274626/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Megan Prictor, Associate Professor in Health Technology Law, The University of Melbourne

On Wednesday, the federal government announced plans to reform how medications are dispensed and tracked, aiming to reduce unsafe use, stockpiling and “doctor shopping”.

This will include two stages. First, the government will require all online and telehealth prescribers to upload information about a patient’s prescribed medications to their My Health Record.

Second, the government plans to develop a National Medicines Record – an over-arching database to register and monitor all current prescriptions.

So, how would this work? While some detail is still lacking, here’s what we know.

Why is this needed?

An increasing number of Australians take multiple medications. Recent research analysing prescribing patterns in Australia estimates almost two million of us took five or more regular medicines in 2024.

While multiple medicines are often needed to manage multiple conditions, there are risks of adverse effects.

And when a clinician prescribes medication or a pharmacist dispenses it without a full understanding of the patient’s current medications, it can lead to harmful interactions between them.

This can make a patient sicker and often lands them in hospital. An estimated 1.5 million people in Australia experience some kind of harmful side effect from using medicine each year.

Those at particular risk are older adults taking numerous medications, as well as those transitioning between health-care settings (such as going into hospital or returning home).

Sometimes patients also stockpile medications, including through consulting multiple doctors, known as “doctor shopping”. For example, they might do this to obtain extra supplies of addictive pain medication.

How does it work right now?

Currently, there is no centralised, mandatory register that records all of the medicines a person is prescribed and dispensed.

Instead, prescribing information may be siloed in hospital and aged care systems, general practice records and those of online telehealth providers such as Instant Scripts, 13SICK and Hola Health.

This can prevent any single doctor or pharmacist from having clear, comprehensive information about a patient’s medications.

Some health-care practitioner and pharmacy bodies have criticised the online prescribing industry, in particular, for contributing to inappropriate prescribing and medication misuse.

For high-risk medications such as opioids, there is already a Real Time Prescription Monitoring system. Victoria has a similar system called SafeScript, but this doesn’t record the full range of prescription medications.

Announcing the reforms, Health Minister Mark Butler referred to an Australian woman who died from an overdose after stockpiling her medicine. He explained her parent’s advocacy prompted the government to address the lack of a comprehensive medicines record.

What will change?

First, the government will require online and telehealth prescribing platforms to add information to the My Health Record system about prescribed medications. This will include information about the clinical reasoning for prescribing.

My Health Record is a government-run platform providing a secure, online collection of a patient’s health information. Both patients and their treating health-care professionals can access it.

So any medication or related clinical information uploaded by a prescriber would be accessible via My Health Record, to the patient as well as to their health-care providers and pharmacists.

Many general practices already upload this information, but online prescribing platforms may not. Organisations representing pharmacists have long called for this kind of change.

Will it work?

In theory, it is a step forward. The challenge is that the My Health Record system remains under-used. One in 10 Australians have no My Health Record (the system is opt-out).

For the millions of Australians who do have a My Health Record, usage is increasing. But many still have never accessed their own record.

It is also not clear whether, and how, a patient’s access to their own My Health Record would reduce medication harm (particularly if the patient is deliberately stockpiling medication).

Almost all GPs, pharmacies and public hospitals are registered for My Health Record and have used the system. But data shows pharmacies are mainly using it to upload information rather than looking at records others have uploaded.

Overall, ensuring that all medicines information is available on the My Health Record is a positive step.

But it does not mean that the information will be accessed (or understood) by others who are prescribing and dispensing medication to a patient.

Indeed, sadly, the warnings that were placed by hospital services on the My Health Record of the young woman who died from an overdose were not accessed by telehealth services nor pharmacies prescribing and supplying her with medication.

What’s ahead?

As a second step, the government says it will design and build a National Medicines Record. This would be an overarching platform linked to My Health Record and other digital health systems, to register all current prescriptions.

At this stage, detail is lacking, but health-care practitioner and pharmacy bodies are broadly supportive.

A consultation is underway.

If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Megan Prictor is a member of the Australasian Association of Bioethics and Health Law, the European Association for Health Law and the World Association of Medical Law.

– ref. The government wants to track your medicines – here’s why – https://theconversation.com/the-government-wants-to-track-your-medicines-heres-why-274532

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/01/29/the-government-wants-to-track-your-medicines-heres-why-274532-2/