Category: MIL-OSI

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Madeleine Fraser, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, Australian Catholic University

Scroll through social media and you’ll quickly encounter phrases like “I am worthy” or “I choose happiness”.

The tantalising promise is: repeat these positive affirmations often enough and you’ll be happier, calmer and even healthier.

Given we are biologically hardwired to avoid suffering and want to feel safe and happy, no wonder it is tempting. But is it backed by science? And are there downsides?

What are positive affirmations?

Self-affirmation theory was proposed by psychologist Claude Steele in the late 1980s and remains popular today. The theory suggests we have a deep desire to craft a personal narrative that we are “adequate” and “worthy”.

But painful experiences that trigger shame or embarrassment – such as getting bad grades, making a mistake at work or going through a break-up – can threaten this self-narrative.

You may become more self-critical, and this may make you more likely to experience anxiety, depression and even self-harm.

In contrast, self-affirmation theory suggests repeating positive ideas about yourself can protect you from these negative mental health symptoms, boosting your mood and sense of self-worth.

Is there evidence positive affirmations work?

Yes – in some contexts.

A review from 2025 combined and analysed results from 67 studies. These looked at the effects on participants’ wellbeing of writing positive affirmations or repeating them out loud.

The review found positive affirmations did have a meaningful impact on how participants viewed themselves and connected with others. But the effect was small.

Some studies have found repeating positive affirmations can protect social media users’ self-esteem and boost the overall mental health of university students.

One 2025 study looked at women undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. It found those who listened to music alongside recordings of positive affirmations felt less depressed and drowsy, compared to those who listened only to music.

Another study from 2025 examined adults with depression symptoms, but no diagnosis. It found those who wrote personal positive affirmations twice daily reported better self-esteem after 15 days, compared to those who didn’t.

One frequently cited study from 2009 found repeating positive affirmations (for example, “I am a lovable person”) boosted mood. However this was only for people who already had high self-esteem. Those with low self-esteem – in other words, those with a low level of confidence and value in themselves – reported poorer mood.

While these studies show some promise, recent studies have failed to replicate these findings. More research is needed to see exactly who might benefit, and in what context.

The downsides of positivity

But is there any harm in using positive affirmations? Here are some risks to keep in mind.

Toxic positivity

Humans are imperfect and the world is often unfair. Pretending otherwise can lead to toxic positivity, which means suppressing or even denying difficult feelings. When you feel distressed, you may feel pressure to cope and simply “reframe” your thinking. You may feel ashamed when you can’t and be less likely to seek help.

Chasing dopamine

Repeating positive affirmations might give you a quick dopamine hit. Dopamine is the hormone linked to pleasure and reward, and can help us feel in control and competent. But the desire to always feel good is not realistic. And taken to the extreme, it can trap you in a cycle where you’re constantly seeking the next dopamine hit.

Downplaying real issues

Positive self-talk is only helpful in safe environments. In unsafe or harmful situations (for example, an abusive relationship) staying positive may blind you to potential dangers. Over-reliance on positive affirmations can detach you from what’s going on, and override gut instincts it may be better to listen to.

So, what does work?

Recent research suggests how we talk to ourselves may matter more than how positive the message is. Here are two approaches worth trying.

Show yourself compassion

Research shows cultivating a compassionate relationship with yourself, especially during stress or failure, can strengthen your resilience and improve your mental health. For example, telling yourself “this is hard” or “anyone would feel this way” can be more helpful than simply repeating upbeat affirmations. Sometimes being brave enough to acknowledge you’re suffering, and speaking to yourself like a good friend, is what you need.

Create some distance

Talking to yourself in the third person – for example, “Maddie is furious, but has handled far worse” rather than “I am furious” – can help. This creates distance between you and your thoughts, and is sometimes called “non-attachment”. This approach can help regulate emotions, encouraging us to approach feelings with curiosity, observing rather than just reacting to them.

The bottom line

Very few thinking styles are always beneficial or always harmful. The key is to be flexible, not rigid. This means regularly asking yourself “is that thought helpful?” and choosing the approach most suited to your situation.

And if that’s positive self-talk, try to use compassion and understanding – not just upbeat slogans.

Madeleine Fraser 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. Do positive affirmations work? A psychologist unpacks the evidence – https://theconversation.com/do-positive-affirmations-work-a-psychologist-unpacks-the-evidence-266464

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/13/do-positive-affirmations-work-a-psychologist-unpacks-the-evidence-266464/

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

After she was trounced in Friday’s Liberal ballot, Sussan Ley addressed the media with a speech that was gracious in defeat, but came with an announcement new Liberal leader Angus Taylor would not have wanted.

Ley’s decision to quit parliament means a byelection in her New South Wales regional seat of Farrer, set to see a contest between Liberals, Nationals, One Nation and at least one high profile community independent.

The result is unpredictable. Last election, independent candidate Michelle Milthorpe, who received some backing from Climate 200, polled strongly. Ley beat her on a two-candidate vote of 56-44%.

Milthorpe, a teacher, told The Conversation on Friday she will definitely stand in the byelection. “The electorate is looking for a voice outside the major parties that can speak to the real issues happening to us,” she said.

Pauline Hanson, with her party enjoying surging numbers in the opinion polls, was quick on Friday to announce One Nation would contest Farrer.

This is the former seat of one-time deputy prime minister, the late Tim Fischer. It includes the major centre of Albury and stretches to the South Australian border. Ley won it in 2001 from the Nationals, when Fischer retired. Nationals Leader David Littleproud will want to show his mettle to his party by fighting hard to get it back. That opens an interesting Liberal-Nationals dynamic.

Whichever partner holds it, the seat is conservative heartland. Certainly in present circumstances, the Coalition can’t afford to lose it.

While the numbers in the Ley-Taylor contest last May were close (29-25), on Friday some of Ley’s earlier supporters obviously deserted her, when she lost 17-34. This was no time for loyalty at all costs. The Liberals are in such a deep funk they have seized the opportunity to give the new leader the big margin he needed.

Taylor might have preferred to wait longer to challenge Ley, but in the event the timing, given the party’s mood, has probably suited him. Whether he can turn opportunity into results is quite another question. But at least he starts with no ambiguity in the result.

The vote has worked out well for Taylor in other ways. Victorian Senator Jane Hume’s election as deputy means there is both gender and factional balance in the new team.

The first is important after the pulling down of the party’s first female leader, as well as for the obvious reason of pitching to women voters. Without making inroads on the female vote, the Liberal Party can make little electoral progress. (The departure of Ley, incidentally, will leave the Liberals with only five women in the House of Representatives.)

The factional balance – Hume is a moderate, Taylor a conservative – helps calm internal party tensions and, electorally, gives some breadth to the leadership’s
new public face.

Taylor and Hume had a good personal relationship last term when he was shadow treasurer and she held the shadow finance job – though both were sub-optimal in their performances.

Hume made it clear when canvassing her colleagues for support for the deputy job that she would not seek to be shadow treasurer which, in practical terms, would be near impossible from the Senate. Who gets that position will be a very important choice for Taylor when he puts together his shadow ministry. Tim Wilson, who won back the Victorian teal seat of Goldstein, is an aggressive performer with endless energy, and should be a strong contender.

The Liberals are banking on Taylor being able to give them a so-called “reset”. But what he can do to make the Coalition’s pitch more appealing is far from clear, given the multiple constituencies it has to claw back.

Taylor arrives in the leadership with strong economic credentials and when the government is facing tough economic issues. Inflation, now 3.8%, is set to stay high. Interest rates have just gone up and are likely to do so again. This economic backdrop should play to Taylor’s advantages. But he will have to greatly sharpen his presentation to cut through to voters.

He is at home with a conventional dry economic line, for instance telling parliament this week: “We need less government, less spending, less taxes, less regulation and less regulators”.

But that sort of generalisation is too simplistic, too crude to be saleable to today’s voters.

At his news conference on Friday, Taylor gave an apology for a key mistake by the Liberals at the last election. “I’m particularly conscious that we got some big calls wrong – especially on personal income tax. And it won’t happen again,” he said, saying the Liberals would always be the party of lower taxes.

Taylor declared, “If an election was held today, our party may not exist by the end of it. We’re in this position because we didn’t stay true to our core values – because we stopped listening to Australians, because we were attracted to the politics of convenience rather than focusing on the politics of conviction.”

Taylor can be expected to soon release an immigration policy, an issue that plays to the opposition’s conservative base, and its present deep fears about One Nation.

Malcolm Turnbull is a constant critic of the Liberals but he had a point when he said on Friday, “If you think you are going to win back people who have gone to Hanson by showing yourself to be even more tough, more anti-immigration than her, that’s a game you can’t win.”

To make substantial electoral progress, of course, the Liberals must make enormous strides in urban areas, where they are dealing with both Labor and the teals. Taylor needs a strategy for these areas. Hume might be helpful here, but it won’t be easy. At his news conference Taylor had no road map.

The leadership switch is an admission of how bad things have become for the Liberals. But it does not, in itself, provide them with obvious answers to their deep malaise and multiple problems.

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. View from The Hill: Sussan Ley leaves Angus Taylor his first hurdle, and it’s a high one – https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-sussan-ley-leaves-angus-taylor-his-first-hurdle-and-its-a-high-one-275912

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/13/view-from-the-hill-sussan-ley-leaves-angus-taylor-his-first-hurdle-and-its-a-high-one-275912/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Breadon, Program Director, Health and Aged Care, Grattan Institute

A multi-billion dollar boost to GP funding has lifted bulk-billing rates across the country, especially in many areas that need fee-free care the most.

But the changes prop up a dysfunctional funding model for general practice, and have removed the main way the government pays more to GPs with poorer patients.

So deeper reform is needed.

What’s changed?

GPs get an extra Medicare payment (or incentive) to bulk bill a patient. This is on top of the existing rebate they’d usually receive.

In 2023, the government tripled the incentive, which applied to concession-card holders and children. Then, in a flagship 2025 election pledge, the government said it would push the bulk-billing rate up to 90% by 2030.

To help get there, the government said it would expand the bulk-billing incentive to all patients, not just children and concession-card holders.

As a sweetener, clinics that bulk bill all their patients would get an extra 12.5% on top of their Medicare payments.

Those changes kicked in from November 2025 and will cost taxpayers roughly A$2 billion a year.

How much did bulk billing rise?

Data released this week show there was an immediate impact.

From November 2025 to January 2026, 81.4% of GP services were bulk-billed, up from 77.1% for the same period a year earlier.

It’s the biggest quarterly increase since the early days of the pandemic. But the bulk-billing rate hasn’t returned to the peak we saw then – when it reached over 90% – or the mid-80% range for several years before that.

The number of clinics that bulk bill all their services has also increased. That’s from roughly 2,300 before the November changes, and more than 3,400 at the end of January.

Who’s benefiting most?

Bulk-billing rates have gone up in every state and territory, with the biggest increases for people aged 16–64, and those in regional centres and towns, and less-wealthy areas. That makes sense, given how the bulk-billing incentives have been designed, and changed.

The bulk-billing rate of people aged 16–64 shot up 4.2 percentage points, a far bigger change than any other age group. That’s because they are newly eligible for the incentive even if they don’t have a concession, and they’re less likely to have a concession than older people.

The incentive for GPs to bulk bill goes up as you move out of major cities. In cities, the incentive for a face-to-face consultation longer than five minutes is $21.85. In very remote areas it rises to $42.05.

In poorer areas, clinics tend to have lower fees and more bulk billing. That means they are more likely to profit if they switch to take advantage of the new incentives.

The average GP fee in the December quarter was $51, up from $48 a year before, after adjusting for inflation.

What’s missing?

This huge investment is having its intended impact. Each week more clinics are choosing to bulk bill all their patients.

But boosting bulk-billing incentives has a side-effect: entrenching a dysfunctional funding model.

Australia relies mostly on fee-for-service payments for general practice. That means more funding for many short visits, regardless of a patient’s needs.

This also means money can’t flow through to a multidisciplinary team that works with a GP, and might include nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists and pharmacists.

The result is GPs rushing through visits with too little support. It’s a poor fit for complex chronic disease, and the fact that more Australians are living with multiple conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. This funding model also doesn’t channel money to where it’s needed most.

In one important way, changes to bulk-billing incentives make the problem worse. Previously, the incentive only applied to concession-card holders. But now GPs get the same incentive to bulk bill whether a patient is wealthy or poor.

This makes Australia unusual. Other high-income countries adjust GP funding for disadvantage, which is strongly linked to the need for care.

How do other countries do it?

Starting from this year, New Zealand will pay GPs more for seeing disadvantaged patients. Scotland did it in 2018. They followed many other systems from Sweden to Canada.

England’s approach has long been criticised for not doing enough to take disadvantage into account in GP funding. But the government is reviewing funding to change that.

Back in Australia, two independent reviews commissioned by the federal government, along with Grattan Institute research, have recommended Australia catches up with other countries and make general practice funding fairer.

They have called for “blended funding”: combining a flexible payment based on each patient’s needs with a fee for each visit.

What’s next?

The government is celebrating this spike in bulk billing, and patients will welcome more fee-free GP visits. While there are signs the gains will be sustained, it’s too early to tell for sure.

Either way, Australia can’t just keep tipping money into the wrong way of funding care. Even if we reach the 90% bulk-billing target, other changes will be needed for funding to reflect patients’ health and wealth. That’s essential for making our health-care system effective and fair.

Grattan Institute has been supported in its work by government, corporates, and philanthropic gifts. A full list of supporting organisations is published at www.grattan.edu.au.

Molly Chapman 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. Bulk-billing rates are up. But there’s more to delivering the best possible care – https://theconversation.com/bulk-billing-rates-are-up-but-theres-more-to-delivering-the-best-possible-care-275669

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/13/bulk-billing-rates-are-up-but-theres-more-to-delivering-the-best-possible-care-275669/

ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on February 13, 2026.

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League of their own: the NRL Indigenous All Stars vs Māori match is much more than a novelty
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hoani Smith, Lecturer in Sport Management and Sport Science, Lincoln University, New Zealand This weekend’s National Rugby League clash between the Indigenous All Stars and the New Zealand Māori men’s and women’s sides marks a decade-and-a-half of recognising a unique aspect of the trans-Tasman game. First staged

Angus Taylor defeats Sussan Ley by hefty margin of 34-17 as Liberal leader
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Angus Taylor has defeated Sussan Ley for Liberal leader by a hefty margin of 34-17, giving him strong authority to try to improve the fortunes of the debilitated federal opposition. The meeting. starting at 9am and lasting under an hour,

Non-consensual AI porn doesn’t violate privacy – but it’s still wrong
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Lawrence, Professor of Public Health Nutrition, Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University If you’ve ever read a food label and come away feeling more confused, you’re not alone. Since 2014, Australian shoppers have relied on the Health Star Rating scheme to help them choose

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Saige England: Bearing witness – we are seeing a rise of totalitarian predator injustice from Gaza to NZ
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Amnesty calls for independent probe of ‘shocking’ Australian police violence against peaceful protesters
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Grattan on Friday: How did the Liberals’ first female leader find herself on the mat in under a year?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Sussan Ley always seemed set to be only an interim Liberal leader. If, as is likely, Angus Taylor wins the ballot on Friday morning, he could suffer the same fate. Taylor as leader would be under intense heat in coming

Flood of frontbench resignations as Liberals prepare for Friday leadership showdown
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A bevy of Liberal frontbenchers supporting Angus Taylor’s leadership challenge resigned their positions on Thursday, ahead of Friday’s 9am party vote. With momentum moving towards Taylor, his backers and those of Sussan Ley were working on the relatively small number

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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justine Poplin, Teaching Associate, Faculty of Education, Southern Cross University Warner Bros, Canva, The Conversation, CC BY-NC The Chinese Year of the Fire Horse has a new, unexpected mascot: Draco Malfoy. Associating the Harry Potter antagonist with China’s Year of the Fire Horse might seem odd or

ER Report: A Roundup of Significant Articles on EveningReport.nz for February 12, 2026
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on February 12, 2026.

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/13/er-report-a-roundup-of-significant-articles-on-eveningreport-nz-for-february-13-2026/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Huw Griffiths, Associate Professor of English Literature, University of Sydney

Larry Kramer – writer, playwright, activist, and author of the 1985 play The Normal Heart – has been a polarising figure in queer politics.

On the one hand, his activist energy in the early years of HIV/AIDS helped to galvanise community action, first in his own New York and later around the world. He co-founded two important organisations in the fight against AIDS: Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) in 1981 and, in 1987, the much more activist and campaigning AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP).

On the other hand, the particular message that he brought to the founding of GMHC – of sexual continence, of monogamy, or even abstinence – was neither welcome at the time nor something new from Kramer. In his pre-AIDS writings, particularly his satirical 1978 novel, Faggots, he had already been rebuking the New York gay community.

The novel lambastes gay men for a lifestyle that Kramer saw as decadent and unloving, complacent and apolitical. If post-Stonewall gay life was centred on a joyous celebration of sexuality, then Kramer’s writings were out of step with those times.

And so, when he carried this message through to the early years of the 1980s, it fell on deaf, even hostile, ears. His message felt to many like a betrayal of the freedom for which a generation had fought.

In The Normal Heart, now playing in Sydney, Kramer does something remarkable. He wrote it in the midst of multiple conflicts, as well as overwhelming personal grief. Some conflicts were internal to the burgeoning AIDS activist movement. But his most insistent fight was against the brutal indifference of political and medical authorities to the deaths of gay men.

From this chaotic and frightening situation, he puts together a play that condenses the story of the early years of the GMHC into an articulate, but fierce, cry of anger.

The importance of loving openly

The play is a very thinly veiled autobiography and the central character of Ned Weeks (played by the perennially brilliant Mitchell Butel) is a cypher for Kramer himself. Butel brings a compelling energy to the part, capturing the dizzying collision of personal and political life experienced by Kramer and his friends, colleagues and lovers during these years.

Another stand-out performance in a terrific ensemble cast is that of Emma Jones as Emma Brooker. This character is a fictionalised version of the real-life doctor Linda Laubenstein, one of the few doctors who investigated and helped treat AIDS patients in the early 1980s.

Kramer provides the doctor with a slow build to an extraordinarily angry speech, targeting the callous homophobia of the medical profession, and Jones is just great.

Mark Saturno also turns in an absorbing performance as Weeks’ straight brother, a patrician lawyer who struggles into empathy with his brother’s experiences.

One of the strengths of Kramer’s text is that, despite his own (sometimes slightly too evident) biases, the play still manages to present alternative points of view.

While Weeks’ frustration with his fellow campaigners is obvious, the vehement attachment to sexual freedom articulated by other characters is not simply dismissed. Fellow activist, Mickey (an impassioned Evan Lever) has a galvanising speech in which he describes what might stand to be lost:

Can’t you see how important it is for us to love openly, without hiding and without guilt?

An urgent revival

Director Dean Bryant has put together a production which allows the story to unfold, its episodic scenes tied together by a composite set. The doctor’s consulting room is always present, even as we move into Weeks’ living room or his brother’s office. Short bursts of cello and piano music, filtering versions of New Order tunes, keep the action moving in what could feel like a very wordy play when read straight from the page.

Bryant first brought this production to the State Theatre Company of South Australia in 2022, in a world reeling from COVID. The contexts of this 2026 revival seem, if anything, more urgent.

Opening in a week where the United States federal government has ordered the removal of the Pride flag from the Stonewall monument, the ACT UP cry of “Silence = Death” might bear repeating.

Despite medical advances, there is no cure for AIDS and the current US administration is rolling back support for research and treatment both at home and overseas, effectively withdrawing life-saving medication from those who need it.

The Normal Heart is a flawed but important play. It can sometimes feel that Kramer is trying to settle too many old scores in it and, ultimately, the message of sexual abstinence that he repeated throughout his life was replaced by the more effective sex-positive messages of safer sex.

This production, though, does a fantastic job at presenting this history for new audiences at the same time as giving us, in 2026, a compelling picture of what it takes to fight for your life and for the lives of your friends and lovers.

The Normal Heart is a State Theatre Company of South Australia production, at Sydney Opera House for Sydney Theatre Company, until March 14.

Huw Griffiths 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. The Normal Heart: the early years of the fight against AIDS in an articulate, but fierce, cry of anger – https://theconversation.com/the-normal-heart-the-early-years-of-the-fight-against-aids-in-an-articulate-but-fierce-cry-of-anger-273571

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/13/the-normal-heart-the-early-years-of-the-fight-against-aids-in-an-articulate-but-fierce-cry-of-anger-273571/